Parkour competitions still leave women feeling excluded, survey says

A survey of 17 female parkour athletes from the UK, North America and Europe found the same problem in different forms: too many competitions still ask women to fit into events that were not built for them. At one North American skills competition, women were told to do the men’s challenges because no women’s category had been planned. In Holland, a parent said a speed course sat too high for most of the young girls entered, and only one of three finished.

Parkour UK’s survey points organizers toward immediate fixes rather than broad messaging. Women are still underrepresented in the roles that shape an event, with Parkour UK noting they are not often involved in organizing, judging, route setting or commentating. The same feature says women are more likely to show up when they can see other women already on site, which turns visibility into a practical entry point, not a slogan. If the warmup area, judging panel and course layout all read as male spaces, athletes are less likely to return.

The design issues are not limited to one-off mistakes. Parkour UK says the sport’s communities were historically smaller, less structured and overwhelmingly male-dominated, and coaches still see a noticeable drop-off in girls’ participation around ages 10 to 13. A 2014 event in London brought together more than 70 women to train together, a sign that female-only spaces can keep athletes in the sport when mixed environments start to feel isolating. The International Parkour Federation says women and girls are now a growing and driving force in parkour, but that access to experienced female mentors remains perhaps the biggest challenge in some countries.

That gap matters even more now that parkour has a formal world stage. The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique governs parkour as one of its disciplines and staged the first FIG Parkour World Championships in Tokyo from October 14 to 16, 2022, after the planned 2020 debut was delayed by the pandemic. The second worlds were held in Kitakyushu, Japan, from November 15 to 17, 2024, with separate senior and junior women’s speed and freestyle events on the live schedule.

Those championships showed the talent already in the women’s field. USA Gymnastics said weather cancelled the senior women’s freestyle and men’s speed finals, with medals assigned from qualification and semifinal results. Audrey Johnson took bronze in women’s freestyle and silver in women’s speed, while Chunsong Shang won freestyle gold and Ella Bucio claimed silver. The elite level is already there; the next step is making local competitions feel like they were planned for that level of athlete from the start.