No standout candidate for supreme award

Warriors half Shaun Johnson poses for selfies with fans after the NRL preliminary final match against the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium on September 23. PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Lycra is out.

Tuxedos and gowns are in.

Tonight is the night our sports stars get "glammed-up" and wait nervously for the awards to be dished out.

The 61st edition of the Halberg Awards in Auckland are not as clear-cut as some have been in the past.

There is no standout candidate to scoop the supreme award.

Arguably 2023 was a disappointing year.

The year of the World Cup did not deliver the glory we might have hoped for.

The All Blacks were edged 12-11 by South Africa in the final of the Rugby World Cup.

The Silver Ferns were knocked out in the semifinals by England and also lost the bronze-medal match against Jamaica.

The Black Caps were overpowered by India in the semis.

The Tall Blacks finished 22nd, and the Football Ferns struggled to find the back of the net and bowed out in pool play.

Some of those results will cast a shadow on the celebrations — particularly if the All Blacks pick up the team award for first-placed loser.

That said, there was some wonderful performances and plenty of success.

The judges — including our Hayden Meikle, who would have voted for his beloved Old Golds had they managed to win anything — named 30 finalists across six categories.

Meikle’s appearance on the judging panel is the first time the Otago Daily Times has been represented in a couple of decades, hence there is bound to be the odd rogue result.

He had an unenviable task, though.

The five finalists for the sportswoman of the year award include last year's supreme winner, snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott.

The 22-year-old Wānaka athlete defended her slopestyle gold medal at the 2023 Aspen Winter X Games — it is an event she ranks as more important than the world championships.

She faces some stiff competition from former Wānaka resident, cyclist Ellesse Andrews. Andrews became the first New Zealand rider to win an individual gold medal in a sprinting event at the world championships when she collected gold in the women’s keirin.

Ellesse Andrews celebrates winning the gold medal during the women’s keirin final at the 2023 Cycling World Championships in Glasgow in August.

She backed that up by winning the UCI Track Champions League sprint title.

Dunedin duo Erika Fairweather and Courtney Duncan are in contention as well.

Fairweather became just the fifth woman in history to break the 4min mark in the women's 400m freestyle, and the gutsy Duncan collected her fourth Motocross World Championship title.

Evergreen kayaker Lisa Carrington is also in the mix again.

Andrews might have half a wheel on the field but it is hard to say.

There is diverse representation in the sportsman of the year award. Cyclist Aaron Gate, who won the points race at the track world champs, will go head to head with golfer Ryan Fox, US Open winner Paul Coll (squash), motor racing driver Shane van Gisbergen and World Rugby player of the year Ardie Savea.

One of our greatest cricketers, Kane Williamson, missed the cut — which he seldom does — and Rachin Ravindra was nominated but did not make the list of finalists.

"Up the Wahs" established itself alongside "sweet as" in our vernacular last year and the Warriors will be hoping to ride that popularity to a win in the team of the year award. They could not ride that popularity to an NRL title, though. Wah-wah.

The All Blacks, both men’s and women’s sevens teams and the women's K4 500m world championship crew are gunning for the glory.

Dunedin’s Lars Humer (swimming) has made the finals for coach of the year alongside women's sprint kayak coach Gordon Walker, Black Ferns' Sevens coach Cory Sweeney, snow sports’ Sean Thompson and former All Blacks coach Ian Foster.

Awards will also be presented for the para athlete/para team of the year and emerging talent.

The sportswoman, sportsman, team of the year and para athlete/para team categories are eligible for the supreme award.