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BOBSLED & SKELETON: Friedrich finishes perfect two-man season, wins four-man title in Calgary

By
Rich Perelman
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Elana Meyers Taylor and Lauren Gibbs racing to a win in St. Moritz (SUI). (Photo: IBSF/Viesturs Lacis)

It has literally been a perfect season for Germany’s Francesco Friedrich, the Olympic champ in the two-man and four-man sleds. With Thorsten Margis, he won again in the two-man sled in the final World Cup race in Calgary (CAN) and completed an eight wins-in-eight races season to win his second World Cup title in the past three seasons.

In the four-man, he won again and led a Germany sweep in Calgary, ahead of Nico Walther and Johannes Lochner. Friedrich won his first four-man title, winning five of the eight races on the season.

In both events, he finished ahead of perhaps the next great driver, Latvia’s Oskar Kibermanis.

In the women’s two, German Mariama Jamanka won again to clinch the seasonal title, winning four of the eight races. She finished ahead of teammate Stephanie Schneider, who had two wins during the season, and American Elana Meyers Taylor.

Meyers Taylor, riding with Lauren Gibbs in Calgary, nearly fell out of the World Cup altogether after being disqualified in the first stop of the season in Innsbruck. But the Olympic silver medalist showed her class and grit, winning medals in all seven remaining races, going 3-3-2-3-1-1-2. If she had not been disqualified in Innsbruck, she would have finished second on the season, just 42 points behind Jamanka.

In the Skeleton events, Korea’s Olympic winner Sungbin Yun won on Sunday, but still finished second on the season to Russia’s Alexander Tretiakov, 1,704-1,680. Russia’s Elena Nikitina, the season-long leader, finished only fourth and fifth in Calgary, but still won with 1,663 points to 1,597 for Germany’s Tina Hermann.

The World Championships will be held next week, in Whistler (CAN). Summaries:

IBSF World Cup
Calgary (CAN) ~ 23-24 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s 2: 1. Francesco Friedrich/Thorsten Margis (GER), 1:50.84; 2. Justin Kripps/Ryan Sommer (CAN), 1:50.93; 3. Johannes Lochner/Christopher Weber (GER), 1:51.07; 4. Yunjong Won/Youngwoo Seo (KOR), 1:51.20; 5. Nico Walther/Paul Krenz (GER), 1:51.28. Also: 12. Justin Olsen/Chris Kinney (USA), 1:51.89; … 17. Geoffrey Gadbois/Adrian Adams (USA), 1:52.43; 18. Hunter Church/Kristopher Horn (USA), 1:52.46.

Men’s 2 Final Standings: 1. Friedrich (GER), 1,800; 2. O. Kibermanis (LAT), 1,564; 3. Walther (GER), 1,232; 4. Dominik Dvorak (CZE), 1,152; 5. Yunjong Won (KOR), 1,140. Also in the top 25: 14. Codie Bascue (USA), 808; 15. Olsen (USA), 762.

Men’s 4: 1. Germany (Francesco Friedrich), 1:47.63; 2. Germany (Nico Walther), 1:47.82; 3. Germany (Johannes Lochner), 1:47.84; 4. Latvia (Oskars Kibermanis), 1:47.88; 5. Canada (Justin Kripps), 1:48.10. Also: 17. United States (Geoffrey Gadbois), 1:48.93; 18. United States (Hunter Church), 1:48.94.

Men’s 4 Final Standings: 1. Friedrich (GER), 1.727; 2. O. Kibermanis (LAT), 1,616; 3. Lochner (GER), 1,605; 4. Walther (GER), 1,531; 5. Maxim Andrianov (RUS), 1,496. Also in the top 25: 16. Bascue (USA), 580; … 19. Olsen (USA), 506; … 25. Church (USA), 240.

Women’s 2: 1. Mariama Jamanka/Annika Drazek (GER), 1:53.62; 2. Elana Meyers Taylor/Lauren Gibbs (USA), 1:53.94; 3. Stephanie Schneider/Ann-Christin Strack (GER), 1:54.05; 4. Katrin Beirel/Jennifer Onasanya (AUT), 1:54.62; 5. Brittany Reinbolt/Jessica Davis (USA), 1:55.04. Also: 8. Nicole Vogt/Nicole Brungardt (USA), 1:55.40.

Women’s 2 Final Standings: 1. Jamanka (GER), 1,712; 2. Schneider (GER), 1,596; 3. Meyers Taylor (USA), 1,470; 4. Nadezhda Sergeeva (RUS), 1,386; 5. Anna Koehler (GER), 1,304. Also in the top 25: 6. Reinbolt (USA), 1,240; … 15. Vogt (USA), 296.

Men’s Skeleton I: 1. Alexander Tretiakov (RUS), 1:51.35; 2. Sungbin Yun (KOR), 1:51.48; 3. Martins Dukurs (LAT), 1:51.51; 4. Tomass Dukurs (LAT), 1:52.02; 5. Nikita Tregubov (RUS), 1:52.38. Also: 11. Austin Florian (USA), 1:52.95; … 14. Greg West (USA), 1:53.60

Men’s Skeleton II: 1. Yun (KOR), 1:52.70; 2. Tretiakov (RUS), 1:52.76; 3. T. Dukurs (LAT), 1:53.21; 4. M. Dukurs (LAT), 1:53.24; 5. Marcus Wyatt (GBR), 1:53.39. Also: 13. Florian, 1:53.98; … 18. West (USA), 1:54.60.

Men’s Skeleton Final Standings: 1. Tretiakov (RUS), 1,704; 2. Yun (KOR), 1.680; 3. M. Dukurs (LAT), 1,533; 4. Tregubov (RUS), 1,505; 5. Axel Jungk (GER), 1,458. Also in the  top 25: 13. West (USA), 800; 14. Kyle Brown (USA), 776; 15. Florian (USA), 762.

Women’s Skeleton I: 1. Mirela Rahneva (CAN), 1:54.52; 2. Tina Hermann (GER), 1:54.98; 3. Elisabeth Maier (CAN), 1:55.20; 4. Elena Niktina (RUS), 1:55.28; 5. Jane Channell (CAN), 1:55.45. Also: 8. Kendall Wesenberg (USA), 1:55.81; … 16. Savannah Graybill (USA), 1:57.15.

Women’s Skeleton II: 1. Hermann (GER), 1:57.39; 2. Rahneva (CAN), 1:57.52; 3. Laura Deas (GBR), 1:57.68; 4. Maier (CAN), 1:57.74; 5. Nikitina (RUS), 1:57.95. Also: 9. Wesenberg (USA), 1:58.21; … 14. Graybill (USA), 1:58.88.

Women’s Skeleton Final Standings: 1. Nikitina (RUS), 1,663; 2. Hermann (GER), 1,597; 3. Rahneva (CAN), 1,396; 4. Sophia Griebel (GER), 1,360; 5. Jacquelline Loelling (GER), 1,244. Also in the top 25: 6. Wesenberg (USA), 1,200; … 15. Graybill (USA), 850.

BASKETBALL Preview: U.S. will play for Group E title on Monday in Greensboro

By
Rich Perelman
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The U.S. and Argentina have already qualified for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, but because of Argentina’s 87-86 loss to Puerto Rico in San Juan (PUR) on Friday, the U.S. and Argentina will decide the winner of Group E in the final game of the Americas qualifiers.

That will come on Monday in Greensboro, North Carolina at 7 p.m. Eastern time. Both teams have identical 9-2 records and 20 points overall.

In Friday game in Greensboro, the U.S. defeated Panama, 111-80, breaking the game open in the second half with a 27-18 third quarter and then 31-18 in the final quarter. Cameron Reynolds led the U.S. with 26 points off the bench; Travis Trice had 14, Michael Frazier II had 11 and Chinanu Onuaku had 10. While the U.S. and Panama both had similar shooting percentages – 49.4 to 48.3 – the Americans got 81 tries from the field to only 58 for the visitors.

Look for game results here.

BADMINTON: Denmark and Korea tops at Spain Masters in Barcelona

By
Rich Perelman
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Danish star Viktor Axelsen (Photo: BWF)

The singles finals were all Denmark and Korean teams nearly swept the doubles matches in the finals of the Spain Masters tournament in Barcelona.

Both of the singles matches featured Dane vs. Dane action, with Viktor Axelsen defeating Anders Antonsen, 21-14, 21-11 in the men’s final. The women’s title match had Mia Blitchfeldt handling teammate Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt, 21-14, 21-14.

Korean teams won the women’s and Mixed Doubles events, but lost in the finals of the men’s Doubles; Seung Jae Seo won two medals, winning in the Mixed final, but losing in the men’s final. Summaries:

BWF World Tour/Spain Masters
Barcelona (ESP) ~ 19-24 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Singles: 1. Viktor Axelsen (DEN); 2. Anders Antonsen (DEN); 3. Pengbo Ren (CHN) and Junpeng Zhao (CHN). Semis: Axelsen d. Ren, 21-9, 17-21, 5-4 (retired); Antonsen d. Zhao, 21-7, 9-21, 21-17. Final: Axelsen d. Antonsen, 21-14, 21-11.

Men’s Doubles: 1. Yang Lee/Chi-Lin Wang (TPE); 2. Won Ho Kim/Seung Jae Seo (KOR); 3. Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN) and Ching Yao Lu/Po Han Yang (TPE). Semis: Lee/Wang d. Boe/Morgensen, 21-16, 26-24; Kim/Seo d. Lu/Yang, 21-8, 18-21, 22-20. Final: Lee/Wang d. Kim/Seo, 21-8, 23-21.

Women’s Singles: 1. Mia Blichfeldt (DEN); 2. Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt (DEN); 3. Yue Han (CHN) and Yanyan Cai (CHN). Semis: Kjaersfeldt d. Han, 18-21, 21-5, 22-20; Blichfeldt d. Cai, 21-16, 13-21, 21-13. Final: Blichfeldt d. Kjaersfeldt, 21-14, 21-14.

Women’s Doubles: 1. So Yeong Kim/Hee Yong Kong (KOR); 2. Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida (JPN); 3. Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva (BUL) and Ha Na Baek/Hye Rin Kim (KOR). Semis: Kim/Kong d. Stoeva/Stoeva, 21-19, 18-21, 21-17; Matsuyama/Shida d. Baek/Kim, 21-13, 24-22. Final: Kim/Kong d. Matsuyama/Shida, 23-21, 15-21, 21-17.

Mixed Doubles: 1. Seung Jae Seo/YuJung Chae (KOR); 2. Chi-Lin Wang/Chi Ya Cheng (TPE); 3. Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith (ENG) and SolGyu Choi/So Yeong Kim (KOR). Semis: Seo/Chae d. Ellis/Smith, 14-21, 21-3, 21-19; Wang/Cheng d. Choi/Kim, 21-18, 21-14. Final: Seo/Chae d. Wang/Cheng, 21-8, 23-21.

ATHLETICS: Brazier sets 600 m world record; Mu gets 600 m American Record at USATF Indoors

By
Rich Perelman
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American middle-distance star Donavan Brazier

In a magical 12-minute span inside the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, New York, what makes indoor track so great was on display with two record performances at the USATF National Indoor Championships.

The women’s 600 m final was a showdown between a 16-year-old high school junior from Trenton Central in New Jersey, Athing Mu, and three-time NCAA 800 m champ Raevyn Rogers. Surely, Rogers – who has run 1:57.69 for 800 m – would handle the teenager, but Mu went to the front from the gun and had the lead through the first two laps. At the bell, Mu had a stride’s lead over Rogers, but when the veteran kicked in the afterburners, Mu was equal to the challenge, maintained her poise and finished in 1:23.57, not just a world leader, but the second-fastest time ever run and a new American Record.

She missed the world best – the distance isn’t recognized for world records – by 0.13, as Russian Olga Kotlyarova ran 1:23.44 back in 2004. Naturally, it’s also a national high school record and Mu still has a year to go at Trenton Central! Rogers was second, in 1:24.88, which became the no. 4 performance in history.

Mu told NBCSN’s Lewis Johnson afterwards, “I’m just blown away right now. I just had to say strong during the race. The sky is literally the limit; I honestly just don’t know what I can do any more.” That’s why she bears watching in the future.

The men’s 600 m final followed immediately and after an impressive qualifying race, in 1:15.64 – the no. 19 mark in history – Donavan Brazier was in the hunt for a world-best performance.

He ran a measured race: third after a lap, second after two and then he took off at the bell, running the final lap in 26.62 to clock 1:15.64 and eclipse the world best of 1:14.79 by Kenya’s Michael Saruni in 2018.

Brazier said afterwards that he knew that the record was a possibility, but “I was just trying to win today. We went out a little fast and I was able to hang on.” He was very encouraged for the future, noting “I got into this shape after about six weeks of training.” He will have a lot more time to get ready for the outdoor season.

Brazier time also erased Casimir Loxsom’s American Record of 1:14.91 from 2017. Runner-up Sam Ellison’s 1:15.97 moved to him no. 7 all-time, with the no. 8 performance.

There were other excellent performances:

● Ajee Wilson won her fifth national indoor title at 800 m/1,000 m with a commanding victory in the 1,000 m, finishing with the no. 2 performance in U.S. history in 2:34.71, a new world leader. She controlled the race from the front and held off Hannah Green (2:35.40 – fourth performance all-time U.S.) and Ce’Aira Brown (2:35.62 – fifth performance all-time U.S.) on the final straightaway.

● After losing the mile on Saturday, Shelby Houlihan won her third straight 3,000 m/two-mile national title at 9:31.38, a new world leader. She told Lewis Johnson of Saturday’s loss, “It stung a bit; I didn’t want to lose [today]. I was running scared the whole time.”

● Sharika Nelvis won the 60 m Hurdles with a charge over the final hurdle, passing Evonne Britton with a world-leader of 7.85, with Britton at 7.86.

Nelvis was one of seven defending champions to win a national title again in 2019:

● Men’s 600 m: Donavan Brazier (800 m in 2018)
● Men’s 3000 m Walk: Nick Christie
● Women’s 1,000 m: Ajee Wilson (800 m in 2018)
● Women’s Two Mile: Shelby Houlihan (3,000 m in 2018)
● Women’s 60 m Hurdles: Sharika Nelvis
● Women’s High Jump: Vashti Cunningham
● Women’s Pole Vault: Katie Nageotte

It’s worth noting the women’s 3,000 m walk win by Miranda Melville, breaking Maria Michta-Coffey’s streak of nine national indoor titles in a row. Michta-Coffey finished fourth.

There were a total of eight world-leading marks at the meet:

● Men’s 600 m: 1:13.77 Donavan Brazier (world best)
● Men’s Two Mile: 8:25.29, Drew Hunter
● Men’s Weight: 24.12 m (79-1 3/4), Daniel Haugh

● Women’s 300 m: 35.95, Brittany Brown
● Women’s 600 m: 1:23.57, Athing Mu
● Women’s 1,000 m: 2:34.71, Ajee Wilson
● Women’s Two Mile: 9:31.38, Shelby Houlihan
● Women’s 60 m Hurdles: 7.85, Sharika Nelvis

Prize money was $6,000-4,000-2,500-1,500-1,000 for the top five places. Summaries:

USATF National Indoor Championships
New York, New York (USA) ~ 22-24 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

60 m: 1. Demek Kemp, 6.55; 2. Cordero Gray, 6.59; 3. Sean McLean, 6.63; 4. Dangelo Cherry, 6.66; 5. John Teeters, 6.67; 6. Javelin Guidry, 6.72; 7. Quentin Butler, 6.72; 8. Wayne Sherbahn, 6.78.

300 m-Race I: 1. Dontavius Wright, 32.81; 2. Brycen Spratling, 33.59. Race II: 1. Manteo Mitchell, 33.54 (second overall); 2. John Lundy, 33.69; 3. Jason Crow, 34.01; 4. Cole Lambourne, 34.06.

600 m: 1. Donavan Brazier, 1:13.77 (World Best; old, 1:14.79, Michael Saruni (KEN), 2018; American Record; old, 1:14.91, Casimir Loxsom, 2017); 2. Sam Ellison, 1:15.20; 3. Kameron Jones, 1:15.32; 4. Chris Giesting, 1:15.67; 5. Erik Sowinski, 1:16.24; 6. Kalmon Stokes, 1:17.42.

1,000 m: 1. Clayton Murphy, 2:20.36; 2. Abraham Alvarado, 2:21.08; 3. Brannon Kidder, 2:21.23; 4. Rob Napolitano, 2:21.47; 5. Dylan Capwell, 2:21.55; 6. Brandon Lasater, 2:21.59; 7. Jesse Garn, 2:21.66; 8. David Timlin, 2:22.43.

Mile: 1. Craig Engels, 3:59.69; 2. Henry Wynne, 4:00.20; 3. John Gregorek, 4:00.26; 4. Sam Prakel, 4:01.76; 5. Mike Marsella, 4:02.03; 6. David Ribich, 4:03.08; 7. Benjamin Malone, 4:03.60; 8. Josh Thompson, 4:05.39.

Two Mile: 1. Andrew Hunter, 8:25.29 (race 1-1); 2. Eric Avila, 8:32.41 (race 2-1); 3. Tripp Hurt, 8:32.72 (2-2); 4. Dillon Maggard, 8:33.28 (2-3); 5. Sean McGorty, 8:33.41 (2-4); 6. Brian Barraza, 8:33.99 (2-5); 7. Jacob Thomsen, 8:34.64 (2-6); 8. Travis Mahoney, 8:35.33 (2-7).

60 m Hurdles: 1. Devon Allen, 7.60; 2. Aaron Mallett, 7.64; 3. Joshua Thompson, 7.69; 4. Brendan Ames, 7.71; 5. Ryan Billian, 7.89; 6. Tremayne Banks, 7.94; 7. Casimir Tawiah, 7.99; 8. Wayne Newman, 8.03.

3,000 m Walk: 1. Nick Christie, 11:35.34; 2. Emmanuel Corvera, 11:49.25; 3. John Cody Risch, 11:57.26; 4. Anthony Peters, 12:18.80; 5. Richard Luettchau, 13:18.49; only finishers.

High Jump: 1. Jeron Robinson, 2.24 m (7-4 1/4); 2. Avion Jones, 2.21 m (7-3); 3. Kristopher Kornegay-Gober, 2.18 m (7-1 3/4); 4. JaCorian Duffield, 2.18 m (7-1 3/4); 5. Noah VanderVeen, 2.18 m (7-1 3/4); 6. Bradley Atkins, 2.13 m (6-11 3/4); 7. Trey Culver, 2.13 m (6-11 3/4); 8. Jalen Ramsey, 2.08 m (6-9 3/4).

Pole Vault: 1. Andrew Irwin, 5.80 m (19-0 1/4); 2. Scott Houston, 5.61 m (18-4 3/4); 3. Max Babits, 5.51 m (18-4 3/4); 4. Austin Miller, 5.41 m (17-9); 5. tie, Dylan Bell, Kyle Pater and Cole Walsh, 5.41 m (17-9); 8. Garrett Starkey, 5.41 m (17-9).

Long Jump: 1. Jordan Downs. 7.73 m (25-4 1/2); 2. Malik Moffett, 7.69 m (25-2 3/4); 3. Josh Colley, 7.53 m (24-8 1/2); 4. Will Williams, 7.45 m (24-5 1/2); 5. Kenneth Glenn, 7.44 m (24-5); 6. Charles Brown, 7.21 m (23-8); 7. Roderick Townsend, 7.20 m (23-7 1/2); 8. Corey Muggler, 7.18 m (23-6 3/4).

Triple Jump: 1. Donald Scott, 16.85 m (55-3 1/2); 2. Chris Carter, 16.66 m (54-8); 3. KeAndre Bates, 16.38 m (53-9); 4. Barden Adams, 15.91 m (52-2 1/2); 5. Tony Carodine, 15.90 m (52-2); 6. Darrel Jones, 15.52 m (50-11); 7. Michael Tiller, 14.84 m (48-8 1/4); 8. Idiato Jeremiah, 14.82 m (48-7 1/2).

Shot Put: 1. Ryan Crouser, 22.22 m (72-10 3/4); 2. Joe Kovacs, 21.40 m (70-2 1/2); 3. Josh Awotunde, 20.63 m (67-8 1/4); 4. Curtis Jensen, 20.03 m (65-8 3/4); 5. William Pless, 20.00 m (65-7 1/2); 6. Alex Renner, 19.07 m (62-6 3/4); 7. Lucas Warning, 18.85 m (61-10 1/4); 8. Coy Blair, 18.78 m (61-7 1/2).

Weight: 1. Daniel Haugh, 24.12 m (79-1 3/4); 2. Conor McCullough, 23.98 m (78-8 1/4); 3. Alex Young, 23.67 m (77-8); 4. Sean Donnelly, 23.38 m (76-8 1/2); 5. Daniel Roberts, 23.19 m (76-1); 6. Grant Cartwright, 23.12 m (75-10 1/4); 7. Colin Dunbar, 22.95 m (75-3 1/2); 8. Michael Shanahan, 22.57 m (74-0 3/4).

Heptathlon: 1. Tim Ehrhardt, 5,868; 2. Solomon Simmons, 5,766; 3. Jack Flood, 5,701; 4. Teddy Frid, 5,671; 5. Alex Bloom, 5,631; 6. Curtis Beach, 5,467; 7. Samuel Black, 5,404; 8. Phillip Bailey, 5,352.

Women

60 m: 1. Shanie Collins, 7.16; 2. Kate Hall, 7.23; 3. Sharika Nelvis, 7.32; 4. Quanesha Burks, 7.34; 5. Candace Hill, 7.43; 6. Breana Norman, 7.46; 7. Rachel McCoy, 7.55; 8. Melanise Chapman, 7.57.

300 m-Race I: 1. Brittany Brown, 35.95; 2. Gabby Thomas, 35.98; 3. Kayla Davis, 37.46. Race II: 4. Faith Dismuke, 38.28; 5. Asha Ruth, 38.46; 6. Rachel McCoy, 38.80.

600 m: 1. Athing Mu, 1:23.57 (American Record; old, 1:23.59, Alysia Montano, 2013); 2. Raevyn Rogers, 1:24.88; 3. Olivia Baker, 1:26.93; 4. Madeline Kopp, 1:27.09; 5. Georganne Moline, 1:27.59; 6. Kendra Chambers, 1:27.60.

1,000 m: 1. Ajee Wilson, 2:34.71 (no. 2 performance all-time U.S.); 2. Hanna Green, 2:35.40; 3. Ce’Aira Brown, 2:35.62; 4. Laura Roesler, 2:36.60; 5. Hannah Fields, 2:38.60; 6. Allie Wilson, 2:41.76; 7. Baylee Mires, 2:42.79; 8. Megan Malasarte, 2:43.72.

Mile: 1. Colleen Quigley, 4:29.47; 2. Shelby Houlihan, 4:29.92; 3. Cory McGee, 4:30.14; 4. Shannon Osika,4:31.05; 5. Nikki Hiltz, 4:32.40; 6. Elinor Purrier, 4:32.69; 7. Eleanor Fulton, 4:33.47 (Race 2-1.); 8. Grace Barnett, 4:33.63 (Race 2-2).

Two Mile: 1. Shelby Houlihan, 9:31.38; 2. Katie Mackey, 9:33.70; 3. Elinor Purrier, 9:34.65; 4. Emily Lipari, 9:41.12; 5. Katrina Coogan, 9:45.11; 6. Marie Lawrence, 9:46.11; 7. Eleanor Fulton, 9:48.98; 8. Grace Barnett, 9:50.17.

60 m Hurdles: 1. Sharika Nelvis, 7.85; 2. Evonne Britton, 7.86; 3. Amber Hughes, 8.06; 4. Sasha Wallace, 8.15; 5. Kyra Atkins, 8.15; 6. Jade Barber, 8.20; 7. Monisha Lewis, 8.21; 8. Tawnie Moore, 8.42.

3,000 m Walk: 1. Miranda Melville, 12:57.58; 2. Katie Burnett, 13:14.09; 3. Kayla Shapiro, 14:11.84; 4. Maria Michta-Coffey, 14:18.82; 5. Chelsea Conway, 14:26.74; 6. Katherine Miale, 14:34.72; only finishers.

High Jump: 1. Vashti Cunningham, 1.96 m (6-5); 2. Ty Butts, 1.88 m (6-2); 3. Amina Smith, 1.88 m (6-2); 4. Jelena Rowe, 1.83 m (6-0); 5. Inika McPherson, 1.83 m (6-0); 6. Michelle Spires, 1.78 m (5-10); 7. Melanie Winters, 1.73 m (5-8); 8. Juanita Webster-Freeman, 1.73 m (5-8).

Pole Vault: 1. Katie Nageotte, 4.81 m (15-9 1/4); 2. Annie Rhodes, 4.56 m (14-11 1/2); 3. Kristen Leland, 4.56 m (14-11 1/2); 4. tie, Katherine Pitman and Kortney Ross, 4.36 m (14-3 1/2); 6. Lakan Taylor, 4.36 m (14-3 1/2); 7. tie, Kristen Brown and Megan Zimlich, 4.36 m (14-3 1/2).

Long Jump: 1. Kate Hall, 6.51 m (21-4 1/4); 2. Quanesha Burks, 6.39 m (20-11 3/4); 3. Kenyattia Hackworth, 6.39 m (20-11 3/4); 4. Kendell Williams, 6.33 m (20-9 1/4); 5. Jessie Gaines, 6.27 m (20-7); 6. Tristine Johnson, 6.13 m (20-1 3/4); 7. Melanie Winters, 6.02 m (19-9); 8. Erica Graham, 5.65 m (18-6 1/2).

Triple Jump: 1. Keturah Orji, 14.55 m (47-9); 2. Tori Franklin, 14.45 m (47-5); 3. Lynnika Pitts, 13.66 m (44-9 3/4); 4. Imani Oliver, 13.45 m (44-1 1/2); 5. Tiffany Flynn, 13.41 m (44-0); 6. Viershane Latham, 12.86 m (42-2 1/4); 7. Alexa Wandy, 12.53 m (41-1 1/2); 8. Jean Udo, 11.75 m (38-6 3/4).

Shot Put: 1. Chase Ealey, 18.62 m (61-1 1/4); 2. Maggie Ewen, 18.45 m (60-6 1/2); 3. Jessica Ramsey, 18.37 m (60-3 1/4); 4. Daniella Hill, 18.17 m (59-7 1/2); 5. Rachel Fatherly, 17.95 m (58-10 3/4); 6. Monique Riddick, 17.76 m (58-3 1/4); 7. Jessica Woodard, 17.67 m (57-11 3/4); 8. Janeah Stewart, 17.54 m (57-6 1/2).

Weight: 1. Janeah Stewart, 24.80 m (81-4 1/2); 2. Deanna Price, 24.52 m (80-5 1/2); 3. Kaitlyn Long, 23.19 m (76-1); 4. Annette Echikunwoke, 22.97 m (75-4 1/2); 5. Jeneva Stevens, 22.89 m 975-1 1/4); 6. Brooke Andersen, 22.25 m (73-0); 7. Michaela Dendinger, 21.10 (69-2 3/4); 8. Christina Macdonald, 18.49 m (60-8).

Pentathlon: 1. Kendell Williams, 4,496; 2. Emilyn Dearman, 4,356; 3. Anna Hall, 4,302; 4. Juanita Webster-Freeman, 4,255; 5. Annie Kunz, 4,243; 6. Riley Cooks, 4,106; 7. Kendall Gustafson, 4,101; 8. Shaina Burns, 4,085.

ALPINE SKIING: Pinturault and Kristoffersen repeat Worlds wins in Bansko

By
Rich Perelman
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Austria's Marcel Hirscher with yet another Crystal Globe

The men’s World Cup in Bansko (BUL) had a familiar look from the recent World Championships as both of the winners had earned gold medals in Are (SWE).

France’s Alexis Pinturault won the Combined and Henrik Kristoffersen took the Giant Slalom, while the planned Super-G race on Saturday was snowed out.

Pinturault was third in the Super-G in the first half of the Combined, when skied with sixth-fastest in the Slalom, which was enough to hold off the hard-charging Marcel Hirscher (AUT). The Austrian ace was just 20th in the Super-G, but zoomed through the Slalom with the fastest time of the day, but still ended up 0.68 of the Frenchman.

Pinturault won his 22nd World Cup race and eight in the Combined, and he took the seasonal Crystal Globe for the Combined, his third win in the discipline in the last four years.

In the Giant Slalom, Hirscher was looking for another win, but also to clinch the seasonal title in the discipline. He had the fastest first run in the field, but was not as smooth on the second run, an ended up with only the 12th-fastest second run and wound up second overall. Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen won the race, with the second-best first run and fourth-best second run, edging Hirscher by 0.04!

However, Hirscher’s second-place finish wrapped up his victory in the seasonal race. With 620 points to 402 for Kristoffersen with two races left. It’s Hirscher’s sixth seasonal win in the Giant Slalom and he now has 19 overall and discipline wins, one short of the record of 20 held by American Lindsey Vonn. Hirscher can equal her with the overall World Cup title, in which he has a commanding 1,408-918 lead over Kristoffersen with nine races left.

In the women’s World Cup races in Crans-Montana (SUI), Italy’s Sofia Goggia won the Downhill for her first victory since the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, but there was plenty of confusion along the way.

Sweden’s Joana Haehlin ended up second for her first career World Cup medal, but the timing and scoreboard system malfunctioned and didn’t show the run time for several athletes.

Swiss Timing released a statement that noted that “The problem was due to connection issues between the infrastructure installed on the finish line and the timekeeping room. Consequently, the electronic timekeeping did not stop the finish time automatically for some of the competitors. …

“Despite the fact that the results were not displayed accurately in the finish area or on television, a manual backup timing system was used for the athletes that were affected as per FIS rules.”

The timing issues got fixed for Sunday’s Combined, won by Italy’s Federica Brignone, who also won the seasonal title as this was the only Combined held this season!

American Mikaela Shiffrin is taking a rest and said she will skip the speed races in Russia next week and return for the Giant Slalom and Slalom – where she leads in the World Cup standings – at Spindleruv Mlyn (CZE) on 8-9 March. Summaries:

FIS Alpine World Cup
Bansko (BUL) ~ 22-24 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Combined: 1. Alexis Pinturault (FRA), 1:55.55 (3rd in Super-G + 6th in Slalom); 2. Marcel Hirscher (AUT), 1:56.23 (20+1); 3. Stefan Hadalin (1:56.24 (8+6); 4. Riccardo Tonetti (ITA), 1:56.66 (5+11); 5. Trevor Philp (CAN), 1:56/70 (27+1). Also in the top 25: 13. Ted Ligety (USA), 1:57.99 (28+9); … 17. Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:58.27 (7+22); … 25. Bryce Bennett (USA), 1:59.67 (26+23).

Men’s Super-G: canceled due to heavy snow.

Men’s Giant Slalom: 1. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR), 2:26.87; 2. Hirscher (AUT), 2:26.91; 3. Thomas Fanara (FRA), 2:27.26; 4. Pinturault (FRA), 2:27.36; 5. Zan Kranjec (SLO), 2:27.53. Also in the top 25: 9. Tommy Ford (USA), 2:28.76; … 16. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 2:29.61.

FIS Alpine World Cup
Crans-Montana (SUI) ~ 23-24 February 2019
(Full results here)

Women’s Downhill: 1. Sofia Goggia (ITA), 1:29.77; 2. Joana Haehlin (SUI), 1:30.13; 3. Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), 1:30.22; 4. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT), 1:30.29; 5. Corinne Suter (AUT), 1:30.36. Also in the top 25: 19. Alice Merryweather (USA), 1:31.94.

Women’s Combined: 1. Federica Brignone (ITA), 2:15.20 (1st in Downhill + 8th in Slalom); 2. Roni Remme (CAN), 2:15.28 (6+1); 3. Wendy Holdener (SUI), 2:16.24 (11+4); 4. Rahel Kopp (SUI), 2:16.74 (17+5); 5. Patrizia Dorsch (GER), 2:17.01 (21+3).

ATHLETICS: Quigley outlasts Houlihan for upset win and first national title

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. Indoor Mile champ Colleen Quigley

American distance ace Shelby Houlihan had a lot going for her coming into the USATF National Indoor Championships at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center in Staten Island, New York on Saturday.

She had won the 1,500 m/mile and 3,000 m/two-mile at the last two U.S. Indoors and had just come off of a U.S. Cross Country title earlier in the month. But she hadn’t run on a track since last September, so no one knew exactly what to expect.

Colleen Quigley, on the other hand, had run brilliantly in her one indoor race, a 4:22.86 second place at the Millrose Games.

Quigley said she felt good coming into the race and took charge with about 600 m to go on the 200 m banked track. With two laps to go, Quigley had the initiative, just only by a strike ahead of Nikki Hiltz and Houlihan had positioned herself well for her patented kick at the end.

But at the bell, Quigley was still in front , with Houlihan a half-second behind. But instead of a Houlihan pass, Quigley extended her lead down the final backstraight and charged home for her first national title in 4:29.7 to 4:29.92 for Houlihan. It was the first loss in a national championship final for Houlihan since 2016.

That was the competitive highlight of the second of three days at the U.S. Indoors, with three world-leading marks set:

● Men’s Two Mile: 8:25.29, Drew Hunter
● Men’s Weight: 24.12 m (79-1 3/4), Daniel Haugh
● Women’s 300 m: 35.95, Brittany Brown

Two of the 2018 winners defended their titles:

● Men’s 3000 m Walk: Nick Christie
● Women’s High Jump: Vashti Cunningham

Cunningham’s win was especially significant, as it was her fourth in a row – at age 21! – and tied Eleanor Montgomery (1966-69) and Jean Shiley (1929-32) as the only women to take four indoor high jump titles in a row.

Embed from Getty Images

Rio shot put champ Ryan Crouser, already the world leader at 22.33 m (73-3 1/4), won his first U.S. Indoor title at 22.22 m (72-10 3/4), the 10th-longest throw of all time indoors.

The men’s two mile was a stunner, as Drew Hunter, 21, had no qualifying mark and was placed in the slower of the two heats. He won by more than 13 seconds at 8:25.29, the world leader, and then watched the “A” final, where the pace was slow and Eric Avila won in 8:32.41, making Hunter the national champ … by more than seven seconds!

A new U.S. indoor high school record was set by Athing Mu of Trenton Central (New Jersey) HS in the heats of the women’s 600 m at 1:26.23, which turned out to be the fastest time in the field.

Prize money is $6,000-4,000-2,500-1,500-1,000 for the top five places. The meet continues tomorrow; NBCSN has coverage from 4-6 p.m. Eastern time. Summaries through Saturday:

USATF National Indoor Championships
New York, New York (USA) ~ 22-24 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

300 m-Race I: 1. Dontavius Wright, 32.81; 2. Brycen Spratling, 33.59. Race II: 1. Manteo Mitchell, 33.54 (second overall); 2. John Lundy, 33.69; 3. Jason Crow, 34.01; 4. Cole Lambourne, 34.06.

Two Mile: 1. Andrew Hunter, 8:25.29 (race 1-1); 2. Eric Avila, 8:32.41 (race 2-1); 3. Tripp Hurt, 8:32.72 (2-2); 4. Dillon Maggard, 8:33.28 (2-3); 5. Sean McGorty, 8:33.41 (2-4); 6. Brian Barraza, 8:33.99 (2-5); 7. Jacob Thomsen, 8:34.64 (2-6); 8. Travis Mahoney, 8:35.33 (2-7).

3,000 m Walk: 1. Nick Christie, 11:35.34; 2. Emmanuel Corvera, 11:49.25; 3. John Cody Risch, 11:57.26; 4. Anthony Peters, 12:18.80; 5. Richard Luettchau, 13:18.49; only finishers.

High Jump: 1. Jeron Robinson, 2.24 m (7-4 1/4); 2. Avion Jones, 2.21 m (7-3); 3. Kristopher Kornegay-Gober, 2.18 m (7-1 3/4); 4. JaCorian Duffield, 2.18 m (7-1 3/4); 5. Noah VanderVeen, 2.18 m (7-1 3/4); 6. Bradley Atkins, 2.13 m (6-11 3/4); 7. Trey Culver, 2.13 m (6-11 3/4); 8. Jalen Ramsey, 2.08 m (6-9 3/4).

Pole Vault: 1. Andrew Irwin, 5.80 m (19-0 1/4); 2. Scott Houston, 5.61 m (18-4 3/4); 3. Max Babits, 5.51 m (18-4 3/4); 4. Austin Miller, 5.41 m (17-9); 5. tie, Dylan Bell, Kyle Pater and Cole Walsh, 5.41 m (17-9); 8. Garrett Starkey, 5.41 m (17-9).

Long Jump: 1. Jordan Downs. 7.73 m (25-4 1/2); 2. Malik Moffett, 7.69 m (25-2 3/4); 3. Josh Colley, 7.53 m (24-8 1/2); 4. Will Williams, 7.45 m (24-5 1/2); 5. Kenneth Glenn, 7.44 m (24-5); 6. Charles Brown, 7.21 m (23-8); 7. Roderick Townsend, 7.20 m (23-7 1/2); 8. Corey Muggler, 7.18 m (23-6 3/4).

Shot Put: 1. Ryan Crouser, 22.22 m (72-10 3/4); 2. Joe Kovacs, 21.40 m (70-2 1/2); 3. Josh Awotunde, 20.63 m (67-8 1/4); 4. Curtis Jensen, 20.03 m (65-8 3/4); 5. William Pless, 20.00 m (65-7 1/2); 6. Alex Renner, 19.07 m (62-6 3/4); 7. Lucas Warning, 18.85 m (61-10 1/4); 8. Coy Blair, 18.78 m (61-7 1/2).

Weight: 1. Daniel Haugh, 24.12 m (79-1 3/4); 2. Conor McCullough, 23.98 m (78-8 1/4); 3. Alex Young, 23.67 m (77-8); 4. Sean Donnelly, 23.38 m (76-8 1/2); 5. Daniel Roberts, 23.19 m (76-1); 6. Grant Cartwright, 23.12 m (75-10 1/4); 7. Colin Dunbar, 22.95 m (75-3 1/2); 8. Michael Shanahan, 22.57 m (74-0 3/4).

Heptathlon: 1. Tim Ehrhardt, 5,868; 2. Solomon Simmons, 5,766; 3. Jack Flood, 5,701; 4. Teddy Frid, 5,671; 5. Alex Bloom, 5,631; 6. Curtis Beach, 5,467; 7. Samuel Black, 5,404; 8. Phillip Bailey, 5,352.

Women

300 m-Race I: 1. Brittany Brown, 35.95; 2. Gabby Thomas, 35.98; 3. Kayla Davis, 37.46. Race II: 4. Faith Dismuke, 38.28; 5. Asha Ruth, 38.46; 6. Rachel McCoy, 38.80.

Mile: 1. Colleen Quigley, 4:29.47; 2. Shelby Houlihan, 4:29.92; 3. Cory McGee, 4:30.14; 4. Shannon Osika,4:31.05; 5. Nikki Hiltz, 4:32.40; 6. Elinor Purrier, 4:32.69; 7. Eleanor Fulton, 4:33.47 (Race 2-1.); 8. Grace Barnett, 4:33.63 (Race 2-2).

High Jump: 1. Vashti Cunningham, 1.96 m (6-5); 2. Ty Butts, 1.88 m (6-2); 3. Amina Smith, 1.88 m (6-2); 4. Jelena Rowe, 1.83 m (6-0); 5. Inika McPherson, 1.83 m (6-0); 6. Michelle Spires, 1.78 m (5-10); 7. Melanie Winters, 1.73 m (5-8); 8. Juanita Webster-Freeman, 1.73 m (5-8).

Long Jump: 1. Kate Hall, 6.51 m (21-4 1/4); 2. Quanesha Burks, 6.39 m (20-11 3/4); 3. Kenyattia Hackworth, 6.39 m (20-11 3/4); 4. Kendell Williams, 6.33 m (20-9 1/4); 5. Jessie Gaines, 6.27 m (20-7); 6. Tristine Johnson, 6.13 m (20-1 3/4); 7. Melanie Winters, 6.02 m (19-9); 8. Erica Graham, 5.65 m (18-6 1/2).

Weight: 1. Janeah Stewart, 24.80 m (81-4 1/2); 2. Deanna Price, 24.52 m (80-5 1/2); 3. Kaitlyn Long, 23.19 m (76-1); 4. Annette Echikunwoke, 22.97 m (75-4 1/2); 5. Jeneva Stevens, 22.89 m 975-1 1/4); 6. Brooke Andersen, 22.25 m (73-0); 7. Michaela Dendinger, 21.10 (69-2 3/4); 8. Christina Macdonald, 18.49 m (60-8).

Pentathlon: 1. Kendell Williams, 4,496; 2. Emilyn Dearman, 4,356; 3. Anna Hall, 4,302; 4. Juanita Webster-Freeman, 4,255; 5. Annie Kunz, 4,243; 6. Riley Cooks, 4,106; 7. Kendall Gustafson, 4,101; 8. Shaina Burns, 4,085.

SPEED READ: Headlines from The Sports Examiner for Friday, 22 January 2019

By
Rich Perelman
-

Welcome to The Sports Examiner SPEED READ, a 100 mph (44.7 m/s) review of what happened over the last 96 hours in Olympic sport:

LANE ONE

Wednesday: It’s worth taking time out to appreciate the greatness of American skiing ace Mikaela Shiffrin. She’s not only the finest women’s skier in the world, but at just 23, is in a position to set standards that could last for decades!

Friday: Sports and politics aren’t supposed to mix, but they do and are mixing badly. But even with continuous issues with countries refusing to allow athletes to compete from nations it doesn’t like – the latest is India’s refusal to allow Pakistani shooters to compete in the ISSF World Cup – the IOC’s backbone appears to be stiffening. This is a good development, and the International Paralympic Committee should get credit too.

THE BIG PICTURE

Tuesday: USA Gymnastics hired another chief executive, this time from the NBA, with a strong background in gymnastics – as a competitor – and already has experience working with a U.S. National Governing Body. Li Li Leung comes to USAG from a global sponsorships position with the NBA: excellent credentials to get the federation moving forward.

Thursday: The Paris 2024 organizers announced that they will ask the IOC to approve four added sports for its Games: Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, Surfing and Breakdancing. There are good reasons to add these sports, and to turn away sports like Baseball/Softball, Karate and others.

Friday: The International Boxing Association (AIBA) passed several noteworthy rule changes in its Executive Board meeting in Turkey, especially the introduction of a procedure to challenge bad judging decisions right after a bout is completed. But the federation is also still whining about its suspension by the IOC, by asking why the qualification procedure for Tokyo 2020 is not yet complete.

ALPINE SKIING

Monday: A record-tying 14th win in this World Cup season for American superstar Mikaela Shiffrin, in the City Event in Stockholm (SWE).

ATHLETICS

Wednesday: Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen upset new 1,500 m world-record setter SamuelTefera (ETH) in the 1,500 m in the Dusseldorf World Indoor Tour meet. Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV) laimed a world-leading time of 7.02 in the women’s 60 m, beating prior world leader Ewa Swoboda (POL).

Thursday: Preview of the USATF National Indoor Championships start Friday, and are back in New York – Staten Island this time – for the first time since 2002. The fields include five 2019 world indoor leaders and 10 defending champions, including double defender (1,500/3,000 m) Shelby Houlihan.

PREVIEWS

● Alpine Skiing: World Cup resumes in Bansko (men) and Crans-Montana (women)
● Badminton: Spanish Masters in Barcelona
● Basketball: Final qualifying matches in the Americas sector
● Bobsled & Skeleton: Final World Cup of the season in Calgary
● Fencing: First Sabre Grand Prix of the season, in Cairo
● Freestyle: World Cups in Aerials (Minsk), Ski Cross (Sunny Valley), Moguls (Tazawako)
● Gymnastics: First Artistic World Cup in Melbourne
● Judo: Grand Slam in Dusseldorf
● Luge: Final World Cup of the season in Sochi
● Nordic Skiing: World Championships are underway in Seefeld
● Shooting: First ISSF World Cup of the season, in New Delhi
● Snowboard: Parallel World Cup season titles on the line in Secret Garden
● Speed Skating: World Sprint Championships in Heerenveen

UPCOMING

Highlights of the coming week, with previews in the coming days on TheSportsExaminer.com:

● Cycling: UCI World Track Championships in Pruszkow, Poland

● Football: U.S. women in the She Believes Cup vs. Japan and England

● Nordic Skiing: World Championships in Cross Country, Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping

We’ll have coverage of a busy week, with 26 events on the international calendar!

THE BIG PICTURE: Boxing federation implements judging challenge rule

By
Rich Perelman
-

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) completed two days of Executive Committee meetings in Istanbul (TUR), with a significant modification to its competition format that recognizes the continuing frustration with refereeing and judging at its championship events.

AIBA’s statement noted that “the new protest bout rule was passed with unanimous support, this new rule featuring a video review scheme will introduce the right of a national federation to make a protest onsite at the competition should they believe that a judging decision was made incorrectly. Similar rules have been adapted by other sport organisations, such as the International Tennis Federation.”

The specifics of the rule weren’t disclosed, but having a way to reverse obvious bad decisions is a positive move forward, and completes a project that surfaced last September during the Asian Games in Indonesia. Two North Korean boxing coaches refused to leave the ring after a controversial decision went against their fighter, just the latest protest against bad judging.

During that event, AIBA executive director Tom Virgets (USA) said in an interview, “AIBA has a responsibility to ensure fair play and we’re going to make sure that happens. We’re going to have a protest committee in place because even in the best of times there will be [controversial] decisions, officials get tired, it’s like any other sport that is subjective.”

“No protest is [currently] permitted and the decisions of the referee in a bout are final. Years ago we had a right to protest. [AIBA] felt it was being abused. They removed it from the rules. I think we swung the pendulum too far. We should have just corrected the process to get rid of the abuses, instead we did away with the protests. I think that increased the problems, because it increased the frustration by not having any avenue to see if a perceived wrong could be corrected.”

“Now the AIBA executive committee has voted to have a protest allowed and right now we are investigating different tools to use in order to have an appropriate process. The technical rules committee is working on that and in the very near future we are going to see this rule implemented across all out competitions.”

AIBA also approved allowing hijabs to be work by boxers for religious reasons and formed an Athlete’s Committee, but both of these needed to be done to stay in the good graces of the IOC in advance of its Executive Committee meeting in March, when AIBA’s status will be reviewed again.

However, AIBA’s summary of the Executive Committee meeting included more whining about not having an agreed-on schedule for Olympic qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Games. The summary quoted Vice President Franco Falcinelli (ITA): “Is it really in the best interest of our athletes or the so-called protection for our boxers and our sport to wait until the end of June for them to know their participation to the Olympic Games? […] why put boxing’s presence in the Olympic Games in strong doubts for so long?”

This is silly and will not help AIBA with the IOC. Even a glance at the qualification process for the 2016 Rio Games showed that the qualifying events primarily included the men’s World Championships in the year before the Rio Games, the 2016 women’s World Championships and six qualifying tournaments held between March and July, 2016.

There is plenty of time. The 2019 World Championships will be held in Russia, from 7-21 September for the men (in Yekaterinburg) and 3-13 October for the women (in Ulan Ude).

LANE ONE: Think politics and sports don’t mix? They mix, but pretty badly right now

By
Rich Perelman
-

During his 20-year term as the head of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage often insisted that “sports and politics don’t mix.”

He found out, to his horror and that of the entire world, that they do mix and can mix very badly, as Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 members of the Israeli Olympic delegation at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, just as his term was ending.

They have been mixing and mixing and mixing ever since. Boycotts in 1976, 1980 and 1984, an incredibly delicate situation to avoid another in 1988 in Korea and then a period of relative calm.

But we are back to the bad old days in multiple ways:

● After a car bombing in India by a Pakistan-based militant group that killed more than 40 people, India promised retaliation and, as part of its reaction, refused to issue entry visas for two Pakistani shooters for the Int’l Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup starting in New Delhi.

The ISSF and the organizing committee tried to resolve the issue and couldn’t do it in time, so the International Olympic Committee withdrew recognition for the 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol event for Olympic qualification. It was the only event that the two Paktistani shooters were entered.

The IOC issued a statement, noting in part, “As a result, the IOC Executive Board also decided to suspend all discussions with the Indian NOC and government regarding the potential applications for hosting future sports and Olympic-related events in India, until clear written guarantees are obtained from the Indian government to ensure the entry of all participants in such events in full compliance with the rules of the Olympic Charter – and to recommend that the IFs neither award to nor hold sports events in India until the +above-mentioned guarantees are obtained.”

● The two Koreas continue to work together in the sports area, with plans being made for joint teams in a few sports for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and a joint Korean bid for Seoul and Pyongyang for 2032.

The IOC was all smiles on this one, praising the continued cooperation between the two countries, and adding “Even though the candidature process for 2032 has not yet started, the IOC welcomes this initiative and is prepared to assist the two Koreas to further develop this project. In this regard, the IOC stands ready to place its expertise at their disposal, and would welcome a visit to the IOC by a joint working group to explore the possibilities.”

But the highly-respected GamesBids.com site noted the obvious: “North Korea would have to address several formidable obstacles that would prevent the embattled nation from even being considered to host Olympic events. Issues with human rights and trade sanctions top the exhaustive list, and on Thursday the World Anti-Doping Agency declared North Korea’s lab non-compliant – a violation that could come with additional sanctions preventing its athletes from participating in the Olympics.”

● The political agendas of multiple continue to cause issues for athletes, especially from Israel and Kosovo.

Spain of all places refused to allow Kosovo karatekas to compete in the World Championships in Madrid last November. IOC Deputy Director Pere Miro said “If the Spanish Government are not [able] to guarantee the access not only to Kosovo but to every athlete to compete, we should warn all international federations that, until this is solved, they should not hold international competitions there.”

Israel has had this problem for decades, but are getting some help from International Federations like the International Judo Federation. It pulled tournaments from Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates because of its discriminatory policies against Israel, and then went ahead and awarded Israel a Grand Prix tournament of its own. The UAE backed down and allowed Israeli athletes to compete like all others at the reinstated Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last November.

● The Ukraine has hardly forgotten the annexation of the Crimea region by Russia in 2014. It will not field a team for the Winter World University Games in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, taking place from 2-12 March.

Interestingly, the head of the federation for university sport (FISU), led by a Russian professor, said there would be no penalty imposed on the Ukrainian federation.

There is a lot of speculation already about the selection of the 2032 Olympic host city, with Los Angeles already set for 2028. The vote on 2032 won’t come until 2025, so it’s mostly a waste of time. But the bidders are already lining up and in addition to familiar sites like Australia, Germany, maybe Argentina and even Russia, there are also political problem children like North Korea, now India, also Indonesia, and China.

Politics and sports are forever going to be together and the real question is how the IOC – as the leader of the international sports world, a role it knows it owns – is dealing with it. They set the standard and many others, especially the International Federations, follow.

And it appears the IOC’s position is hardening. Miro’s comments concerning Spain mentioned possibly “warning” federations not to hold events in offending countries. Thursday’s IOC statement about India was definitive: no discussions about future IOC events and “recommend that the IFs neither award to nor hold sports events in India” until it guarantees entry for everyone.

There are plenty of folks who don’t like the IOC, or any governing body, for their own reasons, whether real or imagined. But IOC chief Thomas Bach likes to talk about the organization as “values based” and the political arena is a perfect venue to demonstrate this.

The IOC isn’t a country, does not issue visas and has no army, navy or air force. But the popularity of the Olympic Games and the worldwide impact of sports allow the IOC to have considerable influence in making countries behave … if they want to take part.

And almost everyone wants to take part. So this is the IOC’s chance to set the rules and enforce them, not only against countries, but also the international federations. Maybe it can show that while politics and sports are all part of the same mix, maybe sports can be a time to put politics aside.

Rich Perelman
Editor

SPEED SKATING Preview: Bowe after third World Sprint title in Heerenveen

By
Rich Perelman
-
American sprint star Brittany Bowe (Photo: ISU)

The 50th edition of the ISU World Sprint Championships will be held on Saturday and Sunday in Heerenveen (NED), with 500 m and 1,000 m races held for both men and women each day.

Only 28 men and 28 women will be competing, with the winners to be determined by the combined time of their two races. The ISU qualification rankings coming into the event, based on points earned for their best times in each distance:

● Men (combined points):
1. 68,415 Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) ~ 2015 & 2016 winner
2. 68.930 Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR) ~ Defending Champion
3. 68.995 Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN)
4. 69,140 Viktor Mushtakov (RUS)
5. 69,180 Kjeld Nuis (NED) ~ 2016 & 2018 silver, 2017 bronze

● Women (combined points):
1. 74,320 Brittany Bowe (USA) ~ 2015 & 2016 winner; 2018 silver
2. 74,330 Nao Kodaira (JPN) ~ 2017 Champion
3. 74,510 Vanessa Herzog (AUT)
4. 74,970 Olga Fatkulina (RUS) ~ 2018 bronze
5. 75,185 Miho Takagi (JPN)

Bowe has been brilliant this season, coming all the way back from a 2016 concussion, and won the 1,000 at the recent World Single Distance Championships. But Herzog won the 500 m and was runner-up in the 1,000 m; Kodaira was second at 500 m and third at 1,000 m. Those three should be battling for the title.

Lorentzen was dominant last year and won silver in the 500 m at the Single Distance Championships. Kulizhnikov was terrific during the World Cup, but can be come through with top races at both distances?

Look for results here.

LUGE Preview: World Cup final in Sochi, with the men’s title up for grabs

By
Rich Perelman
-
German luge superstar Felix Loch (Photo: Sandro Halank via Wikipedia)

The final FIL World Cup of the 2018-19 season is in Sochi (RUS), site of th infamous 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Two of the three season titles have essentially been decided, but the men’s division is still very much in play. The standings:

● Men’s Singles:
1. 598 Johannes Ludwig (GER)
2. 588 Semen Pavlichenko (RUS)
3. 583 Felix Loch (GER) ~ Defending champion
4. 580 Reinhard Egger (AUT)
5. 548 Roman Repilov (RUS)

● Men’s Doubles:
1. 895 Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken (GER) ~ Defending champion
2. 712 Thomas Steu/Lorenz Koller (AUT)
3. 698 Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (GER)
4. 591 Andris Sics/Juris Sics (LAT)
5. 463 Vladislav Yuzhakov/Yuri Prokhorov (RUS)
6. 459 Chris Mazdzer/Jayson Terdiman (USA)

● Women’s Singles:
1. 882 Natalie Geisenberger (GER) ~ Defending champion
2. 706 Julia Taubitz (GER)
3. 556 Summer Britcher (USA)
4. 516 Tatyana Ivanova (RUS)
5. 480 Tajana Huefner (GER)

The FIL World Cup is scored 100-85-70-60-55 for the top five places and on down to 40th, and both a standard race and a Sprint will be held. Geisenberger is well positioned to win her seventh straight Wold Cup title and Eggert and Benecken should win their third straight World Cup crown in the Doubles.

For Britcher, this would be her highest career finish in a seasonal World Cup if she is able to maintain her third-place standing.

The men’s division has been owned by Loch, the six-time champion who won five in a row from 2012-16, and again last season. With just 18 points separating the first four, anything can happen!

Look for results here.

BOBSLED & SKELETON Preview: Season titles on the line in World Cup finale in Calgary

By
Rich Perelman
-

The eighth and final World Cup of the 2018-19 season is upon us, this year in Calgary (CAN) with all of the season titles on the line. The standings:

● Men’s 2:
1. 1,575 Francesco Friedrich (GER) ~ Seven races, seven wins
2. 1,388 Oskats Kibermanis (LAT) ~ Two silvers, three bronzes
3. 1,038 Nico Walther (GER)
4. 1,016 Dominik Dvorak (CZE)
5. 948 Yun-Jong Won (KOR)

● Men’s 4:
1. 1,502 Francesco Friedrich (GER) ~ Four wins, one silver, one bronze
2. 1,424 Oskars Kibermans (LAT) ~ Four silvers, one bronze
3. 1,405 Johannes Lochner (GER) ~ One win, two silvers, two bronzes
4. 1,321 Nico Walther (GER) ~ One win, two bronzes
5. 1,320 Maxim Andrianov (RUS) ~ One bronze

● Women’s 2:
1. 1,487 Mariama Jamanka (GER) ~ Three wins, two silvers, one bronze
2. 1,396 Stephanie Schneider (GER) ~ Two wins, one silver, two bronzes
3. 1,304 Anna Kohler (GER) ~ One bronze
4. 1,260 Elana Meyers Taylor (USA) ~ Two wins, one second, two bronzes
5. 1,202 Nadezhda Sergeeva (RUS) ~ One bronze

Bobsleigh World Cup scoring has a lot of points: 225-210-200-192-184 for the top five and on down to 50 points for 23rd. So there could be significant jostling of positions if a sled crashes or is otherwise off its game.

Meyers Taylor was disqualified in Innsbruck (AUT) in the season opener because her sled weighed in light. Otherwise, she could be second and breathing down the neck of Jamanka; as it is, Meyers Taylor still has a good shot at moving up to third this week.

This is the first World Cup in Calgary since 2014, and the availability of track means that the Skeleton races canceled in Konigssee (GER) due to weather can be made up. The standings:

● Men:
1. 1,269 Alexander Tretiakov (RUS) ~ Three wins, one silver
2. 1,245 Sung-bin Yun (KOR) ~ One win, two silver, three bronzes
3. 1,161 Nikita Tregubov (RUS) ~ One win, two bronzes
4. 1,141 Martins Dukurs (LAT) ~ One win, two silvers
5. 1,122 Axel Jungk (GER) ~ One silver, one bronze

● Women:
1. 1,287 Elena Nikitina (RUS) ~ Three wins, two silvers
2. 1,244 Jacqueline Loelling (GER) ~ Two wins, one silver, two bronzes
3. 1,162 Tina Hermann (GER) ~ One silver, one bronze
4. 1,056 Sophia Griebel (GER)
5. 961 Mirela Rahneva (CAN) ~ One win

American Kendall Wesenberg has moved into sixth place in the women’s standings with 888 points, thanks to a third-place finish in Lake Placid last week.

NBC’s Olympic Channel has coverage from Calgary on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, and on Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern. Look for results here.

GYMNASTICS Preview: World Cup season begins in Melbourne

By
Rich Perelman
-
Ageless gymnast Oksana Chusovitina (UZB)

The first FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup is underway at the Hisense Arena in Melbourne (AUS), with 95 gymnasts from 33 countries entered, although none are from the U.S.

This is an apparatus World Cup, so no All-Around competition will be held. Qualification to limit the finals to eight gymnasts is scheduled through Friday, with finals on Saturday and Sunday.

The field includes five 2018 World Championships medal winners and an all-time great from Ukraine, still going strong at 43:

• Carlos Yulo (PHI) ~ 2018 World Champs Floor bronze medalist
• Chih-Kai Lee (TPE) ~ 2018 World Champs Pommel Horse bronze medalist
• Arthur Zanetti (BRA) ~ 2018 World Champs Rings silver medalist
• Epke Zonderland (NED) ~ 2018 World Champs Horizontal Bar gold medalist

• Alexa Moreno (MEX) ~ 2018 World Champs Vault bronze medalist
• Oksana Chusovitina (UKR) ~ two Olympic medals for USSR and Germany, 11 World Champs medals for URS-GER-UZB; 1991 World Floor champ and 2003 World Vault champion

There is prize money of CHF 1,000-750-500-300-250-200-150-100 for the top eight places. Look for results here.

SHOOTING: First ISSF World Cup overshadowed by Pakistan visa issue

By
Rich Perelman
-

The ISSF World Cup in New Delhi (IND) was supposed to be an opportunity for Olympic qualification for Tokyo in 2020, but the competition has already been impacted by politics.

First, the schedule:

• 23 Feb.: Women/10 m Air Rifle
• 24 Feb.: Men/50 m Rifle/3 Pos., Men/10 m Air Pistol, Women/25 m Pistol
• 25 Feb.: Men/10 m Air Rifle
• 26 Feb.: Women/50 m Rifle/3 Pos., Women/10 m Air Pistol, Men/25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol
• 27 Feb.: Mixed 10 m Air Rifle, Mixed 10 m Air Pistol

Now the controversy.

The government of India, in the latest chapter of its eternal strain with Pakistan after a 14 February bombing that killed 40, refused entry visas to two Pakistani shooters scheduled to compete in the 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol event. The ISSF got involved to try and resolve the issue, but nothing happened quickly and on Thursday (21st), the International Olympic Committee refused to recognize the 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol event as valid for Olympic qualification:

“The IOC restricted the withdrawal of recognition as an Olympic qualification event to the 25m rapid fire pistol competition in which the two Pakistani athletes were supposed to participate. This happened in the interest of the other 500 athletes from 61 countries participating in the other events who are already in India for their competition.”

The ISSF’s statement noted that “the ISSF and the Organizing Committee are discussing the possible consequences for India as a host country for future international competitions, in all sports.”

So one of the events is tainted, but the rest of the show will go on. It’s too bad, since the 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol event is the only one which has both a 2016 Olympic Champion and the 2018 World Champion entered. There are four 2016/2018 gold medalists in the field:

● Xuan Vinh Hoang (VIE) ~ 10 m Air Pistol Olympic Champion
● Junmin Lin (CHN) ~ 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol World Champion
● Christian Reitz (GER) ~ 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol Olympic Champion
● Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS) ~ 10 m Air Rifle World Champion

Olympic qualification slots are available to the first two finishers in each event (now excepting the 25 m Rapid-Fire Pistol). Slots have already been handed out at the 2018 World Championships in Changwon (KOR), and will be available in other competitions in the future.

The ISSF has excellent coverage and results data available here.

ATHLETICS Preview: USATF Indoor Champs start Friday on Staten Island

By
Rich Perelman
-

There was a time when the U.S. National Indoor Championships and New York – especially Madison Square Garden – were synonymous. But that was a long time ago and the long run at the Garden ended in 1993 after 24 straight years there (and dozens of years before).

But the USATF Indoors is back in New York – at least on Staten Island – in the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex. It’s the first time since 2002 that the meet is in New York, when it was held at the Armory, now the site of the Millrose Games.

The meet runs from Friday through Sunday, with the first day devoted to the men’s Heptathlon, women’s Pentathlon and the weight throws.

As this is not a World Indoor Championships year, the events list is an odd one on the track: 60 m, 300 m, 600 m, 1,000 m, mile, two-mile, two-mile walk and the 60 m Hurdles. The field events are standard: high jump, vault, long jump, triple jump, shot and weight.

The top qualifiers by event (full list here):

Men’s 60 m:
6.55 Demek Kemp
6.55 John Teeters
6.59 Javelin Guidry

Men’s 300 m:
33.28 Marcus Chambers
33.42 Donatvius Wright
33.49 Jayon Woodard

Men’s 600 m:
1:15.93 Charles Jones
1:16.49 Quamel Prince
1:16.65 Byron Robinson

Men’s 1,000 m:
2:19.18 Brannon Kidder
2:19.35 Abraham Alvarado
2:20.05 Quamel Prince
(1:45.92 for 800 m: Clayton Murphy) ~ 2017 National Champion

Men’s Mile:
3:54.18 Craig Engels
3:55.52 John Gregorek
3:56.60 Samuel Prakel

Men’s Two Mile:
7:48.03 Eric Avila
7:48.72 Travis Mahoney
7:49.95 Brian Barraza

Men’s 60 m Hurdles:
7.56 Aaron Mallett
7.61 Devon Allen
7.64 Joshua Thompson

Men’s Two Mile Walk:
11:38.48 Nick Christie ~ 2015 & 2018 National Champion
11:45.76 John Cody Risch
12:04.22 Emmanuel Corvera

Men’s High Jump:
2.27 m Jeron Robinson (7-5 1/4)
2.24 m Bradley Atkins (7-4 1/2)
2.24 m Hiawatha CulverIII (7-4 1/2)
2.24 m JaCorian Duffield (7-4 1/2)

Men’s Pole Vault:
5.88 m Andrew Irwin (19-3 1/2)
5.71 m Scott Houston (18-8 3/4)
5.67 m Cole Walsh (18-7 1/4)

Men’s Long Jump:
7.92 m Malik Moffett (26-0)
7.84 m Jordan Downs (25-8 3/4)
7.62 m Kenneth Wei (25-0)

Men’s Triple Jump:
17.18 m Chris Carter (56-4 1/2) ~ 2014 & 2016 National Champion
16.76 m Donald Scott (55-0)
15.98 m Troy Carodine Jr. (52-5 1/4)

Men’s Shot Put:
22.33 m Ryan Crouser (73-3 1/4) ~ World Indoor Leader
20.86 m Joe Kovacs (68-5 1/4)
20.22 m Olayinka Awotunde (66-4 1/4)

Men’s Weight:
24.06 m Daniel Haugh (78-11 1/4) ~ Co-World Indoor Leader
23.65 m Grant Cartwright (77-7 1/4)
23.63 m Alex Young (77-6 1/2)

Women’s 60 m:
7.13 Aleia Hobbs
7.25 Shania Collins
7.32 Kate Hall

Women’s 300 m:
36.30 Brittany Brown ~ World Indoor Leader
36.75 Jordan Lavender
37.03 Gabby Thomas

Women’s 600 m:
1:26.75 Olivia Baker
1:27.31 Raevyn Rogers
1:27.36 Athing Mu

Women’s 1,000 m:
2:02.65 Alexandra Wilson
2:02.92 Emily Richards
2:03.08 Hanna Green
(1:58.60 for 800 m for Ajee Wilson) ~ World Indoor Leader & 4x National Champion
(1:59.75 for 800 m for Ce’Aira Brown)

Women’s Mile:
4:22.86 Colleen Quigley
4:24.97 Kate Grace
4:24.88 Elinor Purrier
(no time, but declared; Shelby Houlihan) ~ 2017 & 2018 National Champion

Women’s Two Mile:
8:52.27 Emma Coburn
8:56.68 Amanda Eccleston
8:56.87 Heather Kampf
(no time, but declared: Shelby Houlihan) ~ 2017 & 2018 National Champion
(no time, but declared: Colleen Quigley)

Women’s 60 m Hurdles:
7.91 Evonne Britton
8.01 Sharika Nelvis ~ 2018 National Champion
8.06 Amber Hughes

Women’s 3,000 m Walk:
7:16.95 Kayla Shapiro
7:18.87 Maria Michta-Coffey ~ 9-time defending champion
7:20.33 Chelsea Conway

Women’s High Jump:
1.95 m Vashti Cunningham (6-4 3/4) ~ three-time defending champion
1.87 m Tynita Butts (6-1 1/2)
1.85 m Inika McPherson (6-0 3/4)

Women’s Pole Vault:
4.86 m Katie Nageotte (15-11 1/4) ~ 2018 National Champion
4.63 m Kortney Ross (15-2 1/4)
4.61 m Annie Rhodes (15-1 1/2)

Women’s Long Jump:
6.52 m Kate Hall (21-4 3/4)
6.49 m Quanesha Burks (21-3 1/2)
6.46 m Kendall Williams (21-2 1/2)

Women’s Triple Jump:
14.57 m Tori Franklin (47-9 3/4) ~ Two-time defending champion
14.39 m Keturah Orji (47-2 1/2)
13.63 m Lynnika Pitts (44-8 3/4)

Women’s Shot Put:
19.28 m Maggie Ewen (63-3 1/4)
18.84 m Chase Ealey (61-9 3/4)
18.73 m Jessica Ramsey (61-5 1/2)

Women’s Weight:
24.82 m Janeah Stewart (81-5 1/4) ~ World Indoor Leader
24.57 m Deanna Price (80-7 1/2) ~ 2018 National Champion
24.11 m Kaitlyn Long (79-1 1/4)

As shown above, several women have winning streaks on the line: Mitcha-Coffey has won nine walks in a row; Cunningham has three straight high jump wins and Franklin has won the last two triple jumps.

Prize money is $6,000-4,000-2,500-1,500-1,000 for the top five places. NBCSN has coverage of the meet on Saturday from 6:30-8 p.m. Eastern time and on Sunday from 4-6 p.m. Eastern. Look for the link to results here.

THE BIG PICTURE: Paris 2024 asks for four added sports: three from 2020, one new

By
Rich Perelman
-

The International Olympic Committee went back to the past when it allowed Tokyo 2020 to propose added sports for its program, as used to be done through the 1972 Games in Munich.

Paris 2024 released its request for four sports – but without any details as to events or competitors – and asked to add Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, Surfing and Breakdancing.

Two sports from Tokyo are not proposed to continue: Baseball and Softball, and Karate.

These choices make perfect sense as add-ons for Paris for one reason: none require a permanent venue.

Given that the organizing committee is already under pressure on finances, having “guaranteed” that the governmental contribution will not exceed the promised €1.5 billion, that’s critical.

Moreover, it may be possible to use parts of the venue for BMX Freestyle in cycling for the Skateboarding events, and nothing more than an open park is needed for climbing and “breaking.”

Believe or not, surfing can be done in an off-the-water, artificial facility, away from the open ocean. Surfing icon Kelly Slater has created a “wave machine” that can work in a 14-acre, man-made lagoon; it requires a lot of space, but could be erected and than removed (or remain as a local attraction).

Each of the four sports proposed by Paris has another advantage: small numbers.

The Tokyo program of five added sports will bring 447 athletes to compete in 18 events. But most of those are in Baseball (144) and Softball (90) – more than half of the total. For 2020, the athlete count for Skateboarding, Surfing and Sport Climbing is limited to 40 athletes each or 120 total. If Breakdancing follows suit, that would mean only 160 athletes – not 447 – would be added to the overall athlete total, supposedly limited to 10,500.

That helps. And some of these events could be held away from Paris. How about the Breakdancing event in the historic 240-by-34 foot Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles? (That would be unbelievable, but great!)

The Paris 2024 selection creates losers, of course. Baseball and Softball and Karate, all very popular in Japan, would leave the program if the Paris program request is approved. Billiards, Chess and Squash all campaigned publicly for inclusion and numerous other sports inquired.

There are aspects of the suggested 2024 sports which are problematic. There are significant parts of the skateboarding community which are not excited about being on the Olympic program, or which recognize the governing structure of the sport for Olympic purposes. The same will be true for Breakdancing, where the line between art and sport is being blurred.

It should also be pointed out that all four of these sports are formatted in ways which could limit their popularity. Skateboarding, Surfing and Breakdancing are all judged sports, opening the door for plenty of controversy. Climbing is a measured sport, but the scoring for the Bouldering phase is so obtuse as to be a disincentive to following it. Perhaps that aspect can be fixed in the future.

The four sports proposed by Paris 2024 must be approved by the IOC’s Executive Board next month and then finally approved by the entire IOC when it meets in June.

JUDO Preview: Eight no. 1-ranked judoka in Dusseldorf Grand Slam

By
Rich Perelman
-

A huge field of 683 judoka from 97 countries is assembled in Dusseldorf (GER) for the Grand Slam at the 6,500-seat ISS Dome, starting on Friday. Four no. 1-ranked men and women are entered and there are two potential no. 1 vs. no. 2 clashes. The top seeds:

Men:

● -60 kg:
1. Robert Mshvidobadze (RUS: 1)
2. Ryuju Nagayama (JPN: 4)
3. Francisco Garrigos (ESP: 8)

● -66 kg:
1. Vazha Margvelashvili (GEO: 1)
2. Joshiro Maruyama (JPN: 4)
3. Tal Flicker (ISR: 5)

● -73 kg:
1. Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO: 2)
2. Rustam Orujov (AZE: 4)
3. Tommy Macias (SWE: 5)

● -81 kg:
1. Frank de Wit (NED: 2)
2. Dominic Ressel (GER: 6)
3. Aslan Lappinagov (RUS: 8)

● -90 kg:
1. Nikoloz Sherazadishvili (ESP: 1)
2. Aleksandar Kukolj (SRB: 3)
3. Ivan Felipe Silva Morales (CUB: 4)

● -100 kg:
1. Varlam Liparteliani (GEO: 1)
2. Guham Cho (KOR: 3)
3. Michael Korrel (NED: 5)

● +100 kg:
1. Duurenbayar Ulziibayar (MGL: 4)
2. Sungmin Kim (KOR: 5)
3. Rafael Silva (BRA: 7)

Women:

● -48 kg:
1. Funa Tonaki (JPN: 3)
2. Milica Nikolic (SRB: 8)
3. Otgonsetseg Galbadrakh (KAZ: 3)

● -52 kg:
1. Amandine Buchard Nordmeyer (FRA: 1)
2. Evelyne Tschopp (SUI: 8)
3. Gili Cohen (ISR: 10)

● -57 kg:
1. Tsukasa Yoshida (JPN: 1)
2. Sumiya Dorjsuren (MGL: 3)
3. Nekoda Smythe-Davis (GBR: 4)

● -63 kg:
1. Clarisse Agbegnenou (FRA: 1)
2. Tina Trstenjak (SLO: 2)
3. Andreja Leski (SLO: 4)

● -70 kg:
1. Marie Eve Gahie (CRA: 2)
2. Sanne van Dijke (NED: 4)
3. Anna Bernholm (SWE: 7)

● -78 kg:
1. Guusje Steenhuis (NED: 2)
2. Madeleine Malonga (FRA: 3)
3. Natalie Powell (GBR: 5)

● +78 kg:
1. Idalys Ortiz (CUB: 1)
2. Larisa Ceric (BIH: 2)
3. Sarah Asahina (JPN: 3)

The women’s 63 kg class has France’s Agbegnenou, a three-time World Champion and no. 1-ranked and second-ranked Trstenjak (SLO), the 2016 Olympic gold medalist. Even deeper is the +78 kg division, with no. 1-ranked Ortiz (CUB: 2012 Olympic gold medalist), Ceric of Bosnia-Herzegovina (no. 2: 2018 Worlds bronze medalist) and 2018 World Champion and third-ranked Asahina (JPN).

Prize money is $5,000-3,000-1,500 for the top three places. Look for results here.

FENCING Preview: Three ranked Americans in action in Cairo Sabre Grand Prix

By
Rich Perelman
-
American Sabre star Eli Dershwitz

The first Sabre Grand Prix of the 2018-19 season is on in Caito (EGY) with a large field of 142 men and 130 women, drawing nearly all of the top-ranked Sabre-istas in the world:

● Men:
1. Eli Dershwitz (USA) ~ 2018 World Championships silver medalist
2. Bon-Gil Gu (KOR) ~ 2017 Worlds silver medalist
4. Aron Szilagyi (HUN) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion
5. Sang-Uk Oh (KOR) ~ 2018 World Team gold medalist
6. Luca Curatoli (ITA) ~ 2018 World Team silver medalist
7. Kamil Ibragimov (RUS) ~ 2017 & 2018 Worlds bronze medalist
8. Andras Szatmari (HUN) ~ 2017 World Champion
9. Max Hartung (GER)
10. Luigi Samele (ITA)

● Women:
1. Sofya Velikaya (RUS) ~ 2018 Worlds silver medalist
2. Anna Marton (HUN)
3. Cecilia Berder (FRA) ~ 2018 World Team gold medalist
4. Olha Kharlan (UKR) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze medalist
5. Bianca Pascu (ROU)
6. Sofia Pozdniakova (RUS) ~ 2018 World Champion
7. Ji-Yeon Kim (KOR) ~ 2018 World Team Champs bronze medalist
9. Dagmara Wozniak (USA) ~ 2016 Olympic Team bronze medalist
10. Anne-Elizabeth Stone (USA) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist

Since his silver medal in the 2018 World Championships, Dershwitz has fenced twice, finishing 17th in the Algiers (ALG) World Cup in November and winning in Warsaw (POL) on 1 February. Look for results here.

SNOWBOARD Preview: Parallel season titles on the line in Secret Garden

By
Rich Perelman
-

China hosts the eighth and ninth Snowboard Parallel races this weekend in Secret Garden, a ski resort about 112 miles northwest of Beijing. The season titles likely won’t be clinched this week, but with only two more races, much will be decided. The leaders:

● Men/Parallel Giant Slalom:
1. 2,960 Andreas Prommegger (AUT)
2. 2,290 Roland Fischnaller (ITA)
3. 1,936 Tim Mastnak (SLO)
4. 1,920 Benjamin Karl (AUT)
5. 1,740 Edwin Coratti (ITA)

● Men/Parallel Slalom:
1. 1,600 Dario Caviezel (SUI)
2. 1,360 Andrey Sobolev (RUS)
3. 1,220 Stefan Baumeister (GER)
4. 780 Benjamin Karl (AUT)
5. 710 Nevin Galmarini (SUI)

● Women/Parallel Giant Slalom:
1. 3,400 Ester Ledecka (CZE)
2. 2,590 Nadya Ochner (ITA)
3. 2,529 Selina Joerg (GER)
4. 2,480 Sabine Schoeffmann (AUT)
5. 2,230 Natalia Soboleva (RUS)

● Women/Parallel Slalom:
1. 1,400 Sabine Schoeffmann (AUT)
2. 1,290 Claudia Riegler (AUT)
3. 1,220 Julie Zogg (SUI)
4. 870 Aleksandra Krol (POL)
5. 800 Selina Joerg (GER)

Among the men, no one has won more than one event this season; Karl has the most medals with three. Ledecka has two wins and four medals to lead the women’s division; Schoeffmann also has four medals, but no wins (0-2-2).

Look for results here.

FREESTYLE SKIING Preview: More Mikael Kingsbury magic coming in Japan?

By
Rich Perelman
-
Canada's Moguls superstar Mikael Kingsbury (Photo: Wikipedia/Clement Bucco-Lechat)

The Freestyle Skiing World Cup has a big weekend ahead, with Aerials action in Minsk (BLR), Moguls in Tazawako (JPN) and Ski Cross in Sunny Valley (RUS).

In Minsk, the Aerials competition will be held on Saturday only and is the third of four competitions in the discipline this season. The winners so far:

Men:
● Lake Placid: Maxim Burov (RUS)
● Moscow: Stanislav Nikitin (RUS)

Women:
● Lake Placid: Mangtao Xu (CHN)
● Moscow: Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya (BLR)

Burov is the defending seasonal champion in the men’s division and Xu has won the last two World Cup titles. Look for results here.

In Tazawako, both a Moguls and Dual Moguls event will be held and that means it’s Mikael Kingsbury time. The double World Champion from Park City has five career wins in Tazawako and has won both events on the weekend twice before (2015, 2017). He can wrap up his eighth straight Moguls World Cup title this weekend, as he has a 545-375 lead over France’s Benjamin Cavet.

This is the second of three Dual Moguls competitions, with Kingsbury having won the opener over Oskar Olofsson (SWE) and Cavet. Interestingly, Kingsbury was second in both events last year at Tazawako to Japan’s Ikuma Horishima.

The women’s Moguls race is still up for grabs, with France’s Perrine Laffont (500) leading Jakara Anthony (AUS: 405) and American Jaelin Kauf (400). Kauf won the first Dual Moguls event, over Laffont and Yulia Galysheva (KAZ). Look for results here.

In Sunny Valley (RUS), the ninth and 10th races of the 11-race Ski Cross season will take place. The seasonal standings:

● Men:
1. 496 Bastien Midol (FRA)
2. 383 Jean Frederic Chapuis (FRA)
3. 333 Alex Fiva (SUI)

● Women:
1. 563 Fanny Smith (SUI)
2. 550 Sandra Naeslund (SWE)
3. 470 Marielle Thompson (CAN)

Last year’s winners were Jonas Lenherr (SUI) and Kevin Drury (CAN) for the men, and Smith (SUI) and Naeslund (SWE) for the women. Look for results here.

ATHLETICS: Jakob Ingebrigtsen upsets Tefera in Dusseldorf, as Ta Lou runs 7.02

By
Rich Perelman
-
Star sprinter Marie Josee Ta Lou (CIV) (Photo: Erik van Leeuwen via Wikipedia)

The race to watch at the final stop on the IAAF World Indoor Tour in Dusseldorf (GER) was supposed to be the men’s 1,500m, pitting the entire Ingebrigtsen family from Norway against the new world-record holder, Samuel Tefera of Ethiopia.

But someone forgot to tell Marie Josee Ta Lou (CIV).

She had the fastest time by far in the heats at 7.14, then stormed ahead after the first third of the final and raced to the finish in a world-leading 7.02.

“Before the race my coach told me that if I get a good start I could run 7.10,” she said. “So to get a big PB today was amazing.”

How fast is 7.02? Only Elaine Thompson (JAM: 6.98 in 2017) and Murielle Ahoure (CIV: 6.97 in 2018) have run faster over the last three years!

As to the men’s 1,500, it was a battle of the teen stars, as 19-year-old Tefera maintained the lead in the second half of the race. He had a four-meter lead with two laps to go, but by the bell, he and Jakob Ingebrigtsen – still 18 – were even.

Jakob had plenty of run left in him and broke away from Tefera on the final straight, winning in a personal indoor best of 3:36.02, while Tefera finished in 3:36.34.

Said Ingebrigtsen afterwards, “I felt good. You always have some negative thoughts, going from zero at the start to that kind of pace. But through the race I started feeling better. From there on (the goal) was just to beat Tefera. I ran 3:36 a couple weeks ago and now I’m in better shape than in that race. So obviously I could have run a few seconds faster, but today it was all about winning.”

 

The other highlights include Bingtian Su (CHN) running 6.49 in the men’s 60 m, the second-fastest time in the world this season, behind only his own 6.47. American Nathan Strother won his section of the 400 m in 46.48 and won the Tour title.

American Jarret Eaton false-started out of the heats of the 60 m hurdles, as did Spain’s Orlando Ortega, but Ortega was reinstated after a protest. He ended up winning the final in 7.52. Summaries:

IAAF World Tour
Dusseldorf (GER) ~ 20 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

60 m: 1. Bingtian Su (CHN), 6.49; 2. Bryce Robinson (USA), 6.57; 3. Michael Rodgers (USA), 6.57. Also: 7. Chris Belcher (USA), 6.68.

400 m/ Race 1: Oscar Husillos (ESP), 46.96; 2. Luka Janezic (SLO), 47.10; 3. Luguelin Santos (DOM), 47.46. Race 2: 1. Nathan Strother (USA), 46.48; 2. Pavel Maslak (CZE), 46.73; 3. Torben Junker (GER), 47.50.

800 m: 1. Alvaro de Arriba (ESP), 1:46.63; 2. Balazs Vindics (HUN), 1:47.87; 3. Aaron Botterman (BEL), 1:47.94.

1,500 m: 1. Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR), 3:36.02; 2. Samuel Tefera (ETH), 3:36.34; 3. Filip Ingebrigtsen (NOR), 3:38.62.

60 m Hurdles: 1. Orlando Ortega (ESP), 7.52; 2. Milan Trajkovic (CYP), 7.52; 3. Freddie Crittenden (USA), 7.60. Also: 4. Aaron Mallett (USA), 7.66.

High Jump: 1. Naoto Tobe (JPN), 2.34 m (7-8); 2. Yu Wang (CHN), 2.34 m (7-8); 3. Luis Joel Castro (PUR), 2.25 m (7-4 1/2).

Women

60 m: 1. Marie Jose Ta Lou (CIV), 7.02; 2. Ewa Swoboda (POL), 7.10; 3. Dafne Schippers (NED), 7.19.

400 m: 1. Lena Naumann (GER), 54.61; 2. Djamila Boehm (GER), 55.17; 3. Astrid Ingerbritsen (NOR), 55.35.

800 m: 1. Habitam Alemu (ETH), 2:00.70; 2. Shelayna Oskan-Clarke (GBR), 2:02.25; 3. Liga Velvere (LAT), 2:02.28.

Pole Vault: 1. Anzhelika Sidorova (RUS), 4.77 m (15-7 3/4); 2. Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou (GRE), 4.67 m (15-3 3/4); 3. Katerina Stefanidi (GRE), 4.62 m (15-1 3/4).

Triple Jump: 1. Yulimar Rojas (VEN), 14.46 m (47-5 1/4); 2. Patricia Mamona (POR), 14.22 m (46-8); 3. Kristiina Makela (FIN), 14.05 m (46-1 1/4).

Shot Put: 1. Christina Schwanitz (GER), 19.14 m (62-9 1/2); 2. Fanny Roos (SWE), 18.47 m (60-7 1/4); 3. Anita Marton (HUN), 18.34 m (60-2).

ATHLETICS Preview: IAAF World Indoor Tour ends in Dusseldorf on Wednesday

By
Rich Perelman
-

The sixth and final leg of the IAAF World Indoor Tour comes Wednesday at a sold-out Sportpark Arena in Dusseldorf (GER) for the PSD Bank Meeting. Beyond the individual match-ups are the Tour titles, which are worth $20,000 to the winners, plus an automatic entry into next year’s World Indoor Championships. The current Tour event leaders:

Men

● 400 m:
1. 30 Nathan Strother (USA)
2. 20 Pavel Maslak (CZE)
3. 19 Luka Janezic (SLO)

● 1,500 m:
1. 24 Bethwel Birgen (KEN)
2. 23 Samuel Tefera (ETH)
3. 17 Yomif Kejelcha (ETH)

● 60 m Hurdles:
1. 30 Jarret Eaton (USA) ~ clinched Tour championship
2. 19 Milan Trajkovic (CYP)
3. 17 Orlando Ortega (ESP)

● High Jump:
1. 20 Naoto Tobe (JPN) ~ clinched Tour championship
2. 10 Ilya Ivanyuk (RUS)
3. 7 four tied

● Long Jump:
1. 27 Juan Miguel Echevarria (CUB)
2. 20 Thobias Nilsson Montler (SWE)
3. 15 Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE)

Women

● 60 m:
1. 30 Ewa Swoboda (POL) ~ clinched Tour championship
2. 14 Dafne Schippers (NED)
3. 12 Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV)

● 800 m:
1. 10 Habitam Alemu (ETH)
1. 10 Shelayna Oskan-Clarke (GBR)
1. 10 Raevyn Rogers (USA)

● 3,000 m:
1. 27 Alemaz Samuel (ETH)
2. 10 Melissa Courtney (GBR)
2. 10 Konstanze Klosterhalfen (GER)

● Pole Vault:
1. 20 Katie Nageotte (USA)
1. 20 Anzhelika Sidorova (RUS)
1. 20 Katerina Stefanidi (GRE)

● Triple Jump:
1. 17 Yulimar Rojas (VEN)
2. 10 Patricia Momona (POR)
2. 10 Ana Peleteiro (ESP)

● Shot Put:
1. 17 Christina Schwanitz (GER)
2. 10 Maggie Ewen (USA)
2. 10 Jessica Ramsey (USA)

The top event on the program promises to be the men’s 1,500, with new world-record holder Tefera (3:31.04) facing series leader Birgen and all three of Norway’s Ingebrigtsen brothers, Filip, Hendrik and Jakob!

Poland’s Swoboda, the co-world leader in the 60 m at 7.08, will have face two top sprinters in Worlds medalists Dafne Schippers (NED) and Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV).

In the men’s 60 m – not a World Tour event – China’s Bingtian Su is also the world leader, at 6.47 in Birmingham (GBR) last week.

The meet is being streamed online here. Look for results here.

LANE ONE: Appreciating the amazing Mikaela Shiffrin: is she the finest skier ever?

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

In the midst of seasons and watching who wins and who loses, it’s easy to lose perspective when seeing an athlete having a historic season, or seasons.

Sometimes, it’s best to just enjoy seeing one of those special performers who are obviously one of the best to ever compete in their sport.

In the big American team sports, we say these are “Hall of Famers.” Mikaela Shiffrin is one of those, and she is still closer to the beginning of her career than to the end. That’s amazing.

Being an Alpine skier means that times are irrelevant. Every mountain is different, every run is different, not to mention the weather. But what matters is who wins and how consistently. And Shiffrin is winning at an astonishing pace.

She joined the Alpine World Cup for the end of the 2010-11 season and didn’t qualify for the second run in either a Giant Slalom or Slalom in the Czech Republic. In fact, in her first 10 World Cup races, from March of 2011 through January of 2012, she finished eighth once, didn’t qualify for the second run five times, didn’t finish three times … and won one bronze medal.

That was at ages 15 and 16; she didn’t get her first win until December of 2012, at 17. Six years later – now age 23 – she is on the verge of winning her third World Cup seasonal title in a row, a feat achieved just three times previously, by Annemarie Moser-Proell (AUT: 1971-75), Austria’s Petra Kronberger (1990-92) and American Lindsey Vonn, in 2008-09-10.

Even more stunning is her winning or medal percentage when looked at against the number of starts she makes. We checked the records and compiled these numbers, by race type and total:

Downhill:
● 8 starts
● 1 win (12.5% of her starts)
● 2 total medals (25.0% of her starts)

Super-G:
● 11 starts
● 3 wins (27.3%)
● 3 total medals (27.3%)

Giant Slalom:
● 56 starts
● 9 wins (16.1%)
● 18 total medals (32.1%)

Slalom:
● 67 starts
● 38 wins (56.7%)
● 47 total medals (70.1%)

Parallel Slalom:
● 2 starts
● 2 wins (100.0%)
● 2 total medals (100.0%)

City Event:
● 6 starts
● 3 wins (50.0%)
● 5 total medals (83.3%)

All Slalom-style events:
● 75 starts
● 43 wins (57.3%)
● 54 total medals (72.0%)

Combined:
● 2 starts
● 1 win (50.0%)
● 1 total medal (50.0%)

All-events total:
● 152 starts
● 57 wins (37.5%)
● 79 total medals (52.0%)

Think about this: Shiffrin wins a medal more than half the time she has ever started a World Cup race. She wins more than a third of the time.

And if she is racing in the Slalom (or a Slalom-style race), she wins 57% of her starts and wins a medal more than seven times out of every 10 starts?

Who does this? And over a career that may have 10 or more years remaining?

In the pantheon of the greatest women’s skiers of all time, the retirement age keeps getting pushes back thanks to better opportunities, better training, nutrition, sports medicine and so on. Moser-Proell retired after the 1980 Winter Olympics at age 26. Switzerland’s Schneider retired in 1995 at age 30. Vonn just retired at age 34 due to injuries, something Shiffrin has been mostly able to avoid.

Vonn helped to publicize the chase for the all-time record for the most World Cup victories in history. She won 82 times, the most among women, and if not for her many crashes, would have eclipsed Swede Ingemar Stenmark’s total of 86 from 1973-89.

Shiffrin is 23 and already has 57 wins. She has a record-tying 14 World Cup wins this season and will likely end with 16-18. If she ends with 60 this season and wins “just” 10 times in the next two seasons, she will pass Vonn and probably Stenmark during the 2021-22 season, which also includes the Winter Games in Beijing. And she will still be just 27.

If she stays healthy – no guarantee in skiing, as Vonn well knows – she could set the mark for career World Cup wins somewhere in the 110-120 range and maybe even higher. As a primarily technical skier – Giant Slalom and Slalom – the courses are not quite as dangerous as for the Downhillers, so her career might stretch well into her 30s … if she chooses.

That’s the statistical brilliance of Shiffrin: we are watching a woman who is likely to be the greatest Alpine skier of all time, more dominant than any man or woman who has come before. So she needs to be appreciated for the history that she is making, every time she comes down the slopes.

All of that is made very easy by Shiffrin’s earnest demeanor, desire to be as great as she can be, tremendous work ethic and an emotional authenticity to her skiing and her situations. She knows exactly what she has to do every time she races and takes nothing for granted. She is reported to work well with her coaches and has her mother, Eileen, with her on the circuit to keep her focused.

She makes plenty of money from skiing, and a lot more from her sponsors. She earns all of it and unlike some American athletes who seem oblivious to the public, or are distant, she comes across as caring, critical and feels she is only as good as her next race.

All of these qualities make her someone who will be in the spotlight for a long time. And like so many other artists whose work stands out not only among their peers, but against history, Mikaela Shiffrin needs to not just be applauded, but appreciated.

Set your DVR for one of those World Cup Slaloms in Europe that come on early in the morning on NBCSN or NBC’s Olympic Channel and watch an artisan at work. She’ll be making history.

Rich Perelman
Editor

THE BIG PICTURE: USA Gymnastics hires a new chief executive (again)

By
Rich Perelman
-
New USA Gymnastics CEO Li Li Leung (Photo: USAG/Wendy Barrows)

USA Gymnastics has been targeted by the United States Olympic Committee for de-certification as the National Governing Body for the sport, but it isn’t acting like it.

On Tuesday, the organization announced that Li Li Leung, a Vice President of the National Basketball Association (NBA), has agreed to become the next USAG President and Chief Executive Officer.

On paper, you couldn’t ask for a better fit. Leung was a gymnast herself, and was good enough at a young age to be a member of a U.S. junior national training team and competed for the U.S. in the 1988 Pan American Junior Championships. She was a scholarship gymnast at Michigan before starting a career in sports management with Helios Partners and then USA Basketball before moving to the NBA.

She has two Master’s degrees from the Massachusetts-Amherst and is currently a senior member of the NBA’s global partnerships team. Translation: she sells sponsorships, which is exactly what gymnasts want to hear.

Leung’s statement noted that “Like everyone, I was upset and angry to learn about the abuse and the institutions that let the athletes down. I admire the courage and strength of the survivors, and I will make it a priority to see that their claims are resolved.

“I look forward to collaborating with the entire gymnastics community to create further change going forward, which requires that we implement important initiatives to strengthen athlete health and safety and build a clear and inclusive plan for the future. For me, this is much more than a job: it is a personal calling, for which I stand ready to answer.”

In a direct message to the gymnastics community, Leung stated “I have the experience, commitment, determination, and perspective to do what it takes to rebuild the organization and I want to help lead this transformation, to rebuild the community’s trust in and credibility of USA Gymnastics.”

Because of her existing commitments, Leung will start on 8 March.

Her first hurdle is going to be the ongoing dispute between USAG, the victims of Larry Nassar’s abuse who have sued the organization and USAG’s myriad insurance carriers during the years that Nassar committed crimes against hundreds of gymnasts. The USAG Board has been clear that the recovery of damages by these plaintiffs will come from its insurance coverage, and at least some of the carriers have been reluctant to commit to coverage.

How expeditiously these claims can be settled and whether Leung can show some activity on the revenue side will go a long way in tipping the scales in favor of, or against USAG in its de-certification process with the USOC.

For now, at least on paper, this appears to be a good hire for USA Gymnastics, but it gets harder from here.

BASKETBALL Preview: U.S. men finish World Cup qualifying vs. Panama and Argentina

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. men's World Cup qualifiers coach Jeff van Gundy (Photo: USA Basketball)

The United States men’s national team will play its final two games of the FIBA Americas qualifying round against Panama and Argentina this weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Both games are essentially meaningless as the American squad has clinched its place in the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China later this year. The Group E standings:

1. 19 (9-1) Argentina
2. 18 (8-2) United States
3. 16 (6-4) Uruguay
4. 16 (6-4) Puerto Rico
5. 14 (4-6) Panama
6. 13 (3-7) Mexico

The top three teams from this group will advance and the Argentines and Americans are already in. However, the games this week will determine which other team will join them:

22 February (Friday):
● Panama at United States, at Greensboro (USA)
● Argentina at Puerto Rico, at San Juan (PUR)
● Uruguay at Mexico, at Monterrey (MEX)

25 February (Monday):
● Argentina at United States, at Greensboro (USA)
● Uruguay at Puerto Rico, at San Juan (PUR)
● Panama at Mexico, at Monterrey (MEX)

U.S. coach Jeff van Gundy has done a remarkable job with the American team, which is made up of NBA G League players and free agents; no current NBA players are allowed to compete in this round.

Van Gundy has had essentially a different team for each of the qualifying “windows” of two games each that have been spread over the last 12 months. The only returning “veteran” from most of the qualifying games is 6-4 guard Reggie Hearn of the Stockton Kings. He’s been on teams that have played eight of the 10 qualifying games, and has averaged 10.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

The 2019 World Cup will start on 31 August and NBA players will be eligible, as the U.S. tries to win a sixth world title, and qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (JPN). Look for results here.

BADMINTON Preview: Strong Danish team set for Spain Masters in Barcelona

By
Rich Perelman
-

The BWF World Tour resumes in Barcelona (ESP) at the Vall d’Hebron Olympic Centre, well remembered from the 1992 Olympic Games, and headlined by three no. 1 seeds from Denmark:

● Men’s Singles:
1. Viktor Axelsen (DEN)
2. Anders Antonsen (DEN)
3. Tzu Wei Wang (TPE)

● Men’s Doubles:
1. Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN)
2. Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge (ENG)
3. Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN)

● Women’s Singles:
1. Yue Han (CHN)
2. Mia Blichfeldt (DEN)
3. Yanyan Cai (CHN)

● Women’s Doubles:
1. Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva (BUL)
2. Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida (JPN)
3. Mei Kuan Chow/Meng Yean Lee (MAS)

● Mixed Doubles:
1. Mathias Christiansen/Christinna Pedersen (DEN)
2. Marcus Ellis/Lauren Smith (ENG(
3. Seung Jae Seo/YuJung Chae (KOR)

Antonsen was the 2016 men’s Singles winner in Barcelona and Blichfeldt won the 2017 women’s Singles title.

The tournament has a total prize purse of $150.000. Look for results here.

NORDIC SKIING Preview: World Champs in Cross Country, Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping start in Austria

By
Rich Perelman
-

The worlds of Cross Country Skiing, Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping have come together in Seefeld (AUT) for the 41st FIS World Nordic Championships, with competition beginning on Wednesday (20th) and continuing through 3 March. The finals schedules:

Cross Country:
● 21 February: Men’s and women’s Sprint
● 23 February: Men’s 2×15 km Skiathlon, Women’s 2×7.5 km Skiathlon
● 24 February: Men’s and women’s Team Sprint
● 26 February: Women’s 10 km Classical
● 27 February: Men’s 15 km Classical
● 28 February: Women’s 4×5 km Relay
● 1 March: Men’s 4×10 km Relay
● 2 March: Women’s 30 km Freestyle
● 3 March: Men’s 50 km Freestyle

Nordic Combined:
● 22 February: Men’s 130 m hill/10.0 km
● 24 February: Team Sprint ~ 130 m hill/2×7.5 km
● 28 February: Men’s 109 m hill/10.0 km
● 2 March: Men’s Team ~ 109 m hill/4×5 km

Ski Jumping:
● 23 February: Men’s 130 m hill
● 24 February: Men’s Team 130 m hill
● 26 February: Women’s Team 109 m hill
● 27 February: Women’s 109 m hill
● 2 March: Mixed Team 109 m hill

In each discipline are multiple seasonal stories that can be underscored by the results in Seefeld, or blown up, as so often happens in a one-and-done World Championships:

● Cross Country:

On the men’s side, the man of the year has been Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who has won seven races, including five Sprints, but also two distance races. The top of the World Cup standings:

1. 1,134 Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR)
2. 1,058 Alexander Bolshunov (RUS)
3. 755 Sjur Roethe (NOR)
4. 670 Didrik Toenseth (NOR)
5. 657 Simen Hegstad Krueger (NOR)

Klaebo has skied to the front via the Sprint, but the emerging star of the season has been Russian Bolshunov, 22. He has three wins and eight medals this season and does not seem worn out by the long season. He won four medals in PyeongChang, including three silvers and a bronze; this could be a real break-out Worlds for him.

The women’s standings:

1. 1,237 Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg (NOR)
2. 1,139 Natalia Nepryaeva (RUS)
3. 1,002 Krista Parmakoski (FIN)
4. 800 Therese Johaug (NOR)
5. 793 Jessica Diggins (USA)

Oestberg won four events in early January during the Tour de Ski, but hasn’t won since 6 January. The two stories to watch on the women’s side: Johaug (NOR) and Nepryaeva.

Johaug, coming back from a doping suspension because of a loaded lip balm (!), has won all seven of her races: six at 10 km in various formats and one 15 km race. She has tapered her season to point for the Worlds, where she already owns seven golds, one silver and three bronzes. In 2015, she won the 15 km and 30 km races and the relay; she could do this again.

Like Bolshunov, Nepyraeva has been a revelation this season at age 23. It’s her first senior Worlds, but she has piled up seven World Cup medals this season (1-4-2).

Don’t count out Diggins in the Sprint, or paired with Sophie Caldwell in the Team Sprint. Diggins and Kikkan Randall won the Olympic Team Sprint last year.

● Nordic Combined:

The season has been owned by Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber, who has already clinched the seasonal World Cup title. Standings:

1. 1,258 Jarl Magbus Riiber (NOR)
2. 774 Akito Watabe (JPN)
3. 761 Johannes Rydzek (GER)
4. 755 Franz-Josef Rehrl (AUT)
5. 731 Vinzenz Geiger (GER)

Of the 18 events held so far, Riiber has won 10; teammate Joergen Graabak has won two and Rehrl and Mario Seidel (AUT) have won two. Germans Rydzek – the reigning World Champion from 2017 – and Geiger have won one each. That’s it.

● Ski Jumping:

Another star from nowhere in the Ski Jumping World Cup, as Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi emerged to win nine of the first 12 events and just about clinch the seasonal title. But he’s not quite there yet; the standings:

1. 1,620 Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN)
2. 1,145 Kamil Stoch (POL)
3. 1,017 Stefan Kraft (AUT)
4. 963 Piotr Zyla (POL)
5. 834 Dawid Kubacki (POL)

Since Kobayashi’s sweep at the Four Hills to start the year, the results have been more balanced. Kobayashi has won thrice, Kraft has won three times, Stoch has won twice and Kubacki, Timi Zajc (SLO) and Karl Geiger have each won once. Stoch owns four Worlds medals (2-0-2) and Kraft has six (2-2-2).

The women’s jumping was confused to start the season, but the defending World Cup champ is now in front, probably to stay:

1. 1,368 Maren Lundby (NOR)
2. 1,073 Katharina Alkthaus (GER)
3. 916 Sara Takanashi (JPN)
4. 866 Juliane Seyfarth (GER)
5. 596 Carina Vogt (GER)

Lundby won six in a row in January and has taken eight of the last nine events, with only Takanashi breaking up a long win streak. Watch for 35-year-old Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, who won the World Championships way back in 2011, for a surprise: she has two wins on tour this season.

USA Ski & Snowboard has the complete NBC broadcast schedule here. Look for results for Cross Country here; for Nordic Combined here and Ski Jumping, here.

ALPINE SKIING Preview: World Cup resumes in Bansko and Crans-Montana

By
Rich Perelman
-

The final month of the Alpine World Cup is upon us, with three stops each for the men and women before the World Cup Final in Soldeu (AND) in the middle of March. This week’s action started with a City Event in Stockholm, won by Ramon Zenhaeusern (SUI) and Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), who tied the record for the most World Cup wins in a single season with 14. Now the men move on to Bulgaria and the women to Switzerland.

● Men: Combined/Super-G/Slalom in Bansko

There isn’t much doubt that the seasonal World Cup winner – for the eighth time in succession – will be Austria’s Marcel Hirscher. With 12 races to go, he has not clinched the title, but he would likely have to be injured not to win it. The standings:

1. 1,216 Marcel Hirscher (AUT)
2. 732 Alexis Pinturault (FRA)
3. 671 Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR)
4. 550 Dominik Paris (ITA)
5. 515 Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT)

Hirscher also leads in the Giant Slalom (540-302) over Kristoffersen, and 676-401 over Clement Noel (FRA) in the Slalom standings.

Kriechmayr is the seasonal leader in Super-G, but only by 236-233 over teammate Matthias Mayer, with Paris at 230 and many other close.

The Combined is only being held twice this season; Marco Schwarz (AUT) was the winner in Wengen (SUI) in mid-January. Hirscher could be a factor in this event if he wanted to jump in.

NBC’s Olympic Channel has coverage of the Combined on Friday at 7 a.m. Eastern time, and the Super-G on Saturday is on at 5:45 a.m. Eastern time. Look for results here.

● Women: Downhill and Combined in Crans-Montana

The amazing Shiffrin has not yet clinched her third straight seasonal World Cup title, but she is getting close:

1. 1,794 Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)
2. 1,075 Petra Vlhova (SVK)
3. 783 Wendy Holdener (SUI)
4. 617 Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT)
5. 607 Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR)

There are 10 races to go in the women’s season and Shiffrin has more than a seven-race lead. If she jumps into the races this weekend – a Downhill and a Combined – she could just about secure the Crystal Globe for the third consecutive year.

This is the only Combined event of the women’s season, so the victor will be the “seasonal champion.” The Downhill is more competitive, with six of nine races held so far and Schmidhofer leading at 364 points over fellow Austrian Ramona Siebenhofer (346) and World Champion Ilka Stuhec (SLO: 343).

NBC’s Olympic Channel has the women’s Downhill at 4:15 a.m. on Saturday, and the Combined at 7:30 a.m. Sunday. Look for results here.

ALPINE SKIING: Shiffrin wins Stockholm City Event for record-tying 14th seasonal victory

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin

The World Alpine Championships only ended last Sunday in Are (SWE), but the top technical skiers were back in action on Tuesday in Stockholm for an evening City Event.

These are shortened, one-on-one, elimination Slalom races and after making history by winning her fourth World Slalom title in a row, American Mikaela Shiffrin made more history. Her victory tied her with Swiss star Vreni Schneider for the most World Cup wins in a single season with 14.

Shiffrin dominated her first two face-offs, sweeping past Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR) and Katharina Truppe (AUT) with four straight wins. But her semifinal with Anna Swenn Larsson (SWE) was a struggle.

Swenn Larsson won the first race, with Shiffrin 0.09 seconds behind. The second race was even closer, with Shiffrin winning by 0.01 seconds, and the scoring total had Shiffrin advancing by 37.02 to 37.03. Whew!

In the final, Shiffrin won both races against Germany’s Christina Geiger and took the title by a final score of 37.11 to 37.38.

Both Schneider and Shiffrin are technical skiers, more proficient in the Giant Slalom and Slalom than the Downhill or Super-G. Comparing their record seasons:

● 1988-89: Schneider won 14 races: 7 Slalom, 6 Giant Slalom, 1 Combined
● 2018-19: Shiffrin has 14 wins: 4 Super-G, 2 Giant Slalom, 8 Slalom

There’s little doubt that Shiffrin will set the record, as there are two races each in Super-G, Giant Slalom and Slalom remaining on the World Cup schedule. How high does she want to set the bar?

In the men’s event, Swiss Ramon Zenhaeusen won his second career World Cup gold by defending his 2018 Stockholm City Event title. He was impressive, first defeating Austria’s Manuel Feller, the 2017 Worlds Slalom silver medalist, in the round of 16, then eliminated Austrian superstar Marcel Hirscher in the quarterfinals.

Zenhaeusern had no trouble with Swiss teammate Daniel Yule in the semis and then breezed past home favorite Andre Myhrer in the final, as the Swede did not finish either race. Summaries:

FIS Alpine World Cup
Stockholm (SWE) ~ 19 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s City Event/ Big Final: 1. Ramon Zenhaeusern (SUI), 35.10; 2. Andre Myhrer (SWE), did not finish; Small Final: 3. Marco Schwarz (AUT), 35.17; 4. Daniel Yule (SUI), did not finish.

Women’s City Event/ Big Final: 1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), 37.11; 2. Christin Geiger (GER), 37.38; Small Final: 3. Anna Swenn Larsson (SWE), 37.72; 4. Frida Hansdotter (SWE), did not finish.

STAT PACK: Results for the week of 11-17 February 2019

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

In this week’s issue are reports on 22 events in 15 sports:

● Alpine Skiing
● Athletics
● Biathlon
● Bobsled & Skeleton
● Cross Country Skiing
● Curling
● Freestyle Skiing
● Gymnastics
● Ice Hockey
● Karate
● Ski Jumping
● Snowboard
● Speed Skating
● Swimming
● Weightlifting

plus our calendar of upcoming events through 10 March. Click below for the PDF:

[wpdm_package id=11070 template=”link-template-button-popup.php”]

SPEED READ: Headlines from The Sports Examiner for Monday, 18 February 2019

By
Rich Perelman
-

Welcome to The Sports Examiner SPEED READ, a 100 mph (44.7 m/s) review of what happened over the last 72 hours in Olympic sport:

LANE ONE

Monday: An Associated Press story quotes one economist as saying the use of volunteers at an Olympic Games is “economic exploitation.” More than 186,000 applicants for volunteer positions at Tokyo 2020 disagree with him, as do other economists who realize there is more to life than money. How did the whole volunteer thing with the Games start, anyway? We take you back to the Los Angeles organizers of the 1984 to tell the story.

ALPINE SKIING

Friday: A sweet World Championships gold medal for Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen in the men’s Giant Slalom, finally beating his long-time rival, Marcel Hirscher of Austria.

Saturday: History for American star Mikaela Shiffrin, who became the first skier to win gold medals in a single event in four straight Alpine World Championships, in her case, the Slalom. It wasn’t easy, but she did it!

Sunday: The Alpine Worlds concluded with a win by Hirscher, who won at least one gold in his fourth straight World Championships. But he was also part of a historic 1-2-3 sweep of the medals by his Austrian teammates!

ATHLETICS

Saturday: The IAAF World Indoor Tour stop in Birmingham (GBR) had plenty of highlights, including a world 1,500 m record from Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera, and not favored countryman Yomif Kejelcha. Plus the third-fastest performance in history in the women’s mile from Britain’s Laura Muir, and a world-leading 6.47 in the 60 m from China’s Bingtian Su.

Saturday: The U.S. swept the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships, winning the men’s and women’s team title and the individual races behind Biya Simbassa and Breanna Sieracki.

BIATHLON

Sunday: In the return of biathlon to the 2002 Olympic site at Solider Hollow outside Salt Lake City, Norway’s Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen won his first career World Cup gold medal, and the first tour stop this season in which seasonal leader Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) did not win a medal.

BOBSLED & SKELETON

Sunday: The IBSF World Cup came to North America – and Lake Placid – and American Elana Meyers Taylor (with Lake Kwaza) won her second World Cup race in a row. Germany’s Francesco Friedrich won his seventh World Cup race in a row this season, but Canada’s Justin Kripps ended Germany’s perfect record in the four-man World Cup season. American Kendall Wesenberg won a bronze medal in the women’s Skeleton, the first U.S. medal in the discipline in two years.

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING

Sunday: First win of the season for American Olympic gold medalist Jessica Diggins at the World Cup stop in Cogne, Italy. Italy’s Federico Pellegrino won the men’s Sprint and the distance races were won by Alexander Bolshunov (RUS: 15 km) and Kerttu Niskanen (FIN: 10 km).

CURLING

Sunday: Familiar names at the trophy presentations at the USA Curling National Championships, with John Shuster’s rink winning for his seventh national title, and Jamie Sinclair’s team taking in the women’s division for their third straight nationals win.

FREESTYLE SKIING

Sunday: American David Wise, 28, won his seventh career World Cup Halfpipe gold medal but first outside the U.S., in Calgary. Canada’s Cassie Sharpe won her sixth World Cup gold in the same event, but the first inside Canada! In the Ski Cross World Cup in Feldberg (GER), Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund won both of the weekend races to close in on the seasonal Ski Cross lead.

GYMNASTICS

Sunday: The U.S. Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas was a showdown between 2017 U.S. All-Around champ Yul Moldauer and 2018 champ Sam Mikulak. Moldauer won the All-Around title on Friday, but Mikulak took five medals in Sunday night’s event finals, including wins on the Floor and High Bar.

Sunday: A contest between World Champions in Baku saw China’s Lingling Liu and Canada’s Rosie MacLennan of Canada resulted in a tight win for Liu in the opening Trampoline World Cup of the 2019 season. The U.S. pair of Cody Gesuelli and Isaac Rowley won a bronze medal in the men’s Synchronized event.

ICE HOCKEY

Sunday: The U.S. women lost the finale of the Rivalry Series with Canada, 2-0, in Detroit. The American out-shot the visitors, 38-17, but Canadian keeper Shannon Szabados turned away all of the U.S. chances.

KARATE

Sunday: The second Karate 1 Premier League event in Dubai (UAE) had three winners each from France, Japan and Turkey, but Iran won the most medals with seven.

SKI JUMPING

Sunday: A good weekend for the World Cup leaders, Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN) and Maren Lundby (NOR). Kobayashi won on Sunday and took the overall title in the three-day Willingen 5 competition in Germany. Lundby won both jumps off the 137 m hill in Obertsdorf (GER) to further pad her seasonal World Cup lead.

SNOWBOARD

Sunday: Czech star Ester Ledecka returned from the Alpine World Championships in Sweden to compete at the scene of her greatest triumph: PyeongChang (KOR). She won the Saturday Parallel Giant Slalom and was third in Sunday’s race to move into the seasonal lead in the PGS World Cup. In the Halfpipe events in Calgary, Japan’s Yuto Totsuka and Spain’s Queralt Castellet were the victors.

SWIMMING

Saturday: The first Marathon World Series event was held in Doha (QAT), with wins for Germany’s Florian Wellbrock and three-time World 25 km Champion Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA). American Jordan Wilimovsky came on for the bronze medal in the men’s event.

UPCOMING

Highlights of the coming week, with previews in the coming days on TheSportsExaminer.com:

● Athletics: The USATF National Indoor Championships in Staten Island, New York.

● Basketball: Final two games of the FIBA Americas Qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup.

● Nordic Skiing: Start of the FIS Nordic World Championships in Seefeld (AUT).

And much more coming in a busy week: we’re tracking 24 events in international sport!

LANE ONE: On volunteerism and the Olympic Games, you see which “economists” actually know something about economics, and people

By
Rich Perelman
-
Volunteers at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games

The Associated Press’s Stephen Wade posted a story last Friday entitled “Olympic volunteers: One-time chance, or exploitation?” and proceeded to quote a Drexel Sports Management processor named Joel Maxcy, who called the practice of using volunteers, “To me, it’s very clearly economic exploitation.”

The rest of the article struggled to find any prospective volunteers for the Tokyo Games who agreed with him.

And Maxcy, who received a Ph.D. in Economics from Washington State University, completely missed the point.

It’s worth remembering how the concept of using volunteers actually got started, at the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad in Los Angeles in 1984. As the Vice President for Press Operations for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, I had more than 1,000 volunteers helping us for as long as a month, beginning when the Main Press Center opened on 14 July 1984.

How did all of this start?

Through the 1980 Games in Moscow (URS), essentially all staff were paid. Given the circumstances of the Cold War and the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games, the Soviets were hardly forthcoming with information about how they organized the Games. But we had a lot of access to extremely detailed information about the 1976 Games in Montreal (CAN), which not only ran a huge deficit due to construction costs, but also had its share of administrative and organizational problems.

One of them was with its lowest-level paid staff, whose interest level and performance varied wildly from venue to venue. The biggest problems came from no-shows, not all that interested in the low pay and very modest support services, and, most of all, in the often uninspiring work in parking lots, entrances or in labor of various types, usually well away from the field of play.

The question of how staffing for the 1984 Games should be approached was also colored by the organizing committee’s need for financial restraint, since the Games were being financed privately. But at the same time, this was the first time the summer Games had returned to the U.S. since the Los Angeles Games of 1932 and the event needed to reflect the California of the 1980s in style and operations.

One of the strong features of Los Angeles life – and social life in many large cities in the U.S. – was (and is) volunteerism. Enormous projects, such as the conception, fund-raising and building of the massive Music Center in downtown Los Angeles, had been done primarily by large groups of volunteers, with help from a small number of paid staff.

Bringing the Games to Los Angeles was itself a volunteer project. The bid team from Los Angeles had a grand total of one person who was paid on a part-time basis. The rest were unpaid civic leaders, corporate leaders and officers, publicists, lawyers and others who believe the Games would be successful both in Los Angeles and for Los Angeles.

Sporting events in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California were often operated by volunteers, starting with parents helping with Little League baseball teams, all the way up to world-class events in gymnastics, swimming, track & field and others, in which the competition officials were all volunteers, and themselves organized by volunteers Boards of Directors.

Against this background, those of us working within the LAOOC were certain that the volunteer concept would work well, and with an esprit de corps that would alleviate many of the no-show issues. The volunteers would have to be trained, of course, and many departments wanted to recruit their own volunteers to try and get individuals who would be interested in the specific work involved. That was our choice in Press Operations: we wanted journalism students, sports statisticians, sports officials and others who wanted to be around the press and assist them.

The results were magnificent, and the 33,000-plus volunteers in Los Angeles made the Games work brilliantly. Absenteeism was very low and there was a ready reserve of people who continued to ask if they could volunteer, even during the Games!

One of the aspects of the volunteer program which was not expected was the interest of people from out of the Southern California area to come and help in Los Angeles. In Press Operations, we had dozens of volunteers from Europe who came to work on the Games and were some of our best staff members.

The Los Angeles experience changed the Olympic Games and all other major sporting events in the Olympic Movement into the future. The volunteer corps is an expected part of the program. But it has limits.

These were demonstrated in Rio de Janeiro (BRA) at the 2016 Olympic Games, in a city and country where volunteerism is not as well established. The Rio organizers found themselves short of staff again and again, as significant numbers of volunteers registered, were trained and then abandoned the program as soon as they were issued uniforms. The apparel was perceived to have real value, but working on the Games was not, at least for some.

And that is the key to making a volunteer program successful. If the community in the host city or country believes that the Games is a worthwhile civic exercise and the experience will provide a personal benefit to them, they will come in big numbers.

Witness Tokyo 2020, which conducted a three-month campaign to recruit volunteers in the final months of 2018, received a staggering total of 186,101 applications. According to the organizing committee, “Applicants to date range in age from teenagers to those in their 80’s; 63% are female and 37% male, with 63% having Japanese nationality and 37% of applications coming from non-Japanese.”

This is very, very impressive. The Tokyo organizers now have a major task on their hands to assign and train these folks, and many will drop away before the Games. But, from an organizing committee perspective, it’s a good problem to have.

So, Prof. Maxcy, all of these people have volunteered to be exploited?

Hardly. As an Economics major at UCLA in the 1970s, I remember well being taught that while money is an important aspect of market activities, non-monetary aspects must be accounted for and are often decisive.

Donald Boudreaux, a professor of economics at George Mason University, put it well on the CafeHayek.com Web site in 2011, noting that “Show me a good economist and I’ll show you someone who never supposes that money, money prices, and monetary wealth are all that matter – in fact, someone who understands that, at the end of the day, money is never (save in the psychopathic cases of misers) what ultimately matters to anyone.”

We see this constantly in daily life, with people who make choices based on their own value systems against alternatives that might cost less in monetary terms. People whose lives follow patterns based on environmental issues, veganism, religious beliefs and practices and many others are all around us, and are us.

So it is with volunteerism at the Olympic Games, some of which fill the lowest-end jobs that would otherwise draw minimum-wage workers, on up to middle managers, where hiring anyone with actual experience might be impossible. As temporary jobs that last a month at best and do not lead to other work – remember, the organizing committee essentially goes out of business after the Games – these are jobs that many unemployed workers aren’t all that interested in.

Wade’s story quoted more economists as well as some of the Tokyo volunteer applicants who want to be part of the Games for love of adventure, or love of country or other attachments. As International Olympic Committee member John Coates (AUS) – who was a senior member of the Sydney 2000 organizing committee – noted, “They don’t have to apply if they don’t want to.”

Coates also argued that events like the Olympic Games could not operate without volunteers. That’s not true; they certainly can; it’s another expense that has to be planned for from the beginning. But getting a motivated work force to work in parking lots or serve in logistics roles is hard even for companies in those fields; the volunteer work force for a major Games or event brings a motivation which is often impossible to duplicate with paid staff.

The story also quoted a sports economist named David Berri at Southern Utah University, who said, “If the volunteers were paid, there would be less money for everyone else. The Olympics have learned people will work for free, so they take advantage of this. If they (Olympic officials) really thought this was all OK, they should obviously volunteer to work for free.”

Berri doesn’t seem to know much about Olympic sports, which continue to be run mostly by volunteers. And as far as getting paid, the story noted that IOC President Thomas Bach gets an “allowance” of $250,000 per year. How does that compare to the millions paid – as salary – to heads of individual leagues like the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball? Suddenly, it doesn’t look like all that much.

And Berri has obviously spent no time inside an organizing committee for an Olympic Games or similar event. The salaries as OK, but hardly great.

But it’s great work, and whether you are a paid staff member working on an event for years, or a volunteer for a few weeks, isn’t that the point?

Rich Perelman
Editor

GYMNASTICS: Moldauer wins All-Around, and five medals for Mikulak in Winter Cup Challenge

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. All-Around champ Yul Moldauer

The first test for the American men’s gymnasts on the road to the 2019 World Championships came at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the two-day Winter Cup Challenge.

The two-day competition started with the All-Around on Friday, won by 2017 U.S. All-Around champ Yul Moldauer. He barely edged 2018 All-Around winner Sam Mikulak, 84.500-84.450, with Allan Bower third with 82.350. The top six qualified for the U.S. National Championships.

The individual event finals were held Sunday evening and the final standings in each event were based on the combined scores from the Friday and Sunday routines. Mikulak was excellent almost everywhere, winning the Floor and High Bar events, silver on the Pommel Horse and Parallel Bars and bronze on Rings.

The other winners included Steve Nedoroscik on Pommel Horse (30.150), Trevor Howard won on Rings (29.750), Adrian de los Angeles on Parallel Bars (27.950), and Colin Van Wicklen took the Vault (29.650). Summaries:

USA Gymnastics Winter Cup Challenge
Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) ~ 15-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

All-Around: 1. Yul Muldauer, 84.500; 2. Sam Milulak, 84.450; 3. Allan Bower, 82.350; 4. Genki Suzuki, 82.300; 5. Robert Neff, 81.800.

Floor: 1. Mikulak, 29.350; 2. Jacob Moore, 28.850; 3. Riley Loos, 28.750; 4. Emyre Cole, 28.450; 5. tie, Bennet Huang and Vitaliy Guimares, 27.750.

Pommel Horse: 1. Steve Nedoroscik, 30.150; 2. Mikulak, 28.500; 3. Cameron Bock, 27.600; 4. Moldauer, 27.150; 5. Robert Neff, 26.700.

Rings: 1. Trevor Howard, 29.750; 2. Alex Diab, 29.150; 3. Mikulak, 28.050; 4. Colin van Wicklen, 27.650; 5. Grant Breckenridge, 27.250.

Vault: 1. Van Wicklen, 29.650; 2. Howard, 29.350; 3. Levi Anderson, 29.200; 4. Penev, 29.150; 5. Anton Stephenson, 29.050.

Parallel Bars: 1. Adrian de los Angeles, 27.950; 2. Mikulak, 27.850; 3. Breckenridge, 27.700; 4. Stephenson, 27.550; 5. Neff, 27.350.

High Bar: 1. Mikulak, 29.600; 2. Van Wicklen, 27.800; 3. Anderson, 27.700; 4. Neff, 27.200; 5. Cameron Bock, 27.150.

KARATE: Japan, France and Turkey win three each, Iran earns seven medals in Dubai

By
Rich Perelman
-
Turkey's Karate star Ugur Aktas (Photo: WKF)

A huge field of 702 karatekas were in Dubai (UAE) for the second Karate 1 Premier League tournament, with France, Japan and Turkey grabbing the headlines with three wins apiece.

But the overall medal leader was Iran, which won nine medals in all, to seven for Japan. The Iranians did have one winner, in Bahman Asgari Ghoncheh in the -75 kg class.

The U.S. collected a bronze medal in the -75 kg class as well, from former World Champion Tom Scott. Summaries:

Karate 1 Premier League
Dubai (UAE) ~ 15-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Kata: 1. Ryo Kiyuna (JPN); 2. Damian Hugo Quintero (ESP); 3. Issei Shimbaba (JPN) and Mattia Busato (ITA).

Team Kata: 1. Turkey (Goktas, Sofuoglu, Duran); 2. Kuwait; 3. Spain and Iran.

Kumite -60 kg: 1. Darkhan Assadilov (KAZ); 2. Yunosuke Minami (JPN); 3. Kaisar Alpysbay (KAZ) and Eray Samdan (TUR).

Kumite -67 kg: 1. Steven Dacosta (FRA); 2. Didar Amirali (KAZ); 3. Amir Reza Mirzaei (IRI) and Hamoon Derafshipour (IRI).

Kumite -75 kg: 1. Bahman Asgari Ghoncheh (IRI); 2. Luigi Busa (ITA); 3. Tom Scott (USA) and Rafael Aghayev (AZE).

Kumite -84 kg: 1. Ugur Aktas (TUR); 2. Ali Fadakar (IRI); 3. Farouk Abdesselem (FRA) and Zabihollah Poorshab (IRI).

Kumite +84 kg: 1. Hideyoshi Kagawa (JPN); 2. Mehdi Filali (FRA); 3. Sajad Ganjzadeh (IRI) and Hocine Daikhi (ALG).

Women

Kata: 1. Jaime Sanchez (ESP); 2. Kiyou Shimizu (JPN); 3. Emiri Iwamoto (JPN) and Viviana Bottaro (ITA).

Team Kata: 1. Italy (Nicosanti, Casale, Pezzetti); 2. Iran; 3. Australia and Russia.

Kumite -50 kg: 1. Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu (TUR); 2. Kateryna Kryva (UKR); 3. Sophia Bouderbane (FRA) and Ahmed Salama Reem (EGY).

Kumite -55 kg: 1. Tzu-Yun Wen (TPE); 2. Anzhelika Terliuga (UKR); 3. Valeria Kumizaki (JPN) and Fatemeh Chalaki (IRI).

Kumite -61 kg: 1. Gwendoline Philppe (FRA); 2. Giana Lotfy (EGY); 3. Rozita Alipourkeshka (IRI) and Haya Jumaa (CAN).

Kumite -68 kg: 1. Feryal Abdelaziz (EGY); 2. Irina Zaretska (AZE); 3. Marina Rakovic (MNE) and Alizee Agier (FRA).

Kumite +68 kg: 1. Anne Laure Florentin (FRA); 2. Clio Ferracuti (ITA); 3. Menna Shaaban Okila (EGY) and Amelia Harvey (ENG).

SWIMMING: Wellbrock and Cunha win Marathon World Series opener in Doha

By
Rich Perelman
-
Brazil's distance swimming superstar Ana Marcela Cunha (Photo: Satiro Sodre)

A windy day and two large fields of swimmers made the water choppy for the first FINA Marathon World Series 10 km event in Doha (QAT), won by Germany’s Florian Wellbrock and Brazilian star Ana Marcela Cunha.

Wellbrock had to deal with a field of 82 swimmers in the men’s event, contested in four 2.5 km laps. He and Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky strung out the field with an early push and were joined by Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri and Brit Jack Burnell at the front for much of the second and third laps.

The pack chased down the leaders and a wild sprint ensued on the final leg, with Wellbrock touching first, just 1.2 seconds ahead of Rasovszky. American Jordan Wilimovsky bided his time and swam past a bunch of swimmers on the outside of the main pack to grab third.

Said Wilimovsky, “It was fun, the water was good and a fun race, the finish was good to move up the pack and I knew the guys would be really quick, so I had to push hard.”

Cunha, one of the most decorated distance swimmers of all time and a three-time World Champion at 25 km, had to deal with some strong wind and hold off a late charge from Kareena Lee (AUS) and Rachele Bruni (ITA) to claim the win.

Cunha said afterwards that the condition did not faze her at all. “I was very happy with the windy conditions, I spent a lot of time near the front, as last year I spend a lot of the race at the back. But this year I decided to go to the front more often and push the pace. In the finish line I imagined [Germany’s seven-time World Champion] Thomas Lurz and how he would swam the finish straights in similar conditions.” Summaries:

FINA Marathon World Series no. 1
Doha (QAT) ~ 16 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s 10 km: 1. Florian Wellbrock (GER), 1:52:21.60; 2. Kristof Rasovszky (HUN), 1:52:22.80; 3. Jordan Wilimovsky (USA), 1:52:24.40; 4. Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA), 1:52:26.10; 5. Kai Graeme Edwards (AUS), 1:52.27.30.

Women’s 10 km: 1. Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA), 2:03:51.50; 2. Kareena Lee (AUS), 2:03:52.00; 3. Rachele Bruni (ITA), 2:03:53.00; 4. Haley Anderson (USA), 2:03:55.40; 5. Leonie Beck (GER), 2:03:55.80. Also in the top 25: 9. Hannah Moore (USA), 2:03:00.30; 10. Ashley Twichell (USA), 2:04:01.60.

SNOWBOARD: Ledecka returns for PGS win in PyeongChang

By
Rich Perelman
-
Czech star Ester Ledecka (Photo: Stefan Brending via Wikimedia)

Snowboard superstar Ester Ledecka returned from the Alpine World Championships to get back into the Snowboard World Cup and immediately scored a victory in the Parallel Giant Slalom races in PyeongChang (KOR).

Of course, this was the scene of last year’s stunning double for Ledecka, who won the Alpine Super-G in a huge upset, then won as the favorite in the Parallel Giant Slalom.

This year, Ledecka pulled off no heroics at the Alpine Worlds, but won her 16th World Cup title in a Parallel Slalom or Giant Slalom race in Snowboard.

She also finished third on Sunday and the gold-bronze combo has her in position to win her fourth consecutive Parallel Overall title and second straight Parallel Giant Slalom crown. With two races to go, Ledecka has 3,400 points, ahead of Nadya Ochner (ITA: 2,590), Germany’s Selina Joerg (2,529) and Sabine Schoeffmann (AUT: 2,480), who was third and second on the weekend.

Slovenia’s Zan Kosir and Austria’s Andreas Prommegger continued the confused pattern of the men’s Parallel Snowboard season. Each won one of the races on the weekend and in seven Parallel events this season, each has had a different winner. With his win on Sunday, Prommegger took the seasonal Parallel Giant Slalom lead from Roland Fischnaller (ITA), 2,960-2,290.

In Calgary, Japan’s Yuto Totsuka took the seasonal lead in Halfpipe with his first win of the season. With one event left, he now has 2,760 points to 2,210 for teammate Ruka Hirano, who finished second.

Spain’s Queralt Castellet outscored Xuetong Cai (CHN), 90.25-88.25 to win the women’s Halfpipe and move into second place in the seasonal World Cup standings. Castellet now has 2,120 points to Cai’s 2,900. Summaries:

FIS Snowboard World Cup
Calgary (CAN) ~ 13-15 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Halfpipe: 1. Yuto Totsuka (JPN), 89.00; 2. Ruka Hirano (JPN), 87.50; 3. Derek Livingston (CAN), 85.00; 4. Raibu Katayama (JPN), 83.50; 5. Ikko Anai (JPN), 79.50. Also: 9. Toby Miller (USA), 36.25.

Women’s Halfpipe: 1. Queralt Castellet (ESP), 90.25; 2. Xuetong Cai (CHN), 88.25; 3. Sena Tomita (JPN), 87.75; 4. Kurumi Imai (JPN), 81.50; 5. Shaotong Wu (CHN), 77.50.

FIS Snowboard World Cup
PyeongChang (KOR) ~ 16-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom I/ Big Final: 1. Zan Kosir (SLO); 2. Lukas Mathies (AUT); Small Final: 3. Andreas Prommegger (AUT); 4. Aaron March (ITA).

Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom II/ Big Final: 1. Prommegger (AUT); 2. Sylvain Dufour (FRA). Small Final: 3. Sang-Ho Lee (KOR); 4. Maurizio Bormolini (ITA).

Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom I/ Big Final: 1. Ester Ledecka (CZE); 2. Selina Joerg (GER); Small Final: 3. Sabine Schoeffmann (AUT); 4. Carolin Langenhorst (GER).

Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom II/ Big Final: 1. Ramona Hofmeister (GER); 2. Schoeffmann (AUT). Small Final: 3. Ledecka (SVK); 4. Cheyenne Loch (GER).

FREESTYLE SKIING: Wise wins in Calgary; Naeslund sweeps Ski Cross in Feldberg

By
Rich Perelman
-
Double Olympic Freestyle Halfpipe champ David Wise (USA)

At age 28, David Wise might seem to be getting a little old to be competing with teens on the FIS Freestyle World Cup tour in Halfpipe, but the 2014 and 2018 Olympic champion is still a formidable competitor.

He showed it once again in the tour stop in Calgary (CAN), putting down a first run that scored 90.00 and that no one could touch.

“Conditions were challenging, but the skiers still showed up and gave it their best here in Calgary,” said Wise. “I haven’t won a contest with my first run in a long time, so it feels like a double win for me. Stoked to share the podium with Nico and Noah, they both crushed it in tonight’s halfpipe.”

Wise won his seventh career World Cup gold, but first outside the U.S. It’s his second medal this season and he stands third in the World Cup, behind 17-year-old Nico Porteous (NZL: silver medalist) and Canada’s Simon d’Artois. The bronze medal went to Canadian Noah Bowman, another veteran at age 26. Interestingly, all three of the medalists had their best scores in the first round.

Canada’s Cassie Sharpe won the women’s Halfpipe for her sixth career win … and first ever inside Canada! She’s now third in the seasonal standings, with teammate Rachel Karker (CAN) at 210, then Kexin Zhang (CHN: 180) and Sharpe has 160.

In Ski Cross, Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund swept both races in Feldberg (GER) to get back into the season World Cup race. She now trails Swiss Fanny Smith by just 563-550 with three races left.

Heretofore unknown Ryan Regez, 26, won his first career World Cup medals in the men’s Ski Cross, winning the first race in Feldberg and finishing third in Sunday’s race. That moved him into fifth place in the season standings; Sunday winner Jean Fredric Chapuis (FRA) moved up to second with a win, but still down to countryman Bastian Midol, 496-383. Summaries:

FIS Freestyle World Cup
Moscow (RUS) ~ 16 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Aerials: 1. Stanislav Nikitin (RUS), 128.96; 2. Xindi Wang (CHN), 123.08; 3. Noe Roth (SUI), 119.91; 4. Pavel Krotov (RUS), 10.81; 5. Felix Cormier-Boucher (CAN), 88.69. Also: 6. Christopher Lillis (USA), 54.30.

Women’s Aerials: 1. Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya (BLR), 105.93; 2. Laura Peel (AUS), 97.64; 3. Mengtao Xu (CHN), 89.88; 4. Sicun Xu (CHN), 81.20; 5. Nuo Xu (CHN), 56.84.

FIS Freestyle World Cup
Calgary (CAN) ~ 14-16 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Halfpipe: 1. David Wise (USA), 90.00; 2. Nico Porteous (NZL), 87.75; 3. Noah Bowman (CAN), 85.50; 4. Hunter Hess (USA), 84.25; 5. Brendan McKay (CAN), 83.75. Also: 9. Birk Irving (USA), 61.00; 10. Cassidy Jarrell (USA), 56.25.

Women’s Halfpipe: 1. Cassie Sharpe (CAN), 91.50; 2. Rachael Karker (CAN). 86.00; 3. Kexin Zhang (CHN), 84.50; 4. Brita Sigourney (USA), 83.00; 5. Fanghui Li (CHN), 77.75. Also: 6. Svea Irving (USA), 76.75; 7. Abigale Hansen (USA), 70.25.

FIS Freestyle World Cup
Feldberg (GER) ~ 15-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Ski Cross I/ Big Final: 1. Ryan Regez (SUI); 2. Florian Wilmsmann (GER); 3. Kevin Drury (CAN); 4. Alex Fiva (SUI).

Men’s Ski Cross II/ Big Final: 1. Jean Frederic Chapuis (FRA); 2. Romain Detraz (SUI); 3. Regez (SUI), 4. Robert Winkler (AUT).

Women’s Ski Cross I/ Big Final: 1. Sandra Naeslund (SWE); 2. Lisa Andersson (SWE); 3. Alizee Baron (FRA); 4. Marielle Thompson (CAN).

Women’s Ski Cross II/ Big Final: 1. Naeslund (SWE); 2. Andrea Limbacher (AUT); 3. Brittny Phelan (CAN); 4. Kelsey Serwa (CAN).

GYMNASTICS: Liu edges MacLennan in Trampoline World Cup opener

By
Rich Perelman
-
China's trampoline star Lingling Liu (Photo: Trend)

A classic showdown between Olympic and World Champions was the highlight of the first FIG Trampoline World Cup of 2019, in Baku (AZE).

China’s Lingling Liu, the 2014 World Champion and Canada’s 2012 and 2016 Olympic champ, Rosie MacLennan were the two to keep an eye on in the women’s competition and they did not disappoint.

They qualified second and third in the prelims, then put on a show in the finals. McLennan went sixth in the order and put together a high-difficulty routine that scored 56.245 and looked like a possible winner.

But Liu – next up – was ready and despite have a routine with slightly less difficulty, managed a little better execution and more time in the air and won with a score of 57.050.

The star of the men’s event was Belarus’s 2016 Olympic champ Uladzislau Hancharov. He won the men’s individual event at 61.590, well ahead of 2012 Olympic gold medalist Dong Dong of China (60.320), then teamed with Aleh Rabtsau for a silver in the Synchronized event.

Japan’s Daiki Kishi and Ryosuke Sakai pulled the upset win on the Synchro, and the American pair of Cody Gesuelli and Isaac Rowley won a surprise bronze, 52.430-52.280-50.300. Summaries:

FIG Trampoline World Cup
Baku (AZE) ~ 16-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Trampoline: 1. Uladzislau Hancharov (BLR), 61.590; 2. Dong Dong (CHN), 60.320; 3. Daiki Kishi (JPN), 59.365.

Synchronized: 1. Daiki Kishi/Ryosuke Sakai (JPN), 52,430; 2. Uladzislau Hancharov/Aleh Rabtsau (BLR), 52.280; 3. Cody Gesuelli/Isaac Rowley (USA), 50.300.

Tumbling: 1. Vadim Afanasev (RUS), 75.100; 2. Mikhail Malkin (AZE), 74.600; 3. Maksim Riabikov (RUS), 72.000

Women

Trampoline: 1. Lingling Liu (CHN), 57.050; 2. Rosie MacLennan (CAN), 56.345; 3. Chisato Doihata (JPN), 55.800.

Synchronized: 1. Valiantsina Bahamolava/Anhelina Khatsian (BLR), 47.420; 2. Kira Ward/Eva Kierath (AUS), 46.950; 3. Camilla Gomes/Alice Gomes (BRA), 46.790.

Tumbling: 1. Daryna Koziarska (UKR), 61.300; 2. Alina Mamchur (UKR), 58.700; only entrants.

BIATHLON: First World Cup individual win for Christiansen as Boe is off the podium in Soldier Hollow

By
Rich Perelman
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There was some history made once again at Soldier Hollow in Utah, site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, and perhaps again in the future.

For one, it was the first time in the 2018-19 World Cup that Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe – the dominant force on tour this season – did not win an individual event during the weekend. He had won at least once at each stop this season, but finished fifth in the Sprint and fourth in the Pursuit.

On the other hand, Norwegian fans were happy for 26-year-old Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen, who won his first career World Cup race in the Sprint, just more than a second ahead of France’s Simon Desthieux.

France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet won his second race of the season in the men’s Pursuit and Norway’s Marte Olsbu Roeiseland won her third race of the season in the women’s Sprint.

Germany’s Denise Herrmann won her third career IBU World Cup title and first this season as part of a German 1-2 in the 10 km Pursuit. However, further back, the seasonal lead in the women’s World Cup changed hands as former World Junior Champion Lisa Vittozzi took the lead by 713-706 over countrywoman Dorothea Wierer. Summaries from Soldier Hollow:

IBU World Cup
Midway, Utah (USA) ~ 14-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

10 km Sprint: 1. Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen (NOR), 23:29.7 (0 penalties); 2. Simon Desthieux (FRA), +1.3 (1); 3. Roman Rees (GER), +22.4 (1); 4. Erik Lesser (GER), +23.0 (0); 5. Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR), +41.5. Also in the top 25: 14. Sean Doherty (USA), +1:03.6 (1).

12.5 km Pursuit: 1. Quentin Fillon Maillet (FRA), 30:55.8 (0); 2. Christiansen (NOR), +25.9 (1); 3. Desthieux (FRA), +47.3 (3); 4. Boe (NOR), +1:37.7 (5); 5. Lesser (GER), +1:55.1 (2). Also: 10. Doherty (USA), +2:22.8 (3).

Women

7.5 km Sprint: 1. Marte Olsbu Roeiseland (NOR), 19:47.6 (0); 2. Kaisa Makarainen (FIN), +11.5 (1); 3. Franziska Hildebrand (GER), +21.4 (0); 4. Monika Hojnisz (POL), +23.9 (0); 5. Anastasiya Kuzmina (SVK), +28.2 (1). Also in the top 25: 21. Clare Egan (USA), 1:34.1 (1).

10 km Pursuit: 1. Denise Herrmann (GER), 28:03.4 (2); 2. Hildebrand (GER), +4.2 (1); 3. Makarainen (FIN), +16.5 (3); 4. Roieseland (NOR), +27.0 (4); 5. Kuzmina (SVK), +27.0 (4). Also: 26. Susan Dunklee (USA), +2:34.5 (1); 27. Egan (USA), 2:34.9 (1).

Mixed

Single Mixed Relay: 1. Lukas Hofer/Dorothea Wierer (ITA), 35:27.9 (6); 2. Simon Eder/Lisa Theresa Hauser (AUT), +22.9 (2); 3. Antonin Guigonnat/Julia Simon (FRA), +50.2 (9). Also: 14. Sean Doherty/Susan Dunklee (USA), +2:03.1 (15).

Mixed Relay (2×7.5 km + 2×6 km): 1. France (Fillon Mallett, Desthieux, Aymonier, Chavalier), 1:03:51.4 (3); 2. Germany, +13.5 (6); 3. Norway, +1:02.2 (13); 4. Switzerland, +1:31.2 (7); 5. Sweden, +1:59.7 (5). Also: 10. United States (Alex Howe, Jake Brown, Joanne Reid, Clare Egan), +2:59.9 (5).

ICE HOCKEY: Canada shuts out U.S. women, 2-0, to win Rivalry Series in Detroit

By
Rich Perelman
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Canadian goaltender Shannon Szabados (Photo: Hockey Canada)

For the first time in the three-game Rivalry Series with Canada, the U.S. women were on the offensive throughout the game.

It didn’t help.

Canadian keeper Shannon Szabados starred for the visitors and stopped all 38 American shots for her 18th career shutout, helping Canada to a 2-0 win at Little Caesars Arena.

The American squad didn’t help matters with three penalties in the first 10 minutes of the game. Canada scored on the second power play, with Brianne Jenner scoring at 5:40 of the first period from the top of the circle, past a screened Alex Rigsby of the U.S.

The U.S. had an 8-6 advantage on shots in the first period, then revved up the offense in the second period, with 21 shots (to seven for Canada), but could not get the puck past Szabados. In the meantime, Canada scored a second goal just 3:35 into the period from Blayre Turnbull, off an assist by Jamie-Lee Rattray, for a 2-0 lead.

Through two periods, the U.S. was 0-5 on the power play, but it appeared that they got back in the game with 17:37 to play in the third off a Savannah Harmon goal from the left side, but it was waved off due to interference against Szabados.

The U.S. had nine shots to four for Canada in the final period and even with an extra attacked for the final two minutes, could not break the shutout. The Americans ended with a 38-17 advantage in shots.

The U.S. won the first game of the series, 1-0, and lost the second, 4-3. The teams will no doubt meet again; the 2019 Women’s World Championship starts 4 April in Espoo (FIN).

SKI JUMPING: Kobayashi wins 11th in Willingen, while Lundby sweeps Obertsdorf

By
Rich Perelman
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Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi (Photo: Krzysztof Sachimata via Wikimedia)

The stars of the World Cup season took over this weekend, with big victories in Germany.

Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi, who came out of nowhere to be the likely season winner, won his 11th competition of the 2018-19 World Cup – out of 22 held – in the Sunday jumping at Willingen (GER).

Kobayashi had the longest jump on Sunday at 146.0 m in the first round and then he tied with Richard Freitag (GER) for the best of the second round at 144.0 m. In both cases, his form and technique earned him the top scores for both jumps and he won easily, 274.4-252.8 over Markus Eisenbichler (GER).

On Saturday, Germany’s Karl Geiger collected his second individual win of his career, out-scoring Poland’s Kamil Stoch, 311.1-307.1, with Kobayashi third. Geiger had won previously this season in Engelberg (SUI), back in December.

These competitions were part of the Willingen 5 tournament, in which all five jumps – qualifying and both jumps on both days – counted. Koyabashi won this title too, scoring 737.5 points, ahead of Poland’s Piotr Zyla (708.6) and Geiger (708.0).

With six World Cup events to go, Kobayashi now has a 1,620-1,145-1,107 lead over Stoch and Stefan Kraft (AUT).

In Obertsdorf, Lundby won her ninth event this season, out of 17 held so far. She has 14 medals in the 17 events and won a tight battle with Katharina Althaus (GER) on Saturday, 270.5-270.1.

She won easily on Sunday, compiling 292.4 points to 283.0 for Germany’s Juliane Seyfarth.

With seven events left, Lundby – the reigning World Cup champ – has a 1,368-1,073-916 lead over Althaus and Japan’s Sara Takanashi. Summaries:

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
Willingen (GER) ~ 15-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s 145 m hill I: 1. Karl Geiger (GER), 311.1; 2. Kamil Stoch (POL), 307.1; 3. Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN), 304.7; 4. Piotr Zyla (POL), 297.9; 5. Dawid Kubacki (POL), 297.0.

Men’s 145 m hill II: 1. Kobayashi (JPN), 274.4; 2. Markus Eisenbichler (GER), 252.8; 3. Zyla (POL), 250.0; 4. Richard Freitag (GER), 249.6; 5. Kubacki (POL), 249.3.

Willingen 5 Standings: 1. Kobayashi (JPN), 737.5; 2. Zyla (POL), 708.6; 3. Geiger (GER), 708.0; 4. Stoch (POL), 697.4; 5. Kubacki (POL), 685.7.

Team 145 m hill: 1. Poland (Zyla, Wolny, Kubacki, Stoch), 979.4; 2. Germany, 900.2; 3. Slovenia, 874.0; 4. Norway, 873.2; 5. Japan, 869.4.

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
Obertsdorf (GER) ~ 16-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Women’s 137 m hill I: 1. Maren Lundby (NOR), 270.5; 2. Katharina Althaus (GER), 270.1; 3. Ursa Bogataj (SLO), 244.1; 4. Sara Takanashi (JPN), 242.0; 5. Chiara Hoelzel (AUT), 236.6.

Women’s 137 m hill II: 1. Lundby (NOR), 292.4; 2. Juliane Seyfarth (GER), 283.0; 3. Takanashi (JPN), 250.3; 4. Althaus (GER), 249.7; 5. Yuki Ito (JPN), 247.3.

CURLING: Schuster wins seventh U.S. Nationals title; Sinclair takes third straight

By
Rich Perelman
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U.S. National Champions Matt Hamilton, John Shuster, Chris Plys and John Landsteiner (Photo: USA Curling/Rich Harmer)

There were some familiar faces at the trophy presentations at the USA Curling National Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan, especially John Shuster and Jamie Sinclair.

Shuster, skip of the U.S. Olympic gold medalists from PyeongChang, brought his rink into the 2019 Nationals after missing 2018 on a post-Games promotional tour. But they were sharp from the start, going 8-1 on the qualifying round and tying for the top spot.

They defeated co-qualifying leader Rich Ruohonen, 8-3, in the play-in game, and then faced Ruohonen again in the final, again winning, this time by 8-4.

“These guys [Ruohonen] are the defending national champions coming in here. We didn’t get a chance to defend last year so it’s kind of cool that we had the two teams that the last time they played each other they were playing for a national title, so it was pretty special,” Shuster said. “We got a lot of breaks early, and when we got breaks, we made it count and that’s the important thing.”

Shuster, Matt Hamilton and John Landsteiner are holdovers from the 2018 Olympic team and were joined by Chris Plys. They will play for the U.S. at the 2019 World Men’s Championship, from 30 March-7 April in Lethbridge (CAN).

This was the seventh national title for Shuster, who first won in 2003 as lead for Pete Fenson and has added championships in 2005-06-09-15-17.

For Sinclair, the two-time defending national champion, the 2019 Nationals came down to another tussle with Nina Roth’s rink, who won the Olympic Trials last year and competed in PyeongChang.

Both were 6-1 in the qualifying round, but Sinclair defeated Roth, 9-8, in the play-in game and then again, 6-4 in the final.

“It has been three in a row for half of this team but every one has been different,” said Sinclair afterwards.

“The first two years we had some different players and it was leading up to the Olympics so we kind of had our heart set on the Olympics and we had to turn around and re-focus on the Nationals. Coming into this year as a new team we were trying to figure out our communication out on the ice so there was a lot of learning to do as a team. We had our hearts set on this national championship so we’re happy that we came together so quickly.”

Sinclair’s rink will represent the U.S. at the 2019 Women’s World Curling Championship from 16-24 March 16-24 in Silkeborg (DEN). Summaries:

USA Curling National Championships
Kalamazoo, Michigan (USA) ~ 9-16 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men: 1. John Shuster; 2. Rich Ruhonen; 3. Todd Birr. Play-in: Shuster d. Ruohonon, 8-3; Birr d. Mark Fenner, 5-4. Semifinal: Ruohonen d. Burr, 6-5. Final: Shuster d. Ruohonen, 8-4.

Women: 1. Jamie Sinclair; 2. Nina Roth; 3. Cory Christensen. Play-in: Sinclair d. Roth, 9-8; Christensen d. Stephanie Senneker, 9-8. Semis: Roth d. Christensen, 7-5. Final: Sinclair d. Roth, 6-4.

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING: Diggins takes first World Cup gold in 2019 in Cogne Sprint

By
Rich Perelman
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American Cross Country Skiing star Jessica Diggins: a second FIS World Cup seasonal title!

If she never competes again, Jessie Diggins’ place in U.S. Olympic history is secure. Her PyeongChang victory with Kikkan Randall in the Team Sprint was the first-ever Cross Country gold medal for the United States.

But while Randall has retired, Diggins, 27, continues on and scored her first World Cup win of the season in the 1.6 km Freestyle Sprint in Cogne (ITA). But it was a struggle.

She barely made it out of her quarterfinal in fourth place. She was third in her semi, but advanced to the final under the “Lucky Loser” rules. And then she managed to out-sprint Germany’s Sandra Ringwald, Johanna Hagstroem (SWE) and Ane Stenseth (NOR) by 0.11, 0.86 and 1.31 seconds to get to the line first in the final.

“Man I’m glad they do lucky loser,” said Diggins afterwards. “Honestly, there have been lots of ups and downs this year, you don’t know what going to happen, but you have to believe in yourself and keep pushing the whole way.”

Diggins wasn’t the only American in the final, as Sadie Bjornsen finished fifth, 2.23 seconds behind Diggins. Bjornsen also has a World Cup medal this season and her third top-five finish in a Sprint in 2018-19

For Diggins, it was her fourth medal of the season, but her first win. She now owns six career World Cup gold medals.

Home favorite Federico Pellegrino won the men’s Sprint, but the U.S. got good news in the fourth-place finish – best this season – from Simi Hamilton.

“The final was tough,” Hamilton said. “It’s always tricky coming from the second semifinal with such a short turnaround into the finals, but I’m proud of how I skied it and although fourth is a frustrating place to be, I think it’s a good sign leading into World Champs.”

In the Classical distance racing, Russia’s Alexander Bolshunov won his third race of the season, but first since the opening weekend of the season last November. Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen, 30, won her first World Cup race since 2014 in the 10 km Classical. Her younger brother, Iivo, 27, was runner-up to Bolshunov in the men’s race! Most of the star racers skipped the weekend to prep for next week’s World Nordic Championships in Seefeld (AUT). Summaries:

FIS Cross Country World Cup
Cogne (ITA) ~ 16-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s 1.6 km Freestyle Sprint: 1. Federico Pellegrino (ITA), 3:09.07; 2. Francesco de Fabiani (ITA), +0.48; 3. Lucas Chanavat (FRA), +0.51; 4. Simi Hamilton (USA), +3.91; 5. Sondre Fossi (NOR), +4.03.

Men’s 15 km Classical: 1. Alexander Bolshunov (RUS), 34:48.4; 2. Iivo Niskanen (FIN), 35:32.1; 3. Alexander Bessmertnykh (RUS), 35:44.3; 4. Alexey Poltoranin (KAZ), 35:49.2; 5. Ilia Poroshkin (RUS), 35:56.1. Also in the top 26: 16. Erik Bjornsen (USA), 36:43.2; … 26. Kyle Bratrud (USA), 37:09.5.

Women’s 1.6 km Freestyle Sprint: 1. Jessica Diggins (USA), 3:32.73; 2. Sandra Ringwald (GER), +0.11; 3. Johanna Hagstroem (SWE), +0.86; 4. Ane Appelkvist Stenseth (NOR), +1.31; 5. Sadie Bjornsen (USA) +2.23.

Women’s 10 km Classical: 1. Kerttu Niskanen (FIN), 27:24.8; 2. Nadine Faehndrich (SUI), 27:27.8; 3. Natalia Nepryaeva (RUS), 27:37.4; 4. Yulia Belorukova (RUS), 27:39.2; 5. Alisa Zhambalova (RUS), 27:55.7. Also: 21. Rosie Brennan (USA), 28:44.4.

BOBSLED & SKELETON: Meyers Taylor & Kwaza win in Lake Placid; Wesenberg gets Skeleton bronze

By
Rich Perelman
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Elana Meyers Taylor and Lake Kwaza (center) celebrate a World Cup win in Lake Placid (Photo: USA Bobsled)

PyeongChang Olympic silver medalist Elana Meyers Taylor started the IBSF World Cup season on the wrong note, having her sled disqualified for improper weight in the first event of the season in Innsbruck (AUT).

She’s been making up for that ever since and, driving on a favored track in Lake Placid (USA), she won her second World Cup race of the season on Saturday.

“It’s been a difficult year,” Meyers Taylor said. “We’re in a rebuilding phase, so to come out here and come out with a win; I’m super excited.

“It’s very exciting to win in front of a home crowd, it feels incredible. It’s special to come to the finish to cheers from friends and family.”

It wasn’t easy, as Meyers Taylor and Lake Kwaza stood second after the first run, 0.11 seconds behind Germany’s Stephanie Schneider. But the U.S. duo aced the second run and had the fastest time in the field by 0.23 to move from silver to gold.

Meyers Taylor also got closer to a seasonal medal, moving into fourth place overall going into next week’s finale in Calgary (CAN). Germany’s Mariama Jamanka remained in the lead with 1,487 points (fourth on Saturday), with Schneider at 1,396 and Anna Kohler (GER) at 1,304. Meyers Taylor has 1,260.

Germany’s Francesco Friedrich kept his two-man win streak alive this season with a 0.28 win; he’s won all seven races this season. But the German streak in the four-man racing came to an end at six with an upset win by Canada’s Justin Kripps, who piloted his first four-man World Cup win (he was the co-Olympic gold winner with Friedrich in the two-man in 2018).

In Skeleton, Russia’s Alexander Tretiakov won his third race of the season and took back the seasonal lead from Korea’s Yung-Bin Sun, 1,269-1,245. The women’s race ended in a tie between seasonal leader Elena Niktina (RUS) and pursuer Jacqueline Loelling (GER); Nikitina still has the season’s lead by 1,287-1,244.

Kendall Wesenberg of the U.S. scored a bronze medal in women’s Skeleton, the first World Cup medal for the U.S. in the discipline in two years. Wesenberg was the last to do it, back in January of 2017. “I haven’t medaled since two seasons ago, so I feel like my season is progressing,” she said. “Everyone here has been awesome. It’s been so nice to have a home crowd.” Summaries:

IBSF World Cup
Lake Placid (USA) ~ 15-16 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s 2: 1. Francesco Friedrich/Thorsten Margis (GER), 1:52.35; 2. Romain Heinrich/Dorian Hauterville (FRA), 1:52.63; 3. Justin Kripps/Cameron Stones (CAN), 1:52.65; 4. Nico Walther/Paul Krenz (GER), 1:52.68; 5. Oskars Kibermanis/Matiss Miknis (LAT), 1:53.76. Also: 9. Codie Bascue/Hakeem Abdul-Saboor (USA), 1:53.06; … 14. Justin Olsen/Joshua Williamson (USA), 1:53.30; … 17. Geoffrey Gadbois/Chris Kinney (USA), 1:53.98.

Men’s 4: 1. Canada (Justin Kripps), 1:49.54; 2. Latvia (Oskars Kibermanis), 1:49.61; 3. Maxim Andrianov (RUS), 1:49.67; 4. Germany (Francesco Friedrich), 1:49.70; 5. Germany (Nico Walther), 1:49.93. Also: 8. United States (Hunter Church), 1:50.24; … 11. United States (Codie Bascue), 1:50.38; 12. United States (Geoffrey Gadbois), 1:50.45.

Women’s 2: 1. Elana Meyers Taylor/Lake Kwaza (USA), 1:54.79; 2. Christine de Bruin/Kristen Bujnowski (CAN), 1:55.17; 3. Stephanie Schneider/Deborah Levi (GER), 1:55.27; 4. Mariama Jamanka/Franziska Bertels (GER), 1:55.28; 5. Brittany Reinbolt/Jessica Davis (USA), 1:55.88. Also: 11. Nicole Vogt/Briauna Jones (USA), 1:56.58.

Men’s Skeleton: 1. Alexander Tretiakov (RUS), 1:47.19; 2. Martins Dukurs (LAT), 1:47.33; 3. Sung-Bin Yun (KOR), 1:47.44; 4. Nikita Tregubov (RUS), 1:47.75; 5. Axel Jungk (GER), 1:47.83. Also: 8. Greg West (USA), 1:48.44; 9. Kyle Brown (USA), 1:48.50; 10. Austin Florian (USA), 1:48.52.

Women’s Skeleton: 1. tie, Elena Nikitina (RUS) and Jacqueline Loelling (GER), 1:50.59; 3. Kendall Wesenberg (USA), 1:51.10; 4. Mirela Rahneva (CAN), 1:51.19; 5. Sophia Griebel (GER), 1:51.30. Also: 12. Savannah Graybill (USA), 1:52.22.

ATHLETICS: U.S., Simbassa and Sieracki sweep NACAC Cross Country Champs

By
Rich Perelman
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NACAC Cross Country champion (and ex-Oklahoma star) Biya Simbassa

The North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Cross Country Championships was won, once again, by the United States in Port of Spain (TTO).

The U.S. not only won the men’s and women’s team titles, but also took the individual titles.

Abbabiya Simbassa won his second NACAC X-C crown, having previously won in 2017; he led a 1-2-3-4 U.S. finish that gave the American men a perfect team score of 10 points. Simbassa came out on top of a three-man sprint to the finish, ahead of Frankline Tonui and Reid Buchanan.

Breanna Sieracki won the women’s competition for the U.S., the first American women’s winner since 2016 (Allison Morgan). Sieracki finished just ahead of Canada’s Jessica O’Connell, with Jessica Tonn of the U.S. third.

In the 15 runnings of the event, the U.S. men have won all but once (2006) and the American women have taken 10 titles. However, while the men won their 13th in a row, the U.S. women won the team title for the first time since 2016. Summaries:

NACAC Cross Country Championships
Port of Spain (TTO) ~ 16 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men (10.0 km): 1. Abbabiya Simbassa (USA), 31:49; 2. Frankline Tonui (USA), 31:50; 3. Reid Buchanan (USA), 31:51; 4. Evans Kirwa (USA), 32:08; 5. Rory Linkletter (CAN), 32:13.

Men’s Team Scores: 1. United States, 10; 2. Canada, 31; 3. Trinidad & Tobago, 88.

Women (10.0 km): 1. Breanna Sieracki (USA); 36:34; 2. Jessica O’Connell (CAN), 36:37; 3. Jessica Tonn (USA), 36:40; 4. Natasha Wodak (CAN), 36:50; 5. Genevieve Lalonde (CAN), 36:51.

Women’s Team Scores: 1. United States, 18; 2. Canada, 20; 3. Mexico, 55.

ALPINE SKIING: Worlds conclude with Hirscher’s third gold in men’s Slalom

By
Rich Perelman
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Austria's World Champion skier Marcel Hirscher

Austria’s Marcel Hirscher had won two golds in each of the prior three Alpine World Championships, but that was not going to happen in Are (SWE) in 2019. In fact, he hadn’t won anything heading into Sunday’s finale, the men’s Slalom.

But after his first run, he left no doubt: he would not be shut out in Sweden.

Hirscher, the third man down the hill on the first run, put down a dominating exhibition of Slalom skiing, finishing in 1:00.60, a staggering 0.56 seconds ahead of second-place Alexis Pinturault (FRA) and just about ending the competition before the second run even began.

In races decided by 100ths of a second, Hirscher’s margin was going to be the winner and he sashayed through the second run in 25th place and still had an overall winning margin of 0.65 seconds.

Embed from Getty Images

The excitement in the second run was the ascension of his Austrian teammates. Michael Matt jumped from fourth after the first run to second overall and Marco Schwarz held on to third for an Austrian sweep. How rare is that? The last we found was back in 2001 when Austrians Michaela Dorfmeister, Renate Gotschl and Selina Heregger swept the women’s Downhill!

For Hirscher, it was his fifth individual world title and his third in Slalom. He now owns 11 World Championships medals and, including two wins in the Team event, has seven golds.

For the 2019 Worlds as a whole, Austria led with eight medals overall (1-4-3), followed by Norway (2-1-1), Switzerland (2-1-1) and the U.S. (2-0-2) with four each. Summaries:

FIS Alpine World Championships
Are (SWE) ~ 5-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Downhill: 1. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR), 1:19.98; 2. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR), 1:20.00; 3. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT), 1:20.31; 4. Beat Feuz (SUI), 1:20.42; 5. Matthias Mayer (AUT), 1:20.63; 6. Dominik Paris (ITA), 1:20.72; 7. Benjamin Thomsen (CAN), 1:20.73; 8. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR), 1:20.80. Also: 9 (tie). Bryce Bennett (USA), 1:20.81; … 12. Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:21.00; … 23. Steven Nyman (USA), 1:21.55; … 26. Travis Ganong (USA), 1:21.63.

Super-G: 1. Paris (ITA), 1:24.20; 2. tie, Johan Clarey (FRA) and Kriechmayr (AUT), 1:24.29; 4. Christof Innerhofer (ITA), 1:24.55; 5. Adrien Theaux (FRA), 1:24.57; 6. Josef Ferstl (GER), 1:24.59; 7. Brice Roger (FRA), 1:24.61; 8. tie, Mattia Casse (ITA), Nyman (USA) and Adrian Sejersted (NOR), 1:24.70. Also in the top 25: 11. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:24.73; … 23. Bennett (USA), 1:25.82.

Giant Slalom: 1. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR), 2:20.24; 2. Marcel Hirscher (AUT), 2:20.44; 3. Alexis Pinturault (FRA), 2:20.66; 4. Loic Meillard (FRA), 2:21.16; 5. tie, Marco Schwarz (SUI) and Zan Kranjec (SLO), 2:21.28; 7. Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen (NOR), 2:21.32; 8. Alexander Schmid (GER), 2:21.43. Also: 11. Ted Ligety (USA), 2:21.78; 12. Tommy Ford (USA), 2:21.80; … 21. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 2:23.88.

Slalom: 1. Hirscher (AUT), 2:05.86; 2. Michael Matt (AUT), 2:06.51; 3. Schwarz (AUT), 2:06.62; 4. Pinturault (FRA), 2:06.72; 5. Ramon Zenhaeusern (SUI), 2:06.82; 6. Manuel Feller (AUT), 2:06.90; 7. Clement Noel (FRA), 2:06.95; 8. Kristoffersen (NOR), 2:06.98.

Combined: 1. Pinturault (FRA), 1:47.71 (24th in Downhill + 2nd in Slalom); 2. Stefan Hadalin (SLO), 1:47.95 (30+1); 3. Schwarz (AUT), 1:48.17 (21+4); 4. Riccardo Tonetti (ITA), 1:48.38 (16+6); 5. Linus Strasser (GER), 1:48.51 (29+3); 6. Victor Muffat-Jeandet (FRA), 1:48.52 (23+5); 7. Mauro Caviezel (SUI), 1:48.57 (8+8); 8. Luca Aerni (SUI), 1:48.73 (20+7). Also: 11. Bennett (USA), 1:49.59 (18+13);’ … 18. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:49.84 (2+36).

Women

Downhill: 1. Ilka Stuhec (SLO), 1:01.74; 2. Corinne Suter (SUI), 1:01.97; 3. Lindsey Vonn (USA), 1:02.23; 4. Stephanie Venier (AUT), 1:02.27; 5. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR), 1:02.33; 6. Nicol Delago (ITA), 1:02.36; 7. Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT), 1:02.38; 8. Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), 1:02.52. Also: 22. Alice Merryweather (USA), 1:03.26.

Super-G: 1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), 1:04.89; 2. Sofia Goggia (ITA), 1:04.91; 3. Corinne Suter (SUI), 1:04.94; 4. Viktor Rebensburg (GER), 1:04.96; 5. Nadia Fanchini (ITA), 1:05.03; 6. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR), 1:05.05; 7. Francesca Marsaglia (ITA), 1:05.13; 8. Stuhec (SLO), 1:05.15; 9. Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), 1:05.37; 10. Federica Brignone (ITA), 1:05.43. Also in the top 25: 22. Merryweather (USA), 1:07.22.

Giant Slalom: 1. Petra Vlhova (SVK), 2:01.97; 2. Rebensburg (GER), 2:02.11; 3. Shiffrin (USA), 2:02.35; 4. Mowinckel (NOR), 2:02.47; 5. Brignone (ITA), 2:02.84; 6. Tessa Worley (FRA), 2:03.06; 7. Sara Hector (SWE), 2:03.91; 8. Clara Direz (FRA), 2:04.18.

Slalom: 1. Shiffrin (USA), 1:57.05; 2. Anna Swenn Larson (SWE), 1:57.63; 3. Vlhova (SVK), 1:58.08; 4. Katharina Liensberger (AUT), 1:58.48; 5. Frida Hansdotter (SWE), 1:59.44; 6. Laurence St-Germain (CAN), 1:59.65; 7. Katharina Huber (AUT), 1:59.75; 8. Katharina Truppe (AUT), 1:59.98. Also: 18. Paula Moltzan (USA), 2:02.51.

Combined: 1. Wendy Holdener (SUI), 2:02:13 (5th in Downhill + 3rd in Slalom); 2. Vlhova (SVK), 2:02.16 (8+2); 3. Mowinckel (NOR), 2:02.58 (3+6); 4. Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT), 2:02.62 (1+8); 5. Roni Remme (CAN), 2:02.26 (28+1); 6. Brignone (ITA), 2:03.52 (6+10); 7. Kasja Vickhoff Lie (NOR), 2:03.64 (15+5); 8. Franziska Gritsch (AUT), 2:03.82 (29+4). Also: 18. Merryweather (USA), 2:06.63 (10+21).

Mixed

Team Event/ Big Final: 1. Switzerland (Holdener, Matt, Truppe, Zenhaeusern); 2. Austria (Linsberger, Yule, Danioth, Schwarz). Small Final: 3. Italy (Curtoni, Della Mea, Maurberger, Vinatzer); 4. Germany (Duerr, Geiger, Strasser, Tremmel). Semis: Austria d. Italy, 2-2 (49.23-49.52); Switzerland d. Germany, 2-2 (48.75-48.95). Third: Italy d. Germany, 3-1. Final: Switzerland d. Austria, 2-2 (48.13-48.90).

ALPINE SKIING: Shiffrin takes fourth World Championships Slalom title

By
Rich Perelman
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Anna Swenn Larsson, Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova on the victory stand after the women's Slalom (Photo: FIS)

Mikaela Shiffrin knew she had to be ready from the start to win the 2019 Alpine World Championships Slalom.

After her bronze medal on Thursday in the Giant Slalom, she said, “Everybody’s charging and Petra [Vlhova]’s been a big competitor of mine all season long, so I know that it’s full gas. In Slalom, I tend to feel more confident in all variable types of conditions than I currently do in GS, but it’s still a matter of who pushes as hard as they can and who does the best skiing and the fewest mistakes, and so we’ll see what happens. So I am looking forward to it.”

Unfortunately, Shiffrin was suffering from a chest cold and her 57.23 first run left her third, similar to her fourth-place standing after the first run of the Giant Slalom.

“Halfway down the (second) run, I ran out of oxygen,” she said. “It was tough today.”

Shiffrin reportedly had stomach spasms just before her second run and her mother, Eileen Shiffrin, told her: “You don’t have to do this!”

But Shiffrin said afterwards that she “just figured I had to be tough” for about 60 seconds and got into the starting gate. “I knew I had to fight really hard the second run because Anna [Swenn Larsson] and Wendy [Holdener] are too strong, and the girls who were behind me were also really close,” Shiffrin said.

Shiffrin ripped through the second run and her 59.82 time was the only one under a minute during the entire second run. She jumped into the lead and she wasn’t challenged by either Swenn Larsson (SWE) or first-run leader Holdener (SUI). Swenn Larsson skied well, but ended up second; Holdener missed at gate at the top of the course and finished 17th. That allowed Slovakia’s Vlhova to come from fifth to third with her very good second.

It was the fourth consecutive Slalom gold for Shiffrin at the World Championships, a testament to her grit and determination. At 23, she still has perhaps five more Worlds in front of her – if she chooses – and is on the precipice of setting records no one may touch for a long, long time.

No one else has ever won four straight Worlds golds in a single event. Shiffrin broke away from multiple skiers who have won three in a row, including American Ted Ligety in the men’s Giant Slalom in 2011-13-15. Shiffrin now stands alone.

The Alpine Worlds will finish with the men’s Slalom tomorrow. Summaries:

FIS Alpine World Championships
Are (SWE) ~ 5-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Downhill: 1. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR), 1:19.98; 2. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR), 1:20.00; 3. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT), 1:20.31; 4. Beat Feuz (SUI), 1:20.42; 5. Matthias Mayer (AUT), 1:20.63; 6. Dominik Paris (ITA), 1:20.72; 7. Benjamin Thomsen (CAN), 1:20.73; 8. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR), 1:20.80. Also: 9 (tie). Bryce Bennett (USA), 1:20.81; … 12. Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:21.00; … 23. Steven Nyman (USA), 1:21.55; … 26. Travis Ganong (USA), 1:21.63.

Super-G: 1. Paris (ITA), 1:24.20; 2. tie, Johan Clarey (FRA) and Kriechmayr (AUT), 1:24.29; 4. Christof Innerhofer (ITA), 1:24.55; 5. Adrien Theaux (FRA), 1:24.57; 6. Josef Ferstl (GER), 1:24.59; 7. Brice Roger (FRA), 1:24.61; 8. tie, Mattia Casse (ITA), Nyman (USA) and Adrian Sejersted (NOR), 1:24.70. Also in the top 25: 11. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:24.73; … 23. Bennett (USA), 1:25.82.

Giant Slalom: 1. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR), 2:20.24; 2. Marcel Hirscher (AUT), 2:20.44; 3. Alexis Pinturault (FRA), 2:20.66; 4. Loic Meillard (FRA), 2:21.16; 5. tie, Marco Schwarz (SUI) and Zan Kranjec (SLO), 2:21.28; 7. Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen (NOR), 2:21.32; 8. Alexander Schmid (GER), 2:21.43. Also: 11. Ted Ligety (USA), 2:21.78; 12. Tommy Ford (USA), 2:21.80; … 21. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 2:23.88.

Combined: 1. Pinturault (FRA), 1:47.71 (24th in Downhill + 2nd in Slalom); 2. Stefan Hadalin (SLO), 1:47.95 (30+1); 3. Schwarz (AUT), 1:48.17 (21+4); 4. Riccardo Tonetti (ITA), 1:48.38 (16+6); 5. Linus Strasser (GER), 1:48.51 (29+3); 6. Victor Muffat-Jeandet (FRA), 1:48.52 (23+5); 7. Mauro Caviezel (SUI), 1:48.57 (8+8); 8. Luca Aerni (SUI), 1:48.73 (20+7). Also: 11. Bennett (USA), 1:49.59 (18+13);’ … 18. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:49.84 (2+36).

Women

Downhill: 1. Ilka Stuhec (SLO), 1:01.74; 2. Corinne Suter (SUI), 1:01.97; 3. Lindsey Vonn (USA), 1:02.23; 4. Stephanie Venier (AUT), 1:02.27; 5. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR), 1:02.33; 6. Nicol Delago (ITA), 1:02.36; 7. Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT), 1:02.38; 8. Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), 1:02.52. Also: 22. Alice Merryweather (USA), 1:03.26.

Super-G: 1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), 1:04.89; 2. Sofia Goggia (ITA), 1:04.91; 3. Corinne Suter (SUI), 1:04.94; 4. Viktor Rebensburg (GER), 1:04.96; 5. Nadia Fanchini (ITA), 1:05.03; 6. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR), 1:05.05; 7. Francesca Marsaglia (ITA), 1:05.13; 8. Stuhec (SLO), 1:05.15; 9. Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), 1:05.37; 10. Federica Brignone (ITA), 1:05.43. Also in the top 25: 22. Merryweather (USA), 1:07.22.

Giant Slalom: 1. Petra Vlhova (SVK), 2:01.97; 2. Rebensburg (GER), 2:02.11; 3. Shiffrin (USA), 2:02.35; 4. Mowinckel (NOR), 2:02.47; 5. Brignone (ITA), 2:02.84; 6. Tessa Worley (FRA), 2:03.06; 7. Sara Hector (SWE), 2:03.91; 8. Clara Direz (FRA), 2:04.18.

Slalom: 1. Shiffrin (USA), 1:57.05; 2. Anna Swenn Larson (SWE), 1:57.63; 3. Vlhova (SVK), 1:58.08; 4. Katharina Liensberger (AUT), 1:58.48; 5. Frida Hansdotter (SWE), 1:59.44; 6. Laurence St-Germain (CAN), 1:59.65; 7. Katharina Huber (AUT), 1:59.75; 8. Katharina Truppe (AUT), 1:59.98. Also: 18. Paula Moltzan (USA), 2:02.51.

Combined: 1. Wendy Holdener (SUI), 2:02:13 (5th in Downhill + 3rd in Slalom); 2. Vlhova (SVK), 2:02.16 (8+2); 3. Mowinckel (NOR), 2:02.58 (3+6); 4. Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT), 2:02.62 (1+8); 5. Roni Remme (CAN), 2:02.26 (28+1); 6. Brignone (ITA), 2:03.52 (6+10); 7. Kasja Vickhoff Lie (NOR), 2:03.64 (15+5); 8. Franziska Gritsch (AUT), 2:03.82 (29+4). Also: 18. Merryweather (USA), 2:06.63 (10+21).

Mixed

Team Event/ Big Final: 1. Switzerland (Holdener, Matt, Truppe, Zenhaeusern); 2. Austria (Linsberger, Yule, Danioth, Schwarz). Small Final: 3. Italy (Curtoni, Della Mea, Maurberger, Vinatzer); 4. Germany (Duerr, Geiger, Strasser, Tremmel). Semis: Austria d. Italy, 2-2 (49.23-49.52); Switzerland d. Germany, 2-2 (48.75-48.95). Third: Italy d. Germany, 3-1. Final: Switzerland d. Austria, 2-2 (48.13-48.90).

ATHLETICS: World Indoor 1,500 m Record falls to Tefera in Birmingham

By
Rich Perelman
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World Indoor Record for Ethiopia's Sam Tefera in Birmingham (Video screen shot)

All eyes in Birmingham (GBR) were on Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha in his attempt at the indoor world record in the 1,500 m, but it was his countryman Samuel Tefera who beat him to the tape and took the title of “World Record Holder” for himself.

Embed from Getty Images

Kejelcha had run alone the week before in the Millrose Games in New York, but Kejelcha and Tefera pushed each other to the finish and that may have been the difference:

● 400 m: The first pacesetter was Bram Son (NED), who covered the first two laps in 55.69, faster than Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj’s 1997 world-record pace of 56.0 and about the same as Kejelcha’s 56.25 for 409 meters (allowing for the mile vs. 1,500 m) at Millrose last week.

● 800 m: The pace was now being carried by Jordan Williamz (AUS), who finished four laps in 1:52.70. That’s right on pace with El Guerrouj’s 1:52.6 from 1997, but a little slower than Kejelcha’s 1:52.99 for 809 m last week.

● 1,200 m: The pacesetters dropped off and Kejelcha led the race, but with Tefera in close attendance. The six-lap split was 2:49.28 for Kejelcha, just faster than El Guerrouj’s 2:49.4 and right on pace with Kejelcha’s 2:50.93 at Millrose.

● 1,500 m: Kejelcha lost the mile record with a little slowing on the sixth and seventh laps. But he couldn’t do that in Birmingham with Tefera right behind, and Tefera flew by going into the final turn and sprinted down the home straight, covering the last 300 m in about 42.0 seconds compared to 42.9 for Kejelcha in his mile last week and that was enough to get Tefera home first as the new record holder.

“I can’t believe that,” said Tefera. “I’m delighted with the outcome and to have the world record is a special feeling.”

Kejelcha’s time was still sensational at 3:31.58, the third-fastest indoor 1,500 m of all time.

There were two other world leaders during the meet: Bingtian Su (CHN) running 6.47 in the men’s 60 m and Laura Muir (GBR) in the women’s mile at 4:18.75.

Su was impressive in beating Reece Prescod (GBR) and Mike Rodgers of the U.S. in 6.47 to 6.53-6.54.

Muir, to the roar of the British crowd, ran away with the mile and won in 4:18.75, the third-fastest women’s mile in history! “To get the British record was fantastic, but, for me, it was just about having a solid run today, coming away with the win and with a good time,” she said afterwards. “I have done that with the world lead and the joint third fastest time ever behind the current world and European record … I will take third. When you run by yourself, it is tough, but I felt good.”

Embed from Getty Images

Among the other notable performances was Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson was the winner of the women’s 60 m in a good 7.13, ahead of Asha Philip (GBR: 7.14) and Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV: 7.15). The women’s pole vault the top three placers all clear 4.81 m (15-9 1/2), but Britain’s Holly Bradshaw won ahead of Katie Nageotte (USA) and Katerina Stefanidi (GRE) on misses.

Japan’s Naoto Tobe scored another Indoor Tour win at 2.29 m (7-6) in the high jump and Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarria continued to improve in the men’s long jump, winning at 8.21m (26-11 1/4).

Americans Jarret Eaton and Freddie Crittenden went 1-2 in the 60 m Hurdles in 7.51 and 7.53, moving to nos. 3 and =5 on the year list.

The final World Indoor Tour meet comes Wednesday in Dusseldorf (GER), but it will be hard to duplicate the atmosphere and results from Birmingham. Summaries:

IAAF World Indoor Tour
Birmingham (GBR) ~ 16 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men
60 m: 1. Bingtian Su (CHN), 6.47; 2. Reece Prescod (GBR), 6.53; 3. Michael Rodgers (USA), 6.54. Also: 6. Bryce Robinson (USA), 6.65.

400 m: 1. Nathan Strother (USA), 46.45; 2. Luka Janezic (SLO), 47.04; 3. Luguelin Santos (DOM), 47.38. Also: 4. Marcus Chambers (USA), 47.55; … 6. David Kendziera (USA), 48.27.

800 m: 1. Joseph Deng (AUS), 1:47.27; 2. Jamie Webb (GBR), 1:47.51; 3. Joseph Reid (GBR), 1:47.83. Also: 4. Erik Sowinski (USA), 1:48.29.

1,500 m: 1. Samuel Tefera (ETH), 3:31.04 (World Indoor Record; old, 3:31.18, Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR), 1997); 2. Yomif Kejelcha (ETH), 3:31.58; 3. Stewart McSweyn (AUS), 3:35.10.

60 m Hurdles: 1. Jarret Eaton (USA), 7.51; 2. Freddie Crittenden (USA), 7.53; 3. Milan Trajkovic (CYP), 7.54. Also: 5. Aaron Mallett (USA), 7.63; … 8. Josh Thompson (USA), 7.82.

High Jump: 1. Naoto Tobe (JPN), 2.29 m (7-6); 2. Jeron Robinson (USA), 2.26 m (7-5); 3. Luis Joel Castro (PUR), 2.23 m (7-3 3/4). Also: 8. Trey Culver (USA), 2.16 m (7-1).

Long Jump: 1. Juan Miguel Echavarria (CUB), 8.21 m (26-11 1/4); 2. Tajay Gayle (JAM), 8.10 m (26-7); 3. Militiadis Tentoglou (GRE), 7.97 m (26-1 3/4). Also: 7. William Williams (USA), 7.52 m (24-8 1/4).

Women
60 m: 1. Elaine Thompson (JAM), 7.13; 2. Asha Philip (GBR), 7.14; 3. Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV), 7.15. Also: 8. Tawanna Meadows (USA), 7.50.

400 m: 1. Stephenie Ann McPherson (JAM), 52.24; 2. Elidih Doyle (GBR), 52.43; 3. Lisanne de Witte (NED), 52.61. Also: 6. Jaide Stepter (USA), 52.90.

800 m: 1. Shelayna Oksan-Clarke (GBR), 2:01.16; 2. Adelle Tracey (GBR), 2:01.95; 3. Liga Velvere (LAT), 2:02.00.

Mile: 1. Laura Muir (GBR), 4:18.75; 2. Winnie Nanyondo (UGA), 4:29.40; 3. Rababe Arafi (MAR), 4:29.74.

3,000 m: 1. Alemaz Samuel (ETH), 8:54.60; 2. Axumawit Embaye (ETH), 8:54.97; 3. Meskerem Mamo (ETH), 8:55.03. Also: 10. Dana Giordano (USA), 9:26.30.

60 m Hurdles: 1. Evonne Britton (USA), 7.91; 2. Andrea Invancevic (CRO) 8.09; 3. Cindy Ofili (GBR), 8.12. Also: 5. Jade Barber (USA), 8.23.

Pole Vault: 1. Holly Bradshaw (GBR), 4.81 m (15-9 1/4); 2. Katie Nageotte (USA), 4.81 m (15-9 1/4); 3. Katerina Stefanidi (GRE), 4.81 m (159-9 1/4).

Long Jump: 1. Ivana Spanovic (SRB), 6.78 m (22-4 1/4); 2. Abigail Irozuru (GBR), 6.59 m (21-7 1/2); 3. Jazmin Sawyers (GBR), 6.36 m (20-10 1/2).

ALPINE SKIING: Norway’s Kristoffersen earns sweet Worlds golds in men’s Giant Slalom

By
Rich Perelman
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Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen

If it were not for the great Marcel Hirscher (AUT), Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen would be one of the most decorated skiers on the planet.

But the technical ace has consistently finished behind Hirscher in race after race, only occasionally breaking through with a win on the World Cup circuit. This season, he has three second-place finishes and two third-place finishes in races won by Hirscher, including three in Giant Slaloms.

So when Kristoffersen finished the first run of the FIS World Championships Giant Slalom in Are (SWE) in third place, behind France’s Alexis Pinturault and Hirscher, it looked like another medal – a bronze – might be in order.

But the margin was tight, as Kristoffersen was just 0.18 in back of Pinturault. The first 27 skiers in the final run did not approach the top three and so when Hirscher went down in the 28th position, he promptly took the lead with a 1:10.37 time, even though it was only the ninth-fastest of the second run.

Kristoffersen was next and skied aggressively and finished in 1:10.09, faster than Hirscher and jumping into the lead himself with only Pinturault left to go.

The Frenchman’s effort was good, but there were too many mistakes in his run, only the 19th-fastest of the second run and left him with the bronze medal.

Kristoffersen’s win is his first-ever World Championships medal and, of course, his first win. It’s also a rare Giant Slalom victory for him. He had previously won only once on the World Cup tour in this race, back in March, 2015. But he moved up from the silver he won in the PyeongChang Giant Slalom last year, to the top of the victory stand.

Hirscher, feeling better after having a bad cold earlier in the week, will now look to Sunday’s Slalom for a 2019 Worlds gold. His silver is his 10th career Worlds medal, and he has a streak of gold medals in three straight Worlds (2013-15-17) that will be on the line on Sunday.

FIS Alpine World Championships
Are (SWE) ~ 5-17 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Downhill: 1. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR), 1:19.98; 2. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR), 1:20.00; 3. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT), 1:20.31; 4. Beat Feuz (SUI), 1:20.42; 5. Matthias Mayer (AUT), 1:20.63; 6. Dominik Paris (ITA), 1:20.72; 7. Benjamin Thomsen (CAN), 1:20.73; 8. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR), 1:20.80. Also: 9 (tie). Bryce Bennett (USA), 1:20.81; … 12. Ryan Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:21.00; … 23. Steven Nyman (USA), 1:21.55; … 26. Travis Ganong (USA), 1:21.63.

Super-G: 1. Paris (ITA), 1:24.20; 2. tie, Johan Clarey (FRA) and Kriechmayr (AUT), 1:24.29; 4. Christof Innerhofer (ITA), 1:24.55; 5. Adrien Theaux (FRA), 1:24.57; 6. Josef Ferstl (GER), 1:24.59; 7. Brice Roger (FRA), 1:24.61; 8. tie, Mattia Casse (ITA), Nyman (USA) and Adrian Sejersted (NOR), 1:24.70. Also in the top 25: 11. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:24.73; … 23. Bennett (USA), 1:25.82.

Giant Slalom: 1. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR), 2:20.24; 2. Marcel Hirscher (AUT), 2:20.44; 3. Alexis Pinturault (FRA), 2:20.66; 4. Loic Meillard (FRA), 2:21.16; 5. tie, Marco Schwarz (SUI) and Zan Kranjec (SLO), 2:21.28; 7. Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen (NOR), 2:21.32; 8. Alexander Schmid (GER), 2:21.43. Also: 11. Ted Ligety (USA), 2:21.78; 12. Tommy Ford (USA), 2:21.80; … 21. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 2:23.88.

Combined: 1. Pinturault (FRA), 1:47.71 (24th in Downhill + 2nd in Slalom); 2. Stefan Hadalin (SLO), 1:47.95 (30+1); 3. Schwarz (AUT), 1:48.17 (21+4); 4. Riccardo Tonetti (ITA), 1:48.38 (16+6); 5. Linus Strasser (GER), 1:48.51 (29+3); 6. Victor Muffat-Jeandet (FRA), 1:48.52 (23+5); 7. Mauro Caviezel (SUI), 1:48.57 (8+8); 8. Luca Aerni (SUI), 1:48.73 (20+7). Also: 11. Bennett (USA), 1:49.59 (18+13);’ … 18. Cochran-Siegle (USA), 1:49.84 (2+36).

Women

Downhill: 1. Ilka Stuhec (SLO), 1:01.74; 2. Corinne Suter (SUI), 1:01.97; 3. Lindsey Vonn (USA), 1:02.23; 4. Stephanie Venier (AUT), 1:02.27; 5. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR), 1:02.33; 6. Nicol Delago (ITA), 1:02.36; 7. Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT), 1:02.38; 8. Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), 1:02.52. Also: 22. Alice Merryweather (USA), 1:03.26.

Super-G: 1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), 1:04.89; 2. Sofia Goggia (ITA), 1:04.91; 3. Corinne Suter (SUI), 1:04.94; 4. Viktor Rebensburg (GER), 1:04.96; 5. Nadia Fanchini (ITA), 1:05.03; 6. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR), 1:05.05; 7. Francesca Marsaglia (ITA), 1:05.13; 8. Stuhec (SLO), 1:05.15; 9. Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), 1:05.37; 10. Federica Brignone (ITA), 1:05.43. Also in the top 25: 22. Merryweather (USA), 1:07.22.

Giant Slalom: 1. Petra Vlhova (SVK), 2:01.97; 2. Rebensburg (GER), 2:02.11; 3. Shiffrin (USA), 2:02.35; 4. Mowinckel (NOR), 2:02.47; 5. Brignone (ITA), 2:02.84; 6. Tessa Worley (FRA), 2:03.06; 7. Sara Hector (SWE), 2:03.91; 8. Clara Direz (FRA), 2:04.18.

Combined: 1. Wendy Holdener (SUI), 2:02:13 (5th in Downhill + 3rd in Slalom); 2. Vlhova (SVK), 2:02.16 (8+2); 3. Mowinckel (NOR), 2:02.58 (3+6); 4. Ramona Siebenhofer (AUT), 2:02.62 (1+8); 5. Roni Remme (CAN), 2:02.26 (28+1); 6. Brignone (ITA), 2:03.52 (6+10); 7. Kasja Vickhoff Lie (NOR), 2:03.64 (15+5); 8. Franziska Gritsch (AUT), 2:03.82 (29+4). Also: 18. Merryweather (USA), 2:06.63 (10+21).

Mixed

Team Event/ Big Final: 1. Switzerland (Holdener, Matt, Truppe, Zenhaeusern); 2. Austria (Linsberger, Yule, Danioth, Schwarz). Small Final: 3. Italy (Curtoni, Della Mea, Maurberger, Vinatzer); 4. Germany (Duerr, Geiger, Strasser, Tremmel). Semis: Austria d. Italy, 2-2 (49.23-49.52); Switzerland d. Germany, 2-2 (48.75-48.95). Third: Italy d. Germany, 3-1. Final: Switzerland d. Austria, 2-2 (48.13-48.90).

SPEED READ: Headlines from The Sports Examiner for Friday, 15 February 2019

By
Rich Perelman
-

Welcome to The Sports Examiner SPEED READ, a 100 mph (44.7 m/s) review of what happened over the last 96 hours in Olympic sport:

LANE ONE

Wednesday: The International Olympic Committee put the International Boxing Association (“AIBA”) on suspension last year, but it’s the AIBA that’s steamed. It says it has done everything it needs to do, but the IOC hardly seems impressed. Add in some internal dissension inside the boxing community and you can ask: has there ever been a worse time to be an Olympic hopeful in boxing?

Friday: The IOC has a lot of problems to deal with, but suddenly, looking for host cities for future Olympic Games – out to 2032 – does not seem to be a problem. There are good reasons for this, but the long-time slogan of Burger King sums it up: “Have it your way.”

THE BIG PICTURE

Thursday: A report in the London newspaper, The Times, said that the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was going to classify South Africa’s Olympic women’s 800 m champion Caster Semenya as a “biological male.” The IAAF hotly denied it, but a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear a challenge to the IAAF’s 2018 guidelines on hydroandrogenism and whether and how it can regulate testosterone levels in women.

GLOBETROTTING by Phil Hersh

Wednesday: A deeper look into the unanswered questions left by the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s closure of any investigation into the tragic death of former U.S. Pairs Champion John Coughlin by suicide.

ALPINE SKIING

Monday: The Alpine Combined is a fairly unloved event in skiing, but the medals look just like the ones handed out for the other events. France’s Alexis Pinturault – as close as there is to a Combined specialist – is happy about that as he won the World Championship in the event. He came from 24th in the Downhill to post the win.

Tuesday: The oddball Team Event was held with a tight final between Switzerland and Austria, won on the tie-breaker by the Swiss. Now we can get on with the other events …

Thursday: American Mikaela Shiffrin won a bronze medal in the women’s Giant Slalom at the Alpine World Championships, moving up from fourth after the first run. First-run leader Viktoria Rebensburg (GER) slid to second after a feisty second run from Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova won the event by 0.14 seconds.

ICE HOCKEY

Tuesday: The U.S. women edged Canada, 1-0, in the first game of the February “Rivalry Series” in front of a packed house in London, Ontario. Hilary Knight scored the only goal of the game in the second period and U.S. keeper Alex Rigsby stopped Canadian shots to maintain the shutout.

Thursday: There were goals aplenty in the second leg of the Rivalry Series in Toronto, including five in the first period alone! Canada took a 4-3 lead after the first 20 minutes, but there was no scoring in the second period. But Jamie-Lee Rattray’s goal at 7:06 of the third period proved to be the game-winner. It gave Canada a 4-2 lead, but after a U.S. goal from Brianna Decker three minutes later, the U.S. poured on the pressure, but was unable to get an equalizer. The third game is Sunday in Detroit.

WRESTLING

Monday: Two Americans won medals at the United World Wrestling ranking tournament in Greco-Roman wrestling in Zagreb (CRO): Vance Johnson and G’Angelo Hancock, while Croatia’s Bozo Starcevic won his fifth straight Zagreb Open title in front of the home crowd!

PREVIEWS

● Athletics: IAAF Indoor World Tour/Muller Grand Prix in Birmingham
● Biathlon: IBU World Cup in Salt Lake City
● Bobsled & Skeleton: IBSF World Cup in Lake Placid
● Cross Country: FIS World Cup in Cogne
● Freestyle Skiing: FIS World Cups in Aerials, Halfpipe and Ski Cross
● Gymnastics: USA Gymnastics’ Winter Cup Challenge & FIG Trampoline World Cup
● Karate: Karate 1 Premier League tournament in Dubai
● Ski Jumping: FIS World Cups in Willingen (men) and Obertsdorf (women)
● Snowboard: FIS World Cups in Halfpipe and Parallel Giant Slalom
● Swimming: FINA Marathon Swimming World Series in Doha

UPCOMING

Highlights of the coming week; look for full coverage in the coming days on TheSportsExaminer.com:

● Alpine Skiing: Final days of the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Sweden.

● Basketball: Final round of the Americas Qualifying matches.

● Nordic Skiing: The FIS Nordic Worlds start in Seefeld, Austria.

We’ll have event-by-event coverage over the weekend, check in regularly!

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