(Photo: Donald Miralle for IRONMAN)
2. A wild ride at the last all-women's Ironman World Championship 💥
It's uncommon to see the person leading a world championship race collapse in the final miles. It's even more uncommon to see that happen TWICE.
Yet, that's how the wild and unpredictable Ironman World Championship went on Saturday. First, claiming the defending champion in Kona, Lucy Charles-Barclay, who weaved and stumbled in the heat until her husband stood in front of her and told her to stop. And then, with less than two miles left to go, the new race leader, 3x half-Ironman world champion Taylor Knibb, started to stumble and ultimately collapse, sitting on the side of the road until medical help arrived.
In the end, it was Solveig Lovseth 🇳🇴 — making her Ironman World Championship debut — who kept up a steady strong race all day for the surprise win.
🎧 LISTEN: Feisty was on the ground all week for our Feisty Triathlon brand, but you can hear all the interviews from the podium and an overview of how we got here & what happened on this week's The Feist podcast episode
Behind the pros, there were 1,567 amateur women racing for their own age-group world titles. Next year, the race will return to combining the men's and women's pro and age-group fields into one race mixed together.
⭐ A LEGEND: The star of the weekend was 80-year-old Natalie Grabow — who became the oldest woman to ever finish the Ironman World Championship and the first finisher in the 80-84 age group. We talked to her earlier in the week.
3. WNBA Finals overshadowed by contract negotiations...
The Vegas Aces swept the Phoenix Mercury in four straight games in the WNBA Finals 😮 and A'ja Wilson became the first WNBA or NBA player to win MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Finals MVP, and the Championship title.
It was an impressive performance for a team and player who had a shaky start to the season and, after last year's semifinals loss, seemed to have their best days behind them. But don't count out Wilson or coach Becky Hammon.
📺 VIEWERS: Even with just four games, the Finals were the most watched ever on ESPN — averaging 1.5 million per game
The collective bargaining agreement
But!
Most of the headlines during were dominated by the ongoing negotiations between the league and the players. The current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on Oct. 31 — and so far the two sides do not appear close to a new agreement. Plus, the players and crowds appear to have turned on WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
What are the sticking points? While the league, reportedly, has proposed to increase the supermax salary to $850,000 and the veteran minimum to $300,000, players point out — compared to how much valuations have increased and how much potential revenue is on the table — these increases simply aren't in line with what they deserve.
"When you approach it from the perspective of their response to our proposal, yes, the money is more, but ultimately if you look at the growth of the business, the money relative to the percentage of everything is virtually staying the same."
"The players are still adamant that we get a percentage of revenue that grows with the business, which perhaps includes team revenue, and that's just a part of the conversation."
- WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike
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