2026 ESPY Awards

Comedian Marcello Hernández hosted the ceremony at the David H. Koch Theater in New York City.^[1]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

The nominations were announced in June 2026, with the winners announced during the ceremony.^[2][3]

Best Athlete, Men's Sports Jalen Brunson – New York Knicks, NBA Matthew Stafford – Los Angeles Rams, NFL Shohei Ohtani – Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB Lionel Messi – Inter Miami FC, MLS	Best Athlete, Women's Sports A'ja Wilson – Las Vegas Aces, WNBA Mikaela Shiffrin – Alpine Skiing Hilary Knight – USA Hockey/PWHL Detroit, PWHL Nelly Korda – Golf
Best Breakthrough Athlete Alysa Liu – Figure Skating Fernando Mendoza – Indiana Hoosiers football Drake Maye – New England Patriots, NFL Macklin Celebrini – San Jose Sharks, NHL	Best Comeback Athlete Christian McCaffrey – San Francisco 49ers, NFL Anthony Kim – Golf Kyndal Stowers – Texas A&M volleyball Savy King – Angel City FC, NWSL
Best College Athlete, Men's Sports Fernando Mendoza – Indiana football Cameron Boozer – Duke basketball Mitchell Mesenbrink – Penn State wrestling Donavan Phillip – NC State soccer	Best College Athlete, Women's Sports Lauren Betts – UCLA basketball Madison Taylor – Northwestern lacrosse Faith Torrez – Oklahoma gymnastics Olivia Babcock – Pittsburgh volleyball
Best Team New York Knicks – NBA Seattle Seahawks – NFL Texas Longhorns – Women's College World Series Indiana Hoosiers – NCAA Football Las Vegas Aces – WNBA Carolina Hurricanes – NHL Los Angeles Dodgers – MLB Team USA Women's Hockey – 2026 Winter Olympics Team USA Men's Hockey – 2026 Winter Olympics	Best Championship Performance Jalen Brunson – New York Knicks Teagan Kavan – Texas Longhorns softball Aerin Frankel – USA Women's Hockey Connor Hellebuyck – USA Men's Hockey
Best Athlete with a Disability Declan Farmer – Sledge hockey Jake Adicoff – Paralympic Nordic skiing Oksana Masters – Paralympic cross-country skiing Susannah Scaroni – Wheelchair racing	Best Play OG Anunoby – Tip-In to win game 4 of the NBA Finals USA Women's Hockey – Golden Goal for Gold USA Men's Hockey – Golden Goal for Gold Braylon Mullins – Buzzer-beater 3 for UConn to beat Duke in NCAA Men's March Madness Caleb Williams – Game Tying TD vs. Rams
Best Record-Breaking Performance Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns – broke the NFL single-season sack record Megan Grant, UCLA Softball – broke the NCAA single-season softball home run record Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Cross-country skiing – first athlete to win six gold medals at Winter Olympics Sabastian Sawe, Long-distance running – first to finish a marathon in under two hours	Best Single-Game Performance Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers – pitched six scoreless innings, struck out ten batters and hit three home runs Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat – scored 83 points for the Miami Heat in a 150–129 win against the Washington Wizards, recording the second-highest single-game total in NBA history Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame basketball – broke the NCAA record for most steals (16) in a game Tyce Armstrong, Baylor baseball – hit three grand slams in a single game, tying a record set 50 years earlier
Best NFL Player Myles Garrett – Cleveland Browns Drake Maye – New England Patriots Jaxon Smith-Njigba – Seattle Seahawks Matthew Stafford – Los Angeles Rams	Best NHL Player Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado Avalanche Macklin Celebrini – San Jose Sharks
Best NBA Player Jalen Brunson – New York Knicks Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Oklahoma City Thunder Nikola Jokić – Denver Nuggets Victor Wembanyama – San Antonio Spurs	Best WNBA Player A'ja Wilson – Las Vegas Aces Napheesa Collier – Minnesota Lynx Allisha Gray – Atlanta Dream Alyssa Thomas – Phoenix Mercury
Best MLB Player Shohei Ohtani – Los Angeles Dodgers Aaron Judge – New York Yankees Cal Raleigh – Seattle Mariners Paul Skenes – Pittsburgh Pirates	Best Soccer Player Lionel Messi – Inter Miami CF Temwa Chawinga – KC Current Ousmane Dembélé – PSG/France Alexia Putellas – FC Barcelona/Spain
Best Golfer Scottie Scheffler Rory McIlroy Nelly Korda Jeeno Thitikul	Best Fighter Terence Crawford – Boxing Claressa Shields – Boxing Gabriela Fundora – Boxing Justin Gaethje – MMA
Best Driver Lando Norris – Formula One Álex Palou – IndyCar Kimi Antonelli – Formula One Tyler Reddick – NASCAR	Best Tennis Player Carlos Alcaraz Jannik Sinner Aryna Sabalenka Elena Rybakina

Jimmy V Award

• Jim Abbott

Arthur Ashe Courage Award

• Jason Collins^[a]

Pat Tillman Award for Service

• Scott Ruskan

Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award

• Stephen Curry
  • Adam Thielen
  • Damar Hamlin

Sports Philanthropist of the Year Award

• Laurie Tisch

Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year

• Baltimore Ravens
  • Charlotte Hornets
  • Cleveland Browns
  • Seattle Storm

Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award

• Julia Howe
• Kelis Armstrong
• Sam Phillips

Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award

• Jeffrey Lurie

The event featured musical performances by hip-hop artists De La Soul, Ghostface Killah, and Slick Rick, alongside a special appearance by the Savannah Bananas baseball team.^[4]

Presenters

^{[citation needed]}

• Simone Biles
• Allyson Felix
• Will Ferrell
• Eileen Gu
• Tiffany Haddish
• Kevin Hart
• DJ Khaled
• Chloe Kim
• Billie Jean King
• Alysa Liu
• Ilona Maher
• Pat McAfee
• Tracy Morgan
• Jake Paul
• Robin Roberts
• Jayson Tatum
• Mike Tyson
• Lindsey Vonn

No in memoriam segment was held during the ceremony. Recently deceased athletes such as Kyle Busch were not mentioned during the broadcast. Despite this, Jason Collins was posthumously awarded with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.^{[citation needed]}