Welcome to The Sports Examiner SPEED READ, a 100 mph (44.7 m/s) review of what happened over the last 72 hours in Olympic sport:
LANE ONE
Monday: Sunday’s Prefontaine Classic was terrific, with six world-leading marks and a magnificent run by Christian Coleman in the 100 m in 9.81. But on Saturday, 2012 long jump Olympian and 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin won $1 million for beating a bunch of other NFL players in a made-up event in Florida. That’s 256% of the whole Pre Classic prize purse of $390,000; something is very wrong here.
ATHLETICS
Sunday: Sensational Prefontaine Classic, with a sell-out crowd of 8,128 at Stanford to see six world-leading marks, including Christian Coleman’s 9.81-9.87 win over Justin Gatlin, what might be Caster Semenya’s last “un-medicated” race at 800 m and what should be considered a world record by Sifan Hassan in the women’s 3,000 m.
Sunday: On Saturday, former Florida star Will Claye exploded to reach 18.14 m (59-6 1/4) in the triple jump in Long Beach, California, moving him to no. 3 all-time, while earlier, in Sweden, Daniel Stahl spun the platter 71.86 m (235-9) to reach no. 4 all-time in that event. Must be a World Championships or Olympic year …
CANOE-KAYAK
Sunday: No American had won a Slalom World Cup medal in two years. No American woman had won a Slalom World Cup medal in 16 years. And no American woman had ever won a Slalom World Cup medal in the C-1 boat until 15-year-old Evy Leibfarth did it in Slovenia! And that wasn’t the only surprise at the Tacen Whitewater Center!
CYCLING
Sunday: Here’s another one for those who tell you that age is only a number. Amber Neben, now 44, won her fifth career – and third consecutive – USA Cycling National Time Trial Championship, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Amazing.
FENCING
Saturday: The U.S. – as expected – dominated the Pan American Championships, winning five of the six individual events. In the men’s and women’s Sabre, the U.S. went 1-2 and won three of the four medals in the men’s Foil.
FOOTBALL
Saturday: A surprisingly listless Germany fell to Sweden, 2-1, in the quarterfinals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, while the Netherlands eliminated Italy, 2-0; the two winners will meet in the semis. The oddsmakers now have the U.S. as overwhelming favorites.
Sunday: The favorites to meet in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final – Mexico and the U.S. – have made it to the semifinals, to meet Haiti (!) and Jamaica, respectively. But both struggled; in fact, all four semifinalists had a rough time in their weekend quarterfinals. The U.S. was largely asleep in its second half against Curacao, but win, 1-0.
GYMNASTICS
Sunday: The first FIG World Junior Championships finished up in Gyor (HUN), with Russia and Japan leading the medal table. The Japanese were strongest in the men’s events and the Russians dominated the women’s competition. But Kayla di Cello was a star for the U.S., finishing fourth in the All-Around and earning two individual medals, including one gold!
MODERN PENTATHLON
Sunday: The UIPM World Cup Final was held in Tokyo as the first test event in advance of the 2020 Olympic Games. Two Olympic champs – from 2016 and 2012 – looked ready to win, but only Lithuania’s Laura Asadauskaite actually made it to the finish line first and won a place in the Tokyo 2020 field.
TRIATHLON
Saturday: Can American star Katie Zaferes be stopped? She ran away from the world-class field at the ITU Montreal World Series Sprint and has now won four of five races this season (plus one silver). The men’s Sprint was a huge upset, plus a comeback performance for a superstar who had lost his way.
VOLLEYBALL
Sunday: The men’s Nations League round-robin was completed, with Brazil easily posting the best record at 15-1. But the U.S. finished sixth and now readies to host the Nations League Final in Chicago in a couple of weeks, and with a favorable draw in the group without Brazil!
UPCOMING
Highlights of the coming week, with previews in the coming days on TheSportsExaminer.com:
● Athletics: IAAF Diamond League returns to Europe with Athletissima in Lausanne
● Cycling: The Tour de France begins its three-week adventure on 6 July!
● Volleyball: The U.S. women are co-favorites to defend their Nations League title at the finals in China.
And a look at the IOC’s finances as revealed in its annual report.
