A 2:09:56 marathon! 🤩

This week's issue of the best in women's sports is presented by AminoCo. Get 30% off our favorite science-backed amino acid supplements with the code THEFEIST at aminoco.com.

"I feel so much pride. Honestly when Robin dropped, I totally lost my shit, like full ugly-cry."

- Katie Holden, who had pushed for years for the first-ever women's Red Bull Rampage — and it was everything female riders and organizers had been hoping for!

Three big stories to know this week in women's sports

1. The first woman to run under 2:10 for the marathon! 🏃🏿‍♀️

On Sunday, Ruth Chepng'etich set a new women's marathon world record — running 2:09:56 officially. 😮 That's an average of a 4:57/mile pace for 26.2 miles.

Chepng'etich started out aggressively on a day that turned humid and slower for a lot of the top athletes, going through the first 5K in 15:00 (!) and then halfway in 1:04:16 (which would have been the 5th best women's half-marathon time ever). Because the Chicago Marathon is one of the few major marathons that doesn't give the elite women a separate start ahead of the men, Chepng'etich decided to tuck in with some of the elite men and their pacers for the first half. (Which also meant it was hard to see her in the coverage and the broadcast didn't show any other women until near the last few miles!)

It's hard to convey how impressive her run was. It broke the existing world record by almost two minutes — a record that, itself, had seemed unfathomable at the time and which had broken the previous world record by over another two minutes.

For comparison: 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

Here's a chart of the progression of the women's marathon world record over time
Chepng'etich beat the next woman on Sunday by a stunning 7:36 and was also 11th overall — rare for a World Marathon Major
And according to World Athletics' comparison tables, her performance is the best world record in existence and is the equivalent of a 1:59:37 men's marathon — something no man has run, to be clear!

The Kenya doping crisis: Unfortunately, in this era, no impressive performance comes without a few question marks. While Chepng'etich has never failed a test nor faced suspicion, Kenyan running is in the midst of a doping epidemic and her manager also oversaw two athletes who were suspended in the past. All we can do is hope that the global anti-doping agencies are doing their jobs 🤞

Other results from Chicago

Catherine Debrunner won the wheelchair race for the second year in a row and broke the course record
And full-time teacher Susanna Sullivan was the top American woman, in 7th place with a 2:21:56 — and she did it by ditching her assigned pacer and jumping on a more aggressive pace with a group of non-elite men!

(Photo: Chicago Marathon)

2. WNBA playoffs attract record viewers — and crazy plays 🏀

If you missed the first two games of the WNBA series, well, 1.14 million people didn't! (A WNBA Game 1 Finals viewership record.) And those fans got treated to an absolutely wild first game, with the Minnesota Lynx coming back from 15 POINTS DOWN to win over the New York Liberty by two points in the final seconds 😳

It's also worth nothing that these viewership records and amazing games have come *despite* hand-wringing from new fans that no one would watch once Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever were eliminated.

The WNBA is experiencing hockey stick growth this year and plans to increase the Finals to 7 games (instead of 5) next year, but it had been on the rise already — in both viewership and revenue. And that's true even when compared to where major men's leagues were at this point in their existence. A fact that has left a lot of players frustrated by their small slice of the pie, comparatively.

"Every metric is up—except player compensation."

READ: "How the WNBA Became the Most Fun, Complicated, and Exciting League in Sports"

WATCH: The series is now tied 1-1 and Games 3 is Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN

FUN: Ellie, the Liberty's mascot, walked the red carpet

3. Life Time Grand Prix wraps up with last race in Big Sugar this weekend 🚴‍♀️ 🚴‍♀️

This weekend is the final race of the Life Time Grand Prix, with the 100-mile Big Sugar Classic in Bentonville, Arkansas. It'll wrap up a busy season of gravel racing and award the $300,000 prize purse.

Sofia Gomez Villafane is so far ahead, with two wins out of the five races already this year, that it's virtually impossible for her to lose the series and its $30,000 prize, as long as she starts:

"It’s nice to know that as soon as I cross the start line, I'll have secured the overall Life Time Grand Prix title. That relieves a lot of pressure and it will allow me to race with more freedom. I won't have to worry about points, who's in a breakaway, or who's getting dropped or racing defensively; I can just race to win, and have no mercy."

(She also took the Little Sugar mountain bike race that was a precursor this past weekend. Just for funsies 🚲)

And behind her, nearly all the top-10 money places will be up for grabs! Paige Onweller, who's in second in the series, won this race in 2022 and Lauren De Crescenzo was the highest Grand Prix series finisher at Big Sugar last year.

FOLLOW ALONG: Our Girls Gone Gravel brand will be on the ground for the race and over the weekend; the women start at 7:40 a.m. ET on Saturday

Life Time Grand Prix changes for 2025

Last week, Life Time announced plans for next year's series:

- Six events — starting with Sea Otter in April

- No automatic entries, everyone must apply

- 22 women selected + an additional 3 wildcards available after Unbound

- Scoring will be best 5 of 6 races

Tip of the week

You want another reason to hit the gym? 🏋️‍♀️

New research shows that strength training activates BAG3 in the muscles, which is a protein that triggers what’s known as autophagy — our body’s built-in garbage disposal and recycling system. This helps slow aging and prevents disease. In short: Strength training helps clear out the body's trash!

DOWNLOAD: Not sure where to start? 💪 Get our FREE Feisty Women's Guide to Lifting Heavy Shit

The highlight reel

Jessica Campbell became the first woman to coach in the NHL 🏒, as an assistant for the Seattle Kraken.
⚽ The Orlando Pride locked down the NWSL Shield — the award that goes to the team with the best season record (and is from Tiffany & Co this year). The Pride is currently tied for the single season all-time record with 17 wins and 57 points, and it was sealed with a goal from the legend Marta before her retirement 💜
Five former San Diego Wave ⚽ employees have filed a lawsuit against the club and the NWSL for discrimination, wrongful termination, and harassment.
💲 The Women's Euros 2025 sold out 137,000 tickets in the first week they were released — so 50,000 more tickets have now been released for the 18 matches.
🚲 This upcoming weekend, Spain will host the World Triathlon Championship Finals — with Olympic gold medalist Cassandre Beaugrand and Paris bronze medalist (and last year's world champion) Beth Potter battling it out for the world title. Watch on triathlonlive.tv 📺
🏊‍♀️ This weekend will also be the first of three Swimming World Cups held over the next three weekends. Olympic medalists Kate Douglass, Regan Smith, and Kaylee McKeown are racing.
🛹 The World's Okayest Skate Tour, a community-based skateboarding tour that includes mentorship and group events, will have four stops in the U.S. starting in late October.
🤸🏽‍♀️ And Simone Biles is on her celebratory Gold Over American Tour — where she continues to debut new skills. (Did you know she can also pommel horse?!)
Allyson Felix 👑 launched a sports management firm focused exclusively on women's sports 👏

Your Feisty recommendations

What to watch: "Into the Sea" — three Iranian women are introduced to surfing, a new sport in the country

What to read: Drop In — the story of the women who revolutionized skateboarding

What to listen to: "How Olympian Molly Seidel Navigates Injury and Mental Health Struggles"

What we love: UNINTERRUPTED launched a Q&A platform for young LGBT athletes to ask questions of queer pros; and check out a new media outlet devoted to para-sport, Culxtured

What to share with your marathon-ing friend: A breakdown of the lactation and pumping accommodations at major U.S. marathons this fall 💜