By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam
Jiang Yuyan earned one of sport’s most prestigious awards on April 21 as she was named the winner of the Laureus Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability. The Crystal Gallery of the Cibeles Palace played host to the 25th edition of the prestigious awards ceremony—often called sport’s version of the Oscars—which took place Monday evening.
Yuyan Jiang is the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability#Laureus25 pic.twitter.com/7AANKAFYac
— Laureus (@LaureusSport) April 21, 2025
Jiang was the most decorated athlete at the Paris Paralympics, winning seven gold medals at 19-years-old. Already a four-time Paralympic medalist from her performance in Tokyo, Jiang won her first medal on the opening night of the Games, breaking the 50 freestyle S6 Paralympic record twice on her way to gold.
Over the next nine days, Jiang, nicknamed the ‘Flying Fish’, defended her Paralympic titles from Tokyo in the 50 butterfly S6 and 400 freestyle S6 and upgraded from silver in the 100 backstroke S6. She added titles in the 100 freestyle S7—where she swam up a classification—as well as the mixed 4×50 freestyle relay 20 points, and the mixed 4×50 medley relay 20 points.
Her final individual gold of the meet was the 100 backstroke S6, where she won by breaking her second individual world record of the meet. However, in this event, she accomplished the feat while swimming next to Ellie Marks, the world record holder at the time. After a hug with Marks in the mixed zone, Jiang reflected on her achievements in Paris, telling the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), “I feel so proud. The Games for me at Paris 2024 has been a perfect experience. The three years of preparation for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games have been a strong foundation for me…[it] gave me more confidence and more experience for these Games. It made sure that I can do well in every race.”
This is the fifth time a para swimmer has won the Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award. Brazil’s Daniel Dias has won three times (2009, 2013, 2016) and is now a member of the Laureus Academy South Africa’s Natalie du Toit won in 2010, becoming the first female para swimmer to earn the distinction.
Jiang was one of two swimmers nominated in her category. Spanish swimmer Teresa Perales was also nominated after winning her 28th Paralympic medal in Paris and winning Best Female High Support Needs Athlete on the 2024 Para Swimming World Series. The other nominees in this category were Catherine Debrunner, Tokito Oda, Matt Stutzman, and Qu Zimo.
The other swimmers nominated at the 2025 Laureus Awards were Leon Marchand for World Sportsman of the Year, Summer McIntosh for World Breakthrough of the Year, and Caeleb Dressel and Ariarne Titmus for World Comeback of the Year. Mondo Duplantis won Sportsman of the Year, Lamine Yamal the Breakthrough of the Year, and Rebecca Andrade the Comeback of the Year Award.
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