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Interview: Kate Courtney

BEAUPRE, QC – AUGUST 31: Kate Courtney of the United States approaches the finish line in fifth place in the Women’s Elite Cross-country Olympic distance race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at Mont-Sainte-Anne on August 31, 2019 in Beaupre, Canada. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)

Kate Courtney is a professional mountain bike racer. She is the 2019 Elite XCO World Cup Overall Champion, the current Pan American Champion, and the 2018 Elite XCO World Champion. Kate sat down with Just Women’s Sports to discuss the demands and rewards of being a world-class endurance athlete, as well as how she’s preparing for the 2020 Olympics. 

We’re only a couple months out from the Olympics. Now that you’ve qualified, how are you focused on getting prepared?

I am honored and excited to represent my country for the first time at the Olympic Games this summer in Tokyo. My goal was to qualify automatically and be able to focus my preparation towards this specific race. With my spot secured, it is full focus on being at my best when it counts most! As always that involves many hours on the bike, in the gym and working with my team to identify every possible opportunity to improve or gain an advantage with this specific course in mind.

Do you have specific performance goals for the Olympics?

Perform to the absolute best of my ability. Of course, I have outcome goals as well and bringing home a medal would be an incredible honor. But for now I am focused on the process of getting to that starting line ready to put down the best race performance possible.

For someone who isn’t familiar with cross country mountain biking, how would you describe it? 

It’s similar to middle-distance running, in that it’s short enough to be a full-out effort, yet long enough that it’s more of an endurance sport than a sprint. Our races are typically five or six laps around a 5km loop, which takes between an hour and twenty and an hour and thirty minutes. You’re going over a huge variety of terrain, so it’s equal parts endurance, technical skill, and racing tactics.

What does your training regimen look like throughout the year?

To be an endurance athlete, you have to put in the hours. There’s no way to shortcut the process. Outside of an annual five day break, I don’t take any time off, and most days I’m on my bike for anywhere between three to five and a half hours. A “down day” for me means going to the gym and riding for 45 minutes. To keep your fitness where it needs to be, there can’t be any lapses in your training.

How do you avoid burnout spending that much time on your bike? 

You have to maximize every aspect of your life to compete at the highest level, including your downtime. You have to train hard, but you also need to find ways to stay healthy, happy, and motivated. If I’m doing a long, endurance ride, I’ll listen to music or a podcast, or I’ll end my training with a trip to a bakery. If I know it’s a really scenic route, I’ll try to convince someone to come with me. On less intensive days, I might take an early break for lunch and get my nails done. I still put the work in, but I don’t torture myself. Then during more intensive days, when I’m trying to simulate a race, it’s all business. No music, no bakeries. I’m locked in and focused on rehearsing my race-day performance.

I’m also fortunate to have a really great team, and we’ve been working consistently in a way that I trust. Endurance athletes are most at peace when we know there’s nothing more we can do, and with my team, I’m never left asking if I have to do more. I also just train really, really hard. And I’m obsessed with improving. But for me, being a full-time athlete means learning to balance that intensity with rest.

What was it like being both a professional athlete and a full-time Stanford student? 

I won’t sell it short: it was incredibly challenging. It was ultimately a formative and positive experience, but it was easily the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Not being an official student-athlete made it difficult, as the official university policy doesn’t provide academic accommodations for professional athletes. I had to create my own support structure and find ways to navigate the system on my own. Every quarter I would register for 25 units and then go to the classes on the first day and tell the professors, look, I’m going to be gone for three out of the next ten weeks. I’ll do whatever you need me to do to make up for it. I’ll write extra essays, I’ll read extra books. I have a lot of plane time. Can we make this work? And a lot of them said no. But enough said yes that I was still able to graduate in four years, even though I took time off during the last Olympic cycle.

How did not making the Olympics four years ago change your approach?

In 2016, I was arguably too young to go, but I had a long shot, so I decided to go for it. It was just too exciting to pass up, and I was definitely caught up with the idea of having this amazing experience, getting all the Nike gear and meeting all these athletes. By the end of qualifications, it was between me and another woman for a discretionary pick. Neither of us had automatically qualified, so USA Cycling had to pick. I was the younger racer, and they could have picked me as a way of giving me exposure, but they chose her.

I knew I hadn’t quite done what I needed to do, but I was still super disappointed. But with that disappointment came the realization that I really, really wanted to be an Olympian. I had told myself throughout the qualification that, “It’s a long shot, so I’ll just do my best and see what happens.” But then when I found out I wasn’t going, I just thought, “Wow. I worked really hard, and I really wanted to go.” And I knew right then that I didn’t want to just go to the Olympics because I had potential or because it would be a cool experience. I wanted to earn the right to be there. I wanted to go, compete, race my bike, and be a favorite for a medal.

In the last two years, you’ve won both a cross-country world title and the overall World Cup season. How do you account for so much success at such a young age? 

There are so many things that go into successful races, but they rest on a foundation of years and years of consistent work and progress. For me, the consistency in my progress has been critical to making those big wins possible, and it continues to motivate me to make steady improvement in the future.

USC’s McKenzie Forbes: From Gap Year to the NCAA Tournament

As part of our 1-v-1 video series, USC’s India Otto sat down to interview her teammate McKenzie Forbes. 

Here are five things to know from our conversation with the graduate transfer from Folsom, California.

#1 Inspired by USC’s Head Coach, Lindsay Gottlieb, McKenzie wants to be a basketball coach or work in the front office in the future.

When weighing in on what makes a good coach, McKenzie said x’s and o’s are important but “Coaching is a lot of relationship managing and people managing. I think you have to be a good people person and be able to build those relationships, but also in that same breath, you can’t be afraid to have people dislike you in moments. I think that’s a big part of leadership.”

#2 McKenzie says the trajectory of her career changed when she made the decision to transfer from Cal to Harvard.

 In order to transfer, she was forced to take a gap year and spend a lot of time in the gym. “I completely transformed my body and, going into the Harvard season, felt like I was a completely different player. Going to Harvard and playing in a more mid-major conference, I had the ball in my hands a lot more than I might have if I transferred to another Power 5. It really developed other parts of my game.”

#3 How does McKenzie think USC will do in the Women’s College Basketball Tournament?

“I’m not going to give a typical interview answer. I want a Final Four. We have that potential and capability. Like why not? Why not us? I think we have all the pieces.”

#4 Her older brother, Marcus, was her biggest mentor growing up.

“He was basically my trainer from Elementary school on until he went to college.”

#5 Fun facts about Forbes:

She can juggle and she was the quarterback of her Pop Warner football team. “I was slow but I could throw it!”

Watch the full conversation on the Just Women’s Sports YouTube channel.

Christen Press back training with Angel City FC

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 15: Christen Press #23 of Angel City FC waves to fans following a game between the Portland Thorns and Angel City FC at BMO Stadium on October 15, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images)

Christen Press continues to inch her way back to a return, having returned to training with her club team Angel City. 

Angel City FC coach Becki Tweed said on Wednesday that Press is back with the team full-time as she continues to make her way back from an ACL injury. While she’s still working on rehab, her being back with the team gives staff a better picture of her progress. 

"Christen [Press] is back with us full time which is amazing,” she said. “Having her in and around the team every day, continuing to work hard on rehab ... she's in a space where being in with the team is really important to her and her progression as well.”

The status update comes days after Press posted videos to social media that featured her doing lateral movement in cleats on grass. 

“Look out world she’s on the move !” Press captioned it. 

Press has been sidelined with an ACL injury since 2022, which caused her to miss the 2023 World Cup. She’s since had four separate surgeries to help repair her ACL.

Press told The Athletic a month ago that she’s been “relentless” in her optimism with her recovery despite it being a “slow process.”

“I have a bit of relentless optimism,” she told The Athletic. “I never, ever doubted that I would make it back on any of the timelines I’ve been on."

"Every single time I’ve heard, ‘You have to have surgery,’ I’m completely shocked,” she said. “When somebody asks me how it’s going, I’m like, ‘It’s going great. And it was going great every time. So I don’t know what to tell you anymore!’”

Sophia Smith re-signs with Portland on record deal

(Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports)

Sophia Smith is now the NWSL’s highest-paid player. 

The Portland Thorns announced on Wednesday that they have signed Smith to a new contract through the 2025 season, with an option for 2026. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the team did reveal that Smith is now the highest-paid player in the league on an annual basis.

It’s the latest in what has been a series of record-breaking contracts in the NWSL offseason. 

Chicago Red Stars forward Mallory Swanson, Bay FC forward Racheal Kundananji, and Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda all signed multi-year deals worth between $2 million and $2.5 million in total. While Smith’s contract is shorter and not worth as much over the long-term, the annual worth is higher. 

“We are over the moon to have Soph commit again to the Thorns. She is a proven, world-class talent and one that we are excited to have contribute to the team’s continued success,” said head coach Mike Norris in a statement. “We look forward to working with her in a Thorns jersey as she continues to shine as one of the top strikers in the world.”

In just four seasons in the NWSL, Smith has led the Thorns to five trophies – including the 2022 NWSL championship – while winning league and championship MVP in 2022. In 61 appearances with Portland, she has 34 goals – including a brace to start this season against Kansas City. 

She’s also a member of the USWNT, having scored 16 goals in 44 international appearances.  Set to become a free agent at the end of this season, she told ESPN she “thought of all the options” but ultimately Portland felt like the right decision.

"There is no place like Portland," Smith said in a small roundtable interview that included ESPN. "I don't believe there's an environment like Portland to play in and it's a city that's so special to me and a city that I feel like I've grown up in almost and become who I am."

She also told ESPN that the team’s new ownership “changes everything.” The club is now led by the Bhathal family, who bought the club after Merritt Paulson was forced to sell it following his part in the NWSL’s abuse scandal. 

"Since I've been here there has been a lot of things going on with this club -- a lot of not-great things going on with this club -- and I have just been waiting for some stability and some reassurance that this club is headed in the right direction, and the Bhathal family coming in is doing exactly that, if not more,” Smith said. 

"Their vision for this club is so exciting, and you can just tell how passionate they are about making this what it should be and continuing to push the standard in women's soccer globally.”

Caitlin Clark offered $5 million to compete in Ice Cube’s league

IOWA CITY, IOWA- MARCH 25: Guard Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes celebrates as time runs out in the second half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during their second round match-up in the 2024 NCAA Division 1 Women's Basketball Championship at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on March 25, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)

Caitlin Clark has been offered $5 million to play in Ice Cube's Big3 league, he confirmed on social media Wednesday after the offer leaked.

"We intended the offer to remain private while Caitlin Clark plays for the championship," Ice Cube wrote on social media. "But I won't deny what's now already out there: BIG3 made a historic offer to Caitlin Clark. Why wouldn't we? Caitlin is a generational athlete who can achieve tremendous success in the BIG3."

While there has yet to be a women's player in the league, both Nancy Lieberman and Lisa Leslie have been part of the league as coaches and won championships.

"The skeptics laughed when we made Nancy Lieberman the first female coach of a men's pro team, and she won the championship in her first year," Ice Cube continued. "Then Lisa Leslie won it all in year two. With our offer, Caitlin Clark can make history and break down even more barriers for women athletes."

Ice Cube, whose name is O’Shea Jackson, says that the offer was made with the intention that Clark be able to compete in the WNBA “offseason.” Clark is largely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft in April. But it’s unclear how the scheduling of the two leagues would work. 

The 2024 Big3 season is set to tip off on June 15, with 10 games spanning through mid-August. The WNBA regular season, meanwhile, begins on May 14 and ends on Sept. 19.

On “The Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday, Jackson said that the league has yet to hear back from Clark. 

“We just need an answer, as soon as they are ready to give it to us,” he said. “It’s always 50-50 till we get a no. At the end of the day, it’s a generous offer.”

The offer – as well as the confusion on Jackson’s part about the timing of the WNBA season – caused some current WNBA players to react. 

"It's funny cause I be seeing his son at W games.. they don't talk?" wrote former No. 1 pick Rhyne Howard

"So no other women's basketball player has came to mind in the last 7 years?" wrote Lexie Brown, adding that she'd support if Ice Cube wanted to build a women's iteration of the league. She later discussed it on the Gils Arena Show, noting that his reasoning of wanting to “uplift and support WNBA players and women athletes” is a “cop out.”

Kalani Brown, meanwhile, told Clark to "take that money" and start a women's Big3.

WNBA salaries has been a talking point in recent months as more collegiate stars declare for the league. WNBA stars have often made more money playing abroad than they have in the WNBA. Clark is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft on April 15, with a rookie salary of $76,535 for lottery draft picks (Nos. 1-4) that rises to $97,582 by her fourth season. But she also has an NIL valuation of almost $3.5 million.

Diana Taurasi famously skipped the 2015 WNBA season at the request of her Russian club, who paid her more to sit out than she would have made in the W. Her contract with the club was reportedly near $1.5 million per year.

Jackson also seemed to suggest that his league could be an alternative to going abroad

“America’s women athletes should not be forced to spend their off seasons playing in often dismal and dubious foreign countries just to make ends meet,” he wrote. Although it’s unclear whether or not the rapper intends to make offers to additional WNBA players. 

While the league does hold prioritization rules in its CBA, those typically apply only to players playing in overseas leagues. It’s unclear whether or not that would prevent Clark’s participation in the Big3 league.

WNBA players that don’t want to go overseas currently have the option of playing in Athletes Unlimited, which competes in the WNBA offseason.

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