What if the most delusional idea you ever had turned out to be the one worth chasing?

In this episode of Women in Sport, we speak with Ria Xi, an ultrarunner and the first person to run the ancient Silk Road: 20,000 kilometres from Vladivostok, Russia, to Lisbon, Portugal. We spoke to her live, mid-run, in China.

Ria opens up about leaving Silicon Valley, setting a record on the Camino de Santiago, and what running an ultramarathon every single day for 14 months does to your body, your brain, and your sense of self. She is also using the run as a live science experiment, getting brain scans along the route to study what extreme endurance does to the human brain.

Plus: running solo as a woman across some of the most remote places on earth, and why she says it's only delusional until it isn't.

And Sophie and Thess also chat about the European Athletics Championship in Birmingham earlier in August, which Women in Sport Podcast attended.

Previous study on long-distance running in brain's grey matter reference during the episode: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3409063/

What if you walked away from professional football as a teenager and ended up becoming world champion anyway?

In this episode of Women in Sport, we speak with Jasmijn Janssen, freestyle footballer, eight-time Dutch champion, and 2025 Super Ball World Champion from the Netherlands.

Jasmijn breaks down what freestyle football is, how she trains and what it took to finally win gold after two runner-up finishes. We also cover performing, whether Freestyle Football should be in the Olympics, and her mission to get as many kids as possible to smile, one trick at a time.

What happens when you win Olympic gold, and the world talks about your body instead of your medal?

In this episode of Women in Sport, we speak with Paula Leitón, Spanish water polo player, three-time Olympian, and Olympic gold champion at Paris 2024.

Paula shares, for the first time in an English-language interview, her journey from growing up in Spain and playing water polo since age seven to making her Olympic debut at just 16, winning silver in Tokyo, and finally claiming gold in Paris. She also opens up about the body shaming she faced live on television at the peak of her career, and the powerful response that turned her into a voice for body diversity in sport.

We also cover what it really takes to play centre forward at elite level, what it's like to compete in three Olympic Games at different stages of life, and how Paula channelled online hate into her anti-bullying book, XXL: From Olympic Gold to the Fight Against Fatphobia.

What does it take to build a professional women's football club from scratch, without a men's team behind it? In the Netherlands, it had never been done before. Until now.

In this episode, Sophie reports from Amsterdam on Hera United, the country's first independent professional women's football club. Co-founder Barbara Barend shares how a rule change at the KNVB made the club possible, and why she believes the standalone model is the future of women's football. We also speak with Maurizio Valenti Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, about what the research says on independent versus integrated clubs and what it really means for female athletes to have a team built entirely around them.

If you enjoy the show, don't forget to follow, rate, and share the podcast. Your support helps us reach more listeners and keep these conversations going. Follow us on Instagram for updates at @women_in_sport_podcast

#WomenInSport #WomensFootball #HeraUnited #Football #Soccer #WomensSoccer #WomensFootballNL #KNVB #Netherlands #SportsPodcast #WomenInFootball #GirlsWhoPlay #FootballPodcast #EredivisieVrouwen #AngelCityFC

Can you imagine swimming for 28 hours non-stop, setting a new record? Our guest for this episode can!

Records, endurance, and extreme open water swimming. In this episode of Women in Sport, we speak with ultra-marathon swimmer Amy Ennion, aka Amy Swims.

Amy shares how she built from 3K races to swims lasting over 20 hours, including English Channel crossings, world-first swims, and former British records. She explains what ultra-marathon swimming involves, from cold water and feeding strategies to the mental challenge of swimming for hours without music, data, or distractions.

We also cover how to get into open water swimming and what it takes to progress to longer distances.

Sports media isn’t just about results, highlights, and big moments. Behind the coverage is a system that decides which athletes we see, how they are portrayed, and whose stories get told.

So what does the research say about women in sports media? Why are female athletes still underrepresented, and how are they framed when they do get coverage? What role do journalists, editors, and media organisations play in shaping visibility and audience interest?

On this episode of Women in Sport, we sit down with Anne O’Brien, Associate Professor in Media Studies at Maynooth University, to talk about gender inequality in sport, media representation, and the findings from her research in Ireland. We explore why these patterns exist, how they impact society, and what needs to change to improve coverage of women’s sport.

On this episode of Women in Sport, we sit down with Annika Malacinski to talk about her journey in Nordic Combined, the realities behind the exclusion, and the fight to push women’s Nordic Combined onto the Olympic programme.

Nordic Combined is one of the most demanding sports in winter competition, combining ski jumping and cross-country skiing into a brutal test of skill and endurance. But despite its Olympic legacy, it remains the only winter Olympic sport that does not include women.

So what’s it like to train at the highest level in a sport that won’t let you compete on the biggest stage? Why are women still excluded, and what needs to change?

Check Annika's documentary, too. "Annika: Where She Lands" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC6naKkdo1c

Formula 1 isn’t just about the drivers on the grid. Behind every lap time, upgrade, and race strategy is a team of engineers pushing performance to the limit.

So what’s it really like to be a woman working in one of the most competitive engineering environments in the world? What does a Senior CFD Engineer do in F1, and how do data, simulations, and aerodynamics shape what we see on the track?

On this episode of Women in Sport, we sit down with Andra Patricia Groapa, Senior CFD Engineer at Cadillac F1, to talk about her journey into motorsport, life behind the scenes in F1, and what it takes to succeed as a woman in elite engineering.

Welcome to Season 3 of the Women in Sport podcast! We all love hearing about incredible athletes; those who can finish a marathon in just over two hours or blaze through a 5K parkrun in 15 minutes. But as running becomes more and more popular, these performances don’t represent the average runner.

So what does the average runner look like? And what is the slow-running movement all about? And more importantly, is it really a crime to wear a vest for a 5k?

On this episode, we sit down with Maggie Klein to dive into it!

If you enjoy the show, don’t forget to follow, rate, and share the podcast. Your support helps us reach more listeners and keep these conversations going. Follow us on Instagram for updates at @women_in_sport_podcast

Welcome back to Women in Sport, the podcast that brings you the stories of female athletes from across the world of sports.

After a long hiatus, we’re back with new energy, new stories, and new guests.

In past episodes, you’ve joined us in the ring to hear about the fierce rebirth of roller derby in the U.S, and on the streets of Kampala, where we met an international boxing champion funding orphanages in Uganda.

We are Thess Mostoles and Sophie Timmermann, and we can’t wait to share everything we’ve been working on! Follow us on Instagram at women_in_sport_podcast

https://www.instagram.com/women_in_sport_podcast/