Rachel Bachman

5 days ago | wsj.com | Rachel Bachman

More runners are going for models with huge, cushy soles—even though some run afoul of racing rulesWhen a new breed of super shoes hit the distance-running scene nearly a decade ago, they turned the sport on its head. No one was prepared for the Nike shoes with chunky soles injected with a carbon-fiber plate to suddenly make runners more efficient and so much faster. As other brands scrambled to catch up, world records were tumbling left and right. Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

5 days ago | wsj.com | Rachel Bachman

The governing body of running, World Athletics, scrambled to rein in the Frankenshoes. One rule capped a shoe’s sole thickness, or “stack height,” at 40 millimeters—about 1.6 inches. But recently, something strange has started to happen. Shoe companies started going over that limit, again and again, on purpose. Soles are now rising like cheese souffles, and runners are snapping up the super-sized shoes—even if they carry the risk of being disqualified from races.

1 week ago | wsj.com | Josh Dawsey |Rachel Bachman |Laine Higgins

NCAA sports have dramatically transformed since policy changes that allow students to cash in and transfer more easilyThe Trump administration is considering an executive order that could increase scrutiny of the explosion in payments to college athletes since 2021, after the president met with former Alabama coach Nick Saban, White House officials said. Trump met with Saban on Thursday night when he was in Tuscaloosa to deliver the University of Alabama’s commencement address.

2 weeks ago | wsj.com | Louise Radnofsky |Rachel Bachman

With the NCAA and athletes on the brink of a historic $2.8 billion settlement, one judge is calling all the shotsThe most powerful person in college sports history isn’t a conference commissioner or an NCAA president. It’s not even Teddy Roosevelt, who reformed football in the early 1900s following a rash of deaths on the field. Instead, it’s a 75-year-old federal judge who has degrees from two schools—and never scored a touchdown or sank a jump shot at either one.

3 weeks ago | wsj.com | Rachel Bachman

In recent years, the sport’s governing body has lost money and laid off staff. Now, three years from the Los Angeles Games, it’s canceling meets and under outside review. No Olympic team on the planet is more decorated than USA Track and Field. Its athletes have won 862 medals at the Summer Games, which is more than most countries have won across all sports combined over more than a century.