Egg Freezing for Athletes: Why More Sportswomen Are Choosing to Preserve Their Fertility

For elite athletes, the physical demands of their sport can have important implications for both reproductive and general health. Years of intensive training and competition can place significant demands on the body, while the timing of a sporting career may also mean that family planning is postponed until later in life. This can create a particular challenge for athletes, as the period during which they are able to pursue their sport at the highest level may overlap with the years of greatest reproductive potential . That overlap became impossible to ignore this month: on 10 September 2026, England rugby captain Meg Jones told BBC Sport she wants Red Roses players to have access to fertility support and egg freezing, days after it emerged Chelsea Women had set up a fund covering their entire squad's egg-freezing costs. 

This guide answers the questions we're asked most by athletes considering it — what the process actually involves, whether it affects training, and what the data says about success. 

What's happening in UK sport right now?

Fertility support for sportswomen has moved from a quiet, individual decision into a live policy conversation across UK and international sport in the space of a few weeks. 

On 10 September 2026, England women's rugby captain Meg Jones told BBC Sport she wants Red Roses players to have access to fertility support and egg freezing, revealing she had already visited a clinic herself to have her own egg count checked with her fiancée. “Why should my opportunity to have a family be taken away from me because I want to pursue my career?” she said. The Rugby Football Union responded that it already offers comprehensive maternity and parental policies — including a week of paid leave per treatment cycle — and is “open to exploring how that support can evolve,” with discussions understood to be ongoing about a dedicated fertility treatment policy. 

Her comments followed news that Chelsea Women had become the first Women's Super League club to fund fertility treatment for its players. Reported by The Observer, the fund is large enough for the entire 27-player squad to freeze their eggs if they choose to, and can also be put towards IVF, smear tests, contraception or menstrual-cycle consultations. The Observer reported that the treatments are deliberately not scheduled during a player's peak season, as they “require a fair bit of effort, concentration and time off work.” 

England cricket captain Nat Sciver-Brunt gives a sense of how manageable that timing can be in practice: she missed a single T20 match against Pakistan in 2024 to freeze her eggs, and was back playing the following week. 

The trend isn't limited to England. The Royal Spanish Football Federation is expected to announce a similar fund for its World Cup-winning squad, and both the WNBA (reimbursing players up to $20,000 a year, capped at $60,000 across a career) and the WTA (which now protects a player's ranking during fertility leave) have introduced comparable policies. Not everyone is convinced it's the right fix, though: Spanish Olympic triple jumper Ana Peleteiro-Compaoré Brión has questioned whether institutional funding for egg freezing risks becoming an expectation rather than a genuine choice, arguing sport should adapt its structures to motherhood rather than asking women to adapt their fertility timing to sport. 

It's a useful tension to hold in mind. Egg freezing “is not fertility insurance” — age remains the biggest single factor, and governing bodies need to help players understand their options rather than treat freezing as a guarantee. 

What is egg freezing? 

Egg freezing (oocyte cryopreservation) is a medical procedure that involves collecting and freezing  a woman or person with ovaries’ eggs for potential use at a later stage,  when they are ready to try to conceive.  Freezing eggs at a younger age, when eggs generally have greater fertility potential, provides an opportunity to preserve reproductive options for the future. Unlike a natural cycle, where typically only one egg is ovulated and the remaining follicles undergo atresia, egg freezing allows a cohort of eggs to mature. These eggs are then collected and frozen using a technique called vitrification.  It is important to note that freezing eggs from one cycle does not use up eggs from future cycles, nor  does it affect natural fertility — it simply optimises the opportunities with the eggs that would have otherwise been lost that cycle. 

Why are female athletes choosing to freeze their eggs? 

For athletes, freezing their eggs is often about the same thing it is for any woman - buying more time and keeping their options open. But elite sport brings its own pressures. Training and competition schedules don’t stop for biology, and the physical demands of an Olympic or World Championship cycle can make starting a family feel even harder to navigate. For some athletes, egg freezing may offer a way to preserve their fertility while allowing them to focus on their sporting careers in the present. It doesn’t guarantee a future pregnancy or remove the uncertainties around fertility, but for some, it can help take away some of the pressure of having to make career and family decisions at the same time.  

Does ovarian stimulation affect training or performance? 

This is the question every athlete asks first, and it deserves an honest answer: individual response varies, and it should be discussed directly with both your clinical team and your coach before you start. Stimulation involves 10–12 days of hormone injections, which some women tolerate with minimal  noticeable effects, while others may experience bloating, fatigue or mood changes. Modifications to training may be recommended during the egg freezing cycle, and for a short period after the egg collection. These recommendations are individualised to your particular circumstances.    

When considering egg freezing, the practical answer for most athletes is timing. This may mean planning a cycle around a lower-intensity block, the off-season, or a rehab period, with a treatment coordinator who understands a competition calendar and can flex appointments around it. England cricket captain Nat Sciver-Brunt's experience is a useful real-world data point here: she missed one T20 match to freeze her eggs in 2024 and was back playing the following week — evidence that, planned well, a cycle doesn't have to mean a long absence from competition. 

What does the egg freezing process involve? 

The process runs in five stages, typically over one menstrual cycle: 

1. Fertility Health Assessment — an AMH blood test and transvaginal ultrasound (sometimes called a Fertility MOT) to assess ovarian reserve and give a personalised expectation of egg yield. 
2. Doctor Consultation — a review of your medical history and test results, followed by a personalised treatment plan designed around your training and competition schedule, with a dedicated treatment coordinator to support you throughout. 
3. Monitoring — 10–12 days of ovarian stimulation with regular scans to track your response to treatment.  Once the follicles have developed to a size where they are likely to contain mature eggs, a final trigger injection is given to help the eggs complete their final stage of maturation  
4. Retrieval day — Approximately 36 hours after the trigger injection, the eggs are collected under ultrasound guidance, using light sedation. The procedure typically takes around 20-30 minutes. 
5. Vitrification — the eggs are frozen by embryologists and stored in liquid nitrogen, in a facility with continuous monitoring, until needed. 

What's the best age to freeze your eggs? 

Generally, the younger you are, the better the chances of freezing a good number of healthy eggs, but there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Your age is just one part of the picture. An AMH test and an ultrasound scan can give you a better understanding of your ovarian reserve and help you decide whether egg freezing is right for you.  Women are born with all the eggs they'll ever have (1–2 million at birth, down to around 500,000 by puberty), and both egg quantity and quality decline with age, more sharply after 35. By the late 20s, roughly three-quarters of a woman's eggs are chromosomally normal; by the early 40s, that figure falls to under 10%. Freezing earlier generally means more eggs collected per cycle and a higher proportion that are chromosomally normal,but plenty of women freeze successfully in their late 30s and early 40s, particularly across more than one cycle. 

How many frozen eggs do you actually need? 

As a general guide, of 10 eggs frozen, around 8–9 survive the thaw, 3–4 go on to fertilise and reach cleavage stage, and 1–2 reach blastocyst stage — the point at which an embryo can be  transferred for a chance at pregnancy. This is why clinics often talk about “number of eggs” rather than “one cycle”: more than one round of stimulation may be needed to bank enough eggs for a realistic chance of a future family, and your clinical team should give you a personalised estimate based on your own personal circumstances. . 

What do the success rates actually look like? 

At London Women’s Clinic we have supported thousands of patients since 2008. Our own published data from 2020 to 2025 shows that success rates from frozen eggs are equivalent to those of fresh eggs in IVF treatment. We’ve completed 6,557 elective egg freezing cycles, freezing more than 58,480 mature eggs for future use.  

What changed with UK storage law? 

Since 1 July 2022, UK law allows eggs, sperm and embryos to be stored for up to 55 years for your own treatment, provided you reconsent every 10 years. In practice, this means freezing your eggs in your twenties or early thirties gives you more time to use your frozen eggs later in life. 

How does LWC support athletes through treatment? 

Every patient starts with a free introduction consultation with a trained treatment coordinator, who supports you throughout treatment. . Your coordinator will help you to arrange your tests and appointments around your specific needs. Each cycle includes a complimentary counselling session, while the patient phone App makes it easy to stay on top of your treatment, with a personalised calendar, medication reminders and direct messaging with your clinic team.

Egg Freezing & Sport FAQs 

1. Does egg freezing guarantee a baby later? No — it improves future options, but doesn't guarantee a live birth. As Jo Perkins of the Well HQ consultancy, which advises the Women's Super League on women's health, has put it, egg freezing “is not fertility insurance” — age at freezing, number of eggs collected and individual factors all matter, which is why an AMH test and consultation come before any treatment plan. 
2. Will egg freezing affect my next competition or training block? It shouldn't need to, with the right planning. The stimulation and monitoring phase runs for 10–12 days, with a short easier-training period after retrieval. Most athletes plan a cycle around a lower-intensity block or the off-season. 
3. Is egg freezing painful? Most women describe mild discomfort rather than pain — some bloating during stimulation, and mild cramping after retrieval. Side effects and risks (including OHSS and, rarely, ovarian torsion) are discussed and monitored throughout by the clinical team. 
4. How much does egg freezing cost? Costs vary by clinic and treatment plan — speak to our team for current pricing and any package options. 

Discover our egg freezing costs 

Ready to find out where you stand? 

A Fertility Health Assessment — an AMH blood test, ultrasound scan, and consultation with one of our fertility specialists — is the fastest way to understand your own ovarian reserve before deciding whether, or when, to freeze. Book a free introduction consultation with a London Women's Clinic treatment coordinator to talk through what it would look like around your training and competition schedule. 

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