Laureus Academy Member Robby Naish on 2013 Action Nominees

Janurary 9, 2013

Laureus Academy Member Robby Naish, who won 23 windsurfing titles in 16 years, believes this year’s Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Nominees are “exceptional.”

And paying particular tribute to his fellow windsurfer, Robby says: “Philip Köster has made his mark on the sport of windsurfing with his second consecutive wave sailing world title.  He is only 18 and is in no way finished winning."  

Making up the rest of the list for the Action Sportsperson category are Felix Baumgartner BMX rider Jamie Bestwick, French Olympic mountain biker Julie Bresset, Australian surfers Stephanie Gilmore and Joel Parkinson.

“As is the case every year this is an exceptional group of Nominees,” Robby says. “Julie Bresset is an Olympic champion, Jamie Bestwick has been dominant in his sport for as long as anyone can remember, Felix Baumgartner awed the world with his amazing sky dive freefall from space and five world surfing titles out of six shows the remarkable ability of Stephanie Gilmore. I would particularly like to congratulate Joel Parkinson who has been trying for so long to beat Kelly Slater – a four-time Laureus Award winner - and become the ASP surfing  world champion. Well, this year he pulled it off with a win at the final event of the year.”