For Ajee’ Wilson, the past year during the pandemic was somewhat of a blessing. The American record-holder in the 800 meter used the time away from competition to rest, reset and refocus on the mission, four years after a disappointing finish at the Rio Olympics.

Wilson’s preparation paid off at the United States Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore., where temperatures reached 108 degrees and events were delayed as a result. The 27-year-old fought through the heat to place third in the 800-meter final with a time of 1:58.39, just behind Athing Mu and Raevyn Rogers.

The finish qualified Wilson for her second Olympic Games. In Tokyo, she’ll be part of an American group looking to win its first gold medal in the event since 1968 and first medal of any kind since 1988.

“It was a super intense weekend, that being our third race of the series, having the delay with the heat,” Wilson said. “But coming out of that final, I was super relieved. I was excited and happy that I was able to round off an amazing team that we’ll be sending to Tokyo.”

Wilson spoke with Just Women’s Sports about what she’s learned since Rio, the biggest sacrifices she has to make for the Olympics and what she’s most looking forward to in Tokyo.

Had you ever run in heat that intense? How challenging was that?

I didn’t actually get that much time out there in the heat. Probably the hottest I’ve ever run in was 107 a few years before at the U.S. Championships in Sacramento. But right before we started warming up (at the trials), one of the heptathletes passed out, so they had to make the decision that they felt like was going to protect and be safest for most of the athletes.

I’m sure your preparation, recovery and training come into play in a situation like that. Which tactics and supplements have you found to be helpful through your partnership with Thorne?

I use their iron, their basic, two-a-day nutrient, their D3 and, recently since the partnership, their amino complex, which is a recovery drink. The first three that I take are pretty much just to meet deficiencies that I know that I have through routine bloodwork. But the big picture and the big goal is just better health — that’s their campaign. Whether it’s for an elite athlete or the everyday person, avid health lover, their products and their mission are geared towards just being healthier people.

Did you have to make any training accommodations over the past year because of the pandemic?

Yeah, so from March until June last year, we pretty much shut down as a team. So during that time phase, I was just on my own, mainly doing long runs, a workout every now and again. But because the season was pretty much canceled and the games were canceled, we backed off training a little bit, just to not beat yourself up if you don’t have to be ready that soon. And so coming into this season, in the fall, it was about gearing up again and getting back into the swing of preparing for a competitive schedule.

Did that break from your usual training regimen change your perspective of the sport in any way?

It did. I think the one thing I immediately realized was I reconnected with how much I love what I do and how much I love some of the smaller aspects of training and racing that I took a little bit for granted. Things as simple as seeing other friends that I’ve grown to know over the years at competitions, training with my teammates and being competitive are things that I feel like I was able to tap back into and appreciate more during that time.

This will be your second Olympics. Is there anything you took away from Rio that you will apply this time around in Tokyo?

From my specific experience in Rio, and not doing as well as I wanted that whole season, it was coming back home and saying, I need to see what’s going on. I’m not feeling how I should. That was the start of focusing on my health and on the deficiencies that I’m now addressing with Thorne products. It started from the Games, realizing like, hey, I need to take a step back and make sure that my body’s prepared to do what I’m asking it to do.

What changed about your training from before Rio to before Tokyo?

The simplest difference is that stuff that I wasn’t able to do then, I’m able to do now. I think over the years, my workload has gotten higher, and the more trained you get, the better you are at doing what you’re doing. So our workouts are a lot more intense. I have a routine lifting program now. We sprinkled things in here and there before Rio, but I feel like we’ve become more deliberate about that in the year since.

What do you find are the biggest sacrifices you have to make in preparation for an event like the Olympics?

I feel like I always go back and forth with that word because I think since I’ve been doing it for so long, how I live is just what it is. I have my habits, I have my routine. So things that I may have looked at as sacrifices when I first started fresh out of high school, now I don’t view them the same way and I appreciate them for being necessary to be successful. I would say, once upon a time, limiting my social butterfly experiences was something that was difficult to navigate at first. But I think as I’ve gotten older, knowing how to manage my time and having family and friends that are super supportive have made that feel like less of a sacrifice and more as something that I’ve adapted to.

Do you have any pre-race rituals?

As I’m getting ready to go to the track to race, I have “I Was Here” by Beyoncé on repeat. That’s my go-to song. I don’t listen to music when I train or warm up, so that’s the last soundbite that I get before I go. And then usually before warming up for my race, I’ll take a quick power nap, get up and start my warm-up.

Between now and leaving for Tokyo, what will you be doing?

I’ll just be home training. I train out of Philadelphia. I may be racing sometime in between, like in mid-July, but that’s still up in the air. So I’ll just be at home putting in work and preparing as best as I can to get ready to go to Tokyo.

What are you most looking forward to about the Olympics?

I’m really looking forward to just being at the start line of the first round, just taking in the magnitude of the moment. I’m not really sure how everything’s going to play out organization-wise in the village and with the travel and the games. So that’s been what my heart’s been set on, just that moment and having that opportunity.

The NWSL has made a decision, as the league officially moves forward with its new "High Impact Player" rule despite stated opposition from the players union.

Announced last week, the rule change allows clubs to exceed to the NWSL salary cap by up to $1 million to attract or retain players that meet one of eight qualifying metrics set by the league.

Those metrics include major media award rankings like the 30-player Ballon d'Or shortlist and ESPN FC's Top 50 Football Players, as well as marketing power, top USWNT minutes, and end-of-year NWSL awards.

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Developed with Washington Spirit superstar — and current free agent — Trinity Rodman and her potential contract in mind, the "High Impact Player" rule will not go into effect until July 1st, 2026.

Meanwhile, the NWSLPA has spoken out against the mechanism, proposing instead to up the salary cap by $1 million without league-imposed spending regulations.

"Under federal labor law, changes to compensation under the salary cap are a mandatory subject of bargaining — not a matter of unilateral discretion," the union wrote on Wednesday.

Additionally, per The Athletic, NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke expressed concerns that the rule ties top athlete pay, in part, to player valuations in third party publications — a move that externally defines who a club can consider "high impact."

Led by six Kansas City athletes and five from Gotham FC, just 27 current NWSL players across 10 of the 16 clubs in the expanded 2026 season meet the new HIP qualifying criteria — though all teams could use the mechanism to attract a new athlete to the league.

In a growing global market, the NWSL could be falling into a trap of half-measures, as the union pushes back with league parity potentially on the line.

The Kansas City Current have apparently found a new manager, with ESPN reporting last week that the 2025 NWSL Shield-winners will bring on former MLS head coach Chris Armas to lead the team in 2026.

Armas built his career in the MLS, coaching the New York Red Bulls from 2018 to 2020 before taking over Toronto FC in 2021, then spending the last three years heading up the Colorado Rapids.

The ex-USMNT player also has experience in the women's game at the college level, leading the Division II Adelphi University women's soccer team from 2011 to 2014.

Despite their many victories in 2025, the Current found themselves without a coach after third-year boss Vlatko Andonovski moved into a sporting director role with the club in November.

ESPN reported that Kansas City chose Armas over internal candidates like assistants Milan Ivanovic and ex-Angel City and Gotham manager Freya Coombe.

"I want my staff and people I've worked with to become successful coaches. These are things I'm very passionate about and want to be able to execute," Andonovski told ESPN last month.

Armas would be the first former MLS coach to make the leap to the NWSL, with the winds of change in Kansas City blowing stronger than anticipated.

With the 2026 Winter Olympics fast approaching, US skiing icon Mikaela Shiffrin has started the 2025/26 FIS World Cup cycle in top form — particularly in her favored slalom event.

Closing out last season with a victory, Shiffrin is currently on a multi-event winning streak, earning her sixth straight slalom title in Semmering, Austria, on Sunday.

"It was a really hard day today, tough conditions, a really big fight, and the pressure's on… I did my best, best possible run," Shiffrin said afterwards.

Momentum is on her side, with Shiffrin set to enter the 2026 Winter Games in Italy as the winningest skier in World Cup history, surpassing Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark's 86 wins in March 2023 and becoming the first skier to reach 100 World Cup victories earlier this year.

Sunday's race marked the 30-year-old's 106th career World Cup title, with Shiffrin looking to add to her ever-growing historic record with three more slalom events scheduled before the Olympic women's Alpine skiing events kick off on February 8th.

The 2014 Olympic slalom champion and 2018 Winter Games giant slalom gold medalist is aiming to return to the podium after failing to medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Shiffrin will likely hit the slopes again next weekend, when the women's FIS World Cup lands in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for a giant slalom and slalom competition.

South Carolina basketball is stocking up, as top-ranked high school senior Jerzy Robinson announced her commitment to join the head coach Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks last Tuesday.

"I chose South Carolina because I had a sense of peace when it came down to the decision for me," Robinson told ESPN. "When I visited South Carolina, I was already home. I was already valued there.... I felt like this was where I needed to be for the next four years."

A 6-foot-2 guard who averaged 27 points and 10.2 rebounds in her junior season at Los Angeles's Sierra Canyon High School, Robinson is now the highest-ranked Class of 2026 recruit heading to South Carolina — as well as the final Top 5 player to make a college decision after also visiting No. 1 UConn and No. 5 LSU.

Robinson first made a name for herself at the youth level, winning three gold medals and the 2025 U-19 FIBA World Cup with Team USA.

The young talent also inked one of the first-ever shoe sponsorships for a high school player, signing an NIL deal with Nike in November 2024.

"Basketball has always been my love and my passion," she said. "To see it pay off and the hard work and the hours pay off, in the sense of I get to play for one of the best universities in the country, I just have so much gratitude."