The 2025 list of the Highest Paid Female Athletes, recently released by Sportico, conspicuously omits track and field stars Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Sha'Carri Richardson, despite both having some of the most lucrative endorsement deals in the sports industry. For the third consecutive year, the list is largely dominated by tennis players, with Coco Gauff leading the pack.

According to Sportico, the 15 top-earning female athletes in 2025 include ten tennis players, an increase from nine last year. The remaining spots are filled by a pair of golfers, and one athlete each from basketball (Caitlin Clark), gymnastics (Simone Biles), and skiing (Eileen Gu). Coco Gauff secures the number one spot for the third straight year with estimated earnings of $31 million, closely followed by her rival Aryna Sabalenka, who earned $30 million. Sabalenka joins an exclusive group of female athletes—Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, and Gauff—who have earned over $30 million in a single year.

Collectively, the top 15 highest-paid female athletes amassed an estimated $249 million from prize money, salaries, bonuses, and endorsements this year, marking a 12% increase from the previous year. Remarkably, all 15 athletes earned at least $10 million, a significant jump from 11 athletes achieving this threshold last year and only six in 2023. The cutoff to make the list rose from $6.7 million in 2024 to $10.1 million in 2025.

The absence of track and field athletes from this prestigious list raises questions, especially given the substantial endorsement portfolios of stars like McLaughlin-Levrone and Richardson. For instance, McLaughlin-Levrone, who won the world 400m title and a 4x400m gold medal in Tokyo, boasts leading endorsement deals with New Balance and TAG Heuer, and recently became the face of Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses.

Similarly, Sha'Carri Richardson, renowned as Nike's face of female athletics, holds agreements with top brands such as Whoop, Turtle, and Sprite. She is also one of three advisor owners for Alexis Ohanian's ATHLOS women-only track league, set to launch in 2026, which comes with its own financial benefits. Another compelling example is Gabby Thomas, who secured three gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and has brand endorsements including New Balance and Toyota, in addition to being an advisor owner in the ATHLOS League for 2026.

In contrast, while Coco Gauff's most lucrative endorsement is with New Balance, her deep roster of over a dozen partners includes Baker Tilly, Bose, Head, Rolex, Mercedes-Benz, and Chase Bank. Basketball star Caitlin Clark, despite struggling with injuries and missing 70% of the Indiana Fever's WNBA games, ranked sixth with $16.1 million. Her WNBA playing salary and bonuses amounted to only $119,000, but her off-court income from endorsements surged from $11 million in 2024 to an estimated $16 million in 2025, buoyed by new partnerships with Ascension St. Vincent and Stanley.

The discrepancy begs the question: are track and field athletes being underpaid, or are their endorsement deals structured for