Meet 10 Female Athletes Poised to Win Gold and Make It Big in 2021

In 2019, Kate Courtney became the first American in 17 years to win the overall World Cup in cross country mountain biking. In the process, she also stamped her ticket to the 2020 Olympics, where she has a real chance to become the first American to medal since 2012. (No American has ever placed higher than third.) At 23, Kate is leading what some are calling a new “golden age” of American cycling; 2020 could be her year to prove it to the world.

The world of women’s 400m hurdles was dominated this year by two Americans: Dalilah Muhammad and Sydney McLaughlin. At the 2019 World Championships, both athletes were so far ahead of the field, they were practically running another race. Dalilah won the world title and broke the 400m world record twice; she’s had her breakout year. Now it’s Sydney’s turn: she finished second at the world championships with a personal best time, the third fastest in history, but was clearly hungry for more. She’ll get her chance at the Olympics next year, which promises to be another showdown between these two up-and-coming track stars.

Sunisa Lee was already being touted as a rising star for US Gymnastics even before her performance at the 2019 World Championships. There, she bagged a bronze on the uneven bars and silver on floor, bested only by the GOAT herself, Simone Biles. It’s a solid foundation to build on heading into 2020, where Sunisa will be competing against a stacked American field for a coveted Olympic slot.

Swimmer Regan Smith made major waves (sorry, we had to) when she broke two world records at the 2019 FINA World Championships, one of which belonged to Missy Franklin. The backstroke specialist is just 17 and recently committed to swim at Stanford, the former training ground of both Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel. Though she won’t have a chance to qualify for the Olympics until the Trials next year, Regan is setting herself up as the one to beat.

Coco Gauff made 2019 her year. She beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon and, in October, secured her first WTA Singles title. The 15-year-old can’t play a full season until she turns 18 (a WTA rule implemented to prevent athlete burnout), but her rapid rise to the top of the tennis world makes us think the next decade will be Coco’s for the taking.

In a Women’s World Cup that was filled with jaw-dropping moments, Rose Lavelle‘s virtuoso, take-on-the-whole-opposing-defense goal in the Final was still enough to make you stop and stare. It capped off a tournament in which Rose managed to stand out on a team full of standouts, even taking home the Bronze Ball as the tournament’s third-best player. She’s peaking at the right time, because USWNT have a bone to pick at the 2020 Olympics; in 2016, the team went home medal-less for the first time since the sport’s Olympic debut in 1996. Fresh faces like Rose, Samantha Mewis, and Lindsey Horan are going to be a big factor as the team looks to reclaim gold.

In August, Brooke Raboutou became the first American to qualify for the Olympics in sport climbing, a sport that combines three disciplines of rock climbing: lead climbing, speed climbing, and bouldering. Brooke already has several world titles under her belt and comes from a family of climbers (her mom won four consecutive World Cup titles), and she’ll need all of that experience and grit to compete for Olympic gold. One of Brooke’s primary goals at the Games, though: to grow her sport in front of a global audience.