United States women's softball team is up for the Team of the Year ©Getty Images

The United States women's softball team, led by Haylie McCleney, are among The World Games Athlete of the Year and Team of the Year nominations, with winners to be announced on January 31.

A total of 23 athletes are in the running for the individual award, including sport climbing's Miho Nonaka of Japan and American gymnast Kaden Brown.

Twelve squads have been nominated for the Team of the Year prize.

Germany's women's fistball, the United States women's softball, Canada's men's lacrosse and the Colombian mixed team in archery all took titles.

Canada defeated the dominant US in the lacrosse final, while the US' softball team won a rematch against Olympic champions Japan.

Croatia's men's beach handball team, France's women's canoe polo and Switzerland's men's tug of war teams are also among the contenders, having all won gold medals.

The Dutch women's korfball side also claimed gold, as did the Colombian men's finswimming team in the 4x50 metres surface relay.

Latvia's men's floorball team, the US' muay thai team and Germany's flying disc team were recognised too for their respective performances.

Miho Nonaka is one of 23 athletes in the running for the award ©Getty Images
Miho Nonaka is one of 23 athletes in the running for the award ©Getty Images

Back at the individual award, Josh Byrne is to be recognised for being Canada's top scorer in men's lacrosse, while Colombian Johana Viveros Mondragon won four golds in speed roller skating.

Azerbaijan kickboxer Bahram Rajabzadeh won every major competition he entered this year while Swedish floorball player Kevin Haglund is nominated for being top scorer, who helped his team win the gold medal.

Uzbekistan's Darya Latisheva is recognised for overcoming COVID-19 to win wushu silver, Germany's Nina Holt for four golds in lifesaving, Switzerland's Simona Aebersold for winning all three orienteering golds and South African canoeist Andrew Birkett for winning canoe marathon gold despite health problems.

Other contenders for the awards are Brazilian fistball player Cecilia Jacques, Dutch ju-jitsu athlete Aafke van Leeuwen, German underwater sports' Max Poschart, Japanese breaker Ami, Italian archer Cinzia Noziglia, Chinese Taipei korfball player Ya Wen Lin, Colombian flying disc player Valeria Cardenas, French squash player Victor Crouin, Slovakian muay thai athlete Monika Chochlikova, American aikido athlete Andrew Teska, racquetball player Andrés Acuña Araya of Costa Rica and Ukrainian sumo wrestler Ivanna Berezovska.