Welcome to The Sports Examiner SPEED READ, a 100 mph (44.7 m/s) review of what happened over the last 96 hours in Olympic sport:
LANE ONE
Wednesday: The United States qualified for the men’s 2019 FIBA World Cup by winning the Group E Americas Qualifier over Argentina on Monday. A lot of the credit must go to coach Jeff Van Gundy, who hadn’t coached since leaving the NBA ‘s Houston Rockets in 2007. What he did was, to put it lightly, remarkable.
Friday: A note in the usually-sleepy report of the international rowing federation Council meeting stated that the Los Angeles 2028 organizing committee had asked to revisit the location of the rowing, possibly using the Long Beach Marine Stadium that was created for the 1932 Games. There’s a long history – and some serious questions – about that facility and its possible use the L.A. bids for 2012 and 2016 and now for 2028. We have the full details.
THE BIG PICTURE
Tuesday: The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indiana has published forms for survivors of Larry Nassar’s abuse to file for claims. But the clock is ticking and the forms must be in by 29 April … and they aren’t that easy to complete.
Wednesday I: A coordinated series of raids resulted in the arrests of five athletes in Seefeld (AUT) at the 2019 Nordic Skiing World Championships on allegations of blood doping and related offenses. A German sports physician, reportedly the mastermind, was also arrested, in Erfurt (GER). The actions made sense if looked at as part of a larger effort against doping.
Wednesday II: The German Cartel Office issued a long-awaited ruling on the advertising and social-media rights of German athletes under the International Olympic Committee’s Rule 40 and the German National Olympic Committee rules promulgated from it. The changes are substantial and could be meaningful in many countries – including the U.S. – if widely adopted, but for now, they only apply in Germany.
GLOBETROTTING by Phil Hersh
Thursday: A tough decision for the Russian Figure Skating Federation ended with two-time World Champion Evgenia Medvedeva being sent to the 2019 Worlds instead of a perhaos-more-deserving Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. The latter’s reaction: “Inside myself still was a little girl who naively believed. You’ve killed her.” Wow!
ALPINE SKIING
Thursday: The speed skiers take over the Alpine World Cup this week, with the men in Norway and the women in Russia, but without American Mikaela Shiffrin.
AQUATICS
Wednesday: The FINA World Series for Diving and Artistic Swimming start this week. The diving events in Japan have one question: can anyone beat the Chinese?
ATHLETICS
Tuesday: Five of the 12 Russian athletes whose doping positives were upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport have filed appeals; the USA Track & Field Board voted to maintain the suspension of President Vin Lananna and a plethora of world-leading marks in U.S. collegiate champs and a great vaulting meet in France!
BADMINTON
Tuesday: The BWF World Tour is in Muelheim for the German Open, with all five of the top seeds from Japan!
BASKETBALL
Monday: The U.S. scored a last-second victory in the final game of the FIBA Americas Qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup as Reggie Hearn hit an under-pressure 20-footer for an 84-83 victory on Monday night.
BOBSLED & SKELETON
Wednesday: American Elana Meyers Taylor gets ready to defend her world title at the IBSF World Championships in Whistler (CAN), where she won a bronze as a brakeman at the 2010 Winter Games. Germany’s Francesco Friedrich will try to keep his undefeated seasonal record intact and win his fifth straight world title.
CURLING
Tuesday: The U.S. Mixed Doubles Championships in Seattle will select the team to compete in the World Championships next month.
CYCLING
Monday: The UCI World Tour resumes with the UAE Tour in the Middle East, with a seven-stage event that began with a sprint win for Colombia’s Fernando Gaviria.
Tuesday: One of the oldest championship in sports – started back in 1893 – gets going this week in Poland: the UCI Track Cycling World Championships. Sprinters Matthew Glaetzer of Australia and Wai Sze Lee of Hong Kong are among the favorites.
Thursday: The European “Cobbled Classics” season is about to start with Saturday’s 74th running of the Omloop Het Niewsblad in Belgium, with Olympic champ Greg van Avermaet as one of the favorites.
FENCING
Wednesday: The FIE World Cup circuit is in Cairo (EGY) for the Pharoah’s Challenge, with both no. 1-ranked Race Imboden and no. 3-ranked Lee Kiefer in action for the U.S.
FOOTBALL
Wednesday: The U.S. women opened the SheBelieves Cup in cold conditions in Chester, Pennsylvania and gave up a late goal to end up with a 2-2 tie with Japan. The U.S. did a lot of things well, but not enough to win.
FREESTYLE SKIING
Thursday: The Aerials and Moguls season titles may be decided this weekend in China and Kazakhstan, with multiple contenders in each race.
GYMNASTICS
Friday: The American Cup – the top U.S. invitational meet of the year – is getting ready in Greensboro, with five World Championships medal winners slated to compete, including Sam Mikulak (USA) and Kenzo Shirai (JPN) among the men and Mai Murakami (JPN) and Ellie Black of Canada among the women.
MODERN PENTATHLON
Tuesday: The long road to qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Games starts with the opening of the 2019 World Cup season in Cairo, with an excellent field assembled.
NORDIC SKIING
Tuesday: The amazing story of Norway’s comebacking Therese Johaug continues, with two dominating victories in the Nordic Skiing World Championships. How many golds can she win, and how much history can she make?
RUGBY
Thursday: The U.S. men are tied for first in the World Rugby Seven Series and the fifth tournament of the season is at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. Can they win after four straight second-place finishes?
SHOOTING
Tuesday: The U.S. Shotgun Spring Selection Match in Tucson will help select the American entries for the Pan American Games and Shotgun World Championships.
Thursday: Huge field for the first ISSF World Cup in New Delhi, with four world records set and two wins by young Veronika Major of Hungary.
SNOWBOARD
Thursday: The World Cup leads in Snowboard Snow Cross are hanging in the balance on this week’s rides in Spain, with American Lindsey Jacobellis going for another seasonal title after a tough World Championships.
SPEED SKATING
Friday: The 113th World Allround Championships are in Calgary (CAN) this weekend, with Patrick Roest (NED) trying to defend his title against Norway’s Sverre Lunde Pedersen and Japan’s Miho Takagi trying to repeat.
WRESTLING
Wednesday: The U.S. has a formidable team in Bulgaria at the Dan Kolov tournament, a United World Wrestling ranking meet. Olympic champs Jordan Burroughs and Kyle Snyder will wrestle and there are other Olympic and World Champions competing as well.
UPCOMING
Highlights of the coming week, with previews in the coming days on TheSportsExaminer.com:
● Bobsled & Skeleton: The second week of the World Championships, in Whistler.
● Football: Final doubleheader of the SheBelieves Cup, in Tampa.
● Swimming: Second leg of the Tyr Pro Swim Series, this time in Des Moines.
And a look at the Olympic future of sports like Baseball, Softball and Karate, which didn’t make the Paris 2024 request list.
