Isaac del Toro, a 21-year-old cyclist from Baja California, capped a landmark year by receiving the 2025 National Sports Award, Mexico’s highest athletic honor, in a ceremony in Mexico City on Thursday.
President Claudia Sheinbaum presented the award — in Spanish, the Premio Nacional del Deporte — which is marking its 50th anniversary this year in recognizing the nation’s top sports contributors.
Created in 1975, the award is given by the government through the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) and the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport (Conade).
Del Toro, who was born in Ensenada, Baja California, ascended to international prominence in 2025 by winning 16 professional races, taking second place in the prestigious Giro d’Italia (after making history as the first Mexican cyclist to lead it at an earlier stage) and climbing to third in the world rankings.
As the sole honoree in the professional category, Del Toro was widely treated in the Mexican media as the headline or main winner, and informally as the Sportsman of the Year.
However, the award had multiple official winners across seven categories, including amateur, Paralympic, coaching, judging, sports promotion and career achievement. The awards were handed out at the National Center for the Development of Sports Talent and High Performance (CNAR), the main high‑performance sports complex operated by Conade in the capital.
The awards include a gold medal, a certificate signed by the president and a cash prize of 796,000 pesos (US $43,000), according to SEP and CONADE.
Separately, Del Toro also received the Sports Idol of the Year awarded at the Victory Prize Mexico 2025 gala, another event that also recognizes top Mexican athletes. It was held Tuesday at Jardín Santa Fe in Mexico City.
“Thank you to my family for being there for me during the difficult times and to everyone who believed in me, thank you,” Del Toro said at the Victory Prize ceremony. “I feel very privileged to share this experience with all of you.”
Del Toro’s 2025 included a victory at Milano-Torino, where he became both the first Mexican and the youngest rider ever to win the race. He also collected titles at the Clásica Terres de l’Ebre and the Tour of Austria, solidifying his breakout season.
Some of the big-name winners of previous National Sports Awards include golfing legend Lorena Ochoa, Major League pitcher Julio Urías (whose career later nosedived after a domestic-violence arrest), World Cup hero Hugo Sánchez, and Olympic divers Arantxa Chávez and Carlos Girón.
Other honorees this year included Andrea Maya Becerra (archery), Alegna González Muñoz (race-walking), Uziel Muñoz Galarza (shot put) and Osmar Olvera Ibarra (diving) in the amateur category; Luis Carlos López Valenzuela (discus and shotput) and Osiris Aneth Machado Silver (discus) for Paralympic sports; and Gabriela Agúndez García (diving), Donovan Carrillo Suazo (ice skating), José Arnulfo Castorena Vélez (Para swimming) and María Lorena Ramírez Nahueachi (ultramarathons) for lifetime achievements.
With reports from N+, Infobae, ESPN Deportes and El Universal
