# 2021 ESPY Awards

The 2021 ESPY Awards were the 29th annual ceremony of the ESPY Award, held on July 10, 2021 at The Rooftop at Pier 17 in New York City and broadcast on ABC. Actor Anthony Mackie served as the host. The awards aired on ESPN and ESPN2 on July 11, and a two-hour version aired on ESPN July 13.

## Format

After the COVID-19 pandemic made the 2020 ESPYs a virtual taped event, it was a live in-person show with many of the winners showing up to accept their awards. The ESPYs brought back many of the categories from 2019; however, Best Upset, Best Esports Moment and Best Viral Moment were not awarded.
Several categories were renamed and/or changed in scope:
* Best Male Athlete and Best Female Athlete are now Best Athlete, Men's Sports and Best Athlete, Women's Sports, respectively.
* The Best Male and Female College Athlete awards, last presented in 2017, were reinstated and respectively renamed Best College Athlete, Men's Sports and Best College Athlete, Women's Sports.
* The Best International Soccer Player awards for men and women, previously presented to soccer players who were either born outside the U.S. or were not U.S. citizens, were renamed Best International Athlete, Men's Soccer and Best International Athlete, Women's Soccer. In addition, these awards are now presented to individuals who play at club level in leagues outside of the U.S. soccer pyramid, regardless of the players' nationalities.

## Winners and nominees

| Best Athlete, Men's Sports Tom Brady – Tampa Bay Buccaneers, NFL Lewis Hamilton – Formula One Nikola Jokic – Denver Nuggets, NBA Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers, NHL | Best Athlete, Women's Sports Naomi Osaka – Women's Tennis, WTA Simone Biles – gymnastics Amanda Nunes – mixed martial arts, UFC Breanna Stewart – Seattle Storm, WNBA |
| Best Breakthrough Athlete LaMelo Ball – Charlotte Hornets, NBA Justin Herbert – Los Angeles Chargers, NFL Chase Young – Washington Football Team, NFL Crystal Dangerfield – Minnesota Lynx, WNBA | Best Team Tampa Bay Buccaneers – NFL Alabama Crimson Tide football, NCAA Division I FBS Baylor Bears basketball, NCAA men's basketball Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB Oklahoma Sooners softball, winner of the 2021 Women's College World Series Seattle Storm, WNBA Stanford Cardinal women's basketball, NCAA women's basketball |
| Best Game NCAA men's Final Four Gonzaga defeats UCLA 93-90 in overtime NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Stanford defeats Arizona 54–53 NFL Week 14: Baltimore Ravens 47, Cleveland Browns 42 NHL Playoffs Game 4: Winnipeg Jets sweep Edmonton Oilers in triple OT | Best Play Kyler Murray's "Hail Murray" pass to DeAndre Hopkins Finalists: unseeded Marshall scores the game winner in overtime to win NCAA College Cup men's soccer tournament DK Metcalf chases down Budda Baker Simone Biles becomes the first gymnast to execute a Yurchenko Double Pike vault in competition |
| Best College Athlete, Men's Sports DeVonta Smith – Alabama Gloire Amanda – Oregon State soccer Luka Garza – Iowa basketball Trevor Lawrence – Clemson football | Best College Athlete, Women's Sports Paige Bueckers – UConn basketball Odicci Alexander – James Madison softball Jaelin Howell – Florida State soccer Madison Lilley – Kentucky volleyball |
| Best Record-Breaking Performance Russell Westbrook surpassing Oscar Robertson's 181 career triple-doubles record Stanford's Tara VanDerveer passes Pat Summitt for most wins in NCAA Women's basketball history (1,099) Alabama football player DeVonta Smith set records for title game catches (12) and touchdown receptions (three) PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson became the oldest winner of a major tournament with his victory at age 50 | Best NFL Player Tom Brady – Tampa Bay Buccaneers Aaron Donald – Los Angeles Rams Derrick Henry – Tennessee Titans Aaron Rodgers – Green Bay Packers |
| Best MLB Player Shohei Ohtani – Los Angeles Angels Jose Abreu - Chicago White Sox Trevor Bauer - Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers Corey Seager - Los Angeles Dodgers | Best NBA Player Stephen Curry – Golden State Warriors Luka Dončić – Dallas Mavericks Nikola Jokić – Denver Nuggets Chris Paul – Phoenix Suns |
| Best NHL Player Patrick Kane – Chicago Blackhawks Auston Matthews – Toronto Maple Leafs Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers Andrei Vasilevskiy – Tampa Bay Lightning | Best WNBA Player Breanna Stewart – Seattle Storm Arike Ogunbowale – Dallas Wings Candace Parker – Los Angeles Sparks, Chicago Sky A'ja Wilson – Las Vegas Aces |
| Best MLS Player Diego Rossi – Los Angeles FC Andre Blake – Philadelphia Union Alejandro Pozuelo – Toronto FC Lucas Zelarayán – Columbus Crew | Best NWSL Player Julie Ertz – Chicago Red Stars Rachel Daly – Houston Dash Kailen Sheridan – NJ/NY Gotham FC Lynn Williams – North Carolina Courage |
| Best International Athlete, Men's Soccer Cristiano Ronaldo – Juventus/Portugal Kylian Mbappé – Paris Saint-Germain/France Lionel Messi – Barcelona/Argentina Mohamed Salah – Liverpool/Egypt | Best International Athlete, Women's Soccer Sam Mewis – Manchester City/United States Sam Kerr – Chelsea/Australia Fran Kirby – Chelsea/England Vivianne Miedema – Arsenal/Netherlands |
| Best Driver Lewis Hamilton – Formula One Scott Dixon, IndyCar Chase Elliott, NASCAR Erica Enders, NHRA | Best Jockey Joel Rosario Irad Ortiz Flavien Prat John Velazquez |
| Best Male Golfer Phil Mickelson Bryson DeChambeau Dustin Johnson Hideki Matsuyama | Best Female Golfer Sei Young Kim Jin Young Ko Nelly Korda Inbee Park |
| Best Boxer Tyson Fury Canelo Álvarez Teófimo López Claressa Shields | Best MMA Fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov Rose Namajunas Francis Ngannou Amanda Nunes |
| Best Male Action Sports Athlete Gabriel Medina – Surfing Marcus Kleveland – Snowboarding Yūto Totsuka – Snowboarding Cooper Webb – Supercross | Best Female Action Sports Athlete Chloe Kim – Snowboarding Eileen Gu – Skiing Carissa Moore – Surfing Zoi Sadowski-Synnott – Snowboarding |
| Best Athlete, Men's Tennis Novak Djokovic Daniil Medvedev Rafael Nadal Dominic Thiem | Best Athlete, Women's Tennis Naomi Osaka Victoria Azarenka Ashleigh Barty Sofia Kenin |
| Best Male Athlete with a Disability Chris Nikic – triathlon Evan Austin – Swimming Jesse Billauer – Surfing Keith Gabel – Snowboarding | Best Female Athlete with a Disability Rebecca Murray – Wheelchair basketball Sam Bosco – Cycling Oksana Masters – Nordic & Cycle Leanne Smith – Swimming |
| Best WWE Moment Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair make history as the first Black women to main-event WrestleMania Bad Bunny wrestles at WrestleMania 37 Bianca Belair wins Women's Royal Rumble match at 2021 Royal Rumble Edge wins Men's Royal Rumble | Best Bowler Tom Daugherty Kyle Troup François Lavoie Chris Via |
* ^ Best Play and Best WWE Moment were in an elimination format with 16 entrants at the beginning.
* ^ Best MLB Player voting was halted, mainly due to allegations of sexual assault by Trevor Bauer.

## Honorary Awards
### Jimmy V Award

* Chris Nikic, triathlon

### Arthur Ashe Courage Award

* Maya Moore

### Pat Tillman Award for Service

* Marcus Rashford, Manchester United and England national football team

### Best Coach

* Tara VanDerveer, Stanford Cardinal women's basketball head coach

### Best Championship Moment

* Los Angeles Dodgers win 2020 World Series

### Best Championship Performance

* Simone Biles - gymnastics