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Sport Nation
Year in Review: Most outstanding international athlete of 2025
Sport Nation • December 28th, 2025 7:00 am
Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani was named MVP for the third straight season | Photo: AP
With a blockbuster 12 months of sports in the rear-view mirror, what better way to wind up than by reflecting on some of the stellar achievements of a memorable year of Kiwi excellence.
Today, the Sport Nation crew cast their vote for best international athlete of 2025.
Shohei Ohtani
Riccardo Ball, Afternoons co-host: The bloke is a cheat code in Major League Baseball - hits homers, strikes batters out and sets records.
'Shotime' led the Dodgers to a World Series title in an absolute must watch seven-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays, going back-to-back after dispatching the Yankees last year.
Robbie McFarlane, Scotty & Izzy producer: I can’t go past Ohtani as my best international athlete, especially after watching him single-handedly dismantle my Milwaukee Brewers in game 4 of the NLCS.
As freakish as it is, in general, that he’s able to consistently perform as one of the game’s best batters and pitchers, that game cemented him in my mind as a great as he hit three home runs and struck out 10 batters to power the LA Dodgers to the World Series.
Finn James, Millsy & Guy producer: I’m not the biggest baseball fan in the world but it’s pretty hard to look past what LA Dodger Shohei Ohtani was able to produce this year. Winning a World Series with the LA Dodgers in itself is a remarkable achievement, but considering the types of performances Ohtani was able to pull out this year, you just sit there in awe regardless whether you're a purist or not.
Stephen Foote, Digital producer: Shohei by name, Showtime by nature. The Japanese phenomenon continued to justify his historic pricetag this season with a freakish display from both the batting box and pitching mound. A generational talent, in every sense of the word.
Armand Duplantis
Sam Ackerman, Scotty & Izzy producer: Duplantis broke the men’s world record four times this year – an unreal achievement and pure theatre on every occasion. Each time by just one centimetre. Why? Because the Swedish superstar earns US$100,000 for each world record achieved. So by doing it one at time rather than in one hit, he turned $100K into $400K this year alone – genius.
Considering he’s broken the WR 14 times in his career so far, he might send the governing body broke before he retires.
Mark Stafford, Afternoons host: 2025 World Champion. World Indoor Champion. Diamond League Champion.
Duplantis has cleared six metres 100 times, he has broken his own world record 14 times, and when you consider he is only 26 years old, the old saying “the sky's the limit” may well be true for this human flyer.
I’m pleased the Laureus Awards agree with me that he is the international athlete of the year.
Rory McIlroy
Jacob Scott, Afternoons producer: I'm making my section based purely on the performance they gave in a career-defining moment. In my eyes, It can be nobody else other than Rory McIlroy.
His performance at The Masters was something I'll tell my grandkids about. Finally getting over the hump that alluded him was truly emotional - and why I love sport.
Rory McIlory on resetting his career goals after becoming a Grand Slam champion | Sport Nation
Max Verstappen
Super Max Verstappen came so close to completing the comeback to become the five-time World Champion. The fact that the Dutchman managed to finish within two points of Lando Norris despite a rough patch of results, including 18th in the Austrian GP and 10th in the following Spanish GP, shows the class of the man.
8 poles, 8 wins, and 15 podium finishes out of 24 rounds is seriously impressive.
He gets extra style points from me for being a bad ass sim racer, a devoted father, plus there’s the whole business of getting his Nordschleifelicense mid-season under the pseudonym ‘Franz Hermann’ to race a Ferrari GT3 at the Nürburgring, where he earned the manufacturer their first win in the endurance series in eight years.
He's crushing side quests to prepare for the endgame after F1.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Henry Lee, Millsy & Guy producer: Ohtani is the correct answer, but that's boring, so it's the year of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for me.
Sure, as an OKC fan I'm a tad biased. But to lead the NBA in scoring, be crowned the MVP of the league, and lead your team to their first NBA Championship, it's hard to go past the Canadian.
He's started the new season with some incredible stats, including his team being 25-1 to start the season at the time of writing.
He averages 32.8 points per game this season despite hardly playing four quarters due to his team being so dominant. It's nuts.
