5 SI Swimsuit Models Score Spots on Sportico’s 2025 Highest-Paid Female Athletes List

Check out the elite women who were recognized this year.

Eileen Gu and Nelly Korda were photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated

These SI Swimsuit featured athletes can do it all, and because of their dominance in their respective sports, they have also each become high earners in their elite careers.

As reported by Sportico on Dec. 3, these five magnetic multihypenates from the fold topped the list of the highest-paid female athletes worldwide this year. So today, we’re taking a look at their numbers—which include “prize money, salaries, bonuses and endorsements” accumulated during 2025, according to the outlet—alongside their striking SI Swimsuit shoots.

Who leads Sportico’s roster of highest-paid female athletes in 2025? Find out here!

No. 4: Eileen Gu ($23 million)

Eileen Gu was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by Norma Kamali. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated

Gu, a freestyle skier, debuted with SI Swimsuit in 2025 with a sunshine-filled photo shoot in Florida. There, she joined fellow first-timers in the fold, Anna Hall, Ali Truwit, Cameron Brink, Gabby Thomas, Jordan Chiles, Nelly Korda, Suni Lee and Toni Breidinger, along with two-time SI Swimsuit model Caroline Marks.

View Gu’s full gallery from Boca Raton, Fla., here.

No. 7: Nelly Korda ($13.8 million)

Nelly Korda was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Top by Andres Otalora. Swimsuit by St. Agni. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated

Korda shined during her SI Swimsuit debut in her home state and headed on a seaside cruise as part of her inaugural photo shoot with the brand. More recently, the golfer revealed that she is engaged, sharing a nine-slide carousel of her and her beau, Casey Gunderson, on Instagram.

View Korda’s full gallery from Boca Raton, Fla., here.

No. 10: Naomi Osaka ($12.5 million)

Naomi Osaka was photographed by Yu Tsai in Malibu, Calif. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

Osaka was featured on the front page of SI Swimsuit back in 2021, and shared the coveted title of cover model with Megan Thee Stallion and Leyna Bloom. “Just growing up and watching so many incredible women grace this cover, for me, it feels like a dream,” the renowned tennis star said of her first feature with the brand.

View Osaka’s full gallery from Malibu, Calif., here.

No. 11: Simone Biles ($11 million)

Simone Biles was photographed by Walter Chin in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Swimsuit by Arrow & Eve. / Walter Chin/Sports Illustrated

Biles photographed with the magazine twice, and most recently touched down in Puerto Vallarta with fellow athletes Lindsey Vonn and Paige VanZant for the 2019 magazine. However, her debut campaign took place in Texas, where the Olympic gymnast and her husband, Jonathan Owens, share a home.

View Biles’s full gallery from Puerto Vallarta here.

No. 14: Venus Williams ($10.2 million)

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Williams’s SI Swimsuit shoot occurred two decades ago in Miami, Fla. The tennis superstar sported all silver during her singular stint in the fold, which took place two years after her sister Serena’s SI Swimsuit debut in 2003. Like Korda, Williams also entered her fiancée era in 2025, sharing the news on Instagram just this week.

View Williams’s full gallery from Miami, Fla., here.

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