Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award
# Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award

The Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of a female athlete from the world of action sports. It was first awarded as part of the ESPY Awards in 2004 after the non-gender-specific Best Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award was presented the previous two years (with the American snowboarder Kelly Clark receiving the 2002 award). It is given to the female, irrespective of nationality or sport contested, adjudged to be the best action sports athlete in a given calendar year. Balloting for the award is undertaken by fans over the Internet from between three and five choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee, which is composed of a panel of experts. It is conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months.

The inaugural winner of the award was the American wakeboarder Dallas Friday. During 2003 and 2004, Friday won 12 of the available 14 professional women's titles, including national and world championships. She became the first wakeboarder to be nominated for, and hence to win, an ESPY Award. Athletes from the United States have won more times than any other nationality with ten (three times to snowboarders Jamie Anderson and Chloe Kim), followed by Australians with three, two of which went to the surfer Stephanie Gilmore. Snowboarders are most successful sportspeople, with eleven awards, followed by surfers with four. It was not awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent winner of the award was Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu in 2022.

## Winners

Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award winners and nominees :

| Year | Image | Athlete | Nation of citizenship | Sport(s) regularly contested | Nominees |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2004 | – | Dallas Friday | United States | Wakeboarding | Layne Beachley ( AUS) – Surfing Aleisha Cline ( CAN) – Ski cross Hannah Teter ( USA) – Snowboarding |
| 2005 | | Sofía Mulánovich | Peru | Surfing | Karin Huttary ( AUT) – Ski cross Janna Meyen ( USA) – Snowboarding Hannah Teter ( USA) – Snowboarding |
| 2006 | | Hannah Teter | United States | Snowboarding (half-pipe) | Gretchen Bleiler ( USA) – Snowboarding Cara-Beth Burnside ( USA) – Skateboarding Dallas Friday ( USA) – Wakeboarding Janna Meyen ( USA) – Snowboarding |
| 2007 | | Sarah Burke | Canada | Freestyle skiing | Jamie Anderson ( USA) – Snowboarding Layne Beachley ( AUS) – Surfing Torah Bright ( USA) – Snowboarding Elissa Steamer ( USA) – Skateboarding |
| 2008 | | Gretchen Bleiler | United States | Snowboarding (half-pipe, slopestyle) | Stephanie Gilmore ( AUS) – Surfing Lindsey Jacobellis ( USA) – Snowboarding Jessica Patterson ( USA) – Motocross |
| 2009 | | Maya Gabeira | Brazil | Surfing | Torah Bright ( USA) – Snowboarding Sarah Burke ( CAN) – Freestyle skiing Ashley Fiolek ( USA) – Motocross |
| 2010 | | Torah Bright | Australia | Snowboarding (half-pipe) | Ashley Fiolek ( USA) – Motocross Stephanie Gilmore ( AUS) – Surfing Jen Hudak ( USA) – Freestyle skiing Ashleigh McIvor ( CAN) – Freestyle skiing |
| 2011 | | Stephanie Gilmore | Australia | Surfing | Sarah Burke ( CAN) – Freestyle skiing Kelly Clark ( USA) – Snowboarding Ashley Fiolek ( USA) – Motocross |
| 2012 | | Jamie Anderson | United States | Snowboarding (slopestyle) | Kelly Clark ( USA) – Snowboarding Carissa Moore ( USA) – Surfing Kaya Turski ( CAN) – Freestyle skiing |
| 2013 | | Stephanie Gilmore | Australia | Surfing | Letícia Bufoni ( BRA) – Skateboarding Kelly Clark ( USA) – Snowboarding Laia Sanz ( ESP) – Motocross |
| 2014 | | Jamie Anderson | United States | Snowboarding (slopestyle) | Maddie Bowman ( USA) – Freestyle skiing Kelly Clark ( USA) – Snowboarding Vicki Golden ( USA) – Motocross Carissa Moore ( USA) – Surfing |
| 2015 | | Kelly Clark | United States | Snowboarding (half-pipe) | Paige Alms ( USA) – Surfing Stephanie Gilmore ( AUS) – Surfing Laia Sanz ( ESP) – Motocross |
| 2016 | | Jamie Anderson | United States | Snowboarding (slopestyle) | Keala Kennelly ( USA) – Surfing Chloe Kim ( USA) – Snowboarding Carissa Moore ( USA) – Surfing |
| 2017 | | Anna Gasser | Austria | Snowboarding (slopestyle) | Lacey Baker ( USA) – Skateboarding Kelly Sildaru ( EST) – Freestyle skiing Tyler Wright ( AUS) – Surfing |
| 2018 | | Chloe Kim | United States | Snowboarding (slopestyle) | Jamie Anderson ( USA) – Snowboarding Stephanie Gilmore ( AUS) – Surfing Brighton Zeuner ( USA) – Skateboarding |
| 2019 | | Chloe Kim | United States | Snowboarding (slopestyle) | Kelly Sildaru ( EST) – Skiing Zoi Sadowski-Synnott ( NZL) – Snowboarding Stephanie Gilmore ( AUS} Surfing |
| 2020 | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | | Chloe Kim | United States | Snowboarding (slopestyle) | Eileen Gu ( CHN) – Skiing Carissa Moore ( USA) – Surfing Zoi Sadowski-Synnott ( NZL) – Snowboarding |
| 2022 | | Eileen Gu | China | Freestyle skiing | Chloe Kim ( USA) – Snowboarding Rayssa Leal ( BRA) – Skateboarding Zoi Sadowski-Synnott ( NZL – Snowboarding |
