Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:
● Archery ● The World Archery World Cup season opened in Antalya (TUR), with upsets the theme of the Recurve (Olympic) division.
In the men’s Recurve division, it looked like the final might be a match-up of Olympic champ – and home favorite – Mete Gazoz and 2019 World Champion Brady Ellison of the U.S. But the semifinal winners were Australian Ryan Tyack (defeating Gazoz, 6-4) and Spain’s Miguel Alvarino Garcia, who defeated Ellison, 10-9, in a one-arrow shoot-off after a 5-5 tie.
In the final, Alvarino Garcia, who was the 2015 European Games gold medalist, sailed by Tyack, the 2014 World Indoor Champion, 6-0. Ellison won the bronze medal over Gazoz, 7-3.
In the women’s final, Britain’s Bryony Pitman, who reached the round of 16 at the Tokyo Games, won a thrilling final from Dutch shooter Laura van der Winkel, 20, in her third World Cup ever. Van der Winkel had a 5-3 lead after four ends, but Pitman tied it in the fifth end, necessitating a shoot-off. Both shot eights, but Pitman’s was closer to the center and earned her the win.
Chinese Taipei shut down Italy, 6-0, in the men’s Recurve Team final, while Pitman grabbed a second victory as part of the British women’s trio that defeated Germany, 5-01, for the women’s Team title. Pitman had to settle for silver in the Mixed Team final; teamed with Alex Wise, they lost a shoot-off to India (Ridhi and Rai), 5-4 on an 18-17 final end.
● Athletics ● There was more hot sprinting in the U.S. on the weekend, with world-leading performances in four events.
In the men’s 400 m, Olympic champ Steven Gardiner (BAH) won his specialty at the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, winning in 44.22, with American Vernon Norwood second in 44.59.
In the men’s 110 m hurdles, Olympic fourth-placer Devon Allen ran 13.12 to win the Navy Spring Invitational in Annapolis, Maryland, then also won the 100 m in a lifetime best of 10.20 and the 200 m in 20.65!
In the men’s 400 m hurdles, Khallifah Rosser got a 48.26 win to top the world list at the Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco, Texas. That wasn’t the only fast running there, as American Brittany Brown rode a 3.2 m/s wind to a 10.66 (!!) victory over Gabby Thomas (10.80w). American Tonea Marshall, no. 2 in the world for 2022, won the women’s 100 m hurdles with a just-over-the-allowable 2.1 m/s wind in 12.36.
In the women’s 100 m, the world lead for 2022 was established by Cambrea Sturgis at 10.87 with a win at the Aggie Classic in Greensboro, North Carolina.
There was more hot – but wind-aided – sprinting in the women’s 100 m in Baton Rouge, as Aleia Hobbs won in 10.84 (+4.2 m/s) over Favour Ofili (NGR) and Mikiah Brisco (both 10.90w).
There was also important action in the 200 m, as Allyson Felix started her season at the USC Outdoor Open in Columbia, South Carolina in 22.40. Even faster was Kentucky’s Abby Steiner, suddenly in world class after a great indoor season and now posting a 22.05 win at the Kentucky Invitational to move to no. 3 in 2022.
In the men’s 200 m, World 100 m champ Christian Coleman won the 200 m in Lexington in 19.92 and Georgia’s Matthew Boling also ran 19.92 to win the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta.
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On the road, Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw, 22, won the Hamburg Marathon in the fastest-ever women’s debut at the distance in 2:17:23 to zoom to no. 6 on the all-time list. She won by almost eight minutes.
The men’s was a lot closer, with Kenya’s Cybrian Kotut winning in 2:04:47 over Uganda’s Stephen Kissa (2:04:48).
● Curling ● The 20-team World Mixed Doubles Championship is underway in Geneva (SUI), with round-robin play continuing through the 28th and playoffs beginning on the 29th.
The teams are seeded into two groups, with the brother-sister combo of Matt and Becca Hamilton from the U.S. in Group B. The Hamiltons won their first two matches, 9-6 over the Czech Republic and 12-6 over Turkey.
● Cycling ● Sunday marked the 108th edition of the fourth “Monument” race of the year, Belgium’s famed Liege-Bastogne-Liege, a hilly, 257.2 km route with a downhill finish into Liege for the men.
And it was a great day for the home team and for cycling-crazed Belgium as young star Remco Evenepoel, 22, got his biggest win ever by breaking away with 14 km left and winning unchallenged in 6:12:38.
But even better for Belgian fans was the final sprints of countrymen Quentin Hermans and Wout van Aert, who finished 2-3, ahead of Colombians Daniel Martinez and Sergio Higuita, all 48 seconds behind. Evenepoel broke for the lead with 29 km left and was all clear by the time he ascended the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons for the final time. Said the winner:
“I think today was my best day on the bike maybe ever. The perfect day to have my best day on the bike, I guess.”
The sixth women’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege route was 142.1 km for 2022, starting in Bastogne and trekking the hilly route from an elevated start to the finish in Liege. The 2019 winner, Dutch star Annemiek van Vleuten, also tore away from everyone on the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons and rode away to a 43-second win in 3:52:32.
Van Vleuten has had a wonderful spring, winning the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race on 26 February, seconds at Strade Bianche, Flanders and La Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday and now a win in Liege.
The chase pack saw Grace Brown (AUS) get second, ahead of Demi Vollering (NED), Ashleigh Moolman (RSA) and Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA).
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The UCI’s Tissot Track Nations Cup opened in Glasgow (GBR) with the first of three stops, with Dutch sprinter Harrie Lavreysen showing he has lost none of his Tokyo touch.
Lavreysen, 25, won the men’s Olympic Sprint in Tokyo and was the Keirin bronze medalist and in Glasgow, won the Sprint by dispatching Australia’s Matt Richardson by 0.100 and 0.247 seconds in the final.
Lavreysen also took the Keirin title in a tight finish with Kevin Quintero of Colombia (+0.023) and Richardson (+0.197) and was the only man to record two individual wins.
Richardson for a gold in the Team Sprint over France, and the French won both the Individual Pursuit (with Cortinen Ermenault) and the Team Pursuit. France’s Benjamin Thomas and Thomas Boudat won the men’s Madison over Japan.
Italian road star Elia Viviani won the Elimination race over France’s Yoeri Havik and Colombia’s Cristian Ortega took the 1,000 m Time Trial in 1:00.325 over Melvin Landerneau (FRA).
Britain’s Oliver Wood, the 2019 European Championships bronze medalist, won the Omnium with 145 points to best Sebastian Mora Vedri of Spain (134) and Fabio van den Bossche (BEL: 110). American Gavin Hoover (105) was fourth.
Japan’s Yumi Kajihara was the women’s star, taking the Elimination Race over France’s Valentine Fortin and winning the Omnium – she was the 2020 World Champion – with 101 points to 99 for Maike van der Duin (NED) and 96 for Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky.
Fortin came back with a win in the women’s Madison, teaming with Marion Borras to defeat Italy and the French for a second win in the Keirin from Mathilde Gros over Colombian star Martha Bayona Pineda. Bayona Pineda had earlier won the 500 m Time Trial.
Germany got wins from Mieke Kroger in the women’s Pursuit, defeating teammate Franziska Brause and then the pair led the German team to a win in the Team Pursuit (in which Brause and Kroger were Olympic gold medalists).
Olympic champ Kelsey Mitchell (CAN) won the women’s Sprint over Laurine van Riessen, but the Dutch won the Team Sprint over Mitchell’s Canadian squad.
● Football ● The seventh CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship is ongoing in the Dominican Republic, with the U.S. women looking for their third title in a row.
Their first game posed no problems, as the Americans scored a 20-0 victory over 15th-seed Grenada on Saturday in Group G. Charlotte Kohler and Shea Harvey scored four goals each and Melina Rebimbas got a hat trick as the U.S. scored in the ninth minute and ran away to a 9-0 lead at the half. The American women had a 43-2 edge on shots.
The U.S. will play Puerto Rico in Monday and Costa Rica on Wednesday to close group play. Costa Rica defeated Puerto Rico, 4-1, in the other Group G game. The playoffs will begin on the 30th, with the top three advancing to the FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup.
● Gymnastics ● The fourth FIG Rhythmic World Cup of the season – for the AGF Trophy – was held in Baku (AZE) over the weekend, with Italy’s Sofia Raffaeli taking the All-Around and Hoop titles.
Raffaeli won her second 2022 World Cup A-A title and third medal in four events, scoring 125.150 to edge Boryana Kaleyn (BUL: 124.700) and Milena Baldassarri (UTA: 121.550). American Evita Griskenas was eighth (117.300).
Kaleyn won on Ball, scoring 33.050 to 30.800 for Baldassarri and 30.650 for Raffaeli, with Lili Mizuno (USA: 30.100) sixth and Griskenas eighth (28.500). Kaleyn also took the win in Ribbon at 29.750, ahead of Daria Atamanov (ISR: 29.200) and Ekaterina Vedeneeva (SLO: 29.000); Griskenas was eighth (25.950).
Rafaeli won on Hoop at 34.00, followed by Kaleyn (31.450) and Israel’s Adi Asya Katz (30.350). Atamanov won on Clubs at 30.950, with Jelizaveta Polstjanaja (LAT: 30.700) second and Raffaeli third (29.800).
● Ice Hockey ● The IIHF men’s U-18 World Championships has started in Landshut and Kaufbeuren, Germany, with eight teams competing in total.
In Group A, the U.S. men has started hot, with wins over Canada by 8-3 and the Czech Republic by 6-2. Their final group match comes Tuesday against Germany. Finland is leading Group B at 2-0 so far.
All eight teams will participate in the playoffs.
● Shooting ● The ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Lonato, Italy is moving on to the Skeet events this week after completing the Trap competitions on Sunday.
Slovakia’s Erik Varga – the 2014 and 2015 World Champion – scored a shoot-off win in the men’s Trap final over Croatia’s 2016 Olympic champ Josip Glasnovic, after a 31-31 tie in the final. Spain’s Adria Martinez was third (21).
Glasnovic got a gold, however, with the Croatian team, which defeated India, 7-1, for the men’s Team title.
Britain’s Kirsty Hegarty, the 2018 European Champs silver medalist, won the women’s Trap title with a 31-28 win over Augusta Campos-Martyn of Puerto Rico. Ray Bassil of Lebanon was third (21). Australia defeated Italy, 7-1, for the women’s Team gold.
Tokyo Olympic champs Alberto Fernandez and Fatima Galvez took the Mixed Team gold by 6-2 over teammates Martinez and Mar Molne in the all-Spain final.
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