Carlos Alcaraz to Lamine Yamal: Full list of nominees for Laureus World Sports Awards 2025

Jannik Sinner’s name was removed from the Sportsman of the Year award nominees following his doping ban.

Nominees for the Laureus World Sports Awards were announced on March 03 (Monday). The nominees were decided after a vote by the world’s sports media. The awards ceremony will take place in in Madrid, Spain, on April 21 and be a celebration of the greatest athletic achievements of 2024 and the best sporting moments from the 25 years since the first Laureus World Sports Awards, in 2000.

It will be up to the 69 sporting icons of the Laureus World Sports Academy to cast their votes and determine who will add their names to the exclusive list of those to receive a coveted Laureus Statuette.

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 great Mondo Duplantis, all-conquering Formula One champion Max Verstappen, and Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar.

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.

Also Read: Rishabh Pant nominated for Laureus World Comeback of the Year award

The McLaren Formula 1 team stand alone as the sole Nominee for the Laureus World Team of the Year Award not to hail from either Spain or the USA, but they more than merit their place after ending a 26-year wait to win the 2024 Constructors’ World Championship. Among the other representatives on the shortlist are Real Madrid and the Boston Celtics.

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 American 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.

Tom Pidcock’s recovery from a puncture in the early stages of the Olympic cross-country mountain biking race to win a second gold earns him a place on the shortlist for the Laureus Action Sportsperson of the Year Award, alongside two gold-medal winning skateboarders – Yuto Horigome and last year’s Award winner Arisa Trew, plus snowboarder Chloe Kim, surfer Caroline Marks and Polish speed climber Aleksandra Miroslaw.

In addition to the athlete awards, each year the Laureus Sport for Good Award celebrates the work carried out by a community-based programme which has helped to transform the lives of children and young people through the power of sport. Over 300 organisations in more than 40 countries carry out this inspiring work every day, and six of these have been shortlisted for this year’s Award.

Also Read: Jannik Sinner revoked from Laureus Sportsman Year award nomination after doping ban

Paris Basket 18 is a neighbourhood basketball club which impacts over 3,500 young people every year. Its participants benefit from programmes which seek to pass on values such as respect and tolerance through combining sport and education.

They are joined on this year’s inspirational shortlist by: Kick4life, a charity using football to reach at-risk children in Lesotho; Figure Skating Harlem, which uses figure skating to support girls in the New York neighbourhood to develop confidence and leadership skills; Kind Surf, a programme helping young people in Valencia and Zaurutz, Spain, at risk of social exclusion due to intellectual disabilities; Liberi Nantes, which uses football as a lifeline for refugees and political asylum seekers in Rome, Italy; and UK-based Street League, which helps people from 14-30 secure employment and training opportunities.

Laureus World Sports Awards 2025 full list of nominees

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) 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 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

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