Vili and Drysdale favoured at Halbergs

Valerie Vili faces tough competition from cyclist Alison Shanks for the Halberg sportswoman award. Photo / Dean Purcell

Athletics and rowing appear set to resume a long-standing joust before the Halberg Awards supreme award winner is unveiled tomorrow night.

Shot put queen Valerie Vili or rowing great Mahe Drysdale stand out as favourites to pick up the most esteemed gong in New Zealand sport at the annual awards dinner in Auckland.

Nothing is ever guaranteed but the pair present compelling cases after dominant wins at their respective world championships in 2009.

Both come from sports that have swept 20 of 46 supreme awards since they officially began in 1963 - the year the Halberg Trust was established.

Ten have gone to athletics and 10 to rowers or rowing crews, underlining New Zealand's ongoing international success in both sports, particularly at Olympic Games.

As ever, comparing sporting achievement is a taxing task.

Athletics is unquestionably a bigger sport than rowing on the world scale. However, women's shot put doesn't have the depth nor blue riband status of most elite-level track and field events while the men's single sculls crown is among the most sought-after on the flat water.

Vili must first see off a strong challenge from world individual pursuit track cycling champion Alison Shanks to claim the sportswoman's honour, while Drysdale has the likes of motor racing star Scott Dixon and acclaimed national sports skippers Daniel Vettori (cricket) and Richie McCaw (rugby) for competition.

There is a groundswell of support for the All Whites to win the sports team award following their soccer World Cup qualifying deeds but, again, rowing presents a strong case with men's pair world champions Hamish Bond and Karl Murray.

An overall win to Vili would see her become just the third three-time winner and the second to claim three in row following in the wake of Rob Waddell's supreme award domination from 1998 to 2000. The other three-time winners were the men's rowing eight, in 1971, 1972 and 1982.

Vili currently sits among a group of two-time winners - speedway king Ivan Mauger (1977 and 79), athletics great John Walker (1975, 76), cricketing legend Richard Hadlee (1980, 86) and lightweight rower Philippa Baker, who won her awards as a single sculler in 1991 and in the double with Brenda Lawson in 1994.

The 2009 coach finalists all present strong arguments - Vili's coach Kirsten Hellier, cycling head coach Tim Carswell, All Whites mentor Ricki Herbert and rowing guru Richard Tonks.

Also up for grabs tomorrow is the Decade Sports Champion award, for achievements dating from 2000 to 2009. In the running are supreme award winners from each of those years.

Vili is a strong contender once again, with her strongest rivals possibly women's double scullers Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell - Olympic champions in 2004 and 2008 - pursuit cycling Olympic champion Sarah Ulmer and US Open golf champion Michael Campbell.

2009 finalists:

Sportsman: Scott Dixon (motor sport), Mahe Drysdale (rowing), Duncan Grant (rowing), Richie McCaw (rugby), Daniel Vettori (cricket)

Sportswoman: Sophie Pascoe (swimming), Alison Shanks (cycling), Valerie Vili (athletics), Sarah Walker (BMX)

Sports team: All Whites (soccer), men's pair (rowing), men's lightweight double scull (rowing), women's 420 (yachting)

Coach: Tim Carswell (cycling), Kirsten Hellier (athletics), Ricki Herbert (soccer), Richard Tonks (rowing)

Former decade sports champions:

1900s: 1905 All Blacks (rugby)
1910s: Anthony Wilding (tennis)
1920s: George Nepia (rugby)
1930s: Jack Lovelock (athletics)
1940s: Bert Sutcliffe (cricket)
1950s: Yvette Williams (athletics)
1960s: Peter Snell (athletics)
1970s: John Walker (athletics)
1980s: Richard Hadlee (cricket)
1990s: Danyon Loader (swimming)

- NZPA