Welcome to The Wrap, a weekly podcast covering women's sports news.
Bez, what have we got around the grounds this week?
Paralympics have wound up for the time.
It seemed like they went fast.
They did go fast.
Irina Sabalenko won her third major title and an 18-year-old is the world surfing champ.
Katie Simmers, isn't she?
For the key story, we'll chat about a new report looking into the visibility of England
Women's National Rugby Union team, which has revealed that the awareness gap between
the Red Roses, so that's the Women's National Team, and the men's side is narrowing.
We love to see it.
My name is Chloe Dalton.
I'm joined every week on the show by my co-host, Bez.
We're recording on Gadigal land.
I'm very well, friend.
How are you today?
How was your weekend?
Recovering from two weeks post-op, post-vaccine.
I'm doing surgery, and I'm not doing a lot at the moment, and I'm very bored, so I'm
watching a lot of sport, which is not a bad thing, but...
Good time to be on the couch.
There's a lot going on.
If there is a good time to be on the couch.
If there ever is.
Let's take a look around the grounds.
Alexa Leary, obviously.
I'm taking the obvious one, but sometimes the obvious one's obvious for a reason, right?
So she won gold in that 100-meter freestyle and broke the wall.
She broke the world record twice in half a day.
She went out so hard in her heat, and it was funny because her dad being interviewed after
the heat was like, oh, I'm a little bit nervous.
She's gone too hard too early.
So she broke it in the heat.
As you said, dad was a bit worried.
No, we need to stress dad.
I'm all over this.
Broke it again in the final.
The 23-year-old from the Sunshine Coast set that world record time of 59.53 seconds after
clocking 59.6 in her sweet hymn, or her heat swim, as it may be.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
That's beautiful.
That's my sweet hymn for you.
I think some of my favorite parts of the Paralympics are the post-event interviews.
They capture the moment so beautifully, and Alexa told Channel 9, it's a miracle that
I'm living and I'm walking and talking.
I was told that I never would three years ago, and I've just come so far.
I'm so impressed with myself.
I'm like, Lex, look how far you've actually come.
I'm so here for it.
For me, Lauren Parker was amazing.
Coming back from the heartbreak, so the Tokyo race and the triathlon, she was leading.
Was she leading pretty much the whole way?
They were pretty neck and neck, though, so it was just going to come down to that sprint
And then she got pipped at the line.
Absolutely horrible.
She did exceptionally.
She won a silver medal, but horrible for the heartbreak of being pipped at the line.
So she came back and she absolutely dominated to take out gold in the triathlon.
Not only that, she became the first Aussie Paralympian in over 40 years to win two gold
medals in two different sports at the same games.
That's impressive.
It's so impressive.
There was just so many impressive results.
There really were.
I just, obviously last night, so we're recording on Monday, but last night in the
marathon as well, just huge from-
Catherine de Brunner.
The Swiss athlete.
I was trying to remember her name.
Six events, five gold medals.
And all six podiums from the 100 meters to the marathon.
She was just like marathon winner of the Olympics.
Oh, Safan Hassan.
Safan Hassan, hold my beer.
You might do the 5,000 meters to the marathon.
I'll see that and I'll go 100 meters to the marathon.
Hey, speaking of world records, Vanessa Lowe.
What an absolute legend she is.
She was so good, wasn't she?
She set a new world record of 5.45 meters.
Her closest, this kind of puts it into context.
Her closest competitor, silver medalist Martina Carboni, jumped just 5.06 meters.
That's more than your ruler, kids.
How many centimeters more?
I was rounding up.
I was like, oh, gosh.
I can't remember what number she said.
That was her third consecutive gold medal in the event.
She first won, was representing Germany, then Australia, and then Australia.
And she's going to keep going, she said.
We love having you representing Australia, Vanessa.
Any day of the week.
And the current Olympic champion Nina Kennedy has added to her diamond league winning streaks
with her eighth consecutive podium in the competition.
A strong start from the Australian had her rivals under immediate pressure as she set
the tone from start to finish, clearing 4.87 meters on her first attempt to lock away the
victory in a replay of the Olympic podium.
She told media, I don't know if I'm unbeatable.
2024 has been the best season of my career with seven wins.
I can never be disappointed in a competition with a win.
Yet, I am a bit disappointed.
to come here and jump 4.95.
Always striving for more, aren't they?
Meanwhile, Olympic silver medalist Nikola Oleslaga secured another podium finish
with second place in the high jump, finishing behind Olympic champion
and world record holder Jaroslava Mahuchik.
In some rugby league news, the Roosters made a statement
handing the Cronulla Sharks their first loss of the season
with a 40-0 drubbing at Shark Park.
Yeah, that one hurt, didn't it?
Yeah, that's a big, big score.
The Roosters set the tone of the match, scoring four tries in the opening half
with a Tessa Poulet opening the scoring in just the fourth minute.
It was 22-0 at the break and they came out and continued their dominant scoring
another three tries in the second half.
The result leaves Cronulla still two points clear on top,
but that big kind of against number in their against column means
that they could lose top spot if they get beaten by Brisbane on the weekend.
Oh, it's getting a bit tight with that loss, isn't it?
For and against matters.
Shout out to Dominique Stinger-Detoy.
Although it was a tough loss for the Cronulla Sharks, she made her NRLW debut.
Stinger works with us at TFAP doing all the socials,
so well done, Stinger, on your debut.
In AFLW, the Geelong, the Geelong, I don't know why I called them that,
have fought back in a thrilling final quarter to draw 36-all
with North Melbourne in some wet conditions.
North Melbourne's Talia Randall kicked the only goal of the opening term
Geelong blew several scoring chances while the Roos converted late in the half,
leading into the main break with a 28-10 lead.
Geelong forward Ash Maloney kicked two goals in the third term
to help reduce the deficit to five points at three-quarter time.
And then Nina Morrison nailed an early final quarter goal
to put Geelong in front for the only time of the game,
but North replied immediately.
With a little more than two minutes left, Geelong's Michaela Bowen
then kicked the goal that tied the scores.
Like, this is, that's a big result for Geelong to tie with.
North have been tipped by many experts,
but also players across the competition as the team to beat.
So for Geelong to seal a draw against North Melbourne is pretty impressive.
Grand final preview, I reckon.
That's a big call.
Although it's very confusing, the colours and the stripes.
I thought I was going to get some, like, really detailed insight
about why you thought that was a grand final preview.
Just how it confuses my aesthetic view of the game.
The hoops and the down, the vertical stripes.
It is a bit weird because they're similar colours, aren't they?
In some tennis news, US Open final.
Arina Sabalenka has won the US Open,
defeating American Jessica Puglia in straight sets 7-5, 7-5.
Up three zip in the second set, Sabalenka was forced to fend off
a pretty impressive comeback from the world number six,
who won five straight games.
And she really nearly got a third set on the table.
But Sabalenka snapped it back with four,
four consecutive games in a row to win her first US Open singles trophy.
So it was, I want to say it was 5-4 to Jessica.
He was serving for the second set and Sabalenka broke back.
It's just one of those things.
My wife is a tenniser and she tells me how hard it is to serve.
Like you've got to make someone serve for the set.
You're going to make him earn it kind of thing.
You know what I mean?
I would like more detail.
It was 5-4 and I think it was actually 5-3 and Sabalenka nearly lost her serve.
So it would have been 6-3, second set done.
And Kirst said, no, she has to win this and make it 5-4.
I was like, does it even matter?
Because she's probably going to lose this set anyway.
She goes, no, no, no.
She's got to make her serve for the set.
She's got to make her serve it out.
And sure enough, she got the wobbles because of the pressure.
So it's flipping it back on that person.
Making them earn it on their own racket was the words.
Rather than giving it up.
But surely they're in the – I often wonder that when they're down like,
I don't know, 5-zip.
Surely they'd only like give it up at that point, right?
Yeah, I think that's a bit different.
I think when it's zip, it's different.
But, yeah, so 5-4, she's up and all of a sudden the poor thing loses 7-5.
I've just had a thought I'm going to get in trouble for not saying love
I do love tennis.
So with the win, Sabalenka became the first woman to claim both
hardcourt majors in a single season since 2016 when Germany's Angelique
Kerber took both the Australian Open and the U.S. Open titles.
Speaking of amazing post-match interviews, Sabalenka, she's another one.
She's quality in the interviews, isn't she?
She is just a real true authentic self, tells it how it is.
She's told the media every time I see my name on that trophy,
I'm so proud of myself, I'm proud of my family,
that they never gave up on my dream and that they were doing everything
they could to keep me going.
It really means a lot.
It's always been my dream.
It's always been my dream.
She was super emotional, I loved it.
Bit of Alexa Leary about her.
I love when people say they're proud of themselves.
In surfing, in the final of the World Surf League,
Kaylin Simmers has been crowned the youngest WSL champion in history.
So a quick refresher on how the WSL finals work because it is
a little bit confusing.
It's a one-day event that sees the fifth and fourth ranked surfers
battle it out in match one before the winner advances to face
the third ranked surfer in match two.
That winner then advances, you get it, so on, so on, so on,
until you've versed the first ranked.
So you have to beat the number one to become number one.
And the final of the final, just to make it confusing,
is a best of three.
So all those other matches are just win and go on,
whereas you get to the big dance and it's best of three.
I love that it's a best of three.
I'm glad we agree.
Brazilian surfer Tatiana Weston-Webb had an upset victory over Aussie
young gun Molly Pickles.
Clem in match one, which ultimately led to the final showdown
between top-ranked Caitlin Simmers and defending champion Carolyn Marks.
Olympic gold medalist Marks snatched the first heat in a thriller.
Simmers dominated the second heat, living up to her ranking
with two nine-point rides.
I don't reckon it's that often you see two nine-point rides.
No, she was on a tear.
The pair were starved of waves in the deciding heat,
with Simmers scoring 15.16 while her Olympic teammate
only managed one score.
to leave Simmers as the new world champion.
She told media after the heat,
It means so much.
I literally was going through every single emotion today
and it just feels effing crazy.
I think she swore, but for the podcast rankings,
I'm not going to swear.
She definitely dropped it.
I went and cried in the locker room for 30 minutes until my first heat.
I didn't want freaking Caroline to have it all because that freaking girl
wins everything and she's the hardest person to beat.
Again, honesty is so refreshing, isn't it?
There's not a cliche to be seen here.
Yeah, that's where it's at, people.
Get some media training like that.
Oh, I forgot to put my goat up.
Let's take a look at the key story.
So, we're going to focus on some rugby union here.
Oh, your least favourite sport.
A new report in the UK from the Women's Sports Trust, or WST,
looking into the visibility of England's women's national rugby union team
has revealed that the UK women's national rugby union team has been
the most important sport in the world.
The UK women's national rugby union team has revealed that the
awareness gap between the Red Roses and the men's side
reduced by 10% in the last year.
The awareness gap can be defined as the gap in any area between women
and men in terms of their levels of participation, access, rights,
remuneration or benefits.
That means awareness of the women's team has actually grown by 10%
and is now 15% less than the men, which were down from 25% in 2023.
The report from the WST, which was co-funded by O2 and the Rugby
Football Union, the RFU, which is their government, has shown that the
UK women's national rugby union team has grown by 10% in the last year.
The report from the WST, which was co-funded by O2 and the Rugby Football
Union, the RFU, which is their government, has shown that the UK women's
national rugby union team has grown by 10% in the last year.
Forms part of efforts from the trio to close the gender awareness gap,
grow the fan base and increase match day attendance for the Red Roses.
But it also found that 63% of rugby union fans aren't yet able to name a
player on the Red Roses team.
So to help bring the report's findings to life, the organisations have
created the UK's first ever wearable report.
This is such a cool concept.
A five-piece collection designed by Red Rose player Ellie Kildon.
She's a fan of the Red Roses.
She's a fan of the Red Roses.
She's got a creative platform called 5022, and she's also an awesome
rugby player too.
A wearable report.
Okay, I'm picturing pieces of paper stuck to your clothes.
It's obviously a lot cooler than that, isn't it?
Yeah, I'll make sure producer Soph gets some graphics up when this video
goes live, so keep an eye on our socials for it.
It's not paper stuck to the T-shirt.
Is that what you're picturing?
That's in my mind's eye.
That's where it was going.
Kildon said, that's the space that women's rugby is going into.
It's creating its own audience.
It's very accessible.
With the visibility rising through projects like this, we are only going
to grow the game in ways it has not seen before.
So some other key stats to come out of the report include the 2024
Women's Six Nations was the most viewed on record with 8.1 million people
tuning in for the three minutes or more.
That's 33% more than 2023.
That's impressive.
A third more than the year before.
Popularity of the Women's Six Nations among 18 to 20%
to 24-year-old fans has arisen from 19% to 24%.
And amongst national representatives, Association of the Red Roses brand
with the England women's team has risen from 20% to 24%.
Alex Teasdale, the RFU Women's Game Director said,
we know that 18 to 24-year-olds are passionate about change and they tap
into modern influences such as fashion and design to tell their stories.
They don't just stick pieces of paper to their clothing.
We also know Gen Z value diversity.
And I focused on intersectionality.
And whilst we're talking about visibility of women in this report,
we need to recognize women aren't a homogenous group and that we still
have a way to go in diversifying the game.
All right, there.
And this is all like obviously leading into the fact that they're hosts
of the 2025 World Cup next year.
Oh, gosh, I keep forgetting.
It's not far away.
We need to book our flights.
The draw comes out in October.
We're going to know where the girls are playing.
It's all happening.
We're definitely booking.
We're definitely booking.
one of the things,
one of the measurables from this will be that ticket sales again.
measurable things that they can fall back on.
And I think they're going to sell out Twickenham for the final.
I think they absolutely are going to sell out Twickenham for the final.
It's very exciting times.
How good is that?
Let's take a look at what to watch.
both coming off back-to-back wins to start the AFLW season.
The Adelaide Crows will face off against Hawthorne this weekend with both
sides looking to make it three in a row.
The action kicks off on Sunday,
Sunday at 1 0 5 PM AEST.
And you can catch it live on KO Sports.
third place Broncos will be out to knock the Sharks off top spot on the NRLW
When the two sides face off at this weekend,
the Sharks will be looking to bounce back from their first loss.
You can catch the action on Saturday,
midday AEST live and free on the Nine Network and Nine Go.
And in a bit of rugby union,
the Wallaroos are taking on Ireland for the first time in seven years.
The two teams last played at the 2017 Rugby World Cup,
with Australia taking a 36 to 24 win.
The match kicks off this Saturday in Ireland at 11 30 PM AEST.
And you can catch the action live on Stan Sport.
Just reminded me that I need,
need to make sure that I can find somewhere to stream that while I'm away
Thanks for the reminder.
TFAP, this is what we're here for people.
You're so welcome.
Sorry for wrapping you up early.
We'll see you next week.
That was just me thinking out loud.
Cause that's what I do.
That's how you operate.