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Colorado athletes well represented for 2023 ESPY nominations

By Jonathan Ingraham June 25, 2023 | updated 2 years ago

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ESPN announced Thursday its nominees for the 2023 ESPYS awards, and Colorado sports athletes are well represented this year.

Basketball and ski racing became the two sports Coloradans needed to watch in the 2022-23 seasons, respectively. Records feel like dominoes from two 28-year-olds — one a ski racer phenom from the Vail Valley, and the second a horse-racing lover from Serbia. Plus a 26-year-old Canadian entered the Denver spotlight and is now synonymous with triumph from tragedy. 

Across seven categories, Colorado native Mikaela Shiffrin has been nominated for two and the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets, including two of the teams’ players in Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, have a combined five nominations.

Shiffrin Celebration Skiing

Mikaela Shiffrin meets her goat for being the greatest of all time (GOAT) during the Mikaela87 Community Celebration, Sunday, April 2, 2023, in Vail, Colo. She was honored in Solaris Plaza for being the winningest ski racer of all time with 88 wins. (Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily via AP)

Chris Dillmann

Shiffrin Celebration Skiing

Mikaela Shiffrin meets her goat for being the greatest of all time (GOAT) during the Mikaela87 Community Celebration, Sunday, April 2, 2023, in Vail, Colo. She was honored in Solaris Plaza for being the winningest ski racer of all time with 88 wins. (Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily via AP)



Chris Dillmann


Shiffrin set a record in women’s World Cup ski racing in March by becoming the winningest ski racer of all time, male or female. She tied Swedish ski racer Ingemar Stenmark’s World Cup total of 86 wins March 10 in a giant slalom race in Åre, Sweden, then claimed the record of 87 wins the next day March 11 with a slalom victory.

061523-dg-news-NuggetsParade06.JPG

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic holds his daughter Ognjena next to the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy during the Denver Nuggets 2023 Champions Parade and Rally on Thursday, June 14, 2023, in Denver.

Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette

061523-dg-news-NuggetsParade06.JPG

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic holds his daughter Ognjena next to the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy during the Denver Nuggets 2023 Champions Parade and Rally on Thursday, June 14, 2023, in Denver.



Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette


Two-time NBA MVP and 2023 NBA Finals MVP, Jokic is the face of Denver Nuggets. His 10 triple-doubles in the 2023 NBA playoffs is a NBA record, three more than Wilt Chamberlain had in the 1967 NBA playoffs (the former record holder), and the Sombor, Serbia has 16 playoff triple-doubles total. 

061323-s-dg-Game5-Finals38.JPG

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) cradles the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy after a 94-89 win over the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday, June 12, 2023, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)

Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette

061323-s-dg-Game5-Finals38.JPG

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) cradles the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy after a 94-89 win over the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday, June 12, 2023, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)






Murray suffered a season-ending ACL tear a game in April, 2021, yet rebounded from his injury and became the second part of the Jokic-Murray duo that helped lead the 2022-23 Denver Nuggets to become the 2023 NBA champions. 

Colorado native Sophia Smith is also nominated. Smith, who plays for the Portland Thorns, is set to be part of the U.S. Women’s World Cup team.

Here are the seven categories Colorado sports athletes are nominated for a 2023 ESPY award: 

Best Athlete, Women’s Sports:

  • Mikaela Shiffrin, Ski
  • Sophia Smith, Portland Thorns
  • Iga Świątek, Tennis
  • A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

Best Athlete, Men’s Sports:

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Featured Local Savings

  • Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
  • Aaron Judge, New York Yankees
  • Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
  • Lionel Messi, Argentina

Best NBA Player:

  • Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat
  • Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
  • Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
  • Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

Best Team:

  • Denver Nuggets, NBA
  • Georgia Bulldogs, NCAA Football
  • Kansas City Chiefs, NFL
  • Las Vegas Aces, WNBA
  • Louisiana State Tigers, NCAA Women’s Basketball
  • Oklahoma Sooners, NCAA Softball
  • Vegas Golden Knights, NHL

Best Comeback Athlete:

  • Jon Jones, UFC – Jones’ first fight in the UFC since 2020. He was last seen in action against Dominick Reyes, where he defended his light-heavyweight championship at UFC 247. While Jon Jones was plotting a move to the heavyweight division, he and the UFC president did not see eye-to-eye over fighter pay. Jones felt that he needed to be paid more for a move up to the heavyweight division, which resulted in him delaying his return.
  • Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets – Murray missed the entirety of the 2021-22 season due to a torn ACL in his left knee. He suffered the injury in a game against the Golden State Warriors on April 12, 2021, and didn’t play in the 18 months since then.
  • Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut Sun – 2022 WNBA Comeback Player of the Year. Thomas missed all but six games last season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. The eight-year veteran has started all 36 of Connecticut’s games in 2022, and was an All- Star earlier this season. She leads the team in assists (6.1), steals (1.7) and minutes played (32.1).
  • Justin Verlander, currently with the New York Mets/Houston Astros – 2022 NL Comeback Player of the Year, after being limited to only six innings in 2020 and missing the entire ’21 season due to Tommy John surgery, the Astros’ ace returned this season to go 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA — the lowest by any AL pitcher since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 ERA in 2000.

Best Championship Performance:

  • Leon Edwards, UFC 
  • Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets – 2023 NBA Finals MVP
  • Lionel Messi, Argentina – 2022 World Cup Final
  • Rose Zhang, LPGA

Best Record Breaking Performance:

  • Novak Djokovic wins his 23rd Grand Slam title, defeating Casper Ruud in the French Open final. Breaking a tie with rival Rafael Nadal for the most major singles trophies in the history of men’s tennis, which dates to the 1800s
  • LeBron James surpasses Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for NBA career scoring record
  • Mikaela Shiffrin breaks the record for the most World Cup victories with her 87th win
  • Max Verstappen wins the Mexican Grand Prix, breaking the record for most wins in a season

Voting for 2023 ESPYS is under way now. Click or tap HERE to help decide which of your favorite athletes will take home the show’s biggest honors.

Tune in to see who wins at the ESPYS on ABC Thursday, July 12 at 6 p.m. MT.

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Jonathan Ingraham

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