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"Can someone write it down this time?"
— After Katie Archibald and Sophie Lewis set what is believed to be a new cycling world record in the Madison Kilo on the track, it turns out maybe someone else set the record before? But no one kept track? All documentation of previous attempts appears to have been lost.
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Three big stories to know this week in women's sports
1. Vancouver wins Canada's pro soccer championship. ⚽ Will NY/NJ or Washington win the U.S. league title?
🇨🇦 Northern Super League
Canada's inaugural women's pro soccer league closed out the season with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory (and victory celebration) for the Vancouver Rise over AFC Toronto.
What's in store for season 2? Probably time for a collective bargaining agreement and a players association.
🎉 FUN FACTS: The league made $30 million in revenue and had 275,000 people attend over the season; it also generated a huge economic impact for Toronto (where the final was held) and prompted the government to invest.
🇺🇸 National Women's Soccer League
Now it's time for the U.S. pro league's championship game! The Washington Spirit will play Gotham FC this Saturday @ 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET in San Jose, California (even though the San Jose-based team did not make the final), airing on CBS and Paramount+
For a team ranked #8 of 8 teams going into the playoffs, Gotham FC have had a clutch post-season: first upsetting #1 favorites Kansas City and then taking out Orlando in the final minutes of stoppage time this past weekend.
What's in store for the NWSL next? The league is still dealing with fallout from its abuse scandal, which it finally settled earlier this year. It's also reeling in recent weeks from an unnecessary op-ed calling for sex testing in the league. And it's seen a number of big names leave for bigger salaries in Europe, thanks to a league salary cap — now Trinity Rodman could be the next one to go...
Whew.
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(Photo: PWHL)
2. Drop the puck! It's time for hockey season 🏒
Season 3 of the PWHL starts on Friday with two new teams: the Seattle Torrent and the Vancouver Goldeneyes. Our resident hockey expert joined the Feist podcast this week to dive into hockey culture (it's a thing), how the PWHL started from the ashes of two former leagues, and what the hell is ringette.
Because of an especially brutal expansion draft that allowed the two new teams to pull some of the biggest name players from existing teams — Hilary Knight to captain Seattle?! — it completely reshaped the league. That means even though the Minnesota Frost won the first two season championships, anyone could win this year...
😲
📚 READ: A great little two-part series on the history of pro women's hockey and why (if) the PWHL can be the one that makes it!
🎧 LISTEN: Let's try to explain hockey culture to Americans. Also, have you ever heard of ringette?! Send us a voicemail at podcasts@livefeisty.com
3. Should weight loss drugs be banned in sports?
The World Anti-Doping Agency is reportedly monitoring athletes' use of weight management drugs known as GLP-1s (of which Ozempic is the most well-known).
WADA has been monitoring GLP-1s since 2024 and placed the drugs on their watch list for this year, with growing concerns over potential abuse by athletes in weight class sports (like climbing) and weight-to-power sports (like cycling). Monitoring typically means that the agency collects data on how often the drugs show up in global tests and any possible side effects in order to make a decision about whether it should be banned.
What is required for a drug to be banned by the anti-doping agency?
Actual or potential health risk to an athlete
The potential to enhance performance
A possible violation of the spirit of the sport
Or, as the head of science and medicine for WADA said: A drug moves from being monitored to being banned when the use of it by athletes goes “well beyond therapeutic reasons.”
Join the woke mob group chat 😂
If you're not following The Feist podcast yet, listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube Music or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Tip of the week
The WNBA's Kelsey Mitchell said last month that rhabdomyolysis left her unable to move her legs as her muscles failed. It's a condition that has been seen in Crossfit circles and in extreme endurance sports — and that appears to be making a return to prominence. What do you need to know about rhabdomyolysis, also known as "rhabdo"?
What causes rhabdo: Severe dehydration, overheating, or injury can cause the muscles to break down too rapidly. But pushing well past your muscle’s limits can also lead any level of athlete to succumb to rhabdomyolysis.
Symptoms of rhabdo:
Severe muscle pain, often described as more severe than expected from the effort
Muscle pain, weakness, and swelling — beyond delayed muscle soreness
Dark-colored urine because your kidneys are overwhelmed
Potentially decreased urination, dehydration, or nausea
Symptoms typically begin one to three days after the damage. If you experience severe muscle pain, swelling, or dark-colored urine, seek medical attention immediately.
The highlight reel
- ⛸️ Alysia Liu continued her comeback tour with her first win at Skate America, and celebrated with her competitors.
- Femke Kok 🇳🇱 broke the women's 500m speedskating world record at this past weekend's World Cup. And Greta Myers set an American record in the 3,000m.
- ⛷️ Mikaela Shiffrin won her 102nd skiing World Cup — which came with her 9th prize reindeer for the win. Yes, an actual reindeer. 🦌
- 🏃♀️ Femke Bol 🇳🇱 and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone 🇺🇸 are finalists for the track athlete of the year, while Tara Davis-Woodhall 🇺🇸 and Nicola Olyslagers 🇦🇺 headline the field athlete of the year. World Athletics also awards an 'out of stadium' track athlete of the year, for which Peres Jepchirchir 🇰🇪 and race walker Maria Perez 🇪🇸 are
nominated.
- 🏃♀️ 20-year-old Lucy Scott became the youngest person to complete all the World Marathon Majors.
- 57-year-old Jill Walker completed 100 Ironman races. 🏊♀️ 🚴♀️ 🏃♀️
- Liza Corso became the first blind runner 🏃♀️ to race cross-country at the NCAA DI level at Regionals this past weekend.
- 🏃♀️ 🏃♀️ 🏃♀️ The NCAA cross-country championship final is this upcoming Saturday, with returning champ Alabama's Doris Lemngole looking to hold off BYU's freshman Jane Hedengren, who had nine national records as a high schooler and won her Regional in
commanding fashion.
- Mary Kate McCarthy 🇳🇿 defended her Cycling Esports world title. 🚲
- ⛳ Caitlin Clark competed in her second LPGA Pro-Am at The Annika, where President Trump's grandaughter Kai was invited to compete in the LPGA pro event, but failed to make the cut, and Linn Grant won.
- 🏄♀️ 5x world champ and Olympic gold medalist Carissa Moore announced her return to the World Surf League after giving birth to her daughter earlier this year.
- 🏄♀️ Sarah Almagro won the World Para Surfing Championship in the Prone 2 category, after already winning the Spanish and European titles this year.
- Valentina Shevchenko retained the women's flyweight MMA title against Zhang Weili in match at Madison Square Garden. 🥊 Weili had moved up a weight class to attempt a run at Shevchenko, who has won UFC, Muay Thai, and kickboxing titles.
- The Athletes Unlimited Softball League 🥎 announced two new expansion teams: the Oklahoma City Spark and the Cascade (which has not been assigned a location).
- The Women's Pro Baseball League ⚾ will play its inaugural seven-week season in Springfield, Illinois — not in the locations of the four teams originally announced.
- Team Amani launched Africa's first UCI Continental cycling team. 🚴🏾♀️
- And Sky Sports launched a women's sports vertical on Tiktok, which it had to shutdown after backlash over "patronizing" and "sexist" content.
Your Feisty recommendations
🎧 What to listen to: "Hockey and the woke mob group chat"
📺 What to watch: "The Next Chapter" from Des Linden
🚲 What we're getting pumped for: Our 16-week Feisty winter cycling training program starts Dec. 1 — so you still have time to sign up!
💜 What we loved: Gu is offering two runners from historically excluded and under-represented communities a chance to run Western States; applications are due today!
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