Finalists announced for 2017 NSWIS Awards

World champion athletes from the NSW Institute of Sport have led the finalist announcements for the prestigious 2017 NSWIS Awards Dinner. It has been another excellent year for NSWIS athletes, with eleven recently crowned world champions among the finalists.

The esteemed annual awards will be presented at a gala celebration at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 16^th November, with the best sporting talent from across Australia in attendance. The awards recognise and honour the achievements of NSWIS athletes, coaches and sport programs across eight categories.

The Office of Sport Female Athlete of the Year nomination list is studded with exceptional performances from the past 12 months. The nominees include para athlete Madi de Rozario who won a thrilling gold in the T54 5000m at the World Para Athletics Championships in London, canoe slalom superstar Jess Fox who recently took gold in the K1 at the world championships, and world champion moguls skier Britt Cox.

They are joined as finalists by para cyclist Amanda Reid who took out two world championship titles during an unbeaten season, discus thrower Dani Stevens following her stunning silver medal at the World Championships, and triathlete Ashleigh Gentle (QAS) who also claimed world championship silver this year.

The Arrowfield Male Athlete of the Year list is also packed with world champions. This includes three NSWIS rowers – Jack Hargreaves (SUBC), Spencer Turrin (SRC) and Josh Hicks (SRC) – who were part of the men’s coxless four that won Australia’s first world championship gold in the flagship event for 26 years last month.

Further success on the water is recognised through the inclusion of sprint canoeists Murray Stewart and Riley Fitzsimmons who were part of the victorious K4 1000m crew at the world championships. Rounding out the Arrowfield Stud Male Athlete of the Year finalists are world champion team pursuit cyclist Nick Yallouris, para swimmer Matthew Levy – who this year set a new world record for the 200m freestyle, and James Turner who returned from the World Para Athletics Championships this year with three gold medals and three world records.

Among the other award finalists the NSWIS winter sports program has been recognised following an exceptional year, contributing to Australia’s most successful ever winter sports season. Winter sports finalists include Britt Cox for Office of Sport Female Athlete of the Year following her domination of moguls skiing this season, ski moguls coaches Jerry Grossi and Steve Desovich who are jointly nominated for Southern Design Coach of the Year, and up and coming stars Tess Coady (freestyle snowboard) and Adam Lambert (snowboard cross) who are both nominated for the Mizuno Junior Athlete of the Year Award.

Added to this, winter sports athletes Holly Crawford and Krystle Yin are finalists for the University of Sydney Academic Excellence and ClubsNSW Personal Excellence Award respectively. The winter sports program is also nominated in the Sydney Olympic Park Authority Program of the Year category.

NSWIS CEO Kevin Thompson is excited about his first NSWIS Awards ceremony.

“The finalists for the 2017 NSWIS Awards demonstrate the depth of talent we have amongst our athletes, coaches and sport programs here at the NSW Institute of Sport” he said.

“We are all looking forward to celebrating the many highlights from the past 12 months at the awards dinner on 16 November.”

You can register to attend the awards here.

NSWIS Awards 2017 Finalists