Home Blog Page 5

MODERN PENTATHLON: IOC Sports Director endorses UIPM direction, but its athlete total for 2028 was cut from 72 to 64

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ LOS ANGELES 2028 ≡

Already one of the smallest sports on the Olympic program, modern pentathlon had 72 athletes at Paris 2024, but was cut to 64 athletes – 32 men and 32 women – in Wednesday’s announcement of events and quotas by the International Olympic Committee.

A slap in the face to a sport which barely got onto the LA28 program?

No, not at all, said IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell (NZL) at Wednesday’s news conference:

“I think we need to acknowledge the journey the sport has been on. There is a very strong new leadership with Rob Stull … from the U.S., taking over as the President recently, and the work they’ve done not only to replace the horses with the obstacles, but the way they’ve approached it, in terms of embracing the opportunity to really bring in innovation and bring in new communities of young athletes around the world, and it’s something super exciting.

“In fact, the challenges from that have become real opportunities and UIPM is looking at that quite boldly in terms of the way they want to embrace that, and that’s super exciting in terms of where we think modern pentathlon will be by the time of the Games in L.A., not only the obstacles, of course, which will be the most visual part, but the way they are embracing what the obstacles and the integrated formats of the Laser Run and the other elements can bring.”

McConnell added on the reduction in the quota:

“Yes, there was a reduction of four men and four women. That’s not in any way a further critical nature from our side, it’s just a quota adjustment, which actually allows a shorter fencing phase, for example, and allows the overall program of Modern Pentathlon to fit within the quite compact window that they are looking for, as well as the broadcasters.

“It was a decision from the IOC, let’s be clear on that, but it allows that more compact format and also allows within the overall program for us to find the eight athletes needed for Sport Climbing to allow the minimum numbers of 12 per event in Sport Climbing.

“Again, not a criticism of the direction that modern pentathlon has taken in regard to embracing the obstacles and the new formats; they’re doing a fantastic job and we’re really excited about the possibilities. So as I said, it shouldn’t be taken in any way as a criticism of the direction they’re going, or the new leadership, which is really impressing this innovation and this direction.”

So, McConnell gave the UIPM an endorsement of its direction, but reduced its athlete total to the lowest level since 2004, when it also had 64 entries, in the second Games in which women participated (first in Sydney 2000). The lowest-ever total of Olympic pentathlon entries was in 1920 in Antwerp, with 23 men only. There were 24 at Los Angeles 1932 and 52 at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

It’s worth noting, however, that Modern Pentathlon is no longer the smallest sport on the (more or less) “permanent” Olympic program of 31 sports, as surfing has 48, also with two events.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LOS ANGELES 2028: IOC approves record 36-sport, 351-event program with quota of 11,198 athletes for LA28

By
Rich Perelman
-
The LA28 emblem designed by Olympic gold medalist swimmer Simone Manuel (USA)

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ RECORD EVENTS & QUOTAs ≡

While the expected detailed venue plan for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games was not announced, the detailed event program and quotas for each sport was finalized and revealed at the end of the International Olympic Committee’s online Executive Board meeting today.

In a news briefing following, IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell (NZL) explained that the agreement between IOC, the International Federations and LA28 included:

● The IOC-approved sports on the LA28 program – 31 – will retain the 10,500-athlete quota specified in the Olympic Charter and which has been the target since Tokyo 2020.

● An additional quota of an expected 698 athletes is set for the five added sports brought in by LA28: baseball and softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse (6s) and squash.

That brings the total to 11,198, which would be the third-largest Games in history, behind Tokyo 2020 (11,476) and Rio 2016 (11,238).

In terms of sports and events, Los Angeles 2028 will be the largest Games ever, with 36 sports confirmed and 351 medal events. Tokyo 2020 had 33 sports – the most so far – and 339 events, also the most on record.

There were multiple changes to the sports program:

● Aquatics: The long-sought addition of the 50 m races in Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly were added, as well as two women’s water polo teams for a total of 12, same as for the men. The bad news was that the overall quota of 1,370 was maintained, so there will be cuts to the number of competitors in other events in these disciplines.

● Archery: World Archery gained a desperately-wanted event for Compound bows, a Mixed Team event. Once again, the quota of 128 was unchanged, so some smaller number of Recurve archers will participate in 2028.

● Athletics: Even though it has not been held in a single World Athletics event yet, the Mixed 4×100 m relay has been added to the program, to go along with the Mixed 4×400 m. The 20 km Walk was replaced with the Half Marathon and the Mixed Team Walk event was eliminated. Thus, the overall quota of 1,810, by far the largest of any sport in the Games, was unchanged.

● Basketball: The 3×3 events were expanded by four teams each for men and women, adding 32 players, replacing the number used for Breaking at Paris 2024. The overall sport quota rose from 352 to 384.

● Boxing: The quota of 248 boxers was maintained, but the number of classes was evened at seven each for men and women.

● Football: The already-tipped idea of flipping the number of men’s and women’s teams was approved, now with 16 women’s teams and 12 men’s teams. This promotes the women’s game, in which all players are eligible and demotes the men’s tournament, an under-23 event with up to three over-23 players also available. The overall quota remains intact.

● Golf: The quota of 120 remains the same, but a Mixed Team Event was added.

● Gymnastics: The quota of 318 was retained, but a new “Mixed Team” event of some kind will be added in Artistic Gymnastics, providing another high-demand session to the schedule.

● Modern Pentathlon: No change in the schedule, but the already-small quota of 72 was cut to 64, in order to make room for changes elsewhere (like Climbing).

● Rowing: The quota of 502 remained the same, but the Coastal Rowing Solo and Mixed Double Sculls were added, replacing the Lightweight class events held up through Paris.

● Sport Climbing: As desired by the climbers, the three different disciplines will now have separate competitions: Speed, Lead and Boulder. The quota was bumped up from 68 to 76.

● Table Tennis: A Mixed Team event was added, with the quota maintained at 172. 

The Los Angeles added sports have 698 quota spots:

● Baseball and Softball: 234 total, with 12 teams (144 men and 90 women).

● Cricket: 180 for 12 teams: six men and six women of 15 players each.

● Flag Football: 120 players for 12 teams (6+6) with 10 players per team.

● Lacrosse: 132 players for 12 teams (6+6) with 11 players per team.

● Squash: 32 total, with 16 men and 16 women in Singles play.

All together, this is 11,198 athletes across 36 sports and 351 events, with 5,655 women (50.5%) and 5,543 men (49.5%), another Olympic first.

As for the venue program for 2028, the LA28 statement explained:

“LA28 also presented its Olympic venue masterplan to the IOC Executive Board, which was approved by the respective International Federations and supported without reservation by the Executive Board, completing its final stage of approval. Further information on the updated Olympic venue plan will be shared by LA28 at a later date.”

The IOC confirmed that it will be up to LA28 to announce its venue specifics on its timetable.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

FOOTBALL: U.S. women fall to Brazil, 2-1, in San Jose, on a stoppage-time goal

By
Rich Perelman
-
Catalina Macario scored in the first minute against Brazil in San Jose, but that was the only American score (Photo: U.S. Soccer).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ BRAZIL 2, U.S. 1 ≡

The second half of the USA-Brazil women’s doubleheader was in San Jose, California, with the eighth-ranked Brazilians starting slow, but finishing with a hard-earned victory against the top-ranked Americans.

A very young team took the field for the U.S., with seven players appearing for the sixth time or less with the U.S. team and only one with more than 26. Sisters Alyssa  and Giselle Thompson appeared in a game together for the second time, only the third pair of sisters to be on the U.S. women’s squad.

The U.S. got a lightning start on Saturday from Trinity Rodman in the fifth minute, but was even faster on Tuesday. Striker Alyssa Thompson dribbled out of the back and into the box, but her shot was blocked in front of the Brazilian goal. It came free and striker Catarina Macario maneuvered for a right-footed slam into the net past a last defender … after just 34 seconds!

But the 1-0 lead did not last.

The Brazilians decided the best offense was a good defense, and pressed the American back line – one on one – harassing the U.S. and keeping the ball in the U.S. zone. Finally, midfielder Gio Garbelini got control of the ball just beyond the box and sent a pass to striker Kerolin all alone on the left side. With plenty of room, she lined up a right-footed curveball over the head of American keeper Mandy McGlynn and into the far side of the net for the 1-1 tie in the 24th.

But the U.S. was not deterred, storming back with chances for Alyssa Thompson, Macario and then two shots by Alyssa Thompson again in the 35th, the first blocked by defender Isadora Haas at the goal line and then a second blocked in a scrum in front of the Brazilian net.

There were more chances in stoppage time, with Brazilian midfielder Yasmin sending a straight-on shot at goal over the American net, and U.S. forward Michelle Cooper taking a lead pass from Lily Yohannes and sending a rocket toward the Brazilian goal that was saved by Brazilian keeper Natascha.

Brazil ended up with 55% of possession in the half, but the U.S. had 11 shots to seven.

The visitors continued to apply pressure as the second half start, repeatedly running into the U.S. half, and in the 54th, Gio got control back in front of the American net and slammed a shot which was deflected just wide of the right side of an open net.

U.S. coach Emma Hayes (GBR) subbed in five more experienced players by the 58th, including midfield star Lindsey Heaps, who scored a penalty on Saturday. But even with more experienced players, Brazil maintained possession in the U.S. half, although chances were harder to come by.

But in the 85th, midfielder Sampaio sent a ball ahead of striker Gabi Portilho, whose right-footed shot was saved by McGlynn. Shortly thereafter, Karolin’s shot from the middle of the box was also saved by McGlynn, but with the rebound spilling out in front of the net. Substitute defender Luany had a chance to score, but sent her shot over the net … to her own disbelief.

Undaunted, Brazil got a fast break again in stoppage time, with Luany behind the defense, then dribbled and sent a right-footed pass from right to left into the box to sub forward Amanda Gutierres, who finished easily for a 2-1 lead at 90+5.

Substitute U.S. striker Ally Sentnor got a chance at 90+7 from the middle of the box, but sent the ball over the net and the match ended with Brazil’s first win against the Americans since December 2014. The U.S. had won nine in a row against Brazil, but not this time.

The Brazilians ended with 58% of possession, dominated the second half and finished with 19 shots to 18 for the U.S.

In Hayes’ 20th match as the U.S. coach, it was only her third loss against 16 wins and a tie. The American women will be back in action with two matches against China – in St. Paul and St. Louis – on 31 May and 3 June.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: Olympic 200 m champ Tebogo says without track, “probably be a criminal by now”; injured ski star Brignone not giving up on Milan Cortina 2026!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Now 58 pounds lighter, five-time Olympic medalist Brady Ellison (USA) sees an even brighter future! (Photo: USA Archery).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● The LA28 organizing committee named Dr. Casey Batten, the lead team physician for the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL as its Chief Medical Officer for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Batten is the Co-Director of Nonoperative Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine and director of the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship in the Department of Orthopaedics at Cedars-Sinai, the Official Medical Provider for LA28.

Batten specializes in primary-care sports medicine with a focus on nonsurgical treatment of athletic-related injury and illness. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin and received his M.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He served as the head team physician for the University of California in Berkeley prior to coming to Southern California.

● Alpine Skiing ● Italian star Federica Brignone, the seasonal World Cup women’s champion for 2024-25 and 2025 World Champion in the Giant Slalom and silver winner in the Super-G, suffered a brutal crash on 3 April at the Italian National Championships, with multiple fractures of the left calf and tibial plateau, and a tear of her anterior cruciate ligament.

Surgery followed immediately and on Tuesday, Brignone told reporters:

“We have no idea how long it will take, we will proceed step by step and then we will see. I am certainly someone who does not give up, it is not in my nature.

“I thought it would be quick, but in reality by having surgery right away I understood that they avoided complications, even for my life. Now the next step will be physiotherapy, which will start on Monday, and the second will be the first control CT scan.”

As far as the quickly-coming Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games:

“Milan-Cortina is a stimulus, but it was also before. I wanted to continue my career precisely for the Olympics at home, but I don’t want this thing to destroy my path now. The goal now is to heal in the right way.”

● Archery ● With five Olympic medals already and preparing for a home Olympic Games in 2028, you would think all was rosy for U.S. star Brady Ellison.

Nope. Now 36, he’s been on a multi-year program to get thinner and stronger to fully realize his potential. He’s lost 58 pounds over the last couple of years and 30 pounds just since the Paris Olympic Games, where he won an Olympic silver After winning the AAE Arizona Cup for the 10th time last Sunday, he told USA Archery:

“The adjustment has been insane. I started to notice the difference indoors, in January, when I started rebuilding stuff.

“Things quit fitting in the way that I was used to, and I’ve been fighting my anchor and body position and trying to keep draw lengths.

“I still have a long way to go but in just the little bit that I’ve seen, I think this is going to get rid of a lot of the left and rights that I’ve had over the years. Today I didn’t have any up and downs, it was just a little bit left/right in the wind so I do think that if I can get this mastered I’m probably going to shoot better than I ever have.”

With six World Championships medals – including the 2019 men’s title – and 12 more Indoor and Field Worlds medals (seven golds), that’s not good news for his opponents.

● Athletics ● Wonderful story on Botswana’s Olympic 200 m champ Letsile Tebogo from BBC Sport Africa, where the 21-year-old explained the importance of his running career:

“Without sport, I [would] probably be a criminal by now.

“In the neighbourhood that I was growing up in, there were a lot of criminals. We thought that was the only way to survive.”

“I knew I had to go from school [to] training, and you are tired. You don’t have plenty of time to roam the streets, to go into people’s houses. Once I discovered that, I tried to pull in a few friends of mine. They are now playing football and we always talk about how if this [sport] didn’t work out, where would we be?

“Sport has really helped me a lot.”

Tebogo was initially involved in soccer, of course, but was running track in elementary school and stuck with it. He’s now a World Athletics ambassador for its Kids’ Athletics project, promoting fitness and physical activity:

“Athletics has given me so many opportunities, and I want young people to believe in themselves, dream big and enjoy the sport. It’s basically showing them direction, because if we have plenty of free time, we tend to do unlawful stuff. We start robbing, doing drugs and all that.”

Pretty wild video from Grand Slam Track, showing a windstorm that hit Kingston (JAM) just a day before last Friday’s launch, tearing down tents and spraying equipment all over the track at the National Stadium. But:

“Thankfully, everyone on site was safe with no major injuries sustained. But we wanted to take a moment to say a big, public, and sincere thank you to the construction and venue development teams that enabled us to hold our inaugural Slam on Friday, less than 24 hours later.

“We were still able to showcase Grand Slam Track to the world. That is an incredible testament to the tireless work the on-the-ground teams put in through the night to get us event-ready. We are very grateful.”

● Shooting ● The ISSF World Cup continues in Buenos Aires (ARG), with two wins for India on the pistol range.

In the men’s 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol final, Paris Olympic ninth-placer Vijayveer Sidhu took the title, with a 29-28 victory over Italian Riccardo Mazzetti – 12th in Paris – in the final five-shot segment.

Eighteen-year-old Inder Singh Suruchi took the women’s 10 m Air Pistol gold, scoring a 244.6-241.9 win over China’s Wei Qian, with teammate and 2023 World Champion Ranxin Jiang third (221.0).

Competition continues through the 11th.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LOS ANGELES 2028: LA28 ends beach volleyball talks with Santa Monica; City of L.A. committee OKs Convention Center build-up through 2029

By
Rich Perelman
-
A rendering from the Los Angeles bid for the 2024/2028 Olympic Games of a possible beach volleyball venue in Santa Monica.

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ INTEL REPORT ≡

“Despite good-faith efforts to reach a deal that would benefit both the Santa Monica community and work for LA28, ultimately the two parties were not able to agree to terms around community benefits, operational details and financial guarantees.

“LA28 informed the city Friday that it plans to host beach volleyball elsewhere.”

That is from a statement posted Tuesday by the City of Santa Monica, stating that negotiations over staging beach volleyball on the Santa Monica beach have ended.

Discussions on a venue agreement began in early 2023 and went through several phases, looking close to completion at one point, but floundering in late 2024, as the Santa Monica City Council kept asking for guarantees on specific areas to be used by LA28, and what “legacy” the organizing committee would leave behind.

Three new City Council members were elected last November, and discussions did not advance past the questions raised in a public hearing last October. According to the statement:

“At a public study session on Oct. 8, 2024, the Santa Monica City Council discussed the potential impacts of being a venue city and directed staff to negotiate more tangible benefits for residents and businesses and greater clarity and assurances about financial and other impacts on residents and businesses, particularly on and around the Santa Monica Pier. LA28 declined to adjust the proposed agreement to accommodate these terms.”

The organizing committee will find another venue, with many to choose from in Southern California, including historic sites in the development of the sport in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Huntington Beach and many others.

At a marathon Tuesday meeting of the Los Angeles City Council’s Economic Development and Jobs Committee, a motion to pursue the long-sought expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center was approved, and sent on – with conditions – to the full City Council for its Wednesday meeting.

As the construction of the expansion, to connect the West and South halls as needed for larger conventions and add meeting and event spaces, cannot be completed in time for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the new plan is to conduct a “phased delivery” that will begin actual site work in September 2025.

Partial demolition of the West Hall would begin in January 2026 and the exterior of the new building to be done by the end of May 2028, in time to pause for the 1 June to 30 September usage for the 2028 Games. Once finished, construction would be completed by March of 2029.

The costs are currently estimated at $2.2 billion, with lots of variables and significant worry on behalf of the City Council committee members about the impact on the city’s shaky finances. But the hearing also included pleas from the City’s Tourism Department that the expansion is desperately needed to allow Los Angeles to compete with other first-tier convention markets; a September 2023 survey from the Wall Street Journal ranked L.A. 21st in a ranking of U.S. convention centers.

For the LA28 organizers, having a major construction project going on at the Convention Center, a key venue with multiple sports and next to the equally-critical L.A. Live campus – with more venues – is a new headache it will have to manage, assuming the project does go forward.

The item is to be placed on the City Council agenda for Wednesday.

The International Olympic Committee is slated to meet online on Wednesday (9th), with a more-complete venue plan due from the LA28 organizers.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TRANSPORTATION: U.S. Travel Ass’n chief tells House hearing “we’re already behind the eight-ball” on support for FIFA World Cup, 2028 Olympics

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. Travel Association President Geoff Freeman at the House sub-committee hearing on Transportation and Maritime Security on 8 April 2025 (House video screen shot).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ MEGA-EVENT PREPARATIONS ≡

“There are multiple consulates around the world, Colombia is the best example, where wait times exceed 500 days to get an interview for a visa. There are similar wait times in India; in years past, we had wait times like that in Brazil, where they have been successful recently in bringing those wait times down.”

That’s U.S. Travel Association President Geoff Freeman, speaking at a Tuesday morning hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security’s sub-committee on Transportation and Maritime Security on preparations for major events coming to the U.S., such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Freeman was blunt:

“I think it’s critical as the [White House] World Cup Task Force gets up and running, first we acknowledge that we’re already behind the eight-ball. The World Cup starts in about 18 months; other countries are already planning for the 2030 World Cup, that planning is already ahead of where we are. …

“I have all the faith in the world in the local destinations that are hosting the World Cup. They’re already coordinating, they’re going to do a great job. The question really becomes, in terms of getting people to the games, moving about the U.S. and moving into the United States.

“I think for the domestic traveler, we’re going to see concerns when it comes to moving people through the airports, the demand we’re going to see is basically a Thanksgiving every day for about the 45 days of the World Cup. We all know what it’s like traveling on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving; that’s what we can expect. It begs the question, what can we do to be more efficient in that period, and this Task Force is critical about aligning the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation and other relevant agencies to ensure we can meet that demand.

“For the foreign travelers coming in, the truth is we’re already too late for some of them. I mentioned the wait times for Colombia to get a visa; if they don’t have a visa now for the World Cup in ‘26, their window is closed. That’s shame on us, right? That’s opportunity missed for the United States, and we’ve got to identify what are the other markets where that window is already closing and how do we process visas quickly in those markets so we can help those travelers get here.”

In the case of Colombia, its team is still in the qualifying phase in South America and is not yet sure of making it to the 2026 World Cup final tournament, so what chance will its fans have under the current U.S. visa wait times?

Freeman made the further point:

“For the 45% of our travelers who are required to get a visa, visa access is a bigger concern than the cost of travel. I think that tells us everything we need to know.”

He also spoke to the needs for better, quicker and more efficient customs services for travelers coming into the U.S.

Freeman praised the improvements on identify verification via biometrics now at airports, but said the issues now are “the personal screening, there’s the baggage screening,” but with better use of technologies already available:

“Within the next five years, we can give every American traveler the confidence they can keep their water in their bottle, their belt on their pants, the laptop in their bags.”

Jon Gruen, the head of Fortem Technologies, involved in drone security, told the sub-committee:

“Technology needs to be procured and deployed now. So, we recommend 12 months out from events, to really get the technology on the ground, get the personnel trained and run through different scenarios to mitigate threats. … We are behind the power curve on this.”

Asked if he believed the U.S. was ready to protect against drone threats to the upcoming major events, he replied, “not currently.” He pointed to the obvious – an attack on a stadium – but also:

“With all these folks that are trying to arrive if you have a drone that goes and parks itself on the runway, the entire operation is going to shut down. It doesn’t even have to explode. It can just sit there and you’ve already disrupted air travel to a level we have not seen, and are not prepared for.”

Sub-committee Chair Carlos Gimenez (R-Florida) said he is working on a bill to form a Federal Task Force for major events across the next four years, including the FIFA World Cup, 2028 Olympic Games and the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S., in 2026.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: Confirmation hearing for Trump mega-events rep Crowley; Nelson joins USOPC Board; U.S. earns most 2026 figure skating quotas

By
Rich Perelman
-
Assistant Secretary of State nominee Dr. Monica Crowley at her Senate confirmation hearing on 4 April 2025 (Photo: C-SPAN video screen shot).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Ticket sales for the 2026 Winter Games open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis on Tuesday (8th), with users able to purchase up to 25 tickets.

About 1.5 million tickets are to be available for the Games, with more than 660,000 already sold through the initial sales program using a lottery appointment system. The leading ticket-buying countries outside of Italy were Germany, the U.S., Great Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and France.

● Trump Administration ● The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings Friday on more confirmation nominations, including for Dr. Monica Crowley to be Chief of Protocol at the U.S. State Department.

The position includes responsibilities as the Administration rep for major events such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

During the hearing, she was asked specifically about the Olympic Games by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), and about the Paris 2024 opening ceremony, which he said was used “as an opportunity for a mockery of faith.” Crowley responded:

“At the President’s direction, if confirmed, I will take on additional responsibilities and serve as an Administration representative to major events with big international participation, like America’s 250th birthday, like the FIFA World Cup coming to the United States next year and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“I look forward, if confirmed, to drawing on my vast broadcast and public affairs experience to speak to the American people as well as the global public about America’s greatness and America’s leadership.

“To your particular point, it’s my understanding that the Olympic Games, whenever they occur, are overseen by the International Olympic Committee and in Los Angeles, they will also work in conjunction with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic committee as well, and Senator, I pledge to you that if confirmed, I will be deeply involved in ensuring that the Olympic Games go off without a hitch, that the Olympic Committee in the United States is on message to the extent that we can have some influence there, and I look forward to showcasing the American spirit as well as the United States as a premier destination for international sporting events.”

Most of the hearing was directed to former Georgia Senator David Perdue, nominated to be the U.S. Ambassador to China.

● U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee ● Athens 2004 Olympic shot put gold medalist Adam Nelson was announced as a new member of the USOPC Board, elected by the Team USA Athletes’ Commission to fill the unexpired portion of the term begun by Montreal 1976 Olympic swimming great John Naber.

Nelson was a brilliant, intense shot specialist who was a three-time Olympian, the silver medalist in 2004 and World Champion in 2005. He finished second on the field at ancient Olympia in the 2004 Athens Games, but the winner was disqualified for doping and Nelson received the gold medal in a 2013 ceremony. He won a total of seven international medals in Olympic and World Championship competitions (2-5-0) and will bring a decidedly athlete-first perspective to the USOPC, an area in which he was continuously active as a competitor.

His term runs through 2026 and he is eligible to be extended for four years.

● Archery ● At the first U.S. Archery Team Qualifier series event, the AAE Arizona Cup in Phoenix, Arizona, five-time Olympic medalist Brady Ellison won the men’s Recurve title – in windy conditions – for the 10th time, taking out Jackson Mirich in straight ends, but all close: 29-28, 30-28 and 29-28.

With defending women’s champ Casey Kaufhold knocked out in the round of 32, it was 19-year-old Gabrielle Sasai who took the women’s title, 6-4, over Savannah Nofel in another wind-impacted match.

● Athletics ● A monster discus toss at the Oklahoma Throws series in Ramona, a notorious wind tunnel at which the men’s world record was set last year by Mykolas Alekna (LTU) at 74.35 m (243-11) in 2024.

This time it was Australia’s Olympic bronze medalist from 2024, Matthew Denny, who won the men’s event on Saturday at 72.07 m (236-5), moving him to no. 5 all-time, with the no. 9 throw ever. His big toss came in round four, but he also finished with 71.12 m/233-4 in round six!

Alekna, for his part, reached 70.09 m (229-11) in Berkeley, California on Saturday to win the Brutus Hamilton Invitational.

● Basketball ● The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2025 has lots of familiar faces for fans of U.S. international basketball, with Carmelo Anthony, Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles, Dwight Howard, Maya Moore and the 2008 USA Basketball Men’s Olympic Team – the “Redeem Team” – all honored.

Anthony was a four-time Olympian, winning a 2004 bronze and golds in 2008-12-16 and Howard won a 2008 Olympic gold. After the 2004 Olympic team finished third, a reorganization of USA Basketball led to a brilliant showing in 2008, led by Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, and the U.S. men have won the last five Olympic titles.

Bird finished with an amazing five Olympic golds, in 2004-08-12-16-20 and won four more golds in the FIBA Women’s World Cup, in 2002-10-14-18. Fowles wasn’t far behind, with four golds in 2008-12-16-20 and a 2010 gold at the FIBA Women’s World Cup. Moore won Olympic golds in 2012 and 2016 and FIBA Women’s World Cup golds in 2010 and 2014.

● Cycling ● At the Pan American BMX Championships in Chillan (CHI), Colombia’s Paris Olympian Diego Arboleda won the men’s race in 31.697, just ahead of Gonzalo Molina (ARG: 31.803). Brazil’s Paola Reis Santos won the women’s final in 36.681, well ahead of Domenica Azuero (ECU: 37.065), with American Payton Ridenour fifth in 38.021.

● Figure Skating ● The International Skating Union confirmed quota places for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in figure skating, with the U.S. earning three spots in men’s and women’s Singles and Ice Dance, and two in Pairs. The U.S. is eligible to earn a third Pairs place at the Olympic Qualifier in Beijing (CHN) in September.

Overall, the U.S. total of 11 places leads, followed by Canada and Japan (7), Italy (6) and France (5).

● Gymnastics ● The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) responded to the decision of non-participation by 14 approved Russian “neutrals” for World Cup competitions on Monday:

“The FIG was informed by a letter from the Russian Gymnastics Federation dated 7 April 2025 that athletes with AIN [neutral] status have decided not to take part in upcoming FIG competitions. The FIG regrets the decision of the Russian Gymnastics Federation.

“In accordance with recommendations issued by the International Olympic Committee in 2023, the FIG has implemented a rigorous AIN evaluation process to allow neutral Russian and Belarusian gymnasts and support personnel to return to FIG competitions.

“This process includes background checks conducted by an external company specialising in investigations, as well as individual application reviews by an ad-hoc committee composed of independent experts. The FIG fully trusts these entities and relies on their expertise to ensure fairness and consistency for all applicants.

“The question of AIN athletes will be discussed at the next FIG Executive Committee meeting, which will take place on 7-8 May 2025.”

● Handball ● The German Handball Federation (DHB) formally nominated long-time sports administrator Gert Butzeck to challenge incumbent Hassan Mustafa (EGY) for President of the International Handball Federation at the IHF Congress in Cairo (EGY) in December.

Mustafa, 80, has been IHF chief since 2000, winning re-election in 2004, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021. He has not had a challenger since the 2009 election.

Butzeck, 66, has been on the board of the European Handball Federation’s marketing arm since 2013 and has been a player, referee, team manager, player agent and much more in his career.

DHB President Andreas Michelmann said:

“Gerd Butzeck is one of the most experienced and distinguished handball officials – globally connected and with insights into our sport from the grassroots to the absolute top level. He possesses the necessary creative power to further professionalize handball.”

● Shooting ● At the ISSF World Cup in Buenos Aires (ARG), the U.S. swept the Skeet finals, with China posting three wins in Pistol events.

Christian Elliott of the U.S., the 2019 Pan American Games champion, took the men’s Skeet final at 58 points, to 56 for Rio 2016 gold medalist Gabriele Rossetti (ITA); Elliott hit his first 23 shots. The women’s final was a U.S. 1-2, with 2017 World Champion Dania Jo Vizzi and legendary six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode tying at 53 in the final. The shoot-off had Vizzi with the win by 4-3 for her third career World Cup individual gold.

The men’s 10 m Air Pistol final saw China’s Kai Hu win with 244.7 points, just ahead of Anton Aristarkhov (RUS: 243.3), and India’s Rudrankksh Patil won the men’s 10 m Air Rifle, scoring 252.9 in the final against Hungary’s Istvan Peni (251.7); American Peter Fiori was eighth (123.4).

Peni, the 2023 World Champion at 300 m, returned to win the men’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions final at 461.0, just ahead of Jiaming Tian (CHN: 458.8)

The women’s 25 m Pistol was a clear win for China’s Yujie Sun, scoring a 38-35 win over Esha Singh (IND), and the women’s 10 m Air Rifle final went to Zifei Wang (CHN) with 254.1 points to edge Eun-ji Kwon (KOR: 253.1), with Mary Tucker of the U.S. in seventh (145.3).

The competitions continue through Thursday.

● Wrestling ● Another record for USA Wrestling, announcing a total membership of 346,861 as of Monday afternoon, with five months to go in its membership year. Of these, 293,856 are wrestlers, including 52,041 women.

The total surpassed the 344,494 total from 2023-24, and the projected total for 2024-25 is now more than 365,000.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

BRISBANE 2032: Liveris promises affordable tickets for Brisbane residents for 2032 Olympic Games, “ecstatic” on Victoria Park stadium

By
Rich Perelman
-
Brisbane 2032 organizing committee chief Andrew Liveris during his ABC News interview (Photo: ABC News video screen shot).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ INTEL REPORT ≡

The head of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee has committed to making tickets available at affordable prices for all levels of events. Asked in an ABC News interview about ticket pricing, President Andrew Liveris explained:

“Very important for us that that happens. … I mean Paris had a million tickets that sold at €40 or so. I mean we will have affordable ticket pricing for the demographic that we care about, which is the citizen that isn’t the elite, VIP, hospitality-oriented. We’ll have that; in fact, we’ll have that price so they can help us on the ticket prices being lower for pretty much everyone else.

“And that’s called dynamic ticket pricing, and so you have the top 1% and the top 10% and they get all their perks with that, down to the affordable prices.” (€1 = $1.09 U.S. or A$1.82)

Pressed further on preserving a number of tickets for the highest-demand events, such as the major ceremonies and swimming finals, Liveris noted:

“One thing Sydney did well, which we will learn from, because we’re Australia, not France and certainly not Los Angeles and America, is making sure that tickets were put to one side, like, that so there wasn’t just the rich and the elite can go to them.

“I think we are that type of society, so we’ll look at what Sydney did, which they did some of that, which allocate for the premier events for people, school kids and others to go to them.”

He thought tickets in the A$30-50 range would be available for some events, and characterized a specific allocation of ceremonies tickets as a “goal,” and that the Games must be for the hosts:

“This is not an event for tourists. This is an event for the nation. This is an event for the state. It’s an event for the region. It’s an event for the city.”

Liveris was also asked about the government’s decision to build a new stadium for the Games – and for Australian Football League and cricket use afterwards – and replied

“I’m ecstatic with the decision around Victoria Park.”

He added:

“One of the great things about Paris was the athlete and fan experience.

“I can now see a fan experience and an athlete experience at the new precinct in Victoria Park, with the aquatic centre nearby and the village potentially right next alongside it, as a very marketable thing for people to actually come and visit, be part of, and then have a legacy.”

A flood of interest has already come in from sports wanting to be added to the 2032 Olympic program – certainly from cricket – from also from numerous others. Liveris said the requests would be evaluated in terms of financial impact (which needs to be positive) and:

“What sports matter to a) the Australian consumer, b) the global consumer, to get more TV revenue. I think you’ve got to think about it that way.

“I want revenue because this is a commercial activity. We’re privately funded. If I’m going to add things, it can’t be criteria that’s a flight of fancy.“

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LOS ANGELES 2028: U.S. Senators Moran and Cantwell introduce bill for $50 million in annual Federal transportation grants for major events

By
Rich Perelman
-
North wing of the U.S. Capitol, containing the Senate Chamber (Photo: Wikipedia via Scrumshus).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ FEDERAL MEGA-EVENT AID ≡

“The purpose of this section is to support State, Tribal, and local efforts on transportation issues necessary to obtain the national recognition and economic benefits of hosting international sporting events in the United States.”

That’s from the “Transportation Assistance for Olympic and World Cup Cities Act of 2025” introduced Friday by U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), to provide transportation support funding for host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

In specific, the grants must be used for the movement of people or things:

● The funding program can assist “a State, Indian Tribe, or unit of local 16 government (including a port authority or transit agency) hosting a covered event.”

● The Secretary of Transportation is to allocate grants equally “among the host metropolitan planning organizations for the most imminent covered event and any other covered events occurring during the same fiscal year, subject to the condition that a host metropolitan planning organization may not receive more than $10,000,000 under this subparagraph for a single covered event.”

● If funds are left over, then “host metropolitan planning organizations” could receive grants, also subject to the $10 million ceiling. This would be the World Cup host cities

● Host metropolitan organizations can receive assistance beginning five years in advance of their events (i.e., 2029 for the 2034 Winter Games).

● A total of $50 million per fiscal year – for the Federal government, from October through the following September – is authorized.

The funding applies to Olympic, Paralympic, Special Olympics or men’s or women’s FIFA World Cup, which will shortly include:

● 2026 FIFA World Cup (assigned)
● 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games (assigned)
● 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup (to be assigned in 2026)
● 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (assigned)

So, this is $50 million a year to help the FIFA World Cup host cities, especially, but only – potentially – $10 million to assist the L.A. Metropolitan Transportation Authority for 2026-27 and 2027-28, and a much smaller amount for 2025-26, when the 11 U.S. host cities for the FIFA World Cup would get funding as well.

Under the terms of the bill, the LA28 organizers would also be in line to receive as much as $10 million annually for Federal fiscal years 2026-27 and 2027-28 for transportation purposes.

In a joint statement, Moran explained:

“It was a tremendous feat to secure a spot as a host city during the 2026 World Cup, and I have no doubt that Kansas City will be a welcoming community for hundreds of thousands of soccer fans from around the world.

“Preparations are already underway for the games, and this legislation will support local community and agency efforts to improve infrastructure to connect fans with businesses, hotels, the airport and other host cities during the World Cup.”

Cantwell added:

“With less than 500 days until Seattle hosts its first 2026 World Cup game, we need the Department of Transportation to get in the game and support host cities as they work to showcase the best of American innovation and hospitality.

“This bill will help ensure the hundreds of thousands of fans visiting Seattle can get to and from games safely and efficiently by improving coordinated transportation planning across the Pacific Northwest.”

The statement noted that “Grants would support permanent transportation projects – building new roads, expanding light rail, purchasing new buses, creating bike lanes, improving existing roads or highways, or making airport terminal improvements.”

The bill has not been numbered by the Senate Clerk as yet.

Observed: The joint statement makes clear this is primarily aimed at aiding the U.S. host communities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will each host between 6-9 matches.

As it relates to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, this is a lot less money than is being sought by L.A. Metro – about $3 billion in Olympic transportation funding – but it is a start.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LANE ONE: Johnson enthused about the debut of his Grand Slam Track program, with a month to iron out the wrinkles before Miramar

By
Rich Perelman
-
Grand Slam Track hosts John Anderson, Sanya Richards-Ross and Matthew Centrowitz (GST broadcast screen shot).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK DEBUT ≡

“We thought it would be amazing. We thought that if you took in the world and you put them together, where they can compete against their rivals, the fans would love it, and the athletes as well would love it. And that is exactly what has happened.

“So it is truly exactly what we thought would happen and we’re so proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish over the last three days, to show what’s truly possible and the real potential of this sport. I’ve always thought this sport has not really ever achieved its potential. We still aren’t there, but we’re getting there. We’ll keep building, we’ll keep working, but this shows what this sport can be about, and it shows how great these athletes are.”

That’s Michael Johnson, the four-time Olympic gold medalist, talking about the debut of his Grand Slam Track circuit after the close of the inaugural Slam in Kingston, Jamaica on Sunday.

The three-day meet had a lot going for it:

● Nine outdoor world-leading marks, in the men’s 400 m and 400 m hurdles, and the women’s 400 m, 800 m, 1,500 m, 3,000 m, 5,000 m, 100 m hurdles and 400 m hurdles.

● Lots of big names, led by hurdles superstar Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, but also the very interesting men’s 800-1,500 m showdowns with five of the six Paris medalists, and the 800 m stars trashing the milers.

● Television agreements that placed the meet in 189 countries and territories, although with no indications of audience information yet.

Johnson, asked what the highlight was for him of the opening weekend:

“Honestly, it was the response from fans, whether that be the fans who watched on television, and went on social media saying ‘This is exactly what the sport needs,’ or the fans who were in the stands, who were just so engaged and appreciating these athletes. That was the highlight.

“I thought that this format could be great … but the real validation is when the fans go, ‘this is great.’”

There were naysayers, of course and television host John Anderson, the former ESPN SportsCenter anchor, made the point that this is a work in progress. So, there were obvious areas that need attention:

● Attendance was the first thing to be noticed. Panam Sports posted daily stories, reporting “no more than 2,000 people” on Friday, and “more than 5,000″ on Saturday, and no total for Sunday, which appeared to be less than Saturday. I thought it was a bit more, but no attendance figures were reported.

● Jamaica’s National Stadium holds about 35,000, so if the same number of people show up for the next meet in Miramar, Florida – with about 5,000 seats – the place will be full! So it’s more about the look and feel of the audience than the number and the crowd in Kingston was loud at times, with plenty of horns blowing throughout the meet.

● For the television audience, the viewing experience was far poorer than what has been seen for Diamond League meets or U.S. national championships. Graphics were tiny, splits were late and hard to read and the results were also in a small font size. There were no wind readings on most of the sprint results; this matters to the sport’s actual fan base.

● Fans trying to follow the results on the Grand Slam Track site had even more trouble, as races were sometimes not posted for 15 minutes. No splits were provided, and the only thing that really mattered appeared to be the Slam point standings.

This is an area which the Diamond League has perfected, as well as the USATF championship events, which are also excellent and provided by U.S. companies.

● Grand Slam Track insisted that athlete bibs – formerly with numbers, but now with names – are not necessary, but those who did not have their names on their uniforms were essentially anonymous. With a few exceptions, college and professional team  uniforms have names and numbers to allow fans to identify the players. This is true in track too; EVERYONE needs to have their name on their uniform, even if it’s only their first name, as many athletes preferred in Kingston.

The format of the television show had the right idea, but spotty execution.

The Grand Slam Track broadcast was essentially a talk show between Anderson and Olympic champions Sanya Richards-Ross and Matthew Centrowitz, with the live events spliced in at the last moment. The lack of a world-class results system – as at the Diamond League – clearly hampered play-by-play man Steve Cram (GBR), the 1983 World 1,500 m champion, as well as analysts Anson Henry (CAN) and Carrie Tollefson (USA) and their calls showed it. No doubt they will be better prepared for the meet in Miramar in May.

The pre-event and post-event interviews with athletes was less than might be hoped for in a fully-professionalized league which is primarily a television show. And what about talking to some fans in the stands, or pre-set autograph stations after races?

But the idea of baking in a “pre-game” and “post-game” show into the main body of the broadcast window was a good idea. It will have to be refined, but the concept is right.

One element which was noted before the meet started were betting lines on the races at the DraftKings Sportsbook. However, the lines were not incorporated into the broadcast commentary or shown on the screen.

This is an area to watch; it would be fascinating to know if there were any reports on the betting handle for the weekend.

Start-ups are hard. It is worth celebrating that almost all of the athletes who were promised showed up and that’s good. Seeing McLaughlin in a strong-effort race in April was a treat, as was Wanyonyi spanking the 1,500 m stars at their own distance, and Grant Fisher sprinting all-out in the final 50 m of the ultra-slow 5,000 m on Sunday to get third, so he would win the $100,000 first prize.

And how about last-second invitee Jenna Prandini winning $50,000 for the weekend in the women’s short sprints? A great story for an accomplished sprinter who has been seen to be on the downside of her career. Maybe not now?

If you’re looking for a grade, it’s a generous “B.” The concept is real, it happened, and $3.15 million in prize money was paid to the competitors. Don’t forget the nine world-leading performances, either.

This meet lost money, for sure. But for Johnson, he has no one to answer to except his investors and they will be impressed that his idea is off the ground.

Now, the key will be to show improvement for the next meets in Miramar, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Rich Perelman
Editor

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: Oklahoma City asked for $34.6M guarantee by LA28; FIFA tries ticket-tie-in for Club World Cup & ‘26 World Cup; new Russian boycott

By
Rich Perelman
-
An LA28 rendering of the Riversport OKC facility in use for Canoe Slalom during the 2028 Olympic Games.

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt has asked the City Council to approve a $34.6 million guarantee to the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee in order to host the slalom canoeing and softball events.

The motion is scheduled for Tuesday, with the cost calculated by a projection of the amount it would take to relocate the events to the Los Angeles area in case of an Oklahoma City default.

Holt told The Oklahoman, “It’s not a check we expect to write out.

“From their perspective, we’ve committed to do this. They committed to the [International Olympic Committee] these events will happen. They are relying on us to keep the commitment they made.”

Los Angeles City 15th District Council member Tim McOsker continued his rage against the LA28 organizers, trying to get the sailing competition moved from Long Beach to San Pedro, filing two more motions on Friday to compel reports from LA28 on commitments made in the November 2021 Games Agreement with the City.

One asks for a report in seven days by City staff on the current status of the “LA28 Community Business and Procurement Program and the Local Hire Program” and the other for a City staff report – in seven days – on the LA28 “Impact and Sustainability Plan.”

Both motions were referred to the City’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games; the first motion was also referred to the Economic Development and Jobs Committee.

● Football ● On Thursday, FIFA announced a special ticket offer, tying purchases – and attendance – at FIFA Club World Cup matches this summer for tickets at the FIFA World Cup in 2026:

“This package involves one ticket per match to two FIFA Club World Cup 2025 matches, with the option to add one ticket to a third match at an additional cost. The purchaser of a Ticket Pack who uses all tickets to attend all matches included in their Ticket Pack will be granted a guaranteed option to buy one ticket to a FIFA World Cup 26 match in the United States (excluding the final).”

This is available for 25 days (from 3 April), or until the allocation runs out. There is also a “Super Ticket Pack:”

“A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enjoy the groundbreaking FIFA Club World Cup 2025, this package features one ticket per match to 20 FIFA Club World Cup 2025 matches, which must include a semi-final and either the opening match or the final. The purchaser of a Super Ticket Pack who uses all tickets to attend all matches included in their Super Ticket Pack will be granted a guaranteed option to buy one ticket for the eagerly anticipated FIFA World Cup 26 final.”

The Club World Cup kicks off on 14 June in Miami, Florida, with the final on 13 July in New Jersey.

● Gymnastics ● A total of 14 Russian artistic gymnasts received neutral status from the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique to compete in FIG World Cup events, but decided not compete. According to the Russian Gymnastics Federation:

“All Russian athletes representing artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, who have received neutral status, have decided to refrain from participating in the upcoming competitions under the auspices of the International Gymnastics Federation. The reason for this decision is the numerous unfounded and biased refusals by the FIG special committee to allow our gymnasts to compete.”

According to the Russian news agency TASS:

“[T]he FIG refused to grant neutral status to some athletes from Russia due to the posting of a congratulatory message on social networks for Victory Day, the athletes’ participation in a gala concert for Defender of the Fatherland Day, during which the St. George ribbon was used and photographs were taken with children in military uniform.

“Another reason for the refusal was the athlete’s subscription to a group on a social network where an announcement of the V All-Russian Anti-Doping Dictation, dedicated to the Physical Culture Day, was posted. The experts of the special FIG committee took the number V for one of the symbols of the SVO [Ukrainian invasion].”

● Skateboarding ● The Italian news agency ANSA reported that World Skate will impose a minimum age limit on athletes at the 2028 Olympic Games of 14, to be achieved by the end of the year (meaning 13-year-olds could compete in Los Angeles).

Athletes as young as 11 – China’s Haohao Zhang – competed in Paris in 2024; an age limit of 12 will be installed for the Youth Olympic Games.

≡ RESULTS ≡

● Athletics ● At the USATF National 10-mile Championships in Washington, D.C., held in conjunction with the annual Cherry Blossom 10, with former Oklahoma State All-American Taylor Roe backing up her win in the USATF Half Marathon champs in March with two American Records.

She surged away from the field after a couple of miles and won going away in a U.S. record of 49:53, destroying Molly Huddle’s 2018 mark of 50:52. Emma Grace Hurley was a distance second in 51:04 and Fiona O’Keeffe was third in 51:49.

Along the way, Roe passed 10 km in 30:56, four seconds off Shalane Flanagan’s 2016 best, but got a U.S. women’s-only record, ahead of Weini Kelati’s 31:18 in 2021. Roe also grabbed the American Record for 15 km at 46:24, slashing Kelati’s 46:32 from earlier in 2025.

The men’s race was won by U.S.-British dual citizen Charles Hicks in 45:14, with a final sprint to beat USATF Half Marathon champ Alex Maier (45:15) and Biya Simbassa (45:23). Maier claimed the American Record, one second better than Conner Mantz’s en route time during the Houston Half Marathon earlier this year.

● Curling ● Olympic silver medalist Bruce Mouat’s Scottish rink claimed their second World Curling Men’s World Championships in the last three editions in Moose Jaw (CAN) on Sunday.

Canadian star Brad Jacobs, the 2014 Olympic winner, had his rink at the top of the round-robin after an 11-1 record, ahead of the Swiss (9-3) and then China, Sweden and Scotland at 8-4.

In the playoffs, Mouat’s Scots dispensed with Canada’s Jacobs in the semis, 7-4, and Swiss Yannick Schwaller’s rink dumped China, 7-3. That set up the final, with the Swiss leading, 1-0, through four ends, but Mouat coming up with two in the fifth, only to see Schwaller match in the sixth. The Scots scored twice more in the seventh, but the Swiss tied it at 4-4 in the eighth.

Finally, a score in the 10th gave Mouat and Scotland a 5-4 win and the title, their seventh in history and the second for Mouat, who won with the same team as in 2023: Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan Jr. and Kyle Waddell.

Canada and Jacobs won the third-place game, 11-2, over China (Xiaoming Xu). The U.S., with Korey Dropkin as skip, finished 4-8, in 11th.

● Cycling ● The great Tadej Pogacar (SLO) did it again, riding away with another major race win, this time at the 109th Ronde van Vlaanderen – the Tour of Flanders – attacking with 18 km to go and winning over the 268.9 km course in 5:58:41.

That was 1:01 better than Mads Pedersen (DEN) and Mathieu van der Poel (NED), who ended up 2-3, with Wout van Aert (BEL) in fourth, with the same time. It’s Pogacar’s second win in this race, also in 2023.

The women’s race was won by home favorite Lotte Kopecky, winning a final sprint of four riders at the end of the 168.9 km track, in 4:24:34. She was just better than Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (FRA) and Liane Lippert (GER), both with the same time, and a second up on Kasia Niewiadoma (POL). It was the third win in this race for Kopecky, who took it in 2022 and 2023.

Colombia and the U.S. led the way at the Pan American Track Championships in Asuncion (PAR), finishing 1-2 on the medal table.

In the men’s events, American riders won the Individual Pursuit (Anders Johnson), the Omnium (Peter Moore), Elimination Race (Brendan Rihm) and the Madison, with Moore and Rihm together, and they were both on the winning Team Pursuit squad. Rihm also got second in the Scratch Race behind Canada’s Cameron Fitzmaurice.

Trinidad & Tobago star Nicholas Paul won the Sprint and the Time Trial (and his team took the Team Sprint) and Peru’s Hugo Perez took the Points Race.

In the women’s finals, the star was Mexico’s Yareli Acevedo, who won the Scratch Race, Elimination Race and the Omnium. Colombia’s Stefany Quadrado won the Time Trial over Hayley Yoslov of the U.S., and Lina Hernandez and Elizabeth Castano won the Madison.

American Emily Ehrlich won the Individual Pursuit and rode on the winning Team Pursuit squad for the U.S. The American squad also took the Team Sprint. Canada’s Lauriane Genest took the Sprint and the Keirin.

In all, Colombia won 20 medals (3-10-7) and the U.S. had 13 (8-3-2).

The UCI Mountain Bike World Series opened in Aranxa (BRA), with a stirring win for France’s Olympic runner-up Victor Koretzky, winning the Cross Country Olympic men’s race in 1:19:32, up 10 seconds on American Chris Blevins, the 2021 World Short-Track champ. Chile’s Martin Vidaurre was well back in third in 1:20:01.

Blevins won the Short Track race on Saturday over Koretzky, 21:40 to 21:41.

New Zealand’s Sammie Maxwell, the 2023 World U-23 gold medalist, took the women’s Cross Country Olympic gold with a big lead after seven laps, but losing some of her lead on the final circuit, winning in 1:24:03. Moving up were two-time Worlds relay winner Nicole Koller (SUI) and 2023 U.S. champion Savilla Blunck, who went 2-3, both in 1:24:07.

Britain’s 2024 World Short-Track winner Evie Richards won the women’s Short Track race on Saturday over Maxwell, 21:25 to 21:26.

● Diving ● China dominated the World Aquatics World Cup in Guadalajara (MEX), but the home team had some celebrations, too!

Paris Olympic silver winner Zongyuan Wang won the men’s 3 m Springboard easily at 540.15, way ahead of Juan Celeya (MEX: 457.45); American Luke Sitz was 10th (384.75). On the Platform, Mexico scored big with Randal Willars scoring 547.70 to overwhelm everyone, ahead of China’s Zifeng Zhu (468.65) and Zilong Cheng (463.80).

Mexico also got a win in the 3 m Synchro, as Celeya and Osmar Olvera scored 430.23 points to edge newcomers Yukang Hu and Jluyuan Zheng (413.16) and British veterans Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher (396.06). Sitz and Josh Sollenberger of the U.S. finished 11th (341.07).

The men’s 10 m Synchro was a close win for China’s Zilong Cheng and Zifeng Zho with 449.49 points to 435.45 for Mexicans Kevin Berlin Reyes and Willars. The American duo of Joshua Hedberg and Tyler Wills finished fourth at 388.71.

Jia Chen and Yiwen Chen went 1-2 in the women’s 3 m Springboard, scoring 380.55 and 372.90, beating Australian Olympic silver winner Maddison Keeney (352.00); American Sophie Verzyl placed seventh (302.25).

Yani Chang and Yiwen Chen took the women’s 3 m Synchro with 323.79 points to 296.08 for Lia Cueva and Mia Cueva (MEX) and Keeney and Alysha Koloi (AUS: 287.85) in third. Americans Kyndal Knight and Anna Kwong finished seventh in 237.60.

China’s Paris Olympic runner-up Yuxi Chen and Olympic champ Hongchan Quan went 1-2 in the women’s 10 m Platform, scoring 419.35 and 414.40, ahead of Britain’s 2024 Worlds bronze winner Andrea Spendolini Sireix (337.70). Daryn Wright was the top American, in ninth (271.80). In the women’s 10 m Synchro, Wei Lu and Minjie Zhang were clear winners at 347.58, ahead of Gabriela Agundez and Alejandra Estudillo (MEX: 316.62).

China – Zilong Cheng, Zongyuan Wang, Yiwen Chen and Yuxi Chen – won the Mixed Team event by 489.10 to 416.45 over Italy, with Germany third at 396.20. The U.S. was sixth at 372.20.

● Equestrian ● At the FEI World Cup Final in Basel (SUI), France’s Julien Epaillard and Donatello d’Auge sailed through the first two stages with no fault and in the third stage on Sunday, had no faults in the first round and only one error (4 points) in the second to end with just four overall and the victory.

That was just better than Ben Maher (GBR) and Point Break, who had just seven total points, and Kevin Staut (FRA) and Visconti du Telman (also 7, but slower in the final round). Katherine Dinan was the top American (13), with Out of the Blue, in eighth. Epaillard moved up from silver in 2024.

The Dressage Grand Prix Freestyle saw familiar winners. Britain’s Charlotte Fry, the Paris Olympic bronze medalist, won at 88.195% aboard Glamourdale, followed by German legend Isabell Werth – with DSP Quantaz – at 84.365%, with Isabel Freese (NOR, with Total Hope OLD) in third place at 81.850%.

Fry, Werth and Freese also went 1-2-3 in the Grand Prix Final a day earlier.

● Football ● The USA women met Brazil in a friendly at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Saturday, in a re-match of last summer’s Olympic final won by the U.S., but with a more emphatic outcome.

The Americans were on offense from the start, with immediate pressure. Midfielder Alyssa Thompson quickly found space, dribbling into the middle of the field and sent a lead pass to a cutting forward Trinity Rodman in front of the goal and she sent a right-footed toe-tap into the right side of the Brazilian goal at the five-minute mark. It was Rodman’s first game since the Olympic final against Brazil in Paris last year, thanks to a back injury.

Thompson almost got a goal herself in the 17th, as her shot from the top of the box toward the far right side of the Brazilian goal was saved by keeper Lorena. The U.S. had more chances, from forward Ally Sentnor (18th) and Rodman (22nd), but Lorena was equal to those challenges.

Brazil had chances too, with striker Amanda Gutierres challenging U.S. keeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce in the 30th, but Tullis-Joyce handled it; she stayed busy throughout the half. Possession was 50-50 in the half, but Brazil ended with a 9-6 edge on shots.

The U.S. came out with more control in mind in the second half, but Brazilian midfielder Ludmila hit the U.S. goal post with a shot in the first minute. Brazil got off three more shots on Tullis-Joyce by the 62nd minute before the U.S. offense got going, and in the 66th, Ludmila tackled Lily Yohannes in the box for a penalty.

Midfield star Lindsey Heaps calmly shutter-stepped, then a right-footed smash (barely) into the left side of the Brazilian net for the decisive 2-0 lead. From that point, the U.S. maintained most of the control and the game finished at 2-0.

With better possession on the ball in the second half, the Americans finished with 55% of the ball and had 16 shots to 15 for the visitors. They will meet again on Tuesday in San Jose, California.

● Gymnastics ● At the FIG Rhythmic World Cup in Sofia (BUL), Ukraine’s Paris Olympic ninth-placer Taisila Onofriichuk took the All-Around, scoring 114.450 across two rounds, ahead of Bulgaria’s six-time Worlds medal winner Stiliana Nikolova (110.65) and Uzbek Takhmina Ikromova (109.850). Rin Keys and Megan Chu were the American entries, in sixth (107.000) and eighth (106.500).

In the apparatus finals, Nikolova won on Ball (28.950) and Hoop (29.500) and Onofriichuk took the wins in Clubs (28.900) and Ribbon (27.450). Keys qualified for the Ball final and was sixth (25.350); also sixth in Clubs (26.200), then scored a bronze on Ribbon (26.950), while Chu placed seventh (24.100).

At the Trampoline World Cup in Riccione (ITA), a re-match of the Paris 2024 Olympic men’s final saw gold medalist Ivan Litvinovich (BLR) win again over China’s Zisai Wang, 66.390-65.400.

The women’s final had Paris Olympic finalist Yicheng Hu (CHN) winning with 57.030 points, edging Sofiia Aliaeva (BLR: 56.600), with Canada’s Olympic bronzer Sophiane Methot third (55.310).

Americans Isaac Rowley and Cheyenne Webster won the Mixed Synchro (48.210); German 2023 World Champions Fabian Vogel and Caio Lauxtermann won the men’s Synchro (51.570) and Britain’s 2023 Worlds bronze medalists Bryony Page and Isabelle Songhurst took the women’s Synchro (50.000).

● Rugby Sevens ● At the Rugby Sevens Series in Singapore, a surprise in the men’s final and more of the same for the women.

The men’s pool winners were Argentina, Kenya, Spain and Fiji, and Fiji and Kenya romped into the final, with Fiji winning its second tournament of the season, 21-12 in the final. Argentina defeated Spain, 33-14, for third. That leaves Argentina still on top of the standings, heading to the Grand Final in Carson, California, with 114 points to 96 for Fiji and 88 for Spain. The U.S. finished 12th and did not advance to the Grand Final.

In women’s play, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and France all went 2-0 to win their pools. Then the Black Ferns stormed through the playoffs, winning their games by 40-14 over France and then 31-7 against Australia to win their third tournament in a row. Canada beat France, 21-5, for third.

So, New Zealand stays on top of the standings at 116 points to 106 for Australia, with France third at 80. The U.S. stands sixth (58) and qualifies for the Grand Final.

● Sailing ● The 54th Trofeo Princesa Sofia – for Olympic classes – off Palma de Mallorca (ESP) was a resounding success for Great Britain, which won five of the 10 classes and claimed nine medals overall (5-2-2), well ahead of Italy (0-4-1).

Australian Olympic silver winner Grae Morris took the men’s IQ Foil class win, turning back 2023 Worlds bronze medalists Nicolo Reina (ITA) and Adrien Mestre (FRA) in the final. Olympic bronzer Emma Wilson (GBR) won the women’s final, beating Zheng Yan and New Zealand’s Veerle Ten Have.

Two-time World Champion Maximilian Maeder (SGP) won the men’s Formula Kite class easily, winning the final over Riccardo Pianosi (ITA) and Valentin Bontus (AUT). Maeder piled up 15 wins across his 21 races. China’s Li Wan took the women’s Formula Kite, winning the final over 2023 Worlds bronze winner Lily Young (GBR) and 2024 Olympic champ Ellie Aldridge (GBR).

British boats went 1-2 in the men’s Laser (ILCA7) class, with 2023 Worlds runner-up Michael Beckett (45 net points) and Elliott Hanson (77) finishing ahead of Ireland’s Finn Lynch (81). The women’s Laser Radial (ILCA6) had Australia’s Zoe Thomson winning a tight duel with Emma Mattivi (ITA), 85-94, with Britain’s Daisy Collingridge a close third with 100 points.

Erwan Fischer and Clement Pequin (FRA), 12th at the 2024 Olympic regatta, won the men’s 49er class, with 80 net points to 94 for Germans Richard Schultheis and Fabian Rieger. Nevin Snow and Ian MacDiarmid of the U.S. finished sixth (138).

Britain’s Freya Black and Saskia Tidey took the women’s 49erFX title, winning three races and placing third in the medal race to edge Johanne Schmidt and Andrea Schmidt (DEN: 79) and Pia Dahl Andersen and Nora Edland (NOR: 105).

And British stars John Gimson and Anna Burnet, two-time World Champions, won the Nacra 17 class by winning the medal race, to give then a 43-45 victory over Gianluigi Ugolini and Maria Giubilei (ITA), who finished sixth. China’s Huancheng Zhao and Su Sha were right behind with 47 points, finishing fifth in the medal race.

Britain’s Martin Wrigley and Bettine Harris were easy winners in the mixed-crew 470, with six top-three finishes and 31 net points, to 59 for Simon Desch and Anna Markfort (GER: 59).

● Ski Mountaineering ● At the penultimate ISMF World Cup of the season, in Villars-sur-Ollon (SUI), two-time seasonal men’s World Cup champ Thibault Anselmet (FRA) won the men’s Sprint in 2:27.6, ahead of Swiss Jon Kistler (2:32.9) and Maximilien Drion du Chapois (BEL). It’s Anselmet’s first win of the season.

The women’s Sprint went to France’s Sprint star Emily Harrop for her sixth World Cup win of the year, in 3:09.3, over Italians Giulia Murada and Katia Mascherona.

The Mixed Relay was won by Spain’s Ana Alonso and Oriol Cardona Coll in 33:18.2, just ahead of Marianne Fatton and Thomas Bussard (SUI: 33:19.4). The U.S. entry of Hali Hafeman and Griffin Briley finished 10th (+3:41.5).

● Snowboard ● The FIS World Cup seasonal finale in Snowcross was in Mont-Sainte-Anne (CAN), with the 2024-25 champions ending with victories.

Jakob Dusek (AUT) took Saturday’s men’s race for his second win of the season, just ahead of Olympic runner-up – and seasonal champion – Eliot Grondin (CAN) and American Nathan Pare, 20, who won his first World Cup medal!

The Sunday finale had Grondin finishing the season with a win, over Aidan Chollet (FRA) and Loan Bozzollo (FRA) and totaling 684 points for the Crystal Globe. Bozzolo finished second with 473 and Dusek was third at 444.

Saturday’s women’s winner was the third win of the season for France’s Lea Casta, 19, over Mia Clift (AUS) and Sina Siegenthaler (SUI), and gave her a 705-622 lead in the Crystal Globe standings over Britain’s 2021 World Champion Charlotte Bankes.

Casta won on Sunday, too, to complete her championship season, beating Siegenthaler and Clift and ending with 805 points to 622 for Bankes, with Julia Pereira de Sousa (FRA: 474) third.

● Swimming ● The second Tyr Pro Swim Series meet of the year was in Sacramento, California, saw a headline performance from American Luca Urlando and a world-leading mark from Australian distance star Sam Short.

Paris Olympian Urlando won the men’s 200 m Butterfly in a world-leading 1:52.37, moving him to no. 4 on the all-time list and no. 3 in American history. He said afterwards:

“That was so cool, I was not expecting that at all. The last 15 meters, I was tightening up a bit, so I was telling myself to just hold my stroke together.”

Short, the 2023 World Champion in the 400 m Freestyle, won three events, taking the 400 m Free in a world-leading 3:43.84, and the 800 m Free (7:46.99) and 1,500 m Free (15:03.87).

The biggest winner was France’s Maxime Grousset, the 2023 Worlds 100 m Fly winner, who tied with U.S. star Michael Andrew to win the 50 m Free (22.04), won the 100 m Free in 48.20, the 50 m Fly (23.12) and 100 m Fly (51.30), beating Urlando (51.32).

Also taking three wins was fellow Frenchman Yohann Ndoye Brouard, a Paris relay bronze medalist, in the backstrokes: 50 m (25.37), 100 m (53.87) and 200 m (1:59.49). Denis Petrashov (KGZ) won two events, the 50 m Breast in 27.32 and 100 m Breast (1:00.42), both times beating Andrew.

American Brooks Curry won the 200 m Free in 1:46.74 (with Short third); Matthew Fallon took the 200 m Breast in 2:09.58) and Grant House (1:58.22) and Michael Hochwalt (4:16.88) won the 200 and 400 m Medleys.

The women’s star was New Zealand’s Eve Thomas, who took the 400 m Free (4:11.64), 800 m Free (8:39.32) and 1,500 m Free in 16:30.48. Two-event winners included French sprinter Beryl Gastaldello, who took the 50 m Free (24.75) and 100 m Free (54.01), American Rhyan White – a Tokyo Olympic relay silver winner – won the 100 m Back (59.68) over Paris Olympic 100 m Back bronze Katharine Berkoff by 1/100th, and won the 200 m Back (2:08.83); she was second in the 50 m Back (27.91) to Berkoff (27.83).

Hungary’s Aliz Kalmar was the other two-event winner, taking the 50 m Breast in 31.56 and the 100 m Breast (1:07.91). Americans Leah Shackley (58.75) and Rachel Klinker (2:10.85) won the 100-200 m Flys; Israeli Olympian Anastasia Gorbenko won the 200 m Medley in 2:09.90 and Swede Lisa Nystrand took the 400 m Medley in 4:45.02.

The USA National Open Water Championships were in Sarasota, Florida, with 16-year-old Brinkleigh Hansen winning the women’s 10 km title and qualifying for the World Aquatics Championships. She won a tight battle with 18-year-old Paris Olympian (and 4×200 m Free relay silver winner) Claire Weinstein, two seconds behind, 2:04:09 to 2:04:11. Mariah Denigan was third in 2:04:16. Hansen and Weinstein qualify for the World Championships; Weinstein and Denigan went 2-3 for the second straight year.

Australia went 1-2 in the men’s 10 km as guest swimmers, winning a five-way final sprint, with Kyle Lee and Thomas Raymond both timed in 1:53:38. Dylan Gravely was the top American, in third place, close behind in 1:53:40, with Joey Tepper at 1:53:41; as the top two Americans, they also qualified for the Worlds. Gravely won the U.S. 5 km title in 2024 and moved up from third in the 10 km from last year.

In Sunday’s 5 km nationals, Paris 2024 Olympian Ivan Puskovitch out-touched defending champion Gravely in the men’s race, 56:10 to 56:12, with Japan’s Riku Takaki third in 56:22. Weinstein was a dominant winner in 1:01:33 over defending champ Ichika Kajimoto (JPN: 1:02:14) and Denigan (1:02:15) in the women’s.

● Table Tennis ● At the WTT Champions in Incheon (KOR), China swept the Singles titles, with Peng Xiang sweeping the men’s final, 4-0, over Sang-su Lee (KOR) by 11-8, 11-0, 11-3, 11-4.

The women’s final went to top-seeded Yidi Wang, the 2021 Worlds bronze medalist, who defeated countrywoman 2023 Worlds bronze medalist Xingtong Chen by 4-3 in a major comeback: 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

ATHLETICS: First Grand Slam Track stop concludes in Jamaica with stars McLaughlin-Levrone, Fisher, Jefferson, dos Santos and Wanyonyi all perfect

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. superstar Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone: a Grand Slam Track champion in Kingston (Photo: Grand Slam Track).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK I ≡

The final day of the first Grand Slam Track meet in Kingston (JAM) finished on Sunday with the winners of the first race taking the second as well in five of the eight events.

Attendance appeared to be down on Sunday, vs. Saturday evening, with perhaps 8,000 in the 35,000-seat National Stadium. Scoring in each event group (two races) was 12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 and the placers in each group won $100,000-50,000-30,000-25,000-20,000-15,000-12,500-10,000.

The races:

● Women/100 m (short hurdles):
Having hurdlers – short and long – run sprints – 100 and 400 m – is one of the fun aspects of Grand Slam Track and a possible jumping-off point for some to run on their national 4×100 or 4×400 m teams later in the season. But not with Sunday’s windy conditions. 

Tia Jones of the U.S. came in with the upset win in the 100 m hurdles, with Danielle Williams (JAM) second, but Denisha Cartwright (BAH) got the best start. Jamaican stars Ackera Nugent and then Williams took over and Williams won going away in 11.54 into a 3.4 m/s headwind!

Nugent was second in 11.57, ahead of Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR: 11.73), with Jones in sixth (12.26). So, Williams won the Slam with 20 points, to 15 for Jones and 13 for Nugent.

● Men/400 m (long hurdles):
Brazil’s Alison dos Santos, the 2022 World Champion, was an easy winner in the 400 m hurdles, but now was running on the flat. Caleb Dean of the U.S. went out hard in lane six, ahead of dos Santos and the Brazilian was squeezed by 2024 400H NCAA runner-up Chris Robinson from behind.

But in the home straight, Dean faded, Robinson looked like a possible winner, but dos Santos timed his surge perfectly and got to the line first in 45.52, ahead of Robinson (45.54 lifetime best) and Dean (45.68).

That gave dos Santos the Slam with a perfect 24 points, ahead of Jamaican Roshawn Clarke (13 points) and then Dean (12) and Robinson (11).

● Women/5,000 m (long distance):
Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye won the 3,000 m on Friday, but Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich, the road 10 km world-record holder, took off from the gun and had a huge lead after three laps. But Taye had caught up with five laps to go.

They ran together, way ahead of the rest of the pack, with Taye breaking away with 200 m to go as Ngetich touched her from behind, sprinting home in an outdoor world-leading 14:54.88, to win the Slam with a perfect 24 points. Ngetich was second in 14:59.80 and then Tsige Gebreselama (ETH: 15:24.62).

Ngetich was second in both races and was second in the Slam with 16, with Gebreselama third in both for third overall (16).

● Men/100 m (short hurdles):
American Dylan Beard upset the field in the 110 m hurdles, so could he pull another shocker in the 100? No.

The race was close off the start, but three-time French hurdles champ Sasha Zhoya surged into the lead by mid-way and won by daylight in 10.55, into a 2.0 m/s headwind. American Cordell Tinch came up for second in a tight finish with Beard and fellow American Eric Edwards, in 10.65-10.67-10.68. So Zhoya won the Slam on 20 points, but Beard got 16 and Tinch, only fifth in the hurdles race, was third overall with 12.

● Men/800 m (short distance):
Kenya’s Olympic 800 m champ Emmanuel Wanyonyi humiliated the 1,500 m stars by winning a (relatively) slow 1,500 m in a lifetime best 3:35.18. Canadian Marco Arop, the Olympic 800 m silver winner, took the lead, with Wanyonyi and American Bryce Hoppel gapped the field by the bell.

Arop was in front with 200 m to go and stormed down the straight for the win in 1:45.13, with Wanyonyi well back in 1:46.44 and American Record holder Hoppel third in 1:47.02. That gave the Slam to Wanyonyi (20), over Arop (15) and Yared Nuguse of the U.S., sixth in the 800 m and scoring 11 points. It was all about the 800 m runners in this Slam.

● Men/3,000 m (long distance):
American Grant Fisher stormed to the win in the 5,000 m in Friday, but it was Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet – the 2023 World Road 5 km gold medalist – and Telahun Haile Bekele ran away at the start, and Gebrhiwet was in front for good with four laps to go. He won easily in 7:51.55 with Haile Bekele second in 8:00.68.

But Fisher made sure he was third – sprinting past countryman Dylan Jacobs in the last 50 m, in 8:03.85 – ahead of Ronald Kwemoi (KEN: 8:04.12), and won the Slam with 18 points, vs. 17 for Gebrhiwet and 12 for American Cooper Teare.

● Women/200 m (short sprints):
Olympic 100 m bronze winner Melissa Jefferson won the 100 m over Jenna Prandini of the U.S., but Prandini held a slight lead coming into the straight. Those two ran together for another 50 m, but Jefferson edged ahead to win in 23.46, against a big headwind of 4.7 m/s, with Prandini as 23.56.

Just as in the 100, American Jacious Sears was third again (23.79) and the Slam had those three in order: Jefferson (24), Prandini (16, pretty good for a late replacement!) and Sears (12).

● Women/400 m (long hurdles):
So here was Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone to close the meet after having won the 400 m hurdles on Friday, and she did not disappoint, moving well from lane six off the gun and making the first stagger ahead of her by the 200 m mark.

She was well in front by 300 m and cruised to the win in 50.32 against the difficult wind, even so, now no. five on the 2025 outdoor world list.

Jamaica’s Andrenette Knight got second over Dalilah Muhammad of the U.S., 52.09 to 52.21, so McLaughlin-Levrone won the Slam with 24 points, to 14 for Muhammad and 13 for Knight.

That this concept was actually held at all was noteworthy and congratulations are due to Founder and Commissioner Michael Johnson. The critiques can wait for a day or so, with the next edition – and no doubt some changes – coming in Miramar, Florida on 2-4 May.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

ATHLETICS: Grand Slam Track crowns first “Slam” champs, as Bednarek and Thomas take the sprints, and Jones shocks in the hurdles

By
Rich Perelman
-
Absolutely no doubt about “Kung Fu Kenny” Bednarek (USA, at right), who swept the 100-200 m men’s Short Sprints in Kingston! (Photo: Grand Slam Track).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK I ≡

Day two of the debut meet of the new Grand Slam Track circuit at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, with the first four “Slam” event groups to be decided.

A major feature of the program is the payout for each two-race event group, with each race scored 12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 and the placers in each group winning $262,500 for places 1-8: $100,000 – 50,000 – 30,000 – 25,000 – 20,000 – 15,000 – 12,500 – 10,000. Four events were decided on Saturday, with better attendance in the stands, and nice, 83 F weather when the meet kicked off at 5:42 p.m. local time.

Attendance was much better today, perhaps 10,000 in a 35,000-seat stadium, and with the usual Jamaican enthusiasm, who saw three (outdoor) world-leading marks:

● Women/400 m: 48.67, Salwa Eid Naser (BAH)
● Women/1,500 m: 4:04.51, Diribe Welteji (ETH)
● Women/100 m hurdles: 12.63, Tia Jones (USA)

The races:

● Men/110 m hurdles (short hurdles):
Jamaica’s two Olympic champs from Rio (Omar McLeod) and Tokyo (Hansle Parchment) were on the line, but it was Paris Olympic silver medalist Daniel Roberts of the U.S. got the best start. But he clobbered the second hurdle and countryman Dylan Beard, an Olympic Trials semifinalist in 2024, in lane two charged to the lead in mid-race and he held on to the line in 13.29, into a slight headwind of -0.5 m/s.

In the middle of the track, in lane six, France’s Sasha Zhoya, the 2024 Diamond League winner, closed well for second (13.34) in a blanket finish with Roberts (13.35) and fellow Americans Freddie Crittenden (13.36) and Cordell Tinch (13.38).

● Men/200 m (long sprints):
World Indoor champion Chris Bailey of the U.S. won the first-day 400 m in a world-leading 44.34, but hadn’t run this race in six years and started in lane seven. The start was even and everyone was in contention into the straight.

But it was Olympic 400 m silver winner Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR) emerged in the final 15 m to edge Paris bronze winner Muzala Samukonga (ZAM) at the line, 20.77 to 20.81 into a stiff, 3.3 m/s headwind! Challenger Deandre Watkin (JAM) came up for third in 20.91, ahead of a good run for Vernon Norwood (USA) in 20.92, then Bailey in a lifetime best 20.93.

So, Hudson-Smith won the first event Slam and $100,000 with 20 points, to 16 for Bailey ($50,000) and 11 for Norwood ($30,000).

● Women/1,500 m (short distance):
American champ Nikki Hiltz won the 800 m on Friday in a surprise lifetime best of 1:58.23, and she and Olympic silver winner Jess Hull (AUS) were in the lead off the gun and Hull then picked it up and led with two laps to go. At the bell, Hull and World Indoor 1,500 m runner-up Diribe Welteji (ETH) were 1-2, and Welteji took the lead on the backstraight.

Into the final straight, Welteji led Hull and ran away for win for 4:04.51 – an outdoor world leader – with Kenya’s Olympic sixth-placer Susan Ejore passing Hull for second in the final 40 m (4:05.10), and Hiltz also got Hull at the line for third, 4:05.39 to 4:05.48.

Welteji won the Slam with 20 points, to 18 for Hiltz, 12 for Ejore and 11 for Hull.

● Women/100 m hurdles (short hurdles):
Two Olympic champions were on the line with Masai Russell of the U.S. from Paris and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) from Tokyo. But it was American Tia Jones, a late replacement challenger who was the 2024 U.S. indoor 60 m hurdles champ, got the best start and was never headed, winning by daylight in 12.63 (-1.4 m/s).

Camacho-Quinn came on in mid-race and battled with two-time World Champion Danielle Williams (JAM), with Williams getting second, with both in 12.70. Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent, the world leader in 2024, was fourth in 12.75 and Russell was sixth in 12.78.

Jones has been in the news for her break-up with Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who filed a domestic violence suit against her in Texas, with Jones filing for a protective order against Worthy. In the meantime, she leads the Short Hurdles Slam after race one.

● Women/100 m (short sprints):
Olympic bronze winner Melissa Jefferson of the U.S. was in lane five, and got off well and had control of the race, winning in 11.11 (wind: -0.6 m/s).

American Jenna Prandini, a very late replacement Challenger, came on in the latter half and was a clear second in 11.23, passing U.S. indoor runner-up Jacious Sears (11.25). British star Daryll Neita was fourth in 11.33.

Prandini, normally better in the 200 m, now is in position to win the Slam tomorrow!

● Men/1,500 m (short distance):
This was looked at as the race of the day, with Olympic champ Cole Hocker (USA) and 800 m winner Emmanuel Wanyonyi (KEN) facing off, along with three more 800-1,500 medalists: Josh Kerr (GBR), Yared Nuguse of the U.S. and Canada’s Marco Arop.

Hocker and Nuguse led early, with the pack closely bunched, at 2:00.1 for 800 m. Nuguse took over, with Kerr following as they came to the bell, with Wanyonyi coming up for third at 1,200 m. Nuguse and Kerr led with 200 m left, but in the final straight, it was Nuguse in front, but with Wanyonyi moving best. And with 50 m to go, Wanyonyi was clear and won in an upset at 3:35.18, ahead of Nuguse and Hocker coming from fifth to third in 3:35.52. Britain’s Neil Gourley, the World 1,500 m runner-up, got past Kerr, 3:35.60 to 3:35.61.

A shocker for Wanyonyi and a huge lifetime best, having run 3:38.1 (hand) at altitude in mid-March. Terrific.

● Men/200 m (short sprints):
Any doubts about two-time Olympic silver winner Kenny Bednarek (USA), the winner of the 100 m, as the Slam winner?

None. Fellow American Fred Kerley, the 2022 World 100 m champ, burst out of the blocks and led around the turn, but Bednarek was in the lead into the straight and was an easy winner, easing into the tape in 20.07 (+0.2).

Britain’s Zharnel Hughes passed Kerley on the final straight for second, 20.37 to 20.39, with former two-time NCAA champ Joseph Fahnbulleh fourth in 20.42.

Bednarek won both leg of the Short Sprints Slam (24), followed by Hughes (14), then Jamaica’s Oblique Seville (12) and Kerley (8).

● Women/400 m (long sprints):
Olympic 200 m champ Gabby Thomas of the U.S. won the first race, but was also a key leg on the U.S. 4×400 m team in Paris, but what about Olympic 400 m champ Marileidy Paulino (DOM)?

Off the start, however, it was Bahrain’s Olympic silver winner Salwa Eid Naser – the world leader at 48.94 – zoomed off the start and made up the stagger on Thomas, one lane ahead of her, by 150 m. Around the turn, Naser and Paulino were 1-2 and Naser ran away to win in a world-leading 48.67.

But Thomas was glued to Paulino and ran her down in the final 30 m, 49.14 to 49.35, with American Alexis Holmes in 50.12. Thomas won the Slam with 20 points – and got a lifetime best in the 400 m. now no. 7 all-time U.S. – to 17 for Naser, then 14 for Paulino and eight for Holmes.

Sunday’s final-day meet will start at 3 p.m. Eastern, on Peacock and The CW.

(Note to readers: Coverage of Sunday’s meet will be delayed for several hours due to a scheduling conflict. Please use this link for results.)

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

ATHLETICS: Grand Slam Track debuts in Kingston with five world leads, including by Americans Bailey and McLaughlin-Levrone

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. star Grant Fisher wins the men's 5,000 at the Grand Slam Track opener in Kingston (Photo: Grand Slam Track on X)

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK I ≡

The grand, new experiment in professional track & field – Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track – debuted Friday at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, with an eight-event program that took 99 minutes inside a 180-minute format.

The “pre-meet” and “post-meet” shows are part of the three-hour program, with former ESPN anchor John Anderson and Olympic champs Sanya Richards-Ross and Matthew Centrowitz talking about the races for 42 minutes before the first race. For those interested, odds on each race were posted on the DraftKings Sportsbook.

Conditions were good, at 82 F, breezy with 59% humidity, but with a small crowd of maybe 4-5,000 or so on Friday afternoon and evening. But the running was fun, with early-season world-leading performances in five events:

● Men/400 m: 44.34, Chris Bailey (USA)
● Men/400 m hurdles: 47.61, Alison dos Santos (BRA)

● Women/800 m: 1:58.23, Nikki Hiltz (USA)
● Women/3,000 m: 8:28.42, Ejgayyehu Taye (ETH)
● Women/400 m hurdles: 52.76, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA)

The races:

● Women/200 m (short sprints):
The opening race of the project was a win for Olympic champ Gabby Thomas (USA), who took over for 2019 World Champion Dina Asher-Smith (GBR) on the home straight and winning in 22.62 (wind: -0.2 m/s). Asher-Smith gave way to Paris 400 m Olympic champ Marileidy Paulino (DOM: 22.93), with Asher-Smith third in 22.96.

Paris 2024 Olympic 400 m runner-up was fourth in 22.99, with Talitha Diggs (USA: 23.30) in fifth.

● Men/400 m (long sprints):
Olympic silver medalist Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR) took off from the gun and had the lead through the second turn, but then World Indoor Champion Chris Bailey of the U.S. pushed hard into the home straight and ran away to win in a world-leading 44.34.

Hudson-Smith held on for second in 44.65, with Vernon Norwood of the U.S. was a very close third in 44.70. Jamaican Zandrion Barnes was fourth in 45.11, but was disqualified, so Botswana’s Busang Kebinatshipi moved up, timed in 45.15.

Bailey was impressive, coming off his strong indoor season

● Women/3,000 m (long distance):
Kenya’s road 10 km world-record holder Agnes Negtich (KEN), and Ethiopians Ejgayehu Taye and Paris 10,000 m Olympian Tsige Gebreselama broke away by three laps to go, and then Gebreselama dropped with a lap and a half to go.

By the bell, it was the two together, but Taye – the Worlds 10,000 bronzer in 2023 – ran away over the final turn and won cleanly in 8:28.42, with Ngetich in a lifetime best of 8:28.75, then Gebreselama in third in 8:38.15 and Hellen Lobun (KEN) fourth at 8:42.51.

● Women/800 m (short distance):
American Heather MacLean, the U.S. 1,500 m indoor third-placer, got to the lead at 200 m, with 2024 World Indoor 1,500 m runner-up Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. coming up to challenge at the bell, and took the lead on the back straight.

Hiltz stayed in the lead into the final turn, with Ethiopian star Diribe Welteji, the World Indoor 1,500 silver winner, coming hard, but not hard enough and Hiltz got to the line first in a world-leading 1:58.23, with Welteji at 1:59.28. Olympic 1,500 m runner-up Jess Hull (AUS) got a lifetime best of 1:58.58 in third, with American Sage Hurta-Klecker getting fourth in 1:59.26.

● Men/400 m hurdles (long hurdles):
Brazil’s 2022 World Champion Alison dos Santos was the obvious favorite, but he was second to NCAA champ Caleb Dean of the U.S. all the way through the seven hurdle. But off the turn, dos Santos went to the lead and cruised home with a clear win in a world-leading 47.61.

Jamaican Olympian Roshawn Clarke moved past Dean into second at 48.20, with Dean closing back up for third in 48.58 and Malik James-King (JAM) fourth in 48.69.

● Women/400 m hurdles (long hurdles):
All eyes were on U.S. superstar Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the face of the project, running her first hurdles race since her Olympic triumph in Paris.

Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton, fifth in the Paris Olympic final, led on the backstraight, but McLaughlin-Levrone was in control around the turn and into the straight, winning in a world-leading 52.76.

Rio 2016 Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad, who said on Thursday that she would retire after the 2025 season, came on in the final straight and got a very creditable second in 54.59. Clayton was third in 55.02, ahead of teammate Andrenette Knight (55.06).

● Men/5,000 m (long distance):
This turned out to be a tactical, slow race, with Cooper Teare of the U.S. leading, but everyone waiting for the bell. Kenyan Ronald Kwemoi, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver winner, had the lead for a while, but with everyone in contact (and mostly jogging).

Ethiopia’s Telahun Haile Bekele, fourth at the 2019 Worlds, was in front with two laps left, but at the bell, Ethiopia’s 2016 Olympic bronzer Hagos Gebrhiwet flew into the lead onto the back straight, chased by Americans Dylan Jacobs and indoor star Grant Fisher.

Onto the final straight, Jacobs got past Gebrhiwet and then Fisher and Teare came up to run four abreast with 40 m to go. Fisher got to the line with a hard sprint in the final 20 m – and a 51.5 last lap – in 14:39.14, ahead of Teare (14:39.31) and Jacobs (14:39.56), an American sweep. Gebrhiwet ended up fourth in 14:40.20.

● Men/100 m (short sprints):
The crowd was hoping for home favorite Oblique Seville, the two-time Worlds fourth-placer, but it was Jamaican Ackeem Blake who got the best start in lane seven. American 200 m star Kenny Bednarek, the Paris silver medalist at 200 m and seventh in the 100, got to the front and stayed there.

Seville moved up close, but Bednarek stayed in front and won in 10.07 (-1.3 m/s), with Seville at 10.08, Britain’s 2023 Worlds bronzer Zharnel Hughes third (10.13) and Blake fourth in 10.13. Fred Kerley of the U.S., the 2022 World Champion and Olympic bronze winner in Paris, was left in the blocks and was seventh in 10.30.

Scoring in each event group (two races) is 12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 and the placers in each group will win $100,000-50,000-30,000-25,000-20,000-15,000-12,500-10,000.

Saturday’s meet will start at 6 p.m. Eastern on Peacock and The CW, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, also on Peacock and The CW.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: FIFA asks to flip men’s & women’s Olympic tournaments; French Alps 2030 to skate in Holland? Horror crash for Italian ski star Brignone

By
Rich Perelman
-
Italian ski star Federica Brignone in 2024 (Photo: Wikipedia via Tournasol7).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 1984: Los Angeles ● The LA84 Foundation, the living legacy of the 1984 Olympic Games, announced $1.8 million in grants to 26 organizations, serving youth in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties.

These programs are projected to reach 188,720 youth, with seven grants made to Boys and Girls Clubs for free recreation and leagues, inter-club competitions in multiple sports, coach training, and repairs of a gymnasium roof and a swimming pool. Three grants were aimed at youth access to golf and four are for new opportunities in adaptive and inclusive sports for youth with disabilities.

Founded with 40% of the surplus from the staging of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the LA84 Foundation has touched more than four million young people in Southern California over its 41 years of service.

● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) told the UEFA Congress meeting in Belgrade (SRB) that the time has come to recognize the importance of the women’s Olympic football tournament – in which all top-level players can participate – and the men’s tournament, an under-23 tournament with three any-age players allowed:

“We had been asking the IOC whether we can have 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams. It seems this is not possible so our proposal would be that we should think about swapping it and having 16 women’s team and 12 men’s team to foster even more the women’s football movement.”

“I think we owe that to women’s football. It would be a strong signal but we will see where that leads us.”

The men’s tournament is degraded by FIFA to protect the value of its men’s World Cup and such measures began essentially when the World Cup started up in 1930. But with women’s football on the rise, more women’s teams is attractive to FIFA.

Los Angeles City 15th District Council member Tim McOsker, who is insisting that San Pedro must host the sailing competitions in 2028, added another motion to his prior demands for more dispute resolution information vis-a-vis the LA28 organizing committee on Wednesday. The new motion asks for information about LA28 contracts with venue owners or operators outside of the City of Los Angeles and the “[r]esponsibility for cost overruns, capital improvements, or operational disruptions” and “[i]nsurance, indemnification, and risk mitigation provisions.”

Further, he has asked Los Angeles City staff to determine:

● “The City’s authority and options for negotiating terms to protect public funds and limit liability for venues outside of its ownership or control”

● “Recommendations to ensure consistency across all venue-related funding agreements and alignment with the City’s broader goals for equity, sustainability, and fiscal responsibility.”

Although he asked for a report back in seven days, this is only after the motion has passed the City Council; the motion was sent to the Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, slated to meet later in April.

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● Costs are a big issue with the French organizers and it appears speed skating may be headed elsewhere. Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional president Renaud Muselier told the French newspaper Le Figaro:

“It’s too expensive, around 50 million euros. We will find a solution and [President Edgar Grospiron/FRA] will go to Holland and Italy to see how we can do it with them.”

The Dutch are the dominant nation in speed skating and will likely welcome the opportunity to put on the Games in front of a raucous home crowd. (€1 = $1.11 U.S.)

● Paralympic Games 2024: Paris ● The International Paralympic Committee posted some highlights of a study by Nielsen on television viewing of the Paris 2024 Games, with a record 349.4 million estimated audience worldwide for the opening ceremony.

The closing ceremony was estimated to be watched by 193.6 million, another record. The live worldwide audience for the entire Games was reported to grow 40% from Tokyo 2020, but no specific figure was given.

● Alpine Skiing ● A terrible tragedy for seasonal World Cup women’s champion Federica Brignone (ITA), on Thursday at the Italian national championships. Per the International Ski & Snowboard Federation:

“Federica Brignone suffered a fall during the second run of the women’s giant slalom valid for the Italian National Championships, held at Alpe Lusia (Trentino). She was taken to Santa Chiara Hospital in Trento, where a CT scan revealed a displaced, comminuted fracture of the tibial plateau and fibular head in her left leg.

“The FISI Medical Commission is closely monitoring the condition of the athlete from Valle d’Aosta and has arranged her transfer to the ‘La Madonnina’ clinic in Milan, where further radiological examinations will be conducted and the surgical plan will be defined.”

She was operated on in the evening, and also suffered a rupture of her anterior cruciate ligament.

Brignone won the seasonal titles in the women’s World Cup (her second), and in the Downhill and Giant Slalom, winning 10 races on the season. Now, her status as one of the possible heroes of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games will depend on her recovery, which is expected to take many months.

● Athletics ● Grand Slam Track published the start lists and lane assignments for its opening, three-day “Slam” in Kingston, Jamaica that begins Friday.

The meets will start at 6 p.m. Eastern on Friday (on Peacock) and Saturday (Peacock and The CW), and 3 p.m. on Sunday (Peacock and The CW). Look for results here.

● Curling ● Three-quarters of the way through the round-robin portion of the World Curling men’s World Championship in Moose Jaw (CAN), home favorite Brad Jacobs’ rink leads with an 8-1 record, with three matches remaining before the playoffs.

Canada’s Jacobs, the 2014 Olympic champion, has competition from Switzerland at 7-2 (Yannick Schwaller) and China, Sweden and Scotland, all at 6-3. The U.S., with Korey Dropkin as skip, is 4-4 and in eighth place.

The top six will advance to the playoffs beginning on Saturday (5th), with the medal matches on Sunday.

● Modern Pentathlon ● Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne President Rob Stull of the U.S. wrote about the opening World Cup of the season in Cairo (EGY) at the end of February, noting that changes will be needed to the new obstacle element:

“The athletes did well on the Obstacle course, perhaps too well – it will likely need to evolve to become more challenging. It is a step-by-step process, and I can see how senior athletes are going to eat this up as they develop their skills and fine-tune their training.

“I have been told that the difficulty will need to be increased, but only after this season. Of course, it’s something the UIPM Athletes, Coaches and Technical Committees will need to address, and everything is on the table.”

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

SAFESPORT: U.S. Senator Grassley questions SafeSport ExCo Chair about oversight of operations, costs and continuing long resolution times

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ U.S. CENTER FOR SAFESPORT ≡

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, followed up on his 2024 inquiries about SafeSport procedures and oversight in two letters, noting that the performance of the agency is not breeding confidence.

A letter to SafeSport chief executive Ju’Riese Colon asked about the process which led to the hiring of a former Allentown, Pennsylvania police officer who was under investigation on abuse charges at the time of hire.

The investigator, Jason Krasley, has been charged with theft, rape, sexual assault, involuntary servitude with the threat of serious physical harm, and patronizing prostitutes, and was maintained as a staff member for two months after the allegations were made, before being fired.

In a separate, four-page letter to the SafeSport Executive Committee Chair, April Holmes, Grassley stated:

“There appears to be a lack of oversight by the Board to adequately supervise the CEO, Ju’Riese Colón, and other officers and directors in their duties to the organization. It was troubling to read that SafeSport ‘perpetrated a fraud’ against a Florida State Court in Seminole County and intentionally withheld evidence in a criminal case brought at the prompting of one of the Center’s investigators.

“The court found that SafeSport possessed exculpatory information related to a sexual abuse claim and failed to disclose that information to law enforcement. It further stated that SafeSport ‘filtered’ and withheld exculpatory information attempting to influence law enforcement’s investigation. This judicial finding is alarming given the mission of SafeSport: to prevent sexual, emotion and physical abuse of athletes across the country.”

Grassley had more complaints:

● “[T]here is concern that SafeSport is not prioritizing serious sexual and child abuse cases over other cases, which is causing more serious cases to languish without proper investigation. It is unclear how SafeSport prioritizes cases in which they have exclusive jurisdiction. It is also unclear what minimum investigation is conducted for cases in which it has discretionary jurisdiction before declining or accepting jurisdiction.”

● “The second category of concern relates to how existing funds are being used. Non-profit organizations funded by donations and government grants must spend funds carefully and cannot be compared to a private, for-profit organizations. …

“[F]or 2023, the board compensated eleven officers (including the CEO) between approximately $111,000 and $350,000 each and awarded additional bonuses between $1,200 and $64,000. …

“Second, the amount of money spent on outside legal services seems high. In 2023, four of the five top paid contractors were for legal services totaling over $2.4 million. Over $1.2 million was paid to a Denver-based tort law firm. It is unclear what type of work they handled on behalf of SafeSport.”

“Next, there are expenses that seem excessive for a non-profit organization and financial decisions that seem counter-productive to the organization.”

● Grassley noted prior requests for added funding to help with the SafeSport caseload and to reduce case processing times, but wrote:

“it is unclear to me whether an increase of $30 million in funding will solve the problem either as it appears that existing resources can be redirected toward more expedited investigations.”

He posed eight additional questions to be answered by 1 May, including how Executive Committee oversight is exercised.

The focus on SafeSport has continued after it was singled out for reforms in the report of the Commission on the Status of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics from March 2024, and in hearings that followed – with Colon testifying as a witness – with a Senate Commerce sub-committee on 20 March, and a House Energy & Commerce sub-committee on 21 March, where Colon asked for $30 million in annual funding, up from $23.76 million in 2022, to handle the expanding caseload.

Witnesses at the hearings were deeply concerned about the lengthy investigation and resolution times, the lack of information on how and why cases were closed without specific resolutions, and that SafeSport was spending time on cases and disputes not directly related to abuses, which could be handled by the relevant U.S. National Governing Body.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

FENCING: Female Foil fencer Turner refuses to fight transgender entrant at Division I-A tournament, is disqualified

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ TRANSGENDERS IN FENCING ≡

Long-time U.S. Foil fencer Stephanie Turner entered The Cherry Blossom Division I-A tournament in College Park, Maryland in the women’s category that was held last Sunday, but found out the night before that she would be facing Redmond Sullivan, a transgender fencer from Wagner College in New York.

Neither are anywhere close to competing on the U.S. national team in World Cup, World Championship or Olympic competitions. But they were among the 39 registrants for the women’s competition. Turner told Fox News Digital that she saw that her pool included Sullivan, whom she knew was a transgender athlete.

So, “I saw that I was going to be in a pool with Redmond, and from there I said, ‘OK, let’s do it. I’m going to take the knee.'”

She explained that when her bout against Sullivan came up:

“I took a knee immediately at that point. Redmond was under the impression that I was going to start fencing. So when I took the knee, I looked at the ref and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I cannot do this. I am a woman, and this is a man, and this is a women’s tournament. And I will not fence this individual.’

“Redmond didn’t hear me, and he comes up to me, and he thinks that I may be hurt, or he doesn’t understand what’s happening. He asks, ‘Are you OK?’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry. I have much love and respect for you, but I will not fence you.”

So, she forfeited the match and was disqualified, Sullivan finished 24th in the women’s Foil.

USA Fencing explained in the Fox News Digital story:

“USA Fencing enacted our current transgender and non-binary athlete policy in 2023. The policy was designed to expand access to the sport of fencing and create inclusive, safe spaces. The policy is based on the principle that everyone should have the ability to participate in sports and was based upon the research available of the day,” the statement read.

“We respect the viewpoints on all sides and encourage our members to continue sharing them with us as the matter evolves. It’s important for the fencing community to engage in this dialogue, but we expect this conversation to be conducted respectfully, whether at our tournaments or in online spaces. The way to progress is by respectful discussion based in evidence.”

A USA Fencing spokesman added:

“In the case of Stephanie Turner, her disqualification was not related to any personal statement but was merely the direct result of her decision to decline to fence an eligible opponent, which the FIE rules clearly prohibit.

“According to the FIE [Federation Internationale de Escrime] Technical Rules, specifically Article t.113, a fencer is not permitted to refuse to fence another properly entered fencer for any reason. Under these rules, such a refusal results in disqualification and the corresponding sanctions. This policy exists to maintain fair competition standards and preserve the sport’s integrity.”

The USA Fencing guideline is clear: anyone can declare themselves to participate in either the men’s or women’s tournaments:

“[A]thletes will be permitted to participate in USA Fencing sanctioned events in a manner consistent with their gender identity/ expression, regardless of the gender associated with the sex they were assigned at birth in accordance with the guidelines listed below.”

The only requirement is that registration of the division to be competing in must be declared during registration with USA Fencing and cannot change during the season.

The FIE has no rules regarding transgender participation at all; if it did, USA Fencing would be obliged to respect them in its own competitions.

USA Fencing’s stance is in conflict with President Donald Trump’s 5 February Executive Order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” which declared the Administration’s viewpoint:

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

But it also went further:

● Specific directions on enforcement were also included in the Order, including an instruction to his domestic policy staff to “convene representatives of major athletic organizations and governing bodies” within 60 days to promote policies compliant with the Order, as well as to ask State attorneys general “to identify best practices in defining and enforcing equal opportunities for women to participate in sports.”

No word on any results in this area, with the 60-day period coming up on 5 April.

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

No specific outreach to the IOC has been noted, although it made little sense to even try until the 20 March elections of the next IOC President took place. Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry was elected and has promised to protect the women’s category, but with no specifics as yet. She takes office on 24 June.

The IOC’s current policy dates from 2021, in a statement which allows each sports federation to adopt its own regulations, rather than a standard rule across all sports. The FIE, aimless after the re-election of Russian Alisher Usmanov for a fifth term last November, who then stepped back from active involvement, has, as noted above, no policy on transgender participation at all.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

TSX SPECIAL: It’s here! Our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and more now posted!

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ TSX CALENDAR ≡

No Olympic Games in 2025, but plenty of action in Olympic sport! Here’s an update to our TSX calendar – an exclusive 694-event listing – for the remainder of 2025 and a few of the larger events beyond to 2034.

Our updated International Sports Calendar focuses on sports and events on the Olympic and Winter Games program for 2026 and 2028, plus a few other meetings and multi-sport events.

Please note: this listing will change! However, this edition is a good place to start for following many of the events coming up in the rest of a busy year ahead.

Two calendars are included in the single PDF download: an 15-page listing in chronological order and a 16-page listing by sport (and in date order within each sport).

It’s free! Get your download right now here!

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here, and can donate here to keep this site going.

FOOTBALL: Infantino says U.S. will get 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 2035 to go to Great Britain

By
Rich Perelman
-
The FIFA Women's World Cup Trophy (Photo: FIFA)

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP ≡

“Today I can confirm as part of the bidding process that we received one bid for 2031 and one valid bid for 2035. The 2031 bid is the United States of America and potentially some other CONCACAF members and the 2035 bid is from Europe and the home nations.

“So the path is there for the Women’s World Cup in 2031 and 2035 to take place in some great nations and further boost the women’s football movement.”

That’s FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI), speaking at the UEFA Congress in Belgrade (SRB), announcing the U.S. and “home nations,” meaning Great Britain, including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as the sole bidders for the 2031 and 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cups.

Bids for both tournaments were due by 31 March and Infantino said that for 2035, only one “valid bid” was received. He did not name any others which were invalid.

The U.S. had previously planned to offer a bid with Mexico for 2027, but abandoned it. Now, some games may be played in other CONCACAF countries as well, perhaps also in the Caribbean.

It will be the third time for the U.S. to host, after the historic 1999 tournament and then 2003 as well. Britain has never hosted the Women’s World Cup, but enthusiasm is high after England finished as runner-up to Spain in the 2023 event. Brazil will host in 2027.

The tournament is growing rapidly, drawing more interest as the number of teams involved has expanded:

● 12 teams: 1991-95
● 16 teams: 1999-2003–07-11
● 24 teams: 2015-19
● 32 teams: 2023-27
● 48 teams: 2031-35 (if approved as expected)

A further expansion for 2031 to as many as 64 teams has also been mentioned, but the expansion to 48 seems more likely at this point.

The Australia-New Zealand Women’s World Cup in 2023 established the all-time record for most spectators at 1,978,274, but the per-match high is still with the 1999 tournament in the U.S., which averaged 37.944. With the expected 48 teams and 104 matches, the U.S.-hosted 2031 tournament will crush all prior records.

The actual award of the 2031 and 2035 Women’s World Cups won’t happen until 2026 and official documents are due at the of April 2025. As with other recent FIFA awards, the selections as announced as expected to sail through.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: Grand Slam Track broadcast team named; FIFA’s Infantino gifts 30,000 Club World Cup tickets for SoCal first responders

By
Rich Perelman
-
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI: center), with first responders and officials at the Rose Bowl during his 1 April 2025 visit (Photo: FIFA).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Reaching out way past Italy, the Milan Cortina 2026 organizing committee and the Italian government has been busy with an “International Roadshow for Milano Cortina 2026,” with stops in Munich (GER), Paris (FRA) and New York at the Italian Consulate on Park Avenue last Friday.

Organizing committee chief executive Andrea Varnier saluted the interest of American fans in the 2026 Games:

“The interest of the United States in the upcoming edition of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 is very strong. We have already sold more than half of the tickets, and in third place, among the nations with the highest number of tickets sold, we find the United States.

“On the volunteer side, the United States has also given an extremely positive response. We received applications from more than 100.000 people, many of whom came from the U.S.”

The roadshow moves on, with stops upcoming in Tokyo (JPN), Oslo (NOR), Stockholm (SWE) and Seoul (KOR) and Beijing (CHN) in May.

● International Olympic Committee ● The German ticketing resale marketplace Ticombo filed an antitrust action with the European Commission alleging that the IOC exercises an unfair monopoly over the resale of tickets to the Olympic and Winter Games.

It claims that the IOC procedures limit competition, inflate prices and limit consumer access to events, in violation of European Union statutes. Ticombo has filed similar complaints against Belgium, and against UEFA related to the Euro 2024 tournament last year.

● Athletics ● Grand Slam Track announced the broadcast and public address teams for its first season, with founder Michael Johnson – a long-time track and field analyst for the BBC – bringing in familiar BBC colleagues, including Steve Cram, the 1984 Olympic 1,500 m silver winner, as lead television announcer, aided by analysts including former American distance star Carrie Tollefson and Canadian sprinter Anson Henry.

The BBC’s Radzi Chinyanganya and American heptathlete Taliyah Brooks will serve as reporters on the track.

Each of the Slams will have pre-meet and post-meet coverage led by long-time ESPN SportsCenter anchor John Anderson, plus former U.S. Olympic stars Matthew Centrowitz and Sanya Richards-Ross.

Public address will be led by Paul Swangard, the long-time voice of Hayward Field at the University of Oregon, plus Donald Smith (JAM), Iwan Thomas (GBR), Trishana McGowan (JAM), and Tiara “Tee” Williams (USA).

The Athletics Integrity Unit sanctioned Kenyan distance runner Brimin Misoi for five years, “from 17 February 2025 for Presence/Use of Prohibited Substances (EPO, Furosemide). DQ results from 22 November 2024.”

Misoi, 36, ran 2:04:53 for the marathon in 2023, and won the Sydney Marathon in 2024 in 2:06:18. He’ll be 41 when his ban ends.

● Biathlon ● The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee told The Associated Press that “Following our thorough internal evaluation, we can confirm that Gary Colliander and Eileen Carey are no longer affiliated with the USOPC.”

This followed an AP story which reported that biathlete Grace Boutot accused Colliander of sexual abuse during a four-year period beginning in 2006, when she was 15. He was then a coach at the Maine Sports Center and according to the AP, “quit the job after Boutot’s October 2010 suicide attempt and was later hired by the U.S. Paralympic Nordic team.”

Both Colliander and Carey, the vice president of the Maine Sports Center during the period of the alleged abuse, were terminated as of 14 March. Colliander is currently under investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, and adamantly denies all claims against him.

● Bobsled & Skeleton ● The season may be over, but USA Bobsled & Skeleton has been busy trying to attract new athletes and new donors!

The federation has started its recruiting season, offering five-skill tryouts at nine locations between 5 April and 31 May, in tests including a 10-yard dash, a 40-yard dash, vertical jump, broad jump and a weighted sled push. Events are being held in Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, North Carolina, Vermont and Washington.

USABS has been able to attract more and more ex-track & field athletes into the sports, including former UNLV sprinter Kaysha Love, the 2025 World Champion in the women’s Monobob.

For those wanting to support USABS, the “Race with US” is collecting donations, with gifts for $25, $100 and $250 donations, but a $500 “Gold” donation will place your name directly in a U.S. sled in an IBSF World Cup race!

● Cycling ● An important win for American Neilson Powless at the 79th Dwars door Vlaanderen in Belgium on Tuesday, winning a three-way sprint to the line in this time-honored, 184.2 km Classics race in 3:57:14.

He beat Belgian favorites Wout van Aert and Tiesj Benoot at the finish, all receiving the same time, with fellow American – and defending champion – Matteo Jorgenson fourth, five seconds behind. Powless was third in the race in 2023, and Benoot was second in 2022. Powless scored his second career win in a UCI World Tour race.

The women’s race, at 128.5 km, was a runaway for Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini, who won in 3:12:49, 29 seconds up on Lotte Kopecky (BEL).

● Equestrian ● At the 14th FEI Sports Forum, in Lausanne (SUI), the question of using horses in sport was highlighted, with British Professor Madeleine Campbell of Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), a specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law, positing a consensus view of the FEI’s new Equine Welfare Advisory Group:

“Our belief is that the use of horses in sport is ethical provided certain key principles are fulfilled.

“The guiding principles to which our group will be working will be to ensure that negative welfare effects are minimised, positive welfare effects are maximised, avoidable and unnecessary risks to horses are identified and mitigated, and the FEI regulations and the law are complied with.”

● Football ● During a whirlwind visit to Southern California, FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) spoke to dignitaries and reporters at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, offering thanks to those who helped to fight the January wildfires in nearby Altadena, the Pacific Palisades and elsewhere, including the L.A. City, Pasadena and L.A. County Fire Departments, Angeles National Forest Fire Chief and L.A. Sheriffs Department:

“On behalf of FIFA and on behalf of the global football – or global soccer – community, I would like to, of course, give my and our sincere thanks and appreciation to all those who have operated, all those, all you and all of your colleagues who operated to save lives, to help people to fight one of the worst disasters of the last decades. Lives were lost and our prayers, of course, go with the families of those who have lost their lives.

“Many people have lost everything they have, but yet you were here. You were here to give hope and relief to people, and a lot of the activities were starting exactly from this place, and that’s why I thought, and we thought at FIFA, that it would be appropriate to recognise the work of the first responders, and also to award 30,000 tickets of the FIFA Club World Cup matches here in Pasadena to all first responders.”

● Ski Jumping ● The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) has lifted the suspensions of the five Norwegian jumpers involved in the jump-suit modification incident at the Nordic Skiing World Championships in Trondheim (NOR) in March:

“The athletes’ provisional suspension was necessary to safeguard competition integrity. This requirement no longer applies after the end of the competition season 2024/2025. Marius Lindvik, Johann Andre Forfang, Robin Pedersen, Kristoffer Sundal, and Robert Johansson will therefore be allowed to engage in training sessions or any other activities organized by the Norwegian Ski Association or other National Ski Associations with immediate effect. The provisional suspension of three officials from Norway’s Men’s Ski Jumping team remains in place.”

However, investigations into the incidents continue.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LOS ANGELES 2028: LA28 annual report shows $303 million in total losses, but the money is starting to come in (really, it is)

By
Rich Perelman
-
Questions for equestrian for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ ANALYSIS & OBSERVATIONS ≡

If you have a tall glass sitting on a table, about to get filled, are you worried about the glass currently being empty, or looking forward to when it is full?

That’s a question that could also be asked after reading the 157-page annual report from the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee, submitted to the City of Los Angeles on 31 March and posted to the City’s Web site on 1 April.

The report begins with the assurance that “LA28 is on track to deliver an amazing Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028,” and goes on to explain the many changes which took place in 2024, including the hiring of former Lt. General Reynold Hoover as the new chief executive last June.

In terms of financial performance, the LA28 financial statements for 2023 were included, showing another annual loss, this time of $74.47 million for a cumulative loss of $307.53 million since inception.

LA28 showed $82.18 million in revenue, with $156.65 million in expenses, led by “costs of revenue” of $67.28 million (commissions and contracted early payments) and personnel costs of $40.04 million.

However, assets ballooned from $94.37 million at the end of 2022 to $224.31 million at the end of 2023. Cash and cash equivalents increased from $65.43 million to $102.23 million, even with the total deficit of $307.53 million.

How does all that work out? From the notes to the financial statements, here’s the key:

“Contract Liabilities include revenue received in advance of fulfilling the associated performance obligations, such as the delivery of sponsorship rights, which the Organization has deferred.”

So, on page 14 of the statements, there is a listing of licensing, sponsorship, hospitality and other contracted revenue which has been received (!) but against which no delivery of goods or services has been made, so they are a “liability” for now.

That total is $473.53 million through the end of 2023, with $106.35 million shown as “current” liabilities and the remaining $367.19 million as “non-current.” Those “liabilities” are much more than the $307.53 million cumulative loss shown as of the end of 2023, so – in fact – LA28 is beginning to accumulate some of the billions of dollars it will need on the road to the Games.

There was more good news in the LA28 commentary at the front of the report, listing revenues on a cash basis:

● $361.2 million from 2017-22
● $179.2 million in 2023
● $487.0 million in 2024

Yowsah! That 2024 figure is good news, with funding from sponsorships, hospitality guarantees, licensing and the IOC contribution. So, the money is starting to flow.

At the same time, this annual report is significant in that a new, overall budget was shown, updated for the first time since 2019, and it shows an increase from $6.882 billion to $7.149 billion, or an increase of 3.9%. Comparing the 2024 budget to 2019:

Revenue: $7.149.4 billion
● $948.0 million from IOC TV sales (+$100.0 million vs. 2019)
● $437.0 million from IOC sponsorships (same; no new mobility sponsor)
● $2.5173 billion from domestic sponsorships (-$0.4 million)
● $2.4978 billion from tickets and hospitality (+$569.0 million)
● $344.0 million from licensing and merchandise (+$39.1 million)
● $405.3 million in other revenues (-$192.5 million)

Expense: $7.149.4 billion
● $1.4281 billion on venue infrastructure (-$356 million vs. 2019)
● $1.3290 billion on sports-Games operations (+100.3 million)
● $829.8 million on technology (+$203.3 million)
● $1.0207 million on human resources (+107.3 million)
● $252.1 million on ceremonies (+7.1 million)
● $355.5 million on communications/marketing/look (-$41.8 million)
● $564.7 million on corporate admin & legacy (-$22.4 million)
● $756.0 million on other expenses (-$50.7 million)
● $613.5 million for contingency (-$2.4 million)

For those asking about the impact of inflation from 2019 to 2024, the U.S. Consumer Price Index was at 255.657 as the averaged 2019 index figure and 313.689 for 2024 as a whole, an increase of 22.7%. So the 3.9% increase for LA28 hardly seems out of line.

LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman has said multiple times that the organizing committee has contracted revenues of $4.6 billion already in hand and expects – with sponsorship sales picking up – to be at $5.1 billion or more by the end of 2025, about 71.3% of the new budget target of $7.149 billion, with 2 1/2 years to go.

Observed: That the money is coming in much more strongly in 2024 is a very good sign indeed that LA28 is turning the corner financially. It had a small employee count at the end of 2023 – just 157 – but is adding staff quickly and now with more than 250 on hand, and moving to new offices at the eastern end of downtown Los Angeles in mid-year.

The deficit on paper is huge, but the statement details show that the cash is starting to come in. As was the case with Paris for 2024, being careful on spending and realizing the enormous ticket sales potential, budgeted at $2.5 billion, is going to be the key to financial success.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

ATHLETICS: USA Track & Field cancels L.A. Grand Prix, scheduled for 7-8 June, with Grand Slam Track meet coming later

By
Rich Perelman
-
The L.A. Grand Prix crowd on Saturday, 27 May 2023, at UCLA's Drake Stadium (TSX photo by Alan Mazursky)

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ INTEL REPORT ≡

A close look at the World Athletics Continental Tour schedule this week revealed that the two–year experiment by USA Track & Field with a high-profile, nationally-televised meet in Los Angeles, is over, at least for now.

The third edition of the Los Angeles Grand Prix, at UCLA’s Drake Stadium, was scheduled for 7-8 June 2025, but has been canceled.

The meet disappeared from the World Athletics schedule and the USATF Web site events listing and the cancellation has been confirmed by others.

Grand Slam Track announced that it will hold its fourth and final “Slam” of its inaugural season at Drake Stadium from 27-29 June, so there will be a major track & field meet in Los Angeles – and at UCLA – this year.

The L.A. Grand Prix was announced with considerable fanfare in 2023, held as a two-day event on 26-27 May, with the USATF Distance Classic run on Friday evening, and then the Grand Prix on Saturday. The 2023 meet was marked by a brilliant world record in the men’s shot by American Ryan Crouser at 23.56 m (77-3 3/4) and world-leading marks in the men’s 1,500 m, vault and women’s 400 m, 1,500 m, 100 m hurdles and women’s shot.

In 2024, the meet was moved up to 17-18 May, and had world leaders from Rai Benjamin of the U.S. in the men’s 400 m hurdles and Halimah Nakaayi (UGA) in the women’s 800 m. The Distance Classic had a world-leading 12.51.60 men’s 5,000 from Ethiopian star Selemon Barega.

Both meets had modest attendance, but poor ticket sales. The 2023 meet had about 4,500 in the 11,142-seat stadium on Saturday and that improved to between 5,500-6,000 in 2024. But in both cases, the number of paid admissions was less than 3,000.

Southern California-based Internet Brands (WebMD, CarsDirect and many others) was the primary sponsor of the meet in both years. And both meets lost money.

For 2025, no replacement for the USATF Distance Classic – which has been held for years in the Los Angeles area – has been announced by the federation. However, Sound Running, the folks behind the very-much-appreciated “The TEN” in San Juan Capistrano, will have the seventh edition of its “Track Fest” at Occidental College on 24 May, dedicated to distance events. It’s a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver-level meeting.

Observed: All of this demonstrates once again the difficult market which is Los Angeles. There is heavy interest in sports, but effectively reaching such a sprawling metropolis with a one-time event is a real challenge and the 2028 Olympic Games is – for today’s sports consumer – a long time away.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LOS ANGELES 2028: City Council, McOsker picks fight with LA28 organizers over sailing in San Pedro

By
Rich Perelman
-
Los Angeles City Council member Tim McOsker, speaking at the 28 March 2025 Council meeting (Photo: L.A. City Council video screen shot).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ NO SMOOTH SAILING ≡

Last Friday, the Los Angeles City Council approved, 14-0, a motion to approve the movement of multiple sports and venues for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in concurrence with the request from the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee.

The approval was made including three amendments, for an economic impact study, clarifying events to be held at the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, and a third as a condition of approval:

“That the Venue Plan for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LA28) be amended to change the location of Sailing from the Long Beach Pier at Long Beach to the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro.”

The motion was made by 15th District Council member Tim McOsker, which includes San Pedro, who gave a boisterous, dramatic, emotional pitch to his fellow Council members which included in part:

“The winds are better and more consistent in San Pedro. …

“When LA28 came to us – came to us – and said we want to analyze it [San Pedro vs. Long Beach], we were able to analyze what it would be for the athlete: better wind and spectators.

“What will it be for safety and security? I guarantee you that San Pedro will be the safest in the history of the Olympics, given our capacities. What will it be for finances? You will hear from these guys, who will tell you, ‘oh, a new site, we’ll have to spend $10 million,’ with absolutely no math. When I came up in school, the nuns told me, show your math, show your work.

“We’ve seen nothing, absolutely nothing. But I will tell you, selling tickets to a number of maybe 10,000, or selling tickets to the number of zero, has a mathematical and financial difference. And it’s not going to be borne by Long Beach. It’s going to be borne by us.

“They will say, ‘oh, this is an Olympics where we have so many more events in Los Angeles than we had in ‘84.’ I don’t care. That’s your arguing point, that’s not my arguing point.

“My point is that moving sailing to San Pedro is better for the athlete, is better for the sport of sailing, it’s better for safety and security, it’s better for the viewer, and it’s better for Los Angles, it’s better for us financially.

“When they say it’s been studied and studied and studied, it’s been studied, show your math. Show us. So what I’m asking you today, is vote yes on this amendment. It says yes, we will approve your venue plan.

“I’m not going to question whether we should go to Oklahoma City for softball, but I do question what is obviously a mistake.

“And instead of some back room where a couple of bros making this decision somewhere, let’s do something for the sport, let’s do something for the Olympic Movement, let’s do something for Los Angeles, and most importantly, let’s do something for the spectator, that will be nobody in the other venue and thousands of people in this venue.”

His amendment passed by 12-2 and was incorporated into the overall motion, which passed by 14-0.

But on Tuesday, McOsker was back with a new motion which noted, “Subsequent to the Council’s action, LA28 issued a press release with no reference to the Council’s condition of approval relating to the sailing venue.”

And the motion:

“I THEREFORE MOVE that the City Council instruct the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA),
with the assistance of the Office of the City Attorney, City Administrative Officer (CAO), and relevant departments, to report back in 7 days on:

“MOTION

“● Whether LA28 has accepted the condition of approval for the LA28 Venue Plan;

“● The City’s interpretation of the phrase: “shall not to be unreasonably withheld,
conditioned, or delayed”, as it applies to the City’s role in approving changes to the LA28 Venue Plan;

“● The City’s authority and legal standing in resolving disputes arising from financial,
operational, or compliance-related issues connected to the LA28 Games;

“● The process for resolving disputes involving third-party vendors, contractors, or
governmental agencies engaged in LA28-related activities;

“● Whether the City has established or should establish a dedicated conflict resolution body or designated liaison for LA28-related matters;

“● Options for mediation, arbitration, or litigation in the event of unresolved disputes,
including the extent to which LA28 or IOC agreements supersede local dispute resolution protocols;

“● Best practices from other Olympic or large-scale event host cities regarding dispute resolution and legal risk mitigation; and

“● Recommendations for strengthening transparency, accountability, and City oversight in all future LA28-related dispute resolution proceedings.”

The motion was sent on to the City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, chaired by City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who was one of the two ‘no’ votes against McOsker’s motion about moving sailing to San Pedro.

The LA28 organizers already have an agreement with the City of Long Beach from May 2024 for use of the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier and surrounding areas for sailing in 2028.

And the LA28-City of Los Angeles Games Agreement of November 2021 includes a detailed dispute-resolution protocol, using arbitration.

As McOsker’s motion is now routed to the Ad Hoc Committee, expected to meet sometime later this month, this tug-of-war is going to go on for a while, and may end up involving World Sailing – the International Federation for the sport – and even perhaps the International Olympic Committee, which has final say on all of the venues used for the 2028 Games.

LA28 has posted no comment as yet.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LANE ONE: Is the Queensland government trying to kill the IOC’s treasured Olympic Agenda 2020 and 2020+5 in Brisbane for 2032?

By
Rich Perelman
-
Rendering of the to-be-built new stadium for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in Victoria Park (Image: Queensland government).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ BRISBANE 2032 ≡

Faced with mounting disinterest in the Olympic Games when he took over as head of the International Olympic Committee in 2013, Germany’s Thomas Bach immediately embarked on a reform program called Olympic Agenda 2020.

It was pushed through in 2014 and immediately changed the calculus of how bids were made for the Olympic and Winter Games:

“The IOC to consider as positive aspects for a bid: the maximum use of existing facilities and the use of temporary and demountable venues where no long-term venue legacy need exists or can be justified.”

And the follow-up Olympic Agenda 2020+5 underlined the importance of this stance:

“Sustainability was one of the three pillars of Olympic Agenda 2020. It was embedded across a number of recommendations, including those pertaining to candidatures.

“The key messages were heard, and the result has been significant changes in shaping future editions of the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games of Paris 2024, Milano Cortina 2026 and Los Angeles 2028 are the first to truly embrace and reflect this new strategic direction:

“1) No new venues are needed, and the use of temporary venues is encouraged;

“2) Sport can take place outside of the Host city, where appropriate, and;

“3) From the candidature onwards, the Olympic Games are based first and foremost on long-term sustainability, including from an economic standpoint.”

Last week, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli wrecked his campaign promise not to build new stadia and announced his “Delivering 2032 and Beyond” program, using the previously agreed-on A$7.1 billion in funding by the national and Queensland governments (A$1 = $0.63 U.S.), declaring:

“The 2032 Games is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver for Queensland for the decades to come.”

So, four completely new venues were announced:

● New Brisbane Stadium in Victoria Park
● New Logan Indoor Sports Centre
● New Moreton Bay Indoor Sports Centre
● New Redland Whitewater Canoeing Centre

In addition, Olympic Villages – to be turned into housing after the 2032 Games – are to be built in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast, and a new Gold Coast Arena will be built by that city for its long-term use.

A raft of renovations of existing facilities are also part of the plan, some severe and costly and some not as difficult:

● National Aquatic Centre
● Brisbane Showgrounds
● Queensland Tennis Centre
● Sunshine Coast Stadium
● Gold Coast Hockey Centre
● Brisbane Int’l Shooting Centre
● Barlow Park in Cairns
● Sunshine Coast Mountain Bike Centre
● Anna Meares Velodrome and BMX Centre
● Rockingham rowing facility
● Toowoomba Showgrounds

The outstanding feature of the plan is the new stadium, slated for 63,000 seats in the currently undeveloped Victoria Park area in Brisbane. The independent review committee which performed a high-profile, 100-day review recommended this option, but said that funding should be increased to A$8.791 billion:

● A$3.785 billion: new stadium (43.1%)
● A$2.385 billion: new arena (27.1%)
● A$2.621 billion: “minor venues” (29.8%)

That was unacceptable, even to Crisafulli and his government, so the new arena was torpedoed, with hopes that private developers might come forward and build it … but not with government subsidies.

Taking the arena out brings the bill down to A$6.406 billion, with some room left over for the inevitable changes needed.

This shows some restraint on the part of the Queensland government, and re-shapes the project into a series of choices rather than a “blow-out” – as Australians like to say – on the costs.

There is another factor in play and it is not to be underestimated. When Sydney put on its excellent 2000 Olympic Games, it built a showcase monument in the imposing, 100,000-seat Stadium Australia. It had its post-Olympic blues period, but is now known as Accor Stadium and was the backdrop for the spectacular 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, where all five matches drew capacity houses of 75,784.

Queensland knows that it needs a better facility than the current Brisbane Cricket Ground – the Gabba – to compete in the future with its Australian Football League and cricket events. It could have revamped the Gabba, but the political will was not there to undertake the work quickly and Crisafulli says there isn’t time to do it now.

But now, Queensland will have its answer to Stadium Australia in New South Wales, and the famed 100,024-seat Melbourne Cricket Ground in Victoria, site of the 1956 Olympic Games.

By Olympic Agenda 2020 and 2020+5 standards, the new Brisbane 2032 plan does not compare on sustainability grounds with Paris 2024 – with two new venues – or Los Angeles 2028, which is building no new permanent venues. And the Winter Games are emphasizing sustainability, in 2026 at Milan and Cortina, in 2030 in the French Alps and another no-build American Games in Salt Lake City in 2034.

The quicksand for the IOC and new President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) is that the building program in Queensland is taken as a signal to build and build and build by potential future hosts such as India, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, among others. The cost controls brought in by Bach’s Olympic Agenda 2020 and 2020+5 are, without doubt, endangered.

Along with questions of gender eligibility, Russia, sponsorship, new forms of media, more power for IOC members and others, the issues of gigantism – even if reasonably responsibly played by the Queensland government for 2032 in staying within agreed cost parameters – is now also on Coventry’s plate.

Rich Perelman
Editor

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: Banka unopposed for WADA Presidency; IBSF delays on Russia, waiting on Coventry; awards for Ilia Malinin and his parents!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Ilia Malinin and his parents both won seasonal honors at the ISU Figure Skating Awards! (Images: ISU).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● World Anti-Doping Agency ● As expected, the World Anti-Doping Agency announced Monday that no candidates lined up to run against incumbents Witold Banka (POL) for President or Yang Yang (CHN) for Vice President.

They will thus be elected for a third and final three-year term – 2026 to 2028 – on 29 May 2025 at an online meeting of the WADA Foundation Board meeting.

● Russia ● Interesting move by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) on Saturday (29th), at its Congress, delaying any consideration of whether to return Russian and Belarusian athletes to competition in time for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina (ITA).

Instead, a decision will not be taken until September, timing which suggests strongly that the federation wants to see what new IOC President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) will do, after she takes over on 24 June.

Russian national Skeleton coach Denis Alimov told the TASS news agency:

“Nevertheless, everyone will train to the fullest, we have a clear plan for preparing for the Olympic season, which will be fully implemented. But, of course, we would like to have a better understanding of what to prepare for. It will be quite difficult to train all summer and not know what competitions await us in the winter.”

The IBSF will be among many IFs who will wait for the new IOC President to declare her stance.

● Athletics ● Some more world-leading performances over the weekend, starting with a startling 48.94 women’s 400 m win for Bahrain’s 2019 World Champion and Paris Olympic runner-up, Salwa Eid Naser, at a meet in Bayaguana (DOM). It’s her third-fastest time ever, and only 14 others have ever run as fast! The time is the only women’s sub-49 ever run in March, or anytime before 27 May, essentially a “world record” for January through May.

Also at the top of the world lists now is American Curtis Thompson, who got a lifetime best of 87.76 m (287-11) to win the men’s javelin, moving him to no. 3 all-time U.S.! Equaling the world lead in the women’s 400 m hurdles was the amazing Rachel Glenn – in 54.86 – who finished fifth at the Olympic Trials in this event, as well as making the Paris team in the high jump, placing second at the Trials.

Brynn King of Roberts Wesleyan won the women’s vault with an outdoor world leader of 4.75 m (15-7); that moves her into a tie for ninth all-time U.S.

U.S. teams got world leads in the men’s 4×400 m in 3:02.53, with Jevon O’Bryant, Lance Lang, Kennedy Lightner, and Bryce Deadmon on anchor and the women’s 4×100 m in 41.74, with Tamari Davis, Gabby Thomas, Jenna Prandini and Anavia Battle.

Shawnti Jackson, the Arkansas junior who won the 2022 World Junior women’s 100 m bronze, was given a public warning by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency “for failing to obtain a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) prior to her use of an iron (ferumoxytol) infusion she received under the care of a physician for a diagnosed medical condition.”

She had four such infusions over the course of a year from September 2023 to September 2024; the USADA noted:

“Although no prohibited substances were administered, the treatment constituted a violation because it was over the permitted volume threshold and was not received during a hospital treatment, surgical procedure, or clinical diagnostic investigation. Jackson has since applied for and been granted a TUE to authorize future use of this treatment in sport.”

● Figure Skating ● The U.S. continued its winning ways at the ISU World Championships in Boston with two more “Skater of the Year” awards at the ISU Figure Skating Awards that followed on Sunday evening.

Two U.S. World Champions – Ilia Malinin (men’s Singles) and Madison Chock and Evan Bates (Ice Dance) – were honored as Skater and Skaters of the Year, respectively.

Malinin also won for Most Entertaining Program; Spain’s Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck (Ice Dance) won for Best Costume and Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitri Chigirev (UZB: Pairs) won for Best Newcomers.

Canadian Shae-Lynn Bourne was saluted as Best Choreographer, and Russian-born Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov – who both competed for Uzbekistan before moving to Virginia – received the Best Coach award. They are the parents of Ilia Malinin.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to 1984 Olympic champion Scott Hamilton (USA).

● Freestyle Skiing ● At the U.S. national championships for Moguls and Dual Moguls at Palisades Tahoe, California, Dylan Marcellini took the men’s Moguls title on Saturday at 86.20 over Riley Hughes (80.14), and then won the Dual Moguls on Sunday, defeating Gavin Tobey in the final, 25-18.

Kylie Kariotis took the women’s Moguls win, scoring 79.28 to 78.80 for Alli Macuga, but Macuga returned the favor with the Dual Moguls win, 25-10.

● Swimming ● American swim star Bella Sims, 19, a Tokyo Olympic 4×200 m Freestyle silver medalist, received and “agreed to a finding of No Fault after testing positive for the prohibited substance hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ).”

The International Testing Agency explained that she tested positive from an out-of-competition sample from 29 September 2024. However:

“the athlete was able to establish that the presence of HCTZ in her sample was caused by the intake of an anti-inflammatory prescription medication, which was confirmed to be contaminated with the banned diuretic. This permitted medication did not list HCTZ on its label, or any other prohibited substances.”

Thus, the finding of no fault or negligence, and no sanction.

Hungarian star Hubert Kos, a junior at Texas, was the star of last week’s NCAA men’s Division I Swimming & Diving Championships at Federal Way, Washington.

Kos was the Olympic 200 m Backstroke gold medalist in Paris, but stormed to three NCAA wins, taking the 100-yard Back in a collegiate record 43.20, then the 200-yard Back in another collegiate record of 1:34.21. He also picked up a third individual win, in the 200-yard Medley.

Canadian Josh Liendo, the Paris 100 m Butterfly runner-up, was a double winner for Florida, taking the 100-yard Freestyle in 39.99 and winning the 100-yard Fly. The other double winner in individual events was Texas’ Rex Maurer (USA), who won the 500-yard Free and the 500-yard Medley, plus second in the 1,650-yard Free.

Georgia’s Luca Urlando, a Paris Olympian for the U.S., got the collegiate record in the 200-yard Fly, in 1:36.43, and Texas’ Luke Hobson (USA) won the 200-yard Free in a collegiate record of 1:28.33.

Texas took the team title, scoring 490 points for coach Bob Bowman – who won at Arizona State the year before – over California (471) and Indiana (459).

● Volleyball ● A significant move for Volleyball World, the commercial arm of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and its financial investor, CVC Capital Partners, as Canadian Finn Taylor – the enterprise’s first chief executive – has decided to leave after four highly-successful years at the head of the new entity.

Taylor will leave on 25 April, and said, “This decision comes with a mix of emotions, but I firmly believe that we have built something extraordinary – something far beyond what was initially envisioned. Having successfully delivered on my mandate, I feel the time is right to pass the baton to a new leader who will continue to drive the vision forward and take Volleyball World to even greater heights.”

Under his leadership, the Volleyball Nations League jumped in popularity and revenue, and the direct-to-consumer Volleyball TV (VBTV) project brought in more than 1.8 million registered fans worldwide.

Martyn Phillips, Vice Chairman of the Board of Volleyball World, will be the Interim CEO during the search for a new chief executive.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

ATHLETICS: Grand Slam Track announces 10 scratches for first meet in Kingston on Friday

By
Rich Perelman
-
The newly resurfaced track – mostly paid for by Grand Slam Track – at Kingston’s National Stadium in Jamaica (Grand Slam Track video screen shot).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK ≡

The much-appreciated concept of the Grand Slam Track project is that the competing athletes are contracted to appear, reducing the number of no-shows on meet day.

But injuries and other problems get in the way and on Monday, Grand Slam Track announced 10 scratches from the 96-athlete fields (10.4%), and their replacements:

Men’s Long Sprints:
● Quincy Hall (USA) ~ replaced by Zandrion Barnes (JAM)

Men’s Long Distance:
● Dominic Lobalu (SUI) ~ replaced by Charles Philibert-Thiboutot (CAN)

Men’s Short Hurdles:
● Hansle Parchment (JAM) ~ replaced by Omar McLeod (JAM)
● Cameron Murray (USA) ~ replaced by Eric Edwards Jr. (USA)

Men’s Long Hurdles:
● Trevor Bassitt (USA) ~ replaced by Assinie Wilson (JAM)

Women’s Short Distance:
● Nelly Chepchirchir (KEN) ~ replaced by Sage Hurta-Klecker (USA)

Women’s Short Hurdles:
● Favour Ofili (NGR) ~ replaced by Jodean Williams (JAM)
● Alia Armstrong (USA) ~ replaced by Amber Hughes (USA)
● Grace Stark (USA) ~ replaced by Nia Ali (USA)

Women’s Long Hurdles:
● Shamier Little (USA) ~ replaced by Cassandra Tate (USA)

Hall was the Paris Olympic gold medalist at 400 m is the biggest loss. In some cases, the replacements are just as interesting, such as Rio 2016 Olympic hurdles champ McLeod (JAM) for Tokyo 2020 winner Parchment (JAM), or Paris Olympic finalist Stark in the women’s short hurdles, replaced by two-time World Indoor Champion Ali, both from the U.S. (The previously-announced fields are here.)

Grand Slam Track Senior Director of Racing Kyle Merber (USA) said:

“While injuries and unexpected circumstances are out of our control, we’ve chosen to be transparent with fans rather than keep them in the dark. We are excited that there has been so much interest from athletes to compete in the initial Grand Slam Track event that we have been able to fill the open lanes with such high quality competitors who will contend for wins.”

The inaugural meet in Kingston – where Grand Slam Track underwrote most of the cost of a resurfaced track for the meet in green, gold and black, Jamaica’s national colors – comes Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

● 4 April (Fri.): 6 p.m. Eastern on Peacock
● 5 April (Sat.): 5 p.m. Eastern on The CW
● 6 April (Sun.): 3 p.m. Eastern on The CW

The following Slams will be on 2-4 May in Miramar, Florida; 30 May-1 June at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, and 27-29 June at UCLA’s Drake Stadium in Los Angeles.

The circuit has a $12.6 million prize pool across all four Slams, with each of the 12 event groups paying out $100,000-50,000-30,000-25,000-20,000-15,000-12,500-10,000 for places 1-8 for the two-race group standings in each meet.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: Milan Cortina sliding track passes tests; FISU checks on WUG 2029 in North Carolina; ski jump world record: almost 835 feet!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Olympic discus champion Valarie Allman of the U.S. (Photo: Christel Saneh for Diamond League AG).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2032: Brisbane ● More questions are being raised about venues for the 2032 Olympic Games, including the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton, with questions about the site as a crocodile habitat, but also concerns about the current.

Flatwater canoeing and rowing need calm water for competitions, and Reuters reporting a Rowing Australia statement that included:

“Fairness and safety are paramount to any venue hosting a regatta of this magnitude and importance, with any river current that could impact results or favour certain lanes not permissible under the rules.”

The International Canoe Federation said, “It has come as a surprise to both the ICF and Paddle Australia that Rockhampton has been chosen considering the extensive examinations that had been conducted on other potential venues.”

Oh boy.

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Positive reports from the initial tests of the new sliding track in Cortina d’Ampezzo for the 2026 Winter Games, with International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation President Ivo Ferriani (ITA) in full approval:

“It is just fantastic to see our track for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games taking such good shape. We all know that the timeframe for the re-construction was very tight and ambitious, but SiMiCo has done an amazing job. We have successfully held the test runs for the pre-homologation which are part of the homologation process. Minor adaptions still need to be done and the main focus must remain on the finalization of the construction works.

“The feedback we received from our technical experts and the coaches and athletes on site this week, has been very positive. We are thrilled about this outcome and the entire bobsleigh and skeleton community cannot wait to come back here for our World Cup in November, further training, and then of course the pinnacle of all competition, the Olympic Games.”

International Luge Federation (FIL) Secretary General Dwight Bell of the U.S. added, “Having attended the conclusion of the pre-homologation on site in Cortina, we are very satisfied that the process was even better than we had expected.”

Construction of the support facilities is expected to be finished in early November, ahead of the IBSF World Cup.

● World University Games 2029: North Carolina ● “We had the opportunity to view a number of outstanding venues, as well as dining and dorms in one of the FISU Games Villages. It was clear that North Carolina has what it takes to give us full confidence in the venues and accommodations departments.

“Budgets and finances are key to any major event and NC USA has early support from the State and several significant companies and organisations, and good ways to go towards meeting its financial goals for the event. We feel good about where things stand at this point, while realising much hard work over the next four and quarter years to the Games lies ahead.”

That’s from International University Sports Federation (FISU) Secretary General Matthias Remund (SUI), after he, FISU President Leonz Eder (AUT) and other officials completed a multi-day visit to the site of the 2029 WUG, including meeting North Carolina Governor Josh Stein and taking in two first-round NCAA men’s Basketball Tournament games at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.

● Commonwealth Games ● “We have sent an expression of interest and we are hopeful the Commonwealth Games Federation will consider our proposal.”

That’s from Indian Olympic Association President P.T. Usha, speaking with Reuters on Friday about an Indian candidature for the 2030 Commonwealth Games, celebrating the centennial of the 1930 British Empire Games.

India hosted the event in New Delhi in 2010, with severe issues with organization and corruption, but the country is all in to try to host the 2036 Olympic Games. The Commonwealth Games has suffered a loss of profile in recent years and had the state of Victoria, Australia give back the 2026 edition, finally placed – but significantly scaled down – in Glasgow (SCO).

● International Olympic Committee ● Former IOC member and long-time head of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), Mexican business tycoon Olegario Vazquez Rana passed away on Friday (28th) in Mexico City. He was 89.

He had vast interests in tourism, medicine, finance and media, but was also deeply devoted to shooting. A four-time Olympian in 1964-68-72-76, he became President of the ISSF from 1980 to 2018 and was an IOC member from 1995 to 2015.

● Athletics ● USA Track & Field announced Darryl Woodson as the Team USATF Relay coach “for all international teams.” Woodson has been a six-time U.S. national teams coach and was an assistant coach with the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

USATF Chief of High Performance Operations Robert Chapman crystalized Woodson’s responsibility: “USATF has an ambitious target of five gold medals in the relay events at LA28. Anything less would be selling our athletes, coaches, and country short.”

While the men’s and women’s 4×400 m teams have been dominant, the men’s 4×100 m Olympic squads haven’t won a medal since 2004 and haven’t won the final since 2000. The U.S. women’s 4×100 has won Olympic medals in four straight Games (3-1-0).

● Figure Skating ● There was a protocol faux pas during the ISU Worlds in Boston, during the men’s Short Program for Chinese Taipei’s Yu-hsiang Li last Thursday. The flag of Taiwan was shown on the screen behind him instead of the agreed-to Chinese Taipei emblem which was a negotiated settlement between the island, the International Olympic Committee and China in the 1970s. A later public address announcement explained:

“The ISU would like to sincerely apologise for the display of the incorrect flag for Chinese Taipei during the ISU World Figure Skating Championships event today.

“We fully understand the sensitivity of this mistake and deeply regret any offence or confusion this may have caused.”

● Football ● John Herdman (GBR), the Canadian men’s and women’s team coach between 2011-23, who apparently began the tactic of using drones to spy on another team’s practices, received a small sanction from Canada Soccer. In a statement, the federation said Friday:

“Late this afternoon, the Independent Disciplinary Committee released its decision on the allegations of misconduct by John Herdman. The independent committee informed the parties that Mr. Herdman was found to have committed misconduct under the Canada Soccer Disciplinary Code.

“The committee determined the appropriate sanction was a letter of admonishment and informed the parties that their decision was final and binding. Canada Soccer is still analyzing the committee’s decision.”

Herdman said in a statement, “I acknowledge the disciplinary committee’s decision, which concluded with an admonishment, without suspension or fine, and brings this matter to a close.”

≡ RESULTS ≡

● Athletics ● Many of the performances at the annual Texas Relays were (quite) wind-aided, but wind counts in the discus and there were a couple of monster early-season throws.

Olympic champion Valarie Allman of the U.S. sent the platter out to 66.72 m (218-11) to win the women’s competition, and Oklahoma junior Ralford Mullings (JAM) – ninth in Paris – won the men’s disc at 69.13 m (226-10), his third-longest throw ever.

Absolutely amazing men’s 1,500 m at the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina, with the collegiate record falling to Villanova senior Liam Murphy in 3:33.02, just ahead of junior teammate Marco Langon (3:33.38) and Virginia junior Gary Martin (3:33.71)!

All three were under the prior best of 3:33.74 by Eliud Kipsang (KEN) of Alabama from 2022! Murphy overtook Martin on the final straight, ran the last 400 in 54.18 and his last 800 m in 1:51.24!

Murphy had been fourth in the NCAA Indoor 3,000 m in mid-March and Langon was sixth in the 5,000 m, while Martin was the 3,000 m runner-up.

World-leading performances at The TEN in San Juan Capistrano, California, with Kenya’s Ishmael Kipkirui (New Mexico) taking over on the final lap to win in a collegiate record of 26:50.21, with a 55.81 last lap! Teammate Habtom Samuel (ERI) was second in 26:51.06 and then South Africa’s Adriaan Wildschutt (26:51.27). An amazing fourth was Ethiopian star Telahun Haile, who was late to the start and had to catch up with about a 90 m deficit; he ran 26:52.79 and had the lead at mid-race!

American Graham Blanks was fifth at 26:57.30, moving to no. 4 all-time U.S. (and getting a World Championships qualifying time); Ahmed Muhumed was seventh in 27:03.19 and is now no. 7 all-time U.S.

The women’s race was supposed to be an assault on the American Record, but Elise Cranny had to settle for a win in 30:36.56 for the no. 8 performance in U.S. history. She beat Weini Kelati (30:38.60), who got the no. 9 performance all-time U.S.

Lots of hype for the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne (AUS), with Paris Olympic 200 m champion Letsile Tebogo (BOT) trying the 400 m and new Australian sensation Gout Gout – 17 – in the 200 m. Both lost.

Lachlan Kennedy (AUS) won the men’s 200 m in 20.26 (wind +0.4 m/s), with Gout second in 20.30, while Botswana’s Bayapo Ndori won the 400 in 45.14, with Tebogo just behind in 45.26. Australian stars Cam Myers (3:34.98) and Ky Robinson (13:13.17) won the men’s 1,500 m and 5,000 m races.

Australia’s Claudia Hollingsworth won the women’s 1,500 m in 4:05.97, and Ethiopia’s Fantaye Belayneh took the 3,000 m in 8:34.30. American Jillian Shipee won the women’s hammer at 71.26 m (233-9).

● Beach Volleyball ● The first Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 of the season was in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, with the new Brazilian pairing of veteran stars Carol Salgado and Rebecca Cavalcante Silva (BRA) winning the final in straight sets over Americans Terese Cannon and Megan Craft, 21-13, 21-17.

In the all-American third-place match, top seeds Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher defeated Molly Shaw and Kelly Cheng, 21-16, 21-14.

Cuba’s fifth-seeded Noslen Diaz and Jorge Alayo won their first Beach Pro Tour gold with a 21-13, 24-22 victory over second-seeds Tomas Capogrosso and Nicolas Capogrosso (ARG).

Americans Chaim Schalk and James Shaw, the 19th seeds, won the bronze-medal match over Steven van de Velde and Alexander Brouwer (NED), 21-19, 21-16.

● Biathlon ● Bjorn Westervelt and Chloe Levins won two events each to highlight the U.S. national championships in Bozeman, Montana.

Jake Brown won the Sprint in 29:11.1 (1 penalty) with Westervelt second in 31:10.2 (0), but then Westervelt took over. He won the Mass Start in 34:36.5 (2) with Paul Schommer well back at 34:56.7 (2), and Westervelt won the Super Sprint finale in 22:49.4 (3) over Brown (23:09.8/5) and Schommer (23:19.9/3).

Levins took the Sprint at 24:07.7 (0) ahead of Joanne Reid (24.52/0/2) and Kelsey Dickinson (25.06.8/0), and the Super Sprint in 25:58.0 (4), comfortably ahead of Grace Castonguay (26:13.9/3) and Reid (31:15.0/3). In between. Dickinson won the Mass Start race in 30:45.9 (2), with Levins second in 30:59.8 (3) and Reid third (31:15.0/3).

● Cycling ● Slovenian star Primoz Roglic won his second Volta a Catalunya in Spain, taking the overall lead for good by winning Sunday’s seventh and final stage, a hilly, 88.2 km course in and around Barcelona.

Roglic came into the final day trailing Spain’s Juan Ayuso by just one second and took off with 21 km to go and got to the line first – by 14 seconds – over Laurens de Plus (BEL), with Ayuso in 34th place, 19 seconds behind.

So, Roglic – who also won the uphill-finishing fourth stage – finished at 24:46:21, with Ayuso at +0:28, then Enric Mas (ESP: +0:53) and Spain’s Mikel Landa (+0:54). Matthew Riccitello was the top American, in 11th (+2:00). Roglic previously won the 2023 edition.

Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel (NED), the 2023 World Road champ, defended his 2024 title at the 67th E3 Saxo Classic, in and around Harelbeke (BEL), attacking with 39 km left on the 208.8 km route on Friday (28th).

Van der Poel timed in 4:38:11, with Mads Pedersen (DEN: +1:05) second and Time Trial star Filippo Ganna (ITA: +2:04) in third. American Matteo Jorgenson finished ninth (+2:38).

On Sunday, the 87th edition of the famed Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields – this year, 250.3 km with eight separate cobblestone sections totaling 6.8 km – was a runaway for defending champ Pedersen, as the Dane took off with 56 km left and won by 49 seconds in 5:30:21. Belgian Tim Merlier was second (+0:49), ahead of Jonathan Milan (ITA: also +0:49). It was Pedersen’s third win in this race, also in 2020.

Dutch star Lorena Wiebes won her third straight UCI Women’s World Tour race with a final sprint to take the women’s 168.9 km Gent-Wevelgem race, defending her 2024 victory. She beat Italy’s Elisa Balsamo to the line for the second straight year, with both timed in 4:11:19. Charlotte Kool (NED) finished third, as the first 86 riders were given the same time. Amy Williams was the top American, in seventh.

● Fencing ● At the FIE Epee World Cup in Marrakech (MAR), Hungary’s Olympic bronze medalist Eszter Muhari took the women’s title by beating Aizanat Murtazaeva (RUS), 10-9. American Hadley Husisian took one of the bronze medals. The men’s final completed the Hungarian sweep as Gergely Siklosi, the 2019 World Champion, defeated Jakub Jurka (CZE) by 15-14 in the final. American Sam Imrek got one of the bronzes. Hungary won the men’s team final over Italy, 38-28.

France’s Sebastien Patrice won the men’s Sabre World Cup in Budapest (HUN), defeating Matyas Zabo (GER) in the final by 15-14. Patrice, 24, earned his third career World Cup gold, all within the past 10 months! Egypt won the team title over Hungary, 45-37, with the U.S. winning one of the bronze medals with Colin Heathcock, Antonio Heathcock, William Morrill and Mitchell Saron.

At the women’s Sabre World Cup in Cairo (EGY), Despina Georgiadou (GRE) took the title, winning over Sarah Noutcha (FRA) in the final, also by 15-14. It’s Georgiadou’s second career World Cup win. The French won the team final over Hungary, 45-32.

● Freestyle Skiing ● Canada’s Reece Howden won his fifth World Cup gold of the season at the Freestyle Ski Cross in Idre Fjall (SWE), taking the seasonal lead from Simone Derodedis (ITA), with Erik Mobaerg (SWE) third at the line in Saturday’s men’s race.

On Sunday, Howden was just as good, completing the weekend sweep, this time over Youri Duplessis Kergomard (FRA) and Deromedis and won the seasonal title with 1,038 points to 965 for Deromedis.

The women’s opener had Daniela Maier (GER) getting her first win since December, and her third of the season, ahead of Courtney Hoffos (CAN) and seasonal leader Fanny Smith (SUI).

Smith won on Sunday and wrapped up the seasonal title, over Hoffos, who finished the season with three straight silver medals. Fellow Swiss Talina Gantenbein finished third. Smith finished with 1,076 points and four wins in the final six races of the season, beating Maier (915).

● Rugby Sevens ● The fifth stop out of seven on the HSBC Sevens Series was in Hong Kong, but with familiar winners.

Argentina won its third straight men’s tournament, starting with a 3-0 pool record, then edging Ireland in the quarterfinals by 22-14, smashing Australia by 31-7 in its semi and winning the final in a defensive struggle over France, 12-7. The Australians edged Fiji, 22-21, in the third-place game.

Overall, the Argentines sit on top of the standings with 88 points, ahead of Fiji (76) and Spain (74). The U.S. is 12th (last), with 10 points.

In the women’s tournament, New Zealand, France and Australia went 3-0 in pool play, and the Kiwis and Aussies faced off in the final for the third time in five tournaments, this time with the Black Ferns scoring a 26-19 win. Canada beat France, 21-17, for third.

New Zealand (96) and Australia (88) top the women’s standings, with France a distant third (66) and then the U.S. (56).

● Ski Jumping ● The final competitions of the 2024-25 FIS World Cup were off the giant 240-m ski-flying hill in Planica (SLO), with local star Domen Prevc winning on Friday (28th) for his third World Cup gold of the season. He passed countryman Anze Lanisek on the second jump and scored 459.1 points to 454.8 for Lanisek, with Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN: 444.1) in third.

Sunday’s seasonal finale was the reverse, with Lanisek winning both jumps and scoring 482.1, ahead of Prevc (475.0) and German Andreas Wellinger (455.8). Tate Frantz was the top American finisher, in 21st.

There was some more drama, however, as Prevc set a world record of 254.5 m (834-11 1/2 feet!) on his second jump, breaking Austrian star Stefan Kraft’s mark of 253.5 m from March 2017. How far was this: two full American football fields and from the goal line to the opponent’s 22-yard line of a third field … all in one jump!

Austria’s Daniel Tschofenig, so strong earlier in the season – eight wins – took the seasonal title with 1,805 points, over countrymen Jan Hoerl (1,652) and three-time seasonal winner Kraft (1,290). Lanisek, hot late in the season, got up to fourth (1,056).

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

FREESTYLE SKIING & SNOWBOARD: Kim and Kuhn score U.S. golds as World Champs close in Switzerland; Japan led the medal table

By
Rich Perelman
-
Three-time World Champion and two-time Olympic snowboard Halfpipe champ Chloe Kim! (Photo: U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

The FIS Freestyle & Snowboard World Championships wrapped up in Engadin (SUI), with Japan topping the medal table with 17 (4-8-5), while the U.S. had 12 (4-4-4). Host Switzerland won nine medals and had the most golds with five (5-1-3).

To show the wild swings in these sports at the championship level, the 2023 Worlds had Austria with 13 medals and the Swiss with 10, with no nation scoring more than three golds. In 2021, Russia led with 14 total medals and six golds, followed by Canada with 11 (4-5-2).

The 12 U.S. medals is the most in a combined Worlds since 2019 – at home in Utah – when the Americans scored 14 total medals (5-3-6). Americans won 13 medals at the 2017 Worlds in Spain.

The Freestyle Big Air final saw two first-time Worlds medal winners in the event, with New Zealand’s Luca Harrington – the seasonal World Cup winner – taking the gold at 192.00, scoring 96.75 and 95.25 in his last two runs. Finland’s Elias Syrja, who didn’t win a World Cup medal this season, won silver at 184.25, with Birk Ruud – third in 2023 – taking bronze again at 183.00.

Americans Mac Forehand, defending champ Troy Podmilsak and Alex Hall finished 4-5-6 at 182.00, 177.25 and 174.25.

The women had three new Worlds medal winners, with seasonal World Cup champ Flora Tabanelli (age 17) winning the gold at 176.75, ahead of 2018 Olympic Slopestyle winner Sarah Hoefflin (SUI: 170.75) and another Finnish medalist, Anni Karava (167.75).

In the Aerials finals, defending champion Noe Roth (SUI) won the men’s final with a spectacular performance that scored 143.31 points, ahead of American Quinn Dehlinger (123.53) and fellow Swiss Pirmin Werner (107.12). Chris Lillis of the U.S. was seventh and Connor Curran was 12th.

It was a repeat of the 2023 Worlds, with Roth ahead of Dehlinger once again

The women’s Aerials final was the fourth-ever win by an American, with Kalia Kuhn taking her second gold of the Worlds – also in the Team Aerials with Dehlinger and Lillis – scoring 105.13 to beat 2022 Olympic champ Mengtao Xu (CHN: 99.16) and Australia’s two-time silver winner Danielle Scott (AUS: 96.93). Dani Loeb of the U.S. was 11th. Kuhn was the first U.S. winner since Ashley Caldwell in 2017.

The Halfpipe finals saw New Zealand’s 18-year-old Finley Melville Ives, who won one World Cup medal this season, take the Worlds gold, scoring 96.00, over Americans Nick Goepper (94.00) and Alex Ferreira (92.50). Goepper, a two-time Worlds bronze medalist in Slopestyle, won his first Halfpipe medal and Ferreira won his second straight bronze in the event.

Hunter Hess of the U.S. was fifth (89.75) and two-time Olympic champ David Wise was 11th (74.25).

Great Britain’s Zoe Atkin moved up from silver in 2023 to gold in 2025, scoring 93.50 on her second run to win over Fanghui Li (CHN: 93.00) and 2018 Olympic champ Cassie Sharpe (CAN: 88.00). Svea Irving was the top American, in fifth (83.25) and Katie Gray was 10th (52.25).

In Snowboard, the SnowCross final had 2022 Canadian Olympic runner-up Eliot Grondin taking his first Worlds gold, ahead of Loan Bozzolo (FRA) and 2022 Olympic winner Alessandro Hammerle (AUT) in the men’s final, while Italy’s 2018 Olympic champ Michela Moioli (ITA) won her fifth Worlds medal and first gold in the women’s final. She got to the line ahead of 2021 World Champion Charlotte Bankes and France’s Julia Pereira de Souza Mabileau.

In the Team SnowCross, Bozzolo and Mabileau took the title, ahead of Cameron Bolton and Mia Clift (AUS).

Japan nearly swept all the medals in the Big Air events, with 2023 Slopestyle runner-up Ryoma Kimata winning at 176.75, barely ahead of teammate and defending champ Taiga Hasegawa (173.50) and American Oliver Martin (171.75), who won his second bronze of the championships (also in Slopestyle).

It was a Japanese sweep in the women’s Big Air, as Kokomo Murase, the Beijing 2022 bronze winner, took the title at 162.50, beating Reira Iwabuchi (156.00) and Mari Fukada (153.25).

The Halfpipe finals had familiar winners, with a fourth Worlds gold for Scotty James (AUS: 95.00), beating Ruka Hirano (JPN: 92.25) and teammate and 2021 World Champion Yuto Totsuka (92.00). Americans Lucas Foster, Alessandro Barbieri, Chase Josey and Jason Wolfe finished 8-9-12-16.

American star (and two-time Worlds winner) Chloe Kim scored 93.50 on her first run and that was enough for the victory and her third Worlds gold, previously in 2019 and 2021. Sara Shimizu (JPN: was second at 90.75 for her first Worlds medal, and 2023 bronze winner Mitsuki Ono (JPN: 88.50) was third again. Americans Maddie Mastro (81.00) and Madeline Schaffrick (66.00) finished 6-11.

Kim will be looking for a third Olympic gold next year in Milan Cortina.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

FIGURE SKATING: Malinin, Liu, Chock & Bates all strike gold at ISU Worlds on home ice in Boston, first time ever with three winners!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Even American star Alysia Liu has a hard time believing she’s the 2025 women’s World Champion! (Photo: ISU).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ ISU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

It was a week to remember for U.S. skating at the International Skating Union’s World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, beginning with a remembrance of the horrific crash of American Eagle flight 5342 on 29 January with an Army helicopter that killed 67, including more than two dozen skaters, coaches, family and officials.

The performances that followed on the ice brought the crowds at the TD Garden to their feet again and again, and especially for the American skaters, who performed stunningly in the first Worlds on U.S. soil since 2016:

● The first new champion was Alysia Liu, still just 19, but who returned from a retirement at age 16 to emerge with her second Worlds medal and first world title.

She was brilliant in the Short Program on Wednesday, scoring a lifetime best of 74.58 to stand first, but with four more skaters within 4 1/2 points. In the Free Skate on Friday evening, U.S. champion Amber Glenn rebounded from a fall in the Short Program – and ninth place – to score 138.00 and move from ninth into the lead, at 205.65.

Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto, the three-time defending World Champion, also had a disappointing Short Program and was in fifth place. Her 146.95 Free Skate vaulted her into the lead with four skaters remaining with 217.98 points, an imposing total.

Fellow American Isabeau Levito, the 2024 Worlds runner-up, was third in the Short Program, but needed to be sensational to pass Sakamoto and take the lead. She was close to her seasonal best, at 136.51, for a total of 209.84, sitting second.

Japan’s Mone Chiba, second in the Short Program, was great again in the Free Skate, but could not match Sakamoto, and scored 141.80 to move into second, moving Levito down to third with only Liu remaining.

The task was clear: Liu needed a big score of 143.41 to win … and she delivered. With the crowd getting louder with each completed element, Liu set lifetime bests for the Free Skate (148/39) and her total at 222.97, to win the Worlds gold, the first by an American woman since Kimmie Meissner in 2006.

It’s the second-highest score in American history (under the current table); only Bradie Tennell scored more, at 225.64 at the World Team Trophy final in 2019. Said Liu afterwards:

“I have never regretted anything in my life. Every decision I’ve made, I’m so glad I did. It really brought me to this moment.

“That was the best performance I’ve laid down all season, even my practice programs have not been that good. I really thought if I did clean skates I’d be hopefully Top 10, definitely not first. This moment is so unreal, that’s the only word I can use to describe it. I still have to process it to be honest.”

● Two-time defending World Champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. left no doubt about a third straight Worlds gold by dominating the Ice Dance competition.

They led the Rhythm Dance opener, scoring a seasonal best of 90.18 to lead 2024 silver winners Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (CAN: 86.44) and Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (83.86).

There was no let-up in the Free Dance, with Chock and Bates winning that, scoring 131.88 for a season-best total of 222.06, the no. 12 performance in history. For Chock, 32, and Bates, 36, it was another amazing chapter in World Championships medal history that goes back to 2015:

● Gold: 2023, 2024, 2025
● Silver: 2015
● Bronze: 2016, 2022

That’s six medals in 10 editions! Said Chock:

“It means the world to us, honestly. This has been such a magical week. We had two incredible skates, I could not be more proud of Evan, and I’m so grateful to our coaching team.

“It’s certainly not easy to do this, and to chase your dreams year after year, and we’re so grateful and appreciative to everyone who has helped us along this journey and made this possible for us. This is a moment that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

Gilles and Poirier won the silver, with a second in the Free Dance (130.10) and a 216.54 total. Fear and Gibson won their first Worlds medal with a 207.11 total, ahead of Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (ITA: 206.46).

Americans Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko moved up from sixth in the Rhythm Dance to fifth overall (204.88) and Caroline Green and Michael Parsons finished ninth (192.47).

● Last to skate on Saturday was defending men’s champion Ilia Malinin of the U.S, already the leader following the Short Program at 110.41 over three-time silver winner Yuma Kagiyama (JPN: 107.09), with no one else close.

Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, the 2025 Four Continents winner, and no. 3 after the Short Program, got a lifetime best of 192.70 to total 287.47 and take the lead with Kagiyama and Malinin remaining.

Kagiyama was not at his best, suffered a fall and scored only 171.10 for a 278.19 total, standing behind Shaidorov, with the defending champion last on the ice.

Malinin only had to score 177.07 to repeat as World Champion, and he went way past it, winning the Free Skate at 208.15 – by almost 15 1/2 points – and scored 318.56, the no. 7 score in history and his second-best ever! His Free Skate score is no. 8 ever. He had the idea to try seven quad jumps in his program, and he started with a quad Flip, his famous quad Axel, quad Lutz and quad Loop, then added a quad Toe Loop and quad Salchow for a total of six.

Shaidorov was second at 278.19, the Kagiyama taking bronze at 278.19. Two-time Worlds fifth-placer Jason Brown, 30, – in his seventh Worlds – got a seasonal best of 180.68 in the Free Skate to take the lead at 265.40 after 13 of the 24 skaters, but teammate Andrew Torgashev fared poorly, scoring only 125.52 with two falls, and fading from eighth after the Short Program to 22nd overall.

Japan’s 2023 World Champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won the second Worlds gold in Pairs, leading after the Short Program at 76.57 and finishing second in the Free Skate at 143.22 for a total of 219.79.

Germans Minerva Hasse and Nikita Volodin won the Free Skate (145.49) to move up from third after the Free Skate to take silver at 219.08, moving up from bronze last year. Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (210.47) were third in the Free Skate and won the bronze at 210.47, duplicating their 2023 finish.

The U.S. finished 6-7 with Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitofanov (199.29) and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea (195.38), their best Worlds placements ever.

The U.S. scored three golds in the four events for the first time in its history at the Worlds; it had not been done since Russia won three in 2005.

Overall, Japan won four medals (1-1-2) and the U.S. had three (3-0-0); four other countries finished with one each.

Looking ahead to the 2026 Olympic Games, the U.S. secured a maximum two quota places and a chance for a third in all four events (!) at a later qualifier.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LOS ANGELES 2028: L.A. City Council approves LA28 Olympic-Paralympic venue changes; which sports are still homeless?

By
Rich Perelman
-
A rendering of Olympic Flag Football at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles (Image: LA28).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ LOS ANGELES 2028 ≡

After obtaining committee approval on Wednesday, the series of requested venue changes from the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee was approved on Friday (28th), 14-0, by the Los Angeles City Council on Friday, essentially assuring the placement of these sports as now proposed.

But the LA28 organizers are still in overdrive, moving more sports around and pushing to complete their primary venue planning so that a fairly comprehensive program can be presented for approval to the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board on 9 April.

The latest changes that required City approval were of sports that were at venues inside the City of Los Angeles during the bid phase in 2017, but are now planned to be elsewhere:

Olympic Games:
● Aquatics/Artistic Swimming: to Long Beach Sports Park
● Aquatics/Swimming: to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood
● Basketball: to Intuit Dome in Inglewood
● Canoe/Slalom: to RiverSportOKC in Oklahoma City
● Equestrian: to Galway Downs in Temecula
● Football: preliminaries to be held out of state
● Shooting: to an existing facility in Los Angeles County

Paralympic Games:
● Aquatics/Swimming: to Long Beach Sports Park
● Equestrian: to Galway Downs in Temecula
● Shooting: to an existing facility in Los Angeles County
● Volleyball/Sitting: to Long Beach Arena

Additional announcements or confirmations on Olympic venues were made Wednesday and Friday and now include:

● Archery: to the Dignity Health Sports Park
● Basketball/3×3: to the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area
● Cycling/BMX: to the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area
● Flag Football: to BMO Stadium
● Lacrosse (6s): to BMO Stadium
● Modern Pentathlon: to the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area
● Skateboarding: to the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area

Further, the City Council’s approval of the venue included a motion from Council member Tim McOsker of the 15th District, to move the Sailing events from Long Beach into his district in San Pedro. No word from LA28 whether it will accept this change, or whether it will be accepted by World Sailing or the International Olympic Committee; Long Beach has an existing sailing organization and infrastructure and hosts an annual regatta for the Olympic classes. No comparable regatta is held in San Pedro, about five miles north of Long Beach.

Archery was originally supposed to be at SoFi Stadium and as late as Wednesday, was to be at the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, but now heads to Carson, California and the Dignity Health Sports Center, already hosting track cycling, field hockey, rugby sevens and tennis.

So what’s left? The list is narrowing:

● Athletics: marathon and walk courses
● Baseball
● Boxing
● Cricket
● Cycling: mountain bike
● Cycling: road race and time trial courses
● Football preliminaries
● Shooting
● Sport Climbing
● Squash
● Surfing
● Volleyball/Beach
● Volleyball/Indoor

For the IOC’s purposes on 9 April, the road courses for track & field and cycling can wait, as can football prelims sites outside of California. Baseball is expected to be at Dodger Stadium; shooting has been confirmed at one of two sites in L.A. County, and surfing will be in Huntington Beach or at the Lower Tresles Beach in San Diego County.

There has been chatter about cricket being outside of Los Angles and no word at all on Squash, an added sport for LA28. Sport Climbing was not assigned in the bid; beach volleyball was identified for Santa Monica, but the prior City Council was not ready to work with LA28 as proposed last October, but four of the seven members of the current Council are new. Indoor volleyball was proposed at the Honda Center in Anaheim in the bid, but has not been confirmed and the area around the venue is under redevelopment (but the venue continues in use).

So there will be more announcements over the next two weeks. In the aftermath of the McOsker amendment last Friday, will the City of Los Angeles try to add any other sports?

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: New Valieva appeal to Swiss Tribunal; LA28 names USA Swim chief as head of sport; Odermatt drops Giant Slalom Crystal Globe!

By
Rich Perelman
-
USA Swimming interim chief exec Shana Ferguson named as LA28 Chief of Sport (Photo: Shana Ferguson on LinkedIn).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● To the surprise of absolutely no one, the City of Pasadena completed an agreement with the LA28 organizing committee for the men’s and women’s football semifinals and finals to be held at the Rose Bowl.

This had already long been expected and the Rose Bowl will join the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as three-time Olympic venues. The Rose Bowl held track cycling – with a temporary track – in 1932 and football in 1984.

LA28 is trying to complete as many agreements and announcements on venues as possible, with a complete (or nearly complete) plan due to the International Olympic Committee Executive Board for its 9 April online meeting.

LA28 hired USA Swimming Interim CEO Shana Ferguson as its Chief of Sport and Games Delivery, bringing a veteran sports marketer to help with the planning of the biggest-ever 36 sport program to be held in 2028.

Ferguson, who attended the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the Marine Corps as an Air Defense Control Officer for five years, went on to sports marketing posts Under Armour and the Icahn Automotive Group before joining USA Swimming in 2019 as its Chief Commercial Officer.

She was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2024 and then interim chief executive when the federation let Tim Hinchey go last August. She was not selected to be chief executive as USA Swimming named Delaware athletic director Chrissi Rawak, who then withdrew.

USA Swimming named Bob Vincent, former Chair of the USA Swimming Board of Directors, to be new Interim CEO, effective 1 April, and the search for a new chief executive continues.

● Olympic Winter Games 2022: Beijing ● Russian attorneys filed a new appeal on behalf of Russian skater Kamila Valieva with the Swiss Federal Tribunal, alleging “procedural fraud” by the World Anti-Doping Agency, referring to the results of an experiment by Swiss scientist Martial Saugy about a possible explanation of her drug positive that resulted in a four-year suspension and the disqualification of the Russian team at the 2022 Olympic Figure Skating Team event.

WADA told the Russian news agency TASS:

“In WADA’s view, the athlete’s claim lacks merit and WADA will vigorously defend its position in this matter. [Former Lausanne Anti-Doping Laboratory Director Martial] Saugy’s draft report was not a document for WADA to share and was not subject to any production or disclosure obligations in any event.

“Moreover, the report was of no use to Valieva and would not have made any difference to the outcome in any event, as the CAS panel ultimately rejected the athlete’s explanation for the strawberry dessert, not on the basis of scientific validity, but rather on the basis that it was not supported by sufficient factual evidence. Any allegations of misconduct on the part of WADA are completely rejected.”

● Alpine Skiing ● It’s not easy to win a FIS Crystal Globe, emblematic of victory in a discipline or the overall World Cup. But they’re made of glass, and easy to break.

Swiss star Marco Odermatt won the seasonal World Cup title for the fourth time in a row and took the Crystal Globe for the Downhill, Super-G and Giant Slalom discipline.

But he tossed the Giant Slalom trophy into the air after the presentation following Wednesday’s season finale in Sun Valley, Idaho … and promptly dropped it. The base broke into pieces, and Odermatt told The Associated Press:

“I have some pieces of glass now to share with the coaches.”

It’s not the first time; he dropped a trophy in 2019, too.

● Basketball ● “The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) today announced their joint exploration of a new professional men’s basketball league in Europe that would bring the sport to more European fans and accelerate the game’s growth across the continent. The NBA and FIBA will continue discussions that began more than a year ago with prospective investors, teams, arena developers and commercial partners.”

This has been long discussed, but without any specifics, but is taking new momentum with the announcement on Thursday. The NBA has created a small league in Africa, but the European market is huge and well developed. The question is how will a new league fit within the existing “European basketball landscape.”

● Boxing ● World Boxing announced five new members, to bring its national federation total to 89: Albania, Bulgaria, The Bahamas, Ghana and Sierra Leone.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced a sixth-month suspension of USA Boxing women’s 154 lb. (70 kg) national champion Isabella Winkler.

Winkler, 25, tested positive for the stimulant propylhexedrine during last December’s national championships, which came from an over-the-counter medication. As she did not have a Therapeutic Use Exemption, her ban started on 26 February 2025, and her result were nullified on and subsequent to 21 December 2024, meaning she will lose her national champion status.

● Cycling ● The Classics season is in full swing, with the UCI World Tours in Belgium for the Classic Brugge-De Panne race, with the men’s Wednesday edition the 49th, this time over 1905.6 km.

The flat course came down to a final sprint, with Colombia’s Juan Sebastian Molano getting to the line first in 4:07:23, just ahead of Jonathan Milan (ITA), Madis Mihkels (EST) and 10 more given the same time. It’s Molano’s first win in a World Tour one-day race, and the first by a non-European since 2004!

The women’s race on Thursday was eighth, over 152.7 km, with another win for Dutch star Lorena Wiebes, who won the mass finish in 3:42:13, ahead of Chiara Consonni (ITA) and defending champ Elisa Balsamo (ITA). It’s Wiebes’ second win in this race, also in 2020.

● Freestyle Skiing & Snowboard ● At the FIS World Championships in Engadin (SUI), the U.S. scored its second straight win in the Freestyle Team Aerials, with Kaila Kuhn, Quinn Dehlinger and Chris Lillis scoring 344.63 points to easily out-distance Ukraine (312.35) and Switzerland (281.43).

It’s a repeat of the 2023 Worlds, where Dehlinger and Lillis also won, with Ashley Caldwell as the third. Ukraine moved up from third in 2023 to silver in 2025.

Lillis has now won a medal in this event in three straight Worlds, also taking a bronze in the 2021 Worlds as well.

The Worlds finish over the weekend with seven more events.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

ANTI-DOPING: World Anti-Doping Agency creates working groups to follow up on 2021 Chinese mass-positives issues

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ WADA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ≡

The war of words between the World Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency over its handling of the mass-positives incident involving 23 Chinese swimmers in January 2021 and the subsequent agreement to no-sanctions-via-contamination holding has not abated.

But there is movement, coming out of the WADA Executive Board meeting held Thursday.

The meeting news release highlighted three efforts by WADA to address issues raised out of the Chinese swimmers incident and by USADA:

● While WADA reiterated its view that the report commissioned by it from Swiss regional attorney general Eric Cottier exonerated it, the report also includes some harsh commentary on WADA policies and procedures in the case, especially related to the agency’s confused processes. So:

“[T]the ExCo approved the creation of the WADA Working Group on Contaminations (WGC), including its Terms of Reference and Composition.

“The WGC will be responsible for conducting a global review on sources of contamination leading to adverse analytical findings (AAFs) and anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) in sport. It will also provide guidance and recommendations to the ExCo on potential improvements to the regulations and processes to further take into account the risk of such contaminations, while also maintaining an efficient anti-doping system.”

WADA chief Witold Banka (POL) observed:

“As has been highlighted recently by the Chinese swimmers cases and several other cases, the issue of contamination is real and growing. It is crucial that WADA and its clean sport partners address it head on. More and more, we are seeing those who test positive put forward contamination defenses.

“Our challenge is to distinguish between cases of genuine contamination versus those who dishonestly seek to use it in an attempt to avoid sanction. It is a fine balance. If the system is too strict and rigid, innocent athletes will suffer injustice. If the system is too lenient, cheats will prosper. This is one of the key challenges that the clean sport community now faces.”

● Banka also mentioned the WADA Taskforce on Unintentional Doping “which will shortly be calling for input from the community on this topic,” addressing another issue on which USADA and other national anti-doping organizations have been vocal.

● Finally, one of the questions raised during the 2021 Chinese swimmers incident was reporting from the German ARD documentary “The China Files,” that the CHINADA report that cleared the swimmers was created by the Chinese government’s Ministry of Public Security, not the anti-doping agency! So, now:

“[T]he ExCo discussed the setting up of a Working Group on the Operational Independence of National Anti-Doping Organizations (WGOI) to explore further the issue of National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO) independence, which is mandatory under the Code. A decision on the establishment of the WGOI will be made by the ExCo in due course.”

Observed: Interesting, very interesting. WADA isn’t giving an inch (cm?) on its insistence that it was cleared by the Cottier report, which is true only insofar as the questions it asked Cottier to consider. But the report ripped the agency apart on its sloppy procedures, processes and follow-up to a serious mass-doping incident.

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart has trashed WADA again and again for not following its own rules and having a better way to deal with the hard-to-prove or disprove contamination cases … and the role of the Chinese government in the swimmers incident, instead of CHINADA handling the matter on its own.

Also, Tygart has been after WADA to fix its rules on unintentional doping, including the reporting requirements.

None of the announcements from Thursday will satisfy WADA’s critics, especially Tygart. But they are clearly moves toward the positions he and other national anti-doping agencies have taken on needed WADA reforms. Progress of a sort, and for now, anything helps.

There was more from the ExCo meeting of note:

● No date for the doping-encouraged Enhanced Games has been announced, but it was stated that the site may be in the U.S. WADA condemned it again, with Director General Olivier Niggli (SUI) saying, “Allowing this event to go ahead would put the health of athletes and the integrity of sport at grave risk.”

● As for finance, “the ExCo discussed and expressed concern regarding the shortfall in WADA’s 2024 funding due to the withholding of funding by the previous United States administration.” There is a lot of work to do to mend fences with the U.S. government, but no initiative was announced.

● Iran was confirmed as non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code, with “non-conformities” in the area of testing. Sanctions will apply as of 18 April 2025; no flag or anthem penalties apply yet, but could be imposed in 2026.

WADA elections for President and Vice President – incumbents Banka and Yang Yang (CHN) are expected to be re-elected – will be held in an online Foundation Board meeting on 29 May.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

FIGURE SKATING: U.S. teen star Liu and super Malinin (110.41!) star with Short Program leads at ISU Worlds in Boston

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skating superstar Ilia Malinin, now a three-time U.S. national champion (Photo: SpiritedMichelle via Wikipedia).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ ISU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

The first ISU World Championships to be held in the U.S. in nine years was once again in Boston, Massachusetts, less than two months following the 29 January crash in Washington, D.C. of an American Eagle flight with an Army helicopter, with more than two dozen American skaters, family and officials aboard.

A commemoration was held on Wednesday, followed by the skating in the women’s Singles, with an inspired performance from two-time U.S. champion Alysia Liu, the 2022 Worlds bronze medalist.

Still just 19, Liu led a crowded field of five within 3 1/2 points, scoring 74.58, ahead of Mone Chiba (JPN: 73.44), fellow American – and 2024 runner-up – Isabeau Levito (73.33), Japan’s Wakaba Higuchi (72.10) and three-time defending champ Kaori Sakamoto (JPN: 71.03).

It’s a lifetime best score for Liu for the Short Program. Two-time U.S. champ Amber Glenn suffered an early fall and stood ninth after the Short Program at 67.65.

The women’s Free Skate is on Friday evening.

The men’s Short Program on Thursday morning was competitive … until World Champion Ilia Malinin of the U.S. took the ice.

Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, the 2025 Four Continents winner, led the field after 37 of the 39 skaters at 94.77 points, and two-time European champion and 2024 Worlds bronzer, Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) had disappointed in ninth place (87.22), due to a fall on his opening quad-Lutz element.

Then came Malinin, who blew the top off the event with a lifetime best Short Program that scored 110.41 points. Wow! It’s the fourth-highest Short Program score in history:

● 113.97 Nathan Chen (USA) 2019
● 111.82 Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) 2020
● 110.53 Hanyu 2018
● 110.41 Ilia Malinin (USA) 2025
● 110.38 Chen 2022

The final skater was Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, the 2021-22-24 Worlds silver medalist, and he was game, scoring a seasonal best of 107.09, to land as a steady second and in position to win on Saturday if Malinin falters in the Free Skate.

Malinin opened with a quad Flip and included a quad Lutz-triple toe loop combo in his routine, while Kagiyama completed a quad toe loop and quad Salchow.

The other two Americans, Andrew Torgashev and 2015 U.S. champ Jason Brown, were in group five, starting 23rd and 25th. They posted the top scores through the first 26 skaters, with Torgashev at a lifetime best of 87.27 and Brown scoring a seasonal best of 84.72. They finished 8-12 and qualified for Saturday’s Free Skate.

In Pairs, Japan’s 2023 World Champion, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara led the Short Program, at 76.57, closely trailed by the 2023 bronze winners, Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy (74.61) and Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin (GER: 73.59).

Americans Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, the 2024 U.S. champions, were fifth at 68.61, and Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov stood ninth (63.70).

The Pairs Free Skate comes Thursday evening.

The competitive elements of the Championships will finish on Saturday, with the celebratory exhibition gala on Sunday.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

ALPINE SKIING: World Cup Finals finish in Sun Valley with U.S. star Shiffrin taking career win no. 101!

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ WORLD CUP FINALS ≡

The 2024-25 FIS Alpine World Cup season came to a conclusion on Thursday, with the women’s and men’s Slaloms in Sun Valley, Idaho, with the winner of the first two women’s Slaloms – American star Mikaela Shiffrin – winning the final one.

Shiffrin got to the lead on the first run, with one of her patented, dominating performances, taking off as the no. 2 skier and timing 52.05, which no one could touch. Closest was German Lena Duerr at 52.64, with Swiss Wendy Holdener at 53.05 and Katharina Liensberger (AUT) at 53.27. Fellow American Paula Moltzan was eighth at 53.91.

On the second run, Slovenia’s Andreja Slokar zoomed into second from ninth and stood second to Duerr as Shiffrin started her run to finish the competition.

And Shiffrin was terrific, compiling the third-fastest second run of the day and finishing at 1:45.92 for an easy victory, her 101st career World Cup win, the most ever.

Duerr was second at 1:47.05 with Slokar third by 1/100th (1:47.06) and Holdener fourth at 1:47.52. Moltzan moved up to sixth, in 1:47.92.

For Shiffrin, closing out a difficult season that was marred by a bad crash on one of her favorite courses, in Killington, Vermont, then a long recovery, surgery and re-establishing herself on the slopes, it was her fourth World Cup gold of 2024-25. So, she finished with:

● 101 career World Cup wins, most in history
● 64 career World Cup slalom wins, most in history
● 157 career World Cup medals, most in history

The seasonal World Cup Slalom standings showed Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic as the winner with 541 points, ahead of Liensberger (509) and World Champion Camille Rast (SUI: 492). Shiffrin finished fourth at 486, despite missing four of the 10 races this season.

The men’s World Cup second run followed the women, with Norway’s Timon Haugen – a two-time winner this season – the race leader at 51.39, followed by Olympic champ Clement Noel (FRA: 51.49) and fellow Norwegian – and 2023 World Slalom Champion – Henrik Kristoffersen (51.53).

In the second run, Swiss star Loic Meillard, who won the Giant Slalom on Wednesday, zoomed into the lead from eighth as the no. 18 starter – out of 25 – with a combined time of 1:44.26. But he was passed by Fabio Gstrein (AUT: 1:43.98) and then Noel (1:43.64), leaving Haugen as the final skier.

And despite losing some time on the bottom half of the course, Haugen managed to win, posting the 15th-fastest second run, but it was enough at 1:43.61, for a third World Cup win this season and fourth in his career. Noel had to settle for second, just 0.03 behind, with Gstrein taking the bronze (+0.37).

Benjamin Ritchie was the only American in the final, finishing seventh at 1:45.24.

The seasonal standings gave the Crystal Globe to Kristoffersen – his fourth in Slalom and fifth in his career – with 662, followed by Meillard (610), Haugen (609) and Noel (606).

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

SPOTLIGHT: Look out for Noah Elliott and the U.S. Para Snowboard squad at the 2026 Milan Cortina Paralympics

By
Luke Hanlon
-
Noah Elliott (USA) during the Snowboard Cross competition March 7, 2022 at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games (USOPC photo by Mark Reis).

★ The Sports Examiner is delighted to present this important contribution from our patron, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, with a focus on American Paralympic stars. Opinions expressed are those of the USOPC. ★

A Memorable Homecoming In Colorado Showed The U.S. Para Snowboarding Team Could Be Primed For More Success
In Milano Cortina

The Americans defended their men’s and women’s Nations Cup titles while competing in the first world cup event on U.S. soil in eight years.

By Luke Hanlon
Red Line Editorial on behalf of Team USA

Noah Elliott first learned about Para snowboarding at a camp for kids with cancer in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, when he was a teenager.

Almost a decade later, Elliott returned to the Rocky Mountains resort as one of the best Para snowboarders in the world.

And over a memorable few days in late February, Elliott and the U.S. team capped off the FIS Para Snowboard World Cup season with 12 podium finishes and five wins during the circuit’s first event held on U.S. soil since 2017.

The long-awaited U.S. stop culminated with the Americans winning the Nations Cup – awarded to the team with the most points each season – on the men’s and women’s side for the second straight year. Elliott, meanwhile, was among the U.S. riders who claimed Crystal Globes as season champions.

And just days later, in early March, the Americans closed out their season with one more standout performance, this time coming away with a silver and three bronze medals at the world championships in Big White, British Columbia.

It was a promising finish for a team with high expectations going into next year’s Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Full-Circle Moment
Elliott’s first trip to Steamboat Springs Ski Resort came when he was still coming to grips with an osteosarcoma diagnosis that left him with great pain and mobility challenges in his left leg.

Upon visiting Steamboat and getting a crash course in all things Para snowboarding – but without actually getting to snowboard due to his injured leg – Elliott returned home to St. Charles, Missouri, and knew what he had to do: If he was going to pursue the sport, he needed to have his leg amputated.

“When I went home, I knew immediately,” Elliott told TeamUSA.com. “I said (to my parents) that I need to get surgery. I’m tired of this. My leg’s never going to get better. I need to get this fixed.”

That decision has led to him becoming a Paralympic and world champion.

In Elliott’s recent return to Steamboat Springs, he finished second in the men’s snowboardcross LL1 event to claim his eighth podium finish of the year. It proved to be more than enough for him to defend his overall Crystal Globe in the classification.

“That’s a full circle moment for me,” Elliott, 27, told fis-ski.com after securing the Crystal Globe. “Where it all started for me, in Steamboat, first day ever on snow, first time seeing the mountains and coming back getting the overall Crystal Globe, awarded to me here, is priceless, truly.”

Continuing the Tradition
For years, Brenna Huckaby Clegg has set the standard for success on the U.S. team, winning three gold medals and a bronze from the past two Paralympics.

That standard hasn’t dropped for the 29-year-old from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This season, she earned six podium finishes and won the snowboardcross LL1/LL2 Crystal Globe for the second year in a row.

All season, Huckaby Clegg competed against up-and-coming U.S. teammate Kate Delson (though Huckaby Clegg is LL1 and Delson LL2, their classifications are regularly combined, including at the Paralympics).

Delson trains with Team Utah Mountain Sports, the same club that helped Huckaby Clegg start her Para snowboarding career back in 2013. After a world cup event in February 2024, Huckaby Clegg posted a picture of Delson on her Instagram and wrote: “This girl crushes it! So excited for the future of our sport.”

The future proved to be as exciting as Huckaby Clegg hoped. Competing in her second world cup season, Delson earned her first series win this January in a snowboardcross race in Lenk, Switzerland. She went on to win a silver medal in the event during her world championships debut, finishing just ahead of Huckaby Clegg, who won her ninth career worlds medal.

Huckaby Clegg was Team USA’s most successful snowboarder at the Beijing Winter Games, winning a gold and bronze medal. Come Italy next year, she might just have some competition from a rising Team USA star.

Practical Teammate
Perhaps no one has had a bigger impact on the Para snowboarding national team than Mike Schultz since he made his debut in 2015.

Schultz arrived on the team having already founded BioDapt, Inc., a company that makes prosthetics specifically designed for adaptive sports. By the 2023-24 season, every LL1 or LL2 athlete on the U.S. team used a BioDapt prosthetic.

The St. Cloud, Minnesota, native has used his own product to win a gold and two silvers at the past two Paralympics. Now 43, Schulz continued to have success this season, racking up five podium finishes and one win, which fittingly came in Steamboat Springs.

“It’s been too long since I’ve taken the No. 1 spot, so this one feels incredible, especially since my family was here to experience it,” Schultz, who won in snowboardcross LL1, told fis-ski.com “They haven’t seen me race since 2018, so this one was special.”

Zach Miller is one of the U.S. athletes who benefits from a BioDapt prosthetic. At Big White, Miller picked up a bronze in the banked slalom LL2 at to take home his sixth career worlds medal.

Miller, who turned 26 on March 10, has been competing internationally since 2016, two years before he joined the U.S. national team. The Littleton, Colorado, native made his Paralympic debut in Beijing, with his best result being an 11th-place finish in the snowboardcross.

Schultz and Miller, along with Elliott – who capped off his season with two bronze medals in Big White, putting his career worlds medal count to eight – now lead a U.S. men’s snowboarding crew that’s looking to build upon the two silver medals it won in 2022 in Beijing.

Luke Hanlon is a sportswriter and editor based in Minneapolis. He is a freelance contributor for Team USA on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.

For more, please visit the USOPC Paralympic Educational Hub.

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

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here, and can donate here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LOS ANGELES 2028: L.A. City Recreation & Parks asks for $33.12 million for 2025-26 “PlayLA” program funding from LA28

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ PLAYLA FUNDING TO $108M≡

The before-the-Games legacy program created by the LA28 organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to subsidize sports participation for youth is in full swing, and expects to grow further with new budget request for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

The City’s “Play LA” program got off to a slow start, limited to swimming in the first couple of years and then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, taking down most of the next year of the program. But the project has been rebuilt, with more activity and growth. The expenditures and requests so far:

● 2018: $0.91 million
● 2019: $1.09 million
● 2020: $2.48 million
● 2021-22: $ 7.65 million
● 2022-23: $13.22 million
● 2023-24: $14.81 million + $4.45 million pending receipt
● 2024-25: $30.54 million requested (not yet received)

A new filing by the City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department is asking for a 2025-26 funding of $33,123,226, broken down as:

● $23,075,076 for Recreation Center programs at 125 sites
● $4,808,063 for Aquatics programs at 53 sites
● $4,061,587 for Signature program in aquatics, sports and adaptive sports
● $1,178,500 for SafeSport, marketing and printing costs

According to the filing and prior reports, participation has been increasing:

● 148,274 participants in 2018-19 (baseline)
● 176,596 participants in 2022-23 (per report)
● 228,312 participants in 2023-24 (per report)

● 217,769 projected for 2024-25
● 229,540 projected for 2025-26

The programming offers a wide variety of options; the filing reports programs in:

● Classes, lessons and/or leagues in more than 30 sports: archery, baseball, badminton, basketball, boxing, cheer, climbing, dance, dodgeball, fencing, field hockey, fitness, flag football, golf, gymnastics, inner tube water polo, kayaking, kickball, lacrosse, martial arts (judo, karate, tae kwon do), roller hockey, running (marathon training), skateboarding, skating, soccer, softball, surfing, tennis, track & field, volleyball and water polo.

● New programs are proposed for cricket – added as a medal sport for 2028, at two sites – and pickleball, at five sites.

● Adaptive sports programs in archery, kayaking, skateboard, swimming, blind soccer, goalball, equestrian, pickleball, surfing, sitting volleyball, track & field, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair tennis.

● Aquatics programs in swimming, diving, artistic swimming, aquatic fitness and water polo.

Volunteer-run programs in the 2028 Olympic sport of squash are also conducted at three rec centers, through U.S. Squash.

The request now moves to the L.A. City Council for review, before the formal request for funding to LA28.

Assuming that the request is approved and paid, some $108.28 million of the $160 million total will have been consumed by the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year, leaving $51.72 million for the final two years of program for 2026-27 and 2027-28.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: Brisbane 2032 stadium to be opposed in court; Shiffrin “super positive” on regaining her edge; IWF had 2% doping positives in ‘24

By
Rich Perelman
-
A Queensland government rendering of to-be-built 2032 Olympic Stadium in Victoria Park in Brisbane, Australia.

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 2032: Brisbane ● Activists are already planning legal action against the Queensland government’s plan to build a new, Olympic Stadium in Victoria Park.

A “Save Victoria Park” group has raised A$40,000 so far against a goal of A$100,000 for action against the stadium, claiming a removal of green space for the community and a disregard of the park’s cultural importance.

A host of new venues, to be built with state and Federal funds totaling A$7.1 billion (A$1 = $0.63 U.S.) are promoted as a tangible legacy of the 2032 Games for Queensland, breaking an election promise by Premier David Crisafulli from 2024.

He told ABC News Australia, “And I have to own that and I will and I am sorry. And it’s my decision and I accept that decision.”

But Crisafulli did not want to let the Games go by and not leave a host of new sports facilities. Now they have to be permitted – after being challenged in court – and built in time.

One of the identified venues was for rowing on the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton, already criticized as crocodile habitat. World Rowing issued a statement on Wednesday, noting:

“We understand from Rowing Australia, World Rowing’s National Federation in the country, that while Fitzroy River has been suitable for training purposes, it has not undergone any technical feasibility study that would confirm its ability to host national or international level racing. …

“Fairness and safety are paramount to any venue hosting events of this magnitude and importance, and any rowing course used for international racing must comply with World Rowing’s Rules of Racing and technical requirements. The proposed venue not having been assessed and confirmed as compliant with the relevant technical requirements, World Rowing stands ready to support such assessment, for this and any other venue, to enable a decision that will satisfy Rowing and other relevant stakeholders.”

In other words, stay tuned.

● International Federations ● The annual Redtorch “Sport on Social” ranking of International Federations was published this week, ranking federations not on audience size or reach, but on a blended metric of followers and engagement metrics across five different platforms. It’s less an actual ranking than a report card on performance in 2024.

A companion statistics platform indicated that Facebook remains the largest social-media site by followers:

● 181 million: Facebook
● 121 million: Instagram
● 64 million: TikTok
● 59 million: YouTube
● 55 million: X (ex-Twitter)

In terms of posts, X led with 97,000, with Facebook close (93,000), followed by Instagram (75,000), then YouTube (41,000) and TikTok (13,000). On “engagements” the clear leader was Instagram at 2.67 billion, with Facebook a distant second at 380 million.

The federations which fared best on the “report cards” for 2024 were World Athletics, World Aquatics, the International Cricket Council, FIFA and FIBA (basketball).

● Russia ● “The Olympics must remain a beacon of peace and human rights – not a stage for normalizing terror and destruction.”

That’s from a statement by the Ukrainian World Congress, decrying IOC President-elect Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) comment on athletes in conflict areas around the world from her post-election news conference:

“I believe at the end of the day, we need to do anything and everything to protect and support athletes from all conflict areas. We have numerous conflicts and a number of them happening on my continent.

“So again, we need to sit down as the Olympic Movement and have a very serious conversation around how are we going to deal with more and more conflicts and how are we going to protect and support athletes that are coming from these conflict areas.”

The UWC said in part:

“The Ukrainian World Congress is appalled by incoming International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry’s intention to discuss Russia’s return to the Olympic Games. …

“Allowing Russia back into the global sporting arena not only betrays the principles of justice but sends a chilling message: war crimes and aggression can be excused for the sake of athletic integrity.

“Russia has long weaponized culture and sports to spread its imperialist propaganda. Many Russian athletes are tied to the military, and their return to the Olympic Movement would hand the Kremlin a propaganda victory, amplifying its violent and oppressive ideology on a global stage.”

● Alpine Skiing ● A big day for Switzerland at the FIS Alpine World Cup Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, sweeping both the men’s and women’s Giant Slalom events. Two-time World Cup seasonal women’s champ Lara Gut-Behrami got her 100th World Cup medal, taking charge with the fastest first-run time and finishing with a total time of 2:01.01, just ahead of Italy’s 2024-25 seasonal World Cup winner, Federica Brignone (2:10.15), who had the fastest second run.

Swede Sara Hector was third (2:10.81), with A.J. Hurt the top American in eighth (2:13.62); Nina O’Brien was 12th (2:15.24). Brignone won the seasonal Giant Slalom title with 580 points, to 520 for Alice Robinson (NZL).

Double Worlds gold medalist Loic Meillard led a Swiss 1-2 in the men’s Giant Slalom, leading after the first run and winning in 2:15.21 for his third win of the season, ahead of World Cup winner Marco Odermatt (2:16.16) and Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen (2:16.35). River Radamus was the top U.S. finisher, in 15th (2:18.42).

Odermatt won the seasonal Giant Slalom title – his fourth Crystal Globe of the season – with 580 points, to 454 for Kristoffersen and 434 for Meillard.

The finals finish on Thursday with the men’s and women’s Slaloms.

U.S. superstar Mikaela Shiffrin is only skiing the Slalom in Sun Valley, but told The Associated Press that she is getting back to her pre-crash form:

“Training is going well. It’s actually super positive. Training has been improving day-by-day.

“I’m just trying to get back to the confidence that I was skiing with in Killington [last November] when the crash happened. That would be a big goal.”

She admits she has a setback now and then, but:

“Some of my turns are competitive with the fastest in the world. But putting that together for a minute and 10-second GS run – that just takes time and repetition. We’ll need to try to get some days this summer with long course sets, with a lot of variation of course sets, variation of conditions. I don’t doubt that I can get to that competitive level again. I think a lot of my skiing is already there.”

● Boxing ● Overjoyed by provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee to be the governing body for Olympic boxing during last week’s IOC Session in Greece, World Boxing President Boris van der Vorst (NED) was immediately asked about the hot-button issues, including transgenders, Russia and more. He was ready.

On transgenders, “For us, it’s very important to have a fair competition. We have installed a commission for sex, age and weight policy and I expect that in the near future we will publish our policy in this regards.

“For us, it is important to have a fair and safe competitions. That will be paramount.”

Relative to Russian participation and for boxers in federations which are not members of World Boxing: “It’s very important to unify the whole boxing world for World Boxing and to have all the best boxers participating in L.A. 2028. … The train has left the station already. And for me it’s important to call all the national federations to join World Boxing as soon as possible. For example the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar and many other world sports events that are related to the Olympic Movement.”

And, inevitably, the question of corruption was raised:

“[I]t’s critical and the most important task to deliver fair and transparent competitions in which the hand of the best boxer is raised and not of the most influential national federation. That means we will copy the procedures of the Paris boxing unit how to manage the officials, but also that we explore the use of modern technology, engaging AI for example to make the decisions more fair and transparent.”

● Football ● Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter (SUI: 89) and former French great and UEFA President Michel Platini (FRA: 69) prevailed against a government appeal at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in Muttenz on Tuesday.

The decision was an appeal of a finding from July 2022, exonerating both on charges of fraud, forgery, mismanagement and misappropriation relating to a 2011 payment of CHF 2 million (~$2.26 million U.S. today) by FIFA – when Blatter was President – to Platini for consulting services from 1998-2002.

Sad news that former U.S. Soccer Federation Secretary General Hank Steinbrecher passed away on Tuesday (25th) at his home in Tucson, Arizona.

Steinbrecher was a crucial figure in the rise of U.S. Soccer to become the most financially successful National Governing Body in the world. He came to the USSF in 1990 from handling the marketing for Gatorade at The Quaker Oats Company, moved the federation to Chicago and helped bring in astonishing growth over a decade that included the playing of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the rise of the U.S. women’s team to glory at the 1991 Women’s World Cup and then at the transformative 1999 Women’s World Cup held in the U.S.

Steinbrecher is survived by his wife, Ruth Anne, and his two sons, Chad and Corey.

● Weightlifting ● In a sport shadowed by past doping, the International Weightlifting Federation released figures from the International Testing Agency, which is the contracted doping-control organization for the federation.

For all of 24, 3,324 total samples were collected for 2,486 tests from 1,078 athletes in 120 countries. Of these, there were 51 anti-doping violations (2.1%), with some processing still continuing from 2024. That’s still high.

The top countries with athletes tested included Colombia, Uzbekistan the U.S., Ukraine and Armenia.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LOS ANGELES 2028: L.A. City Council committee approves venue changes for 2028 Games, with more details added

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ VENUE PLAN EMERGING ≡

The Los Angeles City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Olympic and Paralympic Games, meeting for the first time since June 2024, approved by a 5-0 vote, the requested venue changes from the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee.

The 82-minute hearing on Wednesday morning was chaired by City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and included a 20-minute presentation by LA28 chief executive Reynold Hoover and chief operating officer John Harper.

The organizing committee requested, and received, approval of “material relocations” of sports that were at venues inside the City of Los Angeles during the bid phase in 2017, but are now planned to be elsewhere:

Olympic Games:
● Aquatics/Artistic Swimming: to Long Beach Sports Park
● Aquatics/Swimming: to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood
● Basketball: to Intuit Dome in Inglewood
● Canoe/Slalom: to RiverSportOKC in Oklahoma City
● Equestrian: to Galway Downs in Temecula
● Football: preliminaries to be held out of state
● Shooting: to an existing facility in Los Angeles County

Paralympic Games:
● Aquatics/Swimming: to Long Beach Sports Park
● Equestrian: to Galway Downs in Temecula
● Shooting: to an existing facility in Los Angeles County
● Volleyball/Sitting: to Long Beach Arena

In terms of Olympic programming, the swimming was to be at Dedeaux Field at USC, which is now being redeveloped by the university; gymnastics has replaced basketball at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles and slalom canoeing, equestrian and shooting, planned for temporary facilities in the Sepulveda Canyon Recreation Area have all been moved.

Hoover and Harper offered some more detail of sports to be at the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, beyond what has been already announced:

● Archery
● Cycling/BMX Freestyle and BMX Racing
● Skateboarding

but also:

● Basketball/3×3
● Modern Pentathlon

It was also confirmed that the football preliminaries will be moved elsewhere and that Flag Football and Lacrosse (6s) will be played at BMO Stadium in downtown Los Angeles. The committee approval sends the motion on to the full City Council for a vote. 

There was a brewing debate between LA28 and the City about not just moves of sports out of in-City venues, but all venue moves, under prior Ad Hoc committee Chair Traci Park, but as her 11th District includes the devastated Palisades area from the January wildfires, she has moved on to chairing the City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on LA Recovery. Discussion on Wednesday was limited only to the moves out of the City, as preferred by LA28.

A fairly complete venue plan is due to the International Olympic Committee for approval at its 9 April Executive Board meeting. 

There were additional, interesting comments from Hoover and Harper to questions from the five Council members present:

● Hoover said that the LA28 volunteer program would begin in early summer, with an ultimate goal of looking for about 75,000 volunteers in all. “We will start slow, but I want to start this year, because – to me – the fires became a wake-up call for us, that we need to be seen not just as an OCOG [organizing committee of the Olympic Games], but as a civic organization, in which we’re giving back to our community, and helping our neighbors.”

● On transportation, Council member Katy Yaroslavsky – also a Board member of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority – asked about transportation:

“Are you thinking about adding some sort of a surcharge to the tickets to help cover the cost for Metro moving everybody around? Is there a back-up plan if the Feds don’t come through?”

Harper explained: “That’s not currently in our plans, but we’re actively working with L.A. Metro about what the different contingencies would look like, based on different levels of Federal funding that would come through, to be able to move the spectators and the workforce around.

“So, yes, those plans are being actively worked on with Metro, depending on what that will look like, and that’s a full-court press.”

Yaroslavsky countered, “I think it’s important to build in some contingencies into whatever that agreement looks like, so that they’re not left holding the bag if the Federal government doesn’t come through.”

● Council member Curren Price Jr. asked about “legacy investments,” probing beyond the $160 million Youth Sports Partnership agreement for something LA28 might build, even though the organizing committee is committed to not building any new, permanent sites. Hoover explained:

“We’re very fortunate of what the LA84 Foundation has done and for what ‘84 did for the city as whole. That to us is a role model for how we can go forward. As you know, we’ve committed $160 million already to PlayLA … we’re not really waiting for the Games to happen to leave a legacy.”

The LA84 Foundation has used a $93 million portion of the surplus from the 1984 Games to support youth in sports across Southern California and has touched more than four million kids throughout the state since 1985. The Games Agreement for 2028 with the City and LA28 foresees a joint legacy entity to use a hoped-for similar surplus, but this was not mentioned on Wednesday.

Other Council members asked for more current information from LA28 as plans are firmed up.

This was the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Olympic and Paralympic Games since last June, with Harris-Dawson promising to meet monthly from now on.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

U.S. OLYMPIC & PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE: Hall of Fame finalists revealed; fans can vote through 14 April

By
Rich Perelman
-
Olympic great Allyson Felix in 2021 (Photo: Tim Healy for TrackTown USA).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ USOPC HALL OF FAME ≡

More than 100 nominations for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Hall of Fame were whittled down to 15 Olympians, nine Paralympians, three Olympic teams, three Paralympic teams, six legends, three coaches and three special contributors.

Of this group, five Olympians, three Paralympians, one Olympic team, one Paralympic team, one legend, one coach and one special contributor will be elected as the Class of 2025. The Olympic-related finalists available for voting by fans:

Olympians (five to be selected):
● Carmelo Anthony, Basketball ~ 2008-12-16 gold medalist
● Kristin Armstrong, Cycling ~ Time Trial golds 2008-12-16
● Sue Bird, Basketball ~ 2004-08-12-16-20 gold medalist
● Gabby Douglas, Gymnastics ~ All-Around gold 2012, Team gold 2012-16
● Ashton Eaton, Track & Field ~ decathlon golds 2012-16
● Allyson Felix, Track & Field ~ 11 sprint/relay medals (7-3-1) from 2008-20
● “Conn” Findlay, Rowing-Sailing ~ 1956-60-64 rowing (2-0-1), 1976 sailing bronze
● Cammi Granato, Ice Hockey ~ 1998 Winter gold, 2002 Winter silver
● Kayla Harrison, Judo ~ 2012-16 women’s 78 kg gold
● Kerri Walsh Jennings, Volleyball ~ 2004-08-12 beach gold, 2016 bronze
● Bode Miller, Skiing ~ six Alpine medals (1-3-2) in 2002-10-14
● John Smith, Wrestling ~ 1988-92 Olympic gold in 62 kg Freestyle
● Dawn Staley, Basketball ~ 1996-2000-04 golds as player (2020 as coach)
● Serena Williams, Tennis ~ four Olympic golds 2000-08-12 in singles & doubles
● Mariel Zagunis, Fencing ~ 2004-08 Sabre women’s gold

Olympic Teams (one to be selected):
● 1996 Women’s Basketball ~ 8-0, average win by 28.5 points per game
● 2010 Four-Man Bobsled ~ 1st U.S. gold in 62 years, driven by Steve Holcomb
● 2012 Women’s 4×100 m ~ World record 40.82 by Madison-Felix-Knight-Jeter

In addition to the public vote, a vote among the U.S. Olympic Family – Team USA Athletes’ Commission, National Governing Bodies, USOPC board of directors, the Paralympic Advisory Council and select members of the media – will vote on the Legend, Coach and Contributor categories:

Legends:
● Anita DeFrantz, Rowing ~ 1976 bronze, 1984 organizer, IOC member
● Billy Fiske, Bobsled ~ 1928-32 five-man/four-man Winter golds
● Flo Hyman, Volleyball ~ 1984 Olympic silver, team captain
● Darrell Pace, Archery ~ 1976-84 Olympic golds, 1988 Team silver
● Norbert Schemansky, Weightlifting ~ 1952 gold, 1948 silver, 1952-56 bronze
● Peter Westbrook, Fencing ~ 4x Olympian, 1984 Sabre bronze

Coaches:
● James “Doc” Counsilman, Swimming ~ 1964 and 1976 Olympic coach
● Mike Krzyzewski, Basketball ~ 2008-12-16 Olympic coach
● Ron Lykins, Wheelchair Basketball ~ 1992-2004-08-16-20 Paralympic coach

Contributors:
● Phil Knight ~ Nike founder and athlete sponsor
● David Wallechinsky ~ Author, The Complete Book of the Olympics (8 editions)
● John Williams ~ Composer for the 1984 and 1996 Olympic organizing committees

Fan voting, through 14 April, is available here.

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame Class of 2025 will be announced on 6 May and inducted on Saturday, 12 July, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

ATHLETICS: World Athletics to implement once-in-lifetime women’s sex screening; Coe says $51 million in prizes coming in 2025-28!

By
Rich Perelman
-
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe at his news conference following the Council meeting in Nanjing (CHN) (Photo: World Athletics video screen shot).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ WORLD ATHLETICS COUNCIL ≡

“[A]llowing only biological female athletes to compete in the female category was essential to maintaining fairness.”

Following the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing (CHN), the World Athletics Council met on Monday and Tuesday and approved recommendations from its Working Group on Gender Diverse Athletes, to create new conditions for participation in the women’s category:

● “[A] pre-clearance requirement for all athletes competing in the female category.”

● Merging the regulations for Transgenders and for athletes with Differences in Sex Development (DSD) into a single set, and “iif the effect is to restrict opportunities for DSD athletes, adopt measures to address the reliance interests of those who are currently in the pipeline.”

The text of the new regulations will be created in the coming weeks, and “pre-clearance SRY (a genetic surrogate for a Y chromosome) test provider, process and timeline will be agreed.”

World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe (GBR) was asked in a follow-up news conference if he was confident that these new rules would stand up to legal challenge:

“Yes I am, but you accept the fact that is the world we live in. I wouldn’t have set off down this path in 2016, 2017 to protect the female category in sport if I’d been sort of, you know, anything other than prepared to take the challenge head on, We’ve been to the Court of Arbitration on our DSD regulations; they’ve been upheld and they’ve again been upheld after appeal, so we will doggedly protect the female category and we’ll do whatever is necessary to do it and we’re not just talking about it.”

Coe explained that there are significant benefits to creating this systemic approach:

“The process is is very straightforward, frankly, very clear and it’s an important one and we need to look, we will look for a testing provider we will work on the timelines.

“The test will only need to be done once in the literally the career life of an athlete, so we’re very clear and that was agreed today in Council. So are these swab tests … largely the two determinants here are firstly finding the right provider – because we are a global sport so you do need to provide a provider with the capacity the scale and capacity to be able to do that cheek swab or the dry blood test.

“It’ll be along the lines of something that will be administered once in the career of a female athlete. … It’s important to do it because it maintains everything that we’ve been talking about and particularly recently, about not just talking about the integrity of female women’s sport, but actually guaranteeing it. …

“Neither of these are invasive, they are necessary and they will be done to absolutely international medical standards.”

Coe was also asked about the Olympic prize money program announced by World Athletics in 2024, paying $50,000 to each Paris 2024 winner and promising to expand the prize money to encompass the first three places in Los Angeles in 2028:

“I’m committed to that, that’s something that I’ve always believed that where possible you make the financial security of the athletes one of your priorities.

“Interestingly over the next – I mean forget L.A. for the moment – but over the next four years, there will be over $51 million available to athletes in prize money in our events over that four-year cycle.

“So yeah, we absolutely maintain our commitment to that. I think you can assume it’s not going to be less than $50,000 for the winner. This is there’s nothing new, this is a policy that we agreed and was passed by Council, but in L.A. we will extend it to silver and bronze medalists so overall, the numbers we’re still looking at, but I think you can assume it won’t be less than 50.”

On the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes, currently shut out of World Athletics events over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was confirmed “that the current Council sanctions are adequate and do not need to be replaced, added to or varied unless either the current circumstances deteriorate significantly or there is a peace agreement.”

The World Athletics Relays for 2026 was handled to Gaborone (BOT) and to Nassau (BAH) for 2028, showcasing a commitment to Africa and heading back to Nassau for the fifth time.

The new Mixed 4×100 m relay order was approved for the 2025 World Athletics Relays as female-female-male-male.

The new half-marathon and marathon race walking distances will become official as of 1 October 2025. The 300 m hurdles was also approved as an official event, but no reasoning was provided.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

BRISBANE 2032: Queensland government announces Olympic Stadium at Victoria Park, new Olympic Village, aquatics center and much more

By
Rich Perelman
-
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli announcing the Brisbane 2032 venue plan (ABC News Australia video screen shot).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ 2032 OLYMPIC VENUES ≡

As had been predicted, the Queensland government proposed to build a new stadium in Victoria Park in Brisbane as the ceremonies and athletics venue for the 2032 Olympic Games.

Premier David Crisafulli, announcing the state government’s decisions after receiving a review of the venue questions on 8 March, announced (A$1 = $0.63 U.S.):

“The review thoroughly examined the options on the table. That work revealed the option of major works at the Gabba, to bring it up to standard, to befit the Queensland Games, just wasn’t possible.

“The experts advised that it could not be delivered in the time frame we inherited. There was no longer enough time to get that done. So it came down to a choice, of hosting the Games at QSAC [Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre] or at a new stadium at Victoria Park.

“It became a choice between spending billions on temporary facilities and temporary stands that delivered no legacy, or securing the future of AFL [Australian Football League] and cricket at a new home.

“It became a choice of delivering a Games with an eye to the future o rewinding the clock four decades. In the end, the choice was clear: the Games must be held at a new stadium, at Victoria Park.”

So the plan is now for:

● A new, centerpiece, 63,000-seat Olympic Stadium to be built in Victoria Park, originally estimated at A$3.4 billion and now at A$3.785 billion.

● The Centenary Pool Complex, opened in 1959, and at the corner of Victoria Park, will be revamped to become the national aquatics center, with permanent seating for  8,000 and Games seating for 25,000.

● The 54-acre RNA (Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland) Showground, also close to Victoria Park, will be the site of the Olympic Village and an upgraded, 20,000-seat main arena.

● The Queensland Tennis Centre will be upgraded with a 3,000-seat center court and 12 new match courts, and will host that sport during the 2032 Games.

● The previously planned 18,000-seat Brisbane Live arena, set to be a legacy showpiece from the Games, costing A$2.5 billion – mostly paid by the national government – is out of the program. Crisafulli said “The government’s decision not to proceed with the arena as part of the Games plan does not mean the death of the Brisbane arena, far from it. What it does mean is an opportunity to put the $2.5 billion the federal government has budgeted towards other infrastructure.”

He said another site in the Woolloongabba area will be used for the arena “and we will proceed immediately with a market-led proposal … for the fraction of cost to taxpayers.” The Gabba will eventually be torn down, after 2032.

● New rail lines and bus corridors will be built, with Crisafulli saying the plan is “fully funded,” but without all the details at the announcement. The original bid plan included an agreement between the national and Queensland governments for a shared A$7.1 billion in support.

● Outside of Brisbane proper, Barlow Park in Cairns – an athletics and football facility – will be upgraded with more seating, rowing will be on the Fitzroy River (already criticized for hosting crocodiles although Rowing Australia uses it regularly) and the Toowoomba Showgrounds will be renovated to become a permanent, national equestrian center.

Crisafulli ended by stating, “We’re not Paris, we’re not L.A. This will be better, and it’ll be the Queensland way, and that’s what will make the Games great.”

This is the latest chapter in a long and vitriolic road about stadiums and the 2032 Games, all having to do with Queensland politics:

● In the bid for the 2032 Games, awarded to Brisbane in 2021, the original plan was to renovate the famed Brisbane Cricket Ground (the Gabba) at a projected cost of A$2.7 billion. After then-Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk retired, her Labor successor, Steven Miles, undertook another review, which recommended a new facility – costing A$3.4 billion – at Victoria Park in Brisbane.

● Miles rejected both of cost concerns, in favor of renovating the existing Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC) for track & field and using Suncorp Stadium (Lang Park) for ceremonies, all in the name of cost savings. Labor lost to the Liberal National Party (LNP), with Crisafulli as leader, in October 2024.

ABC News Australia noted in a Monday story previewing the announcement:

● “In an interview with ABC Radio Brisbane in March 2024, he said: ‘If you’re asking me whether or not I support a new stadium, the answer is no, and I’ve been clear about that.’”

● “On the election campaign trail in October, Mr Crisafulli also said: ‘We’ve said we’re not embarking on new stadiums.’”

Now he is.

Palaszczuk said in a January television interview, while the latest review was ongoing:

“The Gabba was the place. But I’ve been told that it’s already Victoria Park, and I think there’s going to be a lot of outrage about the last piece of pristine greenness in our city being ripped up for stadiums.”

Observed: Crisafulli has now rolled back one of the centerpieces of the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Agenda 2020: to build as few venues as possible and use existing facilities. Instead, the Queensland government – like so many others before it – is using the Games as an excuse to build new infrastructure that it might not otherwise be able to get agreement on (not to mention funding).

IOC chief Thomas Bach (GER) has said that the IOC cannot stand in the way of local and national political decisions about future facilities if part of a long-term plan, which is how Crisafulli has characterized the new building program.

On the other hand, the Brisbane 2032 organizers are no doubt thrilled, as organizing committee President Andrew Liveris referred in a December interview with barely-concealed envy at the Paris 2024 main stadium:

“I mean, you just have to be in the Stade de France watching the sevens rugby, with 80,000 people providing revenue and top sponsors providing revenue, to understand the power of having a right-sized stadium for the Olympics.

“If a stadium like that appears at Victoria Park… [I] would say wow, what a great answer for the Olympics.”

He and his organizing committee are now at the mercy of the state and federal governments, and their contractors, to get the arenas, stadiums and village built on time.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: Coventry welcomed home in Zimbabwe; UCI’s Lappartient lightens the load; Vonn thrilled with first World Cup medal since 2015!

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC President-elect Kirsty Coventry welcomed home in Zimbabwe on Sunday (Photo: ZBC News on X).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The Milan Cortina organizers announced the signing of a Regional Transport Sponsor agreement with the Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM), the Italian public transport entity:

● “Short-long distance railway services for commuters in Lombardia will be strengthened, ensuring efficient links between competition venues and other key locations.”

● “Integration with bus services will further support a fluid and seamless travel experience. FNM will play a key role in transport planning, ensuring that all services are provided with maximum efficiency and reliability.”

● “Parking management and the optimisation of railway stations will complete the overall offer.”

In specific, “FNM Group will provide transport services for spectators in the Valtellina area, in particular free shuttle bus services connecting Tirano railway station to the Olympic venues in Bormio and Livigno, as well as services linking designated parking areas to the venues.”

Observed: For Paris 2024, the regional Iles-de-France Mobilities organization was an “Official Partner” of the organizing committee as well.

So, can we expect the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“Metro”) to be a sponsor of the LA28 organizing committee? Metro, at present, is lobbying the Trump Administration for $3 billion in assistance for Olympic programs and other regional transport support.

● Olympic Games ● Monday was the 104th anniversary of the “1er Meeting International d’Education Physique Féminine de Sports Athlétiques” in 1921, the first major international women’s sports event. There were 100 women who participated, from five countries, in 10 track & field events, plus exhibitions in basketball, gymnastics and pushball.

Organized by women’s sports pioneer Alice Milliat (FRA), it was held from 24-31 March in Monte Carlo, at the International Sporting Club of Monaco, to pressure the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) to have women’s track & field events at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games (which were added).

● International Olympic Committee ● IOC President-elect Kirsty Coventry was given a rapturous welcome when she arrived home to Zimbabwe on Sunday, greeted by officials, fans, dancers and a band at Mugabe Airport to celebrate her success at the IOC Session.

In the meantime, Coventry’s parents were robbed at gunpoint at home on 10 March, by John and Mike Nhongwe, two brothers who have been arrested and appeared in court last Friday (21st). They tied up the parents and took $15,000 in cash, jewelry, guns and some of Coventry’s sports memorabilia, all together worth about $90,000. No injuries were reported.

While Coventry’s election was huge news worldwide, it wasn’t exactly must-see television, as the live stream of the IOC Session in which she was elected had an audience that topped out at 3,204 during the election action.

A total of 240 news media were accredited for the Session in Costa Navarino, Greece.

● France ● David Lappartient might have been the busiest man in sports, having been a candidate for the IOC Presidency last week, as well as the President of the Union Cycliste Internationale, the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) and the President of the Morbihan Council, a department in Brittany.

He lost in the IOC election and now will not run for re-election as the head of the CNOSF, a post he took when the organization was in chaos in 2023. He settled things down and spearheaded the successful bid for the 2030 Winter Games, surprisingly awarded to the French Alps.

Lappartient explained:

“I wish to respect the commitment I made to you to commit to a two-year term, taking into account my other mandates..

“While the accumulation of these commitments has been possible over these two years at the cost of a very substantial personal investment, I do not believe that it is desirable, apart from the exceptional circumstances of the last two years, for the president of the CNOSF not to be even more focused on his mission at your service.”

He will continue with his stewardship of the UCI and with his political duties in Morbihan.

● Alpine Skiing ● Think U.S. star Lindsey Vonn, 40, was happy with her FIS World Cup Super-G silver at Sun Valley on Sunday? She posted on X:

“I DID IT!!! After everything I’ve been through, I fought my way back on to the podium!! I can’t even start to describe what this means to me… I have been overwhelmed with emotion and support from so many people. I want to say thank you to everyone who believed in me! Going to enjoy this moment and reflect. More soon!”

It was Vonn’s first World Cup medal since 2015, when she won a Super-G bronze in Are (SWE) on 15 March, a day after her last World Cup win, in the Are Downhill. She now has 138 career World Cup medals, tied for third all-time with Austria’s Marcel Hirscher and behind fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin (156) and Swede Ingemar Stenmark (155).

She decided to return to the World Cup this season after a highly successful knee replacement surgery in April 2024. Injuries had pushed her into retirement in January of 2019.

● Bobsled & Skeleton ● USA Bobsled & Skeleton finished up the 2024-25 season with the national championships in Lake Placid, New York, with a double gold for five-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor.

She won the women’s Monobob in 59.89 over Sylvia Hoffman (59.98) and then combined with Jasmine Jones to win the Two-Woman title in 57.11, with Hoffman and Macy Tarlton at 57.53. Kris Horn and Hunter Powell won the two-run, Two-Man title at 1:52.06, ahead of Geoff Gadbois and Bryce Cheek (1:53.04).

In Skeleton, Austin Florian took the men’s title over Dan Barefoot, 1:48.05 to 1:48.71, and Kelly Curtis won the women’s championship, 1:50.82 to 1:50.93 over Sara Roderick.

Fascinating announcement by USA Bobsled & Skeleton of its new board members, including three-time U.S. track & field Olympian Hazel Clark.

As the Director of Global Sales & Business Development at the Bermuda Tourism Authority, she brought a USA Track & Field “Bermuda Grand Prix” meet to the island in 2022-23-24. So will there be a Bermuda training camp in the future for American sliders?

Former U.S. sledder JP Davies, a financial investment manager with Edward Jones, and fast-casual restaurant conglomerate Aurify Brands co-CEO John Rigos also joined the Board.

● Biathlon ● More honors for 22-year-old Campbell Wright of the U.S, the winner in the IBU men’s World Cup U-23 seasonal standings. Wright won two World Championship silvers in 2025 and scored 455 World Cup points, way ahead of Ukraine’s Vitali Mandzyn (230).

Wright joined the U.S. team in 2023, from New Zealand.

● Cycling ● The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced that the experiment with the UCI Track Champions League has ended and the UCI Track Cycling World Cup will return.

The four-stage Champions League program debuted in 2021 and ran through the 2024 season, operated in cooperation with Warner Bros. Discovery. Now, track cycling will continue with a three-event program, but will return to being called the “UCI Track World Cup,” as it was from 2011 to 2020, with roots going back to 1993. It will replace the UCI Track Nations League, which was held from 2021-24, with a most recent edition in Konya (TUR) from 14-16 March 2025.

● Shooting ● Great concern from the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) over a European Commission draft proposal to eliminate “lead gunshot” within five years, which the ISSF says will wreck shooting in the affected European countries. Its statement on the proposal includes:

● “[T]here are still several planned regulations that would lead to far-reaching, unjustifiable problems from the perspective of sport shooting. This concerns the planned restriction on the use and placing on the market of lead ‘gunshot’ ammunition, which we consider to be particularly critical. The conditions imposed for the continued use of lead gunshot ammunition are not proportionate and cannot be generally implemented in practice.”

● “There are great differences in the size and use of the shooting ranges and for many regional and local facilities of our member federations, the requirements now proposed by the European Commission are neither practicable nor necessary given the risks they pose.

“In several European countries, most shooting ranges are small to medium-sized and are run by local shooting, hunting or reserve clubs on a voluntary basis.”

● “In addition, most shooting ranges are currently not authorised and equipped for the use of lead-free ammunition. Alternative ammunition places significantly different demands on shooting ranges. Due to changes in ricochet behaviour, far-reaching structural changes would be necessary to ensure a safe shooting environment.

“The mostly non-profit organisations that run shooting ranges on a voluntary basis are far from being able to cope with this enormous financial burden on their own. The enormous cost and workload for those who could continue is not feasible in the timeframe set by the European Commission; the planning, bureaucratic procedures, construction activities, licensing etc. cannot be done within a timeframe of 5 years, even 10 years might not be sufficient in many cases.”

The federation noted that the current proposal has improved since the European Chemicals Agency proposal to ban “lead bullets,” but is still a great threat to shooting sport in Europe.

● Wrestling ● The NCAA Championships concluded on Saturday, with perennial power Penn State winning its 12th national title in the last 14 editions, and Carter Starocci of the Nittany Lions winning his fifth individual NCAA title, at 184 pounds (thanks to an extra year via Covid-19).

But the highlight was the final appearance of Minnesota star – and Tokyo 2020 Olympic 125 kg Freestyle champion – Gable Steveson, looking for a third NCAA championship at 285 pounds and coming to the final with a 70-match win streak.

But it wasn’t going to be easy, as he faced second-ranked Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State), the United World Wrestling U-23 World Champion in 2023. Steveson started fast, with a 3-0 lead, narrowed to 3-2 in the second period on two Hendrickson escapes. Steveson added a point for a 4-2 lead, but with 18 seconds left, Hendrickson scored a double-leg takedown for three points and a historic, 5-4 win.

Said the winner about holding on for the final 18 seconds:

“I was looking at the clock and I’m squeezing him. I made up my mind. If he did stand up, I didn’t want to lock my hands. I don’t want to get a locked hands call, but I was squeezing.

“If he stands up, I’m just going to lock and pick him up and just hold him in the air for the last couple seconds, because I’m, like, ‘I have made it this far,’ and I knew I was going to win this match. I don’t care if I had to rip my arms off squeezing him. I was, like, ‘I’m holding this man down and winning this match.'”

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

SWIMMING: Seven more wins for Virginia senior star Gretchen Walsh as Cavaliers take fifth straight NCAA women’s title

By
Rich Perelman
-
Virginia superstar Gretchen Walsh scored seven golds at the 2025 NCAA Championships! (Photo: University of Virginia).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

Amid all the excitement of multiple world championships and World Cup finales around the world last weekend, there was also the NCAA Division I women’s championships in Federal Way, Washington, with the main question of:

What will Gretchen Walsh do?

The last time the world looked in at Walsh was at the World Aquatics 25 m Championships in Budapest (HUN) last December, when she won seven golds and dominated the women’s division. Now a senior at Virginia, she was helping the Cavaliers try for a fifth straight NCAA title.

And she did, with ease. Virginia clubbed the field, scoring 544 points to 417 for Stanford and 394 for Texas. And Walsh was in the middle of it, with seven wins (all short-course in yards); in order:

● 200-yard Medley Relay (collegiate record)
● 50-yard Freestyle
● 200-yard Freestyle Relay
● 100-yard Butterfly (collegiate record 46.97)
● 400-yard Medley Relay
● 100-yard Freestyle (collegiate record 44.71)
● 400-yard Freestyle Relay

As a frosh, Walsh was part of five NCAA titles in 2022, then six wins in 2023 and seven in 2024. So she finished her four years at Virginia with 25 NCAA victories, with nine in individual events and 16 on relays. She also won three silvers for a career total of 28 medals.

How good was Walsh? Consider this: in the 100 Fly, she set a collegiate record in the prelims, then lowered it again in the final to 46.97, beating Stanford frosh Torri Huske (48.90). Please remember that Huske is the Paris 2024 Olympic gold medalist in the 100 m Fly. Wow.

Older sister Alex Walsh won the 100-yard Breaststroke, giving her NCAA titles in five different individual events (second only to Tracy Caulkins, who won in six events at Florida between 1982-84) and nine wins:

● 100-yard Breaststroke: 2025
● 200-yard Breaststroke: 2024
● 200-yard Butterfly: 2022
● 200-yard Medley: 2021-22-23
● 400-yard Medley: 2022-23-24

Alex finished with 29 NCAA medals and 23 golds, including 16 relay wins.

Virginia’s Claire Curzan, who won the World Aquatics Champs golds in the 50-100-200 m Backstrokes in 2024, won the 100-yard and 200-yard Backstrokes and was on four relay wins.

Huske got her first NCAA title in the 200-yard Medley, beating Alex Walsh, and was second to Gretchen Walsh in the 100 Free and 100 Fly, plus a relay silver and bronze.

Quite a meet for America’s current and future stars; their next test against the best in the rest of the world might be in July for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

MILAN CORTINA 2026: Sliding track in Cortina being tested and looks to be ready on time; “98% complete” says U.S. expert

By
Rich Perelman
-
The under-construction sliding track in Cortina (ITA) for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games (Photo: Simico).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ NEW TRACK ON TIME ≡

It looks like the bobsled, luge and skeleton competitions at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy will, in fact, be at the new track in Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA).

Tony Corlino, the former manager of the Olympic Regional Development Authority’s (ORDA) Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid, New York, told the Adirondack Explorer, “The track is going to be fabulous when the time comes.”

Corlino is in Cortina for the pre-homologation testing of the new facility with the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (ISBF), which started Monday and will continue through the weekend.

He called the construction 98% complete, adding, “I was shocked. There are a few things to do, nothing earth shattering.”

The Italian government’s Olympic works oversight company, known as Simico, explained in a Monday post (€1 = $1.08):

“The track, built in the 1920s, has been the scene of prestigious sporting activities, and is now undergoing redevelopment with a total investment of €118,424,000.00.

“This redevelopment is divided into three phases: removal of obsolete parts (already completed, with a part preserved for museum purposes); construction of the new 1,730-metre track that partially follows the historic route with 16 curves and insertion of the work into the landscape with sustainable materials and techniques for a total area of 7 hectares [17.3 acres]; creation of a memorial that tells the story of sliding sports linked to the local area.

“On 31 January 2024, the contract for the works was awarded to Impresa Pizzarotti, with construction work starting on 19 February 2024. The pre-homologation of the track is scheduled for 24 to 30 March 2025. Completion is scheduled for 5 November 2025, with subsequent homologation and delivery to Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 for the Games.”

The entire track will be covered by a green-roofed structure, using a gable roof shape recalling historic Cortina-area architecture. The sustainability project includes the use of liquid glycol instead of ammonia as the cooling agent, with 96% of the ammonia eliminated. About 135 workers have been at the site since February 2024, with 35 sub-contractors and 115 materials suppliers.

A total of 134 athletes and coaches have come to the new track for the trials, including a total of 60 athletes from Austria, Canada, China, Great Britain, Germany, South Korea, Latvia, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia, and the U.S., with leading U.S. bob driver Frank Del Luca and three-time Olympic champ Kaillie Humphries attending, along with two-time luge Worlds medal winners Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby attending. There are 18 lugers, 34 bobsledders and eight skeleton riders.

Coaches from 22 countries are also on hand, along with IBSF and FIL (luge) federation technical officials.

Lake Placid has been designated as the back-up site in case the track is not finished on time.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

PANORAMA: Vonn wins first World Cup medal since 2015 with Super-G silver; first Worlds gold for U.S.’s Jaelin Kauf; ‘68 Olympic champ George Foreman passes

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. celebrates 1-2 finish in women’s Worlds Freestyle Dual Moguls with Tess Johnson (left, silver) and winner Jaelin Kauf (Photo: U.S. Ski Team on X).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games 1984: Los Angeles ● Once an Olympic Games ends, the city remains and will always be known as an Olympic City. Especially if that city hosts multiple Games as has Los Angeles (1932 and 1984) and Beijing (2008 and 2022 Winter).

Representatives of cities which have hosted past Games remain connected through a quiet organization called the World Union of Olympic Cities, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland (of course). It was at a World Union meeting that a visit by the Beijing Olympic Development Association – responsible for Beijing’s Olympic legacy – to Los Angeles developed, which finally happened last month in conjunction with a follow-on meeting in Colorado Springs of the Olympic Museums Network, at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum.

Four members of the Beijing Olympic Development Association were only able to visit Los Angeles for a day, but were welcomed by the American Chinese Athletic Association, a Southern California non-profit group of former professional athletes. The quick tour featured a trip to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which will host a third Games in 2028, to the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games and its 2016 bid legacy athlete-mentoring program in schools – Ready, Set, Gold! – and to the LA84 Foundation, currently displaying a memorabilia retrospective on the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

The Chinese delegation moved on to Colorado Springs for the Olympic Museum Network meetings, but not before an agreement for the Beijing ODA and the SCCOG to work together on future events in Southern California on the road to the 2028 Olympic Games, including with the SCCOG’s sister organization, the Los Angeles Sports Council.

Another Olympic legacy in two Olympic cities.

● Olympic Games 2040 ● With an eye toward a 2040 Olympic Games which would celebrate 50 years since German reunification in 1990, reports indicate Berlin has the idea to partner with other German states, such as Brandenburg, Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Schleswig-Holstein.

A decision by the German National Olympic Committee (DOSB) on which city/cities/regions will bid is expected later this year.

● Boxing ● George Foreman, the 1968 Olympic heavyweight boxing champion who went on to twice become world heavyweight champion, passed away on Friday (21st) at age 76, in Houston, Texas.

Foreman stopped Soviet Jonas Cepulis in the second round of their fight in the 1968 Olympic final in Mexico City and turned professional shortly afterwards. He won the world heavyweight title in 1972, but lost it to Muhammad Ali in the “Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasa, Zaire in 1974, and retired (for the first time) in 1977.

He became a minister, but then returned to boxing in 1987 and won the world title again in 1994, but let it go in 1995. In 1994, he began a fabulous business career as the face of the George Foreman Grill, which sold more than 100 million units.

● Skiing ● A first for Czech two-discipline star Ester Ledecka, who won an Alpine Worlds bronze this year in the women’s Downhill, then won her third Snowboard Worlds gold in the Parallel Giant Slalom, becoming the first ever to win two FIS World Championship medals in different disciplines in the same season.

Ledecka is asking to have the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games schedule changed to avoid an alpine skiing-snowboard conflict, as the women’s Alpine Downhill and the Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom are on the same day – 8 February – with the PGS qualifying starting at 9:00 a.m. at the Livigno Snow Park in Valtellina and the Downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo at 11:30 a.m., about 200 miles east.

She was the surprise winner of the 2018 PyeongChang women’s Super-G gold medal, and also won the Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom gold in 2018 and 2022. She said last December:

“It’s like someone has broken your dream. So please change it. Please, please, please. It’s my biggest dream to do both. I can create a great show for people.”

≡ RESULTS ≡

● Alpine Skiing ● The season-ending FIS World Cup Finals are in Sun Valley, Idaho, with a message for fans ahead of the 2026 Winter Games: don’t forget about U.S. star Lindsey Vonn.

Now 40, Vonn won her first World Cup medal since March of 2015 with a silver in Sunday’s women’s Super-G, finishing in 1:13.64, behind 2024-25 discipline winner Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI: 1:12.35) and ahead of World Cup seasonal champion Federica Brignone (ITA: 1:13.68). Said Vonn afterwards:

“It’s really emotional because as much as I love this journey, it has not been an easy one. Today makes it all worth it.

“Today I wanted to give everything I had for the home crowd. This is my last chance in my career to race at home and I just gave it everything I had.”

Gut-Behrami won the Super-G seasonal Crystal Globe with 665 points to 630 for Brignone.

The men’s Super-G went to Austria’s Lukas Feurstein (1:10.96) over teammate Raphael Haaser (1:11.15) and World Downhill champ Franjo von Allmen (SUI: 1:11.38). American Ryan Cochran-Siegle was 13th (1:12.86). Swiss World Cup champion Marco Odermatt was the seasonal Super-G winner with 536 points over teammate Stefan Rogentin (321).

Saturday’s Downhill opener was canceled due to high winds, leaving Odermatt as the seasonal men’s discipline champion, 605-522, over van Allmen. Brignone won the women’s seasonal Downhill title over Cornelia Huetter (AUT), 384-368; American Lauren Macuga was fourth (230).

The World Cup Finals continue with the Giant Slaloms on Tuesday.

● Athletics ● A world record in the men’s 35 km Walk for the Tokyo 2020 men’s 50 km Walk bronze medalist Evan Dunfee (CAN), who won the Dudince 50 in Slovakia in 2:21:40. That’s a seven-second improvement from the prior mark of 2:21:47 by Masatora Kawano (JPN) from last October in Takahata (JPN).

German Christopher Linke was a distant second in 2:24:40.

● Badminton ● China scored four titles at the BWF World Tour Swiss Open in Basel (SUI), including both Singles finals.

Hong Yang Weng (CHN) won the men’s Singles in straight sets, 21-18, 21-3 over Christo Popov (FRA). And Yu Fei Chen took the women’s win by 21-17, 21-17 against Line Kjaersfeldt (DEN).

Yi Fan Jia and Shu Xian Zhang (CHN) won the men’s Doubles over countrymen Sheng Shu Liu and Ning Tan, 21-19, 14-21, 21-17, and Yan Zhe Feng and Ya Xin Wei (CHN) won the Mixed Doubles against Yi Jun Zhu and Chi Zhang (CHN), 21-13, 21-15.

Thailand’s Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol Puavaranukroh won the men’s Doubles, 21-15, 18-21, 21-14 over Muhammad Fikri and Daniel Marthin (INA).

● Biathlon ● The IBU World Cup concluded in Oslo (NOR), with seasonal titles in the balance to the end.

The men’s 10 km Sprint went to Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) in 24:49.5 (0 penalties), leading a Norwegian sweep, followed by Sturla Holm Laegreid (25:15.2/0) and Johannes Dale Skjevdal (25:26.2/1). Then the men’s 12.5 km Pursuit was a Norwegian 1-2, with Laegreid winning in 31:45.0 (0), ahead of Boe (32:00.5/3) and France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet (32:08.9/1). American Campbell Wright finished eighth (33:40.9/2).

On Sunday, Swede Sebastian Samuelsson got his second World Cup win of the season in the 15 km Mass Start in 39:11.8 (1), ahead of Eric Perrrot (FRA: 39:17.4/1) and Endre Stroemsheim (NOR: 39:21.1/0).

Laegreid won the seasonal title with 1,291 points to 1,173 for J.T. Boe, who has said he will retire. Perrot was third at 926.

Germany Franziska Preuss won the women’s 7.5 km Sprint, outleaning Lou Jeanmonnot (FRA) at the line, 20:57.2 to 20:57.4, with no penalties for either. Suvi Minkkinen (FIN) got third in 21:19.1 (0). Jeanmonnot won the 10 km Pursuit in a rout in 30:16.9 (1) over Elvira Oeberg (SWE: 30:39.1/2) and Lena Haecki-Gross (SUI: 30:41.1/2).

The seasonal title was decided on the final day, as Preuss won the 12.5 km Mass Start in 38:23.8 (1), just ahead of Oeberg (38:27/1/3) and Jeanmonnot (38:35.5/1). For the season, Preuss scored 1,278 to edge Jeanmonnot (1,238), with Julia Simon (FRA: 902) in third place. French athletes won 12 of the 21 women’s races on the season.

● Cross Country Skiing ● The final stop of the 2024-25 FIS World Cup was in Lahti (FIN), with seasonal winner Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo continuing his domination of the Sprint discipline, winning the Freestyle on Saturday in 2:45.42, ahead of Jules Chappaz (FRA: 2:45.85) and 2017 World Champion Federico Pellegrino (ITA: 2:46.07). American JC Schoonmaker was sixth (2:46.86).

Klaebo and Even Northug won the men’s Team Sprint in a final sprint over the Swiss, 16:22.66 to 16:24.33, with France third (16:24.53) and the U.S. duo of Kevin Bolger and Schoonmaker fourth in 16:24.63.

Then Klaebo, who won a record six golds at the World Championships, finished in style with his 13th win of the season in the final race, the 50 km Freestyle, in 2:07:32.1, leading another Norwegian sweep, but barely ahead of Martin Nyenget (2:07:32.6) and Simon Krueger (2:07:33.1). American Gus Schumacher was eighth in 2:11:06.1.

Klaebo’s all-conquering season ended with 2,200 points for the men’s title, way ahead of of Swede Edwin Anger (1,731).

The women’s Sprint was the first-ever World Cup win for German Coletta Rydzek, in 3:05.64, beating Kristine Skistad (NOR: 3:05.85) and Swiss Nadine Faehndrich (3:06.02). Germany won the women’s Team Sprint over Sweden and Switzerland

Norway’s Therese Johaug, who returned to competition after retiring following the 2022 Winter Games, won the women’s 50 km Freestyle in 2:14:40.7 for her 89th career World Cup gold. She was more than a minute ahead of teammate Astrid Slind (2:15:44.0) with Ebba Andersson (SWE: 2:18:08.8) well back. Seasonal World Cup winner Jessie Diggins of the U.S. was ninth in 2:21:02.0.

Diggins finished with 2,197 points for her second straight World Cup overall win, to 1,827 for Victoria Carl (GER).

● Curling ● Either Switzerland or Canada had won the last 10 editions of the World Curling Women’s World Championship, and in 2025, it went to 11 in Uijeongbu (KOR), as Rachel Homan’s Canadian squad repeated as champions, defeating Silvana Tirinzoni’s Swiss team in the final.

The Swiss dispensed with China, 4-2, in the semifinals and Canada edged the home team, skipped by Eun-ji Gim, 6-5, with a point in the 11th end.

The final saw the Swiss with a 3-2 edge after five ends, but Homan’s rink scored two each in the sixth and seventh ends and another in the eighth to take home a 7-3 win and defend their 2024 title. It’s Homan’s third Worlds gold, also in 2017.

China, with Rui Wang as skip, won the bronze-medal match, 9-4, over the Koreans.

● Cycling ● The UCI World Tour turned to the famed 116th Milan-Sanremo race in Italy, with a thrilling finish to the men’s race, right to the line.

The 289 km course from Pavia to San Remo featured several small hills toward the end and the race came down to a three-way fight between Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogacar, the 2023 World Road Champion Mathieu van der Poel (NED) and Italy’s two-time World Time Trial champ, Filippo Ganna.

Van der Poel and Pogacar were dueling into the final kilometer when Ganna made a hard move to re-establish contact and the race to the line was on with 700 m left. A final surge in the last 200 m by van der Poel got him to the line first in 6:22:53, with Ganna passing Pogacar for second. The rest of the field followed 43 seconds back.

It’s the second win for van der Poel in this race, also in 2023, while Pogacar was third for the second year in a row. Ganna was also second behind van der Poel in 2023.

The women’s race, renewed in 2025 after a 20-year absence, was a mass sprint to the line of 12 riders, with two-time European champ Lorena Wiebes (NED) winning over countrywoman Marianne Vos, with both at 3:32:32 for the 156 km course that began in Genoa.

Noemi Reugg (SUI) finished third and American Chloe Dygert was sixth.

● Fencing ● Olympic silver medalist Filippo Macchi (ITA) won an all-Italian men’s final at the FIE Foil Grand Prix in Lima (PER), defeating world no. 2 Guillaume Bianchi by 15-12. American Nick Itkin, a two-time Worlds medalist, won one of the bronzes.

Japan’s Komaki Kikuchi won the women’s tournament for her first Grand Prix gold, downing Anna Cristino (ITA), 15-9. Olympic champ Lee Kiefer of the U.S. won one of the bronzes, losing to Cristino in the semis, winning her 14th career Grand Prix medal.

● Football ● The CONCACAF Nations League final in Inglewood, California featured Mexico and Panama, a taut game that was finally decided by a penalty kick in stoppage time to give Mexico a 2-1 win and its first Nations League title.

Striker Raul Jimenez got Mexico on top right away with an 8th-minute goal on a header off a perfect cross from midfielder Roberto Alvarado. But Panama tied it at 45+2 as midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla converted a penalty, after a foul on striker Cecilio Waterman.

Neither side could score in the second half, but in stoppage time, Panamanian defender Jose Cordoba was called for a hand ball in the box and Jimenez stutter-stepped, then sent a clean shot to the winning goal to the left side of the net. Panama had 53% of possession, but Mexico led on shots, 15-8, and took home the trophy.

In the third-place match, Canada defeated the U.S., 2-1, with striker Tani Oluwaseyi kicking in a blocked shot by forward Jonathan David in front of the American goal in the 27th minute for a 1-0 lead. The game was tied in the 35th, as striker Patrick Agyemang scored on a perfect feed from forward Diego Luna steaming into the box on the left side and laying it off to his right for the right-footed finish.

That was the score at half. The winner came in the 59th from David, who took a pass from forward Ali Ahmed just inside the center of the box, then turned and sent a left-footed laser into the left corner of the net, past a diving Matt Turner in the U.S. goal.

Canadian keeper Dayne St. Clair saved a promising chance from Luna in the 85th and despite 59% possession, the U.S. lost and was out-shot, 8-5.

● Freestyle Skiing & Snowboard ● The FIS World Championships are ongoing through the 30th in Engadin (SUI), with the U.S. scoring a gold from Beijing 2022 Olympic silver winner Jaelin Kauf.

A veteran at 28, Kauf came into Engadin having won four career Worlds Freestyle Skiing medals – a 2023 silver in Moguls and three in Dual Moguls, including a 2023 silver – and promptly sawed through three rounds in the women’s Dual Moguls on Friday (21st) to reach the semis. There, she defeated fellow American Kylie Kariotis, 23-012 and faced another U.S. star, Tess Johnson, the 2019 Worlds bronze winner, in the final.

But Kauf won her first Worlds gold, winning by 21-14. Kariotis finished fourth, as Anastassiya Gordenko (KAZ) won the bronze-medal match by 22-13.

Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury won the men’s Dual Moguls, winning over Moguls gold medalist Ikuma Horishima (JPN), who did not finish. Matt Graham (AUS) won the bronze; Kingsbury defended his 2023 Worlds gold and won his fifth Worlds gold in the event (2015-19-21-23-25).

In the Freestyle Ski Cross, Switzerland scored a sweep, with Ryan Regez skiing to the men’s win as Tobias Muller (GER) and Ryo Sugai (JPN) both failing to finish, but awarded silver and bronze medals as France’s Youri Duplessis Kergomard was penalized for interference and placed fourth. The women’s race went to Swiss star Fanny Smith, ahead of Courtney Hoffos (CAN) and Daniela Maier (GER) for her second Worlds gold, 12 years after her first in 2013!

Regez and Smith teamed up to win the Ski Cross Mixed Team gold, over France’s Melvin Tchiknavorian and Jade Aubert.

The Freestyle Slopestyle saw the defending champions win again, as Birk Ruud (NOR) – the 2022 Olympic Big Air champ – won the men’s title, scoring 89.l0 in the second round to beat Americans Mac Forehand (85.53) and Olympic champ Alex Hall (84.72).

Swiss Mathilde Gremaud won the women’s Slopestyle again, to go with her 2022 Olympic gold; she scored 85.65 on her first run to win, over Lara Wolf (AUT: 73.33) and Megan Oldham (CAN: 70.63).

In Snowboard, the men’s Parallel Slalom was a surprise win for 20-year-old Bulgarian Tervel Zamfirov, winner of the 2025 Winter World University Games title in February. This time, he scored three close wins to get to the final against Arvid Auner (AUT), the 2023 runner-up. But Zamifrov won the final by 0.40 seconds to get the win, with Italy’s Aaron March getting the bronze over 44-year-old Andreas Prommegger (AUT).

The women’s Parallel Slalom was a reversal of the Parallel Giant Slalom, as Japan’s Tsubaki Miki beat Czech star Ester Ledecka in the final by 1.08 seconds, after Ledecka won their first showdown. It’s Miki’s second career Worlds gold, after her 2023 Parallel Giant Slalom gold. Ledecka, now 30, won her fifth career Worlds snowboard medal.

In the Team Parallel Slalom on Sunday, it was Italy’s Maurizio Bormolini and Elisa Caffont winning over the third Italian team of Gabriel Messner and Jasmin Coratti, by 0.92 seconds in the final.

The Snowboard men’s Slopestyle gold went to Canada’s Liam Brearley in an upset over China’s 2022 Olympic runner-up Yiming Su, 90.15 to 85.07, with Oliver Martin of the U.S. third (78.98) and Red Gerard, the 2018 Olympic winner, fifth (74.61).

New Zealand’s 2022 Olympic winner, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, scored her third women’s Slopestyle gold, scoring 90.15 in the second round to win over Kokomo Murase (JPN: 87.02) and Reira Iwabuchi (JPN: 83.55). Sadowski-Synnott has now been first or second in this event in five straight Worlds.

● Gymnastics ● U.S. Junior All-Around champion Claire Pease, 16, made her debut at the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Antalya (TUR) a memorable one, scoring a win and three silver medals in the four-event women’s program.

She opened with a second on the Vault to teammate Jayla Hang, 13.667 to 13.567, then for another silver on the Uneven Bars at 14.234, with China’s Fanyuwei Yang winning at 14.800. Hang was sixth (12.734).

On Sunday, Pease won on Beam, scoring 13.266 to 13.11 for Mana Okamura (JPN), with Hang in sixth (12.734). On Floor, Japan’s Akio Sugihara won at 13.633, with Pease second at 13.266 and Hang sixth at 12.966.

The men’s finals started with a win for American Taylor Burkhardt on Floor at 13.934 for the only U.S. Men’s medal. China’s 2021 World Champion Xingyu Lan won Rings at 14.567; Kazakh Nariman Kubanov, the Paris silver medalist, took the Pommel Horse win at 14.634; Armenia’s Paris 2024 runner-up Artur Davtyan won on Vault; Turkey’s Tokyo 2020 bronze winner Ferhart Arican won the Parallel Bars final (14.466), and Croatian star Tin Srbic, the 2017 World Champion, won the Horizontal Bar at 14.166. Burkhardt was fourth in that event at 13.700.

● Judo ● France led the medal table with three winners at the IJF World Tour Tbilisi Grand Slam in Georgia, with Paris Olympic silver winner Luka Mkheidze taking the men’s 60 kg, Amandine Buchard, the women’s Olympic 52 kg bronze medalist winning that class, and +78 kg star – and Olympic bronze medalist – Romane Dicko taking her class.

The home team scored wins by London 2012 Olympic 66 kg champ Lasha Shavdatuashvili at 73 kg, and 2019 World Junior champ Eteri Liparteliani in the women’s 57 kg class.

● Nordic Combined ● The FIS men’s World Cup season-ender was in Lahti (FIN), with 2023 World Cup winner Johannes Lamparter (AUT) sweeping both events, jumping off the 130 m hill and a 10 km race.

He won Friday’s race in 23:59.4, well ahead of Ilkka Herola (FIN: 24:26.8) and Julian Schmid (GER: 24:41.0). On Saturday, Lamparter beat Schmid, 23:09.0 to 23:30.2, with Laurent Muhlethaler (FRA: 23:44.7).

With the wins, Lamparter finished third in the overall World Cup standings (1,317 points), behind winner Vinzenz Geiger (GER: 1,506) and retiring Norwegian star Jarl Magnus Riiber (1,385).

● Ski Jumping ● The FIS women’s World Cup finished in Lahti (FIN) with two events off the 130 m hill, and, of course, it was Slovenian teen sensation Nika Prevc winning both, to finish with wins in the final 10 events of the season (and the seasonal title)!

Prevc took Thursday’s event by winning both rounds and scoring 302.6, way ahead of Selina Freitag (GER: 277.4) and Alexandria Loutitt (CAN: 275.1). On Friday, Prevc won again, over Freitag, 328.8 to 277.4, with Ema Klinec (SLO: 274.4) in third.

Prevc overwhelmed everyone in the seasonal standings, scoring 1,933 to 1,293 for Freitag and 1,201 for Katharina Schmid (GER).

The single men’s event, on Saturday, was the first win of the season for two-time Worlds gold medalist Anze Lanisek (SLO), scoring 276.9 points to 270.8 for Stefan Kraft (AUT) and 263.9 for Pole Pawel Wasek.

Sunday was the men’s Team Event, with Lanisek and Lovro Kos winning for Slovenia at 813.4 points, ahead of Austria (809.3) and Japan (802.5). The U.S., with Jason Colby and Tate Frantz, was eighth (601.6).

● Ski Mountaineering ● World champions remained on top at the ISMF World Cup in Val Martello (ITA), with Swiss star Remi Bonnet winning the men’s Individual Race in 1:23:45.9 for his fifth World Cup gold this season. William Bon Mardion (FRA) was second at 1:25:15.0 and Matteo Eydallin (ITA: 1:25:43.9) was third.

France’s Axelle Gachet Mollaret, the women’s Individual Race World Champion, won the women’s Individual Race in 1:25:07.3, well ahead of teammate Emily Harrop (1:26:26.4) and Alba de Silvestro (ITA: 1:26:28.1). It’s also the fifth World Cup gold this season for Gachet Mollaret.

The Mixed Relay went to the Swiss pair of Caroline Ulrich and Thomas Bussard in 36:19.1, over Spain’s Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll (36:38.5) and France’s Harrop and Pablo Giner Dalmasso (37:02.2).

● Snowboard ● France starred at the FIS World Cup in Snowcross in Montafon (AUT), starting with the first win of the season for Loan Bozzolo in the men’s final over Adam Lambert (AUS) and Aidan Chollet (FRA).

The women’s race was a French 1-2 for Lea Casta – her second gold of the season – and Julia Pereira de Sousa, with 2021 World Champion Charlotte Bankes (GBR) third.

Sunday’s team event was a third win for France, with Chollet and Pereira de Sousa winning as France 2 over Australia and France 1.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

ATHLETICS: U.S. sweeps relays, Hoey and Bryant claim golds on way to 16 total medals at World Indoor Championships in China

By
Rich Perelman
-
Josh Hoey of the U.S. wins the World Indoor 800 m gold over Belgium’s Eliott Crestan (Photo: Dan Vernon for World Athletics).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ WORLD INDOOR CHAMPS ≡

Norwegian superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen finally got his championship distance double and the U.S. claim four golds in the final day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.

Ingebrigtsen won the men’s 3,000 m on Saturday and then lined up to try for the 1,500 m world indoor title, a distance at which he had never won a Worlds gold. He had the lead going into the final lap, but with American Luke Houser and Britain’s Neil Gourley in hot pursuit. But Ingebrigtsen was too fit and too fast down the final straight and won the double in 3:38.79. Gourley got up for second in 3:39.07, with Houser getting bronze in 3:39.17, his first Worlds medal. Sam Prakel of the U.S. was ninth (3:44.48).

In all, there were five who defended their World Indoor titles from 2024:

● Men/60 m hurdles: Grant Holloway (USA) ~ also 2023
● Men/Pole Vault: Mondo Duplantis (SWE) ~ also 2023
● Women/60 m hurdles: Devynne Charlton (BAH)
● Women/High Jump: Nicola Olyslagers (AUS)
● Women/Shot Put: Sarah Mitton (CAN)

Charlton and Olyslagers defended their titles on Sunday, with Charlton winning a mass finish in the 60 hurdles. She got the best start, but could not pull away and had to lean to win in a seasonal best of 7.72, with Ditaji Kumbundji (SUI: 7.73), Ackera Nugent (JAM: 7.74), Pia Skrzyszowska (POL: 7.74) and Grace Stark of the U.S. (7.74) all within 0.02! American Christina Clemons was seventh in 8.03.

Nugent’s semifinal was just as eventful, as she qualified second for the final, but hit the fifth hurdle so hard, the crossbar flew off!

Olyslagers, the two-time Olympic silver winner, cleared four bars in a row to win the women’s high jump at 1.97 m (6-5 1/2). She beat teammate Eleanor Patterson on misses at a lower height and Olympic champ Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) could only clear 1.95 m (6-4 3/4) for the bronze. Americans Charity Hufnagel (1.92 m/6-3 1/2) and Vashti Cunningham (1.85 m/6-0 3/4) finished fifth and 10th.

American Josh Hoey, the world leader in the men’s 800 m, had the lead throughout the final, but barely held off a fast-closing Eliott Crestan (BEL) at the line to win in 1:44.77 to 1:44.81. Elvin Canales of Spain got third (1:45.03) and Brandon Miller of the U.S. was fifth (1:46.44).

Claire Bryant of the U.S. ranked 13th on the world list coming into the women’s long jump final, but she got a seasonal best of 6.76 m (22-2 1/4) on her first jump, improved to 6.90 m (22-7 3/4) on her third to take the lead and got a final PR in round five to win at 6.96 m (22-10), a lifetime best indoors and out! She’s up to no. 3 on the 2025 world indoor list and now no. 7 on the all-time U.S. indoor list.

Swiss Anik Kalin was second at 6.83 m (22-5); American Monae Nichols was eighth (6.49 m/21-3 1/2).

Just three world-leading marks were set during the meet, and only one on Sunday:

● Men/Triple Jump: 17.80 m (58-4 3/4), Andy Diaz (ITA)
● Women/800 m: 1:58.40, Prudence Sekgodiso (RSA)
● Women/Triple Jump: 14.93 m (48-11 3/4), Leyanis Perez (CUB)

Sekgodiso was third at the bell in the women’s 800 m, but passed Ethiopia’s Nigist Getachew with 100 m to go and won going away in a world-leading 1:58.40. Getachew was second in 1:59.63 and Portugal’s Patricia Silva got third (1:59.80). Defending champ Tsige Duguma (ETH) faded on the final lap and was sixth in 2:04.76.

Fellow Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay was in excellent form in the women’s 1,500 m, blowing away the field with the no. 3 performance in history – 3:54.86 – ahead of countrywomen Diribe Welteji (3:59.30) and Georgia Bell (GBR: 3:59.84). Americans Sinclaire Johnson and Heather MacLean finished 6-7 in 4:04.07 and 4:05.45. Tsegay now owns the top four performances ever in this event.

In the men’s long jump, Italian star Matteo Furlani got out to 8.30 m (27-2 3.4) on his second jump and that was enough to win over Wayne Pinnock (JAM: 8.29 m/27-2 1/2) and Liam Adcock (AUS: 8.28 m/27-2). Olympic champ Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) was fifth at 8.14 m (26-8 1/2); Americans Cameron Crump (8.13 m/26-8 1/4) and Will Williams (7.76 m/25-5 1/2) finished seventh and 11th.

New Zealand’s Tom Walsh won his third World Indoor gold – also in 2016 and 2018 – with his first throw of 21.65 m (71-0 1/2), enough to best Americans Roger Steen (21.62 m/70-11 1/4) and Tripp Piperi (21.48 m/70-5 3/4). It was the first Worlds medal for Steen and Piperi.

Sander Skotheim, Norway’s 2024 World Indoor runner-up, won the men’s Hep, scoring 6,475 points, ahead of Johannes Erm (EST: 6,437). American Heath Baldwin was fourth at 6,188; Harrison Williams was 12th at 4,167, as he no-heighted in the vault.

The U.S. won both relays easily, with the men’s scoring gold in 3:03.13, with Elija Godwin (46.84), Brian Faust (45.94), Jacory Patterson (45.51) and Chris Bailey (44.84) winning over Jamaica (3:05.05) and Hungary (3:06.03).

The American women were even more dominant, winning in 3:27.45, with Quanera Hayes (52.28), Bailey Lear (52.05), Rosey Effiong (51.65) and Alexis Holmes (51.47). Poland was second in 3:32.05, and Australia third in 3:32.65.

All together, the U.S. led the medal table with 16 (6-4-6), ahead of Australia (7: 1-2-4) and Ethiopia (5: 2-3-0).

Prize money of $40,000-20,000-10,000-8,000-6,000-4,000 was paid for the top six placers.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LANE ONE: IOC’s election of Coventry is the natural extension of Bach’s emphasis: “it is all about the athlete”

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC President Thomas Bach (GER, left) and Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) meeting after her election to be the 10th IOC President (Photo: IOC Media on X).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

Speaking to the online 140th Session of the International Olympic Committee in June 2023, IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) told the members:

“In this way we are applying our core values of peace, unity, solidarity and nondiscrimination to find a pathway that serves the interests of the athletes.

“Our values are not just abstract concepts.

“Because at the end of the day, it is all about the athlete. This is where our values become real. This is why our principles matter. We are here to support the athletes of the entire world to make their Olympic dream come true.

“This is why we promote the participation of every athlete who accepts the rules, respects the Olympic Charter and has qualified on the field of play. The athlete is at the heart of the rationale for our recommendations.”

Bach’s relentless, repetitive reminders about the importance of having athletes at the center of what the IOC does, was coupled with his immovable belief in the future of the Olympic Movement as expressed during his remarks at the Paris 2024 opening ceremony:

“All of us will experience Olympic Games that are more inclusive, more urban, younger and more sustainable: the first Olympic Games with full gender parity on the field of play.”

These concepts were the basis for Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry to win the IOC Presidency on 20 March, getting the minimum number of votes needed for a first-round win – 49 of the 97 cast – with Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP) second with 28 and then Sebastian Coe (GBR) a distant third with eight votes. Four others received between 2-4 votes each. Consider:

● Coventry and Coe were the only Olympians in the election. Coe won two golds (1,500 m) and two silvers (800 m) in 1980 and 1984; Coventry was in a remarkable five Games – 2000-04-08-12-16 – and won seven medals (2-3-2), all in 2004 and 2008.

In less than 10 years after her last Games in the pool, she was elected IOC President. In Bach’s words: an athlete, younger (at 41, the second-youngest IOC chief ever), with gender parity and continental parity as the first woman and first African to lead the IOC.

● The IOC was ridiculed for decades as an old boys club, with a few ex-athletes along the businessmen, millionaires and royalty. Major change was already underway during the time of President Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP) from 1980-2001, but Bach accelerated everything during his 12 years in office.

● Of the 109 IOC members coming into the 144th Session in Greece, 43 had participated in the Olympic Games (39%), including 13 of the 35 elected before Bach took office (37%).

● Of the 74 members (of the 109) who had been elected during Bach’s term in office, 30 were Olympians (41%), and several more were former athletes who had not made it to the Games.

● Coventry is the fourth IOC President – out of 10 – who was an Olympian, starting with Avery Brundage (USA) in 1952, then not until Jacques Rogge (BEL: sailing) in 2001, then Bach (GER: fencing) in 2013 and now Coventry (swimming). That’s three Olympians in a row, two Olympic champions in a row and Coventry comes in as the most athletically-decorated IOC President ever, as the winner of seven medals, and participation in two Games.

● On gender, the 109 members split 61 men and 48 women coming into the 144th Session. Of the 35 pre-Bach Presidency members, 13 were women (37%).

● During Bach’s term (up to the 144th Session), 35 of the 74 elected members were women, or 47%.

Those two elements of Bach’s 12-year term – elevating the number of athletes and women – were the demographic building blocks of Coventry’s 49 votes and her first-round victory.

Israeli member Yael Arad, the country’s first Olympic medal winner – a women’s 61 kg silver in judo in 1992 – and elected to the IOC in 2023, told TSX correspondent Karen Rosen:

“I think it’s big history for the Olympic Movement. I think with great candidates with a lot of experience and two of them were Olympic champions, and I think for many of us it counts to be with a lot of skills and experience, but also really come from the bottom of the heart of the sport.

“And I think a woman that brings a lot of ambitions and skills, it’s a great message, not only to the world of sport, but also to the world at large, where everybody can, if you just dream and you work hard enough and you believe in yourself and people believe in you, so you can make it.”

Arad’s point on experience is also key. The top two vote-getters had been IOC members for some time – Coventry since 2013 and Samaranch since 2001 – with four of the five others elected in 2018 or later. Morinari Watanabe (JPN) was elected in 2018, Coe in 2020, David Lappartient (FRA) in 2022 and Johan Eliasch (GBR) in 2024. That was also a factor.

Although there is a transition period coming now, with Coventry to take office on 24 June 2025, Bach made it clear in his news conference on Friday that Coventry is essentially already in charge:

“With regard to the partition of responsibilities, I have assured her that from today on, no decision will be taken over her head, that this will happen in full consultation, and if there are different opinions between her and me, her opinion will prevail.

“It’s then her call to make these decisions, because she will have to live, then, from 24th of June, with these decisions, and to make this as efficient as possible, we have already fixed the first Executive Board meeting on the first day of her mandate on 24th of June, so that in case there are complex decisions to be taken which may need further consultation, or for which we need the approval of the Executive Board, then we can postpone it until then.

“And we have [an] interim, already another Executive Board on the 9th of April, so if by then, there would be decisions that we could take there on the 9th of April and this will be a remote meeting.”

Bach explained that in the handover period, Coventry will meet with each of the IOC staff departments – the presentations are already being prepared – so that she will be up to speed and ready to start her term.

Coventry was asked in her news conference as President-elect, on her first priorities and on current hot-button issues, and she was well prepared:

● On Russia and Belarus, with the 2026 Winter Games coming up, she maintained Bach’s line that athletes should not be denied opportunities to compete simply because of their passport:

“I believe at the end of the day, we need to do anything and everything to protect and support athletes from all conflict areas. We have numerous conflicts and a number of them happening on my continent.

“So again, we need to sit down as the Olympic movement and have a very serious conversation around how are we going to deal with more and more conflicts and how are we going to protect and support athletes that are coming from these conflict areas.”

The question of political neutrality by athletes was closely considered by the IOC prior to the Paris 2024 Games. It will be up to Coventry to lead the discussion on whether this will be maintained for Milan Cortina.

● On the transgender participation question, Coventry said there is work to do:

“I want to work together with the international federations. I want the IOC to take a little bit more of a leading role. And we’re going to do that by setting up a workforce, a task force that will look and analyze everything. We don’t need to redo the work. The IFs have done the work.

“But we are going to bring everyone together, sit down and have a little bit more unity in the discussion … [on] the transgender issue and the protection of the female category. And we, once we’ve made the decision collectively as the IOC with the international federations, that decision will be made very clear and we won’t move from that decision.”

She also believes that working with U.S. President Donald Trump is more a matter of communications than anything else, as she noted “[t]hat is something that will happen early on. My firm belief is that President Trump is a huge lover of sports. He will want these Games to be significant. He will want them to be a success.”

Coventry said that one of her short-term efforts will be to meet with the other six candidates and to “bring all candidates together and sit down and share some of these ideas that we’ve all had. And put them down on paper and agree on a way forward. So we will be able to look at ideas like this and what that could potentially mean and then take it to the broader membership.”

All seven candidates promised more interaction with the membership than seen under Bach and this will be the first step forward in keeping that promise, and meeting the known and unspoken expectations of those who her into an office which will have worldwide impacts. Coventry said:

“[F]irst and foremost, I’ve never ever been successful as an individual. I’ve been successful because of a team. And what I’ve learned most over the last six months is I have an incredibly strong team within my membership.

“They are incredible people with many experiences, a lot of knowledge. And I’m going to lean on all of them. We’re going to make decisions together. We’re going to support each other. And for me, that’s the only way that I’m willing to work.”

Rich Perelman
Editor

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

LOS ANGELES 2028: Four major LA28 announcements coming on 9 April; Wasserman on traffic: “For 17 days, we can fix any problem in the world”

By
Rich Perelman
-
LA28 chief executive Reynold Hoover addressing the IOC Session in Greece (Photo: IOC video screen shot).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ LA28 ACCELERATES ≡

While most of the attention at the 144th IOC Session in Greece focused on the election of the 10th President of the International Olympic Committee, last Thursday also included major reports from the organizing committees from 2026 through 2032.

Included in that was the LA28 review, from organizing committee senior executives Casey Wasserman (Chair), Reynold Hoover (CEO) and Olympic swimming star Janet Evans (Chief Athlete Officer), introduced by U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Chair Gene Sykes.

Hoover gave a detailed presentation (more details here) and said that four areas for which information has been eagerly awaited will be provided at the online meeting of the IOC Executive Board on 9 April 2025:

● Olympic venue master plan
● Sports event program and athlete quotas
● Accommodations allocation plan
● Ticket pricing strategy

LA28 has announced many of the venues for 2028, but with a now-confirmed record total of 36 sports on the program, there are still questions on seven sports included in the Paris 2024 program:

● Cycling: Mountain Bike and Road
● Football: preliminary match sites
● Modern Pentathlon
● Shooting: one of two SoCal sites
● Sport Climbing
● Surfing: one of two SoCal sites
● Volleyball: Beach and Indoor

Also, official word is still to come on most of the added sports for 2028:

● Baseball: expected to be at Dodger Stadium
● Softball: announced for Oklahoma City
● Cricket
● Flag Football
● Lacrosse
● Squash

A letter from Hoover to the Los Angeles City Council last week stated that the 22,000-seat BMO Stadium in Exposition Park will not be used for football prelims, but for two added sports, likely Flag Football and Lacrosse 6s. This required approval from the City Council. 

The ticketing component will feature 14 million or so tickets for the Olympic and Paralympic venues combined, allowing the possibility to break the record of 12.1 million established by Paris 2024.

Wasserman was asked during the question period about the organizing committee’s view on dealing with traffic for the potential 14 million ticket buyers:

“For 17 days, we can fix any problem in the world. And for 17 days, we can manage traffic and movement of people in a way that you can’t every day, normally. So, whether it’s the things they did in ‘84, removing trucks from the streets, deliveries from the streets except between midnight and 5 [a.m.], obviously, creating remote work now is a very practical solution. There is tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure in terms of transportation – not for the Olympics, not related to the Olympics – but they will be done by the Olympics, will be meaningfully different than 1984.

“In 1984, we were building freeways, literally, today we’re building, I think, the second-largest metro construction project on earth. And so we are very confident in our ability to deliver, and let’s not get confused. Our venues are designed, and our city is designed, for people to drive their cars to events.

“They won’t drive them in the same quantities, at the same scale they do today, but that will also be a part of our delivery, because it would be a mistake not to take advantage of the venues that are designed and the use case they are designed for.”

So, people driving cars is definitely part of the LA28 plan, moving along with its “public transit first” concept for the last mile to the Olympic and Paralympic venues, which is already in wide use for special events of all kinds, such as the annual Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Games in Pasadena.

Wasserman referred to freeway building, which was actually not going on in 1984, but picked up later with the last new freeway to be opened, the I-105, in 1993. As for the current, giant Metro project, it’s the expansion of the D Line from mid-town to Westwood (near UCLA), the Metro A Line from Glendale to Pomona, and the LAX Automated People Mover in and out of Los Angeles International Airport, slated to open in 2026.

The IOC is also on the ground with two staff members already working in Los Angeles, Pierre Ducrey (SUI), the IOC’s Olympic Games Operations Director, a 22-year veteran of the organization, and Gavin McAlpine (GBR), head of the Games Delivery Office, who worked on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and joined the IOC in 2017.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

COMMONWEALTH GAMES: Is Donald Trump about to save the Commonwealth Games by making the U.S. a Commonwealth (associate) member?

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. President Donald Trump (Photo: The White House).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ “I LOVE KING CHARLES!” ≡

What is today known as the Commonwealth Games began in 1930 as the British Empire Games, held in Hamilton, Canada. It has fallen on some hard time recently, with Glasgow, Scotland to host a stripped-down, 10-sport event in 2026, to cost a modest £114 million (~$147.3 million U.S.), mostly subsidized on a one-time-only basis by the Commonwealth Sport federation.

There is no host for 2030 as yet, and the 20-sport, £638 million (~$824.3 million) – not including government-funded construction costs – bonanza held in Birmingham (ENG) in 2022 is now a very dead dinosaur.

The real possibility that the Commonwealth Games might be dying was possibly saved by, of all people, U.S. President Donald Trump.

Reports surfaced last week that the U.S. was invited to join the Commonwealth of Nations by King Charles III, via a private letter delivered to Trump by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with a formal offer to be made when Trump visits Britain last this year.

Trump responded to the story on his Truth Social platform, posting “I Love King Charles. Sounds good to me!”

On Britain’s side, the move could be a way to tone down the Trump Administration’s pressure on Canadian trade, and Trump’s jibes that Canada could become the 51st U.S. state.

But it would also open the door to having the U.S. not only participate, but also host the Commonwealth Games.

The event has been, at the top level, a showdown between England and Australia, the only two countries to top the medal table. Having the U.S. compete would change the nature of the event completely and could bring American cities – and sponsors and television rights sales – into the mix.

Diplomatically, it would also bring powers like India, Nigeria and South Africa into more sporting contact with the U.S.

Commonwealth Sport, the umbrella federation over the Commonwealth Games, sees future Games as more compact and cost-effective. Federation chief Chris Jenkins (WAL) told the BBC that future Commonwealth Games hosts are being asked “not to build or redevelop venues – but co-host with other cities or countries who have existing facilities” and “[a]thletes will stay in hotels and ceremonies could take place indoors at future Games.”

More sports could be added, perhaps up to 17, but the athlete load could go down to perhaps 4,000 athletes vs. the record 5,054 total in Birmingham in 2022.

That size of Games could be interested to cities or regions which have existing facilities and housing, especially universities. The 2029 World University Games in North Carolina is using just such an approach, centered at the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke and other area colleges.

Commonwealth Sport is already looking for hosts for 2030, 2034 and 2038; if the U.S. does join the Commonwealth of Nations, it could change the complexion of the Commonwealth Games forever.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

ATHLETICS: Holloway storms to 85th straight indoor hurdles win as he and Duplantis win third straight World Indoor titles

By
Rich Perelman
-
Hurdles superstar Grant Holloway (Photo: USA Track & Field).

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

★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★

≡ WORLD INDOOR CHAMPS ≡

Domination continued for American hurdles star Grant Holloway and Swedish vault supremo Mondo Duplantis over the first two days of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing (CHN). They were two of three champions to repeat from 2024 (so far), with both winning their third straight indoor golds:

● Men/60 m hurdles: Grant Holloway (USA) ~ also 2023
● Men/Pole Vault: Mondo Duplantis (SWE) ~ also 2023
● Women/Shot Put: Sarah Mitton (CAN)

Holloway entered with a streak of 82 straight wins (40 finals) from 2015 on, and won his heat in 7.49, then his semi in 7.48 and took the final easily in 7.42, ahead of Wilhem Belocian (FRA: 7.54) and Junxi Liu (CHN: 7.55).

Duplantis won the men’s vault on his fifth jump of the day at 6.10 m (20-0) and then cleared 6.15 m (20-2) for the final height. Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis got second with a lifetime best (all conditions) of 6.05 m (19-10 1/4), moving to no. 5 all-time. Three-time World Indoor silver winner Sam Kendricks of the U.S. got the bronze, clearing 5.90 m (19-4 1/4).

Mitton got her second straight win essentially on her second throw of 20.36 m (66-9 3/4), then improved to 20.48 m (67-2 1/4) in the final round. Jessica Schilder (NED) got a big second-round throw of 20.07 m (65-10 1/4) to get second and two-time World Champion Chase Jackson of the U.S. was third at 20.06 m (65-9 3/4) in the final round. Maggie Ewen of the U.S. was seventh (18.63 m/61-1 1/2).

Through the first two days of the meet, world-leading marks were set in both triple jumps:

● Men/Triple Jump: 17.80 m (58-4 3/4), Andy Diaz (ITA)
● Women/Triple Jump: 14.93 m (48-11 3/4), Leyanis Perez (CUB)

Improbably, both ex-Cuban Diaz and Cuba’s Perez got their winning marks in the first round. They both jumped again and fouled, then passed three of their remaining four jumps and had no other legal marks! Diaz moved to no. 5 all-time with the win.

China’s Yaming Zhu was second in the men’s event with a third-round 17.33 m (56-10 1/4) and defending champ Hugues Fabrice Zango (BUR) got third at 17.15 m (56-3 1/4). Russell Robinson was the top American in eighth (16.50 m/54-1 3/4) and two-time winner Will Claye was 10th (16.31 m/53-6 1/4).

Perez led a Cuban 1-2, ahead of Liadagmis Povea at 14.57 m (47-9 3/4), with Olympic champ Thea LaFond (DMA) finishing fourth at 14.18 m (46-6 1/4).

Elsewhere on the first two days, the other American winner was world 400 m leader (and Olympic sixth-placer) Chris Bailey, leading a U.S. sweep in 45.08, ahead of Brian Faust (45.47) and Jacory Patterson (45.54).

In the men’s 3,000 m, Norwegian 5,000 m Olympic champ Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) got his first career World Indoor gold, winning in 7:46.09, passing Ethiopia’s Paris 2024 10,000 m runner-up Berihu Aregawi (ETH: 7:46.25) on the home straight. Australian Ky Robinson (7:47.09) was third, passing American Sam Gilman (7:47.19) at the line, with U.S. teammate Dylan Jacobs in fifth (7:48.41).

Korea’s Sang-hyeok Woo won his second World Indoor gold in the men’s high jump, as the only one to clear 2.31 m (7-7), over Olympic and defending champ Hamish Kerr (NZL), Raymond Richards (JAM) and American Eli Kosiba, who finished 2-3-4, all at 2.28 m (7-5 3/4).

The women’s 60 m was a second World Indoor gold for Swiss star Mujinga Kambundji, who got to the line in 7.04, barely ahead of Italy’s rising star Zaynab Dosso (7.06) and Luxembourg’s Patrizia van der Weken (7.07).

Britain’s Amber Anning, the 2024 NCAA Indoor champ for Arkansas, won the women’s 400 m in 50.60 by running down Alexis Holmes of the U.S. (50.63) at the line. Henriette Jager (NOR: 50.92) got third and Rosey Effiong of the U.S. was sixth in 52.90.

Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu, the 2024 World Indoor champ at 1,500 m, won the women’s 3,000 m, running away from Australia’s Paris 1,500 m silver winner Jess Hull (AUS) on the final lap and winning in 8:37.21. Hull was passed by comebacking American Shelby Houlihan right at the line for second, 8:38.26 to 8:38.28. American Whittni Morgan was fourth (8:39.18).

European outdoor bronze winner Marie-Julie Bonnin (FRA) won the women’s vault, clearing 4.75 m (15-7) on her second try, beating Slovenian star Tina Sutej and Swiss Angelica Moser, who were 2-3 at 4.70 m (15-5).

Finn Saga Vanninen moved from second in 2024 to take the women’s pentathlon with 4,821 points, ahead of Kate O’Connor (IRL: 4,742), and American Taliyah Brooks (4,669), who won her first international medal! Teammate Timara Chapman was fifth (4,476).

Prize money is available at $40,000-20,000-10,000-8,000-6,000-4,000 for the top six placers.

The meet finishes on Sunday, shown live on Peacock, with highlights on CNBC (3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.), with an NBC highlights show on Sunday at noon Eastern.

★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 895-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

1...456...101Page 5 of 101
© 2017-2025 Perelman Pioneer & Company