Halberg Awards 2026: High jump world champion Hamish Kerr claims Supreme Award

Hamish Kerr has been crowned as the Supreme Halberg Award winner, recognising the high-jumper’s stellar 2025.

Kerr claimed gold at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last year, completing the double after also taking the World Athletics’ indoor title in 2024, to go with his gold from the Paris Olympics.

The 29-year-old’s gold-winning jump equalled his personal best, a New Zealand record 2.36m. Kerr was also awarded the Lonsdale Cup, recognising the Kiwi athlete with the most significant contribution to an Olympic sport.

As sportsman of the year, Kerr’s Supreme award came ahead of the other category winners, sportswoman of the year Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, para-athlete of the year Danielle Aitchison, and the Black Ferns Sevens, who won team of the year.

The world title also saw Kerr’s coach, James Sandilands, named as the coach of the year.

Kerr’s Supreme Award came in conjunction with winning the sportsman of the year category, beating fellow World Athletics champion Geordie Beamish, who claimed the 3000m steeplechase in Tokyo.

The Supreme Award also comes after Kerr won the sportsman of the year award in 2025, but missed out on the biggest prize to Dame Lydia Ko.

Currently in Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics, Sadowski-Synnott was named as sportswoman for her 2025 achievements, which included a first FIS Crystal Globe, awarded to the top points-scorers on the snowboard World Cup for slopestyle. On top of that, she also claimed gold in the X-Games’ slopestyle, and bronze in the big air.

Sadowski-Synnott claimed the award ahead of cyclists Sammie Maxwell and Niamh Fisher-Black, Black Fern Jorja Miller, and Erin Routliffe.

Claiming the Women’s SVNS series and the World Championships in the same year gave the Black Ferns Sevens the team of the year award, beating Auckland FC, world champion men’s rowing pair Ben Taylor and Oliver Welch, track cycling’s men’s pursuit team of Nick Kergozou, Tom Sexton, Keegan Hornblow and Marshall Erwood; the New Zealand Kiwis and the Black Sox softball team.

Aitchson’s para-atlethe title came after two gold medals at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi, in both the 100m T36, and 200m T36.

Teen athletics sensation Sam Ruthe was recognised as the emerging talent of the year, after he claimed New Zealand’s senior national titles in the 1500m and 3000m, at the age of 15, as well as becoming the youngest person to run a sub-four minute mile.

Former All Black Eroni Clarke won the fan vote for moment of the year, for his performance of the New Zealand national anthem against Australia at Eden Park, which reduced his son, current All Black Caleb Clarke, to tears.

This year’s awards also saw two new inductees to the New Zealand Sports hall of fame. Two-time Olympic gold medallist Dame Valerie Adams, and two-time Rugby World Cup winning All Blacks captain Richie McCaw are the new inductees.

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Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.