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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● International Paralympic Committee ● The IPC announced the candidates for its elections on 27 September 2025, in Seoul (KOR), with the President, two Vice Presidents and seven At-Large board members to be selected.
Incumbent IPC President Andrew Parsons (BRA) is being challenged by Korean Hyun-bae Dong, the head of the Korean Paralympic Committee. Parsons, 48, is running for a third and final term as IPC head and has worked to raise the Paralympic profile and has created a close relationship with the International Olympic Committee.
● Athletics ● Multiple athlete agents told Front Office Sports that Grand Slam Track did not meet its own expectations to pay prize money from its Kingston, Jamaica meet by the end of July. In a statement, Grand Slam Track explained:
“Grand Slam Track is anticipating investor funds to hit our account imminently, and the athletes are our top priority.
“Once these funds are received on our end, we will work to immediately process them to the athletes, noting all banks have different timelines for receiving and depositing funds into individual accounts.
“We are in the process of recapitalizing the company, and we are committed to distributing funds to athletes as soon as we receive them. As we continue to receive funds in the upcoming months, we will distribute payments as they come in. We will continue making progress toward completing full payments at the earliest date possible.”
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Fred Kerley, the 2022 World men’s 100 m champion, but who has had repeated run-ins with law enforcement in 2025 and was suspended by Grand Slam Track, converted to Islam on 8 July. He noted in a social-media post:
“They tried to break me, Allah rebuilt me. Took my shahada today. I’m chosen. I’m covered. I’m home.”
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Aquatics ● A stunning upset in diving at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in the men’s 3 m Springboard final, as Mexico’s Osmar Olvera won at 529.55, beating Rio 2016 Olympic champ Yuan Cao (522.70) and three-time defending champion and two-time Olympic silver winner Zongyuan Wang (515.55).
Olvera won four of the six dives, and took the lead for good after his fifth dive and won the sixth to ensure his victory. Wang won two dives, but was sixth on two others and seventh on his fifth dive. The win for Olvera ends a Chinese winning streak of 10 Worlds in a row, from 2007-2024, with Wang winning the last three. The Paris 3 m bronze winner in 2024, Olvera won his second Worlds gold, after taking the 1 m title in 2024.
There was no such upset in the women’s 3 m Springboard, where Olympic champion Yiwen Chen was supreme, scoring 389.70 in the final, ahead of teammate Jia Chen (356.40) and Italy’s Chiara Pellacani (323.20).
It’s Chen’s ninth Worlds gold in her career and third in Singapore, after the team event and the 3 m Synchro. She’s now won the 3 m Springboard in 2022, 2023 and 2025.
Sunday’s men’s 10 m finale belonged to defending champion Cassiel Rousseau (AUS), who dominated the field and won with 534.80 points to 515.20 for Ukraine’s Oleksiy Sereda, the 13-year-old sensation of 2019, but now 19, who moved up from bronze in 2024.
Mexico’s Randal Waters out-dueled Chinese newcomers Zifeng Zhu and Renjie Zhao, 511.95 to 506.10 to 499.95 to win the bronze, the first time China has missed a Worlds medal in this event since 1982! That’s a streak of 17 straight Worlds stopped, in Singapore.
China dominated diving, as usual, with 16 medals (9-3-4) to seven for Mexico (1-4-2) and three each for Italy and Australia. It’s the second straight Worlds with nine wins for China, compared to 12 in 2023, all 13 in 2022, 12 in 2019; the last Worlds with less than nine was in 2017, with eight.
Thanks to its improved swimming performance (14 medals), China won the overall medal count at the Singapore Worlds with 37 (15-12-10), followed by the U.S. with 32 (10-11-11) and Australia (28:13-7-8). Eight countries won 10 or more total medals and 20 countries won one or more golds!
● Cycling ● After France’s Maeva Squiban won her second straight stage on Friday at the Tour de France Femmes, thanks to a 20 km solo attack on the 159.7 km route in 3:58:26, Mauritius’ Kimberley Pienaar still maintained the race lead by 26 seconds over France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.
But that all changed Saturday, on the massive uphill finish to the 111.9 km eighth stage. Ferrand-Prevot, the 2024 Paris Olympic Mountain Bike gold medalist, was the 2014 World Roads champ and is back, causing trouble. She attacked with 5 km left on the final climb and won in 3:47:24, a full 1:45 ahead of Sarah Gigante (AUS), with Pienaar in 17th (+9:06). So, going into Sunday’s final ride, Ferrand-Prevot was now the leader, by 2:37 over Gigante and 3:18 over 2023 winner Demi Vollering (NED)!
That set the stage for the 124.1 km finale, with three climbs and an uphill finish to Chatel Les Portes du Soleil, and Ferrand-Prevot was ready, riding away in the final 6.5 km to win in 3:38:23, 20 seconds up on Vollering and0:23 ahead of defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma (POL).
That gave Ferrand-Prevot the overall victory in 29:54:24, 3:42 up on Vollering and 4:09 ahead of Niewiadoma. She’s the first French winner of the Tour de France Femmes, in its fourth edition.
Niewiadoma kept her medal streak alive, now in all four Tours: 3-3-1-3!
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The UCI World Tour schedule resumed after the Tour de France, with Italian Giulio Ciccone getting his first victory in a one-day race, taking the Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa in Spain, breaking away with 9 km left and winning the hilly, 211.4 km race in 5:05:33. Jan Christen (SUI: +0:09) was second and well ahead of Maxim van Gils (BEL: +0:19) leading a group of four to the line for places 3-6.
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At the UCI BMX World Championships in Copenhagen (DEN), Britain’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Beth Shriever cemented her place as one of the top riders ever, becoming the fifth to win three World Championships golds, taking the women’s elite race in 35.614, leading from start to finish.
Australian star Saya Sakakibara, the Paris 2024 Olympic winner, was second in 36.744, with Judy Baauw (NED) a clear third in 37.223. Shriever has now won an Olympic title and Worlds golds in 2021-23-25, and joins Gabriela Diaz (ARG), Shanaze Reade (GBR), Mariana Pajon (COL) and American Alise Willoughby as three-time Worlds winners. Willoughby has the record for the most women’s Worlds medals, with seven.
The men’s title went to France’s Arthur Pilard, also with a wire-to-wire win in 32.500, his second career Worlds medal after a silver in 2023. Izaac Kennedy (AUS) was a clear second in 32.985, ahead of three more French riders, led by Eddy Clerte, who won the bronze in 33.108 over defending champ Joris Daudet (33.301).
It’s the third win in a row by a Frenchman; Kennedy won his first Worlds medal and the first for Australia since 2014.
● Hockey ● The U.S. faced Argentina in both the men’s and women’s finals at the Pan American Cup in Montevideo (URU), but came up second both times.
Seventh-ranked Argentina won men’s Pool A at 3-0, beating the no. 24 U.S. (2-1) by 3-0. But they met again in the final, as the American defeated Chile, 3-1, on penalties after a 1-1 in their semi. The final, though, was no contest, as the Argentines scored one in the first, had a 4-0 halftime lead and won, 10-0.
In the women’s tournament, Paris Olympic bronze medalists and second-ranked Argentina and the no. 12 U.S. were both 3-0 in group play and the U.S. got past Uruguay, 4-2 on penalties, after a 1-1. In the final, Agustina Gorzelany scored at 4:46 of the first quarter and Argentina won the title with a comprehensive, 3-0 shutout. Uruguay beat Chile, 2-0, for the bronze.
● Volleyball ● Poland was only fifth during the FIVB men’s Nations League season, with an 8-4 record, but at the FIVB men’s Nations League finals in Ningbo (CHN), they were supreme.
The Paris Olympic silver winners swept Japan, 3-0, in the quarterfinals, then stomped round-robin winners Brazil by 28-26, 25-19 and 25-21 for another sweep. They met regular-season runner-ups (10-2) Italy in the final, 3-1 winners over Cuba and Slovenia in their matches.
Poland rolled to another 3-0 win – 25-22, 25-19, 25-14 – to sweep all three finals matches and win its second men’s Nations League title, also in 2023. Brazil won the third-place match, 3-1, over Slovenia.
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