Tasmania's impact on global sport is recognised by the collection of world champions, world record holders and World Cup stars nominated for the state's athlete of the year award.
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Socceroos defender Nathaniel Atkinson, swimmer Ariarne Titmus, cyclist Georgia Baker, sailor Will Sargent and canoeist Kate Eckhardt have been announced as finalists having represented the state with distinction in Qatar, Japan, Scotland, The Netherlands and England respectively.
![Perth's Georgia Baker won the 2022 Tasmanian Athlete of the Year award and is a finalist again in 2023. Picture by Alastair Bett Perth's Georgia Baker won the 2022 Tasmanian Athlete of the Year award and is a finalist again in 2023. Picture by Alastair Bett](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/198551236/6248195e-1549-4f23-886d-f0c43a266ef6.jpg/r0_0_5400_3600_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Baker is the reigning Tasmanian Athlete of the Year while Titmus won the previous two awards as all five bid to join the likes of Richie Porte, Eddie Ockenden, Daniel Geale and Ricky Ponting.
Atkinson was the first Tasmanian selected to play at a FIFA World Cup. The 24-year-old Riverside Olympic product played in the first-round match against reigning champions France in Qatar and also plays for Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premiership.
Baker earned silver medals at the UCI World Track Championships, in the madison (with Alex Manly) and points race, and was also a late call-up for the World Road Championships.
Earlier in the year, Perth's 29-year-old dual Olympian and triple Commonwealth champion secured a second-place finish in the team time trial at the Internationale Thuringen tour. Riding for WorldTour team Liv AlUla Jayco, Baker has contested races in nine countries across the year.
Hobart canoeist Eckhardt teamed up with Noemie and Jess Fox to win a gold medal at the world championships in London in the women's kayak teams event.
Eckhardt, who turned 26 on Sunday, also left the canoe slalom national championships with third-place finishes in the C1 and K1.
Sargent skippered Team Ares to win the SB20 title at the World Sailing Championships in The Netherlands. The 22-year-old teamed up with fellow Hobart sailor Ed Reid plus Paige Caldecoat and Eirini Marios to secure victory as Team Ares became the first Australian crew to win the title at the Jachtclub Scheveningen in The Hague.
Sargent was also named as a finalist in the male sailor of the year for the 2023 Australian sailing awards.
Titmus, 23, was in dominant form at the World Aquatic Championships in Fukuota as the freestyle specialist won gold medals in the 400 metres and 4x200m, silver in the 200m and bronze in the 800m. Her wins were achieved in world record-breaking times.
The Launceston-born dual Olympic champion swam with Riverside and Launceston Aquatic before relocating to Queensland in 2015.
The Tasmanian Athlete of the Year will be announced at a cocktail function in Hobart on Thursday, November 30.
Two new inductees to the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame will also be recognised at the event.