The Beijing Olympics begin Friday, with athletes set to compete in 109 medal events across seven sports and 15 disciplines. Competitors from 91 countries will fight it out for a spot on the podium, looking to make a name for themselves on the world’s biggest stage.

Before the opening ceremonies, we’re counting down the 10 athletes poised for a breakout Olympics.

1. Eileen Gu

Eileen Gu is set to make a splash at the Beijing Olympics as one of the host country’s medal favorites. The 18-year-old American-born free skier has competed for China since 2019, garnering widespread support across the country leading up to the Winter Games. Gu is expected to be a threat in halfpipe, big air and slopestyle, winning gold in the halfpipe and slopestyle events at the 2021 World Championship.

2. Alysa Liu

Alysa Liu will make her Olympic debut in Beijing at just 16 years old. The American figure skater has already amassed an impressive resume as the youngest woman to ever win a U.S. national championship at 13 years old, before defending her title a year later. Liu is also the first American woman to land a quad lutz in competition and the first woman in the world to land a quad and triple axel in the same program in competition. The record-breaking teen will now look to make a name for herself and bring home a medal for Team USA.

3. Paula Moltzan

Paula Moltzan is going for gold in her Olympic debut after a landmark 2021. The American slalom specialist clinched her first World Cup podium this season in parallel slalom and finished 11^th in slalom. The 27-year-old could challenge opponents in individual events and be a critical factor in the team competition.

4. Olivia Giaccio

Olivia Giaccio hopes to make a name for herself on the world’s stage in Beijing, representing Team USA in freestyle skiing. The 21-year-old has already begun to separate herself from the competition, becoming the first woman to complete a cork 1080 during the Tremblant, Canada World Cup stop in January. Look out for the American to be a contender on the moguls in Beijing.

5. Kristen Santos

Kristen Santos is looking for redemption in Beijing after suffering an injury just before the 2018 Olympics. A competitor’s skate sliced open her left hand, leaving Santos in a cast and with little preparation time for the U.S. Trials. The 25-year-old is one of the best chances Team USA has to clinch a medal in short track speed skating, with the United States’ last medal in the discipline coming in 2010.

6. Abby Roque

Abby Roque is set to make history at the Winter Games, becoming the first Native American woman to represent the U.S. in ice hockey. The 24-year-old has had an impressive career to date, including clinching the 2018-19 NCAA national championship with the University of Wisconsin. In her Olympic debut, Roque will hope to lead the U.S hockey team to a gold in Beijing, defending the team’s 2018 title.

7. Kamila Valieva

Expect Kamila Valieva to become a household name after the Winter Olympics, with the 15-year-old the heavy favorite to take home figure skating gold in Beijing. The Russian star is incredibly consistent, never losing a senior international tournament while boasting a packed arsenal that includes a quadruple toe loop, quadruple Salchow and triple Axel. Valieva is expected to win gold in Beijing and break records while doing it.

8. Natalie Geisenberger

While Beijing is far from Natalie Geisenberger’s Olympic debut, it could be a historic Winter Games for the German luger. After capturing luge gold in Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018, another gold in Beijing would make Geisenberger the first woman to win three straight gold medals in the sport. Now a mother, giving birth to her son in May 2020, the 33-year-old has a shot at her sixth total Olympic medal in Beijing.

9. Erin Jackson

Erin Jackson made her Olympic debut in PyeongChang after only four months of experience on ice, transitioning from inline skating to speed skating just before the 2018 Games. Now, a four-year veteran of the sport, Jackson is looking to podium as one of the top athletes in the 500-meter event.

The American star nearly missed her chance to qualify for the race after slipping at the U.S. Olympic trials before teammate Brittany Bowe gave up her spot to Jackson, telling NBC, “She is ranked number one in the world and no one is more deserving than her to get an opportunity to bring Team USA home a medal.”

Jackson heads into the Winter Games with some historic momentum after becoming the first Black woman to win a World Cup event in speed skating in November.

10. Sara Takanashi

Sara Takanashi is already famous among ski jumpers as the all-time World Cup leader in the sport. Any medal or title there is to win in ski jumping, it is likely Takanashi has already won it, with the Olympic gold medal the only prize to elude the Japanese champion. Heading into Beijing, Takanashi will look to solidify herself as the best to ever compete in the discipline and assert herself on the international stage.

Wisconsin volleyball is off to the attendance races, with the No. 7 college squad averaging 8,620 fans per match this season to become this NCAA's best-attended program — narrowly beating Big Ten rival No. 1 Nebraska's 8,602 current average.

Other than the Badgers and Cornhuskers, no other college volleyball team has surpassed 6,000 fans per match this year, but Wisconsin is well on track to surpass even their own dominant attendance history in the sport.

If they finish the season in the top attendance spot, the Badgers will snap a six season streak logging the second-best average crowds per year.

Even more, Wisconsin is on their way to blasting through their program-best mark, set when 7,761 fans per match filled the bleachers in 2022.

The growing demand for Badger volleyball is also translating into significant revenue boosts for school.

"We're really, really excited; we're going to exceed $2 million in volleyball ticket sales for the first time ever," Wisconsin deputy athletic director Mitchell Pinta told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel earlier this week. "And we're largely sold out for the rest of our matches at the Field House for the remainder of the season."

Should the Badgers reach that $2 million mark, they will see a massive 25% increase over the $1.6 million the team garnered just two seasons ago, and a near 18-fold growth from the $111,809 in volleyball ticket sales that Wisconsin logged in 2013.

Ultimately, the sky's the limit for both Wisconsin volleyball — and the sport at-large.

"If there's a saturation point on the demand for Wisconsin volleyball, we certainly have not seen it yet," said Pinta.

How to watch Wisconsin volleyball in action

With conference play kicking off this weekend, No. 7 Wisconsin will host unranked Big Ten foe Rutgers at 8 PM ET on Friday, before paying a visit to also-unranked Iowa at 3 PM ET on Sunday.

Both Big Ten battles will stream live on B1G+.

WSL side Liverpool opened their 2025/26 League Cup campaign with an emotional 5-0 win over WSL2 club Sunderland on Wednesday, dedicating the shutout victory to former manager Matt Beard after the 47-year-old's sudden passing last Saturday.

The match marked the Reds' return to the pitch following the postponement of their Sunday regular-season game against Aston Villa due to Beard's passing.

"It's a good win for Matt. We played with a lot of emotion," Liverpool defender Jenna Clark said afterwards, calling Wednesday "a really emotional night and an emotional few days for everyone involved with the club."

"We have pulled through together as a team the best we could and you saw that on the pitch tonight," Clark added.

Beard won back-to-back WSL titles with Liverpool in 2013 and 2014, departing the Reds in 2015 for a two-year stint with the NWSL's Boston Breakers.

He made his return to Liverpool in 2021, lifting the club back into the top-flight WSL by earning promotion his first season back at the helm.

"Matt will leave a huge void in the women's game," USWNT head coach and former Chelsea boss Emma Hayes said in a statement earlier this week. "He was one of a kind, and his loss will be felt by all. My heart goes out to his family, but I want to take the time to acknowledge what a special man he really was."​

How to watch Liverpool this weekend

Liverpool will continue their 2025/26 WSL campaign against Manchester United this Sunday, kicking off live at 7 AM ET on ESPN+.

The 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup culminates on Saturday, when host nation England battles for their first tournament title in more than a decade in a top-tier final against Canada, who are hunting their first-ever world championship trophy.

The Red Roses' long dominance on the Rugby World Cup pitch has led them to eight finals in the competition's nine editions, with England emerging victorious twice — in 1994 and 2014.

On the other hand, Canada will make just their second-ever appearance in the World Cup final this Saturday, as the Maple Leafs aim for a decidedly different outcome from their 21-9 loss to England in the 2014 championship game.

The top-ranked Red Roses will also be looking to avenge their narrow 34-31 loss to New Zealand in the tournament's most recent 2022 edition when they square off against No. 2 Canada in front of an sold-out crowd inside London's Twickenham Stadium — with another women's rugby attendance record on the line.

"You feed off of that energy, especially knowing what this game is going to be," England defense coach Sarah Hunter said. "It's a cliché, but [the crowd] almost becomes the 16th person in those moments where you need them."

How to watch the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup final

England and Canada will battle in the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup final at 11 AM ET on Saturday, with live coverage airing on Paramount+.

While the No. 1 Kansas City Current have officially run away with the 2025 NWSL Shield, the race for top playoff seeding rages on, as the No. 2 Washington Spirit fights to hold their ground against an unpredictable No. 9 Houston Dash this Sunday.

Bolstered by star Trinity Rodman's return from injury, the Spirit enter the weekend on a nine-game unbeaten streak, going up against a motivated Dash side sitting just two points outside of postseason contention.

"Every game we just need to be a lot more clinical in the final third," Rodman said after last weekend's 2-2 draw with No. 11 Angel City. "We're doing all the hard stuff and then it's [lacking] quality at the end."

Washington isn't without top-table challengers, with No. 3 Gotham FC riding their own five-game unbeaten streak into a Friday night match against the No. 4 Portland Thorns, who sit tied for points with both the Bats and the No. 5 San Diego Wave in the NWSL standings.

"At this stage, almost everyone still has a real chance to make the playoffs, which is great for the league," said Gotham manager Juan Carlos Amorós after the Bats' 1-1 draw with Bay FC last Sunday. "But it also means nothing can be taken for granted."

How to watch the Washington Spirit and Gotham FC this weekend

No. 3 Gotham FC kicks off this weekend's NWSL action when they host the No. 4 Portland Thorns at 8 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage on NWSL+.

Then in Sunday's NWSL action, the No. 9 Houston Dash will visit the No. 2 Washington Spirit at 1 PM ET, airing live on Paramount+.