Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates winning the gold medal in women's slalom at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships on Feb. 18, 2017 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Voting is now open for the 2017 Women’s Sports Foundation’s Sportswoman of the Year awards, and five of the 10 individual sports finalists and eight of the 10 team sports finalists represent Team USA.
The individual sports finalists from the U.S. are Heather Bergsma (speedskating), Katie Ledecky (swimming), Tatyana McFadden (Paralympic track and field), Becca Meyers (Paralympic swimming) and Mikaela Shiffrin (skiing).
Finalists in the team category are Valerie Arioto (softball), Brianna Decker (ice hockey), Heather Erickson (sitting volleyball), Maggie Steffens (water polo), Marie McCool (lacrosse), Elana Meyers Taylor (bobsled), Maya Moore (basketball) and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (tennis), nominated alongside her Czech partner Lucie Safarova.
Individual nominees from the rest of the world are Inna Deriglazova (Russia, fencing), Anna Gasser (Austria, snowboarding), Evgenia Medvedeva (Russia, figure skating), So Yeon Ryu (Republic of Korea, golf) and Elaine Thompson (Jamaica, track and field).
The other team nominees are Canadian curler Rachel Homan and the Brazilian beach volleyball duo of Talita Da Rocha Antunes and Larissa Franca Maestrini.
The finalists were chosen based on performances between Aug. 22, 2016, and July 31, 2017. Winners will be determined based on a combination of votes by the public and Women’s Sports Foundation Awards Committee members. Voting closes Aug. 27 at 11:59 p.m. EST and the winner will be honored at the 38th Annual Salute to Women in Sports on Oct. 18, 2017, in New York City.
To cast your vote, visit sportswomanoftheyear.com.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
