Simone Biles Nominated for 2025 Laureus Sportswoman of the Year

Nine nominees for the coveted 2025 Laureus World Sports Awards, chosen by the global sports media, mark a momentous year for American sports.

The ceremony, which will mark the 25th anniversary of the Awards, will honor the finest sporting accomplishments of 2024 and will be held in Madrid on April 21. It will include world-record breakers, basketball champions, and heroes from the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

Simone Biles Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award

The Boston Celtics and the USA Basketball Men’s National Team are on the shortlist for the Laureus World Team of the Year Award.

Gymnast Simone Biles and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone are nominated for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, a Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year nominee, praised her Olympic achievements, including her 400m hurdles gold and gold-medal winning 400m relay team. She acknowledged the support of her Team USA teammates and the honor of standing alongside them.

Caeleb Dressel is on the shortlist for the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award, and Chloe Kim and Caroline Marks are both vying for the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award.

Figure Skating Harlem is one of six grassroots projects nominated for the Laureus Sport for Good Award, while Matt Stutzman is nominated for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award after winning gold at the Paris Paralympics.

The 69 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy will vote to decide who will receive a prestigious Laureus Statuette.

After withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics and taking a long break from competition, Simone Biles, the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award nominee (which she has won three times before), referred to the Paris Games as her “redemption tour.”

The 27-year-old returned to form in Paris, winning four medals and becoming the most decorated gymnast ever.

Nadia Comăneci, a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy, praised Simone Biles for her exemplary qualities as an elite athlete and highlighted her inspiring journey from the Tokyo Games to winning four medals in Paris.

She emphasized that being nominated for a Laureus World Sports Award is a prestigious honor, which Biles rightly deserves.

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

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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 SPORTPERSON 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 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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