Sports Illustrated has narrowed down the finalists for its next supermodel rookie of the yr. Seven women have been chosen as potential cover girls for 2024’s Swimsuit Issue as a part of the magazine’s Swim Search contest.

Achieng Agutu, Jena Sims, Nina Money, Penny Lane, Berkleigh Wright, Sharina Gutierrez and Brittney Nicole are still within the running after the quantity of finalists was narrowed down from 12 to seven in June. Voting for the 2023 Swim Search competition takes place now through Aug. 31.

Ever since Sports Illustrated launched its inaugural Swimsuit Issue in 1964, models from across the globe have sought to land the coveted cover spot. Searching for to expand its model pool, the publication debuted its open call Swim Search in 2017.

Lately, SI has diversified its cover girls by featuring women of all ages and sizes. The Swimsuit Issue’s editor-in-chief, MJ Day, has led the charge. “I feel that real change comes from inside,” Day, who’s worked for Sports Illustrated since 1999, wrote in 2022’s Swimsuit Issue. “That’s what I’ve been attempting to do in my role at SI Swimsuit: to look inward — grow, evolve, learn and unlearn to higher bring all women’s voices to our brand.”

Here, get to know the seven finalists for SI’s 2023 Swim Search.

Achieng Agutu

Agutu, an influencer from Kenya, has long dreamed of covering Sports Illustrated. “I actually have had SI [Swimsuit] on my vision board since I moved from Kenya to the U.S. in 2013,” she told the publication in 2023. “The brand truly empowers, motivates and validates the voices of all women. With my very own platforms, I’ve tried to just do that as well.”

Agutu, who describes herself as “an education baddie,” is fluent in 4 languages and earned her master’s degree in international marketing and business analytics at Hult International Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Nina Money

Hailing from Long Beach, California, Money is a model and retired university associate dean. The mother of three is captivated with volunteer work that helps people and animals in need.

“Not only is SI Swimsuit empowering women to embrace and have a good time their uniqueness, however the brand can also be showing children (who will turn out to be adults) that celebrating one’s uniqueness, is actually, beautiful,” Money said in a 2023 interview with SI.

Sharina Gutierrez

Gutierrez has been a model because the age of 12, booking campaigns with brands including Estée Lauder, Ralph Lauren and Reebok. Talking to SI, the Riverside, California, native said that her children, family and friends inspired her to affix the Swim Search.

“To be an element of the SI Swim team would mean being an element of an empowering tribe of game changers who use their platforms to uplift each other and advocate for the change this world so desperately needs,” Gutierrez added.

Penny Lane

Lane, a health coach from Cheshire, England, began modeling as a young person. “I share Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s passion for promoting healthy body standards, particularly in the style industry,” she told the magazine. “It’s heartening to see that there was a shift towards more inclusive and body-positive representations in media and promoting, but there continues to be an extended solution to go.”

Brittney Nicole

A Navy veteran, Nicole began her modeling profession only one yr ago. Since then she’s walked the runway at Latest York Fashion Week and booked the quilt of Now Weddings magazine. In an interview with SI, Nicole revealed that Tyra Banks was her primary inspiration for joining the Swim Search.

“I remember seeing [Banks] on the quilt of SI in 1997,” she said. “She represented a lot to me as a young Black model, paving the way in which for others to return. Watching her throughout the years working with the brand motivated me to pursue the identical.”

Jena Sims

As a former pageant queen, Sims launched her nonprofit Has Been Beauty Queens to empower young people living in difficult circumstances. “Helping these incredible participants from everywhere in the world feel beautiful on the within so closely parallels the mission behind SI Swimsuit: It’s not in regards to the body, but who’s in that body,” Sims told the magazine.

Berkleigh Wright

When Wright isn’t working as a technical account manager and analyst, she’s a cheerleader for the Denver Broncos. She’s also no stranger to swimsuit modeling, having posed for the Denver Broncos cheerleaders’ swimsuit calendar in 2019. “Being a member of the Sports Illustrated family and having this powerful platform would help me further myself as a mentor and reach a wider audience of our youth,” Wright said in an interview with SI.