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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2026: Los Angeles ● A Harris Poll survey of 2,148 U.S. adults in a 7-9 May survey showed that 50% of Americans are projected to watch at least one match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, with 52% saying that having the tournament in the U.S. is a key factor in creating interest.
The breakdown across ages is interesting, with 62% of Millennials (ages 30-45) showing the most attention, followed by Gen Z (14-29) at 57% but only 24% of Baby Boomers (62-80). Interest among American Hispanics is at 63%, but only 37% of Whites.
However, the survey also found that overall interest in the 2028 Olympic Games is at 64% and in response to the question of “which event are you most looking forward to?,” the top response was the 2028 Paralympic Games at 47%, then the 2028 Olympic Games at 35% and the 2026 FIFA World Cup at 20%.
● Athletics ● Two-time World Champion Gudaf Tsegay (ETH) , now 28, has been suspended for four months in an agreement with the Athletics Integrity Unit over the presence of a metabolite of Letrozole (an aromatase inhibitor) in an out-of-competition test on 5 December 2025.
After the positive was noticed, Tsegay “responded a day later explaining that she had been prescribed Letrozole to treat a diagnosed medical condition. She also produced supporting medical documents and evidence.”
In view of this and a subsequent request for a Therapeutic Use Exemption, which was approved, a four-month for a case of “no fault or negligence” was agreed. Her ban runs from 1 June to 30 September, essentially the entire track season.
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World Athletics shared that it received the highest score – 228 out of 240 – to lead all federations in the newly-released the governance survey conducted by the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).
The federation was in the “B” band with 113 points out of 200 possible in the initial survey for 2016-17, and World Athletics added 14 points to its 2024 score.
● Skating ● International Skating Union President Jae-Youl Kim (KOR) ran unopposed and was re-elected by acclimation at the ISU Congress in Tenerife (ESP).
The financial report showed stagnation from 2022 to 2024, but big financial gains from the ISU’s more aggressive strategy, creating a surplus in 2024:
● 2022: CHF 35.5 million revenue; net loss of CHF 19.1 million
● 2023: CHF 35.9 million revenue; net loss of CHF 3.6 million
● 2024: CHF 33.6 million revenue; net gain of CHF 25.1 million due to investment gains
The report for the first six months of 2025 reported figures in U.S. dollars now (CHF 1 = $1.25 U.S.), with $22.9 million in revenue, an operating loss of $5.0 million, but spectacular investment gains yielding a surplus of $26.7 million! The forecast for the future (note 2026 was an Olympic Winter Games year):
● 2026: $74.5 million revenue; net surplus of $34.7 million
● 2027: $33.0 million revenue; net loss of $20.1 million
● 2028: $43.6 million revenue; net loss of $16.7 million
Italian Ice Sports Federation chief Andrea Gios, however, shared considerable concerns:
“It is clear that our organization is surviving because of the capital gains on the money we put in the bank in the past. So more or less, we are like a company that is surviving not because of our selling a good product, but because we have the money put in the bank in the past. …
“The problem is that, in the future, what I see is that we have been speaking about the contribution to the athletes, great. Competition contribution, great. But we have to start thinking about the contribution we give to the organizer of the competition, because one of the biggest problems we are suffering as a federation, is that when we organize an event, we lose money.
“We lose a lot of money. And every year, we lose more money and it’s always more difficult to organize events and this is a problem. Because if we can’t organize an event, we can’t have a product that is shown and is a valid volume to get money. So I think, we have to think something about that, because this situation is critical and our federation don’t have the strength – the economic strength – to lose money every year to organize events.”
Kim explained that the ISU strategy is to use its enormous reserves – CHF 263.1 million at the end of 2024 – to revamp its sports through the 2029-30 season and see surpluses beyond that. He noted that the investments in the sports being made now are aimed to help so that “nobody loses money … in the near future,” especially through the ISU’s projects to create new fans and adding value worldwide.
● Swimming ● Swimswam.com reported on a budget update from the 17 April USA Swimming board meeting, showing an increase in sponsorship revenues with the renewal of Tyr Sports as the title sponsor of the Pro Swim Series.
The projected 2026 operating budget deficit of $5.19 million has been reduced now to $2.66 million.
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Archery ● An upset at the World Archery World Cup in Antalya (TUR), as Dhiraj Bommadevara (IND) won the men’s Recurve final over Paris Olympic bronze winner Woo-Seok Lee (KOR), 7-3. The women’s Recurve title went to Jingyi Lee (CHN), in a 7-3 win against Mexico’s Ana Vazquez.
Korea won the men’s title, 5-1 over the U.S. squad of Trenton Cowles, Nicholas D’Amour and Christian Stoddard. China won the women’s Team, 5-3, over Mexico, and India defeated Korea, 5-1, in the Mixed Team final.
Dutch star and 2013 World Champion Mike Schloesser won the men’s Compound title, 149-148 over Mexico’s Sebastian Garcia. Mexican Andrea Becerra, the 2025 World Champion, won the women’s Compound gold in a 146-146 – 10-9 shoot-out – over Colombia’s 2021 World Champion Sara Lopez. China won the men’s Team gold, Turkey won the women’s final and Chinese Taipei took the Mixed Team final.
● Badminton ● At the BWF World Tour Australian Open in Sydney (AUS), third-seeded Alwi Farhan (INA) took the men’s Singles with a 21-13, 21-13 sweep of Tian Yao Dong (CHN), and top-seeded Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) won a difficult battle with Tanvi Sharma (IND), 22-2, 21-18.
Chinese teams won the men’s, women’s and Mixed Doubles.
● Canoe-Kayak ● Olympic and World Champion Jessica Fox (AUS) registered another win at the ICF Slalom World Cup in Augsburg (GER), taking the women’s C-1 final at 107.93 seconds despite a two-second penalty. Spain’s Nuria Vilarrubla was second (110.27/0); American Olympic C-1 medalist Evy Leibfarth was eighth in 113.54 (0).
Germany’s Ricarda Funk, the two-time World Champion, took the women’s K-1 title at 98.68 (0 penalties), beating Camille Prigent (FRA: 99.83/0) and 2025 Worlds winner Klaudia Zwolinska (POL: 101.34/0). Leibfarth was fourth (101.57/0).
Czech Tereza Kneblova won the women’s Kayak Cross with Leibfarth second and Swiss Alena Marx in third. At 22, it’s Leibfarth’s 12th career World Cup medal.
Czech Worlds silver medalist Jacob Krejci won his second straight World Cup men’s K-1 gold in 88.81 (0), ahead of Italy’s 2022 Worlds runner-up Giovanni de Gennaro (90.77/0). Italian Raffaello Ivaldi took the men’s C-1 in 97.51 (0), edging Adam Burgess (GBR: 97.58/0).
Olympic silver winner Joseph Clarke (GBR) took the men’s Kayak Cross over 2025 World Champion David Llorente (ESP).
● Cycling ● The 78th edition of the UCI World Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes race in France saw stage one winner Alex Baudin (FRA) in front through he first five stages, but with Luke Tuckwell (AUS) taking over after finishing third in stage six. He was 11th in Saturday’s seventh stage, and entered Sunday’s final stage with a 42-second lead on American Matteo Jorgenson.
The 120.1 km finale into Brison was brutal, with three major climbs and then an uphill finish and Mexico’s Isaac del Toro broke away with 8 km to go and won the stage in 3:35:07. Tuckwell was eighth at +1:43, so Del Toro won the race in 29:35:05, with Tuckwell second (+0:54), Spain’s Juan Ayuso third (+1:17) and Jorgenson in fourth (+1:36).
Del Toro, 22, has wins this season in the UAE Tour, Tirreno Adriatico and now in France. He is on the rise.
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The second edition of the UCI World Tour Copenhagen Sprint in Denmark saw Dutch defending champion Lorena Wiebes come out with another title in a mass sprint at the end of the 156 km, flat route, in 3:41.46. She was just ahead of a pack of nine others with the same time, and countrywoman Charlotte Kool in second.
The 228.2 km Sunday men’s race saw a major crash 18 km from the finish, and then the breakaway group was caught only 500 m from the finish. In the final dash, Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen managed to win over Tobias Andresen (DEN) and Sam Welsford (AUS), all in 4:48:21.
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Race three of the UCI BMX World Cup season was in Papendal (NED) with Loris Aeberhard (SUI) taking his first win in 33.948 over Jaymio Brink (NED: 34.164) and American Cameron Wood (34.471). Race four of the series, on Sunday, was a repeat, with Aeberhard timing 34.132 for the win, ahead of Brink (34.428); Wood was fifth.
Dutch star Laura Smulders, the 2018 World Champion, won the women’s Saturday race in 34.427, beating 2025 seasonal bronzer Molly Simpson (CAN: 34.515) and Britain’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic champ Bethany Shriever (34.741).
Shriever won Sunday’s race in 33.839, with 2025 World Champion Saya Sakakibara (AUS) second in 34.388 and Simpson third (34.551).
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France enjoyed a men’s 1-2 in the Cross Country Olympic race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Leogang (AUT), with 2021 World Junior Champion Adrien Boichis winning easily in 1:21:09, ahead of Luca Martin (1:21:27) and American Bjorn Riley (1:21:54).
Denmark’s Simon Andreassen won the men’s Short Track race in 22:35 with Swiss Filippo Colombo second in 22:41.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver winner Sina Frei (SUI) took the women’s Short Track in 19:15, beating Rio 2016 Olympic winner Jenny Rissveds (SWE: 19:19). Rissveds came back and won the XCO race in 1:25:29 ahead of Dutch star Puck Pieterse (1:26:25); Sevilla Blunck of the U.S. was fifth (1:27:32).
The Downhill was won by 2024 Worlds bronzer Finn Iles (CAN) in 3:15.647, ahead of two-time Worlds medalist Amaury Pierson (FRA: 3:15.823) in the men’s race and four-time World Champion Valentina Hoell (AUT) dominated the women’s race in 3:44.033, ahead of Marine Cabirou (FRA: 3:47.868) and anna Newkirk of the U.S. (3:48.449).
● Modern Pentathlon ● Two-time Worlds silver medalist Blanka Guzi (HUN) made the home crowd happy at the UIPM World Cup in Budapest (HUN), winning the women’s title with a world-record score of 1,495 in the new format with the Obstacle Run. Consistency was Guzi’s strength, finishing eighth in fencing, sixth in Obstacle, second in swimming and fourth in the Laser Run.
Britain’s Poppy Clark had the second-fastest Laser Run to get into second (1,490) with Laura Heredia (ESP: 1,479) third. International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) was on hand to see the event.
German Marvin Dogue won the men’s final, scoring 1,588 with the second-fastest Laser Run, enough to best Ugo Fleurot (FRA: 1,583).
● Rowing ● The U.S. dominated the World Rowing Cup II in Plovdiv (BUL), winning five Olympic-program events and scoring 11 medals!
In the men’s Singles, American Sam Melvin won in 6:39.83, ahead of teammate Jacob Plihal (6:40.10), and Teal Cohen and Kaitlin Knifton won the women’s Pair in 6:50.82. The U.S. won the women’s Quadruple Sculls (6:08.83), and Fours (6:15.75) and the Eights (6:05.13)!
The men’s Double Sculls went to Croatia’s 2016 Olympic gold winners Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic in 6:00.97; the U.S. was fifth with James Wright and Cedar Cunningham (6:11.61). Italy won the Quadruple Sculls (5:41.00).
New Zealand’s 2025 World Champions Oliver Welch and Benjamin Taylor won the men’s Pairs in 6:09.04, ahead of Americans Augustine Rodriguez and Peter Chatain (6:11.77). China won the Fours in 5:48.64 and Italy won the men’s Eights in 5:22.85 with the U.S. second in 5:27.87.
Serbia’s 2024 European champ Jovana Arsic won the women’s Single Sculls in 7:20.69 with Grace Joyce of the U.S. second in 7:22.21. Italy’s Clara Guerra and Alice Gnatta won the Double Sculls in 6:45.36, with Kristina Wagner and Lauren O’Connor of the U.S. next in 6:47.72.
● Shooting ● At the USA Shooting Rifle nationals in Talladega, Alabama, Peter Fiori won the men’s 10 m Air Rifle title with 252.1 points, over Griffin Lake (251.7), while Isabella Baldwin won the women’s gold at 250.3 with Katlyn Sullivan at 250.0.
In the 50 m Rifle/3 Positions, Lake won the men’s tournament with 356.3 points to 353.9 for Braden Peiser. Cecelia Ossi took the women’s gold, scoring 356.1 to 354.4 for Katie Zaun.
The U.S. national pistol champs in Hillsdale, Michigan last week saw two-time Olympian Nick Mowrer win the men’s 10 m Air Pistol with 1,389.8 points, over Marcus Klemp (1,386.9) and Ryan Adams (1,356.0). The 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol title went to four-time Olympian Keith Sanderson over Evan Lagerak, 1,164 to 1,127.
The women’s 10 m Air Pistol winner was Suman Sanghera at 1,401.7 over Ada Korkhin (1,390.0), and Sanghera was second in the 25 m Pistol as well, behind Lisa Emmert Traciak, 1,192 to 1,184. Olympian Alexis Lagan was third at 1,174.
● Skateboard ● At the World Skateboarding Tour stop in Rome (ITA), the men’s Park final saw Japan’s Issei Sakurai with the gold, scoring 94.00 on his third of four runs to edge 2025 Worlds bronzer Tom Schaar of the U.S. (93.15 on his first run). Spain’s Egoitz Bijueska, the 2025 World Champion, was third (93.00).
Japan won the women’s division too, with 2025 Worlds runner-up Mizuho Hasegawa scoring a final-run 96.33 to take the victory, over British star – and two-time World Champion – Sky Brown, the leader through the first three rounds (93.38).
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