A look at world sport’s teenage stars
When 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli won his second consecutive Grand Prix in Japan last Sunday and became the youngest driver to lead the F1 World Championship, he was asked how he finds his day’s work.
“It was a lot of fun,” Antonelli said. His apparent calm did not reflect the race. The Italian driver was under pressure in Japan and fell to sixth on the first lap before British driver Oliver Bearman crashed heavily, giving Antonelli a timely pit stop and helping him win the race.
Jonah Oliver is a leading sports psychologist who has worked with golfer Cameron Smith and Olympic gold medal pole vaulter Nina Kennedy. Given Antonelli’s ability to perform at the highest level under pressure at such a young age, is this an area where young elite athletes have an advantage over the average person?
“Young talented athletes are neurologically no different from the average person, so they still worry, they still get angry easily, they still are perfectionists, they still have high standards, so they still have high emotions,” Oliver said.
“What they do differently than an ordinary person is that they can maintain their skills in the presence of these emotions, and this is a very important distinction. They look calm and confident, on the contrary, they are calm and consistent…
“They still feel the same emotions, but they seem less affected in terms of their behavior. Even if they feel the same intense emotions, they can still hit that golf club, they can still drive the race car, they can still perform in the Olympics.”
Sports psychologist Jacqui Louder has worked closely with some of Australia’s top sporting talent, including NRL superstar Reece Walsh, and has seen many examples of young athletes facing new, often unwanted, pressure.
“When someone comes on the scene as a young gun, first of all you go through a period of grace where everyone loves you and thinks everything you do is amazing and you’re fresh-faced and everyone’s nice to you,” Louder said.
“But when you get into the game for a while, all the gloves come off and teams start to have more expectations.
“It’s like you’ve been doing this for a while, now we’re expecting results. The media first starts criticizing the places they praised, then together with the athlete, we see what can happen next.”
Antonelli is not alone when it comes to young sports stars on the world stage. Although they are relatively young, they are among the rich young athletes who have made themselves known on the world stage.
Kimi Antonelli, 19: Formula 1
Antonelli has the perfect combination of calmness and youthful enthusiasm. The Italian pilot has turned to the elite motor sports class since the day he rose to prominence in go-kart sports.
He had a strong rookie season in Formula 1 with Mercedes last year, scoring his first podium finish in Canada. This was followed by second place in Brazil and third place in Las Vegas in 2025. This year Antonelli leads the drivers’ championship after three races.
Cooper Flagg, 19: basketball
After a season at Duke University’s NBA finishing school and then being drafted into the best basketball league in the world with the first pick of the Dallas Mavericks, Flagg is poised for a great rookie season.
He started the season as a half-playmaker but shined after moving to the forward position, posing a threat both offensively and defensively. In December, he scored 42 points against the Utah Jazz, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to score more than 40 points in a game.
At 19 years old, he has an elite basketball IQ and could still become a generational talent in the NBA.
Summer McIntosh, 19, and Yu Zidi, 13: Swimming
McIntosh, a 19-year-old Canadian, already has an incredible resume: three-time Olympic champion and eight-time World Aquatics champion.
At the Canadian swimming trials last June, McIntosh broke three world records in five days: the 400m freestyle, the 400m individual medley and the 200m individual medley. In McIntosh’s own words, “records are made to be broken.”
Chinese sensation Yu Zidi lists McIntosh as his idol and he had a breakthrough performance in the 2025 season. At the age of 12, he reached the finals of the 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley and 400-meter individual medley at the World Championships held in Singapore.
Laminated Yamal, 18: football
At the age of six, Yamal joined Barcelona Football Club’s famous La Masia youth squad and followed in the footsteps of the club’s greatest players, Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi.
Xavi was one of the first supporters of Yamal’s talent and invited him to train with the first team when he was just 14 years old.
A year later, he made his Barcelona debut against Real Betis and became the club’s youngest player to play in La Liga. At 18, he won two La Liga titles and one European title with Spain. Last year Yamal finished second to France’s Ousmane Dembélé in the Ballon D’Or but will be keen to cement his place as one of the world’s best players ahead of the World Cup.
Mirra Andreeva, 18 and Victoria Mboko, 19: tennis
Both teenagers are currently ranked in the WTA top 10.
Canadian Mboko has had a slower rise to the top of tennis. Two years ago she was ranked 350th in the world and this year she achieved her best result in a grand slam by reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open.
Andreeva reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and French Open last year, placing a career-high fifth in the world.
The two players have played against each other three times, with Mboko winning twice.
Arisa Trew, 15: skateboard
At only 15 years old, Trew is redefining his sport. The Gold Coast teenager became the youngest Australian to appear on the top podium at the games when she won Olympic gold at the park event in Paris in 2024 at the age of 14.
Trew combines technical excellence with fearlessness. In 2023, she became the first female skateboarder to perform trick 720 by completing two full rotations in the air. A year later, she became the first woman to perform the 900 trick, completing two and a half spins while airborne. He has already won seven gold medals at the X Games.
Luke Littler, 19: darts
Littler became the youngest world champion in darts history in 2025 and won his second title this year. He brought thousands of new fans to the sport in his first World Championship, where he finished second.
Littler enjoys great popularity in the United Kingdom and has become one of the most famous athletes.
The teenager nicknamed “Nuke” helped reshape the image of a sport once associated only with the back rooms of bars.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 15: cricket
Last year, Vaibhav Suryavanshi completed the second fastest century in the history of the Indian Premier League while playing for Rajasthan Royals against Gujarat Titans. It took just 35 balls for Suryavanshi to reach 100 runs. Incredibly, he was only 14 years old.
Suryavanshi made his first-class debut in the state of Bihar in 2024 at the age of 12, and at the age of 13, the opening batsman signed an IPL deal with Rajasthan, the youngest player to do so in the history of the competition. Last Monday, Suryavanshi needed just 15 balls to hit his half-century against Chennai Super Kings, increasing calls for him to make his international debut in India. India’s great Sachin Tendulkar was 16 when he played for his country for the first time and Suryavanshi could have beaten him to his honour.
Gout Gout, 18: athletics
Last Saturday, the youngster from Ipswich lost to Lachie Kennedy for the second time in a row in the Australian 200 meters race. Despite the result in Melbourne, Gout remains the most exciting young sprinting talent in Australian history.
Peter Norman held the Australian 200 meters record of 20.06 seconds for more than 50 years, but Gout beat it twice with times of 20.04 and 20.05. At the Queensland State Championships in March last year, Gout became the first Australian to run under 20 seconds, finishing the race in 19.98, although aided by the wind the time did not officially enter the record books.
Being compared to Usain Bolt from a young age is a huge pressure, but Gout looks more than ready to rise to the challenge.
