The GOAT Diana Taurasi retires 🐐

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“Mentally and physically, I’m just full...That’s probably the best way I can describe it. I’m full and I’m happy.”

- WNBA legend Diana Taurasi tells TIME Magazine how she came to the decision to retire from basketball

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

1. Serena Williams & Sabrina Ionescu go all-in on the future of women’s sports 🚀

On Monday, WNBA champion Sabrina Ionescu became an investor and commercial advisor for Bay FC, the NWSL’s franchise. The pairing makes sense—Ionescu is a Bay Area native with an obvious knack for carving out financial opportunities in sport. (Notably, she’s the first women’s basketball player to have a unisex collection with Nike; her Sabrina 1 shoe launched in 2023, with the Sabrina 2 following in 2024. It became the most-worn new basketball shoe across the NBA.)

Mere hours later, the announcement came that tennis GOAT Serena Williams was the newest minority owner of WNBA expansion team Toronto Tempo, which will play its first game in 2026. She’ll assist in designing jerseys and creating merchandise collaborations with the team, Toronto says. "This moment is not just about basketball; it is about showcasing the true value and potential of female athletes—I have always said that women's sports are an incredible investment opportunity," Williams said.

These announcements together represent a very cool trend of established women athletes reinvesting in sport, both financially and via their expertise. This investment has amazing potential to bring excitement, money, and innovation to new and developing women’s teams.

Ionescu weighed in on the success of the Bay FC franchise and her hopes for its future success. “It’s been pretty cool to see,” Ionescu said. “Just being a Bay area native, seeing how many season tickets they’ve been selling. Seeing 18,000 people at the home opener was insane. So many things go on in the Bay area, so you really understand (that was a display of) how many people really want to watch women’s sports.”

2. Lotte Claes starts Classics season with a bang 💥 at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

After a day-long breakaway that left the race favorites scrambling to catch up, Belgian Lotte Claes (Arkea-B&B Hotels) outsprinted Aurela Nerlo to win Omloop Het Nieuwsblad—her first pro victory.

A group of five broke away in the first six miles of the 87-mile race, gradually whittling down to the two leaders as riders tackled the course’s famed cobbled climbs. The peloton seemed content to let the breakaway ride ahead for most of the race—when the live broadcast began with about 24 miles to go, the break had a gap of nearly 11 minutes on the rest of the riders. Eventually, the peloton’s biggest teams banded together to shave down the time gap, with Demi Vollering and Puck Pieterse launching a chase. At the end of the race, Vollering outsprinted Pieterse for third place, finishing 3:25 behind the leaders. The peloton was an additional 10 seconds back, led by Lorena Wiebes.

Even more impressive: Claes only has two years of riding full-time under her belt. “It’s really unbelievable. It’s only my second pro year. Before that, I combined it with working in a hospital as a nurse. So I hope it’s a step towards a bright future," Claes said after the race.

3. Desirae Ridenour nabs Canada’s first triathlon World Cup Win in 10+ years 🏊‍♀️🚲🏃‍♀️

Canada’s Desirae Ridenour 🇨🇦 claimed her first World Cup triathlon win at the season opener in Ahuriri, New Zealand, becoming the first Canadian woman in over a decade to win a World Cup race. The 25-year-old from Cowichan Bay, B.C., finished in 56:24. She put in strong performances in each leg of the race, positioning herself solidly in the lead group.

Going into the end of the race, Ridenour couldn’t tell how her competitors were feeling—so she focused on her own output, she says. “I had some extra energy. I usually negative-split the backend so I potentially knew I had it, but you never know how others are feeling.” Her strategy paid off. She finished the run with a charging blue-carpet sprint that secured her victory. Australia’s Emma Jeffcoat took second, while New Zealand’s Ainsley Thorpe finished in third.

Her win marks a milestone for Canadian triathlon, with the last Canadian woman to podium at a World Cup being Emy Legault in 2022.

Tip of the week

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: 🗣️ Athletes need enough food to perform their best! 🗣️

Of course, there’s a lot of nuance in the topic of fueling for sport. In the final episode of our series on coaching young athletes, Sara Gross and co-host Jill Colangelo are joined by MD student, scientist, coach, and pro runner Keely Henninger to debunk myths about body weight, nutrition, and the often-overlooked role of mental health in sports—especially during the late-teen and early collegiate years.

Through a true-or-false format, Jill and Keely tackle key questions:

Does a lighter body weight lead to better performance?
Is it okay to skip breakfast before a tough training session?
Do I really need rest days?
Is missing a period a badge of honor?

Sara, Jill, and Keely also share personal experiences with underfueling, overtraining, and moments when they ignored their intuition—decisions they now regret.

This conversation encourages young athletes to recognize warning signs, make informed choices, and build a healthy relationship with their sport—one that supports both performance and long-term well-being.

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The highlight reel

Ultra-endurance cyclist Lael Wilcox finished the Iditarod Trail Invitational 350 ❄️ in 2 days, 11 hours, and 19 minutes—just three hours behind the course record!
WNBA all-time leading scorer Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury announced her retirement after 20 years of professional basketball and one of the most decorated careers of all time. Among a slew of other honors, she holds records for the most three-pointers and 30-point games, is a three-time WNBA champion, and is the only athlete in history (!) to win six gold medals in basketball!🥇
Clemson gymnast Brie Clark became the first collegiate woman ever (and only the fifth woman overall)<> to land the Biles 1 in the floor exercise. The move—a double layout with a half twist—is named after Simone Biles, who first performed it 12 years ago. To Clark’s absolute delight, Biles commented on an Instagram reel of the achievement to congratulate her.
Venus Williams announced that she will not be playing in the BNP Paribas Open, despite earlier reports. “No, I'm not playing," Williams said. "I found out about the wild card when you guys did…I love Indian Wells, I would love to be there and if I could have accepted it, I would have been like, 'Yes.' But I already made commitments." The event would have been her first WTA tournament in nearly a year.
Former world record holder Paula Radcliffe, 51, finished the Tokyo marathon in 2:57:26, marking her first finish in the distance in a decade. Her time put her just outside the top 100 women in the race.
On the heels of their victory in the 1500m and 3000m races at indoor track nationals, Nikki Hiltz had two big career announcements. First, they’ve re-signed with Lululemon as a sponsor through 2028, and second, they’ve switched coaches, working with 1996 Olympian and former professional runner Juli Benson. (Hiltz was previously coached by Mike Smith from 2022—2025)
Katharine Legge will race the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend, making her the first woman to do so in seven years! 🏁 (The last woman to race NASCAR was Danica Patrick, when she competed in the Daytona 500 in 2018.) Legge will compete in the Shriners Children’s 500 in Phoenix in car No. 78.
Retired WNBA player Layshia Clarendon is being inducted into the LGBTQ Sports Hall of Fame. Clarendon, who played 11 seasons in the WNBA and was named a 2017 All-Star, is the league’s first openly nonbinary player. 🏳️‍⚧️ In addition to their accomplishments on the court, they used their time in the league to advocate for LGBTQIA+ inclusive policies and racial justice.
The NWSL revealed sweet new Nike kits for the 2025 season, with all 14 teams getting at least one new design. We love that the league’s online shop now offers full customization for the first time, meaning that fans can feature any of the league’s 2025 athletes on their kit. ⚽
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko nabbed the win at the HSBC Women’s World Championship golf tournament in Singapore. 🏌️‍♀️ The Olympic champ’s 13-under-par 275 total helped her to a dominant finish, four strokes ahead of Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul (70) and Ayaka Furue (68) of Japan.
Unrivaled + NASCAR? Yes! The women’s basketball league will be represented at the NASCAR Cup Series race on March 23rd in the form of a super cool paint job on Alex Bowman’s No. 48 car. Ally Financial, which sponsors the car, is also a founding partner of Unrivaled.
At “Legacy on Ice,” the country’s best figure skaters paid tribute to the skaters, coaches, and family members killed in January’s plane crash outside Washington, D.C. Thirteen-year-old Isabella Aparicio, who lost her father and older brother, delivered an especially moving performance, skating to a recording of her father playing Pachebel’s Canon.
Democrats blocked a bill aimed at preventing transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports at federally funded schools. With a unanimous party-line vote of 51-45, the bill fell short of the 60 votes needed to move forward.

Your Feisty recommendations

📺 What to watch: For the Win: NWSL, a docuseries following the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League playoffs and championship, premieres Thursday, March 6th on Prime Video.

📚 What to read: Is a women’s sub-four-minute-mile closer than it seems?

🎧 What to listen to: The final episode on in our series on coaching young female athletes!

😆 What made us laugh: Do *not* mess with Kelley O’Hara’s sleep schedule 🙅‍♀️