Courtesy of Charlie Clark, Girls Club Content Creator
From gender equality in the Olympics, to expansions in professional women’s sports, to a woman named Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year, it’s been a historic and successful year in women’s sports. While there is still a long way to go for equality between men’s and women’s sports, including closing the pay gap and gaining more media and television coverage, there’s still a lot that happened in women’s sports this year that deserves to be highlighted and uplifted.
I asked everyone at Girls Club what their favorite women in sports moments were this year, and here are our answers!
Courtesy of The Athletic
Breanna Ebisch, Girls Club’s Head of Journalism, said the PWHL’s inaugural season was her favorite women in sports moment this year. She and Meghan Petruk also noted the first PWHL game, in which New York won the first game in PWHL history.
2024 started with the Professional Women’s Hockey league kicking off its inaugural season on Jan. 1. Six teams, the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montréal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, and Toronto Sceptres took the ice this year, making history for women’s sports.
Courtesy of USA Today
Women making history in hockey extended to the NHL too. Sarah Moorman, Jenna Mandarano, Amirah Razman, Charlie Clark, Avery Wildes, and Ellie Johnson name the Seattle Kraken hiring Jessica Campbell as their assistant coach their favorite women in sports moment this year.
Campbell is the first woman coach in NHL history to be behind the bench. This is clearly a very impactful hire for fans, players, and coaches alike.
Johnson, a hockey player at Michigan State University, said, “I think the impact of this reaches many different audiences. Not only does it prove to individuals like us and other women who want to work in sports that it’s possible, but any woman who may be working in male dominated fields. She stands for a glimmer of hope in industries where we are constantly looked down upon. By having the younger generations, both girls and boys, see her in this position, it normalizes women in these roles and hopefully creates more opportunities for young girls in the future!”
Courtesy of MiLB
Sydney Ferris said Rachel Balkovec becoming the Marlins Director of Player Development was her favorite women in sports moment of this year. Balkovec came off of two successful seasons managing the Yankees’ Low-A team, and was the first woman manager in affiliated baseball.
Courtesy of Jocelyn Alo (@jocygurl78) on Instagram
Kylee McDonald said Jocelyn Alo, a softball player for the Oklahoma City Spark and Oklahoma Sooners alum, signing a one month contract with the Savannah Bananas was her favorite moment. Alo, college softball’s all-time home run leader, became the first woman to sign with the Bananas.
Courtesy of BBC
Neha Grewal, a Tottenham fan, names the Women’s FA Cup final between Tottenham and Manchester United as her favorite moment. She said that although Manchester United won, “it was a great achievement for [Tottenham] to make it to the final and show our growth since being promoted to the top tier of women’s football in England.”
Courtesy of PBS
You can’t talk about women in sports in 2024 without talking about the Paris Olympics. It made history as the first Olympics to achieve gender equality, and many women made history with firsts for their sports and their countries.
Courtesy of CBS Sports
Taylor Hall mentions Katie Ledecky adding four more Olympic medals to her collection this year, including her fourth in the 800m freestyle and second in the 1500m freestyle in which she set a new Olympic record (beating her own previous record), to become the most decorated US woman Olympian.
Courtesy of the Canadian Olympic Committee
Summer McIntosh won four Olympic medals, three of them gold, in Paris, becoming the first Canadian to win three individual medals, and three golds at that, in a single Olympics. All of this happened right before her 18th birthday! This moment was a favorite of Theresa Balocating and Jash Hans, with Hans calling McIntosh a “Canadian Olympian legend.” McIntosh was recently named the Canadian Press Female Athlete of the Year.
Courtesy of Olympics.com
To quote Hall: “Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Send Tweet.” McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own world record, again, in the 400m hurdles, setting a time of 50.37 seconds, to defend her Olympic gold medal. She also won another gold with the USA’s 4x400m team.
Courtesy of AP News
Imane Khelif was faced with baseless harassment during the Olympics. Another one of Hans’ favorite moments this year was when Khelif quieted the haters by winning gold. Khelif’s Olympic gold medal was a first for an Algerian woman in boxing.
Courtesy of People.com
The USA women’s gymnastics team won its fourth gold medal, with Italy winning silver and Brazil winning bronze to win their first ever Olympic medals in the event.
Simone Biles, Rebeca Andrade, and Suni Lee, in my favorite sports moment of the year and maybe all time, won their second Olympic All-Around titles, the first time all three medalists were returning medalists. Biles became the third woman to win two Olympic all-around gold medals in her redemption tour, Andrade became the most decorated Brazilian Olympian, and Lee fought through a kidney disease that led her to believe her gymnastics career would be over long before a second Olympics. Biles went on to win gold on vault and silver on floor, Andrade won silver on vault and gold on floor, and Lee defended her bronze medal on the uneven bars (another one of Hall’s favorite moments). This all came after a historic team final in which the USA ended up back on top for the fourth time, Italy won its first team medal in 96 years, and Brazil won its first ever Olympic team medal.
I also want to use this to share Simone Biles’ vault, the Yurchenko double pike or the Biles II, the hardest vault that we have ever seen and will ever see. Simone Biles the woman and athlete you are!
Courtesy of NBA.com
Liv Sharp said Sabrina Ionescu vs. Steph Curry in the NBA All-Star 3-Point Challenge was her favorite women in sports moment of 2024. This was the first time WNBA and NBA players faced each other in the contest. While Curry won the challenge, Ionescu had the same amount of points as Damian Lillard did when he won the 3-Point Contest.
Courtesy of UNLV
Rose Johnson said the UNLV Lady Rebels having their 3-peat in the Mountain West Championship was her favorite moment. They became the first team in the Mountain West Conference to win both the regular season and tournament championship three seasons in a row.
Courtesy of Just Women’s Sports
Brooklyn Woods said A’ja Wilson is her athlete of the year. Wilson, a center for the Las Vegas Aces, was named the WNBA MVP (the third time she was awarded the title), won her second gold medal with Team USA at the Olympics, and won Best Female Athlete and Best WNBA Player at the ESPY Awards.
Courtesy of IndyStar
Amirah Razman, Evette Velasquez, and Christina Colistra said Caitlin Clark being named AP Female Athlete of the Year and Time Magazine Athlete of the Year is their favorite moment from this year. Clark helped grow the popularity of women’s basketball, both in the NCAA and WNBA. Velasquez said Clark changed the game.
Courtesy of Motorsport.com
Gracie Stubblefield said Abbi Pulling winning the all-women’s F1 Academy title. Pulling made history this year when she raced in the British Formula 4 and became the series’ first woman race winner at Brands Hatch.
Courtesy of ABC News
Sharp also mentions Ilona Maher on “Dancing with the Stars.” Who wasn’t entertained by her TikToks and wowed by her growth on the show? From the Olympics to the dance floor it’s been a fun and inspiring year with Maher!
Courtesy of CNN
Gina Scarpa recognizes Katie Schumacher-Cawley becoming the first woman coach to win the NCAA DI Women’s Volleyball Championship, which she did while battling breast cancer. Schumacher-Cawley, a Penn State volleyball alum, led Penn State to their eighth volleyball championship title and their first in ten years.
2024 was a historic and blossoming year for women’s sports and women in sports. Here’s to the new year being full of more growth, national media coverage, equality, support, and investment for women in sports!
Use the comment box below to share your favorite women in sports moments from this year!
Edited by Giana Robertaccio
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