Athletes

A true pioneer and innovator on the snow, Sarah Burke is the force responsible for petitioning and eventually getting women’s events added to ESPN’s X Games. Burke, the 2007 ESPY Award winner for Best Female Action Sports Athlete, is also involved in designing every major invitational ski competition in the world. As the world's most decorated female half-pipe athlete, she has won every major half-pipe competition., It was in 2007 at the World Skiing Invitational in Canada that Burke became the first and only woman to land a 1080-degree spin in competition. That same year, Burke took home her first Winter X Games gold medal, which she successfully defended at the 2008 Winter X Games in January. During 2006, Burke won a gold medal in the ski half-pipe contest at the World Cup finals, a gold medal in the half-pipe and a silver in the slopestyle at the U.S. Open as well as taking the silver medal in the ski superpipe at the Winter X Games. In 2005, she won the Federation Internationale de Ski World Freestyle Ski, U.S. Freeskiing Open SuperPipe and the World Superpipe Championships. The Powder Video Awards named Burke female skier of the year in 2004, and she also won the Powder Magazine award for Best Female film segment in 2004. Known as her most phenomenal season, 2003 saw Burke win six competitions, including the Global X Games Superpipe, World Skiing Festival Superpipe, U.S. Open Slopestyle, Ripcurl Challenge Slopestyle and the Ripcurl Challenge Big Air. Burke won the 2001 and 2002 Peoples Choice Award for Female Skier of the Year. She also took home the ESPN Female Skier of the Year Award in 2001. Currently Burke is working with the Women’s Sports Foundation on changing the inequality women competitors face in prize money from the X Games. At the present time, women at the X Games receive only 10 percent of the pay that the men do.

For more information on Sarah, visit www.sarahjburke.com.