The future of sports is already here thanks to these young all-stars who are winning on and off the field.
By Brett Knight, Justin Birnbaum and Sofia Chierchio
Amid the artificial intelligence revolution sweeping across countless sectors, Camb.ai cofounder Akshat Prakash is convinced he can harness the technology to transform live sports. His startup, which has raised $18.5 million in funding and worked with MLS, Nascar and the Australian Open, can translate a broadcast into more than 150 languages considerably faster and cheaper than a traditional workflow, all while preserving the commentator’s tone and timing.
“The internet was made for English speakers,” the 27-year-old chief technology officer says. “I’m helping redesign it for the world.”
Prakash isn’t the only one bringing the sports industry into the future. As cofounders of Trainwell, Gabe Madonna, 28, and Matt Spettel, who turns 28 this month, have built a fitness app that employs wearable software to provide feedback on users’ pacing and form during workouts. Another startup, OneCourt—founded by Antyush Bollini, 26; Andrew Buckingham, 25; Nick Durand, 28; and Jerred Mace, 25—has developed a “tactile broadcast,” allowing blind sports fans to “watch” games through trackable vibrations on a handheld device.
That kind of innovation has put these young entrepreneurs among the founders, athletes and business executives on the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 Sports list. The group also includes such household names as Coco Gauff, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion at age 21; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, the NBA’s reigning regular-season and finals MVP; and Paige Bueckers, 24, who claimed the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year Award after a historic college career at UConn.
Among the other members of the class of 2026 is 22-year-old softball star NiJaree Canady, one of the faces of the NCAA’s new NIL era, who is collecting more than $1 million annually to pitch at Texas Tech. At the pro level, five fellow 30 Under 30 listers have set contract records in their leagues: Philadelphia Eagles teammates Saquon Barkley, 28, and Jalen Hurts, 27; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, 28; Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman, 23; and—of course—27-year-old New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto, who signed the largest deal in team sports history last December, worth $765 million over 15 years.
Other honorees’ work is more focused on expanding access in the sports world. CPX Pickleball founder Kyle Sulkar, 28, and Swift Hockey founder Zechariah Thomas, who turns 23 this month, are aiming to manufacture performance equipment at affordable prices. Abigail McCulloch, 29, is bringing the fast-growing sport of padel to new players by opening a club in the Chicago suburbs and cofounding Padel Au Pair to ease the United States’ shortage of trained coaches.
Meanwhile, Club Girl Golf founder Katie Calderon, 25, is designing golf clubs specifically for women, offering customization options that had been available only to men, and Hallie Martin, who turns 27 this month, is a cofounder of Women’s Elite Rugby, the first professional women’s rugby league in the U.S.
In another sign of the sports world’s growing inclusivity, the 30 Under 30 Sports class of 2026 features 14 women and 16 people of color.
To be considered eligible, candidates had to be 29 or younger as of December 31, 2025, and could not have been previously named to a Forbes 30 Under 30 continental list. The final honorees were determined by a panel of all-star judges: private equity billionaire Justin Ishbia, a minority owner of the Chicago White Sox, Nashville SC, the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury; Raven Jemison, president of the NWSL’s Kansas City Current; Stacy Sonnenberg, Goldman Sachs’ head of global sports finance; and Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma, himself a Forbes 30 Under 30 lister as part of the class of 2024.
This year, all 30 Under 30 candidates were asked to share the worst advice they have ever received, which prompted the WNBA’s Bueckers to say “to try crab and lobster.”
Prakash, the Camb.ai cofounder, shared a more universal lesson from the dinner table.
“I think often about the ending of Ratatouille—when the critic, Anton Ego, discovers the best dish he’s ever tasted was made by a rat, he admits, ‘Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere,’” Prakash says. “In many ways, I feel like Remy the rat: underestimated, doubted, told the odds are against him, and yet still obsessed with building something world-class.”
It’s a hunger that many of his fellow 30 Under 30 honorees share—but with all that they’re cooking up, they’re on the way to satisfying their appetites.
For the complete 2026 30 Under 30 Sports list, click here, and for full 30 Under 30 coverage, click here.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknight/2025/12/02/30-under-30-sports-2026-meet-the-athletes-and-executives-changing-the-game/
