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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● In what can only be called a shock, Kimi Yoshino, the Managing Editor of The Washington Post, sent a Friday message to the sports staff announcing:
“As we assess our priorities for 2026, we have decided not to send a contingent to the Winter Olympics. We realize this decision and its timing will be disappointing to many of you, so please reach out to me if you want to talk further.”
The New York Times reported that The Post had 14 credentials (writers and photographers) to cover the Winter Games with spending of more than $100,000 for travel and accommodations already committed.
Other reports noted possible context for this at The Post as the “decision comes as major layoffs are expected in the coming weeks.”
● Asian Winter Games 2029 ● On Saturday, the Olympic Council of Asia posted a notice which began with:
“The Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Asia have agreed on an updated framework for future hosting of the Asian Winter Games, confirming the postponement of the 2029 edition to a later date to be announced in due course.”
The 2029 Asian Winter Games were slated for the Saudi mega-development of Noem, which has been hampered by multiple delays. Now, a Games three years away has been pushed off, and the OCA announcement never mentions Noem. Saudi Arabia was awarded the 2034 FIFA World Cup and promised to build 10 new stadiums and renovate five more for the event.
The OCA has been aware of the challenges and was reported to speak with possible alternative hosts in 2025.
● Football ● “I really wonder when the time will be to think and talk about this concretely. For me, that time has definitely come.”
That’s German football federation (DFB) Vice President Oke Gottlich, speaking to the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper concerning a possible boycott of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in response to U.S. political activities. Gottlich, who is also the St. Pauli football club president, added:
“What were the justifications for the boycotts of the Olympic Games in the 1980s? By my reckoning the potential threat is greater now than it was then. We need to have this discussion.
“Qatar [2022] was too political for everyone and now we’re completely apolitical? That’s something that really, really, really bothers me.
“As organisations and society, we’re forgetting how to set taboos and boundaries, and how to defend values.”
The French government has already said it is not interested in a boycott.
● Snowboard ● Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, wanted for drug trafficking and the coordination of multiple murders, was arrested Thursday night in Mexico City and brought to the United States for trial, landing in Ontario, California in FBI custody.
Wedding competed for Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, placing 24th in the men’s Parallel Giant Slalom. He had been wanted for criminal activities as early as 2006. He was indicted by a grand jury last November and will be in court for the first time on Monday.
Wedding had previously been convicted of distribution of cocaine in November 2009 and was sentenced to four years in prison; he was released in December 2011.
● Swimming ● The International Swimming League won a jury trial against World Aquatics – formerly known as FINA – in an anti-trust case over then-FINA’s actions against a December 2018 invitational meet in Italy. After more than seven years, the case, held in San Francisco, California, finally opened on 12 January and finished on Friday (23rd).
The outcome was unusual, but hardly unprecedented. SwimSwam.com reported that the jury found for ISL on nine of 11 questions pertaining to an agreement to boycott ISL, collusion, substantial harm, and a violation of anti-trust laws.
But the damages award was $1. Yes, $1.
Despite the “harm” caused by FINA as regards the December 2018 meet, the federation changed its rules shortly thereafter and ISL, in fact, went ahead with its league concept in 2019, 2020 and 2021, ending only because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. ISL founder and funder, Ukrainian billionaire Konstantin Grigorishin, lost access to many of his assets and the league had lost about $20 million a year for each of the three seasons.
Essentially, the jury held that FINA’s actions were against the law, but ISL suffered no real injury as it went ahead as it wanted to with its money-losing league in 2019. ISL has stated it wants to start up once again, in late 2026 or 2027.
World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam (KUW) said in a statement:
“This case has taken up resources that would have been much better utilized if they had been devoted to the sport and athletes.
“It was disappointing to learn during the trial that many athletes and service providers in the aquatics community remain unpaid by ISL, and we welcome ISL’s commitment to pay the $7 million it owes to swimmers before attempting to restart its league.”
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Alpine Skiing ● A great weekend for the U.S. at the FIS women’s World Cup in Spindleruv Myln (CZE), with three medals in the two races! In Saturday’s Giant Slalom, Beijing Olympic champ Sara Hector (SWE) led after the first run and won in 2:23.66, but with American Paula Moltzan right behind her at 2:24.04 by moving up from fifth by winning the second run. It was Moltzan’s second Giant Slalom silver of the season.
U.S. superstar Mikaela Shiffrin won her first Giant Slalom medal of the season in third, moving up from fourth after the first run and finishing in 2:24.09. Fellow American Nina O’Brien was fifth in 2:25.66 and A.J. Hurt was eighth (2:26.93)!
On Sunday, Shiffrin dominated the Slalom, winning both runs and finishing in 1:37.59, winning by an enormous margin – for ski racing – of 1.67 seconds over World Champion Camille Rast (SUI: 1:39.26). German Emma Aicher was third in 1:39.77. Liv Moritz was the next U.S. finisher (1:41.73), in 13th. Shiffrin wrapped up the seasonal Slalom title with the win, the ninth of her career. She remains the overall World Cup leader, by 1,133 to 963, over Rast after 24 of 37 events.
¶
At the FIS men’s World Cup in Kitzbuehel (AUT), Swiss star Marco Odermatt won his eighth race of the year in Friday’s Super-G, in 1:08.41, just ahead of teammate Franjo von Allmen (1:08.44) and Stefan Babinsky (AUT: 1:08.66). Sam Morse was the top U.S. finisher in 18th (1:09.28).
Odermatt got close to a ninth win in Saturday’s Downhill, but Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni came out with the gold, 1:52.31 to 1:52.38. Americans Erik Arvidsson (1:53.91) and Wiley Maple (1:53.91) tied for 19th.
Sunday’s Slalom was a win for 2017 Worlds runner-up Manuel Feller (AUT) in 1:40.60, well ahead of Swiss World Champion Loic Meillard (1:40.95) and Germany’s Linus Strasser (1:41.13). The top U.S. finisher was Benjamin Ritchie in 15th (1:42.24).
● Badminton ● At the BWF World Tour Indonesia Masters in Jakarta, home favorite Alwi Farhan won the men’s Singles title over Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul (THA), 21-5, 21-6. The women’s final saw top-seed Yu Fei Chen (CHN) win over Thailand’s Pitchamon Opatniputh, 23-21, 21-13.
Malaysian teams swept the Doubles over Indonesia (men), Japan (women) and Denmark (mixed).
● Biathlon ● American hopes for a breakthrough Olympic medal in biathlon rose again at the IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto (CZE), as Campbell Wright won a silver in the men’s 15 km Mass Start, finishing behind three-time Worlds gold medalist Eric Perrot (FRA) by 35:49.6 (0 penalties) to 36:08.6 (1). It was Wright’s first medal of the season; he won two Worlds silvers in 2024.
Perrot swept the weekend with a win in the men’s 15 km Short Individual race, in 36:30.6 (0) with teammate Emilien Jacquelin second in 37:12.4 (0).
France swept the women’s events, too, with Beijing 2022 Mass Start gold medalist Justine Braisaz-Bouchet edging teammate Lou Jeanmonnot in the 12.5 km Short Individual race, 35:50.3 (1) to 35:51.7 (1). The 12.5 km Mass Start was won by three-time Worlds gold winner Julia Simon in 33:39.4 (1) to 33:39.9 (1) for fellow French Oceane Michelon. American Deedra Irwin finished 10th in 34:56.8 (1).
In the mixed relays, Finland won the Single Mixed Relay over France and Italy won over France in the 4×6 km team relay. The U.S. was fourth in the 4×6 km with Irwin, Margie Freed, Wright and Maxime Germain.
● Cross Country Skiing ● A dominant display for Norwegian star Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo in the final pre-Olympic FIS World Cup in Goms (SUI), sweeping both men’s events. He took the Classical Sprint first in 3:19.23, with American Gus Schumacher getting a surprise silver, 2.64 seconds back.
In the Classical 20 km Mass Start, Klaebo led a Norwegian sweep, finishing in 48:29.0, followed by Emil Iversen (48:34.6) and Harald Amundsen (48:36.0). Zak Ketterson was the top American, in 18th (50:01.0); Schumacher was 22nd.
Sweden won its third straight women’s World Cup race with Linn Svahn taking the Classical Sprint in 3:46.07, ahead of Laura Gimmler (GER) by 10.54 seconds. In the 20 km Mass Start, it was Finn Johanna Matintalo out-legging American star Jessie Diggins to the finish, 55:53.9 to 55:54.8, with Astrid Slind (NOR: 55:55.6) in third.
American Julia Kern was 16th (57:37.3) and Diggins continued in the seasonal lead, now by 223 points after 19 of 28 events.
● Curling ● At the USA Curling Mixed Doubles National Championship in Bemidji, Minnesota, the final saw Rachel Kawleski and Connor Kauffman take the title by 8-4 over Ella Fleming and Jackson Bestland.
Both were 5-2 in the round-robin stage and Kawleski and Kauffman reeled off 1-1-2-1 points in ends 5-6-7-8 to earn the win.
● Cycling ● The UCI World Tour kicked off with the Santos Tour Down Under in Australia, with a prologue and five stages and home favorite Jay Vine took charge after the second stage and never lost control.
Vine had won this race in 2023 and earned a mere six-second lead when taking the lead following stage two, but this expanded to 1:03 after stage four, when fire danger and hot weather required a change in the course from 176.0 km to 130.8 km and primary challenger Jhonatan Narvaez (ECU) dropped out.
Vine finished with a 1:03 margin over Swiss Mauro Schmid, despite finishing in the top 10 only once in the five main stages.
● Fencing ● The men’s FIE Sabre World Cup in Salt Lake City went to Korea’s Paris Olympic champ Sang-uk Oh, who won the final from Mao Kukubo (JPN) by 15-12. France’s Sarah Noutcha won her first career World Cup gold with a 15-14 win against Japan’s two-time World Champion Misaki Emura.
At the Epee Grand Prix in Doha (QAT), Dutch fencer Tristan Tulen grabbed the gold over Simone Mencarelli (ITA), 15-7 in the final, for his first career Grand Prix win. Hungary’s Olympic bronzer Eszter Muhari earned the women’s gold, 15-5, against France’s Alexandra Louis Marie.
● Figure Skating ● The U.S. and Japan split the titles at the ISU Four Continents Championships in Beijing (CHN), with Japan taking the Singles titles and American entries winning the Pairs and Ice Dance.
Twenty-year-old Kao Miura won the men’s Singles event for the second time – previously in 2023 – taking the Short Program and then fourth in the Free Skate and scoring 273.73 points. Korean star Junhwan Cha, the 2023 Worlds runner-up, was second for the second straight year (273.62), rising from sixth by winning the Free Skate. U.S. entries Tomoki Hiwatashi (240.54), Jacob Sanchez (240.25) and Liam Kapeikis (226.75) finished 7-8-10.
Japan swept the women’s Singles with Yuna Aoki winning her first major title (217.39), followed by Ami Nakai (215.78) and Worlds bronzer Mone Chiba (202.23). American Bradie Tennell was fourth (199.37), Sarah Everhardt was eighth (182.72) and Starr Andrews was 15th (160.74).
The U.S. Pairs champs, Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, who cannot go to Milan Cortina because Efimova is not yet a U.S. citizen, won the Free Skate to move from third to first, scoring 205.34 points to 200.99 for home favorites and Beijing 2022 gold medalists Weijing Sui and Cong Han. Americans Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman (181.12) and Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy (176.40) went 6-7.
In Ice Dance, the U.S. swept the medals with Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik winning both segments and scoring 202.86 points to 194.72 for Caroline Green and Michael Parsons and 190.78 for siblings Oona and Gage Brown! It’s the second medal in this event for Green and Parsons, who won in 2022.
● Football ● The no. 2-ranked U.S. women had no trouble with Paraguay in a Saturday friendly in Carson, California, scoring five times in the second half for a 6-0 victory.
The U.S. enjoyed 70% possession and a 19-2 shots edge, but was ahead only 1-0 at the break thanks to a stoppage-time goal at 45+3 by striker Reilyn Turner. But forward Ally Sentnor scored only two minutes in the second half, then an own goal by defender Fiorella Martinez made it 3-0.
Returning star forward Trinity Rodman made it 4-0 in the 56th and Sentnor got a second in the 57th for a 5-0 lead. Emma Sears added a score in the 72nd for the 6-0 final. It was the U.S.’s fifth straight win and 11th in the last 12 matches. The U.S. will face Chile on the 27th in Santa Barbara, California.
● Freestyle Skiing ● The fourth stop for the FIS World Cup in Ski Cross was in Veysonnaz (SUI), with Canada’s reigning seasonal champion Reece Howden showing he’s in top form, winning a silver and gold in the men’s races.
France’s Youri Duplessis-Kergomard won Friday’s first final over Howden, but Howden came back to get fourth win of the season – in seven races – on Saturday, cross the line ahead of Germany’s Tim Hronek.
The women’s star, as usual, was Olympic champ Sandra Naeslund (SWE), who won Friday’s final over 2022 Olympic bronze winner Daniela Maier (GER), for her fifth win of this season. Maier came back on Saturday to take her first win of the season, this time over Sanja Gigler (AUT).
● Luge ● The final FIL World Cup prior to the Olympic Winter Games was in Oberhof (GER), with more German gold. Two-time Olympic champ Felix Loch won the men’s Singles at 1:24.673 over 2023 World Champion Jonas Mueller (AUT: 1:24.762) and two-time World Champion Max Langenhan (1:24.994). Americans Jonny Gustafson (1:25.911) and Matthew Greiner (1:25.940) were 15-16.
The Doubles went to three-time Olympic winners Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (GER: 1:22.575), just ahead of 2022 Olympic bronzers Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl (1:22.727). For the U.S., Zachary DiGregorio and Sean Hollander (1:23.082) were eighth and Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa (1:23.345) were 11th.
The women’s Singles title was the second straight win for Merle Fraebel (1:23.330), beating Austria’s 2024 World champ Lisa Schulte (1:23.435) and two-time World Champion Julia Taubitz (1:23.467). Summer Britcher of the U.S. was ninth in 1:23.705 and fifth in the seasonal standings.
The Austrians got a gold from women’s Doubles stars – and two-time World Champions – Selina Egle and Lara Kipp (1:24.086), beating Elisa-Marie Storch and Pauline Patz (1:24.241). Americans Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby (1:24.677) were fifth and Maya Chan and Sophia Gordon (1:24.805) were seventh.
● Ski Jumping ● Slovenian star Domen Prevc was the favorite at the World Ski Flying Championships in Obertsdorf (GER), off the giant, 235 m hill and he came through, winning the final three rounds and finishing at 905.4 points.
Second was 2022 winner Marius Lindvik (NOR: 845.9) and then Japan’s Ren Nikaido (842.4). It’s Prevc’s first Ski Flying Worlds gold, but not the first in the family as older brother Peter Prevc won this title in 2016!
Japan won the team title in a tight battle with Austria, 1,569.6 to 1,560.0.
¶
The FIS women’s World Cup was in Sapporo (JPN), jumping off the 137 m hill, with the 12th and 13th victories of the season for Slovenia’s Nika Prevc, the youngest of the ski-jumping Prevcs at age 20.
The results of both competitions were eerily similar. Prevc won on Saturday over Canada’s Abigail Strate, 279.4 to 273.9, and then on Saturday in a weather-shortened one-round event, 134.5 to 129.2 with Strate again second.
Norway got third both times, with Anna Stroem on Saturday (260.3) and Heidi Traaserud (124.6) on Sunday.
● Ski Mountaineering ● The ISMF World Cup in Andorra featured familiar winners in the Vertical Race, with Swiss reigning World Champion Remi Bonnet winning in 27:21.6, ahead of Austria’s Paul Verbnjak (27:31.0). American Cameron Smith was sixth in 28:26.2.
France’s Axelle Gachet Mollaret, also the Vertical Race World Champion in 2025, won the women’s race in 31:44.4, well ahead of teammate Emily Harrop (32:39.9).
The Sprint Race comes on Monday.
● Snowboard ● Italy’s 45-year-old reigning World Champion Roland Fischnaller showed that he is again a contender for all honors at the FIS World Cup in Parallel Giant Slalom in Simonhohe (AUT), winning his second race of the season, over Austria’s Fabian Obmann, who won silver for the second race in a row.
Czech star Ester Ledecka, the two-time Olympic PGS champ, won the women’s final over Worlds Parallel Slalom bronzer Michelle Dekker (NED), for Ledecka’s first World Cup gold of this season.
● Speed Skating ● The fifth and final ISU World Cup of the season was in Inzell (GER), with Norway’s 2025 World 5,000 m champion Sander Eitrem making a statement ahead of the Winter Games: a world record of 5:58.62, winning by almost 3 1/2 seconds.
He’s the first one to dip under 6:00 and he smashed the mark of 6:00.23 set last November by France’s Tim Loubineaud, who finished third in Inzell in 6:03.65. American Casey Dawson was fourth in 6:05.13.
American star Jordan Stolz was busy, winning the men’s 1,000 m in 1:06.83 ahead of Poland’s Damien Zurek (1:07.20) with Americans Cooper Mcleod (1:07.68) in fifth and Conor McDermott-Mowtowy in seventh (1:07.92). Stolz also won the 1,500 m in 1:41.95, in front of China’s 2024 Worlds 1,000 m runner-up Zhongyan Ning (1:43.18) and Olympic champ Kjeld Nuis (NED: 1:43.81) in third.
In the 500s, Stolz was beaten twice by Zurek, 34.09 to 34.26 in the first race and then 34.06 to 34.10 in the second. In the Mass Start, Czech Metrodej Jilek was a decisive winner in 7:41.19.
The U.S. trio of McDermott-Mostowy, Mcleod and Zach Stoppelmoor won in 1:17.61, clear from Norway (1:18.27).
Dutch women won five events, starting with World Champion Femke Kok in the first 500 m in 36.87 over teammate Jutta Leerdam (37.22) with 2022 Olympic champ Erin Jackson of the U.S. in fourth at 37.44.
Leerdam, a two-time World Champion at 1,000 m, won that event in 1;12.74 ahead of reigning World Champion Miho Takagi (JPN: 1:13.43) and Kok (1:13.67). American Brittany Bowe (1:14.02) and Jackson (1:14.32) were 4-5.
World Champion Joy Beune won the 1,500 in a tight finish with Takagi, 1:53.34 to 1:53.59, with Bowe fifth at 1:54.57. Norway’s 2023 World Champion Ragne Wiklund claimed the 3,000 m in 3:54.74 with Beune second in 3:56.96. The Mass Start went to World Champion Marijke Groenewoud in 8:38.32, ahead of Valerie Maltais (CAN: 8:38.77) and American Mia Manganello (8:39.29).
With most of the Dutch stars out, Poland’s Kaja Ziomek-Nogal won the second 500 m in 37.25; Jackson was seventh (37.85). The Dutch won the Team Sprint as well in 1:25.52; the U.S. was fourth in 1:30.05. On to Milan.
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