★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● World Sport 2025 ● The Italian all-sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport made a survey of the 32 sports and disciplines on the 2028 Olympic program that held world championships in 2025 and totaled up the medal winners. The top 10, by total medals won:
● 1. 88, United States (35-25-28)
● 2. 76, China (25-23-28)
● 3. 71, Japan (24-23-24)
● 4. 47, Australia (13-16-18)
● 5. 45, France (11-14-20)
● 6. 41, Italy (13-14-14)
● 6. 41, Great Britain (7-18-16)
● 8. 34, South Korea (7-9-18)
● 9. 30, Germany (7-16-7)
● 10. 29, Netherlands (14-6-9)
The U.S. won 53 medals in athletics and swimming combined, which would have ranked ahead of all but China and Japan this year!
Many thanks to former Torino 2006 Winter Games Chief Operating Officer Luciano Barra for noting the feature.
● Athletics ● Former World Champion Kim Batten’s plea for raising the women’s 400 m hurdles height to 33 inches (from 30) struck a chord with 35-year track coach (and devoted TSX reader) Ron Brumel:
“Thirty years ago, I attended a two-week session in West Chester, Pa. to acquire a ‘Level 2′ USA Track & Field coaching certification.
“Amongst the many things that I learned, was during a hurdle seminar with Ralph Mann, the great 400 hurdler for the time that running sub-49 seconds was a rare feat.
“Mann presented research indicating (in 1996), that women’s hurdle heights were too low, and that the hurdles should be raised to 36 inches for the 100 meters, and 33 inches for the 400 hurdles, in order to approximate equivalency with the men’s events in these disciplines.
“Women’s hurdle events are amongst the most exciting competitive races on the higher levels, with the 100 now inching toward sub-12.0 seconds, and the 400 toward sub-50.
“It seems to me that, at least on the senior level, these events need to place more emphasis on technical abilities, rather than pure sprint speed. The heights should remain at the current levels for high school and sub-20 (juniors), which makes sense considering that the men’s events have had a 3-inch differential in the highs for as long as I can remember.
“Research from the 1990s has verified this concept. Time for re-evaluation.”
● Cross Country Skiing ● The 20th Tour de Ski continued in Tolbach (ITA) with the Interval Start Classical 10 km and another Norwegian sweep in the men’s race, as Mattis Stenshagen got his first career World Cup gold in 22:11.0, trailed by superstar Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (22:19.9) and Emil Iversen (22:21.1).
Gus Schumacher was the top American, in 17th (23:00.9).
Three-time Worlds medal winner Astrid Slind (NOR) won the women’s race in 25:33.7, pulling away from Teresa Stadlober (AUT: 25:40.7) and American star Jessie Diggins (25:42.5), who now has the overall Tour de Ski lead by 39 seconds over Slind!
Two more races in Tolbach, with a Mass Start Freestyle 5 km on Wednesday and the Classical 20 km Pursuit on Thursday, before moving to Val di Fiemme.
● Ski Jumping ● The much-celebrated 74th Four Hills Tournament has started with jumping off the 137 m hill in Obertsdorf (GER) and Slovenian star – and 2025 World Champion – Domen Prevc taking the first leg.
He won both rounds and scored 316.7 to dominate the field, with Daniel Tschofenig (AUT: 299.2) second and German Felix Hoffmann (297.3) in third. Jason Colby was 19th for the U.S. (264.7). Next is the 142 m hill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER) on New Year’s!
● Swimming ● World Aquatics named German star Florian Wellbrock and Australia’s Moesha Johnson as its Open Water Athletes of the Year. Wellbrock swept the World Championships golds in the 5 km, 10 km, 3 km knock-out sprints and a leg on the winning 4×1,500 m relay!
Johnson won both the 5 km and 10 km golds at the Singapore Worlds, plus a bronze in the 3 km sprints.
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 850-event International Sports Calendar for 2025, 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
