Female Athletes You’ll Wish You Knew About Sooner

If soccer IQ were a superpower, Aitana Bonmatí would be running the Avengers. At 27 years old, she’s won three consecutive Ballon d’Or awards (2023–2025) and regularly posts elite pass-completion numbers in top-tier competition. Midfields slow down when she’s on the pitch, mostly because she’s already three steps ahead of everyone else.

Eileen Gu lands tricks most athletes wouldn’t attempt on a good day with perfect weather and a safety net made of clouds. She’s one of the most compelling multi-event athletes on the planet, competing in halfpipe, slopestyle and big air — and at just 22 years old, she’s already won three Olympic medals in Beijing (two gold, one silver).

This woman has 10 Olympic medals, seven of them gold, and holds world records that make other swimmers want to retire and become accountants. At 27 years old, she’s so dominant in distance freestyle that races are often divided into “Katie Ledecky” and “everyone else.”

Brianne Jenner has captained Team Canada to Olympic gold and regularly logs some of the toughest defensive minutes while still producing offensively. Faceoffs, penalty kills, late-game situations — if it’s important, she’s on the ice. She’s the kind of player who makes everyone around her better, which is basically the hockey equivalent of walking and chewing gum while solving calculus problems.

Jessica Pegula doesn’t rely on theatrics or momentum swings; she just wins matches with the efficiency of someone checking items off a shopping list. She’s been a consistent Top 10 presence and has beaten nearly every elite player on tour at least once. Reaching the US Open final in 2024 simply confirmed that drama is optional at the business end of a Grand Slam.

Kelsey Plum still doesn’t get nearly enough love. A star guard for the Las Vegas Aces, she helped lead the team to back-to-back WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023 and remains one of the league’s most dangerous scorers. She’s also an Olympic gold medalist in 3×3 basketball, because apparently dominating one version of the sport wasn’t enough.

Sky Brown skates like gravity is more of a suggestion than a rule. She made history by becoming Britain’s youngest-ever Olympic medalist at just 13 and routinely lands tricks most competitors won’t even attempt. Still only 17, she’s already won X Games gold medals and made it clear her ceiling is so high it may need planning permission.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone redefines what fast looks like every time she steps on the track. She’s shattered the 400-meter hurdles world record multiple times and currently holds it at an absolutely bonkers 50.37 seconds. She’s precision, power and composure moving at terrifying speed, making one of track’s most technical events look like a casual jog.

Claressa Shields is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and undisputed champion in multiple weight classes (it’s okay to say that in boxing). She’s been calling herself the GWOAT since before confidence was trendy and then backed it up by staying undefeated and winning world titles across three divisions, becoming the first boxer ever — male or female — to hold all four major belts in two different weight classes.

Mikaela Shiffrin is the most decorated alpine skier in World Cup history, with 100+ career World Cup wins across multiple disciplines. While others chase peaks, she just keeps raising both the floor and the ceiling. She’s collected Olympic golds and World Championship titles like frequent-flyer miles and, somehow, never seems to miss a connection.