Women won big at Wednesday's 2025 ESPY Awards, with star athletes from across women's sports earning top honors for outstanding performances over the past year.
Leading the charge was seven-time Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles with ESPYS for both Best Athlete, Women's Sports and Best Championship Performance for her trio of golds at last summer's Paris Games.
"Six-year-old me, who first started tumbling on my parents' sofa in the living room, is floored to be standing before you right now," Biles shared in one of her speeches.
Biles's Team USA teammate Suni Lee, who brought her doctor to the awards, won Best Comeback Athlete after battling kidney disease to return to top the Olympic podium.
The night's Best Breakthrough Athlete was USA Rugby star and 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Ilona Maher, who used part of her speech to encourage young women and girls, telling them to "Take up space. Pitch it faster. Run harder. Put another plate on the bar. And never tone it down."
Also snagging honors as the top athletes in their respective sports were Coco Gauff (Best Tennis Player), Caitlin Clark (Best WNBA Player), Katie Taylor (Best Boxer), and JuJu Watkins (Best College Athlete, Women's Sports).
Meanwhile, USWNT icon Alex Morgan and WNBA legend Diana Taurasi shared this year's Icon Award in recognition of the new retirees' impacts on their respective sports.
"Our mission has always been very similar," Morgan said in her acceptance speech alongside Taurasi. "We fought to leave our game in a better place than where we found it."

Off-court efforts earn 2025 ESPY Awards
Sports leaders whose impact surpassed the proverbial playing field also took home trophies on Wednesday night.
In recognition of her foundation's commitment to promoting diversity and providing tennis opportunities to underserved communities, US legend Sloane Stephens won this year's Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award.
Later, Penn State volleyball head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley earned a standing ovation alongside her Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.
Schumacher-Cawley, who became the first woman to helm a national title-winning volleyball team by leading her Nittany Lions to the 2024 NCAA Championship last December, did so while battling breast cancer.
"Cancer changed my life, but it didn't take it," said an emotional Schumacher-Cawley. "It didn't take my belief, it didn't take my spirit, and it didn't take my team."
Undisputed super lightweight champion Katie Taylor defeated Amanda Serrano in the boxing legends' third-straight fight on Friday, winning the highly-anticipated rematch by majority decision.
In front of 19,721 fans in Madison Square Garden, Taylor capped the pair's rivalry just over three years after meeting in the first-ever women's headliner fight at the iconic New York venue.
"I can't believe that this is my life," said Taylor after the clash. "I'm headlining the show at Madison Square Garden. I'm looking back on the whole journey. What an absolute, what an amazing life. These are nights that I dreamed of as a kid and sitting here again as a winner. I'm so happy, so grateful."
While the 39-year-old Irishwoman retained her world championship titles in the bout, Taylor had to battle as the 36-year-old Puerto Rican, who holds world titles in over four weight classes, kept the 30 rounds tight.
While Taylor ultimately took home top honors, Most Valuable Promotions co-founder and CEO Nakisa Bidarian, whose company presented the Friday event, made it clear that "Nobody lost tonight."
The night's biggest winner was the sport itself, as Taylor and Serrano's third and final contest led an all-women's card with 17 world titles on the table — a historic moment that Taylor does not take for granted.
"We created history together three times," Taylor said about Serrano. "My name will always be embedded with hers forever. I'm very, very happy about that."
"What we've been able to create over these last few years has been unbelievable," she continued. "It's amazing to have a rival like that in the sport. And this has brought [the world to] an event like this tonight, an all-female card, because of what myself and Amanda have been able to do to produce over the last few years."