You know Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles, Allyson Felix and the other household names competing in the Summer Olympics.

Before the opening ceremony Friday marks the official start of the Games, get to know the teenage athletes who could medal in Tokyo and contend for titles for years to come.

1. Katie Grimes, 15 

Country: USA

Event: Swimming

About: At the young age of 15, Katie Grimes was the breakout star at the U.S. Olympic Swim trials. She’ll be competing in the women’s 800-meter freestyle in Tokyo alongside highly-decorated Olympian Katie Ledecky. Grimes is the youngest swimmer to make the Olympic team since Ledecky in 2012. Even Ledecky is already singing Grimes’ praises, saying she’s “the future,” and “the now.”

2. Athing Mu, 19

Country: USA

Event: Track and Field

About: Fresh off of breaking the Olympic Trials track record in the 800-meter dash, Athing Mu is being touted as the country’s next great middle-distance runner. Mu, who competed at Texas A&M before turning pro this summer, holds NCAA records for both the 400 meters (49.57) and the 800 meters (1:57.73). In regards to feeling pressure as a running prodigy, Mu says, “I take everything that people say lightly. I don’t let it get to my head.”

19-year-old @athiiing sets the Trials record and punched her ticket to Tokyo! 🎟@usatf | #TrackFieldTrials21 x #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/luuwJoUHnS

— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) June 28, 2021

3. Hannah Roberts, 19

Country: USA

Event: Cycling

About: BMX Cycling is making its Olympic debut in Tokyo, and so is Hannah Roberts. Roberts is a highly decorated star on the BMX freestyle circuit. In 2019, she won all three World Cup events in addition to her second world championship. Roberts is a gold-medal favorite in her event in Japan, and she could become the first teenage woman to win an Olympic cycling medal.

4. Hend Zaza, 12

Country: Syria

Event: Table tennis

About: Representing Syria, 12-year-old Hend Zaza is set to be the youngest Olympian in 52 years. She’s also beating the odds: Zaza has been able to participate in only two or three external matches a year due to war. If you haven’t watched table tennis before, Zaza’s stellar talent will make you want to follow this Olympic sport in Tokyo.

5. Torri Huske, 18

Country: USA

Event: Swimming

About: Having just graduated from high school and heading to Stanford next year, Torri Huske managed to break the 100-meter butterfly record twice at the Olympic swimming trials last month. Twenty-four hours after she broke the U.S. record in prelims by .20 seconds, she broke her own record again. Starting off as a “normal little kid who worked hard,” she will now be one of 11 teenagers to compete for the U.S. swimming team in Tokyo.

6.Grace McCallum, 18

Country: USA

Event: Gymnastics

About: Grace McCallum was named to the four-person team representing the U.S. at the Summer Olympics following the national trials in June, an achievement that seemed nearly impossible when she broke her hand earlier in the year. McCallum, who had already competed at the U.S. Classic and the National Championships, finished fourth at the Olympic Trials. The 18-year-old’s specialties include uneven bars and balance beam.

7. Caroline Marks, 19

Country: USA

Event: Surfing

About: Surfing standout Caroline Marks took the world by storm in 2018. In her breakout year, as the youngest surfer ever to qualify for the Women’s Championship Tour, Marks was named Rookie of The Year and finished with a No. 7 world ranking. Now ranked sixth on the Championship Tour, Marks spoke with Just Women’s Sports about her rapid ascension to the top of her sport.

It's not long before 19-year old @Caroline_Marks3 makes her debut on the global stage. Surf fans everywhere are in for a treat.
Video: Swellshotz pic.twitter.com/ulyQ2E9OJ8

— World Surf League (@wsl) July 16, 2021

8. Kokona Hiraki, 12

Country: Japan

Event: Skateboarding

About: At the age of 12, Kokona Hiraki will be one of the host country’s youngest and most admired stars. After ranking fifth at the final Tokyo Olympics qualifier for women’s park skateboarding, Hiraki will now be the youngest Japanese Summer Olympian ever. Her dedication to her craft is next level: After practicing a nosegrind trick over and over again, Hiraki wrote, “You can feel all the things I love about skateboarding through this trick. The unstableness from being just on the front truck on the coping, the sound of grinding, and the satisfaction when you make it.”

9. Nevin Harrison, 19

Country: USA

Event: Canoeing

About: Canoe sprint world champion Nevin Harrison is heading to the Tokyo Olympics with high expectations. In 2019, she became the first American to win a world sprint canoe title by clinching the women’s C1 200-meter event. Harrison is also a strong advocate for women’s canoeing’s inclusion in the Olympics, saying, “I think it’s more important to have every group represented rather than having a lot in just one gender or discipline,” Harrison said.

10. Sunisa Lee, 18

Country: USA

Event: Gymnastics

About: After coping with family illness, COVID-19 related deaths, and injury, Sunisa Lee claimed a coveted spot on the U.S. women’s gymnastics team by finishing in the top two at the Olympic trials. “It’s the unparalleled mental strength that she has shown during the most difficult time of her life that makes her the person she is,” said 2008 All-Around champion Nastia Liukin. Lee, whose parents emigrated from Laos, will be the first-ever Hmong American Olympic gymnast. While she’s an incredible all-around talent, she’s especially known for her bar routine.

11. Sky Brown, 13

Country: Great Britain

Event: Skateboarding

About: Sky Brown is arguably one of the biggest and brightest stars of any age at this year’s Olympics. At just 13 years and 11 days, she’ll be the youngest Summer Olympian for Great Britain. A fearless and promising athlete, Brown is currently ranked fourth in the world and is highly respected in the skateboarding community. “She could definitely be one of the best female skaters ever… she has such confidence, such force, even at such a young age. The way she’s able to learn new tricks and the way she absorbs direction, it’s so rare,” said skateboarding legend Tony Hawk.

Sky Brown 🇬🇧 wins gold in Women’s Skateboard Park at #XGames 2021! pic.twitter.com/LcGC5OqENB

— X Games (@XGames) July 16, 2021

12. Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova, 16

Country: Great Britain

Event: Gymnastics

About: 16-year-old twin sisters Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova will be each other’s support systems in Tokyo, as they will represent half of Great Britain’s four-person gymnastics team. Jessica flourished at the 2021 European Championships, where she won the bronze in the all-around and silver in vault, and she became the European champion in the floor exercise. Jennifer, a strong vaulter and floor gymnast, is known for her difficult tumbles and eye-catching choreography.

13. Viktoria Listunova, 16

Country: Russia

Event: Gymnastics

About: The postponement of the 2020 Olympics allowed 16-year-old Russian gymnast Viktoria Listunova to be eligible for the 2021 Olympics. “It’s such an opportunity, it is such a big chance,” Listunova says. She is determined to make the most of this opportunity and is considered a possible contender to upset world champion Simone Biles.

14. Rosalie Boissoneault, 18

Country: Canada

Event: Synchronized Swimming

About: A native of Québec, Canada, Rosalie Boissoneault joins the Canadian synchronized swimming team as one of its newest members. She is making her Olympic debut at just 18 years old after joining the senior national team in 2020. Starting in her sport at the age of 3, Boissoneault is a young star looking to make a splash in Tokyo.

15. Rayssa Leal, 12

Country: Brazil

Event: Skateboarding

About: Another young Olympic phenom and friend of Sky Brown is Brazilian skateboarder Rayssa Leal (pronounced “Hi-ee-sa”), known for her many viral trick videos. She is currently second in the World Street Skateboarding rankings. Giving props to her supportive family, Rayssa says, “they don’t pressure me to always win and be first, they encourage me to do what I like, which is skateboarding.”

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16. Regan Smith, 19

Country: USA

Event: Swimming

About:  Regan Smith, the current world-record holder in the women’s 200-meter backstroke, is heading to her first Olympics to represent Team USA. This young star showed off her talent during the World Championships in 2019, where she broke two world records: the 100- and the 200-meter backstroke. Smith will be taking a gap year and plans to attend Stanford in 2022.

17. Brighton Zeuner, 17

Country: USA

Event: Skateboarder

About: Zeuner is coming to the Olympics as a decorated skater with serious competitive chops. She’s the youngest recipient in history to have won two X Games gold medals, and she also holds a Vans Park Series World Championship title. Her great passion and love for skateboarding pushed her to keep going and get her to where she is now. ‘”I love it. Because of skateboarding, I’m kind of who I am. I get validation out of it. It makes me feel human. It’s just a part of me,”’ Zeuner said.

18. Hailey Hernandez, 18

Country: USA

Event: Diving

About: Hailey Hernandez started competing right out of high school and surprised the diving world by placing second in the women’s three-meter springboard at the Olympic trials. “When I hit that water, I knew that I had done it and so I just had the biggest smile on my face,” Hernandez says. Her hometown in Southlake, Texas, threw the two-time World Junior Championship silver medalist an epic Olympic send-off event and will be rooting hard for her this summer.

19. Gaurika Singh, 19

Country: Nepal

Event: Swimming

About: Nepali swimmer Gaurika Singh will represent her country both in the pool and as the flag bearer. The 19-year-old was the youngest athlete at the 2016 Rio Olympics at 13 years and 255 days, and she was chosen to lead the five-member Nepali team in the opening ceremony this year. Singh has collected over nine medals during the South Asian Games and set a record for the most gold medals in 2019.

20. Oceana Mackenzie, 19

Country: Australia

Event: Sport Climbing

About: Australian sport climbing star Oceana Mackenzie will help introduce this new Olympic sport to the world. She started climbing at age of 8 and has been passionate about it ever since. “I love how it’s mentally and physically challenging,” she says. “I have to see the climbs and figure out how to get up them — it’s almost like working out a puzzle.”

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.

USWNT regulars Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson furthered their cases for Olympic inclusion with their respective club victories on Saturday and Sunday.

After a roller coaster of a week that saw former Thorns head coach Mike Norris reassigned and a flurry of last-minute roster reshufflings as Friday's trade window closure loomed, the NWSL sprung to life over the weekend with standout performances from ninth-place Portland and third-place Chicago, among others.

After her blocked attempt at goal set up a volleying sixth-minute opener from veteran Christine Sinclair — now the only player in history to record a goal in all 11 NWSL seasons — Smith swiftly netted her own in the 27th minute off a breakaway run that eluded Houston's backline. The goal represented Smith's third of the season as well as her 35th for the Thorns, ultimately leading to the home side's first win of the season in a 4-1 routing of the Dash.

But that wasn't Smith's only stat of the evening. The star forward also lapped former Chicago Red Star Sam Kerr to become the youngest player to reach 50 NWSL goal contributions across all games, chalking up 40 goals and 10 assists at the age of 23 years and 254 days.

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"Obviously it feels good to get a win," said Smith in a post-match press conference. "But this is the standard the Thorns have always had. So a win is great, but a win is the expectation — we're hungrier than ever after the way we started."

170 miles up the road, Lumen Field similarly showcased some promising Olympic prospect footwork on Sunday. In Chicago's 2-1 victory over the lagging 13th-place Seattle Reign, striker Mallory Swanson racked up an impressive counterattack assist on fellow forward Ally Schlegel's fourth-minute goal. Swanson went on to find the back of the net herself before halftime, lacing an explosive ball into the top corner in the 31st minute, her second of the season after returning from a lengthy sidelining injury.

Speaking of injuries, fellow USWNT favorites Alex Morgan and Tierna Davidson were not as fortunate as their national squad teammates this weekend. Each exited their club matches early, Morgan with an ankle knock in San Diego's loss to Orlando and Davidson with an apparent hamstring incident early on in Washington's win over Gotham.

LSU came out on top at the 2024 NCAA women's gymnastics championship in Fort Worth on Saturday, besting Cal, Utah, and Florida to capture their first-ever title.

The Tigers' win was far from a landslide. LSU took the first rotation handily thanks to 2024 All-Around winner Haleigh Bryant's team-leading 9.9375 backed by four additional 9.9+ scores from her teammates. But Utah then responded with three strong beam performances of their own, causing the Red Rocks to slide confidently into second place by the end of the second rotation.

By the halfway point, all four teams fell within .288 points of one another before Utah overtook the pack with a dominant floor showing after three rotations. LSU then went on to ace the beam event with Konnor McClain's meet-leading 9.9625 score, coming away with the highest collective score ever awarded to the event in NCAA championship history. The achievement propelled the Tigers to victory, ensuring them the title after the final rotation.

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"This team is full of individuals that have incredible character and integrity and love for each other and all the things you hear from coaches when they sit at a podium like this in a moment of victory, but I promise you it's a real thing," said LSU coach Jay Clark in a post-meet press conference. "I'm just so happy for them."

Contributing to Saturday's atmosphere of excitement was the absence of last year's champion and this year's heavily favored Oklahoma Sooners. Hot off earning the highest team score in NCAA history just last month, the top-ranked Norman squad suffered a shocking loss in the semifinals, where five major mistakes contributed to a third-place finish and a season-low team score of 196.6625.

With Oklahoma out, it was truly anyone's game.

"Every team was out there fighting for their lives — all four teams, it could have gone any of four ways out there," Clark told reporters. "As much as I feel for what happened to Oklahoma in the semifinals, I think it made for a championship that became so packed with emotion because every team out there believed they could do it. It was just tremendous."

LSU is now the eighth program in the sport's history to earn an NCAA women's gymnastic championship.
They share the honor with Georgia, Utah, UCLA, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, and Michigan.