A-Z of 2024: The Best of Women in Sport
In part one, look back at the A-M of the year’s best moments, movements and achievements.
A: ARTISTIC SWIMMING
2024 was a history-making year for the Australian Artistic Swimming Team, with results never before achieved by an Aussie squad.
The group of Rayna Buckle, Georgie Courage-Gardiner, Raphaelle Gauthier, Kiera Gazzard, Margo Joseph-Kuo, Anastasia Kusmawan, Zoe Poulis and Milena Waldmann have an average age of 20 years old, including half of whom are still teenagers, yet claimed Australia’s first ever medal at a World Cup event when they won silver in the Technical Team in China in April. They then backed it up with bronze for the Acro Team at the same event.
The Acro Team just missed the podium with a fourth placed finish at the World Cup Super Finals in Budapest in July where they set a new personal best, and Free Duet pair Keira Gazzard and Rayna Buckle also set a PB where they finished 6th.
The squad then headed to the Paris Olympics, where the team smashed their own overall previous best score by over 44 points to finish 9th.
With such a young squad, and a majority making their Olympics debut in Paris, even more success looks to be in front of this group of athletes.
B: BOOMING NETBALL CROWDS
After a couple of seasons filled with controversy off the court, in 2024 the players of Super Netball did the talking, and crowds voted with their feet.
During the 2024 season, 366,222 fans attended the 14 rounds and three week finals series, the highest total in the league’s history, setting a record for a women’s league sporting league in Australia. The average of 6,097 per game was also an Australian record, up almost 1000 on the same statistic from the year before.
The Melbourne Mavericks’ addition to the league brought a new energy to competition, while the Adelaide Thunderbirds’ achievement of going back-to-back to win the title yet again was a remarkable achievement given the strength of all eight teams.
Internationally, the Diamonds started the year by winning the Nations Cup, then returned after the SSN league to defeat England 2-1 in their home series, before New Zealand upset the Aussies to win the Constellation Cup. To round out the year, Goaler Sophie Garbin was awarded the Liz Ellis Diamond title at Netball Australia’s Awards night.
2025 should bring plenty of excitement with some new international stars joining Super Netball including New Zealand star Grace Nweke (Swifts) and Uganda’s Mary Cholhok (Firebirds). However with only eight teams and some Aussie stars forced to play overseas, will we see a push for more Super Netball teams in the near future?
C: CYCLING SUPERSTARS
2024 saw one Australian cycling superstar crown their career with Olympic gold, while two Para champions went back-to-back in Paris.
Grace Brown announced midway through the year that 2024 would be her final year on the international tour. The road cycling star had achieved most things in the sport - medaling at World Championships, winning events on the European tour, Commonwealth Games gold, and part of the inaugural Tour de France Femme.
The Victorian signed off from the sport in the best way possible with a fairytale end to her career. Grace started off Australia’s gold medal campaign at the Paris Olympics, claiming gold in the Time Trial, before achieving the same result at the UCI World Championships.
Australia’s Para Cycling Team for Paris looked a strong chance for medals, with two defending champions - Amanda Reid and Emily Petricola - part of the squad, while Lauren Parker’s decision to add road cycling to her triathlon event made the group even stronger. A couple of weeks before Paris, Emily told HER WAY,
“I think every female on this team has the capacity to medal.”
And so it eventuated that Amanda won the C3 500m Time Trial, while most of us that saw Emily claim the C4 3000m Individual Pursuit will long remember the emotion she showed celebrating with family and then again on the medal Dias. At the team’s Welcome Home in Sydney, HER WAY asked Emily about the scenes with her family:
“That was the best part. honestly, When I saw them walking in… I thought the result absolutely doesn’t matter today, having them here watching me do whatever I do, that’s a win.”
D: DOMINANT LANA ROGERS
Ironwoman Lana Rogers (above right) made the decision in the 2022-23 Ironwoman off-season to move to a new club and change coaches. At the time she explained to HER WAY the reason for the switch:
“It felt like I was a little lost in life and athlete life, and I was trying to find a balance in both.”
Lana’s move paid off big time during the 2023-24 summer, winning the iconic Coolangatta Gold, before going on to dominate the Nutri Grain Iron Series. So dominant was she in that series, that the final event became somewhat of an anti-climax, with Lana already having the overall crown wrapped up before the last round of the series.
The 28 year old took her dominance into the Shaw and Partners’ Summer of Surf, where she claimed several Ironwoman race titles across the series as well as the overall title, winning a car in the process.
Then in August Lana led Team Australia to the Lifesaving World Championship, where she herself claimed World titles in both the Surf Race and the Oceanwoman (Ironwoman) events.
After a slow start to the new 2024-25 season in the first couple of events, Lana was back to her winning ways in December’s first round of the new Shaw and Partners Iron Series, winning both races to earn maximum points going into the second round in 2025.
E: EXCELLENT ANNABEL
It’s hard to believe that Australian cricket star Annabel Sutherland turned only 23 late in the year.
She’s already been part of two T20 World Cup titles, captains a WBBL franchise, and was the highest paid international player at this year’s WPL in India.
In 2024, ‘Belsy’ produced some incredible performances, particularly with the bat, at international level. Most notably, she scored an amazing 210 in February’s test match against South Africa, and backed it up by taking wickets in both bowling innings.
That innings made her the youngest Australian woman to have scored two test centuries. In her five test matches, she has a batting average of 70.
She finished the year off in style, with consecutive ODI hundreds, against India and then New Zealand. Her ability to get to triple figures is even more incredible when you consider she has rarely come in earlier than the fifth position in the batting order, and in a star-studded team who don’t often find themselves out early in the innings.
At still just 23, it’s “scary” to consider how good Annabel will be, as teammate Ash Gardner recently stated. She will no doubt be one of the favourites for the Belinda Clark Medal, announced early in 2025, and will be a valuable member of the Aussie One Day side which heads to the World Cup.
Elsewhere in cricket, there were breakthrough wins for New Zealand in the T20 World Cup - that country’s first ever World Cup in any format, while the Melbourne Renegades’ stacked team finally broke through for their first ever WBBL title.
F: FANTASTIC FOXES
Where do you start with possibly Australia’s most loved siblings. It’s the kind of year a family could only dream about, when talking about Jess and Noemie Fox.
It was another awesome display from Jess during the Canoe Slalom World Cup season, claiming her 50th World Cup gold medal on her way to claiming the overall Canoe title for a 7th time. She also made history at the third World Cup in Poland, becoming the first woman to win triple gold - Kayak, Canoe, Kayak Cross - at the same World Cup.
Meanwhile, sister Noemie headed to June’s second World Cup in Prague unsure if she would qualify for the Olympics in her preferred Kayak Cross event, with her performance in the final to determine her position. The younger Fox claimed silver to guarantee her spot, joining Jess and mum/coach Miriam in Paris.
Jess’ performances in Paris, in the middle of the night Australian time, left many of us screaming, crying and yelling at our TVs. Her second straight Canoe gold medal meant she’s the only woman to win that event at the Olympics, and she finally got her hands on the Kayak title after medaling in the three previous games in that event.
Then, after watching big sister for several days, Noemie got her chance. Circumstances meant the sisters faced off in the heat, and Noemie took the win, leaving Jess eliminated. The younger Fox would go on to place first in every race through to the final, then came out on top in the big final, where big sister and mum leapt into the whitewater to mob the family’s newest gold medallist.
With six medals overall, Jess finished Paris as the most successful Canoe Slalom paddler in Olympic history, and also now has the most individual medals by an Aussie Olympian. As a duo, the Fox sisters won every women’s gold medal on offer in the Paris Canoe Slalom program. The sisters won the coveted “Don Award” at the 2024 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Awards, Paddle Australia won High Performance Program of the Year at the AIS Sport Performance Awards, and the Fox sisters will have the island at the Sydney International Whitewater Stadium in Penrith named in their honour. Jess was also one of four new athletes voted onto the IOC’s Athletes Council.
Jess told HER WAY that achieving such a special thing together in Paris, of all places, was what made it most significant:
“That French connection was what made it very special as well. We were born in France, we came to Australia when we were kids for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. This year we were able to go back to Paris and embrace both of our cultures and celebrate that.”
G: GOLDEN WINTER GIRLS
Australian women have often punched above their weight in winter sports, most notably in Aerial Skiing, where the country has provided Olympic and World Champions like Alisa Camplin, Lydia Lassila and Jacqui Cooper.
That tradition continued in 2024, when Danielle Scott secured her second straight World Cup globe for winning the overall Aerial Skiing title, while fellow Aussies Laura Peel and Abbey Willcox both featured on the podium during the season.
In Moguls, Jakara Anthony almost made it a clean sweep of the Moguls events, winning gold in seven of eight events, and achieved the same win rate in Dual Moguls. Unsurprisingly, Jakara won the series title in both events as well as the overall World Cup globe. With 14 gold medals, it was the most successful World Cup season by a moguls skier. The superstar started the 2024-25 season with silver, her 42nd medal, to become Australia’s most successful Winter World Cup athlete.
Meanwhile, Bree Walker made history, becoming the first Australian to win a World Cup gold medal in a sliding sport when she placed first in March’s Monobob World Cup at Lake Placid. The result carried Bree to the overall silver medal in the series.
Australia’s Snowboard stocks seem to be in good hands, with both Belle Brockhoff and Josie Baff regularly on the Snowboard Cross podium throughout the season, as was Tess Coady in the Big Air competition. The next generation coming through also performed well internationally, with Daisy Thomas and Lottie Lodge both making the podium at the Youth Winter Olympics.
H: HEYMAN’S HUNDRED
History was made back in January when A-League games record holder Michelle Heyman became the first player to score 100 goals.
There was a sense of inevitability that the Canberra United superstar would reach the milestone during the league’s first ever Unite Round, as she sat on 99 goals heading into the clash against Adelaide, with cardboard cutout masks of Heyman’s face distributed at Leichhardt Oval.
Heyman had a chance early in the game, bringing the crowd to its feet, but she was unable to convert. Then, during the second half, the veteran striker found herself in space and one-on-one with Adelaide’s keeper, where she calmly slotted the goal from just inside the box to bring up the milestone, before running to the grandstand side of the ground to be congratulated by teammates, coaching staff and fans. It wasn’t long until Heyman had goal 101, with a second following soon after.
Michelle went on to win the Golden Boot Award, and a recall to the Matildas squad where she scored four first half goals against Uzbekistan at Marvel Stadium, which ultimately saw her chosen for her second Olympics at the aged of 36.
HER WAY asked Michelle back in April whether she could have predicted she’d be back at the Olympics at this stage of her career:
“Deep down of course you always want to play for your country, but for myself I was just so focussed on Canberra and getting that 100th goal and seeing what came from that. But I feel very honoured to be part of the squad now and scoring goals for Australia, because it’s been a lot of fun.
It just means so much more because of the hard work it took to get to this point right now.”
Elsewhere in the A-League, it was a record-breaking season, with the highest total number of attendees and many clubs smashing membership records on the back of the 2023 World Cup.
The Central Coast Mariners returned to the A-League and had an immediate impact, reaching the semi finals in their first season back in over a decade, with manager Emily Husband becoming just the third female to win Coach of the Year.
I: IFFLAND REACHES NEW HEIGHTS
Hailing from the Hunter region of NSW, High diver Rhiannan Iffland added more accolades to her incredible career in 2024.
At February’s World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Rhiannan claimed the 20m title to make it four World titles - the most by any woman in history.
Then Iffland continued her domination of the Red Bull World Series, winning six of the eight stops on the global tour, and placing second behind Canadian star Molly Carlson in the other two to claim her eighth straight career title. Fittingly, she had the opportunity to complete the series win in Sydney in front of family and friends in November. In the ten years of the globe-trotting tour, Rhiannan is one of only two women to lift the trophy.
J: JAM LEESON MAKES BOCCIA HISTORY
Leading into Paris, no Australian woman had ever won a medal in Boccia, one of the only Paralympic sports which doesn’t have an Able Bodied Olympic counterpart.
But Jam Leeson has always been one to break down barriers and be a trailblazer. Paris was Jam’s second Paralympics, after qualifying for the COVID-impacted Tokyo games as a teenager in 2021.
Still only 21 years old, Jam had started 2024 with two major changes to her game - her mum Amanda was no longer her ramp asisistant, replaced by Jasmine Heydon, who, as she joked with HER WAY, found herself in the role after replying to a social media post where being able braid hair was a crucial part of the job. And secondly, Jam relocated from the small town of Dunedoo to Sydney Olympic Park in order to train more regularly with the small but talented Boccia Australia team.
The pair developed their partnership through the year, including two silver medals at July’s World Boccia Cup in Chinese Taipei in both BC3 Singles and Mixed Pairs.
And then, at her second Paralympics, Jam once again reached the final, securing silver - the best ever individual result by an Australian (which Dan Michel would equal a few hours later), and the first Paralympic medal by an Australian woman in the sport.
Upon returning home, Jam told HER WAY that she hoped her success would increase the profile and participation in the sport:
“I guess in terms of Australia, just getting the word out about Boccia and getting people into the sport is something I’ve been passionate about for a long time, and hopefully the silver medal will play a role in that.”
K: KATIE, SIMONE, FAITH AND SIFAN = GOATS
Looking beyond the Aussies, there were some incredible performances at the Paris games, with some adding to the claim as the greatest ever in their sports.
American swimmer Katie Ledecky was, for the second straight Olympics, outlasted by Ariarne Titmus in the 400m Freestyle, however the respect between the two is obvious, and Ledecky returned in her favoured 800m and 1500m events to win gold in both. It was Katie’s third consecutive 800m Olympic title and her second straight in the 1500m. With nine Olympic gold medals overall, she is the most successful female swimmer in Olympic history.
Speaking of Americans, Simone Biles was already considered the greatest gymnast of all time, and her comeback to the sport after a much publicised battle with mental health was equal parts inspiring and brave.
Biles came into the Olympics on the back of winning an extraordinary 9th U.S All-Around title, and she added a second Olympic All-Around gold medal in Paris, eight years after her first in Rio 2016. By doing so, she became the first woman to win two All-Around titles since 1964/68. Simone finished the Paris games a 7 time Olympic gold medalist, with 11 medals overall.
On the track, two more stunning performances were seen.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon may have kept Aussie Jess Hull from winning gold, but there is absolutely no shame in coming second to the greatest to ever do it. Faith’s win in the 1500m was her third straight gold medal in the event, and she then backed it up with silver in the 5000m.
As for the bronze medallist in the 5000? Well that was 31 year old Dutch star Sifan Hassan, and the bronze was one of three medals the distance runner claimed in Paris. She also won bronze in the 10,000m - both were events where Hassan was the defending Olympic champion from Tokyo. Having competed in both of those races in Paris, Hassan somehow still had enough within her to outlast her opponents and win the women’s marathon.
L: LAUREN PARKER’S REDEMPTION
Those who have followed the career and life of Lauren Parker for a while would be familiar with her story. An elite Ironwoman career cut short in 2017 by an accident while training. Four years later at the Tokyo Paralympics, Lauren led the Para Triathlon race for practically the whole event, only to be pipped on the finish line and take away silver.
From that point on until Paris, Lauren was near invincible. She won several World Titles and 15 consecutive Para Triathlon World Series events up until May, but that Paralympic gold was the one she wanted. In 2023, organisers of a Paris test event decided to reduce the Triathlon to a Duathlon due to conditions, a decision which frustrated Parker at the time. Then leading up to Paralympics when there was talk of simplifying the swim leg in the River Seine, Lauren was again incensed. You see, Lauren had done all the work and believed she could win gold, but believed making the course easier would not reward the stronger athletes like herself.
It mattered not, Lauren had her redemption for 2021, claiming an emotional gold in the Para Triathlon. Having joined the Para Cycling program a year before, she also entered H1-4 Road Race, claiming gold in that event as well.
The double gold in two separate sports made Lauren the first Australian to achieve such a feat since 1976.
In addition, Lauren also won triple gold earlier in January’s Para Cycling World Cup in Adelaide, and double gold in Ostend, Belgium.
Lauren’s incredible year was recognised with the 2024 Paralympian of the Year Award, AIS Female Para Athlete of the Year, co-winner of the NSW Institute of Sport Outstanding Achievement, and NSW Sport Awards Athlete of the Year with a Disability.
M: MOOMBA MASTERED BY JACINTA ONE LAST TIME
Aussie Jacinta Carroll, voted Female Water skier of the decade, gave birth to her first child, daughter Amelia, in December 2023.
100 Days later, the 10 time winner of the Moomba Masters returned to Melbourne, the scene of the birth of her successful waterski career, for one last ride. Jacinta joked on social media at the time that she was skiing against one of Amelia’s babysitters, with a new generation of junior skiers coming through.
Jacinta won her 11th Moomba Masters title, adding to a career that also included five World titles. She announced her retirement from the sport after the event. However with Jacinta taking nine month old Amelia out on the skis for her first taste in September, maybe there will be a second generation champion in coming years.