The Nominees for the Laureus World Sports Awards have been announced – beginning the countdown to the greatest show in sport.
The 2025 edition will be a stunning celebration of the greatest athletic achievements of the past 12 months, featuring heroes from the Paris Olympics, Grand Slam champions, world-record breakers and more.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Laureus World Sports Awards and this year’s event will seek to honour the past, celebrate the present, and inspire the future.
Over the past quarter-century, ‘The Laureus’ statuette has become the most prized Award of its kind among elite sportsmen and sportswomen, and the Laureus World Sports Awards are today recognised as ‘The Athletes’ Awards’ – voted on by the 69 sporting legends of the Laureus World Sports Academy and celebrated at a unique annual event where the greatest athletes on the planet can connect, interact and share with each other in ways that happen only at Laureus.
The sporting year of 2024 was illuminated by the incredible spectacle of the Paris Olympics – so it is fitting that two stars of the Games will compete for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award. The face of the Paris Games was Léon Marchand, who carried the hopes of the home nation on his shoulders as he won four golds in the pool.
Mondo Duplantis won a second Olympic pole vault gold and raised his own world record a further two times.
Spanish superstar of men’s tennis and winner of two Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic silver medal Carlos Alcaraz is also nominated alongside Max Verstappen, who secured his fourth straight Formula One World Championship in 2024, and Tadej Pogačar, who became only the third man to win the triple crown of the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and the world championship in the same year.
Last year’s winner of the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award, Aitana Bonmatí, is shortlisted again alongside a three-time winner, Simone Biles. Biles also won the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award last year and after winning three golds – including a second all-around title – plus a silver, she is nominated for an Award she won in 2017, 2019 and 2020.
In 2024, this Award went to Bonmatí and she is nominated again after a second successive Ballon d’Or and a season that included a treble of Champions League, Liga F and the Copa de la Reina with Barcelona. Sifan Hassan won bronze at both 5 000 and 10 000 metres, plus marathon gold, in Paris.
Faith Kipyegon became the only three-time Olympic champion in the 1 500 metres and added silver in the 5 000m. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s world-record breaking run to gold in the 400 metres hurdles was followed up with gold in the 4 x 400 metres relay.
And women’s tennis has an undisputed No 1 after Aryna Sabalenka won the Australian Open and US Open to reach the top spot in both singles and doubles.
The full list of Nominees is:
LAUREUS WORLD SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) Tennis - Won the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympic silver medal
Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) Athletics - retained Olympic pole vault title; has now broken world record 10 times
Léon Marchand (France) Swimming - won four individual gold medals at the Paris Olympics
Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) Cycling - 25 wins, including Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and World Championship
Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Motor Racing - won a fourth successive Formula One World Championship
LAUREUS WORLD SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
Simone Biles (USA) Gymnastics - impressive return to Olympic stage with three golds and a silver in Paris
Aitana Bonmatí (Spain) Football - second straight Ballon d’Or Feminin as Barcelona won Champions League, Liga F
and Copa de la Reina
Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) Athletics - bronze in 5 000m and 10 000m plus marathon gold in Paris
Faith Kipyegon (Kenya) Athletics - became the only three-time Olympic champion in 1 500 metres in Paris
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) Athletics - Olympic golds in 400m hurdles and 4 x 400m relay
Aryna Sabalenka Tennis - won Australian and US Opens; became World No 1 in singles and doubles
LAUREUS WORLD TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD
FC Barcelona Women’s Team (Spain) Football - won Champions League, Liga F and the Copa de la Reina
Boston Celtics (USA) Basketball - claimed a record 18th NBA title, one more than their old rivals LA Lakers
McLaren Formula One Team (UK) - secured their first World Constructors’ Championship since 1998
Real Madrid (Spain) Football - won 15th Champions League/European Cup, LaLiga and Supercopa de España
Spain Men’s Football Team - became most successful team in European Championship history with fourth win
USA Basketball Men’s National Team - claimed USA’s fifth straight Olympic gold to emulate the famous Dream Team
LAUREUS WORLD BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR AWARD
Julien Alfred (St Lucia) Athletics - won 100m in debut Olympics to take home St Lucia’s first-ever Olympic gold
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany) Football - Bundesliga champions for first time in their 120-year history after
unbeaten season
Summer McIntosh (Canada) Swimming - won three individual golds and a silver in Paris
Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) Athletics - won 200m gold medal, Botswana’s first-ever Olympic gold medal
Victor Wembanyama (France) Basketball - San Antonio Spurs centre won the NBA Rookie of the Year
Lamine Yamal (Spain) Football - named Best Young Player as Spain won the European Championships
LAUREUS WORLD COMEBACK OF THE YEAR AWARD
Rebeca Andrade (Brazil) Gymnastics - battling back from injury, she won Olympic gold, two silvers and bronze
Caeleb Dressel (USA) Swimming - overcame mental health issues to win two relay golds and a silver in Paris
Lara Gut-Behrami (Switzerland) Alpine Skiing - won overall World Cup title for first time since 2015/16 season
Marc Márquez (Spain) Motor Cycling - returned from serious injury to win three Grand Prix in 2024
Rishabh Pant (India) Cricket - 629 days after a life-threatening car crash, returned to play for India test team
Ariarne Titmus (Australia) Swimming - defended her Olympic 400m freestyle title less than year after being diagnosed with a tumour
LAUREUS WORLD ACTION SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD
Yuto Horigome (Japan) Skateboarding - landed best trick of street competition to secure back-to-back Olympic golds
Chloe Kim (USA) Snowboarding - won her seventh X-Games superpipe gold medal
Caroline Marks (USA) Surfing - 22-year-old won the Olympic surfing gold in Tahiti
Aleksandra Miroslaw (Poland) Speed Climbing - set two world records on her way to Paris gold
Tom Pidcock (UK) Mountain Biking - won back-to-back Olympic titles in the cyclo-cross discipline
Arisa Trew (Australia) Skateboarding - became Australia’s youngest-ever Olympic champion, aged 14
LAUREUS WORLD SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR WITH A DISABILITY AWARD
Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) Para Athletics - won five gold medals and a silver at the Paris Paralympics
Teresa Perales (Spain) Para Swimming - won bronze in Paris, to take her Paralympic medal haul to 28
Tokito Oda (Japan) Wheelchair Tennis - came from match point down to become youngest-ever Paralympic singles winner
Matt Stutzman (USA) Para Archery - became first-ever armless para-archery champion to win Olympic gold
Jiang Yuyan (China) Para Swimming - most-decorated athlete at Paralympics, she won seven golds from seven events
Qu Zimo (China) Wheelchair Badminton - won three golds at World Championship, then two more in Paris
LAUREUS SPORT FOR GOOD AWARD
Programmes nominated by a specialist selection panel; Laureus Academy select the winner
Kick4life (Lesotho) Football x Gender Equity - uses football to reach at-risk children and young people
Figure Skating in Harlem (USA) Figure Skating x Racial Equity - help girls transform their lives through figure skating
Kind Surf (Spain) Surfing x Inclusion - uses surf therapy to support young people at risk of social exclusion due to intellectual disabilities
Liberi Nantes (Italy) Football x Social Inclusion – offers wide range of sporting activities for refugees and political asylum seekers
Paris Basket 18 (France) Basketball x Gender Equity - focuses on development of women’s sport, and also promotes social integration
Street League (UK) Multi-sport x Employability - uses the power of sport to help young people aged 14-30 prepare for employment and training opportunities