Cowboy boots and ski pants go together about as well as Gore-Tex bibs with a fur coat. It鈥檚 an unlikely combo鈥攖hat is, unless you plan to go skijoring. (And trust me, you鈥檙e going to want to ride this trend.)

Skijoring is a high-adrenaline, low-temperature sport that involves a horse and its rider pulling a skier through a snow-packed obstacle course at full speed. For most Rocky Mountain towns, skijoring is a familiar winter activity typically accompanied by hot apple cider, slushy walkways, and crisp breaths. But in a post-Beyonc茅 cowboy core world, it should come as no surprise that wild western winter sport has joined the mainstream crowds.

I鈥檝e spent many a cold Montana winter day bundled from head to toe in my backcountry kit, accessorized with my otherwise out-of-place Western round hat and bedazzled pink-lens sunglasses. Watching a similarly kitted-out skier as they full-send jumps, glide through gates, and reach for rings is an exhilarating experience deeply rooted in western mountain culture. Typically, ranching and front-country skiing represent two separate, yet equally important, economic sectors. Skijoring marries the two, bringing together people of different backgrounds and professional paths whose wintertime hobbies may vary dramatically.

Now, the once-niche sport is taking the national stage with the debut of , North America鈥檚 first professional skijoring series. Although PRO Skijor will be the first to bring the sport to a national stage, the sport has a long history in the United States and beyond. The North American Ski Joring Association (), for one, is a national alliance that promotes individual events through its extensive network and represents the riders, skiers, horses, and organizers.

Individual, small-town communities like those in聽听补苍诲听 today host skijoring competitions to promote local tourism and provide a stage for competitors.听But the sport itself has been around for centuries, according to the . In Scandinavia, people traveled during the harsh winter months by being towed behind a reindeer on long wooden skis. At the second Olympic Winter Games in 1928, held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, competitors demonstrated skijoring. It wasn鈥檛 until the late 1940s that skijoring as a sport was conceived, and the first competitive skijoring event in the U.S. was held in Leadville, Colorado, in 1949. There is also an ongoing push to include it in a future Winter Games, such as the 2030 or 2034 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Now, skijoring鈥檚 latest evolution involves a much more expansive national audience.

“Generations of families and friends come together in a festival atmosphere to make memories around real athletes and beautiful horses,鈥� PRO Skijor co-founder Brian Gardner tells 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淎nd if they want to join the race and click into a pair of skis or saddle up to try out the course themselves, all are welcome. Skijoring is for everyone.”

The 2026 PRO Skijor Frontier Tour, a six-city professional league, will visit cities across the western U.S., including Bozeman, Montana, and Boise, Idaho. League representatives tell 国产吃瓜黑料 that each stop on the circuit will deliver an all-day celebration of snow, speed, and Western spirit, complete with live music, local food trucks, and family-friendly fun. Next year鈥檚 season is slated to wrap up in Salt Lake City with the 2026 Championship Weekend, where the best riders, skiers, and horses in the country will compete for the title and a serious cash purse.

鈥淚t鈥檚 rodeo energy meets ski-town attitude,鈥� says PRO Skijoring co-founder Joe Loveridge. 鈥淓very run is different, every crowd鈥檚 louder than the last, and we can鈥檛 wait to bring that rush to fans across the Mountain West.鈥�

Loveridge says skijoring needs to be Utah鈥檚 sport, but I鈥檇 have to disagree. Heck, maybe I鈥檒l even strap on my skis and hop in the obstacle course to prove that skijoring is, indeed, for Montanans. (Stay tuned on that one.)

The post ‘Horsepower, Gravity and Grit’: Why We鈥檙e Obsessed With the Wild West Sport of Skijoring appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Extreme adaptability and versatility can be found throughout the animal kingdom, but may have found their peak expression in Alexi Pappas. As a runner, Pappas was a two-time All-American for Dartmouth who set a national record running for Greece at the 2016 Olympics. As a performer, she was a member of Dartmouth鈥檚 gut-busting Dog Day improv group before going on to write, direct, and star in several feature films, including Tracktown, Olympic Dreams, and Not An Artist. The further into her career Pappas gets, the more running influences her art, and her art influences her running鈥攁ll of which she talks about in a way that makes you understand how she鈥檚 risen so high in two fundamentally different worlds.

The post Running as Art, With Olympian and Filmmaker Alexi Pappas appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

What was the best part of winning Colorado’s Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race?

A few answers come to Kate Courtney’s mind. On August 6, Courtney, the most decorated American mountain biker of her generation, by nearly ten minutes in her debut, completing the 100-mile course in 6 hours, 48 minutes, 55 seconds. She won it with her friends and family looking on鈥攁 rarity for Courtney, who predominantly races overseas. And Courtney rode to victory just two months after a broken wrist forced her to completely rethink her 2025 racing schedule.

“Leadville wasn’t even on my radar at the start of the season,” Courtney told聽翱耻迟蝉颈诲别.听“The significance was less about the win and the record, and more about the race bringing out the type of riding that I’ve been trying to get out of myself for a while.”

OK, so what was the worst part of winning Leadville? I’m going to go ahead and answer for Kate Courtney here. It was being asked the same question, over and over again, by pesky cycling journalists like yours truly:

Are you a gravel racer now?

“I do one race鈥攁nd it’s a mountain biking race鈥攁nd the number one question I get is ‘are you a gravel racer now?’ It makes no sense,” Courtney, who is 29, told me on a recent videoconference call. I paused and asked the same question, just in a different way. Courtney laughed.听

“I’m a little sensitive about the gravel thing,” she continued. “It’s the wrong question. ‘Are you this now? Are you that now?’ Why can’t I just be a great bike racer?”

It’s a fair point, and one that’s worth unpacking. Because the answer may shed some light on the next chapter of Courtney’s racing career.

Courtney鈥檚 Place in U.S. Cycling History

For those unfamiliar with Kate Courtney, a quick history lesson. In 2018 she etched her name in American cycling history by at age 23, her first year in the elite pro ranks.

It was a massive moment for U.S. cycling fans. Americans invented the mountain bike in the seventies, but in the nineties and aughts, our best off-road racers were quickly surpassed by Europeans. Courtney’s win ended a 17-year drought by elite American cross-country mountain bikers at the world championships.

The win vaulted Courtney into the spotlight鈥攖he Stanford grad who got her start in California’s high school cycling league, spoke with the eloquence of a CEO, and uploaded her jaw-dropping fitness routines to Instagram. In 2019, she graced the cover of 国产吃瓜黑料 magazine.

Courtney followed the big win up with another accolade鈥攊n 2019 she won mountain biking’s World Cup series.

“To the the outside world those results probably seem like they came out of nowhere, and those big media moments are like the only thing you remember, but I had raced pretty much at that level for a few years beforehand,” Courtney said. “From then until the 2020 season I was consistently at the front of international races.”

And then? Injuries and setbacks, success and failure. Courtney qualified for the 2020 Olympics, but finished a distant 15th. In 2020 she suffered a concussion; a year later she broke her arm. The next generation of American mountain bikers surpassed her. Haley Batten, the youngster Courtney once mentored, topped her on the World Cup, eventually winning Olympic silver in 2024. Courtney, meanwhile, didn’t quality for Team USA for the 2024 Games.

“There were a combination of factors that have prevented me from accessing my highest level of performance,” Courtney said. “It’s not so unique to me; a lot of athletes have ups and downs, especially when you reach that peak early in your career. It’s a different challenge to try to stay at that level or to replicate that for multiple seasons.”

Courtney spent years trying to recapture her mojo. She changed coaches and switched bike sponsors. She left her European team in 2024, and in 2025 launched her own team with her own sponsors, called She Sends Racing.

“You try things until they work, and I’ve been on a bit of a journey to recapture that at the World Cup level again,” she said. “All of the changes have been about me trying to unlock that performance level that I know I’m capable of.”

And then in 2025, another crash, another broken bone, and a disrupted World Cup campaign. In the spring she returned to California to rest and recover. For her first race back, Courtney chose a new race to begin her comeback: the Leadville Trail 100.

A Race that Unlocked Her Ability

A World Cup cross-country race and the Leadville Trail 100 are akin to comparing the 10,000 meters to an ultramarathon.

World Cup mountain bike races last just over an hour, and are incredible tests of all-out effort and fight. Most are held in Europe. Seventy of the world’s fastest racers elbow each other as they battle for every inch of trail around a short course with steep climbs, punishing descents, and the occasional sheer drop-off. One bobble, one slip, and a cyclist may be passed by a dozen others.

“There is something in me that has the deep love of these races and the deep intensity around it and what it demands. Ninety nine percent isn’t enough, you have to give 100,” Courtney said. “Those are some of the most rewarding days I’ve had in the sport鈥攁nd also my most frustrating because it’s so hard to stay on that edge.”

Leadville, meanwhile, takes all day to unfold. The professionals share the 100-mile course with weekend warriors. The course isn’t very technical鈥攕ome athletes compete on gravel bicycles. Oftentimes, the fastest pros spend much of the day racing by themselves, squeezing every ounce of endurance from their bodies over the course of hours.

That was the case for Courtney. After dropping the defending champion, Melissa Rollins, on the course’s signature Columbine climb, she rode by herself at top speed for 55 miles.

But at Leadville, Courtney raced in front of screaming fans, TV cameras showing the race live, and鈥攑erhaps most importantly鈥攈er family.

“It had these elements that make me want to perform in a race鈥攃hallenging terrain, high level of competition, my family was there,” Courtney said. “It was in an environment that was so different from what I’m used to that it unlocked the mental side of competition.”

There’s another big difference between the two formats. World Cups and the world championships are qualifying events for the Olympics. The Leadville Trail 100 is not. Instead, it is part of a series of ultra-endurance gravel cycling events called the Life Time Grand Prix, which offers $380,000 in prize cash and live broadcasts of races. In recent years, these mass-participant events, such as Kansas’s Unbound Gravel, have gained global attention and even attracted top professionals from the Tour de France and mountain biking World Cup.

Racers like Courtney can now earn a decent living on the series鈥攁nd they don’t have to spend half the year racing abroad. Former World Cup mountain bikers Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez-Villafa帽e have extended their careers in cycling on the Life Time circuit, as have a handful of others.

“There’s a huge media opportunity to race in the U.S., and Life Time has done a great job with the series,’ she added. “What I think is cool is there’s now the option to race these events.”

But having the option and taking it are two completely different things. When I asked Courtney if the Leadville victory convinced her to trade the World Cup for the Life Time series, or to target big gravel events like Unbound Gravel, she pushed back.

“Unbound is a flat gravel race over 200 miles. I’m a racer who excels at anaerobic climbs,” she said. “It’s not my current plan or desire. It’s been fun to watch the level rise, but they’re not races I’d put as super goals for me.”

The Crossroads

Courtney will turn 30 in October鈥攈ardly old for a World Cup racer, but one step closer to the finish of her career than the start. As our conversation unfolded, she admitted that she has felt fatigued by the World Cup circuit, and the year-in, year-out chase of victories and podium finishes.

“Since I was 16 years old I’ve lived and died by UCI points on the World Cup,” she said. “That requires this dedication to certain events and certain performances. It is this structure that becomes a big organizing principal of your life. Having this injury in 2025 forced me to think about what I want out of racing.”

The wrist injury, recovery, and decision to race Leadville showed her that there are events outside of the European racing circuit that can motivate her to reach her best. She told me that the entire ordeal has convinced her to branch out from the World Cup chase in 2026 and beyond.

“I’m curious about having more freedom to pick and choose other races,” she said. “As the World Cup season expands鈥攚e now have ten races and they want to add more in the future鈥攊t’s a long time to be away. That’s never brought the best out of me, being gone for that much of the year.”

What, exactly, her racing schedule looks like next year is still up in the air. Courtney will still race World Cups, but she will also target an ultra endurance race or two as well. And yeah, Courtney may dabble in a gravel race as well. Now that she controls her own destiny as manager of her own team, she has the power to choose.

“The goal is to be able to race in the way I know I’m capable of racing at any race鈥攁t a World Cup, gravel race, endurance mountain bike race鈥攁nd that is what I’m working towards,” she said.

But trading the World Cup series for the North American gravel scene isn’t the Shangri-La that Courtney is after鈥攏ot yet, anyway. She wants to seek out races that create, as she called it, a “Leadville moment,” but not commit herself to a different points chase on a different series.

Hence the sensitivity to questions over the potential pivot to gravel racing.

“In the same way that I don’t want to be just a World Cup racer who can’t do anything else and has to maintain my ranking, I’m also not planning to just race gravel in the U.S.,” Courtney said. “Trying to put a box around your racing limits athletes.”

So, while Kate Courtney hasn’t completely chosen which crossroad to take, there’s good chance that, in 2026, she will pedal in a different direction.

The post Kate Courtney Is at a Crossroads in Her Cycling Career. What鈥檚 Next? appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Plants don’t just grow every leaf and every flower all at once. They grow a stem, then a branch, then another. It’s a process.

Do what feels true to you. If you don’t know how, start with your clothes. Try opening your closet. Close your eyes. Tell yourself: there’s no threat, there’s no goal, and then open your eyes and decide what to wear. Wear what you feel magnetized toward.

Challenge your default setting, whatever that is. This could be with regard to data, devices, or the way you typically talk to yourself. Try something different and see how it makes you feel.

Be a verb, not a noun. Allow yourself to evolve and change infinitely.

Subscribe to a confidence that is earned. Moving through hard things gives you confidence.

Be curious. Pursue what you have a crush on, rather than prioritizing productivity. See where that takes you.

Don鈥檛 outsource your power. You might like the red top you walk by and see in the window, but it鈥檚 not going to be the thing that makes you run a personal best: you are. You鈥檙e the highest source of power in your universe.

Don鈥檛 outsource your comfort. Have a dialogue with yourself. When you feel a difficult feeling or a need, try to first meet it yourself. Asking for help is a superpower you should use too, but for those times when there鈥檚 no one there to pick up the phone, practice comforting yourself.

Remember, we confuse ourselves to protect ourselves. If you feel confused, dig into it, explore it, and try to understand it. Don鈥檛 stay confused.

Do what鈥檚 useful for you. If social media makes you miserable, don鈥檛 get your athletic inspiration there. If going on a new trail helps you when coming back from an injury, go find one.

Do not be afraid to be bored. You’re a thought machine. When you are bored, thoughts will come to you. They may be funny, sad, strange, or beautiful, but if you give yourself the space to embrace boredom, you will not stay bored forever.

Get outside and let the world inspire you. Do not try to sterilize your experience or control everything. The world is an endless inspiration treasure chest. Treat the outside as your third space.

Slow down. Give space between ideas and decisions.

Celebrate learning new things; you weren’t supposed to know it before.

View people as art, even the frustrating ones. You know the feeling of going to a museum and looking at a piece you don’t like or don’t understand? It’s still art. It helps you see the world in a different way and move past negativity with empathy.

Challenge your default setting, whatever that is. This could be with regard to data, devices, or the way you typically talk to yourself. Try something different and see how it makes you feel.

The roller coaster is not punishment. But there may be some rides you won’t even want to try, which is also fine.

Express through your performances, and also independently of performances.

Remember you鈥檙e here to learn and evolve, not just perform. One of our purposes on this earth is to experience it and let it change us and have an impact on the things we encounter, too. Interact.

Keep moving, keep making decisions. There are no mistakes, only more decisions. The only mistake is when you need to make a change and you don鈥檛 make it. Everything else is just a lesson.

Let sport evolve with you. You can evolve from a track runner to a road runner to trail runner. (I am.) Rather than retire, consider evolving.

Always see the universe as in your favor (an idea I now understand is called pronoia.) When hard or unfair things happen to you, you must see the world this way.

Ask yourself to try your best.

The goal is growth and progress.

Champion intuition.

Be honest.

Let trying be cool.

Let failing be instructional.

The post Alexi Pappas鈥� Field Notes for Today鈥檚 Athlete: How to Move, Grow, and Trust Yourself appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

“We鈥檙e making a music video! I told you I sing, right?”

Of course she makes music鈥攁nyone who knows Alexi Pappas knows to always expect of her the least expected thing.

She lives in an idiosyncratic log cabin in L.A. with totems from her adventures in sport, cinema, and pop culture adorning every nook. And it’s not by coincidence that her home is at the base of what we locals call Dirt Mulholland, the city’s endurance aorta.

She’s jumping for joy, literally, and clapping too, up and down before launching her mighty mouse frame into mine. It’s a bit much for this Gen-X elder raised on cynicism. But Alexi’s exuberance is her default. I aspire to her lack of inhibition, and wonder to myself what it would feel like to experience joy so spontaneously.

Alexi knows this about me. I’ve known her long enough to know she understands people. This is someone who leads with empathy. Who accepts people for exactly who they are but also has the intuition to know what a person needs even when they don’t鈥攁nd then, without agenda, just fills that need.

When it comes to Alexi Pappas鈥攖his pixie powerhouse who wears wondrousness like haute couture鈥�none of this is an act.

Sure, costumes are involved. Like the uniform she wore in Rio to represent Greece in the 10,000 meters, an Olympic dream forever memorialized by the Olympic rings tattooed just inside her right bicep. There are also costumes that come with the characters she plays in feature films like Tracktown, Olympic Dreams, and Not an Artist.

Then there’s the costume Alexi is perhaps best known for, the one she debuted at the New York City Marathon in 2021. She didn’t plan to wear a costume鈥攕he planned to race. It’s just that her body had other plans.

I met Alexi for the first time in December of the previous year, surprised that she arrived at my podcast studio on crutches. Fearful of appearing weak, a perception she was convinced would derail her track and field career, Alexi asked that we take her injury off the podcast table. I agreed, but I couldn’t dismiss the dissonance on display鈥攁 gap between the wisdom and positivity she exuded in our conversation and the fear that compelled her to keep her ailment private. This is a costume I’ve seen before. To one extent or another, it’s one we all wear, myself included. But experience has taught me that life disfavors dissonance鈥攁nd will always create a circumstance that will compel us to disrobe.

Alexi almost pulled out of the marathon. Instead, she considered the marathon an art project.

If there is a definition of the modern athlete it is this鈥攁n ethos, a way of being in relationship with sport and our authentic self, which allows us to connect more truthfully with others.

Alexi’s tutu-twirling positivity should not be confused with Pollyanna, nor her quirky insights with naivet茅. Because beneath the glitter, there’s a quiet ferocity to her that often goes unnoticed.

“I think people underestimate you,” I taunt, well aware that those who do, do so at their peril. “Does that bother you?” I ask.

“No, I love it!” Meaning, this is a power she leverages.

Alexi’s tutu-twirling positivity should not be confused with Pollyanna, nor her quirky insights with naivet茅. Because beneath the glitter, there’s a quiet ferocity to her that often goes unnoticed.

And herein lies a conundrum I’m trying to better understand, how to square this human who leads with vulnerability, who can’t wait to tell me about all things that terrify her, with the other Alexi I know, the killer competitor who refuses to let fear interfere with doing hard things. The confident Olympian that is so good at so many seemingly unrelated things, and goes after all of them with well-honed intentionality.

This is what drew me to invite Alexi on my podcast in the first place. Who is this athlete who can also write screenplays, poetry, and a bestselling memoir? These days she’s working on a loosely autobiographical animated series she created with comedian Michelle Wolf, a scripted series set in the Olympic Village with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Lesley Paterson, and a movie shot at the Paris Olympics starring her and YouTuber Andrew Callaghan.

And she hosts a podcast called Mentor Buffet, featuring diverse guests sharing insights about influential people in their lives.

What Alexi wants is for everyone to experience their version of what she has been able to do. To stop asking for permission to be who they want to be, and instead take ownership for becoming it, whatever that “it” is.

“When is it going to be acceptable for women to ball off-court?” she asks.

This is a good question. I don’t have a good answer. I suspect it will come sooner the more women and girls do what Alexi did, which is to recast themselves鈥攆rom their pre-assigned roles to starring ones based on scripts of their own design.

Much ink has been devoted to the rise of the modern athlete. But I can’t think of a single person more deserving of this moniker than Alexi, a hybridized multi-hyphenate if there ever was one.

“What does the phrase ‘modern athlete’ mean to you?” I ask.

“The modern athlete understands sport is a starting point for self-discovery, not the end,” she says.

In the curious case of Alexi Pappas, it’s all about curiosity鈥攁bout yourself, other people, and what can be discovered by welcoming into your life the unknown. To be a modern athlete, all you have to do is decide to be one鈥攁nd start.

“I just can’t wait until it’s cool again to be earnest, cool again to try,” she says to me before I leave the cabin.

Her eyes sparkle. And just like that, she’s clapping again.

The post Rich Roll on Alexi Pappas: She’s Redefining What It Means to Be a Modern Athlete appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

On the first Sunday of November 2021, I was standing where I always stand: on a street corner on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn, waiting to cheer on the New York City Marathon runners, especially the pro women. In New York, the women鈥檚 race is special. Athletes start a half hour before the rest of the field. It means that they have the streets鈥攁nd the spotlight鈥攁ll to themselves to showcase their talents. To compete.

The first wave made their way down the wide avenue in a blur, and my head swiveled back and forth, trying to track each runner in the lead group and the chase pack that followed shortly after. A few minutes later, I saw someone moving alone. I realized that it was Alexi Pappas, the Olympian and pro runner on the track, roads, and trails, and I was worried. I knew she was supposed to compete, but when I didn鈥檛 see her with the other elite women, I assumed she didn鈥檛 start the race. I had heard something about an injury, but I didn鈥檛 know the details. Was she OK?

As she drew closer, I saw that she was OK. She was more than OK. She was dancing through the open street, blowing kisses to the crowd, something I later learned that she did for the entire 26.2 miles. She wore glitter and sparkled like something ethereal.

Some might have written this off as a stunt. A performance. A ploy for attention. But to see it firsthand, it was anything but that. I don鈥檛 know how to describe it except that it was pure joy. It moved me so much that I responded to Alexi鈥檚 Instagram story later that day to thank her for showing up fully and uniquely herself.

Years later, I still think about that experience.

In this era of social media and digital everything, the adage is to 鈥渂e authentic.鈥� But it鈥檚 easy to conflate authenticity with popularity and virality, especially in spaces where algorithms drive everything that we see. Over time, we lose touch with what we think, how we feel, and what our gut tells us.

With Pappas, the opposite seems to be true. She鈥檚 become more real鈥�more Alexi鈥攐ver the years. There鈥檚 a sense that she鈥檚 fully grounded and present in every decision she makes. Maybe it鈥檚 because she鈥檚 experienced a pretty full range of life already. She鈥檚 lost a parent. She鈥檚 competed at the Olympics. She鈥檚 broken national records. She鈥檚 experienced high-risk depression and serious injuries and recovered from them. She鈥檚 written, starred in, and directed movies. She鈥檚 published a memoir, , about her journey through life and sport. She鈥檚 been married. She鈥檚 gone through a divorce. She runs races with the producer and DJ Diplo.

Pappas is one of the rare athletes who has cultivated longevity in sport by expanding, rather than siloing, herself. She has nourished a vibrant running and creative life, one that鈥檚 rooted equally in her priorities and values as well as her curiosity. As she describes it, she pursues the things she has a 鈥渃rush on.鈥� A week in her life might include a premiere for a movie that she wrote, directed, produced, and acted in; a photoshoot; a Hyrox competition; drafting a chapter for a new book; prep for a podcast interview; therapy; and鈥攐f course鈥攁 trail run.

But first, there鈥檚 Alexi.

国产吃瓜黑料 talked to Pappas to understand how she maintains her authenticity as an athlete, artist, director, writer, and creative. (By the way, she hates these labels.)

Editor鈥檚 note: This Q&A includes and references ideas Pappas wrote for us prior to the interview. Pappas鈥檚 writing is noted with a yellow asterisk. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

OUTSIDE: I vividly remember watching you run the 2021 New York City Marathon. It was the first time you wore glitter during a race, and in your ideas you shared with us ahead of this conversation, you described it as 鈥渁n entirely self-protective choice.鈥� You had major surgery on your hamstring nine months prior, and while you were healthy enough to run, you weren鈥檛 ready to race. Can you tell me more about that choice to don an armor of glitter?

Alexi Pappas: I had never done this before鈥攖oeing the start line with the elites, 30 minutes ahead of everyone else, knowing that you are going to be out the back right from the very start. I didn鈥檛 know how I was going to move through the course before the gun went off. I just knew that this glitter could communicate to people that I was OK, that I was empowered, and that this was an intentional act.

You chose to dance through the street, and you looked so joyful.

Alexi: In running, a lot of the time, you鈥檙e pushing away the present for a later joy. You might even have tunnel vision and ignore things. In this case, I really tapped into being present, and I realized that this was just an open road with happy people standing on the side. I had this expansive feeling inside me that I wanted to move differently and take up the space differently.

Deep down, I鈥檓 just a theater kid who wanted to be on Broadway. I made very specific eye contact with people, blew them real kisses, and gave them love and received love back. It was quite emotional. It felt like a true exchange between strangers of energy that I could uniquely do because I was not out there racing, as I normally am and as most people are when they run the New York City Marathon.

You wrote, 鈥淚n sports, we make meaning. In turn, we find meaning.鈥� It sounds like you made meaning from this experience.

Alexi: These things are hard, you know? Before something鈥檚 cool, it鈥檚 just different and that鈥檚 the scariest part. I was afraid there might be consequences for what I was doing and that the race organizers were going to pull me off the course.

How does running feed your creative process and vice versa?

Alexi: There are no slam dunks in running, but there鈥檚 a playfulness and mischievous intensity, and it鈥檚 the same with writing. I love how one word can mean so many things to people, how you can layer a line under it, and it changes the meaning of that word. I love whipping words around like a lasso, like it鈥檚 an athletic thing.

I feel like myself when I鈥檓 running. There鈥檚 no way I鈥檓 not in a better mood after I get back from my trail run than I was before running. I have the best conversations, the best views, the best shower after because I鈥檓 so covered in dust and I鈥檓 moving with my body.

It just takes a long time for me to get to that fitness place where I can feel most myself. It鈥檚 why I鈥檓 getting in shape for the first time since the Olympics, because I know there鈥檚 an expression of me inside that can be best expressed when I鈥檓 able to do more with my body.

We seem to be in a moment where art, culture, and running all intersect, and where running isn鈥檛 nerdy anymore. What do you make of it?

Alexi: Expression isn鈥檛 baked into the rules of the sport or its metrics. If you look at sports where you鈥檙e judged, like figure skating or synchronized swimming, the way you express is inextricably linked with your performance. In running, you can express yourself in any way, and it has nothing to do with your performance; and therefore, it has the most freedom.

I think what we鈥檙e realizing is that it doesn鈥檛 matter, which means running has all the potential in the world to have meaning that is unique to each of us. Because there鈥檚 no medal given for wearing glitter. You have to cross the finish line, but you can wear glitter and cross the finish line. It鈥檚 this amazing space where anything is possible and allowed, as long as you just keep moving toward that finish line.

There are a lot of people who now wear glitter when they run. How does that make you feel when you see that?

Alexi: I feel happy that I鈥檓 seeing people take up space and make choices for themselves that feel good. People might not even know who I am or where this trend comes from. They don鈥檛 need to. But I know that if something comes from me in any derivative way, it comes from a real place. I don鈥檛 do things without meaning, even if I don鈥檛 always understand the meaning when I鈥檓 doing it.

How do you decide what interests to lean into?

Alexi: I think I鈥檓 a plant. Plants don鈥檛 just grow every leaf and every flower all at once. They grow a stem, then a branch, then another. It鈥檚 a process. So, I鈥檓 in touch with which part of myself, as a plant, feels most able, abundant, and expanded to grow.

For example, in high school, I was growing as a person in sports, theater, and student government. I was having crushes on boys and sneaking out at night. Running wasn鈥檛 meant to grow at that time. When I went to college, I leaned into running then because the environment was right. It was different from high school. It felt right.

But it鈥檚 this plant mentality combined with an understanding of my priorities. There鈥檚 always a North Star. When I鈥檓 training at the highest level, running comes first. I鈥檓 not going to pull an all-nighter, even if I鈥檓 working on a movie project at the same time. It鈥檚 understanding where the North Star is and listening to where I have the potential to grow and expand without forcing it. I see a lot of runners sign up for the marathon when they don鈥檛 even feel like running. Maybe there鈥檚 a different branch or a little berry you could be growing right now instead.

What advice do you have for people, especially young people, about how to figure out which stem or branch to lean into?

Alexi: You鈥檙e here to give yourself the chance to brave the unknown. That鈥檚 kind of how I see a lot of the things I鈥檓 doing in my life. I don鈥檛 really know where they鈥檙e going, but I know I鈥檓 making my best decisions. I know that when I get in there, I want to experience it, because that is my privilege here on this earth, to try and to have these experiences.

And trying is part of the experience. It鈥檚 like going on a roller coaster. You don鈥檛 want to go to the theme park and not ride the rides. You don鈥檛 want to just put a fan on your face to imitate a roller coaster. Don鈥檛 you want to be on the real roller coaster and not the simulation? I might not want to get on that roller coaster again. Or I might want to ride that one again or go to a different theme park.

So I鈥檇 tell them to try the thing that you鈥檙e actually drawn to. You don鈥檛 have to try every roller coaster, but the ones you try, try them for the right reasons. Because what鈥檚 the fear? That someone鈥檚 going to make fun of you for riding a roller coaster? It鈥檚 only uncool if we collectively make it uncool. We can just change our minds and say this is awesome. But also, who cares? You鈥檙e riding it, and that鈥檚 all that really matters.

You鈥檝e written about how your mom鈥檚 death made you realize that no one was going to save you or your life except you. Instead of closing yourself off and trying to control everything, you chose to open up and trust yourself. Can you tell me about that choice?

Alexi: I did feel it was unfair growing up. Every time I saw myself do something on my own, it hurt. I was sad because I felt like everybody around me got taken care of in a way different than me. It sucked to feel like I had this burden that other people didn鈥檛 have.

But I allowed myself the permission to do what I wanted to do. I realized that me being myself is not just OK. It鈥檚 more than OK. It鈥檚 welcomed and celebrated. I wasn鈥檛 cool yet for being different then, and sometimes it takes the world a second to catch up.

I would survive by counting on myself, which, to me, means trusting and leaning all the way into myself. There was no other option, no backup. So, whatever marbled swirling universe that breathes, billows, and spirals inside me, conjuring up my words, ideas, outfits, actions, strength, tears, and love 鈥� that infinite reservoir is the one I counted on, then, and forever still.

How did you learn that sports were a place to make and find meaning?

Alexi: I鈥檝e written about my childhood and losing my mom when I was four. Growing up, I knew what life and death really meant. I faced that at a very young age, and I knew that sports weren鈥檛 that. I knew they were a game.

And yet, we commit to them as if they are life or death, and at the same time, we know it鈥檚 not. It鈥檚 a magical way to engage. In those circumstances, you find what鈥檚 important to you. You find who you are. You can face your fears and see how strong you are. You can look your vulnerabilities in the eye and dance with them. That鈥檚 what finding meaning is.

I think that gave me a competitive edge, too. When I鈥檓 on the start line, I鈥檓 a competitor. I could be so many other places鈥攄irecting a movie, writing a book, with my cats鈥攂ut I made the choice to toe a start line.

You鈥檙e often described as a 鈥渕ulti-hyphenate,鈥� but you don鈥檛 like all the labels. Can you talk more about your evolving relationship with labels?

Alexi: As a kid, I didn鈥檛 know how to imitate other people. I wasn鈥檛 good at that. I knew I didn鈥檛 move like other people. I was this tomboy, jock, hyper, girlie creature.

When I came to Hollywood, I thought I would need to completely abandon my athletic identity, title, and status, that I would need to hide it in order to be in the artistic world. What I鈥檝e learned is that it鈥檚 totally the opposite. Everything that makes us us is what makes us unique and gives us a point of view to do everything else. Bringing my full self to what I do is what has made me successful. We are cumulative creatures, and that combination is what makes us electric.

With Merrell, my athletic clothing and shoe sponsor, I鈥檓 competing competitively, but I also directed a Vogue commercial and my own photoshoot. I鈥檝e coached Merrell employees, and I have a creative check-in with them where I collaborate on ideas for campaigns.

This multi-hyphenate approach to partnership is making me a better athlete: I believe more in myself on the start line, and I know they want all of me. I鈥檝e never heard of a partnership like this. It鈥檚 different, and it could be how people embrace modern athletes.

I wish I was told that a long time ago, because I really tried to silo myself. I鈥檓 proud of being a director and being a writer and being an Olympian. I am really proud of these things, so I can own them. But I really, really like being Alexi.

Writer, Olympian, actor, mental health advocate, producer, director 鈥� the list exhausts and annoys me. Just call me Alexi. What I do is not who I am; it’s just what I do. I am happy and fulfilled, and my identity feels securely situated in my name, not the titles that come with my accomplishments and dreams chased.

Why did you think that you would have to abandon your athletic identity?

Alexi: I went to the Sundance labs when I was training for the Olympics, and nobody looked like me. I secretly left a party to do a run by myself and then came back to the party. I didn鈥檛 tell anyone because people were drinking and partying, and I wanted to be Hollywood cool, too, but I needed to train.

I didn鈥檛 see people like me until I started to be myself. Lesley Paterson, my co-writer on one of the shows I鈥檓 developing, is an Oscar-nominated writer for All Quiet on the Western Front and a world-class triathlete. She used her race winnings to purchase the rights to the book. I went to London to write with her. We went running in the morning, and then we wrote all day. It was a dream.

I鈥檓 starting to see how the athletic mentality really helps you in the arts. You鈥檙e reliable and know how to work on teams and work toward a common goal. You know that losing is not a loss but a step in a bigger win.

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The International Olympic Committee Board announced this week that it plans to split up the lead and boulder climbing disciplines in the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Compared to Paris 2024, the 2028 Olympics will admit nearly 12% more climbing athletes鈥�76, instead of 68鈥攁nd offer three additional climbing medals.

Sport climbing鈥檚 Olympic presence has come a long way since its 2021 debut. In the Tokyo Olympics, the three disciplines of lead, boulder, and speed were awkwardly combined into one super discipline that required athletes to compete across all disciplines. The combined format proved a massive challenge for some specialized climbers. For example, in Tokyo, Adam Ondra took second in lead, but placed fourth in speed and sixth in boulder. For a moment, it looked like Ondra would win gold, but was such that Alberto Gin茅s L贸pez took the gold by placing first in speed, seventh in boulder, and fourth in lead. (Scores were determined by multiplying the scoring results of each discipline.)

In 2024, things improved: the IOC separated the hyper-specialized discipline of speed climbing, but kept lead and boulder lumped together. The climbing community鈥斺�攕till felt that none of these disciplines ought to be grouped together.

According to the , the International Olympic Committee (IOC) explained that specific athlete quotas for the 2028 Games across the three events will 鈥渂e finalized in the Olympic Qualification System.鈥� This will also clarify whether climbers can compete in multiple events.

鈥淚鈥檓 really excited about the news that all three disciplines will be separate at the 2028 Summer Olympics,鈥� says Natalia Grossman, who competed in the lead/boulder event in 2024. 鈥淔rom the very beginning, the community has been pushing for three sets of medals鈥攁nd now we鈥檝e finally got them!鈥�

Jesse Grupper, who also competed in lead/boulder in the 2024 Games, felt similarly. 鈥淪ince climbing first became a discipline in the Olympics, this event has always pushed athletes to conform to the disciplines decided on by the Olympics,鈥� says Grupper. 鈥淭his marks a new era where the core disciplines of climbing are determining what happens at the Olympics and not the other way round. As an athlete with a focus in lead, I鈥檓 over the moon to have an opportunity to vie for a spot to do what I love on the biggest stage in the world.鈥�

Another exciting development in Olympic climbing is the at the 2028 Games. Significant groundwork has already been laid in establishing classifications for the rollout of paralympic climbing in Los Angeles.

In addition to its announcement regarding the new climbing format on Wednesday, the IOC revealed a number of other changes for the LA 2028 Games. of these changes is to achieve better gender parity. For example, the number of women鈥檚 football (soccer) teams increased to 16, while the quota for men鈥檚 soccer teams decreased to 12, swinging the gender imbalance in the other direction. The IOC also announced a new weight class for women boxers, and added five new sports, including cricket, flag football, and lacrosse.

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These are strange times for Olympians.

An athlete can win medal after medal, but should they be caught on camera in a compromising or hilarious situation, the ensuing tonnage of Internet memes will overshadow those accolades. Want proof? I dare you to Google French pole vaulter or Turkish shooter .

I fear that American Olympic triathlete is headed for a similar fate. I’m here to beg you, people of the Internet, to not let it happen.

Over the weekend, Knibb, 26, dominated the T100 world championships triathlon in Dubai, winning the race by over two minutes. But during the run portion Knibb pooped in her racing suit. Hey, it’s triathlon鈥攊ndigestion and the occasional mid-race crap are . Knibb had the presence of mind to share her predicament with the cameraman who was trailing her: she asked him to spare viewers the unflattering view from behind. “I just shit myself,” she said into the camera. “So can you not get my ass?” The cameraman complied.

Alas, this short video clip has entered the Internet’s . I first saw it on Instagram on Sunday night, and by Wednesday, stories about Knibb dotted the Internet. Even 鈥攖he surest sign that a story has become part of the Internet’s lowbrow sludge.

I understand why: pants pooping is almost always a little funny, and doing so during a world-class sporting competition simply adds to the knee-slapping appeal. Plus, Knibb’s calm, matter-of-fact demeanor in the midst of a could-be crisis moment won hearts. She’s a little like that meme of the dog in the burning room claiming “,” if that dog were also masterfully managing its own PR in real-time.

But as we all know, viral memes have a way of distorting reality and overshadowing facts. And the truth about Taylor Knibb is that she’s probably the most impressive American endurance athlete of her generation. Period. And I will say this聽until I’m hoarse: Taylor Knibb is far too impressive of an athlete for a goofy meme to define her online reputation.

Knibb wins triathlons of varying distances, and in 2020 she won Olympic silver in Tokyo. Not to be outdone, in 2024 Knibb qualified for the American Olympic team in both triathlon and road cycling. To the unfamiliar, this may seem pretty ho-hum. Cycling is one of the three legs of triathlon, after all. Isn’t this just like Michael Phelps winning medals in breast stroke, backstroke, and butterfly?

Nope鈥攊t’s completely different. It’s more like if Phelps won in the 100-meter freestyle and then donned a sequined outfit and did the Olympic synchronized swimming competition and totally kicked ass at it. No American has competed in triathlon and cycling at the same Olympics ever before. It’s a big deal.听In fact, Knibb was the only American to compete in two different sports at the Paris Games. She also raced the Olympic team triathlon and helped Team USA earn a silver medal.

Within the small community of endurance sports superfanatics鈥攜es, I am a card-carrying member鈥擪nibb’s double-Olympic qualification was mind-blowing.

“Threading that needle of being world-class in triathlon and cycling at the same time is beyond difficult,” says longtime coach Neal Henderson, who trains elite-level cyclists and triathletes. “It’s hard to put into words just how impossible that is.”

Henderson told 国产吃瓜黑料 that the training demands to be that good in two different sports are聽mind-boggling. Elite cyclists and triathletes both train anywhere from 25-28 hours a week. But cyclists dedicate all of that time toward the very specific physiological act of pedaling a bicycle. Triathletes, meanwhile, split those hours between swimming, biking, and running.

And anyone who’s ever done a triathlon knows that running and cycling are not exactly complementary exercises. I’m simplifying here, but pedaling a bicycle requires your leg muscles to generate high levels of power. That’s why top cyclists often have brawny quads, glutes, and hamstrings.

Running, meanwhile, damages big, brawny leg muscles, and saps those muscles of the power required to push the pedals of a bicycle. If you examine the world’s top distance runners鈥攁nd triathletes鈥攜ou will see lithe, spindly legs.

“The physiological demands of running has聽a negative effect on being able to maintain the muscle mass, strength, and power that make you a good cyclist,” Henderson said. “And in elite sports, you’re talking about razor-edge differences that come from putting huge demands on the body.”

Henderson, who operates the Colorado-based coaching company Apex Coaching, coached Knibb when she was an 18-year-old budding professional triathlete. She had graduated from Cornell as an Academic All American and a top-level cross-country runner, and she had her sights set on professional triathlon. Knibb was the rare teenaged athlete with world-class natural talent, monk-like dedication to training, and personal ambitions that were sky-high, Henderson said.

But even he had his doubts when Knibb told him that in 2024 she hoped to qualify for the Olympics in two different sports. Her travel schedule for triathlon left very little time to train specifically for cycling. And the handful of American women competing for a spot in Paris included talented athletes who have spent years focusing on the sport.

“It seemed unreasonable for Taylor to go to the Olympics in both,” Henderson said. “But if you place reasonable expectations on athletes with unreasonable ability, you’ll never know what they’re capable of.”

Knibb had earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic triathlon team in 2023, and in 2024 a rare opportunity opened for her to go in cycling. USA Cycling, the sport’s governing body, held a in the individual time trial on May 15. The race fell right in the middle of Knibb’s international competition schedule for triathlon, just a few days after a major race in Japan.

After finishing second at the Japanese triathlon, Knibb traveled to Charleston, West Virginia, for the road cycling race. She faced off against the country’s best professional cyclists in the 22-mile individual race. Among the competitors included former world champion Amber Neben, former U.S. road champion Lauren Stephens, and even Kristen Faulkner, who went on to win two cycling gold medals in Paris. Everyone wanted the victory, because a win meant an automatic spot on the U.S. Olympic cycling team.

Knibb smoked them all鈥攕he topped Faulkner by 11 seconds to grab the spot.

When I read the news, I just about fell out of my chair. When Henderson learned of Knibb’s victory, he smiled. He knew she was capable of it, after all.

So, if you must, have your little laugh at the video, then take a minute to get to know Knibb for who she really is: an exceptional athlete with huge ambitions, crazy strength, and yes, the ability to stay calm and collected, no matter the situation.

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Seven months after a partial knee replacement and five and a half years since , 40-year-old Lindsey Vonn will return to ski racing.

Recently, the ski legend鈥檚 has been filled with hints: reels of her training in New Zealand and S枚lden, Austria, accompanied by captions like, 鈥淟oving the process, no matter where it leads,鈥� and 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know exactly what lies ahead, but I know I鈥檓 healthy, happy and grateful.鈥�

On Thursday, November 14, Vonn posted, 鈥淲ell, it鈥檚 off to Colorado鈥�. I hope the @usskiteam uniform still fits鈥︹��

The Stifel U.S. Ski Team confirmed Thursday that Vonn will rejoin the team currently training at Copper Mountain, Colo.

鈥淕etting back to skiing without pain has been an incredible journey,鈥� Vonn said in the press release. 鈥淚 am looking forward to being back with the Stifel U.S. Ski Team and to continue to share my knowledge of the sport with these incredible women.鈥�

Before her family moved to Vail, Colo., Vonn grew up skiing at Buck Hill, Minn., to support her ski racing dreams. She made her World Cup debut at 16, eventually tallying 82 World Cup victories and three Olympic and eight World Championship medals. Despite competing with a torn LCL and meniscus in her left knee, she concluded her career with a downhill bronze at the 2019 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Are, Sweden. Her April knee replacement has allowed her to ski pain-free for the first time in years.

鈥淚鈥檓 excited about the future because I鈥檓 finally not in pain all the time,鈥� Vonn said in September before being inducted into the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame. 鈥淚鈥檒l probably need another partial on the other side or a full replacement, but it鈥檚 changed my life completely.鈥�

Returning to ski racing means Vonn is going big. Whether she will qualify for the season鈥檚 first World Cup downhill on home turf in Beaver Creek, Colo., remains uncertain, but her U.S. teammates are eager for the possibility.

鈥淏eaver Creek is going to be so exciting,鈥� said Breezy Johnson at Copper Mountain. 鈥淚f a certain blond comes back, I just hope she puts up some Ws.鈥�

Former teammates and new U.S. skiers alike expressed support. Retired star Julia Mancuso, who often shared the spotlight with Vonn, posted, 鈥渨ow, you鈥檙e incredible,鈥� in response to Vonn鈥檚 announcement. Bella Wright, a U.S. team member, added, 鈥淚 never got the opportunity to be Lindsey鈥檚 teammate in the past, so the opportunity to ski alongside her is extremely exciting!鈥�

Since retiring, Vonn has run empowerment camps for young girls through the Lindsey Vonn Foundation, carried the torch for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and launched an Athlete鈥檚 Family Initiative as part of the 2034 Salt Lake City Games bid. Red Bull also recently facilitated her dream of skiing the Streif in Kitzb眉hel at night.

The ski world is thrilled at Vonn鈥檚 return. Milan Cortina 2026 responded to the announcement, hinting that she may compete again in the Olympics.

鈥淟indsey has made an indelible mark on alpine skiing,鈥� said U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Sophie Goldschmidt. 鈥淗er dedication and passion for the sport are inspiring, and we鈥檙e excited to welcome her back on snow.鈥�

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A few days after the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris wrapped up, I went to a restaurant with my family and noticed bizarre behavior from some of the patrons. A few tables away, a guy was hopping alongside his table with his hands curled in front of him like bunny paws as the other members of his party cracked up. At another table, a woman passed her phone around to her friends to show them a video. “Oh my god, what is she doing?” I heard one of them say.

The next morning, I saw more weirdness at my local swimming pool: kids and adults bounced off of the diving board and did mid-air kangaroo poses and breakdancing leg-grabs before splashing into the water.

Yep, this was the height of Raygun Mania, when the entire world seemed to be fixated on Australian Olympian , and her hilarious if cringe-worthy routine during Olympic breakdancing. Raygun’s marsupial-themed moves鈥攜es, she called one of them the 鈥淜angaroo hop鈥濃�攅arned zero points from the judges but became perhaps the singular moment of the entire Paris Games. If you spent any time on social media during the middle of August, you were probably inundated by a tidal wave of Raygun content: memes, spoofs, .

Dr Raygun is an Aussie legend.

We dance to our own beat.

And bring marsupial energy to every contest.

She鈥檚 a national treasure.

Give her an AO.

鈥� Craig Foster (@Craig_Foster)

Even those who aren’t hyper-online were subject to it. British songstress to concertgoers. ran a segment about it. My 82-year-old Dad knew about Raygun and he’s never even been on Twitter.

These Raygun memes just keep going

鈥� Dr. Scott Kelly (@drscottkelly)

And then, like all modern media sensations, Raygun was fed into the wood chipper that is the American culture war, and a predictable process played out. There was the backlash (!) and a backlash to the backlash (!). Within a few days, the Internet became choked with mean-spirited hot takes attacking kangaroos, Australia, breakdancing, eighties pop culture, and anything else remotely connected to Raygun’s wackadoo antics. Meanwhile Gunn, 36, who is a university professor in Sydney, went into Internet hiding. And after a few days, the whole world moved on.

Well, this week Gunn broke her silence.听In an exclusive interview with Australian TV show The Project, . Gunn also apologized to Aussie B-Boys and B-Girls for all the negative vibes her antics attracted. “It is really sad to hear those criticisms and I am very sorry for the backlash that the community has experienced, but I can鈥檛 control how people react,” she said.

As someone who has covered niche sports and Olympic competition for the better part of the last two decades, I have my own take on the Raygun ordeal: She shouldn’t apologize for anything. In fact, everyone involved in competitive breakdancing and the Olympic movement should thank Gunn. Her 60-second dance routine cut through the global news cycle and attracted millions of eyeballs. By my estimation, Gunn sparked more conversations about breakdancing than every eighties film combined.

Grabbing this much awareness during the Olympics is tougher than you might assume. When I was a reporter with The SportsBusiness Journal, I regularly spoke to officials who worked in niche Olympic sports. They viewed the Summer Games as the single golden opportunity to showcase their sport to the masses.

Every four years, these officials strategize how to market their respective sports to casual viewers. They debate which athlete, or event, or highlight, will resonate with the American public. They know that a seminal Olympic moment will have a trickle-down effect that can attract new fans and participants.

Niche sports and the athletes who participate in them face a huge challenge at the Olympics, which our contributor Aimee Berg recently chronicled. In the U.S., swimming, women’s gymnastics, basketball, and track-and-field, dominate Olympics TV coverage, and star athletes like LeBron James and Katie Ledecky grab most of the attention. The best a niche athlete can hope for is a gold-medal performance, which may or may not lead to a three-minute segment during that night’s primetime TV coverage on NBC.

Sometimes gold medals aren’t enough to make an athlete a star. Velodrome cyclist now has three gold medals, a silver, and a bronze. But Valente can walk through any shopping mall in America without being noticed.

Raygun, meanwhile, upended this pecking order, and accomplished what all of those sports marketers could never do. She elevated her sport鈥攚hich was new to the Olympic program, no less鈥攖o the top of the media frenzy at the Paris Games. In restaurants across the world, millions mimicked her dance and showcased her clips. They debated her merits and argued about her routine.

And of those millions, a not insignificant portion watched clips of other breakdancers.听Maybe they saw the of Canadian dancer Philip “Wizard” Kim, or watched in the women’s final round. Perhaps some of these viewers showed those clips to their kids, who watched wide-eyed and wondered if they, too, could someday spin around on the ground to hip-hop music. And maybe some of those kids begged their parents to sign them up for a breakdancing class at the local recreation center or dancing academy.

Yes, Raygun’s dance was undeniably goofy. But what she accomplished for her sport was nearly impossible, and something that future sports marketers will try, and fail, to replicate. She shouldn’t be sorry for that.

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