Happy New Year from OZY! For the past few days we’ve been bringing you some of the best of OZY’s stories throughout 2014. Today, we look ahead to the 2015, with stories about business, politics, athletics and more in the year ahead. Here’s to a great one.

It’s football season, so that’s where we’ll start. He’s 18, baby-faced and is already being tagged for superstardom: Drew Lock could be the next Tom Brady — and, no, we don’t just mean handsome enough to wed a supermodel. The Missouri native is already — no joke — an NFL candidate, before he can even drink. A few Februaries before we see him on the big day? Maybe. 

There’s another sport that gets far less hullaballoo: gymnastics. We tend to forget about it in between Olympic years, but if you’re a watcher, then you know about Simone Biles. The 16-year-old went viral for a hilarious video last year where she jumped off a podium at an awards ceremony while swatting away a bee. But the real news was her almost absurd triumph: She won a shocking four gold medals at the world championships in China — and we’d bet there are more in her future.

And speaking of the Olympics, a teen named Justin Lynch has already beaten Michael Phelps’ record — and now, at 18, he’s got a huge career still in front of him. The California kid doesn’t really betray his power externally: he’s neither buff nor boisterous. But he is 6-foot-1, looking more like a basketball star than a swimmer. That was his dad’s hope, anyway, but instead Lynch dove into the pool thanks to a sister. Only one more year till 2016 …

Photography by Chuong Doan for OZY.