Pitch Publishing – serie

The sequel to The Roar of the Lionesses - named one of The Guardian's best sports books of 2016. England's Lionesses headed to France for the 2019 Women's World Cup endeavouring to improve on their third-place finish in Canada four years previously. But they didn't have the easiest of preparations, with dramas and headlines emerging for all the wrong reasons. Back home, FA upheavals brought yet another restructure of competition in women's football. The top flights switched back to a winter season, and now all the elite teams had to employ players on a full-time professional basis. While the superstars went in search of spectacular silverware, the goalposts were being moved for pros, part-timers and amateurs alike. Even women playing football for fun were forced to consider their place in the system. Carrie Dunn's Pride of the Lionesses offers a timely inside analysis of one of the UK's fastest-growing sports. Is women's football in England actually growing from top to bottom - or is it just another slick PR campaign?

Super Shoes is the inside story of the sport-shattering impact made by advanced technology and footwear manufacturing within athletics. Liam Tharme speaks to elite athletes, coaches, researchers, shoe designers and engineers to explain the avalanche of world records and fast times in track races and road running in recent years. Tharme uncovers how and why records and assumptions about human performance limits have been smashed ever since Nike launched their first Vaporfly in 2017, when ‘super shoes’ first hit the market. He charts the history of technological advancements and shoe development, reveals why it was not Adidas but Nike that staged the first sub-two-hour marathon, speaks to those who made Breaking2 a reality, and delves into the role that universities in Colorado and Calgary played in revolutionising running.