The teal and white confetti fell to the ground as Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) commissioner Cathy Engelbert crowned The New York Liberty as the new WNBA champions.
In the midst of all the cries and cheers, ESPN reporter Holly Rowe looked in the camera’s direction and said, “This is what happens when you invest in women.” And when you look around the packed arena in Barclays Center, you can understand why.
Viewership records? Shattered. New leagues? Succeeded. Olympians? Cemented into the history books.
The future of women’s sports has never looked brighter. So, to commemorate this remarkable year, let’s look back at some of the most unforgettable moments for women in sports.
- The inaugural pwhl season
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Jan. 1 capped off the new year and the inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) season. New York and Toronto battled it out at The Mattamy Athletic Centre for the league’s first game, setting the scene for a new beginning in women’s hockey.
It was an exhilarating first season with stars like Victoire de Montréal’s Marie-Philip “Captain Clutch” Poulin, the Toronto Sceptres’ Natalie Spooner and the New York Sirens’ Alex Carpenter putting on a show each week. And as the season progressed, more people wanted to see the action.
In April, The PWHL set a new attendance record for any professional women’s hockey game, breaking the previous record set of 19,285 attending the February 2024 “Battle on Bay Street,” where Toronto and Montreal squared off at Scotiabank Arena.
This new record saw 21,105 fans packed into the Bell Centre in Montreal to watch Toronto and Montreal battle it off again. This record-breaking event became one of the most memorable nights for young girls and women across the nation.
This season saw a lot of surprises, with number one seed (their rank in the regular season) Toronto and number two seed Montreal getting knocked out of the semi-finals by the Minnesota Frost and the Boston Fleet, who advanced to the Finals.
In a tight five-game series, Minnesota triumphed and became the first PWHL champions. First overall pick Taylor Heise became the first ever Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP, marking a poetic end to a historic season.
- NCAA women’s basketball shatters records
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A new era of women’s basketball is upon us, and it has been a long time coming. NCAA women’s basketball shattered viewing records to a level that we have never seen before. The buzz surrounding star-studded talent like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, UCONN’s Paige Bueckers and LSU’s Angel Reese had drawn millions of fans to watch last year’s March Madness tournament.
For the first time in program history, the women’s March Madness drew more viewers than the men’s tournament.
At the peak, 24 million basketball fans tuned in to watch the NCAA finals, where the Iowa Hawkeyes took on the South Carolina Gamecocks, with an average of 18.7 million viewers on ABC and ESPN. This significantly beat out the men’s championship viewership, which received an average of 14.8 million viewers.
The historic championship game became the most-watched women’s basketball game ever in NCAA history. Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse was overflowing with loyal supporters and newcomers alike, excited to watch history unfold. And if the numbers keep growing like this, there is no doubt that these collegiate players will continue to succeed.
- the 2024 summer (mcintosh) Olympics
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July marked the beginning of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, or as some fans called it, the 2024 Summer McIntosh Olympics.
Winning four medals, the Canadian swimming sensation garnered much attention at the international level as spectators across the world finally got to see McIntosh’s talents with their own eyes.
McIntosh put on an impressive showing at the Olympic games, earning three gold medals in the 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly, and 200m individual medley. But she didn’t stop there; McIntosh also earned a silver medal in the 400m freestyle. She became the first Canadian athlete to accomplish this tall feat, but McIntosh made it look seamless.
It’s safe to say that her accomplishments made Canadians very proud and at only 17 years old, the sky’s the limit for her future.
- A new beginning for rugby
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The first day of the women’s rugby sevens competition set a precedent for how the rest of the Olympic games were going to play out. And it did not disappoint. 66,000 people packed into Stade de France, setting a new record for a women’s rugby event.
The sport became vastly popular on social media, with one rugby star at the forefront: Ilona Maher. Maher has been vocal on TikTok about body positivity, as female rugby athletes are often criticized for having muscular bodies. Her platform aims to empower women of all sizes, and she encourages people to try the sport and get out of their comfort zone. Maher has inspired millions of fans to watch this year’s Olympics, setting the tone for some thrilling games.
This year’s Olympics saw some really tough matchups, but in the end, New Zealand took home their second consecutive Olympic title, winning against Canada 19-12 in the gold-medal match. It was a triumphant finish for longtime captain and powerhouse Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, who walked off the Olympic pitch for the last time.
Though celebrated stars like Woodman-Wickliffe are walking away from the international stage, these new rising stars and newfound attention to the sport have kept us excited for this new beginning.
- Zakia Khudadadi triumphs for the Paralympic refugee team
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After fleeing Afghanistan in 2021, Zakia Khudadai had her sights set on the 2024 Paralympics, and she certainly made the most of it, claiming bronze in the K44 -47kg category (a category that includes athletes with unilateral arm amputation).
Khudadadi became the first Afghan woman para taekwondo athlete to win a Paralympic medal at this year’s Paralympic Games and won the first-ever medal for the Refugee Paralympic Team.
While the Refugee Paralympic Team is composed of independent refugee participants, Khudadadi’s win has unified the team. Khudadadi dedicated the medal to all the women in Afghanistan and to refugees across the world, and she hopes to go even further at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
- The 2024 wnba finals: a series for the ages
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This year’s WNBA Finals was one to watch; the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx squared off to see who would take it all.
Whether it was the Lynx completing a comeback to win the first game or the Liberty’s point guard Sabrina Ionescu’s game-winner in game three — it was undeniably a fight until the very end.
With two wins a piece, it all came down to game five. Though the Lynx looked confident, leading the majority of the game, the Liberty fought their way back in the heat of the fourth quarter to take it to overtime.
Ultimately, the Liberty prevailed over the Lynx 67-62 and became the 2024 WNBA Champions — their first win in franchise history. The Liberty’s starting center, , put on a phenomenal defensive front to be honoured as this year’s Finals MVP.