(Left to right) Mondo Duplantis, Simone Biles and Leon Marchand

(Getty Images)

Paris 2024 Olympic champions Simone Biles, Leon Marchand and Mondo Duplantis headline this year’s nominees for the 2025 Laureus World Sports Awards.

The gold medallists are among several Olympic stars who shone at last year’s Games in France with Julien Alfred, Victor Wembanyama, and skateboarders Yuto Horigome and Arisa Trew also shortlisted.

The nominees for the six Laureus categories followed a vote in December by the Laureus Global Media Panel made up of 1,300 members, while the International Paralympic Committee also voted for the World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award.

Marchand and Duplantis will have their standout Olympic performances in the spotlight as they go head-to-head for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award.

Joining them on the shortlist is fellow Olympic medallist Carlos Alcaraz, whose tennis silver medal in Paris, and Wimbledon and French Open titles, sees him get the nod. Triple crown winner Tadej Pogacar and four-time Formula One World Champion Max Verstappen round off the five-strong list.

Football‘s Aitana Bonmati, winner of the 2024 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award, is again on the shortlist for this year’s prize award.

Also nominated in the category are US and Australian Open winner Aryna Sabalenka, 11-time Olympic artistic gymnast medallist Biles; Sifan Hassan, who won Olympic bronze at both 5,000 and 10,000 metres and women’s marathon gold; three-time Olympic 1,5000 metre champion Faith Kipygeon and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone for her world-record breaking gold in the 400m and 4x400m relay-winning effort.

Continuing the strong showing by athletics stars across the categories is St Lucia’s Alfred who is nominated for the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award. She became the first-ever Olympic gold medallist from the Caribbean Island after winning the 100m in Paris.

She is joined on the shortlist in the category by fellow history-maker Letsile Tebogo, who achieved the same feat for Botswana in the men’s 200m. Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh is also nominated for her three Olympic golds with French basketball phenom Wembanyama joining her after backing up an impressive NBA rookie season with an Olympic silver on his homecourt in Paris.

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Those who denied Wembanyama a perfect summer at the Olympics – the United States’ men’s basketball team – have been recognised in the Laureus World Team of the Year Award. Led by LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant, Team USA secured the country its fifth-consecutive Olympic title.

They are nominated alongside McLaren Formula One Team, FC Barcelona Women’s Football Team, Spain Men’s Football Team and NBA Champions, the Boston Celtics.

The Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award nominees also have a strong Olympic flavour.

Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, and swimmers Caeleb Dressel and Ariarne Titmus, were all nominated in the former category for navigating their way back onto the Olympic stage following injuries and mental health issues. Andrade bested Biles to the gold in the women’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise; Titmus became the first woman in nearly a century to successfully defend the Olympic 400m freestyle title and Dressel left Paris with three medals, after a hiatus to look after his mental wellbeing.

Trew, meanwhile, is back on the shortlist for the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award.

The 14-year-old became Australia’s youngest-ever Olympic champion in Paris after winning the women’s park event. She is joined bey fellow skateboarder Horigome, who was named after defending his title from Tokyo in the men’s street contest.

Surfer Caroline Marks, Aleksandra Miroslaw and Tom Pidcock are also listed for their respective Olympic exploits, while US snowboarder Chloe Kim, winner of the award in 2019 and 2020, has been shortlisted for winning her seventh X Games superpipe gold to tie Kelly Clark for the record of most X Games wins.

The award winners will be announced at a ceremony in Madrid, Spain, on Monday 21 April 2025.

Find the complete breakdown of nominees below.

Fan Q&A with Olympic Gold medallist Arisa Trew

Laureus World Sport Awards 2025: Full list of Nominees

Laureus World Sportsman Of The Year Award

Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) Tennis
Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) Athletics
Léon Marchand (France) Swimming
Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) Cycling
Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Motor Racing

Laureus World Sportswoman Of The Year Award

Simone Biles (USA) Gymnastics
Aitana Bonmatí (Spain) Football
Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) Athletics
Faith Kipyegon (Kenya) Athletics
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) Athletics
Aryna Sabalenka Tennis

Laureus World Team Of The Year Award

FC Barcelona Women’s Team (Spain)
Boston Celtics (USA)
McLaren Formula One Team (UK)
Real Madrid (Spain)
Spain Men’s Football Team
USA Basketball Men’s National Team

Laureus World Breakthrough Of The Year Award

Julien Alfred (St Lucia) Athletics
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany) Football team
Summer McIntosh (Canada) Swimming
Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) Athletics
Victor Wembanyama (France) Basketball
Lamine Yamal (Spain) Football

Laureus World Comeback Of The Year Award

Rebeca Andrade (Brazil) Gymnastics
Caeleb Dressel (USA) Swimming
Lara Gut-Behrami (Switzerland) Alpine Skiing
Marc Márquez (Spain) Motor Cycling
Rishabh Pant (India) Cricket
Ariarne Titmus (Australia) Swimming

Laureus World Action Sportsperson Of The Year Award

Yuto Horigome (Japan) Skateboarding
Chloe Kim (USA) Snowboarding
Caroline Marks (USA) Surfing
Aleksandra Miroslaw (Poland) Speed Climbing
Tom Pidcock (UK) Mountain Biking
Arisa Trew (Australia) Skateboarding

Laureus World Sportsperson Of The Year With A Disability Award

Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) Para Athletics
Teresa Perales (Spain) Para Swimming
Tokito Oda (Japan) Wheelchair Tennis
Matt Stutzman (USA) Para Archery
Jiang Yuyan (China) Para Swimming
Qu Zi Mo (China) Wheelchair Badminton

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 a 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

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Laureus World Sport Awards 2025: Olympic champions Simone Biles, Leon Marchand, Mondo Duplantis shortlisted