# 2018 ESPY Awards

The 2018 ESPY Awards were presented at the 26th annual ESPY Awards show, held on July 18, 2018 at 5 PM Pacific at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles and on television nationwide in the United States on ABC at 8 PM Eastern/7 PM Central. On May 22, 2018, it was announced that Danica Patrick would host the event, which made her the first woman to have hosted the show.

## Winners and nominees

These were the nominees for each of the competitive awards. Fans were able to vote online at a dedicated ESPN site.
| Best Male Athlete Alexander Ovechkin – Washington Capitals, NHL Jose Altuve – Houston Astros, MLB Tom Brady – New England Patriots, NFL James Harden – Houston Rockets, NBA | Best Female Athlete Chloe Kim – Snowboarding Julie Ertz – Chicago Red Stars, NWSL and USWNT Sylvia Fowles – Minnesota Lynx, WNBA |
| Best Game USA Women's Ice Hockey vs. Canada Women's Ice Hockey – 2018 Winter Olympics Georgia Bulldogs vs. Oklahoma Sooners – 2018 Rose Bowl Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Dodgers – 2017 World Series, Game 5 | Best Championship Performance Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles – Super Bowl LII Donte DiVincenzo, Villanova Wildcats – 2018 NCAA Division I Basketball National Championship Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors – 2018 NBA Finals George Springer, 2017 Houston Astros season – 2017 World Series |
| Best Breakthrough Athlete Donovan Mitchell – Utah Jazz, NBA Alvin Kamara – New Orleans Saints, NFL Ben Simmons – Philadelphia 76ers, NBA Sloane Stephens – Women's Tennis, WTA | Best Record-Breaking Performance Roger Federer – 8th Wimbledon championship Tom Brady – 187 NFL regular-season wins Aaron Judge – 52 home runs by an MLB rookie Diana Taurasi – First WNBA player to make 1,000 3-pointers |
| Best Team Houston Astros – MLB Golden State Warriors – NBA Notre Dame Fighting Irish - NCAA women's basketball Philadelphia Eagles – NFL Villanova Wildcats – NCAA men's basketball Washington Capitals – NHL USA Women's Ice Hockey – Ice hockey | Best Play Arike Ogunbowale hits 2nd buzzer-beater to win NCAA women's national title Minneapolis Miracle: Stefon Diggs makes last-second TD Catch to send Vikings to NFC championship Philly Special: Eagles fool Patriots with fourth-down touchdown pass to Foles Alabama Tua Tagovailoa's 41-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith in overtime to win national title Florida State's Jessie Warren makes diving double play in Women's College World Series LeBron James nails buzzer-beater 3-pointer to beat the Pacers Evanston Township High school's Blake Peters hits 80-foot buzzer-beater Gareth Bale's bicycle kick goal in Champions League Final Cristiano Ronaldo's bicycle kick goal against Juventus Julian McGarvey makes last-second steal to secure Ardsley High School's Section 1 title LeBron floats a glass-kissing buzzer-beater to beat Raptors Team USA's Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scores the shootout winner to win the gold medal in women's hockey Giannis Antetokounmpo's leapfrog dunk on Tim Hardaway Jr. Acrobatic volleyball play from Autumn Finney out of Decatur High School Golden Knights' William Karlsson through-the-legs goal Jordan Poole hits buzzer-beater to send Michigan to the Sweet 16 |
| Best Moment Minnesota Vikings defeat the New Orleans Saints in a NFC Divisional Playoff game Notre Dame defeats Mississippi State to win NCAA women's basketball title Vegas Golden Knights defeat Winnipeg Jets to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals #16 University of Maryland, Baltimore County upsets # 1 Virginia in NCAA basketball tournament | Best Olympic Moment Shaun White comes from behind to win 3rd Olympic gold medal in men's halfpipe Jessie Diggins & Kikkan Randall win a photo-finish for USA's first gold medal in cross-country skiing U.S. Men's Curling team wins gold medal U.S. Women's Ice Hockey team defeats Canada for gold medal |
| Best NFL Player Tom Brady – New England Patriots Antonio Brown – Pittsburgh Steelers Aaron Donald – Los Angeles Rams Todd Gurley – Los Angeles Rams | Best MLB Player Mike Trout – Los Angeles Angels Jose Altuve – Houston Astros Aaron Judge – New York Yankees Max Scherzer – Washington Nationals |
| Best NHL Player Alexander Ovechkin – Washington Capitals Sidney Crosby – Pittsburgh Penguins Marc-André Fleury – Vegas Golden Knights Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers | Best NBA Player LeBron James – Cleveland Cavaliers Giannis Antetokounmpo – Milwaukee Bucks Anthony Davis – New Orleans Pelicans James Harden – Houston Rockets |
| Best WNBA Player Maya Moore – Minnesota Lynx Skylar Diggins-Smith – Dallas Wings Sylvia Fowles – Minnesota Lynx Candace Parker – Los Angeles Sparks | Best College Athlete Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma Sooners Jalen Brunson, Villanova Wildcats Katie Ledecky, Stanford Cardinal A'ja Wilson, South Carolina Gamecocks |
| Best Male Tennis Player Roger Federer Marin Čilić Rafael Nadal | Best Female Tennis Player Sloane Stephens Simona Halep Garbiñe Muguruza Caroline Wozniacki |
| Best Male Golfer Jordan Spieth Dustin Johnson Patrick Reed Justin Thomas | Best Female Golfer Sung-hyun Park Shanshan Feng Ariya Jutanugarn Inbee Park |
| Best MLS Player Nemanja Nikolić – Chicago Fire Tim Melia – Sporting Kansas City Ike Opara – Sporting Kansas City Diego Valeri – Portland Timbers | Best NWSL Player Megan Rapinoe – Seattle Reign FC Adrianna Franch – Portland Thorns FC Sam Kerr – Chicago Red Stars Sam Mewis – North Carolina Courage |
| Best International Men's Soccer Player Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid C.F./Portugal Lionel Messi – FC Barcelona/Argentina Mohamed Salah – Liverpool F.C./Egypt Neymar Jr. – Paris Saint-Germain F.C./Brazil | Best International Women's Soccer Player Sam Kerr – Chicago Red Stars/Australia Pernille Harder – VfL Wolfsburg/Denmark Lieke Martens – FC Barcelona Femení/Netherlands Jodie Taylor – Seattle Reign FC/England |
| Best Male Olympian Shaun White, Snowboarding Red Gerard, Snowboarding John Shuster, Curling David Wise, Halfpipe Skiing | Best Female Olympian Chloe Kim, Snowboarding Jamie Anderson, Snowboarding Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, Women's ice hockey Mikaela Shiffrin, Skiing |
| Best Fighter Terence Crawford, Boxing Vasyl Lomachenko, Boxing Rose Namajunas, MMA Georges St-Pierre, MMA | Best Driver Martin Truex Jr. – NASCAR Brittany Force – NHRA Lewis Hamilton – Formula One Josef Newgarden – IndyCar |
| Best Jockey José Ortiz Florent Geroux Flavien Prat Mike Smith | Best Bowler Rhino Page Jason Belmonte Tom Smallwood Jesper Svensson |
| Best Male Action Sports Athlete David Wise – Skiing Henrik Harlaut – Skiing Kelvin Hoefler – Skateboarding Marcus Kleveland – Snowboarding | Best Female Action Sports Athlete Chloe Kim – Snowboarding Jamie Anderson – Snowboarding Stephanie Gilmore – Surfing Brighton Zeuner – Skateboarding |
| Best Male Athlete with a Disability Mike Schultz – Snowboarding Daniel Cnossen – Nordic Skiing Declan Farmer – Sled Hockey Andrew Kurka – Alpine Skiing | Best Female Athlete with a Disability Brenna Huckaby – Snowboarding Kendall Gretsch – Nordic Skiing Oksana Masters – Nordic Skiing Tatyana McFadden – Track and Field |

## Honorary awards
### Arthur Ashe Courage Award

* The 141 athletes who spoke out against former team doctor Larry Nassar about sexual abuse

### Jimmy V Perseverance Award

* Jim Kelly

### Pat Tillman Award for Service

* Jake Wood

### Best Coach

* Aaron Feis, Scott Beigel and Chris Hixon – Coaches at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killed in the 2018 shooting

## In Memoriam

British singer Jorja Smith performed "Goodbyes" during the performance.
* Roy Halladay
* Bobby Doerr
* Edwin Jackson
* Augie Garrido
* Jana Novotná
* Billy Cannon
* Rollie Massimino
* Earle Bruce
* Don Baylor
* Jo Jo White
* Tyler Hilinski
* Anne Donovan
* James Hylton
* Terry Glenn
* Rusty Staub
* Mike Slive
* Hal Greer
* Dwight Clark
* Y. A. Tittle
* Gene Michael
* Connie Hawkins
* Jake LaMotta
* Bill Nack
* Keith Jackson
* Don Ohlmeyer
* Chameka Scott
* Bob Wolff
* Dan Gurney
* Ray Emery
* Bill Torrey
* Dick Enberg