Kiwi women continue to dominate the world.
Alex Powell - Mea Motu
You'd be hard pressed to find any athlete with a better story than Motu.
A mother to five children, Motu won the IBO Super Bantamweight title in April by defeating Tania Walters and defended it in August, beating Ellen Simwaka with a dislocated shoulder.
As a survivor of domestic abuse and refreshingly open about her mental health struggles, Motu's journey to being a world champion is nothing short of inspirational.
With four more belts still to collect on her way to world domination, she's nowhere near finished yet.
Ollie Ritchie - Ellesse Andrews
What a year for the Kiwi track cyclist, who has made nearly every post a winner.
She became the first Kiwi sprinter to win an individual gold medal at the world champs with her victory in the keirin and then followed that up by claiming the Champions League sprint title.
Andrews already has an Olympic silver medal to her name from Tokyo and should be confident of making that a gold at Paris.
Grant Chapman - Zoe Hobbs
For years, the athletics community has complained about the raw deal supposedly dished out to sprinters in terms of Olympic non-selection. Those grizzles have glossed over the fact that New Zealand produces very few genuinely world-class speedsters.
In 2023, Hobbs shattered a significant barrier, when she became the first Kiwi woman - and first from Oceania - to break 11 seconds over 100 metres.
Fifty years have passed since that milestone was first achieved by a woman - albeit with hand timing and likely steroid assistance. The world record is a full half second faster (also tainted), but 11 seconds is still a respectable time on the global stage.
Disappointed at missing out on the Tokyo Olympics, Hobbs will have real reason to feel aggrieved if she's somehow omitted from the team to Paris next year.
Alex Chapman - Ellesse Andrews
The rising star of New Zealand cycling has now firmly entrenched herself to be part of the main constellation.
After having such a strong 2022, highlighted by three Commonwealth Games gold medals, 2023 was going to be about how Andrews would take it to another level. She did so with gold in the keirin and bronze in her less-favoured individual sprint, and the overall women's sprint title at the Champions League.
The loss of Nick Flyger could've been a big one, but with new coach (and dad) Jon Andrews, you'd think she'll only get better.
That's noticeable off the track now as well. There’s a real confidence there, not arrogance, but real comfort in knowing who she now is and what she's capable of.
All eyes will be on her at next year's Olympics and you'd be a fool to write her off.
Stephen Foote - Mea Motu
Motu has elevated women's boxing to the forefront of the NZ combat landscape in 2023, capturing the IBO super-bantamweight belt to create history as the first Kiwi woman to ever hold a world title with her win over Canadian Tania Walters in April.
Eight months later, the proud Northlander added another chapter to the record books, becoming the first Kiwi women to defend a boxing world title, outclassing Indian opponent Chandni Mehra in a triumphant homecoming at Whangārei.
Beyond the ring was where Motu really won the nation's hearts.
Her inspiring backstory - escaping the shackles of domestic violence to forge her own path to glory - combined with her ever-present million-dollar smile, and boundless enthusiasm for both life and her craft saw Aotearoa quickly embrace Motu as its newest sporting hero.
Will Hewitt - Erin Routliffe
Women's tennis in New Zealand has been crying out for someone to carry the sport forward, since the retirement of Marina Erakovic in 2018.
This year saw the arrival of a fresh star in the form of Routliffe. Her 2023 success has been nothing short of remarkable, especially in the last six months of the year.
Once she teamed up with Candian Gabriela Dabrowski for the second half of the season, the results followed, with three WTA doubles titles - two of them with Dabrowski - and two other finals during the campaign.
Her crowning jewel was winning the US Open with Dabrowski to become the first New Zealand woman to win a Grand Slam title since 1979. Routliffe, 28, also made the WTA finals for the top eight pairs, where she made it through to the semi-finals.
She finished the season with a career-high ranking of 11 and there is no-one more fitting as New Zealand's female performer of the year.
Grant Chapman - Tylah Nathan-Wong
The Black Ferns Sevens star raised a few eyebrows, when she announced she was swapping codes to contest the NRLW rugby league competition with St George Dragons.
In days gone by, she would have been ostracised as a traitor to the rugby union code, but Nathan-Wong proceeded to make a fine fist of her switch.
Named in the Kiwi Ferns for the inaugural Pacific Championship, she was a key contributor to New Zealand's first victory over their trans-Tasman rivals since 2016.
A few days later, she popped up at the World Rugby Awards, named Women's Sevens Player of the Year.
Long may she continue to bounce from one oval-balled code to the other.
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