The ESPYS 2026 Voting Period Nears Its End Ahead of Ceremony Airing on ABC Next Week

ESPN recently announced the nominees for the 2026 edition of the annual ESPYS Awards (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards), with large category voting set to end this week. Check out the full list below.

What's happening:

• Towards the end of June, the nominations were announced for this year's ESPYs, which will air this coming Wednesday, July 15 at 8:00 PM Eastern Time on the also-Disney-owned ABC Network.
• The full list of this year's nominees is as follows:
  • Best Athlete, Men's Sports
    • Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
    • Lionel Messi, Inter Miami CF
    • Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
    • Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
  • Best Athlete, Women's Sports
    • Hilary Knight, Hockey
    • Nelly Korda, Golf
    • Mikaela Shiffrin, Ski
    • A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
  • Best Breakthrough Athlete
    • Macklin Celebrini, San Jose Sharks
    • Alysa Liu, Figure Skating
    • Drake Maye, New England Patriots
    • Fernando Mendoza, Indiana Football
  • 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 Skier – first athlete to win six golds at Winter Games
    • Sabastian Sawe, Long-Distance Runner – first to finish a marathon in under two hours
  • Best Championship Performance
    • Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
    • Aerin Frankel, USA Women’s Hockey
    • Connor Hellebuyck, USA Men’s Hockey
    • Teagan Kavan, Texas Longhorns Softball
  • Best Comeback Athlete
    • Anthony Kim, Golf
    • Savy King, Angel City FC
    • Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
    • Kyndal Stowers, Texas A&M Volleyball
  • Best Play
    • Golden Goal for Gold! – Olympic Women’s Hockey
    • Golden Goal for Gold! – Olympic Men’s Hockey
    • UConn stuns Duke with Braylon Mullins’ buzzer-beating 3 – NCAA Men’s March Madness
    • OG Anunoby’s Tip-In – NBA Finals
    • Caleb Williams Game Tying TD vs. Rams – NFL
  • Best Team
    • Las Vegas Aces, WNBA
    • Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB
    • Indiana Hoosiers, NCAA Football
    • Carolina Hurricanes, NHL
    • New York Knicks, NBA
    • Texas Longhorns, NCAA Softball
    • Seattle Seahawks, NFL
    • Team USA Men’s Hockey
    • Team USA Women’s Hockey
  • Best Single-Game Performance
    • Tyce Armstrong, Baylor Baseball – hit three grand slams in a single game, tying a record set 50 years ago
    • 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
    • Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers – pitched six scoreless innings, struck out 10 batters and hit three home runs
  • Best College Athlete, Men's Sports
    • Cameron Boozer, Duke Basketball
    • Fernando Mendoza, Indiana Football
    • Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State Wrestling
    • Donavan Phillip, NC State Soccer
  • Best College Athlete, Women's Sports
    • Olivia Babcock, Pittsburgh Volleyball
    • Lauren Betts, UCLA Basketball
    • Madison Taylor, Northwestern Lacrosse
    • Faith Torrez, Oklahoma Gymnastics
  • Best Athlete with a Disability
    • Jake Adicoff, Para Nordic-Skiing
    • Declan Farmer, Para Hockey
    • Oksana Masters, Para Cross-Country Skiing
    • Susannah Scaroni, Wheelchair Racing
  • Best NFL Player
    • Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns
    • Drake Maye, New England Patriots
    • Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle Seahawks
    • Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
  • Best MLB Player
    • Aaron Judge, New York Yankees
    • Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
    • Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
    • Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Best NHL Player
    • Macklin Celebrini, San Jose Sharks
    • Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
    • Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
    • Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
  • Best NBA Player
    • Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
    • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
    • Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
    • Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
  • Best WNBA Player
    • Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
    • Allisha Gray, Atlanta Dream
    • Alyssa Thomas, Phoenix Mercury
    • A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
  • Best Driver
    • Kimi Antonelli, F1
    • Lando Norris, F1
    • Alex Palou, IndyCar
    • Tyler Reddick, NASCAR
  • Best Fighter
    • Terence Crawford, Boxing
    • Gabriela Fundora, Boxing
    • Justin Gaethje, MMA
    • Claressa Shields, Boxing
  • Best Soccer Player
    • Temwa Chawinga, KC Current
    • Ousmane Dembélé, PSG/France
    • Lionel Messi, Inter Miami CF
    • Alexia Putellas, Spain/Barcelona
  • Best Golfer
    • Nelly Korda
    • Rory McIlroy
    • Scottie Scheffler
    • Jeeno Thitikul
  • Best Tennis Player
    • Carlos Alcaraz
    • Elena Rybakina
    • Aryna Sabalenka
    • Jannik Sinner
• Sports fans can still vote for their favorite athletes online at ESPN.com, which will close July 15 at 12 p.m. ET.
• Voting for Best NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB players closes a few days earlier on July 12 at 11 p.m. ET.
• Saturday Night Live cast member Marcelo Hernández will be hosting this year's ESPY Awards, while last year's were hosted by comedian Shane Gillis.

More ESPN News:

• ESPN Jeopardy! will begin streaming later this month, pitting ESPN talent against sport fans.
• A six-part documentary series about the WNBA's biggest stars has also been announced by ESPN.
• ESPN has reached a multi-year media right agreement with the College Swimming League.