Making a mark - Laureus World Breakthrough of Year Award Nominees
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The Nominees for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award are changing the game – explosive talents who are either on top of their sport or on the way there in a hurry moments.
Since Sergio Garcia won the inaugural Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award in 2000, this category has celebrated the disruptors – those athletes whose first great success changes not only their own career, but the sport in which they participate. This year that description can be applied to all six of those on our shortlist, only one of whom will be awarded the Laureus that grants them membership of a club of explosive, emergent talent that includes Rafael Nadal, Lewis Hamilton, Naomi Osaka and Lamine Yamal.
They are empowered, not limited by their youth; they see the champions in front of them not just as heroes but as targets; they take to the arena not just to win but to entertain and inspire.
They are empowered, not limited by their youth; they see the champions in front of them not just as heroes but as targets; they take to the arena not just to win but to entertain and inspire.
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Paris Saint-Germain won five titles in 2025 and there was no doubt about which mattered most. They had spent a generation chasing the Champions League, before succeeding with a youthful team powered by collective spirit over individual talent. However, in the final, one young footballer stole football’s biggest stage. Désiré Doué showed precocious composure and belief when others would have doubted themselves. The 20-year-old French forward assisted in the opening goal and scored two more as PSG defeated Internazionale 5-0 in a statement performance. But silverware rarely tells the full story. Doué’s back catalogue of 27 goals and assists in 2025 shimmers with quality: stepovers, roulettes, curling strikes and top-corner rockets, Doué is a talent brimming with confidence, unafraid to play the biggest games with a smile on his face.
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Lando Norris has built a stellar racing career by combining talent with patience, learning his craft in and showing loyalty to a McLaren team beset with reliability and performance issues for five gruelling seasons. After a significant upgrade to his MCL38 car in 2024, Norris finished second in the Drivers’ Championship. Handed the keys to its 2025 iteration, Norris set the track alight in a thrilling three-way battle with teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull rival Max Verstappen. The Dutchman, already a four-time World Champion and the 2022 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, ramped up the pressure on Norris, but with a near-flawless drive in the final race of the season, Norris clung to the podium behind his two rivals to snatch the crown by two points. With the Constructors' title already secured, McLaren achieved a first World Championship double since 1998 – the year before Norris was born.
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The 19-year-old Brazilian João Fonseca’s reward for navigating the Australian Open qualifiers and reaching his first Grand Slam main draw was a first-round meeting with World No.9, Andrey Rublev. Welcome to the big time, kid. Fonseca delivered a stunning performance, taking two tiebreaks in a straight-set victory (7-6, 6-3, 7-6). That was the catalyst for an unforgettable year, as Fonseca debuted at all four Grand Slams, including third-round appearances at the French Open and Wimbledon. In Basel for the 2025 Swiss Indoors in October the Brazilian dispatched Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in dominant fashion to become the second-youngest player to win an ATP 500 tournament – after a previous winner of this Award, Carlos Alcaraz.
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Oklahoma City Thunder won their first NBA title with a Game 7 win over Eastern Conference winners Indiana Pacers and throughout the season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s individual performances were the foundation upon which his team could thrive. The Canadian was named Most Valuable Player and won the Scoring Champion award by averaging 32.7 points a game. In the NBA Finals, though, the 27-year-old showed he can be compared not just with his peers, but with the sport’s greatest ever players. Breaking the 30-point mark in Games 1, 2 and 5, Gilgeous-Alexander became the first player in playoff history to score 30 points and five assists in 12 post-season games, going one better than Michael Jordan and LeBron James. That individual brilliance saw Gilgeous-Alexander named Finals MVP, placing his name amongst only three others to be named regular season MVP, NBA Finals MVP and Scoring Champion while winning the championship, along with Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal. Not bad company to keep..
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Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t the only Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award Nominee to cement a hat-trick of honours in 2025. One year on from a rookie season that captured the world’s attention, Luke Littler made history by becoming the youngest-ever winner of the PDC World Darts Championship. Having narrowly missed out on the title in 2024, with a 4-7 loss to Luke Humphries, a date with destiny – and three-time World Champion Michael van Gerwen – in January didn’t faze the then 18-year-old. Six months later, a nine-dart semi-final finish took Littler to the World Matchplay final: there, an 18-13 win made him only the fifth player in history to win the PDC career Triple Crown. Only the World No.1 spot eluded him – until a win over old nemesis Humphries at November’s Grand Slam of Darts made Littler the youngest-ever player to top the rankings.
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Littler is still six years older than Yu Zidi: the swimming prodigy from Heibei, China, who rocketed to fame at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships. Reaching the World Championships was remarkable in itself – typically, admission requires that a swimmer be at least 14 years old. But Zidi is no typical case. In Singapore, she competed with athletes twice her age – and only narrowly missed podium places in each of three individual events – finishing fourth in three finals. Despite being replaced in the final for the 4x200m freestyle relay, Zidi won her medal as the team – whom Zidi had helped qualify for the final – finished six tenths of a second ahead of Hungary to take the bronze medal. Zidi left Singapore as the youngest World Championships medallist in history and an athlete who seems destined to take her place on a podium before too long.
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Each of our Nominees have already left their mark on their sport – and some of them are already at its pinnacle. Not one has given us the slightest reason to doubt that their best is yet to come.
They have defeated opponents vastly more experienced. They have thrilled armies of fans who follow them in the arena and online. The world’s media have nominated them for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award. Which one of them will get their hands on the Laureus in Madrid on April 20? That’s down to their toughest audience yet: the 69 Members of the Laureus World Sports Academy who decide our winners.
They have defeated opponents vastly more experienced. They have thrilled armies of fans who follow them in the arena and online. The world’s media have nominated them for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award. Which one of them will get their hands on the Laureus in Madrid on April 20? That’s down to their toughest audience yet: the 69 Members of the Laureus World Sports Academy who decide our winners.
