{
  "id": 17720462,
  "title": "Four sporting prodigies who scaled the heights",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/02/four-sporting-prodigies-who-scaled-the-heights-17720462",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-02T00:43:41.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/sports/2026/11/02/four-sporting-prodigies-who-scaled-the-heights"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Four young sporting prodigies have left an indelible mark on their respective sports at a remarkably young age: Pele, Kimi Antonelli, Mikaela Shiffrin, and Sachin Tendulkar.\n\nPele, the Brazilian football legend, was just 17 years old when he was hailed as the \"King\" of football after leading Brazil to victory in the 1958 World Cup. Despite a knee injury, he scored six goals in four matches during the tournament, including a hat-trick in the semi-final against France and two against Sweden in the final. Pele went on to win the World Cup a total of three times, in 1962 and 1970.\n\nKimi Antonelli, the Italian Formula One driver, achieved the extraordinary feat of becoming the sport's youngest-ever world champion at the age of 20 years and 68 days. She accomplished this stunning feat at the 2020 Brazilian Grand Prix, setting her apart from a select group of sporting icons who have dominated their fields at a similarly young age.\n\nMikaela Shiffrin, the American alpine skier, is the most successful woman skier in history. She first raced on the World Cup circuit at just 15 years old, and by 2013, she had already become the youngest slalom Olympic champion in history. Shiffrin has gone on to win eight World Championship titles and six overall World Cup victories, and she remains active, seeking to add to her record of 110 World Cup victories.\n\nSachin Tendulkar, the Indian cricket icon, made his Test debut at 15 years old and went on to become the highest run-scorer in international cricket. By the age of 20, he had already amassed 640 runs in nine Test innings, including five fifties and two centuries. At 21, Tendulkar became the world's top-ranked batter, a position he held until his retirement in 2013.",
  "summary": "Kimi Antonelli, the newly crowned Formula One champion at 20, joins an illustrious group of sporting talents who dominated their sports at the same age.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}