Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award

Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award
Awarded forbest female action sports athlete
CountryUnited States
Presented byESPN
First awarded2004
Currently held byEileen Gu (China)
Websitewww.espn.co.uk/espys/

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).[1] 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.[2] It is conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months.[3]

The inaugural winner of the award was the American wakeboarder Dallas Friday.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] The most recent winner of the award was Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu in 2022.[7]

  1. ^ Miller, Natalie Davis (August 3, 2012). Reaching New Heights: The Kelly Clark Story. Zondervan. p. 40. ISBN 978-0310725428. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2017 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Nelson, Murry R. (2013). American Sports: A History of Icons, Idols and Ideas. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 399–401. ISBN 978-0-313-39753-0. Archived from the original on March 25, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2018 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ "New categories unveiled for The 2002 ESPY Awards" (Press release). ESPN. 2002. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  4. ^ Ruiz, Stephen (August 1, 2015). "Fifteen years into pro career, wakeboarder Dallas Friday rides high". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  5. ^ "Dallas Friday Finds Out If She Won Espy Award". Wakeboarding Magazine. July 16, 2004. Archived from the original on January 31, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  6. ^ Messer, Lesley (June 19, 2020). "7 ways the 2020 ESPYS will be different amid the pandemic". Good Morning America. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  7. ^ "2022 ESPYS: Full list of award winners". ESPN.com. July 20, 2022. Archived from the original on July 20, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2022.