International Women’s Day: The top ten current icons in British women’s sport

Today is International Women’s Day (March 8) - a day to celebrate the success and achievements of women all across the world.

British women in sport have had plenty to cheer about in recent years, following last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, as well as joy in the Paralympics, football and tennis.

To celebrate some of our biggest female British stars in sport, we take a look at ten of the UK’s icons:

Laura Kenny

Laura is an English track and road cyclist specialising in track endurance events.

The 29-year-old has won six Olympic medals and, along with her silver medal from the team pursuit at the 2020 Olympics, she is both the most successful female cyclist and the most successful British female athlete in Olympic history.

Her husband, Jason Kenny, holds the same record on the male side and the pair of them are the most successful married couple in the Olympics ever.

She has also won seven World Championships, fourteen European Championships and one Commonwealth Games titles.

The Essex-born star was named Dame Laura Kenny in the 2022 New Years Honours list.

Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu became one of the most talked about sports stars in the world last year when she won the US Open.

The teenager entered the competition as a qualifier and gained more than 100 ranking places - becoming the only singles qualifier to reach the semi-final and final of the US Open in the Open area, as well as being the youngest player to reach the final since Maria Sharapova in 2006.

Raducanu’s final victory over Leylah Fernandez broke a number of records, with the unbelievable run at the tournament being nicknamed ‘The Fairytale of New York’ as she became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1977.

Charlotte Dujardin

Charlotte Dujardin CBE is a British dressage rider in equestrian sport, and is renowned as the dominant dressage rider of her era.

The 36-year-old became the first rider to hold the complete set of available individual elite dressage titles and is also Britain’s joint most decorated female Olympian of all time with six medals, including three golds.

Ellen White

Ellen White currently plays for Manchester City and England’s national football team.

The 32-year-old has featured for the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Birmingham City during her career and has become one of the country’s biggest female stars - scoring 49 goals in 104 matches for England and becoming the country’s top female goalscorer across her 12 years represenenting the Lionesses.

Jade Jones

Jade Jones OBE is a Welsh taekwondo athlete with two Olympic gold medals, one World Championship and three European Championships to her name.

Jones was awarded her MBE in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to taekwondo and then her OBE in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to taekwondo and sport.

Dina Asher-Smith

Dina Asher-Smith is a British sprinter and the fastest British woman in recorded history.

The 26-year-old has two Olympic bronze medals in the 4x100m relay; as well as one gold, three silver and one bronze medal at four World Championships.

The London-born athlete has been named by Powerlist as one of the UK’s most influential people of African/African Caribbean descent.

Steph Houghton

Steph Houghton MBE is the current captain of both Manchester City and England’s women’s teams.

The 33-year-old has earned an impressive 121 caps for her country and is the most capped female player in the current squad.

Houghton was appointed an MBE in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to football.

Sarah Storey

Dame Sarah Storey is a British Paralympic athlete in cycling and swimming.

The 44-year-old has earned 28 Paralympic medals, including 17 golds - making her the most successful and most decorated British Paralympian of all time.

To maker her success even more impressive, Storey won five gold medals in the Paralympics before turning 19.

Following the 2012 London Games, she was appointed her DBE in the 2013 New Year Honours.

Lucy Bronze

Lucy Bronze is a right-back for Manchester City and England, previously playing for Sunderland, Everton, Liverpool and Lyon.

The defender has won three Champions League trophies, three WSL titles and two FA Cups, as well as being named BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year in 2018 and 2020 and The Best FIFA Women’s Player in December 2020.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Katarina Johnson-Thompson is an English heptathlete with a number of broken records to her name.

The 29-year-old struck gold at the 2019 World Championships and broke the British record with a score of 6,981, ranking her at No. 6 on the all-time heptathlon list.

She also holds the British record of 5,000 points for the women’s pentathlon.

Johnson-Thompson was left heartbroken at the Tokyo Olympics when she tore a calf muscle while in medal contention in the 200m.

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