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TSX DAILY: USOPC Hall of Fame voting open, and our picks ~ fabulous Meeting de Paris T&F ~ Christian Coleman’s doping hearing set ~ Nevin Harrison’s canoeing stunner

By
Rich Perelman
-
American triple jump star Will Claye

≡ TSX DAILY ~ 26 August 2019 ≡

| 1. |  LANE ONE: You can vote on the next class for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, and here’s who to vote for!

A Hall of Fame for U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes has been more of an idea than a tangible reality, but with the opening of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in 2020, the concept will be in bricks and mortar.

The idea started in 1979 and classes were selected and inducted from 1979-2012, when the process was stopped. It’s on again and the Class of 2019 is open for your voting through 3 September here.

There are 15 Olympians nominated for five spots, plus nine Paralympians for three slots and three Olympic teams for one spot. Just looking at the Olympians today, the nominees:

● Gary Anderson, Shooting: 1960-64-68 Olympian ~ 2 medals
● Greg Barton, Canoe/Kayak: 1984-88-92 Olympian ~ 4 medals
● Laura Berg, Softball: 1996-2000-04-08 ~ 4 medals
● Anne Donovan, Basketball: 1980-84-88; coach in 2004-08 ~ 2 medals
● Lisa Leslie, Basketball: 1996-2000-04-08 ~ 4 medals
● Nastia Liukin, Gymnastics: 2008 ~ 5 medals
● John Mayasich, Ice Hockey: 1956-60 ~ 2 medals
● Misty May-Treanor, Beach Volleyball: 2000-04-08-12 ~ 3 medals
● Jonny Moseley, Freestyle Skiing: 1998-2002 ~ 1 medal
● Apolo Anton Ohno, Short Track Speedskating: 2002-06-10 ~ 8 medals
● Mark Reynolds, Sailing: 1988-92-96-2000 ~ 3 medals
● Angela Ruggiero, Ice Hockey: 1998-2002-06-10 ~ 4 medals
● John Smith, Wrestling: 1998-92 (athlete); 2000 (coach) ~ 2 medals
● Dara Torres, Swimming: 1984-88-92-2000-08 ~ 12 medals
● Brenda Villa, Water Polo: 2000-04-08-12 ~ 4 medals

Who to vote for? Lots of medals is good and so is longevity, as stretching career over multiple Games that are four years apart is pretty difficult.

Some hard choices had to be made, but you can see The Sports Examiner’s ballot choices in Lane One here.

| 2. | ATHLETICS: Sensational wins in Paris for Noah Lyles (200 m), Daniel Roberts (110mH) and Will Claye (TJ)

The final “regular-season” meet in the IAAF Diamond League was a doozy at the Stade Charlety in Paris, with tremendous performances from several American stars:

● Noah Lyles steamed around the turn and ran away from reigning World Champion Ramil Guliyev to win the 200 m in 19.65, his second-fastest time ever, and erased yet another meet record held by Jamaican legend Usain Bolt.

● Daniel Roberts won the 110 m hurdles in a sparking 13.08, defeating 2016 Olympic silver medalist Orlando Ortega (ESP: 13.14), with NCAA champ Grant Holloway leading in the middle of the race, but fading to sixth (13.25).

● Will Claye (pictured) is having a career year, after getting married, releasing new music and now defeating Olympic and World Champion – and former Florida teammate –Christian Taylor in the triple jump. Taylor took the lead in the fifth round at 17.82 m (58-5 3/4), but Claye responded with a thunderous 18.06 m (59-3) mark to win. It’s the no. 2 mark in the world this year, behind only his 18.14 m (59-6 1/4) earlier this year. As Claye noted, it’s an especially good sign with the World Championships coming up because it was his longest jump ever outside of the U.S.!

A new star on the horizon is Hanna Green, who hadn’t broken two minutes in the 800 m until this season, but defeated most of the top contenders for the Worlds in 1:58.39 with a smart, patient race that saw her race by almost everyone in the final 200 m. Why the improvement? “The big thing for me this year is just not being injured, I’ve been able to get through all the big workouts and because of that I’ve brought a lot more confidence into races.”

Sam Kendricks of the U.S. won the pole vault at 6.00 m (19-8 1/4); Norway’s Karsten Warholm ran brilliantly again to win the 400 m hurdles in 47.26 and Tom Walsh of New Zealand won the shot put at 22.44 m (73-7 1/2) ahead of American Joe Kovacs (22.11 m/72-6 1/2).

The first of two Diamond League finals comes on Thursday (29th) at the Weltklasse im Zurich meet, with the other events on 6 September in Brussels (BEL). More coverage from the Meeting de Paris here.

| 3. | ATHLETICS: Christian Coleman to have doping-violations hearing on 4 September

“I’m not a guy who takes any supplements at all, so I’m never concerned about taking drug tests, at any time. What has been widely reported concerning filing violations is simply not true. I am confident the upcoming hearing on September 4th will clear the matter and I will compete at World Championships in Doha this fall. Sometime after the hearing, I will be free to answer questions about the matter, but for now I must reserve and respect the process.”

That was 100 m world leader Christian Coleman’s comment to NBC analyst Ato Boldon, shared during the Meeting de Paris telecast on Saturday. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency added its own comment later that:

“Mr. Coleman has agreed to have the three-person independent American Arbitration Association/North American Court of Arbitration for Sport (AAA/CAS) arbitration panel hear the case on September 4 and issue its decision by the end of the following day, well before the IAAF World Championships.”

The USADA, working in conjunction with the Athletics Integrity Unit, claims that Coleman has missed reporting his “whereabouts” three times in a 12-month period, which is grounds for sanctions, including suspension for more than a year.

Interestingly, the Diamond League final in the men’s 100 m is this Thursday in Zurich. Will Coleman be there? If so, what will the crowd reaction be?

| 4. | BASKETBALL: U.S. men’s World Cup team looks to rebound vs. Canada

In case you missed it, the U.S. men’s national team lost a game on Saturday, losing to Australia, 98-94, in front of 52,079 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne thanks to strong team rebounding, and 30 points from guard Patty Mills (of the San Antonio Spurs; more coverage here).

It was Australia’s first-ever win over the U.S. and ended an American winning streak of 78 straight games from 2006-19 in major international competitions and attached exhibition games. That run included Olympic gold medals in 2008-12-16 and the 2010-14 World Cups.

“The loss means that we need to play better,” said U.S. head coach Gregg Popovich. “It’s a measure of who you are. Nobody wins forever. This is a group of guys that’s worked very hard, like I said, to get to know each other and get to know a system. And whatever comes, we can handle. Our job is to try to get better every day. We learned some things tonight. We’re actually a better team now than at the start of the game, because of the knowledge from the game. So, now we move on.” (Inset: Jayson Tatum)

The U.S. plays Monday in Sydney against 23-ranked Canada, then will head to China for group play in the 2019 FIBA World Cup. The U.S.-Canada game will air on NBA TV starting at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time Monday morning.

| 5. | CANOE-KAYAK: Shocking win by American teen Nevin Harrison and double golds by Lisa Carrington headline Canoeing Worlds

It was prime time for the canoeing and kayaking world in Szeged, Hungary during the annual World Championships, with established stars like New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington and German Sebastian Brendel each taking home two gold medals.

But the shocker came when 17-year-old Nevin Harrison, who had shown promise on the World Cup circuit and is in the midst of a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for training and travel, upset a field with World Champs medal winners to win the C-1 200 m race and place herself in medal contention for Tokyo in 2020.

This race, especially, was in turmoil after a surprise doping positive was returned against 11-time World Champion Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (CAN; more here), but the silver and bronze medalists were back. Harrison was only third in her heat and second in her semi. But she was first to the line in the final. In case you’re wondering, the U.S. hasn’t won an Olympic medal in canoeing since 2004. Harrison’s win was the only U.S. medal at the 2019 Worlds.

Superstars Carrington and Brendel both won twice. Carrington took her seventh straight World title in the K-1 200 m and added the K-1 500 m as well. Brendel repeated as champ in the C-1 5,000 m and won the C-1 500 m and was second in the C-1 1,000 m.

Belarus won the most medals with 14 (6-4-4), followed by Hungary (12: 5-4-3) and Germany (11: 6-4-1). More here.

| 6. | CYCLING: Quintana takes first individual stage at La Vuelta; Vos takes over Women’s Tour

The last of the three annual Grand Tour is underway as the 74th La Vuelta Ciclista a Espana began with a team time trial on Saturday. This year’s route is especially brutal and very much made for climbers, as shown by Sunday’s win by Colombian Nairo Quintana, the 2016 winner.

He moved clear of Ireland’s Nicolas Roche in the final 3 km and won over Roche, Primoz Roglic (SLO), Rigoberto Uran (COL) and Fabio Aru (ITA) by five seconds. Because Roche’s team was faster in the time trial, he now wears the red leader’s jersey, with a two-second lead on Quintana.

Dutch star Marianne Vos won three of the four stages in the Ladies Tour of Norway and won the race for the third straight year. This time, she finished ahead of American Coryn Rivera by 29 seconds, the latter’s second straight medal in this race.

Vos’s domination was so complete that she collected enough points to take over the seasonal lead on the Women’s World Tour from countrywoman Annemiek van Vleuten, 1,467.00-1,367.67 with four races remaining. More cycling coverage here.

| 7. | JUDO: First World Champions crowned and Iran up to its old tricks vs. Israel

The 2019 World Judo Championships has begun in Tokyo, Japan at the famed Nippon Budokan hall where the sport was introduced at the 1964 Olympic Games and will be held against next year.

Sunday’s first day of competition saw the last two women’s world champs collide at 48 kg and Ukraine’s Daria Bilodid managed a second consecutive win over Japan’s Funa Tonaki, the 2017 Worlds winner.  In the men’s 60 kg final, Lukhumi Chkhvimiani (GEO) won his first world title with a modest upset of Uzbek Sharafuddin Lutfillaev.

However, politics was also at play in Tokyo. Iran, which has a strong team, decided not to compete in the 2019 Worlds, except for defending 81 kg champion Saeid Mollaei (pictured above). Pressured by the International Judo Federation to stop avoiding matches against Israeli opponents, the Iranian Judo Federation and Iranian National Olympic Committee agreed in May that it would abide by the federation’s rules on non-discrimination.

So much for that. As for top-seed Mollaei, his draw will not place him in a bout with Israel’s no. 2-seeded Sagi Muki until the finals. Now that could be interesting.

| 8. | FOOTBALL: Massive crowd in Philadelphia for U.S. Women’s “Victory Tour” match

U.S. Soccer reported that more than 44,100 tickets have been sold for Thursday’s second “Victory Tour” match for the U.S. Women’s National Team at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

It’s a record for a stand-alone friendly, as the U.S. women will face Portugal on Thursday beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern time and shown on FS1. According to the federation:

“The previous USWNT record for a stand-alone friendly – a game that was not a part of a World Cup, Olympics or a doubleheader – was set during the first match of the 2015 Victory Tour after that year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup triumph when 44,028 fans came out to Heinz Field, home of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, to watch the team defeat Costa Rica 8-0 on Aug. 16.”

The U.S.’s 3-0 victory over Ireland drew 37,040 to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on 3 August and there are three more games scheduled after Thursday’s game.

| 9. | SCOREBOARD: Badminton history in Basel and a U.S. 1-2 in the Snowboard World Cup opener (!)

● Badminton: History made at the Total BWF World Championships in Switzerland, as Japan won the most medals, with China second. It’s the first time that the Chinese did not win the most medals since 1995, breaking a streak of 17 World Champs in a row. Japan’s Kento Momota was impressive as the repeat men’s Singles winner and India’s P. Sindhu Pusarla became a national hero with a world title after silver medals in 2017 and 2018.

● Rhythmic Gymnastics: Israel’s Linoy Ashram won three events and four total individual medals to headline the second FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup in Cluj Nopaca, Romania.

● Snowboard: Believe it or not, the FIS Snowboard World Cup season started at the Winter Games NZ in Cardrona with a Big Air competition. American Chris Corning defended his 2018 win with two spectacular runs, while 2018 OWG Slopestyle gold medalist Red Gerard was second.

● Table Tennis: Youth ran wild at the ITTF World Tour Czech Open in Olomuoc (CZE), as 18-year-old Yun-Ju Lin (TPE) won his first World Tour men’s Singles title and the Korean pair of Daeseong Cho (16) and Yubin Shin (14) took the Mixed Doubles crown. China’s Xingtong Chen (22) won her second straight World Tour event in the women’s Singles.

| 10. | THE LAST WORD: U.S. hurdles star Grant Holloway, the world leader at 12.98, was only sixth on Saturday, but he had the best responses at the pre-Meeting de Paris news conference:

● “Why did I give up American Football? Because I want to walk when I’m 30.”

● “I trust my coach. I trust my training. I was able to peak at NCAAs and I’ll be able to peak again in October.”

LANE ONE: You can vote on the next class for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, and here’s who to vote for!

By
Rich Perelman
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Three-time Olympic Beach Volleyball gold medalist Misty May-Treanor

The concept of a U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame got going pretty late, conceived in 1979 and only admitting its first class in 1983. There was no separate building for it, and there still isn’t. But there will be soon.

The “virtual Hall” admitted classes from 1983 through 2012 and has 109 individual Olympians and Paralympians, 10 teams, four coaches and 18 special contributors for a total of 141 inductees. With the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum now under construction in Colorado Springs, Colorado and opening in 2020, there will be a physical Hall of Fame and the USOPC has now opened voting to the public for the Class of 2019 (through 3 September).

The USOPC has nominated 15 Olympians for five slots, with some obvious choices and some tougher ones. Here’s a look at the ballot – very well done, by the way – and my own, unsolicited advice on who should be honored this year:

● Gary Anderson, Shooting: 1960-64-68 Olympian
> Gold medals in 300 m Free Rifle/3 Positions (1960) and Mixed Free Rifle/3 Positions (1964).

● Greg Barton, Canoe/Kayak: 1984-88-92
> Gold medals in K-1 1,000 m and K-2 1,000 m in 1988;
> Bronze medals in K-1 1,000 m (1984) and K-1 1,000 m (1992).

● Laura Berg, Softball: 1996-2000-04-08
> Gold medals in 1996-2000-04; silver in 2008 as a starting centerfielder.

● Anne Donovan, Basketball: 1980-84-88; coach in 2004-08
> Gold medals in 1984-88 as starting center;
> “Gold medals” as assistant coach in 2004 and as head coach in 2008.

● Lisa Leslie, Basketball: 1996-2000-04-08
> Gold medals in all four Games; led the U.S. in scoring in 1996-2000-04.

● Nastia Liukin, Gymnastics: 2008
> Gold medal in the All-Around; silvers in Team A-A, Uneven Bars, Beam; bronze in Floor.

● John Mayasich, Ice Hockey: 1956-60
> Gold medal in 1960 (as a defenseman); silver in 1956 (as a forward).

● Misty May-Treanor, Beach Volleyball: 2000-04-08-12
> Gold medals in 2004-08-12 with Kerri Walsh Jennings; fifth with Holly McPeak in 2000.

● Jonny Moseley, Freestyle Skiing: 1998-2002
> Gold medal in Moguls in 1998; fourth in 2002.

● Apolo Anton Ohno, Short Track Speedskating: 2002-06-10
> Gold medals in 1,500 m (2002), 500 m (2006); silvers in 1,000 m (2002), 1,500 m (2010) and bronzes in 1,000 m & 5,000 m Relay in 2006 and 2010.

● Mark Reynolds, Sailing: 1988-92-96-2000
> Gold in Star class (2000); silvers in Star (1988-92).

● Angela Ruggiero, Ice Hockey: 1998-2002-06-10
> Gold in 1998 as defender; silver in 2002 and 2019; bronze in 2006;
> Athletes Commission member of the International Olympic Committee, 2010-18.

● John Smith, Wrestling: 1998-92 (athlete); 2000 (coach)
> Gold medals at 62 kg in 1988 and 1992.

● Dara Torres, Swimming: 1984-88-92-2000-08
> Gold medals on relays in 1984 (1)-92 (1)-2000 (2); relay silvers in 1988 (1)-2008 (2); relay bronze in 1988 (1).
> Individual silver in 50 m Free (2008); bronzes in 50-100 Free & 50 m Fly (2000).

● Brenda Villa, Water Polo: 2000-04-08-12
> Gold medal in 2012; silvers in 2000 & 2008; bronze in 2004.

It’s a fabulously accomplished group of nominees. What’s important to remember is that this is an Olympic Hall of Fame. Although the USOPC bios include achievements outside of the Games, I don’t; whatever these folks did outside of the Games is not as relevant as what they did at the Games. So my ballot will include:

(1) Misty May-Treanor

Along with the still-active Walsh Jennings, the pair defined what excellence in women’s beach volleyball looks like. That she was able to qualify for the Games with two different partners is remarkable and to play in four Games – and win three gold medals – makes her a Hall of Famer.

By the way, whenever Walsh Jennings comes onto the ballot, she’s in too.

(2) John Mayasich

What’s astounding about Mayasich is that despite playing in two Olympic Games at ages 22 and 26, he never played in the National Hockey League. His career was in broadcasting, especially in the early days of FM radio, building a St. Paul station into a top performer and then as an executive for Hubbard Broadcasting. He led the U.S. in scoring in both Games (seven goals) and was a key defender on the miracle 1960 team that beat the USSR, 3-2, and won the gold medal.

(3) Apolo Anton Ohno

The guy won eight Winter Games medals over three Games, including in six individual events and two golds in the notoriously wild Short Track program. His Olympic exploits helped introduce and then popularize the sport to U.S. audiences and his sustained excellence from ages 19-27 was very impressive.

(4) Dara Torres

One of the most impressive qualities of a great Olympic performer is to be able maintain world-class performance levels over multiple quadrennials. It’s incredibly difficult and Torres achieved astonishing results over a five-Games career that spanned ages 17 to 41. True, eight of her 12 medals are from relays, but she won four individual medals at ages 33 (in 2000) and 41 (in 2008). She retired twice, coming back after seven years off for 2000 and seven more (and a baby) for 2008. If we value the concept of never giving up and doing what you love, then Torres has to be part of the Hall of Fame for her perseverance to be great across more than 20 years, in a sport that is normally dominated by those in the teens and 20s.

Deciding on the last one was difficult, especially among those who played in team sports. Several were deserving, but only one finished undefeated and with four gold medals:

(5) Lisa Leslie

Another long Olympic career, from age 24 through age 36. She set a U.S. Olympic record with 35 points against Japan in the 1996 quarterfinals in Atlanta and led the U.S. team in scoring with 19.5 points a game in 1996, 15.8 in 2000 and 15.6 in 2004. She averaged 10.1 points a game in 2008 at age 36 and scored in double figures in 28 of her 32 Olympic tournament games.

Oh yes, one more thing to consider. Her teams were 32-0 in her four Olympic appearances. How many others can say that?

The five inductees from this group will be announced on 23 September and inducted on 1 November, in Colorado Springs. There is also voting for three Paralympians (out of nine candidates) and one Olympic team (out of three candidates). Look for more advice on who to vote for in the coming days! Remember, cast your vote here by 3 September.

Rich Perelman
Editor

SNOWBOARD: Corning defends Winter Games NZ title as U.S. finishes 1-2 in Big Air opener

By
Rich Perelman
-
Second straight Winter Games NZ Big Air title for Chris Corning (USA) (Photo: Iain McGregor/WGNZ)

The FIS World Cup season for underway – at least for the men – in New Zealand with the first of four competitions in Big Air. The men’s event went off as scheduled, but the women’s finals were not held due to high winds that came up after the men’s event was completed.

American Chris Corning came in as the defending champion and defend he did. According to the FIS report:

“Sitting in third place after the first run with a score of 80.75 for a frontside 1440 melon, Chris leapfrogged into top spot on run two, stomping a jaw-dropping quad cork 1800 for a score of 95.50 and a two-jump combined score of 176.25, stunning both the crowd and his fellow riders at the top of the course in the process.”

Said the winner afterwards, “I’m super happy we got this contest off, and everyone rode so well. It means everything to get this win; this is what we come to do, this is what we spend all year training for, this is what all the hard work goes into. I’m happy to come out with the win.

“There were a few of us from the very start of the day who wanted the contest to go. Sometimes the wind is really tough, but today it was really steady and didn’t matter than much and a lot of us were able to ride right through it. And then once we started the contest it calmed right down, so it worked out perfectly.”

Corning teammate Red Gerard, the Slopestyle gold winner from PyeongChang, had three quality runs, scoring 87.00 on his first try – good for second place – and stayed consistent with follow-up scores of 72.25 and 74.25. His best two runs totaled 161.25, ahead of bronze medalist Kalle Jarvilehto (FIN) at 160.25.

For the women’s competition, the qualifying scores had to be used, handing the victory to Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi. Summaries:

FIS Snowboard World Cup
Cardrona (NZL) ~ 24-25 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men/Big Air: 1. Chris Corning (USA), 176.25; 2. Red Gerard (USA), 161.25; 3. Kalle Jarvilehto (FIN), 160.25; 4. Nicolas LaFramboise (CAN), 160.00; 5. Matthew Cox (AUS), 158.00. Also: 6. Lyon Farrell (USA), 101.50; … 8. Luke Winkelmann (USA), 81.00.

Women/Big Air (qualifying scores) 1. Enni Rukajarvi (FIN), 86.00; 2. Katie Ormerod (GBR), 83.75; 3. Silje Norendal (NOR), 83.00; 4. Sarka Pancochova (CZE), 81.50; 5. Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL), 78.25.

CANOE/KAYAK: Carrington and Brendel win two each, stunning U.S. win for Harrison in Canoe Sprint Worlds

By
Rich Perelman
-
Teen sensation (and World Champion) Nevin Harrison of the U.S. (Photo: ICF)

Two of the expected stars came through with two golds apiece at the 2019 ICF World Sprint Championships, but the biggest of the event came from U.S. teen Nevin Harrison in front of excited crowds in Szeged, Hungary.

The International Canoe Federation’s own report told it well:

“17-year-old Nevin Harrison was barely known even in her own country before winning C1 gold at the Pan American Games, but the American has thrown herself into medal contention for next year’s C1 200 Olympic debut with a stunning gold in Szeged.

“Canadian multiple world champion, Laurence Vincent-Lapointe, suspended because of a doping violation, was the only big name missing from the final, but it didn’t phase Harrison, who beat home Russian Olesia Romasenko and Belarus’s Alena Nazdrova.

“’I was going into that final thinking, man I’m just happy to be here, and I never ever felt that a medal was possible, and especially gold,’ Harrison said.

“’Oh my gosh, it’s been my dream since I was a little kid to make the Olympics, it’s so good to be here.’”

The result was completely unexpected, especially since Harrison had been third in her heat and second in her semifinal. But she beat the 2018 Worlds runner-up Romasenko by 49.30-49.74 with Nazdrova third for the second straight year in 49.99.

Pretty amazing; women’s canoeing will be introduced into the Olympic program in Tokyo for the first time, and the U.S. hasn’t won an Olympic medal in flatwater canoeing since 2004. Harrison has had a GoFundMe campaign on since last November, raising $3,180 of a hoped-for $10,000 to help her get to the Games. She should do better in the fund-raising now.

Two of canoeing’s big stars showed well in Hungary, with Germany’s Sebastian Brendel and New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington both winning twice:

● Brendel won the C-1 500 m for the first time in his career at the World Championships and took the C-1 5,000 m for the sixth time. He finished second to Brazil’s Isaquias Quieroz dos Santos in the C-1 1,000 m that he had won four times before, and now owns 20 World Champs medals: 12 gold, five silvers and three bronzes.

● Carrington dominated the women’s K-1 200 m and K-1 500 m races; it’s her seventh world title in a row in the 200 m and third in the 500 m. Her career totals are now up to 17 Worlds medals, with 10 golds, five silvers and two bronzes. She will be the heavy favorite in both events in Tokyo.

With 30 events on the program, there were only five repeat winners (including team events with the same team members):

Men:
● C-1 5,000 m: Sebastian Brendel (GER)
● K-2 1,000 m: Max Hoff (GER), with Jacob Schopf vs. Marcus Gross (2018)
● K-4 500 m: Germany, with the same team: Tom Liebscher, Ronald Rauhe, Max Rendschmidt and Max Lemke

Women:
● K-1 200 m: Lisa Carrington (NZL)
● K-2 1,000 m: Erika Medveczky (HUN), with Reka Hagymasi vs. Tamara Csipes (2018)

In addition to Brendel and Carrington, double winners included Tom Leibscher (GER) in the K-1 500 m and K-4 500 m; Belarus’s Maryna Livinchuk and Volha Khudzenka in the K-2 200 m and K-2 500 m and two Hungarian paddlers: Dora Bodonyi in the K-1 5,000 m and the K-4 500 m and Tamara Csipes in the K-1 1,000 m and K-4 500 m.

Belarus won the most medals with 14 (6-4-4), followed by Hungary (12: 5-4-3) and Germany (11: 6-4-1). Summaries:

ICF World Sprint Championships
Szeged (HUN) ~ 21-25 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

C-1 200 m: 1. Henrikas Zustautus (LTU), 39.36; 2. Artsem Kozyr (BLR), 40.08; 3. Zaza Nadiradze (GEO), 40.24; 4. Alfonso Benavides (ESP), 40.79; 5. Jonatan Hajdu (HUN), 41.18.

C-1 500 m: 1. Sebastian Brendel (GER), 1:53.59; 2. Angel Kodinov (BUL), 1:54.49; 3. Oleg Tarnovschi (MDA), 1:54.94; 4. Wiktor Glazunow (POL), 1:55.28; 5. Mikhail Karpov (RUS), 1:55.79.

C-1 1,000 m (OG): 1. Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos (BRA), 3:59.23; 2. Tomasz Kacsor (POL), 4:00.92; 3. Adrien Bart (FRA), 4:01.55; 4. Sebastian Brendel (GER), 4:01.60; 5. Martin Fuksa (CZE), 4:02.02.

C-1 5,000 m: 1. Sebastian Brendel (GER), 22:15.86; 2. Balazs Adolf (HUN), 22:19.15; 3. Fernando Jorge Enriquez (CUB), 22:30.46; 4. Carlo Tacchini (ITA), 22:34.62; 5. Rigoberto Camilo (MEX), 23:00.21.

C-2 200 m: 1. Alberto Pedrero/Pablo Grana (ESP), 36.06; 2. Michal Marek Lubniewski/Arsen Sliwinski (POL), 36.18; 3. Artur Guliev/Elyorjon Mamadaliev (UZB), 36.42; 4. Hieb Saladukha/Dzianis Makhlai (BLR), 36.61; 5. Merey Medetov/Timur Khaidarov (KAZ), 36.73.

C-2 500 m: 1. Qiang Li/Sing Xing (CHN), 1:37.33; 2. Jonatan Hajdu/Adam Fekete (HUN), 1:38.41; 3. Alfonso Benavides/Antoni Segura (ESP), 1:38.97; 4. Pavel Petrov/Mikhail Pavlov (RUS), 1:39.04; 5. Jan Vandrey/Conrad-Robin Scheibner (GER), 1:39.43.

C-2 1,000 m (OG): 1. Hao Liu/Hao Wang (CHN), 3:40.55; 2. Serguey Torres Madrigal/Fernando Jorge Enriquez (CUB), 3:41.46; 3. Erlon Silva/Isaquias Querioz dos Santos (BRA), 3:44.34; 4. Peter Kretschmer/Yul Oetze (GER), 3:45.17; 5. Victor Mihalachi/Catalin Chirila (ROU), 3:45.34.

C-4 500 m: 1. Russia (Shtyl, Petrov, Melantev, Pavlov), 1:34.69; 2. Germany, 1:35.83; 3. Belarus, 1:37.14; 4. Ukraine, 1:37.68; 5. Hungary, 1:39.17.

K-1 200 m (OG): 1. Liam Heath (GBR), 34.86; 2. Strahinja Stefanovic (SRB), 35.04; 3. Carlos Garrotte (ESP), 35.12; 4. Maxime Beaumont (FRA), 35.36; 5. Manfredi Rizza (ITA), 35.38.

K-1 500 m: 1. Tom Liebscher (GER), 1:35.04; 2. Mikita Borykau (BLR), 1:35.19; 3. Maxim Spesivtsev (RUS), 1:35.49; 4. Thomas Green (AUS), 1:35.85; 5. Bence Dombvari (HUN), 1:36.41.

K-1 1,000 m (OG): 1. Balint Kopasz (HUN), 3:36.07; 2. Josef Dostal (CZE), 3:37.31; 3. Fernando Pimenta (POR), 3:37.63; 4. Peter Gelle (SVK), 3:39.99; 5. Maxim Spesivtsev (RUS), 3:40.04.

K-1 5,000 m: 1. Aleh Yurenia (BLR), 19:54.07; 2. Max Hoff (GER), 19:57.56; 3. Pimenta (POR), 20:19.94; 4. Joakim Lindberg (SWE), 20:20.55; 5. Jost Zakrajsek (SLO), 20:21.46. Also: 26. Nathan Humbertson (USA), 22:30.99.

K-2 200 m: 1. Iurii Postrigai/Alexander Dyachenko (RUS), 33.05; 2. Piotr Mazur/Bartosz Grabowski (POL), 33.10; 3. Mark Balaska/Levente Apagyi (HUN), 33.30; 4. Kostja Stroinski/Timo Haseleu (GER), 33.32; 5. Juan Oriyes/Daniel Abad (ESP), 33.42.

K-2 500 m: 1. Stanislau Daineka/Dzmitry Natynchyk (BLR), 1:33;13. 2. Pelayo Roza/Pedro Vazquez (ESP), 1:33.48; 3. Marcus Gross/Martin Hiller (GER), 1:34.50; 4. Ervin Holpert/Marko Novakovic (SRB), 1:34.52; 5. Zsombor Noe/Gabor Bogar (HUN), 1:35.66.

K-2 1,000 m (OG): 1. Max Hoff/Jacob Schopf (GER), 3:20.53; 2. Francisco Cubelos/Inigo Pena (ESP), 3:21.79; 3. Cyrille Carre/Etienne Hubert (FRA), 3:22.96; 4. Josef Dostal/Radek Slouf (CZE), 3:23.19; 5. Jordan Wood/Riley Fitzsimmons (AUS), 3:23.22.

K-4 500 m (OG): 1. Germany (Liebscher, Rauhe, Rendschmidt, Lemke), 1:19.26; 2. Spain, 1:19.77; 3. Slovakia, 1:20.96; 4. Russia, 1:21.00; 5. Hungary, 1:21.10.

K-4 1,000 m: 1. Germany (Reuschenbach, Frank, Thordsen, Schultz), 2:48.79; 2. Russia, 2:49.78; 3. Slovakia, 2:50.44; 4. Hungary, 2:52.20; 5. Belarus, 2:52.32.

Women

C-1 200 m (OG): 1. Nevin Harrison (USA), 49.30; 2. Olesia Romasenko (RUS), 49.74; 3. Alena Nazdrova (BLR). 49.99; 4. Maria Mailliard (CHI), 50.09; 5. Katie Vincent (CAN), 50.12.

C-1 500 m: 1. Alena Nazdrova (BLR), 2:00.73; 2. Kseniia Kurach (RUS), 2:01.64; 3. Anastasiia Chetverikova (UKR), 2:03.83; 4. Yanan Ma (CHN), 2:07.68; 5. Giada Bragato (HUN), 2:07.86.

C-1 5,000 m: 1. Volha Klimava (BLR), 25:34.67; 2. Maria Mailliard (CHI), 25:56.41; 3. Yajue Zhang (CHN), 26:14.90; 4. Zsanett Lakatos (HUN), 26:30.41; 5. Maria Corbera (ESP), 26:30.82. Also: 14. Ann Armstrong (USA), 28:42.92.

C-2 200 m: 1. Wenjun Lin/Luqi Zhang (CHN), 44.69; 2. Kincso Takacs/Virag Balla (HUN), 45.16; 3. Dilnoza Rakhmatova/Nilufar Zorikova (UZB), 46.60; 4. Volha Klimava/Nadzeya Makarchanka (BLR), 46.81; 5. Daria Kharchenko/Kseniia Kurach (RUS), 47.77.

C-2 500 m (OG): 1. Mengya Sun/Shixiao Xu (CHN), 2:02.81; 2. Takacs/Balla (HUN), 2:04.49; 3. Klimava/Makarchanka (BLR), 2:07.74; 4. Lisa Jahn/Ophelia Preller (GER), 2:08.18; 5. Rakhmatova/Zorikova (UZB), 2:08.47.

K-1 200 m (OG) 1. Lisa Carrington (NZL), 39.39; 2. Marta Walczykiewicz (POL), 41.33; 3. tie, Emma Jorgensen (DEN) and Teresa Portela (ESP), 41.34; 5. Mariia Kichasova-Skoryk (UKR), 41.46.

K-1 500 m (OG): 1. Carrington (NZL), 1:55.76; 2. Volha Khudzenka (BLR), 1:57.39; 3. Danuta Kozak (HUN), 1:58.01; 4. Milica Starovic (SRB), 1:59.19; 5. Jorgensen (DEN), 1:59.69.

K-1 1,000 m: 1. Tamara Csipes (HUN), 4:07.90; 2. Justyna Iskrzycka (POL), 4:09.26; 3. Lizzie Broughton (GBR), 4:10.44; 4. Sarah Bruessler (GER), 4:10.58; 5. Mariana Petrusova (SVK), 4:12.44.

K-1 5,000 m: 1. Dora Bodonyi (HUN), 22:02.23; 2. Tabea Medert (GER), 22:03.85; 3. Maryna Litvinchuk (BLR), 22:04.08; 4. Bridgitte Hartley (RSA), 22:17.76; 5. Kristina Bedec (SRB), 22:22.38. Also: 18. Kaitlin McElroy (USA), 23:38.79.

K-2 200 m: 1. Maryna Litvinchuk/Volha Khudzenka (BLR), 36.21; 2. Spela Ponomarenko Janic/Anja Osterman (SLO), 36.72; 3. Blanka Kiss/Anna Lucz (HUN), 36.79; 4. Kristina Kovnir/Anastasiia Dolgova (RUS), 36.99; 5. Mariya Povkh/Liudmyla Kuklinovska (UKR), 37.11.

K-2 500 m (OG): 1. Maryna Livinchuk/Volha Khudzenka (BLR), 1:42.55; 2. Karolina Naja/Anna Pulawska (POL), 1:43.34; 3. Ponomarenko Janic/Osterman (SLO), 1:44.21; 4. Hermien Peters/Lize Broekx (BEL), 1:44.49; 5. Sarah Guyot/Manon Hostens (FRA), 1:44.90.

K-2/1,000 m: 1. Erika Medveczky/Reka Hagymasi (HUN), 3:34.23; 2. Tabea Medert/Sarah Bruessler (GER), 3:35.59; 3. Karina Alanis/Maricela Montemayor (MEX), 3:40.91; 4. Alena Kostromitina/Daria Lukina (RUS), 3:45.15; 5. Camila Morison/Barbara Pardo (ESP), 3:45.79.

K-4 500 m: 1. Hungary (Bodonyi, Medveczky, Csipes, Gazso), 1:32.91; 2. Belarus, 1:33.69; 3. Poland, 1:34.77; 4. New Zealand, 1:35.35; 5. France, 1:37.08.

TABLE TENNIS: Youth has its way with teen wins at Czech Open, but two in a row for Xingtong Chen

By
Rich Perelman
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Czech Open winner Yun-Ju Lin (TPE) (Photo: ITTF)

Chinese Taipei’s Yun-Ju Lin and the Korean pair of Daeseong Cho and Yubin Shin put on a show of teenage power in the finals of the Czech Open in the city of Olomuoc over the weekend.

First, Cho, 16, and Shin, 14, won the Mixed Doubles title over veterans Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito of Japan, 3-2, for their first ITTF World Tour victory. Shin is the youngest-ever to be part of a World Tour Mixed Doubles tournament victory.

Cho wasn’t done, either, teaming with Sangsu Lee to win the men’s Doubles in a 3-1 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Cheng-Ting Liao and Lin.

Lin had the spotlight on his own on Sunday, and at 18, scored his first World Tour victory, over German veteran Dmitrij Ovtcharov, 4-1, in his second final. Lin defeated Timo Boll (GER) in the semis; between the two Germans, they had 68 years and 28 World Tour titles to 18 and none for Lin at the start of the tournament!

China’s Xingtong Chen, 22, won her second World Tour title in a row with a tight, 4-3 win over Japan’s Miu Hirano. Summaries:

ITTF World Tour/Czech Open
Olomuoc (CZE) ~ 22-25 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men/Singles: 1. Yun-Ju Lin (TPE); 2. Dimitrij Ovtcharov (GER); 3. Timo Boll (GER) and Hugo Calderano (BRA). Final: Lin d. Ovtcharov, 4-1.

Men/Doubles: 1. Daeseong Cho/Sangsu Lee (KOR); 2. Cheng-Ting Liao/Yun-Ju Lin (TPE); 3. Robert Gardos/Daniel Habesohn (AUT) and Nandor Ecseki/Adam Szudi (HUN). Final: Cho/Lee d. Liao/Lin, 3-1.

Women/Singles: 1. Xingtong Chen (CHN); 2. Miu Hirano (JPN); 3. Kasumi Ishikawa (JPN) and Yalan Feng (CHN). Final: Chen d. Hirano, 4-3.

Women/Doubles: 1. Yuting Gu/Zi Mu (CHN); 2. Miu Hirano/Saki Shibata (JPN); 3. Szu-Yu Chen/HsienTzu Cheng (TPE) and Hayeong Kim/Eunhye Lee (KOR). Final: Gu/Mu d. Hirano/Shibata, 3-1.

Mixed Doubles: 1. Daeseong Cho/Yubin Shin (KOR); 2. Jun Mizutani/Mima Ito (JPN); 3. Gustavo Tsuboi/Bruna Takahashi (BRA) and Stefan Fegerl/Sofia Polcanova (AUT). Final: Cho/Shin d. Mizutani/Ito, 3-2.

GYMNASTICS: Three wins for Ashram, 11 medals for Israel in Rhythmic World Challenge Cup

By
Rich Perelman
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Five-time Worlds medal winner Linoy Ashram (ISR)

Russia is the dominant power in Rhythmic Gymnastics, but Israel has been moving up smartly and had a dominant performance at the second Rhythmic World Challenge Cup in Cluj Napoca, Romania.

A silver and bronze medalist in the last two World Championships All-Around, Ashram won the All-Around, Hoop and Ribbon events and scored a silver in Clubs. Her teammate, Nicol Zelikman, 18, won four bronzes. The Israelis also scored a win in the Group All-Around and medals in the other two group events.

Russia’s Ekaterina Selezneva won the Ball event and was runner-up in the All-Around, and Ukraine’s Vlada Nicolchenko took the Clubs title. Summaries:

Rhythmic World Challenge Cup II
Cluj Napoca (ROU) ~ 23-25 August 2019
(Full results here)

All-Around: 1. Linoy Ashram (ISR), 88.850; 2. Ekaterina Selezneva (RUS), 88.400; 3. Nicol Zelikman (ISR), 85.100. Also in the top 10: 10. Laura Zeng (USA), 78.000.

Hoop: 1. Ashram (ISR), 23.400; 2. Selezneva (RUS), 23.050; 3. Zelikman (ISR), 22.350.

Ball: 1. Selezneva (RUS), 22.850; 2. Daria Trubnikova (RUS), 22.750; 3. Zelikman (ISR), 22.300. Also: 6. Camilla Feeley (USA), 19.960; … 8. Zeng (USA), 19.200.

Ribbon: 1. Ashram (ISR), 22.250; 2. Alexandra Agiurculese (ITA), 20.600; 3. Zelikman (ISR), 20.000. Also: 7. Zeng (USA), 17.100.

Clubs: 1. Vlada Nicolchenko (UKR), 22.450; 2. Ashram (ISR), 22.050; 3. Denisa Mailat (ROU), 21.600.

Group All-Around: 1. Israel, 26.650; 2. Ukraine, 24.950; 3. Azerbaijan, 24.450.

Group/5 Balls: 1. Ukraine, 28.400; 2. Azerbaijan, 26.100; 3. Israel, 25.250.

Group/3 Hoops+4 Clubs: 1. Ukraine, 27.800; 2. Israel, 26.350; 3. Azerbaijan, 24.650.

CYCLING: Quintana wins first La Vuelta climb; Vos dominates Norway and Viviani wins in Hamburg

By
Rich Perelman
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Nairo Quintana (COL) celebrates his stage 2 win in the 2019 La Vuelta a Espana

The route for the 2019 La Vuelta a Espana has been arranged for climbers. After a nice, easy, flat route for Saturday’s team time trial opener, the climbing started immediately on Sunday, but the decisive action came only in the final 10 km.

A breakaway group of six men – all fine climbers – including Nairo Quintana and Rigoberto Uran from Colombia, Nicholas Roche (IRL), Primoz Roglic (SLO), Fabio Aru (ITA) and Mikel Nieve (ESP) – broke away from the pack with about 10 km remaining, mostly on the decent into Calpe. But Quintana moved again with 3 km left and no one could keep up.

He won the stage – his third career in La Vuelta – with Roche and Roglic closest at the finish, but five seconds behind. Roche, based on his team’s better performance in the time trial, wears the red jersey for Monday’s hilly stage into Alicante. The next mountain stage comes Wednesday.

If you win three stages in a four-stage race, you’re in pretty good shape to win the overall title and that’s just what Dutch star Marianne Vos did at the Ladies Tour of Norway.

Embed from Getty Images

Three of the four races turned out to be mass sprints, but Vos was best on the crucial stage 3, which had a modest uphill finish. She took advantage and win decisively, five seconds ahead of American Coryn Rivera and 11 seconds in front of Canada’s Leah Kirchmann, who finished 2-3 in the overall standings.

Dutch riders have now won five of the six Ladies Tour of Norway editions, with Vos winning the last three. It was Vos’s third win of this season and first in a stage race. With the overall victory and wins in three stages, she vaults over countrywoman Annemiek van Vleuten into the overall Women’s World Tour lead with four races remaining in the season. Vos finished second last year to van Vleuten, but now has a chance to win the seasonal trophy.

At the Euroeyes Cyclassics in Hamburg (GER), Italy’s Elia Viviani won his third race of the World Tour season and his third straight Cyclassics Hamburg with a final sprint set up by his Deceuninck-Quick Step teammate Michael Morkov (DEN).

An early break away on the 216.0 km route was reeled in on the final climb up the Waseberg and the sprinters tried to maneuver for position close to the finish. Morkov sprinted out in the final 200 m and led Viviani to a clear path to the finish. Australia’s Caleb Ewan was second and Italy’s Giacomo Nizzolo third. 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.

UCI World Tour/EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg
Hamburg (GER) ~ 25 August 2019
(Full results here)

Final Standings (216.0 km): 1. Elia Viviani (ITA), 4:47:26; 2. Caleb Ewan (AUS), 4:27:26; 3. Giacomo Nizzolo (ITA), 4:47:26; 4. Alexander Kristoff (NOR), +4:47:26; 5. Mike Teinissen (NED), 4:47:26; 6. Peter Sagan (SVK), 4:47:26; 7. Matteo Trentin (ITA), 4:47:26; 8. Arnaud Demare (FRA), 4:47:26; 9. Sonny Colbrelli (ITA), 4:47:26; 10. Oliver Naesen (BEL), 4:47:26.

UCI Women’s World Tour/Ladies Tour of Norway
Norway ~ 22-25 August 2019
(Full results here)

Final Standings: 1. Marianne Vos (NED), 3:52:54; 2. Coryn Rivera (USA), +0:29; 3. Leah Kirchmann (CAN), +0:41; 4. Kasia Niewiadoma (POL), +0:41; 5. Lorena Wiebes (NED), +0:42; 6. Foortje Mackaij (NED), +0:45; 7. Marta Bastianelli (ITA), +0:52; 8. Christine Majerus (LUX), +0:55; 9. Riejanne Markus (NED), +1:00; 10. Hanna Nilsson (SWE), +1:00. Also in the top 25: 12. Ruth Winder (USA), +1:02.

Stage winners:
(1) 128.0 km ~ Lorena Wiebes (NED): 3:16.27
(2) 133.6 km ~ Marianne Vos (NED): 3:19.33
(3) 125.2 km ~ Marianne Vos (NED): 3:24:20
(4) 156.2 km ~ Marianne Vos (NED), 3:52:54.

BADMINTON: Japan wins two titles and leads the medal table in historic World Champs

By
Rich Perelman
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Back-to-back world titles for Japan's Kento Momota (Photo: BWF)

China has been the leading force in badminton for decades, but for the first time since 1995, it did not lead the medal table at the BWF World Championships.

Instead it was Japan which took the top honors at the Worlds in Basel (SUI), winning two titles and placing finalists in four of the five divisions, to earn six total medals to five for China.

The last time that China did not lead the medal count was back in 1995, when Denmark won the most medals. Japan’s effort ends a streak of 15 consecutive Worlds in which China had been on top.

In Basel, Kento Momota, Japan’s no. 1-ranked Singles star, showed his class by dispatching Dane Anders Antonsen, 21-9 and 21-3 to reaffirm his status. Japan also got a win in the all-Japan women’s Doubles final, as Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara edged Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in a tense match by the thinnest of margins: 21-11, 20-22, 23-21.

India’s V. Sindhu Pursarla ended six years of frustration with her first Worlds gold medal after winning four prior medals – two silver, two bronze – in the World Championships. She defeated Japan’s 2017 World Champion, Nozomi Okuhara, 21-7, 21-7, to complete a brilliant tournament that included wins over Beiwen Zhang (USA), Tzu Ying-Tai (TPE) in the quarters and Yufei Chen of China in the semis.

“I’m so happy” Pusarla said afterwards. “I was expecting this for a long time. It’s definitely a proud moment for me and for India. A lot of people have been waiting. This is my answer to the people who have asked me questions over and over. I just wanted to answer with my racket and with this win – that’s all.

“I was dominating. It was important for me to be very alert and every point really mattered to me. I tried to get every point even though I was leading by a large margin. I was prepared for everything. At times, I was nervous but I was determined to finish it off.”

Momota, Matsumoto/Nagahara and Mixed Doubles winners Siwei Zheng/Yaqiong Huang (CHN) all defended their championships from 2018. Summaries:

BWF World Championships
Basel (SUI) ~ 19-25 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men/Singles: 1. Kento Momota (JPN); 2. Anders Antonsen (DEN); 3. Kantaphon Wangcharoen (THA) and Sai Praneeth (IND). Semis: Momota d. Praneeth, 21-13, 21-8; Antonsen d. Wangcharoen, 21-15, 21-10. Final: Momota d. Antonsen, 21-9, 21-3.

Men/Doubles: 1. Mohamamd Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan (INA); 2. Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi (JPN); 3. Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto (INA) and Junhui Li/Yuchen Liu (CHN). Semis: Ahsan/Setiawan d. Alfian/Ardianto, 21-16, 15-21, 21-10; Hoki/Kobayashi d. Li/Liu, 21-19, 21-13. Final: Ahsan/Setiawan d. Hoki/Kobayashi, 25-23, 9-21, 21-15.

Women/Singles: 1. V. Sindhu Pursarla (IND); 2. Nozomi Okuhara (JPN); 3. Ratchanok Intanon (THA) and Yufei Chen (CHN). Semis: Okuhara d. Intanon, 17-21, 21-18, 21-15; Pusarla d. Chen, 21-7; 21.14. Final: Pusarla d. Okuhara, 21-7, 21-7.

Women/Doubles: 1. Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara (JPN); 2. Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (JPN); 3. Yue Du/Yinhui Lu (CHN) and Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu (INA).
Semis: Fukushima/Hirota d. Du/Lu, 21-11, 21-17; Matsumoto/Nagahara d. Polii/Rahayu, 21-12, 21-19. Final: Matsumoto/Nagahara d. Fukushima/Hirota, 21-11, 20-22, 23-21.

Mixed Doubles: 1. Siwei Zheng/Yaqiong Huang (CHN); 2. Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA); 3. Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino (JPN) and Yilyu Wang/Dongping Huang (CHN). Semis: Zheng/Huang d. Watanabe/Higashino, 21-11, 21-15; Puavaranukroh/Taerattanachai d. Wang/Huang, 21-19, 21-13. Final: Zheng/Huang d. Puavarannukroh/Taerattanachai, 21-8, 21-12.

ATHLETICS Panorama: Coleman doping hearing coming September 4; Duplantis clears 6.00 m vs. Finland

By
Rich Perelman
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Is Christian Coleman (USA) still the world's fastest man?

American sprinter Christian Coleman, the world leader in the 100 m and favorite in the upcoming IAAF World Championships, will have a hearing on September 4 on charges that he missed three “whereabouts” filings during a 12-month period and should be suspended.

During the NBC Olympic Channel broadcast of the IAAF Diamond League Meeting de Paris meet, analyst Ato Boldon said he spoke to Coleman and his comments were shown on the screen:

“I’m not a guy who takes any supplements at all, so I’m never concerned about taking drug tests, at any time. What has been widely reported concerning filing violations is simply not true. I am confident the upcoming hearing on September 4th will clear the matter and I will compete at World Championships in Doha this fall. Sometime after the hearing, I will be free to answer questions about the matter, but for now I must reserve and respect the process.”

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency later released its own statement:

“Under the World Anti-Doping Code three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period may be considered an anti-doping rule violation.

“Two of the three test attempts on Mr. Coleman were USADA directed and one of the attempts was initiated by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). Given this, the case is proceeding under the USADA Protocol but we are working closely with the AIU on this matter. We have expedited the case under the USADA rules and Mr. Coleman has agreed to have the three-person independent American Arbitration Association/North American Court of Arbitration for Sport (AAA/CAS) arbitration panel hear the case on September 4 and issue its decision by the end of the following day, well before the IAAF World Championships.”

So the matter will be decided quickly. In the meantime, Coleman is the co-leader in the Diamond League points race in the 100 m and – since he has not been suspended – he is eligible to run on Thursday in the Diamond League final in Zurich (SUI), with $50,000 to the winner.

Will he?

The Meeting de Paris wasn’t the only meet happening on Saturday, Elsewhere:

● In the annual Sweden vs. Finland dual meet, this year in Stockholm, Mondo Duplantis (SWE) cleared 6.00 m (19-8 1/4) to win the pole vault and Daniel Stahl (SWE) unleashed a 69.42 m (227-9) winner in the discus. Sweden won both the men’s (228-181) and women’s (217.5-192.5) meets.

● On the first day of the British Championships in Birmingham, Dina Asher-Smith won the 100 m in an impressive 10.96, into a headwind of 0.9 m/s. Cindy Ofili won the women’s 100 m hurdles in 13.09, again into a headwind, of 1.6 m/s.

The British Champs continue on Sunday.

More from Paris:

● Noah Lyles said his superb 19.65 in Paris was all a blur to him, but that even more might be coming:

“I’m coming off a loaded week in training so that gives me a lot of confidence. It felt fast. I blinked and all of a sudden the race was over. I’ve been putting in some great training sessions but it’s always different when you’re over here in Europe, it’s like a hiccup to overcome in itself with the travel.

“When I was coming off the turn it felt like such a fast track, the fastest I’ve ever felt coming off the turn.”

● Women’s 800 m winner Hanna Green was elated with her late charge to a victory in 1:58.39:

“It’s just my second Diamond League and my first win so it’s great. We went out quick which I was worried about but I tried not to freak out. Just be patient and work my way up. I felt really good and I still think I have a little more to work on to get ready for Worlds. I’d like to get into the final there and hopefully get on the podium.

“The big thing for me this year is just not being injured, I’ve been able to get through all the big workouts and because of that I’ve brought a lot more confidence into races.”

● The news about Duplantis spread quickly. Said Sam Kendricks after his 6.00 m (19-8 1/4) win:

“It was a very special evening and it’s good to put my name in the books with a meeting record. During the competition everyone kept telling me that Mondo Duplantis had jumped six meters in Sweden so tonight, I wasn’t just competing against everyone here but people all around the world. It’s a very special time in our event.

“Right now there’s such competition in the pole vault that there’s no guarantee in any race. It might take 6.05 m to win the Diamond League final. It will be a crazy night, to say the least.”

● Hurdler Daniel Roberts took his 13.08 in in the 110 m hurdles in stride:

“I hit a couple of hurdles but other than that it was a good, clean race. In Doha my aim will be the gold, that’s always the goal, no tying, nothing else, just go out and try get first place. I don’t want to go for any less.

“It hasn’t been too hard for me to stay at a high level this long after NCAAs, a lot of people tell me after long seasons they feel it a little bit more but my body feels great, everything feels good and I’m just thankful to be here.

“It’s all brand new and I’m not trying to put too much pressure on myself coming out of the college season. It’s an amazing crowd, an amazing stadium and it’s all great. I love the pro life, it’s all I ever dreamed about.”

At Friday’s news conference ahead of the Meeting de Paris, Grant Holloway spoke in advance of his first Diamond League meet. Of note:

● “Why did I give up American Football? Because I want to walk when I’m 30.”

● “I trust my coach. I trust my training. I was able to peak at NCAAs and I’ll be able to peak again in October.”

Holloway, running his first race since the USATF Nationals, led the race through the first seven hurdles, then faded and finished sixth in 13.25.

ATHLETICS: Lyles storms 19.65, Roberts smooth in 13.08, Claye over 59 in Meeting de Paris

By
Rich Perelman
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No one could catch Noah Lyles in Paris! (Photo: IAAF)

It’s still a month until the IAAF World Championships in Qatar, but some of the favorites became clearer at the Meeting de Paris on Saturday, with impressive performances all over. For U.S. fans, there was a lot to smile about:

● Noah Lyles/200 m:

Running in lane six, Lyles has learned to run the curve better and better and made up the stagger on France’s Christian Lemaitre outside him in lane seven and had the lead heading into the straight. But as reigning World Champion Ramil Guliyev (TUR) moved up on Lyles and away from the field, Lyles moved into overdrive and ran away to win in 19.65, his second-fastest race ever.

● Daniel Roberts/110 m hurdles:

The U.S. champion has had a long season, beginning way back in the collegiate indoor season for Kentucky. But he was smooth off the start, running close to fellow-SEC star Grant Holloway of the U.S. in the middle of the race, but kept his form and speed to the end as Holloway faded to win in 13.08. It was a superb win over an excellent field that included Spanish star Orlando Ortega (13.14) and rapidly-improving Freddie Crittenden of the U.S. (13.17 lifetime best). Holloway faded to sixth (13.25) over the last two hurdles.

● Will Claye/Triple Jump:

He has been the best triple jumper in the world this year, and the world leader at 18.14 m (59-6 1/4). He and former Florida teammate (and Olympic and World Champion) Christian Taylor battled for the lead, and in the fifth round, Taylor took the lead at 17,82 m (58-5 3/4), equaling his season’s best. Claye’s response was a thunderous 18.06 m (59-3) mark that wowed the Stade Charlety crowd and is the equal-seventh performance of all time! They’ll be battling in Doha, but this time Claye has to be the favorite.

● Hanna Green/800 m:

How about Hanna Green! Unheralded coming into 2019 with a best of just 2:00.09, she ran a brilliant tactical race to win in Paris in 1:58.39, showing her runner-up finish at the USATF Nationals was no fluke. She was seventh with 250 m to go, then started picking off runners ahead of her. She was fourth into the final straight, but then passed Winnie Nanyondo (UGA: 1:58.83), then Jamaica’s Natoya Goule (1:58.59) and finally a fading Raevyn Rogers (USA) to win in 1:58.39. Rogers ended up sixth in 1:59.50, after looking like a possible winner with 75 m to run.

Those were impressive American highlights, but there was a lot more on an interesting, warm evening in Paris:

● In the men’s 1,500 m, a lot of the attention went to Norway’s Ingebrigtsen brothers – Filip and Jakob – but in the absence of Kenya’s dominant Tim Cheruiyot, Uganda’s Ronald Musagala was strongest down the straightaway and won in the last 5 m in 3:30.58, equaling his lifetime best and national record. The underrated Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI) was just passed at the end and finished in second in 3:30.66; Filip Ingebrigtsen got third in 3:31.33.

● What would Kenyan World Champion Conseslus Kipruto do in the Steeple? At times he looked out of it, but he was in the race with 200 m to go! He ended up watching Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali sprint away to a tight win over Benjamin Kigen (KEN) by 8:06.64-8:07.09 with Ethiopia’s Lecmecha Girma, in his first Diamond League race, third in 8:08.63. Kipruto, in his first race back from injury, got fifth in a very good 8:13.75.

● Norway’s world leader Karsten Warholm (47.12) stormed to the front from the gun in the 400 m hurdles and made up the stagger on Commonwealth Games champ Kyron McMaster on the backstraight and never let up. He had a huge lead coming off the eighth hurdle and won in 47.26. As McMaster could not keep pace, France’s Ludvy Vaillant surged over the final hurdle and scored a lifetime best in 48.30. McMaster did get a seasonal best in 48.33. Warholm’s time was his second-fastest of the year; only American Rai Benjamin (47.16) has run faster than Warholm did in Paris on Saturday.

● Tom Walsh of New Zealand moved to no. 3 on the world list for 2019 with an impressive win in the men’s shot put at 22.44 m (73-7 1/2). He had a stupendous series, leading off with that 22.44 m, then throwing 22.10 m (72-6 1/4), 22.21 m (72-10 1/2) and 22.31 m (73-2 1/2) before ending with two fouls. American Joe Kovacs was second at 22.11 m (72-6 1/2), ahead of Pan American Games winner Darlan Romani (BRA: 21.56 m/70-9).

● Jamaica’s Olympic champ Elaine Thompson got a nice start in the women’s 100 m and was ahead of everyone by 40 m … and stayed there. She won by daylight in 10.97, with Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV) second, but well back at 11.13. U.S. champ Teahna Daniels was fourth in 11.16; that’s her fastest wind-legal race since the Pre Classic at the end of June.

● Jamaica got another win in the women’s 400 m, as Stephenie-Ann McPherson closed hard to pass Americans Shakima Wimbley, Phyllis Francis and Kendall Ellis in the final 30 m to win in a very slow 51.11. Ellis (51.21), Wimbley (51.50) and Francis (51.56) finished 2-3-4, but with these times, not a good sign for American fortunes at the World Championships.

● The women’s pole vault had the usual suspects, but suddenly Canada’s Alysha Newman is a contender for all honors. She was the only one to clear 4.82 m (15-9 3/4), another national record, and she was celebrating loudly on the way down to the pit! Greece’s Katerina Stefanidi and American Sandi Morris were 2-3, clearing 4.75 m (15-7).

● Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas won the women’s triple jump as expected (15.05 m/49-4 1/2), with the no. 3 performance in the world in 2019. But American Keturah Orji continued her evolution as a professional, claiming a lifetime best by one centimeter, jumping 14.72 m (48-3 1/2) on her first attempt. It’s the no. 3 performance in U.S. history (only Tori Franklin has jumped further) and she now has seven of the top nine jumps in American history.

And in a non-Diamond League event, American Sam Kendricks cleared 6.00 m (19-8 1/4) once again to win easily. Wow.

The organizers also created a unique event involving decathletes, offering three events which ended up all being won by French world-record holder Kevin Mayer. He started off with s lifetime best in the shot at 17.08 m (56-0 1/2), then won the long jump with 7.50 m (24-7 1/4) and scored another personal best in the hurdles at 13.55. Naturally, he was the overall winner with 2,886 points.

Two Diamond League meets are left, the two finals events in Zurich (29 August) and Brussels (6 September), with significant prize money and possible World Championships places at stake. Summaries from Paris:

IAAF Diamond League/Meeting de Paris
Paris (FRA) ~ 24 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

100 m (non-Diamond League; wind -0.3 m/s): 1. 11.03 (IRI); 2. Emre Barnes (TUR), 10.19; 3. Gavin Smellie (CAN), 10.25.

200 m (+0.2): 1. Noah Lyles (USA), 19.65; 2. Ramil Guliyev (TUR), 20.01; 3. Aaron Brown (CAN), 20.13.

800 m: 1. Brandon McBride (CAN), 1:43.78; 2. Wesley Vazquez (PUR), 1:43.83; 3. Michael Saruni (KEN), 1:44.41. Also: 5. Clayton Murphy (USA), 1:44.93.

1,500 m: 1. Ronald Musagala (UGA), 3:30.58; 2. Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI), 3:30.66; 3. Filip Ingebrigtsen (NOR), 3:31.06.

3,000 m Steeple: 1. Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR), 8:06.64; 2. Benjamin Kigen (KEN), 8:07.09; 3. Lemecha Girma (ETH), 8:08.63. Also: 7. Stanley Kebenei (USA), 8:14.20; … 12. Andrew Bayer (USA), 8:17.69.

110 m hurdles (+0.8): 1. Daniel Roberts (USA), 13.08; 2. Orlando Ortega (ESP), 13.14; 3. Freddie Crittenden (USA), 13.17. Also: 6. Grant Holloway (USA), 13.25.

400 m hurdles: 1. Karsten Warholm (NOR), 47.26; 2. Ludvy Vaillant (FRA), 48.30; 3. Kyron McMaster (IVB), 48.33. Also: 5. T.J. Holmes (USA), 49.04; 6. David Kendzeira (USA), 49.16.

High Jump: 1. Michael Mason (CAN), 2.28 m (7-5 3/4); 2. Andriy Protsenko (UKR), 2.28 m (7-5 3/4); 3. Ilya Ivanyuk (RUS), 2.28 m (7-5 3/4). Also: 5. Jeron Robinson (USA), 2.26 m (7-5).

Pole Vault (non-Diamond League): 1. Sam Kendricks (USA), 6.00 (19-8 1/4); 2. Augusto Dutra (BRA), 5.80 m (19-0 1/4); 3. Emmanouil Karalis (GRE), 5.70 m (18-8 1/4). Also: 5. Chris Nilsen (USA), 5.60 m (18-4 1/2); … 10. Cole Walsh (USA), 5.45 m (17-10 1/2).

Triple Jump: 1. Will Claye (USA), 18.06 m (59-3); 2. Christian Taylor (USA), 17.82 m (58-5 3/4); 3. Omar Craddock (USA), 17.28 m (56-8 1/2). Also: 10. Chris Benard (USA), 16.62 m (54-6 1/2).

Shot Put: 1. Tom Walsh (NZL), 22.44 m (73-7 1/2); 2. Joe Kovacs (USA), 22.11 m (72-6 1/2); 3. Darlan Romani (BRA), 21.56 m (70-9).

Triathlon: 1. Kevin Mayer (FRA), 2,886; 2. Pieter Braun (NED), 2,629; 3. Kai Kazmirek (GER), 2,606. Also: 4. Devon Williams (USA), 2,606. Event winners: SP: Mayer, 17.08 m (56-0 1/2); LJ: Mayer, 7.50 m (24-7 1/4); 110 mH: Mayer, 13.55.

Women

100 m (-0.2): 1. Elaine Thompson (JAM), 10.97; 2. Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV), 11.13; 3. Dafne Schippers (NED), 11.15. Also: 4. Teahna Daniels (USA), 11.16; 5. Aleia Hobbs (USA), 11.16.

100 m (non-Diamond League; 0.0): 1. Jonielle Smith (JAM), 11.31; 2. Diana Vaisman (ISR), 11.44; 3. Orphee Neola (FRA), 11.49.

400 m: 1. Stephenie-Ann McPherson (JAM), 51.11; 2. Kendall Ellis (USA), 51.21; 3. Shakima Wimbley (USA), 51.50. Also: 4. Phyllis Francis (USA), 51.56.

800 m: 1. Hanna Green (USA), 1:59.38; 2. Natoya Goule (JAM), 1:58.59; 3. Winnie Nanyondo (UGA), 1:58.83. Also: 5. Kate Grace (USA), 1:59.33; 6. Raevyn Rogers (USA), 1:59.50.

Pole Vault: 1. Alysha Newman (CAN), 4.82 m (15-9 3/4); 2. Ekaterina Stefanidi (GRE), 4.75 m (15-7); 3. Sandi Morris (USA), 4.75 m (15-7). Also: 6. Katie Nageotte (USA), 4.65 m (15-3).

Triple Jump: 1. Yulimar Rojas (VEN), 15.05 m (49-4 1/2); 2. Liadagmis Povea (CUB), 14.75 m (48-4 3/4); 3. Keturah Orji (USA), 14.72 m (48-3 1/2).

Discus: 1. Denia Caballero (CUB), 66.91m (219-6); 2. Sandra Perkovic (CRO), 65.01 m (213-3); 3. Bin Feng (CHN), 64.60 (211-11). Also: 5. Valarie Allman (USA), 63.69 m (208-11).

BASKETBALL: Australia beats U.S. in Melbourne on Patty Mills’ 30 points before 52,079

By
Rich Perelman
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Kemba Walker (ball in hand) led the U.S. with 22 points in the loss to Australia in Melbourne (Photo: USA Basketball)

Another record crowd of 52,079 filled the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Saturday to see history and they got it: Australia defeated the U.S. men’s basketball team for the first time ever, 98-94, thanks to a strong rebounding effort and a 30-point outburst from guard Patty Mills.

The Boomers, as the Australian men’s team is known, had been 0-12 vs. the U.S. in international competitions, but got a rousing exhibition win ahead of the FINA World Cup after out-scoring the American squad by two, three and two points in the final three quarters.

The game had all the razzmatazz you would see in an NBA game and then some, but when the basketball actually started, the U.S. had its hands full. An early 11-5 U.S. lead disappeared, but when Kemba Walker entered midway through the period, the U.S. forged a 24-16 lead on seven straight points. The quarter ended with a 26-23 U.S. lead on 59% shooting from the floor (10-17). Harrison Barnes had eight for the U.S., as did Aron Baynes for Australia.

The hosts wowed the big crowd with a 7-2 run to start the second quarter and thanks to strong backcourt and on-ball pressure, took a 38-33 lead after three Mills free throws. But after starting the quarter just 2-8 from the field, the U.S. came back to take a 45-44 lead on a three-pointer from Walker with 1:44 to play in the half. The Americans shot only 6-15 in the quarter to 8-18 for Australia, but held a 49-48 lead at the half. Australia could have had a substantial lead if not for a miserable 2-14 from the three-point line. Walker’s 12 led all scorers.

The third quarter was another see-saw, with the U.S. moving out to a 68-58 lead after some strong defense, punctuated by a Jayson Tatum steal and stuff with 4:58 to go. But inspired play from Australian center Andrew Bogut and Mills and poor U.S. shooting contributed to a 20-8 run to end the quarter with Australia up, 78-76.

A rolling 5 ft. flip from Baynes gave Australia an 82-76 lead a minute and a half into the final quarter, but the U.S. scored eight in a row to grab short-lived 84-82 lead. But Australia played determined, coordinated offense and despite starting the quarter just 3-11 from the field, took the lead at 88-87 with 3:27 to go on a Joe Ingles three-pointer.

Than Mills took over. The Australian (and San Antonio Spurs) guard banked in a three from straightaway for a 91-87 lead, then hit a layin for a 95-89 edge with 1:50 to go and a 20-foot jumper from the right side for a 97-91 lead with just 1:18 to go. He added a free throw and with the U.S. unable to score in the final minute, the final was 98-94. The U.S. shot just 3-9 and scored only seven points in the final 4:58.

The crowd went crazy, especially for Mills, who led all scorers with 30 points, aided by 16 from Bogut and 15 from Ingles. Walker had 22 for the U.S., Barnes had 20 and Donovan Mitchell had 12.

Rebounding was the difference and Australia out-boarded the U.S., 41-35, after being out-rebounded by 18 in the first game. Australia’s offensive cohesion showed with 50% shooting (35-70) vs. 40% in the first game, and the U.S. was down to 44% shooting (vs. 53%) on 30-68 attempts. Complete statistics are available here.

The U.S. had one injury concern, as guard Derrick White – who had eight points – tripped and slammed his head into the floor with 5:21 to play in the fourth quarter. He walked to the dressing room with a towel against his right temple. Forward Kyle Kuzma did not play.

It’s a disappointment for the U.S., but hardly an indicator of things to come. The U.S. will play its final exhibition game before the FIBA World Cup against Canada in Sydney on Monday (26th).

For Australia, it’s a huge confidence builder, which it needed badly after two shaky performances and having to play in a difficult group in the FIBA World Cup in a few days.

SAILING: Double the fun as test event ends in Enoshima Bay and World Cup I begins Tuesday

By
Rich Perelman
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Brazil's Olympic 49er FX champs Grael and Kunze

Never accuse the folks at World Sailing for not taking advantage of an opportunity.

While almost all of the sports on the 2020 Tokyo program have one test event, by placing the opening event of the 2019-20 World Cup schedule just after this week’s test event closed, sailors will have two full weeks of racing on the Olympic courses for all 10 of the 2020 classes. Pretty smart!

The test event program was successful in that sailors got to experience varying conditions, including very light winds on the final day – never more than 8 knots – which led to the cancellation of all of the medal races except the women’s 470.

But the results were a showcase for sailing, with eight Rio 2016 medalists placing in the top three at the test event, including winners Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (NZL: men’s 470), Blair Tuke and Peter Burling (NZL: men’s 49er), and Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) in the women’s 49erFX.

During the World Cup opener, 22 of the 30 test-event medal winners will be back, including all three medalists from the men’s Laser and 470 events, and the women’s RS:X and 49er FX, as well as the mixed-crew Nacra 17 class.

In fact, four of the five men’s gold medalists – Mengfan Gao/RS:X, Belcher and Ryan/470, Zsombor Berecz/Finn and Jesper Stalheim/Laser are entered, and three of the four women’s winners: Yunxiu Lu (RS:X), Grael and Kunze (49er FX) and Emma Plasschaert in the Laser Radial.

Racing is expected to begin on Tuesday (27th) and continue through Sunday, weather permitting:

● 12 races + medal race Saturday for RS:X ~ 49er/49er FX ~ Nacra 17
● 10 races + medal race Sunday for Laser/Laser Radial ~ Finn ~ 470

Look for results from the World Cup races here. Summaries from the test event:

Ready Steady Tokyo Sailing Test Event
Enoshima Bay (JPN) ~ 17-22 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

RS:X: 1. Mengfan Gao (CHN), 50.00 net poins; 2. Mattia Camboni (ITA), 61; 3. Piotr Myszka (POL), 82.

470: 1. Mat Belcher/Will Ryan (NZL), 25.00; 2. Anton Dahlberg/Fredrik Bergstrom (SWE), 27.00; 3. Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nicolas Rodriguez (ESP), 38. Also in the top 10: Stuart McNay/David Hughes (USA), 58.00.

49er: 1. Blair Tuke/Peter Burling (NZL), 53.00; 2. Dylan Flectcher-Scott/Stuart Bithell (GBR), 64.00; 3. Pawel Kolodzinski/Lukasz Przybytek (POL), 68.00.

Finn: 1. Zsombor Berecz (HUN), 24.00; 2. Nicholas Heiner (NED), 47.00; 3. Giles Scott (GBR), 48.00.

Laser: 1. Jesper Stalheim (SWE), 60.00; 2. Tom Burton (AUS), 63.00; 3. Hermann Tomasgaard (NOR), 65.00.

Women

RS:X: 1. Yunxiu Lu (CHN), 42.00; 2. Charline Picon (FRA), 46.00; 3. Katy Spychakov (ISR), 53.00.

470: 1. Aloise Retornaz/Camille Lecointre (FRA), 38.00; 2. Eilidh McIntyre/Hannah Mills (GBR), 47.00; 3. Agnieszka Skrzypulec/Jolanta Ogar (POL), 51.00.

49erFX: 1. Martine Grael/Kahena Kunze (BRA), 57.00; 2. Helene Naess/Marie Ronningen (NOR), 62.00; 3. Saskia Tidey/Charlotte Dobson (GBR), 62.00. Also in the top 10: 10. Stephanie Roble/Margaret Shea (USA), 125.00.

Laser Radial: 1. Emma Plasschaert (BEL), 79.00; 2. Marit Bouwmeester (NED), 82.00; 3. Maria Erdi (HUN), 88.00. Also in the top 10: 8. Erika Reineke (USA), 112.00.

Mixed

Nacra 17: 1. Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti (ITA), 54.00; 2. John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR), 66.00; 3. Ben Saxton/Nicola Boniface (GBR), 68.00.

CYCLING Preview: Brutal route for the 2019 Vuelta a Espana, with Roglic a possible favorite

By
Rich Perelman
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Two-time Tour de Romandie winner Primoz Roglic (SLO) (Photo: Geof Sheppard via Wikimedia)

The final Grand Tour of 2019 is now upon us, with the 74th edition of La Vuelta Ciclista de Espana beginning in Salinas de Torrecieja on Saturday and continuing all the way to the 15th of September!

This is an especially difficult edition of La Vuelta, with nine mountain stages and eight uphill finishes, plus two time-trial stages, including Saturday’s first stage. The stages:

● 24 August ~ Stage 1 (13.4 km Team Time Trial): Salinas de Torrevieja to Torrevieja
● 25 August ~ Stage 2 (199.6 km): Benidorm to Calpe
● 26 August ~ Stage 3 (188.0 km): Ibi. Ciudad del Juguete to Alicante
● 27 August ~ Stage 4 (175.5 km): Cullera to El Puig
● 28 August ~ Stage 5 (170.7 km): L’Eliana to Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre
● 29 August ~ Stage 6 (198.9 km): Mora de Rubielos to Ares del Maestrat
● 30 August ~ Stage 7 (183.2 km): Onda to Mas de la Costa
● 31 August ~ Stage 8 (166.9 km): Valls to Igualada
● 1 September ~ Stage 9 (94.4 km): Andorra la Vella to Cortals d’Encamp
● 2 September ~ Rest day
● 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

The stages are grouped in difficulty, with many climbing stages this year:

● Flat (5): 4, 14, 17, 19, 21
● Hilly (5): 2, 3, 8, 11, 12
● Mountain (9): 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20
● Time Trial (2): 1, 10

The field includes just six former medal winners:

● Alejandro Valverde (ESP) ~ Winner in 2009
● Nairo Quintana (COL) ~ Winner in 2016
● Fabio Aru (ITA) ~ Winner in 2015
● Esteban Chaves (COL) ~ Third in 2016
● Miguel Angel Lopez (COL) ~ Third in 2018
● Rafal Majka (POL) ~ Third in 2015

There are two riders with 10 or more career stage wins in La Vuelta in the race: Valverde with 13 and sprinter John Degenkolb (GER) with 10.

So who’s the favorite?

The sharpies have their money on Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic, who looked so good going into the Giro d’Italia, but then ended up third; he’s a fearsome time trialer. The betting picks:

● 11/8 ~ Primoz Roglic (SLO)
● 2/1 ~ Miguel Angel Lopez (COL)
● 7/1 ~ Steven Kruijswijk (NED)
● 14/1 ~ Nairo Quintana (COL)
● 14/1 ~ Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
● 18/1 ~ Wout Poels (NED)

Everyone else is 20/1 or above. Valverde and Quintana are on the same Movistar team and Roglic and Kruijswijk are both on the Team Jumbo-Visma, so that will make for some interesting tactical decisions, especially in the early mountain stages.

Home fans will be looking for a Spanish rider to win; the last home winner was Alberto Contador back in 2014, so it’s been a while.

NBCSN and NBC’s Olympic Channel have coverage of La Vuelta with a combination of live and taped broadcasts; the schedule is here. Look for results here.

TSX DAILY: Track & field fans who want the sport to be more popular … can forget it ~ U.S. sprinter Christian Coleman may be sanctioned for Whereabouts failures ~ Tragic death of a para-rowers at Worlds

By
Rich Perelman
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≡ TSX DAILY ~ 23 August 2019 ≡

| 1. |  LANE ONE: If you think track & field could once again be a high-profile sport, forget it. It’s over.

There was a time when track & field was a high-profile sport in the U.S., not too surprising since  American athletes dominated the sport. But that’s not the situation today.

In its place as a headline sport has come promotional companies like Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which puts on 42 cards of fights a year in Mixed Martial Arts, and which is solely devoted to bringing in more fans, more broadcasting and more money; one estimate was it had about $600 million in revenue in 2018.

What UFC and other successful entities like Major League Baseball, the National Football League, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League have in common is that they are promoters first and foremost. Attracting attention (and dollars) are what they are all about.

That’s not what governing bodies are primarily organized for, so let’s not point the finger at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) or USA Track & Field. They are not the saviors of the professional side of the sport. That must come from a promoter or promotional group, which, at present, does not exist.

In the U.S., the independent meet promoter is almost extinct. The Prefontaine Classic, run by the talented Tom Jordan, is one meet. In times past, Al Franken used to put on – out of his own pocket – four meets a year from Berkeley to San Diego, two indoors and two outdoors.

Track & field actually did have a short period of high visibility, many years ago. The old Amateur Athletic Union, then the governing body for track in the U.S., forged an agreement with CBS in 1969 and 1970 to put on one-hour meet packages on Sunday afternoons for 17 weeks in a row (each year) at a time when there were three broadcast networks in the country.

That went away, but in the ‘70s, you could still see the sport’s big stars quite often. In 1975, mile world-record setter John Walker of New Zealand ran 17 races during the year. High jumper Dwight Stones competed in 20 outdoor meets and perhaps a dozen indoors! About the same for shot put superstar Al Feuerbach. Today, the big stars like the world leaders in the 100 m (Christian Coleman), 200 m (Noah Lyles) and 400 m (Michael Norman) have run in 6-8 meets from January until today.

There are plenty of reasons why the top sports in the Olympic Games – track, swimming and gymnastics – are flops compared to the big-time professional sports like basketball and soccer worldwide. And those scenarios aren’t about to change any time soon.

The athletes themselves could change the situation, but that would require a major revolution in their attention to anything except training, travel and competition for essentially two meets a year. So let’s appreciate track & field for what it is: exciting and fun, and thanks to the Olympic Games, more widely appreciated every four years.

I’m just glad I was around to see the sport at a higher peak.

| 2. | ATHLETICS: Possible sanctions coming to Christian Coleman on “Whereabouts” failure. What is that?

One of the unpublicized aspects of being an elite athlete at the international level is drug testing.

It’s not a sometimes thing, it’s an all-the-times thing, as American sprint star Christian Coleman is finding out.

Under the protocol set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency and implemented by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency:

“Athletes are subject to testing 365 days a year and do not have ‘off-seasons’ or cutoff periods in which testing does not occur. Whereabouts information, (dates, times, locations, etc.) is information submitted to USADA by an athlete that allows the athlete to be located for out-of-competition testing.”

Any athlete at Coleman’s level is required to submit a calendar of where he or she plans to be for three months at a time, with any changes to that schedule required to be sent to the national drug-testing organization immediately. Each athlete has this responsibility:

“Any athlete who is in the USADA RTP must provide a specific 60-minute time slot every day between 5 a.m. – 11 p.m. that anchors the athlete to a specific location. The athlete chooses the 60-minute time slot to fit their schedule and must be available and accessible for testing at a specific location during the entire 60-minute time slot. Please note that USADA can choose to, and does test athletes outside of the their 60-minute window.”

If an athlete misses providing Whereabouts information three times during a 12-month period is considered to have committed a doping violation and is subject to sanctions, just as if he or she had tested positive for a banned substance.

Testing of track & field athletes is constant and it doesn’t matter if you are in the U.S. or at a competition in a foreign country. Hotels, homes of friends, at the Pan American Games, the testers are there.

According to reports, Coleman has apparently missed three Whereabouts filings and could be sanctioned; even a one-year ban could cause him to miss both the upcoming World Championships in Qatar at the end of September and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

But it’s part of the job – an unpleasant part – of being a world-class athlete today. More details are here.

| 3. | ATHLETICS: Meeting de Paris on Saturday brings back stars Lyles, Kipruto and Holloway

The last “regular-season” meet in the IAAF Diamond League series comes Saturday at the Stade Charlety in Paris in the annual Meeting de Paris.

The focus of the meet for many of the athletes is to ensure their place in the Diamond League finals in either Zurich (SUI) or Brussels (BEL), which have significant paydays attached to them, including $50,000 to the winner and possible wild-card entries into the World Championships in Qatar.

The fields are pretty good, three athletes who haven’t been seen much could be the highlights:

● American sprint star Noah Lyles will compete for the first time since the U.S. Nationals in the 200 m. Already this season he’s run 19.50 and moved to no. 4 on the all-time list; he signaled on his Twitter feed last week that his training has been really special of late.

● Kenya’s Olympic and World Champion in the 3,000 m Steeplechase, Conseslus Kipruto, has been out all season with injuries, but is on the entry list this for Paris, along with world leader Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco. Is he ready?

● The world leaders in the 110 m hurdles are Grant Holloway (12.98) and Daniel Roberts (13.00) from way back in June at the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas. Roberts has run well in Europe so far, but Holloway hasn’t been seen since his 13.56-13.56-13.36 races at the U.S. Nationals, from which he barely made the U.S. Worlds team.

There are near-World Championships-caliber fields in the women’s pole vault, women’s discus and the men’s triple jump. The meet will be shown in the U.S. on NBC’s Olympic Channel on Saturday. Our preview is here.

| 4. | BASKETBALL: U.S. skips past Australia, 102-86, before 51,218 in Melbourne!

The U.S. men’s World Cup team won the first of its three exhibition games in Australia, exploding in the third quarter, turning a one-point deficit into a 12-point lead at 57-45 and then extending it from there.

The biggest lead was 20 points at 93-73 and the final margin was 16 points at 102-86. Kemba Walker led the U.S. with 23 points – 22 in the second half – and the U.S. had six men in double figures. Guards Patty Mills and Chris Goulding led Australia with 19 each.

The U.S. once again had a huge rebounding edge, 54-36 and shot 48% from the field to just 40% for the hosts. Even better, U.S. turnovers were down from 23 vs. Spain to just 13.

Marvel Stadium is normally used for Australian Rules Football, but a court was installed in the middle of the field and the game attracted the largest crowd for basketball in Australian history. The two teams will play again, in the same venue, on Saturday. More details here.

| 5. | JUDO: Tokyo hosts 2019 World Championships at the famed Nippon Budokan

The site where Olympic judo first took place during the 1964 Tokyo Games – the Nippon Budokan – will host the International Judo Federation’s World Championships this weekend, with the host team ready to post a dominating performance.

Japan has led the medal table in each and every one of the World Championships in which men and women have competed together, starting in 1987; that’s 19 in a row. Among the Japanese stars in action will be:

● Men/60 kg: Naohisa Takato, trying for his fourth World Championship

● Men/66 kg: Hifumi Abe (pictured), trying for his third straight World Championship

● Women/70 kg: Chizuru Arai, trying for her third straight World Championship

In the women’s -63 kg division, France’s Clarisse Agbegnenou will be trying for her third straight world title in this weight class. Our in-depth preview is here.

| 6. | SWIMMING: Best tickets for 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials sold out; smaller packages now available

Tickets in the entire lower bowl of the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska for the 2020 USA Swimming Olympic Trials have been sold out. These packages were priced at up to $575 for all 15 sessions of the Trials, from 21-28 June next year.

That’s ahead of the sales pace for the 2016 Trials, which eventually sold out completely. The Omaha Sports Commission said that 80% of the ticket buyers were from the Omaha area.

In order to advance the remaining sales, four-day ticket packages priced from $220-275 for the final seven sessions of the Trials are now being sold. All-session packages starting at $375, are still available.

| 7. | PARA-ROWING: Belarus rower drowns in tragic accident at rowing Worlds

Para rower Dzmitry Ryshkevich of Belarus, 33, drowned when his boat capsized during a training session at the site of the World Rowing Championships in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria on Wednesday (21st).

He was an experienced performer in the Single Sculls, but the pontoon stabilizer on his craft came apart and the boat turned over around 1:15 p.m. The local police statement explained:

“When the rescue boat with a lifesaver on board approached, the rower was still holding on to his boat but subsequently let go, sinking under water. Despite immediate rescue activities, the rower could not be found. The murky water at the location is approximately 2.40m [7-10 1/2] deep with almost no visibility.

“Rescue divers were called in and started an extended search. At about 4 p.m. the rower was found under water in close proximity to where the capsize happened. The doctor at the scene was only able to pronounce the rower dead.”

An investigation is continuing; our condolences to his family and especially his teammates.

| 8. | THE LAST WORD: Norway’s Faugstad calls news media a source of stress at World Youth Champs

The World Archery Youth Championships has reached the medal-match stage in Madrid, Spain, with 19-year-old Anders Faugstad of Norway safely into the finals in the men’s Junior Compound division against Canada’s Austin Taylor.

That’s not really a surprise, as Faugstad won the World Championships silver medal earlier this year, beating many more experienced shooters. But asked about his performance after his tight semi-final win over Cooper French of the U.S., 147-146, he said:

“I feel relieved. It’s been a lot of stress for me getting to the gold medal match after I was the runner-up at the World Championships in the Netherlands. People write articles about me. I don’t read them, but I know they’re written and it puts pressure on me.”

Faugstad’s stance on the media is interesting, since many athletes say that what makes massive events like the Olympic Games so special is the mass of news media and the increased attention that they receive. Then again, as a Compound shooter, his event isn’t in the Games!

LANE ONE: If you think track & field could once again be a high-profile sport, forget it. It’s over.

By
Rich Perelman
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People who care deeply about track & field in the United States decry the low profile the sport has today. The symptoms are obvious: meets are poorly attended, there is too little promotion and only passing interest from television or even online services which every Olympic sport thinks will be their savior.

At the same time, we have seen the rise during the last few years of a brutal spectacle called the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which is classified as a Mixed Martial Arts “promotion company” in the style of old-style boxing, or even more accurately, professional wrestling. This program of MMA fights has become a huge industry, with millions of fans and gross revenues of more than $600 million in 2018.

Why can’t track & field, the highest-profile sport in the highest-profile sporting event in the world – the Olympic Games – do something like that, or at least much better than it is doing now?

(The folks at the International Swimming League, trying to launch a city-based team vs. team concept, have asked the same question).

Fingers have been pointed at governing bodies, whether the IAAF at the international level, or USA Track & Field at the national level. Stop wasting your time; while both are well intentioned, neither has an answer, let alone the answer.

And that’s because neither the IAAF or USATF is what all of the other successful entities in this space require: a “promotion company.” Wikipedia defines such an entity as:

“An entertainment promoter works in entertainment industries, including music and sports, as an individual or organization in the business of marketing and promoting live, or pay-per-view and similar, events, such as concerts/gigs, sports events, festivals, raves, and nightclub performances.”

That’s not what a governing body is for. Track & field has no such organizations at work to promote the sport worldwide, or even nationally in the U.S. There are individual meet directors, many of whom are part of institutions, such as the highly-respected Dave Johnson for the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania. But the true independent meet promoter is a rare bird these days. The Nike Prefontaine Classic, headed by Tom Jordan, does one meet a year.

Long gone are serial promoters such as Al Franken, who put on two indoor meets and two outdoor meets a year in California, out of his own pocket. He recruited the sponsors – whose names became synonymous with the sport, such as Sunkist, Jack in the Box, Pepsi and Foot Locker – and then rented the venues, signed up the athletes and doggedly pursued newspapers and television stations in the local market for publicity. For more than 30 years he succeeded, but when the sponsorship market was more focused on national, rather than local, programs, his meets died.

Today’s media environment is now so saturated that it’s unlikely that many such local meets can survive, outside of legacy events like the Texas-Penn-Drake-Mt. SAC relays. In the U.S., and increasingly elsewhere, media exposure is now of national or global reach. And look what the promoters of successful programs do.

If you’re Major League Baseball, you’re playing games in as many other countries as you can book … plus a game at the home of the Little League World Series each year and now, at the famed “Field of Dreams” site in Iowa. The National Football League is playing – or trying to play – in Great Britain, Germany, Mexico and looking for more sites. The National Basketball Association and National Hockey League have entire departments looking at overseas opportunities; the NBA is helping to form a new league in Africa, featuring 12 club teams that will start play next year.

What all of these groups, as well as the organizations promoting professional golf and tennis, have embraced, is the year-round calendar. Let’s look at UFC again:

● Its 2019 fight calendar has a fight card on 42 weeks of the year, with one featured match above all others, but with significant undercards, usually 12-13 fights in all. (Hmmm, there are 14 Diamond League events in Saturday’s Meeting de Paris; interesting.)

● Once a month is a numbered UFC card – such as “UFC 241: Cormier vs. Miocic 2″ at the Honda Center in Anaheim last Saturday (17th) – which has a higher level of promotion and helps to draw interest that supports the other 40 cards held each year.

Because a single organization is behind this program, it has recurring expertise in promoting its fights and creates continuity from show to show. This is not a new concept to track & field; check out this excerpt from the 8 March 1970 edition of The New York Times about the Amateur Athletic Union of the U.S., in its original form:

“For the second consecutive year, a series of 17 A.A.U. outdoor international track and field meets, including the national championships at Bakersfield, Calif., and the United States- Soviet meet at Leningrad, will be presented in color on the C.B.S. Television Network beginning May 17.

“The program will be broadcast for an hour each Sunday afternoon through Sept. 6, except on June 28 and July 26 when it will be expanded to 90 minutes for coverage of the A.A.U. national championships and the U.S.-U.S.S.R. meet.

“Jack Whitaker will be the host.

“The Martin Luther King Games at Villanova, Pa., will start the series. On seven Sundays thereafter, meets in California and Oregon will be presented. The series will then move to Europe for nine broadcasts originating in Leningrad, Paris, Stuttgart, Cologne, Malmo (Sweden), Oslo, Warsaw, and a city yet to be selected.”

Continuity is the key and it’s what drives television rights sales and sponsorship. But to have something like this in track & field, it has to start with the athletes.

And what athletes are willing, today, to compete all-year round, or at least most of the year? Up until now, the world leaders in the men’s 100 m, 200 m and 400 m have competed in just 6-8 meets each: Christian Coleman (six), Noah Lyles (eight so far) and Michael Norman (six).

In 1975, the year before the Olympic Games in Montreal, no. 1-ranked Steve Williams of the U.S. ran in 14 meets in the 100 m and a couple more in the 200 m. Mile world-record setter John Walker of New Zealand ran 19 races in the 800 m, 1,500 m/mile and 2,000 m. No. 1-ranked high jumper Dwight Stones competed 20 times – outdoors! – in addition to a heavy indoor schedule. Shot putter Al Feuerbach similarly was in 18 outdoor meets alone, not to mention the indoor season. By the way, they all got paid, but at that time, under the table.

What athletes are willing to undertake that kind of show business today? An exciting young talent like Sydney McLaughlin has been in seven meets (indoors included) and world-record setter Dalilah Muhammad, in eight, so far this season.

Coaches, agents and managers won’t hear of 1970s workloads today, fearing especially that it will hurt performances in the only two meets anyone actually cares about each year: the national qualifier for the Olympic Games or World Championships, and then the World Championships or the Olympic Games.

Somehow, sports that are individually focused like golf, tennis and MMA have managed to thrive without the Olympic Games or a world championship. In fact, tennis and golf were invited back to the Games because they were so popular on their own. (Consider also road running, which took off without any management help from the International Olympic Committee or the IAAF.)

So let’s accept track & field (and swimming) as it is. An excellent, exciting sport for those who care, presented in a scattered format with a few meets across many weeks and months. There is more interest during Olympic years, but the sport does not have the structure, promoters or drive to organize itself – starting with the athletes as a group – to present itself as a cogent entertainment program as the UFC has managed over just this past 17 years.

UFC’s rise has hardly been without incident; if you will take an hour to read the Wikipedia entry about it, its growing pains and near-death experiences show the risks and difficulties involved.

But a cogent calendar, devoted promotional efforts and finding the right people to play has served every successful sports entity well on the way to becoming a success for the promoters, players, broadcasters and an expanding worldwide audience.

Track and field had it once, well before the UFC was ever heard of, and when the NFL, NBA and NHL were minor successes, fighting for attention behind the behemoth that was baseball. But that was then. I’m just glad I was around to enjoy it.

Rich Perelman
Editor

ATHLETICS Preview: Lyles, Kipruto, Holloway return to the track for Meeting de Paris Saturday

By
Rich Perelman
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Noah Lyles (USA) on the way to becoming no. 4 all-time in 19.50! (Photo: Athletissima Lausanne)

The final “regular-season” meet in the IAAF Diamond League series comes Saturday at the Stade de Charlety in Paris, France, with places in the two Diamond League final events at stake in most of the events.

The two final meets, in Zurich (SUI) on 29 August and Brussels (BEL) on 6 September, not only have significant paydays of up to $50,000 for the winners of each event, but can alter the entries at the IAAF World Championships in Doha at the end of September. A Diamond League winner, in most cases (but not all), will get a wild-card entry into the Worlds if not already qualified.

For the U.S., that could be significant as most events already have three Americans qualified (or four in the case of the eight U.S. winners in the 2017 Worlds).

With the news of a possible sanction against world leader Christian Coleman of the U.S. hanging in the air, there will be special attention paid to American sprint star Noah Lyles, who will run the 200 m.

The fields are good; the tastiest match-ups to watch for:

● Men/200 m: This is an excellent field, but can anyone catch Lyles? Reigning World Champion Ramil Guliyev (TUR: 19.99) will try, along with Texas Tech star Divine Oduduru (NGR), who ran 19.73 to win the NCAA title, but ran only 10.26 for eighth in the Monaco Diamond League since then. Lyles has been tweeting that his training has been exceptional, so what will he have to show us on Saturday?

● Men/800 m: Not a Diamond League event, but a good test for American Clayton Murphy (1:44.47 in 2019) to gauge his readiness against Kenya’s Michael Saruni (1:43.70) and Canada’s Brandon McBride (1:43.83). French fans want to see if Pierre-Ambroise Bosse can approach his 2017 World Champion form; battling back from injury, he has run 1:45.43 so far in 2019.

● Men/1,500 m: Very strong field with 13 men who have run sub-3:35 this season. The Norwegians Jakob (3:30.16) and Filip (3:30.82) Ingebrigtsen, Uganda’s Ronald Musagala (3:30.58) have the fastest times for 2019, but Sam Tefera (ETH: 3:31.39), Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI: 3:30.79) and Kenyans Bethwell Birgen (3:33.12) and Vincent Kibet (3:33.21) will have a lot to say on the final lap.

● Men/3,000 m Steeple: Eleven men have run under 8:10 this season and six are in this race, starting with world leader Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR: 8:04.82). Kenyans Benjamin Kigen (8:05.12) and Abraham Kibiwot (8:05.72) are close, as is Ethiopia’s Chaya Beyo (8:06.48), but most eyes will be on the return from injury of Olympic and World champ Conseslus Kipruto, who hasn’t anything other than a road race (in February) this season. Is he in shape?

● Men/110 m hurdles: Here is a near-World Championships final preview, finally including the two American collegiate stars Grant Holloway (12.98) and Daniel Roberts (13.00). They will have their hands full with 2016 Olympic silver winner Orlando Ortega (ESP), 2015 World Champion Sergey Shubenkov (13.12 this year), 2018 European champ Pascale Martinot-Lagarde (FRA: 13.34), China’s Wenjun Xie (13.17) and Jamaica’s Ronald Levy (13.23). Only Omar McLeod (JAM: 13.12) is missing; has the season been too long for the ex-SEC foes?

● Men/400 m hurdles: The amazing Karsten Warholm (NOR) has twice lowered his lifetime best this season, now down to 47.12, making him the world leader and no. 7 in the event all-time. He won’t face his expected challengers in Doha – Abderrahmane Samba (QAT) and Rai Benjamin of the U.S. – but will have to contend with T.J. Holmes (48.58) and David Kendziera (48.69) of the U.S., plus Kyron McMaster (IVB: 48.94) and Turkey’s 2017 Worlds silver medalist Yasmani Copello (48.93).

● Men/Pole Vault: This is not a Diamond League event, but does feature the top U.S. vaulters: Sam Kendricks (6.06 m/19-10 1/2). Chris Nilsen (5.95 m/19-6 1/4) and Cole Walsh (5.81 m/19-0 3/4). London Olympic champ Renaud Lavillenie will be competing in front of an adoring home crowd; he’s cleared 5.85 m (19-2 1/4) so far this year.

● Men/Triple Jump: The top three on the world list are Americans Will Claye (18.14 m/59-6 1/4), reigning World Champion Christian Taylor (17.82 m/58-5 3/4), and Omar Craddock (17.68 m/58-0 1/4). They’re all here and their performance – albeit without Portugal’s great Pedro Pablo Pichardo – will be a good indicator if a sweep is possible in Doha. The mystery man of the event is Fabrice Zango (BUR), who has jumped 17.50 m (57-5) at his nationals and has set four nationals records in 2019. Is he a challenger to the top Americans?

● Women/100 m: Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson has been the one to beat in 2019 and won the Jamaican nationals in 10.73. She won the Pan Am Games gold in 11.18 in cold conditions, but this will be a better test against Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV/10.93) and Dutch star Dafne Schippers (11.04). American champ Teahna Daniels (10.99) managed only 11.24 at the Birmingham Diamond League in her first race since the USATF Nationals.

● Women/400 m: The U.S. does not appear to have a medal contenders for the Worlds in this event, but that could change in Paris. Shakima Wimbley (50.20), Kendall Ellis (50.38) and reigning World Champion Phyllis Francis (50.76) are all in the world’s top 12, but medals will be won in the 49s. Can any of them break through here?

● Women/800 m: No Ajee Wilson, so Americans Raevyn Rogers (1:58.65), Hanna Green (1:58.19) and Kate Grace (1:59.58) get to test themselves vs. Jamaica’s Natoya Goule (1:57.90) and Nelly Jepkosgei (BRN: 1:59.00).

● Women/Pole Vault: A perfect preview of the World Championships: list leader Jenn Suhr of the U.S. (4.91 m/16-1 1/4) and all the contenders. Greece’s World Champion Katerina Stefanidi (4.83 m/15-10) is back in form and hard to beat, but will be tested by Americans Sandi Morris (4.85 m/15-11) and Katie Nageotte (4.82 m/15-9 3/4), New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney (4.85 m/15-11), Russian Anzhelika Sidorova (4.86 m/15-11 1/4) and more. Suhr is not yet qualified, but a good showing will ensure her place in the Diamond League final.

● Women/Triple Jump: Four of the top five on the 2019 world list are in, starting with world leader Yulimar Rojas, fresh from her 15.11 m (49-7) win at the Pan American Games. She will be chased by Liadagmis Povea of Cuba and Shanieka Rickets of Jamaica (both 14.77 m/48-5 1/2) and American Keturah Orji (14.66 m (48-1 1/4). All but Orji have already qualified for the Diamond League final.

● Women/Discus: The three likely medal winners at the World Championships will face off for the second straight week. Cuba’s Yaime Perez is the world leader at 69.39 m (227-8), followed by teammate Denia Caballero (69.20 m/227-0) and reigning World and Olympic champ Sandra Perkovic (CRO), at 68.58 m (225-0)) so far. American Valarie Allman (67.15 m./220-3) stands fourth in 2019, but has shown no ability – yet – to stay with the top three.

A triathlon of the shot, long jump and 110 m hurdles is being held to feature Decathlon world-record holder Kevin Mayer (FRA), plus Kai Kazmirek (GER: 8,444 this season), Pieter Braun (NED: 8,306), American Devon Williams (8,295). It’s a nice way to get some exposure for these folks vs. putting them in open competitions where they are over-matched.

There are some other events, including the high jump and shot put for men, with good fields, but not as compelling as those above.

NBC’s Olympic Channel will have coverage starting at 2 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday from Paris. Look for results here.

JUDO Preview: World Championships in Tokyo presage Olympic competition one year ahead

By
Rich Perelman
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Two champions: Japan's Sarah Asahina (l) vs. Cuba's Idalys Ortiz (Photo: IJF)

One of the great shrines in judo is the Nippon Budokan, built to initially host the first-ever Olympic competition in the sport in 1964. It will again be the site for the sport in 2020, as well as for karate, but this week will host 860 judoka from 49 countries.

But there is no doubt that the host Japanese are out to make a statement. The country has led the medal count in every World Championships since men and women have been competing together back in 1987; that’s 19 in a row. The last time the IJF Worlds were held in Tokyo was in 2010 and the hosts won 23 medals (10-4-9) out of the 64 awarded; no other country has more than six (France: 2-1-3).

What about 2019? In terms of seeding, the top-ranked judoka are in every category, and looking at the top five seeds, the leaders are:

● Men: Japan, 6; Georgia, 5; Azerbaijan, 3.
● Women: Japan, 8; Brazil, 4; France, 3.

It’s important to note that this World Championships is not a direct qualifier to the 2020 Olympic Games. Invitations to the Games will be based on the IJF World Rankings next April, so stars like France’s Teddy Riner (10 World titles, two Olympic golds) do not need to participate now to be eligible for Tokyo 2020. The top seeds:

Men

● -60 kg:
1. Robert Mshvidobadze (RUS) ~ 2018 Worlds silver medalist
2. Naohisa Takato (JPN) ~ 2013-17-18 World Champion; 2016 Olympic bronze
3. Amiran Papinashvili (GEO) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist
4. Ryuju Nagayama (JPN) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist
5. Yeldos Smetov (KAZ) ~ 2016 Olympic silver medalist

● -66 kg:
1. Vazha Margvelashvili (GEO)
2. Joshiro Maruyama (JPN)
3. Hifumi Abe (JPN) ~ 2017-18 World Champion
4. Baruch Shmailov (ISR)
5. Denis Vieru (MDA)

● -73 kg:
1. Rustam Orujov (AZE) ~ 2017 Worlds silver medalist
2. Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze
3. Tommy Macias (SWE)
4. Hidayat Heydarov (AZE) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist
5. Akil Gjakova (KOS)

● -81 kg:
1. Saeid Mollaei (IRI) ~ 2018 World Champion; 2017 Worlds bronze
2. Sagi Muki (JPN)
3. Frank de Wit (NED)
4. Matthias Casse (BEL)
5. Dominic Ressel (GER)

● -90 kg:
1. Nikoloz Sherazadishvili (ESP) ~ 2018 World Champion
2. Krisztian Toth (HUN)
3. Ivan Felipe Silva (CUB) ~ 2018 Worlds silver medalist
4. Mammadali Mehdiyev (AZE)
5. Nemanja Majdov (SRB) ~ 2017 World Champion

● –100 kg:
1. Varlam Liparteliani (GEO) ~ 2017-18 Worlds silver medalist; 2016 Olympic -90 kg silver
2. Guman Cho (KOR) ~ 2018 World Champion
3. Peter Paltchik (ISR)
4. Michael Korrel (NED)
5. Otgonbaatar Lkhagvasuren (MGL) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist

● +100 kg:
1. Guram Tushishvili (GEO) ~ 2018 World Champion
2. Lukas Krpalek (CZE) ~ 2016 Olympic -100 kg Champion
3. David Moura (BRA) ~ 2017 Worlds silver medalist
4. Hisayoshi Harasawa (JPN) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist; 2016 Olympic silver
5. Rafael Silva (BRA) ~ 2017 Worlds bronze medalist; 2016 Olympic bronze

Women

● -48 kg:
1. Funa Tonaki (JPN) ~ 2017 World Champion; 2018 Worlds silver medalist
2. Daria Bilodid (UKR) ~ 2018 World Champion
3. Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL) ~ 2017 Worlds silver medalist
4. Paula Pareto (ARG) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion; 2018 Worlds bronze
5. Distria Kransiqi (KOS)

● -52 kg:
1. Amandine Buchard (FRA) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist
2. Uta Abe (JPN) ~ 2018 World Champion
3. Ai Shishime (JPN) ~ 2017 World Champion; 2018 Worlds silver medalist
4. Charline van Snick (BEL)
5. Natalia Kuziutina (RUS)

● -57 kg:
1. Tsukasa Yoshida (JPN) ~ 2018 World Champion; 2017 Worlds silver medalist
2. Christa Deguchi (CAN) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist
3. Nora Gjakova (KOS)
4. Rafaela Silva (BRA) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion
5. Jessica Klimkait (CAN)

● -63 kg:
1. Clarisse Agbegnenou (FRA) ~ 2017-18 World Champion; 2016 Olympic silver
2. Tina Trstenjak (SLO) ~ 2017-18 Worlds bronze medalist; 2016 Olympic gold
3. Miku Tashiro (JPN) ~ 2018 Worlds silver medalist
4. Juul Franssen (NED) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist
5. Martyna Trajdos (GER)

● -70 kg:
1. Chizuru Arai (JPN) ~ 2017-18 World Champion
2. Marie Eve Gahie (FRA) ~ 2018 Worlds silver medalist
3. Anna Bernholm (SWE)
4. Michaela Polleres (AUT)
5. Maria Portela (BRA)

● -78 kg:
1. Mayra Aguiar (BRA) ~ 2017 World Champion; 2016 Olympic bronze
2. Guusje Steenhuis (NED) ~ 2018 Worlds silver medalist
3. Shori Hamada (JPN) ~ 2018 World Champion
4. Madeleine Malonga (FRA)
5. Natalie Powell (GBR) ~ 2017 Worlds silver medalist

● +78 kg:
1. Idalys Ortiz (CUB) ~ 2018 Worlds silver medalist; 2016 Olympic silver
2. Sarah Asahina (JPN) ~ 2018 World Champion; 2017 Worlds silver medalist
3. Larisa Ceric (BIH) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist
4. Maria Suelen Altheman (BRA)
5. Iryna Kindzerska (AZE) ~ 2017 Worlds bronze medalist

Prize money for the IJF Worlds is $26,000-15,000-8,000 for the top three places, with 20% reserved for the coaches. Look for results here.

ATHLETICS: There is excitement and glory in sport, but also a lot of drug testing

By
Rich Perelman
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The wild flash from Britain’s MailOnline that U.S. sprint star Christian Coleman may be subject to sanctions for missing three “whereabouts” reports is a reminder that being a professional athlete – especially in Olympic sports – is about a lot more than training, traveling and competing.

It is also about drug testing, and testing and more testing.

This is not an occasional thing, it’s an all-the-time thing. Take it from 2012 long jump Olympic champion and seven-time World Champion Brittney Reese, and the replies from others, including Olympic long jump champ Tianna Bartoletta and Pan American 100 m champ Mike Rodgers:

https://twitter.com/tibartoletta/status/1164234801089601543

So what is “Whereabouts”? The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency explains in detail:

“An important part of USADA’s testing program is the ability to test athletes without any advance notice in an out-of-competition setting. …

“Athletes are subject to testing 365 days a year and do not have “off-seasons” or cutoff periods in which testing does not occur. Whereabouts information, (dates, times, locations, etc.) is information submitted to USADA by an athlete that allows the athlete to be located for out-of-competition testing.”

Coleman, as an elite athlete at the international level, is part of the USADA Registered Testing Pool. His responsibilities include:

“Athletes included in the USADA RTP must submit two types of Whereabouts information to USADA. One type is the athlete’s quarterly Whereabouts filing, which includes: daily overnight location, training locations and times, competitions, other regularly scheduled activities, such as school and/or work locations, AND a daily 60-minute window.

“The second type of Whereabouts filing that must be submitted is Whereabouts UPDATES. If an athlete’s schedule changes during the quarter from what they originally submitted, they must file an update with USADA as soon as possible. For example, if an athlete will be in a location different from what they provided on their quarterly Whereabouts filing, such as traveling for a competition, they must submit an update. …

“Any athlete who is in the USADA RTP must provide a specific 60-minute time slot every day between 5 a.m. – 11 p.m. that anchors the athlete to a specific location. The athlete chooses the 60-minute time slot to fit their schedule and must be available and accessible for testing at a specific location during the entire 60-minute time slot. Please note that USADA can choose to, and does test athletes outside of the their 60-minute window.”

Failure to file required Whereabouts data, whether quarterly or in-between changes, can be catastrophic. Per the USADA, “any combination of three Whereabouts failures (filing failures and/or missed tests), declared by USADA, WADA or an IF, within an 12 month period = Anti-Doping Rule Violation.”

Annoying, unpleasant but necessary. That’s the impact of doping control that is part of the lives of athletes trying to compete in the Olympic Games and in individual-sport world championships.

As Baroletta noted in another tweet, reacting to the news of Coleman’s possible sanctions:

https://twitter.com/tibartoletta/status/1164494278632116226

BASKETBALL: Crowd of 51,218 sees U.S. beat Australia, 102-86, in Melbourne exhibition

By
Rich Perelman
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Kyle Kuzma of the U.S. scores over Aron Baynes of Australia in the 102-86 U.S. win in Melbourne (Photo: USA Basketball)

The U.S. men’s World Cup team took another step forward on Thursday with a convincing 102-86 win over Australia at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.

Normally used for Australian Rules Football, a basketball court was installed in the middle of the field and the huge crowd of 51,218 – reportedly the largest to see a basketball game in the country – saw a tight game into the third quarter before the American squad took over.

“We have guys that are just starting to play with each other,” said U.S. guard Donovan Mitchell, who had 13 points. “We got off to a little bit of a rough start in the first half, but the third quarter, we really picked it up defensively.”

The U.S. had a 22-20 lead after a quarter and moved out to a 42-31 lead with 2:38 to play in the first half, but Australia roared back on three-pointers by reserve guard Chris Goulding and six points from Patty Mills to close the half down only 44-43.

The third quarter was another story. Australia took a 45-44 lead on an Aron Baynes layin, but then the U.S. scored 13 points in a row for a 57-45 lead and had control of the game from then on. Myles Turner scored five and Harrison Barnes and Donovan Mitchell both had three-pointers and the U.S. closed the period with a 76-61 lead.

The fourth-quarter lead reached 20 at 93-73 and the final was 102-86. Kemba Walker led the U.S. with 23 points (21 in the second half) and six players reached double figures: Turner had 15, Mitchell, 13; Kyle Kuzma, 12; Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown both had 11.

The U.S. shot 48% from the floor and 43% from the three-point line, while holding the Boomers to 40% shooting. The U.S. again showed excellent rebounding strength, with a 54-36 edge and turnovers were way down, from 23 vs. Spain to just 13 this time. The full box score is here.

Said U.S. head coach Gregg Popovich, “We got used to the physicality, and changed up a couple things and we had some guys that did a good job. Myles Turner came in and gave us a big punch there, he was great.

“Obviously Kemba in pick-and-roll is pretty tough to guard, so we’re learning what we should be running offensively and what we should be doing based on our personnel. We’re obviously not an experienced team, these guys have never played together, so I think they’re doing a really good job of trying to come together quickly and learn about each other.”

The Associated Press reported that “The roof of Marvel Stadium was closed and the court was placed in the middle of the field surrounded by hundreds of white chairs, more than 20 rows deep, for fans who paid for floor seating.”

Mills and Goulding led Australia with 19 points each. The two teams will play again at Marvel Stadium on Saturday. The game will start at 2:00 p.m. local time and will be shown on NBA TV at 12 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday morning in the U.S.

TSX DAILY: Ready for an international College Football Playoff? ~ Tokyo Sport Climbing faves confirmed ~ U.S. men face Aussies in Oz

By
Rich Perelman
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≡ TSX DAILY ~ 22 August 2019 ≡

| 1. |  UNIVERSITY SPORT: FISU slowly moving toward college vs. college championship matches

Fans of American collegiate sports already flock to see spectacles such as the Rose Bowl and the College Football Playoff championship games held in the U.S., but what if there was an even bigger game out there?

Like a world championship, open to universities around the world?

It could happen. Slowly but surely, the international governing body of university sports, the Federation Internationale de Sports Universitaire, or “FISU” – is moving toward this model, following informal consultations with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the U.S.

On Monday, the FISU announced that it was creating a new “University World Cup” series which would match collegiate teams, starting in two years:

“From 2022 onwards, the competitions in American Football, Floorball, Handball and Cheerleading will be held as University World Cups – a competition between university teams rather than national squads – instead of a Championship.” 

FISU Secretary General-CEO Eric Saintrond (BEL) explained that “These events create an alternative set-up to regular competition between national teams. In fact, to maximise the potential of the university sports movement, we believe this format of university teams competing against each other is crucial. It will increase participation in these sports even further, not just at our events but in universities worldwide as the finalists come through continental qualifiers.”

The choice of sports is interesting, with American Football and Cheerleading obvious nods to the U.S., but Floorball and Handball are much more popular in Europe than in the U.S.

Nonetheless, it’s an interesting pilot program and could pave the way for more intense competitions in sports such as Beach Volleyball and Cross Country, which now have World University Championships, based on national teams.

It’s not too difficult to see into the future to sports with much larger commercial potential such as Basketball and Gymnastics, pitting – perhaps – North Carolina and the University of Sydney on the hardwood or Oklahoma or UCLA against Lomonosov Moscow State University in women’s gymnastics!

This is a long-term project, but an impressive show of progress for the FISU and its Russian President, Oleg Matytsin, himself a long-time professor and author about psychology and sport. There are many who have wondered what FISU could do to make itself actually relevant to the world of sport, beyond the minor role it has now. This could be it.

| 2. | SPORT CLIMBING: Tomoa Narasaki and Janja Garnbret confirmed as Tokyo favorites

The IFSC World Championships concluded in Hachioji, Japan on Wednesday with the finals of the Combined events, the ones that will be contested at the Olympic Games in Tokyo next year.

Comprised of a Speed race, a Bouldering trial and a Lead event, each athlete’s placements are multiplied against each other to calculate their point total. In Hachioji, Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret had already won the world titles in Bouldering and Lead, so she was a big favorite going into he Combined (in which she was already the defending World Champion).

She was sixth out of eight finalists in Speed – no surprise there – then was second in Bouldering and first in Lead, so she scored 12 points (6*2*1). Japan’s Akiyo Noguchi was seventh in Speed, but won the Bouldering event over Garnbret and had a chance to win in Lead, but missed a jump and ended up third. That gave her 21 points (7*1*3) and the silver medal.

The men’s event was a showcase for Japan’s World Bouldering Champion Tomoa Narasaki (pictured). He was good on the Speed test, making to the final match before falling (and therefore finished second). He won Bouldering easily – the only one to complete all three problems – and then managed a second–place finish in Lead to generate a score of just four points (2*1*2)!

Austria’s Jakob Schubert (7*5*1) scored 35 points for second and surprising Kazakh Rishat Khaibullin, a Speed star, was third with 40 (1*8*5).

There’s no doubt of Garnbret’s favorite status in the women’s Combined and Narasaki was impressive in Hachioji, but will be challenged by Schubert and possibly Czech Adam Ondra. The latter didn’t qualify for the finals after a low score in Lead, which he protested, but lost. He will have future opportunities to get into the Tokyo field. More coverage here.

| 3. | SNOWBOARD: Corning in New Zealand to defend 2018 title in Winter Games NZ Big Air

It’s hard to believe, but the 2019-2020 FIS Snowboard World Cup season really is starting in Cardrona (NZL) this weekend with a Big Air competition.

This is the third year that a World Cup program has been held in New Zealand, in conjunction with the Winter Games NZ. Last year, Snowboard Big Air was also held and the top two finishers ended up being at the top of the seasonal standings as well.

American Chris Corning (pictured) is in Cardrona to defend his 2018 title, where he finished ahead of eventual World Cup seasonal winner Takeru Otsuka (JPN). Corning is the reigning World Champion in Slopestyle from the 2019 Worlds held in Utah last February (Big Air was canceled due to bad weather). Also on the trip is American Red Gerard, who famously won the 2018 Olympic Slopestyle title in PyeongChang.

The women’s Snowboard Big Air in Cardrona last year was a 1-2 finish for Japan, with Reira Iwabuchi winning ahead of Miyabi Onitsuka, and they finished 1-2 in the seasonal standings as well.

The Snowboarders will lead off, to be followed next week by a Freestyle Skiing Big Air competition. Check out our preview here.

| 4. | BASKETBALL: U.S. men’s World Cup team plays first of three exhibitions in Oz

Fresh from the nerves-settling 90-81 win over no. 2-ranked Spain at the Honda Center in Anaheim last week, the U.S. men’s World Cup team is in Melbourne for the first two exhibition games against Australia.

Ranked 11th in the world, Australia has a veteran roster, which includes current or recent NBA veterans including Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills, Aron Baynes, Matthew Dellavedova and others. The first game is on Thursday (22nd) with a 5:30 a.m. start time in the Eastern time zone (7:30 p.m. in Australia). The game will be played at the Marvel Stadium, usually used for Australian Rules Football and a crowd of up to 45,000 is expected, with the basketball floor placed in the center of the field!

The U.S. will play Australia again on the 24th, also in Melbourne, then move on to Sydney to play Canada in a final exhibition on the 26th. The World Cup will start on 31 August in China, with the U.S. starting on 1 September in Shanghai against the Czech Republic. More coverage here.

| 5. | COMING ATTRACTIONS: Rhythmic Gymnastics in Romania; Cycling in Hamburg

Also on tap this week:

● The second FIG Rhythmic World Challenge Cup is on for Cluj Napoca in Romania. Israel’s Linoy Ashram is the likely star, but there will be interest in the newest Russian sensation, 16-year-old Daria Trubnikova, the 2018 Youth Olympic Games All-Around gold medalist. American champion Laura Zeng, the first to ever win a Rhythmic World Cup medal, will look to add a first World Challenge Cup medal. Preview here.

● The 24th EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg brings the top sprinters not in Spain for La Vuelta a Espana together on a flat course on Sunday. Italy’s Elia Viviani has won the last two in a row and no one has ever won more than that, so he will be looking for both a win and a new record. Preview here.

Look for an in-depth preview of 2019’s La Vuelta a Espana later this week.

| 6. | FIGURE SKATING: Noted coach Richard Callaghan banned by U.S. Center for SafeSport

On Wednesday, U.S. Figure Skating posted the declaration of the U.S. Center for SafeSport, including:

“On March 6, 2018, U.S. Figure Skating adopted the measure issued by the U.S. Center for SafeSport suspending the membership of Richard Callaghan. On August 21, 2019, the U.S. Center for SafeSport issued the following Sanction regarding Richard Callaghan which is subject to appeal:

“Sanction: Permanent Ineligibility

“Respondent Richard Callaghan is permanently prohibited from participating, in any capacity, in any activity or competition authorized by, organized by, or under the auspices of the United States Olympic Committee, the national governing bodies recognized by the United States Olympic Committee, and/or a Local Affiliated Organization of a national governing body recognized by the United States Olympic Committee.”

Callaghan is a famed coach, who assisted 1996 World Champion Todd Eldredge and 1998 Olympic Champion Tara Lipinski to their career-defining performances. He was accused of misconduct back in 1999 by former student and coaching assistant Craig Maurizi, but the case did not result in any sanctions.

On 9 August of this year, former skater Adam Schmidt filed suit against Callaghan, alleging sexual assaults from 1999-2001, when Schmidt was still a minor.

There is no indication yet whether Callaghan will appeal his sanction.

| 7. | SKI JUMPING: Norwegian superstar Lundby injured in training, but not in a jump!

Norway’s Maren Lundby (pictured) has been the best women’s ski jumper in the world for the past two seasons, winning the 2018 Olympic gold and the 2019 World Championships. But she was injured during a training session last week in Lillehammer (NOR), but not during a jump.

“In order to move the starting bar, you have to climb over to the other side of the inrun. I was holding on to the bar, climbed over and then I lost my footing. It was raining a lot in the morning so it was very wet on the side of the inrun track. All of a sudden I was lying on my back and sliding down the inrun. I tried everything I could to slow down, with both arms and legs. I just could not stop and so I fell over the edge of the take-off table. I landed on one leg/knee and then my head hit the concrete. Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet.”

Lundby was fortunate, as subsequent imaging showed no broken bones, but she did suffer a concussion and a bruised knee. It’s estimated that the effects might last for more than a month, but as of now, her 2019-20 season is not threatened.

A FIS Ski Jumping World Cup is the U.S. once again is becoming a possibility. The State of Michigan has appropriated funds to create a year-round jumping facility on its Upper Peninsula as a training and tourism attraction that could be open as early as 2021.

The last FIS World Cup was held at Park City, Utah in February of 2004. Two World Cups have been held previously at Iron Mountain, Michigan, in 1996 and 2000, Said longtime FIS Race Director Walter Hofer, head of the Ski Jumping program for the federation, “Bringing an event back to North America has been a priority for us.”

| 8. | SWIMMING: Court hearing on doping allegations vs. Yang Sun will be public

The next act in the continuing circus over doping allegations against China’s superstar Freestyler Yang Sun will be played out in public, according to the announcement by the Court of Arbitration for Sport:

“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is conducting an appeal arbitration procedure brought by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the Chinese swimmer Sun Yang and the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) in relation to a decision issued by the FINA Doping Panel dated 3 January 2019 whereby Sun Yang was found not to have committed an anti-doping rule violation following an out-of-competition doping control.”

Originally scheduled for September, the date will be sometime in October, almost certainly in Switzerland. As the Court noted, “This will be the second time in the history of CAS that a hearing is held in public. The first public hearing, which took place in 1999, was also related to the sport of swimming, in the matter Michelle Smith De Bruin v. FINA.”

A triple Olympic gold medalist in the 200-400-1,500 m Freestyles, Sun has been highly scrutinized over doping since a 2014 incident in which he was banned for three months by the Chinese Swimming Association. The positive finding and subsequent penalty were not disclosed until after the penalty period was concluded, and there was an inference of a cover-up.

In 2018, Sun was reported to have acted improperly during an out-of-competition test at his home last September, including the smashing of blood sample vials. FINA investigated the matter and cleared Sun, but the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The question of Sun and doping became a cause celebre at the recent FINA World Championships in Korea, when Australian silver medalist Mack Horton refused to stand on the awards podium with Sun after his win in the 400 m Free, and Britain’s Duncan Scott refused to shake his hand after Sun won the 200 m Free, his 11th World Championships victory.

Now WADA’s appeal, and Sun’s defense, will seen publicly. Who holds the television rights to the Court of Arbitration for Sport?

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