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Around this time a year ago, Caitlin Clark faced significant doubts amid an injury-wracked season with the Indiana Fever.
Shut down for 2025 amid lingering groin pain, it must have been difficult for Clark to imagine that, exactly 365 days later, she would play for the United States at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.
"How lucky am I? This is pretty special and pretty cool, and there's so many people that would kill to be in this spot and have this type of opportunity," Clark told FIBA's official website.
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Clark and the United States will face China on Friday to begin the group stage of the 2026 FIBA World Cup. The Americans are heavily favored to win the tournament for a record-extending 12th time, and for the fifth time in succession.
Bilingual queen type of things with Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston 🇺🇸🇩🇪 #FIBAWWC pic.twitter.com/Eneaiiyvl8
— FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup (@FIBAWWC) September 3, 2026Clark was named MVP of the five-game qualifying tournament in March, when the United States tore through the field with a 5-0 record in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Now she'll go up against the world's best players in Berlin, Germany, over a nine-day tournament that serves as a barometer for Team USA two years before the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
"Sometimes this is an even harder competition than the Olympics," Clark said. "I think one of the most fun parts is the international game and talent is growing and growing. These competitions are only getting harder to win."
Though the United States has shown no problems embracing the favorites tag, a younger group of players faces these expectations for the first time on an international stage.
But Clark, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese -- part of the so-called "Young and Turnt" contingent -- already know winning in Berlin is all that matters, irrespective of what it will take.
"I think one thing about USA Basketball that they do such a great job of is, you know, instilling their standards from a very young age," Clark said. "Our goal was always to win gold and, you know, we wanna do that at the highest level and do it consistently, and that's what they've done at every single level.
English (US)