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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡
● Athletics ● Grand Slam Track founder Michael Johnson confirmed to Front Office Sports that an investor pull-out was the reason for the cancellation of its fourth meet this year and the circuit’s funding problems:
“That was a huge blow to us, caused a major, major cash flow issue for us, put us in a difficult position, put our athletes in a difficult position. But we’re very confident that we’ll pull ourselves out of it.”
“We’ve had a very difficult situation this year financially. We had an investor that wasn’t able to honor their complete commitment to the league.”
“We’ve been working very hard over the last couple of months to make sure that we can get everyone taken care of and making sure that we can actually get to next season. It’s what I wake up in the middle of the night working on and thinking about and what I wake up [to] every morning.”
Grand Slam Track owes prize money for most or all of its three meets and owes nearly $93,000 to the City of Miramar, Florida for venue rental and ticket sales fees for the second meet on 2-4 May.
≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The agreement by the National Hockey League to have players participate in the Winter Games next year also means that NHL officials will be working the Games, along with officials from the International Ice Hockey Federation.
This is nothing new, as officials from both organizations have worked together in each Games in which the NHL has been involved, from Nagano 1998 through Sochi 2014. The IIHF noted last week:
“Any time, however, that two different crews come together, there is a period of adjustment, and that’s why the ‘blending’ will start next month, half a year away from the first game of the Olympics. All on-ice officials will gather in Buffalo, New York, to meet, train, and work together in preparation for Milano Cortina.”
Danny Kurmann (SUI), the IIHF’s director of officials, explained:
“The Olympic Games are officiated according to the IIHF rulebook, which closely aligns with the NHL’s rulebook. But our goal is to ensure consistent philosophy and interpretation across both leagues, so there will be discussions and training focused on these points. Team building is also a big part of our mini-camp in August – getting to know each other, building trust, and preparing together as a unified group. It’s all important to the end goal, which is to produce seamless officiating next February.”
● Transgender ● USA Weightlifting posted a statement after the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee changed its Athlete Safety Policy to follow Presidential Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” The statement included:
“Failure to follow this mandate risks USAW’s position as the national governing body for the sport of weightlifting in the United States.
“Our current Athlete Gender Inclusion, Competitive Equity, and Eligibility Policy (effective Jan. 1, 2025) does not comply with the USOPC’s mandate because we provide a pathway for transgender women to compete in the female category. In response to that mandate, USA Weightlifting must update our policy to prohibit transgender women from competing in the female category. We are engaging with our community, including transgender athletes, to determine how we can best keep and protect a meaningful place in our sport for our transgender athletes while also meeting this new standard.
“We’re targeting September 1 for our Board of Directors to consider and approve a new policy. … We are hopeful that the USOPC will allow for our new policy to include alternative competition solutions (e.g., an open category) for our transgender athletes, but those details are still under discussion and negotiation.”
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In New Zealand, the government told Sport NZ, the recreation and sports authority in the country, to remove its 2022 guidelines on inclusion from its Web site. Per Sport NZ chief executive Raelene Castle:
“[T]he government has informed Sport NZ that it should not be involved in publishing guidelines related to gender in sport.
“Sporting organisations will continue to make their own decisions on the participation of transgender people in community sport and there are a range of expert organisations that can provide support.”
Sports Minister Mark Mitchell said, “The government does not want to be telling [federations] how to run their own sports; fundamentally we want to see rising participation in sport, but we want to make sure there is safety and fairness in all sports.”
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Aquatics ● Spain’s Iris Tio won her sixth medal of the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in Artistic Swimming, teaming with Dennis Gonzalez to win the Mixed Duet Free final, scoring 323.8563 to edge Russian “neutrals” Aleksandr Maltsev and Olesia Platonova (323.4438).
In the Team Acrobatic final, China outscored Russia (“neutrals”) and Spain, 220.0186 to 224.7291 to 221.0962.
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Diving began on Saturday with China taking the Mixed Team event, scoring 466.25 to 426.30 for Mexico and 409.65 for Japan. The U.S. team of Jack Ryan, Carson Tyler, Sophie Verzyl and Daryn Wright placed a close fourth, scoring 404.90.
Australia’s Maddison Keeney won her second Worlds gold in the women’s 1 m Springboard – previously way back in 2017 – at 308.00, well ahead of 2022 Worlds winner Yajie Li (CHN: 290.25) and Chiara Pellacani (ITA: 270.80). American Hailey Hernandez was fourth at 270.45, closing the gap on her final effort, but just missing the bronze.
China’s Jiiyuan Zheng won the men’s 1 m final, scoring 443.70 over Mexico’s Paris 3 m bronzer Osmar Olvera (429.60) and China’s Siyu Yan (405.50).
In the Mixed 10 m Synchro, China’s Yongxin Zhu and Peiling Zhe were 12th and last after the first of five dives, but were second-first-first on their next three and had the lead, winning a very tight 323.04 to 322.98 test against North Koreans Wi Hyon Choe and Jin Mi Jo. The U.S.’s Tyler Wills and Bayleigh Cranford finished fifth at 296.13.
● Badminton ● As expected, China dominated the BWF World Tour China Open in Changzhou, winning four of the five events, and all four were all-China finals!
Third-seed Yu Qi Shi, the 2018 Worlds runner-up, won the men’s Singles over Zheng Xing Wang, 14-21, 21-14, 21-15, and second-seed Zhi Yi Wang, a two-time Asian champ, won the women’s Singles final, 21-8, 21-13, over Yue Han.
Olympic runner-ups Sheng Shu Liu and Ning Tan won the women’s Doubles and Yan Zhe Feng and Dong Ping Huang took the Mixed Doubles. Indonesia won the men’s Doubles.
● Cycling ● The 112th Tour de France concluded on Sunday in the same way that four of the last six have: with Slovenian star Tadej Pogacar as the winner.
The last major challenge was Friday’s uphill-finishing stage to La Plagne, with Thymen Arensman (NED), the Stage 14 winner, taking off in the final climb with 14 km remaining on the shortened 93.1 km route. He was chased by the race’s top three – Pogacar, second-place Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) and Florian Lipowitz (GER), but Arensman got his second win in 2:46:06, with Vingegaard and Pogacar 2-3 (+0:02) and Lipowitz third (+0:06). That gave Pogacar a 4:24 lead on Vingegaard with two stages left, and the issue was decided.
Saturday’s hilly, 184.2 km stage to Pontarlier was won by Australian star Kaden Groves, who broke away on a 17 km attack and won in 4:06:09, up 54 seconds on Frank van den Broek (NED). Pogacar and Vingegaard were in a huge group 7:04 behind.
Sunday’s 132.3 km ride into Paris also had some hills and cobblestones, with Belgian star Wout van Aert taking his 10th career Tour de France stage, and first in 2025, in 3:07:30; he attacked with 6 1/2 km left and was all alone at the finish.
Davide Ballerini (ITA), Matej Mohoric (SLO) and Pogacar finished 2-3-4, all nine seconds back, with American Matteo Jorgenson in fifth. Pogacar ended at 76:00:32 for the entire race, winning by 4:24 over Vingegaard and 11:00 over Lipowitz; Sepp Kuss was the top American, in 17th (+1:20:24).
Pogacar now has four wins, tied with Chris Froome (GBR), and at just 26, he is now taking aim at the four five-time winners: Jacques Anquetil (FRA), Eddy Merckx (BEL), Bernard Hinault (FRA) and Miguel Indurain (ESP).
¶
The fourth Tour de France Femmes started on Saturday, with Dutch star Marianne Vos taking the opening, 78.8 km stage to Plumelec, out-sprinting three others to win in 1:53:03. Sunday’s 110.4 km stage to Quimper saw Mavi Garcia (ESP) attack with 11 km to go and stay in front for the win in 2:44:29, three seconds ahead of the peloton, with Lorena Wiebes (NED) finishing second and Kimberley Pienaar (MRI) in third.
Lienaar and Vos share the overall lead, with the nine-stage race continuing through next Sunday.
● Fencing ● American Foil stars earned gold and silver at the FIE World Championships in Tbilisi (GEO), with two-time Olympic champion Lee Kiefer winning the women’s Foil on Friday, sailing past France’s Pauline Ranvier, 15-4, in the gold-medal match.
It’s Kiefer’s first individual Worlds gold, but her eighth Worlds medal (2-2-4); she had three prior individual bronzes in 2011-22-23. She said afterwards, “I’ve been chasing this for so long, and it’s eluded me. To be able to win this as well as the Olympics is awesome.”
The men’s Team Foil squad of Nick Itkin, Bryce Louie, Alexander Massialas and Gerek Meinhardt (Kiefer’s husband) dueled with Italy in the gold-medal final, coming up just short, 43-42, after making up a 10-point deficit. In the last six Worlds, the U.S. men’s Foil team has won four silvers (2017-18-22-25) and one gold (2019).
In the men’s Epee final, Olympic champ Koki Kano won a defensive battle with Hungary’s 2019 World Champion Gergely Siklosi, 10-9. Two-time Worlds medalist Sandra Bazadze (GEO) won his first individual gold in the men’s Sabre, defeating Jean-Philippe Patrice, 15-9 in the final.
The women’s Sabre was won by Russian “neutral” Yana Egorian, the 2016 Olympic champion, defeating surprise finalist Zuzanna Cieslar, 15-11.
France won the women’s Team Epee title with a 41-32 finals victory over the Russian “neutral” team. The U.S. team of Hadley Husisian, Leehi Machulsky, Cat Nixon and Tierna Oxenreider reached the quarterfinals, but lost to Russia.
● Football ● The UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 final in Basel (SUI) featured World Champion Spain and defending champion England and while the English generated some quality chances early, Spanish forward Mariona Caldentey scored in the 25th on a header off a cross from the right side by defender Ona Batlle.
That turned out to be the only score in the half and Spain ended with 68% of possession and a 7-6 edge on shots.
England got right back into it early in the second half as a play to the left side had substitute forward Chloe Kelly sending a cross into the box, and headed perfectly by striker Alessia Russo into the goal for the 1-1 tie in the 57th minute.
Spain continued to attack and hold most of the possession, but the English defended strongly and counterattacked when they could. Neither could score and the second half ended 1-1, with Spain holding 63% possession and 17-8 on shot attempts (10-2 in the second half).
England was more dangerous in the first extra period, but Spain almost scored right at the end as a cross in front of the English goal went between the legs of Spanish striker Salma Paralluelo. There was less excitement in the second extra period, again with no score, but Spain with three shots to none for England. On to penalties.
England’s Beth Mead scored on her penalty opener, but was told to re-take it, and Spain’s Cata Coll made the save. But after scoring on their first try, Spain failed to score on three tries in a row, with Paralluelo sending her try wide of the goal. In the fifth round, Kelly scored and closed the door, 3-1, and England defended its title from 2022.
● Gymnastics ● Paris Olympic All-Around gold medalist Darya Varfolomeev won the all-Around at the FIG Rhythmic World Challenge Cup in Cluj-Napoca (ROU), scoring 122.050 to edge Ukraine’s Taisiia Onofriichuk’s 120.150. American Rin Keys was eighth (112.200) and teammate Megan Chu was 15th (108.800).
Varfolomeev won the Ball final at 29.700, with Keys seventh (25.200), but Onofroochuk took the Clubs title (30.55), and won on Ribbon (29.050) with Keys second (28.050). Israel’s Meital Sumkin won on Hoop (29.300).
● Judo ● The IJF World Tour Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam drew 236 judoka to Mongolia, with Japan dominating with six wins among the 14 classes: Hiroto Shirakane (men’s 60 kg), Yuhei Oino (81 kg), Riku Okada (90 kg) and women’s winners Mitsuki Kondo (48 kg), Kokoro Fujishiro (52 kg), Utana Terada (70 kg).
● Volleyball ● Italy entered the Volleyball Nations League women’s finals in Lodz (POL) with a 12-0 record in round-robin play, and did not let up a bit, getting to the final with 3-0 sweeps of the U.S. and Poland.
Brazil had been second-best this season, losing only to Italy in early June and finishing 11-1. In Lodz, the Brazilians brushed Germany aside (3-0) and then came from a set down to edge Japan, 3-2 with a 15-8 final-set win.
In the final, the Italians completed a perfect season with a 22-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-22 triumph to finish at 15-0. Poland won the third-place match over Japan, 3-1.
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