Winter (Games) is coming...

It's coming! Less than 100 days away, with qualification in full swing, this week it's all about the Winter Olympics & Paralympics: What events are women finally getting to do, why is skiing banning Russians, and what the heck is going on with sex testing.

But first — the highlights we loved in women’s sports this week:

• At the Ironman 70.3 World Championships Lucy Charles-Barclay and Taylor Knibb went 1-2 in an epic run battle just four weeks after massive heatstroke in Hawaii. How did they do it?!
• 50-mile, 100km, and 100-mile records all fell at the Tunnel Hill race. What is it about that race? And, hopefully, they don't have to pay for their own drug testing this year!
• And our report from the Female Athlete Research Meeting at Stanford. What Kelly's actually doing differently in her life now. Plus, we hear the legendary basketball coach Tara VanDerveer & Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi about growing up pre-Title IX.

Then, it's all about the Winter Games in Milano.

For the first time ever, women will compete in doubles luge, on the large hill in ski jumping, and in the longest distance in cross-country skiing, the 50km.

Let's talk a little history of women’s ski jumping (only added to the Olympics in 2014!) and the fights athletes are still fighting, literally fundraising to close the gender pay gap. And, of course, the messy politics of this Olympic cycle — from Russia’s ban in skiing to the FIS’s new confusing genetic sex testing policy.

And a new segment: 'Like we were saying...' with updates on a few things. And our Feisty Picks of the week.

Episode resources:

• Once Prohibited, Women’s Ski Jumping Is Set to Take Flight: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/30/magazine/winter-olympics-ski-jumping-women.html
• New reports on the IOC considering a ban on all trans athletes: https://www.thetimes.com/sport/olympics/article/olympic-ioc-transgender-athlete-ban-womens-sports-zhlpfll3b
• Project B Basketball League Says It Has No Saudi Funding: