Caitlin Clark’s viral basketball success is scoring her major awards recognition.
The 22-year-old WNBA rookie leads the pack of 2024 ESPY Awards nominations. Clark is up for three awards at the July 11 awards show, including Best Athlete, Women’s Sports, Best College Athlete, Women’s Sports and Best Record-Breaking Performance for overtaking Pete Maravich’s spot as the NCAA’s All-Time Scoring Leader.
Clark made waves during her college basketball career playing for the University of Iowa, averaging 32 points a game and breaking numerous records. She was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft in April and made her professional league debut with the Indiana Fever the following month.
Following Clark with two ESPY nominations is Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who earned two nods for Best Athlete, Men’s Sports and Best NFL Player. Joining Mahomes, 28, in the former category are golf star Scottie Scheffler and Los Angeles Dodgers player Shohei Ohtani, who also scored nominations for Best Golfer and Best MLB Player, respectively.
Several of Clark’s fellow female basketball stars also received some awards recognition, with Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas and A’ja Wilson earning nominations for Best WNBA Player. Clark is also nominated alongside Coco Gauff, Nelly Korda and Wilson, 27, in the Best Athlete, Women’s Sports category, while Simone Biles scored a nod for Best Comeback Athlete ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
While Biles, 27, is expected to compete at the Olympics, which begin on July 26, Clark will not be participating as it was announced earlier this month that she would not be a member of the U.S. women’s basketball team.
“I’m excited for the girls [who] are on the team,” she told IndyStar reporter Chloe Peterson on June 9. “I know it’s the most competitive team in the world and I know it could have gone either way with me being on the team [or] me not being on the team. I’m excited for them.”
Noting that she had “no disappointment” over not making the squad, Clark added: “I’m going to be rooting [for] them to win gold. I was a kid that grew up watching the Olympics, so it’ll be fun to watch them.”
While Clark may not be representing the U.S. at the Olympics, Olympian Allyson Felix praised her, Biles and other young female athletes for having a positive influence on the world of women’s sports.
“I love watching Simone compete, and I think she’s really having fun and enjoying herself, and I think it’s going to be a really fun summer to watch her,” Felix, 38, exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month, going on to call Clark’s career an “incredible moment” in women’s basketball.
“I think people think that women’s sports should be different than men’s, and we get chippy too, and we like to play hard,” Felix stated. “I think it’s showing the world that all of these things are normal and they happen. Of course, you don’t want to see anything go in a negative direction, but we do want to see that the girls can play hard too.”
The 2024 ESPY Awards air on ABC Thursday, July 11, at 8 p.m. ET.
