7 women who have broken records, achieved firsts, and made history this year
Talia Lakritz
- As we approach March, which is Women's History Month, here are women who've made history in 2022.
- "Pose" star Michaela Jae "Mj" Rodriguez became the first trans actor to win a Golden Globe.
In January, "Pose" star Michaela Jae "Mj" Rodriguez made history as the first trans actor to win a Golden Globe Award.
Rodriguez beat out Jennifer Aniston, Uzo Aduba, Elizabeth Moss, and Christine Baranski to win the award for best actress in a TV drama at the Golden Globes, which were not televised this year. She won the award for her performance in the Emmy Award-winning show "Pose," which released its final season last summer.
At age 19, Zara Rutherford became the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.
Rutherford, whose father is a former British military pilot, circumnavigated the globe in her single-seater sport plane over five months. She broke two world records in the process as both the youngest woman to fly around the world and the first woman to do so in a microlight aircraft, according to the Washington Post.
American speed skater Erin Jackson won a gold medal in Beijing in February, making her the first Black woman to win the event at the Winter Olympics.
Jackson took home the gold in the 500-meter speed-skating event.
"I know I will be reflecting on this for a long time to come but if I had one thing to share it would be this: If a Black girl from central Florida can stand on the top step of an Olympic podium on the other side of the world as a champion ice skater, well, perhaps it's true that anything is possible," Jackson said in a statement shared with Insider's Gabi Stevenson.
Speed skater Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands set a new world record in the women's 1,000-meter short track.
Schulting, the defending Olympic champion, finished the quarterfinals race with a record time of 1:26.514. In the finals, she finished in 1:28.391 and won gold.
Speed skater Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands became the first athlete in history to win an individual gold medal at five different Olympic Games.
Wüst has won a total of 12 medals, including six gold, since her first Olympics in 2006. At 35 years old, she is also the oldest speed skater to win a gold medal.
At 49 years and 348 days old, German speed skater Claudia Pechstein set a new record for the oldest woman to ever compete in the Winter Olympics.
Pechstein is also the only woman to ever compete in eight Olympic Games. She has won a total of nine medals: five gold, two silver, and two bronze.
Australian golfer Hannah Green became the first woman to win a mixed-gender professional golf tournament.
Green made history as the winner of Australia's TPS Murray River event on February 20, Reuters reported. She was also the 2019 Women's PGA Championship winner.
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