Alysa Liu wins the award for Best Breakthrough Athlete at The 2026 ESPYS held at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Square on July 15, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
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After two Olympic gold medals and a meteoric rise to fame, Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu is accustomed to generating buzz. So, when Liu won the Best Breakthrough Athlete Award at the 2026 ESPY Awards, it was no surprise that the announcement earned one of the loudest crowd reactions of the night.
However, the buzz continued long after Liu and new hardware departed the stage in New York City. Liu won out over three worthy contenders, including Heisman Trophy winner and NCAA football champion Fernando Mendoza, New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini.
While the nominees are selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee, the winner has been chosen by public online voting since 2004.
Triumphing over college football’s darling and an NFL star quarterback, Liu’s win reflects the rising star power of female athletes. With her victory, Liu continues a five-year streak of female winners in the category.
Despite the recent trend, the award’s history reveals a stark contrast – one that female athletes have long worked to overcome.
History of the Best Breakthrough Athlete Award
The Best Breakthrough Athlete award was first introduced in 1993, with the inaugural winner being San Diego Padres player Gary Sheffield. While Liu claimed the most recent edition, from 1993 through 2021, only one female athlete earned the title: Mo’ne Davis – the Little League pitching phenom.
The award has historically been overwhelmingly male-dominated, with no female athletes nominated in its first seven years.
From 1993 to 2021, male athletes accounted for 82.9% of Best Breakthrough Athlete Award nominees and 96.4% of winners. The small contingent of female athletes nominated included some of sports’ most iconic names, from tennis legend Serena Williams to two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion Alex Morgan.
Every year in this window carried at least two male nominees, but only once – in 2005 – did two women appear on it together.
In 2022, that all changed.
Rising Female Representation in Sports Awards
From 2022 to 2026, female athletes have represented 45% of the total nominees, a 163% increase from the 1993 to 2021 period. Through Liu’s win, female athletes have won every ballot since 2022 – a 2700% increase in winners.
In 2022, the award’s 29th year, the ESPYs announced its second female recipient: Olympic skier Eileen Gu. NWSL player Trinity Rodman joined Gu on the ballot, making the second shortlist in the award’s history to feature two female athletes.
The following year, we saw the third. LSU basketball star Angel Reese won the award over Iowa basketball’s Caitlin Clark. In 2024, JuJu Watkins (USC Basketball) and Haleigh Bryant (LSU Gymnastics) contended for the award, with Watkins coming out on top.
A year later, Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher claimed the trophy over Chloe Humphrey (UNC Lacrosse) and a pair of male nominees. This week, Alysa Liu joined the exclusive club, accomplishing the ‘five-peat’ for women’s sports.
NIL Impact on Women’s Sports Growth
“Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” is no longer just a slogan: it’s a data and policy-backed trend. Since the landmark July, 2021 Supreme Court ruling, women’s sports have taken flight.
Opendorse reported that revenue from women’s collegiate sports grew at 4.5 times the rate of men’s sports from 2022–2024. Though at least two of five ESPY Breakthrough winners directly benefited from NIL deals (Reese, Watkins), the growth has expanded beyond college campuses.
In 2026, the women’s Olympic hockey gold-medal game between the U.S. and Canada drew a record-setting average of 5.3 million viewers (Nielsen). Nielsen also reported that Americans consumed 46 billion minutes of women’s sports in 2025 alone, a 71% increase from 2022. Professional leagues like the WNBA and NWSL continue to experience record growth, with ESPN’s 2025 WNBA coverage delivering its most-watched regular season and postseason ever.
“We’re witnessing a transformational movement in women’s sports – what was once seen as potential is now a thriving, billion-dollar industry,” said Pete Giorgio, Deloitte Global Sports practice leader.
Deloitte found that global women’s elite sports revenue reached $1.88 billion in 2024, up from $692 million just two years earlier, with commercial revenue surpassing $1 billion globally for the first time.
One might say – a breakthrough.
Once a niche name within the figure skating community, Alysa Liu catapulted from obscurity to fame at the 2026 Olympic Games. While her ESPY nomination signals recognition, her win underscores broader impact.
Liu is just the latest female athlete to break through in the post-NIL era, and she surely won’t be the last. Everyone is finally watching women’s sports, and now they’re recognizing the stars behind the scores.