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Paige Bueckers Ties WNBA Record in Rookie of the Year Dallas Wings Performance

August 21, 2025 by Tara S

Claire Watkins | Just Women’s Sports

Dallas star Paige Bueckers all but slammed the door on the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year race on Wednesday, tying basketball legend Cynthia Cooper’s 1997 single-game rookie scoring record by dropping a career-high 44 points in the No. 11 Wings’ narrow 81-80 loss to the No. 9 LA Sparks.

Despite the Sparks officially eliminating the Wings from playoff contention, Bueckers’s efficiency was on full display, tallying the highest single-game performance by any player in the league this season while shooting over 80% from the field.

“People have [seen] the struggles — the injuries, the ups and downs,” Bueckers said afterwards. “For people to continue to follow me and still believe in me, it really means a lot.”

The 2025 No. 1 overall draftee leads a rookie class thriving in the pros, with the No. 10 Washington Mystics’ Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen and the No. 13 Connecticut Sun’s Saniya Rivers hot on Bueckers’s heels.

On the WNBA stat sheet, Bueckers currently sits fifth overall in points per game and ninth in assists per game, while Iriafen is fourth in rebounds per game and Citron — who recently set a new Mystics rookie scoring record with 537 career points — is fifth overall in clutch points.

Despite the Sun’s struggles, Rivers has excelled defensively, becoming the fastest-ever WNBA player to record 30 career blocks by doing so in just 31 games.

Ultimately, while Sparks guard Kelsey Plum’s game-winning buzzer-beater ended Bueckers’s postseason dreams on Wednesday night, the rookie’s heroics continue to shine with the WNBA’s end-of-season awards fast approaching.

Iga Swiatek defeats Jasmine Paolini in Cincinnati Open final

August 19, 2025 by Tara S

ESPN SPORTS

CINCINNATI — Third-ranked Iga Swiatek captured the Cincinnati Open title for the first time by defeating No. 7 Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 6-4 on Monday night.

Swiatek had failed to advance past the semifinals in her six previous appearances at the Cincinnati Open. She reached the semifinals in Cincinnati each of the past two years, but lost to eventual champions Coco Gauff in 2023 and Aryna Sabalenka in 2024.

“It means a lot to me,” Swiatek said. “This year, I really wanted it. I’m just very happy. It’s nice to check off the list another tournament that I haven’t won. I have friends here. It’s a nice, relaxed tournament before New York.”

Swiatek has won all six meetings against the Italian, dropping only one set in those matches.

Paolini jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but Swiatek roared back to go ahead 5-3. Paolini broke serve to get even at 5-5, but Swiatek closed out a first-set victory in 56 minutes.

Swiatek’s eighth ace of the match gave her a 5-3 lead in the second set. Paolini broke serve twice in the second set and was within 5-4, but Swiatek served out the match for her 24th career singles title and 11th title in a WTA 1000 event, breaking a tie with Victoria Azarenka (10) for the second-most 1000-level titles since the level was introduced in 2009 (Serena Williams, 13).

“This season hasn’t been easy,” said Swiatek, who won Wimbledon in July after a slow start to the season. “I’ve had areas to improve. It’s not easy to win tournaments when everyone is expecting you to.”

Swiatek had seven double faults to two for Paolini. But she also had nine aces, while Paolini had none.

“When the rallies were going, I felt good on the court,” Paolini said. “The serves were the difference. When she needed an ace, she hit an ace.”

Paolini is the first Italian woman to reach the finals in Cincinnati. Since she was a qualifier at the Cincinnati Open in 2023, Paolini has reached two Grand Slam singles finals, won a Grand Slam doubles title and an Olympic gold medal.

“It was definitely a positive tournament for me,” Paolini said. “It wasn’t enough, of course. I just need to improve.”

The Cincinnati Open is considered a tuneup for the US Open, which begins Sunday in New York. In the past two years, the men’s and women’s Cincinnati Open champions won the final Grand Slam tournament of the year.

Carlos Alcaraz won the men’s final earlier Monday when Jannik Sinner retired because of illness during the first set.

Sue Bird honored with Seattle statue, first at WNBA arena

August 19, 2025 by Tara S

Kevin Pelton | ESPN

SEATTLE — In a ceremony before the Seattle Storm hosted the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday, legendary former guard Sue Bird became the first WNBA player honored by her franchise with a statue outside of Climate Pledge Arena.

“People keep asking me what it feels like to be the first,” Bird said during her speech. “The truth is that I never set out to be the first at anything, but if being the first means I won’t be the last, if this statue means that 20 years from now there will be statues of other WNBA greats — some who are in the audience and players whose names you don’t even know yet — than I’m proud to be the first.”Few players if any in league history have done more to merit recognition than Bird, who spent her entire two-decade WNBA career with the Storm, playing the bulk of it at KeyArena before the building was rebuilt and reopened as Climate Pledge Arena for Bird’s final campaign in 2022.

Over that span, Bird led Seattle to four WNBA championships, tying the most by any franchise. She also retired as the league’s all-time leader in games and minutes played as well as assists, making a record 13 All-Star appearances. Yet as other speakers (including three-time MVP and longtime teammate Lauren Jackson) highlighted, Bird’s career can’t be reduced to stats or titles alone.

“We can have that basketball conversation,” said Hall of Famer Swin Cash, who teamed with Bird to win two national titles at UConn and the 2010 championship with Seattle. “Greatness changes the game. Greatness evolves. Greatness stays and has longevity. And that’s what Sue has.”

Certainly, nothing has longevity like a statue. And that’s why for all the honors Bird has received since her career concluded, including the Storm retiring her No. 10 jersey in 2023 and the street outside Climate Pledge being renamed “Sue Bird Court” last summer — with induction in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame set for later this year — Bird said this moment stands apart.

“I don’t know if ‘honor’ even really covers it,” she told reporters, “because it’s a bronze statue that will be there forever. It feels different when you think of it that way.”

The statue, created by Rotblatt Amrany Studio sculptor Julie Rotblatt Amrany, features Bird making a layup in a pose similar to the silhouette that appears on the Climate Pledge court. After considering the options of featuring a pass or one of her trademark pull-up jumpers, Bird found symbolism in the layup.

“Some fun little fact about my career that maybe some of you know, maybe not,” Bird said. “My very first points in the WNBA at KeyArena as a rookie were on a layup. My very final points in the WNBA were at Climate Pledge on a layup.”

Bird helped oversee details of the statue, which depicts her wearing Nike Air Zoom Huarache sneakers. Bird wore those shoes while winning her first Olympic gold medal and the Storm’s first championship, both in 2004.

“The process was interesting and really fun,” she said. “It was so incredible, every time I went to the studio to walk in — it’s weird to see yourself in clay form — but it was like every little tweak, it just became more and more me until finally I was underneath it and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my nose. Oh, that’s definitely my hair.'”

Talk of a statue began in earnest after the Storm’s third championship in 2018 before increasing in volume when Climate Pledge opened ahead of her final season. After retirement, Bird began to believe it would become reality.

Other WNBA players, most notably A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, have been immortalized with statues at their college homes. Bird is the first outside a WNBA arena, as well as the first female athlete in the city of Seattle.

The Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball have statues of Hall of Famers Ken Griffey, Jr. and Edgar Martinez and recently announced plans to add a third statue for Ichiro Suzuki after his recent induction. And Bird joins longtime Seattle SuperSonics player, coach and executive Lenny Wilkens, whose nearby statue outside Climate Pledge was revealed in June.

“There’s just not a lot of women that are honored in this way, and we have tons of men,” Bird said. “I’m actually really proud and honored, especially in the city of Seattle, to be with those other male athletes. Those are elite, elite athletes, and I’m really proud to be in the same breath as some of the greats that have come through here but even more proud to be the first WNBA player.”

To conclude her speech, Bird said she never would have imagined this honor when she arrived in Seattle as the No. 1 pick in the 2002 WNBA draft at age 21.

“I came to Seattle as Sue Bird the basketball player while leaving as Sue Bird the Seattleite,” she said. “This statue will make sure a piece of me stays in this city forever, just like this city will always be a part of me. And when you inevitably see a little bird poop on the shoulder, don’t worry about it. Just consider it family checking in and reminding me where home is.”

Mooney masterminds Manchester victory over doused Fire

August 13, 2025 by Tara S

Glenn Moore | Yahoo Sports

Beth Mooney has masterminded a valuable victory for Manchester Originals in the Hundred Women, beating Welsh Fire in Cardiff by seven wickets.

The visitors eased to victory with 19 balls to spare, after an impressive display in the field restricted Fire to 9-73 off their 100 balls.

Mooney failed with the bat, making three, but showed her worth as skipper as she juggled her bowling resources.

The innovative move was to give teenager pacer Monika Gaur 20 of the first 25 balls, at the end of which Fire were 2-12.

This is possible in the Hundred’s format. Balls are bowled in sets of five, two sets at a time from each end, with bowlers able to deliver consecutive sets.

Nevertheless, it had not been done before in five seasons of the women’s competition.

Gaur began with ten balls, setting the tone as the English left-armer dismissed international colleagues Sophia Dunkey (2) and Tammy Beaumont (0).

The world’s No.1 spinner Sophie Ecclestone bowled the next five, conceding two runs, then Mooney brought Gaur back for ten more, five from each end, finishing with 2-10.

From then on Mooney rotated her bowlers, using seven in all, to keep Fire doused.

Ecclestone picked up 2-11 from her 20 balls, having Georgia Elwiss (11) stumped by Mooney and bowling West Indies’ Hayley Matthews (22).

English quick Lauren Filer claimed 3-8, including Australia’s Jess Jonassen (20 off 19), and Scot Kathryn Bryce took 2-7 in ten balls late on.

“I’ve sometimes got too many options but hopefully bowled them in the right spots today,” said Mooney.

After Matthews had Mooney lbw following a review Bryce (45 off 41) took Manchester to the brink of victory before she was stumped in Jonassen’s second set.

Jonassen took 1-10 off 15 but should have had more. In her first set Smales, on 1, edged behind off the glove, but it was a difficult edge to discern and Fire did not review.

Later, with the game almost done, Smales (20 not out) was dropped on 15 and Deandra Dottin should have been stumped, though neither were easy chances.

Earlier on Wednesday Southern Brave, the only squad without an Australian, thrashed Northern Superchargers by eight wickets with 17 balls to spare at Southampton.

Both sides came into the match boasting two wins from two but Superchargers were dismissed for 102 off the last of their 100 balls. Skipper Hollie Armitage was last out, top-scoring with 36.

Australia’s Annabel Sutherland was next best with 20 while Phoebe Litchfield made five before falling to New Zealand’s Sophie Devine (3-15). Georgia Wareham was absent.

Last year’s match was a tie with both teams making 100, but this time Brave coasted to victory with England’s Danni Wyatt-Hodge (43) and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt (33) adding 62 in 45 balls.

The results left Brave, who are coached by South Australian Luke Williams, top with 12 points. Superchargers and Originals are respectively third and fourth with eight, and Welsh Fire bottom and pointless.

Women’s flag football takes center stage at World Games, with Olympics on the horizon: ‘Representation matters’

August 13, 2025 by Tara S

Maggie Hendricks | Yahoo Sports

When Italian flag football player Nausicaa Dell’Orto first took up the game as a teenager, her father would throw her equipment in the trash. He told her women shouldn’t play the game, and he would sometimes emphasize his words by hitting her. But she kept playing, and the sport helped her find the strength to get away from her abusive home.

“You know, my dad used to tell me, football won’t get you anywhere,” Dell’Orto said. “You will just get hurt. It’s a waste of time. Leave it. Well, now nobody can say that to their daughter anymore, because [the sport is in the] Olympics. Their dreams are bigger than us. This is bigger than us.”

Dell’Orto and some of the world’s best flag football players are in Chengdu, China, this week for the World Games, a wide-ranging sports festival with an array of events that may not yet be at the Olympic level, like cheerleading or jiu-jitsu, and some that you may not realize exist, like korfball or tug of war.

Flag football might have started as a game you played in P.E. class, but it’s becoming a sport you won’t be able to — or want to — ignore. In 2023, flag football was added to the Olympic program for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. It’s already been growing at an exponential rate, with the NFL helping spread it worldwide and allowing its players to compete. Now, with the backing of the IOC, countries that had not previously played the sport, like China, will get the chance to face off at the World Games.

For the women gathered to play flag football in Chengdu, finding the sport changed the trajectory of their lives. It’s a sport that gave Dell’Orto strength and the ability to get away from an awful situation. She’s played on the Italian national team, is an NFL global flag football ambassador and a Jordan Brand athlete. Her father still doesn’t know what she’s accomplished in the sport.

“At some point, I started not telling him the truth and just really not having a relationship with him,” she said. “And at first I had to hide my stuff at my teammate’s house because I was 16. But then when I grew older, I was just thinking, like, hey, like, sometimes the support from your parents, it just comes naturally. Sometimes it doesn’t, and you just have to accept that the person is like that.

“You have to find your passion and your people in your passion. That’s what I found. I found my world in football. It doesn’t matter if my dad watches me or not. Doesn’t matter if he knows if I’m playing or not. The right people know I’m playing, the right people I meet at the tournaments, the people around me. When you find your passion, you find your people.”

That passion will be on display in Chengdu as eight teams vie for the championship. Mexico won the last World Games in 2022, but the U.S. won the world championship in 2024. Those two teams are expected to contend for the title, but Japan, the 2024 bronze medalists, and Austria, the best of the European teams, are also expected to have a good showing. China, Canada, Great Britain and Italy round out the field of eight.

Vanita Krouch, the quarterback of Team USA, is looking forward to not just showing how the sport has grown in popularity, but also how it has grown in technical skill. It’s not a watered-down version of tackle football. Flag is its own sport with its own strategy.

“Our dance is very different from the tackle dance. So the scheme of how we play has evolved a lot more,” Krouch said. “So over my time of playing, I just think the teams are getting so much more advanced in their scheme and creativity on the fundamental levels.”

Each team has five players on the field at a time, and the field is 70 yards by 25. Removing a player’s flag stops the movement of the ball. The game is fast, and the quarterback has to make decisions quickly as there isn’t an offensive line protecting her. Agility and the ability to make quick cuts to avoid defenders reaching for a flag are prized qualities on the flag football field.

While the sport has grown in scope and sophistication, and women like Mexico’s Diana Flores have starred in commercials for the NFL, its players aren’t quite at the level where they can quit their full-time jobs. Krouch is a physical education teacher in Texas, and is also the school’s daycare director. She routinely works 11-hour days, works out, eats, then goes back to sleep to repeat the cycle again.

“It’s our passion, and when you love something so much and it gives you the sisterhood, your lifelong friends, you’re going to sacrifice everything that you need to. The balance is really, really hard. I’m not going to lie,” Krouch said. “There’s some times where I am not wanting to hit the weight room. I’m not wanting to get my throws out there, but being that we all live remotely across the country, we’re not training together 24/7, what you do in your hometown makes a difference and it affects your teammates in your org and how you represent each other.”

Her school district in the Dallas area started classes this week. Krouch said they will have to wait to see “Coach V” in class, but she is also eager to tell her students about her experiences with the U.S. team. She wants to inspire the next generation to find their passion.

“You see it, you believe it, you want to be it,” Krouch said. “So I’ve always lived on the motto of representation matters, and to be able to represent that for my little girls, it’s amazing to be on that spot. Let them know, like you can do this, it’s happening. It’s not going anywhere, and it’s across the world. And so coming back and being that light for them. As much as they feel I’m inspiring them? The funny part is they inspire me. They’re my why to continue doing what I’m doing.”

The World Games flag football tournament starts on Wednesday evening with the U.S. playing Canada at 9 p.m. ET. You can watch on the World Games site.

Trailblazing umpire Pawol debuts behind plate: ‘Big day for her, big day for MLB’

August 12, 2025 by Tara S

Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru | MLB News

Jen Pawol, who became the first woman to umpire in a regular-season MLB game on Saturday, shifted behind the plate to call balls and strikes for the first time in her Major League career in Sunday’s series finale between the Braves and Marlins at Truist Park.

On an otherwise ordinary day at the ballpark, the Braves secured a 7-1 victory to take four of five from the Marlins. But everyone involved did, briefly, get a reminder of the afternoon’s significance when Braves pitching coach Rick Kranitz paid starter Joey Wentz a visit in the top of the fourth.

“I went out there, and then I started hearing the crowd,” Kranitz said. “They started [to clap] and I said ‘Oh, what’s going on here?’ I saw [Pawol] coming out [to the mound]. We all agreed, ‘Let’s let her come all the way out. Let’s get the crowd into this.’”

Kranitz and Pawol had a quick chat as the coach headed back to the dugout.

“I asked her how she’s doing. And she said, ‘It’s been a whirlwind.’ And I said, ‘Congratulations.’ I remember my first time. It’s not easy. She handled herself great.”

“It’s always great to see things that are historic,” Kranitz added. “It’s only going to happen once ever in the history of this game. It’s unbelievable. It’s great.”

The goal of any umpire is to have as little impact on the outcome of a game as possible — as such, for newly promoted umpires, some of the most important reviews will inevitably come from players. As for the first big league pitchers to work with Pawol’s strike zone — Wentz and Marlins starter Cal Quantrill — there were no complaints.

After offering his congratulations, Wentz had little to report. “I try not to focus on the zone, to be honest with you. I thought it was good, though.”

“We certainly didn’t call her up from A-ball right?” said Quantrill. “I’m sure she was well-prepared, and I think part of the game moving forward is if this is normal, then we’re gonna treat it normal, too. I thought it was fine, and I think she did a quality job. … I think she should be very proud of herself, and it’s kind of a cool little thing to be a part of it. But yeah, just another day.”

“I know it’s a big day for her, but I think part of respecting that is just trying to keep it normal and professional. I congratulated her after the first inning, and otherwise kept to the game.”

Quantrill’s manager, Clayton McCullough, had a similarly positive review of Pawol’s work behind the plate.

“I think Jen did a really nice job. I think she was very composed back there. She handled and managed the game very well. And big day for her, big day for Major League Baseball,” said the Marlins skipper. “[I] congratulated her again on that, because it’s quite the accomplishment. [I] wish her the best moving forward, as she continues to — I’m sure hope one day be a full-time permanent big league umpire. So big day for a lot of people.”

Summer McIntosh caps historic swim worlds with fourth individual gold

August 6, 2025 by Tara S

By Nick Zaccardi

Summer McIntosh capped arguably the best world championships for a female swimmer, while the U.S. broke the women’s 4x100m medley world record in the final event to finish with one more gold medal than rival Australia.

McIntosh, an 18-year-old Canadian, swam the third-fastest 400m individual medley in history — 4 minutes, 25.78 seconds, distancing the field by 7.48 seconds.

McIntosh holds the four fastest times ever in the event, including the world record of 4:23.65.

She became the second female swimmer to win four individual golds at a single worlds — also taking the 400m freestyle, 200m IM and 200m butterfly earlier in the meet. She tacked on an 800m free bronze Saturday.

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World Swimming Championships medal standings: USA over Australia

Overall, the U.S. earned the most medals for a 17th consecutive worlds dating to 1991 and the most golds (9 to 8 over Australia) for a 12th time in the last 13 editions.

Of the 29 U.S. medals, 20 came in women’s events, including at least one medal in 14 of the 17 individual women’s events.

The U.S. men claimed one gold medal over the eight-day meet (Luca Urlando, 200m butterfly), their fewest at a world championships. For the second time, the U.S. won none of the three men’s relays (2001).

A majority of the 47 total American swimmers were affected to varying degrees by acute gastroenteritis, or a stomach bug, leading into and during the meet.

“I think nobody really understands kind of what the group has been through unless you are on this trip,” national team managing director Greg Meehan said on Peacock. “The challenges were incredible. When you have people losing 15 pounds, 20 pounds, that’s a lot, and they have persevered.”

Also Sunday, the U.S. women broke their own world record in the medley relay — 3:49.34 from a team of Regan Smith, Kate Douglass (19th career world medal dating to 2022), Gretchen Walsh (fastest butterfly relay split in history) and Torri Huske.

“This not only sends a message to the rest of the world, but also a message within our team,” Huske said, according to World Aquatics. “We’re the only ones who really know what we went through and how awful it was.”

A team of neutral athletes from Russia won the men’s 4x100m medley relay in 3:26.93, the second-fastest time in history.

Jack Alexy anchored the U.S. to bronze with the second-fastest 100m freestyle relay split in history — 45.95 seconds, just behind the 45.92 from China’s Pan Zhanle at the 2024 Olympics and ahead of Jason Lezak’s iconic 46.06 from the 2008 Beijing Games.

Leon Marchand still has swimming ‘fire’ after IM sweep

France’s Leon Marchand became the first man to sweep the 200m and 400m IMs for a third worlds, taking the latter by 3.59 seconds in 4:04.73, the fifth-fastest time in history.

Last Wednesday, Marchand broke Ryan Lochte’s world record in the 200m IM to become the second man in the last 30 years to hold both IM world records after Michael Phelps.

“The world record? It shows I’ve still got the fire, that I still love this,” Marchand said Sunday, according to World Aquatics. “It’s what excites me most. I still want to keep going, and I saw a lot of things I can improve.”

Tunisia’s Ahmed Jaouadi won the 1500m free to complete a sweep of the men’s distance races.

American Bobby Finke, the Olympic gold medalist and world record holder, earned bronze — making it five medals in his last five global championships in the event.

Finke said before placing fourth in Wednesday’s 800m free that his personal goals were derailed by the stomach bug.

“This meet’s been quite a whirlwind,” he said after Sunday’s race. “I’m disappointed with my results, but that’s on me. I’ve just got to do better next year.

“I’m happy to be on the podium. It’s obviously not the place I want. My endurance was a little bit better after the 800m. I think it showed there (in the 1500m).”

Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte won a fourth consecutive world title in the 50m breaststroke, 13 years after taking Olympic 100m breast gold at age 15.

American Lilly King, who followed Meilutyte as Olympic 100m breast champ in 2016, finished fifth in Sunday’s 50m breast in the last race of her career. King, a 28-year-old with 15 career Olympic and world titles, said in May that she would retire after this season.

In the 50m backstroke, Kliment Kolesnikov, a neutral athlete from Russia, won by tying his own second-fastest time in history (23.68). His world record is 23.55.

US Track Star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Trades 400-Meter Hurdles for Flat Race Win

August 6, 2025 by Tara S

Olympic hurdles legend Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is making strides on the flat track, winning the 400-meter race at this weekend’s 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships to book a spot representing Team USA at the 2025 World Athletics Championships.

Following her winning finish just two-tenths of a second shy of the US record of 48.70, McLaughlin-Levrone is fast closing in on the mark set by track icon Sanya Richards-Ross in 2006.

Notably, the four-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion opted to skip her signature 400-meter hurdles to focus on the 400-meter flat event, choosing to sit out her career-making race in order to chase a new goal.

“This is a challenge — I want to challenge myself,” McLaughlin-Levrone explained. “I felt like this year, I wanted to step out of the box and really push myself in a different way.”

“I think this year, and this event, has taught me patience,” McLaughlin-Levrone said following her Saturday win. “I’ve learned a lot about myself…. Every day it’s stepping on the track, being the best I can be, figuring out a race that is very foreign to me, and taking on new challenges and being comfortable doing it.”

The newly minted US 400-meter champion will next hunt the event’s world title at next month’s 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo — the city where McLaughlin-Levrone earned her first two Olympic gold medals.

“That’s a very daunting task in and of itself,” she said about competing in the 400-meter race at Worlds. “It’s a very competitive field…. I want to make sure I can give my all.”

French Cyclist Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt Wins Record-Breaking Tour de France Femmes

August 6, 2025 by Tara S

The 2025 Tour de France Femmes came in hot, as Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt crossed the finish line to become the race’s first French winner in 36 years — all in front of a record audience.

Cyclist Jeannie Longo was the most recent Frenchwoman to win the race back in 1989, though then it called the Tour de France Feminin. No French athletes has won the men’s Tour de France since 1985 champion Bernard Hinault.

This year’s Tour de France Femmes drew a total of 25.7 million French viewers across linear and digital platforms, up 33.6% from 2024 to make this year’s edition the most-watched in event history.

An average of 4.4 million French viewers tuned in on Sunday to see Ferrand-Prévôt clinch the yellow jersey in the final stage of the race.

After picking up a gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Ferrand-Prévot also became the first woman to win the Tour and the Paris-Roubaix cycling race in the same calendar year.

“I came back on the road after my Olympic title and I said I will try to win the Tour de France in the next three years,” said Ferrand-Prevot after Sunday’s finish.

“My teammates worked super hard for me all week long. I just want to say thank you and congrats to them, to my entire team.”

The Tour de France Femmes was resurrected in 2022 after a 33-year suspension, with interest in the women’s cycling event soaring ever since.

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