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: Do the names Divine Oduuru, Grant Holloway, Chris Nilsen, Sha’Carri Richardson and Janeek Brown mean anything to you? If you’re a track & field fan, they do now and many more will see them in action at the Doha Worlds and Tokyo Olympics thanks to what they achieved at the NCAA Championships in Austin last weekend.
ATHLETICS
Friday: Sensational NCAA men’s finals in Austin, as Grant Holloway breaks a 40-year-old collegiate record in the 110 m hurdles, Nigeria’s Divine Oduhuru doubles un 9.86 and 19.73 for Texas Tech and Chris Nilsen upsets Mondo Duplantis in the pole vault!
Saturday: Astonishing 10.75 women’s 100 m – a World Junior Record and a world leader – for LSU frosh Sha’Carri Richardson, plus more world leaders in the 200 m (Angie Annelus) and 100 m hurdles (Janeek Brown/JAM). Wow!
BADMINTON
Sunday: Korea’s 2014 World men’s Doubles Champions Sung Ko and Baek-Cheol Shin retired in 2016, but they’re back! They defeated the reigning World Champions in the semis and Japanese stars Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda to show they are going to be a factor on the road to Tokyo.
CYCLING
Sunday: Dutch riders Niek Kimmann and Laura Smulders were the stars at the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup in Saint Quentin in France, each winning their third and fourth medals in six races this season … and both now lead the seasonal series. At the UCI Mountain Bike Downhill in Leogang (AUT), France’s Loic Bruni and Australian Tracey Hannah won again.
FOOTBALL
Sunday: Another terrible performance for the U.S. men’s National Team on Sunday, losing 3-0 to Venezuela in Cincinnati, thanks to some dreadful defending and a mostly lifeless offense.
KARATE
Sunday: Four World Champions ended up with the golds at the Karate1 Premier League tournament in Shanghai. Kazakhstan and Turkey both won two classes.
SAILING
Sunday: Lithuania’s Viktorija Andrulyte was the most dominant sailor at the World Sailing World Cup Final in Marseille (FRA). Competing in the Laser Radial class, she won six of the nine races and was second in two others to win the class by 18 points. Three other classes came down to the final races to determine the winners.
SHOOTING
Saturday: The U.S. National Championships in Trap crowned two brand new champions in
Alex Rennert and Julia Stallings, both of whom had to come from behind to claim their victories.
SPORT CLIMBING
Saturday: She did it! Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret, the Olympic favorite, completed a perfect season – six wins in six events – to win the IFSC Bouldering World Cup title. Japan’s Tomoa Narasaki finished second in the men’s division and won the seasonal title.
SWIMMING
Sunday: Katie Ledecky won the 400 m Freestyle at the Santa Clara Invitational in a world-leading 3:59.28, then her biggest rival, Ariarne Titmus, won the Australian Worlds Trials 400 m Free in 3:59.35. Plus three world leaders at Mare Nostrum I in Monaco, and much more.
Saturday: In the FINA Marathon Swimming World Series in Portugal, indefatigable Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) just out-touched Italy’s Rachele Bruni to win in cold conditions that required wetsuits. Japan’s Yousuke Miyamoto was a first-time World Series winner, finishing just ahead of favored Andreas Waschburger (GER).
TABLE TENNIS
Sunday: China’s Gaoyuan Lin was a double winner at the Hong Kong Open, taking the men’s Singles and men’s Doubles titles, but the shock was unseeded Yidi Wang (CHN) beating no. 7 Mima Ito (JPN) in the women’s Singles final!
TRIATHLON
Sunday: Well, no one’s perfect, as Katie Zaferes finishes second in the ITU World Series race in Leeds (GBR). But American Matthew McElroy also won a silver, the first U.S. men’s medal in a World Series race in 10 years! 10 years!
VOLLEYBALL
Sunday: The FIVB Nations League continues; the women have completed three of five weeks, with Turkey leading the league at 8-1 and the U.S., Italy, China and Poland at 7-2. Among the men, Brazil is the leader after two weeks at 6-0, with Iran, France and Russia at 5-1.
WATER POLO
Sunday: A 13th FINA World League title for the U.S. women, with Maddie Musselman leading the way in a tight, 10-9 finals victory over Italy.
WRESTLING
Saturday: USA Wrestling’s first Final X matches confirmed Tamyra Mensah-Stock as one of the dominant wrestlers in the world and nominated 14 members of the American team for the 2019 World Championships.
UPCOMING
Highlights of the coming week, with previews in the coming days on TheSportsExaminer.com:
● Athletics: The World Athletics Diamond League moves to a sold-out Oslo on Thursday!
● Football: The FIFA Women’s World Cup continues in France with group play;
● Wrestling: The final Final X matches to select the U.S. World Championships team.
And on top of all the sports action is more intrigue and politics!
