Women’s sports fans have a lot to look forward to in 2023: From Brittney Griner’s return to the WNBA court to the start of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and several new GOAT watches (we see you, Mikaela Shiffrin!), the new year is already packed with stories that we can’t wait to see happen. On Her Turf looks at several stories that we’ll be following as the calendar rolls into January and beyond.
The return of Brittney Griner
It seemed like the entire sports world breathed a collective sigh of relief when WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from a Russian prison on Dec. 8 after nearly 10 months in detention. On the same subject : Olympic sports roundup: Vincent Mauri takes first in cross country meet at UA – The Arizona State Press. Just eight days later, the eight-time All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist infused fans with even more joy when she declared her plans to be on the court and wearing her familiar #42 for the Phoenix Mercury when the league kicks off. its 27th season on May 19.
What’s more, we’ll have at least four more opportunities to see her play in 2023 as the WNBA ramps up its regular season schedule to a team-record 40 games — four games more than last season. For the Mercury in particular, Griner’s return also means a reunion with teammate and 10-time All-Star Diana Taurasi, who announced in November that she would return for her 19th season in the league. Taurasi, who won three WNBA titles with Phoenix and five Olympic gold medals with Team USA, ended his season early last year after suffering a quadriceps injury in early August. Griner, who is technically an unrestricted free agent, has career averages of 30.9 minutes per game and 17.7 points, and was particularly dominant in the 2021 postseason, where he averaged 21.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and shot 56.2 percent in Phoenix’s run to the WNBA Finals, where they lost to the Chicago Sky.
The Mercury will visit the Los Angeles Sparks for their season opener on May 19, before hosting the Chicago Sky in their home opener on May 21.
USWNT goes for historic three-peat at FIFA Women’s World Cup
The countdown has begun to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup from 20 July to 20 August. 20, where the USA Women’s National Team will attempt to defend its 2019 title in the tournament hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The four-time World Cup champions are also eyeing a historic three-time title after winning the title in 2015 and 2019. The USA women could become the first women’s or men’s team to win three consecutive World Cups.
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The current USWNT includes a healthy mix of rookies and veterans, led by Alex Morgan, Becky Sauerbrunn and 2019 Golden Boot and Ballon d’Or winner Megan Rapinoe. former Stanford teammates Sophia Smith and Naomi Girma, and Trinity Rodman, 20, who was a finalist for this year’s Ballon d’Or. See the article : The popular Nickelodeon series breaks into Netflix’s Top 10. Smith, a member of the 2022 NWSL Championship-winning Portland Thorns, earned league MVP honors, while Girma won Rookie and Defender of the Year honors last season.
We’re looking forward to seeing more of this new USWNT in the new year, including next month in New Zealand where they’ll play a two-game series (January 17th and 20th) against the co-host country. The USA women kick off their title defense on Friday, July 21 with their first World Cup Group E match against debutants Vietnam.
G.O.A.T watch 2023: Mikaela Shiffrin, Katie Ledecky chase history
To say the last week of the year was a momentum builder is an understatement for alpine racer Mikaela Shiffrin, who won three consecutive World Cup races – two giant slalom, one slalom – in Semmering, Austria, taking her total to 80 wins. To see also : Rutgers Fall Sports Update. in your career. The number puts her two wins away from the women’s record of 82, held by fellow American Lindsey Vonn, and six wins from the all-time record of 86 held by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark.
Shiffrin, 27, who has won six races this season and is on a four-game winning streak, could match Vonn’s record as early as next week in Zagreb, Croatia, which hosts slalom races on Jan. 4-5. The two-time Olympic gold medalist has four previous slalom wins in Zagreb and finished second there in 2020 and 2022.
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Also chasing an American legend for all-time honors is swimmer great Katie Ledecky, who heads into 2023 as the AP Female Athlete of the Year, earning the honor for the second time in her career. Ledecky edged out track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the voting after winning all four races at the FINA World Championships in June, setting two world records in the process and becoming the first female swimmer to win five consecutive world titles in an individual event ( 800m freestyle).
She now has 22 career world championship medals, including 19 gold, which surpasses the previous US women’s record of 20 held by Natalie Coughlin (eight gold). Ledecky’s 19th career gold at the 2022 worlds broke his tie with Ryan Lochte for second most in history and puts her just seven behind Michael Phelps (26). She will go after another all-time record in July at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, where only an individual world title would tie her with Phelps’ record of 15.
2023 Solheim Cup: Americans head to Spain as underdogs?
The ultimate women’s golf event moves to an intriguing new venue, Finca Cortesin Golf Club in Andalucia, Spain. The club hosted the men’s Volvo World Match Play Championship three times between 2009 and 2012 and will serve as the biennial event’s backdrop for its 18th edition. The European team, winners of the last two games at Inverness Club in Ohio (2021) and Gleneagles in Scotland (2019), will be captained by Norwegian two-time senior champion Suzann Pettersen, who has an overall record of 18-12-6 in nine games in the Solheim Cup. The 15-time LPGA winner is known for her mic drop moment in the 2019 matches, where she hit the winning putt for the Europeans after being away from the game on maternity leave for nearly 20 months before the event.
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The Americans, who have already won the cup 10 times in the history of the matches, will seek the conquest for the first time since 2017 and for the first time on foreign soil since 2015 in Germany. Stacy Lewis, a four-time member of the US Solheim Cup team (5-10-1 overall record), will serve as captain of the US team, which for perhaps the first time could be considered the underdog. Currently, there are six Americans in the top 30 of the Rolex Rankings, against seven Europeans. The calendar date – set for September 18-24 – should also give the matches an added boost, as they take place a week before the men’s Ryder Cup in Rome.
Can South Carolina repeat as NCAA women’s basketball champions?
The South Carolina women’s basketball team hasn’t missed a beat since winning the 2022 NCAA national championship last April, going through six postseason games, including a 64-49 victory over UConn in the tournament final. And the Gamecocks began the 2022-23 season with a 12-game winning streak, holding the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 Women’s Basketball Poll for 27 straight weeks.
The Gamecocks reached a milestone in the process, with their 27-week streak marking the fifth longest streak of all time. UConn holds the record for the longest streak at 51 weeks, dating from February 18, 2008 to December 10, 2010. Louisiana Tech has the second longest streak at 36 weeks, and the Huskies are also third and fourth on the list , with runs of 34 and 30 weeks at No. 1. South. Carolina started last season at No. 1 and has not relinquished the ranking since. With more than eight weeks left in the regular season, the Gamecocks are on track to continue climbing the all-time list.
Whether they will repeat as national champions remains to be seen, but it would mark the third national title for head coach Dawn Staley, who was also in charge of South Carolina’s 2017 championship victory over Mississippi State. Staley has four starters this season, including 2022 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Aliyah Boston, Victaria Saxton, Brea Beal and Zia Cooke (only Destanni Henderson graduated). Boston, who is averaging 12.4 points and 9.6 rebounds and is expected to be a favorite for multiple player of the year awards again this season.
WTA celebrates its 50th anniversary
It was June 21, 1973 – the eve of the Wimbledon Championships – when Billie Jean King, already a nine-time Grand Slam champion, convened a players’ meeting at London’s Gloucester Hotel that would change the course of women’s professional tennis. Frustrated with obvious gender inequality and an establishment that divided the talent pool among competing circuits, King led player efforts to formally join forces and pioneer their own destiny. Since then, what began as a players’ union has grown into a membership association between athletes and the 50+ tournaments on six continents, boasting parity on all Grand Slam prize money since 2007. In 2023, the WTA notes that 32 countries are represented in the WTA Top 100 rankings, with over 900 million fans worldwide expected to join the tour next year.
To celebrate, the organization launched a season-long campaign that will honor the game’s legends as well as its current stars – but through a lens focused on the future. Called “WTA 50: Just Beginning”, the campaign will highlight not only what can be done to improve the sporting landscape for women around the world, but also how the WTA can “effectively advocate for equality and inclusion for all”. Cheers to the next 50 years!
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2023 Wishlist: Top Women’s Sports Stories to Watch in the New Year Originally appeared on NBCSports.com
