The biggest names in sports and entertainment came together on Thursday night to honor the year’s best, most influential and inspiring athletes at the 2024 ESPY Awards.
Coming into the big show — held once again this year at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood — sports superstars including Olympian Simone Biles, basketball stars Jaylen Brown and Caitlin Clark, tennis pro Coco Gauff, Super Bowl champ Patrick Mahomes and MLB hotshot Shohei Ohtani were among the top nominees at this year’s big awards show.
Additionally, this year’s ESPYs are handing out the traditional trio of honorary awards to special recipients, including the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance and The Pat Tillman Award for Service.
Former NFL pro Steve Gleason is being presented with the Arthur Ashe Award for his work raising awareness of ALS, while University of South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley will be presented with the Jimmy V Award. Meanwhile, Prince Harry is being honored with the Pat Tillman Award for his efforts towards helping military veterans through sports with the Invictus Games.
So who walked away with yet another moment of victory and glory under their belt? Check out the full list of the night’s big winners — marked in bold — below!
BEST ATHLETE, MEN’S SPORTS
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels / Los Angeles Dodgers
Scottie Scheffler, Golf
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
BEST ATHLETE, WOMEN’S SPORTS
Caitlin Clark, Iowa Women’s Basketball
Coco Gauff, Tennis
Nelly Korda, Golf
A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
BEST BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE
Haleigh Bryant, LSU Gymnastics
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
Juju Watkins, USC Women’s Basketball — **WINNER!
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
BEST RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE
49ers Christian McCaffrey scores a TD for a record breaking 17 straight games
Caitlin Clark becomes NCAA’s All Time Scoring Leader breaking Pete Maravich’s Record
Tara VanDerveer, Stanford Women’s Basketball – gets 1,203rd win to pass Coach K for most by any coach in NCAA basketball history
Max Verstappen wins record 10th consecutive race with victory at Italian Grand Prix
BEST CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCE
Michigan’s Blake Corum and Will Johnson, 2024 College Football National Championship MVPs
Kayla Martello, Boston College Women’s Lacrosse
Midge Purce, NJ/NY Gotham FC – NWSL Championship MVP
Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
BEST COMEBACK ATHLETE
Simone Biles, Gymnast
Paige Bueckers, University of Connecticut Women’s Basketball
Joe Flacco, Cleveland Browns
Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
BEST PLAY
Jayda Coleman calls GAME sending Oklahoma to their 4th Straight Championship – NCAA Softball 6/4/2024
Anthony Edwards Dunk of the Year – 3/18/24 – NBA
Alabama scores on 4th & 31 to win vs. Auburn 11/25/23
Lamar Jackson Caught His Own Pass & Ran With it – 1/28/24 – NFL
BEST TEAM
South Carolina Gamecocks, NCAA Women’s Basketball
Kansas City Chiefs, NFL
Michigan Wolverines, NCAA Football
Las Vegas Aces, WNBA
University of Connecticut Huskies, NCAA Men’s Basketball
Oklahoma Sooners, NCAA Softball
Boston Celtics, NBA
Florida Panthers, NHL
Texas Rangers, MLB
BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE, MEN’S SPORTS
Jayden Daniels, LSU Football
Zach Edey, Purdue Men’s Basketball
Ousmane Sylla, Clemson Soccer
Pat Kavanagh, Notre Dame Lacrosse
BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE, WOMEN’S SPORTS
Haleigh Bryant, LSU Gymnastics
Caitlin Clark, Iowa Basketball — **WINNER!
Sarah Franklin, Wisconsin Volleyball
Izzy Scane, Northwestern Lacrosse
BEST ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY
Jaydin Blackwell World Champion Sprinter
Ezra Frech, World Champion High Jumper
Brenna Huckaby Snowboarding Champion
Oksana Masters, Cross-Country Skier/Hand Cyclist
BEST NFL PLAYER
Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs — **WINNER!
Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
BEST MLB PLAYER
Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves
Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels
Corey Seager, Texas Rangers
BEST NHL PLAYER
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
BEST NBA PLAYER
Luka Dončić, Dallas Mavericks
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
BEST WNBA PLAYER
Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty
Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut Sun
A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces — **WINNER!
BEST DRIVER
Ryan Blaney, NASCAR
Matt Hagan, NHRA
Álex Palou, IndyCar
Max Verstappen, F1
BEST UFC FIGHTER
Islam Makhachev
Sean O’Malley
Alex Pereira
Zhang Weili
BEST BOXER
Terence Crawford
Seniesa Estrada
Naoya Inoue
Oleksandr Usyk
BEST SOCCER PLAYER
Aitana Bonmatí, Spain
Naomi Girma, USWNT
Vinicius Junior, Brazil/Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappé, France/Real Madrid
BEST GOLFER
Nelly Korda
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Lilia Vu
BEST TENNIS PLAYER
Carlos Alcaraz
Novak Djokovic
Coco Gauff
Iga Swiatek
The 2024 ESPYS will be hosted by Serena Williams and air live Thursday, July 11 at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC.
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