The best female snowboarders of all time

“Who run the world? GIRLS.” Yep, we totally think Beyoncé was talking about the snowboarding scene when writing those lyrics. After all, female snowboarders are taking the world by storm – and have been for a long time.

Call them role models, revolutionaries, or risk-takers. But one thing’s for sure – female snowboarders are SLAYING the scene and closing the gap in a traditionally male-dominated sport. So, what better way to celebrate these lady shredders and podium queens than by rounding up the best female snowboarders of all time? 

It hasn’t been an easy task. We’ve considered the number of medals, but also the advocates for women in the industry and those blazing their own trail in each discipline. So, let’s get started. Oh, and – spoiler alert – it’s not just these ladies’ positive vibes and killer moves that’ll spark that inspo. Their style will, too. So, why not bag one of our women's snowboard jackets and women's snowboard pants – and feel just as pro as these prodigies and pioneers?

Top female snowboarders of all time

Chloe Kim

Okay, Chloe Kim nearly has a medal for every year she’s spent on this planet. This girl is on fire! She’s the first-ever athlete to win three X Games gold medals before turning 16 and the first-ever pro rider to win all four major snowboarding titles: X Games, World Championships, Youth Winter Olympics, and Olympics. Oh, and Kim bagged the gold in Halfpipe during her first time competing at an Olympic event (the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games), simultaneously becoming the youngest female to win Olympic gold at just 17 years old. Not bad for your first try at the Olympics, right? 

Plus, Kim secured the gold with the same ground-breaking, historic run she pulled off in the 2016 US Grand Prix when she was just 15 – the first time a female snowboarder successfully performed the sequence in competition and scored a flawless 100. That’s the definition of being the best!

And, of course, she hasn’t stopped there. She’s since secured a gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, won three more Winter X Games gold medals and a Dew Tour title, studied at Princeton … and made it to the semi-finals of The Masked Singer. Is there anything this chica can’t do!? 

Anna Gasser

Harnessing her gymnastics background, Anna Gasser vaulted onto the scene (sorry, not sorry), becoming the first female snowboarder in history to land a Cab Double Cork 900. A few years later, she made history again, being the first woman to land a Cab Triple Underflip 1260. 

Two history-making tricks. You’d think that’d satisfy any rider, right? Nope, not Gasser – she later landed a Cab Double Cork 1260 and became the first female to do that, too. Yep, you can always trust this woman to push riding to new heights (literally). 

But Gasser doesn’t just collect world-first trick titles. She’s also claimed copious gold medals, including one at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Olympics for her insane Big Air performance. Gasser’s also taken home four Winter X Games golds and claimed the Big Air World Championship title for 2017 and 2023. And she makes it all look effortless.  

It’s really cool to see how women’s snowboarding is progressing right now.

Jamie Anderson

If you’re wondering who has the most Olympic medals, look to Jamie Anderson. Currently, she’s sitting on two golds and one silver – only pipped to the post by former pro rider and fellow American Shaun White, who has three golds. 

But Anderson hasn’t just won any gold medals – she claimed the first-ever Slopestyle gold medal at the discipline’s debut during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Plus, she defended that gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, becoming the first female snowboarder to win multiple golds. Boom!

And it’s not just the Olympics that Anderson bosses! She’s also the most decorated female competitor in X Games’ history, winning 21 medals (including eight gold!). This – along with multiple World Cup, World Championships, and U.S. Grand Prix titles – brings her medal total to 25. Imagine how big her display cabinet must be! 

Torah Bright

When Aussie rider Torah Bright wanted to rip mountains, she swapped her New South Wales home for the US’s Salt Lake City aged 14. And she hasn’t looked back, winning a Halfpipe gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and a Halfpipe silver at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Oh, she also claimed two golds on the Superpipe at the Winter X Games (2007 and 2009) and is a three-time US Open winner and World Superpipe champion. 

And, if that wasn’t enough, Bright achieved a history-making feat at the 2014 Olympic Games, becoming the first competitor (male or female) to compete in three separate disciplines: Slopestyle, Halfpipe, and Boardercross. She bagged her silver medal in Halfpipe there, simultaneously becoming Australia’s most successful female Winter Olympics athlete. 

Bright officially retired from competition in 2020. However, she’s fully focused on supporting future talent. How so? One example is Thredbo’s Torah Bright Mini Shred, a day designed to encourage kids to ride. And have the chance to learn from the best, including Bright herself and a host of industry coaches and riders, such as Zoi Sadowski-Synnot. More on her in a bit …

Jess Kimura

Known for her freestyle and street riding, Jess Kimura is a force to be reckoned with. She’s known as Danger Pony, but don’t confuse that with being a one-trick pony. In fact, her near-endless roster of tricks means she pretty much single-handedly brought attention to women’s presence in urban and street snowboarding.

However, Kimura has also translated her skills to the backcountry, becoming one of the few female pros to film on the street and off-piste. But Kimura doesn’t let the attention linger on her. Instead, she kicks the door down for other women to charge right through it. Just check out The Uninvited, her two-year project and all-girl movie produced, directed, and funded by Kimura. 

Yep, unimpressed with the lack of female representation within the industry, Kimura ventured out, made her own movie, and shone a freaking beam on the insane skills of women snowboarders. She also hosts grassroots events to support young female riders. And that is why she more than deserves a place on this list.

For me, it's not a competition. It shouldn't be women against each other. It's more like I need to leave this place, women's snowboarding, better than I found it.

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott

Okay, we think it’s safe to say there’s nothing Zoi Sadowski-Synnott can’t achieve. Olympics? Smashed it (gold in Slopestyle and silver in Big Air 2022, and bronze in Big Air 2018). X-Games? Nailed it (seven medals, including a double gold). World Championships? Stomped it (two golds). US Open? Could have done it in her sleep. Natural Selection Tour? Conquered it and came first at the Baldface stop. And it’s not just a variety of competitions she can handle – she’s insanely talented in all disciplines, including Slopestyle, Big Air, and Freeriding. 

Sadowski-Synnott isn’t afraid for some world-firsts, either, including being the first female snowboarder to land a Switch Backside 900 in competition (where she won bronze at the 2018 Winter Olympics), complete a Switch Backside 1260 Weddle grab (in the Big Air World Cup event, 2023), and nail back-to-back Double Corks in a ski or snowboard contest (Slopestyle, Winter X 2022). Plus, she’s New Zealand’s first gold medalist and the first-ever Kiwi to win multiple Winter Olympic medals. 

Phew – you’d think most riders would take a break after all that, right? Well, Sadowski-Synnott is made of something else! Yep, she’s pushing progression in the backcountry, too! Just check out her jaw-dropping big lines in films such as Fleeting Time. And, speaking of films, catch her in Snowcats, Monster Energy’s first all-female snowboarding vid, alongside Chloe Kim, Jamie Anderson, and other fellow legends. 

I’m even prouder knowing that I put some runs down that set a new bar for women’s snowboarding and got to show the whole world what we're capable of.

Elena Hight

You’d think dominating competitions would make you awesome enough. But Elena Hight wasn’t satisfied there, becoming an insane big mountain rider, too. Back in her comp days, though, Hight was already setting world-firsts. For example, at just 13 years old, she became the first woman to land a 900 in competition. Later, Hight entered the history books as the first rider (male or female) to land a Double Backside Alley-Oop Rodeo in Halfpipe competition at the 2013 Winter X Games. Plus, she’s also a two-time Halfpipe Olympian. 

Then, Hight set her sights on new heights. She turned her attention to mountaineering, splitboarding, and freeriding big-as-hell lines. Hight didn’t start this next chapter of her shred career alone, though – Jeremy Jones invited her on a nine-day High Sierra splitboard tour, which she stomped, of course. Since then, Hight’s taken on insanely inspirational lines and regularly pushed boundaries in backcountry riding. 

What do we mean by pushing backcountry boundaries? How about becoming the first woman to ride Tahoe’s infamous Grizzly Spines? Yep, the bar’s been raised, my friend. And Hight isn’t just attempting these feats behind closed doors – she has explored alongside Jeremy Jones in Ode To Muir, became part of Full Moon, the rad all-female feature film, and documented her personal journey in Blank Canvas and her web series Hight Hopes. 

Kelly Clark 

Legends don’t come much greater than Kelly Clark. Whichever snowboarding event you can think of, Clark has won, including the Olympics (when she became the first American athlete to win a snowboarding gold for the 2002 Halfpipe), Winter X Games (over a dozen medals), World Snowboard Tour (five wins), and the US Open Championships (a casual seven times!). 

Clark also landed a world-first, which took her seven years to learn! Yep, at the 2011 Winter X Games, she cleanly executed a 1080 in the Halfpipe, becoming the first woman to do so in competition. But for Clark, riding was about more than competitions. She’s said she felt responsible for leading other female snowboarders and paving the way. Or, as she put it, her “ceiling will be their floor”. So, in 2010, Clark founded the Kelly Clark Foundation, a non-profit organization providing scholarships for young shredders to boost their potential. 

Clark retired from competitive riding in 2019 – with Burton releasing RISE to celebrate her legacy, a limited edition women’s snowboard designed by Clark. However, she continues to inspire up-and-coming riders, helping to mentor Chloe Kim, launching Kelly Clark Snowboarding to make snowboarding easier for people, and releasing Inspired, a book about her journey, faith, and Olympic career. Oh, and she still rides nearly every day, of course.

I really wanted to take the sport forward … I knew I was capable of doing it, and I believed it was possible for women to do it.

Jenny Jones

Jenny Jones is known as the most successful British snowboarder ever. But the UK’s lack of natural snowboarding terrain meant opportunities didn’t surround this Brit from the off-set. In fact, she turned to gymnastics before learning to snowboard at 17 years old on a dry slope in Somerset, UK. Then, to get some proper snow time under her belt, Jones worked in a chalet in Tignes, France. 

It wasn’t long before Jones was bagging Slopestyle medals, though – most notably gold medals in the 2009 and 2010 Winter X Games and 2010 Winter X Games Europe in Tignes (during her chalet season). Then, in 2013, Jones secured Slopestyle silver in a FIS Snowboard World Cup round.

However, 2014 was Jones’ year. She became the first Brit to win an Olympic medal on snow after bagging a bronze in Slopestyle at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. With that win, she also ignited a nation’s love of snowboarding. Today, Jones has retired from competition. However, she’s keen to pass on her knowledge via workshops. These include training, backcountry, and snowboarding and mindset workshops across the Alps. They say knowledge is power, but few are as powerful as Miss Jenny Jones.

FAQs

Who was the very first female professional snowboarder?

In the early 90s, it wasn’t just one woman paving the way. Instead, a group of pioneers, including Shannon Dunn-Downing, Tina Basich, Tara Dakides, Barrett Christy, and Janna Meyen, threw down Indy airs and methods out of the pipe, entered contests, and supported and encouraged each other. Plus, we can’t forget Victoria Jealouse and Morgan Lafonte dominating those gnarly, steep faces and nailing double backflips (Morgan Lafonte is widely regarded as the first woman to do so). And – fact of the day – did you know Basich stated that women sticking by one another helped carve out a permanent place for females in snowboarding?

And she was right. Female snowboarders became more and more prominent. In 1989, TransWorld SNOWboarding honored Amy Howat with the first woman’s cover. 1994 saw Shannon Dunn-Downing become the first woman to have a pro-model snowboard with her namesake Sims board. And later, as we’ve already mentioned, Karine Ruby was the first female to win a snowboarding Olympic gold medal (1998).

Basich and Dunn-Downling didn’t slow down, either, becoming iconic ambassadors for female snowboarders worldwide, designing new products for women, and convincing competition organizers (such as Big Air) to include female athletes. And, in 2023, both Basich and Dunn-Dowling became the first-ever female snowboarders to become inducted into the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. Yew!

Who’s representing the next wave of female professional snowboarders?

We love that there are almost too many up-and-coming female snowboarders to watch out for and list here. If we’d had to narrow it down, though, we’d say to keep an eye on Mia Brookes. She’s only 16, but she’s already become the youngest-ever snowboard world champion when she won the Slopestyle event at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2023. Oh, and that win also made her the first Brit to win a snowboarding Slopestyle world title. Boom. 

Gaon Choi is also one to watch out for. How so? She’s broken Chloe Kim’s record of being the youngest X Games snowboard halfpipe gold medalist. Yep, Choi seized the record-breaking gold at South Korea’s 2023 Winter X Games, aged 14 (a few months younger than Kim was when she won hers). Well, she is in the best hands … Kim is her mentor! 

You might also want to keep your eyes peeled for Japan’s Reira Iwabuchi, who made history at the X Games Aspen 2023 by becoming the first female snowboarder to land a triple in competition with her Frontside Triple Cork 1260. Plus, that was her first-ever try at executing one, BTW … Imagine what she comes up with next!

Wrapping up 

Woah – there’s no doubt female snowboarders are dominating the industry. In fact, we think it’s safe to say they’re charging past the sport’s gender gap, making their own mark in the scene, ramping up the representation of female riders, and helping snowboarding progress into something freaking rad. Oh, and having a blast along the way, of course. And we’re 100% here for it. And, of course, we’ll forever be grateful for the female pioneers, OGs, and GOATs who got us to this point. 

Convinced there’s an iconic medal winner, record-breaker, or discipline disruptor we’ve missed? Let us know via crew@dopesnow.com. Or, if you’re after even more inspo, join the Dope Snow Community Facebook Group to see fellow females tearing things up alongside the latest collection previews and local meetups! 

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