BT Sport Action Woman 2021

BT Sport has today announced the nominees for the eighth annual BT Sport Action Woman of the Year Award. In what has been yet another groundbreaking year for women’s sport, the award celebrates six of 2021’s standout performances by British and Irish female athletes, as well as three of the most notable Rising Stars.

2021 was hailed ‘the year of the female Olympian’, with Team GB taking more women than men to a summer Olympic Games for the first time in its 125-year history, and Team GB’s women certainly delivered: from Laura Kenny becoming the most successful female cyclist in the Games’ history to the Gadirova sisters laying the promising foundations for the future of British gymnastics, these achievements were matched by the Paralympic team, with record-breakers such as Dame Sarah Storey and Kadeena Cox propelling Team GB to second in the medal table.

But women’s sport shone away from Tokyo too, with Emma Raducanu becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era and Rachael Blackmore being crowned the first female jockey to win the Grand National.

Based on athletes’ individual achievements, a shortlist of nominees has been selected by a panel of judges including BT Sport’s Clare Balding OBE, Dame Katherine Grainger and Kate Richardson Walsh OBE, Tammy Parlour MBE, Women’s Sport Trust, Steph Harries, Women’s Sports Group and Anna Kessell, Women’s Sport Editor at The Telegraph.

In addition to the Action Woman of the Year award, BT Sport will recognise the next generation of pioneering female athletes with the inaugural Rising Star Award, which will also be presented on the night.

To commemorate the shortlist, BT Sport has commissioned nine female artists to create bespoke illustrations of the nominees. The artists were selected by BT Sport following an open-call on social media, which looked to unearth some of the most talented, up-and-coming designers, artists and illustrators.

BT Sport presenter Clare Balding said: “This year has seen so many incredible achievements from Tokyo and beyond: familiar names grabbed the headlines while new faces have also been catapulted to international stardom. Being able to bring much-deserved recognition to these incredible sportswomen is why I’m so excited to work alongside BT Sport in shining a light on their stories and, in doing so, hopefully inspire the next generation of female athletes.”

Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “It has been another standout year for women’s sport, as demonstrated not only by the combined heroics of Team GB in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but also by individual achievements, with so many incredible, record-breaking displays from tennis and football to cricket and horse racing. We are proud to champion the achievements of our nominees and encourage everyone to show their appreciation and admiration for these remarkable athletes by voting for their favourite sportswoman of 2021.”

The winner of the BT Sport Action Woman of the Year Award and the Rising Star award will be decided by a public vote via the website: btsport.com/actionwoman.

The winners will be announced at the BT Sport Action Woman of the Year Awards show, presented by Clare Balding and broadcast and open for anyone to watch (subscribers and non-subscribers), live on BT Sport 1, online and on YouTube and Twitter from 8pm.

 

BT Sport Action Woman of the Year nominees

Laura Kenny – Cycling
2021 saw Kenny become the most successful female cyclist in Olympic history, following a gold medal in the women’s Madison in Tokyo. The win also made Kenny the first British woman to take home gold medals in three consecutive games.

 

Emma Raducanu – Tennis
From wildcard entry to British number 1 with a Grand Slam along the way, it has been a year to remember for Emma Raducanu. The youngster burst onto the scene by making the fourth round at Wimbledon before taking home the US Open trophy in spectacular fashion.

 

Emily Campbell – Weightlifting
Not only did Campbell take home gold at the European games in Moscow towards the start of the year, but the 26-year-old also became Britain’s first ever female Olympic weightlifting medalist, claiming silver in Tokyo.

 

Rachael Blackmore – Horse racing
Rachael Blackmore sent records tumbling in 2021 as she became the first woman to win the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and the first to finish as top jockey, with six winners in all. She then rode Minella Times to victory at Aintree to become the first female jockey to win the Grand National.

 

Dame Sarah Storey – Cycling
A whopping 17th gold medal of a long and illustrious career saw the cycling legend become GB’s most successful Paralympian of all time, having taken home 28 medals across eight Paralympic Games.

 

Kadeena Cox – Athletics
Cox successfully defended her Olympic time trial with a world-record-setting final run and finished just outside the medals in the T38 400m to round off a hugely impressive multisport display.

 

Rising Star nominees

 

Jessica & Jennifer Gadirova – Gymnastics

Teenage twins Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova wowed the nation with their performances in artistic gymnastics at Tokyo 2020. The 16-year-old siblings were part of the four-strong British women’s team who won a historic bronze medal in Japan.

 

Alice Capsey – Cricket

Having made her professional debut with a match-winning half-century in the first ever Hundred, the 17-year-old delivered an instrumental performance with bat and ball as the Oval Invincibles beat the Southern Braves to be crowned the first Hundred champions in front of 17,000 fans.  A winner’s medal in the Charlotte Edwards Cup propelled her to being named as the inaugural PCA Women’s Young Player of the Year.

 

Lauren James – Football

James made history as a teenager by scoring Manchester United’s first-ever goal in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League and finished as their top scorer in the 2019/20 season with six goals in 12 appearances. She was also shortlisted for the PFA Women’s Young Player of the Year that season. James has gone from strength to strength, earning her first England call-up last year and earning a move to WSL champions Chelsea in July.

 

 

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