11 Of The Most Inspiring Athletes Of 2025

As we wind down the calendar year and look ahead to the next it’s important to reflect on where the last year took us, both physically and metaphorically. For some, 2025 was just another year but for others every day was a new opportunity to see how far they could push their bodies and minds.

The idea for this ‘most inspiring athletes of the year‘ tribute came to me from an older podcast episode I was listening to recently where David Goggins, the G.O.A.T. of motivation who ironically hates the idea of motivation, was discussing how he never loses focus. To paraphrase, he was talking about how most people’s idea of success is being a big fish in a little pond. That most individuals bettering themselves only push themselves to be the best in the room, the best among their peers, but every day he pushes himself to be better than he was the day before.

The 11 Most Inspiring Athletes Of 2025

That’s not to say that every single person on this list of the most inspiring athletes of the year subscribes to the School of Goggins when it comes to motivation. In fact, that’s absolutely not the case. But rather, every athlete on this list possesses the power to reach millions with the story and inspire e everyone around them.

Andy Glaze

Even if you are not aware of the ultra-running / trail running community, chances are you have probably seen one of Andrew (Andy) Glaze’s videos at some point. I’ve shared plenty of them here at BroBible throughout the years. He has amassed 850K followers on TikTok and 358K+ on Instagram and emerged as one of the most popular figures in the running community.

Andy sells merch with his tagline that tells you just about everything you need to know: ‘Smile or you’re doing it wrong.’ His other popular catchphrase is ‘your mom can run a 5K’ are words he said in his final video on Sunday as he completed a 300-mile week.

His full-time job is Battalion Chief of the La Verne Fire Department in Southern California. He is a legitimate hero when he’s not running. But Andy has been running 100 miles a week, every single week, for 300 weeks in a row. For his 300th consecutive week, Glaze just ran 300 miles last week and had hordes of people meeting him along the way to run with him, cheer along the routes, offer up coolers full of nourishment, all in scenes reminiscent of Forrest Gump when Forrest had people following him coast to coast.

If you’re not following @Glazeruns you are doing it wrong. It is impossible not to find some inspiration from interminable drive and how he wipes the slate clean every Monday and starts from scratch.

Rory McIlroy

At 36 years old, Rory McIlroy just became the first European golfer to complete the career grand slam after snapping a 10-year drought in golf’s major championships. He won his first Masters green jacket weeks after winning the PLAYERS Championship which came after winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, three of the most prestigious tournaments on golf’s annual schedule including arguably the #1 most sought-after trophy (the green jacket).

To cap the year off, Rory McIlroy went on to win the Ryder Cup with Team Europe under hostile conditions at the Beth Page Black Course on Long Island. It was a fantasy year for the Northern Irishman and one he had to battle demons for over the course of a decade before finally winning his first green jacket.

Jane Hedengren

BYU freshman runner Jane Hedengren (@JaneHedengren on Instagram) might not be a household name in American sports yet but she is poised to be one of the NCAA’s biggest stars in in year and a runner who has the opportunity to transcend her sport. From Provo, Utah, she already held nine high school middle and long-distance running records before even stepping foot on the BYU campus as a student.

In her freshman season at BYU, which is still ongoing by the way, Jane Hedengren set a course record in the 6KM in her very first race. Winning the Pre-National Invitational with a time of 18:42.3. Her 5K split time was 15:36.

This past weekend, in Jane’s first-ever NCAA indoor race, she broke Parker Valby’s collegiate record in the 5000 meters. The BYU freshman’s time of 14:44.79 isn’t just a new NCAA record in the 5,000 meter, it is the second-fasted time ever ran indoors by an American runner. She is an absolute powerhouse of an athlete and someone to watch for years to come if you are looking for a new source of inspiration.

Tom Cillo: Oldest Position Player in College Football History

At 58-years-old, Tom Cillo is just getting started. He heard the phrase ‘age is nothing but a number’ and really took that to heart, making the D-3 Lycoming College football team and becoming the oldest position player in college football history.

Tom Cillo (@cillo.tom) is more jacked at 58-years-old than most guys ever are at any point in the course of their lives. And as someone who lost nearly 50 pounds this year and is in the best shape of my life, I look to athlete like Tom Cillo as enormous sources of inspiration as I get older with each year.

Tom is 6’2, 220-pounds, and made his debut at nose tackle for the Lycoming College JV football team on September 28th when his team picked up a 16-9 victory. Playing college football at his age is inspiring to people of every age and that’s not something you see every day.

Shohei Ohtani

If you are suffering from Shohei Ohtani fatigue in any way let me be the first to remind you that that’s okay, because his name and highlights are everywhere during baseball season. But it is because we are witnessing arguably the greatest baseball player in MLB history in his prime.

Coming off an injury in 2024 that left Ohtani unable to pitch, he came back in 2025 and won his second-straight NL MVP. Ohtani set a Dodgers franchise record with 55 home runs. He was named NLCS MVP. And became a World Series champion in 2025.

Kolt McDaniel of Sundown H.S. in Texas

A high school football team in Texas called a timeout with just 31 seconds left in a playoff game that was already decided. Nobody knew what to think when both head coaches met at midfield for a brief discussion. Wink High School broke the huddle on offense with a 34-point lead and its back against the goal line. An intentional fumble allowed Sundown junior Kolt McDaniel to recover the ball in the end zone for his first-career touchdown.

McDaniel, a junior, was born with a congenital heart defect that does not allow him to play full-contact football. The incredible act of kindness from the Wildcats gave him the chance to be the hero in the playoffs. The final score did not matter. Players from both teams celebrated McDaniel as if he scored the game-winner.

Ultrarunner Kilian Korth

Kilian Korth (@runtoughmindset) established himself as the King of the Mountain in 2025. He set a new Triple Crown of 200s record by winning the Moab 240, Tahoe 200 Endurance Run Race, and the Bigfoot 200… Three races with a combined distance of 640+ miles, with a moving time of 2 days, 3hours, and 28 minutes.

Over the course of those three races total over 640 miles, Kilian set the new Triple Crown of 200 Ultra record at 156:30:20, beating the previous record of 162:00:51 which was held by Michael McKnight since 2019.

In the first leg of the Triple Crown, the Tahoe 200, Kilian beat the field by over an hour despite the 36,857’ in elevation gain. At Bigfoot, the 207.9 miles and 45,563’ of elevation gain were no match for him and he went out to win with a time of 45 hours, 3 minutes, and 41 seconds. That race was close in the end as he only won by 42 minute. Then at the Moab 240, the longest of three triple crown legs, Kilian Korth crossed the finishline with a time of 58:45:47.

Currently, he is tending to a minor injury while documenting his offseason training on Instagram which as an amateur runner/endurance athlete myself, it has been fascinating to pick up a few leg exercises from his routine. I’ve also been intrigued by his 1st Phorm partnership and health routine as we also have a 1st Phorm partnership here at BroBible, so he’s led me to some new products within their fold that are tailored toward the endurance community.

Paige Bueckers

Paige Bueckers has been a baller her whole life but her rookie season in the WNBA saw her rise to superstardom in a way that has elevated her sport even further with a young generation of fans looking up to her, Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson, and others.

Selected #1 overall by the Dallas Wings, she became an overnight celebrity in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She quickly became the fastest player in league history to reach 200/50/50 points/rebounds/assists. All en route to winning WNBA Rookie of the Year and signaling to the basketball world that the sky’s the limit for her.

Scottie Scheffler

For the fourth season in a row, #1 ranked golfer in the world Scottie Scheffler finished at #1 on the PGA Tour’s money list. He now ranks 3rd all time on the career money list. And despite Rory winning the Masters, Scottie quietly had one of the best seasons of his golfing career all while being a present (and great) father to his toddler Bennett and supportive husband to his wife.

Scottie picked up major championship wins at the 2025 PGA Championship and the Open Championship. He also won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, Memorial Tournament, BMW Championship, and the Procore Championship to give him six wins on the season and playing golf at a level the world hasn’t seen since Tiger Woods was in his prime.

Coco Gauff

Currently the #3 ranked tennis player in the world and still just 21 years old. This Summer, Coco became the first American woman to win the French Open since Serena Williams won it back in 2015. It was also her second major singles title. Among the top-8 women’s tennis players in the world, she is the youngest and continues to inspire the next generation of tennis stars.

Mikaela Shiffrin

After suffering a devastating crash in the Giant Slalom last year, Mikaela Shiffrin is back. And just in time for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

She is the most decorated Alpine skier the sport has ever seen and a 2-time Olympic gold medalist. But after last year’s injury (puncture wound to her abdomen), nobody knew what would happen next and she has come back just as strong as she’s ever been and sits in 1st place in overall Alpine skiing rankings, 1st in Slalom, and 6th in Giant Slalom. And all of America is about to rally behind her with the Olympics approaching so prepare to get inspired!