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LANE ONE: New high school participation numbers show first overall decline in 30 years

By
Rich Perelman
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It finally happened.

The U.S. National Federation of State High School Associations published its annual participation numbers for American high school sports for the 2018-19 academic year and for the first time in 30 years, the total number of athletes went down.

Not by a lot, but it went down:

● 2017-18: 7,980,886
● 2018-19: 7,937,491 (-0.54%)

The last time this happened was back in 1988-89, when the total number of participants slid from 5.275 million to 5.256 million. It stalled there for a couple of years, then moved up slowly from that level to almost eight million now.

Beyond the oddity of the change, there were some interesting aspects of these numbers to consider:

(1) Decreases in the total number of participants were seen in both boys and girls sports, also for the first time since 1988-89:

Boys:
● 2017-18: 4.566 million
● 2018-19: 4.535 million (-0.68%)

Girls:
● 2017-18: 3.415 million
● 2018-19: 3.403 million (-0.35%)

(2) Of the top 10 sports for boys, none changed between 2018 and 2019 and six of the 10 had small declines, except for 11-man football, which saw 30,829 less players.

● 1,006,013 ~ Football: DOWN 30,829
● 605,354 ~ Track & Field: UP 5,257
● 540,769 ~ Basketball: DOWN 10,604
● 482,740 ~ Baseball: DOWN 4,357
● 459,077 ~ Soccer: UP 2,715
● 269,295 ~ Cross Country: DOWN 800
● 247,441 ~ Wrestling: UP 1,877
● 159,314 ~ Tennis: UP 1,163
● 143,200 ~ Golf: DOWN 824
● 136,638 ~ Swimming & Diving: DOWN 2,297

Looking a little more deeply at football and basketball, the number of schools offering the sport still increased in 2018-19. Basketball is the leading sport in terms of the number of schools offering it and the number increased from 18,510 to 18,617 so only the number of players are down. In football, schools playing increased from 14,079 to 14,247, so again, only the number of players is down.

(3) In the girls division, seven of the top 10 sports showed decreases, with a big reduction in basketball:

● 488,267 ~ Track & Field: DOWN 325
● 452,808 ~ Volleyball: UP 6,225
● 399,067 ~ Basketball: DOWN 13,340
● 391,105 ~ Soccer: UP 623
● 362.038 ~ Softball: DOWN 5,823
● 219,345 ~ Cross Country: DOWN 4,173
● 189,436 ~ Tennis: DOWN 1,332
● 173,088 ~ Swimming & Diving: DOWN 2,506
● 161,358 ~ Competitive Spirit: DOWN 1,311
● 99,750 ~ Lacrosse: UP 2,846

Checking the schools numbers, those offering basketball went up from 18,171 to 18,210, track & field went up from 17,012 from 16,951 and volleyball went up from 16,434 to 16,572. So again, the number of players went down, not the number of schools participating.

(Those wondering about gymnastics for girls, this is a minor sport at the high school level, with competition in just 27 states and 18,658 athletes; the action in this sport is in clubs rather than in schools.)

If you care to look for it, there is plenty of “analysis” about the decrease shown in these numbers, but it’s only one year, after 30 straight years of increases for the overall total and for both boys and girls. But there are some observations worth making:

● The most striking decrease was in the overall total in girls sports, after the enormous expansion in the Title IX era. Seeing basketball participation recede by 13,340 is surprising, but the continued increase in volleyball is not. Track & field was about the same and at close to a half-million athletes, has been the leader in girls sports for a long time.

● The boys numbers showed a decrease in football of 2.9% from 2017-18 and that’s significant. The question of why is not answered in the statistics and to pin the change on one area is foolish. What is not well understood is that at the high school level, football is an expensive sport to fund and squad sizes may be limited in some districts, which would make an impact. There is no doubt that player safety is playing a role, but a lot more data is needed to understand how that is impacting playing across 14,247 schools nationwide.

● This is the most important number of all: an astonishing 47.2% of all U.S. high school students – 7.94 million out of 16.81 million – played interscholastic sports at the high school level in the 2018-19 school year.

That nearly half of all students are involved in sports is remarkable and a testament to the value of sports to the students themselves.

There is more work needed to understand what the 2018-19 participation statistics mean, and we won’t really know much for another couple of years. Certainly, there are questions about football for boys and basketball for both boys and girls, but with so many young people in sports, it’s place in our society is looking good.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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BEACH VOLLEYBALL Preview: Vikings Mol & Sorum try to repeat in World Tour Final in Rome

By
Rich Perelman
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Beach superstars Christian Sorum (left) and Anders Mol of Norway (Photo: FIVB)

The longest season in the history of FIVB beach volleyball finally comes to a close this weekend with the World Tour Finals at the Foto Italico in Rome, Italy. Started way back in August of 2018 (!), the top teams in the world will face each other one more time … before starting the 2019-20 season.

The top seeds:

● Men:
1. Anders Mol/Christian Sorum (NOR) ~ Defending champions; seven titles this season
2. Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Oleg Stoyanovskiy (RUS) ~ 2019 World Champions
3. Alison Cerutti/Alvaro Filho (BRA) ~ Two wins, four medals this season
4. Evandro Goncalves Oliveira/Bruno Oscar Schmidt (BRA) ~ One win, three medals
5. Grzegorz Fijalek/Michal Bryl (POL) ~ Two silvers, two bronzes this season

Also seeded in the top 10 are Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser of the U.S. at seventh.

Mol and Sorum confirmed their world-class status by winning the World Tour Final in 2018, defeating Fijalek and Bryl in the final. The Norwegians have been sensational this season, winning the Las Vegas Open, Itapema Open, Jinjiang Open, Ostrava Open, Gstaad Major, the Tokyo Open and the Vienna Major (7) in addition to a bronze medal at the World Championships. In their 11 World Tour events as a pair together, Mol and Sorum are 61-4.

They were defeated by Germans Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler in the World Championships in Hamburg (seeded ninth in Rome) and had to settle for the silver medal. But they are clearly the favorites.

● Women:
1. Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes (CAN) ~ 2019 World Champions
2. Alix Klineman/April Ross (USA) ~ 2019 Worlds silver medalists
3. Maria Antonelli/Carol Salgado (BRA) ~ Two silvers, one bronze this season
4. Agatha Bednarczuk/Duda Lisboa (BRA) ~ Two wins, four medals this season
5. Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli (SUI) ~ Moscow Open winners in mid-August

The U.S. has two more seeded teams in the top 10: Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil at no. 8 and Kelley Larsen and Emily Stockman at no. 9.

Pavan and Humana-Paredes scored two major victories at the World Championships and the Vienna Major in about a month. Klineman and Ross won three tournaments and won five total medals so far. At the Worlds final, the Canadians squeezed out a two-set victory, both by 23-21 scores and Klineman and Ross want to reverse that.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will be on Saturday (7th) and the medal matches on Sunday (8th). Look for results here.

FOOTBALL: Lloyd scores twice as U.S. women cruise to 3-0 win over Portugal in Victory Tour friendly

By
Rich Perelman
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Two goals for U.S. star Carli Lloyd in the U.S.'s 3-0 win over Portugal in St. Paul (Photo: Agencia Brasilia via Wikimedia Commons)

The Victory Tour is now 60% complete and the U.S. – the FIFA Women’s World Cup champs – has won all three and outscored its opponents by a combined 10-0. The latest was a 3-0 win over an overmatched Portugal team on Tuesday evening.

The capacity crowd of 19,600 at Allianz Field in St. Paul was noisy from the start, but while the U.S. dominated possession, the shots did not come easily. In the 18th minute, U.S. striker Carli Lloyd missed a volley to the right side of goal off an Abby Dahlkemper pass that could easily have been the opening score.

In the 22nd minute, a terrible Portuguese clearance led to a Lloyd shot and a save by Ines Pereira, but the ball came loose in front of the goal and Pereira had to come out and save another shot from Jessica McDonald. The ball squirted to the side and with Pereira out in front after the second save, Lloyd buried it for a 1-0 lead, her 116th goal for the U.S.

As with the 4-0 loss in Philadelphia, Portugal could not keep possession even into the midfield and the game was essentially played with the U.S. on constant offense. Pereira, however, was impressive, notably in the 29th minute, where she made back-to-back saves vs. Sam Mewis and Tobin Heath.

Heath then ran into the box in the 30th minute and was tripped by defender Ana Borges, resulting in a (not very clear) penalty, which Lloyd converted with ease for a 2-0 advantage.

The half ended that way, with the U.S. controlling 63% of the possession and out-shooting Portugal, 14-1.

The U.S. continued pressing in the second half, even with multiple substitutions and Pereira was up to the challenge of a rocket from Christen Press from right in front of goal in the 52nd minute and a subsequent header from McDonald hit the crossbar.

Despite the pressure, the U.S. didn’t add another goal until the 83rd minute. A Christen Press corner kick sailed right into the middle of the field and Lindsey Horan ran toward the box right in front of goal and headed the ball in, high and away from Pereira.

The final numbers showed a 62-38% possession edge for the U.S. and a 21-1 shots advantage. Pereira ended with seven saves and U.S. keeper Alyssa Naeher probably had to stifle a yawn at times.

With the victory, U.S. coach Jill Ellis equaled the records for coaching wins by the late Tony DiCicco with her 105th victory. DiCicco, the coach of the famed 1999 World Cup winners, had a U.S. national team record of 105-8-8 from 1995-99; Ellis has compiled a 105-7-18 mark from 2014-19, with two World Cup titles.

The Victory Tour has two more legs, on 3 and 6 October against South Korea.

ATHLETICS: More trouble for Gatlin, slow times for Francis and Felix in Zagreb World Challenge

By
Rich Perelman
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Justin Gatlin (Photo: Augustas Didzgalvis via Wikimedia Commons)

/Updated with results from Sunday’s Gala dei Castelli/The 69th edition of the Hanzekovic Memorial in Zagreb (CRO) was selected as a measuring-stick meet by several American stars looking to gauge their fitness with less than four weeks remaining before the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha.

There’s good reason to worry.

In the men’s 100 m that concluded the meet, reigning World Champion Justin Gatlin registered his second bad race out of three, finishing fourth in 10.29, while fellow American Mike Rodgers cruised to a clear win in 10.04. With a slight headwind of 0.1 m/s against him, Rodgers won by 0.14 against Canada’s Aaron Brown (10.18) with Demek Kemp of the U.S. third (10.28).

This follows up Gatlin’s disappointing showing at the Weltklasse Zurich meet last week in the first Diamond League final. He looked great for 75 m, but then gave ground as Noah Lyles of the U.S. won in 9.98 and Gatlin was fourth in 10.08 (and Rodgers eighth in 10.16). Gatlin did win on Sunday in Bellinzona (ITA) in 9.97, with Rodgers at 10.00.

The expected clash between Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser, undefeated over the past year in the women’s 400 m, and Americans Phyllis Francis and Allyson Felix never materialized as Naser skipped the race. But the Americans ran and Francis, the reigning World Champion, won in an uninspiring 51.02 with Felix second at 51.67. Neither time is a season’s best. American Jaide Stepter was fourth in 52.03.

Other highlights:

● Nijel Amos (BOT) was a no-show in the men’s 800 m, won by Amel Tuka (BIH) in 1:44.78 over Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski (1:45.28), with Americans Isaiah Harris (1:45.65) and Brandon Kidder (1:45.91) in fifth and sixth.

● Kate Grace scored a nice win in the women’s 1,500 in 4:07.91, beating Ethiopia’s Axumawit Embaye – who has run 3:59.02 this year – in second at 4:08.99.

● U.S. hurdlers went 1-2-4 in the women’s 100 m hurdles, with Sharika Nelvis getting her first win in 2 1/2 months in 12.73 over Christina Clemons (12.82) with Queen Claye fourth (12.88).

● The home fans cheered for both of Croatia’s stars in the long throws. Two-time World Champion Sandra Perkovic won the discus with a good throw of 67.78 m (222-4) in the fifth round and 2016 Olympic javelin champ Sara Kolak had a season best by more than six feet at 66.42 m (217-11), setting a meet record and moving to no. 6 on the 2019 world list.

The U.S. had another field event win, with Chris Benard taking the triple jump at 16.97 m (55-8 1/4). Complete results are here.

The late dates for the 2019 World Championships in Qatar have athletes looking for more late-season competitions than usual and one of the beneficiaries was the Gala dei Castelli in Bellinzona (ITA) on Sunday (1st). Among the highlights were four American wins:

• Gatlin won the 100 m in a good 9.97 from Mike Rodgers (10.00) with zero wind;

• LaShawn Merritt, who hadn’t been seen in a 400 m since 2017, won the 400 m in a modest 45.82;

• Ryan Crouser showed that he’s in great shape, winning the shot put at 22.28 m (73-1 1/4), ahead of Chuk Enekwechi (NGR), who reached out to 21.44 (71-4 1/4).

• Vaulter Katie Nageotte won at 4.77 m (15-7 3/4), ahead of Sandi Morris (4.70 m/15-7) and Emily Grove, who cleared 4.63 m (15-2 1/4).

BASKETBALL: U.S. somehow survives, beats Turkey, 93-92, to clinch second-round berth

By
Rich Perelman
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Myles Turner celebrates while Semih Erden of Turkey can't believe the U.S. defeated Turkey, 92-93 in overtime (Photo: FIBA)

“The game was in our hands; we gave them the game.”

That comment from Turkish forward Furkan Korkmaz summed up the monumental struggle that was the game of the tournament thus far in the 2019 FIBA World Cuo.

The favored U.S. team shot out to a 15-point lead at 41-26 in the second quarter and was on the edge of deciding the game in the first half. But the Turks scored 12 in a row to close to 41-38 and the American lead at halftime was only 47-42.

Trouble for the U.S.? Yes.

A steady lead in the third quarter evaporated and the U.S. was up only 65-61 after three quarters. In the fourth, Turkey tied it at 71-71 with 6:01 to go on a Melih Mahmutoglu layup. The game was tied again at 74-74 and then at 79-79 with 57 seconds to go as both sides found it difficult to score.

Then a Donovan Mitchell pass was intercepted by Turkey’s Ersan Ilyasova and although Cedi Osman missed a jumper, Ilyasova tipped in the loose rebound for an 81-79 lead with 12.3 seconds to go.

A Khris Middleton try from three-point range missed, but Kemba Walker grabbed the rebound and Jason Tatum was then fouled by Osman – body contact as his shot was being taken – on a desperation three-point try with 0.1 seconds to go. Tatum made the first, missed the second and made the third to tie to game at 81-81.

In the overtime, Turkey ran out to an 89-84 lead with 3:20 to go, but Walker scored five straight points and Tatum added a layup for a 91-89 U.S. lead. Walker missed a three-point try that would have iced the game, then Osman drove for a layin and was fouled; he made the free throw for a 92-91 lead with 50 seconds left.

The U.S.’s Joe Harris missed a layin try off a drive with 35 seconds to go, but then Turkey’s Scott Wilbekin gave the U.S. another chance with an offensive foul with 14 seconds to play. But Myles Turner mishandled a pass and Dogus Balbay stole the ball and Harris fouled him, giving Balbay two free throws with nine seconds left.

He missed both.

Turkey had the ball and Marcus Smart fouled Osman immediately, sending him to the line for two more foul shots. He missed both and Tatum took the rebound, but fell with an injured ankle and had to leave the game, replaced by Middleton.

Middleton then drove to the basket and was fouled. He made both for a 92-93 U.S. lead with 2.1 seconds to go. Ilyasova missed a fallaway three-pointer at the buzzer and the U.S. escaped, 93-92.

Wow.

“It was anybody’s game,” said U.S. coach Gregg Popovich. “We will accept the win, but it was anybody’s to win. The team that we played tonight again showed its experience and the improvement we have to make execution-wise. We’re not there yet. We’re still trying to get better at that. But, playing a fine team like that gives us another good example of how we can be when everybody knows what they’re supposed to be doing on the court. So, I give them a lot of praise for what I saw.”

Middleton led the U.S. with 15 points in 20 minutes of play; Walker had 14 and Turner, Tatum and Harris each had 11. The U.S. shot just 35% from the floor, but did convert 25-32 free throws.

The Turks got 23 points from Milwaukee Bucks forward Ilyasova, 18 from guard Mahmutoglu and 16 from Philadelphia 76ers guard Korkmaz. Turkey shot 44% from the floor, but the U.S. had a slight rebounding edge at 51-48.

The win sends the U.S. on to the second round at 2-0 in Group E. Turkey will now play the Czech Republic on Thursday for the right to advance.

In the other games, Brazil upset Greece, 79-78, in Group F to advance as Giannis Antetokounmpo was held to 13 points on 3-7 shooting while Anderson Varejo had 23 points for the Brazilians. France and the Dominican Republic both won in Group G for 2-0 records and both will advance to the second round; same for Lithuania and Australia in Group H as Canada fell to 0-2 and will not advance.

TSX DAILY: Iran’s Mollaei not seeking German asylum (yet); Coleman cleared of doping issue and six teams on to FIBA World Cup second round

By
Rich Perelman
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International Judo Federation President Marius Vizer (AUT)

≡ TSX DAILY ~ 3 September 2019 ≡

| 1. |  LEADING OFF: Judo chief Vizer in public Q&A while Mollaei is in own German apartment, not seeking asylum

The drama over Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei continued on Monday, with comments from all sides in the aftermath of the end of the 2019 World Judo Championships in Tokyo, Japan:

● Mollaei spoke over the weekend with a London-based Iranian media agency and The Jerusalem Post reported:

“While declaring his love for Iran, Mollaei also expressed regret that he may not be able to compete for Iran. Mollaei also noted that he has had a visa and a residence in Germany and was not seeking asylum, saying that reports to that effect were fabricated.

“‘I’m not moving to Germany,’ said Mollaei. ‘I did not ask for asylum, and I’m not a refugee. I own an apartment in Germany.’”

● International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer (AUT: pictured above) answered questions for an hour over Twitter using the hashtag #AskVizer and gave some remarkable answers. On the subject of Iran, he promised – as he did previously – “Soon the procedure against Iranian Judo Federation will start and we will act accordingly to our rules, judo principles and Olympic Charter.”

There were also complaints about anti-Israel behavior by Algeria’s Fethi Nourine, who didn’t show up for the fight against Israel’s Tohar Butbul in the third round of the ‘73 kg class. Vizer promised that this and allegations of bad behavior vs. 2018 World Champion Guram Tushishvili (GEO) in his losing bronze-medal bout with Roy Meyer (NED) would be heard by the IJF’s Ethics Commission.

● In Iran, the head of the National Olympic Committee, Reza Salehi Amiri, said “Saeid Mollaei can go back to Iran without any problems and we welcome him with open arms.”

So far, Mollaei is staying put in Germany; more details here.

While the ultimate resolution of all of the issues raised by the drama surrounding Mollaei is in the future, Vizer’s public and forthright approach to Iran’s treatment of its 2018 World Champion was astonishing. He and his federation rushed to Mollaei’s assistance; if you haven’t done so already, please see this IJF-produced recap of what happened to the Iranian in Tokyo.

If there ever was a demonstration – taking the IJF at its word – of “athlete-centric” behavior by an international federation, this was it. And the drama is continuing …

| 2. | ATHLETICS: USADA drops complaint vs. Coleman on technical grounds; big meet in Croatia Tuesday

The United States Anti-Doping Agency withdrew its proposed anti-doping violation against U.S. 100 m champion Christian Coleman on Monday on technical grounds after conferring with the World Anti-Doping Agency on a section of its World Anti-Doping Code procedures.

In the simplest terms, Coleman (pictured) was charged with three failures to properly update his “whereabouts” within a 12-month period, on 6 June 2018, 16 January 2019 and 26 April 2019. However, according to the WADA procedures for such violations, a missing “whereabouts” filing is charged as of the first day of the calendar in which it happened, since the violation is against the plan filed for that quarter.

So, Coleman’s 6 June 2018 filing failure is charged as a failure on 1 April 2018 and therefore only two filing failures took place within any 12-month period which would create an anti-doping violation (by one day!). So, Coleman is free and clear unless the Athletics Integrity Unit or WADA itself wants to follow up with its own complaint against Coleman.

The USADA noted for the record that it tested Coleman 20 times in the 20 months in the 2018-19 period thus far; this does not count additional tests Coleman would have had at foreign competitions such as Diamond League meets during this time. More details here.

While the proposed violation was technical – no one has accused Coleman of taking performance-enhancing drugs – and the resolution was on technical grounds, the shrieking over favoritism started immediately. Renee Anne Shirley, the former head of the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission wrote on Twitter:

“I’m like a broken record: The global AD system led by WADA is broken! A sham! Throw the book @ small fry. Stretch the definition of ‘athlete’ to ridiculous lengths to pad +ves but allow creative lawyering/move goalposts/don’t make damning info public re ‘stars’!

“Tired of it all!”

The next move is actually up to WADA, as to whether it will change its procedures concerning this interpretation of its own regulations.

Although not a Diamond League meet, a pretty good meet is coming Tuesday at the Hanzekovic Memorial in Zagreb, Croatia, an IAAF World Challenge meet. Among the highlights:

● Men’s 100 m with Americans Justin Gatlin (2017 World Champion) and Michael Rodgers (2019 Pan American Games gold medalist);

● Men’s 800 m, with world leader Nijel Amos (BOT) vs. Rio Olympic silver winner Taoufik Makhloufi (ALG) and Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski;

● Women’s 400 m, with all three medalists back from the 2017 Worlds: winner Phyllis Francis (USA), silver winner Salwa Eid Naser (BRN), who has a 12-meet unbeaten streak in the event and American Allyson Felix, in her first race since the U.S. Nationals in late July.

The biggest cheers will likely be for two-time World Champion Sandra Perkovic (CRO: pictured), trying to work back into shape to challenge for another world title in Doha.

In the shot put held in the city center on Monday – in rainy conditions – New Zealand’s Tom Walsh was a clear winner at 21.98 m (72-1 1/2), ahead of Americans Darrell Hill (21.50 m/70-6 1/2) and Joe Kovacs (2.22 m/69-7 1/2). Look for results here.

South Africa’s 2016 Olympic and 2017 World Champion in the 400 m, Wayde van Niekirk declared himself out of the forthcoming World Championships in Doha as he continues to recover from surgery on his right knee following an injury suffered in a celebrity touch-rugby game in 2017.

| 3. | BASKETBALL: Six teams clinch second-round berths in FIBA men’s World Cup

Through the first two games in the four groups, Poland, Argentina, Russia, Spain, Serbia and Italy are through to the second round. The key game on Monday was in Group C, with Spain’s 73-63 win over Puerto Rico (guard Sergio Liull pictured); the Puerto Ricans and Tunisia will play on the 4th for the right to go to the second round. The standings through two games in groups A-D:

● Group A: 1. Poland (2-0); 2. China (1-1); 3. Venezuela (1-1); 4. Ivory Coast (0-2)

● Group B: 1. Argentina (2-0); 2. Russia (2-0); 3. Nigeria (0-2); 4. South Korea (0-2)

● Group C: 1. Spain (2-0); 2. Puerto Rico (1-1); 3. Tunisia (1-1); 4. Iran (0-2)

● Group D: 1. Serbia (2-0); 2. Italy (2-0); 3. Angola (0-2); 4. Philippines (0-2)

The U.S. plays Turkey in Group E on Tuesday morning with both teams at 1-0.The toughest group, Group H, has first-game winners Australia playing Senegal and Lithuania playing Canada.  Look for scores here.

| 4. | BOXING: IOC sets qualifying competitions, while AIBA continues to implode

The International Olympic Committee announced the four continental qualifying competitions for the 2020 Olympic tournament last week and the final qualifying event. The schedule:

● Asia/Oceania: 3-14 February in Wuhan (CHN)
● Africa: 20-29 February in Dakar (SEN)
● Europe: 13-23 March in London (GBR)
● Americas: 26 March-3 April in Buenos Aires (ARG)
● Final Qualifier: 13-24 May 2020 in Paris (FRA)

While the qualifiers were being announced, the suspended International Boxing Association (AIBA) is readying its own 2019 World Championships for men that starts Saturday and runs through the 21st in Yekaterinburg (RUS).

The AIBA Executive Committee met in Istanbul (TUR) last Wednesday (28th). Interim President Mohamed Moustahsane (MAR) wrote in a Web post that “we hear a lot of speculations toward potential bankruptcy of AIBA and on this I would like to state that this is not an option to consider, we are working on restructuring AIBA and we have options on the table to make AIBA sustainable. The Executive Committee remain to work as a united team to overcome the problem that AIBA is facing.”

The Around the Rings Web site reported that the meeting didn’t go smoothly. Expected to resign, Moustahsane remained in office and while the election of a new president was supposed to be at a November Congress, that has been put off for some months. Executive Director Tom Virgets (USA) was terminated – he had offered to do so after AIBA was suspended, but was asked to stay on – and the AIBA office may have no staff left.

The World Championships is being run by the Russian boxing federation.

| 5. | ICE HOCKEY: NHL signals it will continue with current labor agreement to 2021-22

The National Hockey League passed on its opportunity to cut the current labor agreement with the NHL Players Association short and will let it continue through to the end of the 2021-22 season.

The league’s option passed on 1 September; the players now have the right to do the same, with a deadline of 15 September.

Allowing the current labor agreement to continue in its existing format will cover the period of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN). The NHL famously skipped allowing its players to participate in the 2018 Winter Games in Korea, but with China an important future market for the league, the attitude might be different. NHL officials said no decision has been made on Olympic participation as yet.

| 6. | SCOREBOARD: Brady Ellison wins again; Italy takes men’s volleyball U-19 title

More highlights from this past weekend included yet another title for World Champion Brady Ellison, (pictured) this time a successful defense of his USA Archery National Field Championship. Held in Ashland, Ohio, he won easily, scoring 777 points to 684 for Josef Scarboro. The women’s Recurve title was won by Tatyana Muntyan, with 654 points.

In volleyball, Italy won the men’s FIVB World U-19 Championships, defeating Russia, 3-1, in the final in Tunisia. Argentina won the bronze medal and Italian Outside Hitter Tommaso Rinaldi was named Most Valuable Player. The U.S. finished second in its group (2-2), then lost in the Round of 16 and finished in 15th place.

| 7. | COMING ATTRACTIONS: Six World Cup and World Champs finals this week

It’s the championship season for summer sports and this week’s program includes
major events:

● Archery: World Archery World Cup Final in Moscow (RUS);
● Athletics: IAAF Diamond League finals in Brussels (BEL);
● Beach Volleyball: FIVB World Tour Finals in Rome (ITA);
● Boxing: AIBA men’s World Championships in Yekaterinburg (RUS);
● Canoe-Kayak: ICF Slalom World Cup Final in Prague (CZE);
● Surfing: World Surfing Games in Miyazaki (JPN).

There is also the third leg of the U.S. women’s football team’s “Victory Tour” coming Tuesday evening vs. Korea in St. Paul, Minnesota, a men’s “friendly” vs. Mexico in New Jersey, and many more events.

STAT PACK: Results for the week of 26 August-2 September 2019

By
Rich Perelman
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The Stat Pack: a summary of results of international Grand Prix, World Cup and World Championships events, plus U.S. domestic events and Pan American championships events of note.

In this week’s issue are reports on 12 events in nine sports:

● Archery: USA Archery National Field Championships in Ashland
● Athletics: IAAF Diamond League 13: Weltklasse Zurich
● Cycling: MWT: Bretagne Classic-Ouest-France in France
● Cycling: WWT: Grand Prix de Plouay in France
● Cycling: UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne
● Gymnastics: FIG Artistic World Challenge Cup 4 in Mersin
● Gymnastics: FIG Rhythmic World Challenge Cup 3 in Kazan
● Judo: IJF World Championships in Tokyo
● Rowing: FISA World Championships in Linz-Ottensheim
● Sailing: World Sailing World Cup 2020 Series I in Enoshima
● Swimming: FINA Marathon World Series in Ohrid
● Triathlon: ITU World Series Grand Final in Lausanne

plus our calendar of upcoming events through 6 October. Click below for the PDF:

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ATHLETICS Panorama: Coleman cleared of doping violation; “alarm bells” on transgender athlete

By
Rich Perelman
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2019 World 100 m Champion Christian Coleman (USA)

“USADA announced today that its has withdrawn its charge that USA Track & Field athlete Christian Coleman committed a violation of the whereabouts rules after receiving guidance from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) …”

With that statement, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency removed the cloud hanging over world 100 m leader Coleman of the U.S. and has cleared his way to competing in the IAAF World Championships at the end of this month.

What happened? It’s technical, but here it is:

● Coleman was charged with “whereabouts failure” – not reporting where he was if different from his quarterly filing – on 6 June 2018, 16 January 2019 and 26 April 2019.

● That’s three filing failures within 11 months, grounds for reporting an anti-doping violations, suitable for a suspension. The USADA made such a report and Coleman asked for an expedited hearing on 4 September.

● Coleman’s contention was that the missed 6 June 2018 filing – where a Doping Control Officer was present to take a sample, but Coleman was not where he was supposed to be – had to be charged as a failure on 1 April 2018, based on the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency. That would stretch his three “whereabouts failures” beyond the 12-month period used for assessing penalties.

● “USADA consulted with WADA to receive an official interpretation of the relevant Comment in the [International Standard for Testing and Investigations]. This interpretation was received on Friday, August 30, 2019, and was that the Filing Failure which USADA had recorded in June 2018, should relate back to April 1, 2018, the first day of the quarter in which the failure to update occurred.”

● Thus, USADA has withdrawn its complaint, but the case could be taken up by the IAAF’s Athletics Integrity Unit or WADA itself.

The USADA also noted that “In 2018-19, Coleman he has provided his Whereabouts information by the start of each quarter and has been tested by USADA on 20 separate occasions.”

That’s a lot of testing, but Coleman escaped his sloppy filing practices on a technicality. But rules are rules and USADA hardly decided to let the case slip, having asked WADA for its view on the rule involved.

It’s also noteworthy that Coleman has been tested 20 times by USADA in 20 months, and certainly more by others in international competitions. And he will be tested again – multiple times, no doubt – before and during the Worlds on Doha.

The African Games have concluded in Rabat (MAR), and while no new world-leading marks were reported, there was some important action there:

● Nigeria’s Raymond Ekevwo runs for the University of Florida and started the year with a 100 m best of 10.35. He ran 10.28 at the Florida Relays and then suddenly improved to 10.02 for second at the SEC Championships, but failed to get out of the NCAA East Regional.

Now he shows up at the African Games and runs 10.20, 10.26 and 9.96 (!) to win the 100 m and is suddenly (?) a contender for honors at the World Championships. He beat Arthur Cisse (CIV), who ran 9.97 and fellow Nigerian Usheoritse Itsekiri (10.02).

● In the women’s sprints, Cote d’Ivoire’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou won the 100 m in 11.09 as expected, but what about Gina Bass from Gambia in second in 11.13 (national record)? Bass then won the 200 m in 22.58, with Ta Lou third! Another one to watch on Doha.

Steeplechase fans will note that Kenya’s Ben Kigen won in 8:12.39 over Getnet Wale (ETH: 8:14.06) and Morocco’s own Soufiane El Bakkali (8:19.45).

The outstanding Athletics International newsletter (inquiries here) carried this note, reprinted in its entirety:

“A final year student at the University of Montana has pbs of 1:55.23 for 800m, 3:50.19 for 1500m and 14:38.80 for 5000m. What’s so significant about that? Because the runner in question, now going under the name of June Eastwood, is transgender who has recently transitioned to female and undergone testosterone suppression treatment. If she, formerly a member of the university men’s team, reproduces times anything like those it will rock the sport to its foundations. From being an unexceptional male runner she would instantly become one of the world’s elite. That 1500m mark is just 0.12 outside Genzene Dibaba’s world record while the 800m time is less than a second away from Caster Semenya’s best. Alarm bells are ringing.”

As Jonathan Eastwood, he placed seventh in the 2018 Big Sky 1,500 m and 12th in 2017. He had a best of 4:22.66 for the mile indoors in 2016, when he placed ninth in the Big Sky Indoor Championships.

The conventional thinking is that the IAAF’s female-eligibility regulations would be about Semenya and Francine Niyonsaba (BDI). But this may be the real test, especially at 5,000 m, where the IAAF’s regulations do not apply – only from 400 m to the mile – and the question of transgender performance is largely unknown.

Eastwood – now a redshirt senior at Montana – competed last Saturday in women’s cross country at the Clash of the Inland Northwest meet, finishing seventh in 14:33.0 over 4 km. So let’s hold back on the bells right now, but stay tuned.

JUDO Panorama: Amazing #AskVizer session, Mollaei not asking for asylum in Germany

By
Rich Perelman
-
International Judo Federation President Marius Vizer (AUT)

A day following the close of the 2019 World Judo Championships in Tokyo, Japan, International Judo Federation chief Marius Vizer (AUT) took questions for an hour in an open session on Twitter under the hashtag #AskVizer.

It was a pretty remarkable, if somewhat chaotic session; here are some of the highlights, stripped down to inquiries and replies without all of the Twitter trappings (you can go to the linked discussion for the actual Tweets; some obvious typos have been cleaned up for readability):

● On the status of the Iranian federation in light of the threats made against 2018 World Champion Saeid Mollaei and his subsequent losses in the 81 kg division, Vizer’s answers to essentially the same question included:

“We are starting the procedures after #JudoWorlds and we will act accordingly but it’s as well a legal procedure that has to be followed.”

“Soon the procedure against Iranian Judo Federation will start and we will act accordingly to our rules, judo principles and Olympic Charter.”

“We will start the procedure and for the time being direct you to our release on the subject: https://ijf.org/news/show/the-true-story-of-a-fight-for-life. And we will apply the rules.”

“First we will solve the situation of Mollaei, after we will deal case-by-case. Our top priority is always to protect our athletes.”

● Concerning Mollaei personally, Vizer noted:

“At the moment he is in Germany and he is following the respective procedures.”

“The IJF and the full community are supporting him. The IJF publishing his interview is aimed at protecting him and his family.”

Another comment noted that “More Iranian athletes will suffer the same if you don’t take action against this hostage taking..I hope other sports federations act on this too, because it’s not just about judo.”

● On a side note concerning Iran, another plea came for help not only with judo, but also with football:

“Thank you sir, but we also have another problem which is women can not watch any men’s matches and can not enter any stadium. Please be our voice. We are really appreciated. #AskVizer”

Vizer’s reply was “We will soon solve the problem with Iran.”

● Iran wasn’t the only country to keep its athletes from competing with Israelis. A couple of Tweets commented like this:

“We have been reading a lot about the drama around Saeid Mollaei, but there was no comment from IJF about Fethi Nourine, the Algerian Judoka who didn’t show up for the fight against Tohar Butbul [73 kg]. Are you going to sanction the Algerian federation for political boycott?

Answer from Vizer: “The Algerian case will be as well a case of the ethics commission.”

● Asked if the IJF isn’t – in fact – powerless since Iran committed to non-discrimination in May and then pressured Mollaei to withdraw or lose, Vizer answered:

“We are not powerless at all because we were first IF to sign such an agreement. We give them the chance to follow it. It’s not happened & we’ll act accordingly.”

● Bad behavior was not confined to Iran and Algeria. Consider this inquiry:

“We all saw very shameful fact when World Champ [Guram] Tushishvili [GEO] said ‘f*** your mother’ during the match (Mayer-Tushishvili 3:41). An appropriate sanction is for it. What will be IJF’s answer? Are you going to hide the fact? or you’ll follow [the IJF] charter?”

Answer: “We will turn to our IJF Ethics Commission and follow the charter of judo.”

● Vizer was also asked about support for judo in Nigeria and gave a fairly amazing answer:

Question: “[H]ave the IJF supported Nigeria Judo Federation with cash or equipments in the last 6 years?”

Answer: “We have supported them but the problem of the Nigerian Judo is that they are sending visa applications to different sports events for a lot of people which are not at the level of the IJF tour & not necessarily traveling with sporting intentions.”

This was a remarkable session, not only for its timing, but also for 60-year-old Vizer’s candor. It’s hard to see any of the IF chiefs for Athletics (Sebastian Coe), Aquatics (Julio Maglione) or Gymnastics (Morinari Watanabe) doing anything like this, let along with such forthrightness.

A Sunday story in The Jerusalem Post noted that Mollaei is not seeking asylum in Germany.

Quoting an interview Mollaei gave to a London-based Iranian media agency, the story explained:

“While declaring his love for Iran, Mollaei also expressed regret that he may not be able to compete for Iran. Mollaei also noted that he has had a visa and a residence in Germany and was not seeking asylum, saying that reports to that effect were fabricated.

“‘I’m not moving to Germany,’ said Mollaei. ‘I did not ask for asylum, and I’m not a refugee. I own an apartment in Germany.’”

The story also quoted Muki, reached in Tokyo at the end of the World Championships. The new World Champion was optimistic about the future:

“I think that we are living in a time where there are many changes that are going on in the Middle East. Back in 2014, everyone thought that we wouldn’t be able to go to Abu Dhabi and compete. But the following year, in 2015, we were there, and I won a bronze medal, although we didn’t have our flag represented. In 2018, when we returned to Abu Dhabi and we not only were able to display the Israeli flag, but I won the gold medal and Hatikvah was played.

“Judo is not only a sport that can bring about the normalization of relations with Iran, as we saw in Abu Dhabi, but we also saw that they really like us and they don’t hate us. The Iranian government is extreme.

“I want to be an ambassador of peace between Israel and Iran. I have two dreams. One is to win the gold medal at the Olympics. But I also dream to face Mollaei, and it doesn’t matter who wins. I want to shake his hand, give him a hug. This way, we will not only show honor for each other, but together we can show that sport is above everything else.”

TSX DAILY: Iranian hatred of Israel sends its judo world champ to Germany; U.S. wins FIBA World Cup opener & U.S.’s Katie Zaferes is triathlon world champ!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Iran's 2018 World Judo Champion Saeid Mollaei in happier days (Photo: IJF)

≡ TSX DAILY ~ 2 September 2019 ≡

| 1. |  LANE ONE:  Iran’s policy vs. Israel costs it a World Champion as Mollaei heads to Germany

Far from being a refuge from society, sport reflects it. On the local, national and international level, sporting events demonstrate culture, interests and values in both the competitors and fans. For the Islamic Republic of Iran, nothing is more important that its 40-year campaign of hate against the state of Israel.

That became a central force in the amazing drama at the World Judo Championships taking place in Tokyo, Japan, the site of the 2020 Olympic Games. Iran had sent small delegations of four jukoda to the 2017 Worlds and three last year, but sent only one in 2019: 81 kg World Champion Saeid Mollaei.

He was seeded first, just ahead of rising star Sagi Muki of Israel. And as the tournament progressed, it became clear that the two were headed for a meeting in the championship final.

The International Judo Federation had been pressuring Iran to stop its recurrent pattern of having its judoka either forfeit their matches against Israeli opponents, or worse, lose matches so that they would not face an Israeli. In May, a letter from the national judo federation in Iran and the country’s National Olympic Committee committed to respecting the non-discrimination requirements of the IJF and the International Olympic Committee. When news reports that Iran’s policy had not changed appeared in July, the IJF re-posted the letter on its Web site.

At the Worlds, Mollaei was in fact pressured to withdraw from the tournament, but refused. He lost in the semifinals to Matthias Casse of Belgium, with a much more lethargic performance that he normally shows and then lost his bronze-medal match and did not have to stand on the awards podium with Muki – who won the world title – and be present for the raising of the Israeli flag and the playing of its national anthem.

Rumors flew and the head of the Israeli Judo Association told an Israeli radio station that the team had heard of the pressure being applied to Mollaei and of threats to his family.

As the story came out, it became known that Mollaei had left Tokyo for Berlin, Germany and has apparently asked for asylum there. The head of the IJF, Austrian Marius Vizer – who had been pressuring Iran to comply with the IJF and IOC requirements on non-discrimination – met with Mollaei during the competition and promised to find a path for him to compete in the 2020 Games as a refugee rather than as an entry from Iran.

We have the full background, more details and link to an astonishing video interview (with English sub-titles) posted by the IJF here. Vizer has promised an “emergency meeting” of the IJF Executive Committee this week to determine all of the facts of the case and then what to do about Iran’s status as a member of the IJF.

This impacts the IOC and other international federations as well, and early tests of the impact of what happened in Tokyo and Tehran will play out later this month. At present, all 206 of the National Olympic Committee around the world are in proper standing with the IOC; how long will that remain the case?

| 2. | BASKETBALL: Favorites prevail in the first round of FIBA World Cup games in China

All 32 teams were in action over the first two days of the FIBA World Cup in China, with all of the favored teams prevailing in their games.

The United States team used a 15-4 spurt to start the second quarter to break open a close game with the Czech Republic on the way to a 88-67 victory in Shanghai. Donovan Mitchell led the U.S. with 16 points, followed by Harrison Barnes with 14 and Kemba Walker (pictured) with 13. The U.S. shot 49.3% from the floor to 40.6% for the Czechs and had a 40-38 rebounding edge.

The expected top teams had little trouble in their debuts:

● Serbia 105, Angola 59, with Bogdan Bogdanovic scoring 24 points;

● Spain 101, Tunisia 62, as Ricky Rubio scored 17 for the winners;

● Australia 108, Canada 92, with Matthew Dellevedova leading Australia with 24;

● Greece 85, Montenegro 60, as Georgios Printezis led the Greeks with 16 points; Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds in just 16 minutes.

The top scorers in the first round of games were Jordan’s 6-11 center Ahmad Al-Dwairi with 34 points, and guard David Huertas of Puerto Rico had 32. Scores and more here. The U.S. plays Turkey – a winner over Japan, 86-67 – next on 3 September.

| 3. | CYCLING: Crazy first week for La Vuelta, and world XCO titles for Schurter and Ferrand Prevot

The last of the Grand Tour for 2019, the 74th La Vuelta a Espana, finished its first week of racing with its fifth lead change in as many days, finally ending with 2016 winner Nairo Quintana (COL) wearing La Roja – the red jersey – of the race leader.

This year’s route is especially punishing and Sunday’s short stage (94.4 km) had the fourth uphill finish in the last five days. The sprinter’s stage on Saturday ended with a victory in the rain for Germany’s Niklas Arndt, with the main contenders finishing more than nine minutes back and handing the race lead to unheralded Nicolas Edet of France.

That wasn’t going to last long, as the race favorites like Quintana, Primoz Roglic (SLO), Alejandro Valverde (ESP) and Miguel Angel Lopez (COL) battled at or near the front of the pack on the five climbs of Sunday’s stage. Eventually, Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar (pictured) sprinted away from the field near the end of the final climb and won the stage. But Quintana, Roglic and Valderde were within 48 seconds of the lead and are back at the front of the race.

Monday is a rest day, with a time trial – at which Roglic is superb – on Tuesday. Quintana has the lead by a slim six seconds over Roglic, 17 over Lopez and 20 over Valverde. More coverage here.

At the UCI World Mountain Bike Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada, the amazing Nino Schurter of Switzerland won his fourth consecutive world title and seventh of his career. He took control of the race on the fifth lap and sprinted away from fellow Swiss Mathias Flueckiger, 1:27:05-1:27:35.

France’s Pauline Ferrand Pervot, who famously once held the world titles – simultaneously – in road cycling, mountain bike cross country and cyclo-cross in the 2014-15 time frame, won her fourth individual title in the women’s Cross Country Olympic (XCO) division. She also broke open her race on the fifth lap and finished with a 1:28:51-1:29:34 lead over 2017 World Champion Jolanda Neff, with Rebecca McConnell third. Defending champ Kate Courtney of the U.S. finished fifth. More here.

| 4. | JUDO: Japan won the most medals, but France made a big impression in Tokyo

While the drama surrounding the 81 kg division took the headlines (see Lane One above), the World Judo Championships was once again a showcase for the host nation of Japan.

As it has done each and every time at the combined World Championships – stretching back to 1987 – Japan led the medal table. This time, however, the Japanese won only four individual goals, with Joshiro Maruyama (men/66 kg),Shohei Ono (men/73 kg ~pictured), Uta Abe (women/52 kg) and Akira Sone (women/+78 kg) taking top honors. Ono won his third world title and Abe defended her 2018 crown, while Sone, 19, became the youngest World Champion in history!

France’s women were most impressive, winning three titles: Clarisse Agbegnenou won her fourth World Championships gold at 63 kg and Marie-Eve Gahie (70 kg) and Madeleine Malonga (70 kg) both won for the first time. Along with Abe and Agbegnenou, only Ukraine’s Daria Bilodid (48 kg) also repeated as champion from 2018. More here.

| 5. | ROWING: Highly competitive World Champs see nine new gold medalists for 2019

It was a tough week for the reigning gold medalists at the World Rowing Championships in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria, as only three of the 12 open-weight classes saw successful title defenses.

Two were in the men’s division, with Czech brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic winning their second Pairs title in a row, as did Germany in the men’s eights. Among the women, the only defender to win was Ireland’s Sanita Puspure in the Single Sculls.

New Zealand led all countries with three wins in the open-weight events, including two double gold medalists. The duo of Grace Pendergast and Kerri Gowler won their second world title (also in 2017) in Pairs and then added an additional gold as members of the winning women’s Eights. Kiwis Brooke Donoghue and Olivia Loe won in Double Sculls; they had also done so in 2017.

The 2019 Worlds was the largest qualifying event for the 2020 Olympic Games and Great Britain and the Netherlands both earned 10 entries out of the 14 available classes. New Zealand qualified nine and Australia and the U.S. had eight qualifiers. More here.

| 6. | TRIATHLON: World titles for Zaferes and Luis in ITU World Series Grand Final in Lausanne

American Katie Zaferes lost the 2018 ITU World Series title on the final day of the season last year and even though she only had to finish 12th or better to secure victory in 2019, she was taking no chances.

So when she got out of the water in seventh place, she was unfazed. She rode smoothly and caught the leaders at the end of the 40 km route and if she’s close on the run, she’s going to win. She wore down her competitors and with 200 m to go, sprinted ahead of Britain’s Jessica Learmonth – also second in the seasonal standings – and earned her first World Series seasonal title with an emphatic race victory, her fifth of the season.

“I don’t even know if its hit me yet, I had a lot of emotions and doubts coming in to this race but I’m just really happy right now,” said Zaferes.

The men’s race was tighter and France’s Vincent Luis – also seeking his first seasonal title – had to finish fifth or higher. Chasing him was three-time defending champion Mario Mola of Spain, who also knew exactly what he had to do to win.

They were both part of a large group that started the run phase essentially together and when Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt made a strong move for the lead with 8 km left, Mola and Luis followed. Mola finally broke Luis, but the Frenchman was counting the places and despite being passed by two more runners, finished fifth and also won his first World Series crown. More here.

| 7. | ATHLETICS: Wow! ISTAF Berlin draws 40,500 with good marks in the 78th edition

Track & field is still strong in Germany as a sensational crowd of 40,500 attended Sunday’s 78th Internationales StadionFest in Berlin’s Olympiastadion, better known as “ISTAF.” How can this meet – among the world’s elite for decades – be kept out of the Diamond League?

With the emergence of German Gesa Krause as a world-class steeplechaser, the rarely-seen 2,000 m Steeplechase was set up and she obliged with a world-best time of 5:52.80, well ahead of the 6:02.16 by Virginia Nganga (KEN) at ISTAF in 2015. Despite windy and sometimes rainy conditions, there were a host of other good marks, noteworthy ahead of the World Championships in Qatar at the end of the month:

● Men/100 m: Andre DeGrasse (CAN) won over Akani Simbine (RSA), 9.97-9.99;

● Men/110 m hurdles: Omar McLeod (JAM) won in a season’s best of 13.07;

● Men/Pole Vault: Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis managed a win over American Sam Kendricks, with both clearing 5.80 m (19-0 1/4) in the difficult conditions;

● Women/100 m: Poland’s Ewa Swoboda ran an encouraging 11.07 to beat Asha Philip (GBR: 11.10);

● Women/100 m hurdles: Tobi Amusan (NGR) ran 12.51 to beat Americans Christina Clemons (2nd: 12.69) and Nia Ali (4th: 12.76);

● Women/Long Jump: Germany Malaika Mihambo confirmed her favorite’s status with a win at 6.99 m (22-11 1/4).

More details from the IAAF here.

Jamaica’s double World Junior sprint champ Briana Williams tested positive for a banned diuretic and is asking for an expedited hearing on the matter in hopes of receiving only a warning and not a suspension.

Her representative, Canadian attorney Emir Crowne, told RJR Sports that the substance was found in the over-the-counter medication Pharma Cold and Flu, was not disclosed on the ingredients list and which was declared on her doping control form.

Said Crowne, “I can confirm that we have done an independent test on an over-the-counter cold medication that the athlete took and the independent test confirmed the presence of a diuretic and the diuretic was not listed among the ingredients in that cold medicine that the athlete took.”

Williams had qualified to be part of the Jamaican team at the IAAF World Championships; the Jamaican federation is expected to name its team on 6 September.

| 8. | SCOREBOARD: Averinas dominate Rhythmic World Challenge Cup; three double winners in Sailing

A busy weekend around the world included:

● Canoe-Kayak: The fourth World slalom Cup saw a rebound for veterans, starting with Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK), who won his first World Cup race since 2016 in the men’s C-1. Czech Vit Prindis won the men’s K-1 and Nuria Vilarrubla (ESP) took the women’s C-1, both scoring their first World Cup wins since 2017. More here.

● Rhythmic Gymnastics: The FIG World Challenge Cup in Kazan (RUS) was dominated by the Averina sisters, who went 1-2 in all five individual events, with Dina winning four and Arina winning in Hoop. More here.

● Sailing: The back-to-back Tokyo 2020 test event and World Sailing World Cup regatta at Enoshima Bay was a unique test of endurance and skill and three entries passed with perfect results after winning both: Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (NZL) in the men’s 470 class; China’s Yunxiu Lu in women’s RS:X and Belgium’s Emma Plaeschaert in women’s Laser Radial. Count all three as early favorites for 2020. More here.

SAILING: Three clear Olympic favorites after wins in test event and World Cup I in Enoshima

By
Rich Perelman
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Belgium's Emma Plaeschaert, winner of the Ready Steady Tokyo and World Cup Laser class

A unique opportunity for sailors was arranged by the Tokyo 2020 organizers and the folks at World Sailing, creating a back-to-back program of the Ready Steady Tokyo test event and then the first World Cup of the 2019-2020 season at the Olympic venue at Enoshima Bay in Japan.

Many countries took advantage of the possibilities, with only three winners of the same event in both weeks:

● Men/470: Mat Belcher/Will Ryan (NZL)
● Women/RS:X: Yunxiu Lu (CHN)
● Women/Laser Radial: Emma Plaeschaert (BEL)

Pretty impressive! In addition, Nicholas Heiner (NED: Finn) moved up from silver at the test event to win at the World Cup.

Only France managed to win two events at the World Cup, with Louis Giard taking the men’s RS:X and Quentin Delapierre and Manon Audinet (FRA) winning the mixed-crew Nacra 17 class. The only reigning World Champions to win at the World Cup were Pavlos Kontides (CYP: men’s Laser) and Plaeschaert in the women’s Laser Radial. Summaries:

World Sailing World Cup I
Enoshima (JPN) ~ 26 August-1 September 2019
(Full results here)

Men

RS:X: 1. Louis Giard (FRA), 48.0 net points; 2. Kun Bi (CHN), 49.0; 3. Pierre Le Coq (FRA), 53.0.

Laser: 1. Pavlos Kontides (CYP), 36.0; 2. Matt Wearn (AUS), 57.0; 3. Jean Baptiste Bernaz (FRA), 62.0.

470: 1. Mat Belcher/Will Ryan (NZL), 27.0; 2. Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nicolas Rodriguez Garcia-Paz (ESP), 37.0; 3. Kazuto Doi/Naoya Kimura (JPN), 47.0.

Finn: 1. Nicholas Heiner (NED), 19.0; 2. Josip Olujic (CRO), 44.0; 3. Ioannis Mitakis (GRE), 47.0. Also in the top 10: 10. Luke Miller (USA), 82.0.

49er: 1. James Peters/Fynn Sterritt (GBR), 49.0; 2. Benjamin Bildstein/David Hussl (AUT), 49.0; 3. Tim Fischer/Fabian Graf (GER), 52.0. Also in the top 10: 8. Andrew Mollerus/Ian Macdiarmid (USA), 66.0.

Women

RS:X: 1. Yunxiu Lu (CHN), 37.0; 2. Katy Spychakov (ISR), 42.0; 3. Zofia Noceti-Klepacka (POL), 49.0.

Laser Radial: 1. Emma Plaeschaert (BEL), 54.0; 2. Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN), 57.0; 3. Alison Young (GBR), 64.0.

470: 1. Silvia Mas Depares/Patricia Cantero Reina (ESP), 44.0; 2. Nia Jerwood/Monique de Vries (AUS), 45.0; 3. Frederike Loewe/Anna Markfort (GER), 58.0. Also in the top 10: 10. Atlantic Brugman Cabot/Nora Brugman (USA), 104.0.

49erFX: 1. Annemiek Bekkering/Annette Duetz (NED), 27.0; 2. Alexandra Maloney/Molly Meech (NZL), 36.0; 3. Julie Bossard/Aude Compan (FRA), 37.0.

Mixed

Nacra 17: 1. Quentin Delapierre/Manon Audinet (FRA), 21.0; 2. Ben Saxton/Nicola Boniface (GBR), 22.0; 3. Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti (ITA), 23.0.

ROWING: Nine new open-weight champions at World Rowing Champs

By
Rich Perelman
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World Pairs Champions Martin & Valent Sinkovic (CRO)

The primary lesson of the 2019 World Rowing World Championships was this: with few exceptions, there are no favorites any more.

The competition in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria, showed the parity among the top rowers with just three of their 2018 champions able to defend their titles this year in the open-weight categories:

● Men/Pairs: Martin Sinkovic/Valent Sinkovic (CZE)
● Men/Eights: Germany
● Women/Single Sculls: Sanita Puspure (IRL)

New champions were everywhere and the medals were distributed as well. In the 12 open-weight classes, New Zealand won three and China and Germany two each, and five other countries won one.

The New Zealand triumphs did showcase athletes who are likely the favorites for Tokyo in 2020. In the women’s Double Sculls, Brooke Donoghue and Olivia Loe won their second Worlds golds – from 2017 – after being second in 2018. In the women’s Pairs, Grace Pendergast and Kerri Gowler also moved up from second last year and won a second title (also in 2017). The Kiwis also won in the women’s Eights, which included Pendergast and Gowler winning their seconds golds of the regatta.

The 2019 Worlds was also the primary qualification vehicle for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. According to World Rowing, “The Netherlands and Great Britain proved to be the most successful in Olympic qualification with both countries securing ten boat classes out of 14 for Tokyo 2020. Italy and New Zealand also did well with nine boats qualified, followed by Australia and the United States with eight qualified boats.”

The American squad won two medals, both in women’s racing, with Kara Kohler in Single Sculls and the Eights both taking bronze medals. For Kohler, it was her first Worlds medal since her bronze in the Quadruple Sculls back in 2012! Summaries:

World Rowing World Championships
Linz-Ottensheim (GER) ~ 25 August-1 September 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Single Sculls: 1. Oliver Zeidler (GER), 6:44.55; 2. Sverri Nielsen (DEN), 6:44.58; 3. Kjetil Borch (NOR), 6:44.84; 4. Mindaugas Griskonis (LTU), 6:45.24; 5. Stef Broenink (NED), 6:45.58; 6. Ondrej Synek (CZE), 6:47.93.

Double Sculls: 1. Zhiyu Liu/Liang Zhang (CHN), 6:05.68; 2. Philip Doyle/Ronan Byrne (IRL), 6:06.25; 3. Miroslaw Zietarski/Mateusz Biskup (POL), 6:07.87; 4. John Collins/Graeme Thomas (GBR), 6:10.35; 5. Barnabe Delarze/Roman Roeoesli (SUI), 6:11.11; 6. Ioan Prundeanu/Marian-Florian Enache (ROU), 6:12.31.

Quadruple Sculls: 1. Netherlands, 5:51.75; 2. Poland, 5:55.59; 3. Italy, 5:56.11; 4. Australia, 6:01.03; 5. Germany, 6:04.31; 6. China, 6:19.05.

Pairs: 1. Martin Sinkovic/Valent Sinkovic (CZE), 6:42.28; 2. Thomas Murray/Michael Brake (NZL), 6:45.47; 3. Sam Hardy/Joshua Hicks (AUS), 6:51.81; 4. Matteo Lodo/Giuseppe Vicino (ITA), 6:55.34; 5. Jaime Canalejo Pazos/Javier Garcia Ordonez (ESP), 6:57.40; 6. Valentin Onfroy/Theophile Onfroy (FRA), 7:02.05.

Fours: 1. Poland (Wilangowski, Burda, Brzezinski, Szpakowski), 6:09.86; 2. Romania, 6:11.41; 3. Great Britain, 6:11.71; 4. Italy, 6:13.39; 5. United States (Thomas Peszek, Thomas Dethlefs, Andrew Reed, Clark Dean), 6:13.40; 6. Australia, 6:15.98.

Eights: 1. Germany, 5:19.41; 2. Netherlands, 5:19.96; 3. Great Britain, 5:22.35; 4. Australia, 5:22.88; 5. United States, 5:23.92; 6. New Zealand, 5:24.47.

Lightweight Single Sculls: 1. Martino Goretti (ITA), 6:59.48; 2. Peter Galambos (HUN), 7:02.37; 3. Sean Murphy (AUS), 7:04.55; 4. Alexis Lopez Garcia (MEX), 7:05.22; 5. Samuel Mottram (GBR), 7:05.39; 6. Aaron Lattimer (CAN), 7:13.81.

Lightweight Doubles Sculls: 1. Fintan McCarthy/Paul O’Donovan (IRL), 6:37.28; 2. Stefano Oppo/Pietro Ruta (ITA), 6:39.71; 3. Jonathan Rommelmann/Jason Osborne (GER), 6:41.07; 4. Kristoffer Brun/Are Strandli (NOR), 6:44.07; 5. Rodrigo Conde Romero/Manel Balastegui (ESP), 6:48.75; 6. Jerzy Kowalski/Artur Mikolajczewski (POL), 6:49.86.

Lightweight Quadruple Sculls: 1. China, 5:53.630; 2. Italy, 5:55.010; 3. Netherlands, 5:56.060; 4. Denmark, 5:58.680; 5. Austria, 5:58.790; 6. France, 6:03.130.

Lightweight Pairs: 1. Giuseppe di Mare/Raffaele Serio (ITA), 6:37.75; 3. Nikita Bolozin/Maksim Telitcyn (RUS), 6:42.07; 3. Vangelys Reinke Pereira/Emanuel Dantas Borges (BRA), 6:45.28; 4. Bence Szabo/Kalman Furko (HUN), 6:49.50; 5. Jiri Kopac/Jan Hajek (CZE), 6:55.34; 6. Markus Lemp/Anton Sigl (AUT), 7:03.70.

Women

Single Sculls: 1. Sanita Puspure (IRL), 7:17.14; 2. Emma Twigg (NZL), 7:20.56; 3. Kara Kohler (USA), 7:22.21; 4. Victoria Thornley (GBR), 7:25.48; 5. Jeannine Gmelin (SUI), 7:26.93; 6. Carling Zeeman (CAN), 7:29.70.

Double Sculls: 1. Brooke Donoghue/Olivia Loe (NZL), 6:47.17; 2. Nicoleta-Ancuta Bodnar/Simona Radis (ROU), 6:48.55; 3. Roos de Jong/Lisa Scheenaard (NED), 6:49.22; 4. Gabrielle Smith/Andrea Proske (CAN), 6:49.85; 5. Cicely Madden/Genevra Stone (USA), 6:49.86; 6. Helena Lefebvre/Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino (FRA), 6:52.09.

Quadruple Sculls: 1. China, 6:34.65; 2. Poland, 6:36.59; 3. Netherlands, 6:36.62; 4. Germany, 6:45.11; 5. New Zealand, 6:46.55; 6. Great Britain, 6:46.84.

Pairs: 1. Grace Pendergast/Kerri Gowler (NZL), 7:21.35; 2. Jessica Morrison/Annabelle McIntyre (AUS), 7:23.62; 3. Caileigh Filmer/Hillary Janssens (CAN), 7:26.52; 4. Megan Kalmoe/Tracy Eisser (USA), 7:32.25; 5. Aina Cid/Virginia Diaz Rivas (ESP), 7:38.14; 6. Kiri Tontodonati/Aisha Rocek (ITA), 7:40.35.

Fours: 1. Australia (Aldersey, Werry, Hawe, Stephan), 6:43.45; 2. Netherlands, 6:45.55; 3. Denmark, 6:47.84; 4. Poland, 6:51.43; 5. Romania, 6:53.83; 6. United States (Molly Bruggeman, Victoria Opitz, Madeleine Wanamaker, Caryn Davies), 6:55.98.

Eights: 1. New Zealand, 5:56.910; 2. Australia, 5:59.630; 3. United States, 6:01.930; 4. Canada, 6:03.040; 5. Great Britain, 6:06.960; 6. Romania, 6:08.490.

Lightweight Single Sculls: 1. Marie-Louise Draeger (GER), 7:43.98; 2. Chiaki Tomita (JPN), 7:47.28; 3. Madeleine Arlett (GBR), 7:49.82; 4. Nicole van Wyk (RSA), 7:53.19; 5. Ellen Gleadow (CAN), 7:53.83; 6. Martine Veldhuis (NED), 7:57.74.

Lightweight Double Sculls: 1. Zoe McBride/Jackie Kiddle (NZL), 7:15.32; 2. Marieke Keijser/Ilse Paulis (NED), 7:19.51; 3. Emily Craig/Imogen Grant (GBR), 7:21.38; 4. Ionela-Livia Cozmiuc/Gianina-Elena Beleaga (ROU), 7:21.73; 5. Laura Tarantola/Claire Bove (FRA), 7:23.20; 6. Anastasiia Ianina/Alena Furman (BLR), 7:31.53.

Lightweight Quadruple Sculls: 1. Italy, 6:34.00; 2. China, 6:36.31; 3. Germany, 6:37.72; 4. United States (Jessica Hyne-Dolan, Michaela Copenhaver, Rosa Kemp, Mary Reckford), 6:38.36; 5. Vietnam, 6:55.71.

Lightweight Pairs: 1. Margaret Bertasi/Cara Stawicki (USA), 7:32.64; 2. Sofia Tanghetti/Maria Costa (ITA), 7:34.20; 3. Janika Koelblin/Marie-Christine Gerhardt (GER), 7:37.72; 4. Tatjana Grigorjeva/Ludmila Ivanova (LAT), 8:03.78.

CYCLING: Crazy week at La Vuelta ends with Quintana now on top and Roglic close

By
Rich Perelman
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Nairo Quintana (COL) now in the lead of La Vuelta a Espana (Photo: La Vuelta)

The 74th edition of the Vuelta a Espana is turning out to be one of the wildest, with almost daily changes in the leader board, but at the end of the first week, two of the biggest favorites – Nairo Quintana (COL) and Primoz Roglic (SLO) are at the top.

Saturday’s stage was a showcase for German sprinter Niklas Arndt, who powered away in the final meters to take the stage in a rainy mass finish that left the race leaders far back. In fact, after the first 18 riders crossed within a minute, there was a 1:34 gap to 19th, then three more minutes for two riders to finish and then the race leaders showed up almost four minutes later!

That’s spread from the leader – 9:24 in all – gave the race lead to France’s Nicolas Edet, by 2:21 over Belgium’s Dylan Teuns. That was not going to last long.

Sunday’s stage was a short 94.4 km, but include five climbs and finished uphill for the fourth time in five stages, this time at the Cortals d’Encamp. The stage was hit by rain and then by hail late in the ride, but the race continued.

The last 22 km were almost one long climb, with two short intervals in the middle and three riders had broken away from the peloton on the way up. The main contenders, including Roglic, Miguel Angel Lopez (COL), Quintana (COL) and Alejandro Valverde (ESP) were moving back and forth as well, just behind the breakaway.

With 5 km left, Valverde and Quintana pushed ahead of Roglic, who had been slightly hit by a race motorcycle in the poor visibility, and joined Lopez and Marc Soler (ESP). Lopez then crashed and Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar then attacked and moved up, and past the leaders.

He flew into the lead and continued right to the finish for his first career Grand Tour victory. Solar dropped off the lead, Quintana pushed toward Pogacar and Roglic moved up to finish third with Valverde, with Solar fifth.

After all that and heading into a rest day on Monday, Quintana was in the lead with a modest, six-second edge over Roglic, 17 seconds over Lopez and 20 seconds up on Valverde.

Look for Roglic to try for the lead on Tuesday, a 36.2 km individual time trial from Jurancon to Pau. Can the second week be any wilder?

In the one-day races in Plouay (FRA), Dutch star Anna van der Breggen took the lead for good in the Grand Prix de Plouay with a surge on the on the final lap, passing France’s Laura Asencio over the top of the Cote du Moulin. Van der Breggen broke away from the field and managed to keep her lead over the final two climbs over 9 km on the way to an 11-second win. The peloton closed in, creating a mass sprint in the final 1,000 m, won by American Coryn Rivera for her second straight medal in this race (bronze last year), ahead of Dutch star Amy Pieters.

Dutch riders have captured 13 of the 20 races on the women’s tour this season; this was the third win for van der Breggen.

On Sunday, the lengthy (248.1 km) Grande Bretagne-Ouest France race was won by Belgian Sep Vanmarcke who attacked with Tiesj Benoot (BEL) and Jack Haig (AUS) with 21 km to go and then pounced with a sprint to the finish with just more than a kilometer to go.

Summaries:

UCI World Tour/La Vuelta a Espana
Spain ~ 24 August-15 September 2019
(Full results here)

Stage 1 (13.4 km Team Time Trial): 1. Astana (KAZ), 14:51; 2. Deceuninck-Quick Step (BEL), 14.53; 3. Team Sunweb (GER), 14:56; 4. EF Education First (USA), 14:58; 5. Bora-hansgrohe (GER), 15:04.

Stage 2 (199.6 km): 1. Nairo Quintana (COL), 5:11:17; 2. Nicholas Roche (IRL), 5:11:22; 3. Primoz Roglic (SLO), 5:11:22; 4. Rigoberto Uran (COL), 5:11:22; 5. Fabio Aru (ITA), 5:11:22.

Stage 3 (188.0 km): 1. Sam Bennett (IRL), 4:25:02; 2. Edward Theuns (BEL), 4:25:02; 3. Luka Mezgec (SLO), 4:25:02; 4. Jon Aberasturi (ESP), 4:25:02; 5. Phil Bauhaus (GER), 4:25:02.

Stage 4 (175.5 km): 1. Fabio Jakobsen (NED), 4:04:16; 2. Bennett (IRL), 4:04;16; 3. Fernando Gaviria (COL), 4:04:16; 4. Mezgec (SLO), 4:04:16; 5. Marc Sarreau (FRA), 4:04:16.

Stage 5 (170.7 km): 1. Jose Madrazo (ESP), 4:58:31; 2. Jetse Bol (NED), 4:58:41; 3. Jose Herrada (ESP), 4:58:53; 4. Miguel Angel Lopez (COL), 4:59:18; 5. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), 4:59:30.

Stage 6 (198.9 km): 1. Jesus Herrada (ESP), 4:43:55; 2. Dylan Teuns (BEL), 4:44:02; 3. Dorian Godon (FRA), 4:44:16; 4. Robert Gesink (NED), 4:44:16; 5. Bruno Armirail (FRA), 4:44:32.

Stage 7 (183.2 km): 1. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), 4:34:11; 2. Roglic (SLO), 4:34:11; 3. Lopez (COL), 4:34:17; 4. Quintana (COL), 4:34:17; 5. Rafal Majka (POL), 4:34:53. Also in the top 25: 21. Sepp Kuss (USA), 4:37:39; … 25. Peter Stetina (USA), 4:39:11.

Stage 8 (166.9 km): 1. Niklas Arndt (GER), 3:50:48; 2. Alex Aranburu (ESP), 3:50:48; 3. Tosh van der Sande (BEL), 3:50:48; 4. Ruben Guerreiro (POR), 3:50:48; 5. Jonas Koch (GER), 3:50:48. Also in the top 25: 12. Stetina (USA), 3:50:48.

Stage 9 (94.4 km): 1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO), 2:58:09; 2. Quintana (COL), 2:58:32; 3. Roglic (SLO), 2:58:57; 4. Valverde (ESP), 2:58:57; 5. Marc Soler (ESP), 2:59:06. Also in the top 25: 16. Kuss (USA), 3:00:57.

● 3 September ~ Stage 10 (36.2 km (Time Trial) – Jurancon to Pau
● 4 September ~ Stage 11 (180.0 km): Saint-Palais to Urdax-Dantxarinea
● 5 September ~ Stage 12 (171.4 km): Circuito de Navarra to Bilbao
● 6 September ~ Stage 13 (166.4 km): Bilbao to Los Machucos. Monumento Vaca Pasiega
● 7 September ~ Stage 14 (188.0 km): San Vicente de la Barquer to Oviedo
● 8 September ~ Stage 15 (154.4 km): Tineo to Santuario del Acebo
● 9 September ~ Stage 16 (144.4 km): Pravia to Alto de La Cubilla. Lena
● 10 September ~ Rest day
● 11 September ~ Stage 17 (219.6 km): Aranda de Duero to Guadalajara
● 12 September ~ Stage 18 (177.5 km): Colmenar Viejo to Becerril de la Sierra
● 13 September ~ Stage 19 (165.2 km): Ávila to Toledo
● 14 September ~ Stage 20 (190.4 km): Arenas de San Pedro to Plataforma de Gredos
● 15 September ~ Stage 21 (106.6 km): Fuenlabrada to Madrid

UCI Women’s World Tour/Grand Prix de Plouay
Plouay (FRA) ~ 31 August 2019
(Full results here)

Final Standings (128.6 km): 1. Anna van der Breggen (NED), 3:21:54; 2. Coryn Rivera (USA), 3:22:05; 3. Amy Pieters (NED), 3:22:05; 4. Marta Cavalli (ITA), 3:22:05; 5. Demi Vollering (NED), 3:22:05; 6. Stine Borgli (NOR), 3:22:05; 7. Sofie de Vuyst (BEL), 3:22:05; 8. Flavia Oliveira (BRA), 3:22:05; 9. Ruth Winder (USA), 3:22:06; 10. Elena Cecchini, (ITA), 3:22:05.

UCI World Tour/Bretagne Classic-Ouest France
Plouay (FRA) ~ 1 September 2019
(Full results here)

Final Standings (248.1 km): 1. Sep Vanmarcke (BEL), 6:12:23; 2. Tiesj Benoot (BEL), 6:12:26; 3. Jack Haig (AUS), 6:12:26; 4. Michael Valgren (DEN), 6:12:43; 5. Amund Jansen (NOR), 6:12:43; 6. Greg van Avermaet (BEL), 6:12:43; 7. Benoit Cosnefroy (FRA), 6:12:43; 8. Tim Wellens (BEL), 6:12:45; 9. Florian Senechal (FRA), 6:12:51; 10. Eduard Prades (ESP), 6:12:51.

GYMNASTICS: Averinas sweep all 10 gold and silver medals in Rhythmic World Challenge Cup

By
Rich Perelman
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World Champion Dina Averina (RUS)

With Russia the dominant force in Rhythmic Gymnastics and the FIG World Challenge Cup being held in Kazan (RUS), there was little doubt who would be at the top of the podium.

The Averina sisters, Dina and Arina, came through as expected, winning gold and silver in all five events. Dina won the All-Around, Ball, Clubs and Ribbon, and a silver on hoop. Arina was second in all of the above, except for a win with Hoop.

The Russian team also won the Group All-Around and 5-Balls performance, but Bulgaria won the Group exercise for 3 Hoops and 2 Clubs.

At the Artistic World Challenge Cup in Mersin (TUR), Ahmet Onder won three medals and the hosts scored wins in three men’s events and two women’s events for top honors. Summaries:

FIG Rhythmic World Challenge Cup
Kazan (RUS) ~ 30 August-1 September 2019
(Full results here)

All-Around: 1. Dina Averina (RUS), 90.45; 2. Arina Averina (RUS), 86.80; 3. Katrin Taseva (BUL), 80.90. Also in the top 10: 8. Evita Griskenas (USA), 75.75.

Hoop: 1. A. Averina (RUS), 23.20; 2. D. Avernina (RUS), 22.75; 3. Alina Harnasko (BLR), 20.80.

Ball: 1. D. Averina (RUS), 23.45; 2. A. Averina (RUS), 23.40; 3. Boryana Kaleyn (BUL), 21.95.

Clubs: 1. D. Averina (RUS), 23.35; 2. A. Averina (RUS), 22.30; 3. Harnasko (BLR), 21.80.

Ribbon: 1. D. Averina (RUS), 21.85; 2. A. Averina (RUS), 20.55; 3. Katsiaryna Halkina (BLR), 19.10. Also: 5. Griskenas (USA), 17.20.

Group All-Around: 1. Russia, 58.45; 2. Bulgaria, 57.50; 3. Italy, 56.90. Also: 11. United States, 49.30.

Group/5 Balls: 1. Russia, 29.15; 2. Bulgaria, 28.50; 2. Japan, 27.55.

Group/3 Hoops+2 Clubs: 1. Bulgaria, 28.10; 2. Russia, 27.15; 3. Israel, 26.75.

FIG Artistic World Challenge Cup
Mersin (TUR) ~ 30 August-1 September 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Floor: 1. Aurel Benovic (CRO), 14.500; 2. Mustafa Arca (TUR), 14.050; 3. Rok Klavora (SLO), 13.800.

Pommel Horse: 1. Saso Bertoncelj (SLO), 13.650; 2. Ferhat Arican (TUR), 13.550; 3. Ahmet Onder (TUR), 13.450.

Rings: 1. Ibrahim Colak (TUR), 15.000; 2. Yunus Gundogdu (TUR), 14.350; 3. Javidan Babayev (AZE), 13.750.

Vault: 1. Murad Agharzayev (AZE), 14.175; 2. David Huddleston (BUL), 13.475; 3. Neofytos Kyriakou (CYP), 13.150.

Parallel Bars: 1. Arican (TUR), 15.150; 2. Onder (TUR), 14.450; 3. Yordan Aleksandrov (BUL), 14.100.

High Bar: 1. Umit Samiloglu (TUR), 14.000; 2. Onder (TUR), 13.650; 3. Aleksandrov (BUL), 13.350.

Women

Vault: 1. Belak Teja (SLO), 14.100; 2. Kysselef Tjasa (SLO), 13.425; 3. Tkalcec Tijana (CRO), 13.350.

Uneven Bars: 1. Nazli Savranbasi (TUR), 12.250; 2. Megan Ryan (IRL), 10.850; 3. Jane Heffernan (IRL), 10.850.

Beam: 1. Audrey Rousseau (CAN), 12.500; 2. Belak (SLO), 11.800; 3. Katelyn Nguyen (VIE), 11.400.

Floor: 1. Goksu Uctas Sanli (TUR), 12.400; 2. Tutya Yilmaz (TUR), 12.100; 3. Doan Tran (VIE), 12.100.

LANE ONE: Iranian hatred of Israel sends its own World Champion fleeing to Germany

By
Rich Perelman
-
Iran's 2018 World Judo Champion Saeid Mollaei in happier days (Photo: IJF)

If this story was offered as a movie concept, it would be rejected as too wild, too fanciful to be believed. But truth is stranger than fiction. Follow along the sad and almost unbelievable path that has led an Iranian World Judo Champion to ask for asylum in Germany.

The judoka in question is Saeid Mollaei, 27, a graduate of Islamic Shahri University who stands 1.75 m tall (5-9) and competes in the 81 kg weight class (~ 179 lbs.). He’s been an international-class fighter since 2015, competed in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and won the 2018 world title in his division.

The opening scene in this story is in the office of the International Judo Federation (IJF) in Lausanne, Switzerland, where a letter was received from the Iranian Judo Federation, addressed to Marius Vizer, the Austrian head of the IJF.

● 11 May 2019: The IJF posted a bulletin on its Web site, noting:

“After having witnessed on several occasions in recent history a disturbing phenomenon, which involves the sudden ‘injury’ or failure of weigh-in of Iranian athletes, phenomenon which is linked by many observers to the possible obligation of the given athletes to compete against certain countries, the International Judo Federation decided to step up in order to protect the right of athletes to fair competition.”

What followed was a letter which showed a “commitment” from Iran to “confirm that the I.R. Iran NOC shall fully respect the Olympic Charter and its non-discrimination principle, and the I.R. Iran Judo Federation shall fully comply with the Olympic Charter and the IJF statutes. In the meantime, in collaboration with the I.R. Iran Ministry of Sport and Youth, we are sparing no efforts in negotiating with the Parliament so that we could identify the proper legal resolutions.”

Vizer’s outreach to the Iranians to stop their practice of either forfeiting matches against Israeli opponents, or losing prior matches so that its athletes would not have to fight Israelis apparently had worked. While the letter was hailed as a breakthrough, that last sentence – concerning negotiations with the Iranian government – was concerning.

● 9 July 2019: Media reports started showing up indicating that the Iranian government had no intention of honoring the commitment of its judo federation or National Olympic Committee in that 9 May letter. The IJF re-posted the letter and added:

“According to various recent press articles, quoting Iranian authorities about their national stance with regards to participation in competitions without discrimination, the International Judo Federation would like to re-publish the official letter of the Iranian Olympic Committee.”

● 25 August 2019: On the eve of the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, the entries showed that with six Israeli judokas seeded in the top eight in their weight classes, the Iranians had withdrawn their team from the event, save for defending 81 kg World Champion Mollaei. He was top-seeded in his class, just above Israel’s Sagi Muki, meaning they could not meet until the finals, if both got that far.

● 28 August 2019: The 81 kg class started, with Mollaei winning his four Pool A matches without incident. Same for Muki in Pool C. That sent both to the semifinals, with a showdown likely in the final.

After whipping through his pool matches, Mollaei showed up for his semifinal against Matthias Casse of Belgium. Casse, the World Junior Champion in 2017, and Mollaei battled without scoring for more than six minutes, but then a Mollaei attack ended badly and Casse was able to pin his arm and Mollaei slapped the mat in submission in 6:27.

Muki won his semi against Egyptian Mohamed Abdelaal, who refused to shake his hand after the bout as is traditional in judo. But it was on to the final, where Muki defeated Casse to win the world title, Israel’s first by a male judoka.

Meanwhile, Mollaei lost his third-place match against Georgia’s Luka Maisuradze and Abdelaal lost his bronze-medal bout vs. Canada’s Antoine Valois-Fortier. That meant that neither the Egyptian or Iranian fighter would have to stand with Muki on the awards podium and watch the Israel flag being raised and anthem being played. This was widely noticed at the time, and the rumors started immediately about Mollaei’s matches being thrown.

● 29 August 2019: Moshe Ponti, the head of the Israel Judo Association, told Israeli Army Radio that Mollaei had, in fact, been ordered to lose to Casse. Ponti said that:

“an hour before Wednesday’s semifinals, the Israeli team heard that Mollaei, ranked No. 1 in the world, ‘intended to continue the contest, even if he had to face Sagi Muki at the final. We heard he’d asked the head of the Iranian judo association to ensure his family was kept safe. …

“‘From what we understand, within a short time Iranian intelligence officials came both to his home in Iran and to the judo arena and warned him,’ Ponti said. …

“Ponti did not blame Mollaei for his actions, saying that though he ‘had promised the head of the International Judo Federation he would compete… there were people at his family’s home in Iran. You can’t judge an athlete in such a situation.’”

The IJF, remarkably and to its credit, has posted a moment-by-moment recap of what happened to Mollaei in Tokyo entitled “The True Story of a Fight for life” by Nicholas Messner (including a video interview) and it’s required reading here.

● 31 August 2019: The Times of Israel reported that Mollaei had asked for asylum in Germany.

● 1 September 2019: Agence France Presse reported extensive comments from Vizer, including that Mollaei (1) that “pressure was being exerted on his family in Iran, prompting him to lose” in the semis, and (2) that he flew to Berlin, Germany, where he is seeking asylum.

Vizer was quoted by AFP, “First of all we will do everything to support the athlete so he can continue his career and participate in the Olympic Games” and that “Everything has to happen according to the statutes of the international federation and the Olympic Charter. Some countries have different rules; they can apply those rules in their country, but not at international level in an international sports event.”

Vizer said that Mollaei might compete in the 2020 Games in Tokyo as part of a refugee team. The IJF had its own refugee team participating in the team event on Sunday, which includes athletes from Iran and Syria, among others. The AFP also noted:

“Iran’s Fars news agency accused Mollaei of preplanning his defection, quoting Iran’s judo head coach Majed Zarian as saying: ‘Everything was set in advance — someone in Iran must have helped him.’”

So Mollaei is apparently in Germany, Iran has ignored its promises to the IJF and the International Olympic Committee and while the Germans ponder Mollaei’s future, the IJF – and others – now have a new problem.

Vizer indicated that an “emergency meeting” of the IJF Executive Committee would be held this week to determine exactly what happened and determine if sanctions will be imposed against the Iranian federation.

Iran’s actions at the Judo Worlds are not simply an issue for the IJF. The International Olympic Committee has been resolute about this kind of discrimination in sporting events and once the IJF determines its course of action, the IOC – if it maintains its stance – must take up the question of Iran’s continued standing within the Olympic Movement. Its Executive Board next meets from 2-4 October.

That timing is good for the IOC, in part because the United World Wrestling World Championships will take place from 14-22 September in Kazakhstan. UWW chief Nenad Lalovic (SRB), an important IOC member, has been a leading critic of anti-Israel and anti-Kosovo behavior in sporting events and has suggested having such countries banned from hosting future events in any sport as well as being penalized. Wrestling is essentially Iran’s national sport and any sanctions against it by the UWW would be deeply felt. Moreover, the UWW Greco-Roman World Cup is scheduled to be held in Tehran at the end of November; let’s see if Lalovic takes any action based on what the IJF does.

Sport and politics have been pulling and tugging at each other – as in judo – for centuries. Anti-Semitism has been around a lot longer, and despite their best efforts to solve the issues posed by Iran, the IJF, IOC and others now have to face the question of what to do about a country which prizes hate above any Olympic values.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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CANOE-KAYAK: Prindis and Vilarribla party like it’s 2017, Slafkovsky like 2016, at Markkleeberg World Cup

By
Rich Perelman
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Sweet win for Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK) in Markkleeburg (Photo: ICF)

Three familiar names return to the top of the podium at the fourth Slalom World Cup in 2019, but it had been a while since they had been there.

First came Slovakia’s Alexander Slafkovsky, who finally tallied a win in the men’s C-1 final, whipping through a clean run in 92.54 seconds, to win by almost two full seconds ahead of Luka Bozic (SLO: 94.33).

At 36, Slafkovsky had to be wondering when he was going to get back to the winner’s circle. His last win was more than three years ago, in 2016, in Pau, with seven silver medals and a bronze medal in between. But he made it and is now in good position for a run at Tokyo for 2020.

Two more veterans races to gold at the famed Markkleeberg course in Vit Prindis (CZE) and Nuria Vilarrubla (ESP). Neither had won in two years, Vilarrubla in the World Cup Final and Prindis, who won four times in five races that year.

Prindis had a clean run and won decisively over Lucien Delfour (FRA), 87.78-90.21 in the K-1 final. Vilarrubla was in a battle with Czech Teresa Fiserova and Australia’s star Jessica Fox. Vilarrubla’s time of 104.98 was just faster than Fiserova at 105.02 – both with no penalties – but Fox finished in 103.14, but was tagged with a two-second gate penalty and had to settle for third.

Emerging U.S. star Evy Leibfarth, 15, reached the semifinals in the C-1 and K-1 events; American Sage Donnelly also reached the C-1 semis. Summaries:

ICF Slalom World Cup 4
Markkleeberg (GER) ~ 30 August-1 September 2019
(Full results here)

Men/C-1: 1. Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK), 92.54 (0 penalties); 2. Luka Bozic (SLO), 94.33 (0); 3. Franz Anton (GER), 94.43 (0); 4. Michal Martikan (SVK), 95.71 (2); 5. Matej Benus (SVK), 95.75 (0).

Men/K-1: 1. Vit Prindis (CZE), 87.78 (0); 2. Lucien Delfour (AUS), 90.21; 3. Jiri Prskavec (CZE), 90.32 (0); 4. Hannes Aigner (GER), 90.71; 5. Vavrinec Hradilek (CZE), 91.08 (0).

Men/Extreme Canoe: 1. Etienne Chapell (GBR); 2. Max Karlsson (SWE); 3. Tren Long (USA).

Women/C-1: 1. Nuria Vilarrubla (ESP), 104.98 (0); 2. Tereza Fiserova (CZE), 105.02 (0); 3. Jessica Fox (AUS), 105.14 (2); 4. Andrea Herzog (GER), 105.45 (0); 5. Nadine Weratschnig (AUT), 106.24.

Women/K-1: 1. Ricarda Funk (GER), 95.27 (0); 2. Fox (AUS), 99.02 (0); 3. Stefanie Horn (ITA), 99.62 (0); 4. Ana Satila (BRA), 101.46 (0); 5. Jasmin Schornberg (GER), 102.23 (0).

Women/Extreme Canoe: 1. Caroline Trompeter (GER); 2. Ashley Nee (USA); 3. Sage Donnelly (USA).

BASKETBALL: U.S. skips past Czech Rep., 88-67 to open World Cup play in China

By
Rich Perelman
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Donovan Mitchell of the U.S. (5) goes for a rebound against Czech Vojtech Hruban (Photo: FIBA)

There were no upsets, but a lot of very competitive games on the opening days of the FIBA World Cup in China.

The United States started with an 88-67 win over the Czech Republic in Shanghai, taking control in the second quarter.

After a 17-14 first quarter, the Americans outscored the Czechs, 26-15 in the second for a 43-29 halftime lead and the game was essentially decided. A 15-4 run to start the quarter was decisive.

“It was a very competitive game, physical, opportunity to learn a lot,” said U.S. head coach Gregg Popovich. “The game is a little bit different, obviously from the NBA. A lot of great teams and just an opportunity to get better. That’s the way we look at each of these games, to try and be the best team we can be, and we’ve got a ways to go, but we’re willing.”

The U.S. outscored the Czechs in the third quarter, 23-19, and fourth, 22-19, for the final margin.

Donovan Mitchell led the U.S. with 16 points, followed by Harrison Barnes with 14 and Kemba Walker with 13. The U.S. shot 49.3% from the floor to 40.6% for the Czechs and had a 40-38 rebounding edge.

There were no upsets on the first days of play in each group. Jordan’s 6-11 center Ahmad Al-Dwairi led all scorers in the first round with 34 points, and guard David Huertas of Puerto Rico had 32. Scores:

Group A:
Poland 80, Venezuela 69 ~ Michal Sokolowski (P), 16 points
China 70, Ivory Coast 55 ~ Jianlian Yi (C), 19

Group B:
Russia 82, Nigeria 77 ~ Mikhail Kulagin (R), 16; Joshua Okogie (N), 18
Argentina 95, South Korea 69 ~ Ricardo Ratliffe (K), 31; Nico Laprovittola (A), 17

Group C:
Puerto Rico 83, Iran 81 ~ David Huertas (P), 32
Spain 101, Tunisia 62 ~ Ricky Rubio (S), 17

Group D:
Serbia 105, Angola 59 ~ Bogdan Bogdanovic (S), 24
Italy 108, Philippines 62 ~ Gigi Datome (I), 17; Amedeo Della Valle (I), 17

Group E:
Turkey 86, Japan 67 ~ Melih Mahmutuglu (T), 17
United States 88, Czech Rep. 67 ~ Donovan Mitchell (U), 16; Tomas Satoransky (C), 17

Group F:
Brazil 102, New Zealand 94 ~ Leandro Barbosa (B), 22
Greece 85, Montenegro 60 ~ Georgios Printezis (G), 16

Group G:
Dominican Rep. 80, Jordan 76 ~ Victor Liz (D), 15; Ahmad Al-Dwairi (J), 34
France 78, Germany 74 ~ Evan Fournier (F), 26

Group H:
Australia 108, Canada 92 ~ Matthew Dellevedova (A), 24
Lithuania 101, Senegal 47 ~ M. Kalnietis, D. Sabonis, J. Valanciunas, all 13

JUDO: Japan dominates World Champs in Tokyo … or did they, as France wins three golds

By
Rich Perelman
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Akira Sone (JPN) becomes the youngest world champ ever at 19, defeating Idalys Ortiz of Cuba (Photo: IJF)

The 2019 World Judo Championships came back to its Olympic home, the famed Nippon Budokan in Tokyo where the sport was introduced to the Olympic Games in 1964. And as always, Japan topped the medal table – as it has in every Worlds since men and women have competed together in 1987 – with 15 total medals.

But this was not a complete domination by the Japanese, who won four gold medals, to three for France, among the 14 individual weight classes. That’s half as many golds as Japan won last year and its lowest total since 2013. But with 828 judoka from 143 countries competing, leading the medal table is still impressive.

Just three fighters repeated their titles from 2018:

● Women/48 kg: Daria Bilodid (UKR)
● Women/52 kg: Uta Abe (JPN)
● Women/63 kg: Clarissa Agbegnenou (FRA) ~ Fourth Worlds gold

Japan’s Shohei Ono won his third world title at 73 kg and Czech Lukas Krpalek won a world title in a second weight class: he won at -100 kg in 2014 ad this time at +100 kg.

The French women scored three impressive wins, from Agbegnenou at 63 kg, Marie-Eve Gahie at 70 kg and Madeleine Malonga at 78 kg, with Agbegnenou and Malonga both defeating Japanese fighters in the final.

The final day saw two remarkable finals in the heavyweight divisions. Japan’s Akira Sone fought two-time World Champion Idalys Ortiz (CUB) to a draw in regulation time and the match went to golden score. Ortiz went out of the area and was disqualified, making Sone– at 19 – the youngest World Champion ever.

In the men’s +100 kg final, Krpalek became the first man ever to win both the -100 kg and +100 kg titles. In the final against Japan’s Hisayoshi Hirasawa, the 2018 Worlds bronze medalist, the match went to golden score and Hirasawa was disqualified for passivity after four minutes.

This Worlds will be remembered as a successful test event for the 2020 Olympic tournament, also to be held at Budokan, but also for the political impact of Iran withdrawing all of its fighters except so as not to meet any of the emerging Israeli team. The one who did complete, defending 81 kg champion Saeid Mollaei, was reported to have lost his semifinal and third-place matches on purpose – on orders from the Iranian government – to avoid competing against, or having to stand during the victory ceremony, with Israel’s Sagi Muki. Mollaei has reportedly asked for asylum in Germany.

Summaries from Tokyo:

IJF World Championships
Tokyo (JPN) ~ 25-31 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

60 kg: 1. Lukhumi Chkhvimiani (GEO); 2. Sharafuddin Lutfillaev (UZB); 3. Yeldos Smetov (KAZ) and Ryuju Nagayama (JPN).

66 kg: 1. Joshiro Maruyama (JPN); 2. Limhwan Kim (KOR); 3. Hifumi Abe (JPN) and Denis Vieru (MDA).

73 kg: 1. Shohei Ono (JPN); 2. Rustam Orujov (AZE); 3. Denis Iartcev (RUS) and Hidayat Heydarov (AZE).

81 kg: 1. Sagi Muki (ISR); 2. Matthias Casse (BEL); 3. Antoine Antois-Fortier (CAN) and Luka Maisuradze (GEO).

90 kg: 1. Noel Van’t End (NED); 2. Shoichiro Mukai (JPN); 3. Axel Clerget (FRA) and Nemanja Majdov (SRB).

100 kg: 1. Jorge Fonseca (POR); 2. Niyaz Ilyasov (RUS); 3. Michael Korrel (NED) and Aaron Wolf (JPN).

+100 kg: 1. Lukas Krpalek (CZE); 2. Hisayoshi Hirasawa (JPN); 2. Min-Jong Kim (KOR) and Roy Meyer NED).

Women

48 kg: 1. Daria Bilodid (UKR); 2. Funa Tonaki (JPN); 3. Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL) and Distria Krasniqi (KOS).

52 kg: 1. Uta Abe (JPN); 2. Natalia Kuziutina (RUS); 3. Mejlinda Kelmendi (KOS) and Ai Shishime (JPN).

57 kg: 1. Christa Deguchi (CAN); 2. Tsukasa Yoshida (JPN); 3. Julia Kowalczyk (POL) and Rafaela Silva (BRA).

63 kg: 1. Clarisse Agbegnenou (FRA); 2. Miku Tashiro (JPN); 3. Martyna Trajdos (GER) and Juul Franssen (NED).

70 kg: 1. Marie Eve Gahie (FRA); 2. Barbara Timo (POR); 3. Sally Conway (GBR) and Margaux Pinot (FRA).

78 kg: 1. Madeleine Malonga (FRA); 2. Shori Hamada (JPN); 3. Loriana Kuka (KOS) and Mayra Aguiar (BRA).

+78 kg: 1. Akira Sone (JPN); 2. Idalys Ortiz (CUB); 3. Kayra Sayit (TUR) and Sarah Asahina (JPN).

Mixed

Team Event: 1. Japan, 2. France; 3. Brazil and Russia. Semis: Japan d. Brazil, 4-0; France d. Russia, 4-3. Final: Japan d. France, 4-2.

CYCLING: Fourth world title for Ferrand-Prevot and no. 7 for Nino Schurter in Mountain Bike Worlds

By
Rich Perelman
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World Champion again: France's Pauline Ferrand Prevot wins her second individual Mountain Bike Cross Country title in Mont-Sainte-Anne (Photo: Thomas Mathieu via Wikimedia Commons).

/UPDATED with Downhill results/ Two of the best riders in the history of Mountain Bike racing won brilliant victories at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at Mont-Sainte-Anne in Quebec, Canada: France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Swiss superstar Nino Schurter.

In the women’s Cross Country event, Ferrand-Prevot came in with good recent results, having been first and third in the two World Cup races in August. She started 10th and after a modest start, moved up to ninth after the first of six laps on the hilly course.

Then she took over. Her second lap was the fastest of the entire field in the entire race at 14:07, then her third lap of 14:11 and fourth lap of 14:08 were all faster than anyone else on the day and she found herself with a three-second lead over Australia’s Rebecca McConnell in what had become a two-woman race.

Ferrand Prevot kept the pressure up and broke McConnell on the fifth lap, timing 14:22 as McConnell had trouble and moved back to third (15:00), as 2017 World Champion Jolanda Neff (SUI) moved into second place. But the gap was now more than a minute and Ferrand Prevot cruised home to win in 1:28:51, 43 seconds ahead of Neff and 1:17 ahead of McConnell in third. American Kate Courtney, the 2018 World Champion, finished fifth in 1:31:33.

For Ferrand Prevot, it continues her remarkable run of individual world titles: the 2014 world title in the women’s Road Race, then 2015 wins in Mountain Bike Cross Country and Cyclo-Cross and now a second individual title in Mountain Bike Cross Country. And she is still just 27.

Schurter, now 33, won his fourth consecutive World Championship title and seven career title, adding to his record total. He and France’s brilliant Julien Absalon (five world titles) are now tied for the most career World Championships medals with nine.

The Swiss star left little doubt almost from the start, taking the lead by the end of the first lap. But while he was challenged by countryman Mathias Flueckiger and France’s Stephane Tempier during the middle of the race, Schurter broke it open on the fifth lap, extending a four-second lead to 40 seconds with a 12:08 loop and his victory was assured. Schurter cruised in to the finish at 1:27:05, 30 seconds ahead of Flueckiger and 38 seconds ahead of Tempier.

In the Sunday Downhill races. France’s Loic Bruni won his third World Championships gold in a row (and fourth in five years), taking control from the start and finishing 0.581 seconds better than Australia’s Troy Brosnan. The women’s title was won by France’s Myriam Nicole, who finally got to the top of the podium after finishing 2-2-3 in the past three years. She led from start to finish, recording the fastest split at each checkpoint and finishing 1.204 seconds ahead of Britain’s Tahnee Seagrave, who won silver for the second year in a row. Summaries:

UCI Mountain Bike World Championships
Mont-Sainte-Anne (CAN) ~ 28 August-1 September 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Cross Country (29.7 km): 1. Nino Schurter (SUI), 1:27:05; 2. Mathias Flueckiger (SUI), 1:27:35; 3. Stephane Tempier (FRA), 1:27:43; 4. Titouan Carod (FRA), 1:28:01; 5. Gerhard Kerschbaumer (ITA), 1:28:07; 6. Ondrej Cink (CZE), 1:28:39; 7. Victor Koretzky (FRA), 1:28:48; 8. Jordan Sarrou (FRA), 1:29:02; 9. Andri Frischknecht (SUI), 1:29:05; 10. Henrique Avancini (BRA), 1:29:12.

Cross Country/Junior (21.5 km): 1. Charlie Aldridge (GBR), 1:07:31; 2. Luca Martin (FRA), 1:07:42; 3. Andreas Vittone (ITA), 1:07:51.

Cross-Country/U-23 (25.6 km): 1. Vlad Dascalu (ROM), 1:19:50; 2. Filippo Colombo (SUI), 1:21:47; 3. Vital Albin (SUI), 1:21:56.

Downhill (2.9 km): 1. Loic Bruni (FRA), 4:05.544; 2. Troy Brosnan (AUS), 4:06.125; 3. Amaury Pierron (FRA), 4:08.93; 4. Danny Hart (GBR), 4:08.349; 5. Greg Minnaar (RSA), 4:08.731; 6. Laurie Greenland (GBR), 4:10.440; 7. Finn Iles (CAN), 4:10.525; 8. Dakotah Norton (USA), 4:11.034; 9. Mark Wallace (CAN), 4:11.673; 10. Luca Shaw (USA), 4:11.891.

Downhill/Junior (2.9 km): 1. Kye A’Hern (AUS), 4:17.776; 2. Antoine Vidal (FRA), 4:18.920; 3. Tuhoto-Ariki Pene (NZL), 4:19.070.

Women

Cross Country (25.6 km): 1. Pauline Ferrand Prevot (FRA), 1:28:51; 2. Jolanda Neff (SUI), 1:29:34; 3. Rebecca McConnell (AUS), 1:30:08; 4. Anne Terpstra (NED), 1:31:17; 5. Kate Courtney (USA), 1:31:33; 6. Annie Last (GBR), 1:31:45; 7. Anne Tauber (GBR), 1:32:03; 8. Tanja Zakelj (SLO), 1:32:31; 9. Emily Batty (CAN), 1:32:50; 10. Linda Indergand (CAN), 1:33:37. Also in the top 25: 11. Lea Davison (USA), 1:33:43; … 15. Chloe Woodruff (USA), 1:34:32.

Cross Country/Junior (17.4 km): 1. Jacqueline Schneebeli (SUI), 1:05:03; 2. Mona Mitterwallner (AUT), 1:06:11. 3. Helene Marie Fossesholm (NOR), 1:08:14. Also in the top 10: 6. Madigan Munro (USA), 1:10:07.

Cross Country/U-23 (21.5 km): 1. Sina Frei (SUI), 1:16:34; 2. Laura Stigger (AUT), 1:17:05; 3. Loana Lecomte (FRA), 1:17:10. Also in the top 10: 6. Haley Batten (USA), 1:19:56.

Downhill (2.9 km): 1. Myriam Nicole (FRA), 4:53.226; 2. Tahnee Seagrave (GBR), 4:54.430; 3. Marine Cabirou (FRA), 4:54.920; 4. Tracey Hannah (AUS), 4:57.347; 5. Emilie Siegenthaler (SUI), 4:58.617; 6. Eleonora Farina (ITA), 5:01.781; 7. Melanie Chappaz (FRA), 5:11.335; 8. Vaea Verbeeck (CAN), 5:12.009; 9. Sian A’Hern (AUS), 5:13.816; 10. Carina Cappellari (SUI), 5:17.039.

Downhill/Junior (2.9 km): 1. Valentina Holl (AUT), 5:01.033; 2. Mille Johnset (NOR), 5:13.961; 3. Anna Newkirk (USA), 5:22.263.

Mixed

Cross Country Team Relay (20.5 km): 1. Switzerland (Roth, Baumann, Frei, Neff, Schurter), 1:02:55; 2. United States (Chris Blevins, Riley Amos, Haley Batten, Kate Courtney, Keegan Swenson), 1:03:11; 3. France, 1:03:23; 4. Italy, 1:03:53; 5. Canada, 1:04:04; 6. Great Britain, 1:04:26; 7. Denmark, 1:05:39; 8. Czech Republic, 1:06:10.

TRIATHLON: Zaferes wins seasonal World Series in style; Luis hangs on for men’s title in Lausanne

By
Rich Perelman
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World Champion: American triathlon star Katie Zaferes (Photo: ITU/Wagner Araujo)

Both of the leaders in the ITU World Series standings knew just what they had to do to collect their first career titles in the Grand Final in Lausanne, Switzerland. France’s Vincent Luis had to finish fifth or higher and he would win, no matter what anyone else did. American Katie Zaferes had to finish in the top 12.

Mission accomplished.

Zaferes was especially impressive, winning her race over the Olympic distance of 1.5 km swimming, 40 km cycling and the 10 km run in 2:02:45, four seconds ahead of season-long chaser Jessica Leamonth of Great Britain (2:02:49).

“I don’t even know if its hit me yet, I had a lot of emotions and doubts coming in to this race but I’m just really happy right now,” said Zaferes. “I worked really hard to get in the mental frame, I knew physically I was in the right frame, so I didn’t let it get to me too much. I’m just out there enjoying it and enjoying the process, and to do it on this course is amazing.”

Having been felled by bike crashes in two races this season, Zaferes was only seventh out of the water, with Britain’s Learmonth and Vittoria Lopes (BRA) leading the first group into the transition. But working in a chase pack with former World Champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda, Zaferes had the second-fastest bike phase of the entire field and there were five together heading into the run: Duffy, Lopes, Learmonth, Taylor-Brown and Zaferes.

Needed only a 12th-place finish, the seasonal title was essentially assured for the American, but as one of the best runners in the sport, she also sensed the opportunity for her fifth win of the season. Lopes and Duffy dropped back on the third lap and the top three moved on. Taylor-Brown lost contact on the fourth lap and then Zaferes – an All-Big East steepler at Syracuse – attacked with 200 m to go and Learmonth had to settle for second in the race and on the season.

The men’s race had more drama, as it became clear that Mario Mola (ESP) was going to try to break Luis and claim his fourth seasonal title in a row.

Luis was third out of the water, behind Igor Polyanskiy (RUS) and Spain’s Javier Gomez Noya. The bike phase showed Mola trying to break away, but no one could gain a significant advantage and a mass of 23 athletes started the run essentially together.

Spain’s Fernando Alarza headed into the run first, but Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt made strong move with 8 km left and had the lead with three laps to go. Mola made his move for the win and Luis could not hold on, now running third, but with the end close at hand. Counting the places, Luis was passed by Alarza and Norway’s Gustav Iden, but finished fifth and collected his first world title while Blummenfelt won his first World Series race, 16 seconds ahead of Mola.

“That was a really tough race, I can’t believe it,” said Luis. “The final 3 km seemed like 10 km for me, but the crowd was amazing, my parents were here and I just dug in really deep for them.

“I just knew I needed to follow Mario as close as I could but I got dropped so just did my best to stay in touch and do what I needed to. You can’t buy a world title; beating guys like Mario and Javii… it is great to have my name with theirs.”

Luis won with a seasonal total of 5,095 points to 4,939 for Mola, who came back from some bad races in the middle of the season to almost win a fourth consecutive title. Zaferes, with five wins, ended up crushing the field with 6,175 points to 5,326 for Learmonth and 5,191 for Taylor-Brown. The American depth was impressive, with Taylor Spivey finishing fourth on the season and Summer Rappaport in fifth. Summaries:

ITU World Series Grand Final
Lausanne (SUI) ~ 29 August-1 September 2019
(Full results here)

Men: 1. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR), 1:50:47; 2. Mario Mola (ESP), 1:51:03; 3. Fernando Alarza (ESP), 1:51:18; 4. Gustav Iden (NOR), 1:51:34; 5. Vincent Luis (FRA), 1:51:53; 6. Javier Gomez Noya (ESP), 1:52:14; 7. Casper Stornes (NOR), 1:52:20; 8. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR), 1:52:32; 9. Marten van Riel (BEL), 1:52:53; 10. Alois Knabl (AUT), 1:52:53. Also in the top 25: 11. Morgan Pearson (USA), 1:52:56.

Final Standings: 1. Vincent Luis (FRA), 5,095; 2. Mario Mola (ESP), 4,939; 3. Javier Gomez Noya (ESP), 4.533; 4. Fernando Alarza (ESP), 4,395; 5. Marten van Riel (BEL), 3,659; 6. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS), 3,433; 7. Henri Schoeman (RSA), 3,148; 8. Leo Bergere (FRA0, 3,042; 9. Gustav Iden (NOR), 3,028; 10. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR), 2,892. Also in the top 25: 23. Morgan Pearson (USA), 1,699; 24. Matthew McElroy (USA), 1,497.

Women: 1. Katie Zaferes (USA), 2:02:45; 2. Jessica Learmonth (GBR), 2:02:49; 3. Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR), 2:03:03; 4. Rachel Klamer (NED), 2:03:44; 5. Flora Duffy (BER), 2:04:26; 6. Laura Lindemann (GER), 2:04:41; 7. Annamaria Mazzetti (ITA), 2:04:51; 8. Alice Betto (ITA), 2:05:11; 9. Taylor Spivey (USA), 2:05:40; 10. Nicole Spirig (SUI), 2:05:53. Also in the top 25: 14. Taylor Knibb (USA), 2:07:10; … 16. Summer Rappaport (USA), 2:07:44; … 21. Tamara Gorman (USA), 2:09:02.

Final Standings: 1. Katie Zaferes (USA), 6,175; 2. Jessica Learmonth (GBR), 5,326; 3. Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR), 5,191; 4. Taylor Spivey (USA), 4,651; 5. Summer Rappaport (USA), 3,589; 6. Rachel Klamer (NED), 3,586; 7. Non Stanford (GBR), 3,435; 8. Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA), 2,548; 9. Annamaria Mazzetti (ITA), 2,456; 10. Laura Lindemann (GER), 2,427. Also in the top 25: 15. Taylor Knibb (USA), 2,231; … 24. Chelsea Burns (USA), 1,616.

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