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	Refs
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
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

See also

• List of sports awards honoring women
• Best Male Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award
• Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sportsperson of the Year