Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn Becomes First Woman to Win a Major StarCraft 2 Tournament

Female e-sports achievements continue to pile up today, as Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn became the first woman to win a major StarCraft 2 competition. Her victory in the Intel Extreme Masters competition, an Olympic-sponsored StarCraft 2 tournament held in Pyeonchang, South Korea, garnered her the honor in addition to a $50,000 prize.

The tournament featured players representing nations from around the world in the first tournament of its kind associated with the International Olympic Committee. Hostyn, representing Canada, was the only woman to enter the tournament and scored an upset victory over Kim “sOs” Yoo Jim in the finals, though her pedigree hardly qualifies her as an underdog. According to Polygon, Hostyn has earned upwards of $200,000 in winnings in her years of competition and was recognized by Guinness World Records as the highest-earning female player in competitive gaming in 2016.

Hostyn almost didn’t even get to compete in the IEM due to a scheduling conflict a World Elctronic Sports Gaming event. Players were originally not allowed to compete in both due to the dates overlapping, but IEM and WESG came to an agreement and players, including Hostyn, were able to re-enter IEM North American qualifiers.

Hostyn’s win becomes the second major e-sports story of female advancement in the last 24 hours after it was reported that Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon would be the first female player to sign with an Overwatch League franchise. E-sports are slowly becoming more inclusive, thankfully, but Hostyn was just happy to notch the first victory for Canada in the home of the Winter Olympics: “Wouldn’t be the Winter Olympics without a Canadian victory,” she tweeted Wednesday.

Wouldn’t be the winter olympics without a Canadian victory o /

— Sasha (@onfireScarlett) February 7, 2018