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ATHLETICS: Italy investigating 2021 wiretaps of Olympic 100 champ Lamont Marcell Jacobs, by the brother of Tokyo relay teammate Filippo Tortu!

By
Rich Perelman
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Italian sprint stars Lamont Marcell Jacobs (l) and Filippo Tortu, in a 2020 meet in France (Photo: Erik van Leeuwen via Wikipedia).

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≡ ITALIAN SPRINT INTRIGUE ≡

One of the proudest moments in the history of Italian track & field came on 6 August 2021 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the men’s 4×100 m relay, where anchor runner Filippo Tortu took the baton in second place and burst past Britain’s CJ Ujah to win the gold in a national record of 37.50.

Lorenzo Patta ran lead-off, handing to Olympic 100 m champ Lamont Marcell Jacobs, who passed to Fausto Desalu on the turn. It was a stunning second Olympic gold for Jacobs, who had won the 100 m over American Fred Kerley.

Now it appears that Tortu’s brother was trying to undermine Jacobs prior to the Games.

Last week, it was reported that, as part of a months-long, ongoing investigation into the activities of a Milan-based private intelligence firm – Equalize – Giacomo Tortu, the brother of Filippo Tortu, had asked the company to wiretap Jacobs and his coaching and training team to try to uncover whether Jacobs was doping, as reported by his blood test results.

Jacobs had never run faster than 10.03 for the 100 m through 2020, but opened in 2021 with a national record of 9.95 in May, and ran lifetime bests of 9.94, 9.84 and 9.80 in Tokyo to win the Olympic 100.

Giacomo Tortu, now 32, was a modest sprinter with bests of 10.73 (‘17) and 21.05 (‘15), is the older brother by six years of relay gold winner Filippo, 26, a national star who has run 9.99 (‘18) and 20.10 (‘22) and was the 2024 European 200 m runner-up.

The story goes that Giacomo asked Equalize – during the Tokyo Olympic year in 2021 but possibly also in 2020 – to surface results of Jacobs’ blood tests and discussions with his team to see if he was doping; Jacobs has never been associated with any sanctions.

Stefano Mei, the 1986 European men’s 10,000 m champion and now President of the Italian national federation – FIDAL – said in an Instagram video posted Saturday (computer translation from the original Italian):

● “We have learned from the media that a Fidal member, Giacomo Tortu , is under investigation by the Milan Prosecutor’s Office for alleged espionage activities on Marcell Jacobs. If the presence of an investigation is confirmed, we would be faced with an episode that will also have to be addressed by our Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which, as per the rules, will evaluate the documents as soon as possible according to the timing of the criminal proceedings.”

● “We are still talking about a story that does not seem to involve Filippo Tortu. The fact remains that regardless of everything, today as always the one who runs fastest will go in the relay.”

● “Until the conviction, the suspects and the accused are innocent, and I truly hope that there has been no espionage or attempted espionage against Marcell, because it would be not only illegitimate, but also unfair towards a great champion. We are neither worried nor saddened, on the contrary: our technical sector continues to work calmly, our relay will be competitive in 2025 too. We are preparing for another great season.”

Jacobs, 30, suffered from injuries after Tokyo in 2021, but won the European 100 title in 2022 at 9.95 and defended in 2024 in 10.02 and finished fifth in the Paris Olympic final in 9.85 – 0.04 from a medal – ranking no. 7 on the world list for the year. He was born in El Paso, then moved with his mother to Italy as a toddler, and now trains in the U.S.

Giacomo Tortu has not been charged so far. But this story shows that truth really is stranger than fiction.

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PANORAMA: Olympic Museum had 432,000 visitors in 2024; U.S. Presidents and the White House swimming pool; Kennedy Blades and the suplex!

By
Rich Perelman
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Olympic silver winner Kennedy Blades of the U.S. (in blue) executes the suplex against Noemi Szabados (HUN) at the Zagreb Open (Photo: UWW).

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Infrastrutture Milano Cortina, the government construction oversight organization for Olympic projects – known as Simico – issued a harsh rebuke to an activist group which claimed its efforts were behind schedule.

According to a report in the Rome daily, Il Fatto Quotidiario, the Simico statement included:

“The report released by the [activists] leads to unacceptable exploitation. The data, published online with maximum transparency and therefore available to all citizens, say in a clear and incontrovertible way that the Olympic works plan is in line with the schedule.

“The construction sites of the sports works proceed in full compliance with the established timing (in some cases in advance) and all will be completed before the Games. To say otherwise is not only false, but absolutely defamatory.”

Nevertheless, the questions will continue – as with every Games – until the sites are delivered.

● International Olympic Committee ● The Olympic Museum announced that an all-time record of 432,000 visitors visited in 2024, including 52,000 school children, a big increase over 2023.

The Museum continues to grow its programming schedule, with three major temporary exhibitions – “Free to Run,” “Paris Olympique” and “Fashion and Sport: From One Podium to Another,” plus 14 cultural and sports-introduction events.

● Russia ● The increase in diplomatic chatter related to the war against Ukraine has already had the effect of increasing expectations in Russia for the return to international competitions.

Amir Khamitov, the Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports told the Russian news agency TASS:

“The period when Russian athletes were not allowed to participate in international competitions clearly showed that without our participants such events become much less spectacular, representative and authoritative. Apparently, the West understands this too. Therefore, in the near future we should expect Russian participants in international competitions in a wide variety of sports.”

Russia’s return will depend primarily on (1) a move toward ending the invasion of Ukraine and (2) who becomes the next president of the International Olympic Committee, with the election slated for 20 March.

● Athletics ● Another record, this time an American Record for two-time World Champion Chase Jackson, who shared the U.S. Indoor mark with 2016 Olympic champ Michelle Carter at 21.21 m (66-3 3/4) from 2016 and 2022, respectively.

No more, as Jackson’s 20.24 m (66-5) win in Torun (POL) on Sunday gives her the mark alone and moves her to no. 39 all-time. If you filter out marks from the doping-filled 20th Century, Jackson stands seventh all-time indoors.

Washington sophomore Amanda Moll took the world lead in the women’s vault at 4.88 m (16-0) with her win at the Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque. It’s a collegiate record and she’s now no. 9 all-time indoors and no. 5 all-time U.S. And she’s 20.

World-leading performances on the track over the weekend also came from Zimbabwe’s 200 m Olympic finalist Makanakaishe Charamba (Auburn) in the men’s 200 in 20.16 at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina, and in the women’s 200 m (22.34) from American JaMeesia Ford (South Carolina). Olympic men’s 4×400 m gold medalist Chris Bailey took the world lead in the men’s 400 m in 44.70 at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

● Ice Hockey ● Of course, Canada wanted a rematch with the U.S. after their bruising game on Saturday in Montreal, won by the Americans (3-1) and sending them on to the championship game of the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off in Boston on Thursday (20th).

And that’s what will happen after the Canadians thrashed Finland, 5-3, on Monday in Boston, taking a 3-0 lead in the first period off goals by Connor McDavid (4:13), then Nathan MacKinnon (4:59) and Brayden Point (13:02).

MacKinnon made it 4-0 at 5:03 of the second, but the Finns came back to make a game of it in the third, scoring three goals in 5:24 – two from Mikael Granlund – and closing to 4-3 with 1:17 left. Sidney Crosby got an empty-net goal to finish up at 5-3 with 0:56 to play.

The U.S. will play Sweden Monday night to finish the round-robin play. The championship match will start at 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday and shown nationally on ESPN.

● Swimming ● Terrific Presidents Day story by Swimming World Magazine on the short history of swimming pools at the White House, noting that installation of an indoor pool – paid for with private donations – was built in 1933 for President Franklin Roosevelt. Stricken with polio, Roosevelt swam for exercise and used the pool extensively until his death in 1945.

That pool was covered over (not destroyed) in 1970 to create the White House Press Room by President Richard Nixon, and remains today. His successor, Gerald Ford, loved swimming and so an outdoor pool – paid for with private funds – was constructed in 1975 and remains in use today.

● Wrestling ● “It is a throw that involves lifting the opponents and bridging or rolling to slam them on their backs.”

That’s the definition of a “suplex,” a technique used at every level of wrestling, even up to the professional entertainment matches, and one of the best in the Olympic world is American Olympic 76 kg silver medalist Kennedy Blades.

She showed off her love of the move with two powerful suplexes during the recent Zagreb Open in Croatia, telling United World Wrestling:

“When I get behind, in my mind, I am like I have to execute this because it’s so rare to hit a suplex. So every time I get behind in matches or big stages, I try to hit the suplex. I want to do it at the world stage because I know it will be on the highlights.”

UWW featured Blades and her favorite move in a feature, in which she added:

“I just feel like when someone gets a headlock, they probably have to throw it really hard because growing up, I used to wrestle Greco in the summer.

“So my coach always taught us how to set up the suplex if they grab your head for a headlock and they don’t go. When someone gets in a headlock position and they don’t go super hard, then the suplex is there. If I would ever be in that position, I just go flat because I know that they can probably throw me.”

American star Sarah Hildebrandt, the Paris Olympic women’s 50 kg gold medalist, announced her retirement and will be an assistant coach for the U.S. women’s national team. Now 31, Hildebrandt won an Olympic bronze at Tokyo 2020 and four World Championships medals, including a silver in 2018. She explained:

“I have had a really long career and I’ve gotten the experience of what wrestling has taught me. It has made me so passionate about what this sport can do for people. If I can bring a passion and energy in support of their journey, kind of a door handle to open up their own adventure, that is exciting to me. Wrestling has given me so much. The sport has taught me everything about myself and helped me grow as a woman.”

Hildebrandt will be working alongside national women’s coach Terry Steiner and developmental coach Jessica Medina Bunker in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

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PANORAMA: U.S. rolls, as Santos-Griswold wins Short Track crown; Wright takes two Biathlon Worlds medals; Diggins wins, close to World Cup title!

By
Rich Perelman
-
American Short Track World Tour champion Kristen Santos-Griswold (2) and teammate Corinne Stoddard (5) (Photo: ISU).

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Athletics ● The Athletics Integrity Unit announced Friday that it has banned Japan’s Koki Ikeda, 26, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic men’s 20 km walk silver medalist, for four years for blood manipulation.

This was an Athlete Biological Passport case, and Ikeda’s was suspended “after abnormalities were detected in his blood samples collected on 20 June 2023 and between 16 August and 13 September 2023, which the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) alleged were indicative of blood manipulation.” Ikeda has consistently denied the charge, and could appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

He was provisionally suspended from 1 November 2024, and his results between 20 June 2023 and 1 November 2024 have been nullified.

● Tennis ● The World Anti-Doping Agency announced an agreement with Italy’s no. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner over his positive tests at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California last year, with Sinner agreeing to serve a three-month suspension that will not cause him to miss any of the Grand Slams.

Sinner tested positive for clostebol, twice, but was found by the International Tennis Integrity Authority to bear no fault (or negligence) since the drug was part of a medication applied by his physical therapist.

WADA was asking for a one to two-year sanction at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with the hearing scheduled for April. But:

“WADA accepts the athlete’s explanation for the cause of the violation as outlined in the first instance decision. WADA accepts that Mr. Sinner did not intend to cheat, and that his exposure to clostebol did not provide any performance-enhancing benefit and took place without his knowledge as the result of negligence of members of his entourage. However, under the Code and by virtue of CAS precedent, an athlete bears responsibility for the entourage’s negligence. Based on the unique set of facts of this case, a three-month suspension is deemed to be an appropriate outcome.”

Said Sinner: “This case had been hanging over me now for nearly a year and the process still had a long time to run with a decision maybe only at the end of the year, I have always accepted that I am responsible for my team and realize WADA’s strict rules are an important protection for the sport I love. On that basis I have accepted WADA’s offer to resolve these proceedings on the basis of a three-month sanction.”

Sinner’s suspension runs from 9 February to 4 May (with four days previously credited for his provisional suspension in 2024), in time for him to play in the Italian Open in Rome, which begins on 5 May.

≡ RESULTS ≡

● Archery ● An upset in the men’s final in the World Archery Indoor World Series Great Chicago Open, with Canada’s 24-year-old Devaang Gupta (CAN) winning a shoot-off with American star – and five time Olympic medalist – Brady Ellison, 6-5. Both shot 10 in the shoot-off, but Gupta’s arrow was closer to the center!

In the all-American bronze-medal match, Nicholas D’Amour defeated Alex Gilliam, 6-4.

Favored Casey Kaufhold, the U.S.’s 2021 Worlds silver winner, took the women’s Recurve title, 6-4, over Ana Maria Rendon (COL). Dutch star Gaby Schloesser won the bronze over American Alex Zuleta-Visser, 6-4.

● Badminton ● Canada defeated the U.S., 3-1, in the final of the Pan American Cup in Aguascalientes (MEX). Both teams entered 3-0, but Canada’s Brian Yang beat Enrico Asuncion in the men’s Singles (2-0), Michelle Li swept Lydia Chao in the women’s and Kevin Lee and Ty Lindeman won the men’s Doubles over Zhi Yi Chen and Presley Smith (2-1). The U.S. team of Smith and Jennie Gai won the Mixed Doubles over Lindeman and Crystal Lai, 2-0.

● Biathlon ● Heading into his final IBU World Championships, held in Lenzerheide (SUI), Norwegian star Johannes Thingnes Boe had won 38 Worlds medals, including 20 golds. But he was going to make sure that he was remembered and won his 21st World title in the opening men’s individual event, the 10.0 km Sprint on Saturday.

Boe dominated the race, winning by 27.7 seconds in 21:56.8 (0 penalties), but the surprise was in second place. That was American Campbell Wright, 22, a clear second in 22:24.5 (0), who transferred from New Zealand in 2023, and finished well ahead of France’s twice Olympic gold medalist Quentin Fillon Maillet (22:33.8/1).

It was the first U.S. Worlds men’s medal since 2019, when Lowell Bailey took an upset win in the 20 km Individual race, and the first-ever men’s Worlds medal in the Sprint. In 13 starts on the World Cup circuit this season, Wright had a best of fourth – in a Sprint – with two top-10 finishes in 13 starts. But he’s now the Worlds silver medalist; he said afterwards:

“Coming into the day I just had all the confidence that I could ski with the top guys. I skied with [Sweden’s Martin] Ponsiluoma that second loop and felt pretty in control to be honest. I just figured, I really gotta hit the targets on standing. I managed to do it and honestly I have no words.”

Fellow American Maxime Germain also had a personal best Worlds finish, in 12th (23:02.5/0).

In Sunday’s 12.5 km Pursuit, Boe won again, in 32:26.9 (2), with Wright up for second again in 32:35.5 (1), and France’s Eric Perrot third (32:47.7/1), his first individual Worlds medals. Germain was 21st (35:03.1/4).

Wright made more history, as the first American ever to win two medals in a single Worlds!

The women’s individual events started with a win for Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (FRA), who won her fourth career Worlds gold in the 7.5 km Sprint in 22:08.7 (1 penalty), ahead of Franziska Preuss (GER: 22:18.5/1) and Suvi Minkkinen (22:18.7/2).

The women’s 10 km Pursuit was the first individual Worlds gold for Germany’s Preuss, a convincing winner in 26:58.9 (0), way ahead of Olympic silver medalist Elvira Oeberg (SWE: 27:38.0/1) and Braisaz-Bouchet (27:39.8/3).

The Worlds continue through the next week.

● Bobsled ● The second week of the IBSF World Cup in Lillehammer (NOR) finished the season, with the World Championships coming in March in Lake Placid, New York.

The Two-Man finished with a German sweep of all eight races, this time with Olympic silver winner Johannes Lochner (and Georg Fleischhauer) winning in 1:40.99, just ahead of Olympic champ Francesco Friedrich (and Felix Straub: 1:41.02), with Adam Ammour and Nick Stadelmann completing the fifth German sweep of the season in 1:41.19. Friedrich won the seasonal title, 1,745-1,730 over Lochner; American Frank Del Duca was 10th (1.104).

In Sunday’s Four-Man, Lochner completed a sweep, winning in 1:39.03, with Friedrich at 1:39.35 and Britain’s Brad Hall at 1:39.39. Those three drivers won all seven World Cup races this season. Friedrich won the seasonal crown, 1,515 to 1,446 over Lochner, with Hall third (1,444).

The women’s Monobob went to Australian Bree Walker, who got her first World Cup ever last week – in a tie with American Elana Meyers Taylor – and now by herself, in 1:48.51, beating Canadian Cynthia Appiah (1:48.66). German Lisa Buckwitz, the 2018 Olympic winner in the Two-Woman event, took third in 1:48.67.

Buckwitz, with three wins earlier, took the seasonal title, 1,637 to 1,596 over Walker; Kaysha Love was the top American, in fifth at 1,317, with Meyers Taylor eighth in 1,190.

Beijing 2022 Olympic winner Laura Nolte (with Leonie Kluwig) won the Two-Women race in 1:43.74, ahead of Buckwitz and Neele Schuten (1:43.94) and Canada’s Melissa Lotholz and Skylar Sieben (1:44.70). Nolte, Kim Kalicki (GER) and Buckwitz were the top three in the seasonal standings with 1,545, 1,447 and 1,437 points.

German domination was underlined as their sleds won all 15 Two-Man and Two-Women races this season and 24 of 30 overall in World Cup competition.

● Cross Country Skiing ● The ninth stop – of 12 – in the 2024-25 FIS World Cup was in Falun (SWE), with American Jessie Diggins trying to close out a repeat women’s seasonal World Cup title.

Home favorite Linn Svahn (SWE) got her 16th career World Cup win in the women’s Classical Sprint, winning the final in 3:12.22, over Nadine Faehndrich (SUI: 3:13.11). Diggins did not make the final, but ranked seventh overall, as the first alternate.

Sweden won again in Saturday’s 10 km Classical Interval Start, with triple Worlds gold winner Ebba Andersson winning in 28:49.3, beating Norwegian star Heidi Weng (29:07.1) and Victoria Carl (GER: 29:18.0). Diggins was fourth in 29:26.6.

Diggins said she was fired up by seeing American Gus Schumacher win silver in the men’s Sunday race and skied like it, winning the 20 km Freestyle Mass Start in 54:27.4, out-lasting Norwegian star Weng (54:28.1) and Andersson (54:28.2) to the line. It’s the sixth World Cup gold of the year for Diggins and she leads the seasonal World Cup standings – as defending champion – by 1,933 to 1,461 over Carl, with five events left. She’s just about there.

The men’s Classical Sprint was the 10th win of the season for four-time World Cup champ Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), timing 2:46.40, leading a Norwegian sweep, with Erik Valnes (2:47.71) and Oskar Vike (2:48.92). Klaebo was in the mix again in the Classical 10 km, but three-time Olympic gold winner Iivo Niskanen (FIN) took his first World Cup win since the season opener last November, in 24:54.3, with Klaebo second in 25:07.2. Schumacher was the top American, in 17th (26:07.9).

Sunday’s 20 km Freestyle Mass Start was the first win of the season for Norway’s Paal Golberg, in 48:05.1, pushed right to the line by Schumacher, 24, who won his second career World Cup medal and first this season, in 48:05.4. Harald Amundsen (NOR) was just behind both in 48:06.0.

The World Cup takes a break now, with the World Championships coming on 26 February in Trondheim (NOR).

● Freestyle Skiing ● The final leg of the Halfpipe World Cup season was in Calgary (CAN), with New Zealand’s 18-year-old Finley Melville Ives winning his first career World Cup medal – a gold – scoring 92.75 points, just beating three-time Olympic Slopestyle silver winner Nick Goepper of the U.S. (92.25) and 2018 PyeongChang Olympic runner-up Alex Ferreira (91.75). Ferreira won the seasonal Crystal Globe with 360 points, to 320 for Goepper.

The women’s win went to China’s Fanghui Li, 21, who scored 90.50 to edge 2023 Worlds runner-up Zoe Atkin (GBR: 87.75) and Canada’s 2021 Worlds silver winner Rachael Karker (87.00). Svea Irving of the U.S. was fifth (72.75). Li and Atkin tied for the Crystal Globe, each with 305 points.

● Ice Hockey ● The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off is generating the hoped-for frenzy of interest, especially after the wild Saturday match-up of the U.S. and Canada in Montreal. The Americans decided to fight from the start, with three brawls in the first nine seconds of the game!

When the hockey resumed, Canada got a first-period goal from Connor McDavid to go up 1-0, then the U.S. took over. Jake Guentzel evened it at 10:15 of the first, then Dylan Larkin scored on a 2×1 break at 13:33 of the second for the key goal and a 2-1 lead.

Connor Hallebuyck of the U.S. turned away 18 shots in the final two periods and the U.S. got an empty-netter from Guentzel with 1:19 to play for the 3-1 final, clinching a spot in the championship game on Thursday (20th).

Also on Saturday, Finland defeated Sweden in another heated match, 4-3, in overtime.

So, the U.S. is 2-0, and Canada and Finland are 1-1, with Sweden at 0-2 (two overtime losses), as the event moves to Boston. The U.S. opponent will be decided on Monday, as Canada will play Finland in the afternoon and Sweden faces the U.S. in the evening.

The final comes Thursday in Boston at 8 p.m. Eastern.

● Judo ● Japan dominated the second IJF World Tour of the year, the Baku Grand Slam in Azerbaijan, winning 10 of the 14 classes in the tournament (also four silvers and three bronzes):

Olympic bronze medalist Ryuju Nagayama won the men’s 60 kg class; 2024 Worlds runner-up Takeshi Takeoka won at 66 kg; 2024 Worlds silver medalist Tatsuki Ishihara took the 73 kg gold; Olympic runner-up Sanshiro Murao won at 90 kg, followed by 2024 Worlds bronzer Dota Arai at 100 kg and Hyoga Ota at +100 kg. That’s six golds in seven classes.

Women’s Olympic 48 kg champ Natsumi Tsunoda won the women’s 48 kg tournament, as did Tokyo Olympic champ Uta Abe at 52 kg, 2021 Worlds runner-up Momo Tamaoki, at 57 kg, and 2019 World Junior Champion Ruri Takahashi at +78 kg.

Canada’s 2021 World Champion Jessica Klimkait won the 63 kg gold.

● Luge ● Austria won three of the four main races at the FIL World Cup in PyeongChang (KOR), with Beijing 2022 Worlds runner-up Wolfgang Kindl taking the men’s Singles from 2022 bronze medalist Dominik Fischnaller, 1:35.422 to 1:35.514, with Kristers Aparjods (LAT) a close third at 1:35.533. Tucker West was the top American, in 12th (1:36/668).

Thomas Steu and Kindl – 2024 Worlds silver winners – won the men’s Doubles in 1:32.578, ahead of five-time World Champion Toni Eggert and Florian Mueller (1:32.580), with triple Olympic gold winners Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt third (1:32.680). Zachary Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander of the U.S. finished seventh (1:33.235).

Austria’s third win came from 2024 World Champion Lisa Schulte in the women’s Singles, in 1:32.923, just ahead of German Mabel Frabel (1:33.296) and Fellow Austrian Hannah Prock (1:33.000). Ashley Farquharson was the top American, in sixth (1:33.380).

Germany’s two-time World Champions Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal took the women’s Doubles in 1:33.618, barely ahead of Selina Egle and Lara Kipp (AUT: 1:33.641). The U.S. pair of Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby finished fourth (1:34.238).

Kindl and Schulte won the Mixed Singles in 1:38,613, with West and Farquharson sixth (1:39.214). Eggert and Mueller and Degenhart and Rosenthal won the Mixed Doubles (1:37.835), with Di Gregorio and Hollander and Forgan and Kirkby sixth (1:38.517).

● Short Track ● The ISU World Tour was in Milan (ITA), looking ahead to next year’s Winter Games, but also the end of the regular-season meets. And it was a good meet for American star Kristen Santos-Griswold.

The five-time Worlds medal winner in 2024, she opened on Saturday with a win in the women’s 1,000 m – in which she is the reigning World Champion – in 1:29.320, ahead of U.S. teammate Corinne Stoddard (1:29.445), with 2023 World Champion Xandra Velzeboer (NED) winning the seasonal event title with 374 points to 370 for Stoddard.

Sunday started with the 500 m, and another win for Santos-Griswold, this time over the legendary Arianna Fontana (ITA) – now 34 and an 11-time Olympic medalist, back to try for a home Games in 2026 – in 42.558 to 42.662. The win gave Santos-Griswold the seasonal title by 410-398 over Velzeboer.

In the 1,500 m, Belgium’s 2022 Olympic bronzer, Hanne Desmet, won for the second time this season in 2:23.229 to 2:23.308 for Santos-Griswold and 2:23.420 for Fontana, with Stoddard sixth (2:23.750). Desmet also won the seasonal title, 404-380 over Santos-Griswold.

The Dutch women won the 3,000 m relay in 4:10.570 over Italy (4:10.668).

Overall, it was Santos-Griswold who won the World Cup championship, scoring 1,120 points to 950 for Velzeboer and 940 for Stoddard. Santos-Griswold won nine medals during the season, including four wins and is well positioned to contend for the podium in multiple events in 2026 (as is Stoddard).

The men’s meet started with a sprint win for China’s World 1,500 m champ Long Sun, taking the 500 m in 40.777 over Teun Boer (NED: 40.891). The 1,500 m was the third World Cup gold of the season for Dutch Worlds runner-up Jens van’t Wout in 2:10.930, beating Kosei Hayashi (JPN: 2:20.124).

Sunday’s 1,000 m was a fitting conclusion to the season for Canadian William Dandjinou, the reigning World men’s 1,000 m champ. He won in 1:23.025 over Pietro Sighel (ITA: 1:23.119) and not only got his eighth World Cup win of the season, he celebrated the overall men’s World Cup title, with 1,184 points to 950 for van’t Wout. Sighel finished third with 764 points.

Fellow Canadian Steven Dubois (460) won the men’s 500 m seasonal title over Dandjinou (312); Dandjinou won the 1,000 m title with 380 points to 360 for van’t Wout, and Dandjinou took the 1,500 m globe by 480-320 over Korea’s Ji-won Park.

Italy won the men’s 5,000 m relay in Milan in 6:42.822, over Canada (6:42.878). The Dutch won the Mixed Relay in 2:38.005, head of Canada, in 2:38.187.

● Ski Jumping ● The FIS men’s World Cup was in Sapporo (JPN), jumping off the 137 m hill and with a home win for two-time World Cup champion Ryoyu Kobayashi, who won his first medal of the season with a win at 286.4 points, winning both jumps. Austria’s Jan Hoerl was a distant second at 266.7; American Kevin Bickner was 18th (227.8).

On Sunday, Kobayashi doubled up, placing second in the first round and winning the second to score 278.4 points, holding off Marius Lindvik (NOR: 274.2) and fellow Norwegian Johann Forfang (268.7). Bickner was 13th (239.0).

The women’s World Cup was in Ljubno (SLO), on the 94 m hill, and seasonal leader Nika Prevc winning her third meet in a row – and eighth of the season – on her home hill, scoring 258.0 points to beat Selina Freitag (GER: 240.6). American Paige Jones was 19th (186.7).

Prevc made it four straight on Sunday, winning both jumps and totaling 266.4, ahead of Freitag again (256.2) and Lisa Eder (AUT: 248.9). Jones was 26th.

● Snowboard ● The fourth leg of the FIS World Cup in Snowcross was in Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA) on Saturday with France’s Aidan Chollet, 20, winning his first World Cup medal – a gold – in his 24th race! He finished ahead of Kurt Hoshino (GER; his first World Cup medal) and Cody Winters of the U.S.

The women’s race saw the third straight World Cup win for Britain’s 2021 World Champion, Charlotte Bankes, ahead of France’s Lea Casta and Manon Petit Lenoir.

In the Parallel Giant Slalom in Val St. Come (CAN), 40-year-old Zan Kosir got his seventh career World Cup win and the first in four years, beating 39-year-old Benjamin Karl (AUT), the Beijing 2022 gold medalist.

On Sunday, German Elias Huber won his second medal of the season and his first career gold, winning the final over 44-year-old, six-time Worlds medalist Roland Fischnaller (ITA).

The first women’s race was another win for 2021 Parallel Slalom Worlds runner-up Ramona Theresia Hofmeister, her fourth in the last five events! She beat Sabine Payer (AUT), who won her third silver of the season, to go along with one win.

Hofmeister swept the weekend, winning the second race over Swiss two-time World Champion Julie Zogg. Japan’s Tsubaki Miki, the seasonal leader, took the bronze for her 11th medal of the season, in 14 races!

● Swimming ● Canadian star Summer McIntosh, still 18, and a triple gold medalist in Paris, won the women’s 800 m Free at the U.S. Southern Zone South Sectionals in Plantation, Florida in 8:09.86, a national record, the world leader in 2025 and the no. 10 performance of all time.

Up to that race, Katie Ledecky of the U.S. had the top 17 performances ever; she now has the top nine (and 22 of 24). McIntosh is the second ever to break 8:10.

In the women’s 400 m Freestyle, superstar Ledecky won her prelims in 4:01.27 and the final in 4:01.04, easily the fastest in the world this year. And she won the 1,500 m in a world-leading 15:36.87, the no. 16 performance in history. She now owns the top 21 performances ever in that event.

● Triathlon ● The World Triathlon Championship Series opener in Abu Dhabi (UAE) featured two close finishes in the Sprint format, with a 750 m swim, 19.1 km bike phase and 5 km run.

The men’s race came down to a battle between New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, the Paris 2024 runner-up and Matthew Hauser (AUS), the 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze winner, finally decided on the final lap of the run, with Wilde breaking free to win in 48:21 to 48:23, with Vasco Vilaca (POR: 48:39) a solid third. Olympian Morgan Pearson was the top American, in 19th (49:42).

The women’s race ended in a German sweep, with Paris Mixed Relay gold medalist Lisa Tertsch strong in all three phases, but the most efficient at the transitions, winning in 54:29, just ahead of Nina Eim (54:30) and Laura Lindemann (54:31). The U.S. had Taylor Spivey in 13th (55:21) and Erika Ackerlund (55:23) in 14th; Rio 2016 Olympic champ Gwen Jorgensen was 29th (56:41).

In the Mixed Relay, Germany’s Selina Klamt, Jan Diener, Tanja Neubert and Henry Graf won with strong efforts on the last two legs, 1:32:05 to 1:32:21 over the U.S. quartet of Spivey, John Reed, Ackerlund and Pearson.

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ATHLETICS: Fisher mauls 5,000 m WR in Boston! Kiplimo stunning 56:42 Half in Barca! Tsegay runs 3:53.92 in Torun, no. 2 ever!

By
Rich Perelman
-
American distance star Grant Fisher (Photo: Erik van Leeuwen via Wikipedia).

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≡ MORE WORLD RECORDS! ≡

It’s not an Olympic year, but the world record parade has continued almost without end, along with other terrific performances. This is amazing:

● On Friday, the fast Boston University track welcomed the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, featuring recent 3,000 m world-record setter Grant Fisher, the Olympic 5,000 and 10,000 m Olympic bronze medalist.

This was a world record attempt, against the impressive 12:49.60 by Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele from 2004 and Fisher was more than equal to the task. He broke away from the field just after halfway and ran his final 400 m in 59.36 and crossed in a brilliant 12:44.09.

France’s Jimmy Gressier was second in a European record of 12:54.92, moving to no. 7 all-time, with the no. 9 performance. For Fisher, he now owns three of the top eight indoor performances all-time, and two world indoor records in seven days, after his Millrose 3,000 m triumph!

Georgetown sophomore 20-year-old Tinoda Matsatsa won the men’s 800 m in a fast 1:45.21, moving to no. 9 on the world list for 2025. American Luciano Fiore won the 1,000 m in 2:16.74, now no. 4 for 2025. Princeton’s Harrison Witt cut three seconds off his lifetime best to win the men’s mile in 3:52.87.

● At the ISTAF Indoor meet in Berlin (GER) on Friday, Swedish vault superstar Mondo Duplantis opened the season with a win at 6.10 m (20-0), the equal-12th performance all-time indoors. He cleared four bars without a miss and went straight to a world-record height of 6.27 m (20-6 3/4), but missed three times.

● On Sunday, Uganda’s two-time Cross Country and 2020 World Half Marathon champ Jacob Kiplimo blew up the men’s world record in the Half Marathon, winning the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks in Barcelona (ESP) in a stunning 56:42, ripping 48 seconds off the old best of 57:30 by Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha from last October:

“I wanted to have a great race, but I didn’t expect to break the world record.

“I started very strong in the first two kilometers to get away from my rivals. As the kilometers passed and I saw I was going on record pace, I told myself that I had to maintain that pace no matter what.”

He destroyed a good field, with Kenya’s three-time Half Marathon Worlds winner Geoffrey Kamworor (58:44) in second, and Kenyan Samuel Mailu (59:40) in third.

Kiplimo passed 10 km in a sensational 27:15 and also hit 15 km in a world best of 40:07, and 20 km in 53:42 (26:46 split!). It’s his second world record in the distance; he ran 57:31 in 2021, only to see Kejelcha shave a second off in 2024.

Kenya’s defending champ Joyciline Jepkosgei won the women’s race in a speedy 1:04:13, moving her to no. 7 all-time.

● At the Japanese 20 km National Walk Championships – World Athletics Race Walking Tour Bronze event – in Kobe, two-time World Champion Toshikazu Yamanishi won the men’s 20 km Walk in a world record 1:16:10, shaving 26 seconds off the 1:16:36 mark by Yusuke Suzuki (JPN) in Homi in 2015. Satoshi Maruo (JPN) was a distant second in 1:17:24, but moved to equal-11th all-time!

On Sunday, the World Athletics World Indoor Tour Gold series continued with the 11th Copernicus Cup in Torun (POL), with Ethiopia’s women’s 1,500 m world-record holder Gudaf Tsegay coming back to one of her favorite tracks.

She ran 3:54.77 in Torun in 2022, the no. 2 indoor performance ever and was ready to do better, taking over by the 800 m mark in 2:05.2 and then passing 1,200 m in 3:07.9. Running at her own world mark of 3:53.09, she finished strong and crossed in a world-leading 3:53.92, the no. 2 performance of all time!

Well behind, but still impressive was 19-year-old countrywoman Birke Haylom, second in 3:59.82, her second career indoor sub-4.

That wasn’t the only world-leading performance, as Norway’s Henriette Jaeger – eighth in the Paris 400 m final – won the women’s 400 in a lifetime indoor best of 50.44, a national indoor record! Lurdes Manuel (CZE: 51.15) was a distant second.

The men’s long jump included Paris gold and bronze winners Miltadis Tentoglou (GRE) and Italy’s Mattia Furlani, and Furlani exploded into the lead on his third jump at 8.21 m (26-11 1/4). Tentoglou got to 8.03 m (26-4 1/4) and then Furlani, already the winner, blew up on his final try, sailing out to 8.37 m (27-5 1/2) for the world lead. It’s his second-best jump ever, his best indoors, a national indoor record and moves the 20-year-old to equal-27th on the all-time list.

The crowd was crazy for home favorite, 2024 World Indoor women’s 60 m silver winner Ewa Swoboda, but it was Italy’s 2024 World Indoor bronzer Zaynab Dosso who won in 7.05, moving to no. 2 in the world for 2025. Swiss star Mujinga Kumbundji was second in 7.07 (equal-3rd in 2025) and then Swoboda in 7.10. And there was a lot more.

Britain’s Elliot Giles won the men’s 1,500 m in a tight battle with Biniam Mehary (ETH), 3:35.43 to 3:35.70, taking the lead for good on the final lap.

In the men’s 60 m hurdles, Americans Dylan Beard and Louis Rollins tied in the heat at 7.69, and then Rollins won the final in 7.59, with countryman Jamal Britt third (7.68) and Beard fifth (7.75).

Two-time Worlds medalist E.J. Obiena (PHI) won the men’s vault as the only one to clear 5.80 m (19-0 1/4), ahead of three-time Worlds medal winner Piotr Lisek (POL) and Sondre Gurttormsen (NOR), who both cleared 5.70 (18-8 1/4). Italy’s 2024 European champ Leonardo Fabbri won the men’s shot at 21.62 m (70-1 11/4), on his second throw, ahead of countryman Zane Weir (21.13 m/69-4).

The women’s 800 m had world leader Tsige Duguma in a modest 2:00.04 over fellow Ethiopian Habitam Alemu, who got a seasonal best of 2:00.61 in second.

World leader Ackera Nugent (JAM) was a close women’s 60 m hurdles final in 7.79, just ahead of Swiss Ditaji Kumbundji, who got a lifetime best of 7.80 in second.

Two-time World Champion Chase Jackson of the U.S. got a seasonal best of 20.24 m (66-5) to win the women’s shot over European champ Jessica Schilder (NED: 20.01 m/65-7 3/4) and 2024 World Indoor winner Sarah Mitton (CAN: 19.69 m/64-7 1/4).

There’s one more World Indoor Tour Gold meet on the schedule, coming 28 February, in Madrid (ESP).

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ALPINE SKIING: Swiss dominate upset-filled Alpine Worlds with 5 wins and 13 medals, as Meillard wins Slalom; U.S. ends with four medals

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ WORLD ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

Switzerland won medals in all five men’s events and eight of 11 events overall to lead the medal table for the second time in the last three FIS World Alpine Championships, this time at Saalbach (AUT) in an event marked by first-time champions and medal winners. 

While the Swiss won the first three men’s events, they had not won a women’s medal until Saturday’s Slalom and then went 1-2. Camille Rast, the 2017 World Junior Champion in the Slalom, won her first two World Cup golds this season and skied brilliantly to record the top time in the first run. She had a big, 0.58-second lead on Katharina Liensberger (AUT), and 0.72 on American star Mikaela Shiffrin.

On the second run, Paula Moltzan of the U.S., fresh off her bronze in the Giant Slalom, zoomed into the lead as the fifth-to-last skier to go, recording a strong run to finish at 1:59.34. Wendy Holdener, a two-time World Champion in the Combined, was next and was even faster – the fastest second run of all – to take the lead (1:58.46), with Shiffrin next. Her run was not as smooth and she was left in third place at 1:59.37.

Then came Liensnerger, but with the 13th-best second run, she ended up at 1:59.32, behind Holdener. Rast was last and was terrific, turning in the no. 4 second run and taking the gold from Holdener at 1:58.00, her first Worlds medal. Moltzan and Shiffrin had to settle for fourth and fifth; A.J. Hurt of the U.S. finished 19th at 2:03.70.

Austria’s Raphael Haaser, 27, followed up his men’s Super-G silver with a win in Friday’s Giant Slalom – pretty good for someone who has never won a World Cup race – starting with the fifth-fastest first run. He had the fourth-fastest second run and that was good enough for the lead at 2:39.71. But the top three in the first run all had second runs ranked 20th or lower and Haaser took the gold.

Swiss Thomas Tumler, with four career World Cup medals, was sixth after the first run and was eighth in the second run, but that was good enough to hold onto the silver. Swiss veteran Loic Meillard was no. 2 after the first run and despite logging the 22nd-fastest second run, won the bronze at 2:40.22. Swiss seasonal World Cup leader Marco Odermatt ended up fourth at 2:40.29.

River Radamus was the top American finisher, in 17th (2:41.36); Patrick Kennedy was 32nd (2:45.99).

Sunday’s finale was the men’s Slalom, with France’s Beijing 2022 Olympic champion Clement Noel – who has four wins already in World Cup races this season – settling into the lead on the first run at 59.23, ahead of Meillard (59.42) and Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath (59.87).

Britain’s Dave Ryding, 13th on the first run, had the lead until Austria’s Manuel Feller – sixth on the first run – took over at 1:54.81 with what ended up as the third-fastest second run.

German Linus Strasser was next and he took the lead at 1:54.54, and held it as Norway’s Timon Haugen finished at 1:54.91, behind Feller. Now it was McGrath’s turn and he was strong, pushing into the lead at 1:54.28, with only Meillard and Noel to go.

Meillard’s second run ranked only 10th, but given his excellent first run, he zoomed into the lead himself at 1:54.02, leaving only Noel to go. He looked like the winner, but straddled a gate near the end of the run and did not finish, leaving Meillard as World Champion.

It’s Meillard’s sixth Worlds medal (2-1-3), adding to his men’s Team Combined gold and Giant Slalom bronze in Saalbach. McGrath won his first Worlds medal in second, and Strasser got his first individual Worlds medal (also a Team bronze in 2021). Jett Seymour was the only American, in 21st (1:57.29).

The Swiss men won four of five men’s events and nine of 15 men’s medals and scored in eight of the 11 events at the Worlds. Host Austria won seven medals (2-3-2), with the U.S. third with four (2-0-2). Looking ahead to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, the only conclusion is that anything can happen, and probably will. 

Back to business. The Worlds was only an interlude during the World Cup season; the men now go to Crans-Montana (SUI) for races and the women to Sestriere (ITA).

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SALT LAKE CITY 2034: Winter Games organizing committee announced, with Bullock as President and Wilson as chief executive

By
Rich Perelman
-
Downtown Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Mountains (Photo: Wikipedia-Invictus323).

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≡ ORGANIZING COMMITTEE BEGINS ≡

“Strong leadership is vital for a successful 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and an enduring legacy for Utah.

“Fraser Bullock brings a great depth of Olympic experience as our executive chair and president. Brad Wilson has proven over many years to be a talented and prudent leader, and we look to his guidance as CEO.”

That’s from Utah Governor Spencer Cox on Friday, announcing the formation of the organizing committee of the 2034 Olympic Winter Games, in a ceremony at the Utah State Capitol, also attended by the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Director of the Olympic Games, Christophe Dubi (SUI).

The organizing committee’s leadership:

● Executive Chair & President: Fraser Bullock
● Vice Chair & Chief Executive: Brad Wilson
● Vice Chair: Steve Starks

Bullock, 70, was the Chief Operating Officer for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) for the highly-successful 2002 Olympic Winter Games and was the chief executive of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games bid team. He brings unique continuity to the 2034 Games, having been a senior executive of a prior organizing committee … in the same city!

Wilson, 56, was the Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives from 2019 to 2023 and has been in private business in residential development since.

Starks is the chief executive of the Larry H. Miller Company, a major Salt Lake City conglomerate, and was previously the President of the company-owned Utah Jazz of the NBA. He has served as the advisor to Governor Cox on Olympic matters during the bid.

The announcement noted:

“As CEO, Wilson will manage the day-to-day operations of the organizing committee. As the executive chair, Bullock will drive strategy and relationship building, drawing on his vast network and knowledge base in Olympic and Paralympic sport. As vice chair, Starks will help oversee the work of the board and support and advise Wilson.”

The six-member Executive Committee includes Bullock and Starks, as well as U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Chair Gene Sykes and chief executive Sarah Hirshland, and Olympians Chris Kinney and Lindsey Vonn.

The 25-member Board include all four U.S. members of the International Olympic Committee – Sykes, Anita DeFrantz, David Haggerty and Allyson Felix – and athlete members Kinney, Vonn, Sarah Hughes (Olympians) and Muffy Davis, Manny Guerra Jr. and Oksana Masters (Paralympians).

Four-time Olympic speedskater Catherine Raney Norman, who served as the Chair of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, will head the organizing committee’s Athletes’ Commission.

Bullock has said previously that the 2034 organizing committee will remain tiny through 2028, concentrating on strategic and marketing initiatives before turning to the actual organizing of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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ATHLETICS: Lyles and Hill agree to race this year, sometime before U.S. Nationals

By
Rich Perelman
-
Noah Lyles winning the men's 200 m at the 2022 World Championships (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images for World Athletics)

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≡ FOOTBALL vs. TRACK ≡

After months of trash talk, Olympic 100 m champion Noah Lyles will race speedy Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill sometime in the late spring or early summer, somewhere, at a distance to be agreed upon.

That’s about all that came from an online interview between the two and People Magazine’s Natasha Dye. Highlights:

● Hill: “This has been an ongoing thing for, quite some time now, and I mean, everybody’s seen the back and forth on social media. I’ve been very adamant to show people what real, true speed looks like.”

● Lyles: “Everybody says that they’re gonna be the world’s fastest, but when it comes down to it, you gotta be the winner every time, each and every time, and every time I show up to the biggest moments, I win.

“That’s why I’m the world’s fastest. I did at the Olympics. I do it at world championships. I do it wherever it’s needed to be done. And if I gotta go down and, you know, beat up on Tyreek to prove that I’m the world’s fastest, then it’s gonna be done.”

Hill said he feels he’s “got to do this for the guys that play my sport” and that many NFL players “did run track at some point, and we can come and take over your sport at any moment if we really wanted to.”

All the details still have to be worked out, but Hill boasts that he would win in a football-type race, such as 40 yards, the distance typically measured for football players. Lyles said he refused that offer – “I did that not to embarrass you” – but added:

“I mean if it was 100-meters, it’d be a blowout, you know, we gotta meet in the middle.”

Sounds like a 60 m somewhere in Florida, where Lyles trains and Hill plays for the Dolphins.

Much more hype to come, for sure. And money. The U.S. Nationals are in Eugene, Oregon from 31 July to 2 August.

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PANORAMA: Milan Cortina open for torchbearer applications; Grospiron to lead French Alps 2030? No beer at 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi!

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Applications to run in the 2026 Winter Games Torch Relay were opened on Thursday, with 10,001 Olympic and 501 Paralympic torch carriers expected in all.

Applicants must have been born prior to 5 December 2011 and can apply via a dedicated Web site. As for the relay:

“The 10,001 torchbearers of Milano Cortina will embark on a journey lasting 63 days and covering 12,000 kilometers, uniting all Italian regions and passing through all 110 provinces of the country. The journey will begin on 26 November, 2025, in Olympia, with the lighting of the sacred flame, which will then arrive in Italy, in Rome, on 4 December.

“From there, the relay will officially start on 6 December. The torch will pass through Naples on Christmas Day and celebrate the New Year in Bari. On 26 January, it will return to Cortina d’Ampezzo, exactly 70 years after the Opening Ceremony of the 1956 Games, and will conclude its journey in Milan, entering San Siro Stadium on the evening of Friday, 6 February, 2026.”

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● FrancsJeux.com reported that the formal inauguration of the organizing committee for the 2030 Winter Games will take place next Tuesday (18th) in Lyon.

Agence France Presse reported that 1992 Moguls gold medalist Edgar Grospiron, 55, will be proposed as President and is expected to be confirmed next week.

● Doping ● The doping-encouraged Enhanced Games got a financial ally in 1789 Capital was reported to be leading a fund-raising program, with Donald Trump Jr. as one of the partners of the firm.

The event was announced in 2023, but has not set a date, place or program so far; it was originally projected to include  events in track and field, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics, and combat sports.

● Football ● No alcoholic beverages will be served at the 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi ambassador to Great Britain. Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud told LBC radio:

“At the moment, we don’t allow alcohol. Plenty of fun can be had without alcohol – it’s not 100 per cent necessary and if you want to drink after you leave, you’re welcome to, but at the moment we don’t have alcohol.

“Rather like our weather, it’s a dry country. Everyone has their own culture. We’re happy to accommodate people within the boundaries of our culture but we don’t want to change our culture for someone else.”

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was supposed to have limited availability of beer in stadiums, but a complete ban was confirmed a couple of days prior to the start of matches.

● Ice Hockey ● The National Hockey League and NHL Players’ Association announced the return of the World Cup of Hockey – last held in 2016 – in February 2028.

This fourth World Cup of Hockey is planned for eight national teams and will be held in NHL arenas, with NHL officials. The question of Russian participation was noted in the announcement:

“Whether players from Russia will be permitted to participate in the 2028 World Cup is to be determined. Russia and Belarus remain suspended from international competition by the International Ice Hockey Federation through the end of the 2025-26 season because of the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine.”

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman explained:

“The international federation [IIHF] just voted to keep Russia out of many competitions, as have many other sports, and we’re going to have to see what the International Olympic Committee does. But we have enough time to deal with the realities with what the world situation looks like before then.”

Marty Walsh, the head of the NHLPA, said, “I’d love to see our Russian players playing in these tournaments again. They’re incredible hockey players. The issues are political. Not political as far as the NHLPA; it’s world politics we have to get through. I’m hoping that as we get closer to the Olympics, closer to the World Cup, we will start seeing Russian athletes back in the competition.”

The 4 Nations Face-Off opened Tuesday evening in Montreal (CAN) before 21,105 at the Bell Centre, with the host Canadian team pulling out a 4-3 win over Sweden in overtime. Mitch Marner scored the game-winner for Canada as Sidney Crosby got three assists for Canada.

The round-robin portion of the tournament continues through Monday, with the final on the 20th.

● Swimming ● World Aquatics named its Open Water Athletes of the Year for 2024, with Olympic stars Kristof Rasovszky (HUN) and Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) taking the honors for men and women.

Rasovszky won the men’s 10 km silver in Tokyo, but claimed gold in Paris, also won the 2024 Worlds open-water 10 km gold in Doha in February. Van Rouwendaal won the women’s 10 km open-water event by more than five seconds in Paris, her second Olympic gold after also winning in Rio in 2016.

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ALPINE SKIING: Italy’s Brignone dominates women’s Giant Slalom, with U.S.’s Moltzan redeemed with a first Worlds medal!

By
Rich Perelman
-
American Paula Moltzan at the 2025 World Alpine Championships (Photo: Stifel U.S. Ski Team).

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≡ WORLD ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

Italian star Federica Brignone, 34, added to her sparkling career with a second career FIS World Alpine Championships gold in Saalbach (AUT), dominating the women’s Giant Slalom.

Brignone was the leader after the first run by 0.67 seconds – a big lead in skiing – and then won the second run as well – by 0.23 – to finish in 2:22.71 and her third major medal in the event.

She previously won the Olympic GS silver in Beijing in 2022 and the GS bronze in PyeongChang in 2018. And this was her third Worlds medal in the Giant Slalom, finally getting gold after silvers in 2011 and 2023. She was thrilled:

“It was my dream since always. I mean, in GS I have this love and hate [relationship] because, for some reason, it’s the one where I’m more stressed. Sometimes I can’t handle the pressure, and I feel so bad in the start.

“But today was really nice and when I can do it, it’s just amazing.”

A clear second was New Zealand’s Alice Robinson, 23, a four-time winner on the World Cup tour and all in Giant Slaloms. She also registered a rare double, finishing second on both runs and second overall in 2:23.61, for her first Worlds medal.

Third was not as clear. American Paula Moltzan, who skied the Slalom leg of the women’s Team Combined and started as the leader, had only the 15th-fastest time on her run and slid to fourth and out of the medals. On Thursday, she was brilliant on the first run and stood third in the field at 1:11.68. When she came up for her second run, she was in good position, but had – again – the 15th-fastest time.

But, everyone below her also had trouble; the nos. 4-5-6 skiers had the 13th-19th-9th fastest second runs in the field and Moltzan’s combined time of 2:25.33 was good enough for the bronze medal, 0.01 ahead of Norway’s Thea Louse St Jernesund!

So, Moltzan, 30, won her second Worlds medal, as she was part of the winning U.S. squad in the Team Event at the 2023 Worlds, but her first individual medal. She has four career World Cup medals (0-2-2) and won a bronze this season in the Giant Slalom in Kronplatz (ITA) on 21 January, a good omen for her Worlds success.

“I feel happy, joyful. It’s been kind of a roller coaster of a season with results and with emotions,” said Moltzan. “So for it to play out on a really big stage is really emotional.”

That’s the fourth American women’s medal so far at the Worlds, with the Slalom (and Mikaela Shiffrin) still to come. The other U.S. finishers on Thursday included A.J. Hurt in 13th (2:27.31) and Katie Hensien in 22nd (2:28.47).

The men’s Giant Slalom is on Friday.

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ATHLETICS: Ingebrigtsen destroys world 1,500 (3:29.63) and mile (3:45.14) world marks in Lieven, among 10 world leaders!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen following his record-shattering mile at the Hauts de France Indoor meet in Lievin, France (Photo: Hauts de France on X).

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≡ INGEBRIGTSEN ON FIRE! ≡

The annual indoor Hauts de France-Pas-de-Calais meet on Thursday drew extra attention for a stellar field, including world-record shots in the men’s mile and women’s 3,000 m. The meet produced world leaders in 10 events and two world records:

● Men/1,500 m: 3:29.63 en route, Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) ~ World Record
● Men/Mile: 3:45.14, Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) ~ World Record
● Men/60 m hurdles: 7.36, Grant Holloway (USA)
● Men/Shot: 21.95 m (72-0 1/4), Leonardo Fabbri (ITA)
● Women/400 m: 50.76, Lieke Klaver (NED)
● Women/1,500 m: 3:58.89, Diribe Welteji (ETH)
● Women/3,000 m: 8:19.98, Frewenyi Hailu (ETH)
● Women/60 m hurdles: 7.75, Ackera Nugent (JAM)
● Women/Vault: 4.83 m (15-10), Katie Moon (USA)
● Women/Triple Jump: 14.62 m (47-11 3/4), Leyanis Perez (CUB)

The mile was focused on Norwegian star Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the Tokyo Olympic 1,5000 m champion and Paris 5,000 m gold medalist. And he delivered!

Reaching for American Yared Nuguse’s 3:46.53 from the Millrose Games, Ingebrigtsen passed 400 m in 56.39, 800 m in 1:52.55 (56.16), 1,200 m in 2:48.39 (55.84) and 1,500 m in a brilliant 3:29.63, better than his 2022 world record of 3:30.60 (also in Lievin)!

He finished in 3:45.14 (56.74 for final 409 m), crushing Nuguse’s mark by more than a second and winning by more than seven seconds, with Stefan Nillessen (NED) second in 3:52.70. American Sam Prakel finished ninth in 3:55.87.

Wow! Said Ingebrigtsen – after his first-ever indoor mile – afterwards:

“This race was special in different ways: I ran a world record during my first indoor mile and became the first man to run under 3:30 over 1500 m. …

“You don’t just break world records. Everything has to go according to plan and today was one of those days where it all worked out perfectly. For that I need to thank my team and the organization. I don’t take anything for granted, and that is exactly why I maximize every opportunity. Why waste a shot at the 1500 m world record and only go for the mile record when both are on the table?

“It feels amazing. This is what happens in Lievin. I’m a very happy man. You have to be focused for the whole race. It’s tough, but it’s worth it.”

Ethiopian star Gudaf Tsegay, still just 27 and a three-time World Champion indoors and out, came into the women’s 3,000 m as no. 2 all-time at 8:16.69 from 2023, just 0.09 off Genzebe Dibaba’s 8:16.60 mark from 2024. She was in a good field with countrywomen Freweyni Hailu, the 2024 World Indoor 1,500 champ, and Birke Haylom. Tsegay took over from the pacesetters at 1,600 m and she and Hailu broke away from the field by 2,000 m.

From there, Tsegay led with two laps to go and then Hailu took over, powering away to win in a world-leading 8:19.98, moving to no. 3 all-time, with the no. 4 performance. Tsegay fell back on the final lap and was second in 8:25.12. Haylom closed up for third in 8:25.37. Said Hailu: “I executed my simple plan perfectly, to follow [Tsegay] until just before the finish and then out-kick her.”

The women’s 1,500 m was not quite as dramatic, but featured 2023 World Road mile winner Diribe Welteji (ETH), the 2023 Worlds runner-up and she was easily the class of the field, taking over with three laps left and winning in a world-leading 3:58.89, her third-fastest indoor mark in the event. Teammates Habitam Alemu and Worknesh Mesele went 2-3 in 4:03.86 (no. 5 in 2025) and 4:05.06 (no. 8).

Paris Olympic 110 m hurdles winner Grant Holloway of the U.S. led the qualifying and was the big favorite in the men’s 60 m hurdles, and continued his winning streak of more than 10 years with a world-leading 7.36 victory, clear of France’s 2021 European Indoor winner Wilhelm Belocian (7.46).

Fellow Americans Louis Rollins and Michael Dickson finished fourth and seventh in 7.54 and 7.65, respectively.

The men’s shot saw a world-leading win from 2024 European champ Leonardo Fabbri, who reached 21.95 m (72-0 1/4) on his final throw to win over prior world leader Zane Weir (ITA: 21.72 m/71-3 1/4). Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell, the Paris Olympic bronzer, got third with a seasonal best of 21.34 m (70-0 1/4). American Tripp Piperi was sixth at 20.55 m (67-5 1/4).

Dutch star Lieke Klaver, the 2024 World Indoor runner-up, improved on her own world-leading mark in the women’s 400 m, winning easily in 50.76m an 0.16 improvement! France’s Louise Maraval was second in 52.20, a seasonal best.

Ackera Nugent, the Jamaican star who false-started out of the Millrose final, came back with a world-leading win in the 60 m hurdles in 7.75, 0.01 better than Olympic winner Masai Russell’s mark in New York. Nugent edged U.S. Olympic finalist Grace Stark (7.82).

Tokyo Olympic women’s vault champ Katie Moon of the U.S. has been hot, with two world leads in two meets this season, and got a third in Lievin, winning with another world leader at 4.83 m (15-10) improving her Millrose height by one centimeter. Britain’s Molly Caudery, the 2024 European champ, was second at 4.75 m (15-7).

Cuba’s Leyanis Perez, the 2024 World Indoor runner-up, tore out to a world-leading 14.62 m (47-11 3/4) on her first attempt in the women’s triple jump, with prior world leader – and countrywoman – Liadagmis Povea settling into second at 14.17 m (46-6). Perez did not improve and Povea retired after three attempts, finishing an easy second.

There was a lot more, of course:

American star Erriyon Knighton, the 2023 Worlds 200 m runner-up, won the men’s 200 m in 20.54, his first 200 m race of 2025, no. 6 on the year list. Dominican Alexander Ogando was second in 20.70. Swede Erik Erlandsson won the B final in a faster time of 20.45.

Bryce Hoppel, the outdoor American Record holder in the 800 m, was a late entry in the men’s 800 here, and fell just short, with Belgium’s 2024 Worlds bronze winner Eliott Crestan taking over at the bell and crossing first in 1:44.81 to 1:44.98 for Hoppel. Algerian star Slimane Moula got third in 1:45.37.

In the separate men’s 1,500 m, France’s Azeddine Habz, the Euro Indoor bronzer in 2023, got a national record for his 3:32.24 en-route time in the Millrose mile last weekend, and almost beat it, winning a tight finish with Isaac Nader (POR), 3:32.29 to 3:32.59! It was a national record for Nader.

The men’s 3,000 m field was strong, including 2023 World 5,000 champ Hagos Gebrhiwet (ETH) and teammate Sam Tefera, the World Indoor 1,500 m winner in 2018 and 2022. But it turned out to be rising Dutch star Niels Laros – sixth in the Paris 1,500 m – who took the lead with four laps to go. He was never headed and moved to no. 4 on the 2025 world list in 7:29.49, just ahead of Ethiopia’s Paris 5,000 m sixth-placer, Biniam Mehary (7:29.99). Ethiopian Steeple star Getnet Wale was third in 7:31.39 and Tefera was well back in fourth in 7:31.86.

Turkey’s Ersu Sasma took control of the men’s vault by clearing 5.90 m (19-4 1/4) on his only try, after missing twice at 5.85 m (19-2 1/4). Two-time World Champion Sam Kendricks of the U.S. cleared 5.85 m, but could do no better, and was second.

Ben Broeders (BEL) finished third at 5.80 m (19-0 1/4); American Chris Nilsen, the world leader, was fifth at 5.70 m (18-8 1/4) and Jacob Wooten tied for seventh at 5.60 m (18-4 1/2).

China’s Mingkun Zhang, seventh in Paris in 2024, took the lead in the second round of the men’s long jump and improved to 8.04 m (26-4 1/2) in the third round. He was matched in the final round by two-time Olympic gold medalist Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) at 8.04 m, but still won on a better second jump, 8.03 m (26-4 1/4) to 8.00 m (26-3. American Marquis Dendy finished fourth at 7.93 m (26-0 1/4).

Ethiopia’s reigning World Indoor Champion, Tsige Duguma, the world leader at 1:58.97, was in charge of the women’s 800 m from the gun, leading at 400 m in 57.68 and cruising home in 1:59.02 – just 0.05 off her world lead – and winning by daylight over South Africa’s Paris Olympic finalist Prudence Sekgodiso (1:59.88) and Britain’s 2024 Worlds Indoor silver winner Jemma Reekie (2:00.21).

Many of the athletes in today’s meet are off to run on Sunday in the World Indoor Tour Gold “Copernicus Cup” meet in Torun (POL).

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ATHLETICS: Jamaican Olympic hurdles champ Parchment and World Champion Williams added as Challengers for Kingston Slam

By
Rich Perelman
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The first "Challengers" for the first Grand Slam Track event, in Jamaica (Image: Grand Slam Track).

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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK ≡

With the first Grand Slam Track event coming to Kingston, Jamaica from 4-6 April, there was little surprise in seeing six more Jamaican athletes announced Thursday as the first “Challengers.”

Leading the list are Tokyo Olympic men’s high hurdles champion Hansle Parchment and two-time women’s World 100 m hurdles winner Danielle Williams. They and the others will compete against the four seasonal “Racers” in each event group and a couple more “Challengers” in eight-athlete fields.

Here’s how the new “Challengers” and the “Racers” line up so far in the events with Challengers announced:

Men/Short Hurdles (110 m hurdles + 100 m):
● Challenger: Orlando Bennett (JAM) ~ 7th in Paris Olympic final
● Challenger: Hansle Parchment (JAM) ~ Tokyo Olympic Champion
● Racer: Devon Allen (USA) ~ 5th in Rio, 4th in Tokyo Olympic finals
● Racer: Freddie Crittenden (USA) ~ 6th in Paris Olympic final
● Racer: Daniel Roberts (USA) ~ Paris Olympic silver medalist
● Racer: Sasha Zhoya (FRA) ~ 2024 Diamond League champ

Men/Long Hurdles (400 m hurdles + 400 m):
● Challenger: Malik James-King (JAM) ~ 2024 Jamaican champion
● Racer: Roshawn Clarke (JAM) ~ National record holder at 47.34
● Racer: Caleb Dean (USA) ~ 2024 NCAA Champion
● Racer: Alison dos Santos (BRA) ~ 2022 World Champ, Paris bronze
● Racer: Clement Ducos (FRA) ~ 4th in Paris Olympic final

Women/Short Sprints (100 m + 200 m):
● Challenger: Alana Reid (JAM) ~ 2024 World Junior Champion
● Racer: Brittany Brown (USA) ~ Paris Olympic 200 m bronze
● Racer: Melissa Jefferson (USA) ~ Paris Olympic 100 m bronze
● Racer: Daryll Neita (GBR) ~ 4th in Paris Olympic 100 m final
● Racer: Gabby Thomas (USA) ~ Paris Olympic 200 m Champion

Women/Short Hurdles (100 m hurdles + 100 m):
● Challenger: Danielle Williams (JAM) ~ 2015, 2023 World Champion
● Racer: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) ~ Tokyo Olympic Champion
● Racer: Ackera Nugent (JAM) ~ 2024 world leader (12.24)
● Racer: Masai Russell (USA) ~ Paris Olympic Champion
● Racer: Cyrena Samba-Mayela (FRA) ~ Paris Olympic silver medalist

Women/Long Hurdles (400 m hurdles + 400 m):
● Challenger: Shiann Salmon (JAM) ~ 6th in Paris Olympic final
● Racer: Rushell Clayton (JAM) ~ 5th in Paris final, two Worlds bronzes
● Racer: Jasmine Jones (USA) ~ 4th in Paris Olympic final
● Racer: Shamier Little (USA) ~ 2015, 2023 Worlds silvers
● Racer: Sydney McLaughlin (USA) ~ Tokyo, Paris Olympic champion

Each race group will have eight athletes, so more “Challengers’ will be signed for each meet and in all race groups, also including Short Distance (800-1,500 m) and Long Distance (3,000 m-5,000 m). A total of 24 events will be held over the three days of each Slam. The scoring:

“Competitors will receive points for their finishing position in each of their two races. From 1st to 8th place the points are distributed as: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. The competitor who finishes with the highest total number of points after the completion of both events will be crowned Slam Champion for their event group with prize money being paid out to each corresponding place.”

Prize money will range from $100,000 for the group winner, down to $10,000.

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PANORAMA: New candidates for French Alps 2030 chief; Salt Lake City 2034 names leaders Friday; Swiss sweep men’s Alpine Combined

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Olympic Cauldron Plaza at the University of Utah, commemorating the 2002 Olympic Winter Games (Photo: University of Utah)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● The continuing drama over the founding of the organizing committee and who will lead it continues in France, with Edgar Grospiron, 55, the Albertville 1992 Freestyle Moguls gold medalist, now confirmed as a candidate. He was deeply involved in the ultimately unsuccessful bid for the 2018 Winter Games for Annecy, which eventually was awarded to PyeongChang (KOR).

Also declaring interest is the long-time, well-known French sports reporter Gerard Holtz, who has the idea to work in concert former figure skater Nathalie Pechalat, the two-time World Ice Dance bronze medalist, who retired in 2014.

● Olympic Winter Games 2034: Salt Lake City ● Friday will see the announcement of the formal opening of the organizing committee for the 2034 Winter Games, including the naming of the leadership, and the structure of the Board of Directors.

The announcement will be made at the State Capitol building’s Gold Room (of course), with Utah Governor Spencer Cox and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee chief executive Sarah Hirshland in attendance.

● NCAA ● The U.S. Department of Education rescinded – as expected – the Biden Administration’s prior “guidance” on name-image-likeness payments to collegiate athletes being subject to Title IX discrimination guidelines. Per Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor:

“Without a credible legal justification, the Biden Administration claimed that NIL agreements between schools and student athletes are akin to financial aid and must, therefore, be proportionately distributed between male and female athletes under Title IX.

“Enacted over 50 years ago, Title IX says nothing about how revenue-generating athletics programs should allocate compensation among student athletes. The claim that Title IX forces schools and colleges to distribute student-athlete revenues proportionately based on gender equity considerations is sweeping and would require clear legal authority to support it. That does not exist.”

Have no doubt, this matter will be resolved through one or more court cases, possibly reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.

● Alpine Skiing ● In a show of strength for the ages, Switzerland swept the medals in the first-ever men’s Team Combined at the FIS World Alpine Championships in Saalbach (AUT) on Wednesday.

Swiss skiers have now won all three men’s events and Downhill winner Franjo von Allmen got his second gold.

In the Downhill opener, Alexis Monney, the Downhill bronze winner, led the field at 1:42.09, just 0.02 ahead of von Allmen, with Italian star Dominik Paris third (1:42.55). In the Slalom, the U.S. – 12th in the Downhill with Ryan Cochran-Siegle – got a strong run from Benjamin Ritchie to move into the lead, with a combined time of 2:43.07.

That time held up until the fourth Swiss team – eighth in the Downhill with Stefan Rogentin – took over, with Marc Rochat skiing the third-fastest Slalom of the day, and a combined time of 2:42.81.

No one could challenge that time until the final two Swiss skiers headed out. Loic Meillard, a four-time World Cup event winner, took he and von Allmen into the lead at 2:42.38, with teammate Tanguy Nef skiing as the leader. Nef recorded the 14th-fastest Slalom on the day and ended up with the silver with the combined time of 2:42.65, pushing the U.S. out of the medals by 0.26 seconds.

While the individual Combined has atrophied badly in recent years and was barely seen outside of the Worlds, this new event, with the top specialists in each race, appears to be much more popular.

The women’s Giant Slalom will be held on Thursday.

● Athletics ● USA Track & Field announced that the national Paralympic championships in the sport, now managed by USATF, will be held concurrently with the already-scheduled USATF Nationals at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, from 31 July to 2 August.

The meet will also be the team selection event for the 2025 Para Athletics World Championships, in New Delhi (IND), in September.

Letsrun.com’s Jonathan Gault reported Wednesday that USATF will allow direct-to-final access for up to four athletes each in the men’s and women vault and men’s and women’s shot put during the 2025 USATF National Championships. The finals slots would be available to the 2025 USATF Indoor Champion, the top American at a specific USATF-sponsored in-season meet and the two athletes with the top performances in the U.S. prior to the Nationals.

A free-pass idea for the Steeplechase was suggested, but sidelined after consultations with athletes and coaches. The idea is only experimental and for 2025 alone, and will be reviewed for future applicability; it was revealed during a Monday online meeting with athletes and coaches.

The high-profile abuse trial of Gjert Ingebrigtsen (NOR), the father of track stars Henrik, Filip and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, will be open to the public and expected to start on 24 March.

The case could last for two months and has all the trappings of a media circus, with 18 media organizations requesting coverage credentials, including outlets from Denmark, Germany, Great Britain and Poland.

All seven children are expected to be called, along with other athletes coached by Gjert.

● Biathlon ● The IBU World Championships got underway in Lenzerheide (SUI) on Wednesday, with the 4 x 6 km Mixed Relay, and a repeat win by France by more than a minute.

The quartet of Julia Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot, Eric Perrot and Emilien Jacquelin finished in 1:04:41.5 (7 penalties) to easily defeat the Czech Republic (1:05:55.3/9) and Germany (1:05:59.9/11).

Simon and Perrot were on the 2024 championship team and Simon gave the French the lead from the first leg. For Simon, it’s her seventh career Worlds gold (in all events), the fifth for Jacquelin, third for Jeanmonnot and second for Perrot.

The U.S. team was one of seven that were lapped; Chloe Levins and Deedra Irwin completed their legs, but Maxime Germain was lapped on the third stage.

The Championships continue through the 23rd.

● Football ● Former Spanish women’s head coach Jorge Vilda said at his trial in Madrid on coercion charges related to the infamous Luis Rubiales-Jenni Hermoso kiss incident during the awards ceremony at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia that he was not asked by Rubiales to pressure Hermoso to downplay the incident.

Vilda said he spoke to Hermoso’s brother to try and calm the player down:

“I decided to talk to him myself because I was seeing the importance that (the kiss) was gaining and I started worrying that it was becoming more important than what we had achieved (as a team). …

“I asked him if we could find a formula to normalize the situation so we could talk about what we thought was really important, which was the championship and the good performance of the national team. I didn’t say anything specific about a video, only about her coming out to speak or making some kind of a statement.”

Rafael Hermoso said that Vilda approached him to obtain help in getting Jenni Hermoso to record a video to downplay the kiss incident. Wednesday’s testimony also include defendants Albert Luque, the Spanish federation men’s sports director, and marketing manager Ruben Rivera.

The prosecution began its closing arguments, which will continue Thursday. A decision could come as early as next week.

● Gymnastics ● The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) posted notices about the changes in the Code of Points for Artistic Gymnastics – which determine how routines are scored – to be used for the 2025-28 time frame. The major update is for the men:

“Only eight elements will count toward the difficulty score on most apparatus.

“Far and away the biggest overall change in the Code of Points is that the number of elements used to build difficulty has dropped from 10 to 8 everywhere except Vault. This is a big change for the sport: 10 has been the number of skills counted in men’s gymnastics since the open-ended scoring system took effect in 2006.”

The Code has been revised to encourage more innovative and difficult moves to increase scoring.

The women’s Code did not change much:

“In terms of element values, the 2025-2028 women’s code looks much like its predecessor. But a closer read shows that small changes have been seeded throughout the text, refining how Artistry is defined on Balance Beam and Floor Exercise, and adding new incentive for gymnasts to show two dramatically different vaults.”

● Table Tennis ● The “retirement” of the two Paris 2024 Singles champions – Chinese stars Zhendong Fan and Meng Chen – over requirements to play tournaments has resulted in a significant change from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and its commercial arm, World Table Tennis.

On Tuesday, the World Table Tennis announced:

“In a major shift aimed at providing greater flexibility for athletes, WTT has decided to remove the mandatory participation requirement for all WTT Grand Smashes, effective immediately.

“This means that players will be invited according to the current regulations to the remaining three WTT Grand Smashes in 2025 – the United States Smash (3 – 13 July [Las Vegas]), Europe Smash (14 – 24 August [Malmo]), and China Smash (25 September – 5 October).

“Additionally, players will now be granted two annual exemptions from WTT Champions event participation, allowing them to better manage their schedules and planning, commencing from WTT Champions Incheon (1 – 6 April) onwards.”

So, instead of being obligated to play in four Smash events – the Singapore event finished last weekend – and six WTT Champions events during the year, plus the World Championships, the burden is now down to four WTT Champions tournaments.

No immediate word if Fan or Chen will return. In their absence, Shidong Lin pulled off a rare “triple crown” of victories in Singapore, winning the men’s Singles over countryman Jingkun Liang, then teaming with Paris Team and Mixed Doubles gold medalist Chuqin Wang to take the men’s Doubles, and with Man Kuai to win the Mixed Doubles!

Yingsha Sun, who also won Team and Mixed Doubles golds in Paris, took the women’s Singles.

Another rule change was aimed directly at luring Fan and Chen back:

“Olympic gold medallists will be granted a prestigious opportunity to compete in all four WTT Grand Smashes and six WTT Champions events, ensuring they remain at the heart of the WTT Series. This special privilege will be valid for four years following their Olympic triumph, celebrating their achievement and elevating the competition.”

Prize money for the entire season structure was also increased by $1 million.

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WOMEN IN SPORT: U.N. Special Rapporteur supports Trump Administration’s Executive Order on protecting women’s sport

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.N. Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls Reem Alsalem during her 8 October 2024 news conference (U.N. video screenshot).

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≡ TRUMP EXEC. ORDER BACKED ≡

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls issued a statement on Wednesday, welcoming the 5 February Executive Order from the Trump Administration, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sport.”

Reem Alsalem (JOR) has been the Special Rapporteur in this area since August 2021, explained her support:

“This decision reaffirms the importance of maintaining sex-based categories in sports, thereby safeguarding equal opportunities for women and girls.

“Most notably, it mandates the preservation of all-female athletic opportunities and locker rooms, ensuring privacy and dignity for women and girls.

“This executive order sends a clear message that the rights of women and girls to female-only spaces, including in sports, matter.”

The key elements of the Executive Order include:

“Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”

The Executive Order also requires the administration’s domestic policy staff to “convene representatives of major athletic organizations and governing bodies” within 60 days to promote policies compliant with the Order, and ask State attorneys general “to identify best practices in defining and enforcing equal opportunities for women to participate in sports.”

Alsalem weighed in on structural changes to sport that are needed to protect the women’s category:

“To ensure that no one is left behind, I urge the US Government to ensure that open sports categories are created, or that the male category in sport is converted into an open category, for those not wishing to play in the category of their biological sex.

“I welcome the emphasis on promoting international rules and norms to protect women and girl athletes at all levels, including at the United Nations and look forward to cooperating with all states on this critical human rights issue.”

In an 8 October 2024 news conference, Alsalem explained her 24 August 2024 report and campaigned for changes, including along the lines of the Executive Order, and more:

“In order to ensure, fairness, dignity and safety for all, including females – women and girls, females – we would need to maintain a female-only category in sports, while at the same time also having more ‘open’ categories for those wishing to play sports in categories that do not respond to the sex they were born into.

“That is one thing. The other thing is, as requested by many women and girls in sports, is to bring back – or actually not bring back – is to introduce sex screening, which as you know was discontinued in 1999.

“So that should be sex screening have become a lot more reliable now, cheap, can be administered in a confidential, dignified manner, should be introduced … as an element of – what was that called – eligibility, in female sports.”

That concept may get support from the Trump Administration as well, as the Executive Order also tasked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to

“use all appropriate and available measures to see that the International Olympic Committee amends the standards governing Olympic sporting events to promote fairness, safety, and the best interests of female athletes by ensuring that eligibility for participation in women’s sporting events is determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction.”

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MILAN CORTINA 2026: NBC, USA Network, CNBC, Peacock to carry Olympic Winter Games coverage in February

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ NBC MIRRORING PARIS 2024 COVER PLAN ≡

“With Same Time Zone, Milan Cortina Programming Strategy Mimics Paris 2024″

The fourth sub-head in Wednesday’s NBC Sports announcement of its programming plans for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan, Cortina and elsewhere in Italy tells most of the story.

NBC saw an enormous success in 2024 with its all-live Paris Olympic format, spread across multiple networks and online and will essentially repeat the experience for the Winter Games next February:

● Live events all day on NBC
● All-event streaming coverage on Peacock
● Added coverage on USA Network and CNBC

The primetime show – “Primetime in Milan” – will run in the evenings, while the popular Peacock programming of “Gold Zone” and event multiviews will return as well.

As for the coverage on NBC:

“Milan Cortina 2026 will have more programming hours on the NBC broadcast network than any previous Winter Olympics. NBC will provide Olympic fans with at least five hours of daytime coverage every day featuring the most exciting events, including live coverage of figure skating, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, speed skating, and more.

“With Italy six hours ahead of the United States’ Eastern Time Zone – which is identical to Paris – daytime coverage will feature the most popular events live on NBC on weekend mornings and every afternoon.”

The primetime show will again run for three hours nightly.

NBC enjoyed a substantial rebound in Olympic popularity in Paris, where the network’s all-day coverage averaged 30.4 million viewers, vs. 16.9 million in Tokyo in 2021 (15.6 million in primetime).

For the Winter Olympic Games, NBC will be looking for a rebound from historically low audiences for the Beijing 2022 Games, held under difficult, Covid-19 conditions and in a bad time zone for U.S. viewers:

● 2014: 21.3 million primetime audience in Sochi (RUS)
● 2018: 19.8 million primetime audience in PyeongChang (KOR)
● 2022: 11.4 million primetime audience in Beijing (CHN).

U.S. interest in the 2026 Games should be buoyed by multiple factors, including what should be a very strong American team in alpine skiing, bobsled, cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, speed skating and the freestyle skiing and snowboard events.

The Milan Cortina Games will open on 6 February and run to 22 February, 2026.

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BOXING: Algerian Olympic gold medalist Khelif slams IBA “false and offensive” accusations, promises to follow “all available legal avenues”

By
Rich Perelman
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The infamous second-round 2024 Olympic women's 66 kg bout with Imane Khelif (ALG) at left and Italian Angela Carini on the right (Photo: Chabe01 via Wikipedia)

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≡ KHELIF SPEAKS OUT ≡

The controversy surrounding Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, the women’s 66 kg gold medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, never ends.

The 2022 Worlds silver medalist at 63 kg, she was declared “ineligible” by the International Boxing Association after winning four bouts and qualifying for the final at 66 kg at the 2023 Worlds. But she qualified for and won the Olympic gold at 66 kg, with the tournament managed by the International Olympic Committee.

On Monday (10th), the IBA, which was de-recognized by the IOC in 2023 as the governing body for Olympic boxing, said it has asked the Swiss Attorney General to investigate the IOC for allowing Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Yu-Ting Lin – the Paris women’s winner at 57 kg – because they posed a “safety risk to competition participants.”

Khelif, who has kept a mostly low profile since the Paris Games, has apparently filed suit against the French newspaper Le Correspondant, which published details in October of a medical report which stated she had male (XY) chromosomes and was a biological male.

Now, after the IBA’s newest publicity effort, Khelif is speaking out again.

On Tuesday, she posted a two-panel “Official Statement” on Instagram – in English – slamming the IBA. This is the full text of the statement:

“For eight years, I have fought for my dream-eight years of sacrifice, discipline, and perseverance to stand on the Olympic stage and represent my country with pride. I have earned my place, and I will continue to stand firm in the face of any challenge.

“For two years, I have taken the high road while my name and image have been used, unauthorized, to further personal and political agendas through the spreading and dissemenation [sic] of baseless lies and misinformation.

“But silence is no longer an option.

“The International Boxing Association (IBA), an organization that I am no longer associated with and which is no longer recognized by the International Olympic Committee, have again made baseless accusations that are false and offensive, using them to further their agenda. This is a matter that concerns not just me but the broader principles of fairness and due process in sport.

“I have seen adversity before. I lost in my first Olympic appearance. I lost in the amateur leagues. I have been knocked down more times than I can count. But I have never stayed down. I have fought through every setback, every false accusation, every attempt to erase me. And I have won. Each obstacle has only strengthened my resolve. I will continue to compete with honor and integrity.

“My team is carefully reviewing the situation and will take all necessary legal steps to ensure that my rights and the principles of fair competition are upheld. Those responsible for these actions must be held accountable, and we will pursue all available legal avenues to ensure that justice prevails.

“I am not going anywhere. I will fight in the ring, I will fight in courts, and I will fight in the public eye until the truth is undeniable.

“To my supporters, thank you for standing by me. I remain focused, determined, and ready to continue representing my country and my sport at the highest level.”

The IBA, of course, welcomes the publicity as it continues to fade from memory within the Olympic Movement, saying in a Wednesday statement:

“International Boxing Association (IBA) welcomes the statement of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif on social media about considering legal steps against the organization, as a court would force our organization to reveal two gender tests based on which the boxer was banned from participating in any IBA women’s events.”

Khelif addressed the question of the tests in an Italian radio interview last November, saying “I have never seen these exams they are talking about.”

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LOS ANGELES 2028: L.A. City Council committee OKs ordinance draft for expedited permits for LA28 Olympic works, but with a kill-switch

By
Rich Perelman
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The Olympic and Paralympic flags on display at Los Angeles City Hall (TSX photo)

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≡ PERMITS & POLITICS ≡

Moving forward with some trepidation, the Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee approved Tuesday a request to have the City Attorney and other departments prepare a draft ordinance to exempt the LA28 organizing committee – and potentially others – to receive expedited approvals for temporary works related to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The original motion came from 11th District Council member Traci Park, then the Chair of the Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which last met in June 2024. She presented a motion in December that included:

“[T]hat the Los Angeles City Council authorize and direct the City Planning Department, in coordination with the City Attorney, the Department of Building and Safety, and other relevant departments, to draft an ordinance to exempt Olympic and Paralympic temporary and permanent venues, training facilities, security perimeters, broadcast and media centers, transit infrastructure, live sites and fan zones, and associated structures from the requirements of City Planning approvals, zoning regulations, and conditions, including but not limited to Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) and conditions tied to such permits, Site Plan Review requirements, height restrictions, setback requirements, limitations imposed by Specific Plans, and any other planning or zoning regulations that could delay or impede the rapid deployment and or use of essential facilities.

“I FURTHER MOVE that the Department utilize the California Code of Regulations Title 14 Statutory Exemption Section 15272 – Olympic Games – ‘CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] does not apply to activities or approvals necessary to the bidding for, hosting or staging of, and funding or carrying out of, Olympic Games.’”

That exemption was originally included to support the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and has been maintained as L.A. continuously bid for a future Games, beginning in 1990.

Park’s motion came up in Tuesday’s Planning and Land Use meeting, with Ken Bernstein of the City Planning Department explaining that approval of the item “would direct our department, in coordination with several other agencies and offices, to prepare a report with recommendations and an accompanying draft ordinance to exempt Olympic and Paralympic improvement projects from planning and zoning approvals, and it would direct the Department of Building and Safety to establish a dedicated unit to coordinate all development-related services for 2028 Games projects.”

Committee Chair Bob Blumenfield (3rd District) explained his view that the idea was worthwhile, but had to be controlled:

“We can request the departments to report and we can request an ordinance.

“What I’d like to do is, to be clear, and create a carve-out for particular projects that Council determines – based on things like size and location – should not be subject to the streamlining process.

“So, my thought is, we can move forward with this, and get the report back, but create an opt-out provision, so that the fears that have been expressed here today can be allayed, and then those fears that we all share that certain things might be shoe-horned into this, that we as a Council would have that opt-out by a simple majority. If there is a [project that is being moved forward on streamlining that we don’t think is appropriate, we can opt that project out.”

One project which two public speakers asked about specifically was the “Gondola” project, from Union Station to Dodger Stadium, which has drawn fierce neighborhood opposition; they worried that such projects – which are not directly related to the 2028 Games – would be approved via this process.

Blumenfield also did not want to have essentially permanent projects placed under the “Olympic” category – such as road repairs – that would then allow other safety or transit requirements to be eliminated.

Council member Nithya Raman (4th District) asked about the definition of “temporary,” noting:

“What does temporary infrastructure mean, vs. permanent? I think there’s lots of infrastructure that you think is being built for a short-term basis that ends up being long-term infrastructure in cities. You see this all the time.

“So, I would want a clear understanding of what exactly a piece of temporary infrastructure or a temporary intervention would mean, that would qualify for this kind of fast-tracking.”

The motion as modified by Blumenfield was approved by a 5-0 vote and is now with the City staff to develop the report and the ordinance, but without a specific time line. The motion was also referred to the Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which has no listed date for a next meeting.

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PANORAMA: Milan Cortina 2026 sells 300,000 tix in six days; Rubiales says Hermoso allowed him to kiss her; 4 Nations Face-Off starts Wednesday

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 1984: Los Angeles ● Donn Moomaw, an All-American football player at UCLA and later high-profile pastor in Los Angeles and the Commissioner for Weightlifting at the 1984 Olympic Games, has passed away.

Moomaw, 93, was a two-time All-American for coach Red Sanders at UCLA in 1950 and 1952 as a center and linebacker and played two years of pro football in Canada. He returned to the U.S. to create a career in the ministry and was senior pastor at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles from 1964-1993.

He served as the Commissioner of Weightlifting for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, responsible primarily for the staging of the highly-successful competitions at Gersten Pavilion at Loyola Marymount University.

Moomaw and his late wife Carol had five children and 10 grandchildren. No immediate word on services or a celebration of life have been announced.

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Good response to the opening of ticket sales, with the Milan Cortina organizers reporting more than 300,000 tickets sold in the first six days. The average order was for seven tickets.

A new window for sales will come from 25-27 February, open to all buyers who register with the sales Web site.

● Transgender ● “The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) today sent a letter to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) urging them to restore to female athletes the records, titles, awards, and recognitions misappropriated by biological males competing in female categories.”

Tuesday’s announcement followed up on the 6 February 2025 notice of investigations into “suspected Title IX violations” by the University of Pennsylvania (women’s swimming), San Jose State (women’s volleyball) and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Specific mention was made of Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, who competed on the men’s team as Will Thomas for two years, then transitioned to female under NCAA rules and won the NCAA women’s 500-yard title in 2022:

“One of Thomas’ former teammates, Paula Scanlan testified before Congress that she and her teammates were “offered psychological services to attempt to re-educate us to become comfortable with the idea of undressing in front of a male.”

Education Department Deputy General Counsel Candice Jackson added, “The next necessary step is to restore athletic records to women who have for years been devalued, ignored, and forced to watch men steal their accolades. The Trump Education Department will do everything in our power to right this wrong and champion the hard-earned accomplishments of past, current, and future female collegiate athletes.”

● Alpine Skiing ● American speed-skiing star Lindsey Vonn did not have the run she wanted in the women’s Team Combined on Tuesday, placing 21st in the Downhill, and finishing 16th overall after AJ Hurt’s Slalom. Said Vonn afterwards, noting her comeback goal is to make it to the 2026 Winter Games in Italy:

“It was not a fast run. I honestly, I can’t tell you what is going wrong. I was in my tuck pretty much the whole way down and just not accelerating anywhere at any point in time.

“I have a year to figure it out, and I think I will, but right now, it’s hard to really change, you know, your entire setup while you’re racing the World Championship.

“I know I expect to do better, and everyone else expects me to do better, but at the same time I do, need a little bit of grace and patience and kindness to just, you know, give me some time to figure it all out.”

● Athletics ● “The AIU has provisionally suspended Geoffrey Yegon (Kenya) for Presence/Use of a Prohibited Substance (Triamcinolone acetonide).”

Yegon, 36, is a 59:44 half-marathoner, from 2016. He won the Singapore Marathon in his only registered event in 2024, in 2:16:06.

● Football ● “I am absolutely sure that she gave me her permission. In that moment it was something completely spontaneous.”

That was testimony from former Royal Spanish Football Federation President Luis Rubiales on Tuesday in Madrid, who is charged with sexual assault, and faces possible prison time and a fine. Three other colleagues from the Spanish federation are also on trial for lesser charges.

Rubiales infamously kissed Spanish midfield star Jenni Hermoso during the awards ceremony following Spain’s win at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final in Australia. Hermoso testified during the first day of the trial that she did not consent to the kiss, now contradicted by Rubiales. He told the judge:

“I’ve known her for many years and I kissed her because she was a champion. This was a tremendous moment for her. We were champions, we were thanking each other. She pressed me very hard by the waist and then I asked her whether I could give her a kiss and she said yes.

“I took hold of her so as not to fall back.”

The trial is expected to continue until the 19th of February.

● Ice Hockey ● It’s not the World Cup of Hockey, last held in 2016. But after nine years, the 4 Nations Face-Off will showcase the best players from the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland in national-team play in place of the usual NHL All-Star break. With the NHL agreeing to allow its players to participate in the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy, the tournament is very much a preview.

It’s a round-robin tournament with a final between the teams with the most points:

● 12 Feb.: Canada vs. Sweden in Montreal
● 13 Feb.: U.S. vs. Finland in Montreal
● 15 Feb.: Sweden vs. Finland and U.S. vs. Canada, in Montreal
● 17 Feb.: Canada vs. Finland and U.S. vs. Sweden, in Boston
● 20 Feb.: Final, in Boston

The matches will be shown in the U.S. on TNT/Tru TV for the 12 and 17 Feb. matches, on ESPN for the games on the 13th and 20th and ABC for the 15 February games.

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ESPORTS: IOC and Saudis confirm inaugural Olympic Esports Games to take place in 2027 in Riyadh

By
Rich Perelman
-
The IOC and Esports? Getting cozier ...

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≡ OLYMPIC ESPORTS GAMES ≡

What could be one of the most important and long-lasting innovations of the Thomas Bach Presidency at the International Olympic Committee is the Olympic Esports Games, developed under his leadership, but which will happen after his tenure is over.

Originally agreed at the 142nd IOC Session in 2024 in Paris, the IOC entered into a 12-year partnership with the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee (SOPC), with the expectation that the first Olympic Esports Games would be in 2025.

That’s not going to happen, as the IOC and the SOPC said Tuesday that the first Olympic Esports Games will be in 2027 – non-Olympic Games year – in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

One of the issues standing in the way of putting together the event is the difference between Olympic sports, governed by long-standing International Federations, and electronic sports, based on games developed by commercial publishers.

Which games are to be used? Under what licensing conditions? Who picks the players?

The IOC and the SOPC announced Tuesday that the Esports World Cup Foundation will become a “Founding Partner” of the Olympic Esports Games, to help bring the right solutions:

“[T]he EWCF brings its expertise in game selection, tournament structures and ecosystem engagement to drive innovation in the development of the Olympic Esports Games. The IOC and EWCF will collaborate closely with key stakeholders to establish qualification pathways, enhance competitive integrity, and align the national esports ecosystems with broader global standards.

“The EWCF is a non-profit organisation committed to fostering the growth and development of esports and gaming worldwide. As the driving force behind the Esports World Cup, the EWCF works to elevate the industry by shaping competitive structures, strengthening the esports ecosystem, and ensuring the integrity, sustainability and growth of esports.”

The next step is the actual development of what the Olympic Esports Games will look like, with a select committee already in place and now ready to go:

“A joint committee of the IOC and the SOPC has been set up to steer the Games. It is chaired by IOC Member Ser Miang Ng and co-chaired by HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal. The committee consists of six people, three from each partner, and is currently working to define the games that will be part of the first edition of the Olympic Esports Games.”

Observed: Despite its enormous success with the Olympic and Olympic Winter Games and revenues announced at $7.6 billion for the most recent quadrennial, the IOC suffers from not having a year-round, annual program of events.

It has put considerable effort – and is putting more – to raise the profile of the Olympic qualifying competitions in many sports, but this has not yet generated much enthusiasm among the viewing public. The Olympic Esports Games could be different.

Appealing to a different sector than the largely television-driven audience for the Olympic Games, the e-sports phenomenon could be a new bonanza for the IOC and the Olympic Movement, creating even more interest among youth, including those who are not gifted in the Olympic sports.

And that money can be further used to develop education and training programs for athletes, coaches and officials to bring more sport to the masses … even potentially e-sports, with cross-promotion to physical activity.

The IOC, despite its revenues, does not have enough money to do everything it would like. The next IOC President, in fact, may have to face a downturn in people actually watching the Olympic and Winter Games as they happen, as so many younger viewers prefer just highlights to long-form viewing.

The Olympic Esports Games and the inevitable continental spin-offs may be an antidote.

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ALPINE SKIING: World Champs gold for U.S.’s Johnson and Shiffrin in women’s Team Combined; Macuga and Moltzan fourth

By
Rich Perelman
-
Good as gold: Breezy Johnson (l) and Mikaela Shiffrin of the U.S. (Photos: Stifel U.S. Ski Team).

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≡ WORLD ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

The pairing of the new Downhill World Champion and the greatest Slalom racer in history proved to be as good as gold at the FIS World Alpine Championships in Saalbach (AUT).

The women’s Team Combined, a new event, paired the Downhill with the Slalom and the U.S. pair of Breezy Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin made it work, with a clear, 2:40.89 victory.

The Downhill was first, with fellow American Lauren Macuga recording the best time of 1:41.60, trailed by Emma Aicher (GER: 1:41.83), Downhill silver winner Mirjam Puchner (AUT: 1:41.88) and Johnson (1:42.11).

The other Americans included Jackie Wiles in 15th at 1:43.60 and Lindsey Vonn in 21st (1:44.11).

The Slalom was run in reverse order of the Downhill standings, with the powerful Swiss team of two-time World Cup seasonal champion Lara Gut-Behrami – only 12th in the Downhill – and two-time Olympic Slalom medalist Wendy Holdener holding the lead at the break at 2:41.28 before the final eight skiers started.

And it looked like the Swiss might come from 12th to first. Austria’s Stephanie Venier – the Super-G winner – was only seventh in the Downhill, but Katharina Truppe put down a fast Slalom run to get close at 2:41.42, but in second place.

There was no improvement from the next two teams and that brought Shiffrin to the starting gate for her first race of these Championships. She was equal to the task and brought the U.S. into the lead at 2:40.89, with the third-fastest Slalom of the day so far.

Three more left, with Katharina Liensberger recording only the 13th-fastest Slalom and she and Puchner were at 2:41.58 and out of the medals. Germany’s Lena Duerr also had trouble, finishing 20th in the Slalom and she and Aicher ended up 17th (2:45.12).

That left Moltzan as the last skier, after Macuga’s leading performance in the Downhill. But Moltzan recorded the no. 15 Slalom at 59.93 and their combined total of 2:41.53 left them in fourth, 0.11 seconds from the bronze medal.

Holdener finished with the fastest Slalom to pull her and Gut-Behrami to the silver and Venier and Truppe third. Americans Wiles and Katie Hensien finished 10th (2:42.44) and Vonn and AJ Hurt were 16th (2:43.87).

It’s the second medal of these championships for Johnson, but for Shiffrin, it was more history. With the victory, it’s her eighth Worlds gold and 15th medal overall (8-4-3), tying her with German Christi Cranz, who won 15 from 1934-39. Cranz won 12 golds and three silvers; Shiffrin is 29 and has a chance for another medal in the Slalom at the end of the week.

The men’s Team Combined comes on Wednesday and then the Giant Slaloms and Slalom through Sunday.

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LOS ANGELES 2028: No L.A. Convention Center expansion by 2028; Long Beach receives detailed, 118-page “roadmap” for its 2028 prep

By
Rich Perelman
-
An LA28 illustration of the Long Beach Marine Stadium in 2028, to be used for Olympic flatwater canoeing, and rowing (Image: LA28).

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≡ L.A. & LONG BEACH IN PREPARATION ≡

With January’s brutal wildfires now past, two new reports offer a progress report on aspects of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, involving the city governments of Los Angeles and Long Beach. In Los Angeles, the proposed expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center is not possible by 2028; in Long Beach, a report projects the city’s needs for action over the next four years.

First, Los Angeles, which has been trying for years to expand its Convention Center with 190,000 sq. feet of exhibit hall space, 55,000 sq. feet of meeting rooms, and 95,000 sq. feet of multipurpose space.

On 31 January, a memo from City Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo and Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso outlined the status of the planned-for expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center. It’s not happening by 2028:

● “[AEG Plenary Conventions Los Angeles], [PCL-Webcor Joint Venture], City staff, and advisors have worked strenuously in a collaborative and exhaustive endeavor to provide the most robust, cost-effective, risk-mitigated, and timely Project arrangement possible. The parties have engaged in numerous meetings on a nearly daily basis for seven months to develop technical, financial, and design terms that would deliver a world-class convention center facility for the City under an extremely tight timeframe to achieve completion before the 2028 Games.”

● “As the [Project Agreement] and [technical requirements] have not been completed, development of the firm fixed price could not be finalized, although analysis indicates that the Project cost would likely exceed the $1.4 billion total as reported in the June 2024 Report. As the PA and firm fixed price could not be completed by January 2025, the Project Schedule was no longer viable.”

● “The work remaining, considering on-going recovery efforts related to the wildfire emergency, cannot be completed in the time available to ensure completion of the LACC Expansion Project before the 2028 Games. Consequently, a pause in the project is warranted to reevaluate options and opportunities for expanding the LACC.”

On 4 February, Szabo told the City’s Economic Development and Jobs Committee, any thought of completing the expansion in time for the 2028 Olympic is “off the table. It would not be possible at this point to begin and complete construction before the Olympics.”

So what to do about the expansion, which was never counted on in any LA28 organizing committee plans, will be considered in a report to be delivered in March. However, the question of caring for the existing Convention Center facilities has now become a priority. Doane Liu, the City’s Executive Director of the City Tourism Department, added:

“[W]hile we can’t finish an expanded convention center before the Olympics, I think we can modernize what we have. We must. We’re hosting the Paralympic Games and our building doesn’t comply with ADA regulations. At a minimum. We need to do that. But we’ve we have about $110 million of deferred maintenance that we’ve – for the last ten years – have just said we’ll let the expansion take care of those items; our roof leaks and our toilets don’t flush. At a minimum, we need to do that kind of work.”

LA28 plans to stage five sports at the Convention Center – in its current configuration – including badminton, judo, table tennis, taekwondo and wrestling.

In late 2023, the City of Long Beach commissioned consulting giant KPMG to create a “roadmap” of the tasks, requirement and opportunities in front of it heading into the 2028 Olympic period, with multiple events to be staged there, including artistic swimming, handball, sailing, water polo, flatwater canoeing, rowing, open-water swimming and triathlon. Paralympic sports staged in the city are expected to include canoeing, rowing, swimming and triathlon.

The 118-page report was delivered in mid-January, and sets out in very basic terms, what the Olympic and Paralympic Games are and what involvement Long Beach will have, primarily in eight areas:

● Municipal policing and security
● Public health and sanitation
● Zoning, permits and licenses
● Public transportation and crowd management
● Parking
● City “look” and wayfinding signage
● Protocol
● Communications and media

The report notes, with clarity, “Long Beach will be responsible for the safety and security of residents and events outside of the Games footprint.” This is too often forgotten; people’s lives do go on during the Games.

And the goals are set out clearly:

● “Equity ensures that all communities, particularly those historically underserved, share in the opportunities and benefits generated by the Games.

● “Public Safety guarantees a secure and welcoming environment for residents, visitors, and athletes through strong collaboration with local and regional partners.

● “Legacy focuses on developing lasting programs and investments in small business support, arts and culture, tourism, and youth programming.”

Achieving these will be harder, with a “Operational Planning” phase in 2025 and 2026, “Testing and Delivery” in 2027 and 2028 and close-down into 2029. Long Beach has already created a three-tier management structure, with an Executive Leadership Team (six people), Citywide Steering Committee (24) and specialized teams on Safety (11), Infrastructure and Mobility (12) and Community Engagement (7).

The report goes into excruciating detail on all kinds of activities which Long Beach may or may not want to be a part of, and which will have significant planning implications, such as the appearance of the Olympic and/or Paralympic Torch Relay, fan festival sites and the impacts of a potential flood of visitors (although the City is well aware of this from mass events like the Long Beach Grand Prix).

Moreover, there is excellent detail on future activities that the City should be ready for, and want to participate in, such as tabletop exercises, simulations, test events, and how to work with International Federations or National Olympic Committees which may want to set up their own operations in the area, close to their competition site.

Long Beach’s own interests are also covered, such as engaging teams with a home-stay program for athlete families, street shopping programs, information centers, even a “Long Beach House” to showcase business opportunities, as well as a Games countdown clock and so on. Legacy projects are also considered.

The Long Beach roadmap includes some interesting projected dates for a number of actions of high interest; these are not confirmed, but only estimates made by KPMG:

● 15 Sep. 2026: Volunteer needs estimate for Long Beach
● 01 Dec. 2026: Olympic ticket sales open

● 01 Jul. 2027: Olympic Chef de Mission meeting
● 10 Dec. 2027: Paralympic ticket sales open

● 15 Feb. 2028: Olympic Torch lighting in Olympia

Long Beach has also unveiled a dedicated Web site concerning the 2028 Games, designed to expand as the event draws closer.

Observed: The City of Long Beach engaged KPMG in December 2023 to come up with this report at a cost of $572,000. Its great value is in providing all levels of City government, as well as Long Beach residents, with a very precise, very detailed look at what to expect as the Games get closer.

For the most part, challenges that are well-recognized beforehand are dealt with adequately. It’s what hasn’t been considered that can be problematic. This report is a good start.

Time and again, the keys to an area’s success as the host of a major event are (1) a strong working relationship with the organizing committee, (2) meticulous planning, including imagining every scenario possible, (3) flexibility and a desire to realize the overarching goals, rather than implementing the pre-set plan.

In these regards, Long Beach is off to a good start.

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PANORAMA: Media metric says Paris Olympics 3.8x bigger than Super Bowl LIX; Sen. Grassley after SafeSport; Lochte elected to Hall of Fame

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, site of Super Bowl LIX (Photo: Tia Dufour/Dept. of Homeland Security).

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games ● In the U.S., you often hear that an Olympic Games is the same as “10 Super Bowls at once” or five, or seven, or some such number.

Well, here’s one metric in which we can say that the 2024 Paris Olympic Games was almost four times as big as the NFL’s Super Bowl LIX:

Media accreditations.

The Associated Press reported that the NFL issued 6,414 media accreditations for the game and the surrounding activities during the one-week lead-up, the most ever.

That’s a lot, but it pales in comparison to the 24,171 press, photo and broadcast media accredited for Paris 2024, 3.8 times the Super Bowl total.

In Paris, the vast majority came from the broadcast side, with 18,438 accreditations in total, plus 5,733 for writers, photographers and editors, from 146 National Olympic Committees. No breakdown was reported for the Super Bowl, but the majority were no doubt from broadcasters.

● Olympic Winter Games 2034: Salt Lake City ● One of the reasons that Salt Lake City will not need to build any new venues for the 2034 Winter Games is that it has maintained the sites used for the 2002 Winter Games.

That is continuing now, with the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation – funded with the surplus from the 2002 Games – keeping the Utah Olympic Park, Olympic Oval and Nordic facilities at Soldier Hollow up to date. A Fox13 report on Sunday noted that municipal-owned facilities expected to be used in 2034 are also upgrading their facilities:

● Peaks Ice Arena in Provo – planned for ice hockey – wants to renovate the ice sheet, add bleachers and locker rooms, expected to cost $12 million.

● The Maverik Center in West Valley City, also used in 2002 and a hockey site for 2034, is asking for $500,000 to study upgraded lighting and sound systems.

These improvements will require city, regional or state funding as they are not operated by the UOLF and are used year-round by residents. The Utah legislature is planning a $40 million allocation for renovating sports facilities to maintain their useful lives to 2034 and beyond.

● Commonwealth Games 2026: Glasgow ● The dramatically compacted 2026 Commonwealth Games announced its full events program last week, with 153 events in eight Commonwealth sports, and 48 events in seven Paralympic sports (10 sports combined):

● 43: Athletics
● 42: Swimming
● 18: Track Cycling
● 16: Weightlifting
● 14: Artistic Gymnastics
● 14: Judo
● 4: Bowls
● 2: Basketball (3×3)

● 16: Para Athletics
● 14: Para Swimming
● 8: Para Track Cycling
● 4: Para Powerlifting
● 3: Para Bowls
● 2: Wheelchair Basketball (3×3)
● 1: Netball

Boxing is also listed, but without any details, as there is no IOC-recognized International Federation at the moment.

● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation announced its Team USA Community Champions in partnership with long-time sponsor Comcast.

Four American athletes were selected to receive $25,000 grants to further their work with non-profit causes helping health, wellness or youth sports: 1984 Olympic cycling gold medalist Connie Carpenter Phinney for the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s; track & field Olympian Alysia Montaño, the head of &Mother; curling Olympian Tara Peterson, working with the Hope Dental Clinic, and three-time Paralympian Rico Roman, who volunteers for Bridge City Inclusive Sports in Portland, Oregon.

● U.S. Center for SafeSport ● U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, asking questions about how the Center hired former Allentown, Pennsylvania police officer Jason Krasley, who has been arrested for theft, tampering with evidence, sexual assault, rape and more. He noted:

“Claimants and respondents alike deserve impartial, fair investigators who have not been accused of sexual misconduct of their own. Claimants and respondents alike deserve impartial, fair investigators who have not been accused of sexual misconduct of their own. Investigators must be professionally and morally qualified to perform their duties.

“Accusations of rape and other sex crimes against any SafeSport investigator are especially concerning given SafeSport’s mandate to protect athletes from similar abuse. Charges of that nature seriously call into question the quality of SafeSport’s vetting processes of its own officials.”

The letter noted a harassment charge made against Krasley while he was employed by the Center and posed 13 specific questions and asks for answers by 10 March.

● Alpine Skiing ● American skiing star Lindsey Vonn told The Associated Press she was “disappointed” in the way that teammate Mikaela Shiffrin came back into the Team Combined and was teamed with Downhill World Champion Breezy Johnson.

Vonn knew that Shiffrin expected to skip the Team Combined to focus on the Giant Slalom, but then withdrew from the Giant Slalom, after being injured in a GS race in November. She then made herself available for the Team Combined (Slalom segment) and the U.S. coaches placed her with Johnson. Said Vonn:

“I’m excited for Breezy and Mikaela to team up together and I believe they are a great pair. However, I am disappointed in the way it was handled.

“Despite the lack of communication I am a team player and am looking forward to be partnered with AJ Hurt, who is an amazing young skier.”

● Athletics ● Add one more “world record” to the pile from the Millrose Games: the men’s mile walk, rarely contested, but in which Mexican Olympian Ever Palma smashed the still-standing world best of 5:33.33 by American Tim Lewis from 1988.

Palma followed Swedish star Perseus Karlstrom, the 2024 European 20 km champ, for the first 1,100 m, then broke for the lead and was never headed, winning in 5:24.50. Karlstrom was a distant second in 5:32.34, also under the old mark. German Chris Linke was third, in 5:35.83.

The record attempt was lined up with help from the USA Race Walking Foundation and the FastWalker Group, which presented a $5,000 bonus for the record.

● Modern Pentathlon ● The Australian Sunday Telegraph reported that Australian modern pentathlete Alex Watson, who competed in the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games, is not considered an “Olympian” by the World Olympians Association, an alumni group which confirms the use of the “OLY” post-nominal letters, used in the same way as educational credentials such as “PhD.”

Watson was disqualified at Seoul 1988 for an elevated level of caffeine, which at the time was listed as a stimulant beyond a certain level, but removed at the beginning of 2004. He served a two-year ban and returned to compete in Barcelona, but the WOA said in a letter last year that anyone who had an anti-doping violation is ineligible to use the OLY suffix.

The story points out that others who have had doping sanctions have been permitted and Australian Olympic Committee chief Matt Carroll deemed the WOA’s position as “excessive and unreasonable.” The story said that the WOA had simply not responded to letters from Watson’s attorneys.

● Swimming ● The International Swimming Hall of Fame announced its 2025 inductees on Friday, with American stars Ryan Lochte and Anthony Ervin leading the class.

Lochte, now 40, won 12 Olympic medals (6-3-3) between 2004-16 and a staggering 27 Worlds medals (18-5-4) from 2005-15. He set four individual-event world records; two each in the 200 m Backstroke and 200 m Medley. Ervin, now 43, won the Olympic 50 m Free in Sydney in 2000 and then in Rio in 2016, and also took two sprint golds in the 2001 Worlds, in the 50 and 100 m Frees. He won a third Olympic gold on the U.S. 4×100 m Free in Rio.

The other swimmers in the group include Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, the Olympic 200 m Free champ and four-time World Champion in the event in 2009-11-17-19 and world-record setter in the 200 and 400 m Frees, and Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, who memorably upset American star Michael Phelps to win the Rio 2016 100 m Fly.

Tunisian star Ous Mellouli was elected in the Open Water category, from his Olympic 10 km win at London 2012 and 2013 5 km Worlds gold. China’s five-time Olympic diving champion Ruolin Chen was honored for her Olympic Platform wins from 2008-16 and six Worlds golds from 2007-15.

Current World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam was elected as a “Contributor,” and Hungarian Bandi Molnar was voted in for water polo, and four-time Olympic medalist Andrea Fuentes (ESP) in Artistic Swimming.

The induction ceremony will be held on 28 July in Singapore, in conjunction with the World Aquatics Championships.

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WOMEN IN SPORT: IBA suing IOC in Switzerland, while World Athletics discusses returning to “sex screening” for women’s category

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE LATEST ≡

The flare-up over gender verification, transgenders and those with hyperandrogenism continues with actions announced Monday, both serious and silly.

The International Boxing Association, dismissed from the Olympic Movement by the International Olympic Committee in 2023, said Monday it will be back in court over Paris Olympic women’s gold medalists Yu-ting Lin (TPE: 57 kg) and Imane Khelif (ALG: 66 kg), despite not being involved in the 2024 Olympic boxing tournament:

“IBA is filing an official complaint with the Attorney General of Switzerland, Mr Stefan Blatter, regarding the IOC’s actions that facilitated the participation of these ineligible athletes in the 2024 Olympic boxing tournament in Paris. According to the Swiss law, any action or inaction that poses a safety risk to competition participants warrants investigation and may serve as grounds for criminal prosecution. In addition, similar complaints are to be filed with the Attorneys General of France and the USA.”

The IBA trumpets its disqualification of both Lin and Khelif at its 2023 Women’s World Championships, but conveniently skips:

● Khelif boxed and won a silver medal at the IBA’s 2022 Women’s Worlds in the 63 kg class, and then competed at the IBA’s 2023 Women’s Worlds and won four matches, advancing to the final before being declared ineligible.

● Lin boxed and won the IBA Women’s World Championships gold at 57 kg in 2022, winning five bouts, then won three matches, advancing to the semifinals of the 2023 Women’s Worlds 57 kg class, where she was defeated. Only then was she disqualified and deprived of the bronze medal.

Russian Umar Kremlev took over the IBA in 2020 and was in charge while Khelif and Lin each fought nine matches at the 2022 and 2023 Worlds before being declared ineligible, only in the medal rounds.

Further, the IBA statement states that last week’s U.S. Presidential Executive Order banning transgender women from women’s sports competitions in the U.S. “proves that IBA stood firm” and protected women boxers by disqualifying Lin and Khelif. In fact, neither Lin or Klehif are transgender women and were born, raised and fought their entire boxing careers as women.

On a more serious note, World Athletics, which actually has been in the forefront of supporting scientific research and closely-drawn rules on women’s eligibility, announced a new round of consultations to update its standards for both transgenders and women with “differences in sex development” from 10 February to 5 March 2025.

A recommendations document outlines a significant change in the federation’s approach, noting in pertinent part (typical male chromosomes are XY, for females, XX):

“World Athletics has learnt the following:

● “a. New evidence has clarified that testosterone suppression in 46XY DSD and 46XY transgender individuals can only ever partly mitigate the overall male advantage in the sport of Athletics.

● “b. Evidence has accumulated that makes clear that an exclusive focus on male puberty is wrong:

i. New evidence clarifies that there is already an athletically significant performance gap before the onset of puberty. The childhood or pre-pubertal performance gap in the sport of Athletics specifically is 3 to 5% in running events, and higher in throwing and jumping events.

ii. New evidence establishes that athletic disadvantages associated with female body structure and physiology contribute to the performance gap.

● “c. There is no new countervailing evidence that would suggest that transgender women and androgen sensitive XY DSD athletes are biologically different to each other in relation to the design and goals of the Female Category.

● “d. There has been some opposition to testosterone suppression as a condition for eligibility in the Female Category.”

The new recommendations re-introduce gender testing, along the lines suggested last October by the U.N. Special Rapporteur for violence against women and girls. The World Athletics brief states:

“This recommendation proposes that in advance of and as a pre-condition for any athlete’s competition in the Female Category at elite level, World Athletics should be in possession of test results that establish their eligibility.

“The required test will be for the SRY gene and, if required, testosterone levels, either via cheek swab with any necessary follow-up or via dry blood spot analysis. In this context the SRY gene, which is almost always on the Y chromosome, is used as a highly accurate proxy for biological sex but makes room for an additional diagnostic process at the athlete’s discretion.”

It was further noted that such actions are only meant for elite athletes; “[t]he aspect of the sport of Athletics that is elite competition properly draws lines on the basis of biological sex, but the sport as a whole, for example at the non-elite and recreational levels, has a place for everyone.”

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) explained:

“While our current Eligibility Regulations for DSD and Transgender athletes are robust and based on the science available at the time of our last consultation, several scientific developments in this field have emerged since then and it is our role, as the global governing body for athletics, to ensure that our guidelines keep up with the latest information available to maintain a fair and level-playing field in the Female Category.”

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ALPINE SKIING: Shiffrin withdraws from Giant Slalom, but will race Team Combined with Downhill winner Breezy Johnson Tuesday

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

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≡ SHIFFRIN’S STRUGGLE ≡

On 30 November, during the Giant Slalom at the FIS women’s World Cup in Killington, Vermont, American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin – who has won more World Cup races than anyone in history – suffered a bad crash.

A puncture wound on the right side of her abdomen – apparently from one of her poles – eventually required surgery to prevent further damage, but she recovered enough to come back to racing on 30 January in a Slalom at Courchevel (FRA), finishing 10th.

But she’s not ready to try the Giant Slalom again so soon and has withdrawn from this event at the Worlds in Austria – in which she is the defending champion – and explained in a post on X, reprinted in full here:

“I’ve poured all of my energy into getting my giant slalom in shape to be prepared to start World Champs GS in Saalbach on Thursday. The long- story-short is…I’m not there. Right now, I feel quite far away. I’m currently working through some mental obstacles in order to return to the GS start with the intensity required for racing.

“Honestly, I really didn’t anticipate experiencing so much of this kind of mental/PTSD struggle in GS from my injury in Killington. Like always, I tried diving into the challenge, hoping to get there by Worlds. I figured my passion and longing to compete would outweigh the mental barriers. Maybe that will be the case over time, but I’m not there yet. Coming to terms with how much fear I have doing an event that I loved so dearly only 2 months ago has been soul- crushing.

“One of my teammates – who knows this experience well – said that the only thing you can do is keep trying. So that’s what I will do.

“Since we have now realized that the GS is not in the cards just yet, that re-opens up the opportunity for me to join my teammates in the Team Combined. I’d feel lucky and grateful to partner with any of my incredible speed teammates – and our coaches have now informed us that Breezy[Johnson] and I will paired together for the event.

“To be continued…”

The second part came minutes later:

“After becoming World Champion in downhill Saturday, Breezy told me ‘If you want to do the [Team Combined], I would be honored to pair with you. Not because of the medal, but because this sport is crazy fun, and it would be fun to bring it full circle after all these years.’ What a wise woman. Breezy and I have been racing together since we were 11. We were at Whistler Cup and Topolino together.

“We’ve been roommates, competitors, friends. And she’s right…it will be so so cool to bring this full circle. What a journey she has been on…she knows the mental challenges of this sport better than anyone. She has fought tooth and nail to get here, and now she is World Champion…her journey and grit and determination has inspired the heck out of me. I’m so honored to partner with her on our little Team Atomic (*USA) for my first start of Saalbach 2025.”

Tuesday’s women’s Team Combined, with one Downhill skier and one Slalom skier and the U.S. will enter four women’s teams:

● USA Team 1: Breezy Johnson (Downhill) & Mikaela Shiffrin (Slalom)
● USA Team 2: Lauren Macuga (Downhill) & Paula Moltzan (Slalom)
● USA Team 3: Lindsey Vonn (Downhill) & AJ Hurt (Slalom)
● USA Team 4: Jackie Wiles (Downhill) & Katie Hensien (Slalom)

Shiffrin owns the Slalom event, with 62 World Cup wins and World Championships golds in 2013-15-17-19 and a 2021 gold in the individual Combined. She and Johnson – both 29 – will be one of the favorites for medals, but Macuga and Moltzan are also not to be underestimated.

The Downhill will start at 10:00 a.m. local time in Saalbach, followed by the Slalom at 1:15 p.m.; Austria is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time.

The men’s Team Combined comes on Tuesday; Shiffrin will compete again in the Slalom on Saturday.

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ATHLETICS: The circus continues! Now IShowSpeed is challenging Sha’Carri Richardson to a race!

By
Rich Perelman
-
The meet-up between IShowSpeed (l) and 2023 World women’s 100 m champ Sha’Carri Richardson (IShowSpeed video screenshot).

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≡ SILLY SPEED ≡

When you have 36 million subscribers on YouTube and other channels, you get attention.

In yet another Super Bowl week sound-off in track & field, Darren Watkins Jr. – known as “IShowSpeed” – faced off with 2023 World women’s 100 m champ and Paris silver medalist Sha’Carri Richardson, challenging her to a race.

“Speed” challenged U.S. sprint star Noah Lyles back on 6 November and was promptly dusted over 50 m, with Lyles exerting very little effort, but intentionally keeping it close enough not to embarrass him. So now he met up with Richardson, accompanied by friend Christian Coleman, the 2019 World Champion and equal-sixth all-time at 9.76.

The informal meet-up was taped, of course, and posted on Saturday (8th) with Speed exclaiming: “We gotta race, Sha’Carri (saying ‘sha’car-re’).”

She immediately corrected him, “It’s Sha’Carri (‘sha’carry’).” And then it went on from there:

● Richardson: “Before we race, I got to teach you how to be a sprinter first. So if you want to come down to my training camp, maybe for a week, maybe a couple days, I give you …”

● Speed: “A couple days, a day. What about a day?”

● Richardson: “Let’s set it up.”

● Speed: “So after that day, I can race you.”

Well, Richardson wasn’t going to make it that easy:

“You come down for a day, you do my entire workout, and after that, we can set something up. But you got to do what I do first before we race. … You got to be a track athlete first before a race.”

Speed immediately demurred, shaking his head and saying, “I’m going to be burned.“

Richardson slammed back, “No, you’re not. I do it every day. We do it every day. So you work out first with me, then the next day we’re going to race.” Then, after a little more chit-chat, and Richardson promising to set this up, Speed wanted to know what he’s getting himself into:

“How long the workout?”

Richardson – who has a best of 10.65 from 2023, no. 5 all-time – was ready now:

“Nine to two. So you got to do a workout from nine to two, on the track, in the weight room, first, every day included and then we race. … You got to be an athlete, a track athlete.

“You got to be all the way a track athlete before we race. You got to endure what we do on a daily, before we race.”

Speed replied, “I’m going to still win, though,” to which Richardson replied “I don’t know about that. I don’t talk too much [what?]… And then if you want to race, this is Christian Coleman.” (Comment added)

Speed then said, “I already beat Noah,” to which Coleman shot back, “No, you didn’t. I saw the video.” And a young bystander added in, “Noah went easy on you,” which Speed was not expecting.

Speed was put in his place, but certainly didn’t care, since he got a two-minute video out of it and lots of views. And if there’s a race, it will be great for Speed, but what does Richardson get out of it? Time for their agents to talk and a sponsor(s) to be found.

Observed: This kind of foolishness is good for exposing the stars of track & field, like Lyles and Richardson, to an audience that might not know much about them already. Watkins, 20, is brilliant at this, but is, at the end of the day, promoting himself.

Lyles, Richardson and Coleman are not Grand Slam Track “Racers” but could make cameo appearances as “Challengers” in Michael Johnson’s new circuit. They will appear in other meets, on the way to the USATF Championships at the end of July to try and make the U.S. team for the Tokyo Worlds in September.

But all of this silliness, with Lyles jawing with Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill and now this challenge to Richardson, showcases one of the issues with track & field which makes it so different from leagues which can comprehensively promote its stars across an entire season, based on a published schedule in which specific players can be expected to play.

Johnson’s Grand Slam Track is a move forward in the right direction and as he has noted, the inaugural season is still a couple of months away. Perhaps his approach will be the right one, but unlike Major League Baseball, or the NFL, NBA, NHL or the many soccer leagues, there is no seasonal schedule in which you can reliably expect your favorite stars to compete.

That is one of the things that is holding the sport back.

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ATHLETICS: Asked about Noah Lyles, Grand Slam Track’s Michael Johnson says “We don’t need anyone else”

By
Rich Perelman
-
Grand Slam Track founder Michael Johnson (l) and hurdles star Devon Allen (c) talking with TalkSPORT in New Orleans (talkSPORT video screenshot).

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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK ≡

There were all kinds of good, bad and odd promotions going on along “Media Row” during the week-long build-up to Sunday’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, and lots of talk about things other than the game.

One of those was on British-based talkSPORT.com, where Grand Slam Track founder and Commissioner Michael Johnson – a long-time track & field analyst for the BBC – was interviewed alongside hurdles star Devon Allen – a signed “Racer” – about the inaugural season that will start in April in Jamaica.

Asked about the absence of Paris 100 m Olympic champ Noah Lyles, Johnson was ready to promote his signed stars:

“We’ve already signed our 48 Racers. We have 48 Challengers that we now will assign for each individual Slam; they can come in if they want. So yeah, we’ll continue talking to Noah.

“To me, it’s always an insult to our 48 Olympic Champions, World Champions, fastest people in the world that we’ve signed to this league; they’re all accomplished in their own right.

“So, that’s enough, if we have nobody else but those athletes, this is the first time we’ve ever had the fastest together.”

Johnson ran through a list of the signed stars, such as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Yared Nuguse and more and added:

“We don’t need anyone else. We will take all of the fastest people, but we don’t have to have them. Ultimately, we will get everyone, because this is year one, this is where you want to be if you’re a premier track and field athlete.

“We have the highest prize money ever paid in the sport, we have the most accessible [meets].

And he emphasized the availability of every session of his four meets on television:

“One of the things that Noah was rightly complaining about, is the fact that outside the Olympics, it’s hard for people to find this product, to find this sport, because it’s not on network television.

“Not only are we on free-to-air network television on The CW, we are simultaneously streaming on Peacock, right. So there is no track meet – there may not be any sport – is existence right now that is more accessible than Grand Slam Track.”

Johnson was also asked about Lyles and his continuing trash-talk with Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill, and the possibility of some not-so-serious races as part of the program:

“We’re going to incorporate the fun stuff into our events … we just talked to Tyreek a minute ago!

“I was talking to Kevin Hart on his show just before the Paris Olympics, when we were talking about Grand Slam Track, and he’s like, ‘All right, I see what you’re trying to do, you want me to race, don’t you?’ And I said, ‘yes, I do want you to race, and who would you like to race against, right?’ And he says, ‘OK, I’m there, right.’

“So, we will do those sorts of things, fun things as sort of our ‘halftime,’ so to speak, of celebrities and content creators and athletes from other sports, because – remember – this is the most important sport inside of every other sport.”

Johnson emphasized that Lyles vs. Hill is just one possibility to bring more entertainment into the Slams:

“Everybody wants to be fast in their sport. Everybody gets track; because it’s just racing.

“People think they’re fast. If you think you’re fast, we’re going to give you the opportunity to come out there and show it; we can create these races where it’s fun and it’s exciting, and it’s part of the show of the true professionals like Devon [Allen] and these guys.”

But the Atlanta 1996 double gold medalist also put his foot down on any real racing between Lyles and Hill:

“I’m not putting somebody coming out there like Tyreek against world class athletes. ‘Cause you’re not.

“Now, the Tyreek-Noah thing has become a thing, so we would create something for them that’s really cool. But if it’s a track event, that’s not a race. Noah is killing him.

“There’s track speed, then there’s football speed.”

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PANORAMA: John Carlos’ Mexico City ‘68 awards top on auction; California continues to allow transgenders; extra U.S. record for Nuguse!

By
Rich Perelman
-
The jacket worn by John Carlos at the Mexico City ‘68 victory ceremony! (Photo: Heritage Auctions).

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The International Canoe Federation took a trip last week, meeting with the LA28 organizers in Los Angeles and then traveling to Oklahoma City to once again visit the Riversport OKC canoe slalom facility, which will host the ICF Slalom Worlds in 2027.

A three-person team led by ICF President Thomas Konietzko (GER) was presented with a “key to the city” by Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt. Said Konietzko:

“This is one of the best facilities in the world for our sport.

“The design of the venue is beautiful so I know the athletes and spectators will love it here and it is located close to the city which makes it very special. We will have our World Championships and Congress here in 2026 and then we can look forward to using this excellent environment to organize fantastic events in 2028.

“You can also be sure that a lot of our athletes and teams will come to Oklahoma City over the next three years to use this facility for training.”

● Olympic Games 2032: Brisbane ● Australian Olympic Committee Matt Carroll said at a Friday hearing of the Australian Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, it’s time to get any new venues decided on and start building.

Asked by Senator Matt Canavan about the progress to date, Carroll explained:

“To a degree, progress has been made. The organizing committee is certainly well established The plans to build the new indoor sports centers across southeast Queensland is still proceeding; it doesn’t get a lot of news either, but certainly, there are things that are happening.”

But as for what needs to happen now, it’s in the hands of the government to figure out the remaining venues: “I think it is time to finalize any more reviews and settle exactly on what the two governments want to fund in terms of venues.”

Asked about the time pressure, Carroll said as to deadlines:

“I think that’s the first half of this year, to be honest with you, Senator, for two reasons. One, the sports program will start to be fleshed out the following year in 2026, which is obviously very important. And importantly, also, obviously, is to start the construction process of whatever work that needs to be done, which is going to take a bit of time. …

“Before I was in sport, I was in the construction industry, and the construction industry in Australia is stretched, at the moment. And therefore, to be able to start to do all these venues, wherever they may be, it needs to be moved along swiftly.”

The latest venue review, especially concerning the sites for athletes and for ceremonies, is ongoing and is expected to be concluded in March, after a change of government control last year.

● Anti-Doping ● The World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed that the national anti-doping agencies of Pakistan and Uganda have challenged the charges of non-compliance, filing an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. So, no sanctions as of now. Cameroon and Russia remain non-compliant.

● Transgender ● The giant California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), governing more than 806,000 athletes at 1,587 public and private schools, said Friday that it would not follow the Executive Order signed last Wednesday by U.S. President Donald Trump, which removes transgender women from women’s sport in the U.S.

A statement provided to ABC10 Sacramento explained:

“The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law [Education Code section 221.5. (f)] which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records.”

To be continued …

● Memorabilia ● The awards uniform top worn by iconic 1968 Olympic 200 m bronze medalist John Carlos – of raised fist on the podium fame – is up for sale at Heritage Auction’s Winter Platinum Night Sports Auction ending on 22 February.

Carlos finished third in the race and he and winner Tommie Smith raised their fists in a famed racial protest gesture on the awards ceremony in Mexico City, and were promptly dismissed from the Games. (They only had one pair of gloves, so Smith raised his right fist and Carlos, his left.)

Carlos swapped the jacket with a Senegalese athlete at the end of the ‘68 Games, and his nephew ended up with it. The nephew contacted Carlos, and the money raised from the auction will help the nephew’s family.

Made by Wilson, the jacket appears to be in excellent condition and still has Carlos’ bib number – 259 – attached. Ten bids have been received so far, with a high of $18,500; the item is expected to bring around $50,000.

A 10-minute video with Carlos is on the bid page (in which he says he let Smith win and was surprised that Peter Norman (AUS) got second), with the first section of bidding to end at 10 p.m., Central Time, on 22 February, and all bids finalized by 10:30 p.m.

● Boxing ● Another positive for World Boxing, trying to be recognized by the International Olympic Committee in March as the governing body for Olympic boxing, as its continental association – Asian Boxing – signed a memorandum of understanding with the Olympic Council of Asia:

“The partnership focuses on creating a robust certification program for referees, judges, and officials to ensure the highest standards of professionalism and fairness in officiating,” and will promote youth development in the sport.

As the Olympic Council of Asia’s members are the 45 National Olympic Committees of the region, the OCA can also be counted on to encourage the 22 NOCs whose national boxing federations are not yet members of World Boxing to join. The International Olympic Committee has already instructed NOCs to ignore their national federations if they continue to be members of the now-unrecognized International Boxing Association. This may help in Asia.

● Diving ● World Aquatics announced two Chinese stars as their Athletes of the Year: Paris Olympic men’s 10 m Platform winner Yuan Cao and 17-year-old Hongchan Quan, a double winner in Paris in the 10 m Platform (defending her Tokyo title) and the 10 m Synchro.

● Wrestling ● The Russian news agency TASS reported that United World Wrestling approved – on 5 February – a change of status, allowing Russian wrestlers to compete under the flag of the UWW instead of as an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN).

This brings the UWW in line with the International Judo Federation, which has also adopted this scheme.

≡ RESULTS ≡

● Alpine Skiing ● Sunday’s men’s Downhill at the FIS World Championships in Saalbach (AUT) saw another surprise, as 23-year-old Swiss Franjo von Allmen – with one World Cup win in his career – take the gold in 1:40.68.

Von Allmen has never won a World Cup Downhill – his sole World Cup win was in a Super-G – but had three silvers in his career. No matter, he took the lead as the no. 11 starter, moving past Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr, the 2021 World Champion and an 18-time World Cup winner (1:40.92).

Third was Swiss Alexis Monney, 25, also with one career World Cup win, in a Downhill last December in Bormio (ITA). His 1:40.99 got him the bronze, while the top American was Bryce Bennett, who tied for 10th (1:42.02). Ryan Cochran-Siegle was 13th and Jared Goldberg was 24th, with Sam Morse in 36th.

Monday is a day off, with the Team Combined events to start Tuesday.

● Athletics ● More from the Millrose Games, with intermediate 1,500 m times posted for the men’s Wanamaker Mile, and world mile record claimant Yared Nuguse leading Hobbs Kessler in 3:31.74 and 3:31.89, then France’s Azeddine Habz at 3:32.24 and Cam Myers (AUS) at 3:32.67.

It’s another American Record for Nuguse, breaking his own mark of 3:33.22 from 2023 at Millrose, and moved him to no. 5 all-time, with the no. 6 performance. Kessler is now the seventh-fastest ever at the distance with the no. 10 performance. Habz moves to no. 9 all-time and Myers to no. 12 (he’s 18!), both with national indoor records.

Comebacking Shelby Houlihan, having served her doping ban, got a world-leading mark in the women’s mile in Boston on Saturday, winning in 4:20.30, well ahead of Kenyan Dorcus Ewoi (4:23.69). Houlihan’s mark moves her to no. 2 on the all-time U.S. women’s indoor list, passing Mary Decker (4:20.5 in 1982, with the no. 4 performance ever. Only Elle St. Pierre has run faster.

Houlihan passed 1,500 m in 4:03.40, now no. 6 on the all-time U.S. indoor list.

The controversial “take-off zone” long jump was experimented with at the ISTAF Indoor meet in Dusseldorf (GER) on Saturday, and it makes a difference.

Using the standard style, using the take-off board, Pauline Hondema (NED) won with a 6.65 m (21-10) best, ahead of Pole Anna Matuszewicz (6.40 m/21-0). Tokyo 2020 Olympic champ Malaika Mihambo, who jumped a world-leading 7.07 m (23-2 1/2) on Friday in Karlsruhe using a take-off board, was only third at 6.39 m (20-11 3/4).

Among the seven jumpers, there were 41 attempts (one pass), of which 13 were fair, or 32%. Using the “take-off zone” approach, where a 40 cm (15.8 inches) long area was legal – vs. 20 cm (7.9 inches) for the take-off board – 36 of the 41 attempts were legal and the results changed dramatically, measured from their take-off point instead of the end of the board.

Under this style, Mihambo won at 6.87 m (22-6 1/2) on her fourth try (otherwise a foul) and Hondema was second at 6.68 m (21-11) on her first jump, which was measured at 6.56 m (21-6 1/4) using the take-off board.

● Bobsled & Skeleton ● The IBSF World Cup circuit was in Lillehammer (NOR), with the German 1-2 punch of Olympic gold and silver medal drivers Francesco Friedrich (+ Alexander Schueller) and Johannes Lochner (+ Georg Flesichhauer) going 1-2 in the 2-Man races, in 1:41.15 and 1:41.29. Britain’s Brad Hall, the 2023 Worlds 4-man runner-up was third in 1:41.63; Frank Del Duca has the top American sled in sixth (1:42.17).

Lochner, the Beijing 2022 runner-up in both sleds, got his first win of the season in the Four-Man racing, taking the second run to pass Friedrich, 1:39.85 to 1:39.90. Swiss Michael Vogt was third (1:40.05) and Del Duca had the best U.S. finish, in 10th (1:41.03).

The women’s Monobob saw a win for Australian Bree Walker, her first of the season and fourth medal, tying with the U.S.’s Kaysha Love in 1:49.14. The 2024 Worlds winner, Laura Nolte (GER), was third (1:49.21). American stars Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Armbruster Humphries finished 7-8 in 1:49.52 and 1:49.64.

The Two-Woman was the fourth straight German World Cup sweep, this time with Beijing Olympic champ Nolte (and Leonie Kluwig) winning in 1:44.40, ahead of 2023 World Champion Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig (1:44.42) and 2018 Olympic gold winner Lisa Buckwitz and Kira Lipperheide (1:44.70). The U.S. sleds finished seventh (Taylor-Jasmine Jones: 1:45.18), ninth (Kaysha Love-Lolo Jones: 1:45.24) and 10th (Armbruster Humphries-Emily Renna: 1:45.39).

● Cycling ● Race three of the UCI Women’s World Tour was the UAE Tour, a four-stage affair that was decided in the uphill-finishing third stage, won by Italian star Elisa Longo Borghini, the 2024 Giro d’Italia winner.

Dutch star Lorena Wiebes won the first two, flat stages, creating a 13-second lead. But Longo Borghini took off with 3 km left at the end of stage 3, winning by 35 seconds and taking a 2:09 lead into the flat fourth stage. Sunday’s finale was the expected mass sprint, with Wiebes winning her third stage, in 3:03:28 over 127 km, with Longo Borghini 59th, but with the same time.

So Longo Borghini won the race at 13:14:57, ahead of countrywoman Silvia Persico (ITA: +2:06). Wiebes, despite winning three of four stages, was 13th (+4:06).

● Fencing ● Italy’s 2023 Worlds silver winner Davide Di Veroli won the FIE World Cup men’s Epee tournament in Heidenheim (GER), winning the final by 14-13 over Tibor Andrasfi (HUN); it’s Di Verolio’s first career World Cup gold. Japan defeated Israel for the team title.

Hungary’s Olympic bronzer Eszter Muhari won the Women’s Epee in Barcelona (ESP), with a 15-9 victory over 2022 World Champion Sera Song (KOR). It’s Muhari’s third career World Cup win. Italy beat China, 45-37, for the team gold.

At the Foil Grand Prix in Turin (ITA), home favorite Tomasso Marini – the 2024 World Champion – won his second career Grand Prix tournament with a 15-6 win over Czech Alexander Choupenitch, a Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medalist.

Martina Favoretto, the 2023 Worlds bronze winner, completed the Italian sweep of the wins with a 15-12 win in the final over Canada’s Eleanor Harvey, who won a 2024 Paris Olympic bronze.

● Freestyle Skiing ● Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, the double 2017 World Champion in men’s Moguls and Dual Moguls, finally stopped the four-race win streak of Canadian star Mikael Kingsbury at the FIS World Cup in Deer Valley, Utah.

Horishima won Thursday’s Moguls event at 86.24 points, ahead of Pavel Kolmakov (KAZ: 84.95) and two-time Worlds medalist Benjamin Cavet (FRA: 83.82). Saturday’s Dual Moguls saw Horishima get a second win, defeating Kingsbury in the gold-medal final, for his 20th career World Cup gold.

Olympic runner-up Jaelin Kauf of the U.S. got her first win of the season in the women’s Moguls (80.75), beating 2018 Olympic champ Perrine Laffont (FRA: 79.63) and Maia Schwinghammer (CAN: 75.22).

Kauf won again in the Dual Moguls final, again over Laffont, for her 12th career World Cup win, including eight in Dual Moguls. Olivia Giaccio won the all-American final from Tess Johnson for the bronze.

Aerials competition was held on Friday, with American Quinn Dehlinger getting his first win of the season (and second career win), scoring 122.57 points to 115.49 for Ukraine’s Dmytro Kotovskyi and 104.43 for 2021 Worlds runner-up Chris Lillis of the U.S.

Australia swept the women’s Aerials, with two-time World Champion Laura Peel winning her third straight World Cup event at 87.57 points, ahead of three-time Worlds medalist Danielle Scott (86.31) and Abbey Willcox (81.58). Tasia Tanner was the top U.S. placer, in sixth (20.01).

At the Ski Cross World Cup in Val di Fassa (ITA), the men’s final was a re-run of the Beijing 2022 Olympic final, with Swiss Ryan Regez again defeating countryman Alex Fiva. It was more amazing as Regez suffered an anterior cruciate injury soon after his Olympic win and hadn’t won a World Cup medal since. Fiva, 39, also tore an ACL in 2022 and was out of action for months.

On Sunday, Canada’s Reece Howden got his second win of the season and second against 2023 World Champion Simone Deromedis (ITA), who nevertheless regained the seasonal lead.

The women’s Saturday race was the third straight win for Canadian star Marielle Thompson, the Sochi 2014 Olympic winner. She defeated France’s Marielle Berger Sabbatel in the final, who got her first World Cup medal of the season.

Sunday saw Italian Jole Galli, 29, got her first career World Cup win and third career medal in the final, beating Berger Sabbetel and 2013 World Champion Fanny Smith (SUI) to the line.

● Ice Hockey ● In the final two games of the annual Rivalry Series, the Canadian took the 2024-25 series by three games to two, splitting the matches in Halifax and Summerside.

On Thursday, the U.S. won by 2-1 in a shoot-out, after a 1-1 tie in regulation and an overtime period. Hilary Knight, Hannah Bilka and Kelly Pannek all scored in a 3-0 rout in the penalty-shot decider.

Canada came back with a 3-1 win on Saturday, with Jennifer Gardiner getting the key goal with 6:44 to play to give the home team the lead. The U.S. added an extra attacker and Canada’s Laura Stacey scored an empty-netter with 1:19 left for the final score.

● Luge ● The 53rd FIL World Championships were in Whistler (CAN), with Germany once again leading the way, winning 12 of the 21 medals on offer.

Max Langenhan repeated as men’s World Champion, in 1:39.922, ahead of teammate Felix Loch (1:40.057), who won his 22nd Worlds medal. Austrian Nico Gleirscher, the 2024 runner-up, was third (1:40.144). Jonny Gustafson was the top American, in eighth at 1:40.541, with Tucker West 12th in 1:40.899.

Hannes Orlamunder and Paul Gubitz won the men’s Doubles – their first Worlds gold – winning both runs, with a 1:16.538 total. Latvia’s Martins Bots and Roberts Plume, four-time European medalists, took second in 1:16.640 and three-time Olympic winners Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt claimed the bronze in 1:16.671. Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa of the U.S. finished seventh in 1:16.856 and Zachary Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander took 10th (1:17.054).

Germany’s 2021 World Champion Julia Taubitz won her second women’s Singles title in 1:17.206, ahead of teammate Merle Fraebel (1:17.247). American Emily Sweeney, the 2019 women’s Singles bronze medalist, scored another bronze, leading after the first run and then third in the second run (1:17.249 total). Americans Ashley Farquharson and Summer Britcher finished sixth (1:17.353) and 10th (1:17.466).

Austrians Selina Egle and Lara Kipp repeated as World Doubles Champions, winning in 1:17.724, ahead of 2022-23 Worlds winners Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal (GER: 1:17.753). Fellow German Dajana Eitberger – with new partner Magdalena Matschina – took the bronze (1:17.784). Americans Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby was fifth (1:17.968).

In the non-Olympic Mixed Singles, Taubitz and Langenhan won in 1:22.354, with Americans Gustafson and Sweeney second (1:22.449). The Mixed Doubles went to Austria (1:22.894) with German teams going 2-3, and the U.S. (Di Gregorio-Hollander and Forgan-Kirkby: 1:23.059). Germany also won the Team Relay, ahead of Austria and Canada, with the U.S. (Sweeney-Mueller-Haugsjaa-Gustafson-Forgan-Kirkby) fourth.

● Nordic Combined ● The sixth of eight stops on the 2024-25 FIS World Cup tour was in Otepaa (EST), with five-time World Cup seasonal champ Jarl Magnus Riiber – who will retire at season’s end – getting his fifth win of the season in Friday’s 97 m jumping and 10 km Mass Start race with 137.0 points, ahead of former champ Johannes Lamparter (AUT: 126.9) and Germany’s Vinzenz Geiger (126.4).

Geiger notched his fifth win of the season on Saturday, winning the 10 km Gundersen race in 24:28.0, just edging Riiber (24:28.7), with Jens Oftebro (NOR) third in 24:38.9. Sunday’s Compact jumping and 7.5 km race saw Geiger win again, ahead of Riiber, 16:53.5 to 17:09.5, with Julian Schmid (GER) third in 17:19.5.

Japan’s twin sisters, Yuna Kasai and Haruka Kasai went 1-2 in the women’s 97 m jumping and 5 km Mass Start race on Friday, with 99.9 and 97.8 points, with German Jenny Nowak third (97.6). It was the first event this season without a Norwegian medal winner!

Norway’s Ida Marie Hagen, who won the first seven events of the season, got her eighth in the 97 m jumping and 5 km Gundersen race, in 13:50.5, with Haruka Kasai second (14:06.1) and Nathalie Armbruster (GER) in third at 14:44.1. American Alexa Brabec, 20, was ninth at 14:13.2.

On Sunday, Armbruster, the seasonal leader, won her third event of the season in 13:33.7 to 13:34.9 for Hagen and 13:50.9 for Haruka Kasai.

● Short Track ● The fifth of six ISU World Tour stops was in Tilburg (NED), with Canadian men’s skaters having won nine of the 12 individual races held so far. That continued with 2024 World 1,000 m Champion William Dandjinou winning the 1,500 m in 2:22.541, ahead of 2024 Worlds silver winner Jens van’T Wout (NED), second in 2:22.659. Beijing Olympic 500 m bronze winner Steven Dubois took the 500 m win, in 40.313, with teammate Jordan Pierre-Gilles second in 41.362.

On Sunday, the men’s 1,000 m went to van’T Wout in 1:25.045, with Latvia’s Roberts Kruzbergs a distant second in 1:34.623. The Dutch won the 5,000 m relay in 6:55.717.

Belgium’s 2021 Worlds silver winner Hanne Desmet won the women’s 1,000 m in 1:30.454, beating American Corinne Stoddard (1:30.454) and seasonal event leader Xandra Velzeboer (NED: 1:30.883). The Dutch won the 3,000 m relay in 4:11.508, with the U.S. (Julie Letai, Kristen Santos-Griswold, Louisiana Stahl and Stoddard) third in 4:12.463.

The women’s 500 m went to Canadian Florence Brunelle, the 2022 World Junior Champion, who finished in 43.141 to best Michelle Velzeboer (NED: 43.257; younger sister of Xandra) and American star Santos-Griswold (43.500), with Stoddard fifth (43.733).

Canada scored again in the 1,500 m, with 2021 Worlds runner-up Courtney Sarault winning in 2:27.388, beating Elisa Confortola (ITA: 2:27.406) and Americans Stoddard (2:27.525) and Santos-Griswold (2:27.565). Desmet won the race on the ice, but was disqualified for impeding another skater.

In the Mixed Relay, the Dutch won in 2:37.729, with the U.S. (Andrew Heo, Santos-Griswold, Sean Shuai, Stoddard) third in 2:51.378.

● Ski Jumping ● The FIS World Cup was back in Lake Placid, New York, jumping off the 128 m Mt. Van Hoevenberg, with Norway getting its first win of the season with 2018 Olympic silver medalist Johann Forfang winning with 259.5 points, to turn back Austria’s Jan Hoerl (256.6) and seasonal leader Daniel Tschofenig (255.0).

Tschofenig won his eighth tournament of the season on Sunday, coming from third to first in the second round, totaling 275.1 points. Hoerl was second again (269.1) with 2021 Worlds bronze winner Anze Lanisek (SLO: 262.3) scoring his first medal of the season.

The women’s competition was the first women’s World Cup ever held in North America, on which 19-year-old Slovenian star (and seasonal leader) Nika Prevc made an indelible impression. The Friday morning event was canceled midway due to high winds, but was re-run in its entirety in the evening, with Prevc winning 295.7 points, ahead of Eirin Kvandal (NOR: 283.6) and Alexandria Loutitt (CAN: 273.2).

Prevc was equally dominant on Saturday, taking her seventh win of the season with 272.1 points, with Germans Agnes Reisch (261.2) and Selina Freitag (254.7) going 2-3.

● Wrestling ● The U.S. women’s Freestyle squad won five golds at the Zagreb Open, the first United World Wrestling ranking event, and took the team title with 155 points to 96 for Hungary.

American wins came from 2019 World Champion Jacarra Winchester (57 kg), Adaugo Nwachukwu (62 kg), Olympic silver winner Kennedy Blades (68 kg), Skylar Grote (72 kg) and World U-23 Champion Yelena Makoyed (76 kg).

The U.S. won two bronze medals in the Greco-Roman tournament, from Ellis Coleman at 63 kg and Brady Koontz at 55 kg. Iran won the team title; the U.S. was 11th.

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ATHLETICS: Fisher blasts 3,000 m WR at Millrose Games, followed by Nuguse’s historic 3:46.63 mile mark amid eight world leaders!

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. star Yared Nuguse, winning the London Diamond League meet in 2023 (Photo: Diamond League AG).

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ 117th MILLROSE GAMES ≡

The 117th Millrose Games was expected to be a hot meet at The Armory in New York, but volcanic was more like it with two world records, an American Record and eight world leaders:

● Men/600 m: 1:14.04, Will Sumner (USA)
● Men/800 m: 1:43.90, Josh Hoey (USA) ~ American Record
● Men/Mile: 3:46.63, Yared Nuguse (USA) ~ World Record
● Men/3,000 m: 7:22.91, Grant Fisher (USA) ~ World Record
● Men/60 m hurdles: 7.38, Dylan Beard (USA)
● Women/60 m: 7.02, Jacious Sears (USA)
● Women/60 m hurdles: 7.76, Masai Russell (USA)
● Women/Pole Vault: 4.82 m (15-9 3/4), Katie Moon (USA)

The much-anticipated men’s 3,000 m had Olympic 1,500 m champ Cole Hocker, double bronze winner Grant Fisher and more, with the American Record and possibly the world record under threat. Fisher led Hocker and Ty Robinson (AUS) as the pacesetter dropped off at 1,800 m. Fisher passed 2,000 m in a fast 4:58.01, and Fisher and Hocker were 1-2 and Hocker took the lead with three laps left. That surge broke Robinson, but Fisher was a stride behind at the bell.

Fisher tried for the lead on the back straight, but could not pass and tried one more time on the home straight and got by and blasted to the line in a world record of 7:22.91! That smashed Ethiopian Lamecha Girma’s mark of 7:23.81 from 2023, and, of course, the American Record of 7:28.23 by Yared Nuguse in 2023. That earned Fisher a $25,000 world-record bonus.

Hocker finished 7:23.14 – no. 2 all-time – and Jimmy Gressier (FRA) came up for third in 7:30.18, with Robinson fourth at 7:30.38. Fisher won the Olympic 5,000 m and 10,000 m bronzes in 2024; he is signaling that he can run with anyone now.

The men’s Wanamaker Mile had Olympic 1,500 m bronze medalist Nuguse trying for a third straight win in this race, and he settled in behind pacemaker Abe Alvarado in the first quarter (57.17). World Road mile champ Hobbs Kessler was just behind Nuguse; Alvarado passed 880 yards in 1:53.02 (55.86), and Nuguse took over with three laps left.

He passed 1,320 yards in 2:50.23 (56.95), with Kessler and Robert Farken (GER) right in line behind him. At the bell, Nuguse was pulling, but Kessler was a step behind and coming hard off the final turn. But Nuguse would not be denied and pushed through the tape in a world record of 3:46.63! Kessler was also under the old mark of 3:47.01 by Yomif Kejelcha (ETH: 2019) at 3:46.90, then 3:47.48 – a World Junior record – for Cam Myers (AUS), Azeddine Habz (FRA: 3:47.56) and Gary Martin (USA: 3:48.82 lifetime best).

Nuguse became the first American world-record holder in the indoor mile since Dick Buerkle ran a 3:54.93 stunner on 13 January 1978, 47 years ago!

The American 1,000 m record holder, Josh Hoey, had the lead in the men’s 800 m at the bell, chased by World Indoor champ Bryce Hoppel. But Hoey was too strong off the final turn and got to the line in an American Record of 1:43.90, also the world leader in 2025 and now no. 3 all-time! Hoppel was close behind at 1:44.19 (no. 6 all-time world) and then Jonah Koech (1:44.82, no. 4 all-time U.S.). In sixth was Cooper Lutkenhaus (Northwest HS of Justin, Texas), who got the indoor high school mark at 1:46.86, breaking Hoey’s 1:47.67 mark from 2018!

In the men’s 600 m, a lot of the interest was on 17-year-old prep star Quincy Wilson, but it was 2023 NCAA 800 m champ Will Sumner who had control of the race at the bell, trying to hold off Olympians Brandon Miller and Isaiah Jewett. Sumner broke away down the final straight and won in a world-leading 1:14.04, moving him to no. 3 all-time, with the no. 4 performance!

Jewett was body-to-body with Miller to the tape and had to raise his left arm to get past the shorter Miller to get second in 1:14.17 (no. 4 all-time), with Miller third in 1:14.37. Wilson got fourth in 1:16.20, the no. 2 performance in U.S. high school history.

Dylan Beard took charge of the men’s 60 m hurdles from the start and withstood a challenge from Cordell Tinch to win in a world-leading 7.38, also a meet record and equal-11th on the all-time list! Tinch finished a clear second in 7.43, a lifetime best and Cameron Murray was third in 7.52.

The women’s 60 m confirmed the full-power return of former Tennessee sprinter Jacious Sears, who blew out of the blocks and ran away to a world lead of 7.02, now equal-22nd all-time and equal-8th all-time U.S. Celera Barnes came up for second at the line in 7.15, just ahead of Tokyo relay Olympian Aleia Hobbs at 7.16.

In the women’s 60 m hurdles, Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent, the 2024 100 m hurdles world leader was charged with a false start and allowed to run under protest. On the re-start, Olympic champ Masai Russell got to the front right away and held on to win in a world-leading 7.76. Nugent came on at the fifth hurdle and appeared to get second, but her disqualification was upheld, so Paris Olympian Grace Stark was second in 7.83 and world-record holder Devynne Charlton (BAH) was third in 7.83.

Katie Moon won the women’s vault – the only elite-level field event – at 4.82 m (15-9 3/4), on her second attempt. Emily Grove and Gabriela Leon went 2-3 at 4.60 m (15-1). Moon increased her world lead by 2 cm.

There was a lot more, of course.

Former Purdue and Texas sprinter Marcellus Moore reached the NCAA and Olympic Trials semis in 2024, but got a good start and clearly defeated a good field in the men’s 60 m in 6.65, equaling his lifetime best. Trayvon Bromell, the 2016 World Indoor champ, closed hard but was second in 6.59.

American Olympic gold medalist Alexis Holmes got to the lead right away in the women’s 400 m and won going away in 51.21, ahead of Leah Anderson (JAM: 52.12). Holmes moved to no. 3 on the year list.

Addy Wiley took the lead in the women’s 800 m with a lap and a half to go, but Olympic finalist Shafiqua Maloney (VIN) took over off the back straight and ran away to a decisive win in 1:59.07, no. 2 in the world for 2025 and a meet record. Americans Olivia Baker (2:00.02) and Kaela Edwards (2:00.14) came up to get second and third, with Wiley fourth (also 2:00.14).

The women’s Wanamaker Mile saw Australia’s Linden Hall lead at the 1,320 mark, with Susan Ejore (KEN) just behind and then taking the lead at the bell over 2022 U.S. indoor champ Heather Maclean. Britain’s Georgia Bell, the Olympic 1,500 m bronzer in Paris, moved up with 100 m to go and she moved best on the final straight to win in 4:23.35, no. 3 in the world in 2025. Maclean got second in 4:23.41 and Nikki Hiltz, the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials 1,500 m winner, was third in 4:23.50.

Sarah Engelhardt of Ventura HS (California) finished in 4:27.97 in 11th and got the U.S. high school record, previously held by the legendary Mary Cain from 2013.

Olympic 1,500 m silver winner Jess Hull (AUS) was the headliner in the women’s 3,000 m, and took over at 1,400 m. But Ethiopia’s Tsige Gebreselama was the leader with six laps left, and continued until American Josette Andrews burst into the lead on the penultimate lap. Andrews then was passed herself as Paris Olympian Whittni Morgan blew by on the backstraight and ran solo to the line in 8:28.03, a lifetime best, no. 2 on the 2025 world list, and no. 5 all-time U.S. Andrews was a clear second in 8:29.77 (no. 4 in 2025), with Ireland’s Sarah Healy in 8:30.79, and Hull fourth in 8:30.91.

At the World Indoor Gold meet in Karlsruhe (GER) on Friday, Germany’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic women’s long jump champion, Malaika Mihambo, got a world-leading win at 7.07 m (23-2 1/2), equaling her lifetime indoor best.

In the women’s shot, Canada’s Sarah Mitton – the 2024 World Indoor champ – was third heading into the final round, but exploded to equal her outdoor lifetime best at 20.68 m (67-10 1/4), the world lead in 2025. She passed two-time European champ Jessica Schilder (NED: 20.09 m/65-11) and two-time World Champion Chase Jackson of the U.S. (20.06 m/65-9 3/4).

Reigning World Indoor champ Molly Caudery (GBR) moved to no. 2 in the world for 2025 at 4.75 m (15-7) to win the women’s vault.

South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso won the women’s 800 m in 1:59.88, a national record and no. 4 in the world for 2025.

At the World Indoor Tour Silver meet in Metz (FRA), Ethiopia’s 2024 World Indoor women’s 800 m champ, Tsige Duguma, got the world lead in 1:58.97 over Jemma Reekie (GBR: 1:59.72) and German Max Hess won the men’s triple jump with a world-leading 17.41 m (57-1 1/2).

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ALPINE SKIING: American Breezy Johnson starts first, finishes first for stunning Worlds Downhill gold!

By
Rich Perelman
-
American Breezy Johnson, the 2025 World women's Downhill Champion (Photo: Stifel U.S. Ski Team on X).

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≡ ALPINE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

The FIS Alpine World Championships are nothing like the FIS World Cup. The World Cup season is a months-long tour of faraway slopes, with lots of travel and logistics between the skiing. And over that period, the best overall skiers emerge with the season’s Crystal Globe.

Not at the World Championships – now continuing in Saalbach, Austria – where anything can happen and often does. Like on Saturday.

American Breezy Johnson, 29, came into her fourth Worlds not having won a World Cup race in her eight seasons on the World Cup tour. She had seven medals, all in Downhills, and had finished 19th in the Super-G on Thursday.

She drew the first starting position, and roared down the course in 1:41.29, setting the stage for the rest of the field.

But no one could catch her!

The no. 5 starter, Czech star Ester Ledecka, won who a shock gold in the 2018 Olympic Super-G in Korea, moved into second at 1:41.50 and was passed for second by the no. 9 starter, Austria’s Mirjam Puchner, 32, the 2022 Olympic Super-G silver medalist, but with just eight World Cup medals in 10 seasons on the World Cup tour. She timed 1:41.44. The big names were to come.

Italian star Sophia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic champ and always a favorite, started 14th and finished 16th. Teammate and overall World Cup leader Federica Brignone started 16th and finished 10th. Reigning World Cup champ Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) didn’t finish and Cornelia Huetter (AUT), a two-time winner on the World Cup tour this season, finished in 1:41.63 and had to settle for fourth.

American Lauren Macuga, who won the Super-G bronze earlier, also skied well and was fifth (1:41.67) from the no. 18 slot and 2009 Worlds gold medalist Lindsey Vonn started 21st and finished 15th (1:43.25). Jacqueline Wiles did not finish.

“I was just trying to hammer, trying to send and really just keep charging, and stay in the low tuck and execute all of my things,” said an overwhelmed Johnson later.

“It’s definitely a fast course in places. It was fun. I was just kind of moving, you know, section to section and just trying to execute my plan.

“I’m just gonna enjoy this. Because I’ve had a lot of times where, you know, I gave my best and I didn’t win.”

Wow! It’s an amazing turn for Johnson, who was suspended for 14 months from October 2023 to December 2024 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for “whereabouts” failures. Now, she will forever be introduced as “World Champion.”

It was also the first-ever World Alpine champs medals for Puchner and Ledecka!

The U.S. already has two medals at the Worlds – Johnson and Macuga – and neither from the returning Vonn or Mikaela Shiffrin, who will be contesting the Slalom and Giant Slalom. The men’s Downhill comes on Sunday.

No upset in the men’s Super-G on Friday, as reigning World Cup champion Marco Odermatt (SUI) won his third career Worlds gold – Downhill and Giant Slalom in 2023 – in 1:24.57, ahead of home favorite Raphael Haaser (1:25.57) and surprising Norwegian Adrian Sejersted (1:25.72).

Odermatt has won seven World Cup races this season, including two Super-Gs. American Ryan Cochran-Siegle tied for seventh at 1:25.88, with teammates Bryce Bennett at 15 (1:26.83) and River Radamus in 19th (1:27.09).

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LOS ANGELES 2028: City of L.A.’s Olympic-funded youth sports program explodes to 228,312 users, asks LA28 for $4.45 million more!

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ L.A. CITY-LA28 YOUTH SPORTS ≡

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic bid team agreed with the International Olympic Committee to invest $160 million in City of Los Angeles youth programs between 2017 and 2028, providing a direct “legacy” benefit to Angelenos for years prior to the 2028 Games.

The participation baseline for the fiscal year 2018-19 was at 148,274, and the program got off to a slow start due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with virtually no programs for two years.

But it is moving along nicely now!

A report from the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department filed Thursday (6th) showed that total participants in the 2023-24 fiscal year reached a high of 228,312, an increase of 54.0% over the original baseline total.

And the 2023-24 total was up 39% over the budgeted (expected) total of 164,116. The participation numbers have risen strongly in the post-pandemic period:

● 2018-19: 148,274 (baseline)
● 2020-21: Collapsed by the pandemic
● 2021-22: 90,132 (pandemic impact)
● 2022-23: 176,596
● 2023-24: 228,312

The programming records show that the City Recreation Centers attracted 181,906 participants and the “Signature” specialty programs had 46,406. That’s well up from 136,082 at Rec Centers and 40,514 at “Signature” programs in 2022-23.

(Special programs were offered in swimming, surfing, kayak, paddleboard, track & field, judo, tennis, golf, skateboarding, equestrian, and teqball, and adaptive or Paralympic sports including archery, track & field, skateboarding, swimming, soccer, equestrian, surfing, basketball, volleyball and tennis.)

Due to the influx of participants, costs also rose beyond the original request of $18,798,240, leading to a new request for added funding of $4,454,559 for a 2023-24 total of $23,252,799.

An earlier estimate of programming for 2024-25 led to a request of $30.536 million, but the project is hardly out of money, thanks to the lack of spending early in the program.

● 2017-19: $2,001 million for SwimLA programs
● 2020-21: $2.481 million, due to pandemic
● 2021-22: $7.654 million
● 2022-23: $13.216 million
● 2023-24: $23.253 million with current request
● 2024-25: $30.536 million requested

All of that adds up to $60.741 million spent to far and $91.277 million with the 2024-25 request included. That still leaves $68.723 million to go for the last three years of the program, an average of $22.908 million available each year, well above the planned availability of $19.200 million for each year of the program from 2020 to 2028.

The figures do present the question of whether the $160 million funding will even be enough to continue the current programming at the current dizzying participation rates, and if LA28 will be asked to contribute more money … at the very time when the funding needs to stage the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be at their height.

But that’s a question for another day. For now, this program is bringing more sport to more people at a low cost, that means more can play in L.A.

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PANORAMA: One year to go for Milan Cortina 2026; U.S.’s Macuga wins Alpine Super-G bronze; Canadian sport reeling from low funding

By
Rich Perelman
-
The first invitations to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina were given to reps from six countries on Thursday (Photo: IOC/Greg Martin).

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The formal invitations to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina, Italy, were distributed on Thursday in the year-to-go ceremony, held at the Teatro Strehler.

Present at the ceremony itself were representatives of the National Olympic Committee of Greece, plus the countries of recent and future Games: China (2022 Winter), France (2024 and 2030 Winter), Italy (2026 Winter), the U.S. (2028 and 2034 Winter) and Australia (2032).

Catherine Raney Norman, a four-time Olympic speed skater and Chair of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games bid team, was the U.S. rep for the ceremony.

Milan Cortina chief executive Andrea Varnier reported that some 85,000 volunteer applications had been received, with about 18,000 expected to be needed for the Olympic and Paralympic Games next year.

On the construction front, the new Arena de la Santa Giulia in Milan, slated for ice hockey, is now anticipated to be finished and turned over to the organizing committee some time in the fall of 2025.

● Canada ● The Canadian Press filed a lengthy story about hard times for Canada’s national federations and athlete development program, with no national funding increase in years:

“The last increase in core federal funding for Canada’s 62 summer and winter national sport organizations was in 2005.

“Core funding is money all [national sports organizations] count on to fund operations, athletes, coaches and support staff.”

Most of the world’s National Olympic Committees, and then the national federations, depend on government funding for support of current and development athletes. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, which receives a share of the NBC television rights paid to the International Olympic Committee as well as TOP sponsorships, national sponsorships and donations, is the only National Olympic Committee which is not government funded.

Requests for C$104 million more in national funding for Canadian programs were turned aside last year, and the request is now up to C$144 million in 2025 (~$100.65 million U.S.).

Now, athletes are having to pay fees to national federations:

“Bobsledders fork anywhere from $20,000 to $60,000 from their own pockets to Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, which CEO Kien Tran said was a five-fold increase over the previous year.

“‘If I could sum it up, because of this lack of funding, sports in Canada is becoming just pay to play,’ Tran said. ‘It falls on the athletes. You may be not be getting the best athletes. You may be getting the best athletes that can afford this.’”

Luge Canada chief executive Tim Farstad warned, “The athletes aren’t just paying for their travel. They’re having to pay for us to have an organization. … The government doesn’t understand how critical it is right now. It’s not just us asking for more money again. We’re at the end of the rope.”

Canada won 27 medals at the Paris Olympic Games (9-7-11), ranked 11th by total medals, and 26 Winter Games medals – ranked fourth by total – at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games (4-8-14).

● Alpine Skiing ● The FIS Alpine World Championships are often a showcase not for the consistent World Cup winners, but for skiers who get it just right on the right day.

On Thursday, 31-year-old Stephanie Vernier (AUT), a skier with three World Cup wins across 11 seasons, won her first Worlds medal in eight years and got her first gold with a splendid performance in the women’s Super-G.

Starting seventh, she timed 1:20.47 to take the lead from Italian star Federica Brignone (1:20.57) … and it held up! There were more challengers and Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff Lie – the bronze winner in 2023 – skied into third place in 1:20.71. That held up under the challenge of Italian star Sofia Goggia – the silver medalist in this event at the 2019 Worlds – who was just behind at 1:20.77.

Up 14th was the rising American Lauren Macuga, 22, who won her first World Cup medal (a gold) on 12 January. She was fast from the start and had the fastest first split, then settled down and ended up at 1:20.71, the same as Vickhoff Lie and they shared the bronze medal!

Breezy Johnson of the U.S. was 19th (1:22.20) and Keely Cashman was 24th (1:22.46). Lindsey Vonn, who won this event at the 2009 Worlds, started 30th and did not finish, as she hooked a gate with her arm.

The men’s Super-G comes on Friday, the women’s Downhill on Saturday and the men’s Downhill on Sunday.

● Athletics ● The 117th Millrose Games comes on Saturday from New York and will be shown nationally on NBC from 4-6 p.m. Eastern time. The featured race is once again the Wanamaker Mile, with Paris Olympic 1,500 m silver medalist Josh Kerr (GBR) – the 2023 World 1,500 m Champion – competing with American Olympic bronze winner Yared Nuguse, the two-time defending champion.

Olympic men’s 1,500 m winner Cole Hocker of the U.S. moves up to 3,000 m and will face two-event Olympic bronze winner Grant Fisher and Tokyo Olympic 5,000 m silver medalist Moh Ahmed (CAN), and the women’s mile will have Paris Olympic 1,500 m bronze winner Georgia Bell (GBR) competing with American Elise Cranny, who moved to no. 4 all-time U.S. last week in the indoor mile at 4:20.83, and U.S. Olympic Trials 1,500 m winner Nikki Hiltz.

World Indoor men’s 800 m champ Bryce Hoppel will face New Balance Grand Prix 1,500 m winner Josh Hoey.

The sprints have 2016 World Indoor champ Trayvon Bromell of the U.S. against Tokyo 2020 100 m champ Lamont Marcell Jacobs (ITA), and comebacking Jacious Sears – who won at the New Balance Grand Prix – headlines the women’s 60. The best short race might be the women’s 60 m hurdles, with Olympic champ Masai Russell and world indoor record holder Devynne Charlton (BAH), who were 1-3 in Boston.

There’s more, with teen 400 m star Quincy Wilson moving up to 600 m, and Tokyo Olympic women’s vault winner – and world leader – Katie Moon slated to compete.

A new report says that as many as 30 Kenyan athletes are being investigated by Athletics Kenya and the Athletics Integrity Unit for falsifying their ages.

The inquiry is focusing on the national trials for last year’s World Athletics U-20 Championships held in Peru, an event where age cheating has been an issue in the past. Said Athletics Kenya’s Director of Youth and Development, Barnaba Korir, “It involves parents, coaches, teachers, and athletes, who are already talking to us. They have given us credible leads, and the revelations are disturbing.”

● Football ● The FIFA Council suspended the national federations of the Congo and of Pakistan:

● “FECOFOOT [Congo] has been suspended with immediate effect due to a particularly serious situation of undue interference by third parties in the affairs of the organisation, which constitutes a clear violation of FECOFOOT’s obligations in accordance with the FIFA Statutes.”

FIFA requires that “the FECOFOOT headquarters, the Ignié Technical Centre and the association’s other facilities” must be returned to the control of FECOFOOT and that the federation be allowed to operate normally.

● “The PFF has been suspended with immediate effect due to its failure to adopt a revision of the PFF Constitution that would ensure truly fair and democratic elections and thereby fulfil its obligations as mandated by FIFA as part of the ongoing normalisation process of PFF.”

The suspension will be continued until the federation approves a new constitution “presented by FIFA and the AFC [Asian Football Confederation.].”

● Freestyle Skiing ● The penultimate FIS World Cup Big Air competition was in Aspen, Colorado on Thursday, with Austria’s Matej Svancer – the 2021 World Junior Champion – getting his first win of the season, scoring 190.25 to edge New Zealand’s Luca Harrington, the seasonal leader, who finished with 187.25 points. American Konnor Ralph was third at 183.75 for his second career World Cup medal.

Canada’s Megan Oldham, the 2023 Worlds bronzer, won the women’s event at 183.75, ahead of Flora Tabanelli (ITA: 175.25). Tabanelli is the only one to medal in all five of the Big Air events this season (1-3-1) and is the discipline leader heading to the finale in France in March.

● Gymnastics ● The Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, the disciplinary arm of the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique, imposed a four-year ban on judge Evangelia Trikomiti (CYP). A three-person panel:

“found Ms. Trikomiti guilty of score manipulation at the 2024 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships and sanctioned her with a 4-year period of ineligibility from all gymnastics-related activities, excluding coaching activities. Moreover, her FIG Judge Brevet is annulled.”

She was accused of supporting an athlete from Cyprus, Vera Tugolukova, who qualified for the Paris Olympic Games with an individual quota spot out of the qualifying round over Liliana Lewinska (POL) by 0.025 points. The GEF held that Trikomiti “manipulated the competition through interfering in the scores to ensure that ‘her’ athlete, the athlete from Cyprus, obtained the Olympic quota.”

European Gymnastics, of which Trikomiti was the head of the Rhythmic technical committee, was also found liable and fined €8,000.

● Snowboard ● The FIS World Cup Big Air concluded in Aspen, Colorado, with 17-year-old Eli Bouchard (CAN) winning his first World Cup medal with a gold at 189.00, ahead of Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa (184.50) and Yuto Miyamura (171.25). Americans Oliver Martin (170.75) and Red Gerard (168.00) – the 2018 Olympic Slopestyle winner – finished 4-5.

It was Hasegawa’s fourth medal in five events (2-2-0) and he ran away with the seasonal title with 360 points.

New Zealand’s 2022 Olympic silver winner Zoi Sadowski Synnott won the women’s event at 172.25, followed by Japan’s Kokomo Murase (170.25) and Momo Suzuki (150.00), and Americans Lily Dhawornvej (145.50) and Hahna Norman (144.25).

British star Mia Brookes, the 2023 World Slopestyle champ, took the seasonal title at 305 points, tied with Mari Fukada (JPN), but with two wins to one on the season.

● Wrestling ● Strong performance for the U.S. men’s Freestylers at the first United World Wrestling ranking event for 2025, the Zagreb Open in Croatia, with three wins.

Three-time World Champion Kyle Snyder took the 97 kg gold with a 12-1 technical fall over Iran’s Abolfazi Babaloo, while Paris 2024 silver winner Spencer Lee (57 kg) won his final by 6-2 over Islam Barazganov (AZE). Zahid Valencia, the 2023 Worlds bronzer, won the 86 kg gold with an 8-0 victory against Arseni Dzhioev (AZE).

The U.S. also had three silver medalists, with the 2023 Worlds bronze winner, Mason Parris, making the final at 125 kg, Joey McKenna at 65 kg and David Carr at 74 kg.

The American men’s Freestyle squad won 13 medals in total and won the team title over Iran, 190-182. Competition continues in women’s Freestyle and men’s Greco-Roman.

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NCAA: Board of Governors changes rules – in about 22 hours – to comply with Trump’s Executive Order on transgenders in women’s sport

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ NCAA BANS TRANSGENDERS ≡

“The new policy limits competition in women’s sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth only.”

That’s from the NCAA on Thursday afternoon, quickly complying with President Donald Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order, about 22 hours after it was signed Wednesday.

The announcement, following approval by the NCAA Board of Governors, stated that:

“This policy is effective immediately and applies to all student-athletes regardless of previous eligibility reviews under the NCAA’s prior transgender participation policy.”

NCAA President Charlie Baker added:

“The NCAA is an organization made up of 1,100 colleges and universities in all 50 states that collectively enroll more than 530,000 student-athletes. We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.

“This national standard brings much needed clarity as we modernize college sports for today’s student-athletes.”

The new policy notes that the men’s category is essentially open, “regardless of sex assigned at birth or gender identity,” and also follows the language already included in H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 that was passed by the U.S. House on 14 January, and has been introduced in the Senate (S. 9), allowing men to practice with women’s teams “and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes who are otherwise eligible for practice.”

The NCAA’s transgender policy has been in flux. In 2010, rules required testosterone suppression therapy for men-to-women transitions for a minimum of one year. That was updated in 2022:

“NCAA policy calls for transgender participation in each sport to be determined by the policy for the national governing body of that sport. If there is no NGB policy for that sport, it would then be determined by the policy for that sport’s international federation.”

A transitional period was in effect for about a year, then:

“Beginning Aug. 1, 2023, participation in NCAA sports requires transgender student-athletes to provide documentation that meets the sport-specific standard submitted twice annually (once at the beginning of competition season and the second six months following) for one year. This process will continue annually for eligible student-athletes.

“For participation in NCAA championships, transgender athletes must additionally provide documentation of testosterone levels to the [NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports] with laboratory work completed within four weeks of the championship selections.”

Now, the NCAA has simply signed up for the women-at-birth standard implemented by the Trump Administration, noting:

“Individual schools have the autonomy to determine athletics participation on their campuses,” but also “NCAA schools are subject to local, state and federal legislation and such policy supersedes the rules of the NCAA.”

There may be litigation on the matter, but for now, the overnight policy shift has been made.

Observed: The NCAA’s quick compliance not only acknowledged the Executive Order, but is also in line with the organization’s deep need for new laws regulating name-image-likeness rules for collegiate athletes and a desire for an anti-trust exemption to end the cascade of lawsuits by former and current players for compensation of all kinds, and collective bargaining rights.

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LANE ONE: Trump promises no transgender women at the LA28 Olympics; can he really do that?

By
Rich Perelman
-
President Donald Trump at the signing of his "Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order on 5 February 2025 at The White House (Photo: C-SPAN video screenshot).

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≡ TRUMP AND THE 2028 GAMES ≡

“Marco is going to make clear to the International Olympic Committee there, and he’s going to make it as clear as anybody can make it that America categorically rejects transgender lunacy. We want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject.”

That was U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking on Wednesday to an overflow crowd in the East Room of The White House, and referring to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, where he signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order, which included:

“[I]t is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”

He further explained:

“[I]n Los Angeles in 2028, my administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes, and we’re just not going to let it happen and it’s going to end, and it’s ending right now and nobody’s going to be able to do a damn thing about it because when I speak, we speak with authority. …

“And for the same reason, just to make sure, I’m also directing our Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem … to deny any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes, to try and get into the Games.”

Can Trump really do this?

The answer is a definite “maybe.”

First of all, Trump’s Executive Order is in the mix with Congressional legislation to essentially the same end:

● H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 was passed by the U.S. House on 14 January, and included:

“[A] recipient of Federal financial assistance who operates, sponsors, or facilitates an athletic program or activity to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls” and “For the purposes of this subsection, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

● A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate – S. 9 – by Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville and has been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar, awaiting action.

Whether this bill can get through the Senate, which requires 60 votes to end debate and move to a vote, is unclear. Trump’s Executive Order brings the policy forward now, for his administration, through 2028.

Now, onto the International Olympic Committee. Here, there is mis-information and dis-information at multiple levels.

● In November 2015, the IOC Consensus Meeting on Sex Reassignment and Hyperandrogenism issued a document which offered guidelines – not rules – to International Federations. Transition from the female category to the male category was allowed without restriction.

Transition from male to female was allowed only once per four years, with “total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition.”

● This stance was changed in 2021, with the issuance of the much longer “IOC Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations,” which eliminated the 10 nmol/L standard in favor of decisions by each federation for its own sport, noting specifically:

“The IOC is therefore not in a position to issue regulations which define eligibility criteria for every sport, discipline or event across the very different national jurisdictions and sport systems.”

So, the IOC has no direct regulations on transgenders at all. It’s up to each sport.

The federations are all over the lot on this. Multiple federations, in aquatics, athletics, swimming, rowing, tennis, triathlon and others have issued detailed regulations on this subject. While the early leader in this area was World Athletics, which has seen extensive litigation over differences in sex development – notably by South Africa’s two-time Olympic women’s 800 m champ Caster Semenya – the most aggressive regulations recently published have come from World Aquatics, which issued 2023 rules that include:

“Male-to-female transgender athletes (transgender women) and athletes with 46 XY DSD whose legal gender and/or gender identity is female are eligible to compete … if they can establish to World Aquatics’ comfortable satisfaction that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later.”

This effectively shuts the door to male athletes such as Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, who swam for the men’s team as William Thomas as a freshman and sophomore and then transitioned to female for a year at age 20 before joining the women’s team for the 2021-22 season.

World Triathlon’s regulations, effective this year, allow transgender women to compete in the women’s division after a four-year transition period during which time the athlete must maintain testosterone levels of 2.5 nmol/L, close to the norm for biological women.

Trump made an oblique reference during his remarks on Wednesday to boxing, where two controversial athletes in the women’s 2024 Olympic competitions – Algerian Imane Khelif (66 kg) and Chinese Taipei’s Yu-ting Lin (57 kg) – won gold medals after being accused of being men by the already-excommunicated International Boxing Association. Neither are transgender and both have competed in the women’s division their entire lives.

However, the IOC has dropped sex-testing – in 1999 – but has come under criticism that it should reinstate it. In October, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls called for “sex screening,” which was characterized as “a lot more reliable now, cheap, [and] can be administered in a confidential, dignified manner.”

So, now what?

Can Trump and the U.S. government really keep transgender athletes out of the 2028 Olympic Games? Sure.

The Executive Order makes clear how this would be done, via 8 U.S.C. §1182(A)(6)(C)(i) by the Secretary of Homeland Security:

“Any alien who, by fraud or willfully misrepresenting a material fact, seeks to procure (or has sought to procure or has procured) a visa, other documentation, or admission into the United States or other benefit provided under this chapter is inadmissible.”

However, this could come into conflict with the 2028 Host City Contract between the IOC and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the City of Los Angeles over admission of a holder of an “Olympic identity and accreditation card,” which allows the holder – designated by a National Olympic Committee and under the protection of the IOC – to come and compete at the 2028 Olympic Games.

This would be a flash point which the IOC would treat very seriously and could consider a violation of the Olympic Charter. What sanctions could be attached? The removal of the Olympic Games (from the U.S.) is a listed possibility, which would require a majority vote of the IOC membership.

However, it may not come to that and Trump may actually be a forerunner to a future IOC policy.

That is because multiple candidates for the IOC Presidency in March have come out as clear advocates for a definitive policy to “protect” the women’s category. This includes World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe (GBR), IOC member and Olympic swimming champion Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), skiing and snowboard head Johan Eliasch (GBR) and veteran member Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Coe, Coventry and Samaranch are all considered serious candidates for election; Eliasch less so. And Coe has been a ferocious defender of women-in-sport, the most outspoken on the issue among all International Federation presidents.

So U.S. Secretary of State Rubio may not have that much convincing to do, but he’ll need to wait until after 20 March, when the IOC Presidential election will be held.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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PANORAMA: Russia’s Valieva still delinquent on medals and costs; new Chinese TOP sponsor? NFL revving up flag football league!

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2022: Beijing ● The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed to the Russian news agency TASS that figure skater Kamila Valieva, disqualified for doping as of 25 December 2021 and banned for four years, has not returned the medals from competitions after that date.

That includes her 2022 European Championships women’s Singles gold and medals from the Russian national championships and qualifying stages. It does not include any Olympic medals as the Beijing 2022 Team Event medals were not awarded at the Games due to her doping positive; following her disqualification, they were awarded to the U.S. team at the Paris 2024 Games instead.

It was also reported that the World Anti-Doping Agency is waiting for CHF 8,000 in costs from Valieva, which it was awarded in the CAS decision (CHF 1 = $1.11 U.S.).

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● The carousel continues to revolve, trying to identify the head of the new organizing committee for the 2030 Winter Games. Media reports in France speculate that with the withdrawal of biathlon icon Martin Fourcade, perhaps the choice will not be the most-discussed former biathlete Vincent Jay or Freestyle skier Marie Martinod, but 1992 Albertville Freestyle Moguls gold medalist Edgar Grospiron.

Now 55, Grospiron directed the failed Annecy bid for the 2018 Winter Games that went to PyeongChang (KOR). Multiple other names have surfaced, but a decision is expected within the next couple of weeks.

● International Olympic Committee ● SportBusiness reported that Chinese electronics firm TCL is close to finalizing an agreement to become a TOP sponsor in the audio-visual products category previously held by Japanese giant Panasonic.

TCL has a long history of sports sponsorship, including deals with the National Football League in the U.S., the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the South American football confederation CONMEBOL and others.

● American Football ● Make no mistake, flag football is important to the National Football League. As a way to directly involve women in the sport in a big way, as well as a recreational football option that removes the violent aspects of the game, there is significant effort being placed into its future. And, of course, Flag Football will be an added medal sport at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell noted at his annual Super Bowl news conference this week:

“That’ll be a big part of the Olympics in a few years. But it’s also something that we want to look at all levels, the youth level all the way up, and we’re exploring very aggressively now an opportunity to create a professional-type league for both men and women. …

“This is something that we’ve been working on for several months. And there’s a tremendous amount of interest from players, from investors, to people who recognize, particularly, that women sports are in a place where it’s real and it’s something we all want to be part of.”

The NFL Pro Bowl Games flag football event last Sunday drew 4.7 million viewers across the ABC and ESPN platforms, less than the prior two years in which the flag game was held: 5.8 million in 2024 and 6.3 million in 2023. It was reported as the least-watched Pro Bowl ever, outside of the Covid-impacted 2021 edition.

● Boxing ● World Boxing has called an Extraordinary Congress online for 1 March 2025 for the specific purpose of formally approving the membership of more than a dozen national federations.

World Boxing approvals have been made for 55 members already, but 17 more have been confirmed by the Executive Board, but need a vote of the Congress for official membership. Additional federations are expected to be presented prior to 1 March, just 2 1/2 weeks prior to the International Olympic Committee Session in Greece from 18-20 March, when World Boxing could be recognized as the governing body for Olympic boxing.

If so, then the sport will be confirmed for the program for the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

● Figure Skating ● A “Legacy on Ice” benefit will be held on Sunday, 2 March at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. to remember and support the 28 skaters, coaches and family who perished in the 29 January crash of American Eagle flight 5342.

All proceeds will be collected by the Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation and equally distributed to the U.S. Figure Skating Family Support Fund, Greater Washington Community Foundation’s “DCA Together Relief Fund” and DC Fire & EMS Foundation.

The program is being presented by Monumental Sports and Entertainment, U.S. Figure Skating, DC Fire & EMS Foundation and the Greater Washington Community Foundation. Stars such as World Champions Ilia Malinin, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, U.S. women’s champions Amber Glenn and Alysia Liu and past stars Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir, Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton are expected to participate.

Said Ted Leonsis, Monumental Sports & Entertainment Chair, “By raising funds to support their families, we hope to provide a small amount of comfort during this terrible time.”

● Football ● The brother of Spanish midfielder Jenni Hermoso and Spanish keeper Misa Rodriguez both testified in the criminal trial of former Royal Spanish Football Federation chief Luis Rubiales and three others, saying they were aware of the pressure being placed on Hermoso to downplay Rubiales’ forcible kiss following Spain’s win at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Rafael Hermoso said Spanish coach Jorge Vilda “said that the president [Rubiales] wanted me to talk to Jenni to ask her to record the video together downplaying the kiss, because that would be the best thing for everyone. …

“I told him that I was not going to try to convince her to do something that I also don’t agree with.”

Rodriguez also said her teammate was being pressured to record a video downplaying the incident:

“She told us that she didn’t want to do it and we supported her decision. We told her that she should not talk to anybody anymore and should try to get some rest, because we noticed that she was not well.”

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TRANSGENDER: Lengthy “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order posted, after Trump signing rally

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ EXECUTIVE ORDER ≡

“Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”

This fourth paragraph of Wednesday’s 1,155-word “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order outlines the Trump Administration policy, which the President announced in front of a large and cheering audience in the East Room of The White House.

The Order goes on with many further specifics:

● “[B]ring regulations and policy guidance into line with the Congress’ existing demand for ‘equal athletic opportunity for members of both sexes’ by clearly specifying and clarifying that women’s sports are reserved for women; and the resolution of pending litigation consistent with this policy”

● “[P]rioritize Title IX enforcement actions against educational institutions (including athletic associations composed of or governed by such institutions) that deny female students an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them, in the women’s category, to compete with or against or to appear unclothed before males.”

The Order builds on the 20 January 2025 Order 14168 that defines males and females as the only sexes recognized by the government, whose sex assignments are “not changeable.”

Specific directions on enforcement were also included in the Order, including an instruction to his domestic policy staff to “convene representatives of major athletic organizations and governing bodies” within 60 days to promote policies compliant with the Order, as well as to ask State attorneys general “to identify best practices in defining and enforcing equal opportunities for women to participate in sports.”

The Order goes further, instructing the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to “convene international athletic organizations and governing bodies, and female athletes harmed by policies that allow male participation in women’s sports, to promote sporting policies that are fair, safe, and in furtherance of the best interests of female athletes.”

And there is direct outreach to the Olympic Movement:

● “The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall review and adjust, as needed, policies permitting admission to the United States of males seeking to participate in women’s sports, and shall issue guidance with an objective of preventing such entry to the extent permitted by law, including pursuant to section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(C)(i)).”

● “The Secretary of State shall use all appropriate and available measures to see that the International Olympic Committee amends the standards governing Olympic sporting events to promote fairness, safety, and the best interests of female athletes by ensuring that eligibility for participation in women’s sporting events is determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction.”

The Order also includes the usual legal notice that “If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.”

It’s a wide-ranging policy statement and is designed to be definitive, although its applicability to international organizations – like the International Olympic Committee – is more complicated.

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Coe campaigns in Africa, hints at roadmap for placing a future Olympics on the continent

By
Rich Perelman
-
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images for World Athletics)

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

The seven candidates for the IOC Presidency continue to look for ways to get their message out, and interviews are one of the few permitted forums to express their ideas.

Britain’s Sebastian Coe, the head of World Athletics, is a leading candidate and spoke with African news media about the future last Friday.

Coe summarized his comments online as well, including:

“I recently met with African journalists to discuss the shared future of the Olympic movement and the Continent.

“The steps we will take in Africa (Africa Accelerator) could be a turning point for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. I would like to highlight a few issues in particular.

● “Organising the Games poses a significant financial challenge for every country. We need to take this to a more sustainable level and create a more collaborative approach.”

● “The 2026 Youth Olympic Games [in Dakar, Senegal]will be a significant milestone in growing the Olympic movement in Africa and inspiring the next generation of athletes. We have seen this happen with World Athletics Events we have, and continue to, stage in Africa.”

● “International Sports Federations should work together to reimagine and develop shared infrastructure for sporting events and collaborate with [National Olympic Committees and national federations] to ensure sustained legacy plans.”

He added that the IOC election itself can create new concepts:

“The great thing about an election is that it’s an incubator for new ideas. Every step taken to move sports and the Olympic Movement forward is valuable.”

The challenge of an Olympic Games is the sheer size and scope of the event. South Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with 32 teams and 736 players. By contrast, the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville (CGO) was the largest ever held with about 8,000 athletes, in 22 sports. More than 11,000 athletes will be in Los Angeles for 2028, in 35 or 36 sports.

He also underscored the need for athletes to be able to support themselves, remembering that his federation was the first and only sports governing body to ever pay prize money for performances at the Olympic Games, providing $50,000 payments to Paris 2024 winners:

“The ability of athletes to maximise their talents involves financial as well as mental and physical needs. We must find ways to give athletes more rights, more data, more assets they can monetise so they can focus on their sports.”

He also promoted the idea of using artificial intelligence as a way to help find athletic talent and develop it, “ensuring no one is missed because of geographic or financial barriers. This is critical in Africa where we have a wealth of untapped potential.”

Expect more and more of this from the seven candidates as the election is still more than a month away, on 20 March, at the 144th IOC Session in Greece.

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ICE HOCKEY: Russian Olympic Committee not concerned by continued IIHF ban; only the 2026 Olympic Winter Games count

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ RUSSIA ≡

The Russian news agency TASS is wholly-owned and operated by the Russian government, so when it quotes unnamed sources, that’s interesting.

On Wednesday, TASS quoted a source from the Russian Olympic Committee about the continuation of a ban on Russian teams in International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournaments, including the Olympic qualifying program (computer translation from the original Russian):

“In general, the IIHF’s decision to bar Russian hockey players from the World Championship was expected and politically acceptable, especially since it can be challenged in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“An important point is that this decision does not concern the 2026 Olympics. By deciding to maintain the suspension and still not allow our team to participate in the [2026] World Championship in Switzerland, the IIHF avoided the risk of immediate protests from national hockey federations in countries that are most radically opposed to Russia, which would, in principle, jeopardize the holding of the championship.

“The main thing now is the Olympics, the path there is still not closed.

“The decision will be made by the IOC, which has recently become increasingly loyal to our country. It is worth noting once again that the decision to extend the ban on participation in the World Championships can be appealed by the FHR [Russian Ice Hockey Federation] to CAS.”

Observed: What the TASS source does not say is that whether Russia is somehow allowed in to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games will very much depend on who is elected as the President of the International Olympic Committee on 20 March at the 144th IOC Session in Greece.

If World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) is elected – and he is a significant contender – then Russia’s chances will be poor, as Russia is still banned from World Athletics championship events.

Other candidates, such as gymnastics head Morinari Watanabe (JPN), skiing chief Johan Eliasch (GBR), cycling president David Lappartient (FRA) or long-time member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. are elected, Russia’s chances are better, but hardly assured.

But as with so many things in the Olympic Movement, who leads the IOC will likely decide the issue.

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TRANSGENDER: Trump signs “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order; new lawsuit asks to nullify Lia Thomas’s performances in 2022

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. President Donald Trump (Photo: The White House).

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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡

“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over.”

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order on Wednesday – “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” – aimed at removing transgender women from women’s sporting event. He added:

“We are putting every school receiving taxpayer dollars on notice, if you let men take over women’s sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX & risk your Federal funding. There will be no Federal funding.

“So this will effectively end the attack on female athletes at public K-12 schools and virtually all U.S. colleges and universities.”

Presidential spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing:

“He expects the [United States] Olympic [& Paralympic] Committee and the National Collegiate Athletic Association to no longer allow men to compete in women’s sports. With this signing, the president begins a public campaign of pressure on these organizations to do right by women and girls across the country.

“He expects these organizations to comply with the executive order he is signing today.”

The order itself was not promptly posted on the White House news site following the afternoon signing ceremony.

The Associated Press reported that Trump, in comments during the East Room ceremony, “will deny visas to any transgender female athletes trying to compete at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.” He further instructed the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, to refuse entry into the U.S. for men – as defined – coming to compete at the Games as female athletes.

On the legislative side, the U.S. House passed H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 on 14 January, which included:

● “[A] recipient of Federal financial assistance who operates, sponsors, or facilitates an athletic program or activity to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.”

● “For the purposes of this subsection, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

The bill was referred to the Senate on 15 January, but has not received any further action.

Separately, a suit was filed in Federal Court in Massachusetts on Tuesday by three former University of Pennsylvania swimmers against The Ivy League Council, the NCAA, Harvard and Penn on behalf of a class of 206 Ivy League swimmers who competed or believed they should have been able to compete at the 2022 Ivy League women’s swimming championships and are suing under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

The class alleges discrimination under Title IX in that a transgender woman – Penn’s Lia Thomas, who won three individual events – competed in the meet, under NCAA rules and created a redressable injury under the statute.

The pleading insists that Title IX requires sports teams to be separated by gender, and that by allowing transgender women to compete in the women’s division, opportunities for biological women are reduced.

Further, the complaint noted that the plaintiffs understood the position of the University of Pennsylvania to be that if any of the team members had a problem with Thomas being on the team – he had previously been a swimmer on the men’s team – that counseling was available, but that Thomas was going to be a member of the women’s team for that season.

The suit asks for an injunction with erases Thomas’ performances at the school, league and NCAA levels and a declaration that Thomas was an ineligible athlete that season. Moreover, the prayer is for “damages for pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, suffering and anxiety, expenses costs and other damages against the NCAA, Ivy League, Harvard, and UPenn due to their wrongful conduct.”

The case number is 1:25-cv-10281 in Estabrook et al vs. The Ivy League Council of Presidents et al, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

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PANORAMA: Italy wins Alpine Worlds Team Parallel gold; Vonn says she can compete for a medal; seven world leads at Czech Indoor Gala

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The International Olympic Committee announced that it has sold television rights for the 2028 and 2032 Olympic Games in Mexico to TelevisaUnivision.

The company was also the rights-holder for 2024 and has committed to at least 200 hours of over-the-air coverage for both Olympic Games. The deal also includes the 2026 and 2030 Olympic Winter Games, the Youth Olympic Games, and both pay TV and streaming platforms.

No terms were announced.

● Alpine Skiing ● The FIS Alpine World Championships in Saalbach (AUT) opened on Tuesday with the Mixed Team Parallel Event.

The U.S. entered as defending champions, and defeated Poland and Norway to reach the semifinals against Switzerland. Nina O’Brien and Paula Moltzan won their races, but Luca Aerni and Thomas Tumler were even better against Isaiah Nelson and River Radamus of the U.S. and the Swiss advanced on a better combined net time, 49.97 to 50.45.

In the final, the Swiss faced off against Italy and the third run was decisive, with Italian Lara Della Mea defeating Delphine Darballay by 1.55 seconds. Each side won two races, but the combined net times showed the Italians at 49.91 and the Swiss at 50.36. Gold to Italy.

In the third-place match, the U.S. was down 2-1 but leading on time in the final run when Nelson failed to finish, giving the Swedes the bronze medal.

The Worlds continue with Downhill training on Wednesday and then the women’s Super G on Thursday.

Comebacking American star Lindsey Vonn, 40, spoke to reporters prior to the Worlds, and expressed her surprise in getting to race in Saalbach:

● “When we first started talking about the possibility of racing this season my goal was to be a forerunner here. Maybe I could do some POV (point of view) for NBC or something. To be actually competing here was definitely not what I had anticipated. I didn’t anticipate racing in St. Anton. I didn’t anticipate doing so well so quickly.

“This season has been all about managing my expectations, and I’m trying to continue to do that here.

“For me, what changed to be able to be here is that I’m fast, you know. I’m competitive, and I think I’m ready to compete for a medal. And that’s really the only thing that counts here at the World Championships.”

● “So physically, I feel great. Mentally, I’m refreshed. And again, I think I just have a much different mental outlook than anyone else on the tour. So hopefully that plays to my advantage.”

● “My perspective is different, because I’m not here to prove anything to anyone. Most of the girls, you know, they haven’t really had any time off, they’ve been competing for, you know, however many years in a row. And you know, they have pressure from themselves, from their team, expectations, and I don’t have any.”

Vonn is expected to be in the Downhill and Super-G, events she won at the 2009 Worlds for her only two World Champs golds (so far).

● Athletics ● Seven world leads were set or tied at the Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava, a World Indoor Tour Gold meet, including a win for American Ronnie Baker in the men’s 60 m in 6.50, equaling USC’s J.C. Stevenson from the Red Raider Invitational:

● Men/60 m: 6.50 (=), Ronnie Baker (USA)
● Men/200 m: 20.43 (=), Erik Erlandsson (SWE)
● Men/400 m: 45.08, Attila Molnar (HUN)
● Men/Long Jump: 8.23 m (27-0) (=), Mattia Furlani (ITA)
● Men/Shot Put: 21.39 m (70-2 1/4), Zane Weir (ITA)

● Women/400 m: 50.92, Lieke Klaver (NED)
● Women/3,000 m: 8:24.17, Freweyni Hailu (ETH)

Sweden’s Erlandsson equaled his own mark from 17 January and Molnar set a national indoor record with his 45.08 win in the 400. Hailu, the 2024 World Indoor Champion, won by more than 15 seconds in the women’s 3,000 m, moving her to no. 8 on the all-time list.

Beyond the world leads, Britain’s Elliott Crestan won the men’s 800 in 1:44.69, just 0.04 off the world lead (now no. 12 all-time), and women’s 60 m world leader (7.07) Patrizia van der Weken (LUX) won the women’s 60 m from Polish star Ewa Swoboda, 7.08 to 7.09.

● Shooting ● The USA Shooting Spring Selection event for Skeet in West Palm Beach, Florida concluded last weekend, with the amazing, six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode winning the women’s final and ending up second in the overall team selection standings.

Rhode, now 45 and a Vice President of the International Shooting Sports Federation, was second to 2017 World Champion Dania Jo Vizzi in the overall qualifying phase, 242-239, then finished second in the Hillsdale Match, 242-241 to Sam Simonton, the two-time Worlds Team Skeet gold medalist. Rhode received three points in the Open Finals to finish with 483 overall, one behind Vizzi’s 484, with Simonton and Caitlin Connor, the 2018 World Champion, third at 476.

The men’s winner was 2019 Pan American Games gold medalist Christian Elliott, who co-led the qualifying (with Dustan Taylor) at 245, then won the Selection Match at 250 and with one point from the Open Finals, led all shooters with 496 points.

Taylor, a 2023 Worlds Team Skeet gold medalist, was no. 3 in the Selection Match (244) and finished with 491 points for second. Phillip Jungman was a little further back in third at 486.

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BOXING: Four more federations join World Boxing; van der Vorst says missing the Olympics “would be devastating for boxing”

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ WORLD BOXING IS GROWING ≡

Now up to 72 national federations, World Boxing announced that Egypt, Gambia, Kiribati and Grenada have joined up, importantly adding two federations from Africa, which had barely any members previously.

Said World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst (NED):

“It is clear that the only way that boxing will continue to be part of the Olympic Movement is for National Federations to support World Boxing and it is good to see that boxing leaders from all parts of the world recognise this and are applying to join us.”

By area, the 72 members break down as:

● 23: Asia
● 19: Europe
● 18: Americas
● 7: Oceania
● 5: Africa

The addition of Egypt and Gambia as African members, joining Algeria, Madagascar and Nigeria, is critically important not only for balance, but to further attract members. There is no magic number of members that will assure recognition but World Boxing looks to be getting close.

Van der Vorst is feeling confident, telling the Italian news agency ANSA:

“I trust that our federation will be recognized, leading to boxing being reintroduced into the Olympic program. It is important to be able to satisfy all the requests made by the IOC to demonstrate that we are capable of taking care of this sport as an international federation. Losing Olympic recognition would be devastating for boxing.”

He added on X: “We are currently processing new applications from potential members and will keep you updated as soon as possible.”

International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach (GER) has repeatedly said that he wants to have a new federation for boxing in place in 2025, preferably by the end of the first quarter. That conveniently coincides with the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino (GRE), to be held from 18-20 March.

For van der Vorst, approval of World Boxing as the IOC-recognized International Federation for the sport will place boxing on the program of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. And then the work really starts.

He explained, “The real challenge will be to develop our sport and we are already exploring modern technologies to make it fairer, also working with artificial intelligence.”

The integration of digital technologies into boxing can include judging, where van der Vorst wants to see a “system that leaves no room for any error.” That would, no doubt, be a first for boxing!

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ICE HOCKEY: IIHF maintains Russian, Belarusian ban through ‘26, but the final decision may be up to the next IOC President

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ RUSSIA ≡

The chance for Russia’s famed ice hockey teams to appear at the Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina in 2026 took a serious hit on Tuesday. From the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announcement:

“[T]he IIHF Council believes it is not yet safe to reintegrate the Russian and Belarusian National and Club Teams to its championships for the 2025-2026 season. As the current security conditions do not allow the necessary requirements for the organization of tournaments guaranteeing the safety of all, the IIHF must maintain the current status quo until further notice.

“The IIHF Council will continue to monitor the situation, with the latest date to determine if it is safe to reincorporate Russia and Belarus for the 2026/2027 Championship season in May 2026 at the IIHF Council meeting ahead of the IIHF Annual Congress.”

After several other International Federations had loosened the restraints on Russian and Belarusian teams in terms of competing as neutrals (swimming), or under a federation’s flag (judo, wrestling), or specifically for Olympic qualifying (skating), hopes were high in Russia for ice hockey.

But the IIHF has slammed the door for now, recognizing that the March election of a new President of the International Olympic Committee could change things for the better … or worse.

Pavel Bure, a special representative for the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and a 12-season NHL star, told the Russian news agency TASS that the question regarding Milan Cortina 2026 has not been decided:

“I will note that the decision on the Russian national team participating in the 2026 Olympics in Italy will be made by the International Olympic Committee.”

He added:

“One of the arguments of the IIHF not to allow our team was the safety of the participants. In our opinion, this argument is not strong enough. There are more than 50 Russians playing in the NHL. Russian swimmers, chess players, and representatives of other sports participate in international competitions, and no incidents occur there. One of our proposals was to finance additional security for the Russian team, just so that hockey fans around the world could once again see one of the strongest teams on the planet in action.”

The Russian federation said in a statement:

“The Russian Ice Hockey Federation will have the right to challenge the IIHF decision after the 2025 [IIHF] World Championship is over. The International Ice Hockey Federation said it may review its ban if the military conflict in Ukraine ends.”

Two-time Olympic gold medalist and Hockey Hall of Famer, Vyacheslav Fetisov, now a member of the Russian State Duma told TASS:

“I think we shouldn’t delude ourselves. Sue who, why? I think that in the current situation we live in, we shouldn’t count on handouts or drool over yet another decision. They are simply mocking us, we should have realized that. By and large, it’s a disgrace.”

Russia Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said continuing efforts will be made:

“As for the team [in 2026], we continue and will continue our contacts with the IOC. We will defend the interests of our athletes and our Olympic team. We will have to spend additional effort and time to resolve this problem.”

The 2025 Worlds will be in Sweden (Stockholm) and Denmark (Herning) from 9-25 May, after the IOC election has taken place in March, but before the new chief will take over on 24 June.

The head of the Belarusian federation, Alexander Bogdanovich, told TASS:

“Our work in the interests of Belarusian hockey does not stop, we are still open to constructive dialogue with the International Ice Hockey Federation,

“On the eve of the IIHF Council meeting, we set out in writing our position on all the questions received from them, and provided a number of indisputable arguments in favor of our teams returning to participation in the IIHF competition program. However, as we see, for this leadership and this IIHF Council, argumentation is of no importance.”

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PANORAMA: Milan Cortina year-to-go show comes Thursday; leadership chaos at French Alps 2030? Kerley says ‘not guilty’ to strangling wife!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Part of the Italian Mint’s commemorative coin selection for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games (Photo: Milan Cortina 2026).

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The year-to-go ceremonies for the 2026 Winter Games will take place on Thursday (6th), with the main celebration at the Teatro Strehler.

The formal invitations for the Games will be distributed to representatives of the National Olympic Committees, following the installation of the countdown clock in the Piazzetta Reale in the afternoon.

Ticket sales will also begin for the 347,000 registered potential buyers, who will have received a 48-hour window – randomly drawn – during which they can select their sports and sessions.

The Italian Mint announced its Olympic Winter Games coin program, with nine coins in four styles:

● 2: Olympic Winter Games gold coins in €50 and €20 denominations.
● 1: Paralympic Winter Games gold coin in €20 denomination.

● 5: Olympic Winter Games silver coins in €6 denominations, saluting Alpine Skiing, Curling, Ski Jumping, Snowboarding, Speed Skating.

● 1: Paralympic Winter Games silver coin in €6 denomination, saluting Nordic Skiing.

The coins will be sold beginning this month.

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● As the organizing committee for the 2030 Winter Games is being assembled, it appears that the favorite to head the team … will not.

Word came Monday that six-time Olympic biathlon gold medalist and 13-time World Championships winner Martin Fourcade, 36, has withdrawn from consideration to be organizing committee president.

The Associated Press reported a message from Fourcade to the in-formation organizing committee board, insisting that the headquarters of the Games must be in the mountain area and not near Lyon:

“There are still too many differences of opinion to be able to contemplate this mission calmly. The mode of governance, the vision, the territorial roots: we have not been able to find common ground on these fundamental issues.”

The formal announcement is reported as scheduled for 18 February. If Fourcade is not to head the organizing effort – and it’s not over until it’s over – the favorites are also said to include former biathlete Vincent Jay, 39, the 2010 Vancouver Sprint winner, or Marie Martinod, 40, a two-time Olympic Freestyle Halfpipe skiing silver winner.

● World Games ● Indonesian climbing star Veddriq Leonardo, the Olympic men’s Speed champion in Paris, won the final–round vote for the World Games Athlete of the Year.

He collected 77,045 votes to 51,338 for Estonian Flying Disc star Kristin Latt and 26,181 for China’s Xin Tong (Wushu).

● American Eagle 5342 ● Reuters reported Monday that 55 of the 67 people who perished in the 29 January crash of American Eagle flight 5342 with an Army helicopter have now been identified.

Sadly, the number of those who are part of the skating community continues to grow. U.S. figure Skating confirmed to USA Today’s Christine Brennan on Monday that 28 of the 60 passengers aboard flight 5342 (47%) were skaters (11), coaches (4) or family members (13).

This adds four additional family members to our list published on Sunday, and as the remaining passengers are identified, there may be, tragically, more.

● Athletics ● The complete, albeit short comments by Noah Lyles to NBC’s Lewis Johnson about his “Tyreek Can Never” comments on the inside of his bib, shown after Lyles won the 60 m in 6.52 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Sunday:

“When you’re ready to actually put some words down and you’re actually ready to race, see me.

“I’m right here. I ain’t going nowhere. But all I know is, your football season’s over. You ain’t got no excuse now.”

Hill replied on X, “Get a load of this guy” and then, responding to a Lyles post reading “Let me show you the Worlds Fastest Man,” he posted “Who gave you that title? Your Wikipedia page?”

Two-time Olympic 100 m medalist and 2022 World Champion Fred Kerley pleaded not guilty on Monday in a Miami, Florida court to charges of strangling his wife and stealing her mobile phone.

NBC6 South Florida reported:

“[O]n Monday prosecutors filed a battery by strangulation and a robbery by sudden snatching charges against the Olympian regarding a May 2024 incident.

“In this case, he is accused of getting violent with a woman identified in a police report as his wife of three years, with whom Kerley shares three children.”

This is a separate case from his 3 January arrest in a scuffle with Miami Beach officers in which he tried to get to his car after being told to go around a police action going on in the same area. He was charged of battery on a law enforcement officer and disorderly conduct; prosecutors have not determined whether to move forward with a filing in that matter.

Kerley is a signed “Racer” with the new Grand Slam Track circuit that will debut in April in Jamaica.

Triple Olympic gold shot gold medalist Ryan Crouser will be in a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday, as part of a Michelob Ultra spot that also includes WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu and former NFL star Randy Moss playing pickleball, with veteran actors Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara.

Crouser told Fox News Digital:

“I mean, I don’t know how much of an acting career I would call it, because I’m kind of playing myself. But no, it was a really fun shoot, a lot of fun out flying out to L.A. Really just a dream come true, and I’m really excited about it. …

“For me, being competitive, it made it pretty easy. The reason I’m good as a professional shot-putter is because I hate losing and [am] competitive by nature. They had me lined up against a professional pickleball coach, player, and he was just bringing the heat on these serves. And I was trying to return them. It was a little bit of acting, but it was also pretty genuine.”

An impressive world-leading men’s 3,000 m mark of 7:27.92 for Britain’s 2024 European 5,000 m runner-up George Mills at the Meeting de l’Eure in Val-de-Reuil (FRA) on Sunday, moving to no. 9 on the all-time indoor list.

Two-time European champ Jessica Schilder (NED) took the women’s shot world lead at 19.85 m (65-1 1/2) in the same meet.

● Curling ● Thrilling finals at the USA Curling Nationals in Duluth, Minnesota, with Korey Dropkin’s rink to represent the U.S. at the 2025 men’s World Championships, and Tabitha Peterson’s squad for the women.

Dropkin’s team won the men’s title with an 11-end, 7-6 comeback win over Daniel Casper. Casper was out to a 5-3 lead after six ends, but Dropkin tied it in the seventh, 5-5. Dropkin went one-up in the ninth, but Casper came back to tie and it took a final shot by Dropkin in the 11th to win. It’s Dropkin’s second U.S. title – also in 2021 – and finished fourth at the 2022 Worlds.

Peterson was up by 3-1 after three ends on Elizabeth Cousins, but Cousins tied it in the fourth. Peterson went up again by 6-4 after seven, but Cousins scored in the eighth and 10th to tie, and Peterson finally won with a point in the 11th, 7-6.

This was Peterson’s fifth U.S. title and third in a row, in 2012 (as Lead)-20-23-24-25. As Skip, her squad has finished third at the 2021 Worlds, then seventh in 2023 and 2024.

● Cycling ● The Union Cycliste Internationale announced Friday that September’s 2025 World Road Championships in Kigali (RWA) are proceeding on schedule. The political unrest and fighting in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo “is confined to the DRC” and:

“following the spread of rumours on this subject, the UCI clarifies that no relocation of the 2025 UCI Road World Championships from Rwanda to Switzerland or any other location is planned at this time.”

“[T]he UCI Management Committee approved a ban on the repeated inhalation of carbon monoxide (CO). The ban will come into force on 10 February 2025.

“As a reminder, CO is commonly used in sports medicine to measure total haemoglobin (Hb) mass and blood volume, especially to examine the effects of endurance training and altitude exposure on oxygen carrying capacity. However, its repeated inhalation can result in acute and chronic health problems, for example headaches, lethargy, nausea, dizziness, and confusion. Such symptoms can worsen at any time and develop into problems with heart rhythm, seizures, paralysis, and loss of consciousness.

“The new regulation forbids the possession, outside a medical facility, of commercially available CO re-breathing systems connected to oxygen and CO cylinders. This ban applies to all licence-holders, teams and/or bodies subject to the UCI Regulations and to anyone else who might possess such equipment on behalf of riders or teams.”

● Football ● Spanish midfield star Jenni Hermoso testified in the criminal trial of former Royal Spanish Football Federation chief Luis Rubiales and three others in Madrid on Monday, explaining the incident in which Rubiales kissed her during the awards ceremony following Spain’s win at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia:

“He grabbed my head effusively. I couldn’t react. It was a thousandth of a second. I felt that it was completely out of context. I knew my boss was kissing me.

“That shouldn’t happen. I felt disrespected. It ruined one of the happiest days of my life. I didn’t look for that act, and nor did I expect it. I was disrespected.”

She detailed the efforts to get her to support a story that the kiss was consensual, when the team bus arrived at the Sydney airport:

“The bus stopped, and I got off. The press officers were waiting for me.

“They showed me a cell phone with a statement. They’d written it to send to the press and to calm the commotion. They wanted to take that step, so that the fire would go out. I skimmed the text. I didn’t want to know what it said exactly. … I got quite upset. I didn’t want to do anything else. I was fed up and told them, ‘Do whatever you want.'”

Rubiales also spoke to Hermoso on the plane, asking for her cooperation. She said, “I told him no, that I wasn’t going to do anything. … I told him I was sorry, but I wouldn’t do it.”

The trial will continue for at least a couple of weeks.

● Judo ● The International Judo Federation’s annual awards were announced on Sunday, with the seven major awardees all tied to Olympic gold in Paris:

● Men’s Judoka of the Year: Hidayat Heydarov (AZE), Olympic champion at 73 kg.

● Women’s Judoka of the Year: Christa Deguchi (CAN), Olympic champion at 57 kg.

● Coaches of the Year (3): Baptiste Leroy (FRA/team), Marko Spittka (UZB/women’s judo) and Richard Trautmann (AZE/men’s judo).

● Moment of the Year: Diyora Keldiyorova (UZB), Olympic gold medalist in the women’s 52 kg class.

And, of course, French icon Teddy Riner was recognized for the Ippon of the Year, to win the Olympic gold in the men’s +100 kg class.

● Softball ● USA Softball named Oklahoma’s Patty Gasso as the head coach for the Women’s National Team through the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Grasso, 62, has been the head coach at Oklahoma since 1995 and her teams have won four straight NCAA titles in the sport and eight total. She has previous international experience with USA Softball, including as the American coach at the World Cup of Softball.

● Swimming ● World Aquatics announced that French icon Leon Marchand and Canadian star Summer McIntosh were the men’s and women’s Athletes of the Year.

Marchand, of course, won four individual golds in Paris (and a relay bronze) and was one of the faces of the Games for the host team. McIntosh, only 18, won three golds and a silver.

● Water Polo ● World Aquatics also announced Serbia’s Dusan Mandic as its men’s Player of the Year, while Bea Ortiz (ESP) took the women’s honor.

Mandic scored 26 goals while leading Serbia to the Olympic gold in Paris, while Ortiz scored four times in the final to help Spain to its first women’s gold.

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ALPINE SKIING: Comebacking Shiffrin and Vonn lead U.S. ski team into Alpine Worlds in Austria, starting on Tuesday

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn

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≡ WORLD ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

U.S. Ski & Snowboard named its 21-member World Championships team that begins competition in Saalbach (AUT) on Tuesday, through the 16th of February, headlined by superstars Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn.

Shiffrin returned to competition on 30 January in France after a November crash that required surgery. Vonn retired due to too many injuries, but after yet another operation, felt better and compiled three top-10 World Cup finishes in her first races in five years. But the U.S. has other medal possibilities as well, including eight others who have won World Cups in the past season and a half:

2024-25 FIS Alpine World Cup medalists/Men:
● 1: Jared Goldberg (1 SG silver)
● 1: Ryan Cochran-Siegle (1 DH bronze)

In 2023-24:
● 2: Bryce Bennett (1 DH gold, 1 DH bronze)
● 1: River Radamus (1 GS bronze)

2024-25 FIS Alpine World Cup medalists/Women:
● 2: Mikaela Shiffrin (2 SL wins)
● 1: Lauren Macuga (1 GS win)
● 1: Paula Moltzan (1 GS bronze)

In 2023-24:
● 15: Mikaela Shiffrin (9 wins, 2 silvers, 4 bronzes)
● 2: AJ Hurt (2 SL bronze)
● 1: Jacqueline Wiles (1 DH silver)
● 1: Paula Moltzan (1 SL bronze)

Shiffrin has won, at 29, 14 Worlds medals (7-4-3) from 2013-23. Vonn, 40, had a fourth-place finish in the St. Anton Super-G on 12 January and has eight Worlds medals from 2007-19 (2-3-3).

The U.S. team has 11 men, eight of whom have had prior Worlds experience; this will be the fifth Worlds for Bennett, Cochran-Siegle, and Goldberg. Among the 10 women, this will be the ninth for Vonn, seventh for Shiffrin, fifth for Moltzan and fourth for Breezy Johnson, Nina O’Brien and Wiles.

In terms of Worlds medal winners, beyond Shiffrin and Vonn, five members of the 2023 gold-medal-winning Mixed Parallel Team squad are back: Katie Hensien, Moltzan, O’Brien, Radamis and Luke Winters.

The Worlds are being shown on the SkiandSnowboardLive streaming service (subscription), with NBC showing four sessions of delayed highlights:

● 08 Feb. (Sat.): 3 p.m. Eastern for women’s Super-G
● 09 Feb. (Sun.): 1 p.m. Eastern for women’s Downhill
● 15 Feb. (Sat.): 3 p.m. Eastern for women’s and men’s Giant Slalom
● 16 Feb. (Sun.): 4 p.m. Eastern for women’s and men’s Slalom

FIS has live timing and full results here.

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ATHLETICS: Grand Slam Track to appear on The CW and Peacock this season, with live coverage of all days of all four meets

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK ≡

The CW and Peacock will be the broadcast home of the first season of Grand Slam Track, with the NBC streaming service carrying the Friday competitions and the CW and Peacock showing the Saturday and Sunday shows of all four meets.

Each of the four meets runs for three days – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – for three hours each session:

I: Kingston, Jamaica
● 04 April: 6 p.m. Eastern on Peacock
● 05 April: 6 p.m. Eastern on CW + Peacock
● 06 April: 3 p.m. Eastern on CW + Peacock

II. Miramar, Florida
● 02 May: 5 p.m. Eastern on Peacock
● 03 May: 5 p.m. Eastern on CW + Peacock
● 04 May: 3 p.m. Eastern on CW + Peacock

III. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
● 30 May: 4 p.m. Eastern on Peacock
● 01 June: 4 p.m. Eastern on CW + Peacock
● 02 June: 3 p.m. Eastern on CW + Peacock

IV. Los Angeles, California
● 27 June: 7 p.m. Eastern on Peacock
● 28 June: 7 p.m. Eastern on CW + Peacock
● 29 June: 3 p.m. Eastern on CW + Peacock

A highlights show from the first meet in Kingston (only) will be shown on NBC on 10 May.

The CW, controlled by Nexstar Group, debuted in 2006 but has ramped up its sports involvement substantially in recent years. It now covers ACC football and basketball, Pac-12 football, WWE NXT, and NASCAR Xfinity Series racing, among others.

Atlanta 1996 icon Michael Johnson, the founder and Commissioner of the series said in a statement:

“We’re delighted to finally be able to announce this incredibly exciting broadcast and streaming partnership to all our fans in the United States.

“I’d like to personally thank both our great friends and partners at The CW and NBC Sports for putting together this agreement, which will help us continue to revolutionize the sport of track. We were determined to make sure that Grand Slam Track would be seen by millions of fans across the country, and we’re delighted to be delivering on that promise. We can’t wait to get started with our Slams in April; you won’t want to miss this.”

The Grand Slam Track format has 48 seasonally-contracted “Racers” competing with 48 “Challengers” in one of six event groups: short sprints (100 m/200 m), short hurdles (100m H or 110m H/100 m), long sprints (200 m/400 m), long hurdles (400m H/400 m), short distance (800 m/1,500 m), or long distance (3,000 m/5,000 m).

Placings for prize money purposes will combine finishing orders between the two races in each group. The winner of each event group will win $100,000 in prize money, down to eighth place, earning $10,000.

All 48 “Racers” have been announced; the “Challenger” competitors will be selected on a meet-by-meet basis.

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PANORAMA: Paris Olympic Cauldron to be hoisted in summer; Asuncion or Rio-Niteroi for 2031 Pan Ams; how about Jessie Diggins!

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Olympic and Paralympic Cauldron and the Arc de Triomphe with the Paralympic Agitos in the background in Paris (Photo: City of Paris)

★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● French President Emmanuel Macron posted Friday on X that the innovative Olympic Cauldron, suspended by a balloon at the Tuileries Gardens in Paris during the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games would return annually (computer translation from the original French):

“She will come back every summer. From the music festival to the sports festival, to the Los Angeles Games.”

So that’s from 2025 through 2028, from 21 June to 14 September, tied to an annual musical program in Paris and to a new sports program to be introduced.

The balloon and “flame” – mist clouds illuminated by LED fixtures to create the illusion of fire, but without fuel – were suspended about 100 feet in the air daily during the Olympic and Paralympic period last summer as one of the signatures of the Paris Games.

● Pan American Games ● Good news for Panam Sports, which stated Friday that it has received two bids to host the 2031 Pan American Games, from Asuncion (PAR) and Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi in Brazil.

Asuncion tried for the 2027 Pan Ams and filed a strong bid, but lost to Lima (PER) by 28-24, last March. Rio hosted the 2007 Pan Ams, the springboard to its hosting of the 2016 Olympic Games, and is now partnering with Niteroi, located just across Guanabara Bay; the two are connected by an 8.26-mile bridge.

Candidature files are due by 30 April, with the vote to take place in the second half of 2025.

Asuncion has been busy, as it prepares to host the II Junior Pan American Games in August, and is bidding for the 2030 Youth Olympic Games. These efforts are designed to raise Paraguay’s profile; President Santiago Pena told The Associated Press, “It’s an opportunity to raise the level of knowledge about the country. For many years the country has remained a little bit isolated. It was not an active participant in many of these sports events.”

● Athletics ● Six-time World women’s 100 m champ Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) launched a new hair-care product line, “AFIMI: The Essence of Jamaica”, in New York, over the weekend. According to the announcement, the products are designed for various hair types using all-natural botanicals sourced from the Caribbean.”

Now 38, Fraser-Pryce has not retired and ran 10.91 in 2024. She cruised into the Olympic semifinals in Paris, but was injured and had to withdraw.

● Football ● The trial of former Royal Spanish Football Federation chief Luis Rubiales begins Monday in Madrid, where he and three others are facing allegations related to the victory ceremony following Spain’s win at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia in 2023.

Rubiales infamously kissed star midfielder Jenni Hermoso during the awards presentations, and then he and others are accused of pressuring Hermoso to say that the kiss was consensual.

Rubiales was charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of coercion for the cover-up attempt.

Former women’s national team coach Jorge Vilda, former RFEF sporting director Albert Luque and the former RFEF head of marketing Ruben Rivera were also accused of coercion against Hermoso, who is scheduled to testify.

Rubiales has pled not guilty, but could face 2 1/2 years of prison time if convicted. He is not expected to speak until about 12 February, after the prosecution has presented its case.

● Tennis ● The International Tennis Integrity Agency confirmed Friday that six current and former players “have been sanctioned for breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).

“The sanctions are linked to a criminal case heard in 2023 involving a match-fixing syndicate in Belgium. Collaboration between the ITIA and Belgian authorities led to a five-year custodial sentence for the leader of the syndicate, Grigor Sargsyan.”

The matches in question were held in 2017 and 2018, with five players admitting to violations. French players Jerome Inzerillo (now 34), David Guez (42) and Romain Bauvy (30) agreed to bans of five years, seven months; four years, and four years, respectively. Two other French players, Yannick Jankovits (38) and Francois-Arthur Vibert (34) asked for a hearing on sanctions and were handed bans of two years, and two years and three months, respectively. Four of the five were also assessed fines

Argentine player Agustin Moyano (34), denied the charges, and was handed a suspension of 15 years, plus a $10,000 fine.

None had a world ranking better than 116th and Moyano was never ranked higher than 1,343rd during his career; corruption cases in tennis often involve low-ranked players with the idea that their matches will bring less scrutiny.

≡ RESULTS ≡

● Alpine Skiing ● The FIS men’s World Cup Downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER) was cancelled due to fog and difficult weather. Now comes the FIS World Championships from 4-16 February in Sallbach (AUT).

● Athletics ● Impressive distance action at the John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston on Friday, with two-time 5,000 m Olympian Elise Cranny winning the women’s mile in 4:20.83, moving to no. 4 on the all-time U.S. indoor list. She beat Gabi Jennings (4:25.32) and BYU junior Rile Chamberlain (4:26.19). Cranny passed 1,500 m en route in 4:02.85, making her the no. 5 performer in U.S. history. Both her 1,500 m and mile times are world leaders.

Olympian Nikki Hiltz, the World Indoor 1,500 m runner-up in 2024, took the world lead in the 3,000 m, winning decisively in 8:32.52, moving to no. 7 all-time U.S. Linden Hall was the only one close, second in 8:35.17, now no. 10 all-time U.S.

In the women’s 5,000 m, Paris Olympian Whittni Morgan ran away from Ella Donaghu, 14:48.41 (no. 4 all-time U.S.) to 14:50.89 (no. 7 all-time U.S.), to grab the world lead in that event.

On Saturday, North Carolina’s Ethan Strand lowered his mile lifetime best by more than six seconds in a world-leading 3:48.32, beating Robert Farken (GER: 3:49.45) and Adam Fogg (GBR: 3:49.85). Strand moved up to no. 3 all-time, with the no. 4 performance and no. 2 all-time U.S. (with the no. 3 performance), taking the collegiate record as well. Farken is now no. 10 all-time. Wow!

Strand, 22, also passed 1,500 m in 3:33.41, for another collegiate record, now no. 20 on the all-time world list, and no. 3 all-time U.S. Remember that name!

France’s Jimmy Gressier moved up to no. 2 in the world for 2025 with a 13:00.54 win in the 5,000 m over countryman Romain Legendre (13:02.08, a 14-second lifetime best!).

Lots of quality action at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, with world-leading marks in five events (through Saturday):

● Men/400 m: 45.19, Jenoah McKiver (USA-Florida)
● Men/Shot: 21.02 m (68-11 3/4), Tarik Robinson-O’Hagen (USA-Ole Miss)

● Women/800 m: 1:59.87, Shafiqua Maloney (VIN)
● Women/3,000 m: 8:31.56, Shelby Houlihan (USA)
● Women/Long Jump: 6.98 m (22-10 3/4), Anthaya Charlton (BAH-Florida)

Houlihan returned for her first race on a track since 4 December 2020, just before her four-year suspension for doping took effect on 14 January 2021. It’s her second-fastest 3,000 m ever and qualifies her for the World Indoor Championships in China in March, and is the no. 8 performance all-time U.S.

She’ll be 32 on 8 February. (Her mark as world leader was surpassed at the Sunday New Balance Grand Prix in Boston.)

American Chris Nilsen, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist, won the Perche’Xtrem meet in Caen (FRA) with a 6.01 m (19-8 1/2) clearance, his sixth meet ever at 6 m or better.

American Katie Moon, the Tokyo Olympic champ, won the women’s with a world-leading 4.80 m (15-9) clearance at the Dodds Invitational in Manhattan, Kansas.

● Badminton ● Indonesia and Thailand won two events each at the BWF World Tour Thailand Masters in Patumwan.

Four-seed Jia Heng Jason The (INA) took the men’s Singles over Zhang Xing Wang (CHN), 21-18, 15-21, 21-19, and Lanny Tria Mayasari and Siti Fadia Ramadhanti (INA), seeded sixth, took the women’s Doubles by 15-21, 21-13, 21-8 over Laksika Kanlaha and Phataimas Muenwong (THA).

Top-seeded Pompawee Chochuwong (THA) won the women’s Singles, 18-21, 21-16, 21-13 against Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi (INA), and fourth-seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran (THA) won the Mixed Doubles over Dejan Ferdinansyah and Siti Fadia Ramadhanti (INA), 19-21, 21-17, 21-13.

Yong Jin and Seung Jae Seo (KOR) defeated Muhammad Fikri and Daniel Marthin (INA), 21-18, 21-17.

● Cross Country Skiing ● The amazing Jessie Diggins of the U.S. did it again, expanding her seasonal lead at the FIS World Cup in Cogne (ITA)!

She won Sunday’s 10 km Interval Start Freestyle in 23:59.7, a clear winner over Norwegian chaser Astrid Slind (24:04.8) and Finn Kerttu Niskanen (24:15.1). After 23 of 31 races, Diggins now leads the seasonal standings with 1,646 points to 1,364 for Slind.

The Beijing 2022 Sprint runner-up, Maja Dahlqvist, got her fourth medal – and first win – of the season in the women’s Classical Sprint, in 3:03.87, ahead of Nadine Faehndrich (SUI: 3:04.81) and German Laura Gimmler (3:05.12), her first-ever individual World Cup medal.

Erik Valnes, the 2021 Worlds runner-up in the men’s Sprint, led a Norwegian sweep in 2:37.60, with Ansgar Evensen (2:38.32) and Even Northug (2:38.79) close behind. It was the sixth sweep of the season for the Norwegians.

Same for the men’s 10 km Interval Start Freestyle – another Norwegian sweep – with two-time Worlds medal winner Harald Amundsen winning in 21:45.1, ahead of Iver Andersen (21:56.8) and Martin Nyenget (22:00.8). Gus Schumacher was the top American, in 10th (22:18.9).

● Cycling ● Race no. 2 of the UCI men’s World Tour was the ninth Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race, in and around Geelong on a hilly, 183.8 km course, with Swiss Mauro Schmid getting his first World Tour individual race win in 4:26:07. He broke away with about 8 km left to defeat New Zealanders Aaron Gate (+0:03) and defending champ Laurence Pithie (same). Magnus Sheffield was the top American, in seventh (also +0:03).

The 8th Cadel Evans Race for women covered 141.8 kmm and ended in a mass sprint of 12, with New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston getting her first individual race win in 3:59:43, ahead of Karlijn Swinkels (NED), Noemi Ruegg (SUI) and American Chloe Dygert, the two-time Worlds Time Trial winner. Fellow American Ruth Edwards was sixth.

● Freestyle Skiing ● The FIS World Cup in Aspen, Colorado including Slopestyle and Halfpipe events over the weekend, with Big Air next weekend.

Beijing 2022 gold medalist Alex Hall of the U.S. took the Slopestyle over fellow American Colby Stevenson, the 2021 Worlds silver medalist, 88.21 to 87.15, with Norway’s 2022 Olympic Big Air winner Birk Ruud (NOR: 85.10) in third.

France’s Tess Ledeux, the 2017 World Champion in Slopestyle, won the women’s event at 88.06, with Megan Oldham (CAN: 86.93) second, and American Rell Harwood (77.53) getting her first career World Cup medal.

Sunday’s Halfpipe saw an American sweep on the men’s side with two-time Olympic medalist Alex Ferreira winning with 95.75 points, barely ahead of three-time Olympic Slopestyle medal winner Nick Goepper (94.00) and Matthew Labaugh (93.00) in third. Ferreira has now medaled in all three events this season.

Two-time Worlds medalist Zoe Atkin (GBR) won the women’s Halfpipe at 90.00, beating China’s Fanghui Li (88.50) and Amy Fraser (CAN: 86.75).

Italy’s 2023 World Champion, Simone Deromedis, won the men’s World Cup Ski Cross opener in Veysonnaz (SUI), ahead of France’s Youri Kergomard, who won his third medal of the season. On Sunday, Kergomard got the win over David Mobaerg (SWE) for his second win.

The first women’s race was another victory for Canada’s 2014 Olympic champ Marielle Thompson, who won her third World Cup gold of the season, over Daniela Maier (GER). Sunday’s race was the same, with Thompson beating Maier in the final!

The World Cup tour in Moguls and Dual Moguls was in Val St. Come (CAN), with home favorite Mikael Kingsbury logging his fifth win of the season and his record 96th World Cup victory! He scored 87.42 to win over fellow Canadian Julien Veil (80.56). In the Dual Moguls on Saturday, Kingsbury got win no. 97, beating two-time Worlds runner-up Benjamin Cavet (FRA) in the final. American Nick Page won the bronze.

Canadian Maia Schwinghammer got her first career World Cup win in the women’s Moguls, scoring 80.07, ahead of U.S. star Jaelin Kauf, the Beijing 2022 Moguls silver medalist (77.85) and 2022 Olympian Olivia Giaccio of the U.S. (77.71).

Kauf won her second event of the season in the Dual Moguls, beating Anastassiya Gorodko (KAZ) in the final, while 2018 Olympic winner Perrine Laffont (FRA) got the bronze over Giaccio.

● Handball ● Denmark was seeking an unprecedented fourth straight IHF men’s World Championship in the final at Baerum (NOR) … and got it. Romania had won four titles in five editions from 1961 to 1974 and France won four of five from 2009-17, but not four in a row.

The final pitted Croatia, winners in 2003 and three-time runners-up, and the Danes, who had clobbered Portugal in their semi on Friday, 40-27, moving away after a 20-16 halftime lead. Mathias Gidsel led all scorers with nine goals.

The Danes continued their onslaught in the final, taking a 16-12 lead at the half and pushing on to a 32-26 win for that fourth straight Worlds gold. Gidsel was the star once again, with 10 goals, with Emil Jakobssen adding five. Ivan Martinovic had six for Croatia.

France won a tight third-place match by 35-34 over Portugal, with Aymeric Minne scoring 10 for the winners.

● Judo ● At the IJF World Tour’s Paris Grand Slam, superpower Japan and host France led the way with three wins each, with 298 total judoka from 50 nations attending.

All of Japan’s wins were in the women’s division, with Mitsuki Kondo (48 kg), Kisumi Omori (52 kg) and Jaruka Kaju (63 kg) collecting golds. The French had wins from Romain Valadier Picard (men’s 60 kg, and women’s champs Martha Fawaz (57 kg) and Lea Fontaine (+78 kg).

● Nordic Combined ● The FIS World Cup was in Seefeld (AUT) for the 12th men’s Seefeld Triple, with superstar Norwegian Jarl Magnus Riiber – who announced he will retire season’s end – opening with another win, off the 109 m hill and a 10.0 km Mass Start race, in 24:07.2. He was a clear winner over Johannes Lamparter (AUT: 24:12.2) and Norway’s Jens Oftebro (24:07.8).

Oftebro won the Compact 109 m jumping and 7.5 km race in 17:20.1, just ahead of Riiber (17:20.9), with Vinzenz Geiger (GER: 17:23.3) third.

Sunday’s jumping and 12.5 km race turned into the third win of the season for Beijing 2022 Normal Hill gold medalist Geiger, in 30:12.8, barely ahead of Riiber (30:13.0) and Oftebro (30:13.2).

The women enjoyed their first Seefeld Triple, with Norwegian star Ida Marie Hagen continuing her streak, winning the 109 m hill and 5 km Mass Start in 14:00.9, her seventh straight win to open the season. Then the steak ended, as Nathalie Armbruster (GER: 13:42.2) routed the field in the second stage, a Compact event with a 5 km race, winning in 13:42.2, ahead of two-time World Champion Gyda Westvold Hansen (NOR: 14:19.9) and Haruka Kasai (JPN: 14:23.9).

Hagen won the jumping segment, but was disqualified for a “suit infringement” before the skiing portion; her two-season win streak ended at 11. The U.S. made a rare appearance in the top 10, with Alexa Brabec taking fifth in 14:42.4.

On Sunday, with 109 m jumping and a 7.5 km Gundersen race, Armbruster won again, in 21:18,.7, crushing the field. Second was Westvold Hansen (22:43.0), with Kasai third (22:59.4). Brabec was even better, in fourth (23:08.0).

● Ski Jumping ● At the FIS men’s World Cup in Willingen (GER) – off the 147 m hill – started with the sixth win of the season for Austria’s Daniel Tschofenig, who moved from second to first in the second round and won with 288.9 points. That was just enough to overtake first-round leader Anze Lanisek (CRO: 284.9) and co-leader Maximilian Ortner (AUT: 275.9).

Tschofenig did it again on Sunday, winning with 310.5 points, winning the first round and placing second in round no. 2. Norway’s Johann Forfang was second at 305.1, winning the second round of jumps, with Jan Hoerl (AUT: 289.5) third.

American Tate Frantz finished 10th overall, finishing eighth in the second round and scoring 270.5.

The women’s single World Cup in Willingen was off the 102 m hill, with the second win of the season by Eirin Maria Kvandal (NOR) at 261.7, ahead of teammate Anna Stroem (245.8) and Austrian Jacqueline Seifriedsberger (236.6).

● Ski Mountaineering ● Familiar winners at the ISMF World Cup in Boi Taull (ESP), with France’s Emily Harrop getting her third Sprint win in three Sprint races this season and her 22nd career World Cup victory in 3:34.70, ahead of teammate Lena Bonnel (3:44.27) and Spain’s Ana Alonso Rodriguez (3:41.07).

Spain’s 2023 World Champion Oriol Cardona Coll was a decisive winner in the men’s race, his second win in three Sprints this season, in 2:48.58, with Swiss teammates Robin Bussard (2:52.30) and Amo Lietha (2:56.52).

● Snowboard ● Halfpipe and Slopestyle action at the FIS World Cup in Aspen, Colorado, with Big Air competition next weekend. The men’s Halfpipe winner was rising star Ruka Hirano (JPN), leading a Japanese sweep at 93.25, followed by 2022 Olympic champ Ayumu Hirano (89.50) and Ryusei Yamada (88.25).

Olympic champ Chloe Kim of the U.S. got her second straight win in the women’s Halfpipe, scoring 91.75, over Gaon Choi (KOR: 88.75) and Sara Shimizu (JPN: 85.25). Two-time Worlds medalist Maddie Mastro of the U.S. was fourth (84.00).

In Sunday’s Slopestyle, Canada won its third in a row in the men’s competition, this time with Francis Jobin, 26, getting his first World Cup medal and first World Cup win at 79.30 in the final. China’s Beijing 2022 runner-up Yiming Su was second (78.36) with American Olympian Sean FitzSimons third (77.43).

Beijing women’s Slopestyle champ Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL) took the women’s victory, at 87.80, well ahead of Japan’s Kokomo Murase (79.00) and 2023 World Champion Mia Brookes (GBR: 74.70).

At the Snow Cross World Cup in Beidahu (CHN), Canada’s Olympic runner-up Eliot Grondin got his first win of the season, ahead of Olympic champ Alessandro Hammerle (ITA), with France’s Merlin Surget third. Grondin won again on Sunday, this time defeating Leon Ulbricht (GER) in the gold-medal race.

The first women’s winner was British star Charlotte Bankes, the 2021 World Champion, finishing ahead of Michela Moioli, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist, and Lea Casta (FRA). Bankes doubled up on Sunday, winning the final over 2023 Worlds runner-up Josie Baff (AUS).

● Speed Skating ● ISU World Cup no. 4 was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with all eyes on American star Jordan Stolz, riding a 19-race World Cup win streak into the meet.

And he delivered right away, winning Friday’s 1,000 m in a track record 1:06.16, followed by Jenning De Boo (NED: 1:07.33) and three-time Olympic gold medalist Kjeld Nuis (NED: 1:07.44). American Cooper Mcleod was fourth in 1:07.58.

On Saturday, Stolz won the men’s 500 m in another track record of 33.91, beating De Boo (34.28) and Canada’s Laurent Debreuil, the 2021 World Champion (34.36). Fellow American Mcleod was ninth in 34.60.

Stolz then won the 1,500 m in 1:41.46 – another track record – beating Nuis (1:42.67).

Finally, it came to an end on Sunday, as Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama, the 2020 World Sprint Champion, was matched with Stolz in the eighth pair and won, 34.14 to 34.19, ending Stolz’s World Cup win streak at 22, and 14 in a row during this season.

Norway’s Sander Eitrem, the 2024 Worlds bronzer. won the men’s 5,000 m over new 10,000 m record holder Davide Ghiotto (ITA: 6:06.83), with American Casey Dawson fourth with a lifetime best of 6:07.93. Dutch star Jorrit Bergsma, 38, and the Sochi 2014 Olympic 10,000 m champ, won the Mass Start in 8:03.47.

The U.S. Team Pursuit trio of Dawson, Ethan Cepuran and Emery Lehman won gold in 3:38.19, beating Italy (3:39.29).

The Dutch women won five events, with two-time World 500 m champ Femke Kok winning both races. She took the first in 37.11 – a track record – over Olympic champ Erin Jackson of the U.S. (37.39), with Brittany Bowe of the U.S. seventh in 37.81 and Kimi Goetz 12th in 38.04. Kok and Jackson were 1-2 on Sunday, this time even faster as Kok won in 37.02 – another track record – and Jackson at 37.45.

Joy Beune, the 2024 World Allround Champion, won the 1,500 m in 1:52.11, a track record, over reigning World Champion Miho Takagi (JPN: 1:52.82), with Italian star Francesca Lollobrigida third (1:52.92). Bowe led the U.S. skaters in seventh (1:54.12). Two-time World Champion Marijke Groenewoud won the Mass Start in 8:26.92, ahead of Lollobrigida (8:27.20) and American Mia Manganello (8:27.35).

The Dutch also won the women’s Team Pursuit in 2:54.27, over Japan (2:55.82) and the U.S. (2:57.02).

Japan’s Takagi, the Beijing 2022 Olympic winner at 1,000 m, took that event in 1:13.56, a track record, with Bowe earning silver in 1:14.23; Goetz was fourth in 1:14.78. Lollobrigida won the 3,000 m in 3:54.73, a track record.

The Netherlands also won the Mixed Relay in 2:56.56, over Norway (2:58.01). The U.S. was fifth in 2:59.65.

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ATHLETICS: World leads for Hoey and Courtney-Bryant, and Lyles wins the 60 and baits Tyreek Hill at New Balance Grand Prix

By
Rich Perelman
-
Still no. 1, with a lot to say: American sprint superstar Noah Lyles (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images for World Athletics)

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≡ NEW BALANCE GRAND PRIX ≡

Judging by the performances and enthusiasm at Sunday’s World Athletics World Indoor Tour Gold meet, the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, it’s going to be a fun year in track & field. There were two world-leading performances on the track:

● Men/1,500 m: 3:33.66, Josh Hoey (USA)
● Women/3,000 m: 8:28.69, Melissa Courtney-Bryant (GBR)

But the show was, as expected, with World and Olympic 100 m champion Noah Lyles.

In the men’s 60 m heats, the 2016 World Indoor champ, American Trayvon Bromell got a fast start and just edged PJ Austin, with both timed in 6.63, with Italy’s Tokyo Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs third (6.69).

Lyles got out fourth out of the blocks in heat two, but got to the front by 40 m and won in 6.55 (no. 9 on the 2025 world list), ahead of Terrence Jones (BAH: 6.59) and Udodi Onwuzurike (NGR: 6.66).

Lyles got a better start in the final, barely behind Bromell and Austin, then powered to the front by 40 m and won by daylight in 6.52, equal-second in the world for 2025.

Naturally, there was more. Lyles tore his bib off and showed the cameras a message on the back – “Tyreek could never” – a direct challenge to Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, continuing the back-and-forth chatter since last year.

Hill challenged Lyles to race at 50 yards – better for a football player – and Lyles responded with a challenge to race 100 m, where he is Olympic champ. In the post-race chat with NBC’s Lewis Johnson, Lyles was prodded to expand, and added, “When you’re actually ready to race, see me,” and after saying Hill needs to stop talking, noted “football season is over, you’ve got no excuse now.”

Lyles has said a race between the two is in development – maybe, perhaps – along the lines of the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight on Netflix last November, but with nothing finalized as yet.

Olympic 400 m hurdles champ Rai Benjamin was on the outside in the men’s 300 m and had the lead with a lap to go. Friend Vernon Norwood, the two-time Olympic relay gold medalist, came up close on the final turn, but Benjamin had enough to win in 32.18, with Norwood at 32.39.

Olympic relay gold medalist Quincy Wilson – still a prep at the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland – came up on the leaders in the men’s 400 on the final turn and stormed through the straight to win in 45.66. He’s equal-sixth on the year list indoors, and breaks his own high school indoor mark of 45.76 from 2024! That was also reported as a world U-18 indoor best (he just turned 17). Will Summer of the U.S. was second in 46.27.

World leader Elvin Canales (ESP) was in the men’s 800 m, but World Indoor champ Bryce Hoppelof the U.S. got to the lead with 100 m to go and ran away to win in 1:46.04, no. 8 in the world for 2025. Fellow American Abe Alvarado was second in 1:46.55, with Canales third (1:46.60).

A ton of talent in the 1,500 m, with Paris double bronze medalist Grant Fisher moving down to the metric mile. Six were in contention with two laps, with Josh Hoey, the U.S. 1,000 m record holder leading. Fisher passed Australian star Ollie Hoare at the bell for second, but neither could pass Hoey, who out-lasted Fisher to the line in a world-leading 3:33.66, with Fisher at 3:33.99; equal-third all-time U.S. for Hoey and fifth all-time U.S. for Fisher! Hoare was third in 3:34.91.

Ireland’s two-time 1,500 m Olympian Andrew Coscoran ran away in the men’s 3,000 m at the bell, timing 26.76 for the final 200 m to win in 7:30.75, no. 3 on the world list for 2025. He was a clear winner over France’s Azzedine Habz (7:31.50) and Cam Myers of Australia (7:33.12). Olympian Hobbs Kessler of the U.S. was fourth in 7:35.06, his best-ever indoors.

The men’s 60 m hurdles field had five Americans, including Olympic champ Grant Holloway, who started well and ran away, winning in 7.42, equal-second in the world this season. Olympic teammate Freddie Crittenden was second in 7.54, with Cordell Tinch third in 7.60.

Vernon Turner of the U.S. won the men’s high jump at 2.19 m (7-2 1/4)

Comebacking Jacious Sears led the heats (7.15), and was third at 10 m, but came on to get to the lead by 50 m and won a tight finish in 7.11, now equal-third on the world list. Destiny Smith-Barnett (LBA) was second in 7.14, along with American Celera Barnes (7.14).

Paris 100 m women’s champ Julien Alfred (LCA) was the headline in the women’s 300 m, and she got to the lead with 100 m to go and won easily in 36.16. She passed British star Dina Asher-Smith on the final turn, with Asher-Smith second in 36.87.

Tokyo Olympic women’s 800 m bronzer Raevyn Rogers won the women’s 500 m, leading almost wire-to-wire in 1:08.98, moving to no. 8 all-time U.S. Belgian Helena Ponette was a distant second in 1:09.69.

Tokyo Olympian Heather Maclean had the lead in the women’s mile with a couple of laps to go, but Kenyan Susan Ejore-Sanders got to the front on the final straight and had a chance to win, but Maclean was too strong and moved to no. 2 on the 2025 world list in 4:23.32, with Ejore-Sanders at 4:32.55 and Sinclaire Johnson at 4:23.58.

Maclean moved to no. 9 on the all-time U.S. mile list; she timed 4:07.24 for 1,500 m.

In the women’s 3,000 m, two-time U.S. 5,000 m Olympian Elise Cranny was coming off a world-leading 4:20.83 mile on Friday and took the lead at 1,600 m. She and two-time European Indoor bronze winner Melissa Courtney-Bryant (GBR) had the lead at 2,000 m, and they were clear of the field at the bell, but it was Courtney-Bryant who zoomed to the front into the final turn. She ran away and won in a world-leading 8:28.69 (a lifetime best), to 8:29.87 for Cranny (world no. 2 in 2025). .

U.S. Olympian Parker Valby, now a professional, was third in 8:34.95, also a lifetime best.

Olympic champ Masai Russell got a strong start and led World Indoor champ Devynne Charlton (BAH) over the hurdles, but with fellow Olympian Grace Stark of the U.S. coming on hard to get second, 7.80 to 7.81. Charlton was third in 7.85. Those three are now nos. 2-3-4 on the world list.

In the women’s triple jump, Olympic bronze winner Jasmine Moore moved to the lead in the fourth round at 13.89 m (45-7) and could not be caught. Cameroon’s Anne-Suzanna Fosther-Katta got a season’s best 13.84 (45-5) for second.

The season has started; the Millrose Games comes next Saturday, also on NBC at 4 p.m. Eastern.

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FIGURE SKATING: Losses show 40% of AA 5342 passengers were skaters, coaches or parents; plus the loss of the U.S. voice of the sport

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ LOSSES AND SADNESS ≡

The identities of more individuals who perished in the Wednesday crash of American Eagle flight 5342 above Washington, D.C. after a collision with an Army helicopter, have become known, with 24 of the 60 passengers on the flight – 40% – either skaters, coaches or officials.

In addition to the six people associated with The Skating Club of Boston – teen skaters Spencer Lane (16) and Jinna Han (13) and their mothers, Christine and Jin, and coaches (and 1994 World Pairs Champions) Vadim Naumov and Yevgenya Shishkova – the skating-relayed deaths include:

● Skaters Everly (14) and Lydia (11) Livingston, and parents Donna and Peter Livingston.

● Ice Dance skater Sean Kay (11) and mother Julia Kay.

● Ice Dance skater Angela Yang (11), who partnered with Sean Kay.

● Coach Sasha Kirsanov, 46, who mentored Kay and Yang, at the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club.

● Skater Franco Aparicio and father Luciano, along with coach Inna Volyanskaya, 59, of the Ashburn Ice House in Virginia and a former Russian Pairs skater.

● Skater Brielle Magdalena Beyer, 12, and mother Justyna, from the Skating Club of Northern Virginia.

● Skater Cory Haynos, 16, and parents Stephanie and Roger Haynos, from northern Virginia.

● Skater Olivia Ter, 12, from Prince George’s County, Maryland.

● Skater Edward Zhou, from northern Virginia.

The 15 skaters and coaches and nine parents were at the USA Figure Skating national development camp which followed the national championships in Wichita, Kansas that ended on 26 January.

The skaters appear to all have been between the ages of 11 and 16.

International Skating Union President Jae Youl Kim (KOR) told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the European Figure Skating Championships in Estonia:

“At the moment we want to focus on mourning those who lost their lives and also provide support for the ones who lost their loved ones. We’ll take one step at a time.”

He added that special arrangements will be made for the 2025 ISU World Championships, which will be held in Boston this year, from 26-30 March:

“We will discuss with our counterparts in Boston what should be done to honor those who left us in this tragic way. One way to honor them is to make sure that we provide the greatest event, to show the respect.”

One of the most impactful and influential individuals in the history of figure skating, American Dick Button, passed away on Thursday (30th) at age 95 in North Salem, New York.

Button was a dominant skater, winning men’s Singles world titles in 1948-49-50-51-52 and Olympic golds in 1948 (at 18!) and 1952, plus seven U.S. titles between 1946-52. An major innovator in the sport, he was the first to perform a double Axel (1948 Olympic Winter Games), a triple jump – a triple Loop at the 1952 Winter Games – and created the flying camel spin, which was also called the “Button Camel.”

Beyond the ice, Button became one of the most recognized skating personalities in the world from his television commentary on the sport, which began in 1960 and continued all the way to 2010. He was never shy about criticism, but also equally thrilled to praise those who showed brilliance on the ice.

To most Americans, Button was the voice of the sport for decades, far surpassing his credentials as a skater with true style, wit and authenticity.

Fellow American Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic men’s champion, put it well when he said, “Dick was one of the most important figures in our sport. There wasn’t a skater after Dick who wasn’t helped by him in some way.”

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PANORAMA: U.S. members mostly absent at IOC Session; Shiffrin 10th in comeback Slalom; Lyles-Jacobs tops New Balance Grand Prix Sunday

By
Rich Perelman
-
Ready for 2025: Noah Lyles to open in Boston at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix (Photo: Diamond League AG).

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● International Olympic Committee ● The IOC Press Office confirmed that 98 of the 110 members of the organization were present in Lausanne for the Presidential candidate presentations on Thursday.

The U.S. had only one of its four IOC members in the room: U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee chief Gene Sykes. The three other members – Anita DeFrantz (who has been ill), Allyson Felix and International Tennis Federation head David Haggerty – were noted as excused.

● Youth Olympic Games ● After the presentations concluded, the IOC’s 143rd Session confirmed the Italian “Dolomiti Valtellina” bid for the V Winter Youth Olympic Games for in 2028.

The project follows up on the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and Cortina and will be staged in three clusters in Valtellina, Trentino and Cortina, with seven of the 11 proposed venues to have been part of the 2026 Games. Per the announcement:

“The project is led by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), and the governments of the regions of Veneto and Lombardy and the Autonomous Province of Trento, supported by the Italian national government, and is in line with long-term plans to raise the regions’ profile as a winter sports destination.”

The bid was approved by 89-1, with two abstentions.

● Alpine Skiing ● Croatia’s rising star Zrinka Ljutic, 21, got her third win of the season at the FIS Alpine World Cup Slalom race in Courchevel (FRA), leading after the first run and finishing the clear winner at 1:45.06.

Beijing 2022 Giant Slalom gold medalist Sara Hector (SWE) was only seventh on the first run and ninth on the second, but that was good enough to earn the silver, with a total of 1:46.32. Germany’s Lena Duerr was eighth on both runs, winning the bronze at 1:46.34.

American star Mikaela Shiffrin, back after being two for two months following a November crash, stood fifth after the first run, then was 22nd on the second for a total of 1:47.10, placing 10th.

● Athletics ● Sunday has the much-anticipated New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, with Olympic men’s 100 m winners Noah Lyles (2024) facing Lamont Marcell Jacobs (ITA: 2021) and comebacking Trayvon Bromell, the 2016 World Indoor Champion at 60 m.

There are loads of Paris stars in the field, including gold-medal winners such as Rai Benjamin (300 m) and Grant Holloway (60 m hurdles) in the men, and Julien Alfred (LCA: 300 m) and Masai Russell (60 m hurdles) in the women’s events.

One of the most interesting entries is Jacious Sears in the women’s 60 m. She ranked no. 3 in the world for 2024 at 10.77, but was injured at the SEC meet and was sidelined for the year. Now a pro, she won her semi at the Orange & Purple meet at Clemson last week in 7.15. She will face some stiff competition with Mikiah Brisco, Zoe Hobbs and Tamara Clark all entered.

The meet will be shown live on NBC from 4-6 p.m. on Sunday.

The Athletics Integrity Unit provisionally suspended French men’s 400 m hurdles star Wilfried Happio for “whereabouts” failures. The 2022 European silver medalist ranks no. 21 all-time at 47.41 from 2022, and could face up to a two-year ban.

Now 26, Happio won the French national title in 2024, but only reached the Olympic semis in Paris.

● Canoe-Kayak ● Happy news from New Zealand, where eight-time Olympic gold medalist Lisa Carrington, 35, has confirmed she plans to try for a fifth Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

Her short message on Instagram read only, “And we’re back. Let’s go. #LA28″

She won single golds in 2012 and 2016, then three at Tokyo 2020 in the Sprint women’s K-1 200 m, K-1 500 m and K-2 500 m (with Caitlin Regal), then repeated with three in Paris in 2024, in the K-1 500 m, K-2 500 m (with Alicia Hoskin) and K-4 500 m.

Said Canoe Racing New Zealand high-performance general manager, Nathan Luce:

“We’re more than ecstatic that she’s willing to continue to contribute to our team and the programme and her crewmates from Paris are more than excited to continue working with her.”

● Handball ● Croatia, aided by a home crowd of 15,600 at the Arena Zagreb, advanced to its fifth IHF men’s World Championship final with a 31-28 win over previously undefeated France on Thursday.

The home team had a big, 18-11 lead at halftime, but the French made a run in the second half to get closer, but it was not enough. Croatia got big games from Zvonimir Srna and Marin Jelinic with seven goals each and Ivan Martinovic added six. France was led by Dika Mem, with eight scores.

Croatia won the 2003 world title, but lost in the final in 1995, 2005 and 2009. Denmark, trying for a fourth straight Worlds gold, plays on Friday against Portugal in Baerum (NOR). The final will be Sunday, also in Baerum.

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TRIATHLON: World Triathlon issues new transgender rules, with stiff, four-year crossover transition; adds new Age-Group Open category

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ TRANSGENDER ELIGIBILITY ≡

“[B]ecause of the significant advantages in size, strength and power enjoyed (on average) by Athletes Assigned Male at birth (AMAB) over Athletes Assigned Female at Birth (AFAB) from puberty onwards, due in large part to much higher levels of androgenic hormones and the impact that such advantages can have on sporting performance, it is necessary to have separate competition categories for males and females in order to preserve the safety, fairness and integrity of the sport, for the benefit of all of its participants and stakeholders.”

That’s the basis for the 22-page World Triathlon Eligibility Regulations for Transgender Athletes, posted Thursday by the World Triathlon federation.

In essence, the regulations create a four-year pathway for transgender women to compete at the elite level in the sport:

● The existing Age-Group Men’s category is renamed as the Age-Group Open category.

● Once an athlete has filed to re-classify from the men’s division to the women’s division, that athlete must meet the “[e]ligibility criteria of testosterone below 2.5nmol/L for 3 years while competing in the Open Category of TRI Age-Group races.”

● In year one, the athlete must monitor their own testosterone level, report it to World Triathlon and compete in at least two Age-Group Open events.

● In years two and three, testosterone levels must be measured by the athlete and the federation, and the athlete must compete in at least three Age-Group Open events each year.

● In year four, the athlete may compete at the Elite level in women’s races, but on a separate basis of “overall results” and will not be listed in the “women’s results.” World ranking points will only be assigned to women racers. Testing and monitoring requirements remain in place and the athlete must compete in a minimum of three races during the year.

● Once completed, “full eligibility rights are bestowed.”

Women who wish to transition as transgender men to the men’s category are required to file a declaration of a change of gender identity and are allowed to compete immediately.

The regulations, in accordance with the International Olympic Committee’s “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations,” make very clear that “[l]egal recognition of the athlete’s gender identity as the athlete’s sex” and/or “[s]urgical anatomical changes” are not required.

However, there is an “Expert Panel” involved, which is to ensure that the regulations have been followed, and “will assess cases referred to it by the Inclusion Officer to determine whether the Transgender Female Eligibility Conditions have been met (or, if not, then what else the athlete must do to satisfy those conditions).”

An “Expert Panel” is to be made up of “independent experts in the fields of medicine, law and human rights with appropriate knowledge and expertise.”

Several International Federations have banned all transgender movement from male to female if the athlete has entered male puberty. World Triathlon has not adopted this requirement, but offers a long – four-year – path to the women’s Elite division for those who are willing to maintain testosterone levels close to normal female levels for that extended period.

The World Tri regulations are somewhat unique in that multiple citations and references to documentation and scientific studies in the transgender athlete field are included. This is a help to anyone trying to understand the background of the position the federation has taken, and should be included in any such regulations by all International Federations.

Even so, do not be surprised if these regulations are attacked in one or more court systems by activists who believe anyone should be able to compete anywhere at any time. At present, such appeals have seen little success.

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FIGURE SKATING: Condolences from the Olympic Movement; six who were lost were from 2025 Worlds host The Skating Club of Boston

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ AA 5342 CRASH ≡

Condolences for those lost in the crash of American Airlines flight 5342 from Wichita on Wednesday came in from every corner of the Olympic Movement. In addition to the U.S. Figure Skating statement:

● International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (GER):

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic air accident in Washington DC. On behalf of the IOC, and personally, I extend our heartfelt sympathies to all those affected, which we understand may include Olympians, young athletes, and their support staff. Our thoughts are with all the victims, their families and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.”

Thoughts and prayers for those affected by the tragedy were shared during the IOC Presidential presentation follow-up with media by Prince Feisal Al Hussein (JOR), Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP) and Sebastian Coe (GBR).

● The International Skating Union said in a statement:

“The International Skating Union (ISU) and the global skating community are deeply shocked by the tragic accident involving an American Airlines flight in Washington, D.C. last night. We are heartbroken to learn that Figure Skaters, along with their families, friends, and coaches, are understood to be among those on board.

“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy. Figure skating is more than a sport – it’s a close-knit family—and we stand together. We remain in close contact with U.S. Figure Skating and offer our full support during this incredibly difficult time.”

ISU President Jae Youl Kim (KOR) added:

“Today, the world of Figure Skating is heartbroken. We share our deepest, most sincere condolences with the families and friends of all those who lost their lives in this terrible crash. To lose so many members of our community in this way brings sadness beyond words.”

A moment of silence was observed at the beginning of Thursday’s session of the European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn (EST).

● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee chief executive Sarah Hirshland:

“Today we join in mourning the profound loss of the passengers aboard Flight 5342 and all those impacted by this tragedy. We are devastated, and there are truly no words to capture the depth of our sorrow.

“Among those lost were talented athletes, dedicated coaches, and beloved family members from the U.S. Figure Skating community, all returning home from the National Development Camp. These Olympic hopefuls represented the bright future of Team USA, embodying the very essence of what it means to represent our country – perseverance, resilience and hope. They were remarkable young people and talents, passionately pursuing their dreams, and they will forever hold a cherished place in the Team USA family.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with their families, friends, and the communities that nurtured and supported them. We extend our sincerest condolences during this unimaginable time.”

● The Skating Club of Boston chief executive Doug Zeghibe told a morning news conference:

“Six is a horrific number for us. But we’re fortunate and grateful it wasn’t more than six. This will have long, reaching impacts for our skating community.”

Two club skaters, Spencer Lane and Jinna Han (both 16), and their mothers, Christine Lane and Jin Han, and coaches Vadim Naumov and Yevgeniya Shishkova (the 1994 World Pairs Champions for Russia) were killed in the crash.

Added Zeghibe: “I don’t think we’re ever going to forget them. That is for certain. How we commemorate them here we haven’t gotten to that point to discuss, but we certainly will. Just definitely very important and well loved members of our community.”

It was noted that The Skating Club of Boston is the host club for the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, to be held from 26-30 March at TD Garden.

Zeghibe added a sad note that this kind of loss has happened before:

“In 1961, the entire world team of U.S. Figure Skating, en route to the world championships in Prague, was lost in a plane crash in Belgium. Almost half of everybody on board that plane were with this club.”

That crash happened on 15 February and all 18 members of the U.S. team were lost.

“It had long-reaching implications for the skating club and for the sport in this country. Because when you lose coaches like this, you lose the future of the sport as well. It’s been a long time in redeveloping it. I personally feel that this club, The Skating Club of Boston, has just now almost 60 years later been coming out of the shadow of that 1961 crash. So this is particularly devastating.”

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TOKYO 2020: Dentsu fined ¥300 million for role in Tokyo Olympic bid-rigging scandal, but says it will appeal

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ TOKYO BID-RIGGING SCANDAL ≡

The iconic Japanese advertising agency Dentsu was fined ¥300 million (~$1.944 million U.S.) by the Tokyo District Court for its role in the test-event bid-rigging scandal with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizing committee.

Koji Hemmi, a former assistant director of the Dentsu sports division and one of the ringleaders of the bid-fixing project, received a sentence of two years in prison that was suspended for four years. Dentsu and Hemmi have both appealed.

The bid-rigging program has been a major stain on the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee and included a wide range of efforts:

● The one-time Deputy Executive Director of the Tokyo 2020 Games Operations Bureau, Yasuo Mori, and Hemmi were both arrested and charged with coordinating the bidding program for 26 test events for in 2018, which led to much larger contracts for venue management during the Tokyo Games.

The test-event contracts involved ¥538 million (about $3.95 million U.S.) and the Games venue management agreements were worth about ¥40 billion (about $293.6 million U.S.).

● Tokyo prosecutors, working in coordination with the Japan Fair Trade Commission, filed complaints against Dentsu, ad agencies Hakuhodo, Inc. and Tokyu Agency, Inc., and event management companies Cerespo Co., Fuji Creative Corporation and Same Two, Inc.

● In February 2023, Kyodo News reported that Dentsu Group President and chief executive Hiroshi Igarashi admitted to prosecutors that the company was responsible for rigging bids over contracts to plan and operate the pre-Games test events and then for venue management at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Verdicts and fines have already been announced against Hakuhodo (¥200 million) and Cerespo Co. (¥280 million). Multiple individuals have been convicted; all have received suspended sentences and most are appealing.

Kyodo reported on Thursday, that “Presiding Judge Kenji Yasunaga said companies running the test events were told they would likely be commissioned to manage the Games and that Dentsu was aware of this.” Dentsu said, in a statement, “The decision differs significantly from our claims. We will reassert our justifications in the appeal and request that the ruling be rectified.”

Mori, the organizing committee “inside man” on the contracts, was sentenced last December to two years in prison, suspended for four years.

The bid-rigging scandal is separate, but much larger than the bribery-for-sponsorship program allegedly run by former Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member Haruyuki Takahashi, also a former Dentsu senior director. His trial is continuing.

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