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: The FINA World Championships, the climax of the Tour de France, the USA Track & Field Nationals and the start of the 2019 Pan American Games all come this week! Each is great in its own way; the swimming Worlds has already stood the world on its head with Australia’s Ariarne Titmus beating Katie Ledecky in the 400 m Free. But there are many winners from that race … unfortunately USA Track & Field is not one of them and is likely to have a rough week ahead.
THE BIG PICTURE
Friday: An error in the production of the USA Track & Field selection procedures for the 2019 Pan American Games resulted in Friday’s decision by an arbitrator that six athletes who were not on the team when announced in June must be placed on the squad … if the Pan Am Games organizers will allow the changes!
AQUATICS
Saturday: The Artistic Swimming, Diving and Open Water disciplines finished at the FINA Worlds, with Russia and China going 21-for-21 in the events they contested in Artistic and Diving. The Chinese won all 12 events (of 13) they contested in Diving and the Russians dominated (9-of-9) Artistic Swimming, but both skipped one event. Wow.
Sunday: The swimming portion of the 2019 FINA World Championships finally got underway in Korea and Australian teen Ariarne Titmus overtook a stunned Katie Ledecky in the final 25 m of the women’s 400 m Freestyle to win her first world title. Australia won the women’s 4×100 m Free relay as expected and Nathan Adrian anchored the U.S. to gold in the men’s 4×100 m Free relay. Oh yes, Britain’s Adam Peaty set a world record in the semis of the 100 m Breaststroke! Quite a first day!
ATHLETICS
Terrific Muller Anniversary Games in London’s Olympic Stadium in the last Diamond League meet for three weeks:
Saturday: Jamaica’s Danielle Williams screamed to a 12.32 win in the 100 m hurdles, fastest in the world this year, plus a world leader and European record from Norway’s Karsten Warholm in the 400 m hurdles!
Sunday: Kenya’s Hellen Obiri won a thriller from Dutch star Sifan Hassan in the women’s 5,000 m, plus two more world leaders in the men’s mile and men’s 4×100 m.
BADMINTON
Sunday: With $1.25 million on the line in prize money, no wonder it’s hard to repeat at the Indonesia Open! But both the men’s and women’s Doubles teams managed it, with Mohamad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan (INA) winning the men’s tourney, and Japan’s Yuki Fukushima and Sirota Hayaka taking the women’s title again.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Sunday: Canada’s World Champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes gave home fans a thrill in Edmonton by sweeping all six of their matches in the FIVB 3-star tournament, including the final against Americans Betsi Flint and Emily Day. U.S. women scored another silver in the 4-star tournament in Espinho, with Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil reaching the final, but losing to Russians Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina.
CYCLING
Sunday: After a brilliant stage win on Friday and an equally-amazing second on Saturday, France’s Julian Alaphilippe gave back some time on Sunday to defending champion Geraint Thomas (GBR) in the Tour de France, but still leads by 1:35 going into Monday’s rest day.
Friday: Another brilliant win by Dutch star Marianne Vos, this time in the one-day La Course by Le Tour de France, with an explosive sprint at the finish to win this race for the second time … in the six times it has been held!
GYMNASTICS
Saturday: Simone Biles overpowered a field of the top American gymnasts to win the GK U.S. Classic in Louisville with ease. But Riley McCusker was impressive in second, while 2017 World Champion Morgan Hurd finished sixth.
SPORT CLIMBING
Sunday: Teenagers ruled at the Lead World Cup in France, with Japan’s 16-year-old Hidemasa Nishida and 15-year-old Chae-Hyun Seo of Korea taking the wins. For Nishida, it was his first-ever World Cup medal!
TRIATHLON
Sunday: A return to the top of the podium for Britain’s two-time Olympic medal winner, Jonny Brownlee, at the Edmonton Sprint, just of Spain’s Mario Mola, who is suddenly back in the race to defend his seasonal World Series title! A lot of the top women skipped Edmonton, which opened the door for Australia’s Emma Jackson, who hadn’t medaled in a Series race since 2014, but finished first, ahead of American Summer Rappaport.
UPCOMING
Highlights of the coming week, with coverage in the coming days on TheSportsExaminer.com:
● Athletics: Start of the USA Track & Field National Championships in Des Moines;
● Cycling: Final week of the up-for-grabs Tour de France, first the Alps and then to Paris!
● Swimming: The FINA World Championships continue in Gwangju …
And at the end of the week: the 18th Pan American Games get started in Lima, Peru!
