Oksana Masters and Justin Thomas need your vote for 2022 ESPY Awards

Kirby Adams, Louisville Courier Journal
·2 min read
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Oksana Masters, the Paralympian who grew up in Louisville is headed to Tokyo for the 2021 summer Olympic Games. She is part of Team Toyota which provides support to paralympic athletes.
Oksana Masters, the Paralympian who grew up in Louisville is headed to Tokyo for the 2021 summer Olympic Games. She is part of Team Toyota which provides support to paralympic athletes.
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The nominees for ESPN's 2022 ESPY Awards have been announced and Paralympian Oksana Masters, a graduate of Highland Middle School and Atherton High School, is tied with Golden State Warrior Steph Curry for most nominations for an individual athlete.

Both Masters and Curry are nominated in three categories.

Louisville golfer and St. Xavier High School graduate Justin Thomas is nominated in the Best Golfer category. In May, Thomas won the 2022 PGA Championship.

More: 5 things to know about PGA Championship winner (and Louisville native) Justin Thomas

The star-studded ESPYS ceremony will be broadcast Wednesday, July 20, on ABC. The annual awards will relive the highlight moments of the year, honor leading athletes and performances and bring together the sports industry’s fan favorites and biggest stars. Winners are chosen by a public vote, which will be open until 8 p.m. Sunday, July 17.

At the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Games, Masters, a cross-country skier and biathlete, won seven medals in seven starts earning her the distinction for the most medals won by a Paralympian in a single Winter Games.

But the accomplishments of the GOAT from Louisville don't stop there.

Masters' seven medals in 2022, combined with her seven medals earned in previous Paralympic Winter Games in 2014 and 2018, make her the most decorated American Winter Paralympian of all time.

A double amputee who got her start in athletics rowing on the Ohio River, Masters has been nominated for EPSYS in three women’s sports categories: Best Athlete, Best Olympian and Best Athlete with a Disability.

More: The bond between Paralympian Oksana Masters and her mother began in a Ukrainian orphanage

Other nominees for Best Athlete include Sunisa Lee (gymnastics) Katie Ledecky (swimming) and Candace Parker (basketball).

Thomas is nominated for Best Golfer along with Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Smith and Jon Rahm.

Justin Thomas won the Kentucky state golf title as a St. Xavier sophomore in 2009 and helped lead the University of Alabama to the national championship in 2013. He turned pro later that year and was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year in 2017. He also won his first major tournament (PGA) in 2017. He currently has nine PGA Tour victories in his career and is ranked No. 9 in the World Golf Rankings.

More: 2022 ESPY nominees: Full list of ESPN award nominations; Dick Vitale to receive Jimmy V award

Along with this year's most prominent athletes, honorees will include college basketball analyst Dick Vitale, who will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, and boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who will be honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage award.

Cast your vote now at ESPN.com and tune in to the ESPYS on ABC on July 20 at 8 p.m.

Reach Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com or Twitter @kirbylouisville. 

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky's Oksana Masters, Justin Thomas were nominated for 2022 EPSYS