By Emma Griffiths
The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting colder – winter is rapidly approaching. And whilst the changing season denotes an end of an era for sports’ fans, as we bid goodbye to the Summer of Women’s Sport, it also ushers in a whole new host of sport disciplines to enjoy.
February 2026 will bring with it the Winter Olympics – the highest profile event of any winter sport discipline – and one that promises to be hugely exciting given the culture of expansion and equality that sport is currently enjoying and nurturing across the board.
But although 2025 has undeniably marked a turning point for many major sports when it comes to the visibility and acceptance of their female teams, like the success enjoyed by the England Women’s football and rugby teams, there is a continuing question about whether this systemic change will trickle down into the less main-stream sports – and nowhere is that question more pertinent than in snow-sports.
Already contending with functioning on a different calendar, with their Olympic cycle two years out of kilter to the summer event, snow-sports also comes with a silent stereotype attached to it: adrenaline junkie. Daring, driven, ready to push themselves to the brink of human capability and fear – and, invariably, male.
However, that image is, put simply, not true. The action sports industry, where these figures are inevitably found and thrive, is a huge and multifaceted arena, replete with athletes, coaches and disciplines that span every nuance of human existence. Speaking to Charlie Guest, two-time Olympian and five-time British Slalom Champion, the position that her gender plays in her sport is a complex, and often contradicting, one.
“I genuinely thought that everything was super equal until I got to a certain point, and I lifted my head up – probably around 2022 with my last Olympic games – and I realised that this landscape is not actually equal for me, and that led me to see another thing and another thing. I actually feel a bit ashamed because I did an interview nearly 10 years ago saying that as a female ski racer, it feels totally equal, I don’t feel any different, I’m treated just like the boys.”
As Charlie highlights, ski racing occupies an interesting place when considering gender equality in sport. “We’re fortunate in alpine skiing that women have always competed for a long time, and there’s a big history of British women who have competed”.
Alongside that, there has always been an equal minimum prize money for the male and female competitors. This means that female athletes in this realm have, in some ways, been able to exist on a similar – if not quite the same – stage as their male counterparts, and by extension have been able to access a higher standard of competition than female athletes in other disciplines through this baseline of financial and media backing.
However, you’ll notice that the idea of ‘basic’ is recurrent when discussing the equality of the gender-playing field in alpine skiing. Whether you’re discussing the equal minimum prize money but the vastly different maximum rewards, or the different approaches that the media takes to covering events, there are subtle signs of the inequality within the sport everywhere.
“[Minimum prize money] is a great thing to put in, but it in no way means that [the sport] is actually equal – those two cannot be mistaken for the same thing. All our races get put on TV, which is better than some sports, but maybe it’s the timing that it’s put on, or the presenters that it’s given, or the commentary voices that are put on the women’s sport are very different from what the men get”.
These nuances of media coverage are particularly important when considering the real-life impacts that equality in sport has on athletes and their careers. As Charlie explains, without the platform that sufficient media coverage lends athletes “it’s like we don’t exist, we didn’t do anything, we have nothing to show for it”. Especially in a sport where a spot in the top 30 in the world means something fiscally entirely different for men versus women, these choices really do matter for the visibility, financial backing and, ultimately, success of a female athlete’s career.
These particular difficulties came to a head last year, when the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) only broadcast the men’s Slalom and Giant Slalom events in the Junior World Championships 2024. Charlie was at the forefront of the response to this controversial decision, publishing a letter online calling out the organisation for their unequal representation. It was a brave move – an athlete still in the World Cup circuit, in a male-dominated sporting culture – but the response across social media “was the validation that I needed that I wasn’t going mental and that this was an issue”. Ex and current ski-racers alike, including names like Mikaela Shiffrin, came out in their masses to support Guest’s sentiment that this simply wasn’t good enough.
This support, and the later admission of guilt by FIS and the equivalent French federation, demonstrates that whilst equality has not been achieved in alpine skiing, that is not to say that the experiences of female athletes in these domains are entirely and permanently negative.
“The identity of a ski racer [is] so powerful for me, because that was what I wanted to identify with more than being a female – and yes, being a female athlete laterally was a very strong identity for me as I started to realise the disparities of our sport.
There’s a huge identity associated with [being a ski racer] in that people really associate themselves with being strong and resilient and powerful because of their sport”.
This is an aspect of sport – especially women’s sport, given its ongoing developmental status – that cannot be underplayed. The identity of an ‘athlete’ is an incredibly powerful one, both for the individual involved and those who they influence around them. As women’s sport moves from strength to strength, the visibility, popularity and presence of female athletes is at the core of ensuring the continuing growth of the sport.
As Chris Scott from GB Snowsports highlighted “there is a fairly substantial link between the presence and media representation of successful female athletes and generation of both participants and ultimately hopefully successful athletes that follow on from that. We couldn’t say that there’s causation there, but there’s clearly correlation”.
Obviously, the presence of role models is an important one regardless of gender, but given the youthfulness of women’s sports, this is a real driving factor behind continuing to improve gender equality standards. Successful athletes not only inspire the next generation, but secure financial, commercial and even cultural backing with their wins and campaigns.
“There is a generation of female athletes who are, from a British perspective, at the very top of their sport”. Mia Brookes in freestyle snowboarding, Zoe Atkin in the halfpipe, Makayla Schofield in moguls, Kirsty Muir in free ski – the list extends for far longer. Great Britain is a leading talent pool, which by extension is allowing them to be a leading example of equity and equality in snow sports. Visually impaired, para-alpine skier Hester Poole has been vocal about how much veteran athlete Menna Fitzpatrick has inspired her career, evidence that once women are in positions of visibility, their impact can and will inspire the next generation.
Chris Scott adds “The approach to supporting female athletes in GB development has improved exponentially over the last ten to fifteen years. We’ve definitely moved away from this sense that there’s a model that suits all athletes and doesn’t need to be adjusted between male and female athletes … different motivating factors, different barriers, different moments for physical and mental coaching that supports the development of female athletes”.
But what do these steps actually look like? Having just identified how some of ski’s most influential governing bodies have recently failed female athletes, there is obviously still a long way to go. However, it is equally true that women’s sport has ceased to simply be a precursor to male events – this is the era of vast improvement and energy with gender equality in sport.
It’s a huge question, and as Charlie Guest rightfully says, “if we had an easy answer we would do it – and there’s not an easy answer because it does take money, it takes time, it takes space, and those are limited across the board for everyone, especially in our climate”.
Working alongside the emerging presence of female athlete role models, media interest and commercial backing is definitely on the right path – Scott emphasises that “the focus is shifting – there is much more equity of interest [across the genders] from a commercial perspective and those wanting to put marketing money into sport”.
Diving deeper into the actual industry, education and representation are core values that future plans are centred around. Guest tells an eye opening anecdote, that she didn’t realise how menstrual cycles were affected by hormonal contraception – something even more important to consider when your job revolved around your body performing at peak capacity. GB Snowsports has delivered the first of their female athlete project interventions, which target coaches to better understand the requirements to meaningfully coach female athletes. This includes actively prioritising the acquisition of female coaches, helping them to enter what is a heavily male dominated industry currently. “Not necessarily because women have to be coached by women, but because it’s never a bad thing to have more of a gender mix within a sport at every level”.
These movements are important, and the infrastructure is finally being tangibly put in place to achieve this equality after years of being side-lined. But with these discussions amid women’s sport enjoying such a spotlight of public attention, there is always a lingering question: will this continue even when the initial excitement wanes?
“We can’t just sit and rest on our laurels and pat ourselves on the back and say “Look how amazing women’s sport is”” Charlie Guest highlights. “Yes, a small group of women are finally being given the recognition they deserve – but there’s an awful lot of women who don’t even get the basics yet, and that’s going to take a huge cultural shift again and again”.
Chris Scott echoes that “The fact that we’ve made so much progress in a decade is positive but needs to be a reminder that this may not be a linear journey – we can’t just assume that we have achieved that move towards equity. I think there’s an important level of responsibility to demonstrate to sponsors, to the media, that progress in women’s sport can’t be allowed to fall back. To be retained it needs to be sustained, it needs to be promoted”.
That really sums up what the next chapter of snow sports holds for their male and female athletes. Whilst leaps have been made in identifying and honouring the heterogenous qualities of male and female athletes, the momentum that the female sport discipline have engineered needs to be continuously supported to allow them to reach and continue to occupy the same levels of competition and success.There is now a chance for snow sports to truly champion athletes in all their nuances and individualities. As Chris Scott further observes, “for the progression of every successful athlete – the gender shouldn’t really come into it. The hope is that they become the cipher to enable a new generation to see the art of the possible and to find opportunities for themselves within that”.
This article is part of the new series “Level the Playing Field: The Untold Stories of Women in Sport.” Each Monday, we publish a new story highlighting the women reshaping the world of sport — on and off the field. To read more inspiring stories of everyday women making a real difference in the world, be sure to check out the latest edition of Wempower magazine, or listen to our podcast.
