Bay of Plenty athletes have featured prominently in this year's Halberg Awards.
The Halberg Foundation has announced 26 finalists for six categories at the 57th ISPS Handa Halberg Awards – New Zealand's pre-eminent event to celebrate and honour sporting achievements from 2019.
There are 17 finalists in the Sportswoman, Sportsman, Team and Para athlete/team categories are all eligible for the supreme Halberg Award – the country's highest accolade for sporting excellence.
These include Whakatāne's Lisa Carrington as a finalist for Sportswoman of the Year. In 2019, she claimed two world titles and was named the year's Sportswoman of the Year.
Blackcaps captain Kane Williamson, from Mount Maunganui, is a finalist for the Sportsman of the Year title and the Black Ferns Sevens are one of five teams up for the hotly contested category of Team of the Year.