Biles and Duplantis scoop major honours at 25th Laureus World Sports Awards

Daily Maverick

22-04-2025

It was a year for Olympians to shine in the annual Laureus World Sports awards in Madrid, the 25th staging of the 'Oscars of Sport'.
Pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, who competes under the Swedish flag, claimed the Sportsman of the Year award to become the first male field athlete to scoop the top prize.
Previously, Jamaican sprinting legend Usain Bolt won the Sportsman of the Year award three times, but this was a first for field disciplines. It was also Duplantis' fourth nomination in the category.
Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva won the Sportswoman of the Year award in 2007 and 2009, but Duplantis became the first man from the highly technical discipline to win.
Simone Biles
In keeping with the theme of agility, power, grace and flexibility, US gymnast Simone Biles collected a fourth trophy as Sportswoman of the Year, equalling former tennis great Serena Williams' record.
Biles made a triumphant return to the Olympics in Paris last year, winning three golds and a silver to take her Olympic tally to 11 medals.
In addition to what is now her fourth Sportswoman of the Year title, Biles also won the women's Laureus Comeback of the Year in 2024 after dominating the 2023 World Championships.
'I won this Award for the first time in 2017 and Laureus has been a part of my story since then, and I share their belief that sport has the power to change the world,' Biles said.
'That might be a little girl watching someone like me on television and deciding she can do it, too. Or it could be the incredible work Laureus Sport for Good has undertaken for the past 25 years, all over the world.
'I'd like to thank the legendary members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, who vote for the winners. It must be an almost impossible job, but their unique personal experiences of sport at the highest level gives them an understanding of what it takes to be the very best.
'Their generation has inspired us athletes standing here before you. That is why the Laureus Awards truly are the 'Athletes Awards' and I am proud to have added to my 'Laureus' collection.'
Biles saw off the challenges of world tennis No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, Olympic athletic gold medallists Faith Kipyegon, Sydney McLaughlin-Leverone and Sifan Hassan and Spanish soccer star Aitana Bonmati.
Mondo Duplantis
Duplantis also faced strong challenges from tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz, F1 World Champion Max Verstappen, French Olympic star Léon Marchand and cycling's dominant force in Tadej Pogačar.
It's fair to say that few eyebrows would have been raised if any of the names of the 10 nominees across the two categories had been pulled from the envelopes.
'I am incredibly honoured to have won my first Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award in the sporting capital of Madrid,' Duplantis said.
'The Laureus Awards are the ultimate awards that we athletes want to win. I know, because this is the fourth time I have been nominated – and that proves it's harder to win a Laureus than an Olympic gold medal!
'I'll never forget receiving this beautiful Laureus from the great Novak Djokovic – I'm following in the footsteps of giants like Novak, Usain Bolt, Rafael Nadal and Lionel Messi. The list of past winners of this Award is like a history of sporting greatness over the past 25 years.
'The Laureus Awards represent something more than sporting achievement. The fact that they are voted on by the 69 world-class athletes of the Laureus World Sports Academy elevates them to another level.
These are athletes who know the dedication and commitment that lies behind sporting successes; they have set the mark that athletes like me strive for.'
African triumph
While there were no athletic winners from Africa, Kick4Life was honoured with the Laureus Sport for Good award in recognition of its role in changing the lives of young people in Lesotho.
One of the understated, but important aspects of the Laureus movement is the support it gives to charities and organisations such as Kick4Life, which work to uplift vulnerable children in society.
Since its foundation in 2005, Kick4Life has helped more than 250,000 children and young people in Lesotho through a network of high-impact community programmes focused on education and sustainable livelihoods for young people.
Lesotho has the second-highest prevalence of HIV in the world (23.2%), drastically damaging families and communities while leaving more than 160,000 children orphaned.
Through its football programmes, Kick4Life offers healthcare education and counselling, alongside voluntary testing for more than 25,000 young people. Its community work has empowered women to uphold their rights against gender-based violence, given young people entrepreneurial skills to combat youth unemployment and developed character and life skills through sport.
It has also aided young Lesotho-based footballers in seeking prestigious football scholarships from across the world, through the Kick4Life academy.
Philanthropy
Laureus chairman Sean Fitzpatrick highlighted the philanthropic aspect of the awards. Laureus, which started with a modest outlook a quarter of a century ago, has evolved into a significant operation uplifting children through sport.
While the annual awards are the centrepiece and the showpiece of the Laureus organogram, it's the work it does behind the scenes, by supporting sporting programmes across the globe, that is its major impact.
'We initially came together to celebrate excellence in sport, that's how it was sold to us,' Fitzpatrick recalled.
'Then Nelson Mandela turned up and that sort of changed… I suppose our perspective in terms of what we could do.
'On the Sunday after the awards, about 10 of us came together and we thought, 'well, that was amazing. But we need to do something else. We need to sort of put something together to celebrate what Mandela had said to us.'
'And that was the start of the Sport for Good Foundation. And a year later, we had our first project.'
What did Mandela say? It was simple, really. As a guest at the inaugural Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco in 2000, Madiba said: 'Sport has the power to change the world'.
And Laureus has carried that message every day and in everything it does.
'We now support 300 programmes globally,' Fitzpatrick said. 'None are our projects – people apply for funding. And if they meet the criteria, we fund them.
'We're in 45 countries. We've raised close to a quarter of a billion euros and helped change the lives of about seven million kids just using sport, which is fantastic.
'Initially, there was no grand plan – nothing like that at all.'
Real Madrid win
Real Madrid were honoured with the Laureus World Team of the Year Award after a season in which they won La Liga for a record 36th time, delivered a 15th Uefa Champions League title, and defeated rivals Barcelona 4-1 in the Supercopa de España.
The club continued to sweep aside all before them at the beginning of the 2024-25 season, winning both the Uefa Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup.
Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade completed her inspirational return from career-threatening injuries at the Paris Games, and she is this year's recipient of the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
Andrade considered quitting the sport in the wake of a series of soul-crushing setbacks – including three anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries – and agonising rehabilitations.
Tom Pidcock won the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year after winning the Olympic mountain bike cross-country title. DM
The full list of winners is:
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award: Mondo Duplantis
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award: Simone Biles
Laureus World Team of the Year Award: Real Madrid
Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award: Lamine Yamal