The 2025 Laureus World Sports Awards have announced their finalists.
The list of contenders for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award is a who’s who of sporting royalty, including France’s Olympic hero Léon Marchand, tennis star Carlos Alcaraz, pole vaulting legend Mondo Duplantis, all-conquering Formula One champion Max Verstappen, and Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar.
The shortlist for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award contains some of the greatest athletes not only of the past 12 months, but of all-time. Four-time Laureus Award winner Simone Biles’ magical displays in Paris ensured she became the most decorated gymnast in history, while last year’s winner, Aitana Bonmatí, is one of the names in contention once again after winning the Ballon d’Or and treble with Barcelona. Sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is also shortlisted after winning two golds in Paris.
In 2024, San Antonio Spurs centre Victor Wembanyama was unanimously named the league’s Rookie of the Year and was also the first rookie ever to be selected in the All-Defensive First Team. His groundbreaking season was rounded off with a silver medal as part of the French national team at the 2024 Olympic Games, and he is nominated for this year’s Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award. So, too, is Julien Alfred, who won a first-ever Olympic gold for the Caribbean Island of St Lucia, and fellow history-maker Letsile Tebogo, who delivered a maiden gold for Botswana. They are joined on the shortlist by teenage swimming starlet Summer McIntosh, and the star of Spain’s swashbuckling Euro 2024 squad, Lamine Yamal.
The Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award is made up of athletes whose performances lit up the Paris Paralympic Games. Swimming duo Teresa Perales and Jian Yuhan are among those nominated, as is America Matt Stutzman, who made history in the French capital after becoming the first armless para-archer to win a gold medal. He is joined by wheelchair tennis champion Tokito Oda and Catherine Debrunner, who won five golds as well as the Berlin and London Marathons.
An innate ability to overcome extreme adversity is the common thread running between our athletes nominated for the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award. Gymnast Rebeca Andrade successfully battled through a tortuous struggle with anterior cruciate ligament injures to win gold in Paris. Ski racer Lara Gut-Behrami and swimmer Ariarne Titmus, who defended her Olympic 400m freestyle title shortly after underdoing surgery to remove a tumor on her ovary, are also nominated.
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; at the point of nomination had broken the world record 10 times, since making it 11 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) Formula One – secured their first World Constructors’ Championship since 1998
Real Madrid (Spain) Football – won 15th Champions League/European Cup, La Liga 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) Athletics – won five gold medals and a silver at the Paris Paralympics
Teresa Perales (Spain) 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) Archery – became first-ever armless para-archery champion to win Olympic gold
Jiang Yuyan (China) 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 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
