Recent Alumna Sidney Barbier Honored With National Inspiration Award 

Denver Nordic skier and recent graduate Sidney Barbier (BS ’25) was honored with the 2025 Honda Inspiration Award by the Collegiate Women's Sports Awards (CWSA). 

For nearly four decades, the Honda Inspiration Award has recognized a female collegiate athlete who has overcome significant physical or emotional adversity to return and succeed in her respective sport. 

Barbier is the first DU student-athlete to win this national award. 

Even being named a finalist was an incredible honor. “I think I’m most grateful that I’ll get to tell my story,” she said in a June interview with Vice Chancellor for Athletics Josh Berlo. 

“Everyone goes through ... pain and adversity at some point in life, and to tell people that there is hope is the biggest piece for me—to be that inspiration,” she said. 

For nearly seven years, Barbier dealt with debilitating health challenges and was eventually diagnosed with nutcracker syndrome in 2024. After several years of “sharp, stabbing, twisty pain that wouldn’t go away,” misdiagnoses, and exploratory surgeries, she underwent a first-of-its-kind surgery in the U.S. at the Cleveland Clinic.  

Barbier graduated in June with bachelor's degrees in environmental science and music with a minor in physics. Her busy collegiate career included co-authoring a textbook, performing in Lamont’s orchestra and bluegrass ensemble, and competing as a Division I athlete.  

She will spend the next two years at Universite Grenoble-Alpes in Grenoble, France, earning a master’s degree in Earth, planetary, and environmental science after receiving a Fulbright award.