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One last favorite thing from the Paralympics...

Sydney Peterson thought her skiing career was over when she developed dystonia, a neurological disorder that caused her to lose movement in her left arm and leg. 

Instead, she turned to para cross-country skiing, and won three medals in Beijing and another four in Milan. Oh, and she's also a neuroscientist who studies the same condition she has. 😮

The medals: China topped the medal table, and Canada became just the fifth country to win 200 medals at the Winter Paralympics

The controversy: With the Paralympics held so late (after the Olympics) slushy conditions marred the ski events — where athletes could be seen competing in tanktops and shorts

(Photo: Team USA)

It's Madness...in March 🏀 🏀 🏀

It's time for some of the weirdest, wildest, wackiest days in college sports: It's the first two days of March Madness!

How does March Madness work?

The men's tournament starts tomorrow. The women's tournament starts Friday. Both feature 68 teams, single-elimination, one ultimate winner. Because it's win-or-go-home, the first round over the first two days almost always results in upsets and, well, madness...

🏀 Women's Final Four: April 3

🏀 Champion crowned: April 5

Teams can earn automatic spots into the tournament by winning their conference; the rest of the teams were picked via a committee on Selection Sunday. (There are also now additional play-in games for the last four spots before the official tournament starts.)

Who's playing? Who could win?

The #1 seed should win, but that almost never happens exactly as planned. The odds of picking a perfect bracket — ie. you predict every single game correctly — are one in 9.2 quintillion.

Teams are divided up into four regions, every team in each region is seeded #1 to #16. This year's overall #1 pick: The undefeated UConn — who won last year (over 2024 champs S. Carolina) and has won 11 titles total. Who else could win? Of course Dawn Staley's S. Carolina Gamecocks, but keep your eye on UCLA (who some think was snubbed for the overall #1 pick).

🎟️ FUN FACT: In 2019, 409K people filled out a bracket on ESPN for the women's tournament. In 2025, 3.4 million made a women's bracket just on ESPN (with more on the other major platforms).

🏀 DO: Fill out a fantasy bracket! ESPN runs a free contest

📺 WATCH: On ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC

Also: The WNBA and the WNBPA reached a tentative, verbal agreement early this morning.

The highlight reel

• 🚲 Sofia Gomez Villafane won the nine-woman sprint at the end of The Mid South gravel race — though they had a scary moment with a media vehicle earlier in the day.
  
  
• 🏃‍♀️ 🚲 And Feisty's own cycling coach, Serena Bishop Gordon, won the pro race in the double:  50k running in the morning, 100-mile gravel bike in the afternoon. 🎧 Listen to her on the Girls Gone Gravel podcast.
  
  
• ⛰️ The epic Cape Epic — the world's premier mountain bike stage race — is pioneering a new format this year with different start times for the pro women. Candice Lill and Alessandra Keller took their third stage win,  38 seconds ahead of second.
  
  
• BYU freshman Jane Hedengren won the 5,000m/3,000m double 🏃‍♀️ at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. And we love this video of her coach going nuts 💜 Georgia won the overall national title.
  
  
• Katy Zang broke the national high school record for two miles (9:37.15) 🏃‍♀️
  
  
• Wendy Alexis 🇨🇦 broke her own age-group world record in the 70-74 division, running the 60m in 9.07 seconds.
  
  
• Although Ruth Chepngetich was banned for doping, the ban came months after her marathon world record (of 2:09:56) — which means the record still stands. This past weekend, Fotyen Tesfay 🇪🇹 ran the second fastest marathon of all time (2:10:51) in Barcelona.
  
  
• Henriette Albon won the Transgrancanaria 🏃‍♀️, the third race of the World Trail Majors circuit.
  
  
• The Arctic Winter Games are a multi-sport indigenous competition for northern athletes. Records were set in events like the one-hand reach and the two-foot high kick.
  
  
• ❄️  Jessie Diggins won her third distance Crystal Globe in a row for the overall cross-country season title.
  
  
• 🎿 Mikaela Shiffrin won her 109th World Cup, her 72nd slalom World Cup, and her 8th of the season.
  
  
• 🎾 Aryna Sabalenka held off Elena Rybakina in a deciding tiebreak to win the Indian Wells title.
  
  
• ⚽ The NWSL season kicked off with attendance records set across the league for opening weekend, including a record 30,207 attendees at the inaugural Boston FC game.
  
  
• The PWHL will televise its first game nationally on ION. 🏒
  
  
• 🤺 This weekend, the NCAA will award its first standalone three-weapon women's championship in fencing alongside the men's.
  
  
• How did Christina Lustenberger climb and ski a never-before attempted route down the 11,234 ft Mount Deltaform, in Canada’s Valley of the Ten Peaks? ⛷️
  
  
• Check out Merle Loosen's world record for the most somersaults with a bounce exercise ball, and Sina Ruppenthal's record for the fastest time to lift and throw 10 people.

Your Feisty recommendations

🎧 What to listen to: "What happens after you achieve your wildest dreams? with Sika Henry"

📚 What to read: "Why Ann Trason keeps quietly coming back for more"

💜 What we loved: The Radical Equity Program last year attempted to address the barriers to getting women and non-binary runners to the start line of The Speed Project, and this year announced a magazine sharing what they learned from the experience

🎉 What to attend: FeistyFest! Three days to celebrate active bodies of every shape, size, and experience level 💪 🚴‍♀️ 🧘‍♀️

The Feist is written by Kelly O'Mara. Ads by Ella Hnatyshyn

Live Feisty Media Corporation, 770 Central Spur Rd #109, Victoria, BC V9A0G7, Canada

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