The hunt for BT’s Action Woman of the Year 2015 is underway and every month BT Sport will be highlighting potential contenders.
But it’s not just down to us – we want you to nominate the sportswomen who have impressed you most, using the #ActionWoman hashtag on Twitter.
At the end of the year, 10 nominees will make the final shortlist and it will be up to the public to vote for who they want to succeed 2014 winner Charlotte Dujardin as Action Woman of the Year.
Katie Summerhayes
While Britain’s North has been struggling with plenty of snow over the past few weeks, 19-year-old Sheffield lass Katie Summerhayes can’t get enough of it: “I don’t ever get tired of the snow, I really love it.
“When it comes to the UK everything just shuts down because no one is used to it, which is a bit annoying, but I love snow because it enables me to do what I love.”
While some of the top skiers were hitting it up in Aspen for the famous X Games, Summerhayes jumped at the chance – literally – to take a historic world championship silver in the freestyle skiing slopestyle final.
The sport is not one for the faint-hearted, but despite the dangers Katie’s parents have got used to their daughters – yes there are two of them – hitting the slopes regularly.
“I started at my local dry slope as a hobby and I loved it so much, I just carried on and kept learning new tricks. My sister was at the world championships competing as well and came eleventh at halfpipe.
“I think my parents just loved that we were enjoying it. Plus, they ski as well, so they just enjoyed coming with us.”
Summerhayes wasn’t the only British winter sportswoman to impress in January as speed skater Elise Christie bounced back from heartbreak at last year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, where she was disqualified in all three of her races, to be crowned overall Short Track European Champion.
Heather Watson
“It’s the people who win tournaments who are remembered,” said Heather Watson after winning her second WTA singles titles in Perth, Australia, making her the first British woman to claim two WTA titles since Anne Hobbs in 1985.
“I was just so overwhelmed when I won my first title (in Osaka in 2012) and so, so happy to win it. This one felt more like I belonged, that it was where I should be. I really believed and backed myself to win it,” explained the 22-year-old tennis star from Guernsey, who started playing tennis at the age of seven.
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