Caitlin Clark Shocked Serena Williams Never Won ESPY for Best Performance on Record

Caitlin Clark won a pair of ESPYs on Thursday night.

As with many of her academic honors, this wasn’t her first time winning one of the ESPY Awards. Clark was honored as the top female college athlete, beating out LSU gymnastics star Haleigh Bryant, Wisconsin volleyball star Sarah Franklin and Northwestern lacrosse star Izzy Scane for the award.

Clark also won the ESPY for Best Female College Athlete in 2023.

But Clark made ESPY history on Thursday night. With her ESPY win for best performance on record, Clark became the first woman to win the award.

On Friday, Clark and the Indiana Fever were preparing to host the Phoenix Mercury later that night. During the pregame press conference, Clark was asked what it meant to be recognized as the first woman to win the best-ever ESPY.

Clark was certainly honored, but she couldn’t believe she was the first woman to win the award. And she thinks she probably shouldn’t have been, either.

“Yeah, I didn’t know that until my little brother sent it to me this morning. I think it’s super cool. I think she probably shouldn’t have been the first woman to win this award in my eyes, just because I grew up supporting so many different female athletes that I idolized and adored. The amount of records that I’ve seen people break and win. To me, how has Serena Williams never won this award?”

“It’s crazy to think about things like that, but I hope it’s the start of more recognition of women and their accomplishments. Obviously, it’s cool. But yeah, it’s not something you would have guessed honestly. But, for me, it’s just something that I’m really grateful for,” Clark said.

The fact that Clark is the first woman to win this award is pretty crazy when you think about it.

Serena Williams is arguably the greatest female athlete of all time. During her dominance of women’s tennis, Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

There have been many other great female athletes since the ESPYs were introduced in 1993.

It’s great to see Clark honoring one of the other greatest female athletes of all time, Serena Williams. As a longtime supporter of women’s athletics, this is not at all surprising coming from Clark.

Contact us/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X and like us on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions.

Follow Josh on X:@JoshOnREF

The article was originally published on Hawkeyes Wire