Kimi Antonelli could become F1’s youngest world champion: 7 sports prodigies who got there first

Martina Hingis was already a Grand Slam champion at 15. Partnering Helena Suková, she won the 1996 Wimbledon doubles title, becoming the youngest Grand Slam champion in history. Months later, at 16, she beat Mary Pierce 6–2, 6–2 to win the Australian Open, the youngest Grand Slam singles champion of the Open era. She added Wimbledon and the US Open that year, winning on anticipation, touch and court geometry rather than sheer power. Only Lottie Dod, in 1887, won a Grand Slam singles title younger.

Pelé was 17 when he took the 1958 World Cup in Sweden by storm. He scored the only goal against Wales in the quarter-finals, a hat-trick in the 5–2 semi-final win over France and two in the 5–2 final against the hosts, finishing with six goals. That made him the youngest player to appear in, score in and win a World Cup final, records that still stand. Only Kylian Mbappé, in 2018, has since scored in a final as a teenager.

Lydia Ko was already the youngest world No 1 in professional golf when she won her first major. At the 2015 Evian Championship, the 18-year-old began two shots off the lead and finished with a bogey-free, eight-under 63, then the lowest final round by a winner in a women’s major. Her six-shot victory over Lexi Thompson made her the youngest woman to win a major, eclipsing Morgan Pressel’s 2007 mark. Ko later became the LPGA Hall of Fame’s youngest inductee, at 27.

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Gukesh Dommaraju was 18 when he won the 2024 World Chess Championship in Singapore, becoming the youngest undisputed champion the game has known. Facing defending champion Ding Liren, he won the deciding 14th game after Ding blundered in an endgame that looked headed for a draw, taking the match 7½–6½ and becoming the 18th world champion. He was four years younger than Garry Kasparov, who had held the age record since 1985, and only the second Indian to hold the title after Viswanathan Anand.

Mike Tyson was 20 when he walked into the Las Vegas Hilton in November 1986 and left as WBC heavyweight champion. Using the peek-a-boo style taught by Cus D’Amato, he overwhelmed Trevor Berbick, who went down several times before referee Mills Lane stopped the fight in the second round. Tyson broke Floyd Patterson’s record, set at 21 in 1956, to become the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history, a mark no one has taken from him. His speed and explosive combinations made the division feel suddenly small.

Magic Johnson was a 20-year-old rookie when the Los Angeles Lakers arrived in Philadelphia for Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had sprained his ankle. Johnson started at centre, eventually played all five positions and finished with 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists in a 123–107 title-clinching win over the 76ers. He remains the only rookie to be named Finals MVP and the youngest player to win the award, a debut that set the tone for five championships in the 1980s.

Patrick Roy was a rookie goaltender, aged 20, when he carried the Montreal Canadiens to the 1986 Stanley Cup. Across 20 playoff games he posted a 1.92 goals-against average, helping beat the Calgary Flames in the final and earning the nickname “Saint Patrick” from Montreal fans. His reward was the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, which he won as the youngest player ever. Roy went on to prove it was no fluke, winning the trophy again in 1993 and 2001, the only player to take it three times.

At 20, Kimi Antonelli now sits on the brink of the 2026 Formula 1 title. His dominant win from pole at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, his ninth victory of the season, fell just short of sealing it. He needs only a ninth-place finish or better at the next race, the Mexico City Grand Prix, to be crowned. Do so, and he would beat Sebastian Vettel’s 2010 record, set at 23, by more than three years, and become the first F1 champion born in the 21st century.

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