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(Karolina Migon won the 200-mile elite race. Photo: Dan Hughes/Life Time)
2. How many times will the Ironman world record be broken this year? 👑
At the start of this year, the world record for an Ironman brand race was 8 hours & 18 minutes — that's for a 2.4-mile swim 🏊♀️, a 112-mile bike 🚴♀️, and a marathon (26.2-mile) run 🏃♀️
Then, Kat Matthews broke that record in April in Texas. Now, this past weekend, reigning world champ Laura Philipp took the record back (pushed by Matthews on the run, as they ran side-by-side). Both women ultimately went under the old record time — and even third place Solveig Løvseth was close behind, under the original record!
🏊♀️ 2.4 miles in 54:40
🚴🏼♀️ 112 miles in 4:23:38
🏃♀️ 26.2 miles in 2:38:27
TOTAL: 8:03:13! 👑
It's worth noting that Ironman, as a brand and company, doesn't keep records of the best times from competing race organizers. So the fastest ever time for the distance: 8:02:38 - Anne Haug at Challenge Roth in 2024 👑
It wasn't that long ago that a sub-8-hour Ironman sounded impossible! Now, with the women pushing each other, could we see it happen this year?
3. California reverses position on trans girls competing in high school championships
Just days before the California high school track & field state championship was set to take place, organization officials announced a rule change: While trans girls would still be allowed to compete, cis girls who lost to a trans athlete would *also* be allowed to compete in the state finals and would be awarded medals based on where they *would* have finished.
This came after President Trump posted on social media, targeting one high school trans girl in Southern California who had placed first in triple jump, eighth in high jump, and third in long jump at the regional championships. Trump also threatened to strip federal funding from California schools.
The last minute rule change left athletes and coaches confused, and had the weird effect of qualifying 13 girls (instead of the usual 12) to finals in three events — as well as ultimately awarding a "tie" in those events.
READ: A high school athlete in Maine, who took second to a trans girl in a 1600m race, wrote a letter in response to politicians who were using the race as a talking point.
"The fact that someone else finished in front of me didn’t diminish the happiness I felt after finishing that race. I don’t feel like first place was taken from me. Instead, I feel like a happy day was turned ugly by a bully who is using children to make political points."
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