What are the Laureus World Sports Awards?
The Laureus World Sports Awards are sport's cross-discipline honours, first presented in 2000. They cut across every sport at once: World Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year, Team of the Year, Breakthrough of the Year, Comeback of the Year, Action Sportsperson of the Year, World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, and a Lifetime Achievement Award.[1] [2]
Who votes?
The Laureus World Sports Academy, a body of former world champions and Olympic medallists drawn from across sport. A global panel of sports journalists produces the nominations; the Academy members then vote on the shortlists. The structure — champions voting on champions — is what distinguishes Laureus from the fan-voted and media-voted awards around it.[1] [3]
Who won in 2026?
At the ceremony in Madrid on 20 April 2026, Carlos Alcaraz was named World Sportsman of the Year and Aryna Sabalenka World Sportswoman of the Year, both from tennis. Paris Saint-Germain took Team of the Year; Lando Norris won Breakthrough of the Year and Rory McIlroy Comeback of the Year; Chloe Kim was named Action Sportsperson and Lamine Yamal Young Sportsperson of the Year, with Gabriel Araújo honoured in the disability category and Nadia Comăneci given the Lifetime Achievement Award.[2] [4]
Why does it matter?
Because the field is every sport and every country at once. A federation award names the best in one discipline; Laureus names one man and one woman across all of them, chosen by an academy whose members held comparable positions themselves. It is the closest thing world sport has to a single annual verdict.[1] [2]
References
- Laureus — World Sports Awards. Accessed August 2026.
- Olympics.com — Alcaraz and Sabalenka win 2026 Laureus Awards. Accessed August 2026.
- Laureus — Past winners. Accessed August 2026.
- NBC Sports — 2026 Laureus Awards winners list. Accessed August 2026.