Summer McIntosh has been named the Canadian Press female athlete of the year for 2023 after defending her world titles in the 200-meter butterfly and 400-meter individual medley at the world championships.

The 17-year-old said she is “honored” to receive the award and called it “just really cool.” She is expected to build on her successful year at the Paris Olympics in 2024, but she is keeping a level head.

“What I’m most proud of is just how much I’ve learned about myself and kind of how much I’ve gained from each experience,” McIntosh told CBC. “Going into big meets like a world championship, I don’t really have exact expectations of myself especially when it comes to placement or medals, but I definitely tried to just reach my full potential in each one of my races and I think I did that for the most part.”

After a disappointing 400 freestyle at the world championships, McIntosh rebounded to earn bronze in the 200 freestyle before winning gold in her next two events.

She also helped anchor Canada’s medley relay team to bronze, helping the team qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. McIntosh also set two world record at the Canadian trials in March in the 400 IM and 400 freestyle.

She became the first swimmer in history to hold both of those world records at the same time.

“This time last year, I wouldn’t have ever thought I’d break two world records or previous world records. I think it’s still a bit surreal to be honest,” she said. “That just kind of comes back to trying to just keep my head down and keep working and not focus too much on records like that, but it’s a really cool part and kind of a timestamp in history.”

To end the year, McIntosh beat Katie Ledecky in the 400 freestyle at the U.S. Open in early December, marking the first time that Ledecky had lost the event on U.S. soil in 11 years.

Team GB still has a chance compete in women’s soccer at the 2024 Olympics after England’s come-from-behind 3-2 win against the Netherlands in the Nations League group stage.

The England women’s national team is seeking Olympic qualification on behalf of Team GB. The Olympic team could include players from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well, though England likely would provide most of the roster.

Those Olympic dreams almost were cut short Friday in front of a home crowd at London’s Wembley Stadium. The Netherlands took an early lead on two first-half goals from Lineth Beerensteyn.

But England tied the game in the second half with goals from Georgia Stanway and Lauren Hemp, then completed the comeback with a stoppage time strike from Ella Toone.

Now England needs to win its final group-stage match Tuesday against Scotland and either better the Netherlands in goal differential or root for a Netherlands loss or draw against Belgium to stay alive in the quest for UEFA Olympic qualification.

The Lionesses entered Friday’s match amid a run of poor form for the 2023 World Cup runners-up, as they had lost three of their last five games starting with a 1-0 loss to Spain in the World Cup final.

That stretch included a 2-1 loss to the Oranje in September. The Lionesses had allowed six goals in four Nations League matches entering Friday.

Sweden will not qualify for the Olympics after its loss Friday to Switzerland. The third-place finisher at this summer’s World Cup, Sweden has a 2-1-2 (W-D-L) record through five Nations League group-stage matches, which knocked the team out of Olympic contention.

For the first time in 11 years, Katie Ledecky lost a 400-meter freestyle race in a U.S. pool, with Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh taking the title at the U.S. Open on Thursday.

At just 17 years old, McIntosh is no stranger to the international swimming circuit. She even held the world record in the 400 free for three months – before Australia’s Ariarne Titmus took back the crown.

In July, McIntosh entered the world championship as the record holder but placed fourth in the event, while Titmus took the world title and the world record.

“After that race, I learned a lot about how to get back out after it,” McIntosh said Thursday. “I had so many races after that that I was really happy with. No matter how bad one race is, you really get back up and get back into it.”

At the U.S. Open final, she swam a time of 3:59.42, beating Ledecky by 2.96 seconds.

It’s the first time that Ledecky has lost the event in the United States since placing third at the 2012 Olympic trials at 15 years old.

The 2024 Olympics are looming, and McIntosh’s rise has made what seemed to be a two-person race between Titmus and Ledecky much more intriguing. Last March, McIntosh snapped Ledecky’s nine-year domestic win streak in the 200 free.

Ledecky remains undefeated in the United States in the 800 and 1500 free races, and she has been for 13 years.

The 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships are here, and Simone Biles has won a sixth all-around title.

Two days after Biles and Team USA won gold in the team competition, the 26-year-old became the most decorated gymnast in the history of the sport. With her individual gold medal, she has won 34 Olympic or world championship medals in her career, surpassing the previous record of 33 set by Belarusian men’s gymnast Vitaly Scherbo.

Already, Biles had etched her name in the record books by landing the Yurchenko double pike in the qualifying session. She is the first gymnast to do so in international competition, so the move will now be named the “Biles II.” And with the team win Wednesday, she became the only gymnast ever to be a part of five gold-medal winning teams at worlds.

On Friday, she added to her success in Antwerp, Belgium, winning her 21st gold medal at the world championships, and her 27th overall.

The U.S. women have won gold in the team competition in seven consecutive world championships, an all-time record. Shilese Jones, Leanne Wong, Skye Blakely and Joscelyn Roberson competed alongside Biles, accumulating a score of 167.729 points and beating out second-place Brazil (165.530).

Biles also is qualified to compete in all four event finals on Saturday and Sunday.

2023 World Gymnastics Championships: How to watch

  • Wednesday, Oct. 4 – Women’s Team Final
    • 1:30 p.m. ET on Peacock
  • Friday, Oct. 6 – Women’s All-Around Final*
    • 1:30 p.m. ET on Peacock
  • Saturday, Oct. 7 – Apparatus Finals, Day 1
    • 8 a.m. ET on Peacock
  •  Sunday, Oct. 8 – Apparatus Finals, Day 2
    • 8 a.m. ET on Peacock; 2 p.m. ET highlights on CNBC

*Note: The women’s all-around final also will be re-aired at noon Saturday, Oct. 14, on NBC.

Simone Biles continues to make history, making a record sixth world championships roster for the U.S. gymnastics team.

The 26-year-old earned an all-around total of 55.7000 at the selection camp, which put her ahead of Shilese Jones and Sky Blakely for the top spot on the roster. She becomes the only U.S. woman to qualify for six world championship teams. Admittedly, though, her performance to make the team was not her best.

“I feel like everybody was nervous [Tuesday] — not just me,” Biles told reporters Wednesday. “And I don’t know why. But it was just rough. So today was a lot better.”

Biles is joined by three gold medal winners from the 2022 world championships – Jones, Blakely and Leanne Wong. Additionally, 17-year-old Joscelyn Robertson was named to the roster.

The event marks a return to Antwerp, Belgium, for Biles, who won the first of her five all-around titles there at just 16 years old. In an Instagram story post following her qualification, she wrote, “Back to where it all started, see you soon Belgium.”

It’s been a decade, but Biles will return to Antwerp – this time looking to become the most decorated gymnast in history.

Currently, Biles has 32 combined Olympic and world championship medals – 25 of which have come at the world championships. She’s currently tied with Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union, who retired in 1966, for the most medals ever at the two events, but Biles could break that tie with a medal at worlds.

The next major event after the 2023 world championships will be 2024 Paris Olympics, and Biles wants to compete for the U.S. at another Summer Games. But she’s taking it one step at a time, and that now includes a trip to the world championships.

“Everything we’re doing leading up to this next Games, or whatever, is very intentional,” she said earlier this month. “I think I have to take care of myself a little bit more and listen to my body and making sure I’m making time for the important things in my life, rather than before it was just like go, go, go and then making time after.

“This time around, it’s being intentional, going to therapy, making sure everything is aligned so I can do the best in the gym and be like, a good wife, good daughter, good friend — all the good things.”

Sha’Carri Richardson has had a track season to remember.

Earlier this year, she won the U.S. title in the 100-meter dash, then declared to the world: “I’m not back, I’m better.” And better she has been.

She ran two personal bests this season and won the 100 at the 2023 World Track and Field championships in Budapest last month. She also led the U.S. to gold in the 4×100 relay at the same event while finishing with a bronze medal in the 200.

Through it all Richardson, who was absent from the Tokyo Olympics due to a positive drug test, has remained joyous. That has been evident, even as she finished fourth in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene over the weekend. She said Saturday that she’s “fallen back in love with my sport” over the last year while sporting her natural hair, something she said she had to do after winning the world title in the 100.

“My coach, I told him that if I went 10.6 I would wear my natural hair,” she told NBC. “When I became the world champion and set a championship record I ran a 10.65, so I had to pull out the natural.”

She also elaborated on how she’s fallen back in love with the track.

“I feel like for a while, I saw this sport more as a job than the love I knew I had for it,” she said. “I’m just whole all over again.”

And despite finishing fourth on Saturday, behind champion Shericka Jackson of Jamaica, Richardson said that she felt “amazing” about her performance.

“All of the women who placed above me are literally legends, and I give them the utmost respect,” she said. “There is no (bad) race anytime we line up, we have to bring our A games every time. I love racing against those women, they bring out the best in me. And I’m looking forward to competing with these ladies at their fullest health and their fullest happiness next year for the Olympics.”

“I’m having so much more fun, and I want people to understand it is not just because of winning,” she continued. “I’m having fun because I’m better within my spirit, within my mind, within my community that I created for myself. That’s the happiness that you guys see. The wins are just the bonus, but it shows when you’re whole within yourself what you will attract.”

The next year will be a big one, with the Paris Olympics just 10 months away. But Richardson is approaching it “as determined as I can be” while also maintaining her happiness.

“Knowing that everyone is going to bring their A game, it just makes me want to bring my best as well,” she said. “The goal for the 200 next year, there are so many great ladies in the 200, the second fastest woman in the world ever (Jackson) runs it now, so I’ve definitely gotta bring my A game lining up against her and all the ladies.

“I’m not one of those who just wins the 100. I’m a 100 and 200 runner and I want you guys to see that, and I want to bring that out. I can’t wait for next year. … The best is yet to come. I’m only 23, so just wait and see.”

Simone Biles’ return to gymnastics has made it seem like she never even left at all.

On Sunday, the 26-year-old won her unprecedented eighth U.S. all-around gymnastics title. She capped it off with what coach Laurent Landi called “the best floor routine I’ve ever seen her do.”

“Every time I come out here, I feel like I’m in a fever dream,” Biles said of the meet, her first major competition since her return. “I feel like nothing’s real. I knew I did a good floor routine, but as soon as I got off and saw the score, I was like, ‘Damn, I need to see that routine.’ Because I wasn’t sure.”

Through it all, Biles has made gymnastics look easy. She landed another Yurchenko double pike on Friday, continuing her reign as the only woman ever to so much as attempt it in competition. She earned a 9.8 execution score.

“It’s not normal. She is not normal,” Landi said.

And Biles is doing this all at the age of 26. In gymnastics terms, she is redefining what the sport can look like. Most gymnasts at 26 aren’t competing at their best, like Biles is.

She’s approaching the sport with a different mindset, choosing not to share her goals and instead to “be at peace” while taking it “one thing at a time.”

“I like to keep (my goals) personal, just so that I know what I’m aiming for,” Biles said. “I think it’s better that way. I’m trying to move a little bit differently this year than I have in the past. I think it’s working so far, so I’m going to keep it secretive.”

That peace will take her to the world championships next month, where she’ll attempt to add to her 25 world championship medals – 18 of which are gold. But for Biles, she’s just happy to be back in the thick of competition.

“I just didn’t think I was going to be back here competing,” she said. “I’m in the moment. But it doesn’t feel real for some reason. I just, seriously, can’t believe I’m out here competing again. I’m proud of myself for that.”

The U.S. women’s national team bowed out early at the 2023 World Cup. But the 2024 Olympics are just around the corner, and Sam Mewis expects the USWNT to contend for the gold medal.

The 30-year-old midfielder starred at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but has not appeared for the USWNT since then due to a lingering knee injury. After a second surgery on her knee in January, she is taking her recovery “one day at a time,” and she still wants to return to the pitch, she told GOAL in July.

The USWNT would benefit from a healthy Sam Mewis at the Paris Games, with the women’s tournament set to kick off on July 25, 2024, in France. And while Mewis did not address her own recovery, she expressed optimism in the USWNT’s chances on Just Women’s Sports‘ World Cup podcast “The 91st.”

“We have a lot of young players. Some players that have been injured who could be back,” she said. “So I am really excited to see the U.S. have this quick turnaround. What we can do to come back and be a contender in just a year?”

Mewis identified several other teams — in addition to World Cup champion Spain — that could make a run at the gold medal. Take Sweden, who finished in third place at the World Cup but has been knocking at the door of a championship for years.

“Sweden has been at the top for a bunch of tournaments in a row,” she said. “My gosh, they had such an incredible tournament and to just see it slip away from them was really disappointing.”

England and Japan also impressed her with their play, as did up-and-comers Nigeria and Colombia, “who pushed further than people maybe expected,” she noted.

While her USWNT teammate Midge Purce poked fun at Mewis for choosing too many teams as possible contenders, Mewis said she remains content to be “a diplomat” as she evaluates the field for next year’s tournament.

Brazilian star Marta isn’t ruling out playing in next year’s Olympics.

The forward announced ahead of the 2023 World Cup that it would be her last for Brazil. The all-time leading World Cup goal scorer, Marta competed in her sixth World Cup this summer.

The tournament ended in disappointment for Marta and Brazil, as they were eliminated in the group stage after a scoreless draw with Jamaica.

“We know we had a team to go a little bit more far in the competition,” she told reporters Wednesday. “Of course, a few things were missing — that’s why we didn’t make it. But soccer, it’s been everything for me. So [to] go back home and then start training after one week really helped me to look forward.”

Marta currently plays for the Orlando Pride of the NWSL. The Pride will resume regular-season play on Sunday against the Chicago Red Stars.

The 37-year-old also reiterated on Wednesday that this World Cup was her last.

“But I didn’t say I’m not going to play the next Olympics,” she said. “I don’t have the answer yet. But I’m working on, to feel day by day if I still have the power that I can share with the team, with Brazil, and then fight for a gold medal.”

Brazil women’s soccer’s best finish at the Olympics has been the silver medal in 2004 and 2008. Brazil has also never won a World Cup, having finished as runners-up in 2007.

As the U.S. women’s national team heads home early from the 2023 World Cup, they’ll soon start preparing for the next big international tournament: the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Games are a little less than a year away, which could be cause for panic after the USWNT suffered its earliest World Cup exit in history. With the potential for a new coaching hire and a new-look roster as veterans step away from the team, there could be many shake-ups on the horizon.

The U.S. will hope to welcome back several stars from injury, including forwards Mallory Swanson and Catarina Macario. But other injured players are question marks, as are some of the younger prospects who were left off the squad this time but could make their case in the next year. Here are five of them.

Jaedyn Shaw, Forward

Jaedyn Shaw had a case for making the USWNT’s 2023 World Cup roster. Coach Vlatko Andonovski included 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson on his final 23-player roster, and Shaw has similar promise and even more professional experience. The 18-year-old has made 22 appearances for the San Diego Wave and recorded seven goals, including four so far this season.

While no longer one of the youngest signings in the NWSL, she recently signed an extension with the Wave that will keep her with the NWSL club through 2026. She also won U.S. Soccer’s Young Player of the Year award in 2022, after a successful U-20 World Cup campaign.

“Obviously the national team recognition is going to keep coming if she keeps performing,” San Diego head coach Casey Stoney told Just Women’s Sports in June. “And we need to make sure that we look after her on and off the field, because she’s still an 18-year-old and she’s still young, and we need to make sure that she’s ready for everything that comes her way.”

By the time the 2024 Olympics roll around, Shaw will have three seasons of professional experience under her belt. While it might be difficult for Shaw to step in at forward given the USWNT’s depth at the position, she’s worthy of consideration and should earn her first senior international call-up sometime in the next year.

Mia Fishel, Forward

After being selected in the 2022 NWSL Draft, Fishel opted to forgo the NWSL in favor of playing for Tigres UANL in Liga MX Femenil. There, the 22-year-old went on an absolute tear, becoming the first foreign-born player to win the league’s Golden Boot with 17 goals while helping Tigres to the league title as a rookie. But it wasn’t enough to earn her a USWNT roster call-up.

Conversations grew more positive over time, with Andonovski noting that NWSL forwards were “performing as good and even better than Mia,” and later saying they were “having good conversations with” her and the USWNT was “happy for her success down there.”

“At the same time, she understands the competition that is on the national team and the players she is competing against,” Andonovski said last November. “She’s patiently waiting for her opportunity. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see her in a future camp.”

Yet, as of August 2023, Fishel has yet to feature for the USWNT.

“Mia is a very good young player, we are very familiar with her qualities,” Andonovski said in January. “But as of right now, after looking at everything, we decided the forwards that we have in camp are going to give us the best chance to be successful.”

In the meantime, Fishel continued to produce in Mexico, scoring 38 goals through 48 appearances. She’ll soon get more experience against top competition after signing with European powerhouse Chelsea last week. Her transfer fee ranks among the highest in the world, meaning Chelsea manager Emma Hayes is putting a lot of stock into Fishel becoming one of the best players in the world at her position.

As Fishel joins Chelsea, expect her USWNT prospects to change heading into Olympic roster selection.

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Jaelin Howell (Maria Lysaker/USA TODAY Sports)

Jaelin Howell, Midfield

At 23 years old, Howell has one goal in five international appearances, scoring against Uzbekistan last year. She began 2023 with a USWNT call-up before seemingly falling off Andonovski’s radar.

When it comes to the role of defensive midfielder, Howell is elite. The 2022 No. 2 draft pick ranks in the 90th percentile or better in tackles, interceptions, clearances and aerials won in the NWSL. Her pass completion is 80.2 percent this season for Racing Louisville, and she’s creating 1.76 shot attempts per 90, which is good for seventh in the NWSL. She’s also first in the NWSL in tackles and tackles won, and she ranked first blocks in 2022.

Why Howell hasn’t gotten a deeper look for the USWNT is a mystery, though that could change heading into 2024 — especially given how some of her Racing Louisville teammates performed at this year’s World Cup.

Sam Coffey, Midfield

Sam Coffey was one of a few players who drew the short straw for the USWNT’s World Cup roster. One of the team’s biggest snubs alongside forward Ashley Hatch, Coffey had been having a great start to the NWSL season at the No. 6 position. But her style of play didn’t always fit with Andonovski’s tactical decisions, and with Andi Sullivan out-playing her in camp and the return of Julie Ertz, there wasn’t room for the 24-year-old.

Coffey continues to develop her game as a holding midfielder, a position of need for the U.S. in the absence of Ertz, who announced her retirement after the Round of 16 loss.

“Her time will come, I have no doubt,” USWNT star forward Sophia Smith said following the roster announcement. “I fully believe that she will be the holding midfielder on the national team for a very long time.”

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Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Nathan Ray Seebeck/USA TODAY Sports)

Phallon Tullis-Joyce, Goalkeeper

Even after her heroics in the USWNT’s Round of 16 game, USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher’s time with the team will come to an end at some point. The 35-year-old will have a shot at the 2024 Olympic roster, and maybe even the 2027 World Cup, but the U.S. will need to start developing their next No. 1 keeper

While both Casey Murphy and Aubrey Kingsbury are worthy options, Phallon Tullis-Joyce continues to play her way into consideration for a USWNT look.

Tullis-Joyce has been one of the NWSL’s best goalkeepers over the last two seasons, ranking first in the league with 0.86 goals against per 90 minutes last season and currently sixth at 1.20 through 15 games this season. Her save percentage is lower this year than it was in 2022, but is still above 70 percent. As the USWNT builds out its goalkeeper depth chart for 2024, the 26-year-old has made a strong case for inclusion.