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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Presidential candidate Samaranch aims to accelerate change, and modernize the IOC

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC Presidential candidate Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain (Image: AIPS video screenshot).

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

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

Acceleration. That was the key concept stressed by International Olympic Committee Presidential candidate Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain, in more than hour of discussion with a worldwide group of reporters online on Tuesday, hosted by the International Sports Journalists Association (AIPS).

Asked about his service, especially as an Executive Board member, in the administration of German Thomas Bach, Samaranch explained with considerable enthusiasm:

“I have seen the extraordinary job, under his leadership, that we have done.

“His motto, when he started, was clear: ‘change or be changed.’ And he went to an accelerated change in the IOC, through Agenda 2020 and 2020+5 to continue to make us relevant in today’s society, that was accelerating itself.

“Well, guess what? My idea, and I think most of us in this call might agree, is that the world continues to accelerate, and what needs to be done for the future is not a revolution, but an extraordinarily rapid evolution of many of our main work lines, because the world continues to accelerate.

“So, I’m not advocating for change just per se, to change, but an acceleration of the change and the rate of change, the rate of adapting ourselves to the reality out there, to society, because we are just part of them.”

He also underlined, as he did in his candidate statement, the need to shift more authority to the IOC members:

“Yes, I think some changes have to be made. I really believe, and it is one of my strong beliefs that the IOC has demonstrated an extraordinary resiliency throughout 130 years of success that led up to wonderful Games in Paris.

“And that is because, I believe, have a very good governance system. We have 100-plus volunteers with no other objective than to make sure that the Olympic values received from the previous generation are passed on, stronger if possible, to the next generation. And this combination of skills, the experiences of these 100 volunteers, I think, confirm a great governance system that has taken us to where we are successfully. …

“We have to give the membership of the Session the powers it needs to continue making the key decisions for our future.”

Samaranch is clearly one of the key contenders in the 20 March election, but with the world in turmoil, why did he decide to run? Essentially because he feels he is ready to lead:

“I’ve had the privilege in my life of being part of the Olympic Movement for a long time, having been an IOC member for 24 years and I have been able to participate in this extraordinary life experience together with so many interesting people.

“Right now, at that moment in my life, where I have a long experience, both in managing and dealing with all the things that the Olympic Movement has to deal with every day, and also I have a very strong experience, life experience, professionally in the world of business, the world of finance. I think, having reached this point of my life, where I have the energy, the stamina, the willingness to do it, and the combination of experiences, it is my time to try to contribute my views and my ideas for the future of the Olympic Movement.”

Told by one reporter that he was a favorite in the race, Samaranch had to keep from laughing:

“It mesmerizes me that people can have an idea of what the result is going to be. I have no clue.

“So I have not looked at any and I wish good luck to anybody who wants to bet on those things. It is for insiders, it is practically impossible to predict what the result will be; imagine for outsiders!”

He was asked about how his father’s legacy – Juan Antonio Samaranch was a transformational IOC President from 1980-2001 – impacts him and the race, the answer was clear for the younger Samaranch, now 65: 

“None of the challenges they faced, none of the recipes that they had to use to get along, have any resemblance of the challenges or the recipes of today. So, unfortunately, there is no connection; these is nothing from there that can be applied today. … This is a completely different ballgame.”

There were many questions on the issues in front of the Olympic Movement and the IOC:

● His priorities if elected:

“The first and most important thing … it’s a simple and successful, relevant and reliable Olympic Games. Period. Without that, there is no universality, without that, there is no financing, without that, there is no pyramid of world sports, everything crumbles down.

“So we have to continue with adapting the program, we have to continue adapting how we do it, we have to make sure we select the right host cities. We have to go to the success of Paris, day in and day out. That is what is going to keep our Movement strong.

“Once you have that, we have to fight for universality, of course, I said it before. Without that, we are nothing. There is no reason to be for the Olympic Movement if we haven’t the inspiration that people, that humanity, have much more in common than not.

“Then I think it is necessary that we enhance our work on finance. We have a very good finance and revenue model with the broadcasting partners, now with the digital included. We have a very good thing with the TOP sponsors, but we need to modernize all those things for new technology. We need to bring new sources of revenue, because it’s not that we are greedy and we want more money. There is no limit to the amount of money to be invested in promoting the base of the sport.”

● On the spread of Olympic venues in the name of sustainability and cost containment:

“Every time we come [to this question], to the best of our ability, I think that compactness is better being dispersed, by a principle. We accepted and promoted dispersion to make sure that we have countries, cities and territories to organize the Olympic Games, and don’t make foolish investments in venues that might have not legacy for the people in that territory in the future. And we will continue to do that.

“But if I am president, decisions on dispersion will have to be made for very serious reasons, because there is no [existing] venue, or there is some sound decision, even it can be a strategic decision of promotion of a sport, but it would have to be the exception and not the rule.

“I think very strongly that we have to protect the essence of the Olympic Games. It’s what makes our thing magic. … And the most important symbol is the Olympic Village.”

● On prize money in the Olympic Games:

“I strongly agree that the champions and the sportsmen that make a living out of that, that they become the living and moving inspiration for the youth of the world, they have to be very well compensated and they have to be very successful in their lives.

“But they have the National Olympic Committees, their sponsors, their countries, to gratify them for their successes. And the World Championships and the World Cups in their own specialties.

“The Olympic Games, sorry, to me, are different. The Olympic Games, in the pinnacle of the world sports pyramid, up there at the top of the pyramid, we have the Olympic Games, that they have generated in the last quadrennial, 7.6 billion U.S. dollars. That money goes back to the base of the pyramid, through financing the next organizing committees, through the National Olympic Committees, through the International Federations and through our Solidarity programs.

“I think that taking any money that we take from that filtering-down to the base of the pyramid, to make it broader, if possible, to compensate to the current, today’s champions, I think it’s unnecessary because they are compensated enough at the Olympic Games. And I think that money has to be used to flatten the curve and make the Olympic Games more accessible for more people.

“Bear in the mind that those champions today, of six months ago in Paris, they were young kids 12 years ago, when other champions did not have prize money. And the money they could have claimed went down through the pyramid to pay for the buses that had to be rented to take them as kids to regional competitions, to take them to buy new equipment for the gym in their neighborhood and all that doesn’t come from thin air. All that basically comes, in today’s organized sports world, with few countries [as] exceptions, from the revenues of the Olympic Games.”

● On protecting the women’s competition category:

“It’s pretty straightforward. Five years ago, when we started dealing at the Executive Board of the IOC with this problem, the idea – and it was very well thought of – was women’s sport has to be safe and fair. Since safety and fairness would be different for different sports – it’s not safe and fair, the same thing, at table tennis or boxing – we passed on to the federations how to execute that safe and fair proposition.

“But no matter what we want, it’s the reality what counts. And reality is that in Paris, we saw that the social alarm about transgenderism and about not only about transgender, but about DSD [differences in sex development], this has been there and the world is expecting from the IOC what we have claimed so long: the leadership in the sports world.

“So, if I make it there to the presidency, I will make sure that it will be the IOC to lead, across the board the decision on how the women’s sport has to be kept safe and fair, and we will do that immediately and we will base that on scientific evidence that is abundant nowadays.”

Samaranch also made a remarkable statement on the difference between the Olympic Games and everything else in the sports world:

“It is very, very different the Olympic competition than the world championships. And the difference is that the people who follow the Olympics has very little to do with sports fans. Most of them, mostly women by the way, most of the people watching the Olympic Games are people that would normally not watch sports competitions.

“They watch the Olympics for the values. For the personal stories of improvement, of becoming better, of fighting against difficulty, for very healthy national pride. That is the difference, and the value of the same competition, in most Olympic sports, of a world championship, of that same competition, same heroes, same everything, under the Olympic Rings, it goes between five and 20 times difference in value.

“So whatever we do in our Olympic Games, we have to preserve, above everything else, that they are a special thing and they are Olympics.”

Observed: Samaranch came across with a notable, relaxed warmth and an enthusiastic vision of what can be in the future, the near future, under his leadership.

His clear command of where the Olympic Movement is and where he wants to go has made him a convincing candidate and he is one of the real contenders for the office.

But, as he said, the issue will be decided by about 100 people in a ballroom of a resort in Costa Navarino, Greece on 20 March. How it will turn out will depend, inevitably, in the level of trust and belief that the IOC members have in each candidate.

Samaranch’s enthusiasm, experience and expertise makes him a prime contender.

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PANORAMA: U.S. Senate Democrats block women-in-sports bill; MacLean gets U.S. women’s 1,500 m record; $1.2 million raised for AE 5342 victims

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.★

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Anti-Doping ● Following the success of the 2022 European expansion initiative of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Intelligence & Investigations (I&I) initiative that touched 48 countries, 51 anti-doping organizations and 48 law enforcement agencies, a new program is being formed in Asia and Oceania.

The first of six workshops for Asia and Oceania began on Sunday (2nd) in Gold Coast (AUS), with Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and India all scheduled as hosts. The program will run for two years and be followed by projects in the Americas (2026-27) and Africa (2028-29).

● Transgender ● As had been expected, the U.S. Senate failed to advance S. 9, the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025” with 51 Republicans voting for it and 45 Democrats against it, short of the 60 votes needed to end debate and go to a final vote.

The bill passed in the U.S. House (H.R. 28), but now is stalled in the Senate. The text follows up on the Presidential Executive Order and includes:

“It shall be a violation … for a recipient of Federal funds who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.

“For purposes of this subsection, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

U.S. President Donald Trump signed his Executive Order – Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports – on 5 February, which included:

“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.”

● Athletics ● More from the Last Chance Indoor Qualifier at Boston University on Sunday, with en-route times available in the fast men’s mile, won by former world indoor record holder Yared Nuguse in 3:47.22. He passed 1,500 m in 3:32.29, the no. 3 performance in U.S. indoor history.

Heather MacLean’s world-leading 4:17.01 women’s mile win included a 3:59.60 time at 1,500 m, moving her to no. 3 on the 2025 world indoor list and setting the American Record, crushing Regina Jacobs’ 3:59.98 from 2003. She is now no. 11 all-time indoors.

Graham Blanks won the men’s 3,000 m in a fast 7:29.72, no. 5 in the world for 2025 and now no. 4 on the all-time U.S. men’s indoor list. Nico Young took the men’s 5,000 m in a screaming 12:51.56, no. 2 on the world indoor list for 2025 behind Grant Fisher’s 12:44.09 in February, and no. 4 all-time U.S. indoors. He’s also now no. 5 all-time indoors worldwide.

In the women’s 5,000 m, Josette Andrews won a 1×1 duel with Emily MacKay, 14:44.80 to 14:45.81, now 1-2 on the 2025 world list, nos. 2-3 on the all-time U.S. list and nos. 11 and 13 on the all-time world indoor list. Wow.

“My time as the USATF Head Women’s Relays Coach has come to an end.”

That’s from an Instagram post by Mechelle Freeman, a Beijing 2008 relay Olympian, who handled the relay coordination for the American women’s teams at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games and 2022 and 2023 World Championships.

Her teams won both World Champs 4×100 m golds, a Tokyo Olympic silver and Paris gold in the 4×100 m and three of the four 4×400 m golds, but were disqualified for an errant pass 2023 Worlds.

Mike Marsh, the 1992 Barcelona men’s 200 m and 4×100 m champion, was also reported to have been let go as the men’s relays coach. He took over the men’s relays in 2022, with the U.S. 4×100 m squads getting silver at the 2022 Worlds, gold at the 2023 Worlds and passing out of the zone in Paris in 2024 and disqualified. All three men’s 4×400 m squads won gold.

● Figure Skating ● Sunday’s “Legacy on Ice” tribute show in Washington, D.C. honoring the skating victims of the 29 January crash of American Eagle flight 5342 drew a full house to the Capitol One Arena according to organizers Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Entertainment Gang and U.S. Figure Skating:

“The sellout event of more than 15,000 – including nearly 500 first responders and approximately 150 family members of victims in attendance to honor their loved ones – has raised nearly $1.2 million to date. That figure is expected to increase throughout this month with the live national broadcast on NBC taking place on March 30 where viewers will be encouraged to donate throughout the broadcast and upon the conclusion of an online auction featuring sports memorabilia, culinary and entertainment experiences, among other items.”

A display of 67 stars – one for each of those who perished on the flight and the Army helicopter which crashed into it – were displayed on the dasher boards around the rink. World Champion Ilia Malinin performed, as did current and former U.S. champions Amber Glenn, Alysia Liu, Johnny Weir, Jason Brown and others. The Associated Press reported:

“The poignant, two-plus-hour event was full of raw emotion, like 13-year-old Isabella Aparicio skating in memory of her brother, Franco, and father, Luciano, who were on the flight and weeping on her knees at the conclusion of her appearance. Maxim Naumov, who lost his parents in the crash, performed in their honor and wiped away tears as he left the ice, holding up an electric candle as applause rained down.”

The plan is for a third of the funds raised to go to the skating community, a third to first responders and a third to families.

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MILAN CORTINA 2026: Official hospitality packages now available, with a dizzying array of choices and (some high) prices

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

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≡ HOSPITALITY SALES OPEN ≡

Initial ticket sales for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games have been strong, with the organizing committee reporting 613,000 sales out of about 1.5 million available – about 41% – in less than a month on the market.

The companion hospitality program from Endeavor subsidiary On Location, the official provider for 2026 and Los Angeles 2028, is now available, with a wide array of events, styles and prices.

Simplified, the On Location offers are for seating or viewing of the Olympic events in four, escalating levels of service:

● Winter Essentials: Priority entry to the venue, grand-and-go snack and a special souvenir in addition to a ticket, usually in Category B or C

● Clubhouse 26: In-town hospitality center, priority venue entry, light food and drink, and a ticket, usually in Category A or B.

● Classic Lounge: On-venue lounge with “light Italian fare” before and during the event and a ticket, usually in Category A or B (some in Category C).

● Premium Lounge: On-venue lounge with buffet-style service before and during the event (with wine and beer), priority venue entry and Category A tickets. For some events, this level also requires that an accommodations package be purchased.

A simplified review of the sports and sessions available so far show a wide variety of options and packages for many sessions, but not for all as yet. Some highlights (remember, not all sessions are on offer; prices are in Euro: €1 = $1.05 U.S.; prices are for one person for one session):

Opening Ceremony (Milan):
● €7,750 per person: Premium Lounge only (accommodations required).

Closing Ceremony (Verona):
● €10,000 per person: Premium Lounge only.

Alpine Skiing/Men (Bormio):
● €2,000-2,500 per person depending on the event: Premium Lounge only.

Alpine Skiing/Women (Cortina):
● €650-695 per person depending on event: Clubhouse 26.
● Add €1,300-1,305 per person for Premium Lounge.

Biathlon (Cortina):
● €425-475-575 per person depending on event: Classic Lounge.
● Add €350-375-425 per person for Premium Lounge.

Bobsleigh (Cortina):
● €325-375-395-415 per person depending on event: Clubhouse 26

Cross Country (Predazzo):
● €750-850-900 per person depending on event: Premium Lounge.

Curling (Cortina; packages vary greatly by round and match):
● €225-250-275-300-350-375-495 per person depending on round: Clubhouse 26.
● Add €100-155 depending on round for Classic Lounge.
● Add €75 depending on round for Premium Lounge

Figure Skating (Milan):
● Accommodations package required for Premium Lounge program.
● 06 Feb.: €2,250 per person: Premium Lounge only
● 07 Feb.: €875 per person: Clubhouse 26; +€1,625 for Premium Lounge.
● 08 Feb.: €1,050 per person: Clubhouse 26
● 09 Feb.: €1,050 per person: Clubhouse 26; +€1,700 for Premium Lounge.
● 10 Feb.: €875 per person: Clubhouse 26; +€1,625 for Premium Lounge.
● 11 Feb.: €1,050 per person: Clubhouse 26; +€1,700 for Premium Lounge.
● 13 Feb.: €1,050 per person: Clubhouse 26; +€1,700 for Premium Lounge.
● 15 Feb.: €875 per person: Clubhouse 26; +€1,625 for Premium Lounge.
● 16 Feb.: €1,050 per person: Clubhouse 26; +€1,700 for Premium Lounge.
● 17 Feb.: €875 per person: Clubhouse 26; +€1,625 for Premium Lounge.
● 19 Feb.: €1,500 per person: Clubhouse 26; +€2,250 for Premium Lounge.
● 21 Feb.: €1,750 per person: Clubhouse 26; +€2,750 for Premium Lounge.

The final two, big-money sessions are for the women’s Free Skate on the 19th and the exhibition gala on the 21st.

Freestyle Skiing (Livigno):
● €325-375-425 per person depending on event: Clubhouse 26
● Add €425 depending on event: Premium Lounge.

Ice Hockey (Milano Rho Arena):
● €200-275-500 per person, depending on game: Clubhouse 26.
● €325-500-600-1,000 per person, depending on game: Classic Lounge.

Ice Hockey (Santagiulia Arena):
● €150-250-300-375-950 per person, for some games: Winter Essentials
● Add €175-200-225-350 for some games: Clubhouse 26
● Add €125-350 for some games: Classic Lounge
● Add €875-1,175-1,200 for some games: Premium Lounge
● €850 for men’s semifinals: Clubhouse 26; +€1,400 for Premium Lounge.

Luge (Cortina):
● €265-285-315 per person, depending on event: Clubhouse 26.

Short Track (Milan):
● €500-550-700 per person, depending on event: Clubhouse 26.
● Add € 500-700-800 depending on event: Premium Lounge.
● €1,000 for one session: Premium Lounge only.

Skeleton (Cortina):
● €270 per person: Clubhouse 26.

Ski Jumping (Predazzo):
● €1,250-1,500 per person, depending on event: Premium Lounge.

Ski Mountaineering (Bormio):
● €250 per person: Classic Lounge.

Snowboard (Livigno):
● €425-475 per person, depending on event: Clubhouse 26.
● Add €475 for some events: Premium Lounge.
● €800-1,100 per person, for some events: Premium Lounge.

Speed Skating (Milan):
● €400-450 per person, depending on event: Clubhouse 26.
● Add €150-200, depending on event: Classic Lounge.

The €1,100 offer for Snowboard is for the women’s Halfpipe qualifying, where American Chloe Kim could be trying to qualify to go for a third straight Winter Games gold. The Halfpipe final is not yet being offered!

It’s a pretty wild range of events, levels and prices and will only get more complex as more sessions are released. And, the order site reminds potential buyers that these prices do not include any applicable taxes!

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Presidential candidate Watanabe stresses innovative 5-continent Olympics, AI in gymnastics judging

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC Presidential candidate Morinari Watanabe (JPN), during his AIPS forum chat from a gymnastics training center in Ukraine! (AIPS video screenshot).

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

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

The image was dramatic, as International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) president Morinari Watanabe (JPN) came on-screen for his hour-long interview session, discussing his campaign to be the next President of the International Olympic Committee in a forum arranged by the International Sports Journalists Association (AIPS).

Watanabe was speaking from a rhythmic gymnastics practice session in Ukraine!

Perhaps half a dozen girls were practicing with the Ribbon, in a gym adorned with the Ukrainian flag and the Olympic rings, and Watanabe confirmed that he was in Kyiv, having traveled from Frankfurt (GER) and the European Olympic Committees General Assembly that finished on Saturday. He explained:

“Why I am in Kyiv, Ukraine? We knew the result of the [Friday] meeting between President Trump and President Zelenskyy. I don’t know what everyone thought, but I became very worried about the Ukraine gymnasts. Because I always say that I am the father of gymnastics, and my gymnasts are my sons, and my daughters.

“People are worried about their future by the current situation. I think people should be here for people during difficult times. So that’s why I changed my schedule and I am here.”

Asked about the view of what he has seen in Kyiv, and the people he has talked to, he added:

“They are very worried, especially after the meeting with President Zelenskyy and Trump, but they like gymnastics. They like sports, they are continuing with the sports. That’s why we must support [them]. I was thinking, we must contribute for the peace, by sports. And my feeling [on this] is now more stronger.”

This follows Watanabe’s consistent pattern of showing support for those in difficulty. In January, as the firestorms raged in the Los Angeles area, the FIG was the only International Federation to post a message of support for Los Angeles, the site of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

He was asked about his radical idea to change the Olympic Games to a 24-hours-a-day event, held concurrently on five continents, with 10 sports – 50 total – held in each of five host cities or regions.

His idea is to share the impact of the Games simultaneously in all areas:

● “Paris 2024 was a historic success. However, I believe we should not be satisfied and that we must build on the success of these Games.”

● “[I]n contrast to the spectacular Olympic Games, the situation of the [National Olympic Committees] is far from strong. Economically, these countries are not [supportive]. In many countries, [the NOC’s] relationship with the government are not good. Olympians have no guarantee of a career once they retire. In addition, the way people look at the Olympic Games is not always welcome.”

● “The purpose of the Olympic Games is for as many people as possible to understand Olympism. And to contribute to the development of sports and peace. So, if we will organize this five-continent Olympic Games, we will get many benefits.”

● “For the athlete, each sport will take place in one of the five countries that offers the best climate and facilities for that sport. For the host countries, each country will host 10 sports, greatly reducing the financial burden.”

● “For marketing and the TV rights, there will be 24 hours coverage and more sponsorship potential. And new sources of continental sponsorship.”

As for prize money and the Olympic Games. Watanabe’s response was simple: no. He added:

“I do not agree that the IOC pay for the prize money. Because, I have visited 162 countries; you know, every country is different environment, situation, especially for the developing countries.

“They don’t have facilities, they don’t have a training system; we must support those developing countries. IOC should provide support to developing countries.”

He was further clear that as for the future of trans athletes, that human rights are important and that decisions must be taken on the basis of medical evidence.

Watanabe was also asked about fairness in judging and the manipulation of results. He’s all for a technological solution:

“In judging sports, we must be more fair. In reality, we have a problem, not just in gymnastics, and in many other sports. That’s why I started [pushing] for the AI judging system. We need technology, so I think we will see – in this year – in the world championships in gymnastics in Jakarta [INA], we can see with the judging – AI – how is judging in that [way].

“We need more transparent [judging], we need more, better judging.”

He sees gymnastics in the vanguard of the change to technology in judging. A follow-up question asked if removing people as judges in the future removes a “human” element in sport, and Watanabe pointed to other sports which are timed or measured:

“I want gymnastics to be like track & field, and sailing; no ‘human touch.’ It’s only calculated by AI, computer.”

He noted that people all have different views, as in art, which are informed by their own culture, which is necessarily regional, local and personal. But the judging in sports has to be universal, according to the criteria in the rules and should not be subject to the influences of people’s backgrounds and beliefs. Here is where technology can play an important, neutral role.

Observed: In a free-flowing conversation, Watanabe’s warmth and caring personal qualities come forward and make him a more attractive candidate than in his radical manifesto.

He is, nevertheless, a free-thinking futurist and his vision as expressed makes him almost sure to be the first candidate to be eliminated in the IOC Presidential vote on 20 March.

But as with other visionaries, do not be surprised if some of his ideas creep into the IOC’s thinking in the years to come, notably on the use of artificial intelligence and more direct development funding in countries which need facilities to encourage the development of sport.

And, in terms of supporting athletes, would any other candidate dare to go to Ukraine and do a live forum in a war zone?

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PANORAMA: About 41% of Milan Cortina 2026 tickets sold; Seoul skipped over as 2036 Korean OG candidate; three World Cup titles for Jordan Stolz!

By
Rich Perelman
-
The men's World Allround Champion, American Jordan Stolz (Photo: International Skating Union)

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Another big jump in ticket sales, as the Milan Cortina organizers announced that 613,000 – out of about 1.5 million to be available – have now been sold since the opening on 6 February. More details:

“This is a global success: in addition to the large number of tickets sold in Italy, significant demand has come from Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and France.

“The average number of tickets purchased per user during these first two sales windows is 6.5, with ice hockey, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and figure skating among the most in-demand sports. The most active age group so far has been 25 to 34 years old (over 30%), followed by the 35 to 44 age group (around 25%).”

The next sales period will open on 8 April; Paralympic sales will begin in March.

● Olympic Games 2036 ● A shocker in South Korea, as the Korean Sports and Olympic Committee (KSOC) voted by 49-11 to advance the candidature of the North Joella Province as a candidate for the 2036 Olympic Games. Seoul, host of the 1988 Olympic Games, was the other candidate.

The region includes cities such as Daegu, the 2011 host of the World Athletics Championships, Gwangju, which hosted the World Aquatics Championships in 2019 and numerous others, following the IOC’s preference for using existing facilities instead of building new.

The selection of North Joella must be approved by the Korean government and can then open discussions with the International Olympic Committee. There are perhaps a dozen candidates for 2036 already, including India, with no indication of any movement by the IOC until 2026 at the earliest.

≡ RESULTS ≡

● Alpine Skiing ● Austrian star Cornelia Huetter got back on the victory stand at the FIS women’s World Cup in Kvitfjell (NOR), winning Friday’s Downhill for her ninth career World Cup gold in 1:31.46, beating Emma Aicher (GER: 1:31.61) and American Breezy Johnson (1:31.86), the 2025 World Champion. Fellow American Jackie Wiles was eighth in 1:32.30.

Aicher, 21, moved up to the top of the podium in Saturday’s Downhill in 1:31.69, barely ahead of Worlds Super-G bronze winner Lauren Macuga of the U.S. (1:31.72) and Huetter (1:31.88). Johnson was 10th (1:32.31) and Wiles was 14th (1:32.50).

Sunday’s Super-G was an Italian 1-3, with Worlds runner-up Federica Brignone taking her eighth World Cup win of the season and extending her lead in the overall seasonal standings. She won a tight battle by taking the early lead in 1:30.11, ahead of Swiss star Lara Gut-Behrami (1:30.17) and Italy’s Sofia Goggia (1:30.20). Macuga was the top American, in 12th (1:30.95), and Lindsey Vonn was 16th (1:31.22).

The men’s World Cup was in Kranjska Gora (SLO), with Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR: 1:10.73) getting his second win of the season in a Giant Slalom over former Norwegian and now Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (1:11.61) and seasonal World Cup leader Marco Odermatt (SUI: 1:10.88). River Radamus was the top American, in 12th (1:12.83).

Kristoffersen doubled his pleasure with a win in the Sunday Slalom, despite ranking only sixth after the first run. His second run was only the ninth-fastest, but his total of 1:39.26 was the best, ahead of Norway’s Timon Haugen (1:39.43) and Manuel Feller (AUT: 1:39.49).

● Artistic Swimming ● The medals were spread around at the the World Aquatics World Cup opener in Paris (FRA), with seven countries winning at least one event.

Paris Olympic Team bronze medal winner Iris Tio Casas (ESP) won the women’s Solo Technical at 240.0167 over China’s Huiyan Xu (239.1651). Germany’s two-time European silver winner Klara Bleyer won the Solo Free, scoring 211.9176, ahead of Vasilina Khandoshka (BLR: 200.0726), who competed as a “neutral” athlete.

Spain scored again in the women’s Duet Technical, with Txelle Ferre Gaset and Lilou Lluis Valette winning with 281.7383 over Japan’s Moka Fujii and Moa Higa (265.4225). Japanese teammates Uta Kobayashi and Tomoka Sato won the women’s Duet Free, scoring 214.9546 over Swiss teens Melody Halbeisen and Aimee Michel (201.4163).

Britain’s Ranjuo Tomblin won the men’s Solo Technical (214.3966) and Viktor Druzin (KAZ) took the Solo Free (127.2000).

Tomblin and Holly Hughes won the Mixed Duet Technical (182.9325), while Greece’s Maria Amerali and Stylianos Koukouselis Fouskis won the Mixed Duet Free (206.2708).

The U.S. – Olympic silver medalists in Paris – won the Team Acrobatic title, and was third in the Team Technical. Kazakhstan won the Team Free.

● Badminton ● At the German Open in Muelheim (GER), two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen (DEN) won another men’s Singles title, this time defeating second-seed Kean Yew Loh (SGP), 21-18, 21-18 in the final. However, Singapore did get a win from top-seed Ja Min Yeo (SGP) in the women’s Singles, winning by 21-16, 21-17 over Thuy Linh Nguyen (VIE).

Won Ho Kim and Seung Jae Seo (KOR) took the men’s Doubles, winning over Christo Popov and Toma Junior Popov (FRA), 21-19, 21-17. The closely-contested women’s Doubles had Mizuki Otake and Miyu Takahashi (JPN) beating Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva (BUL), 21-17, 20-22, 21-12.

The mixed team of Robin Tabeling (NED) and Alexandra Boje (DEN) won the Mixed Doubles, 21-17, 21-17 over Rehan Kusharjanto and Gloria Widjaja (INA).

● Cycling ● The Classics season in Europe began with the 80th Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race from Ghent to Ninove (BEL) and a win – off of a mass sprint to the line – for Norway’s Soren Waerendskjold in 4:37:53 for the hilly, 197 km course. It’s his first UCI World Tour win.

He edged France’s Paul Magnier and home favorites Jasper Philipsen and Brent van Moer, with the first 49 finishers receiving the same time.

The women’s race – 137.9 km from Ghent to Ninove – was won by Belgium’s Lotte Claes, who won a 1×1 sprint to the line over Aurela Nerlo (POL), both in 3:39:43. Dutch stars Demi Vollering and Puck Pieterse were 3:25 back.

● Freestyle Skiing ● At the FIS World Cup in Ski Cross in Gudauri (GEO), familiar stars won both men’s races, with 2023 World Champion Simone Deromedis (ITA) beating Ryo Sugai (JPN) to the line on Friday and then Canada’s Reece Howden winning his fourth race of the season, ahead of 2023 Worlds runner-up Florian Wilmsmann (GER) and Deromedis, on Saturday.

Two-time Olympic bronze medalist Fanny Smith (SUI) won Friday’s race for her first World Cup gold of the season, ahead of Italy’s Jole Galli, who won her third medal of the season. Galli got her second win of 2024-25 in Saturday’s race, beating Smith and Canada’s Courtney Hoffos.

Moguls and Aerials were on the schedule in Almaty (KAZ), and Canadian star – and all-time World Cup wins leader – Mikael Kingsbury swept the Moguls and Dual Moguls events for wins nos. 97 and 98. He scored 81.17 to win the Moguls on Friday from Daeyoon Jung (KOR: 79.08) and then defeated 2022 Olympic bronze winner Ikuma Horishima (JPN) in the Dual Moguls on Saturday.

The U.S. dominated the women’s events, with Tess Johnson winning the Moguls over teammate Jaelin Kauf, 77.68 to 77.66, and then Kauf winning the Dual Moguls on Saturday over Rino Yanagimoto (JPN). For Kauf, the Beijing 2022 Olympic runner-up, it was her fifth Dual Moguls wins in six events this season (she won silver in the other).

Sunday’s Aerials saw China’s two-time Olympian Xindi Wang get his first win of the season in the men’s final, scoring 127.50 to edge 2023 World Champion Noe Roth (SUI: 126.70) and 2022 Olympic champ Guangpu Qi (CHN: 122.62).

Australia’s two-time World Champion Laura Peel won the women’s Aerials for the fourth time in sex events this season. She scored 115.91 to beat China’s 2022 Olympic winner Mengtao Xu (101.74) and fellow Australian, three-time Worlds medalist Danielle Scott (87.06). Karenna Elliott of the U.S. was seventh.

● Judo ● Russia and Japan dominated the IJF World Tour Grand Slam in Tashkent (UZB), with Russian men winning six of seven classes: Ayub Bliev (60 kg), Ramazan Abdulaev (66 kg), Karen Galstian (73 kg), Timur Abruzov (81 kg), Matvey Kanikovskiy (100 kg) and Denis Batchaev (+100 kg) .

Japan blew through the women’s tournament with five victories, for Kano Miyaki (48 kg), Nanako Tsubone (52 kg), Akari Omori (57 kg), Kirari Yamaguchi (63 kg),  and Rin Maeda (70 kg).

● Modern Pentathlon ● The UIPM World Cup for 2025 opened in Cairo (EGY), with a tight win for European Team and Relay champ Matteo Cicinelli, scoring 1,565 in the men’s final against Mihaly Koleszar of Hungary (1,557) and Egypt’s Mohanad Shaban (1,554).

Cicinelli was second in fencing and swimming and came into the Laser Run as the second starter, trailing Shaban by 10 seconds. But Cicinelli was much the better runner and finished in 10:38.00 to 10:59.40 for Shaban and won the title; Koleszar ran and shot in 10:33.20 to move up to second.

Egypt’s 14-year-old Farida Khaul was a convincing women’s winner with 1,464 points to 1,445 for Viyaleta Hureyeva (BLR). Khaul won the Obstacle and Swimming and started with an 18-second lead in the Laser Run. She won the overall scoring easily, taking the tape by 19 seconds.

● Nordic Skiing ● Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo continued his winning ways at the FIS World Nordic Championships in Trondheim (NOR), following his men’s cross-country Sprint victory with the men’s 20 km Skiathlon on Saturday, leading a 1-2-3-4 Norwegian sweep.

Klaebo won his 11th career Worlds gold at 44:22.3, just ahead of teammates Martin Nyenget (44:23.7) and Harald Amundsen (same time), with Jan Janssen just 0.1 back at 44:23.8. Gus Schumacher was the top American, in ninth (44:25.9).

Sunday’s Women’s Skiathlon went to Sweden’s Ebba Andersson for her fourth career Worlds golds, winning with a lean at the line to beat Norway’s 14-time Worlds winner Therese Johaug, both in 47:57.1. Sweden’s Jonna Sundling, the Sprint winner, was third in 48:07.3. Jessie Diggins of the U.S. was 13th in 49:59.9.

In the Nordic Combined, the retiring Norwegian star Jarl Magnus Riiber won Saturday’s Compact event, off the 102 m hill and a 7.5 km race, in 17:13.4, edging teammate Jens Oftebro (NOR: 17:14.2) and Vinzenz Geiger (GER: 17:14.5). For Riiber, it was his 13th career Worlds medal (10-3-0) and sixth individual medal (5-0-1), matching Ronny Ackermann (GER: 4-1-1) for the most individual Worlds awards.

Ben Loomis was the top American, in 21st (18:25.4).

Riiber had previously won the Mixed Team event, with Oftebro and Gyda Westvold Hansen and Ida Marie Hagen in 36:37.5, way ahead of Germany (37:26.3). The U.S. squad of Annika Malacinski, Niklas Malacinski, Loomis and Alexa Brabec finished ninth (39:24.3).

On Sunday, the women’s Gundersen event, off the 102 m hill and a 5.0 km race, was a return to normalcy for Norway, going 1-2 with Westvold Hansen winning her third straight Worlds gold in this event in 13:42.9, ahead of Hagen (13:49.5) and Lisa Hirner (AUT: 13:50.4). Brabec finished 11th in 14:50.2.

In Saturday’s ski jumping, Norway took the women’s team gold, scoring 904.5 to 885.1 for Austria and 846.5 for Germany. The U.S. was seventh (613.7) with Paige Jones, Josie Johnson, Sandra Sproch and Annika Belshaw.

The men’s 102 m “Normal Hill” final on Sunday saw the home crowd go wild for Norway’s 2022 Olympic champ Marius Lindvik, who won the first round and totaled 265.5 to win his first Worlds golds. Germany’s Andreas Wellinger, the 2018 Olympic champ, finished second with 263.2 and Jan Hoerl (AUT: 256.3) was third.

American Tate Frantz was 16th (228.9).

● Snowboard ● At the FIS World Cup in Snowcross in Erzurum (TUR), German Leon Ulbricht, 20, scored his second career World Cup win, beating Beijing 2022 runner-up Eliot Grondin (CAN) to the line with American Nick Baumgartner, the two-time Worlds bronze winner, still going strong in third at age 43!

Britain’s 2021 World Champion, Charlotte Brookes, scored her fourth straight World Cup win on the season in the women’s final, winning over Lea Casta (FRA) and 2023 Worlds silver winner Josie Baff (AUS).

Australia won Sunday’s Mixed Team final with Cameron Bolton and Baff, over Huw Nightingale and Brookes for Britain.

The World Cup Parallel Giant Slalom in Krynica (POL) saw 44-year-old, six-time Worlds medalist Roland Fischnaller (ITA) got his first win of the season, beating 2018 Olympic runner-up Sang-ho Lee (KOR) in the men’s final.

Another 44-year-old, Austria’s three-time World Champion, Andreas Prommegger, won on Sunday in the Giant Slalom, over Italy’s Maurizio Bormolini in the final.

The 2018 women’s Olympic bronzer, Germany’s Ramona Theresia Hofmeister, won her sixth Parallel World Cup race of the season, beating Michelle Dekker (NED) in the final. Seasonal leader Tsubaki Miki (JPN) got her fourth win of the season in Sunday’s PGS, winning over Malena Zamfirova (BUL) in the final. Hofmeister won the bronze.

● Speed Skating ● The final ISU World Cup of the season was in Heerenveen (NED), with the home team Dutch scoring eight wins, and American star Jordan Stolz winning three seasonal World Cup titles.

The usually-dominant Stolz was slowed by strep throat and pneumonia after the Milwaukee World Cup at the start of February, explaining, “I’m healthy now, and just getting back into shape, I’ve done some training and my recovery is a little slow now, but I’ll be back.”

On Friday, Stolz was second to 2024 European champ Jenning De Boo (NED) in the first men’s 500 m, 34.18 to 34.27, then finished fifth in the 1,500 m (1:44.72), won by Peder Kongshaug in 1:44.01. However, Stolz took the seasonal title, 340-291 over Kongshaug.

Stolz skipped the men’s 1,000 m on Saturday, won by De Boo in 1:07.45 over American Cooper Mcleod (1:07.87). Stolz won the seasonal 1,000 m title by 300-276 over De Boo, with Mcleod third with 257.

Chris Huizenga won the men’s 5,000 m in 6:08.07, with Norway’s Sander Eitrem second in 6:10.10, but Eitrem took the seasonal trophy, 330-311, over Italian star Davide Ghiotto. Casey Dawson of the U.S. finished fifth in the Saturday race in 6:13.85.

Sunday had the second 500 m, won by emerging star Yevgeniy Koshkin (KAZ: 34.46), ahead of Canada’s 2021 World Champion Laurent Dubreuil (34.51) and De Boo (34.52). Mcleod was fifth in 34.62, but Stolz – who did not compete – won the season’s title with 568 points, to 476 for Dubreuil.

Italian Andrea Giovannini won the Mass Start in 7:48.31 and won the seasonal trophy, overtaking Bart Hoolwerf (NED), 270-252.

The U.S. team of Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran won the Team Pursuit in 3:39.40 and got the seasonal title, 174-168, over Italy.

The women’s 500 m had two-time World Champion Femke Kok winning both races. She won on Friday in 37.05, with Olympic champ Erin Jackson of the U.S. third in 37.71. Kok then won on Sunday in 37.13, with Jackson second in 37.43. But Jackson won the seasonal title, 524-480 over Poland’s Andzelika Wojcik. Kok won all five races she entered, but did not compete in six others.

In the 1,000 m, Beijing Olympic runner-up Jutta Leerdam won in 1:14.27, ahead of Olympic champ Miho Takagi (JPN: 1:14.49), with American star Brittany Bowe in sixth at 1:15.27. Takagi won the seasonal title, 354-256 over Bowe.

Joy Beune (NED), the 2024 World Allround Champion, won the 1,500 m in 1:53.70, beating Takagi (1:53.99) and Mei Han (CHN: 1:54.52), but Takagi won this seasonal crown as well, with 336 points to Beune’s 282. Bowe was sixth (210).

In the 3,000 m, 2023 World Champion Ragne Wiklund (NOR: 3:57.41) beat Beune (3:58.72) by more than a second, with Italy’s two-time Olympic medalist, Francesca Lollobrigida, third in 3:58.89. On the season, Wiklund was the winner with 326 points to 269 for Lollobrigida.

Dutch Mass Start star Marijke Groenewoud – two-time World Champion – win in 8:27.52, barely edging Canada’s two-time World Champion Ivanie Blondin (8:27.54) and American Mia Manganello (8:27.62). Fellow American Greta Myers was sixth (8:32.55). Groenewoud won the seasonal title, 340-247, over Manganello.

The Dutch won the women’s Team Pursuit in 2:54.87 and took the seasonal trophy with 180 points. The U.S., with Bowe, Manganello and Myers, was third in the race (3:00.19) and third in the seasonal standings as well (144).

● Wrestling ● American Dymond Guilford took the women’s gold in the 76 kg class at the UWW Ranking Series Muhamet Malo in Tirana (ALB) for the only U.S. victory in the women’s Freestyle division.

American women also four bronzes from Erin Golston (50 kg), Amanda Martinez (57 kg), Adaugo Nwachukwu (62 kg) and Alex Glaude (72 kg), and finished third in the women’s team standings (109), behind Japan (158) and Ukraine (110).

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ATHLETICS: World record 20-6 3/4 for Duplantis; world leads for Takele and Asefa at Tokyo Marathon, for Moll at Big 10

By
Rich Perelman
-
Ethiopia’s Tadese Takele wins the Tokyo Marathon in a world-leading 2:03:23 (Photo: Tokyo Marathon on X).

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≡ MORE RECORDS! ≡

He did it again! Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis set the 11th world record of his career with a victory at Friday’s All-Star Perche in Clermont-Ferrand (FRA) at 6.27 m (20-6 3/4)!

He was on fire from the start, clearing 5.65 m (18-6 1/2), 5.91 m (19-4 3/4), 6.02 m (19-9) and 6.07 m (19-11) all on his first try, leaving Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis (6.02 m) in second place. Duplantis then arched over 6.27 m on his first try for his second world mark set in this meet (also in 2023). Year-by-year:

● 2020: 2 records set (2 indoor)
● 2022: 3 (2 indoor)
● 2023: 2 (1 indoor)
● 2024: 3
● 2025: 1 (1 indoor: 6 total)

Remember, he’s still just 25.

American Olympic 1,500 m bronze winner Yared Nuguse made a run to re-gain the world record in the indoor mile at the 2025 Last Chance Indoor Qualifier at Boston University on Sunday afternoon, but fell just short.

He was chased throughout by Australian star Olli Hoare but was clear at the front at 3:19.74 with a lap to go. Nuguse won in 3:47.22 with Hoare well back at 3:50.77 and then Luke Houser in third at 3:51.14.

It’s the no. 5 performance all-time indoors and Nuguse now owns three of the top six.

The women’s mile was a world lead for 2002 U.S. Indoor champ Heather MacLean, who broke away by the 800 m mark and won in a world-leading 4:17.01, well ahead of Italian Olympian Sintayehu Vissa (4:21.51) and New Zealand’s Maia Ramsden (4:21.56).

MacLean’s time moves her to no. 4 all-time, with the no. 5 performance and to no. 2 all-time U.S. with the no. 3 performance. Wow.

At the Big 10 Championships in Indianapolis, Washington’s vaulting Moll twins produced a sensational 1-2 finish in the women’s vault, with another collegiate record.

Amanda was already the world leader at 4.88 m (16-0), and she and sister Hana both cleared 4.81 m (15-9 1/4) on their first attempt, and then Amanda increased her world-lead and the collegiate record by clearing 4.91 m (16-1 1/4), moving to equal-8th on the all-time indoor-outdoor world list, and equal-6th all-time indoors. Hana is now equal-6th all-time U.S. indoor.

At the last World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meet in Madrid (ESP), the U.S. got wins from Brian Faust in the men’s 400 m in 45.74, and from two-time World Champion Chase Jackson in the women’s shot at 19.48 m (63-11).

Jonah Koech of the U.S. was second in the men’s 800 m, 1:45.39 to 1:45.78, to Belgium’s Adrian Ben, and Dylan Beard was fifth in the 60 m hurdles in 7.54. Cuba’s Lazaro Martinez won the men’s triple jump with a seasonal best of 17.12 m (56-2) and countrywomen Leyanis Perez won the women’s TJ at 14.42 m (47-3 3/4). Britain’s Molly Caudery won the women’s vault with a season’s best 4.85 m (15-11).

World-leading performances for both men and women at the Tokyo Marathon, the first of the World Marathon Majors for 2025.

The men’s race had nine together at the half, but it was down to five by 30 km, with Kenyan Shadrack Kimining in the lead. He fell off the pace and the race was to be decided between Vincent Ngetich (KEN) and Ethiopians Tadese Takele and Deresa Geleta, running together at 35 km.

Takele, just 22 and a Tokyo Olympian in the Steeple, broke away and ran alone to the finish in 2:03:23, a lifetime best by one second over his 2023 Berlin third-place finish in 2:03:24. Geleta, fifth in the Paris Olympic marathon, was second (2:03:51, his third-best ever) and Ngetich, third in 2024, was third again in 2:04:00. They are 1-2-3 on the 2025 world list; fourth-placer Titus Kipruto (KEN: 2:05:34) ranks 10th.

The women’s race had defending champion Sutume Asefa (ETH) dominating the race from the start. She had a 44-second lead after 5 km, 42 seconds at 10 km, and 1:31 by the half. Fellow Ethiopian Tigist Ketema was similarly all alone in second, 31 seconds in front of Rosemary Wanjiru (KEN) at the halfway mark.

Asefa continued strongly and was never headed, although she slowed in the final 5 km, winning in a world-leading 2:16:31 for back-to-back titles. Kenya’s Winfridah Moraa moved up for second in the second half of the race and finished with a lifetime best of 2:16:56, followed by 2019 World Cross Country champ Hawi Feysa (ETH) in 2:17:00, also a lifetime best.

The women’s top three also moved to 1-2-3 on the year list; fourth-placer Magdalyne Masai (KEN: 2:19:28) stands seventh.

The USATF Half Marathon Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, the selection race for the U.S. team for the 2025 World Road Running Championships in San Diego in September, started in near-freezing conditions, with two-time Steeple Olympian Hillary Bor leading a pack of nine through 10 km of the men’s race in 28:27.

The pack was six by 15 km, with Bor still leading, then he, Shadrack Kipchirchir – the 2016 10,000 m Olympian – and Alex Maier broke away. Maier, the 2022 NCAA 10,000 m runner-up, strode away after 19 km and won easily in 1:00:48, a lifetime best by three seconds.

It’s his first national title, and he was followed by Kipchirchir (1:00:58) and Bor (1:00:59) to make the U.S. team.

The women’s Half saw Weini Kelati, who won the U.S. Cross Country and 10,000 m titles in 2024, out in front at 10 km in 32:03, nicely in front of four others by eight seconds. By 15 km, Emma Grace Hurley and Taylor Roe had taken over and Kelati was third, seven seconds behind Roe. But Roe, eighth at the 2024 Olympic Trials 5,000 m, had the most left and sprinted away at the 19 km mark, winning in a lifetime best of 1:07:22.

Grace Hurley was second in 1:07:35 and Kelati faded, with Amanda Vestri getting third in 1:08:17. Jessica McClain was well back in fourth in 1:08:37; Kelati finished sixth (1:09:07).

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SWIMMING/Update II: Reports say Rawak withdrew as USA Swimming CEO due to SafeSport complaint

By
Rich Perelman
-
Chrissi Rawak will not take the USA Swimming chief executive position after all (Photos: USA Swimming)

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≡ THE LATEST ≡

/1 March p.m. update/New reports indicate that a U.S. Center for SafeSport complaint against USA Swimming CEO-to-be Chrissi Rawak emerged and she then chose to withdraw. A USA Swimming statement sent to Swimming World Magazine read:

“Today’s news is concerning and disappointing to USA Swimming and our broader community. The fundamental responsibility of USA Swimming, above all else, is to protect the safety and well-being of our athletes.

“In the past few days, USA Swimming was made aware, for the first time, of the existence of a report that was filed with the U.S. Center for SafeSport after Chrissi Rawak’s appointment was announced. These matters, which we are only now coming to understand, were previously unknown and were not disclosed to USA Swimming during the rigorous vetting process of Ms. Rawak. This process was led by a reputable search firm and a dedicated stakeholder task force, followed well-established best practices, and was conducted with the highest possible degree of due diligence, including external reference and background checks.

“Immediately upon receiving limited information from the Center earlier this week, USA Swimming raised the matter with Ms. Rawak (with approval from the Center, which has exclusive jurisdiction over this claim), at which point Ms. Rawak informed us of her decision to resign. We are and remain bound by confidentiality obligations under the SafeSport Code, which we take very seriously in order to protect the integrity of the reporting process and of any athletes involved. This matter remains exclusively with the Center. “

No more details were provided. SafeSport does not comment on such matters.

/1 March a.m. update/Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde obtained a text sent by Rawak to the Delaware athletic department which described the reasons for her withdrawal:

“It has been a very difficult last few days. My mother in law passed away unexpectedly and my father in law is not in a good place and will likely come back to DE with us. Because of this I have made the incredibly difficult decision to not become the CEO USA Swimming [sic]. While this is incredibly difficult there is nothing more important than my family and this is what is needed. This is going to be announced tonight and I wanted you to be aware. Not asking you to do anything just did not want you to be surprised. I will be out of the office next week working through this with my family.”

A stunning announcement was posted Friday by USA Swimming:

“USA Swimming today announced that, due to unforeseen personal circumstances that we learned about late this week, Chrissi Rawak will not assume the role of President and CEO. Shana Ferguson remains in place as Interim CEO.

“While this outcome is not what we expected or hoped for, we maintain the utmost confidence in the strength of our organization, leadership team, staff, and strategic direction. The Board and leadership team of USA Swimming are working closely together to continue advancing the organization’s priorities including our search for the next National Team Managing Director where we are making very good progress.”

Rawak was announced on 19 February after a national search, and was slated to take over on 14 March.

The USA Swimming Web site announcement of her hiring has been deleted and she continues to be listed on the Delaware athletics site as the Athletic Director. She came to the Blue Hens in 2016 from Michigan, where she was the Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director. She was a swimmer at Michigan from 1988-92.

Rawak said that her first order of business was to be finding a new director of the national team, which the USAS Board will apparently now undertake, according to its statement.

The search effort that found Rawak was led by NU Advisory Partners, working in coordination with a USA Swimming Board of Directors task force led by At-Large members Katy Arris Wilson and Sabir Muhammad.

Ferguson was appointed as interim chief executive after Tim Hinchey’s departure announced on 29 August 2024, ending a seven-year term heading the organization. He replaced the late Chuck Wielgus, who was lost to colon cancer in April 2017, and had been the head of the federation since July 1997.

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LOS ANGELES 2028: L.A. City Council requests report on waiver of permitting reviews for temporary Olympic and Paralympic installations

By
Rich Perelman
-
The L.A. City Council vote on the motion to commission a report on permit waivers for the LA28 Olympic & Paralympic Games (L.A. City Council video screenshot).

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≡ PERMIT EXEMPTIONS FOR 2028? ≡

The Los Angeles City Council cautiously advanced, by an 11-1 vote, a motion directing the City staff to prepare a report on the advisability of waiving the usual, lengthy permitting reviews via an ordinance to assist the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee with temporary installations for the 2028 Games.

There was consistent and considerable negative public feedback on the motion, tied to two points:

(1) What constitutes “temporary” installations and what makes a request “related to the Olympics” and

(2) A fear of the proposed “gondola” – the Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit project – between Union Station and Dodger Stadium that could somehow use such an ordinance to allow it to be approved against community concerns.

The motion as it came to the City Council was slowed down a bit from discussions in committee, with a report and a draft ordinance to be delivered by City staff, instructed to:

“prepare a report with recommendations, including budgetary/fiscal impacts, and an accompanying draft ordinance that will not be considered until the reports are prepared and considered …”

The actual action of such an ordinance would be to:

“exempt Olympic and Paralympic temporary and permanent venues, training facilities, security perimeters, broadcast and media centers, transit infrastructure, live sites and fan zones, and associated structures (2028 Games Projects) from the requirements of City Planning approvals, zoning regulations, and conditions, if applicable, including but not limited to Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) and conditions tied to such permits, Site Plan Review requirements, height restrictions, setback requirements, limitations imposed by Specific Plans, and any other planning or zoning regulations …”

In order to meet the concerns over the Dodger Stadium gondola project, an amendment was added to specifically exclude from any exemptions, “any large-scale, permanent cable guided transportation project and associated infrastructure.”

The City’s Department of Building and Safety to create a “establish a dedicated unit to manage and expedite all development services related to the 2028 Games Projects and projects related to other major events.”

The vote was unanimous other than by Council member Imelda Padilla (6th District), who told the Council:

“I’m very disappointed that we are still taking a really long time with this. I think those of us who took the time to make the trip to go educate ourselves on what exactly these facilities look like and potentially look like to understand the difference between what is permanent vs. non-permanent, like, are we really going to have another conversation related to what those could potentially be?

“I feel like we are on the cusp of potentially losing all of the benefits that we could potentially get from the fact that we’re going to be hosting the Olympics because we keep having questions.

“I think our Planning Department , with the way we have this presented to us already, will get the job done, to get us moving, so colleagues, I’ve got to just say I’m not convinced with any of these three amendments.”

She voted against the amendments and the overall motion. There was no specified timetable for the report to be delivered. 

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PARIS 2024: French Mint says 220 of the 5,084 medals it produced (4.3%) have been returned for refinishing

By
Rich Perelman
-
French swimming bronze winner Yohann Ndoye Brouard pictured the condition of his Paris 2024 Olympic medal on X on 28 December 2024.

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≡ THE LATEST ≡

Athlete complaints about their Paris Olympic and Paralympic medals deteriorating quickly are being handled directly by the manufacturer, the French Mint.

In a statement to Agence France Presse, the Mint explained:

“The Monnaie de Paris has replaced some of them and is continuing its replacement operation at the request of the athletes,” and added that it had “done everything possible, from August 2024, to ensure the replacement of the medals concerned.”

The earliest complaint was from American skateboard medalist Nyjah Huston of the U.S., who posted an image of his men’s Street bronze with a cracking exterior about 10 days after receiving it and before the Paris Olympic Games ended!

A total of 220 medals out of the 5,084 produced – 4.3% – have been requested to be repaired, with a new coat of varnish to be applied.

The medal design was created by the French jewelry house Chaumet, a unit of the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, a first-tier sponsor of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, and included a historic piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower, saved during a prior restoration.

The Mint made the medals, and after the aggressive deterioration of the exteriors was report, it identified an issue with a new varnish that did not contain chromium trioxide, which was banned by the European Union as a carcinogenic in September 2024.

In the midst of changing over quickly during the medal manufacturing process, the new varnish did not work as perfectly as hoped, and a new solution was found to deal with the finish problems cited by the athletes.

No timetable was given on how long the repair process will take or when the submitted medals will be returned.

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PANORAMA: Milan Cortina sliding track icing plant starts up (on time!); British diving star Matty Lee retires; Japan shocks at Nordic Worlds

By
Rich Perelman
-
Norwegian star Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo celebrates another World Championships gold (Photo: Wikipedia via Av Stein Langørgen).

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● “A historic day, a great result, the result of extraordinary teamwork. I thank the women and men who made all this possible and in particular the Government for their constant closeness and support.”

That’s Fabio Saldini, chief executive of the Società Infrastrutture Milano Cortina 2026 (Simico), responsible for the government’s construction responsibilities for the 2026 Winter Games, commenting on the next step in the completion of the new sliding track in Cortina d’Ampezzo. He added:

“Today we started to ice and will continue throughout next week: this is the beginning of the path that will lead us to the pre-homologation that will begin on March 24, as planned. We respected the schedule and we quickly and well built the new track: some didn’t believe it, today the facts speak for themselves. A track, beautiful, safe, sustainable. The Sliding Centre is a reality, a beautiful reality.”

The track is being built on an extremely tight time schedule, with the 2026 organizers even arranging a back-up plan to hold the bobsled, luge and skeleton events in Lake Placid, New York, if necessary. Controversy continues in Italy as to whether the post-2026 Games use of the track will have been worth the expense and drama.

● Diving ● British star Matty Lee, who teamed with Tom Daley to win the Tokyo 2020 Olympic men’s 3 m Synchro gold, announced his retirement at age 26.

Lee and Daley scored a major upset in 2021, defeating China’s reigning World Champions Aisen Chen and Yuan Cao by a tight 471.81 to 470.58, despite losing on five of the six dives. A 20-point margin in the fourth dive turned out to be decisive.

Lee and Daley won the men’s 3 m Synchro bronze at the 2019 Worlds, and Lee and Noah Williams won silver at the 2022 Worlds. Lee and Lois Toulson took the 2017 Worlds silver in the Mixed 3 m Synchro.

Lee wrote on Instagram:

“After 20 years in the sport, it’s time for me to step away from diving. This decision hasn’t been easy, but after losing my dad in 2022, I struggled to find the same passion I once had, he was my why. Then came injuries, [spinal] surgeries, and the realization that I don’t want to be a broken man moving forward. …

“What’s next? Honestly, I don’t know. And that’s both terrifying and exciting. But I do know this. there’s more to life than diving, and I’m ready for it.”

● Nordic Skiing ● The 44th FIS World Nordic Worlds are underway in Trondheim (NOR), with a shock in the Nordic Combined.

The women’s Nordic Combined has only a short history at the World Championships, held in 2021 and 2023, with Norway’s Gyda Westvold Hansen winning the Individual gold both times and Norway winning four of the six medals in those two editions. In the 2024-25 women’s World Cup, Norwegians had won eight of the 12 races so far.

The women’s Mass Start event – the first ever at the Worlds – started with a 5 km race and followed with jumping off the 102 m hill, and Westvold Hansen led after the race at 13:36.3, followed by teammate Marte Leinan Lund (13:38.3).

But in the jumping, it was the Japanese sisters Yuna Kasai and Haruka Kasai who emerged as contenders. Haruka finished second in the jumping and Yuna was third and with Westvold Hansen only seventh, and so it was Yuna Kasai who became World Champion with 121.0 points to 118.7 for Westvold Hansen and 115.6 for Haruka Kasai!

Moreover, American Alexa Brabec, 20, was seventh in the race and eighth in the jumping, but the consistency placed her fourth at 111.4, just a few points out of the medals, a big surprise.

Seasonal leader Nathalie Armbruster (GER) finished sixth; American Annika Malacinski was 25th.

No such shocks in the men’s Cross Country Freestyle Sprint, as Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won the men’s race in a tight finish with Federico Pellegrino (ITA), 2:45.74 to 2:46.41, with Finland’s Lauri Vuorinen (2:50.53) in third. American Ben Ogden made it to the semifinals and finished 12th overall in 2:49.68.

It was Klaebo’s 10th career Worlds gold, stretching back to 2019 and his fourth straight Sprint title. Pellegrino was the 2017 World Sprint Champion and a two-time Olympic Sprint silver medalist and won his third Worlds medal in the event (1-2-0).

The women’s Freestyle Sprint was the third straight Worlds gold for Sweden’s 2022 Olympic Sprint champ Jonna Sundling, who crossed the line with a convincing win in 3:03.36, ahead of Kristine Skistad (NOR: 3:05.49) and Nadine Faehndrich (SUI: 3:06.20). Skistad and Faehndrich both won their first individual Worlds medals.

American Julia Kern was a very creditable fifth in 3:13.89; superstar Jessie Diggins and teammate Kate Oldham were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

The Nordic Worlds continue through next week.

● Wrestling ● American Chance Marstellar scored a men’s Freestyle gold at 86 kg at the United World Wrestling Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event in Tirana (ALB).

Marsteller won his three matches by pin (1:17), then 4-0 and 2-0 to finished undefeated and unscored on.

Rio 2016 gold medalist Kyle Snyder won a bronze at 97 kg, losing in the semifinals on criteria to Japan’s Arash Yoshida, at 5-5. Snyder went through a grueling effort just to get the Tirana, competing in a Professional Wrestling League (PWL 8) tournament in Astana (KAZ) on Tuesday and then flying to Albania to compete on Thursday!

The U.S. finished the men’s Freestyle events with five medals (1-0-4) and 97 points, second to Iran (135).

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ATHLETICS: Sprint stars Sears, Asher-Smith and Paris 800 m speedsters Wanyonyi and Hoppel confirmed as Kingston Slam “Challengers”

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ GRAND SLAM TRACK ≡

With the opening of the Grand Slam Track season coming soon from 4-6 April in Kingston, Jamaica, the list of “Challengers” is slowly being filled to complete the fields.

Announced on Thursday were four more entries, who will compete in three of the event groups:

Men/Short Distance (800 m + 1,500 m):
● Challenger (new): Bryce Hoppel (USA) ~ American Record
● Challenger (new): Emmanuel Wanyonyi (KEN) ~ Paris Olympic Champion
● Racer: Marco Arop (CAN) ~ 2023 World Champion
● Racer: Cole Hocker (USA) ~ Paris Olympic 1,500 m Champion
● Racer: Yared Nuguse (USA) ~ Paris Olympic 1,500 bronze
● Racer: Josh Kerr (GBR) ~ 2023 World 1,500 m Champion

Women/Short Sprints (100 m + 200 m):
● Challenger (new): Jacious Sears (USA) ~ World no. 3 in 2024 (10.77)
● Challenger: Alana Reid (JAM) ~ 2024 World Junior Champion
● Racer: Brittany Brown (USA) ~ Paris Olympic 200 m bronze
● Racer: Melissa Jefferson (USA) ~ Paris Olympic 100 m bronze
● Racer: Daryll Neita (GBR) ~ 4th in Paris Olympic 100 m final
● Racer: Gabby Thomas (USA) ~ Paris Olympic 200 m Champion

Women/Long Sprints (200 m + 400 m):
● Challenger (new): Dina Asher-Smith (GBR) ~ 2019 200 m World Champion
● Racer: Salwa Eid Naser (BRN) ~ 2019 World 400 m Champion
● Racer: Alexis Holmes (USA) ~ 2025 USA Indoor 400 m Champion
● Racer: Nickisha Pryce (JAM) ~ 2024 NCAA 400 m Champion
● Racer: Marileidy Paulino (DOM) ~ Paris Olympic 400 m Champion

This brings the total of announced “Challengers” to 10 out of 48, with the full complement of 48 “Racers” already selected.

The fun part of this is that 800 m specialists like Arop, Hoppel and Wanyonyi will now be seen in the 1,500 m and vice versa for mile stars like Hocker, Kerr and Nuguse.

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

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

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

The four meets are in Kingston (4-6 April), Miramar, Florida (2-4 May), Philadelphia (30 May-1 June) and Los Angeles (27-29 June).

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SALT LAKE CITY-UTAH 2034: Winter Games organizing committee starts up, as “a gift for us to be able to serve the world”

By
Rich Perelman
-
Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 chief executive Brad Wilson (l) and Board Chair Fraser Bullock at Thursday's news conference (SLC-Utah 2034 video screenshot).

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≡ SLC-UTAH 2034 STARTS UP ≡

Fraser Bullock was the Chief Operating Officer of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games organizing committee and spent the next 22 years working to bring the event back to Salt Lake City, finally co-leading the bid committee which was awarded the 2034 Winter Games last year.

On Thursday, the first meeting of the Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 Board and Steering Committee was held, part of which was available to be viewed by reporters. Bullock told the Steering Committee by way of introduction:

“We’ve been awarded the Games; it’s really a gift for us to be able to serve the world.

“That’s how I look at the Games and we’ve been given this gift of 2034 hosting, to serve the world. And when I think about that and the opportunity to bring unity to our communities, whether it’s local, national or worldwide, it’s such a powerful tool to look at the great, aspirational and inspirational lives of the athletes, how they inspire us to do better, to do more, to accomplish what we all think is impossible, to embody the Olympic and Paralympic values. …

“And this group here, collectively, is going to drive that opportunity to make sure we make the most of it that we can.”

Bullock and organizing committee chief executive Brad Wilson, a former speaker of the Utah House, explained that the he steering group, seen as an advisory and outreach complement to the Board, will meet three of four times per year, with one meeting designated to be in-person.

First up, however, is how to deal with all of the enthusiasm already percolating inside Utah. Wilson explained:

“We’re gearing up to start a listening tour. We’re going to be meeting with our host venue communities, other communities throughout the state.

“I got a call yesterday from the Mayor of Garden City [population 602], Mayor Mike [Leonhardt] up there, wanting to know how Garden City – up at Bear Lake – could help prepare, to be involved in the Olympic Movement.

“From literally every corner of the state, we’re going to be engaging and listening to you.”

And there is an overarching goal, well beyond the actual staging of the Games in 2034, per Wilson:

“First and foremost, how do we engage the youth? How do we find ways to touch kids across the state. With a nine-year runway, it’s very likely there’s kids in classes today here in this state who could be athletes in 2034.

“And so we want to make sure we do everything we can to engage the youth in this state and we have some strategies. …

“And we want to touch not just kids along the Wasatch Front that are proximate to venues, the kids in rural Utah as well.”

The organizing committee itself is going to be quite small for a while. The SLC-Utah 2034 organizers will not have any commercial rights to sell for several years, at least until the Los Angeles 2028 Games have passed. Wilson noted:

“We are engaging people right now and we have remarkable donors, who have already stood up and said they want to help contribute and really donors are the foundation we’re working from. And they are funding our efforts, over about the next 5-6 years. All of our operating budget will come from the philanthropic community, and not just in Utah, but others. …

“One of the things we did today, we approved the ability to hire, to start hiring and build our team, and we’re going to have maybe 5-6 employees this year, at the most. We’ll start out with two in the month of March and grow from there.

“The reason I point that out is that I just think it illustrates we’re going to be a lean, mean, fighting machine and be very frugal in terms of the way we ramp up towards the Games.”

Those first two staff members will be Cat Raney Norman, the four-time Olympic speed skater who was the much-respected Chair of the Bid Committee, who will lead the fund-raising effort, and Darren Hughes, the technical wizard behind the bid and who was also a member of the 2002 organizing committee.

Bullock and Wilson both pointed out that the bid effort was especially aggressive so that the usual panic starts of many organizing committees could be avoided:

● Wilson: “My job as CEO is very different than what a CEO’s job might be in another host venue. There’s a reason for that. There are things I don’t have to do as the CEO that other CEOs would have to ramp up. It’s a long list of things that were accomplished during the bid process that Fraser and his team did, that were just remarkable.”

● Bullock: “One of the things that we wanted to do during the bid phase was do as much of the early work of the organizing committee we could do, to allow the organizing committee to aspire to loftier expectations.

“And the other thing we wanted to do is we did these things to de-risk the Games, because a lot of these things have economics associated with them, and to the extent we could get them locked in, we knew what our numbers were, instead of speculating what our numbers would be. …

“Some of the key elements of [organizing committee] work that we completed: no. 1, and maybe most important, is that we have all of the venue use agreements done … we have 100% completed those and we’re thrilled with our venue partners.

“Second of all, we have 21,000 hotel rooms under contract already, and we have a few more to go, but we’re thrilled about that, and we have a Games budget that’s very thorough. Most bids, it’s hard to figure out how all the economics are going to work and so it’s a little bit more speculation. Fortunately for us, given our experience in ‘02 and given the experience with people around the table, we put together a very, very robust budget, in which we feel a high level of confidence.

“So with all those pieces in place, it frees up the organizing committee to work on things like engaging our communities and youth.”

Wilson added:

“I’ve been overwhelmed personally with the people that have reached out – and I mean overwhelmed in a good way – that want to be involved, that want to volunteer, and I think our challenge, quite frankly, is going to be keeping track.

“Because we don’t have a lot of work to do right now, but everyone wants to help. And so we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings wen we say, ‘yeah, we want your help, but we just don’t want it yet.’ And we’re going to want it, down the road.”

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LOS ANGELES 2028: LA28 sales chief sees $2 billion in sponsorships by end of 2025; staff up to 250 now

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ LA28 SALES UPDATE ≡

“Los Angeles is having its Team USA-U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Partners Summit, which is anticipating the [Winter] Games in Milano Cortina, and the Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

“The team for LA 2028 is finally becoming a real team, with now about 250 people and you can see that with a little more than three-and-a-half years away, it’s all very, very real.”

That’s U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Board Chair Gene Sykes, during Thursday morning’s online first meeting of the Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 Steering Committee, sharing an update on the progress of the LA28 organizing committee.

It was noted that the success of the Los Angeles Games in 2028 will have a major impact on Salt Lake’s success six years later. Explained USOPC chief executive Sarah Hirshland, sharing more from the sponsor meetings in L.A.:

“One of the conversations we had, and the data we’re looking at, is the impact of the success of the Paris Games on Milan Cortina [2026]. And there is, as you can imagine, we all do quite a bit of market research around what the consumer sentiment is, where the American people are, in perceptions of the Olympic & Paralympic Movement.

“And the reality is, the success of the Paris Games and the positive momentum that came from those Games have created incredible energy and a much high propensity to engage in Milan Cortina than where we were coming out of Tokyo [2021], going into the Beijing [2022] Games.

“So the cycle is meaningful and you see how one builds upon the next; the data validates that, so as we look at the success of L.A. will inevitably create incredible momentum around the Movement in this country, that will be a propellant to the success of Salt Lake, no doubt.”

John Slusher, the new chief executive of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Properties sales team, told the Los Angeles Times that is seeing a major urge in discussions and interest around sponsorship support for 2028:

“It would not surprise me if we do three or four [times] the sponsorship deals this year, from a dollar standpoint, than we did all of last year. So business is just on fire.”

But he was also cautious, not mentioning any names and adding, “Things could turn the other direction too. So I think we’ll know a lot more in three months.”

Slusher’s enthusiasm is pointing to reaching close to $2 billion in domestic sponsorship sales by the end of 2025, against a budgeted target of $2.514 billion by the time of the 2028 Games.

From an overall budgeting perspective, LA28 senior staff repeatedly confirmed during 2024 that the organizing committee had contracted for 64-65% of the total budget of $6.882 billion for the 2028 Games, roughly $4.6 billion so far.

That included about $1.5 billion on the sponsorship side, so with another $500 million coming in during 2025, the total contracted revenue would surpass $5 billion or more, perhaps 74% of the 2028 budget, with ticket sales not part of the equation yet. (There is a sizable hospitality sales guarantee as part of the already-contracted revenue, however.)

That is a good sign for the organizers and should bring some comfort to the Los Angeles City Council, reeling under an already-strained budget and new, pressing questions on the rebuilding of the Palisades area from the January fire. (Altadena, badly mauled in the Eaton Fire, is outside the City of Los Angeles.)

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FOOTBALL: Japan scores early in both halves and throttles U.S. offense for 2-1 victory and SheBelieves Cup title

By
Rich Perelman
-
SheBelieves Cup champions Japan (Photo: U.S. Soccer).

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≡ SHEBELIEVES CUP ≡

The 10th edition of the round-robin SheBelieves Cup came down a rematch of the taut 2024 Olympic quarterfinal, a 1-0 extra-time win by the U.S. over Japan, this time at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California.

This time, it ended differently, with Japan frustrating the U.S. attack and winning, 2-1, to claim the championship.

The top-ranked U.S. women found themselves needing to win the game outright to take the tournament title, as both sides were 2-0, but with no. 8 Japan sporting a +7 to +4 edge in goal differential. U.S. coach Emma Hayes (GBR) reverted to 10 starters from the first SheBelieves Cup game against Australia, with five of the 11 with 10 appearances or less with the national team.

The game started with Japan expanding the goal differential, as forward Yuka Momiki scored in the second minute, getting a through-ball from above the box by midfielder Yui Hasegawa, getting a first shot blocked and then turning on the rebound to score at the far side of the U.S. net.

In the three SheBelieves Cup games, Japan scored in the sixth, first and second minutes.

The U.S. got even fairly quickly, with striker Catarina Macario dribbling toward the box in the middle of the field and sending a perfect lead pass to a charging forward Ally Sentnor, who scored her second international goal with a right-footed strike into the right side of the net for the 1-1 tie.

Japan created more chances, but U.S. keeper Jane Campbell was equal to the challenges and the half ended 1-1. Macario missed a great chance in at 45 + 3, sending a right-side shot just wide of the far side of the Japanese net. Japan controlled possession at 55% and a 6-4 lead on shots.

The second half started with more Japanese pressure, and off a free kick above the box in the 50th, Hasegawa sent a strike toward goal that was pushed away by Campbell, but right to substitute defender Toko Koga at the left of the goal. She pounded a right-footed shot that whizzed into the far side of the net for a 2-1 lead.

Hayes responded with offensive-minded subs in forward Lynn Biyendolo (nee Williams) and attacking midfielder Alyssa Thompson in the 58th, but the U.S. mustered only occasional challenges. Substitute midfield attacker Jaedyn Shaw had the best chance with a blast from beyond the box in the 81st, but it was saved by Japan’s keeper, Ayaka Yamashita.

Sub defender Tierna Davidson sent a seeing-eye rocket towards the net from straight away in the 89th, but Yamashita tipped it over the net. And it ended at 2-1, with Japan finishing with just over 50% possession and a 10-9 shots advantage.

Japan became only the third team other than the U.S. to win this tournament, after France in 2017 and Great Britain in 2019; the U.S. had won five in a row and seven overall.

It was also the first defeat for the U.S. with Hayes as coach; the American women had won 15, with two ties, since she took over in May 2024, including the Olympic gold in Paris.

Colombia defeated Australia, 2-1, on a Catalina Usme score in the 73rd, to finish third.

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PANORAMA: SLC-UT 2034 names steering committee; Russian member says IOC election to determine athlete futures; Sjostrom still looking to 2028

By
Rich Perelman
-
Sweden's sprint superstar Sarah Sjostrom

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2034: Salt Lake City ● The Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 organizing committee named a 28-member Steering Committee on Wednesday, created to expand the expertise available and “provide guidance to the board to help ensure a positive athlete experience in 2034, as well as help build a strong legacy of sport across Utah and the nation.”

Eight of the 28 are current or former athletes, including current speed skating superstar Jordan Stolz, the current men’s World Champion at 500, 1,000 and 1,500 m, and 2023 Worlds bobsled bronzer Kaysha Love. The athlete members also include two-time Olympic alpine skiing champion Ted Ligety, 2022 figure skating gold medalist Nathan Chen and 13-time Paralympic medalist Chris Waddell.

Political figures include Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Park City Mayor Nann Worel.

Special-focus groups will include an Athletes Commission, Host Communities Committee, Sport and Venues Committee and the Technology and Innovation Committee. The Sport and Venue Committee will be chaired by Colin Hilton, a key member of the 2002 Winter Games organizing committee and the head of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation.

While the choice and cost of the venues for the Brisbane 2032 Games has turned into a major political tug-of-war in Australia, Utah state legislators are busy as well, looking to take advantage of the new NHL franchise in the city and how the 2034 Games can be leveraged for long-term benefit.

A bill (SB 333) to create a “major sporting event venue zone to capture property tax increment and sales and use tax increment” for supporting infrastructure – roads, power, housing – in specific zones related to the 2034 Games was introduced, but the bill also included uses such as “demolishing or remodeling an existing major sporting event venue or portion of a venue.”

Bill sponsor Utah Sen. Jerry Stevenson, was asked if this related to the 2034 Games, and replied: “I can’t say that. We’re not supposed to use that word. This is for a major event in about 2034 in the state of Utah.

“We need some things built. We need some support facilities built, like housing for Olympic employees. We need housing for Olympic athletes and those things. But that’s what this will support.”

No new sports venues are to be constructed for 2034, and the bill is expected to be revised before any vote is taken. The current session of the Utah Legislature is scheduled to end on 7 March.

Another bill (SB306) was voted out of committee on Monday, which would allow Salt Lake County to use existing transportation tax revenues for an upgrade of the Salt Place Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake City. It’s slated to be used for curling in 2034, but an expansion would improve its ability to attract more business for years to come.

● Russia ● Shamil Tarpischev, the only Russian member of the International Olympic Committee, confirmed that nothing will happen concerning the country’s suspension until after the IOC Presidential election in March:

“We held preliminary talks with the IOC. However, all decisions on the issue will be made after the election. This is what they are currently focused on in the organization.

“If the formal issue that led to the ROC’s suspension is closed, then the Russian Olympic Committee should be reinstated. But there are elections coming up, and this issue will be dealt with after them.”

The Russian Olympic Committee’s suspension was related to the takeover of Ukrainian regional sports organizations swallowed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The decision of IOC President Thomas Bach (GER) to resign after the handover to the next IOC President on 23 June was warmly greeted – as expected – in Russia. Said Dmitry Svishchev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports:

“The only correct decision. Otherwise, Bach would have continued to attract negativity and other negative consequences for the image of the International Olympic Committee, while maintaining his seat in the organization. The IOC needs a complete overhaul.”

● Technology ● Perhaps the first conference to focus directly on artificial intelligence and the sports industry has been announced for 30 May-1 June in Porto (POR).

The “AI in Sports Conference” is laser-focused on the application of artificial intelligence to sports, with sessions including:

● “Generative AI in Football: Decision-Making Based on Simulation” and a panel discussion on balancing analytics and intuition in team sports.

● “How AI is Transforming Innovations in Products and Services for the Corporate World in the sports industry,” with Ofir Dagan, the head of the British-based Movmenta, incorporating sensors for data intelligence, reducing injuries and enhancing performance.

● “AI in Event Security: From Predictive Policing to On-Site Management” with John Allen (USA), a security advisor to six U.S. Presidents, followed by a panel on integrating AI in security frameworks for major sporting events.

Many more topics are to be covered, including fan experience, ticketing, merchandising and the role that AI can – and will – impact the future.

● Fencing ● USA Fencing announced that it is naming its national championship tournament in men’s Sabre for the late Peter Westbrook, one of the U.S.’s most iconic fencers.

A 13-time national champion in Sabre, he passed away in November 2024.  Westbrook was not only a six-time Olympian, but promoted fencing through his New York-based foundation, introducing young people to the sport.

The “Peter Westbrook Division I Men’s Saber National Championship” will debut at the April 2025 North American Cup in Los Angeles, which includes the Division I National Championships, and Parafencing National Championships.

● Football ● Each of the 16 host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will release a “Sonic ID” – a remix of the Official FIFA World Cup 26 theme – with Houston to debut the first cut on Saturday, 1 March.

The remaining 15 will be released one per day, through Sunday, 16 March.

● Swimming ● Swedish star Sarah Sjostrom, 31, announced on her Instagram page that she is pregnant, but still is aiming to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games:

“We are beyond excited to announce that our family is growing, and we can’t wait to meet our baby in August.

“I knew that many women experience challenges during the first trimester (and throughout pregnancy), but I wasn’t prepared for just how tough it could be. These past weeks have been some of the most mentally and physically challenging I’ve ever faced. I am more in awe than ever of what women go through. I’ve always admired the strength of women, but now I understand it on a whole new level. …

“My dream is to compete at the LA 2028 Olympics and make it to my sixth Olympic Games.”

Sjostrom won the Paris Olympic golds in the 50 m and 100 m Frees, adding to the Rio 2016 100 m Fly gold; she is also a 14-time World Champion on the 50-100 Freestyles and Butterflys.

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ABUSE: Florida judge’s order says U.S. Center for SafeSport committed “fraud, collusion, pretense, and similar wrongdoing” in 2022 case

By
Rich Perelman
-
From Michelangelo's immortal "The Last Judgment" (1535-41) in the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

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≡ U.S. CENTER FOR SAFESPORT ≡

“ORDERED AND ADJUDGED: a) that the United States Center for SafeSport, Inc., perpetrated a fraud upon the Court, the People of the State of Florida, the Sheriff’s Office, the State’s Attorney Office, and defendant; b) that the United States Center for SafeSport, Inc., intentionally withheld exculpatory evidence; c) that the United States Center for SafeSport, Inc., acted in bad faith, intentionally, and with malice; and d) that the court finds the evidence of fraud, collusion, pretense, and similar wrongdoing to be clear, convincing, intentional, and beyond doubt.”

/Updated/That direct language came from a Supplemental Order filed on Tuesday, 25 February, by Seminole County (Fla.) Court Judge John Woodard, pertaining to a 2022 case involving one or more Florida female water polo players, with at least one filing a complaint with the U.S. Center for SafeSport and others participating as witnesses.

A Florida prosecution in 2022 concerning the incident was contributed to by a SafeSport investigator, which the Court described as “provided to influence the present case prosecution.”

However, in August 2022:

“the State learned that SafeSport filtered information, attempting to influence the Sheriff’s investigation. The State learned that SafeSport provided an incomplete file, withholding exculpatory information and withholding witness statements potentially favorable to the defendant.”

The Court then asked for production by SafeSport of all materials related to the case in January 2023, which was promptly refused by SafeSport’s counsel. Subsequent requests were made in December 2023 and February 2024, also refused by SafeSport. Requests from the Seminole County Sheriff in March, April and May 2024 were also refused.

The Sheriff then sent criminal subpoenas for the requested evidence in May, July and August 2024, and in September:

“Complaining witness [name withheld at SafeSport request] admitted that she reported the wrong date, wrong time, and wrong location. She admitted that SafeSport knew the information was false. [Name withheld at SafeSport request] admitted her Sheriff sworn affidavit was not accurate and that she had made no attempts to amend those nor speak to the prosecutors to explain her mistakes. The court makes a credibility determination and finds that the SafeSport reports and [name withheld at SafeSport request] reports are unreliable, unbelievable, and false.

“The exculpatory information is and was within the knowledge, custody, and control of SafeSport.

“The exculpatory information is and was within a SafeSport file that was the subject of numerous court orders and properly issued subpoenas.

“The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, the State’s Attorney Office, and defense counsel went above and beyond any duty, and made every reasonable and good faith effort to obtain the exculpatory material and compliance by SafeSport to no avail.”

That led to this conclusion:

“Therefore, the court finds that it is clear, convincing, and beyond doubt:

“A. That the United States Center for SafeSport, Inc., perpetrated a fraud upon the court, the People of the State of Florida, the Sheriff’s Office, the State’s Attorney Office, and defendant;

“B. That the United States Center for SafeSport, Inc., intentionally withheld exculpatory evidence; and

“C. That the United States Center for SafeSport, Inc., acted in bad faith, intentionally, and with malice.”

It added in its Conclusions of Law (citations omitted):

“The United States Center for SafeSport, Inc., violated defendant’s constitutional right to due process, intentionally withholding exculpatory evidence from the court, the State’s Attorney, and the defendant. Suppression of evidence favorable to an accused violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.

“Here, the court, the State, and the defendant operated in good faith, but was repeatedly blocked for over two years. SafeSport repeatedly and knowingly interfered with the investigation.”

Woodard’s order noted that his Court has authority to impose sanctions, but did not do so in this order, but he closed the underlying criminal case in view of the statements made by witnesses and left only his Order from Tuesday on the record.

A request for comment was made to SafeSport and will be added to this post if/once received.

SafeSport has been under fire for more than a year and especially in view of the 1 March 2024 report of the Congress’ Commission on the State of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics, which criticized the lengthy period of investigation and judgement on many cases submitted to it. Two Congressional hearings followed in March 2024, also focusing on SafeSport performance.

A bill introduced last December by U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross (D-North Carolina) and others – H.R. 10326: “Safer Sports for Athletes Act of 2024” – did not progress and has not been re-introduced so far in 2025.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a 10 February letter to SafeSport, asking for details of its hiring procedures in view of the arrest of a former SafeSport investigator for alleged criminal activities undertaken at his prior job as a police officer in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

And the Arizona-based Athletes Equity Resource Center has created a Web site with a running log of actions filed against SafeSport, including Judge Woodard’s order.

All of this continues to be a bad look for the Center for SafeSport, which was created by the Congress in 2017 as a means to get bad actors out of Olympic sport in the U.S., and funded in part by a required $20 million payment each January by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.

Judge Woodard’s order now makes SafeSport out as a bad actor – it is also being sued elsewhere – and will only increase pressure for reform within it and the U.S. Olympic Movement.

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BRISBANE 2032: McConnell leaves IOC to be head of sport for 2032; report says Victoria Park will be recommended as main stadium

By
Rich Perelman
-
Victoria Park in Brisbane (AUS), possible site of a new stadium for the 2032 Olympic Games (Photo: City of Brisbane).

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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡

The International Olympic Committee’s long-time sports director, Kit McConnell will return home to Australia to become the Chief Sport Officer for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee.

Brisbane 2032 chief executive Cindy Hook (USA) explained the enormous advantage this will give to the organizing committee:

“In his new role, Kit will be responsible for designing our sport program, including the consideration of additional sports, and will lead our engagement with the international federations and national Olympic and Paralympic committees.

“Having worked within the Olympic movement for over two decades and as the IOC’s sports director for the last 11 years is a huge advantage for our team and for the athletes who will compete in 2032.”

McConnell, a dual national of Australia and New Zealand, is hardly new to this, as he served with the organizing committee in Sydney for the 2000 Olympic Games – in the sports department – then moved to the IOC’s sports department from 2000-02; he had previously worked there in 1996 and 1997.

He was the Rugby World Cup tournament director from 2002 to 2013 before coming back for a third stint at the IOC as its Sports Director, a position will he depart from on 30 June. He will begin his work in Brisbane on 21 July.

Brisbane 2032 chief Andrew Liveris added:

“Having had extensive conversations with most of the international federations and many committees during the Paris 2024 Games and since, I know how critical it is to provide constant planning and progress updates and to build good relationships with these key stakeholders.

“The fact that Brisbane 2032 has been able to secure the IOC sports director to lead our sport function is a huge coup.”

McConnell was selected following a global search, and continues the Brisbane 2032 “all-star” approach to hiring. In August, Paris 2024 Organising Committee Senior Director of Partnership and Licensing Francois-Xavier Bonnaillie (FRA) was hired as Chief Commercial Officer. He had worked previously for more than two decades with home products giant and Olympic sponsor Proctor & Gamble.

The chatter over the ceremonies and track & field stadium for the 2032 Games continues, as 9News reported that the draft report of the 100-day review commission – by the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority – has been provided to the Liberal National Party-led Queensland government for review, with the final report to be delivered on 8 March. The Queensland government has promised to make its decisions public on 25 March.

The 9News report stated that a new stadium in Victoria Park is being recommended as the facility for ceremonies and track & field, estimated to cost A$3.4 billion in a prior review from the Labor Party when it was in charge, in March 2024. That report noted (AUD 1 = $0.63 U.S.):

“The cost of a stadium in Victoria Park ($3.0 – $3.4 billion) is likely to be marginally more expensive than the full Gabba rebuild (more than $3.0 billion) with better operational efficiencies and outcomes that would deliver a true international standard venue enabling Brisbane to compete with other top stadiums in Australia and generate additional premium seating revenue.”

The prior Queensland government (Labor) declined to pursue either a renovation of the aging Brisbane Cricket Ground (Gabba) or the Victoria Park idea, instead preferring a less costly upgrade of the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre for track & field and Lang Park for ceremonies.

Cost will be the issue for whatever option is chosen.

Another fight has broken out on the proposed Brisbane Arena, an A$3 billion project designed to create a new entertainment center in the city and which would host swimming – Australia’s biggest Olympic sport – in 2032.

Gold Coast, which successfully hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games, is pitching its facility instead of the arena, claiming it will save money. Brisbane Mayor Adrian Schwinner slapped back:

“The federal government has promised to fund a new inner city entertainment venue, but only IF it hosts the swimming at the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. But now there are threats to shift the swimming to the Gold Coast.

“No swimming in Brisbane means no new entertainment venue and the opportunity to build a Federally-funded arena in the inner city may be lost forever.

“Building this venue isn’t about the Olympics. It’s about building a legacy that can benefit residents for decades to come.”

This question is also expected to be considered in the 100-day review report.

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: President Bach resigns from IOC, effective after handover to new President in June

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC President Thomas Bach at the 139th IOC Session in Lausanne (Photo: IOC/Christophe Moratal)

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≡ END OF AN ERA ≡

“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) today agreed to accept the resignation of IOC President Thomas Bach as an IOC Member, effective after 23 June 2025. This will be the day of the handover to the new IOC President, who will be elected on 20 March 2025 in Costa Navarino, Greece.”

The Executive Board met online Wednesday and Bach, now 71, has decided to retire rather than stay on as a member of the IOC until his term (as a member) would expire at age 80. 

He will be remembered as a transformative leader of the Olympic Movement:

● He managed to get the Olympic Games past the Covid-19 pandemic and still hold the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021 and the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

● Bach will also be remembered for dealing with Russia and calamities including the revelations of its state-sponsored doping program from 2011-15 and then the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, just after the close of the Beijing Winter Games.

● He reformed the Olympic Movement through his Olympic Agenda 2020 and Olympic Agenda 2020+5, removing the requirements to build new facilities to host Olympic or Winter Games, allowing Games to be held in multiple cities and regions (even countries) and eliminating a host-city bid process which made humiliated losers out of cities and countries which had spent millions to compete.

These changes have now led to more than a dozen countries involved in discussions on how they might line up as potential Olympic hosts in 2036 or 2040.

Bach led – some will say imposed – a disciplined leadership process on the IOC, creating a capable but quite large staff team at the newly-built Olympic House in Lausanne. He expanded the IOC’s relationship with the United Nations, drawing criticism from some that IOC projects were sometimes not related to sport, but to diplomacy.

And the IOC did very well financially during his tenure, reaching $7.6 billion in revenues in the 2021-24 quadrennial.

So what can be read into all this? Only Bach knows (and knowing Bach, has already planned):

● He could rest for a while before returning to the world scene, either in sports or possibly in an international role, especially with some arm of the United Nations, with which he cooperated so closely during his term.

● Bach will be made, possibly at the IOC Session in Greece, an Honorary Member of the IOC. There is no doubt of this and he deserves it.

● But there is another option, already suggested by one long-time observer, that Bach could be made Honorary President for Life and in that role, could serve as a confident and consultant to a less-experienced new IOC President, such as Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, just 41.

No one knows but Bach and his closest confidants in the IOC. In any case, the next President – to be elected on 20 March – will get three months to work with Bach until he or she takes over on 24 June.

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LOS ANGELES 2028: World Boxing provisionally recognized by IOC Executive Board; boxing essentially now in for LA28

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ WORLD BOXING APPROVED ≡

“The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) provisionally recognised World Boxing (WB) as the International Federation (IF) within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level, during a remote meeting held today.”

Wednesday’s announcement, followed by a list of actions taken by World Boxing to satisfy the IOC’s requirements, all but assures that boxing will be on the program of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

It appears to also end boxing’s Olympic nightmare that threatened its removal from the program after the IOC had to step in and run the boxing competitions at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

The IOC statement added:

“The assessment concluded that World Boxing has continued to make progress regarding the identified areas of consideration in order to be recommended for IOC Provisional Recognition as the IF within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level.”

Official recognition can follow at the 144th IOC Session in Greece in March, and World Boxing is holding an online extraordinary Congress on Saturday (1st) to formally admit a host of new members.

It has 78 at present, with 2-3 more coming up for approval this week, bringing its total membership to 80-81 countries. The federation was, of course, delighted at the news of the IOC’s provisional recognition, with President Boris van der Vorst (NED) saying in a statement:

“This is a very significant day for everyone connected with the sport of boxing in the Olympic Movement. Keeping its place at the Olympic Games is absolutely critical to the future of our sport at every level, from the grassroots to the highest echelons of professional boxing, and this decision by the IOC takes us one step closer to our objective of seeing boxing restored to the Olympic programme.

“It has taken a huge team effort from a large number of people across the globe to get to this point and none of it would have been possible without the hard work and commitment of all of the National Federations, boxers, coaches, officials and boxing leaders that have worked together to make this possible.

“Today’s decision by the IOC is an important milestone, however everyone connected with World Boxing understands that being part of the Olympic Movement is a privilege and a responsibility and not a right. There is still a lot of work to do, and everyone is as committed as ever to continuing to work together and doing everything within our power to deliver a better future for our sport and ensuring that boxing remains at heart of the Olympic Movement.”

The action by the IOC continues the process of moving away from the calamitous mismanagement of the former recognition, AIBA, now known as the International Boxing Association:

● 2017: The IOC sent a December letter noting severe financial, governance and refereeing and judging issues to AIBA.

● 2018: In November, the IOC created an inquiry committee to determine the status of AIBA and boxing within the Olympic Movement.

● 2019: The report on AIBA resulted in the IOC’s suspension of AIBA, and set up an IOC Boxing Task Force to ensure the Tokyo 2020 Olympic tournament was held.

● 2020: In December, AIBA elected Russian Boxing Federation Secretary-General  Umar Kremlev as its new President.

● 2021: In December, the initial sports program for Los Angeles 2028 was issued and did not include boxing. Also in December, AIBA changed its name to the International Boxing Association.

● 2022: In June, the Court of Arbitration for Sport held that the IBA had improperly eliminated all candidates for President other than Kremlev in its May election for a full term. Instead of holding a new election with all of the candidates, a September IBA Congress voted not to hold another election, keeping Kremlev in office. In December, the IOC announced it would again organize the boxing events at the Olympic Games, in Paris in 2024.

● 2023: Owing to a lack of progress at the IBA to its requests for financial information, governance reforms and refereeing and judging upgrades, the IOC convened a special, online Session in June and voted to remove recognition of the IBA. It was the first International Federation ever expelled from the Olympic Movement.

World Boxing’s rise came out of the ashes of the electoral chaos of the IBA in 2022, and was formed in mid-2023 and held its inaugural Congress in November 2023, with 26 members. Barely more than 15 months later, it has triple in size and received provisional recognition from the IOC and is poised to become the official governing body of boxing for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Boxing teetered on oblivion, but now is on the road back to the Games. National federations which remain affiliated with the IBA cannot participate in World Boxing events, so there will have to be decisions made by about 100 federations whether they want to be part of Olympic boxing in 2028 … or stay on the sidelines.

Boxing entered the Olympic program in 1904 in St. Louis and has been a part of every Games since, excepting Stockholm 1912 (boxing was illegal in Sweden at the time). World Boxing has rescued it for the future.

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BASKETBALL: Six-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time World Champion Diana Taurasi retires after 20-year WNBA career

By
Rich Perelman
-
Now-retired women’s great Diana Taurasi (Photo: Wikipedia via Lorie Schaull).

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≡ TAURASI RETIRES ≡

One of the greatest players in the history of women’s basketball, at Connecticut, the Phoenix Mercury and the U.S. women’s national team, Diana Taurasi, announced her retirement in an interview with Time Magazine, in a story posted late Tuesday.

She explained that she usually begins her seasonal training on New Year’s Day, but did not feel the desire in 2025. “That was pretty much when I knew it was time to walk away.”

Taurasi, 42, leaves as one of the giants of the women’s game, coming from Don Lugo High School in Chino, California to become a two-time All-American and three-time NCAA champion at Connecticut, a three-time WNBA champion with the Phoenix Mercury and a 10-time first-team All-WNBA selection.

She is, by far, the all-time WNBA scoring leader, with 10,646 points in 20 seasons, averaging 18.8 points per game. She’s almost 3,000 points ahead of no. 2 Tina Charles.

But she has a special standing among American Olympians.

Taurasi was a six-time Olympian and won six gold medals as a member of the American women’s teams in 2004-08-12-16-20-24. Consider:

● She has the most Olympic golds of any team-sport athlete, male or female, from any country, ever. 

● Among American Olympic gold medalists, only swimmers (6), track & field (3) and gymnastics (1) athletes have more.

● The six Olympic teams Taurasi played on had a combined record of 44-0!

She was a major contributor on five of her Olympic teams, but was a down-bench reserve in Paris:

● 2004: Averaged 8.2 points per game for 5 games on 34.9% shooting
● 2008: Averaged 9.4 points per game for 5 games on 47.4% shooting
● 2012: Averaged 12.2 points per game for 5 games on 45.5% shooting
● 2016: Averaged 14.2 points per game for 5 games on 56.4% shooting
● 2020: Averaged 8.0 points per game for 3 games on 57.1% shooting
● 2024: Averaged 0.7 points per game for 3 games on 16.7% shooting

Taurasi was not just an Olympic star. She also won three FIBA World Championships golds and a bronze in 2006-10-14-18. Her teams were 29-1 and won the last 22 in a row with her on the team.

That’s nine international championships and a bronze in 10 teams. And she played overseas as well – the WNBA is a summer-season league – and was a winner everywhere she played:

● 7-time Russian national league champion
● 6-time EuroLeague champion
● 1-time Turkish national league champion

Add those up, with Connecticut, the WNBA, the Olympic Games and the FIBA Worlds and she played on a staggering 26 championship teams across 24 seasons.

She was a winner at every level, and at 42, will no doubt find ways to continue influencing the game. For now, she is the standard against which all others will be measured.

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PANORAMA: Cross country, cyclo-cross at French Alps 2030? Milan Cortina 2026 at €400 million in sponsors; Shiffrin asks $100,000 so kids can ski

By
Rich Perelman
-
Inspectors checking on the good progress of the sliding track under construction in Cortina d’Ampezzo for the 2026 Winter Games (Photo: Simico).

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● FrancsJeux.com reported that the Milan Cortina organizers have reached €400 million in domestic sponsorships, against a €500-550 million target with a year to go. (€1 = $1.05 U.S.)

The five Premium Partners are ENEL, Eni, Italian railways, Poste Italiane and Salomon, with seven Official Partners: a2a Life, EA7 Emporio Armani, Esselunga, Fiera Milano, Randstad, TIM and Juniper Networks. There are eight additional Sponsors and five Official Supporters for a total of 25 involved companies so far.

Good review from the International Olympic Committee inspection team on Monday to the under-construction sliding track in Cortina d’Ampezzo, with the government’s Olympic construction oversight company, Simico chief executive Fabio Saldini saying in a statement:

“It was a very positive visit, our international interlocutors were surprised by the quality and quantity of the work done. I had no doubts about the good progress of the construction site.

“We discussed the pre-homologation phases in view of March. We continue with optimism. On Thursday we will turn on the refrigeration system, the beating heart of the track.”

The construction firm working on the project has said it will have the facility ready for testing by 15 March.

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● Looks like World Athletics and the Union Cycliste Internationale have a shot to get into the Winter Games, with the possible additions to the program of cross country and cyclo-cross.

New French Alps 2030 President Edgar Grospiron told Le Dauphine that discussions will commence on multiple possibilities for added sports:

“We will work calmly and study everything on the table with ski mountaineering, speed skiing, telemark, even cross-country or cyclo-cross and why not ice-cross? Afterwards, we will have to budget.”

Cross country and cyclo-cross have been heavily promoted by their federations as sports which will open the Winter Games to new countries, especially in Africa.

● Alpine Skiing ● U.S. superstar Mikaela Shiffrin got her historic 100th World Cup victory last weekend and now wants others to be able to try skiing.

She has set up a partnership with the Share Winter Foundation to raise $100,000 to allow about 200 youngsters to learn skiing and snowboarding. Wrote Shiffrin on Instagram:

“I know that not everyone is blessed with the good fortune I have come across, in fact very few are, and over the years the lack of accessibility for a diverse group of people in winter sports has funneled us into a very not diverse community.

“I love this community, but can’t help but wonder how much more potential there is for it to be stronger if we could help Share Winter with everyone, rather than just those of us who have the means, the access, or the background and bloodlines to support it.”

“I see this 100 victory conversation as an opportunity to bring more eyes and, ideally, more passion to the sport. Helping Share Winter bring more kids to the mountain is really meaningful. It’s far bigger than me winning 100 races. This will make that 100th victory one of the most meaningful to me.”

She donated the first $10,000 herself and has asked her sponsors to contribute, and “MIK100″ items will be offered at auction on the Share Winter Foundation site.

● Athletics ● Grand Slam Track announced a partnership with sports data firm Stats Perform as its “exclusive global data and betting rights distributor and integrity partner.”

Founder and Commissioner Michael Johnson explained, “We look forward to setting a new standard for our sport with Stats Perform’s extensive network of trusted media and betting partners, eye-opening technology, and their true passion for the power of sport to unify and entertain.”

The first Grand Slam Track meet will be from 4-6 April in Kingston, Jamaica. Betting on track has long seemed like a natural fit, but the inability to be sure of who will actually run in any event has made sportsbooks less interested. The GST format of contracted Racers and Challengers eliminates some of that instability, although injuries will still come into the equation.

World Athletics posted a review of its experimental, twice-as-deep long jump “take-off zone” project which was tried at indoor meets in Dusseldorf and Berlin (GER):

● “On average, athletes gained 13 centimetres in performance using the take-off zone, matching the expected 10-centimetre improvement. Under the classic format, the foul rate at the tests would have averaged 66%, compared to 32% at major championships. With the take-off zone, the foul rate dropped to 13% – a scenario virtually impossible in the classic format.”

● “Spectator surveys showed an overall preference for the take-off zone in future competitions. The divide, however, was striking: more than two-thirds of casual fans favoured the innovation, while those actively involved in the sport leaned just as strongly towards the traditional board.”

More testing is coming, with a series of other concepts to be tried in various meets this season, such as the Steeplechase mile, a Mixed 4×100 m relay and others.

The Tokyo 2025 World Championships organizers revealed the name of its mascot, modeled after a Shiba Inu dog – Riku One – which received the most votes in a nationwide poll, just ahead of “Sorashiba,” 7,804 to 7,454.

“Riku” is the Japanese word for track & field athletics.

The three American super-marathons – Boston, Chicago and New York – have joined with the Los Angeles Marathon, operated by The McCourt Foundation, to offer special merchandise to support Together LA.

The project, created by The McCourt Foundation, is designed to provide support for the Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) and the California Fire Foundation, who are helping with emergency relief, assist displaced families, and support long-term recovery efforts from the brutal Palisades and Eaton fires in the Los Angeles area in January.

Special merchandise with the emblems of all four races is available at a special Web site, offered in conjunction with the 40th anniversary Los Angeles Marathon, coming up on 16 March.

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BOXING: World Boxing admitted to AIMS, next step toward IOC recognition, with membership to hit 80 federations by month’s end

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ BOXING and LA28 ≡

The path for boxing to be confirmed into the program for the 2028 Olympic Games took an important step forward as the World Boxing federation was confirmed as a member of the Alliance of Independent Recognized Members of Sport (AIMS).

Per a notice posted Tuesday (25th) from SportAccord, the umbrella organization which oversees the checking, verification and recognition of sports federations:

“The SportAccord Executive Committee convened on 13th February to review the application of World Boxing for membership in AIMS (Alliance of Independent Recognized Members of Sport).

“Following the completion of its application, World Boxing underwent an evaluation by the SportAccord Membership Commission, which assessed its fulfillment of the required criteria. The Membership Commission subsequently presented a report to the Executive Committee with a positive recommendation.

“After reviewing the report, the Executive Committee approved the application and granted AIMS Membership to World Boxing. This decision was communicated to AIMS, which held an Extraordinary General Assembly today, where the successful admission of World Boxing as a member of the Alliance was confirmed.”

In the highly bureaucratic structure of the Olympic Movement, a new sports federation cannot be simply approved by the International Olympic Committee, but must first be reviewed in detail for appropriate governance and structural requirements and accepted as an AIMS member.

World Boxing, formed in mid-2023, has achieved that level in less than two years, which is pretty swift progress in the Olympic world. Next is recognition of the federation by the IOC, which would entitle World Boxing to join the Association of Recognized International Sports Federations (ARISF), from which a federation can be elevated to the Olympic program and join the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) or the Winter Olympic Federations (WOF), as appropriate.

This could all happen pretty quickly now for World Boxing, and if so, it would assure boxing of a place on the program for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

World Boxing continues to grow:

● It has 78 national federations at present, with at least two more in the pipeline ahead of its Extraordinary Congress on Saturday, 1 March. If both are approved, World Boxing will have 80 total national federations.

● More federations are coming, with another five federations likely to receive at least preliminary approval for membership by 8 March, in advance of the 144th IOC Session in Greece.

● The 78 federations already in represent well more than half of the boxers and countries appearing at Paris 2024. Of the 68 national federations who competed in Paris, 37 are already World Boxing members, representing 152 of the 248 boxers in the tournaments (61.3%).

Of the 32 federations who won medals in 2024, 18 are already enrolled with World Boxing, representing 30 of the 52 medalists at the Games (57.7%).

World Boxing took a census of its national federations and found they represent:

● 434,846 boxers in 15,886 gyms
● 34,328 coaches
● 8,750 referees and judges

That’s a strong case for World Boxing to take to the IOC Session in Greece from 18-21 March, where the IOC membership could formally approve World Boxing as the governing body for Olympic boxing moving forward.

If so, then the Los Angeles 2028 program would be closed, with a record total of 36 sports, the most in Olympic history.

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Candidate Eliasch urged to run by other IOC members, likes Winter Games rotation idea

By
Rich Perelman
-
IOC Presidential candidate Johan Eliasch, during his AIPS online news conference (AIPS video screenshot).

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

“I had absolutely no intention of running for this job.”

And that made perfect sense for Johan Eliasch, the Swedish-born, British head of the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS), who was only elected to the International Olympic Committee on 24 July 2024, two days prior to the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

But now he is a candidate to lead the International Olympic Committee, one of seven, with the decision to come on 20 March at the 144th IOC Session, in Costa Navarino (GRE). Why?

“I was surprised as everybody else when I finally pushed that ‘Send’ button to send in my application.

“What happened was that, in the lead-up to the deadline, I got phone calls from IOC members who said, ‘Look, you have a background which would be perfect for doing this job.’ And I thought long and hard about it, and what it came down to is the inspirational force that the Olympic Movement is.

“And I grew up with sport. It was the most important thing to me, as a young boy. And I remember those moments watching the [1968] Olympic Games when [Jean-Claude] Killy [FRA] won three gold in Grenoble. Sport was just such a big part of my life. …

“So what it came down to, it’s the hope that it inspires, that everything is possible, anything is possible through sports. And it is such an inspirational force that unite people to come together, find constructive solutions, in an always peaceful and uniting manner.”

Eliasch explained his candidacy and his views on the Olympic Movement in an hour session with reporters from around the world, as the second in a candidate series organized by the International Sports Journalists Association (AIPS) and moderated by its president, Italian journalist Gianni Merlo.

He was elected as the FIS President in 2021, transitioning from a brilliant business career in which he became a billionaire as the chief executive of the sporting goods and apparel company Head from 1995-2021. Now he is suddenly in the running to be the head of the International Olympic Committee.

Eliasch was alternately stern and charming, sometimes answering in detail and skipping past other subjects. But he made some points with clarity:

● Climate impacts: “For winter sport, climate change is potentially an existential threat. The planet wasn’t designed for 8 1/2 billion people living the way we live. And we have to accept that and we have to take action.

“Here, if we look at Winter Games, there is this concept of a rotation scheme. I believe in that because we would then narrow down the venues to a few, that the IFs can support through World Cups, world championships so that maintenance and capital expenditures is kept up so we don’t need to re-create venues. We also have organizations in place. It will reduce complexity, it will also make it less costly and that, I believe, long-term, much better.

“For the summer Games, here, depending on where we go, we also have to be innovative with calendars, obviously in close collaboration with other IFs, other events, so that we don’t have clashes. But we need to be flexible, we need to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and also we have a duty because we have such a big voice, such a reach, to be a strong voice.”

● Doping and integrity: “There is nothing worse than cheating.”

He explained, “With doping, WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] is doing a tremendous job. It is important here, also with the athletes that they take responsibility to follow the rules. Rules are everything and we need to abide by rules here.”

● Participation by athletes from aggressor countries: “My position on that is also very clear: we must defend our neutrality at all cost, as a movement. And when it comes to the athletes, they can’t choose where they were born. Therefore, we need to defend them, so they never become weaponized for political purposes. It’s super important.

“Here, I believe the Individual Neutral Athletes scheme, which worked very well in Paris, that’s the right path to take.”

● Prize money: “I think the Olympics are a little bit different from all other events. The Olympics are based on values. To start with, we only had amateurs, a lot, then we open up to professionals, then we bring in prize money. And, of course, if you do well at the Olympics, you’re set for life.

“We also run into issues here with prize money with different federations having different, shall we say, money expectations, and in some cases, it won’t be meaningful, and in other cases, if you go to the other extreme, IFs will not be able to introduce prize money.

“So, here, I am a believer that, no, the Olympics should not be done with prize money.”

● Transgender participation: “No ands, no ifs, no buts: women’s sport has to be ring-fenced at all costs, based on science and facts, not ideology or chance. And it is pretty much a generally-accepted fact that if you are formed as a human being with the SRY gene, you are not a woman.

“And that is dispositive of all other arguments.”

He underlined, as have all the candidates, the importance of more open discussions among the IOC membership as a path to the future. And while the IOC is in a good place now, there are clouds on the horizon:

“[Current President] Thomas Bach [GER] has done a phenomenal job. He’s taken the Movement to another level in his 12 years. He has done that sometimes very difficult circumstances, with Covid, with conflicts, with introducing a lot of change.

“And now, the next President’s task will be to take it an even higher level. And we may be faced with many challenges as we go along. We have new political variations going on, the world is not exactly united – it’s very divisive and disruptive at the moment – and we have a sea change when it comes to how people consume content, and here the digital space is going to be very important, also AI [artificial intelligence] is going to come in, which is a great opportunity.

“But we need to stay ahead of the curve. We need to do more, with less resources.

“And finally, we need to make sure that we are relevant not only two weeks every two years, but every week, every year.”

Eliasch, an expert in sports marketing from his days at Head, also noted of commercial relationships going forward:

“Let’s face it, sponsorships, that’s something of the past. It’s partnerships today. That is how the people that want to partner up with us, how we can activate those partnerships in the best possible fashion. That is how you’re going to attract partners paying the sort of money that we would want to see.”

He emphasized, this is “not revolution” but “evolution, it’s just staying ahead of the curve.”

That applies to e-sports as well; Eliasch pointed out that while gaming is not a traditional physical activity, “this is very important, to reach younger people.”

Pointedly asked about his use of private aircraft for travel vis-a-vis his passion for sustainability, he noted that he has consistently offset his own carbon use by a factor more than 10 times.

Observed: Eliasch is seen as a long-shot candidate for the presidency, given his very short time on the IOC. Will members trust someone they barely know to be their leader for the next eight years?

His achievements are wide-ranging and supremely impressive, but Eliasch is at a huge disadvantage due to his recent election to the IOC. However, he is not deterred.

A side comment he made illustrates, however, his grip on the levers of the future. His candidate statement, a brilliantly-illustrated, 46-page visual masterpiece, was produced in seven languages, using artificial intelligence for the magnificent imagery. He explained:

“All that art that you saw in my manifesto, that was created through artificial intelligence. This would have taken months, if not years to create all these images.

“This was super-easy, super-fast, less than a day to do all that.”

That might be his best argument to convince anyone who doubts that he has his hands firmly on the future, and that they might want to go along.

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LANE ONE: IOC announces AB InBev TOP sponsor extension to 2032, seventh for Brisbane with seven years to go; is that good?

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ IOC TOP SPONSORS ≡

“AB InBev, the world’s leading brewer, will extend its Worldwide Olympic Partnership (TOP Partnership) through to 2032.”

Monday’s announcement by the International Olympic Committee confirmed not only the extension of the AB InBev deal through the 2032 Brisbane Games, but the products and themes to be promoted:

● “During the Olympic Games Paris 2024, Corona Cero reached Olympic fans of legal drinking age around the world with messages of connection, moderation and celebration. Together with the IOC, AB InBev highlighted a shared commitment to responsible consumption.”

● “No-alcohol beer Corona Cero will continue as the global beer sponsor of the Olympic Games, highlighting the IOC and AB InBev’s commitment to responsible consumption and creating a future with more cheers.”

● “In the United States, AB InBev will support the Olympic and Paralympic Games through to Brisbane 2032 with Michelob ULTRA, a superior light beer that celebrates an active lifestyle.”

Close observers of sports marketing will note that it’s actually a pretty strong endorsement of the Olympic brand that a company which makes and sells beer – Budweiser is 5.0% alcohol by volume – is spending tens of millions to promote its non-alcoholic products (except in the U.S., as Michelob ULTRA is 4.2% alcohol by volume).

The announcement also brought out the statistician in me to see where TOP is now – for the 2028 and 2032 quadrennials – compared to the past:

Number of TOP sponsors per quad:
● 7: 2032 (seven years to go)
● 9: 1988
● 10: 1996, 2004
● 11: 1992, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2028 (three years to go)
● 14: 2020
● 15: 2024

So, of the 12 TOP quadrennials since the project started for the 1985-88 period, the Los Angeles 2028 total – with the addition of TCL last week – is already the equal-third highest ever, with three years remaining before the Games.

And Brisbane in 2032 is already at seven now, with the AB InBev extension:

● AB InBev
● Allianz
● Coca-Cola/Mengniu
● Deloitte
● Omega
● TCL
● Visa

(Airbnb, Alibaba Group, Proctor & Gamble and Samsung are signed through 2028.)

Four sponsors – three from Japan – dropped at the end of the 2024 quadrennial: Atos, Bridgestone, Panasonic and Toyota. Panasonic has essentially been replaced by TCL in the home appliances and electronics category, and the results and systems coordination role played by French technology consultants Atos has reportedly been rolled up into the Deloitte sponsorship.

While Bridgestone will be missed in the tires sector, the major loss is Toyota, which signed an enormous deal in 2015, not only providing huge payments to the IOC, but also providing 3,000 vehicles – car and trucks – during the Games, which are crucial to organizing committee operations. If a replacement is not found, the LA28 organizers could be looking at significant added costs to obtain the vehicles they need for moving people and things.

A “mobility” sponsor aside, the IOC’s sponsorship program appears to be on fairly solid ground for 2028 and has a solid head start on 2032.

There is a lot of work to do yet, but with the IOC stating quite clearly that while it will not allow in-stadium advertising boards a la the FIFA World Cup, it is amenable to product placement opportunities and sensible integration into the operations at the Games.

So, is the stage set for artificial intelligence to impact Olympic competitions – at least on broadcasts if not holography on the field of play – on behalf of sponsors, beginning in Los Angeles in 2028?

And if so, how long before discussions about sponsorship become more about the importance of the IOC-owned Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) team, then the Olympic organizing committees who stage the Games on the ground?

Or, maybe, it has already started.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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PANORAMA: Russia expects team, flag, anthem at LA28 Olympics; Nordic Worlds at 192,000 tix so far! Salute to AmEagle 5342 skaters Sunday

By
Rich Perelman
-
Trondheim Nordic World Championships start Wednesday, with 192,000 tickets sold already!

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● Errata: Some readers saw a version of Sunday’s Panorama post which had the final day of the SheBelieves Cup football matches on Thursday (26th); it’s actually Wednesday the 26th! Thanks to reader Brian Russell for the correction. ●

≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Russia ● In a television interview, Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev said that while there will be limitations for Russian participation at Milan Cortina 2026, he expects a full team for Los Angeles in 2028:

“Our athletes’ participation in the Winter Olympics is at stake.

“There, we have already given leeway to speed skaters and figure skaters. We are working with skiers and the biathlon federation. I won’t say who we are communicating with. These are big bosses. Without us, world sport is losing its spectacle.

“We are moving towards easing restrictions for winter athletes, and we are in full swing preparing for the 2028 Olympics. I think everything will be fine for us there, we will be there in full force, with a flag and an anthem.”

United World Wrestling posted Friday that Russian and Belarusian wrestlers will now compete under the flag of the federation and not as “neutrals.” But:

“UWW will continue with UWW anthem for ceremonies with no reference to the flag, symbols, or coat of arms of Russia and Belarus will be authorized.”

Eligibility for Russian or Belarusian wrestlers will be denied only if there is “evidence of direct military participation in the war against Ukraine or public declarations [in written or orally] in support of the war and/or of their promoters or participants.” This requirement was adopted last year.

● Athletics ● Italy’s 2024 European 20 km bronzer Francesco Fortunato smashed a 30-year old world indoor record in the men’s 5,000 m walk, winning at the Italian Indoor nationals in Ancona in 17:55.65 on Saturday.

That easily surpassed the 1995 mark of 18:07.08 by Russian Mikhail Shchennikov.

“The [Athletics Integrity Unit] has provisionally suspended Brimin Misoi Kipkorir (Kenya) for the Presence/Use of Prohibited Substances (EPO, Furosemide).”

Monday’s post on X sidelines a 2:04:53 marathoner from 2023, when he won the Frankfurt Marathon; he’s also won the Nairobi Marathon three times.

Also provisionally suspended was 2:12:55 marathoner (in 2013) Ronald Kimeli Kurgat of Kenya on Friday, “for the Presence/Use of a Prohibited Substance (Triamcinolone acetonide).”

Three others of lesser achievements were also suspended; two were from India and one from Kenya.

● Basketball ● The U.S. men’s team concluded play in the FIBA AmeriCup qualifiers on Sunday with a 105-83 victory in Nassau over The Bahamas and won Group D with a 5-1 record. Forward Nassir Little and guard Javonte Smart each had 16 points to lead the Americans.

Last Thursday, the U.S. squad – made up of G League players and free agents – had to come from behind to edge Puerto Rico in San Juan, 72-71, taking the lead for good with 6:19 to play. A Malik Williams layup made it 72-66 with 3:59 to play and while the U.S. did not score again, it held the home team to just five points the rest of the way. Smart had 16 to lead the U.S.

The 2025 AmeriCup will be held in August in Managua (NCA).

● Boxing ● World Boxing appointed Dutch-based Exceed Boxing to handle its commercial rights, including events, broadcasting rights, sponsorship, ticketing, merchandising and gaming. The federation will retain sales authority over “global” sponsors and sponsorships of the federation Web site, merchandise and social-impact sponsors.

It’s the third World Boxing partnership, previously with merchandise and equipment provider Sting, and sporting apparel and footwear supplier Nike Boxing.

● Figure Skating ● The “Legacy on Ice” tribute to the 28 skaters, coaches and family lost in the crash of American Eagle flight 5342 on 29 January will be held on Sunday (2nd) in Washington, D.C., with many of the top American stars of the sport performing in support.

Past Olympic and World Championships medal winners including Nathan Chen, Peggy Fleming, Scott Hamilton, Nancy Kerrigan and Kristi Yamaguchi are all committed to perform, as well as current World Champions Ilia Malinin and Ice Dance stars Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

The program is being staged by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, U.S. Figure Skating, the DC Fire & EMS Foundation and the Greater Washington Community Foundation. It will be shown live locally on the Monumental Sports Network and streamed on the NBC Peacock service. The program will be shown delayed on NBC on 30 March.

● Ice Hockey ● The NHL’s All-Star Game substitute, the 4 Nations Face-Off proved to be a huge hit, drawing excellent ratings for the pool play games and 4.4 million for the U.S.-Canada match in Montreal.

The U.S. vs. Canada re-match for the title, in Boston last Thursday proved to be one of the biggest hockey telecasts ever. SportsMediaWatch.com reported:

● “Thursday’s Canada-United States Four Nations Face-Off final averaged a 4.0 rating and 9.25 million viewers on ESPN, marking the largest audience for an NHL-sanctioned game in the Nielsen people-meter era (dates back to 1988).”

● “If one goes back further, the Four Nations final ranks as the most-watched NHL game since Game 6 of the 1973 Stanley Cup Final (Canadiens-Blackhawks: 9.41M) and the fourth-most watched all-time, according to historical data released by then-rightsholder NBC 15 years ago.”

The game also drew more U.S. viewers than any international hockey event since the 2010 Olympic final in Vancouver, where the Canada-USA final drew a much larger 27.6 million audience on NBC.

● Nordic Skiing ● Pretty impressive ticket sales for the Granasen Ski Centre in Trondheim, Norway for the FIS Nordic Skiing World Championships, coming up from 26 February to 9 March.

Featuring cross-country skiing, ski jumping and the Nordic Combined, the Trondheim organizers announced Monday that 192,000 tickets had been sold so far for the 11 days of events!

Many more are expected out on the trails, for the second time that Trondheim has hosted, previously way back in 1997.

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RUSSIA: European Union sanctions Olympic gymnastics star Nikita Nagornyy for “spreading pro-Russian propaganda”

By
Rich Perelman
-
Nikita Nagornyy (r) receiving the Order of Friendship from Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2021 (Photo: Wikipedia via RIA Novosti).

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≡ EU SANCTIONS EXPANDED ≡

On the sad, third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the European Union announced a 16th package of sanctions against Russian individuals and companies, this time including an Olympic gymnastics star.

The EU list included sanction no. 1923: Nikita Vladimirovich Nagorny (also spelled Nagornyy), now 28:

“Nikita Nagorny is Deputy Chairman of the Board of the All-Russian public-state movement of children and youth ‘Movement of the First’ and the former chief of the general staff of the All-Russia ‘Young Army’ Military Patriotic Social Movement (Yunarmiya). He was involved in the mass abduction, illegal deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.

“In March 2022, Nikita Nagorny offered to forward gifts to Russian troops fighting in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

“Nikita Nagorny is a prominent athlete with a large audience and significant influence on his fans. He publicly supported the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Through his influence, he is responsible for spreading pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation regarding Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as playing an active role in rallying domestic support in Russia for the war against Ukraine.

“Therefore, Nikita Nagorny is supporting and implementing actions and policies which undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

Nagorny won an Olympic gold in the Tokyo 2020 men’s Team event and bronzes in the All-Around and Horizontal Bar, following a Team silver at Rio 2016. He is a three-time World Championships gold medalist from 2019, in the Team, All-Around and Vault, and won a silver and bronze at the 2018 Worlds as well.

He has previously been sanctioned by both Canada and the U.S.

The EU explained this type of sanction thus:

“Responding to Russian propaganda remains also a priority. Alongside notorious Russian propagandists, the EU is notably listing NewsFront, and SouthFront, two outlets presenting distorted interpretations of history and manipulated information in line with Kremlin messaging while also targeting European and global audiences with distorted and manipulated information.”

The impact of the sanctions:

“Those designated today are subject to an asset freeze and EU citizens and companies are forbidden from making funds available to them. Natural persons are additionally subject to a travel ban, which prevents them from entering into or transiting through the territories of EU member states.”

So far, the EU sanctions have been imposed on more than 2400 individuals and entities.

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MILAN CORTINA 2026: Under-construction sliding track in Cortina suffers sabotage of a cooling pipe, authorities contacted

By
Rich Perelman
-
The giant cooling pipe disconnected and placed in a roadway at the construction site of the Milan Cortina 2026 sliding track (Photo: Simico).

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≡ CONSTRUCTION CONCERNS ≡

“A cooling pipe was disconnected and found in the middle of the road, blocking traffic and creating significant disruption to the construction site of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Milan Cortina 2026, also in view of the IOC inspection scheduled for Monday 24 February.”

Friday’s announcement by the Italian government’s Olympic construction entity, the Societa Infrastrutture Milano Cortina 2020-2026 SpA, known as Simico, also noted:

● “The incident was reported to the competent authorities by Government Commissioner Arch. Fabio Saldini. ‘A disrespectful act that puts those who work day and night in difficulty’ said Saldini.”

● Saldini said on Friday evening that the situation had improved:

“During the day I had the opportunity to meet with the investigators and the Prefect of Belluno who in fact called the Committee for Order and Security tomorrow. From what has emerged there is no doubt that this was a malicious act, as also highlighted by the inspection carried out today on the building site by the technicians of the company that produces the refrigeration pipes.

“Today the pipe, weighing 500 kilos, was permanently hooked and fixed inside the building site.”

So, the work continues and the authorities are investigating, possibly for other acts of sabotage as well. In the meantime, the pressure of time continues, with certification of the track slated to begin in March, with the full length of the track completed.

The construction management team said Monday that the track will be delivered in time for inspection by 15 March. The certification activities are scheduled to begin on 24 March.

The rapid construction of the track required the clearing of several hundred trees and has drawn local criticism, with worries that it will not be used after the Games. The track built for the Turin 2006 Winter Games, was abandoned six years after for lack of use and environmental conditions.

There have been grave doubts about whether the track – for bobsled, luge and skeleton – can be completed in time, after years of delay and indecision on how to move forward from the now-removed Eugenio Monti track used for the 1956 Olympic Winter Games in Cortina.

After receiving no bids from construction firms to do the job, the specifications were re-configured and an €118 million agreement was reached last year (~$123.6 million U.S.).

The International Olympic Committee has been skeptical of the track project from the time Milan Cortina was awarded the Games and has urged the use of an existing, operating facility, for example in Innsbruck (AUT) or St. Moritz (SUI).

In fact, the Milan Cortina organizers have reached out to the Olympic Regional Development Authority in New York and, last December, named the famed Mt. Van Hoevenberg track as the back-up for 2026 … just in case.

The building of the new Cortina track has been a political hot potato in Italy for more than a year, and Saldini and others have pledged that it will be finished in time. Obviously, there are some folks who don’t want that to happen.

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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Candidate Coventry won’t rush, wants IOC re-set, to help athletes on the journey to the Games

By
Rich Perelman
-
Two-time Olympic champion and IOC member Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe (IOC video screenshot).

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

“I think we’re two very different people.

“First and foremost, for me, I think the way in which the IOC communicates would need to change. We have a completely different leadership style. My manifesto, as most of you have seen, is all based off of the Ubuntu philosophy, which is ‘I am because we are’ and I know that I have only ever been successful because of the people and the team around me, and that would be how I want to lead.”

That’s seven-time Olympic swimming medalist Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, asked about what she sees as the differences between her as a candidate to be the president of the International Olympic Committee and current leader Thomas Bach (GER). She continued:

“I would want to sure that the members are not just bring heard, but are actually being quite active, and sharing of their experience and their knowledge.”

She noted that she and Bach both share deep feelings for the Games and the Olympic Movement, but also “just how strong the power of sport is and what it can do in communities around the world.”

Coventry is one of seven candidates for the IOC Presidency, and spoke for more than an hour during an online forum with 98 media from around the world on Monday in a meet-up arranged by the International Sports Journalists Association (AIPS).

At 41, she is the youngest of the candidates and the only woman in the field, but with a long history within the International Olympic Committee, especially as the head of the IOC Athletes’ Commission. Asked about how she will approach the presidency if elected, she noted the diverse interests of the main stakeholders of the Olympic Movement, then explained:

“What I feel right now, whenever there’s a new shift, there’s a change in the organization, it’s time for us to have a little bit of a pause, and I want to just take a pause, evaluate where we are, what is it that we – as an organization – want to continue doing.

“We know that the Olympic Games are our heartbeat, right, and then you have all of our incredible stakeholders, our athletes, and the next layer, of our [National Olympic Committees] and [International Federations]. How and what are we going to continue to fight for? What is it that we get rid of, and we need to shed? And what is it that we need to change and adapt to be relevant in today’s world.

“So that will be a big piece of work, and I would like to start very early on.”

She noted that there is pressure on the IOC now relating to athlete funding, more support for the IFs and a desire for IFs to be more deeply involved in the development of Olympic organizing committees, and a need to bridge gaps in capabilities and professionalism between larger and smaller National Olympic Committees.

Coventry noted that these types of challenges are not new for her, as she has faced similar issues as the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in Zimbabwe, a position she has held since 2018:

“I’ve been able to navigate these last seven years, I believe, really well … I’ve been able to do that because I’ve had a solid and strong team who have been willing to take tough decisions, because it’s been the right thing to do. So we’ve been led by our values, and that’s really what we’ve been trying to change.

“I firmly believe, with the strength of the membership within the IOC, with the strength of the ecosystems from the International Federations, the National Olympic Committees, hearing directly from the athletes.

“Leaning on all these stakeholders, taking them into account, and giving them the opportunity to be part of the decisions is what is going to strengthen our Movement.

“And I have been fortunate enough in Zimbabwe to have been able to do that. The decisions that you make are not always going to be popular. But generally, when they’re not popular decisions, they’re generally the right decisions.”

She is also firmly fixed on the future and how technology will play a key role, to inspire new generations, as she was, watching the 1992 Barcelona Games on television at age nine:

“Part of my vision is to ensure that we’re reaching nine-year-olds across the globe, not just nine-year-olds that can afford to watch on linear TV. …

“I know, for example, in Zimbabwe we’re about 15 million population and 13 million people have smartphones. So how are we going to give greater access to the Olympic Games to people from new regions across the world, including that of journalists?”

She was asked about many of the hot-button issues in the Olympic Movement today:

● On prize money at the Olympic Games:

“I, personally, am not a fan of prize money. I would rather try and identify new ways of better supporting athletes on their journey to becoming an Olympian. For me, as an athlete, that was that hardest time for me. It was hard to find sponsorship, it was hard on my family and the Olympic Solidarity scholarship that I managed to receive really added a lot of value.

“So I would rather put more focus on identifying direct funding to athletes before they get to the Olympic Games, and then after the Olympic Games, once they are looking at retirement. How do we help them in that next phase of life.”

She also noted the importance of new media for athletes, especially at Paris 2024, pointing out that “We saw a number of athletes leverage their social-media platforms, and they have created a more sustainable way of being able to become influencers, and promote different products and make a living for themselves.”

She wants that situation to be followed up on and expanded.

● On transgender participation and regulations:

“What is in place right now is the decision was left up to the International Federations. And the majority of the International Federations did a lot of work with their medical teams, with medical and scientific research, to come up with rules and regulations that fit their sport.

“What I am saying, is that as the IOC, we should bring everyone together, to try and understand if there is a way to put out a common framework and take a bit of a leading role.

“That’s going to take sitting down, with the International Federations, with their medical teams – I’m not a medical doctor – we need to rely on the facts, we need to rely on medical research and what that is showing us.

“And then come up with a common ground and a common frame work that will be able to protect the female category.”

● On a future Olympic Games in Africa, she said that dialogue has already started with Egypt and South Africa about 2036 and beyond. Also, more effort needs to be made with the African Union and selections of future hosts for the All-Africa Games with an eye toward how that event can be a springboard toward a successful Olympic bid for the future.

To that end, the IOC needs to continue its emphasis on making the Olympic Games more sustainable, less costly and easier to host.

Observed: Coventry showed her usual poise, listening carefully and reflecting the well-developed points of view set out in her candidate statement. She is considered a leading candidate to be the next IOC President at next month’s 144th IOC Session in Greece.

It was worthwhile to hear that unlike Bach, who immediately began to reform an IOC which had danger signs all around it when he took over in 2013, she feels she would inherit a more stable situation and allow her time to “pause” and create consensus on moving forward.

Different times require different approaches; Coventry sees the future as managing the vast changes that technology is bringing to the 21st Century, while trying to manage the Olympic Movement and energize youth to get into sport.

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MEMORABILIA: John Carlos’ 1968 awards-stand U.S. team jacket sells at auction for $500,200!

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

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≡ AUCTION REPORT ≡

The jacket worn by 1968 Olympic men’s 200 m bronze medalist John Carlos on the awards stand in Mexico City while he and gold medalist Tommie Smith raised their fists in their iconic protest against racism was sold in an online auction Sunday for $500,200.

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

Made by Wilson, the jacket appears to be in excellent condition and still has Carlos’ bib number – 259 – attached. Expected to bring around $50,000, it was at $18,500 two weeks ago, but with the Buyer’s Premium (22% added to the final bid), the out-the-door cost of the top is $500,200.

There was another Olympic item of note in the Heritage Auctions “Winter Platinum Night Sports Auction,” mostly devoted to items related to baseball, football and basketball. A silver “replacement medal” from the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games was also on offer, related to the 1983 ceremony in Los Angeles in which the family of Jim Thorpe was presented with the gold medals he won and which were later revoked by the International Olympic Committee for amateurism violations.

Thorpe was disqualified for minor payments he received for playing semi-pro baseball prior to the 1912 Games, and after decades of lobbying, the IOC, under then-President Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP), agreed in October 1982 to restore the medals to Thorpe’s family.

But there were just the two gold medals, for the men’s pentathlon and decathlon. Olympics expert Dr. Bill Mallon (USA) explained that there were six living Thorpe children and five attended the 18 January 1983 ceremony at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, and Samaranch presented replica gold medals – the originals were stolen decades before from a Swedish museum – to two and silver editions were provided for the other four.

The two gold medals were given to the Oklahoma Historical Society. One of the silver medals ended up in this auction, and according to Heritage Auctions:

“This medal, and two others issued to Thorpe posthumously, were consigned to this Platinum Night auction by an owner lucky enough to have purchased the rights to an Oklahoma City storage locker that had been abandoned by the Thorpe family. A copy of the purchase contract will be included with the sale.”

The medal sold, with the Buyer’s Premium, for $31,720.

The Carlos jacket was the fifth-highest price reached in the auction. A 1961 New York Yankees uniform worn by Roger Maris during his 61-home run year sold for $1.586 million, the highest price realized during the sale.

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PANORAMA: Rubiales, Hermoso to appeal “the kiss” verdicts; J.T. Boe ends with 43 Biathlon Worlds medals; U.S. 2-0 in SheBelieves Cup

By
Rich Perelman
-
The best ever? Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe, winner of more biathlon World Champs medals than anyone else! (Photo: IBU)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Games ● Sad news that Yvonne Curtet-Chabot, a French long jumper at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games, passed away on Friday (25th) at 104. She was the oldest living Olympian, having been born on 28 May 1920.

Per Olympic super-statistician, Dr. Bill Mallon, the “new” oldest Olympian is Canadian alpine skier Rhoda Wurtele-Eaves, born in 1922 and now 103.

She was slated to compete in St. Moritz (SUI), but withdrew after a training run injury. She did compete at Oslo in 1952 in three events, with a best of ninth in the women’s Giant Slalom.

● Athletics ● Paris men’s high hurdles champ Grant Holloway was not pleased with the lack of a broadcast partner for the USATF National Indoor Championships on Saturday, with the meet finally available on the USATF.tv site for subscribers or via pay-per-view. Wrote Holloway on X:

“If you plan to watch the USATF Indoor Champs, consider waiting for it to be posted on Twitter or YouTube instead of paying for the PPV. It’s surprising that we can’t watch our own championships live, which is definitely an area that needs improvement.”

He won the men’s 60 m hurdles on Saturday; the Sunday portion of the meet was shown on NBC and its Peacock streaming service.

● Football ● Former Royal Spanish Football Federation President Luis Rubiales and Spanish midfielder Jenni Hermoso both say they will appeal last week’s court decision that convicted and fined Rubiales €10,800 for sexual assault, and required him to pay Hermoso €3,000 in “moral damages,” but cleared him on a coercion charge and imposed no jail time. (€1 = $1.05 U.S.)

Hermoso wrote on Instagram:

“After everything, this will create an important precedent in a social environment where there is still much to be done. “I have my heart full with each of the people who have been, are, and will continue with me in this fight.

“And now, yes, it’s over.”

Except for the appeals, of course. The other three defendants from the Spanish federation were all acquitted of coercion charges.

● Triathlon ● Impressive 2024 Impact Report from USA Triathlon, in which the federation moves beyond the Olympic Mixed Relay silver in Paris and eight Paralympic medals, but noted the nation-wide participation in the sport:

● More than 3,600 races at 1,034 triathlon events held in the U.S.

● More than 302,000 members nation-wide, an increase of 1.6% from 2023.

● More than 280,000 adult finishers in 2024, down slightly from 2023.

Triathlon events were both large and small, with record averages of 354 entries per event and 120 per race in 2024.

The USA Triathlon Foundation was also busy, raising $3.4 million; programs for youth introduced more than 9,000 to the sport.

≡ RESULTS ≡

● Alpine Skiing ● Italian star Federica Brignone’s dream season in the Giant Slalom continued in front of home fans at the FIS World Cup in Sestriere (ITA), as she won both Giant Slalom races, on Friday and Saturday, to go along with her FIS World Championships gold in Austria.

She took the first race in 2:12.69, moving from second to first with the best second run in the field. New Zealand’s Alice Robinson, the first-round leader, finished second, just as at the Worlds (2:13.09), with Thea Louise St Jernesund (NOR: 2:14.26) in third.

American Paula Moltzan was sixth (2:14.70), Nina O’Brien was eighth (2:15.32), A.J. Hurt was 12th (2:15.48) and Mikaela Shiffrin, skiing cautiously in an event she skipped at the Worlds, was 25th in 2:17.34.

On Saturday, Brignone was fourth after run one, but again the best on the second and won in 2:08.81, beating Swiss star Lara Gut-Behrami (2:09.58) and Robinson – again the first-run leader – in 2:09.60. Hurt and Moltzan went 7-8 in 2:10.66 and 2:10.76, but O’Brien did not finish. Shiffrin, again cautious, ranked 33rd on the first run and did not advance.

Sunday’s Slalom was a magnificent 100th win for Shiffrin, covered in more depth here.

Swiss fans, already thrilled with their team’s performance at the World Championships, got more to cheer about at the men’s World Cup in Crans-Montana (SUI).World Champion Franjo von Allmen repeated his Worlds win in the Downhill, leading a Swiss sweep in 1:56.07. He was followed by World Cup leader Marco Odermatt (1:56.20) and Alexis Monney, the Worlds bronze winner (1:56.49). Ryan Cochran-Siegle was the top American, in 13th (1:57.65), followed by Bryce Bennett (17: 1:58.04) and Jared Goldberg (25: 1:58.78).

Sunday’s Super-G saw Odermatt win his eighth race of the season in 1:21.53, ahead of Monney (1:21.81) and Italy’s Dominik Paris (1:21.92). Already the three-time defending World Cup champion, Odermatt now has a 500-point lead on the field with 11 races left.

● Biathlon ● At the IBU World Championships in Lenzerheide (SUI), France and Norway finished 1-2 on the medal table and combined to win 22 of the 36 total medals available.

On Saturday’s relay day, France and Norway traded gold and silvers in the men’s and women’s races. The Norwegians won the men’s 4×7.5 km relay in 1:18:18.1 (4 penalties) to 1:19:00.9 for the French (7 penalties), with Germany third (1:19:54.0/10). It was the third win in four men’s events for the Norwegians, with Johannes Thingnes Boe getting his third gold.

The U.S. squad of Paul Schommer, Maxime Germain, Campbell Wright and Paul Doherty finished ninth in 1:21:33.2 (11).

The women’s 4×6 km relay belong to the French, – their third win in four women’s events – with Julia Simon winning a fourth gold on anchor in 1:07:26.5 (4), over Norway (1:08:30.7/9) and Sweden (1:09:11.0/9). The U.S. team was lapped on the third leg, and eliminated.

On Sunday, 27-year-old Endre Stromsheim won the 15 km Mass Start, at the head of a Norwegian sweep in 38:22.6 (1 penalty), ahead of Sturla Holm Laegreid (38:35.0/2) and J.T. Boe (38:35.3/4). The U.S.’s Wright, already a two-time silver winner, took fourth in 38:54.0 (2). Fellow American Germain was 28th (41:57.4/4).

Sweden’s Elvira Oeberg won her third medal of this Worlds by taking the women’s 12.5 km Mass Start in 40:32.3 (2), ahead of France’s Oceane Michelon (40:41.7/3) and Maren Kirkeeide (NOR: 40:48.8/3). It’s Oeberg’s first Worlds gold, but her sixth career Worlds medal.

The French finished with 13 medals (6-2-5) to top the table, ahead of Norway (9: 4-3-2) and Germany (5: 1-1-3). Norwegian star Boe, 31, set to retire at the end of the season, finished with sensational totals of 43 Worlds medals, including 23 golds, 14 silvers and six bronzes. He won five medals (3-1-1) in Lenzerheide.

● Curling ● The USA Curling Mixed Doubles Championship in Lafayette, Colorado also served as the Olympic Trials for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

The round-robin winners were 2023 champs Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, with an 8-1 record, with Sarah Anderson and Andrew Stopera at 7-2. Those two teams faced off in the Page playoff system, with Thiesse and Dropkin winning, 10-3 and sending Anderson and Stopera to the semifinal.

There, Anderson and Stopera got past Madison Bear and Aidan Oldenburg, 7-5, and got a final shot at Thiesse and Dropkin in a best 2-of-3 series for the title and an Olympic berth. Thiesse and Dropkin took the first match, piling up a 5-2 lead after four ends, then tied at 5-5 after six. Thiesse and Dropkin got two in the seven, but were tied in the eight, and finally scored in an extra end to get an opening, 8-7 victory.

On Sunday, Thiesse and Dropkin got out to a 4-0 lead after three ends and added two more for a 6-1 lead after six ends and cruised in for a 6-3 win and their second national title together. Dropkin, however, now has won this championship four times, also with Sarah Anderson – this time the other finalist – in 2015 and 2018.

● Cycling ● The UCI World Tour’s seven-stage UAE Tour concluded on Sunday, with Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogacar, the race favorite, delivering with an emphatic victory.

Stages 1, 4, 5, and 6 were fairly flat and resulted in the expected mass sprint finishes, with Belgian Tim Merlier winning stages 5 and 6. The Individual Time Trial in stage 2 was a win for British rider Jonathan Tarling and then Pogacar won the uphill-finishing third stage and took the race lead.

He held it, and had a 21-second lead on Tarling into the 176 km stage 7, also with an uphill finish. And he was the winner in 3:44:04, 33 seconds up on Italy’s Giulio Ciccone, and took the overall title in 23:08:42, 1:14 up on Ciccone, as Tarling fell back on the final stage. Spain’s Pedro Bilbao was third overall, 1:19 back of the winner.

It was Pogacar’s third win in this race, also in 2021 and 2022.

● Figure Skating ● The ISU Four Continents Championships was held in Seoul (KOR), with the home favorite – and 2024 Worlds bronze winner – Chae-yeon Kim moving up from silver in 2024 to win the women’s Singles.

Kim took both the Short Program and Free Skate and scored 222.38 points for a clear win over Americans Bradie Tennell (204.38), Sarah Everhardt (200.03) and Alysia Liu (198.55) in 2-3-4.

For Tennell, this was her first international championship medal since a bronze at the 2020 Four Continents and Everhardt won her first-ever international medal.

Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, the 2022 World Juniors silver medalist, won the men’s Singles, scoring 285.10 and winning both the Short Program and Free Skate. Korea’s Junhwan Cha moved up from fourth to second in the Free Skate to score 265.02 for second, with American Jimmy Ma third (245.01). Americans Cam Pulkinen (217.25) and Tomoki Hiwatashi (214.79) finished 8-9.

Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won the Pairs title for the second time in three years, winning both the Short Program and Free Skate, and scoring 217.32. Canada went 2-3 with defending champs Deanna Stillato-Dudek and Maxine Deschamps (210.92) and Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud (198.40). Americans Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea (196.94) and Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov (192.07) placed fourth and fifth.

Defending champions Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (CAN) won the Ice Dance again, taking the Rhythm Dance and second in the Free Dance for a 218.46 total, barely edging World Champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S., who won the Free Dance and scored 217.93. It’s the eighth career Four Continents medal for Chock and Bates (3-3-2).

Canada’s Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha were third, scoring 201.04, ahead of Americans Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko (197.05) and Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik (188.55) went 4-5.

● Football ● The 10th edition of the SheBelieves Cup opened on Thursday evening in Houston, with eighth-ranked Japan shutting down Australia, 4-0, with Mina Tanaka scoring in the sixth and 32nd minutes. The U.S. shut out Colombia, 2-0, with goals by Catarina Macario (33rd) and Ally Sentnor (60th, her first international goal), with keeper Jane Campbell getting her sixth career shutout. The U.S. had 63% possession and a 10-7 edge on shots.

On Sunday in Glendale, Arizona, Japan outclassed Colombia, 4-1, with Momoko Tanikawa scoring in the first minute and Mina Tanaka making it 2-0 in the eighth. It was 2-1 at half and then Maika Hamano scored in the 57th for a 3-1 lead. Tanaka added a penalty shot in the 80th for the 4-1 final.

In the nightcap, the U.S. also struck quickly, with striker Lynn Biyendolo (nee Williams) also scoring on a fast-break, right-footed tap in 41 seconds for a 1-0 lead over Australia. That was the score at half, then U.S. sub Michelle Cooper got her first international goal in the 67th minute, slamming home a loose ball in the box off the foot of Sentnor, for a 2-0 lead.

The Aussies got back into the game in the 80th, as midfielder Hayley Raso sent a perfect cross from the right side to an unmarked sub striker Michelle Heyman for a right-footed strike that whizzed past U.S. keeper Mandy Haught to close to 2-1. But that was as close as it got, with the U.S. finishing with 67% of possession and a 14-7 edge on shots.

Both the U.S. and Japan are 2-0 and the tournament concludes on Wednesday (26th), with Australia and Colombia, and the U.S. and Japan for the title, in San Diego, California.

● Freestyle Skiing ● At the FIS World Cup in Stoneham (CAN), two-time World Cup Big Air winner Matej Svancer (AUT) got his first gold this season in Slopestyle, scoring 89.43 to 87.54 for New Zealand’s Luca Harrington, with Ben Barclay (NZL: 87.00) third.

Italy’s Flora Tabanelli, who has medaled in all five Big Air competitions this season, won the women’s Slopestyle at 80.41 – her first Slopestyle medal in 2024-25 – beating Ruyi Yang (CHN: 75.28) and American Rell Harwood (74.11), winning her second straight bronze.

Lots of action in Beidahu (CHN), with Moguls, Dual Moguls and Aerials, starting with a win for Japan’s 2017 World Champion, Ikuma Horishima, in the men’s Moguls, scoring 86.57 to get his second win of the season. Canadian star Mikael Kingsbury, the all-time Moguls World Cup wins leader was second with 85.91. American Nick Page was seventh (80.67).

In the men’s Dual Moguls, Finland’s Severi Vierela scored a stunning victory, out-racing Horishima in the final, 20-17; it’s the first Finnish World Cup win in Moguls since Sami Mustonen in 2007! Canada’s Julien Viel won the bronze over Page, 18-17.

The women’s Moguls was a celebration for 2022 Olympic silver medalist Jaelin Kauf of the U.S., winning 82.19-79.23 for France’s 2018 Olympic champ Perrine Laffont. Americans Olivia Giaccio (78.43) and Tess Johnson (76.50) went 3-4.

Kauf won again in the Dual Moguls, again defeating Laffont, who did not finish. Johnson won the bronze over fellow American Kylie Kariotis.

In Sunday’s Aerials, China’s Tianma Li got his first career World Cup gold, out-scoring Beijing 2022 Olympic champ Guangpu Qi, 130.56 to 119.00. Chris Lillis of the U.S. got his third bronze of the season, scoring 115.93 points.

China’s 2022 women’s Olympic champ Mengtao Xu got her second win of the season, leading a 1-2 with teammate Meiting Chen, scoring 114.19 and 109.04. Australia’s three-time World medalist Danielle Scott was third (89.18) ahead of Karenna Elliott of the U.S. (86.36).

● Gymnastics ● The first FIG Artistic World Cup of 2025 was in Cottbus (GER), with Armenia and Japan both getting two wins in the men’s events.

The brother combination of Artur and Vaghan Davtyan both won, with the younger Artur – a two-time World Vault medal winner – scoring with a 14.900 vault win and Vaghan winning on Rings at 14.133. Japan got wins from Kaito Sugimoto on the Parallel Bars over Ukraine’s Nazar Chepurnyi, 14.300 to 14.266, and Shohei Kawakami on the Horizontal Bar by 14.400 to 14.333 against Lithuania’s Robert Tvorogal.

Kazak Milad Karimi, the 2023 Worlds bronze winner, won the Floor Exercise over Japan’s Worlds silver medalist Kazuki Minami, 14.133 to 13.666. Yu-Jan Shiao (TPE) won on Pommel Horse at 14.433, beating Jordan’s 2023 Worlds bronzer Ahmad Abu Al-Soud (14.233).

China won three of the four women’s events, with Paris Olympic Beam runner-up Yaqin Zhou taking that event at 14.766, ahead of teammate Kexin Zhang (14.266). Zhang won on the Uneven Bars, scoring 13.990 ahead of Britain’s Charlotte Booth (13.300) and Yihan Zhang, a Paris Olympian, won the Floor Exercise at 13.433, ahead of Israel’s Lihie Raz (12.933).

In the vault, Slovenia’s Teja Belak (13.299) and Tjasa Kysselef (13.266) went 1-2, with the amazing Oksana Chusovitina (UZB) – now 49 – scoring 13.249 for third!

At the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup in Louisville, Kentucky, Ashlee Sullivan was the winner of the women’s senior-level All-Around, scoring 53.550, ahead of Jayla Hang (53.000) and Simone Rose (52.700). The Winter Cup serves as a qualifier to the USA Gymnastics nationals.

Event winners included Alessia Rosa on Vault (13.800), Alicia Zhou on the Uneven Bars (13.650), Tatum Drusch and Claire Pease on Beam (13.850) and Nola Matthews on Floor (13.300).

The men’s double All-Around started with Stanford’s Riley Loos winning on Friday with 80.400 points over 2023 Worlds All-Around bronze winner Fred Richard (79.900). Loos won on Vault and Richard led all scorers on Floor.

On Sunday, Loos won again, this time at 80.450, for a two-day total of 160.850. Richard was second at 79.100 and with a two-day total of 159.000. Nebraska’s Taylor Christopulos took third at 158.400.

The two-day event scoring showed Loos with wins on Rings (27.350), Vault (28.450) and Floor (27.700). Stanford’s Colt Walker won on the Parallel Bars (28.25) and Michigan’s Crew Bold took the Horizontal Bar (26.900). Brandon Dang of Illinois won on Pommel Horse (28.350).

At the FIG Trampoline World Cup in Baku (AZE), Belarusian Olympic men’s champ Ivan Litvinovich (competing as a “neutral”) was a convincing men’s winner, scoring 65.950, ahead of Japan’s Nishioka Ryusei (63.440).

Fellow Belarusian Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya, the Paris Olympic silver winner, took the women’s competition (56.070), well clear of Japan’s Paris sixth-placer Mori Hikaru (55.800). American Mytnik Katsiaryna was sixth (29.000).

In the men’s synchro, Japan’s Nishioka Ryusei and Miyano Hayato (51.540) won over Danil Mussabayev and Nikita Tumakov (KAZ: 50.950). The women’s synchro title went to Japan’s Tanaka Kiko and Sakurai Ena (48.800), over Maia Amano and Trinity van Natta of the U.S. (47.440).

● Luge ● The final FIL World Cup of the season was in Yanqing (CHN), with Austrian and German domination continuing on Saturday.

The women’s Singles winner was two-time World Champion Julia Taubitz in 1:58.926, edging Natalie Maag (SUI: 1:59.369) and Merle Frabel (GER: 1:59.403). American Ashley Farquharson was fifth in 1:59.660. For the season, Taubitz won her third straight World Cup title with 657 points, with Madeleine Egle (AUT: 629) second; Farquharson was seventh (400).

Austrian stars Selina Egle and Lara Kipp won the Doubles in 1:59.896 for their sixth win of the season, ahead of 2024 World Champions Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal (GER: 2:01.721. Americans Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby finished fourth in 2:02.061. Egle and Kipp won the seasonal title, 835-745 over Degenhart and Rosenthal with Forgan and Kirkby third (601).

In the men’s racing on Sunday, two-time World Champion Max Langenhan won his fourth race of the season, in 1:55.051, and wrapped up the seasonal title. Austria’s Jonas Muller (1:55.583) and David Gleirscher (1:55.633) went 2-3. Langenhan finished with 716 points to 613 for Gleischer in the seasonal table.

Three-time Olympic champs Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt (GER) won the men’s Doubles in 1:58.143, beating Martins Bots and Roberts Plume (LAT: 1:58.301) and fellow Germans Toni Eggert and Florian Mueller (1:58.908) in third. Wendl and Arlt took the seasonal title as well with 745 points to 641 for Bots and Plume. Americans Zachary Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander finished ninth (341).

● Rugby Sevens ● Argentina and New Zealand claimed wins in the fourth leg of the 2024-25 HSBC Sevens Series, this time in Vancouver (CAN).

Argentina, South Africa and Fiji won the men’s pools, and the South Africans won two close matches over Australia and Fiji to reach the final. Argentina also won two defense-first matches and got to the final and managed a 19-12 win for their second tournament win of the season.

Spain won the bronze, 22-7, over Fiji. Argentina leapt back into the seasonal lead, with 68 points to 64 for Spain and 62 each for Fiji and South Africa. The U.S. are in 11th place (9).

In women’s pool play, Brazil, New Zealand and Great Britain led the pools, with the Kiwis zipping by Canada (34-12) and Australia (29-10) to reach the final. Meanwhile, Fiji crushed Brazil by 46-0 and then Japan by 28-7 to march into the title match.

But it was all New Zealand, winning the final by 41-7, while Australia took the bronze, 26-12, over Japan. The standings show the Kiwis over Australia by 76-70 with two tournaments left, and France (52) and the U.S. (46) following.

● Ski Jumping ● The 12th stop on the FIS women’s World Cup tour was in Hinzenbach (AUT), jumping off the 90 m hill, and Slovenian teen star Nika Prevc winning for the fifth time in a row on Saturday. She scored 248.4 and won both jumps, with Selina Freitag (GER) second at 240.5 and Jacqueline Seifriedsberger (AUT: 231.1) third.

Sunday’s jumping saw Prevc and Freitag go 1-2 for the fourth straight World Cup, scoring 244.0 and 241.5 points as Prevc won the first round and Freitag won the second. Abigail Strate (CAN) took the bronze at 226.6. With five events left, Prevc has a 1,533-1,078 lead over German Katharina Schmid.

● Ski Mountaineering ● Test events for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games were held in Bormio (ITA), with World Championships gold medalists Emily Harrop (FRA) and Oriol Cardona Coll (ESP) winning the women’s and men’s Sprint.

Spain’s Cardona Coll and Ana Alonso Rodriguez won the Mixed Relay, ahead of Harrop and Thibault Anselmet.

● Snowboard ● The FIS World Cup season in Halfpipe finished in Calgary (CAN) with the fifth competition and a second straight win for Japan’s Ruka Hirano. He scored 93.00 to out-point countryman Yuto Totsuka, the 2021 World Champion (89.75), with American Alessandro Barbieri third (83.25). Hirano’s win gave him the seasonal title, 34-310 over Totsuka.

Japan’s Beijing bronzer, Sena Tomita made it a sweep with a win in the women’s event, scoring 90.75, ahead of two-time Worlds medalist Maddie Mastro of the U.S. (85.25) and Elizabeth Hosking (CAN: 79.25). Mastro won medals in three events and took the seasonal title at 310 points, with two-time Olympic champ Chloe Kim of the U.S. second at 250.

The fourth Slopestyle event of the season saw the U.S. go 1-2 with 16-year-old Oliver Martin, who won his first career World Cup medal (and first gold) at 80.60, beating 2018 Olympic champ Red Gerard of the U.S. (78.63). Norway’s two-time World Champion Marcus Kleveland was third in 75.65.

Japan’s 18-year-old Mari Fuaka won the women’s Slopestyle at 77.58, with Annika Morgan (GER: 76.30) second and 2023 World Champion Mia Brookes (GBR: 74.08) third.

● Speed Skating ● American star Jordan Stolz lost his last race, at the ISU World Cup in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but started a new streak at the ISU World Cup in Tomaszow Mazowiecki (POL).

He had won 14 races in a row this season before the second 500 m event in Milwaukee, and 18 in a row going back to last season (and 22 straight in her preferred 500-1,000-1,500 m races). But got going again in Poland, winning the first men’s 500 m and the 1,500 m on Friday and then the 1,000 m on Saturday. Fellow American Cooper Mcleod was fourth in the 1,000 m.

But on Sunday, he was in the last pair of the second men’s 500 m, but finished fifth overall, as Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Koshkin scored an upset win in 34.52 over Canada’s 2021 World Champion, Laurent Dubreuil (34.70) – second in both 500s – with Stolz fifth in 34.84. Said Stolz afterwards:

“The technique feels good, my strength isn’t even bad, but it’s just that I’m not recovering like I used to during competition, it’s probably the antibiotics or something.”

Norway’s Sander Eitrem took the 5,000 m in 6:16.62 over two-time Worlds runner-up Davide Ghiotto (ITA: 6:18.29). American Casey Dawson was fifth in 6:20.83. The Mass Start final was won by Seug-hoon Lee (KOR) over Bart Hoolwerf (NED), 7:48.05 to 7:48.511.

The U.S. trio of Conor McDermott-Mostowy, Mcleod and Zach Stoppelmoor won the Team Sprint in 1:19.27, ahead of South Korea (1:20.47).

Beijing 2022 Olympic women’s 500 m champ Erin Jackson of the U.S. was in good form, winning both 500 m races. She took Friday’s event in 38.08 over two-time Olympic 1,000 m champ Suzanne Schulting (NED: 38.17), and then won again over Schulting on Sunday, 37.81 to 37.92.

Two-time Mass Start World Champion Marijke Groenewoud (NED) won the women’s 1,500 m in 1:56.67, beating Olympic 1,000 m champ Miho Takagi (JPN: 1:57.50), but Takagi came back to win the 1,000 m in 1:14.80, with American Brittany Bowe fifth in 1:16.60.

Groenewoud also won the Mass Start in 8:20.34 over Italian Francesca Lollobrigida (8:20.48), with American Mia Manganello fourth (8:21.03). Norway’s Ragne Wiklund, the 2023 World Champion, took the 3,000 m in 4:03.70 over Merel Cronijn (NED: 4:04.59) and Lollobrigida (4:05.32). Poland won the Team Sprint, with the U.S. in sixth.

● Swimming ● Germany’s Tokyo Olympic 10 km champ Florian Wellbrock dominated the men’s World Aquatics Open Water World Cup opener in Soma Bay (EGY), taking the lead halfway through the race and winning in 2:01:33.6. France’s Logan Fontaine was second (2:01:44.1), just ahead of teammate and 2016 Rio Olympic bronzer Marc-Antoine Olivier (2:01:44.4).

The women’s race came down to two: Australia’s Paris Olympic silver medalist Moesha Johnson and bronzer winner Ginerva Taddeucci (ITA), with Johnson finishing ahead again, 2:06:34.6 to 2:06:37.6. Fellow Australian Chelsea Gubecka got third in 2:06:51.0.

Wellbrock anchored Germany to a clear win in the Mixed 4×1,500 m relay in 1:10:10.9, with Johnson and Gubecka swimming the first two legs for Australia, second in 1:10:41.1. Italy was third in 1:11:16.7.

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ATHLETICS: Hoey sensational with American Record 1:43.24 men’s 800 m to highlight USATF Indoor Nationals

By
Rich Perelman
-
A U.S. Indoor title and American Record for Josh Hoey! (Photo: USATF)

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≡ USATF INDOOR CHAMPS ≡

Men’s 800 m star Josh Hoey provided the highlight of the USA Track & Field Indoor National Championships in Staten Island, New York with a brilliant American Record performance, among world-leading performances in four events over the two days:

● Men/800 m: 1:43.24, Joey Hoey ~ American Record
● Men/60 m hurdles: 7.36 (=), Grant Holloway
● Men/Weight: 25.11 m (82-4 3/4), Daniel Haugh

● Women/60 m hurdles: 7.75 (=), Grace Stark in heats
● Women/60 m hurdles: 7.74, Masai Russell

Hoey, already the world leader and the American record holder at 1:43.90 this season, took the lead in the men’s 800 m at the break and led Paris Olympian Brandon Miller through 400 m and at the bell.

Those two were clear of the field into the final turn and Hoey ran away to the finish in another world lead and American Record in 1:43.24! Miller was a clear second in 1:44.26, then Wes Ferguson (1:44.92) and Isaiah Harris in fourth in 1:45.64.

Hoey’s time is the no. 2 performance of all time indoors; only Wilson Kipketer (KEN) and his 1997 record of 1:42.67 is faster! Miller moves to no. 9 all-time and no. 4 all-time U.S.

The middle distances also provided superb performances from Hobbs Kessler and Nikki Hiltz:

● Kessler, the 3,000 m winner on Saturday and the World Road Mile champ from 2023, took the lead in the men’s 1,500 m on the second lap and led at 800 m in 2:01.34. With two laps to go, Kessler led 2023 national indoor winner Sam Prakel and Aidan Ryan and broke everyone but Prakel with 300 to go. Prakel pressed with 100 m to go, but Kessler was not to be headed and won his double in 3:38.42. Prakel was closest at 3:39.14, then Luke Houser at 3:39.27.

Kessler, second in the 1,500 last year, got the 1.500-3,000 m U.S. indoor double; Prakel was the most recent to do it in 2023.

● After the Hiltz-Shelby Houlihan duel in the women’s 3,000 m on Saturday, would Sunday’s 1,500 m be a re-run? Hiltz had the lead with two laps to go and led into the bell with Paris Olympian Heather Maclean close and 2022 outdoor national champ Sinclaire Johnson chasing. Into the straight, Hiltz was not challenged and won easily in 4:05.76, ahead of Johnson (4:06.05) and Maclean (4:06.69). Houlihan was fourth in 4:06.82.

Hiltz won her second straight U.S. Indoor title, and the first 1500-3000 double since Houlihan did it in 2020.

And there was a lot more, of course:

Co-world leader Ronnie Baker was the obvious favorite in the men’s 60 m, but Penn State frosh Ajani Dwyer got out well and won the first heat in 6.54, with Baker at 6.57. Ray Wells Jr. won heat two in 6.58 and Coby Hilton won heat three in 6.64.

In the final, Baker was behind in mid-race and came hard to win in 6.52, just 0.02 behind his co-world lead. Wells Jr. was the leader in mid-race and Hilton came up at the line for second as both timed 6.58. Baker got his second national title, previously in 2017.

World leader Chris Bailey started in lane 6 in the 400 m, but was part of a traffic jam at the bell. But he moved hard on the backstraight and moved to the front and won by daylight in 45.21 for his first U.S. title. Jacory Patterson was strong around the final turn to get second in 45.60 and Elija Godwin, the early leader, got third in 46.09. Prep star Quincy Wilson came on hard on the final straight to get fifth in 46.13.

Paris Olympian Vernon Turner, second last year, moved up to the top of the podium in the men’s high jump as the only one to clear 2.25 m (7-4 1/2), the same height he cleared in 2024! Elijah Kosiba of Grand Valley State cleared 2.22 m (7-3 1/4) for second.

The men’s long jump was close until Will Williams, the 2023 winner, reached 8.16 m (26-9 1/4) in the fifth round and took his second U.S. indoor title. He’s now no. 8 on the 2025 world indoor list. Cameron Crump came up for second – in the sixth round – at 8.04 m (26-4 1/2), ahead of 2018 U.S. indoor champ Marquis Dendy (8.01 m/26-3 1/2).

Two-time NCAA champ Tripp Piperi left it late in the men’s shot put, moving from fourth to second in the fifth round at 21.28 m (69-7 1/2) and then won the event in the sixth round at 21.50 m (70-6 1/2). It’s his first national title. Roger Steen took the lead in the fourth round at 21.28 m (69-9 3/4) and finished second, ahead of 2022 Worlds bronzer Josh Awotunde (21.05 m/69-0 3/4).

The men’s heptathlon was dominated by Kyle Garland, the 2023 NCAA Indoor champ, who won the long jump, shot put and high jump, and finished with 6,139 points for his first U.S. Indoor title (in his first USATF Indoor nationals). Hakim McMorris finished strong with a second in the vault and in the 1,000 m to get second with 6,011. Garland moved to no. 5 on the world list for 2025 and McMorris is now no. 9.

There were only eight competitors who showed up for the women’s 60 m, so it went right to final. World leader Jacious Sears got off well, but Celera Barnes, third in the 2024 Indoor nationals, was right there and leaned better to win, with both in 7.11. Barnes won by 3/1000ths – 7.104 to 7.107 – and moves to equal-7th in the world for 2025. Mikiah Brisco got third in 7.18.

The women’s 400 m belonged to Paris Olympian – and defending champion – Alexis Holmes, who took the lead coming into the bell and ran away to win in 50.51, now no. 2 in the world for 2025. It’s also the no. 9 performance in U.S. indoor history. Rosie Effiong was a clear second in 51.43, ahead of 2016 champ Quanera Hayes ( 51.47).

Olympic Trials winner Nia Akins looked to be the favorite in the women’s 800 m, but it was former Texas All-American Valery Tobias who took control and had the lead at the bell. Akins moved up confidently and surged past on the run-in to win her second U.S. indoor title in 1:59.31. She’s now no. 10 all-time U.S. indoors. Tobias got a lifetime best – indoors or out – in 1:59.55. Sage Huerta-Klecker got a lifetime best of 2:00.13 in third. Akins and Tobias are now nos. 3 and 5 in 2025.

The ageless Vashti Cunningham – still just 27 – won her ninth consecutive USATF Indoor title and 15th national title at 1.94 m (6-4 1/4), beating Charity Hufnagel on misses at that height. Both missed 1.97 m (6-5 1/2). Jenna Rogers was third at 1.91 m (6-3 1/4).

Olympic bronze medalist Jasmine Moore was the headliner in the women triple jump, with just four competitors entered. Only three actually jumped and Moore took the lead in round two at 13.81 m (45-4 3/4), and improved to 13.90 m (45-7 1/4) in round three. That was enough to win, with Mylana Hearn second in 13.60 m (44-7 1/2). It’s Moore’s first national title in the event.

The women’s Weight was a first-to-last round win for Rachel Richeson, who grabbed the lead at 24.87 m (81-7 1/4) on her first try and improved in rounds 5 and 6 to reach 25.26 m (82-10 1/2) for her first national title. Erin Reese, the two-time defending champ, was second at 24.91 m (81-8 3/4) also in the sixth round. Richeson (nee Tanczos) remains at no. 7 on the all-time U.S. list.

The World Athletics Indoor Championships are next, in Nanjing (CHN) from 21-23 March.

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ALPINE SKIING: She did it! Shiffrin wins Sestriere Slalom for 100th career World Cup win, ties Stenmark for most medals!

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin (Photo: Reese Brown courtesy U.S. Ski & Snowboard)

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≡ SHIFFRIN WINS 100th! ≡

After returning from her November crash in just two months to winning a Team Combined gold medal at the FIS World Championships, Alpine star Mikaela Shiffrin had been advancing quickly but carefully.

At the World Cup races in Sestriere (ITA), she was cautious during the Friday and Saturday Giant Slaloms, finishing 25th and 33rd, in fact missing the cut for the final on Saturday for the first time in more than 14 years on the circuit.

All that led to Sunday’s Slalom, a discipline in which she is unsurpassed, with 63 wins of her total of 99 coming in.

Skiing fourth, Shiffrin looked like she has so many times before, ripping down the slope and timing 53.79 for the lead after the first run. But she was only 0.09 ahead of rising Croatian Zrinka Ljutic.

Waiting for everyone else to go on the second run, Shiffrin saw teammate Paula Moltzan, fourth after the first run, move into the lead with a quality second run and a 1:50.97 total. Austria’s Katharina Liensberger could not match that and totaled 1:51.09, meaning Moltzan was good for at least the bronze.

Ljutic also had some trouble on her second run, but taking the lead and finishing at 1:50.94 and bringing up Shiffrin with a chance for her 100th World Cup win.

No doubt, as she skied confidently and had the fourth-fastest second run and totaled 1:50.33 for an 0.61 win over Ljutic, with Moltzan third.

No. 100. And Shiffrin, still just 29, also climbed into a tie with Swedish star Ingemar Stenmark, who had 155 World Cup medals in his career from 1973-89. She’ll own that record, of course, quickly.

Said Shiffrin afterwards:

“It’s been hard to find the right momentum and the right flow and to work through the injury and to come back and compete with these women who are skiing so strong and so fast. I have wondered in the last weeks so many times whether it is the right thing to come back.

“But in the end, in order to keep moving forward, and to finish this recovery, I have to be in the start gate, and I have to experience these emotions when they’re good and when they’re bad, and that’s really important. Today was just an amazing day in the middle of some really tough months.

“Today a lot of things had to go right for me and actually wrong for some others. Camille [Rast/SUI, the Slalom world champion], on the first run, was just so fast [but crashed close to the finish]. A lot of things had to go right in my direction for this to happen but in the end, I did something right too.”

Some statistics to appreciate:

Shiffrin’s World Cup wins (100):
● 63 Slalom
● 22 Giant Slalom
● 5 Super-G
● 4 Downhill
● 1 Combined
● 3 City Events
● 2 Parallel Slalom

Shiffrin’s World Cup medals (155):
● 87 Slalom
● 43 Giant Slalom
● 10 Super-G
● 7 Downhill
● 1 Combined
● 5 City Events
● 2 Parallel Slalom

Shiffrin’s wins by season:
● 2013: 4
● 2014: 5
● 2015: 6
● 2016: 5
● 2017: 11
● 2018: 12
● 2019: 17
● 2020: 6
● 2021: 3
● 2022: 5
● 2023: 14
● 2024: 9
● 2025: 3 so far

Shiffrin has won as astonishing 36.0% of her World Cup starts – 100 in 278 – second only to Stenmark’s 86 wins in 231 starts, or 37.2%. Wow.

There are two more Giant Slalom and Slalom events left on the World Cup calendar, including a rare chance for Shiffrin to be saluted by American fans as the World Cup Final happens to be in Sun Valley, Idaho from 22-27 March.

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ANTI-DOPING: U.S.’s Tygart rips WADA’s dropped defamation suit as an “effort to suppress the truth” and scaring others, repeats audit call

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart, at the June 2024 House Energy and Commerce sub-committee hearing on doping in sport (Image: C-SPAN screen shot).

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≡ WADA vs. U.S. CONTINUES ≡

In a 5 February letter to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Executive Committee by President Witold Banka (POL) and Director General Olivier Niggli (SUI), published by Edmund Willison (GBR) in his Honest Sport newsletter, it was noted that WADA had dropped its defamation lawsuit – filed in Switzerland – against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and its chief executive, Travis Tygart.

The letter explained, in pertinent part:

“[W]e have made the decision to withdraw the lawsuit against USADA and Mr. Tygart. While we remain convinced that the lawsuit would be successful on its merits, we have determined that it is futile to argue with somebody who is unwilling to accept clear evidence, whose only goal is to damage WADA and the global anti-doping system, and who has no desire to find a resolution.”

In addition, Banka and Niggli stated that, as for the January 2021 Chinese swimming positives incident, “the world (except for Mr. Tygart) has accepted the findings of the Cottier Report and has shown a desire to move on.”

Tygart, of course, disagrees. Strongly.

In a late Thursday statement, Tygart expressed a far different view of the WADA action, which has not been disclosed other than by Willison. Per Tygart’s statement:

“The dismissal of the unauthorized and baseless lawsuit against USADA and the ethics complaint against the White House is complete vindication for us both. WADA’s actions were nothing more than retaliatory, wasteful, and abusive attempts to suppress the truth and the voice of those seeking answers to why WADA allowed China to blatantly disregard the rules for 23 elite swimmers who tested positive.

“Whether through the court process or this voluntary dismissal by WADA, it was only a matter of time before WADA’s misguided decisions were exposed. It’s time for those who value clean sport to step up and get WADA right, as athletes deserve a fair, robust global watchdog to protect their rights to fair competition.”

● Tygart also spoke to the basis of the WADA filing:

“This suit was an effort to suppress the truth and seemingly to scare others off from seeking answers about why WADA secretly allowed China special rules for their athletes who tested positive, which is what led the U.S. government, for the first time ever, to withhold its funding from WADA.

“Apparently afraid of the U.S. court system where they would have to answer questions under oath, WADA instead filed a claim in Switzerland, where the truthfulness of the statements is not a defense, and basically claimed we had no right to criticize them for failing to ensure justice for clean athletes.

“This is a voluntary, unilateral dismissal by WADA. USADA’s statements about WADA’s failures have always been truthful, and while they tried to get us to say publicly that they did the right thing in the Chinese TMZ cases, they absolutely did not. Justice was never served in these cases, and they still owe clean athletes answers. So, we did not agree to do anything in return for WADA dropping the suit.”

● While not naming a dollar figure, Tygart also noted the costs involved:

“It’s been a significant time and resource drain to defend against this unauthorized, baseless suit. USADA’s statements have always been truthful about WADA’s failed handling of the cases out of China, which is why USADA never feared WADA’s retaliatory lawsuit.

“And it is WADA’s failures in handling the Chinese swimmers’ cases that led to the U.S. government withholding its funding. This is the first time the U.S. has ever not paid its dues. The U.S. can’t let retaliatory actions by WADA leaders prevent us from speaking the truth and seeking answers as to why they allowed China special rules for their athletes who tested positive. We will also seek reimbursement for our costs.”

And Tygart made it clear that he will continue to insist that the World Anti-Doping Code be followed:

“[I]t seems like WADA is still determined to attempt to create a false narrative about how the world views its handling of the 23 Chinese TMZ cases rather than simply owning their failures and immediately conducting a truly independent investigation into the cases to ensure justice is served for the world’s clean athletes.

“We should all be concerned when an organization insists that it’s been vindicated by a self-commissioned investigation like the Cottier report but refuses to submit to a truly independent operations audit.

“Far from vindicating WADA, the Cottier report instead validated the world’s concerns and even raised new issues. Most importantly, the report confirmed that CHINADA failed to follow the rules and WADA failed to enforce them. And despite its limited remit, the report also revealed a shocking lack of involvement by the WADA Intelligence and Investigations team and scientific analysis that didn’t support WADA’s decisions or explanations.”

Observed: So, nothing has changed and the war of words continues, with no end in sight.

This is not a positive for anyone. The next steps in the drama may be these:

● 20 March: Election of the 10th President of the International Olympic Committee. The IOC provides essentially half of WADA’s funding and the view of the new President may be key to what happens next.

● 31 March: WADA announces the list of candidates approved to run for the WADA presidency, taking effect on 1 January 2026.

● 29 May: WADA elections by the WADA Foundation Board, meeting online.

Banka is expected to be elected to a final, three-year term from 2026-28, but this fight – in which Tygart and the USADA are not alone – needs to be resolved much sooner.

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ATHLETICS: Olympic hurdles champs Holloway and Russell take USATF indoor titles at 60 m, with two world-leading marks and a tie!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Unbeatable across 11 seasons: USATF Indoor hurdles champ Grant Holloway (Photo: Stephen Pond/Getty Images for World Athletics).

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≡ USATF INDOOR CHAMPS ≡

Two Paris Olympic hurdles champions lined up for titles at the USA Track & Field National Indoor Championships in Staten Island, New York, as men’s 110 m hurdles gold winner Grant Holloway and women’s 100 m hurdles winner Masai Russell headlined the indoor hurdles finals on Saturday:

● Defending champ Trey Cunningham scratched from the men’s 60 m hurdles, but Olympic champ Holloway won his 81st straight indoor hurdles race in heat two in 7.45. Cordell Tinch took heat one in 7.50 and USC senior Johnny Brackins moved to no. 4 in 2025 in winning heat three in a lifetime best of 7.44, to lead all qualifiers.

In the final, Brackins was in three and Holloway in five, and true to form, Holloway dominated, equaling his world-leading mark of 7.36 to win by daylight over 2024 runner-up Cameron Murray (7.41, no. 4 in 2025) and Brackins, who got a lifetime best of 7.43. Tinch was fourth in 7.48.

That’s 82 in a row for Holloway – including 40 finals over 11 seasons – who won this meet in 2022 and can go for his third World Indoor gold next month in China, already in 2022 and 2024. Here’s what domination looks like: Holloway now has 15 of the top 23 marks ever in this event!

● The women’s 60 m hurdles started off with Olympic champ Russell (7.81) and fifth-placer Grace Stark winning the heats, and Stark equaling the world lead of 7.75 and moving to equal-7th all-time U.S. 

It was tight in the final, but Russell got to the line first in a world-leading 7.74, now equal-13th all-time and equal-6th all-time U.S. Stark was just behind, at 7.76 and Christina Clemons at 7.81. Russell finished third at the 2024 U.S. Indoor, but has the title now.  

There was a lot more, of course, including a world-leader in the men’s weight.

Six were in the lead pack of the men’s 3,000 m at the 2,000 m point, with 2024 Olympic steepler Matthew Wilkinson leading at 5:10.72. Dylan Jacobs, the 2023 NCAA Indoor 5,000 m winner, took over with two laps to go, tracked by 2023 World Road mile champ Hobbs Kessler. Kessler led at the bell and he and Jacobs battled on the final lap before Kessler surged to the line and won in a meet record of 7:38.00, with Jacobs barely second in 7:38.02 and Sam Gilman coming up for third over Wilkinson, 7:38.64 to 7:40.26.

Six cleared 5.60 m (18-4 1/2) in the men’s pole vault, three cleared 5.70 m (18-8 1/4) and three passed after one or two misses. So at 5.75 m (18-10 3/4), all but Tokyo Olympic silver winner (and defending champion) Chris Nilsen and Paris Olympian Jacob Wooten were eliminated. At 5.80 m (19-1 1/4), Nilsen won as Wooten missed all three tries, but did not go higher, winning at a very modest 5.70.

The entire U.S. Olympic team from 2024 was in the men’s triple jump, with Russell Robinson leading after three rounds at 16.67 m (54-8 1/4), ahead of four-time U.S. Indoor winner Donald Scott (16.62 m/54-6 1/2). That was the situation until the sixth round, when James Carter – third last year in this meet – zoomed into the lead with a lifetime best of 16.88 m (55-4 3/4)! Scott fouled as did Robinson, and Carter had an upset, last-jump victory, moving to no. 8 on the 2025 world list.

Two-time U.S. Indoor champ Will Claye, now 33, finished fourth at 16.54 m (54-3 1/4).

Three-time U.S. Indoor winner Daniel Haugh, who set the Weight world record in this meet in 2024, took the lead in round two with a world-leading 25.11 m (82-4 3/4) and no one could catch him. Tanner Berg was the only one close, at 24.96 m (81-10 3.4) in round one.

Emanuel Corvera, the 2024 runner-up, took over with four laps to go and won the men’s 3,000 m walk in 11:57.89, ahead of Jordan Crawford (12:00.92) and Jason Cherng (12:19.50).

Shelby Houlihan, now back from her doping suspension, was a four-time champ in the women 3,000 m and took charge of the race quickly and led through 900 m, then at 1,500 m in 4:38.80, ahead of Annie Rodenfels and Paris 1,500 m Olympian Nikki Hiltz. At 2,000 m, Hiltz passed in 6:07.15, with Katelyn Tuohy closest.

With two laps left, Paris 5,000 m Olympian Whittni Morgan took over, then was passed by Houlihan and Hiltz coming to the bell, with Hiltz leading. Houlihan got in front into the last turn, but Hiltz had enough power to come home the winner in 8:48.28, with Houlihan at 8:48.43 and Morgan third in 8:48.56.

Tokyo Olympic champ Katie Moon won the women’s vault as the only one to clear 4.70 m (15-5), which she did on her first try, with Gabriela Leon and Emily Grove clearing 4.65 (15-3) to go 2-3. Moon cleared 4.80 m (15-9) on her second try and moved up to a world-leading 4.90 m (16-0 3/4), but missed all three tries.

It’s Moon’s third straight U.S. indoor title: 2023-24-25 and she will be looking for her first World Indoor gold. She won silver in 2022 and bronze in 2024.

Olympic bronze winner Jasmine Moore took control of the women’s long jump in round two, reaching 6.64 m (21-9 1/2), just ahead of Claire Bryant (6.62 m/21-8 3/4). But Bryant jumped ahead in round three at 6.72 m (22-0 3/4), with Moore closing up at 6.66 m (21-10 1/4) in round five. The final round saw Paris Olympian – and 2024 World Indoor silver winner – Monae Nichols rise up, taking the lead by a centimeter at 6.73 m (22-1) and moving to no. 9 on the 2025 world list. Neither Moore or Bryant could respond and Nichols got her first U.S. indoor title!

Four-time U.S. Indoor champ Chase Jackson went to the lead right away in the women’s shot final at 19.42 m (63-8 3/4), then extended to 19.65 m (64-5 3/4) in round three. Maggie Ewen, the 2022 U.S. Indoor champ, was a solid second at 18.86 m (61-10 1/2) in round three, and Tokyo Olympian Jessica Ramsey got up for third in the final round at 18.51 m (60-8 3/4).

Jackson’s fifth title gives her – like Moon – a chance for a World Indoor gold, after silver in 2022 and bronze in 2024.

Lauren Harris got a lifetime best of 13:23.83 to win the 3,000 m Walk, ahead of 10-time indoor champ Maria Michta-Coffey (13:33.28) and three-time winner Miranda Melville (13:36.67).

Timara Chapman, the 2024 NCAA heptathlon winner for Texas A&M, moved to no. 3 on the 2025 indoor world list in winning the pentathlon at 4,555 points, well ahead of Cheyenne Nesbitt (4,462) and Erin Marsh (4,423).

In the heats, Jacory Patterson set the pace in the men’s 400 m, winning heat one in 45.45, followed by world leader Chris Bailey at 45.15 in heat two. Prep star Quincy Wilson headlined heat three, and roared from behind on the straight to win in 46.41. Defending champ Brian Faust and two-time Olympic relay gold medalist Vernon Norwood were 1-2 in heat four, with Faust winning, 45.90 to 45.96, with both advancing to the final.

World men’s 800 m leader Josh Hoey won the first of the three men’s 800 m heats in 1:46.59, 2024 NCAA Division II indoor and outdoor winner Wes Ferguson won heat two in 1:45.34, and Paris Olympian Brandon Miller took heat three in 1:45.58.

In the women’s 400 m heats, Bailey Lear – fourth in this meet in 2024 – got an indoor lifetime best of 51.56 to win heat one, defending champ Alexis Holmes took heat two (52.14) and 2024 NCAA runner-up Rosey Effiong won heat three in 52.21.

In the women’s 800 m prelims, Valery Tobias (2:00.64), Sage Huerta-Klecker and Krissy Gear (2:00.56), Kaela Edwards (2:00.44) and 2024 Olympic Trials winner Nia Akins (2:01.36) were the heat winners. Seven-time winner Ajee Wilson was third in heat four (2:02.29) and did not advance.

The meet continues Sunday, with NBC televising the last two hours from 1-3 p.m. Eastern.

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LANE ONE: A month to go and still no way to handicap the IOC Presidential Election; it’s too close to call

By
Rich Perelman
-
The IOC Presidential candidates: (top) Coventry, Eliasch, Lappartient; (bottom) Al Hussein, Coe, Samaranch, Watanabe.

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≡ IOC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ≡

/Updated/In a month – 20th of March – the International Olympic Committee will elect its 10th President, at the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece. It’s the most important meeting of IOC members since Thomas Bach was elected in 2013, and completely changed the trajectory of the Olympic Movement.

The highly-successful London 2012 Olympic Games was then a memory, and there were already reports of the tens of billions being spent to upgrade the Russian resort city of Sochi for the Olympic Winter Games of 2014. Four potential European hosts for the 2022 Winter Games were pulling out over the costs of staging the Games, eventually leaving a choice between 2008 summer host Beijing and Almaty in Kazakhstan.

Bach transformed the IOC and the way Olympic Games are bid for and staged, eliminating the “winner takes all” bid format that produced devastated losing cities and countries, and insisting that no new venues be built for future Games, unless to meet a local, long-term need not associated with the Games.

But that approach also removed from the membership the too-often-abused perk of selecting Olympic host cities. Bach instituted a wide-ranging social-action program at the IOC, teaming with the United Nations and others to create programs which sometimes had nothing to do with sport. Under his leadership, the IOC spoke with one voice – his – and business was conducted almost solely by the IOC Executive Board.

Many members had little to do, and didn’t like it.

Now, all of this is on the table in a month, with seven candidates from six countries:

● Prince Feisal Al Hussein (JOR)
● Sebastian Coe (GBR)
● Kirsty Coventry (ZIM)
● Johan Eliasch (GBR)
● David Lappartient (FRA)
● Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP)
● Morinari Watanabe (JPN)

There is plenty of intrigue, opinions and posturing, and there is no obvious favorite, even with a month to go.

The voting procedure is convoluted as well, with the IOC members from any country which has a candidate in the running not allowed to vote. And the candidates cannot vote as long as they are still running. The elimination protocol:

“If no candidate obtains the absolute majority of votes in a round of voting, there will be other rounds of voting until a candidate obtains the absolute majority of the votes. The candidate obtaining the fewest votes in each of the rounds of voting will be eliminated and will not participate in the following round of voting.”

IOC President Bach, under the regulations, will not vote in any round except if there is a second tie between two final candidates, then he can vote “after consultation with the IOC Executive Board.”

So, if all 109 IOC members show up – and some will not, for health reasons if nothing else – the first round of voting will include a maximum of 92, removing the candidates (7), Bach (1) and other members from France (3), Great Britain (2), Japan (2) and Spain (2). 

That means a maximum of 47 votes will be needed to win on the first round, but with more and more in succeeding rounds as candidates are eliminated (and their countrymen/countrywomen are added back).

Why is this important?

Because in the recent decades of voting by IOC members, a promise by a member to vote for someone is often for the first round only. After that, they are usually on their own.

In conversations with IOC members, close associates and long-time observers, there are some themes which have emerged:

● Watanabe’s radical idea of a five-continent Olympic Games, with events going on 24 hours a day at five different locations, each hosting 10 sports is too crazy. His English skills are modest – important in today’s world – and his International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) was embarrassed by the women’s Floor Exercise bronze-medal judging quagmire between Romanian and U.S. athletes.

If there is no first-round winner, he is widely expected to be the first eliminated.

● There is no doubt whatsoever that Bach favors Zimbabwe’s two-time Olympic swimming champion Coventry, who since 2018 has been the national Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation. Coventry would be the first woman IOC President and the first from Africa, in line with Bach’s drive for gender and continental equity.

At 41, she is the youngest of the candidates by far, and has been a high-profile member and has been praised for outstanding work as the head of the IOC Athletes’ Commission from 2018-21.

Some 76 of the current 109 IOC members have been elected during Bach’s presidency, but he hardly has control of them all, especially those who have chafed under his firm control of the organization. But he has been helping Coventry, and is for her.

Her best chance to win is on the first ballot, and could see her support drop in successive rounds. But she is a real contender.

● By resume, Coe is the most qualified. Not only a two-time Olympic champion in the men’s 1,500 m, he has been a member of the British Parliament and in the leadership of the opposition, head of the British Olympic Association, founder and head of a sports marketing agency, chair of the London 2012 Olympic organizing committee, and now in his third and final term as the President of World Athletics. He really has done it all.

He earned the enmity of some members – especially other International Federation officers – for World Athletics’ unprecedented introduction of prize money for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, paying $50,000 to each winner (individual or relay), without prior consultation. He has apologized for the lack of prior notice or discussion, but remains forthright that athlete financial welfare is important.

Some see Coe as the favorite, given his extraordinary expertise in decades of service to the Olympic Movement. Moreover, he made a remarkable offer in his manifesto that he will stand for re-election after four years, not after the full term of eight. At 68, Coe is age-limited under the Olympic Charter (five of the seven are), but an election after four years, with the attending age-limit changes, would solve that.

If Coventry does not win on the first ballot, Coe could very well be the second-ballot choice.

● Samaranch, 65, is the long-serving IOC member among the candidates, having been elected in 2001. Son of the transformational IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch (ESP), who served from 1980-2001, he has been deeply involved in the IOC, serving on the Executive Board and as a Vice President for almost a decade and on Coordination Commissions for Turin (ITA: 2006), Sochi in 2014 and the Beijing Winter Games in 2022.

He is completely at home in the U.S., having earned his Masters in Business Administration from New York University, and from his financial management business, which has brought him to the U.S. many, many times.

Reports from the Candidate Presentations on 30 January praised Samaranch’s talk as warm and engaging and he is seen as capable, a good listener and someone who can appreciate all sides of an issue. If Coventry and Coe cannot win, the door is open for Samaranch as someone that all of the members can get along with. And he has made the most concrete promises to provide member support all year round.

● What about Al Hussein, Lappartient and Eliasch? All have good reasons to be considered, but also reasons not to be.

Eliasch, 63, who became a billionaire as the chief executive of the apparel and sporting goods giant Head, joined the IOC only last year and has said that competence is more important than any other attribute for the next IOC President. Perhaps true, but how many know him enough to trust him? That’s a hard one to overcome.

Al Hussein, 61, has been an IOC member since 2010 and is the younger brother of Jordan’s King Abdullah. He has worked tirelessly to use sport for peace in his region, especially with children. He attended Brown University in the U.S. and has been an IOC Executive Board member and on the Coordination Commission for the Tokyo 2020 Games. He is widely respected within the IOC, but his position within Jordan requires him to sometimes assist his brother in national affairs and those responsibilities – in a continuously troubled part of the world – could conflict with an IOC Presidency. Not fair, but reality.

Lappartient, 51, is a man of enormous energy, but stretched thin. He is the President of the important Union Cycliste Internationale, also head of the French National Olympic Committee, and – if that weren’t enough – the former Mayor of Sarzeau (2008-2021) and now the President of the Counsel for the Department of Morbihan, in the Brittany region, since 2021. Wow.

At the Candidate Presentations in January, he was the only one not to have accompanying slides, an invitation to listen more closely, but that could also be taken as being too pressed for time already.

How is this going to work out? Coventry and Coe are widely seen as favorites and the election of either would be no surprise.

In my discussions about this decision, it was repeatedly emphasized to me that this is not a clash of ideas or manifestos, but about people. In a world in which outsized personalities like Trump, Putin and Xi are prime movers, who can deal best with them?

Who has the smarts to deal with the fracturing media landscape, maintain existing broadcast and media revenue streams and create new ones?

Who can forge consensus within the Olympic Movement, but give members more opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way?

It comes down to trust, and to individual feelings about the candidates. In this area, Samaranch’s 24 years on the IOC, in positions of responsibility and a deep understanding of how all the pieces fit together, may be key. 

There’s no way to know now, not yet. But we will know in a month, in a decision that will reverberate for years.

Rich Perelman
Editor

(Update: An earlier version incorrectly showed U.S. members as unable to vote due to having a candidate; there is no American candidate, so all four U.S. members can vote.)

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PANORAMA: Could the NHL pull out of the 2026 Winter Games? Rubiales guilty of sexual assault and fined; China’s TCL joins as TOP sponsor

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Milan Cortina 2026 slogan: "IT's your vibe!" (Photo: Milan Cortina 2026)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The 2026 Winter Olympic organizers announced their Games motto on Thursday, primarily “IT’s Your Vibe.”

The capital “IT” is short for host country Italy, of course, and the slogan can be adopted, such as for “IT’s Talent – IT’s Your Vibe”; “IT’s Creativity – IT’s Your Vibe”; “IT’s Energy – IT’s Your Vibe.”

Adaptations for host cities or sports will include: “IT’s Milan – IT’s Your Vibe”, “IT’s Cortina – IT’s Your Vibe”, “IT’s figure skating – IT’s Your Vibe”, and more.

A Radio-Canada report last week noted that the agreement between the National Hockey League, the NHL Players Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for participation in the 2026 Milan Cortina Games has not been signed.

Further, the NHL’s determination to hold a World Cup of Hockey in 2028 and likely in Europe in February – devaluing the IIHF’s own World Championships that year in Paris and Lyon (FRA) from 12-28 May – led to proposals from the IIHF and the European hockey leagues, who

“asked that it be held in North America or outside of Europe if it is organized in February. And they have said they are open to this tournament being held in Europe, but on the condition that it is done in September or October.

“According to our information, the NHL rejected these proposals.”

This brings up the question of how willing the IIHF will be now to pay $8-10 million for insurance and support costs for NHL players so they can play in Milan next year. According to Radio-Canada’s Martin Leclerc, “there’s definitely a chance that it won’t happen.”

The NHL and NHLPA downplayed the concerns, with – at this point – only NHL players to be used and NHLPA head Marty Walsh adding:

“There is an agreement on paper, we just haven’t signed it yet. There is no obstacle, it’s just a matter of putting our signature after we finalize everything and dot the i’s.”

● World University Games ● A fact-and-figures review of the 2025 Winter World University Games in Turin (ITA) included some interesting numbers for students of multi-sport Games:

● 2,565 athletes and officials (1,503 athletes from 54 nations)
● 90 events in 11 sports at 6 venues
● 26,500 hotel room nights across the event
● 15,000 accreditees
● 2,099 volunteers
● 100,000 tickets sold

The Winter WUG drew 694,404 users to the Torino 2025 social-media channels and had 140 hours of live coverage on EuroSport.

The organizing committee raised €27,210 (~$28,571 U.S.) for the Matilde Lorenzi Foundation, honoring the memory of the young Italian skier who died in a training crash last October. Her father, Adolfo Lorenzi, said:

“This contribution will allow us to continue investing in research, training and the development of new solutions to reduce risks in skiing. It is a very valuable gesture that will help us to continue Matilde’s dream: to make skiing safer for everyone.”

● International Olympic Committee ● As already reported, the IOC announced its TOP sponsorship deal with Chinese electronics giant TCL for the 2025-32 period, essentially replacing long-time sponsor Panasonic, which did not renew past 2024.

TCL will be the IOC’s sponsor for the “Home Audiovisual Equipment and Home Appliances” categories, and will also become a sponsor of the International Paralympic Committee.

● Alpine Skiing ● Czech Downhill skier Tereza Nova was awakened from an induced coma after surgery to reduce brain swelling after a bad crash during a Downhill training run on 24 January in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER).

The Associated Press reported that Nova, 27, had brain swelling and also a fractured eye socket due to the crash. She will be moved back to the Czech Republic for further recovery. She was in the medically-induced coma for about four weeks.

● Athletics ● USA Track & Field announced a new management staff for the High Performance area that includes national teams:

“Michael Nussa has been named General Manager of High Performance, while Wallace Spearmon Jr. will serve as General Manager of International Teams, Athletes, and Coaching Services. … The co-GMs will report to Robert Chapman, who will serve as the Chief of High Performance Operations.”

Spearmon Jr., now 40, was a three-time 200 m World Championships medalist, winning silver in 2005 ad bronzes in 2007 and 2009. A two-time Olympian and three-time U.S. champion, he finished with a best of 19.65 in 2006, still no. 14 on the all-time list.

LetsRun.com reported that longtime Chief of Athlete Services and International Teams Aretha Thurmond was let go at the end of January, after almost 12 years with the federation.

Mabel Landry Staton, a 1952 U.S. Olympian in the women’s long jump, passed away at age 92 on Thursday. She had been suffering from cancer.

As Mabel Landry, she was second in the Helsinki qualifying round at 5.88 m (19-3 1/2), but managed 5.75 m (18-10 1/2) in the final and finished seventh. A DePaul University student before there was women’s athletic teams, she attended on an academic scholarship and won five national AAU titles in the long jump in 1949-50-52-53-54 and sprint titles at 60 yards indoors in 1953-54 and outdoors at 50 yards in 1953-54 as well.

● Biathlon ● France scored again at the IBU World Championships in Lenzerheide (SUI), winning the Single Mixed Relay with Julia Simon and Quentin Fillon Maillet in 35:25.1 (7 penalties), comfortably ahead of Norway (35:30.8/15) and Germany (35:33.4/4).

It’s the third gold of the event for Simon, including both relays and third medal for Fillon Mailet, after two individual-event bronzes. The U.S. pair of Deedra Irwin and Campbell Wright finished 16th in 37:07.5 (9). The Championships continue through Sunday.

● Bobsled & Skeleton ● USA Bobsled & Skeleton will have induction ceremonies for its Hall of Fame across the two weekends of the 2025 IBSF World Championships at Lake Placid, New York.

Skeleton will be celebrated on 8 March, honoring 2002 Olympic silver winner Lea Ann Parsley-Davenport, 2007 Worlds silver medalist Eric Bernotas and long-time U.S. national teams General Manager Lenny Kasten.

On 15 March, three teams will be recognized: the 1932 Saranac Lake Red Devils silver-medal 4-Man team led by Henry Homburger, the 1948 gold-winning 4-Man team led by Francis Tyler, and the 2002 Salt Lake City silver winners, Todd Hays, Garrett Hines and Bill Schuffenhauer, with Randy Jones – already a Hall of Famer – also present.

● Fencing ● At the USA Fencing Board meeting on 15 February, motions which responded to current political conditions were voted on, with the confirmation of the federation’s “commitment to welcoming athletes from all 23 North American [FIE] nations. Leadership specifically addressed recent Canadian concerns, underscoring our longstanding tradition of cooperation and inclusivity.”

Also, a motion “to dismantle the DEIB [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging] office in favor of alternate models was rejected, reaffirming USA Fencing’s ongoing commitment to its inclusivity programs and clarifying that federal executive orders cited do not apply to the organization.” This was defeated in a roll-call vote.

● Football ● Former Royal Spanish Football Federation head Luis Rubiales was found guilty of sexual assault against midfielder Jenni Hermoso in the infamous awards-ceremony kiss following Spain’s win at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia.

Rubiales was fined €10,800 (~$11,340 U.S.) – to be paid in daily installments across 18 months – and ordered not to communicate with Hermoso for a year and to remain at least 200 m away from Hermoso during that period. Rubiales was further ordered to pay €3,000 (~$3,150 U.S.) to Hermoso as “moral damages.”

He was acquitted on a charge of coercion, of trying to get Hermoso to say the kiss was consensual. Prosecutors were asking for 2 1/2 years in prison, and fines, for the two charges.

The three other defendants – former women’s team coach Jorge Vilda, men’s sports director Albert Luque, and marketing director Ruben Rivera – were all acquitted.

● Modern Pentathlon ● The Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne is maintaining its ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes. Russian national team coach Andrei Makushin said that his athletes will miss the first UIPM World Cup in Cairo (EGY) starting 24 February:

“The UIPM Executive Board met from January 30 to 31, and following the meeting it became clear that the international federation’s policy regarding Russian pentathletes has not changed. As before, our athletes training at CSKA and other departmental clubs are deprived of the opportunity to compete in tournaments under the auspices of UIPM. We continue to hope for a revision of the international federation’s policy regarding Russian athletes and allow our participation in subsequent stages of the World Cup.”

● Volleyball ● The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour is expanding its tournaments, especially its highest-profile Elite and Challenge events, with both men’s and women’s Elite tournaments to have 24 teams (up from 16) and Challenge tournaments with 32 (up from 24). This significantly increases the tournament team totals from 704 to 992.

Prize money for these tournaments will be increased from the current $5 million to almost $6 million; including the World Championships, total prizes will be $6.75 million.

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ANTI-DOPING: WADA says it dropped defamation suit vs. USADA, as the world “has shown a desire to move on” but U.S. intransigence continues

By
Rich Perelman
-
World Anti-Doping Agency Vice President Yang Yang (CHN, at left), President Witold Banka (POL, center) and Director General Olivier Niggli (SUI). (Photo: WADA).

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≡ WADA vs. U.S. CONTINUES ≡

Edmund Willison‘s Honest Sport newsletter, which focuses on doping issues, obtained a copy of a six-page document that includes a four-page letter from World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka (POL) and Director General Olivier Niggli (SUI) to the WADA Executive Committee, updating the situation relative to the continuing war of words with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency head Travis Tygart, and the U.S. government.

Dated 5 February, the letter explains that at the WADA Executive Committee meeting in Saudi Arabia in December:

● “We listened carefully to all the comments made by ExCo and Board members on this matter and the broader topic of the Chinese swimmer cases that had consumed the better part of 2024. We particularly noted that members expressed a desire, which we share, that we endeavor to resolve the situation with the U.S. and move forward for the good of the fight against doping in sport.”

● WADA engaged American attorney Richard Young, who has been deeply involved in anti-doping affairs for years – to mediate with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and chief executive Tygart, with whom WADA has had a running battle in interviews and Web posts. This failed.

● WADA then approached the Biden Administration over its refusal to pay its 2024 dues of $3.625 million by 31 December:

“We were willing to consider its one condition – withdrawal of the [defamation] lawsuit [against Tygart] – on the basis that the lawsuit’s purpose had largely been achieved through the court of public opinion. This is to say that the world (except for Mr. Tygart) has accepted the findings of the Cottier Report and has shown a desire to move on.

“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts – and our agreement in principle to withdraw the lawsuit – it became clear over the course of these weeks that the U.S. Government under the Biden administration in fact had a total of six demands that it was putting forward as non-negotiable conditions for payment that we simply could not agree to without breaching our rules, practicing poor governance and usurping the authority of the ExCo.”

● “Despite the range of challenges coming at us from different fronts in the U.S., we remain open and committed to working collaboratively and constructively with the newly elected Trump administration. In fact, on 27 January, we reached out to the Acting Director of the ONDCP to express this preference; to apprise him of the latest developments; and to ask, as a matter of urgency, whether he may be prepared to accept our attempts to reach a compromise …”

● “Regardless of how the relationship with the U.S. evolves, in the interest of shifting gears and focusing our efforts on strengthening the global anti-doping system that the community has worked hard to build together over 25 years, we have made the decision to withdraw the lawsuit against USADA and Mr. Tygart. While we remain convinced that the lawsuit would be successful on its merits, we have determined that it is futile to argue with somebody who is unwilling to accept clear evidence, whose only goal is to damage WADA and the global anti-doping system, and who has no desire to find a resolution.”

WADA is moving ahead with sanctions against the U.S. for not paying its 2024 dues by removing it from the Executive Committee and Foundation Board.

Observed: It is unlikely that Tygart and WADA’s other critics agree with this view, but it is a move which lowers – slightly – the current boiling atmosphere.

Like so many other issues in world sport today, the outcome of the International Olympic Committee’s election for president in March will have an impact on the continuing argument over WADA, the January 2021 Chinese swimming positives incident and critics who see the agency as ineffective and unwilling to enforce the World Anti-Doping Code equitably.

The IOC provides about 50% of WADA’s annual budget, with national governments paying the other half.

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ATHLETICS: Olympic hurdles champ Holloway takes 80-race indoor win streak to USATF Indoor Nationals this weekend

By
Rich Perelman
-
Olympic champ Grant Holloway: 80 straight wins in indoor hurdles races! (Photo: USATF)

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≡ USATF INDOOR NATIONALS ≡

Anyone who has watched NBC’s coverage of indoor meets featuring Paris Olympic 110 m hurdles champion Grant Holloway knows that he hasn’t been beaten in the 60 m hurdles more than 10 years.

But no one has said exactly how many meets that is … until now.

Holloway is one of the stars expected to compete at the USATF Indoor National Championships this weekend at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, New York and with some research, The Sports Examiner can offer some clarity on Holloway’s indoor brilliance.

His last loss in the indoor hurdles came at the 2014 New Balance Nationals at The Armory in New York, as a sophomore at Grassfield High School (Chesapeake, Virginia), finishing second on 16 March in 7.93. Isaiah Moore (Cummings HS, Burlington, North Carolina) won in 7.79. Holloway won nine of 11 races in his sophomore season, winning four of six meets.

Then he started his streak:

60 m hurdles (39 inches high school height):
● 2015: 3 wins (1 final) at Grassfield High School
● 2015: 2 wins (1 final) in the 55 m hurdles

● 2016: 4 wins (2 finals) at Grassfield High School, including one pentathlon
● 2016: 4 wins (2 finals) in the 55 m hurdles

60 m hurdles (42 inches open height):
● 2017: 10 wins (5 finals) at Florida ~ NCAA Indoor champ
● 2018: 10 wins (5 finals) at Florida ~ NCAA Indoor champ
● 2019: 8 wins (4 finals) at Florida ~ NCAA Indoor champ
● 2020: 3 wins (1 final)
● 2021: 10 wins (5 finals)
● 2022: 9 wins (5 finals) ~ USATF Indoor, World Indoor Champion
● 2023: 5 wins (3 finals)
● 2024: 8 wins (3 finals) ~ World Indoor Champion
● 2025: 4 wins (2 finals) to 13 February 2025

So, all together, Holloway’s streaks include:

● 74 wins (36 finals) in 11 seasons in 60 m hurdles (HS and Open)
● 67 wins (33 finals) in 9 seasons over 42-inch hurdles (Open)
● 7 wins (3 finals) in 2 high school seasons over 39-inch hurdles
● 6 wins (3 finals) in 2 high school seasons at 55 m hurdles
● 80 wins (39 finals) in 11 seasons over 55/60 m hurdles (HS/Open)

He set the current world 60mH record of 7.27 at the USATF Indoor Nationals at Albuquerque, New Mexico (altitude: 1,507 m) in 2024, and owns 13 of the top 16 performances in history, including the top four.

Still just 27, he told NBC’s Lewis Johnson at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, “I accomplished all my goals” and he’s now looking to see just how far he can take hurdling, to places where it’s never been.

He’s not the only star trying to shake things up. Shelby Houlihan, returned from a four-year doping suspension and still the American Record holder at 1,500 m in 3:54.99 from 2019, is back and looking for a 14th national title, in the 1,500 m and/or the 3,000 m. Her U.S. titles:

● 2017 (3): Indoor: mile-2-mile ~ Outdoor: 5,000 m
● 2018 (4): Indoor: 1,500-3,000 m ~ Outdoor: 1,500-5,000 m
● 2019 (4): Indoor: 2-mile ~ Outdoor: 1,500-5000 m ~ Cross Country
● 2020 (2): Indoor: 1,500-3,000 m

Defending champion Nikki Hiltz will be waiting in the 1,500 m.

The meet will select the U.S. team for the World Athletics Indoor Championships from 21-23 March in China. Coming in, out of 24 individual events, the U.S. has seven world leaders, of which five are entered:

Men:
● 60 m: 6.50 (tied), Ronnie Baker
● 400 m: 44.70, Chris Bailey
● 800 m: 1.43.90, Josh Hoey
● 60 m hurdles: 7.36, Holloway

Women:
● 60 m: 7.02, Jacious Sears

American World Leaders not entered include Grant Fisher (men’s 3,000 m) and Amanda Moll (women’s vault).

There are 11 returning champions from 2024: Brian Faust (400 m), Trey Cunningham (60 m hurdles), Chris Nilsen (vault), Daniel Haugh (weight) for the men, and Alexis Holmes (400 m), Hiltz (1,500 m), Miranda Melville (3,000 m walk), Vashti Cunningham (high jump), Katie Moon (vault), Chase Jackson (shot), Erin Reese (weight) for the women. Olympic women’s hurdles champ Masai Russell leads the women’s 60 m hurdles field.

There are some thin fields in this year’s meet, with less than 10 entries in the men’s 3,000 m walk, men’s high jump and weight and the women’s triple jump (just 4), shot put, weight and pentathlon.

Sunday’s session will be shown on NBC and Peacock on Sunday only at 1 p.m. Eastern.

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TRAVEL: U.S. industry group report says “current air travel system not built to handle surge of travelers” to ‘26 FIFA World Cup, ‘28 Olympics

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ INTEL REPORT ≡

A report released Wednesday from the U.S. Travel Association, a Washington, D.C.-based umbrella group representing the airline, hotel, tourism and related groups, warned that “our outdated air travel system will strain under the pressure” without immediate reforms.

This is a lobbying effort by the travel industry to get the attention of the Trump Administration by posing challenges for major events such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 2026 celebrations of the 250th anniversary of founding of the U.S., and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.

USTA President Geoff Freeman sounded the alarm for the travel industry:

“America is staring at a historic opportunity – the question is whether we will seize the moment or fall maddeningly short.

“The next several years will bring unprecedented travel demand that our systems are not prepared to handle. Washington has a small window to fix major travel pain points and unlock a $100 billion economic opportunity – but it will require a level of urgency that has been missing in recent years.”

The 88-page report, from the USTA’s Commission on Seamless and Secure Travel, has four main priorities:

● A Call for Government-Wide Leadership and Coordination
● Transforming Aviation Security
● Modernizing Airport Customs and Borders
● Strengthening Visitor Visa Policy

The introduction points to the economic benefits of travel:

“America is no longer the top destination for global travel. International visitation to the U.S. peaked in 2018 under President Trump but has failed to reach those levels since. The U.S. now ranks behind Spain and France in the global competition for visitors. China is on a path to catch or surpass us over the next decade. Our competitors are investing billions to leapfrog the U.S. and win a bigger share of the $11.1 trillion in economic benefits from the global travel market.

“It’s time for a new strategy — a strategy to secure America’s global travel leadership and establish the U.S. as the world’s top destination. Just regaining our lost market share, which declined from 12.8% to 9.1% since 2015, would generate 127 million additional visitors over the next decade, resulting in $478 billion in additional spending with U.S. businesses, 140,000 new American jobs and generate $55 billion in tax revenue.”

The primary asks are for:

● “[T]he Trump Administration should establish an interagency task force, chaired by a senior White House official, to bring sustained leadership and focus across the federal government to take advantage of global events coming our way over the next four years.”

● “Deliver on President Trump’s promise to efficiently and securely process visas for the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” with more consular staff for visa processing, a National Vetting Service, and increase the number of “visa waiver” countries.

● Create a world-leading airport screening process, with a sure-to-be-popular goal to:

“Deploy state-of-the-art screening technology that strengthens security AND reduces wait times by allowing all travelers to carry water bottles and larger liquids, leave all electronics in their bags and keep their shoes, jackets and belts on.”

● Create secure and safe borders for travelers, with more customs staff, trusted traveler waive-throughs and protection against immigration overstays.

One major event – just the 2026 FIFA World Cup – is mentioned in any detail, and only once in the report, under visitor visas processing:

“Large global events, conventions, meetings and tours taking place in the U.S. can spike demand for B-1 [business]/B-2 [leisure] visas or increase requests for expedited appointments and adjudication. The mega-decade of global events hosted in the U.S. will increase demand for B-1/B-2 visas and other NIV [non-immigrant visa] categories.

“For example, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is expected to attract more than six million visitors to the U.S. According to FIFA, eight of the top 15 countries that have traveled to attend previous World Cups are non-VWP [Visa Waiver Program] countries that will need visitor visas to attend in the U.S. The increases in applications for major global events are predictable if consular posts have the right information from partners and can appropriately respond with increased consular staffing or expanded hours of operation. But the State Department currently takes an ad hoc approach to adjusting NIV services for large global events hosted in the U.S.”

The 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles are never mentioned in any detail. The report states its recommendation on events thus:

“To prepare for major sports and global events hosted in the U.S., Congress should
enact legislation authorizing the State Department and [Dept. of Homeland Security] to extend B-1/B-2 visa validity for vetted, lawful visa holders.

“The State Department and DHS should be authorized to extend B-1/B-2 visa validity by up to two years for lawful visa holders who have never been refused a visa, have previously visited the U.S., left the country on time, have no immigration or criminal violations and no flags for national security reasons. This would reduce NIV interview backlogs and provide additional capacity to adjudicate first-time visitor visa applicants.”

There are dozens of recommendations on infrastructure, technical upgrades and policy changes, many requiring Congressional action, which will not simply sail through. At the core, the report insists:

“Only the White House can generate the urgency and focus needed to galvanize change across the federal government and build support in Congress for legislative action.”

The Trump Administration will certainly agree with that statement. But as far as major events are concerned, the nominated point of contact, Monica Crowley, has yet to be confirmed by the Senate. She was nominated “to serve as Ambassador, Assistant Secretary of State, and Chief of Protocol of the United States of America.”

The Trump transition team announcement noted, ”Monica will be the Administration Representative for major U.S. hosted events, including America’s 250th Birthday in 2026, the FIFA World Cup in 2026, and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.”

No confirmation hearing date for Crowley, who served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Affairs during the first Trump Administration, has yet been scheduled.

Observed: This is a well-written, sharply-documented lobbying tool which aims at upgrading travel to the U.S., an important economic activity.

It uses the 2026 FIFA World Cup and other events for some scare-mongering, mentioning a wholly-unsupported figure of six million coming to the U.S. for the 2026 World Cup. In 2022, the Qatari government was expecting to issue 1.7 million of its Hayya Card entry document for its hosting of the FIFA World Cup, for a 64-match tournament.

The U.S. will host 78 games out of 104 total matches in 2026, with the remaining 26 played in Canada and Mexico.

No specific discussion of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games is included at all, and the events are really window-dressing for emphasis on revamping visa entry procedures into the U.S., which are considered inefficient from countries not part of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program and need updating. But it’s one of many priorities out there.

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ALPINE SKIING: Shiffrin looks to return to World Cup in Italy, with two potential career milestones in focus!

By
Rich Perelman
-
Record-setter: American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin (courtesy U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association; copyright Reese Brown)

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≡ SHIFFRIN INTO HISTORY ≡

After her brutal crash on 30 November in Vermont and the surgery that followed, it was amazing to see Alpine skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin back in FIS World Cup action on 30 January and then taking a FIS Alpine World Championships gold in the Team Combined with U.S. teammate Breezy Johnson.

Shiffrin is expected be back to the World Cup circuit this weekend in Sestriere, Italy, with Giant Slaloms scheduled for Friday and Saturday and a Slalom on Sunday. She skipped the Worlds Giant Slalom, not ready to face that kind of course after her November crash, but finished a very creditable fifth in the Worlds Slalom.

Wherever she goes, the record book follows her and she has a shot at two milestones this weekend:

● Shiffrin has 99 World Cup wins, including 62 Slaloms – the most ever – and 22 Giant Slaloms, and is looking for no. 100. No one else has more than 86.

● Shiffrin is close to another record with a medal of any color in Sestriere. She has 154 total World Cup medals (99-27-28) and with another, she will tie Swede Ingemar Stenmark (1973-89) for the most in World Cup history at 155!

She shared some insights into her Worlds experience in a seven-part message on X on Tuesday:

● “It seems impossible to have made it this far, this quickly. But here we are…returning to competition essentially during World Championships after 10 weeks of injury. 9 weeks post-surgery, 8 weeks after…

● “…being laid up in bed with a JP [Jackson-Pratt] Drain sticking out of my side with a mostly useless oblique.

“Something I’ve learned about how expectations work in a situation like this is that no matter the story of how we got here, there is still always the anticipation of victory…

● “While it is a privilege to be in that position, this time I’m still recovering while we are racing. My team and I came to this World Champs with a ‘step by step’ mentality, rather than the ‘go for gold’ mentality. That’s a very unique position to be—unlike anything I’ve…

● “…experienced before. It’s pretty cool to still be experiencing new things, this far into my career.

“I’m moving forward from Saalbach 2025 with a few simple takeaways: just getting here, period, has been a massive success, borderline miraculous…

● “…Walking away with a Gold in Team Combined with Breezy is far beyond my wildest dreams for these weeks. My teammates are incredible (we knew this already)! Their performances, the medals earned, the grit and determination that each one of them has put into this season…

● “…and these Worlds has been inspirational. I’m so grateful to be part of this team.

“Thank you to all of the fans who came to cheer! Thank you to Saalbach, all of the organizers, and FIS for pulling together an incredible event. Thank you to all of the athletes for incredible…

● “…competition…that has been wonderful to take part in and to watch! Thank you to my whole support system for your work and greatness, without which I could not achieve anything great at all. #MovingRightAlong”

Shiffrin has experienced success in Sestriere, winning the Slalom there in 2016, a Slalom silver in 2022 and a Giant Slalom bronze in 2020. One more and it’s another entry in the record books.

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PANORAMA: French Alps 2030 wants “budgetary sobriety”; USA-CAN hockey tickets asking up to $14,306! Sinner case “a million miles” from doping

By
Rich Perelman
-
Ha! Coach Daniel Moore suggests 400 m star Vernon Norwood (a Challenger!) as the logo style for Grand Slam Track! (Not happening, but fun.)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● A news conference held Tuesday at the inauguration of the organizing committee for the 2030 Winter Games included a clear characterization of what it hoped for in five years.

Renaud Muselier, President of the Provence-Alpes-Cate d’Azur region – one of the two regions involved in the Games, proclaimed:

“Yes, we won’t be able to ski tomorrow like we skied yesterday. Yes, climate change is a reality with an impact on the mountains. But despite the grumblers and the grumpy ones, practicing the mountains and winter sports differently does not mean no longer practicing them. Our candidacy is one of optimism and realism. We are going to present to the world the greenest Games in history, the most exemplary in environmental terms. Games with snow, chalets and athletes, a bit like Lillehammer, the anti-Sochi, the anti-Beijing.”

Former Albertville 1992 co-President and former Prime Minister Michel Barnier crystalized the goal of staging “impeccable Games in a context of budgetary sobriety.”

New chief executive Edgar Grospiron now has to assemble a start-up team and focus on finalizing the competition site selection with the International Olympic Committee and the relevant federations, and to begin the sponsorship program, first with discussions of Paris 2024 sponsors, supporters and suppliers.

● International Olympic Committee ● The IOC announced its 25 “Young Leaders” from 2025-28, sorting through an enormous 5,270 applications from 169 countries and territories. The core of the program is to

“develop innovative projects aligned with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through this programme, the IOC Young Leaders will receive a bespoke four-year capacity-building programme that includes expert guidance and coaching, access to an extensive sport and sport-for-development network, and seed funding of USD 10,000, which will help them turn their ideas into impactful and sustainable initiatives.”

The program was launched in 2016 and has enrolled 145 individuals from 77 nations and territories. For 2025-28, one American was selected, former Kennesaw State sprinter Kyndall Hudson, a 4×400 m relay champion in the Atlantic Sun Conference. She uses her communications and outreach skills to create “campaigns that promote wellness, mental resilience and sports participation, empowering individuals and fostering community growth.”

● World Anti-Doping Agency ● The impact of intelligence and investigations (I&I) in anti-doping was shown again in the arrest by Serbian authorities of 10 members of an organized-crime group and “seized 3,000kg of doping substances worth more than EUR 3 million” and “confiscated EUR 100,000 in cash, cryptocurrency worth approximately EUR 500,000, numerous properties, bank accounts, seven websites used for online sales of illegal substances, safes and a number of luxury items, such as vehicles and watches.”

All of this was keyed to work by the Anti-Doping Agency of Serbia, in which two investigators worked with the country’s Interior Ministry to identify this group, importing and distributing doping materials throughout the country.

Training for the Serbian investigators was part of a WADA I&I program in Europe, creating capabilities in nearly 50 countries so far.

● Athletics ● Two-time Olympic men’s 400 m gold medalist Vernon Norwood of the U.S. has been added as a Challenger for the Kingston opener of the Grand Slam Track circuit.

Fourth at the Olympic Trials in 2024, he ran a lifetime best of 44.10 in 2024, won a relay gold in Paris and a Mixed 4×400 m relay silver. He’s so popular and well-respected that Fluid Athletics coach Daniel Moore suggested Norwood’s running profile as a Jerry West/NBA-style logo for Grand Slam Track (shown above)!

Norwood will face Paris Olympic champ Quincy Hall (USA), silver winner Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR), bronzer Muzala Samukonga (ZAM) and fourth-placer Jereem Richards (TTO) in the 200/400 m “Long Sprints” category.

● Biathlon ● More French magic, as Eric Perrot, 23, already the bronze winner in the men’s Pursuit, won the men’s 20 km Individual race at the IBU World Championships in Lenzerheide (SUI).

It’s his third career Worlds gold, but first in an individual event and he routed the field, winning in 47:58.1 (1 penalty) over Tommaso Giacomel (ITA: 48:50.5/1) and French teammate Quentin Fillon Maillet (49:57.6/3), who also won the Sprint bronze. Giacomel, 24, also won his first individual-event Worlds medal.

American Campbell Wright, silver medalist in the Sprint and Pursuit, was 23rd in 52:44.1 (4), just ahead of teammates Paul Schommer (24th: 52:48.8/3) and Jake Brown (25th: 52:52.8/3).

The French now have four wins in the seven events held so far, with relays and the Mass Start events remaining through Sunday.

● Ice Hockey ● The highly-anticipated U.S.-Canada rematch for the championship of the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off on Thursday in Boston is drawing heavy attention in the sports world, including soaring second-market ticket prices.

A check of mid-day pricing on Wednesday showed tickets on one leading resale site going for $790 up to $14,306, and on another for $852 up to $7,111. The listed capacity of TD Garden for hockey is 17,850.

Oddsmakers have the game as even. The U.S. won, 3-1, in the round-robin game in Montreal last week.

● Tennis ● The World Anti Doping Agency’s General Counsel, Ross Wenzel (GBR) told Sky UK that Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner’s case was carefully scrutinized to determine if there was a micro-dosing regimen that had been carried out over time:

“WADA went back and looked at every single one of Mr Sinner’s samples for the 12 months before the two positives in March of last year to see whether there was any even indication, albeit not meeting the identification criteria, but any suspicious indication of this substance in any of those samples.

“And the answer from all of the labs, and this is a large number of samples, was that there was not. So I think whatever people say and think about this case, it is not a doping case or a cheating case.”

Sinner tested positive twice for clostebol and was traced to a spray used to heal a cut that had the substance in it. WADA reached an agreement with Sinner on a three-month suspension that will end in early May.

Wenzel confirmed to the BBC: “This was a case that was a million miles away from doping. The scientific feedback that we received was that this could not be a case of intentional doping, including micro-dosing.”

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SWIMMING: USA Swimming hires former Michigan swimmer and Delaware athletic director Chrissi Rawak as chief executive

By
Rich Perelman
-
New USA Swimming chief executive Chrissi Rawak (Photos: USA Swimming).

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≡ RAWAK TAKES OVER ≡

USA Swimming hired a former swimmer and a rising collegiate sports executive with more than 30 years experience to be the federation’s new President and Chief Executive Officer in the run-up to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, announcing Chrissi Rawak on Wednesday.

A swimmer at the University of Michigan, she won four varsity letters from 1988-92 before becoming an assistant coach for the Wolverines. After five years, she left for Northwestern, then returned in 2004 and became a highly-successful fund-raiser, rising to Senior Associate Athletic Director for Development in 2011, and Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director in 2015.

She was hired in 2016 as the Director of Athletics and Recreation Services at the University of Delaware (NCAA Division I), and supervised 21 sports in 2023; Delaware had an athletics budget of $37.5 million for 2025.

Said Rawak in the announcement:

“I can’t wait to collaborate with our coaches, athletes, staff, alumni, volunteers, sponsors, and fans to strengthen the USA’s position as the world’s top swimming nation. We will focus on growing our sport across the country, continuing to prioritize athlete safety and education, and preparing for a historic performance at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.”

USA Swimming announced the departure of chief executive Tim Hinchey on 29 August 2024, ending a seven-year term heading the organization. Chief Operating Officer Shana Ferguson has served as the interim chief executive until the search effort for a new federation head was completed.

The search effort was led by NU Advisory Partners, working in coordination with USA Swimming Board of Directors task force led by Katy Arris Wilson and Sabir Muhammad.

Rawak’s work at Delaware was with an athletic department that parallels USA Swimming in total budget. Although the budget is projected at $37.5 million for 2025, the Fightin’ Blue Hens had a budget of $45.0 million for 2022-23; USA Swimming had 2023 revenue of $45.2 million in 2023 and $44.4 million in 2024.

Hinchey had lost the confidence of an important constituent group – swimming coaches – with post-Olympic letters expressing concerns from the American Swimming Coaches Association and the USA Swimming Coaches Advisory Council. The latter expressed dissatisfaction, stating “Membership and retention rates continue to decline, and an increasing number of swimmers are leaving USA Swimming for AAU” and decrying a “General distrust toward USA Swimming leadership.”

The ASCA letter was blunt:

“The American Swimming Coaches Association is deeply concerned with current USA Swimming membership trends, our perceived weaker performance on the world stage, and significant coach feedback expressing dissatisfaction with our national governing body. We see the next four years being some of the most important in our sports history domestically.

“We are calling for a well-designed and transparent quad plan, from the grassroots to national team levels, that allows our sport to capitalize on the next four years, culminating with a home Olympics.”

In selecting Rawak, USA Swimming clearly heard the complaints, and brought in a swimmer, who also happens to have deep experience in fund-raising and sports administration. A new National Team Director must also be hired, with the expectation that a current or former coach will be in that position.

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PANORAMA: French Alps 2030 organizing committee named; Kyrie Irving wants to play for Australia in 2028; Meta reverses on U.S. shooter social posts

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Olympic Winter Games 2030: French Alps ● With just five years to go before the opening of the 2030 Winter Games, the organizing committee was formally announced in Lyon (FRA), with 1992 Albertville Olympic Moguls champion Edgar Grospiron as President.

He has a considerable challenge, pulling together existing and temporary sites and working with two regions – Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes (AURA) and Provence Alpes-Cote d’Azur (PACA) – which both have venues involved in the Games.

It is expected that multiple staff members from the successful Paris 2024 organizing committee will move south to help get the 2030 Winter Games off to a fast start. Venues have been identified for all but speed skating, and one major facility – a new hockey arena in Nice – needs to be built.

● Olympic Games 2032: Brisbane ● The Queensland government said that the 100-day review of the Olympic stadiums situation by the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority will be delivered on 8 March, reviewed and publicly announced on 25 March.

The original plan was to revamp the famed Brisbane Cricket Ground (The Gabba) for A$2.7 billion, but a review commissioned by the prior Queensland Premier, Steven Miles, recommended a new, A$3.4 billion stadium in Victoria Park! He preferred to use existing Lang Park for ceremonies and improve the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre for track & field, to save money. (A$1 = $0.64 U.S.)

The new Premier, David Crisafulli said before last year’s elections that he was not in favor of new construction, but now wants to see what his review committee recommends.

● Athletics ● Ukraine’s Olympic champ Yaroslava Mahuchikh won the women’s high jump at the 31st Banskobystrická latka in Bansko Bystricka (SVK) with a world-leading clearance of 2.01 m (6-7). She cleared on the first attempt to win over Australia’s 2022 World Champion, Eleanor Patterson (1.99 m/6-6 1/4).

Korean Sang-hyeok Woo, the 2022 World Indoor Champion, won the men’s high jump at 2.28 m (7-5 3/4).

Tickets are on sale for the USA Track & Field National Championships in Eugene Oregon from 31 July -3 August, with only all-session packages available to start with:

● $99.00 for General Admission (four sessions)
● $170.00 for finish side §§126-224-225 (four sessions)
● $230.00 for finish side §§119-123-124-125-220-223 (four sessions)
● $305.00 for finish side §§221-222 (four sessions)

Single-session tickets will be sold later. It’s pretty attractive pricing as most of the stadium is priced at $99 for four days, but it is also true that much of the backstraight is in the sun, as the roof does not make it all the way out to the lower seats. Sun screen is not included.

● Basketball ● Star guard Kyrie Irving won an Olympic gold as a member of the U.S. squad at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, but was born in Australia and is looking into playing for the Aussies in Los Angeles in 2028. He told reporters at the NBA All-Star Game:

“We’re in the process of that right now. Just trying to figure out what’s going to be the best route for me to be eligible. There’s a lot of paperwork in between that.

“Obviously, Team USA still has a decision to make. But for me, I’m just trying to do what’s best. Honestly, if I can be an Aussie at one point in my career and play for the Australian team, that would be great.“

Having played for the U.S., he would have to be released by USA Basketball, and accepted by Basketball Australia, with the transfer approved by FIBA. Certainly possible; he’ll be 36 at the time of the 2028 Olympic Games.

● Biathlon ● France’s dominant women’s team racked up another win and two medals in the 15 km Individual race at the IBU World Championships in Lenzerheide (SUI), with Julia Simon powering away to a 41:27.7 (1 penalty) to 42:05.5 (0) win over Swede Ella Halvarsson.

French teammate Lou Jeanmonnot was third in 42:06.9 (1); Deedra Irwin was the top American in 29th (45:19.9/2).

Simon, 28, won her eighth career Worlds gold, and second of this event, also in the Mixed Relay. She moved up from third in this race last year. The French women have won four of the 12 medals decided so far and lead all nations with seven total medals.

The men’s 20 km Individual race is on Wednesday, then relays on Thursday and Saturday and the Mass Start races on Sunday.

● Cycling ● British star Geraint Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour de France, 2014 Commonwealth Games road race and a two-time track cycling Olympic gold medalist in the Team Pursuit in 2008 and 2012, announced that he will retire at the end of this season.

Now 38, Thomas said in a BBC interview:

“Since I was a kid I dreamt of riding the Tour and being part of the Olympics and winning was obviously a dream as well, but to achieve that was just nuts.

“I think now the decision is official, you do start to reflect because when you’re in it, it’s just one thing after the next, year after year, so you don’t really appreciate it. I guess at the time you enjoy it but I don’t think you sit back and reflect and think, so there will be a bit of that this year.”

● Football ● U.S. Soccer announced a five-year agreement with the Westwood One network for English-language audio coverage of “all U.S. Soccer Federation-hosted matches” through 2030. This does not include the FIFA World Cup, or CONCACAF championship matches.

● Ice Hockey ● The U.S. had no need to win its final group-stage game in the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off against Sweden in Boston, and lost, 2-1, with all the scoring in the first period.

Chris Kreider got the U.S. off to a 1-0 lead just 35 seconds into the game, but  keeper Samuel Ersson stopped the next 32 U.S. shots over the remaining 59 minutes. Sweden got even at 13:39 on a Gustav Nyquist score and then Jesper Bratt scored what turned out to be the game winner at 19:04.

The U.S. and Canada both finished 2-1 and advanced to the championship game on Thursday in Boston, at 8 p.m., on ESPN. Sweden and Finland were both 1-2, with Sweden getting five points off two overtime losses.

● Shooting ● USA Shooting announced Tuesday a breakthrough against online restrictions imposed on American shooters, for content featuring their Olympic equipment:

“[A] bipartisan congressional coalition has successfully intervened with Meta Platforms to address systematic restrictions placed on USA Shooting athletes’ social media presence. This breakthrough ensures our nation’s champions can freely share their athletic achievements and connect with supporters across Instagram and Facebook.

“Led by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC), and Representative Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), the congressional effort challenged Meta’s content moderation practices that had disproportionately affected Olympic and Paralympic shooting athletes. Through direct engagement with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, these legislators defended athletes’ rights to showcase their legitimate sporting activities without digital impediment.

“‘I thank Meta for doing the right thing and reversing course,’ said Representative Richard Hudson. As a strong defender of our 2nd Amendment, I stand with our incredible Olympic and Paralympic USA Shooting athletes and am glad to see their Constitutionally-protected freedoms being upheld.’”

● Taekwondo ● At the U.S. Open Championships in Reno, Nevada, Olympic men’s team stars C.J. Nickolas (80 kg) and Jonathan Healy (+87 kg) both won. Nickolas defeated Chile’s Joaquin Churchill in the final, two rounds to none (2-0), and Healy won over Mexico’s 2022 World Champion Carlos Sansores, who withdrew. The other American winner was Michael Rodriguez at 87 kg, winning over Oscar Navarro (MEX) by 2-0.

U.S. Paris Olympian Faith Dillon made it to the final of the women’s 57 kg class, but lost to Canada’s Skylar Park, two rounds to one. The other American women’s winners were Melina Daniel (53 kg) and Naomi Alade (+73 kg).

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ATHLETICS: Three-time U.S. triple jump Olympian Keturah Orji retires; writes “My Loves for the Sport Disappeared”

By
Rich Perelman
-
Keturah Orji during the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony on the Seine River (Photo: Keturah Orji on X).

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≡ “WHY I RETIRED AT 28″ ≡

The American record holder in the women’s triple jump, Keturah Orji, is only 28. But she’s retired and explained why in a poignant and informative blog post on her Web site on Monday.

In a lengthy review of her decision, she introduced it noting:

“[B]before I dive into all my reasons, do know that prayer played a huge role in helping me make my final decision about retirement. This blog focuses on the other factors that influenced the decision.”

She then cited six specific aspects that contributed:

● 1. “Underperforming”
● 2. “Distance From My Husband”
● 3. “My Loves for the Sport Disappeared”
● 4. “Body Pains”
● 5. “Acceptance of Untapped Potential”
● 6. “Undervalued”

Orji was a prodigy at the University of Georgia, winning NCAA indoor titles in 2016-17-18 and outdoor titles in 2015-16-17-18 and the long jump title in 2018 as well; that’s eight in all.

She won 10 U.S. national titles, indoors in 2019-22-23-24 and outdoors in 2016-17-18-19-21-22, making the U.S. Olympic team in 2016-21-24 and finishing fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, while still a collegian. She made three World Championship and four World Indoor Championship teams and won a Pan American Games silver in the long jump in 2019, her only major senior-level international medal. She set the American Record in the TJ three times: twice in 2016 and again in 2021.

Now she’s done. Most of all, she wrote, was because of declining results:

“This is the biggest reason. I’m a numbers person, and I believe numbers don’t lie. …

“The trend spoke for itself – there was a steep drop after 2022. What frustrated me the most was people telling me how I should feel about my performances. While I appreciated their intentions, no one knows my marks better than I do. I knew what I was capable of and being asked to feel content with not improving didn’t sit right with me.”

She continued, explaining how the decline in performance – her best, the American Record of 14.91 m (48-11), came in 2021 – made other issues stand out even more:

● “Since 2020, I’ve moved from Georgia to Florida, to California, back to Georgia, and then to Maryland, all in pursuit of finding a coach to help me accomplish my goals. For context, my husband and I bought a house together in 2020, but I spent more time away than home. IF and only IF I were seeing improvement, I might have continued, but sacrificing time with my husband while underperforming became a non-option.”

● “I always found it funny when I was at competitions and coaches would tell me ‘just go out there and have ‘fun’‘ because in all honesty triple jump/long jump was never something I would describe as fun, in the traditional sense.

“Winning was fun. Training with teammates was fun. Traveling and seeing friends at competitions was fun. But when those things faded – no teammates, no close friends at meets, fewer wins – the sport lost its joy. What I actually enjoyed were the opportunities it gave me to challenge myself, progress, and accomplish great things alongside other people. There is a quote I love: ‘Q: What’s more important: the journey or the destination? A: The company!’ By the end of my career, I often found myself asking, ‘Why am I here?’”

● She also noted the tremendous physical impact of triple jumping and the injuries, adding “I think y’all are seeing my consistent point now… If I were improving, I might have endured the pain, but with no significant progress, it didn’t make sense to keep pushing my body past its limits.”

● “I didn’t start triple jumping for recognition or money, but I am very aware that when you receive those, it helps cushion the setbacks and disappointments. Despite rewriting the history books in American women’s triple jump, the lack of appreciation from the sports world in general for both the event and my accomplishments was noticeable. Retirement is a much harder choice when you’re well-paid and feeling valued.”

● “At this time, I have complete clarity and confidence in my decision to jump off this hamster wheel and start chasing my potential elsewhere.”

She had already considered retirement in 2022, but stuck it out through 2024, reaching 14.50 m (47-7) indoors and ranking 12th on the combined world indoor-outdoor list. But it wasn’t among her top-10 performances. She wrote:

“I’m confident that most people, if they had been living in my body, would have made the same decision to retire. I felt terrible – physically, mentally, and emotionally. It was glaringly clear that it was time to move on from jumping.”

She reflected that it felt right to stop:

“The irony of how I feel about my career is that I am so proud of achieving far more than I ever imagined for myself, YET I am disappointed that I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted and truly believed I was capable of. Both can be true. When I started track, I had no idea I could be this good. But as I improved, I began to see my potential and set bigger goals for myself.

“Everyone starts their journey in sports for different reasons, and everyone retires for different reasons. My hope is that when the time comes for you to make a big decision – whether it’s sport-related or not — you feel confident in your choice. No one else should make you feel like your reason isn’t good enough or that you’re too young, too old, or whatever people may say. ‘Let the thought of starting again excite you and not scare you.’ You can retire whenever you want, for whatever reason you want.

“And, of course, we always have the freedom to change our mind.”

She ended with a prayer, and advice: “If it drains you more than it uplifts you, it’s time to let it go.”

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BOXING: World Boxing adds six members, now at 78, looking strong for IOC recognition and keeping boxing in the Olympic Games

By
Rich Perelman
-

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≡ WORLD BOXING EXPANDS ≡

“The Executive Board of World Boxing has approved six more membership applications from the National Federations for boxing in Kosovo, Syria, Hungary, Malawi, Estonia and Switzerland to take its membership to 78 countries.

“The confirmation of Hungary as the 75th country to have its membership application approved by World Boxing’s Executive Board means that the International Federation has achieved one of the widely established criteria for Olympic inclusion, that a sport must be practiced in at least 75 countries on four continents.”

The Tuesday announcement brings the World Boxing group to at least six members from all five continental groups:

● 24: Asia
● 23: Europe
● 18: Americas
● 7: Oceania
● 6: Africa

These new applicant federations will be formally reviewed and set for approval at the online World Boxing Extraordinary Congress on 1 March.

With 78 federations and more in the pipeline, the status of World Boxing for recognition by the International Olympic Committee at its 144th Session in Greece in mid-March is growing stronger by the day.

The 78-federation total also corresponds very well to the number of federations which have actually sent boxers to the AIBA/IBA World Championships across the last 10 years:

Men:
● 2015: 73 federations/260 boxers ~ 10 classes
● 2017: 85 federations/279 boxers ~ 10 classes
● 2019: 78 federations/365 boxers ~ 8 classes
● 2021: 88 federations/510 boxers ~ 13 classes
● 2023: 107 federations/538 boxers ~ 13 classes
(Average: 86 federations per event)

Women:
● 2016: 64 federations/285 boxers ~ 10 classes
● 2018: 62 federations/277 boxers ~ 10 classes
● 2019: 57 federations/224 boxers ~ 10 classes
● 2022: 73 federations/310 boxers ~ 12 classes
● 2023: 65 federations/324 boxers ~ 12 classes
(Average: 52 federations per event)

Moreover, despite World Boxing being less than two years old, it now has more than half of the federations, boxers and medalists from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games affiliated:

● 68 federations: 37 now in World Boxing (54.4%)
● 32 federations won medals: 18 now in World Boxing (56.3%)
● 248 boxers: 152 from federations now in World Boxing (61.3%)
● 52 boxers won medals: 30 from federations now in World Boxing (57.7%)

All these things point to World Boxing being in position to being recognized by the IOC in March, to be the governing body for Olympic boxing.

And if so, the IOC can give World Boxing more than a handshake. It has retained the $17.31 million television rights share from Tokyo 2020 that was not paid to the International Boxing Association due to its suspension; that could go to World Boxing to help get its operations for 2025-28 started.

And World Boxing could also receive perhaps about $19 million in IOC television money from the Paris 2024 Games to support Olympic boxing going forward. That’s $36 million-plus as a thank-you for rescuing boxing for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

Many more federations will come aboard if World Boxing is recognized by the IOC, but the new federation appears to have done enough to give boxing its place in Los Angeles, something which looked very much in jeopardy after the IBA was excommunicated in 2023.

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LANE ONE: The build-up for Noah Lyles vs. Tyreek Hill has started; is Hill willing to race at a real football distance?

By
Rich Perelman
-
Sprint star Noah Lyles and speedy receiver Tyreek Hill (Photos: Diamond League AG and Up & Adams Podcast).

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≡ LYLES vs. HILL ≡

With Olympic 100 m champion Noah Lyles and Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill agreeing to race somewhere, at some unknown distance, sometime in 2025, the build-up has started.

After months of trash-talking on social media, the two agreed to race in an online interview with People Magazine, posted last week, with Hill wanting to run a 40-yard dash – his best chance to win – and Lyles preferring something closer to his regular 100 m distance, although he said:

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

And then the sniping continued.

Lyles posted, “It’s time to end the debate,” to which Hill replied, “Time to shut your mouth and take your lunch money,” and later, “Track world about to be in shambles.”

Vernon Norwood, fourth in the 2023 World Championships 400 m and a two-time Olympic 4×400 m relay gold medalist, posted in reply, “Hell nah! You fast but you food.” Hill shot back, “I got a NFL guy that whoop you to [sic].”

A Lyles post on Friday read, “A man asked me at the airport how do I have so much confidence. I told him therapy. He said really? Why would I lie” to which Hill wrote, “you have no friends.”

This is only the start; both are already promoting the race on their social sites:

While Lyles, 27, has run 6.43 for the 60 m and 9.79 for the 100 – both in 2024 – star receiver Hill, now 30, hasn’t posted any results since 2014, when he was at Oklahoma State. He was no slouch, with bests of 6.64 for 60 m indoors (2014), 10.19 for the 100 and 20.14 for the 200, both in 2012. Hill was the 2012 World Junior Championships 200 m bronze medalist, but he’s not in Lyles’ class.

Let’s see what could actually be arranged:

● Lyles is focused on defending his 100 and 200 m World Championships golds in Tokyo (JPN) in September and to do that, he needs to make the U.S. team. The USA Track & Field nationals in 2025 are in Eugene, Oregon (of course) from 31 July to 2 August, so the race has to be well before then.

Lyles is not signed to the Grand Slam Track circuit, so he has no announced commitments during the spring season.

● Hill said at the end of the season he wanted to leave Miami, but now says he would like to stay. If he does stay, off-season workouts begin on 21 April, but if he were to be traded, he could end up on a team with a new head coach, with workouts beginning 7 April.

NFL “organized team activities” are held in late May or early June, depending on the team and mandatory mini-camps are held for three days in June. NFL training camps open on 16 July, although some clubs may start a few days later.

So Hill has some conflicts, but has time in late April and early May – pretty early for Lyles – and in mid-June to mid-July, when Lyles should be more than ready.

Assuming Hill stays with the Dolphins, he’s in south Florida and Lyles is also in Florida, so somewhere there makes the most sense. There are lots of options, depending on the distance and the number of spectators to be accommodated (got to have that ticket revenue).

So what about the distance?

Since Hill is a football player, the appropriate distance for him should be 100 yards, the length of a football field. The distance isn’t run any more, but Jamaica’s Asafa Powell has the fastest time on record at 9.07, en route to a 100 m win in 2010. Justin Gatlin has the American best at 9.10 en route in 2014. The fastest ever by a football player is 9.33 by Johnny “Lam” Jones for Texas in 1977, and the great Bob Hayes – yes, the 1964 Tokyo Olympic champion and NFL Hall of Fame receiver – ran 9.35 in 1962!

Hill probably would say that he’s not a distance runner any more, so the 100 yards is likely out. Unless the two want to come up with some oddball distance, the remaining suspects are the rarely-contested 50 yards, 50 m, 60 yards (or 55 m) and the now-standard 60 m:

● 50 yards: 5.22 world best by Stanley Floyd (USA) in 1982, who broke Houston McTear’s 5.25 mark from 1978. This event disappeared in the early 1990s.

● 50 meters: 5.56 world best by Donovan Bailey (CAN: 1996) and Maurice Greene (USA: 1999) and is rarely seen now.

● 60 yards: 5.99 world best for 55 m (five inches more) by Obadele Thompson (BAR: 1997) with Lee McRae (USA: 1986) next at 6.00. Carl Lewis ran 6.02 for the fastest-ever 60 yards in 1983.

● 60 meters: 6.34 world record by Christian Coleman (USA: 2018) and he has the top four performances in history at 6.34-6.37-6.37-6.37.

Hill’s only chance is to get out quick, at a shorter distance, but Lyles is used to being behind and will win no matter what the choice is (unless he falls down). But 60 yards is a respectable, historic distance and one from which Hill has scored many touchdowns.

Now, how much are the tickets and what’s the hospitality package like? Lyles has said he wants to add races, with Coleman to race against, say, speedy Chiefs receiver Xavier Worthy – the fastest man ever at the NFL Combined – and maybe hurdles champ Grant Holloway against Seahawks star DK Metcalf.

And let’s not forget about television, whether on cable or streaming or … pay per view?

No matter how this is staged, it’s good for track & field. Why? Consider that in today’s self-promoting world, reach is key. Lyles, with all his outstanding accomplishments, has 196,016 followers on X and 1.563 million on Instagram.

Hill won a Super Bowl with Kansas City and has been a five-time first-team All-Pro selection, and has 999,574 X followers and 2.766 million on Instagram. And now Lyles is all over Hill’s feed.

That’s all part of this. May the best video clip or Instagram Reel win.

Rich Perelman
Editor

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

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

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≡ ITALIAN SPRINT INTRIGUE ≡

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

≡ RESULTS ≡

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Worlds continue through the next week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

★ 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! ★

≡ MORE WORLD RECORDS! ≡

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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