One of the delights of my year is my annual Scottish Sportswomen of the Year column that is fast becoming a regular feature as Hogmanay approaches.
What’s been so interesting over the past few years has been quite how difficult it’s becoming to narrow this list down, and this year has been no different.
From Olympic and Paralympic medals to world titles to historic moments, here’s my rundown of Scotland’s sportswomen of 2024.
-Jasmin Paris
I have to begin with Jasmin Paris.
In March, the 41-year-old vet became the first woman ever to finish the world famous Barkley Marathons.
Dubbed the world’s hardest ultramarathon, it’s 100 miles long and prior to this year’s event, only 17 individuals – all men – had ever completed it.
Paris’ feat, quite rightly, made headline news across the globe and she’s ensured her name will now forever be in the sporting history books.
-Sammi Kinghorn
She ends this year having rectified this.
Her glorious sprint to T53 100m gold at this summer’s Paralympics completed her full set of major championship medals, with the 28-year-old returning home from Paris with four silver medals as well as her gold to see her become one of Scotland’s most decorated Paralympians ever.
-Scotland's women's rugby team
Their improvement was typified earlier this year when they rose to an all-time high of fifth in the world rankings in September following a convincing win over Fiji.
Their rise to fifth place saw them leapfrog none other than Australia and was a result of their impressive record of ten wins in 13 Test outings.
The Scots have now dropped down to seventh place but their form this year bodes well for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
-Jemma Reekie
Jemma Reekie has long been in contention for major championship silverware but, before 2024, had never been able to convert her potential into a place on the podium.
That changed earlier this year, though, with the 26-year-old winning silver in the 800m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow.
It was an impressive run in itself but perhaps more importantly, got the monkey off Reekie’s back of never having won a major medal.
-Beth Potter
Yet given that she’s only been a triathlete for less than eight years, her rise to the top of one of the most physically gruelling sports never fails to amaze me.
While her world title in 2023 was incredible, it’s an Olympic medal she’s always dreamed of and was the motivation for her switch from athletics to triathlon.
For her to have fulfilled this dream is nothing short of remarkable.
-Katie Archibald
After the sudden death of her partner, Rab Wardell, in 2022, Archibald has had the most challenging couple of years of her life and so the unfairness of a cruel twist of fate ruling her out of the Paris Olympics, where she would have been going for her hat-trick of Olympic gold medals, was as unjust as it comes.
A fall in her garden just weeks before Paris 2024 began resulted in a broken ankle and meant she remained at home while Team GB headed across the Channel.
However, she returned to competitive action remarkably quickly to win team pursuit gold at the World Championships in October, as well as silver in the madison, to finish the year on a high.
-Scotland Women's Cricket team
Scotland’s women’s cricket team, known as The Wildcats, made their World T20 World Cup debut this autumn having made the final of the qualifying tournament earlier this year.
Their first-ever appearance at the event may have ended at the group stages but making it to this first T20 World Cup is a major milestone in the team’s development and has given the squad invaluable experience as they aim to build on their success in 2025.
-Jenny Holl
Jenny Holl has had, it’s fair to say, a busy schedule in 2024.
With the Stirlingshire cyclist having piloted Sophie Unwin to two golds, a silver and a bronze at the Paris Paralympics, she also became British champion on the track in the points and scratch races and Scottish champion at the Criterium Championships in her own right.
Her success led her to, deservedly, being crowned Scottish Cycling’s Female Rider of the Year.
