Indian cricket star Rishabh Pant has been nominated for the prestigious Laureus Comeback of the Year 2025 Award.

Started in 2000, the Laureus World Sports Awards recognises athletes for sporting excellence every year. There are different categories.

The Comeback of the Year honour is bestowed on a sportsperson or team who has overcome injury, illness, adversity, disappointment or failure and risen back to triumph in the sporting arena.

It can also mark a historic fightback by an individual or a team in a sporting event or series of sports events. American gymnastics great Simone Biles, an Olympic champion, won the 2024 Comeback of the Year award.

Rishabh Pant survived a near-fatal car crash in December 2022 but suffered potential career-ending injuries to his head, back and feet, including the right knee. He was fortunate not to lose a leg.

“I felt my time in this world was up,” Pant said about the accident in which he had to be pulled from his vehicle before it burst into flames.

After undergoing multiple surgeries and extended rehabilitation, Pant made a comeback to cricket after almost two years.

On his comeback Test, he scored a match-winning century against Bangladesh, equalling MS Dhoni’s record for the most Test hundreds by an Indian wicketkeeper.

Pant also played a crucial role in helping India win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 shortly after his comeback to the national team. He also became the most expensive player in IPL history at the 2025 mega auction.

“My journey back to competitive cricket was incredibly challenging, so when the moment eventually arrived, the culmination of a long mental and physical battle, was extremely fulfilling,” Pant said.

“It felt like a deeply personal moment, which was a victory of faith and rigorous routines. Being nominated for the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award is very special to me and an acknowledgement to the efforts of everyone involved in my comeback, right from my family, the BCCI, doctors, medical team, support staff, trainers and the fans,” he added.

Pant is joined on the shortlist by gymnast Rebeca Andrade who successfully battled through a tortuous struggle with anterior cruciate ligament injuries to win gold in Paris 2024.

Skiier Lara Gut-Behrami, Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus, who defended her Olympic 400m freestyle title shortly after undergoing surgery to remove a tumour on her ovary, Caeleb Dressel, who won two relay golds in the pool in Paris after a break to address his mental health, and Marc Márquez, the Spanish Moto GP ace who won three Grands Prix after an arm injury that threatened his career, are also on the list.

The upcoming edition will be the 25th anniversary of the Laureus World Sports Awards.

Nominees for the 2025 Laureus World Sports Awards were decided after a vote by the world’s sports media.

It will be up to the 69 sporting icons of the Laureus World Sports Academy to cast their votes and determine who will add their names to the exclusive list of those to receive a coveted Laureus Statuette.

The official ceremony will take place in Madrid, Spain, on April 21. It will be a celebration of the greatest athletic achievements of 2024 and the best sporting moments from the 25 years since the first Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000.

Indian javelin throw star Neeraj Chopra was nominated for the Breakthrough of the Year award in 2022.

Laureus World Sports Awards 2025 nominees – full list

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

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 Sportsperson 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 (People’s Republic of 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 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 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