Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year
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 nine awards, while surfers have been recognised most often of any sport with six awards; American surfer Kelly Slater is the only individual to have received the award on multiple occasions with four wins. The award has been presented to five women during its history: the Australian surfers Layne Beachley and Stephanie Gilmore, the British yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur, and the British mountain biker Rachel Atherton, and twice to the American snowboarder Chloe Kim, who won the award in 2019 and 2020.
List of 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 |