Novak Djokovic has won the prestigious Sportsman of the Year award for a fifth time, tying Roger Federer’s record. He was nominated alongside other notable athletes such as pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, soccer stars Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi, sprinter Noah Lyles, and Formula One driver Max Verstappen. In the comeback category, Simone Biles won her fourth Laureus World Sports award after taking a two-year break from competition following the Tokyo Games.
The Laureus Awards were inaugurated in 2000 as a means of recognizing outstanding achievements in the world of sports. A panel of 69 esteemed members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, which consists of legendary athletes, chose the recipients. Other winners at this year’s awards included Spain’s women’s soccer team for Team of the Year, Dutch wheelchair tennis player Diede de Groot for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, British soccer player Jude Bellingham for Breakthrough of the Year, and Australian skateboarder Arisa Trew for Action Sportsperson of the Year.