In today’s episode of the Late Sub, host Claire Watkins talks through the USWNT's second-straight 3-1 win over Iceland while shedding light on Sunday's comeback victory. Watkins digs into how the USWNT struggled slightly with coach Emma Hayes's roster rotation at first, before a second-half stabilization perfectly showcased their underlying strengths.
Then, Watkins interviews star Team USA sprinter Gabby Thomas about her whirlwind summer after earning three Olympic gold medals in Paris, as well as her off-track interest in global health advocacy.
The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes in women’s sports. This is the weekly rundown you’ve been missing, covering the USWNT, NWSL, WNBA, college hoops, and whatever else is popping off in women’s sports each week. Special guest appearances with the biggest names in women’s sports make The Late Sub a must-listen for every fan. Follow Claire on X/Twitter @ScoutRipley and subscribe to the Just Women’s Sports newsletter for more.
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After a bit of a sluggish start, Team USA surged in the final few days of Olympic swimming to hold rival Australia at bay and pick up the most swimming gold medals of any participating country.
The entire US swim team finished with eight overall golds, six of which were earned at least in part by a member of the women's team (one gold went to the mixed gender 4x100-meter medley relay).
Meanwhile, Team Australia capped their Olympic run with seven gold medals, though the overall total count swung more firmly in the US' favor at 28 to 18.
Team USA swimmers shine in imperfect Olympic meet
The meet was by no means perfect for Team USA, but they leave Paris with obvious bright spots and a few broken world records to boot.
Torri Huske emerged Paris's most decorated US women's swimmer. Along with her individual 100-meter butterfly gold, Huske anchored two gold medal relays, and tacked on two silver medals.
After getting the better of Australian standout Ariarne Titmus in the 800-meter freestyle, US icon Katie Ledecky leaved Paris with two individual golds, a solo bronze, and a relay silver. Plus, she became Team USA's most decorated Olympic women's sports athlete of all time.
In the end, former NCAA star Katie Douglass rounded out the impressive US trio with a gold in the 200-meter breaststroke to complement her two relay silvers.
Lastly, the final Olympic race gave the US a shining stamp on the Games, as the 4x100 medley relay earned a new world record on the way to the team's final gold medal.
McIntosh lays strong Olympic foundation
While the 2024 Games might be best remembered for the splashy US-Australia rivalry, they'll also live in history as Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh's thrilling Olympic debut.
In her first Olympics, the 17-year-old earned three individual gold medals and one silver, already staking her claim as a serious contender for the best all-around swimmer in the world.
In just its second Olympics as an official sport, skateboarding will touch down in Paris for the single-day street event on Sunday, July 28th.
Twenty-two skaters representing 11 countries are gearing up to show off their best tricks to five judges, who will assess their performances on a scale of 0-100 points.
How the street competition works
Street competitions replicate an urban environment, with obstacles like ledges, handrails, and stairs integrated throughout the course.
Athletes attempt five tricks in each of two 45-second runs. However, only their best run and top two tricks will count toward their overall score. The top eight skaters after the preliminary round will advance to the final, which follows the same format.
Team USA's medal-hunting skateboarding trio
Countries are held to a maximum of three skaters for each competition (street and park). In the 2024 Olympic street contest, five nations qualified a full trio — including the US.
Under USA Skateboarding coach Alexis Sablone — who placed fourth in the Tokyo Olympics' street competition — the lone competing Olympic veteran is 27-year-old Mariah Duran, who hopes to add an Olympic medal to the six X Games honors already in her trophy case.
Joining Duran — and repping Olympic skateboarding’s sizable youth contingent — are 19-year-old Poe Pinson and 16-year-old Paige Heyn, who snagged bronze at the 2023 Pan Am Games.
Top contenders look to improve upon Tokyo Olympics
The US will undoubtedly face steep competition in Paris, led by perennial top contenders Japan.
With six of the world's top 10 street skateboarders hailing from Japan, the three-skater rule forced them to leave behind some big names. That includes Momiji Nishiya, who won the sport’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in Tokyo at 13 years old. With Nishiya failing to qualify, Japan’s 19-year-old reigning bronze medalist Funa Nakayama and 14-year-old world No. 1 Coco Yoshizawa are primed to take her place on the podium.
Another major threat is Brazilian phenom Rayssa Leal. The 16-year-old was impressing Tony Hawk at age eight, and looks poised to one-up her silver medal performance in Tokyo on Sunday.
Where to watch USA Skateboarding's Olympic street team
Both the 6 AM ET prelims and 11 AM ET final will go down on Sunday, July 28th, with live coverage on NBC platforms.
Just Women's Sports announced three new digital series on Thursday, headlined by The Gold Standard, a new studio show hosted by Olympic gold medalists and women's sports icons Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie.
USWNT and NWSL great O'Hara, a two-time World Cup winner and Olympic gold and bronze medalist, is teaming up with three-time WNBA MVP Lisa Leslie, herself a four-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA, to bring viewers inside the world of Olympic women's sports. The pair will record each episode in-studio, with a series of special guests joining them throughout the show's run.
An insider's view of the Summer Games
The Gold Standard will debut on July 27th and cover the biggest women's sports stories from the Paris Olympics, giving fans a unique perspective by tapping into the insights and opinions of two legendary Olympians.
"I know first-hand just how exciting and intense the Olympic Games can be," Leslie told JWS. "This show gives us a chance as athletes to bring fans closer to the experience, by sharing our unique insights into the Games. And with all the momentum we're seeing in women's sports, now is the perfect time to have a show dedicated to the biggest women's sports moments at the Olympic Games."
"I can still remember watching the '96 Olympics and knowing that I wanted to be on that stage one day," says O'Hara. "Having the chance to compete in the Olympics and win gold was one of the highlights of my career. I'm looking forward to being a fan this time around and getting the chance to share my own perspective on the Games' biggest stories. Having teamed with Just Women's Sports before, I know this will be content that resonates with fans."
The Gold Standard will live on Just Women's Sports' YouTube page, with select social cuts distributed across JWS digital platforms. The six-episode show will run through August 13th.
Additional series focus on USWNT's Olympic run
The Gold Standard is just one of three upcoming JWS series designed to invite fans to experience the Summer Games from an Olympian's point of view, with additional series zeroing in on the USWNT's 2024 Olympic run.
Ahead of the opening ceremony, JWS will launch the latest edition of 1v1, with host Kelley O'Hara interviewing three of her USWNT teammates: Emily Sonnett, Jaedyn Shaw, and Rose Lavelle. These peer-to-peer interviews provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the USWNT's preparation for their first major tournament under new manager Emma Hayes.
To round things out, JWS is also bringing back its award-winning series, The 91st. This tournament's edition will be hosted by retired USWNT star and World Cup champion Jessica McDonald alongside noted soccer personalities Jordan Angeli and Duda Pavão. The 91st will follow the USWNT as it looks to go for gold against a stacked international field at the Paris Olympics — including reigning World Cup winners Spain.
Each new digital series leans on the expertise of its accomplished hosts and special guest stars, providing fans with candid, personality-driven commentary surrounding this summer's biggest event.
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.
Simone Biles has been named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for the third time.
She’s just the sixth athlete to win the award three times, having previously won the honor in 2016 and 2019. The accolade caps off what has been a year of triumphant return for Biles, who made her comeback in competitive gymnastics in late July. It was her first competition in two years. By the end of August, she was a national champion. By October, she was a world champion.
Biles returned doing moves that nobody else has done. And she won a sixth all-around title at the World Gymnastics Championships to become the most decorated gymnast in the history of the sport. Her 34 Olympic or world championship medals surpassed the previous record of 33 set by Belarusian men’s gymnast Vitaly Scherbo.
Biles told the AP that her approach to getting back was taking it one day at a time. And she’s approaching gymnastics differently – it’s no longer the end of the world if she has a bad day.
“Whenever I was 19, it was the end of the world if I had bad days,” she said. “Now I’m like, ’It’s OK, it’s just gymnastics and I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll get it started again.’”
Biles has admitted that she didn’t think she would ever compete again. It wasn’t until the spring that her coach Cecile Landi suggested that she get back to competing at a high level.
“I didn’t know what I was expecting,” Biles continued, crediting the people she has surrounded herself with for believing in her even when she was still trying to. “People were like, ‘No, we’ve seen you in training, this is what was supposed to happen.’”
She also got married this year to the Green Bay Packers’ Jonathan Owens, which she says was her best moment of 2023.
“At the end of the day I did worlds and all that stuff, but I did get married, I got to support him,” she said. “It’s just like, it’s kind of nice that gymnastics isn’t the main revolving piece.”
England handily beat its Great British rival Scotland on Tuesday night, 6-0. But the comfortable victory was not enough for the Lionesses to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
England was unable to unseat The Netherlands from the top seat in its Nations League group. The two squads entered their Tuesday matches with the same number of points, but The Netherlands had a superior goal differential.
The nail in England’s coffin was a late goal scored by Damaris Egurrola in the 91st minute of the Oranje’s match with Belgium on Dec. 5 — the single goal that the Netherlands needed to remove England from contention.
Belgium didn’t register a single goal on the Oranje, but England’s six goals over Scotland weren’t enough to make up the difference to qualify for the Paris games.
“I’m very disappointed,” England manager Sarina Wiegman said to ESPN. “I felt we delivered tonight.”
Despite the impressive performance, the Lionesses couldn’t make up for their previous losses to Belgium and Spain. That, combined with an inferior goal differential, will keep this summer’s World Cup runner ups out of next summer’s Olympics.
“If you don’t get through on goal difference, it’s not enough,” Wiegman said. “I still think what we’ve done, the Euros, getting to the final in the World Cup, having hardly [any] rest, going into the first Nations League campaign and, yes, we had moments we struggled but we had moments where we did really well, but that’s football.”
England needed a win and plenty of goals in order to stave off elimination from the 2024 Paris Olympics. They got both in their 6-0 win over Scotland in the UEFA Nations League group stage finale on Tuesday, but it wasn’t enough to advance to the semifinals and a shot at the Olympics.
England needed to both win their game against Scotland and make up their three-goal differential with the Netherlands to finish atop their Nations League group. For 95 minutes on Tuesday, they were on the verge of pulling it off, until the Netherlands’ Damaris Egurrola scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time against Belgium to lift the Dutch to a 4-0 win and maintain a one-goal lead in the tiebreaker scenario.
As a result, the Netherlands advance out of Group A1 and have a shot at Olympic qualification (the top two teams in the Nations League qualify for the Olympics). Meanwhile, England, the 2023 World Cup runners-up, will not compete in Paris next summer as part of Team Great Britain.
A dramatic, stoppage-time win over the Netherlands on Friday kept the team’s Olympic hopes alive, but they needed another win — and some help — to overcome a disappointing start to the qualification tournament.
England’s stars shined early against Scotland, with Alex Greenwood, Lauren James (two goals) and Beth Mead (one) scoring before the half to give the Lionesses a 4-0 lead. Fran Kirby tacked on one more in the second half and Lucy Bronze added insurance in stoppage time, appearing to solidify England’s group victory. The Netherlands’ Egurrola then broke through for two stoppage-time goals to dash England’s hopes of advancing in stunning fashion.
England, as the highest-ranked home nation, would have represented Team Great Britain at the Paris Olympics on behalf of Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Scotland didn’t want to make it easy on England — even if their own Olympics qualification as part of Team GB hung in the balance — due to a decades-old rivalry between the teams.
“Truthfully, I think it’s extremely disrespectful,” Rachel Corsie said ahead of the matchup when questions arose about the possibility of allowing England to win in order to qualify for the Olympics. “It’s a huge insult to us.
“To have played for my country as many years as I have, to know the girls sitting in there [the dressing room], the ones who want to be here but are injured and cannot be here, it’s absolutely outrageous to question anyone’s integrity.”
At the last Olympics in 2021 in Tokyo, both England (as Great Britain) and the Netherlands advanced to the quarterfinals, where they lost to Australia and the United States, respectively.
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.
🚨 Championship Record Alert 🚨
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) November 30, 2023
17-year-old Summer McIntosh claims victory in the women's 400m free with a time of 3:59.42 with Katie Ledecky coming in second.#ToyotaUSOpen | 📺 @peacock pic.twitter.com/f8GA3pPVHR