Caitlin Clark Tops Espy Awards Nominations List; Patrick Mahomes, Shohei Ohtani Among Double Nominees

Caitlin Clark Brian Fluharty/Getty Images

Basketball star Caitlin Clark, whose stellar year included breaking an NCAA scoring record and becoming the first pick the WNBA draft, leads all athletes with three nominations for the 2024 Espy Awards that were unveiled Wednesday.

Clark is nommed in three categories: Record-Breaking Performance for her NCAA feat, Best College Athlete, Women’s Sports and in the marquee Best Athlete, Women’s Sports, where she is joined by U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff, two-time major golf champion Nelly Korda and WNBA star A’ja Wilson.

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In the race for Best Athlete, Men’s Sports, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes returns to defend his 2023 Espy win in the category after leading the Chiefs to their second Super Bowl win in a row this year. Other nominees include the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid and Masters winner Scottie Scheffler.

Mahomes and Ohtani are looking for their second career wins in that category, and a chance to join LeBron James, Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods as the only athletes to win there multiple times.

Winners will be announced July 11 in a ceremony hosted by Serena Williams at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. It will air on ABC live at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT.

Here is the complete list of 2024 nominees.

BEST ATHLETE, MEN’S SPORTS

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels / Los Angeles Dodgers
Scottie Scheffler, Golf
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

BEST ATHLETE, WOMEN’S SPORTS

Caitlin Clark, Iowa Women’s Basketball
Coco Gauff, Tennis
Nelly Korda, Golf
A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

BEST BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE

Haleigh Bryant, LSU Gymnastics
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
Juju Watkins, USC Women’s Basketball
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs

BEST RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE

49ers Christian McCaffrey scores a TD for a record breaking 17 straight games
Caitlin Clark becomes NCAA’s All Time Scoring Leader breaking Pete Maravich’s Record
Tara VanDerveer, Stanford Women’s Basketball – gets 1,203rd win to pass Coach K for most by any coach in NCAA basketball history
Max Verstappen wins record 10th consecutive race with victory at Italian Grand Prix

BEST CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMANCE

Michigan’s Blake Corum and Will Johnson, 2024 College Football National Championship MVPs
Kayla Martello, Boston College Women’s Lacrosse
Midge Purce, NJ/NY Gotham FC – NWSL Championship MVP
Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics

BEST COMEBACK ATHLETE

Simone Biles, Gymnast
Paige Bueckers, University of Connecticut Women’s Basketball
Joe Flacco, Cleveland Browns
Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans

BEST PLAY

Jayda Coleman calls GAME sending Oklahoma to their 4th Straight Championship – NCAA Softball 6/4/2024
Anthony Edwards Dunk of the Year – 3/18/24 – NBA
Alabama scores on 4th & 31 to win vs. Auburn 11/25/23
Lamar Jackson Caught His Own Pass & Ran With it – 1/28/24 – NFL

BEST TEAM

South Carolina Gamecocks, NCAA Women’s Basketball
Kansas City Chiefs, NFL
Michigan Wolverines, NCAA Football
Las Vegas Aces, WNBA
University of Connecticut Huskies, NCAA Men’s Basketball
Oklahoma Sooners, NCAA Softball
Boston Celtics, NBA
Florida Panthers, NHL
Texas Rangers, MLB

BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE, MEN’S SPORTS

Jayden Daniels, LSU Football
Zach Edey, Purdue Men’s Basketball
Ousmane Sylla, Clemson Soccer
Pat Kavanagh, Notre Dame Lacrosse

BEST COLLEGE ATHLETE, WOMEN’S SPORTS

Haleigh Bryant, LSU Gymnastics
Caitlin Clark, Iowa Basketball
Sarah Franklin, Wisconsin Volleyball
Izzy Scane, Northwestern Lacrosse

BEST ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY

Jaydin Blackwell World Champion Sprinter
Ezra Frech, World Champion High Jumper
Brenna Huckaby Snowboarding Champion
Oksana Masters, Cross-Country Skier/Hand Cyclist

BEST NFL PLAYER

Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

BEST MLB PLAYER

Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves
Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels
Corey Seager, Texas Rangers

BEST NHL PLAYER

Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

BEST NBA PLAYER

Luka Dončić, Dallas Mavericks
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

BEST WNBA PLAYER

Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx
Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty
Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut Sun
A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

BEST DRIVER

Ryan Blaney, NASCAR
Matt Hagan, NHRA
Álex Palou, IndyCar
Max Verstappen, F1

BEST UFC FIGHTER

Islam Makhachev
Sean O’Malley
Alex Pereira
Zhang Weili

BEST BOXER

Terence Crawford
Seniesa Estrada
Naoya Inoue
Oleksandr Usyk

BEST SOCCER PLAYER

Aitana Bonmatí, Spain
Naomi Girma, USWNT
Vinicius Junior, Brazil/Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappé, France/Real Madrid

BEST GOLFER

Nelly Korda
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Lilia Vu

BEST TENNIS PLAYER

Carlos Alcaraz
Novak Djokovic
Coco Gauff
Iga Swiatek