{"id":420975,"date":"2025-12-03T03:52:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T03:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/420975\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T03:52:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T03:52:17","slug":"meet-the-athletes-and-executives-changing-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/420975\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet The Athletes And Executives Changing The Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

The future of sports is already here thanks to these young all-stars who are winning on and off the field.By Brett Knight<\/a>, Justin Birnbaum<\/a> and Sofia Chierchio<\/a><\/p>\n

Amid the artificial intelligence revolution<\/strong> sweeping across countless sectors, Camb.ai cofounder Akshat Prakash<\/strong> 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\u2019s tone and timing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe internet was made for English speakers,\u201d the 27-year-old chief technology officer says. \u201cI\u2019m helping redesign it for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prakash isn\u2019t the only one bringing the sports industry into the future. As cofounders of Trainwell, Gabe Madonna<\/strong>, 28, and Matt Spettel<\/strong>, who turns 28 this month, have built a fitness app that employs wearable software to provide feedback on users\u2019 pacing and form during workouts. Another startup, OneCourt\u2014founded by Antyush Bollini<\/strong>, 26; Andrew Buckingham<\/strong>, 25; Nick Durand<\/strong>, 28; and Jerred Mace<\/strong>, 25\u2014has developed a \u201ctactile broadcast,\u201d allowing blind sports fans to \u201cwatch\u201d games through trackable vibrations on a handheld device.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong>, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion at age 21; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/strong>, 27, the NBA\u2019s reigning regular-season and finals MVP; and Paige Bueckers<\/strong>, 24, who claimed the WNBA\u2019s Rookie of the Year Award after a historic college career at UConn.<\/p>\n

Among the other members of the class of 2026 is 22-year-old softball star NiJaree Canady<\/strong>, one of the faces of the NCAA\u2019s 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<\/strong>, 28, and Jalen Hurts<\/strong>, 27; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews<\/strong>, 28; Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman<\/strong>, 23; and\u2014of course\u201427-year-old New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto<\/strong>, who signed the largest deal in team sports history last December, worth $765 million over 15 years.<\/p>\n

Other honorees\u2019 work is more focused on expanding access in the sports world. CPX Pickleball founder Kyle Sulkar<\/strong>, 28, and Swift Hockey founder Zechariah Thomas<\/strong>, who turns 23 this month, are aiming to manufacture performance equipment at affordable prices. Abigail McCulloch<\/strong>, 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\u2019 shortage of trained coaches.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Club Girl Golf founder Katie Calderon<\/strong>, 25, is designing golf clubs specifically for women, offering customization options that had been available only to men, and Hallie Martin<\/strong>, who turns 27 this month, is a cofounder of Women\u2019s Elite Rugby, the first professional women\u2019s rugby league in the U.S.<\/p>\n

In another sign of the sports world\u2019s growing inclusivity, the 30 Under 30 Sports class of 2026 features 14 women and 16 people of color.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong><\/a>, a minority owner of the Chicago White Sox, Nashville SC, the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury; Raven Jemison<\/strong>, president of the NWSL\u2019s Kansas City Current; Stacy Sonnenberg<\/strong>, Goldman Sachs\u2019 head of global sports finance; and Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma<\/strong><\/a>, himself a Forbes 30 Under 30 lister as part of the class of 2024.<\/p>\n

This year, all 30 Under 30 candidates were asked to share the worst advice they have ever received, which prompted the WNBA\u2019s Bueckers to say \u201cto try crab and lobster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prakash, the Camb.ai cofounder, shared a more universal lesson from the dinner table.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think often about the ending of Ratatouille\u2014when the critic, Anton Ego, discovers the best dish he\u2019s ever tasted was made by a rat, he admits, \u2018Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere,\u2019\u201d Prakash says. \u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a hunger that many of his fellow 30 Under 30 honorees share\u2014but with all that they\u2019re cooking up, they\u2019re on the way to satisfying their appetites.<\/p>\n

For the complete 2026 30 Under 30 Sports list, click here<\/a>, and for full 30 Under 30 coverage, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

30 UNDER 30 RELATED ARTICLES<\/strong>ForbesBy The Numbers: Meet The Forbes Under 30 Class Of 2026By Alexandra York<\/a>ForbesThese 30 Under 30 Alums Are Now Billionaires: How They Built Their FortunesBy Alexandra York<\/a>ForbesHow We Make The Forbes Under 30 ListBy Zoya Hasan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The future of sports is already here thanks to these young all-stars who are winning on and off…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":420976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[196645,196641,2210,196644,196640,196643,29333,2471,3371,62,196642,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-420975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-2026-forbes-30-under-30","9":"tag-30-under-30-sports","10":"tag-coco-gauff","11":"tag-forbes-30-under-30-2026","12":"tag-forbes-30-under-30-sports","13":"tag-forbes-u30","14":"tag-jalen-hurts","15":"tag-paige-bueckers","16":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-30-under-30","19":"tag-tennis","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115653610334366952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}