DENVER – University of Denver Nordic skier Sidney Barbier was named on Tuesday the winner of the 2025 Honda Inspiration Award by the Collegiate Women's Sports Awards (CWSA).
 
For the past 37 years, the Honda Inspiration Award recognizes a female collegiate athlete in NCAA Division I, II or III that has triumphed in the face of extraordinary physical and/or emotional adversity, injury, illness or personal sacrifice during her collegiate experience, and who has returned to achieve athletic success.
 
Barbier (BAR-bee-ay), a senior and four-time letterwinner with the Pioneers ski team in 2025, demonstrated remarkable resilience in overcoming years of debilitating health challenges due to nutcracker syndrome. What began with severe abdominal pain in high school worsened for the next six years to the point where it became overwhelming and difficult for her to get out of bed at times.
 
"I am truly honored to be receiving this award and getting the chance to share my story with so many people. It is important to me to act as a voice for all those that are dealing with their own hidden pains," Barbier said. "I hope nobody has to go through what I went through, but if they are, I want people to know that there is hope out there. Never give up and trust that there are people out there who will listen, support and advocate for you. The award's name is the Inspiration Award, so to be able to be that inspiration of hope, even for just one person, is a huge honor and is something I don't take lightly."
 
The Steamboat Springs, Colorado, native is the first University of Denver student-athlete to win a national honor from the Collegiate Women's Sports Awards. The school has had five previous finalists for various accolades in its history, with gymnast Lynnzee Brown being the last finalist in 2023, also for the Inspiration Award.
 
Barbier was selected as this year's recipient by the CWSA Board of Directors from the three national finalists, as chosen by the CWSA Inspiration Award Committee. The other finalists were Katie Cosmos (Elms College, Softball) and Marlee Morgan (University of Virginia, Track & Field). Overall, 23 athletes in the country were nominated for this year's Inspiration Award.
 
"The University of Denver would like to congratulate Sidney Barbier on being the winner of the 2025 Inspiration Award," said Denver Vice Chancellor for Athletics and Richie Center Operations Josh Berlo. "Sidney's relentless perseverance as a student-athlete while enduring nutcracker syndrome is truly admirable. She didn't let the symptoms and insufferable pain she dealt with define who she is. She continued to push forward looking for an answer and how she persistently advocated for herself is inspirational.
 
"Concurrently, she is an outstanding student and member of our campus community through her work with DU's Undergraduate Student Government, Sustainability Council and Lamont School of Music. We are incredibly proud of all that Sidney has accomplished on and off the Nordic tracks and is so deserving of being the first Denver athlete to be recognized with such an honor from the Collegiate Women's Sports Awards."
 
Nutcracker syndrome is a rare vascular condition that compresses the renal vein that can sometimes lead to intolerable pain for the individual, which was the case for Barbier. Among the symptoms she experienced was a sharp stabbing pain in her left side and back and a sharp twisting pain in her abdomen and stomach.
 
Barbier's medical journey involved misdiagnoses, failed treatments and multiple surgeries without relief, including the removal of her gallbladder and exploration for endometriosis. In early 2024, she was finally diagnosed with nutcracker syndrome by the Cleveland Clinic and underwent a first-of-its-kind surgery by Dr. Mohamed Eltemamy.
 
For the first time since she was a freshman in high school, Barbier was able to compete nearly pain free on the Nordic tracks in winter 2025. She finished all 10 collegiate races she competed in with the DU ski team despite also dealing with complications of a torn hip labrum during the season.
 
Despite experiencing unrelentless pain throughout her four years with Denver skiing, Barbier persevered and finished 37-of-38 career races, earning eight top-20 results in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association—undoubtably the toughest conference in varsity collegiate skiing that consistently produces team and individual national champions and future Olympians.
 
She raced at the conference and NCAA West Regional championships each season, including putting together a pair of 15th-place finishes in the 5K classic and 15K freestyle mass start on her home course at Howelsen Hill Ski Area in Steamboat in 2022.
 
Barbier will join other members of the CWSA Class of 2025 at this year's awards ceremony on Monday, June 30 in New York City.
 
"Sidney's perseverance and steadfast advocacy is inspiring to us all, and myself, her teammates and everyone a part of the skiing program are so proud of everything that she has accomplished during her time at Denver," said Rogan Brown, DU Skiing Nordic Head Coach. "Despite dealing with the incredible pain of nutcracker syndrome daily, it did not slow her down and prevent her from being an incredible teammate and friend. Her dedication to the team, her music, the environment and the campus community makes her a true Pioneer, and we can't wait to see what she does next."
 
Barbier and the other 2025 finalists' inspiring journeys were featured on Monday night in the CBS Sports Network special "Defying the Odds: The 2025 Honda Inspiration Award," which will re-air 10 times throughout June. The program will also be televised on Monday, June 30, at 4:30 p.m. MT, leading into the live broadcast of the 2025 Collegiate Women Sports Awards at 5 p.m. MT.
 
An active member of the campus community in her four years at the University of Denver, Barbier played the viola in the school's Lamont Symphony Orchestra and Bluegrass Ensemble, worked with the DU Sustainability Council and was a Senior Senator and Executive Chair of Sustainability in Denver's Undergraduate Student Government. She also published and co-authored an undergraduate sustainability textbook as a junior in 2023-24.
 
Barbier graduated earlier this month with a pair of bachelor's degrees in environmental science and music and also earned a minor in physics. She has been a member of the National Collegiate All-Academic Ski Team in each of her four years and is a four-time winner of the Denver Athletics Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award. The skier finished her time at DU with a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average, the only member of Denver Athletics' senior graduating class this year to ace every course.
 
This past year, she also earned a post-graduate scholarship with the U.S. Fullbright Program and will spend the next two years at Universite Grenoble-Alpes in Grenoble, France, where she will continue her studies by getting a master's degree in Earth, planetary, and environmental science.
 
Now in its 49th year, the Collegiate Women's Sports Awards continues to honor the top NCAA women student-athletes for their athletic excellence, academic achievements, leadership and community service. Since its inception in 1986, the Honda partnership has awarded over $3.4 million in institutional grants to the universities of award winners and nominees in support of women's athletics programs.
 

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