The Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year, known as the Alternative Sportsperson of the Year prior to 2007, is an annual award honouring the achievements of individual athletes from the world of action sports. It was first awarded in 2000 as one of the seven constituent awards presented during the Laureus World Sports Awards. The awards are presented by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a global organisation involved in more than 150 charity projects supporting 500,000 young people. The first ceremony was held on 25 May 2000 in Monte Carlo, at which Nelson Mandela gave the keynote speech. Nominations for the award come from a specialist panel. The Laureus World Sports Academy then selects the winner who is presented with a Laureus statuette, created by Cartier, at an annual awards ceremony held in various locations around the world. The awards are considered highly prestigious and are frequently referred to as the sporting equivalent of "Oscars".

The inaugural winner of the Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year, in 2000, was the American multi-sports athlete Shaun Palmer. It has been awarded posthumously on one occasion, in 2006 to the Italian hang glider Angelo d'Arrigo who was killed in an air crash in March of that year. Americans are the most successful with ten awards, while surfers have been recognised most often of any sport with six awards; American surfer Kelly Slater is the individual that has received the award to most times, with four wins. The award has been presented to five women during its history: the Australian surfers Layne Beachley (2004) and Stephanie Gilmore (2010), the British yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur (2005), and the British mountain biker Rachel Atherton (2017), and thrice to the American snowboarder Chloe Kim, who won the award in 2019, 2020 and 2026.

List of winners and nominees + Key Indicates posthumous award

+ Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year winners and nominees Year Image Winner Nationality Sport Nominees Refs 2000 – Multi-sport Tony Hawk () – skateboarding Travis Pastrana () – motorcycling 2001 Exploration Layne Beachley () – surfing Tara Dakides () – snowboarding Davo Karničar () – climbing/extreme skiing John Stamstad () – mountain biking 2002 Skateboarding Will Gadd () – ice climbing/paragliding Mat Hoffman () – BMX Umberto Pelizzari () – freediving Elena Repko () – climbing 2003 Climbing Anne-Caroline Chausson () – mountain biking/BMX Kelly Clark () – snowboarding Pierre-Luc Gagnon () – skateboarding Martin Strel () – long-distance swimming 2004 Surfing Gretchen Bleiler () – snowboarding Anne-Caroline Chausson () – mountain biking/BMX Laird Hamilton () – surfing Ryan Sheckler () – skateboarding Shaun White () – multi-sport 2005 Sailing Darren Berrecloth () – BMX Gunn-Rita Dahle () – mountain biking Dallas Friday () – wakeboarding Mike Horn () – exploration Shane McConkey () – freeskiing 2006 Hang gliding Chelsea Georgeson () – surfing Tanner Hall () – freeskiing Kelly Slater () – surfing Jeremy Stenberg () – motocross Danny Way () – skateboarding 2007 Surfing Aaron Hadlow () – kiteboarding Travis Pastrana () – rallying/motorcycling Kevin Pritchard () – windsurfing Gisela Pulido () – kiteboarding Shaun White () – multi-sport 2008 Multi-sport Daniel Dhers () – BMX Mick Fanning () – surfing Stephanie Gilmore () – surfing Aaron Hadlow () – kiteboarding Ryan Sheckler () – skateboarding 2009 Surfing Julien Absalon () – mountain biking Stephanie Gilmore () – surfing Aaron Hadlow () – kiteboarding Tanner Hall () – freeskiing Shaun White () – multi-sport 2010 Surfing Antoine Albeau () – windsurfing Chris Cole () – skateboarding Mick Fanning () – surfing Greg Long () – surfing Danny MacAskill () – mountain bike trials 2011 Surfing Jamie Bestwick () – BMX Stephanie Gilmore () – surfing Levi Sherwood () – motocross Shaun White () – multi-sport Victor Fernandez () – windsurfing 2012 Surfing Jamie Bestwick () – BMX Philip Köster () – windsurfing Carissa Moore () – surfing Travis Rice () – snowboarding Shaun White () – multi-sport 2013 Adventure Jamie Bestwick () – BMX Julie Bresset () – mountain biking Stephanie Gilmore () – surfing Philip Köster () – windsurfing Joel Parkinson () – surfing 2014 – BMX Bob Burnquist () – skateboarding Mick Fanning () – surfing John John Florence () – surfing Maya Gabeira () – surfing Shaun White () – snowboarding 2015 Skydiving Stephanie Gilmore () – surfing Nyjah Huston () – skateboarding Sage Kotsenburg () – snowboarding Danny MacAskill () – mountain bike trials Gabriel Medina () – surfing 2016 Ironman triathlon Rachel Atherton () – mountain biking Bob Burnquist () – skateboarding Adriano De Souza () – surfing Mick Fanning () – surfing Chloe Kim () – snowboarding 2017 Mountain biking Pedro Barros () – skateboarding John John Florence () – surfing Chloe Kim () – snowboarding Kelly Sildaru () – freestyle skiing Tyler Wright () – surfing 2018 Sailing John John Florence () – surfing Anna Gasser () – snowboarding Nyjah Huston () – skateboarding Mark McMorris () – snowboarding Tyler Wright () – surfing 2019 Snowboarding Stephanie Gilmore () – surfing Gabriel Medina () – surfing Maya Gabeira () – surfing Shaun White () – multi-sport Anna Gasser () – snowboarding 2020 Snowboarding Carissa Moore () – surfing Italo Ferreira () – surfing Mark McMorris () – snowboarding Nyjah Huston () – skateboarding Rayssa Leal () – skateboarding 2021 Not awarded 2022 – Cyclist Italo Ferreira () – surfing Alberto Ginés () - climbing Yuto Horigome () – skateboarding Carissa Moore () – surfing Momiji Nishiya () – skateboarding 2023 Skiing Justine Dupont () – surfing Stephanie Gilmore () – surfing Chloe Kim () – snowboarding Rayssa Leal () – skateboarding Filipe Toledo () – surfing 2024 Skateboarding Rayssa Leal () – skateboarding Caroline Marks () – surfing Kirsten Neuschäfer () – sailing Beth Shriever () – bmx Filipe Toledo () – surfing 2025 mountain bikingYuto Horigome () – skateboarding Chloe Kim () – snowboarding Caroline Marks () – surfing Aleksandra Mirosław () – climbing Arisa Trew () – skateboarding 2026 SnowboardingYago Dora () – surfing Kílian Jornet () – ultra running Rayssa Leal () – skateboarding Molly Picklum () – surfing Tom Pidcock () – mountain biking

Statistics Statistics are correct as of 2026 awards.

+ Winners by nationality Country Winners Nominations 11 45 5 12 3 13 1 17 1 4 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 6 0 3 0 2 0 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1

References