Athletes train all of their lives for a single moment.
From a buzzer-beating, game-winning shot, successful penalty kick to clinch a championship or single second shaved off a personal best time to set a record. All the years of practice, sweat and sacrifice come down to one defining moment that can make or break an athlete’s dreams.
‘Today was just an amazing day in the middle of some really tough months,’ Olympic alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin said after winning her milestone 100th World Cup race. ‘I’m very thankful for this day.’
The year 2025 was filled with unforgettable moments and feats that will live on in women’s sports history. USA TODAY Sports compiled a list of the top 10:
1. A’ja Wilson’s WNBA Finals game winner
The Phoenix Mercury were on the verge of another double-digit comeback in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals. Then Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson did what Wilson does best.
The Aces led by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter, but the Mercury tied it up at 88 with 5 seconds left. The game looked like it was headed to overtime. That was before Wilson hit a game-winning turnaround jumper over Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner with 0.9 remaining to reclaim the lead.
‘I just needed a bucket to go in,’ said Wilson, who finished a game-high 34 points and 14 rebounds in the 90-88 win. ‘I didn’t really see who was in front of me. I didn’t care. This is the Finals, you’ve got to make shots.’
Wilson’s shot stopped any momentum for Phoenix in the championship series. The Aces took a commanding 3-0 lead and went on to sweep the Mercury in four games to claim their third title in five years.
2. Paige Bueckers, UConn win national title
Bueckers finished her UConn career by helping win the program’s 12th national title with a dominant 82-59 victory over South Carolina. Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong combined to outscore the entire South Carolina roster (65-59). Bueckers finished with 17 points, bringing her to 477 career points in the NCAA tournament, third most all-time. Buckers exited the game with 1:32 left and cried in head coach Geno Auriemma’s arms on the sideline.
It was a storybook ending for Bueckers’ injury-plagued collegiate career. Following a breakout freshmen campaign where she was named AP Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year, she was limited to 17 games her sophomore year after having surgery to repair a tibial plateau fracture and meniscus tear in December 2021. She missed the 2022-23 season after tearing the ACL tear in her left knee in August 2022 during a pickup game ahead of her junior year.
3. Mikaela Shiffrin wins 100th World Cup
Mikaela Shiffrin became the first alpine skier to win 100 World Cup races in February, less than three months after a crash in her first attempt at the milestone left her with a puncture wound in her abdomen and severe muscle trauma. Shriffin suffered the crash during the second run of a giant slalom race on Nov. 30, 2024, in Killington, Vermont. She was in the lead when she lost an edge, hitting one gate at full speed and somersaulting into another before coming to rest against the safety netting.
In her sixth race back from injury, however, Shiffrin crossed the finish line of the slalom in Sestriere, Italy, with the fastest time. She fell to the snow, overwhelmed by the moment.
‘It certainly feels like I’ve been fighting a lot lately,’ Shiffrin said. ‘It’s been hard to find the right momentum and the right flow and to work through the injury and come back and compete with these women who are skiing so strong and so fast. I have wondered in the last weeks so many times whether it is the right thing to come back.’ — Nancy Armour
4. Marta’s equalizer in 2025 Copa América Femenina final
Marta added to her legend in Brazil’s 5-4 penalty shootout win over Colombia in the Copa América Femenina final on Aug. 2.
Colombia’s Linda Caicedo opened scoring in the 25th minute, but Brazil’s Angelina converted a penalty kick in the 45th minute to tie it at halftime. Colombia took the lead again on an own goal from Brazil defender Tarciane in the 69th minute, but Brazil evened it up with Amanda Gutierres’ goal in the 80th. Colombia took the lead for the third time with Mayra Ramírez’s goal in the 88th minute.
Then, came Marta. The 39-year-old Brazilian came off the bench in the 82nd minute and instantly made an impact. She scored an equalizer in the sixth minute of stoppage time and scored again in the 105th minute of extra time to give Brazil its first lead. Colombia’s Leicy Santos scored in the 115th minute to even it up and send the match to a penalty shootout. Brazil keeper Lorena saved two penalty kicks to claim Brazil’s fifth Copa América Femenina title in a row and ninth overall.
5. WNBA player’s ‘Pay Us What You Owe Us’ shirts
With all eyes on the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis, the biggest names in the league made a bold statement in front of an announced crowd of nearly 17,000 fans by wearing black pregame T-shirts that read, ‘Pay Us What You Owe Us.’ The message was clear as the players fight for better pay and benefits amid ongoing CBA negotiations. The current CBA was due to expire on Oct. 31, but was extended Jan. 9, 2026.
“That’s something we wanted to make well known. In the bubble we always knew how to make a stand with some T-shirts, so we did that today,’ WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike said in July after the All-Star Game. ‘We look forward to negotiating our fair share and our value.”
Ogwumike is referring to WNBA players wearing “Vote Warnock” T-shirts ahead of a game in August 2020 in support of Rev. Raphael Warnock for U.S. Senate in Georgia. Warnock went on to defeat incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler, who co-owned the Atlanta Dream before selling her stake in the team in February 2021 following her controversial comments on the Black Lives Matter movement. Warnock credited the players support and activism with boosting his 2020 Senate runoff victory.
6. Napheesa Collier’s explosive news conference
Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier openly criticized WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s ‘tone-deaf and dismissive’ leadership, showcasing how far apart the players and league remained on reaching a new collective bargaining agreement.
‘We have the best players in the world, we have the best fans in the world, but right now we have the worst leadership in the world,’ Collier said in her end of season media availability following the Lynx’s 86-81 Game 4 semifinal loss to the Phoenix Mercury in September.
In her statement, Collier recalled a specific conversation she had with Engelbert about compensating young stars in February during the inaugural season of Unrivaled. ‘Her response was, ‘Caitlin (Clark) should be grateful to make $16 million off the court, because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything. … In that same conversation she told me players should be, ‘On their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.’ That’s mentality driving our league from the top. … The league believes it succeeds despite its players, not because of them.’
Engelbert said she was ‘disheartened’ by Collier’s characterization of their conversation in a statement released on social media. During her annual news conference ahead of the WNBA Finals, Engelbert denied making a comment about Clark and said there’s ‘a lot of inaccuracy about what I said or what I didn’t say.’
7. Lindsay Vonn wins first World Cup race since 2018
Less than a year after returning to the World Cup circuit following a nearly six-year retirement and a partial knee replacement, Vonn won the downhill in St. Moritz on Dec. 12 to top the podium for the first time since 2018. She won in emphatic fashion by a 0.98 second margin to claim her 83rd World Cup win.
‘It almost doesn’t feel real,’ said Vonn, who was overcome with emotion as she listened to the national anthem. ‘It couldn’t go any better than this. It’s amazing. I’m so happy.’
Vonn, 41, made the podium in four of her first five races this season with a bronze in the downhill in St. Moritz on Dec. 13, plus bronzes in the downhill and super-G in Val d’Isere, France, the following weekend. As a result, Vonn met the results-based criteria and officially qualified for the Milano Cortina Olympics, her fifth Games.
8. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone wins 400m gold
It was the second time McLaughlin-Levrone made history at this year’s world championships. During the semifinals, McLaughlin-Levrone ran a 48.29 to break Sanya Richards-Ross’ 19-year-old American record (48.70) in the 400, clocking in at 48.29 before topping her own American record.
McLaughlin-Levrone is the world record holder, two-time Olympic gold medalist and 2022 world champion in the 400 hurdles. The U.S. sprinter can add world champion in the 400 to her résumé now that she accomplished history by owning world championship gold in both one-lap events. — Tyler Dragon
9. U.S. women’s hockey sweeps Canada in Rivalry series
The U.S. women’s national hockey defeated Canada in four consecutive games to sweep the 2025 Rivalry Series, something neither team has done in the tournament’s six-year history. The Americans outscored the Canadians 24-7 across four games, including a 10-4 win in Edmonton in Game 3, the most goals Canada has allowed in international play. The U.S. women had 13 different players score. Hilary Knight and Abbey Murphy lead all scorers with five goals, while Taylor Heise had eight assists.
The historic win gives the Americans some momentum heading into the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. The U.S. and Canadian women have faced off in six of the seven Olympic gold medal matches, with Canada walking away with four of those golds and another gold vs. Sweden.
“This definitely gives us confidence,” said U.S. defender Laila Edwards, who scored on Saturday night. “But I wouldn’t mistake it with satisfaction. We know nothing is going to be easy come February.”
10. Texas A&M upsets Nebraska volleyball
Nebraska volleyball earned the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament following a dominant regular season where the Huskers went undefeated and losing seven sets. Nebraska’s winning streak and title pursuit fell short after No. 3 Texas A&M upset the Huskers in a thrilling five-set Elite Eight match to punch their ticket to the Final Four for the first time in program history.
Nebraska was the first of three No. 1 seeds the Aggies dispatched en route to the program’s first national championship. Texas A&M swept No. 1 Pitt in the semifinals and No. 1 Kentucky in the title match.
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.