A dual Olympic champion and Tour de France podium finisher represent Launceston's contribution to a hugely-competitive Tasmanian Athlete of the Year Award.
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Six stars of Tokyo from five sports and all three regions of the state make up the shortlist in line to follow in some illustrious footsteps.
In a breakout maiden Olympic Games, freestyle swimming sensation Ariarne Titmus won gold in the 200 and 400 metres, silver in the 800m and bronze in the 4x200m relay.
The triple Commonwealth Games champion, now 21, also broke the Olympic record in the 200m along with Australian records in both the 400m and 800m.
With no award presented last year due to COVID-19, this year's incorporates achievements from 2020 when Richie Porte reached the pinnacle of his lengthy pro cycling career by finishing third in the Tour de France.
The 36-year-old father-of-two has also won the Criterium du Dauphine and Tour Down Under, contested the road race and time trial at his second Olympics and podiumed at three other major European tours.
Two Olympic silver medal-winning hockey players from Hobart and two middle distance runners from the North-West complete the finalists.
Despite being deprived of inter-continental competition for more than a year, Eddie Ockenden, 34, and Josh Beltz, 26, were part of the undefeated Kookaburras side which stormed through to the Olympic final before losing to Belgium in a shoot-out.
Ockenden was also co-captain, having become Australia's most-capped hockey international.
King Islander Stewart McSweyn and Forth's Deon Kenzie both contested 1500m finals in Tokyo.
McSweyn, 26, finished seventh in the Olympic showdown and also claimed three Diamond League victories and set three Oceania records.
Kenzie, 25, won a bronze medal in the T38 1500m at his second Paralympic Games having earlier become the first athlete in the world with cerebral palsy to run the distance in under four minutes.
The 2021 Tasmanian Athlete of the Year will be announced at a function in Hobart on Thursday, December 9.
Inductees into the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame will also be recognised at this event.
Titmus was the previous winner of the award in 2019 having won two gold medals at the World Swimming Championships in South Korea.
Porte and Ockenden were also previous winners, in 2013 and 2014 respectively, joining an honour roll featuring Matthew Goss (2011), Daniel Geale (2012), Amy Cure (2015), Matthew Bugg (2016), Sarah Hawe and Rebecca Van Asch (2017 joint) and Jake Birtwhistle (2018).
The six medals brought home by Tasmanians from Tokyo tops the haul of five achieved four times in 2008 (Scott Brennan gold, Hollie Grima silver, David Guest, Eddie Ockenden and Matthew Wells bronze); 2004 (Matthew Wells gold, Simon Burgess and Simone Morrow silver, Dana Faletic and Kerry Hore bronze), 2000 (Carla Boyd, Darren Balmforth and Simon Burgess silver, Daniel Sproule and Matthew Wells bronze) and 1996 (Carla Boyd, Daniel Collins, Scott Goodman, Tim O'Shannessy and Daniel Sproule bronze).
Rob Shaw
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
