THE BIG PICTURE: IOC starts boxing inquiry with 41 questions

February 4, 2019

The International Olympic Committee’s inquiry into boxing has finally gotten started.

The International Boxing Association, known by its old French acronym of AIBA, is in danger of being removed as the governing body of the sport by the IOC, and the sport’s place on the 2020 Olympic program is in jeopardy.

Issues with judging, governance, finance, corruption and the election of a man listed by the U.S. Treasury Department as a criminal as AIBA president have all contributed to this situation. The IOC Executive Board decided to form a working group to look into the issues and report back with recommendations.

That process has finally started, as AIBA posted a notice today (4th) that “The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has requested Deloitte to do a report on the AIBA International Boxing Association following their Executive Board decision to set up an Ad Hoc Inquiry Committee related to the Association. AIBA has received from the Inquiry Committee a request with 41 questions from Deloitte focusing primarily on finances but as well on governance, ethics, refereeing and judging and anti-doping.”

The project is a short one, with the replies due by 21 February. The IOC’s inquiry team is led by United World Wrestling President Nenad Lalovic (SRB), with Puerto Rican IOC member and international banker Richard Carrion, and Finnish ice hockey defender Emma Terho of Finland.

The next meeting of the IOC Executive Board is scheduled for 26-28 March in Lausanne (SUI) and AIBA will be on the agenda. In its 30 November decision to investigate AIBA more thoroughly, the IOC decided to “freeze the planning for the Olympic boxing tournament at Tokyo 2020, including official contact between AIBA and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, ticket sales, approval and implementation of a qualification system, test event planning and finalisation of the competition schedule.”

If the boxing competition is going to take place in Tokyo – and the IOC promised to “[make] all efforts to protect the athletes and ensure that a boxing tournament can take place at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 regardless of these measures” – then the planning process has to be reignited, and soon.

LANE ONE: To grow track & field, Sebastian Coe of 2019 needs to talk to Sebastian Coe of 2014

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 2019-203 coe, seb abu dhabi 750 — World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe (Photo: Leaders Business Summit)

Britain’s Sebastian Coe was one of the finest middle-distance runners of all time. He was so good and so special that he sold thousands of tickets to meets all across Europe to watch him run and often challenge one or more of his own world records at 800 m, 1,000 m or the mile, in the 1970s and 1980s.

Now Coe faces an even tougher task than becoming a great runner. Getting people interested in his sport again, on a worldwide basis.

As the elected head of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Coe has had to fight through a maelstrom of problems – none of which were of his making – dealing with corruption, doping, what to do about Russia and its doping issues and making the IAAF more accountable to its stakeholders, whether athletes, coaches, sponsors, broadcasters or spectators.

There will be more dark days ahead, especially when the French trial of former IAAF chief Lamine Diack comes about, perhaps later this year. But Coe is in transition, now thinking about the issues he campaigned on in late 2014 as he attempted to win election as IAAF President in 2015.

He spoke about this at the recent Leaders’ Sport Business Summit in Abu Dhabi (UAE), and the IAAF reported some of his comments, including his outlook for the coming year.

“The fun bit begins, but probably the tougher bit, which is how do you then grow the sport, how do you remain exciting, attractive, have traction with younger audiences and that’s not something that’s going to happen if you sit there and think your sport will be forever loved.

“It’s not going to work like that. Usain Bolt is not enough any longer to sell our sport. We will sell our sport through participation and engagement.”

He pointed to the open-to-the-public road races that accompanied the World Half Marathon Championships in Spain in 2018 as a window into the future. “It’s really important that you make sure that your sport is not focusing just on the top 30 or 40 competitors,” he said. “It has to reach out into the community.”

What Coe says is all true, and there are real benefits to having new ways for people to become involved with championship events beyond sitting in the stands. If Coe’s aim is to get more people to exercise through running, walking and weight training, he’s on a good track.

But that’s not the track he wants to be on.

He wants to be at meets which have crackle, electricity and meaning, as did the 2017 World Championships in London (GBR), with sell-out crowds and an engaged television audience. Adding 10 km and half-marathon road races won’t accomplish that.

Coe also spoke about more athlete engagement and use of social media tools, and better broadcasting technologies to, as he noted, “It was said to me by one of the great communicators of our generation that what people are really interested in are great things about little people and little things about great people. And you really do need to bring some of those things into the lives of our audiences.”

These comments from the Sebastian Coe of 2019 are in contrast to what he identified as the top priority in his IAAF campaign manifesto issued in late 2014.

In his first section, called “Embracing change to secure a better future,” his no. 1 issue was “World Athletics Calendar Reform” starting with:

“To many within and outside our sport, the World Athletics calendar seems disjointed, lacks purpose, a narrative and the essential glue to build excitement and a loyal and passionate following. Many fans don’t know when the Athletics season starts, when it ends, why it seems to bounce around from the USA to Europe to Asia and back again. It is confusing to spectators and viewers alike. A harmonised calendar I believe is the key to promotion, marketing, the athletes and Member Federation development. The IAAF must take more control of the calendar and competitions. …

“So our aim should be to give the calendar a narrative that has a start, middle and end that makes sense. This must be a top priority. Once the core IAAF calendar has been agreed and attendance by our top athletes guaranteed, the Areas and the Regions will be in a position to set their own calendars at times that work for them and also explore particular disciplines that have real local interest.”

That last word – interest – is the key. On the day after the NFL Super Bowl will attract the largest single-event mass audience in the United States, it’s worth recognizing the seasonal narrative of team sports and how they work through a defined regular season and into a final playoff game for a championship. This concept for team sports was pioneered by baseball back in the late 1800s. It has not changed.

Coe understood this in 2014 and said so in his manifesto. But he appears to have gotten off-message in the subsequent five years. But he had the right idea then, and others are repeating it now.

At the 2018 FINA World Water Polo Conference, Terrence Burns, a long-time U.S. marketer with long experience in selling bids to governing bodies, was asked what water polo could do to enhance its profile. Burns made the same suggestions as Coe:

“Before talking about promotional tactics, we should go way back. I think that you have to create a strong brand narrative, a real story about water polo. You need to identify why it is important to the consumers and the fans. And then the tactics follow. …

“During my presentation I was really referring to the Why. You have to come up with the Why before you come up with the How. In this case, why is water polo unique? Why is it different from any other team sport? And why is that valuable to the consumer?”

In track & field, the calendar is the key. As of now, the IAAF’s showcase series is the Diamond League, which will have 14 meets unevenly spread across five months, with a full month break in late July and early August and then it concludes with the IAAF World Championships following the last meet … three weeks later.

No one at Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL or the professional golf or tennis tours could comprehend such a schedule. Moreover, one of the best-managed, best-produced and best-attended meets – ISTAF in Berlin (GER) – is in the IAAF’s second-tier group of “World Challenge” meets.

The Coe of 2014 was right about the top priority, and the 2019 version of Coe is not addressing it, at least not directly. Sports presentation was a second priority and that is getting a lot of attention because technology is progressing so quickly that new concepts can be implemented without too much revolt.

But redoing the calendar is hard, and reforming it in a way which makes each meet and the season as a whole more meaningful is hard. FINA is starting to have this problem as well, introducing a new, high-paying three-meet series to the calendar that also includes the U.S. Tyr Pro Swim Series, the European Mare Nostrum series, the FINA World Cup series and the promised International Swimming League, to debut in August and continue into December.

But the Coe of 2014 would seriously advise today’s Sebastian Coe to get the stakeholders in a room, engage others who think about these things seriously and find a new way to promote track & field as a spectator’s delight, as he wrote five years ago, “to make each meeting much more like a Grand Slam as we see in sports like Tennis.”

Rich Perelman
Editor

SPEED READ: Headlines from The Sports Examiner for Monday, 4 February 2019

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

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: To grow track & field, Sebastian Coe of 2019 needs to talk to Sebastian Coe of 2014. The Coe of 2014 wrote in his election manifesto that reforming the track & field calendar was the top priority for the IAAF. He’s been busy dealing with corruption, doping and Russia, but he now sees the opportunity to go forward. But he needs to remember his 2014 priorities and not be seduced by other issues.

PAN AM-O-RAMA

Friday: The PanAm Sports Organization announced that it has received three bids for the first Junior Pan American Games, to be held in 2021. The prospective host cities? Cali (COL), Monterrey (MEX) and Santa Ana (ESA). The decision will be made in March.

TOKYO 2020 PANORAMA

Friday: Japan’s Olympics Minister announced that the Japanese national spend on the 2020 Games will be right at $2 billion U.S. for the full period from 2013-20. The overall cost of the Games remains at $12.3 billion (converted from Japanese yen), but there are other costs for security and helping prepare the Japanese team. It’s 69% over the bid budget.

But the Tokyo organizers have received a remarkable number of 204,680 applications to volunteer for the Games, 36% of which were from outside the country!

ALPINE SKIING

Saturday: The amazing Mikaela Shiffrin tallied two more wins, in a Giant Slalom – a tie with Petra Vlhova (SVK) – and in the Slalom, to give her 13 World Cup wins this season. That’s just one short of the all-time record of 14 set 30 years ago by Swiss Vreni Schneider! Now Shiffrin sets her sights on next week’s World Alpine Championships in Sweden.

The men’s World Cup Downhill and Super-G in Garmisch (GER) were snowed out.

ATHLETICS

Saturday: Three world-leading marks highlighted the IAAF World Indoor Tour stop in Karlsruhe (GER). The biggest surprise came from Japan’s Naoto Tobe, who jumped 2.35 m (7-8 1/2) to win and set – along the way – four Japanese indoor records! Poland’s Ewa Swoboda also surprised Dutch sprint star Dafne Schippers with a world-leading 7.10 win in the women’s 60 m.

Saturday: In a rare match-up of four American Record holders in the 10,000-5,000-3,000 m Steeple-1,500 m, it was speedster Shelby Houlihan who had the speed to win the USATF National Cross Country Championship in Tallahassee, Florida. Her push over the final 1,000 m pushed her past Molly Huddle for her first U.S. Cross Country title. Leonard Korir looked like he might three-peat in the men’s race, but it was Shadrack Kipchirchir who had the best finish and took his first cross title.

CURLING

Sunday: The third of four legs in the WCF World Cup saw the home-standing Swedish teams go down to defeat. Korea’s rink, skipped by Minji Kim, scored a 6-4 upset over Olympic champ Anna Hasselborg’s squad, and Canada’s Matt Dunstone defeated World Champion Niklas Edin, 5-4. Canada’s Kadriana Sahaidak and Colton Lott won the Mixed Doubles over Norway.

FENCING

Sunday: A win in Warsaw (POL) for American Sabre star Eli Dershwitz, ranked no. 1 worldwide and showing that he intends to stay there for a while. He had to win five matches in the elimination round, including a win over U.S. teammate Daryl Homer, and Italy’s Luca Curatoli in the final.

FOOTBALL

Saturday: The youthful U.S. men’s National Team scored another win, this time a 2-0 victory in San Jose, California, over Costa Rica. The game was physical and scoreless in the first half. But the second half saw constant U.S. pressure and Sebastian Lletget finally scored in the 80th minute and then assisted on Paul Arriola’s goal in the 88th minute.

FREESTYLE SKIING AND SNOWBOARD

Friday: The FIS Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard World Championships opened in Utah with the Snowboard Cross events in Solitude Mountain. Mick Dierdorff of the U.S. and Czech Eva Samkova were the gold medalists, both first-time World Champions.

Saturday: France’s 17-year-old Tess Ledeux won the first Freestyle World Championship Big Air competition with two sensational runs. She needed both to win, ahead of American Julia Krass. Swiss Fabian Boesch won the men’s Big Air, his second world title after winning in Slopestyle in 2015.

In Ski Cross, France got another gold, this time from Francois Place, who changed from Alpine Skiing to Freestyle and won his second career Worlds medal. The Sochi 2014 women’s Slopestyle gold medalist, Marielle Thompson, won the women’s Ski Cross.

Sunday: More good news for the hosts, as two American World Champions combined for the gold medal in the inaugural World Championships running of the Snowboard Mixed Team SnowCross event. Mick Dierdorff, who won the men’s SnowCross title back on Friday, teamed up with five-time World Champion Lindsey Jacobellis to win all three rounds and claim victory at Solitude Mountain. Italy’s Omar Visintin and Michela Moioli won the silver.

LUGE

Sunday: Bad weather canceled most of Sunday’s program at the World Cup in Altenberg (GER), but Germany’s six-time World Champion Felix Loch won on Saturday to close the gap on seasonal leader Johannes Ludwig (GER) to just six points. Austria’s Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller won their third World Cup of the season, but are still far behind Germans Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken in the seasonal standings.

NORDIC COMBINED

Sunday: Norway’s 21-year-old sensation Jarl Magnus Riiber won his 10th World Cup competition of the season by sweeping the weekend series in Klingenthal (GER). By doing so, he clinched the seasonal World Cup title and completely dominated the series. His next challenge will be the World Championships in Austria later this month.

RUGBY

Sunday: New Zealand had a fun weekend at the World Rugby Sevens Series in Sydney (AUS), winning both the men’s and women’s titles. The All Blacks defeated the U.S. in the final, 21-5, while the Black Ferns beat Australia, 34-10. The U.S. men finished second for the fourth straight tournament and are tied with New Zealand for first place, with the next tourney in Las Vegas!

SAILING

Sunday: The Hempel Miami World Cup ended with three wins for China and two for German boats, but the most exciting finish might have been the 2016 Olympic rematch of Brazil’s Grael and Kunze and New Zealand’s Maloney and Meech. The Kiwis came into the medal race with a 12-point lead, but when the Brazilians managed a second and the New Zealanders were ninth, the Rio result was repeated, with the Brazilians winning by two points.

SHORT TRACK

Sunday: Korea dominated the penultimate Short Track World Cup in Dresden (GER), with three Koreans winning two medals. Olympic 1,500 m champ Hyo-Jun Lim won the men’s 500 m and took bronze in the 1,500 m; Dae-Heon Hwang was runner-up in the 500 m and won the 1,000 m; Ji-Yoo Kim won the women’s 1,500 and was runner-up in the second 1,000 m. Dutch star Suzanne Schulting won the second 1,000 m race and was third in the 1,500 m.

SKI JUMPING

Sunday: The big ski-flying hill near Obertsdorf (GER) provided three different winners this weekend off the massive, 235 m jump: Slovenia’s Timi Zajc, a first-time World Cup winner; Japan’s seasonal leader, Ryoyu Kobayashi, and Poland’s triple Olympic champ, Kamil Stoch. Kobayashi continues to lead the World Cup, but there are nine more events remaining.

SPEED SKATING

Sunday: American Brittany Bowe won two races, as did Russian Pavel Kulizhnikov at the Speed Skating World Cup in Hamar (NOR). Kulizhnikov won both 500 m races and has just about clinched the seasonal title in that event. Bowe won the women’s 1,000 m and 1,500 m and now leads the seasonal World Cup standings in both of those events, with one stop left in tour.

TABLE TENNIS

Sunday: Brazil’s Hugo Calderano defended his Pan American Cup title by beating the U.S.’s Kanak Jha in the men’s final, but defender Mo Zhang (CAN) was upset by Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz in front of a frenzied crowd in Guaynabo (PUR).

UPCOMING

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

● Alpine Skiing: The FIS World Alpine Championships start in Are, Sweden.

● Figure Skating: The Four Continents Championship starts in Anaheim, California.

● Freestyle Skiing & Snowboard: The World Championships in Utah continue.

Lots of coverage this week as multiple World Championships continue in Europe and the U.S.

RUGBY: New Zealand sweeps Sevens Series in Sydney, while U.S. men stay in first place

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 2019-203 nzl wins 7s in sydney 750 — The All Blacks celebrate another Sevens Series win

A great weekend for New Zealand rugby, as both the All Blacks and the Black Ferns won the men’s and women’s titles at the HSBC Sevens Series tournaments in Sydney (AUS). But it was also another second-place finish for the U.S. men, continuing their hold on first place through four stops!

In the men’s tournament, Fiji, New Zealand and the U.S. all went 3-0 in pool play. The Eagles dominated Spain in the quarters, 38-10, and then got by England, 14-7, in the semis. Meanwhile, New Zealand pounded Fiji, 36-14, in its semifinal, to face the U.S. in the championship match.

That turned out to be a 21-5 win for the All Blacks, so the U.S. was denied again, in its fourth straight final, losing twice to New Zealand and twice to Fiji. But both New Zealand and the U.S. are atop the standings with 76 points each, trailed by Fiji with 72.

Remember, the U.S. has never finished better than fourth in a Sevens Series season, so this is rarefied air indeed … and the next tournament is in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The women’s tournament started with New Zealand the only unbeaten team in pool play (3-0). In the playoffs, the Black Ferns sprinted past Canada, 17-7, in the quarters and then beat the U.S., 29-5 in the semis. The final was another dominant performance, a 34-10 win over Australia. The U.S. had no trouble with Ireland in the bronze-medal match, 26-10.

That’s three-for-three for the Black Ferns this season and a perfect 60 points. Behind them is the surprising U.S. with 48, then Canada and Australia with 46 each, at the halfway point of the Sevens Series season. The U.S. women have never finished better than fourth in any of the six seasons of the Sevens Series. Summaries:

World Rugby Sevens Series
Sydney (AUS) ~ 2-3 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men: 1. New Zealand; 2. United States; 3. England; 4. Fiji. Semis: New Zealand d. Fiji, 36-14; U.S. d. England, 14-7. Third: England d. Fiji, 19-17. Final: New Zealand d. U.S., 21-5.

Women: 1. New Zealand; 2. Austyralia; 3. United States; 4. Ireland. Semis: New Zealand d. U.S., 29-5; Australia d. Ireland, 24-12. Third: U.S. d, Ireland, 26-10. Final: New Zealand 34, Australia 10.

TABLE TENNIS: Calderano defends, Zhang upset by Diaz in Pan American Cup

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 2019-203 diaz, adriana (jose hud0 castaner-ittf) — Puerto Rico's 2019 Pan American champ Adriana Diaz (Photo: ITTF/Jose Hudo Castaner)

For a while, it looked like defending Pan America Cup champs Hugo Calderano of Brazil and Mo Zhang of Canada were going to repeat in the 2019 edition, being played in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

Calderano did his part, overwhelming 18-year-old American, Kanak Jha, four sets to one to retain his title. But Zhang had a stiffer challenge.

Second-seeded Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico had the home crowd behind her and the two battled in a critical first set, won by Diaz, 13-11. That set the tone, and Diaz went on to win the second set, 11-8 for a commanding 2-0 lead.

Zhang fought back with an 11-6 win in set three, but Diaz closed out the win with 11-9 and 11-9 victories that sent the home fans into a frenzy.

The U.S. also scored a medal in the women’s event, with Yue Wu taking the bronze medal. Summaries:

Pan American Cup
Guaynabo (PUR) ~ 1-3 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men: 1. Hugo Calderano (BRA); 2. Kanak Jha (USA); 3. Gustavo Tsuboi (BRA); 4. Marcelo Aguirre (PAR). Semis: Calderano d. Aguirre, 4-2; Jha d. Tsuboi, 4-2. Third: Tsuboi d. Aguirre, 4-1. Final: Calderano d. Jha, 4-1.

Women: 1. Adriana Diaz (PUR); 2. Mo Zhang (CAN); 3. Yue Wu (USA); 4. Bruna Takahashi (BRA). Semis: Diaz d. Wu, 4-3; Zhang d. Takahashi, 4-0. Third: Wu d. Takahashi, 4-2. Final: Diaz d. Zhang, 4-1.

SAILING: Three wins for China, two for Germany in Miami World Cup

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 2019-203 grael and kunze bra rio 750 — Brazil's Olympic 49er FX champs Grael and Kunze

Wind and skill are the dominant factors in sailing and a shifting, light wind on the final created considerable drama at the second World Sailing Hempel World Cup off of Miami, Florida (USA).

China ended up winning both of the RS:X Windsurfing events, with Bing Ye winning a tight battle with Poland’s Radoslaw Formanski, 62.0-67.0, clinching the win with a victory in the medal race, while Formanski was third.

Yunxiu Lu won the women’s RS:X, again in the medal race. Lu’s second-place finish was enough to hold off Israel’s Katy Spychakov, 42.0-50.0, as Spychakov finished fifth (10 points).

The third Chinese win came in the women’s Laser Radial. Dongshuang Zhang, who edged American Paige Railey, 81.0-95.0 by sticking close to her throughout the medal race.

The tightest classes were in the Finn and women’s 49er FX, where the medal races made the difference. In Finn, Sweden’s Max Salminen started with a four-point lead, but had a bad start and looked like he might not even win a medal. Finland’s Oskari Muhonen pulled into the lead halfway through and won the race, but Salminen managed to come from the back of the pack to finish fifth and that was good enough to hold onto the win, 47.0-50.0. Luke Muller of the U.S. got the bronze at 53.0.

The women’s 49er FX class looked like it would be a reversal of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. New Zealand’s silver medalists, Alexandria Maloney and Molly Meech had a 42.0-54.0 lead going into the medal race, against their old rivals, the Rio winners Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze of Brazil. But in the medal race, it was Grael and Kunze who finished second, while Maloney and Meech managed only ninth. The differential – four vs. 18 – was enough to give the win to the Brazilians, 58.0-60.0.

German boats won two races, the men’s 49er class with Erik Heil and Thomas Plossel and the women’s 470, in a blanket finish among four boats: Frederike Lowe and Anna Markfort (GER), 60.0, just ahead of Fabienne Oster and Anastasiya Winkel (GER: 62.0), Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Luiza Barbachan (BRA: 64.0) and Hannah Mills and Elidih McIntyre (GBR: 65.0). Loewe and Markfort stuck close to the others and their fourth-place finish was enough to secure gold.

The third leg of the World Cup series will be in Genoa (ITA) starting on 14 April. Summaries:

World Sailing World Cup II
Miami, Florida (USA) ~ 27 January-3 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

RS:X: 1. Bing Ye (CHN), 62.0 net points; 2. Radoslaw Formanski (POL), 67.0; 3. Pierre Le Coq (FRA), 69.0; 4. Pawel Tarnowski (POL), 76.0; 5. Thomas Goyard (FRA), 77.0.

Laser: 1. Hermann Tomasgaard (NOR), 50.0; 2. Sam Meech (NZL), 97.0; 3. Tom Burton (AUS), 121.0; 4. Charlie Buckingham (USA), 133.0; 5. Jean Baptiste Bernaz (FRA), 135.0.

Finn: 1. Max Salminen (SWE), 47.0; 2. Oskari Muhonen (FIN), 50.0; 3. Luke Muller (USA), 53.0; 4. Tom Ramshaw (CAN), 56.0; 5. Nils Theunnick (SUI), 58.0.

470: 1. Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nicolas Rodriguez (ESP), 48.0; 2. Anton Dahlberg/Fredrik Bergstrom (SWE), 58.0; 3. Naoki Ichino/Takashi Hasegawa (JPN), 60.0; 4. Stuart McNay/David Hughes (USA), 74.0; 5. Balazs Gyapjas/Zsombor Gyapjas (HUN), 75.0.

49er: 1. Erik Heil/Thomas Ploessel (GER), 73.3; 2. Dylan Fletcher-Scott/Stuart Bithell (GBR), 91.0; 3. Sime Fantella/Mihovil Fantela (CRO), 99.0; 4. Jakob Meggendorfer/Andreas Spranger (GER), 108.0; 5. James Peters/Fynn Sterritt (GBR), 111.0.

Women

RS:X: 1. Yunxiu Lu (CHN), 42.0; 2. Katy Spychakov (ISR), 50.0; 3. Charline Picon (FRA), 54.0; 4. Peina Chen (CHN), 64.0; 5. Hongmei Shi (CHN), 69.0.

Laser Radial: 1. Dongshuang Zhang (CHN), 81.0; 2. Paige Railey (USA), 95.0; 3. Vasileia Karachaliou (GRE), 98.0; 4. Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN), 121.0; 5. Alison Young (GBR), 121.0. Also: 6. Erika Reineke (USA), 131.0.

470: 1. Frederike Lowe/Anna Markfort (GER), 60.0; 2. Fabienne Oster/Anastasiya Winkel (GER), 62.0; 3. Fernanda Oliveira/Ana Luiza Barbachan (BRA), 64.0; 4. Hannah Mills/Elidih McIntyre (GBR), 65.0; 5. Camille Lecointre/Aloise Retornaz (FRA), 77.0. Also: 8. Atlantic Brugman/Nora Brugman (USA), 91.0.

49er FX: 1. Martine Soffiatti Grael/Kahena Kunze (BRA), 58.0; 2. Alexandra Maloney/Molly Meech (NZL), 60.0; 3. Charlotte Dobson/Saskia Tidey (GBR), 63.0; 4. Anne-Julie Schutt/Iben Nielsby Christensen (DEN), 84.0; 5. Natasha Bryant/Annie Wilmot (AUS), 87.0. Also: 9. Stephanie Roble/Margaret Shea (USA), 117.0.

Mixed

Nacra 17: 1. Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin (AUS), 50.0; 2. Samuel Albrecht/Gabriela Nicolino de Sa (BRA), 58.0; 3. Santiago Lange/Cecilia Carranza Saroli (ARG), 72.0; 4. John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR), 79.0; 5. Paul Darmanin/Lucy Copeland (AUS), 88.0. Also: 8. Bora Gulari/Louisa Chafee (USA), 102.0; … 10. Sarah Newberry/David Liebenberg (USA), 128.0.

SPEED SKATING: Double World Cup wins for Kulizhnikov and Bowe in Hamar

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 111418 bowe brittany 2018 750 — U.S. Speed Skating star Brittany Bowe

Russia’s five-time World Champion Pavel Kulizhnikov and American four-time World Champion Brittany Bowe each claimed two wins in Hamar, Norway in the penultimate World Cup of the 2018-19 season.

Kulizhnikov won both of the 500 m races and was the only double winner among the men. He’s won six of the nine 500 m races this World Cup season and has just about clinched the seasonal title, but not quite. He will have to wait until the World Cup Final in Salt Lake City in early March.

Bowe won her 19th-20th-21st World Cup races of her career, taking the 1,000 m on Saturday over Japanese star Nao Kodaira, 1:14.791-1:15.254, and the 1,500 on Sunday from Dutch skater Lotte van Beek, 1:55.892-1:56.132.

“I’m really pleased with this weekend’s racing,” said Bowe. “It was a great tune-up for the World Championships. I’m feeling strong, confident and ready to go head-to-head with the best in the world next weekend.”

In the seasonal 1,000 m standings, Bowe has a 277-217 lead over Austria’s Vanessa Herzog, and a 270-217 lead over Ireen Wust (NED) in the 1,500 m. Bowe has three seasonal World Cup titles on her resume: 2015 in the 1,000 m and 2016 in the 1,000 m and 1,500 m.

Next up is the ISU Single Distances Championships in Inzell (GER) next week. Summaries from Hamar:

ISU Speed Skating World Cup
Hamar (NOR) ~ 1-3 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

500 m I: 1. Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS), 34.652; 2. Jun-Ho Kim (KOR), 34.718; 3. Dai Dai Ntab (NED), 34.771; 4. Kai Verbij (NED), 34.802; 5. Laurent Dubreuil (CAN), 34.812.

500 m II: 1. Kulizhnikov (RUS), 34.786; 2. Ruslan Murashov (RUS), 34.829; 3. Jun-Ho Kim (KOR), 34.849; 4. Jan Smeekens (NED), 34.901; 5. Tingyu Gao (CHN), 35.013.

1,000 m: 1. Verbij (NED), 1:08.471; 2. Thomas Krol (NED), 1:08.534; 3. Kjeld Nuis (NED), 1:08.714; 4. Kulizhnikov (RUS), 1:08.874; 5. Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR), 1:08.959. Also: 10. Joey Mantia (USA), 1:09.691; … 19. Kimani Griffin (USA), 1:11.628.

1,500 m: 1. Denis Yuskov (RUS), 1:44.957; 2. Havard Bokko (NOR), 1:46.287; 3. Min Seok Kim (KOR), 1:46.398; 4. Marcel Bosker (NED), 1:46.542; 5. Sindre Henriksen (NOR), 1:46.699. Also: 6. Joey Mantia (USA), 1:46.731.

5,000 m: 1. Sverre Lund Pedersen (NOR), 6:16.168; 2. Alexander Rumyantsev (RUS), 6:19.249; 3. Ted-Jan Bloemen (CAN), 6:20.446; 4. Marcel Bosker (NED), 6:20.654; 5. Patrick Beckert (GER), 6:21.065.

Women

500 m I: 1. Nao Kodaira (JPN), 37.254; 2. Vanessa Herzog (AUT), 37.378; 3. Angelina Golikova (RUS), 37.916; 4. Brittany Bowe (USA), 37.957; 5. Olga Fatkulina (RUS), 37.959. Also: 16. Erin Jackson (USA), 38.793.

500 m II: 1. Herzog (AUT), 37.612; 2. Golikova (RUS), 37.901; 3. Fatkulina (RUS), 38.090; 4. Kaylin Irvine (CAN), 38.214; 5. Daria Kachanova (RUS), 38.235. Also: 19. Jackson (USA), 39.112.

1,000 m: 1. Bowe (USA), 1:14.791; 2. Kodaira (JPN), 1:15.254; 3. Lotte van Beek (NED), 1:15.429; 4. Daria Kachanova (RUS), 1:15.738; 5. Herzog (AUT), 1:16.015.

1,500 m: 1. Bowe (USA), 1:55.892; 2. van Beek (NED), 1:56.132; 3. Joy Beune (NED), 1:57.151; 4. Ivanie Blondin (CAN), 1:57.349; 5. Evgeniia Lalenkova (RUS), 1:57.374.

3,000 m: 1. Martina Savilkova (CZE), 4:02.177; 2. Atalia Voronina (RUS), 4:03.766; 3. Maryna Zuyeva (BLR), 4:03.803; 4. Esmee Visser (NED), 4:04.396; 5. Melissa Wijfje (NED), 4:06.049.

SHORT TRACK: Five wins and 11 medals for Korea in Dresden World Cup

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 2019-203 lim, hyo-jun 750 — Korea's Olympic 1,500 m champ Hyo-Jun Lim

The Korean Short track squad left no doubt about who was the boss at the Dresden (KOR) World Cup, winning all four men’s individual events, one women’s event and taking 11 medals in all.

Olympic 1,500 champ Hyo-Jun Lim won the men’s 500 m and took bronze in the 1,500 m; Dae-Heon Hwang was runner-up in the 500 m and won the 1,000 m; Ji-Won Park won the second 1,000 m race and Gun-Woo Kim won the 1,500 m. Very impressive.

On the women’s side, Ji-Yoo Kim won the 1,500 and was runner-up in the second 1,000 m, one of two double medalists for women. Dutch star Suzanne Schulting won the second 1,000 m race and was third in the 1,500 m.

The Short Track World Cup season has one stop left, next week in Turin (ITA). Summaries:

ISU Short Track World Cup
Dresden (GER) ~ 1-3 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

500 m: 1. Hyo-Jun Lim (KOR), 40.243; 2. Dae-Heon Hwang (KOR), 40.272; 3. Cedrik Blai (CAN), 40.344.

1,000 m I: 1. Dae Heon Hwang (KOR), 1:25.133; 2. Charle Cournoyer (CAN), 1:25.412; 3. Kyung Hwan Hong (KOR), 1:25.416.

1,000 m II: 1. Ji-Won Park (KOR), 1:25.363; 2. Vladislav Bykanov (ISR), 1:25.862; 3. Sebastien Lepape (FRA), 1:25.870.

1,500 m: 1. Gun-Woo Kim (KOR), 2:15.123; 2. Charles Hamelin (CAN), 2:15.155; 3. H-J Lim (KOR), 2:15.180.

5,000 m Relay: 1. Canada (Cournoyer, Hamelin, Girard), 6:44.646; 2. Japan, 6:45.810; 3. Hungary, 6:50.998.

Women

500 m: 1. Martina Valcepina (ITA), 43.049; 2. Lara van Ruijven (NED), 43.075; 3. Natalia Maliszewski (POL), 43.164.

1,000 m I: 1. Sofia Prosvirnova (RUS), 1:32.331; 2. Ji Hyun Choi (KOR), 1:32.424; 3. Cynthia Mascitto (ITA), 1:32.428.

1,000 m II: 1. Suzanne Schulting (NED), 1:27.338; 2. Ji-Yoo Kim (KOR), 1:27.419; 3. Chutong Zhang (CHN), 1:27.547.

1,500 m: 1. J-Y Kim (KOR), 2:23.076; 2. Kim Boutin (CAN), 2:23.140; 3. Suzanne Schulting (NED), 2:23.200.

3,000 m Relay: 1. Russia (Efremenkova, Konstantinova, Malagich, Prosvirova), 4:08.389; 2. Netherlands 4:15.763; Canada and Korea, disqualified.

SKI JUMPING: Zajc, Kobayashi and Stoch triumph in Obertsdorf Ski-Flying weekend

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 2019-203 stoch, kamil 750 — Poland's triple Olympic champ ski jumper Kamil Stoch

This was the first weekend of jumping off the massive ski-flying hills of more than 200 m, in this case the 235 m hill near Obertsdorf (GER), with three events and three different winners.

Slovenia’s Timi Zajc was the surprise winner on Friday, earning his first World Cup win with a sensational second jump. Then the seasonal leader, Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi took his 10th win of the season with a tight decision over Germany’s Markus Eisenbichler on Saturday. Said the winner, “I found the right feeling for Ski Flying today, yesterday I didn’t have that. I don’t know if it will continue like that tomorrow, but I will definitely enjoy Ski Flying again. Ski Flying is physically stressful, but you should not think too much, then it works.”

On Sunday, Poland’s triple Olympic Champion Kamil Stoch won his first World Cup event of the season, coming from behind to edge Russia’s Evgeniy Klimov and teammate Dawid Kubacki (third). Kobayashi had the lead after the first jump, but faltered in the second round and finished ninth.

Two-thirds through the World Cup season, Kobayashi continues to enjoy a big lead: 1,380-929 over Stoch, with Austria’s Stefan Kraft (917) third. Summaries:

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
Obertsdorf (GER) ~ 1-3 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s 235 m hill I: 1. Timi Zajc (SLO), 430.1; 2. Dawid Kubacki (POL), 424.8; 3. Markus Eisenbichler (GER), 423.3; 4. Piotr Zyla (POL), 421.8; 5. Kamil Stoch (POL), 420.5.

Men’s 235 m hill II: 1. Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN), 427.0; 2. Eisenbichler (GER), 426.5; 3. Stefan Kraft (AUT), 421.7; 4. Zyla (POL), 417.2; 5. Robert Johansson (NOR), 414.4.

Men’s 235 m hill III: 1. Stoch (POL), 413.2; 2. Evgeniy Klimov (RUS),. 407.9; 3. Kubacki (POL), 405.4; 4. Zyla (POL), 400.4; 5. Daniel Andre Tande (NOR), 398.3.

NORDIC COMBINED: Jarl Magnus Riiber clinches the Crystal Globe with two wins in Klingenthal

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 122418 riiber jarl magnus 2017 750 — Norway's Jarl Magnus Riiber

The 2018-19 Nordic Combined World Cup season was supposed to be up for grabs, but not by a 21-year-old from Norway. But Jarl Magnus Riiber has put his stamp on the season and wrapped up his first seasonal title with a sweep of the two races in Klingenthal (GER).

Riiber won six of the first eight races this season, then cooled off a little and has now won four more in a row. The 10 seasonal wins is the most since the 2016-17 season, when Germany’s Eric Frenzel also won 10. He has a 1,258-761 lead in the standings – 497 points – over reigning World Champion Johannes Rydzek (GER) with only four races remaining.

But it wasn’t easy. Riiber and Vinzenz Geiger (GER) were stride for stride in Saturday’s race and Riiber’s push at the finish gave him the victory by what he estimated was one centimeter! On Sunday, he was locked up with Finland’s Ilkka Herola and Fabian Riessle (GER) and managed to cross first by just 0.5 seconds over Herola and 0.7 ahead of Riessle.

There is a race in Lahti (FIN) next week and then the FIS World Nordic Championships in Seefeld (AUT) starting on 20 February. Summaries from Klingenthal:

FIS Nordic Combined World Cup
Klingenthal (GER) ~ 1-3 February 2019
(Full results here)

Gundersen 140 m hill/10.0 km I: 1. Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR), 25:51.8; 2. Vinzenz Geiger (GER), 25:51.8; 3. Johannes Rydzek (GER), 25:53.5; 4. Ilkka Herola (FIN), 25:54.2; 5. Franz-Josef Rehrl (AUT), 25:57.5. Also: 26. Taylor Fletcher (USA), 28:40.8.

Gundersen 140 m hill/10.0 km II: 1. Riiber (NOR), 28:42.3; 2. Herola (FIN), 28:42.8; 3. Fabian Riessle (GER), 28:43.0; 4. Geiger (GER), 28:46.0; 5. Eero Hirvonen (FIN), 28:50.6. Also in the top 25: 25. Fletcher (USA), 32:14.6.

LUGE: Loch closes in on men’s lead in weather-shortened Altenberg World Cup

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 2019-203 loch, felix (Sandro Halank) — German luge superstar Felix Loch (Photo: Sandro Halank via Wikipedia)

Bad weather hampered the final day of the FIL World Cup in Altenberg (GER), but six-time World Cup champion Felix Loch (GER) made it clear on Saturday that he sees a seventh title in his future.

This hasn’t been his best year, but he finally broke through to win a World Cup race for the first time this season, ahead of Austria’s Reinhard Egger and Germany’s Johannes Ludwig. That moves Loch to within 543-537 of Ludwig for the World Cup lead with two stops 9and three three races) remaining on the calendar.

Loch won five World Cup titles in a row from 2012-16, then again last season. He has won a seasonal World Cup medal nine seasons in a row, and at just 29, sees no reason to stop now. Egger is also not out of the championship running either, with 520 points.

Although Germany’s Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken look like they are comfortably on their way to a third seasonal title in a row and four out of five, Austria’s Thomas Steu and Lorenz Koller claimed their third win of the season, ahead of Eggert and Benecken. On the season, the Germans have 810 points and Steu and Koller, 652.

The women’s racing on Sunday was limited to one run only, with a surprise winner in Italy’s Sandra Robatscher, a qualifier from her country’s national championships. She had the fastest first run at 53.932 and that was declared the winner, with Natalie Geisenberger (GER) second and another qualifier, Russia’s Viktoriia Demchenko, third. Emily Sweeney of the U.S. was fourth. Summaries:

FIL World Cup
Altenberg (GER) ~ 2-3 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Singles: 1. Felix Loch (GER), 1:48.669; 2. Reinhard Egger (AUT), 1:48.673; 3. Johannes Ludwig (GER), 1:48.780; 4. David Gleirscher (AUT), 1:48.952; 5. Semen Pavlichenko (RUS), 1:49.033. Also: 16. Jonathan Gustafson (USA), 1:49.985.

Men’s Doubles: 1. Thomas Steu/Lorenz Koller (AUT), 1:23.463; 2. Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken (GER), 1:23.506; 3. Andris Sics/Juris Sics (LAT), 1:23.849; 4. R.J. Geueke/David Gamm (GER), 1:23.914; 5. Ivan Nagler/Fabian Malleier (ITA), 1:24.013. Also: 9. Chris Mazdzer/Jayson Terdiman (USA), 1:24.136.

Women’s Singles: 1. Sandra Robatscher (ITA), 53.932; 2. Natalie Geisenberger (GER), 54.022; 3. Viktoriia Demchenko (RUS), 54.178; 4. Emily Sweeney (USA), 54.184; 5. Andrea Voetter (ITA), 54.242. Also: 20. Summer Britcher (USA), 54.821.

Team Relay: Canceled due to bad weather.

CURLING: Korean women pull upset to win third WCF World Cup in Sweden

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

Let’s face it, Canada will be the favorite in almost any international match, so it was not too big a surprise to see two Canadian teams win in the third WCF World Cup stop in Jonkoping, Sweden.

But to see a Korean team defeat the home-standing Swedes, skipped by Olympic champ Anna Hasselborg? Now that was a surprise.

Minji Kim’s rink, including Hyerin Kim (3), Taei Yang (2) and Sujin Kim (1), got the jump in the early ends and that made the difference. The Koreans scored two in the first and two in the third for a 4-1 lead and held Hasselborg’s squad to only single points in the fourth and fifth ends on the way to a 6-4 victory and their first World Cup title.

It was a sweet reversal from Korea’s loss in the final of the Omaha World Cup to Japan. “I am very happy,” said the Skip. “In Omaha the loss was hard so since then we have worked hard. We will practice very hard for the Grand Final in Beijing.

“I am even more happy to win this after losing in the second leg. We tried to concentrate on our own game. This experience has made us be in good shape for the World Juniors.”

Canada won the other divisions, and scored a noteworthy victory as Matt Dunstone’s rink scored a finals win over reigning World Champion Niklas Edin (SWE), 5-4. Early points were again the key. Although Edin took a 1-0 lead after the first end, Dunstone replied with two points in the third and fifth ends for a 4-2 edge. Edin tied it in the sixth end, but a final-end score gave the Canadians their second men’s win in three World Cups.

In the Mixed Doubles, Canada’s Kadriana Sahaidak and Colton Lott skipped past Norway’s Kristin Skaslien and Thomas Ulsrud, 7-5, thanks to two points in the eighth and final end.

The Grand Final will take place in Beijing (CHN) from 8-12 May; the winners from each of the first three legs will be invited, along with China (hosts), the current World Champions and three invitees.

FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD: Dierdorff & Jacobellis take inaugural Mixed SnowCross title

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 122318 jacobellis lindsey 750 (FIS-Miha Matavz) — American Snowboard superstar Lindsey Jacobellis (Photo: FIS/Miha Matavz)

The International Olympic Committee has mandated more mixed-gender events and every federation – mindful of the revenue that the IOC contributes – has complied. One of the new events introduced by the International Ski Federation (FIS) is the Mixed Team Snowboard Cross event, which made its World Championships debut on Sunday at the 2019 World Snowboard Championships at Solitude Mountain in Utah.

It was another good day for the U.S., as two champions teamed up for the win: 2019 World Ski Cross champ Mick Dierdorff, who won his second gold in three days of riding, and five-time World Ski Cross champ Lindsey Jacobellis.

The U.S. pair swept through all three rounds of the competition with wins:

● Quarterfinals: U.S. d. France 2, Italy 3, Russia 1
● Semifinals: U.S. d. Italy 2, France 2, France 1
● Finals: U.S. d. Italy 1, Germany 1, Italy 2

For Jacobellis, now 33, it’s her sixth World Championships gold medal. Will she continue?

Italy’s Omar Visintin and Michela Moioli finished second, after winning their semifinal, and Germany’s Paul Berg and Hanna Ihedioha were third.

The Freestyle and Snowboard Worlds continues through the 10th, with the Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom on tap for Monday. Look for results here. Summaries:

FIS Freestyle Skiing World Championships
Park City, Utah (USA) ~ 1-10 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Big Air (at Canyons Village): 1. Fabian Boesch (SUI), 186.00; 2. Henrik Harlaut (SWE), 184.00; 3. Alex Beaulieu-Marchand (CAN), 183.25; 4. Alex Hall (USA), 180.50; 5. Finn Bilous (NZL), 179.75; 6. Oliwer Magnusson (SWE), 171.00; 7. Jesper Tjader (SWE), 152.75; 8. Oystein Braaten (NOR), 109.00. Also: 10. Nicholas Goepper (USA), 43.00.

Men’s Ski Cross (at Solitude Mountain)/ Big Final: 1. Francois Place (FRA); 2. Brady Leman (CAN); 3. Kevin Drury (CAN); 4. Alex Fiva (SUI). Small Final: 5. Jean Frederic Chapuis (FRA); 6. Johannes Aujesky (AUT); 7. Viktor Andersson (SWE); 8. Filip Flisar (SLO).

Women’s Big Air (at Canyons Village): 1. Tess Ledeux (FRA), 184.75; 2. Julia Krass (USA), 173.75; 3. Isabel Atkin (GBR), 168.75; 4. Sarah Hoefflin (SUI), 167.75; 5. Silvia Bertagna (ITA), 122.25; 6. Anastasia Tatalina (RUS), 92.50; 7. Mathilde Gremaud (SUI), 77.75; 8. Maggie Voisin (USA), 41.75.

Women’s Ski Cross (at Solitude Mountain)/ Big Final: 1. Marielle Thompson (CAN); 2. Fanny Smith (SUI); 3. Alizee Baron (FRA); 4. Sanna Luedi (SUI); Small Final: 5. Kelsey Serwa (CAN); 6. Brittany Phelan (CAN); 7. Nikol Kucerova (CZE); 8. Mikayla Martin (CAN).

FIS Snowboard World Championships
Park City, Utah (USA) ~ 1-10 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Snowboard Cross (at Solitude Mountain)/ Big Final: 1. Mick Dierdorff (USA); 2. Hanno Douschan (AUT); 3. Emanuel Perathoner (ITA); 4. Lucas Eguibar (ESP). Small Final: 5. Jake Vedder (USA); 6. Baptiste Brochu (CAN); 7. Paul Berg (GER); 8. Leon Beckhaus (GER).

Women’s Snowboard Cross (at Solitude Mountain)/ Big Final: 1. Eva Samkova (CZE); 2. Charlotte Bankes (GBR); 3. Michela Moioli (ITA); 4. Francesca Gallina (ITA). Small Final: 5. Lindsey Jacobellis (USA); 6. Raffaella Bruto (ITA); 7. Chloe Trespeuch (FRA); 8. Carle Brenneman (CAN).

Mixed Snowboard Cross Team (at Solitude Mountain)/ Big Final: 1. Mick Dierdorff/Lindsey Jacobellis (USA); 2. Omar Visintin/Michaela Moioli (ITA); 3. Paul Berg/Hanna Ihedioha (GER); 4. Emanuel Perathoner/Francesca Gallina (ITA). Small Final: 5. Loan Bozzolo/Chloe Trespeuch (FRA); 6. Baptiste Brochu/Carle Brenneman (CAN); 7. Merlin Surget/Nelly Moenne Loccoz (FRA); 8. Kalle Koblet/Lara Casanova (SUI).

FENCING: No. 1-ranked Dershwitz scores Sabre gold in Warsaw

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 2019-202 dershwitz eli 750 — American Sabre fencing star Eli Dershwitz

The meteoric rise of American Sabre star Eli Dershwitz continued in Warsaw (POL) on Saturday with his third career FIE World Cup gold, as he defeated Italy’s Luca Curatoli in the final, 15-9.

Still only 23, the Harvard student steadily eliminated his opponents, winning 15-12, 15-6, then a 15-13 win over teammate (and Rio silver medalist) Daryl Homer, then sailed past Korea’s Jong-Hyun Lee in the quarterfinals, 15-11, to get to the semis.

There, he had to dispatch a 2018 World Championships Team gold medalist, Sang-Uk Oh. The bout was a struggle, but Dershwitz managed a 15-14 to win get to the final. But he defeated Curatoli, his fourth win in five tries against the Italian for his third World Cup win in three years.

The victory had special meaning for Dershwitz, as he noted on Instagram: “GOLD MEDAL AT THE POLAND WORLD CUP! Amazing and emotional day as my mother told me this morning that my Polish grandparents, who came to America 75 years ago, would be watching over me today.”

In three years on the circuit, Dershwitz now has seven medals, including last year’s World Championships silver.

Curatoli did get a gold on the weekend, however, as he was part of the victorious Italian team entry which defeated France for the Team title on Sunday. Summaries:

FIE World Cup
Warsaw (POL) ~ 1-3 January 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Sabre: 1. Eli Dershwitz (USA); 2. Luca Curatoli (ITA); 3. Sang-Uk Oh (KOR) and Max Hartung (GER). Semis: Curatoli d. Hartung, 15-14; Dershwitz d. Oh, 15-14. Final: Dershwitz d. Curatoli, 15-9.

Men’s Team Sabre: 1. Italy (Berre, Curatoli, Montano, Samele); 2. France; 3. Russia; 4. Hungary. Semis: France d. Russia, 45-38; Italy d. Hungary, 45-37. Final: Italy d. France, 45-44.

ALPINE SKIING: Men’s World Cup races in Garmisch-Partenkirchen cancelled

Rich Perelman

February 3, 2019

tsx pix 2019-203 heavy snow garmisch — Too much snow in Garmisch! (Photo: FIS)

Bad weather has cancelled the men’s World Cup races in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, including a Downhill and Super-G. No word yet on whether the races may be made up at a later date

There is speculation that the 2-3 March race program in Kvitfjell (NOR) could be expanded, but the focus now is on next week’s World Championships in Are (SWE).

FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD: France’s 17-year-old Ledeux wins inaugural Big Air in Canyons Village

Rich Perelman

February 2, 2019

tsx pix 2019-202 ledeux tess 750 — France's World Champion Tess Ledeux

The first two days of the 2019 FIS Freestyle and Snowboard have provided one consistent theme: first-time winners. All six of the gold medalists in Freestyle (4) and Snowboard (2) won their first Worlds in their events, and there are still eight more days to go.

The first-ever Big Air competition in the Freestyle Worlds – held at Canyons Village – turned out to be a showcase for Europeans Tess Ledeux (FRA) and Fabian Boesch (SUI).

Ledeux, just 17, had been quite successful on the World Cup circuit in Slopestyle with three wins over the past two seasons. And she put a lot of pressure on the field with a sensational 94.75 score on his first of three runs, with the best two to count.

In fact, that was the highest score anyone achieved on the day; only Swiss Sarah Hoefflin was close, at 92.75. The third-best score came from American Julia Krass, 21, who has been on the World Cup tour for a couple of seasons and only won her first medal on 27 January, a bronze in the Seiser Alm Slopestyle. She earned an 88.75 for her first-round effort.

Ledeux kept the pressure on, scoring 89.25 in the second round and had a strong lead heading into the third round. Britain’s Isabel Atkin scored 81.50 for a two-round total of 160.75 and was second and Krass had 156.50.

The last round was probably not going to keep Ledeux off the podium, but Hoefflin could not manage better than a 75.00 and ended up fourth at 167.75. Atkin improved to 87.25 for a 168.75 total, but Krass was terrific and her 85.00 gave her a 173.75 total and the silver medal. And Ledeux? She finished with a brilliant 90.00 and won easily at 184.75.

Boesch was a World Champion in 2015, but in Slopestyle. He had won five World Cup medals – four in Slopestyle and one in Big Air – but he took the suspense out of the event with scores of 96.00 and 90.00 in the first two rounds.

But Boesch was not the leader after the first round, as four men score 90 or more points: Sweden’s Henrik Harlaut (92.25), Alex Beaulieu-Marchand (CAN: 91.25), Finn Bilous (NZL: 91.00) and Boesch.

But Boesch’s 96.00 in the second round was the best of the day and effectively gave him the gold at 186.00. Behind him came Harlaut, who scored 91.75 in the third round for a 184.00 total. Beaulieu-Marchand also got a second big score at 92.00 in round two and was second heading into the final round, when Harlaut passed him. American Alex Hall also got a 90.75 score, but his 180.50 left him fourth.

In the Freestyle Ski Cross events at Solitude Mountain, it looked like Canada’s Brady Leman might be ready to complete an Olympic-Worlds double, but then … another surprise winner.

Instead of Leman, it was France’s Francois Place, 29, who flew into the lead around the first corner and got to the line first, completing a remarkable transition from an unheralded career in Alpine Skiing to World Champion in Freestyle.

“It was an incredible race today,” said Place, “It was a little tough this morning with the weather and the wind, but in the end it was a great day. To be the champ, it’s cool.”

Place entered the Alpine World Cup in 2009 and continued through 2016, never achieving even a single medal. With such poor results, he changed to Freestyle Ski Cross and he found almost immediate success, winning the bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships in Sierra Nevada (ESP).

He didn’t do much in the Freestyle World Cup either, with 11 top-ten finishes from 2017 on, and no medals. But he’s been a contender, and now, World Champion.

The women’s Ski Cross had a similar story. Canada’s Marielle Thompson was much better known than Place, having won the Olympic gold in Ski Cross at Sochi (RUS) in 2014. But no World Championships wins, although she won silver in 2013. She had been eighth in 2015 and fifth in 2017, but this time she got her Worlds gold, edging Swiss Fanny Smith, who had finished ahead of her in 2013.

“Going into the second-to-last corner I thought maybe I could generate some speed on the outside, and thankfully it worked out for me,” Thompson said. “Coming back this season (after missing last season) I feel like I’ve been building my skiing back up at every race. So to come here to the biggest stage of the season and come out on top, I’m overjoyed. And to all the people that helped me get back here, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

It was the third Canadian win in Ski Cross in the eight times the event has been held at the Freestyle Worlds. Smith is the most successful skier in the event, having won medals in four Worlds in row, going 1-3-2-2 from 2013-19.

The Freestyle and Snowboard Worlds continues through the 10th. Look for results here. Summaries:

FIS Freestyle Skiing World Championships
Park City, Utah (USA) ~ 1-10 February 2019
(Full results here)

FIS Snowboard World Championships
Park City, Utah (USA) ~ 1-10 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Snowboard Cross (at Solitude Mountain)/ Big Final: 1. Mick Dierdorff (USA); 2. Hanno Douschan (AUT); 3. Emanuel Perathoner (ITA); 4. Lucas Eguibar (ESP). Small Final: 5. Jake Vedder (USA); 6. Baptiste Brochu (CAN); 7. Paul Berg (GER); 8. Leon Beckhaus (GER).

Women’s Snowboard Cross (at Solitude Mountain)/ Big Final: 1. Eva Samkova (CZE); 2. Charlotte Bankes (GBR); 3. Michaela Moioli (ITA); 4. Francesca Gallina (ITA). Small Final: 5. Lindsey Jacobellis (USA); 6. Raffaella Bruto (ITA); 7. Chloe Trespeuch (FRA); 8. Carle Brenneman (CAN).

ALPINE SKIING: Shiffrin earns second gold in Maribor for 13th win of the season!

Rich Perelman

February 2, 2019

tsx pix 2019-105 shiffrin, mikaela news conf 750 — American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin (USA)

If momentum means anything in sports, Mikaela Shiffrin is riding a tsunami.

As the Alpine world turns its attention to the World Alpine Championships next week, Shiffrin destroyed the field on the first run and only had to cruise in to win her 13th World Cup race of the season in Maribor (SLO).

Shiffrin ripped down the mountain with a 50.05 clocking in the first run, an amazing one-second ahead of her perennial challenger, Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova. She was only 18th on the second run, but thanks to soft snow for the second run, that was more than enough to secure her 56th career World Cup win … at age 23.

“The first run was a pretty big fight for a lot of reasons,” said Shiffrin. “There’s just so many things that were happening after yesterday [a tie with Vlhova], and today so it was a bit more difficult to be focused. I was feeling quite uncertain if I could ski fast enough.

“(Saturday’s win) is good for the confidence, but I also have to be careful not to take that for granted because every race is a fight and every victory is a fight. I have big goals for World Championship, but nothing is guaranteed so just try to do my best to skiing and see what happens.”

Second to Shiffrin was a surprise: Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson, third on the first run and 11th on the second. She earned her second career World Cup medal and first since 2014; her only prior medal was a Slalom bronze back in 2014. Swiss Wendy Holdener won her fifth bronze medal of the season.

But Shiffrin is now on the verge of history: the most victories in a single World Cup season. With 13 after Maribor, he’s just one short of Vreni Schneider’s record of 14 from 1989. With five more Giant Slaloms and Slaloms remaining on the schedule, the only real question is how high she will set the record. Summaries:

FIS Alpine World Cup
Maribor (SLO) ~ 1-2 January 2019
(Full results here)

Women’s Giant Slalom: 1. tie, Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) & Petra Vlhova (SVK), 2:31.31; 3. Rahnhild Mowinckel (NOR), 2:32.24; 4. Wendy Holdener (SUI), 2:32.60; 5. Sara Hector (SWE), 2:32.81.

Women’s Slalom: 1. Shiffrin (USA), 1:42.60; 2. Anna Swenn Larsson (SWE), 1:43.37; 3. Wendy Holdener (SUI), 1:43.75; 4. Frida Hansdotter (SWE), 1:43.94; 5. Vlhova (SVK), 1:44.30. Also in the top 25: 16. Paula Moltzan (USA), 1:45.89.

ATHLETICS: Houlihan’s speed makes her U.S. Cross Country champ in Tallahassee

Rich Perelman

February 2, 2019

tsx pix 2019-202 houlihan, shelby 750 — American distance star Shelby Houlihan had her final doping ban appeal turned down (Photo: jenaragon94 via Wikipedia)

Speed kills. Shelby Houlihan wants you to remember that.

It’s what brought her from fourth to first in the final 1,000 meters to win the 2019 U.S. Cross Country Championship at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida.

She won in a rare match-up of four American record holders – Houlihan (5,000 m), Molly Huddle (10,000 m), Courtney Frerichs (Steeplechase) and Shannon Rowbury (1,500 m) – but was at the tail end of a four-runner pack with one kilometer left in the 10 km race on Saturday.

But she had plenty left and ran the final 1,000 m in a swift 3:02.1 to pass Huddle, Marielle Hall and 2017 winner Aliphine Tuliamuk and win by a comfortable 8.5 seconds ahead of Huddle. Hall finished third in 32:56.5 and Aliamuk crossed in 33:03.3.

The top six finishers are in line to represent the U.S. in Aarhus (DEN) at the World Cross Country Championships in March, so the 5-6 finish of Amy Cragg (33:17.5) and Frerichs (33:24.6) were important.

The men’s race was also decided between a four-man breakaway group of defending champion Leonard Korir, Hillary Bor, Stanley Kebenei and Shadrack Kipchirchir.

Korir was trying for his third straight U.S. title, but it was Kipchirchir and Bor who pushed hard with less than a half-mile to go and then Kipchirchir edged ahead at the finish to win by 0.8: 28:52.5-28:53.3. Korir was third and Hillary Bor came up for fourth and then Kebenei and Scott Fauble finished 5-6 to earn spots on the Worlds Cross Country team. Summaries:

USATF Cross Country National Championships
Tallahassee, Florida (USA) ~ 2 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men (10 km): 1. Shadrack Kipchirchir, 28:52.5; 2. Emmanuel Bor, 28:53.3; 3. Leonard Korir, 28:55.3; 4. Hillary Bor, 28:56.9; 5. Stanley Kebenei, 29:04.2; 6. Scott Fauble, 29:20.4; 7. Mason Ferlic, 29:31.7; 8. Reid Buchanan, 29:35.5; 9. Andrew Hunter, 29:36.4; 10. Martin Hehir, 29:37.5.

Junior Men (8 km): 1. Shuaib Aljabaly, 24:38.7; 2. Gabriel Mudel, 24:42.8; 3. Meika Beaudoin-Rousse, 24:43.0; 4. Charlie Perry, 24:43.0; 5. Khalid Hussein, 24:45.4.

Women (10 km): 1. Shelby Houlihan, 32:46.8; 2. Molly Huddle, 32:55.3; 3. Marielle Hall, 32:56.5; 4. Aliphine Tuliamuk, 33:03.3; 5. Amy Cragg, 33:17.5; 6. Courtney Frerichs, 33:24.6; 7. Karissa Schweizer, 33:28.2; 8. Stephanie Bruce, 33:30.0; 9. Anne-Marie Blaney, 33:34.4; 10. Sarah Pagano, 33:44.0.

Junior Women (6 km): 1. Nicole Clermont, 21:14.0; 2. Kayla Smith, 21:18.2; 3. Riley Rigdon, 21:26.8; 4. Grace Ping, 21:26.9; 5. Savannah Shaw, 21:28.4.

FOOTBALL: Lletget’s head and foot the difference in U.S.’s 2-0 win over Costa Rica

Rich Perelman

February 2, 2019

tsx pix 2019-202 lletget sebastian 750 — U.S. National Team midfielder Sebastian Lletget

They call them “friendlies,” but there was nothing comfortable about the physical match-up between the young U.S. men’s National Team and a similarly youthful Costa Rica squad at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California

The difference was second-half sub Sebastian Lletget.

The scoreless first half was marked by some inefficiency on offense from both sides, but both the U.S. and Costa Rica had chances and both keepers had to make saves. But neither side could make a polished finish that would lead to a quality scoring chance.

The U.S. controlled the second half from the outset and mounted nearly continuous scoring chances.

Corey Baird barely missed scoring the opening goal in the 46th minute, shooting wide of the left corner of the goal off a Gyasi Zardes pass. Then Cristian Roldan missed an open net in the 51st minute after a brilliant break-out pass from Wil Trapp, but the shot was again wide-left of the goal.

Nick Lima just missed scoring by hitting the left goal post in the 54th minute and Djordje Mihailovic couldn’t get the ball down on a header a minute later, off a great entry pass from Paul Arriola. Defender Aaron Long hit the post, then shot the rebound over the net, all off a Mihailovic corner five minutes later.

In the 68th minute, Roldan hit the post again on a a left-footed later from the top of the box.

The pressure continued, and Lletget finally got a goal in the 80th minute. A Trapp pass down the left side found Jonathan Lewis, whose pass across the face of the goal was headed in past Costa Rican keeper Esteban Alvarado for a 1-0 lead.

It was Lletget’s second career goal for the U.S. in his seventh appearance, but he wasn’t done.

After more U.S. pressure, Lletget played a perfect lead-out pass down the center of the field which Arriola was able to run down just as Alvarado came out to smother the ball. Arriola’s touch popped it into the goal for the 2-0 final in the 88th minute.

Two friendlies, two wins, so the Gregg Berhalfter Era is off to a good start. The U.S. is now 16-16-6 all-time vs. Costa Rica and ended a two-game losing streak from the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.

Next up: games against Ecuador on 21 March (in Orlando) and Chile on 26 March (in Houston).

ATHLETICS: Three world-leading marks in World Indoor Tour meet in Karlsruhe

Rich Perelman

February 2, 2019

tsx pix 2019-202 newman, alysha 750 — Canadian pole vault star Alysha Newman

Early-season marks aren’t usually worth too much excitement, but there were three new world leaders at the sold-out meeting in Karlsruhe (GER):

● Men’s High Jump: 2.35 m (7-8 1/2): Naoto Tobe (JPN)
● Women’s 60 m: 7.10, Ewa Swoboda (POL)
● Women’s 3,000 m: 8:43.36, Melissa Courtney (GBR)

Tobe’s mark was a new indoor record for Japan and, in fact, he set four national indoor records on the night, including a first-try clearance at 2.31 m (7-7), then a second-try make at 2.33 m (7-7 3/4) and then his winning, third-time try at 2.35 m (7-8 1/2). He missed three times at 2.37 m (7-9 1/4), but two were close. Pretty good for someone with a pre-meet indoor best of 2.26 m (7-5).

“My goal this season was get the national record but now I’ve already done that,” said Tobe afterwards. “My next aim will be 2.40 m (7-10 1/2).”

Poland’s Swoboda impressed by beating Dutch sprint star Dafne Schippers in the 60 m final, 7.10 to 7.19. “I’m very happy and relieved with my time,” said Swoboda. “I didn’t know where I stood and the pressure to know was high.”

Britain’s Courtney won the 3,000 m on a final sprint on the last half-lap, zipping past the pace-setting Ethiopians Alemaz Samuel and Gudaf Tsegay.

On the infield, Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarria hadn’t jumped since last summer and he had a lot of trouble with his approach, reaching only 8.08 m (26-6 1/4). Sweden’s Thomas Nilsson Montler had the same distance, but a better second jump to take the win.

A rare three-way tie was the result of the women’s vault, with Alysha Newman (CAN) clearing five heights in a row through 4.71 m (15-5 1/2) and World Indoor medalist Anzhelika Sidorova and Olympic and World Champion Katerina Stefanidi (GRE) both making two first-time clearances to get to the same height. But no one could clear 4.78 m (15-8 1/4) and a tie was called for.

Next up is the Copernicus Cup in Torun (POL) on Wednesday (6th). Summaries:

IAAF World Indoor Tour
Karlsruhe (GER) ~ 2 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

400 m: 1. Pavel Maslak (CZE), 46.78; 2. Oscar Husillos (ESP), 47.12; 3. Karol Zalewski (POL), 47.17.

800 m: 1. Andreas Kramer (SWE), 1:46.52; 2. Erik Sowinski (USA), 1:46.69; 3. Filip Snejdr (CZE), 1:47.01.

1,500 m: 1. Vincent Kibet (KEN), 3:38.23; 2. Bethwell Birgen (KEN), 3:38.69; 3. Simon Denissel (FRA), 3:39.17.

High Jump: 1. Naoto Tobe (JPN), 2.35 m (7-8 1/2); 2. Yu Wang (CHN), 2.31 m (7-7 ); 3. Donald Thomas (BAH), 2.26 m (7-5). Also: 7. Trey Culver (USA), 2.13 m (6-11 3/4).

Long Jump: 1. Thobias Nilsson Montler (SWE), 8.08 m (26-6 1/4); 2. Juan Miguel Echevarria (CUB), 8.08 m (26-6 1/4); 3. Michel Torneus (SWE), 7.91 m (25-11 1/2). Also: 7. Jarvis Gotch (USA), 7.29 m (23-11).

Women

60 m: 1. Ewa Swoboda (POL), 7.10; 2. Dafne Schippers (NED), 7.19; 3. Rebekka Haase (GER), 7.23.

3,000 m: 1. Melissa Courtney (GBR), 8:43.36; 2. Alemaz Samuel (ETH), 8:43.78; 3. Gudaf Tsegay (ETH), 8:46.27.

60 m Hurdles: 1. Nadine Visser (NED), 7.97; 2. Cindy Roleder (GER), 7.98; 3. Karolina Koleczek (POL), 8.05.

Pole Vault: 1. tie, Alysha Newman (CAN), Anzhelika Sidorova (RUS) and Katerina Stefanidi (GRE), 4.71 m (15-5 1/2). Also: 4. Katie Nageotte (USA), 4.63 m (15-2 1/4).

Triple Jump: 1. Ana Peleteiro (ESP), 14.51 m (47-7 1/4); 2. Yulimar Rojas (VEN), 14.45 m (47-5); 3. Patricia Mamona (POR), 14.36 m (47-1 1/2). Also: 7. Tori Franklin (USA), 13.97 m (45-10).

PAN AM-O-RAMA: Three candidates for new Junior Pan American Games

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

The Panam Sports Organization announced on Thursday that three cities have applied to host the first Junior Pan American Games in 2021:

● Cali, Colombia
● Monterrey, Mexico
● Santa Ana, El Salvador

Panam Sports President Nevin Ilic (CHI) explained that “We are now in an intricate and detailed research process for each of these cities, so we can make sure that our athletes in 2021 have the best experience. The final decision will be made by all of the Executive Committee Members when we get together in Costa Rica at the end of March.”

The announcement noted that “The Junior Pan American Games are focused on the athletes who are between the ages of 18 and 21. This is a generation which, after participating in youth events, often has fewer opportunities for high-level international competitions due to the significant age gap with the established regional and international competitors in their sports.” The winner in each event will be automatically qualified to participate in the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago (CHI).

The Junior Pan American Games concept is one of the first steps in the Panam Sports plan for a higher profile. A Beach Pan American Games is being considered, but the organization also recognizes that the current scope of the Pan Ams is too large to be sustainable for future organizers. In Lima (PER), there will be 424 events in 39 sports, almost as many sports as there are countries competing (41).

A modestly-sized Junior Pan Ams could be quite attractive if well presented.

TOKYO 2020 Panorama: Government costs are still an issue, but there will be lots of volunteers

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

The cost to the Japanese taxpayer for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo is holding steady – sort of – according to a Thursday (31 January) announcement from Olympics Minister Yoshitaka Sakurada.

He told reporters in Tokyo that the total government spend on the Games – including the construction of the new National Stadium – will be ¥219.7 billion (~ $2.00 billion U.S.) across the seven years from 2013-2020.

The overall costs for the event, including the costs for the organizing committee, remains at ¥1.35 trillion (~$12.318 billion U.S.):

● ¥ 600 billion: Tokyo 2020 organizing committee
● ¥ 600 billion: Tokyo Metropolitan Government
● ¥ 150 billion: Japanese National Government

But the accounting is murky, especially on the government side. The national government’s ¥150 billion includes ¥51.7 billion for the new stadium (~$471.8 million U.S.) and ¥30.0 billion (~$273.8 million U.S.) for the Paralympics.

However, not counted in the national governmental total are costs such as ¥21.4 billion for security (~$195.3 million U.S.) and ¥101 billion (~$921.6 million U.S.) for training of Japanese athletes for the Games.

It’s worth remembering that the projected budget for the Games from all parties was ¥829 billion (~$7.3 billion) back in the bid documents of 2013. So we are holding steady at a 68.7% increase from bid.

Tokyo 2020 announced that a sensational total of 204,680 applications to volunteer for the Olympic Games had been received.

The organizing committee said that 64% of the applications were domestic and 36% were from outside the country. Orientation sessions will start in February, and basic training in October.

That’s a lot more than the 80,000 applications which the organizers had targeted.

The Tokyo organizers have named their staff as the “Field Cast” while the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s team will be the “City Cast.”

SPEED SKATING Preview: Bowe in contention for three titles as ISU World Cup series resumes

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

ISU World Cup Speed Skating Obihiro — American speed skating star Brittany Bowe

The sharpening process for the World Single-Distance Championships next week in Inzell (GER) will be in earnest at the fifth ISU World Cup in Hamar (NOR). A full program is planned at the Hamar Olympic Hall, with two 500 m races for both men and women.

The individual distance standings are close; the current situation:

● Men/500 m:
1. 339 Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN)
2. 332 Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) ~ 2015 & 2016 World Cup Champion
3. 292 Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR) ~ Defending champion

● Men/1,000 m:
1. 177 Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR)
2. 174 Kjeld Nuis (NED) ~ 2016-17-18 World Cup Champion
3. 174 Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) ~ 2015 World Cup Champion

● Men/1,500 m:
1. 167 Seitaro Ichinohe (JPN)
2. 163 Denis Yuskov (RUS) ~ 2016 & 2018 World Cup Champion
3. 154 Kjeld Nuis (NED) ~ 2017 World Cup Champion

● Men/Distance:
1. 237 Sverre Lund Pedersen (NOR)
2. 236 Alexander Rumyantsev (RUS)
3. 212 Marcel Bosker (NED)

● Men/Mass Start:
1. 475 Cheonho Um (KOR)
2. 430 Bart Swings (BEL) ~ Defending champion
3. 366 Ruslan Zakharov (RUS)

● Women/500 m:
1. 390 Vanessa Herzog (AUT) ~ 2018 World Cup Champion
2. 315 Olga Fatkulina (RUS) ~ 2014 World Cup Champion
3. 305 Brittany Bowe (USA)

● Women/1,000 m:
1. 217 Brittany Bowe (USA) ~ 2015 & 2016 World Cup Champion
2. 202 Miho Takagi (JPN)
3. 177 Vanessa Herzog (AUT)

● Women/1,500 m:
1. 217 Ireen Wust (NED) ~ 2007 & 2014 World Cup Champion
2. 211 Miho Takagi (JPN) ~ 2018 World Cup Champion
3. 210 Brittany Bowe (USA) ~ 2016 World Cup Champion

● Women/Distances:
1. 250 Martina Sabilkova (CZE) ~ 11 straight World Cup crowns 2007-17
2. 239 Natalia Voronina (RUS)
3. 236 Isabelle Weidemann (CAN)

● Women/Mass Start:
1. 328 Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA)~ 2014 & 2018 World Cup Champion
2. 316 Bo-Reum Kim (KOR) ~ 2013 & 2017 World Cup Champion
3. 294 Nana Takagi (JPN)

Bowe is having one of her best season and has an outside shot at winning all three titles at 500-1,000-1,500 m. One advantage: the season will end on home (U.S.) ice for her at the beginning of March, at the Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah.

NBC’s Olympic Channel has delayed coverage of the meet on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, and on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. Look for results here.

SHORT TRACK Preview: Penultimate World Cup in Dresden could decide several seasonal titles

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

tsx pix 2019-201 schulting, suzanne 750 — Olympic Short Track gold medalist Suzanne Schulting (NED)

The ISU Short Track World Cup season is heading towards the close, with the fourth of five legs being held in Dresden (GER). With one final meet remaining in Turin (ITA) next week, none of the seasonal titles have been clinched yet, but some could finish the job this week. The event-by-event leaders:

● Men/500 m:
1. 30,000 Dajing Wu (CHN) ~ Two-time defending World Cup Champion
2. 22,400 Shaoang Liu (HUN)
3. 16,194 Sam Girard (CAN)

● Men/1,000 m:
1. 23,277 Shaoang Liu (HUN) ~ 2017 World Cup Champion
2. 14.625 Ji Won Park (KOR)
3. 14,400 Ziwei Ren (CHN)

● Men/1,500 m:
1. 22,400 June Seo Lee (KOR)
2. 18,000 Gun Woo Kim (KOR)
3. 15.264 Sjinkie Knegt (NED) ~ 2017 World Cup Champion

● Men/5,000 m Relay:
1. 23,277 Hungary
2. 17.742 Netherlands
3. 16,497 China

● Women/500 m:
1. 31,520 Natalia Maliszewska (POL)
2. 18,665 Lara van Ruijven (NED)
3. 16,192 Yara van Kerkhof (NED)

● Women/1,000 m:
1. 30,000 Suzanne Schulting (NED) ~ 2017 World Cup Champion
2. 17,074 Sofia Prosvirnova (RUS)
3. 15,120 Alyson Charles (CAN)

● Women/1,500 m:
1. 28,192 Min Jeong Choi (KOR) ~ 2015-16-18 World Cup Champion
2. 18,000 Suzanne Schulting (NED)
3. 17,021 Ekaterina Efremenkova (RUS)

● Women/3,000 m Relay:
1. 26,000 Korea ~ Five-time defending World Cup Champion
2. 22,096 Russia
3. 20,240 Netherlands

NBC’s Olympic Channel has delayed coverage from Dresden, on Saturday 8:30 p.m. Eastern time and on Sunday, at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time. Look for results here.

TABLE TENNIS Preview: Pan America Cup underway in Guaynabo

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

The Puerto Rican city of Guaynabo is the host for the Pan America Cup, now underway at the Coliseo Quijote Morales. Competition will be held only in Singles; the top seeds:

● Men:
1. Hugo Calderano (BRA) ~ Defending champion
2. Gustavo Tsuboi (BRA)
3. Kanak Jha (USA: 18 years old)
4. Marcelo Aguirre (PAR)
5. Marcus Madrid (MEX)

● Women:
1. Mo Zhang (CAN) ~ Defending champion
2. Adriana Perez (PUR)
3. Yue Wu (USA)
4. Bruna Takahashi (BRA)
5. Lily Zhang (USA)

There is prize money for the top eight placers of $3,000-2,000-1,000-800 and 300 each for places 4-8. Look for results here.

NORDIC COMBINED Preview: Riiber can just about wrap it in Klingenthal

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

tsx pix 2019-201 riiber jarl magnus 750 — Norway's Nordic Combined star Jarl Magnus Riiber

While he may not able to mathematically clinch the 2018-19 World Cup title, Norway’s new sensation, Jarl Magnus Riiber, can come close this weekend in Klingenthal (GER). The schedule:

● 2 February: Gundersen 140 m hill + 10.0 km
● 3 February: Gundersen 140 m hill + 10.0 km

After winning six of the first eight races on the tour, Riiber fell back a little with solid but not spectacular placings over the next five races. But he won both of the races in front of home fans in Trondheim (NOR) last weekend and now has a 1,058-701 lead over 2017 World Champion Johannes Rydzek (GER). The defending champion, Akito Watabe (JPN), stands third with 694.

Germany’s Fabian Riessle won both of the races in Klingenthal last year, but Riiber was second in the first race and Finland’s Eero Hirvonen won bronze and silver in the two races.

Look for results here.

SNOWBOARD: U.S.’s Dierdorff triumphs in World Snowboard Cross in Solitude

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

tsx pix 2019-201 snowboard wch sbx podium (sarah brunsson) — Medalists at the FIS Snowboard World Championships SnowCross final (Photo: Sarah Brunsson/U.S. Ski & Snowboard Assn.)

It was a good opening day for the U.S. at the FIS Freestyle and Snowboard World Championships being held in Utah, as Mick Dierdorff won the world title in Snowboard Cross, along with Czech Eva Samkova for the women.

Dierdorff, 27, was hot right through the rounds, winning each of his three races heading into the final. He’s been on the World Cup circuit since 2009, but had only won a couple of medals: a bronze in September 2017 and a silver in March 2018.

But in his first World Snowboard Championships, he had the lead by the first corner and was never headed on the way to his first international win, and a wild celebration with his American teammates at the finish line.

“I don’t even know where my emotions are right now,” said Dierdorff. “I’m in the clouds and I’m not sure if this moment will ever sink in. This is craziest moment I have had in my life. This past year for me, I trained super hard with the ultimate goal of making it to the Olympics and I made that goal happen. After checking that box, I just thought, what’s next, let’s keep going.

“I know I’m one of the best out there and if I work as hard or harder than everybody I can end up on top. It’s my first win on the World Cup level at the World Championships! I can’t even comprehend all the support I have had and have here today. I tried to keep it loose up there, but then get in the zone once I got in the gate. I’m fired up that I ended up on top.”

In the 12 editions of the Snowboard Worlds, this was only the second win for the U.S., after Seth Westcott in 2005

In the women’s Snowcross, the U.S. had high hopes for five-time World Champion Lindsey Jacobellis. However, she ended up third in her semifinal and was consigned to the Small Final, which she won to finish fifth overall.

But the Big Final had experienced stars, including 2017 bronze medalist Michela Moioli (ITA). But Samkova, who won her semifinal, jumped to the front and was never headed.

The Olympic champ in Sochi and bronze medalist in PyeongChang, she had never had much success at the World Championships, but she claimed the top of the podium this time, ahead of Charlotte Bankes (GBR).

“I just tried to do my best,” she said. “I think it’s almost better that I had to wait for this victory. My first World Championships was in 2011, so it took a while to get this win, but it’s good like this.

“I still believe that our sport isn’t all about medals. You can have fun and have a great day of riding even without winning a medal. I tried not to put pressure on myself before the race and just try and enjoy it, and I think that’s the good way to do it. But I was fifth in 2011 and then got worse and worse (at World Championships) after that, so I’m happy that I made it today.”

Bankes won the first-ever British Worlds medal in SnowCross. Italy’s Moioli has to get some kind of special award: she finished with the bronze medal for the third World Championships in a row!

The Freestyle and Snowboard Worlds continues through the 10th. Look for results here. Summaries:

FIS Snowboard World Championships
Park City, Utah (USA) ~ 1-10 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Snowboard Cross/ Big Final: 1. Mick Dierdorff (USA); 2. Hanno Douschan (AUT); 3. Emanuel Perathoner (ITA); 4. Lucas Eguibar (ESP). Small Final: 5. Jake Vedder (USA); 6. Baptiste Brochu (CAN); 7. Paul Berg (GER); 8. Leon Beckhaus (GER).

Women’s Snowboard Cross/ Big Final: 1. Eva Samkova (CZE); 2. Charlotte Bankes (GBR); 3. Michaela Moioli (ITA); 4. Francesca Gallina (ITA). Small Final: 5. Lindsey Jacobellis (USA); 6. Raffaella Bruto (ITA); 7. Chloe Trespeuch (FRA); 8. Carle Brenneman (CAN).

LUGE Preview: World Cup resumes in Altenberg

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

tsx pix 120318 geisenberger natalie (Sandro Halank) 750 — Olympic and World Luge Champion Natalie Geisenberger of Germany (Photo: Sandro Halank via Wikimedia Commons)

With the World Championships completed., we’re into the final third of the FIL World Cup season, with racing remaining in Altenberg (GER) this week, followed by Oberhof (GER) next week and Sochi (RUS) two weeks later. The situation:

● Men’s Singles:
1. 473 Johannes Ludwig (GER) ~ One win, one silver, one bronze this season
2. 440 Wolfgang Kindl (AUT) ~ Three wins
3. 437 Felix Loch (GER) ~ Two medals
4. 435 Reinhard Egger (AUT) ~ One win, two bronzes
5. 433 Semen Pavlichenko (RUS) ~ One win, one silver

● Men’s Doubles:
1. 725 Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken (GER)
2. 576 Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (GER)
3. 552 Thomas Steo/Lorenz Koller (AUT)
4. 451 Andris Sics/Juris Sics (LAT)
5. 385 Vladislav Yuzhakov/Yuri Prokhorov (RUS)

● Women’s Singles:
1. 697 Natalie Geisenberger (GER) ~ Four wins, three silvers
2. 634 Julia Taubitz (GER) ~ Two wins, three silvers, two bronzes
3. 485 Summer Britcher (USA) ~ Two silvers, one bronze
4. 434 Tatiana Ivanova (RUS) ~ One win
5. 390 Dajana Eitberger (GER) ~ One win, one bronze

The men’s race is too close to call, but Loch has found a way to win in six of the last seven seasons. Eggert and Benecken are on their way to their third straight World Cup seasonal title and fourth in total. Geisenberger is working on a streak of six straight World Cup titles; she already holds the record for most seasonal titles (with six).

Loch, Geisenberger and Eggert and Benecken are the defending champions from the Altenberg stop in 2018. Look for 2019 results here.

SPEED READ: Headlines from The Sports Examiner for Friday, 1 February 2019

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

Welcome to The Sports Examiner SPEED READ, a 100 mph (44.7 m/s) review of what happened this week in Olympic sport:

LANE ONE

Wednesday: The United States Olympic Committee is making some strategic moved to shore up support among NCAA-member schools for Olympic-sport programs outside of basketball. The USOC ha a new program to allow the use of some Olympic symbols in combination with school logos to increase the profile of Olympic success on the campuses. It’s a good and well-timed move.

Friday: Never think one person can’t make a difference. This week saw the retirement – sort of – of the man who had an idea for economic development through sports in Los Angeles in the aftermath of the 1984 Olympic Games. He became the head of the Los Angeles Sports Council and his concept turned into more than $1 billion in economic impact for the area. We profile David Simon; be sure to read his comments on what sports can do for a community.

THE BIG PICTURE

Tuesday: USA Gymnastics isn’t acting like an organization on its death bed. It’s making new hires and creating a new way of supporting its members. It could even help it survive a USOC vote to de-certify it as the National Governing for its sport!

Friday: Major decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, confirming 12 doping positives for Russian athletes competing between 2012-14. On the list were London 2012 high jump champ Ivan Ukhov and 2013 World Champions Svetlana Shkolina (high jump) and Tatyana Lysenko (hammer). Five of the dopers were second-time losers. There are far-reaching implications for this finding, all of which place more pressure on Russia for contrition.

ALPINE SKIING

Tuesday: A huge crowd of more than 45,000 came out to see Austrian skiing star Marcel Hirscher in the Slalom at Schladming … and he delivered, for his 10th World Cup win of the season.

Friday: American skiing superstars in opposite directions in Europe. Mikaela Shiffrin tied for the Giant Slalom title with Petra Vlhova (SVK) for her 13th win of the World Cup season, one short of the record. Also on Friday, Lindsey Vonn – the all-time women’s victory leader in World Cup history – announced that injuries have taken their toll and the Downhill and Super-G at next week’s World Championships will be her last races. At 34, she will retire while she is still upright.

ATHLETICS

Tuesday: Remembering two men who made track & field better: Fred Thompson and Steve Prefontaine, and the amazing Franklin Jacobs, who set a record by jumping more than a foot-and-a-half … over his head!

Friday: The second leg of the IAAF World Indoor Tour is in Karlsruhe (GER), with the meet already sold out. Lots of eyes will be on Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarria, who looked like he could threaten Mike Powell’s world record in the long jump, before injuries ended his 2018 season. Another comeback is underway, by Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi in the high jump, after injuries ended his bid for a medal in Rio in 2016.

Friday: The U.S. Cross Country Championships are Saturday over 10 km in Tallahassee, Florida, with Leonard Korir looking for his third straight title. He will face some stiff challengers, especially 2017 runner-up Stanley Kebenei and 2017 bronze medalist Shadrack Kipchirchir. The women’s race could come down to a fight between American Record holders: Shelby Houlihan (5.000 m), Molly Huddle (10,000 m) and Courtney Frerichs (Steeplechase). The top six in each race will qualify for the U.S. team to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in March.

CURLING

Thursday: Third leg of the World Curling World Cup ha started in Jonkoping (SWE). Lots of new faces in this round, but they include and U.S. brother-and-sister combo of Matt and Becca Hamilton in the Mixed Doubles.

FENCING

Thursday: A light schedule this week for the FIE World Cup, with only a men’s Sabre event in Warsaw (POL). That will be a test for the no. 1-ranked men’s Sabre fencer, American Eli Dershwitz!

FOOTBALL

Friday: The young U.S. men’s National Team, fresh off a 3-0 win over Panama in Gregg Berhalter’s first game as coach, travels to San Jose, California for a match against a young Costa Rican team that also has a new coach. This is a step up in class for the Americans, but also against a team rebuilding towards 2022.

RUGBY

Thursday: Both the men and women’s World Rugby Sevens Series is in Sydney (AUS), with the American men in a tie with Fiji for the lead in the men’s standings, and the women sitting in third place. The men have been 2-2-2 in the three legs so far; can they win this one?

SAILING

Monday: A preview of the Miami World Cup regatta, going on now, with six Olympic and six World Championships medalists among the sailors and excellent fields in every class.

SKI JUMPING

Friday: Youth marches on, as Slovenia’s Timi Zajc, just 18, takes the first of three events off the mammoth ski-flying hill – 235 m! – in Obertsdorf (GER). Two more competitions coming this weekend.

SWIMMING

Tuesday: New accusations of doping problems from a London newspaper about China’s Yang Sun, which his representatives hotly deny and threaten a suit for libel. Better news about a cancer scare dealt with in surgery for American sprint star Nathan Adrian.

UPCOMING

Highlights of the coming week, with plenty of coverage at TheSportsExaminer.com:

● Alpine Skiing: Start of the FIS World Championships in Are, Sweden;

● Athletics: Strong fields for the annual Millrose Games in New York;

● Freestyle Skiing & Snowboard: The FIS World Championships, all next week in Utah!

And a heavy schedule of nearly 30 events, for which we’ll have full coverage!

ALPINE SKIING: Shiffrin and Vlhova tie in Maribor; Vonn will retire after World Champs

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

Slalom 2018 Killington FIS World Cup Photo: Reese Brown/U.S. Ski & Snowboard — American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin (Photo: Reese Brown/U.S. Ski & Snowboard)

Ties aren’t common, but they show up occasionally in the FIS Alpine World Cup and they did again on Friday in Maribor (SLO) in the women’s Giant Slalom, as the two best technical skiers in the world – Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) and Petra Vlhova (SVK) – tied at 2:31.31.

Shiffrin had the lead after the first run at 1:14.28, ahead of Vlhova’s 1:14.76. But Vlhova came back to lead the second run at 1:16.55, while Shiffrin was fourth-fastest at 1:17.03. The totals were the same.

“I saw Petra from the start and I was like “OK, I better up the ante a little bit,’” said Shiffrin. “It was a fight in the second (run). I almost lost it at the bottom. I was fighting to find the finish line, and a little bit relieved to see the green light.”

On the tie, Shiffrin said, “It’s incredible, and it’s the first time I won a GS here, so it’s a really nice feeling. [The tie is] pretty cool, I know she’s been skiing pretty strong in GS – and of course strong in Slalom as well – there are some days when more than one person deserves to win the race, and today we were sharing that.”

The last World Cup came last season. On 14 March of 2018, Austrians Vincent Kriechmayr and Matthias Matt tied for the men’s Downhill title in the World Cup Final in Are.

It’s Shiffrin’s 12th World Cup win of the season, leaving her just two behind Swiss Vreni Schneider’s all-time single-season mark of 14 from 1989. She can pick up another on Saturday with the Slalom, which will be aired on NBC’s Olympic Channel at 7 a.m. Saturday morning, Eastern time.

FIS Alpine World Cup
Maribor (SLO) ~ 1-2 January 2019
(Full results here)

Women’s Giant Slalom: 1. tie, Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) & Petra Vlhova (SVK), 2:31.31; 3. Rahnhild Mowinckel (NOR), 2:32.24; 4. Wendy Holdener (SUI), 2:32.60; 5. Sara Hector (SWE), 2:32.81.

American star Lindsey Vonn finally succumbed to a long list of injuries during her career and announced on Friday that she will retire after this month’s World Championships. She wrote on a lengthy post on her Instagram account:

“It’s been an emotional 2 weeks making the hardest decision of my life, but I have accepted that I cannot continue ski racing. I will compete at the World Championships in Downhill and SG next week in Are, Sweden and they will be the final races of my career.

“I have always pushed the limits of ski racing and it has allowed me to have amazing success but also dramatic crashes. I have never wanted the storyline of my career to be about injuries and because of that I decided not to tell anyone that I underwent surgery this past spring. A large portion of cartilage that had delaminated from my bone was removed. My crash in Lake Louise last year was much more painful than I let on, but I continued to race because I wanted to win a medal in the Olympics for my late grandfather.

“Again, I rehabbed my way back this summer and I felt better than I had in a long time. Then I crashed in Copper this November and injured my left knee, tearing my LCL plus sustaining 3 fractures. Despite extensive therapy, training and a knee brace, I am not able make the turns necessary to compete the way I know I can. My body is broken beyond repair and it isn’t letting me have the final season I dreamed of. My body is screaming at me to STOP and it’s time for me to listen.

“Honestly, retiring isn’t what upsets me. Retiring without reaching my goal is what will stay with me forever. However, I can look back at 82 World Cup wins, 20 World Cup titles, 3 Olympic medals, 7 World Championship medals and say that I have accomplished something that no other woman in HISTORY has ever done, and that is something that I will be proud of FOREVER!”

Vonn will exit as the finest women’s Alpine skier of all time, and has been a positive force in the sport and beyond. But time matters and she is 34. Hopefully, she will stay around sports and especially around skiing.

SKI JUMPING: Ski Flying season takes off in Obertsdorf!

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

tsx pix 2019-201 zajc timi 750 (fis) — Slovenia's Timi Zajc (Photo: FIS)

Your typical hill for most men’s World Cup ski jumping competitions is 130-150 meters, certainly a challenge. But this week’s jumping will be off the big hill – 235 m! – in Obertsdorf (GER). This isn’t ski jumping, this is ski-flying … and at night!

Originally scheduled for two events, a third competition was added to make up for the loss of the large-hill event in Titisee-Neustadt (GER) from 9 December. And Friday’s competition introduced a new World Cup winner in Timi Zajc, 18, from Slovenia.

Zajc earned his first-ever World Cup medal in Sapporo last week, but was only sixth after the first jump in Obertsdorf, reaching 220 m. But his second try was a beaut, all the way out to 233.5 m and earning 222.6 points, the best in the second round. That gave him a 430.1-424.8 win over Poland’s Dawid Kubacki, with Germany’s Markus Eisenbichler third.

Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi finished seventh, but still has an imposing 1,251-821 lead over Stefan Kraft (AUT), with Kamil Stoch (POL) still third at 789. There will be two more days of ski-flying; Stoch and Kubacki were 1-3 last season at Obertsdorf, but that was off the 137 m hill.

NBC’s Olympic Channel has delayed coverage of the ski-flying events: tonight at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, then on Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern and Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. Look for results here. Summaries from Friday:

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
Obertsdorf (GER) ~ 1-3 February 2019
(Full results here)

235 m hill I: 1. Timi Zajc (SLO), 430.1; 2. Dawid Kubacki (POL), 424.8; 3. Markus Eisenbichler (GER), 423.3; 4. Piotr Zyla (POL), 421.8; 5. Kamil Stoch (POL), 420.5.

The women’s jumping this week in staying in Europe, in Hinzenbach (AUT) off a 90 m hill. It will be the first jumping for women there in two years since last year’s event was cancelled due to weather.

In early 2017, it was Japan’s Sara Takanashi who was dominant, winning both jumps. She was followed by Katharina Althaus and Carina Vogt for silvers and Vogt and Norway’s Maren Lundby for bronzes.

Now it’s Lundby, the defending World Cup champ from 2017-18, who is back atop the World Cup standings once again after three wins in a row and four out of five. She has 788 points to 747 for Althaus and then 511 for Juliane Seyfarth (GER).

Lundby led the qualifying on Friday at 88.0 m and 114.4 points; look for results here.

FOOTBALL: Youthful U.S. men’s National Team hosts Costa Rica in San Jose

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

tsx pix 2019-201 berhalter wins opener v Pan 750 — Gregg Berhalter and the U.S. celebrate a 3-0 win over Panama (Photo: U.S. Soccer)

The second game of the Gregg Berhalter Era for the U.S. men’s National Team comes on Saturday at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California against a much better foe (maybe): Costa Rica.

The American youngsters – five debuted in the starting line-up against Panama and two more came in as substitutes – won 3-0 on 27 January, but Costa Rica is a different story. In the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, Costa Rica defeated the U.S. by 4-0 and 2-0 scores; the inability of the U.S. to make it to the 2018 World Cup ended the U.S. coaching careers of Jurgen Klinsmann and Bruce Arena.

The last U.S. win vs. Costa Rica came on 7 June 2016, with a 4-0 whitewash in Chicago. This will be the 38th meeting between the teams, and Costa Rica has a 16-15-6 edge.

The U.S. got goals from Djordje Mihailovic, Walker Zimmerman and Christian Ramirez against Panama; those three players had a total of four U.S. appearance – all by Zimmerman – coming into the game.

Costa Rica also has a new coach in Gustavo Manotas and just a couple of players on the roster for Saturday played on the 2018 World Cup team. Eight of the 23 players on the Costa Rican roster have not yet played for the national team.

The game will be shown at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow on Fox, UniMas and UDN.

ATHLETICS Preview: U.S. Cross Country Champs back in Tallahassee on Saturday

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

tsx pix 2019-201 korir, leonard 750 — U.S. National Cross Country champ Leonard Korir

Two strong fields will line-up for the annual USATF Cross Country Championships, once again at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida. The senior men and women will compete over 10 km, with large fields entered.

This year’s Cross Country Nationals are especially important as the race will select the U.S. team for the World Cross Country Championships, coming 30 March in Aarhus (DEN). Some of the top entries:

Men:
● Leonard Korir ~ Two-time defending champion
● Garrett Heath ~ 2015 National Champion
● Stanley Kebenei ~ 2017 runner-up; third in 2018
● Shadrack Kipchirchir ~ Third in 2017
● Emmanuel Bor ~ Lifetime best 13:20.66 for 5,000 m in 2018
● Hillary Bor ~ 2016 Olympic Steeplechase seventh; 8:11.82 PR from 2017
● Donn Cabral ~ 2012 and 2016 Olympian in Steeplechase: 8th both times
● Eric Jenkins ~ 13:07.33 for 5,000 m and 27:48.02 for 10,000 m on the track
● Ben True ~ World Cross Country Champs: 6th in 2013

Women:
● Stephanie Bruce ~ World Cross Country Champs: 22nd in 2017
● Amy Cragg ~ 2017 World Championships Marathon bronze medalist
● Courtney Frerichs ~ Steeplechase American Record holder (9:02.58 ‘17)
● Shelby Houlihan ~ American 5,000 m record holder (14:34.45 ‘18)
● Molly Huddle ~ American 10,000 m record holder (30:13.17 ‘16)
● Shannon Rowbury ~ American 1,500 m record holder (3:56.29 ‘17)
● Karissa Schweizer ~ 2016 NCAA Cross Country Champion at Missouri
● Laura Thweatt ~ 2014 National Champion
● Aliphine Tuliamuk ~ 2017 National Champion

There is prize money for the top 10 placers: $4,000-2,500-1,500-1,250-1,000-900-750-650-550-400. There will also be a $1,750 bonus for the six athletes – men and women – chosen to represent the U.S. at the World Cross Country Championships.

Look for results here.

ATHLETICS Preview: Big names line up for Karlsruhe indoor meet on Saturday

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

There is nothing like a sell-out to warm the heart of a meet director.

“The Indoor Meeting has never sold out before Christmas in its 35-year history, it’s phenomenal,” said Martin Wacker, the managing director for the Karlsruhe (GER) indoor meet coming tomorrow. Seating has been increased to 5,000 at the Messe Karlsruhe, with more than 150 athletes from 30-plus countries expected to attend. The projected highlights:

● Men’s High Jump:
The comeback of Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi, who lost his shot at the Rio Games in 2016 due to injury, is a really nice story and worth following. He set a national record at 2.39 m (7-10) in 2016 and was European Champion, but after the injury, he has made his way back up to 2.33 m (7-7 3/4) last year. This will be his debut for 2019, and he will be challenged by Andriy Protsenko (UKR: 2.40 m/7-10 1/2, fourth in Rio) and Donald Thomas of The Bahamas, who was World Champion back in 2007, but won the Continental Cup last season.

● Men’s Long Jump:
There are some good jumpers in this field, notably Swede Michel Torneus (8.44 m/27-8 1/4 in 2016), but all eyes will be on Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarria. He won the World Indoor title in 2018 and then set the track & field world on fire in June, reaching 8.83 m (28-11 3/4) with only the slightest wind-aid of 2.1 m/s. He then jumped 8.66 m (28-5) and 8.68 (28-5 3/4) in his next two meets, but didn’t jump after 5 July due to injury and he hasn’t been seen since.

What’s the world indoor record? It still belongs to Carl Lewis (USA) at 8.79 m (28-10 1/4) from way back in 1984!

● Women’s Pole Vault:
Greece’s Katerina Stefanidi, the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World Champion won at the Pole Vault Summit at Reno and was second at the New Balance Indoor Games in Roxbury and has cleared 4.74 m (15-6 1/2) already. The winner in Roxbury was American Katie Nageotte, with a world-leading 4.86 m (15-11 1/4) clearance. Look for a challenge from Russian Anzhelika Sidorova, who cleared 4.85 m (15-11) on 12 January.

● Women’s Triple Jump:
It’s early, but Venezuela’s Yolimar Rojas (2017 World Champion), Ukraine’s Olha Saladukha (2011 World Champion) and American Record holder Tori Franklin (14.84 m/48-8 1/4 in 2018) could produce something special.

There are some excellent women’s events, with two-time World 200 m Champion Dafne Schippers (NED) in the 60 m, Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay (2016 World Indoor 1,500 m bronze medalist) in the 3,000 m and local favorite and 2015 World Championships silver medalist Cindy Roleder in the 60 m Hurdles.

Look for results here.

THE BIG PICTURE: Court of Arbitration for Sport confirms 12 Russian track & field positives

Rich Perelman

February 1, 2019

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) came under enormous criticism after reversing 28 suspensions handed out by the International Olympic Committee’s Disciplinary Commission last year, mostly on grounds that actual evidence of tampering with samples had not been definitively shown.

But on Friday, CAS announced that it had confirmed 12 cases of doping in track & field, with evidence gathered from the work of Canadian law professor Richard McLaren and advanced by the Athletics Integrity Unit of the IAAF:

“Having studied the reports issued by Prof. McLaren, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), on behalf of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), pursued allegations of anti-doping rule violations (‘ADRVs’) against several Russian athletes, in particular to the effect that these athletes participated in and/or benefited from anabolic steroid doping programs and benefited from specific protective methods (washout schedules) in the period 2012 (Olympic Games in London) – 2013 (World Championships in Moscow).

“Following the appeals filed by the IAAF at the CAS, each procedure was conducted separately and referred to a Sole Arbitrator. In all cases, the athletes have been found guilty of ADRVs under the IAAF Rules and individual sanctions have been imposed by the CAS on each of the 12 athletes concerned. These first-instance decisions may be appealed to the CAS Appeals Arbitration Division within 21 days.”

The athletes involved and some of their results to be nullified:

Men (3):
● Lyukman Adams (triple jump) ~ 2014 World Indoor Champion
● Ivan Ukhov (high jump) ~ 2012 Olympic Champion
● Ivan Yushkov (shot put)

Women (9):
● Anna Bulgakova (hammer) ~ already serving a doping suspension
● Gulfiya Agafonova Khana feeva (hammer) ~ second doping positive
● Mariya Bespalova (hammer) ~ already serving a doping suspension
● Tatyana Firova (400 m) ~ 2010 World Indoor 400 m silver medalist
● Vera Ganeeva (discus) ~ already serving a doping suspension
● Yekaterina Galitskaia (100 m hurdles)
● Yuliya Kondakova (100 m hurdles)
● Tatyana Lysenko (hammer) ~ 2013 World Champion; second doping positive
● Svetlana Shkolina (high jump) ~ 2013 World Champion, 2012 Olympic bronze

So two Olympic medals and two World Championship golds are impacted.

This finding has some far-reaching consequences, not the least of which is further support for the work of Prof. McLaren. This could be critical in track & field, as one of the requirements for the Russian Athletics Federation to be reinstated is to accept the findings of the two McLaren Reports.

The World Anti-Doping Agency’s Olivier Niggli (SUI) issued a somewhat self-congratulatory statement lauding the decision – even though WADA was not part of this action – but also adding that “This highlights also, once again, just how important the successful retrieval of the analytical data from the former Moscow Laboratory by WADA last month is for clean sport and reinforces the decision taken by the WADA Executive Committee (ExCo) on 20 September 2018 to reinstate as compliant the Russian Anti-Doping Agency under strict conditions, including access to the data. This large amount of data, which would not have been retrieved without that September ExCo decision, is currently being verified and assessed and, if found to be authentic, will be used to bring forward more cases against those who cheated.”

It’s worth noting that McLaren himself estimated that the Moscow Lab data could reveal as many as 300-600 new doping cases, based on his own work on the project.

So this could just the start of a series of announcements, including the re-award of medals from the 2012 Olympic Games and 2013 World Championships in events impacted by these doping confirmations.

And, these findings place some added pressure on WADA to authenticate the data retrieved from the Moscow Lab and for the Russians to hand over a potentially large number of samples from that lab for re-testing outside of Russia. That process has to be completed by 30 June of this year or Russia could be re-suspended by WADA, and potentially others.

The International Paralympic Committee announced that it will have an update on the status of the still-suspended Russian Paralympic Committee on 8 February.

FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD Preview: World Champs start in Utah

Rich Perelman

January 31, 2019

The 2019 FIS World Championships in Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard are set to start in Utah on Friday with the Opening Ceremony and continue for 10 days through next week. It should be quite a show; the finals schedule:

Freestyle:
● 02 February: Big Air at Canyons Village
● 02 February: Ski Cross at Solitude Mountain
● 06 February: Aerials at Deer Valley
● 06 February: Slopestyle at Park City
● 07 February: Team Aerials at Deer Valley
● 08 February: Moguls at Deer Valley
● 09 February: Dual Moguls at Deer Valley
● 09 February: Halfpipe at Park City

Snowboard:
● 01 February: Snowboard Cross at Solitude Mountain
● 03 February: Team SnowboardCross at Solitude Mountain
● 04 February: Parallel Giant Slalom at Park City
● 05 February: Parallel Slalom at Park City
● 05 February: Big Air at Park City
● 08 February: Halfpipe at Park City
● 10 February: Slopestyle at Park City

The Freestyle and Snowboard Worlds have been unpredictable due to uncertainty over who will actually show up. For American and Canadian fans, having the event in the U.S. means that the cream of the North American skiers and riders are entered.

Our form chart of the best over the last three years:

Freestyle Aerials/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Jonathan Lillis (USA); 2. Guangpu Qi (CHN); 3. David Morris (AUS)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Oleksandr Abramenko (UKR); 2. Zongyang Jia (CHN); 3. Ilya Burov (RUS)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Maxim Burov (RUS: 100); 2. Wang Xindi (CHN: 80); 3. Stanislav Nikitin (RUS: 60)

Freestyle Aerials/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Ashley Caldwell (USA); 2. Danielle Scott (AUS); 3. Mengtao Xu (CHN)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Hanna Huskova (BLR); 2. Xin Zhang (CHN); 3. Fanyu Kong (CHN)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Mengtao Xu (CHN: 100); 2. Shao Qi (CHN: 80); 3. Xu Nuo (CHN: 60)

Freestyle Big Air/Men:
● 2017 World Champs: Not held
● 2018 Winter Games: Not held
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Andri Ragettli (SUI: 160); 2. Birk Ruud (NOR: 150); 3. Evan McEachran (CAN: 104)

Freestyle Big Air/Women:
● 2017 World Champs: Not held
● 2018 Winter Games: Not held
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Elena Gaskell (CAN: 150); 2. Caroline Claire (USA: 109); 3. Mathilde Gremaud (SUI: 100)

Freestyle Halfpipe/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Aaron Blunck (USA); 2. Mike Riddle (CAN); 3. Kevin Rolland (FRA)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. David Wise (USA); 2. Alex Ferreira (USA); 3. Nico Porteous (NZL)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Simon d’Artois (CAN: 140); 2. Nico Porteous (NZL: 130); 3. Miguel Porteous (NZL: 120).

Freestyle Halfpipe/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Ayana Onozuka (JPN); 2. Marie Martinod (FRA); 3. Devin Logan (USA)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Cassie Sharpe (CAN); 2. Marie Martinod (FRA); 3. Brita Sigourney (USA)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Kexin Zhang (CHN: 136); 2. Rachael Carker (CAN: 130); 3. Kelly Sidaru (EST: 100)

Freestyle Moguls/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Ikuma Horishima (JPN); 2. Benjamin Cavet (FRA); 3. Mikael Kingsbury (CAN)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Mikael Kingsbury (CAN); 2. Matt Graham (AUS); 3. Daichi Hara (JPN)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Mikael Kingsbury (CAN: 545); 2. Benjamin Cavet (FRA: 345); 3. Walter Wallberg (SWE: 316).

Freestyle Dual Moguls/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Ikuma Horishima (JPN); 2. Bradley Wilson (USA); 3. Marco Tade (SUI)
● 2018 Winter Games: Not held
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Mikael Kingsbury (CAN: 100); 2. Oskar Olofsson (SWE: 80); 3. Banjamin Cavet (FRA: 60)

Freestyle Moguls/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Britteny Cox (AUS); 2. Perrine Laffont (FRA); 3. Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Perrine Laffont; 2. Justin Dufour-Lapointe (CAN); 3. Yulia Galysheva (KAZ)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Perrine Laffont (FRA: 500); 2. Jakara Anthony (AUS: 405); 3. Jaelin Kauf (USA: 400)

Freestyle Dual Moguls/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Perrine Laffont (FRA); 2. Yulia Galysheva (KAZ); 3. Jaelin Kauf (USA)
● 2018 Winter Games: Not held
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Jaelin Kauf (USA: 100); 2. Perrine Laffont (FRA: 80); 3. Yulia Galysheva (KAZ: 60)

Freestyle Ski Cross/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Victor Norberg (SWE); 2. Jamie Prebble (NZL); 3. Francois Place (FRA)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Brady Leman (CAN); 2. Marc Bischofberger (SUI); 3. Sergey Ridzik (RUS)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Bastien Midol (FRA; 415); 2. Jean-Frederic Chapuis (FRA: 254); 3. Alex Fiva (SUI: 243).

Freestyle Ski Cross/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Sandra Naeslund (SWE); 2. Fanny Smith (SUI); 3. Ophelie David (FRA)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Kelsey Serwa (CAN); 2. Brittany Phelan (CAN); 3. Fanny Smith (SUI)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Fanny Smith (CAN: 505); 2. Marielle Thompson (CAN: 400); 3. Sandra Naeslund (SWE: 350).

Freestyle Slopestyle/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. McRae Williams (USA); 2. Gus Kenworthy (USA); 3. James Woods (GBR)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Oystein Braaten (NOR); 2. Nick Goepper (USA); 3. Alex Beaulieu-Marchand (CAN)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Max Moffatt (CAN: 158); 2. Oliwer Magnusson (SWE: 152); 3. Alex Hall (USA: 129)

Freestyle Slopestyle/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Tess Ledeux (FRA); 2. Emma Dahlstrom (SWE); 3. Isabel Atkin (GBR)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Sarah Hoefflin (SUI); 2. Mathilde Gramaud (SUI); 3. Isabel Atkin (GBR)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Eileen Gu (USA: 204); 2. Sarah Hoefflin (SUI: 180); 3. Megan Oldham (CAN: 121)

Snowboard Big Air/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Stale Sandbech (NOR); 2. Chris Corning (USA); 3. Marcus Kleveland (NOR)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Sebastien Toutant (CAN); 2. Kyle Mack (USA); 3. Billy Morgan (GBR)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Takeru Otsuko (JPN: 2,600); 2. Chris Corning (USA: 2,090); 3. Clemens Millauer (AUT: 1,340)

Snowboard Big Air/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Anna Gasser (AUT); 2. Enni Rukajarvi (FIN); 3. Silje Norendal (NOR)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Anna Gasser (AUT); 2. Jamie Anderson (USA); 3. Zoi Sadowski-Synnot (NZL)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Reira Iwabuchi (JPN: 2,400); 2. Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN: 2,400); 3. Anna Gasser (AUT: 1,600)

Snowboard Cross/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Pierre Vaultier (FRA); 2. Lucas Eguibar (ESP); 3. Alex Pullin (AUS)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Pierre Vaultier (FRA); 2. Jayyrd Hughes (AUS); 3. Regino Hernandez (ESP)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Martin Noerl (GER: 1,600); 2. Omar Visintin (ITA: 1,090); 3. Emanuel Perathoner (ITA: 1,018.20)

Snowboard Cross/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Lindsey Jacobellis (USA); 2. Chloe Trespeuch (FRA); 3. Michaela Moioli (ITA)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Michela Moioli (ITA); 2. Julia Pereira (FRA); 3. Eva Samkova (CZE)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Lindsey Jacobellis (USA: 1,800); 2. Eva Samkova (CZE: 1,800); 3. Nelly Moenne Loccoz (FRA: 1,000)

Snowboard Halfpipe/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Scotty James (AUS); 2. Iouri Podladychikov (SUI); 3. Patrick Burgener (SUI)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Shaun White (USA); 2. Ayumu Hirano (JPN); 3. Scotty James (AUS)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Scotty James (AUS: 2,000); 2. Yuko Totsuka (JPN: 1,760); 3. Jan Scherrer (SUI: 1,560)

Snowboard Halfpipe/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Xuetong Cai (CHN); 2. Haruna Matsumoto (JPN); 3. Clmence Grimal (FRA)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Chloe Kim (USA); 2. Jiayu Liu (CHN); 3. Arielle Gold (USA)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Xuetong Cai (CHN: 2,100); 2. Chloe Kim (USA: 2,000); 3. Kurumi Imai (JPN: 1,460)

Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Andreas Prommegger (AUT); 2. Benjamin Karl (AUT); 3. Nevin Galmarini (SUI)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Nevin Galmarini (SUI); 3. Sang-Ho Lee (KOR); 3. Zan Kosir (SLO)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Roland Fischnaller (ITA: 1,810); 2. Nevin Galmarini (SUI: 1,590); 3. Benjamin Karl (AUT: 1,520)

Snowboard Parallel Slalom/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Andreas Prommegger (AUT); 2. Benjamin Karl (AUT); 3. Andrey Sobolev (RUS)
● 2018 Winter Games: Not held
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Dario Caviezel (SUI: 1,600); 2. Andrey Sobolev (RUS: 1,360); 3. Stefan Baumeister (GER: 1,220).

Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Ester Ledecka (CZE); 2. Patrizia Kummer (SUI); 3. Ekaterina Tudegesheva (RUS)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Ester Ledecka (CZE); 2. Selina Jorg (GER); 3. Ramona Hofmeister (GER)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Nadya Ochner (ITA: 1,900); 2. Ester Ledecka (CZE: 1,800); 3. Natalia Soboleva (RUS: 1,650)

Snowboard Parallel Slalom/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Daniela Ulbing (AUT); 2. Ester Ledecka (CZE); 3. Alena Zavarzina (RUS)
● 2018 Winter Games: Not held
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Sabine Schoeffman (AUT: 1,400); 2. Claudia Riegler (AUT: 1,290); 3. Julie Zogg (SUI: 1,220)

Snowboard Slopestyle/Men:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Seppe Smits (BEL); 2. Nicolas Huber (SUI); 3. Chris Corning (USA)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Red Gerard (USA); 2. Max Parrot (CAN); 3. Mark McMorris (CAN)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Chris Corning (USA: 1,800); 2. Takeru Otsuko (JPN: 1,500); 3. Lyon Farrell (USA: 1,410)

Snowboard Slopestyle/Women:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Laurie Blouin (CAN); 2. Zoi Sadowski-Synot (NZL); 3. Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN)
● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Jamie Anderson (USA); 2. Laurie Blouin (CAN); 3. Enni Rukajarvi (FIN)
● 2019 FIS World Cup:
1. Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN: 2,000); 2. Reira Iwabuchi (JPN: 1,700); 3. Isabel Derungs (SUI: 1,680)

There are lots of storylines throughout the Championships. American SnowCross star Lindsey Jacobellis will be going for her sixth World Championship gold, while China’s Xuetong Cai will be looking for his third straight title in the men’s Halfpipe.

One star who won’t be in Utah is Snowboard Parallel Slalom and Parallel Giant Slalom star Ester Ledecka, who has opted for the World Alpine Championships in Sweden instead. Well, after all, she is the Olympic champ in the Super-G!

NBC has coverage of the Worlds, starting at 1 p.m. Eastern on Friday on NBCSN; Freestyle Ski Cross on Saturday on the NBC Olympic Channel at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Freestyle Big Air at 9 p.m.; Team Snowboard Cross on Sunday on the NBC Olympic Channel at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Look for results for Freestyle here and Snowboard here.

LANE ONE: Appreciating another legacy of the 1984 Olympic Games: David Simon

Rich Perelman

January 31, 2019

tsx pix 2019-131 simon, david 600 — Retired Los Angeles Sports Council President David Simon

The modern Olympic Movement was dramatically changed with the staging of the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad in Los Angeles in 1984.

The private financing, the use of existing facilities and thousands of volunteers are well remembered, along with many technical innovations that continue in use today. What is a little less appreciated is the legacy of people who helped make that Games work and continued to use that experience to make a difference for decades to come.

One such person was celebrated in a happy, noisy reception in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday night (30th), with family and friends gathered to honor a key member of the 1984 Olympic Organizing Committee team: David Simon.

Simon was not the highest-profile member of the LAOOC staff; that was Peter Ueberroth, who was in attendance and spoke movingly about Simon’s contributions was one of the first half-dozen people hired back in 1979, and as the Vice President/Government Relations. But what Simon achieved afterwards was the focus of the celebration.

His introduction by Los Angeles Sports Council President Tony Sciarrino pointed up his impact, and the example Simon has set for others:

“It’s a pleasure to be with all of you this afternoon to recognize, once again, that every one of us can make a difference in our community, whether it be Los Angeles or the world of sports or both.

“One person had an idea. One person pursued it and created a new paradigm for the way communities support and embrace sports. That person is our own David Simon.

“His unique path to the Sports Council began at UCLA, and included stops in Washington, D.C., working in the office of Congresswoman Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, and then back home to Los Angeles as one of the first staff members of the then-unknown Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.

“We, in this room, know well the enormous impact that the 1984 Olympic Games had, not just on Los Angeles and the Olympic Movement, but in countless areas of business, civic life, public-private cooperation, and in the advertising, marketing and sports industries.

“One man – our man David – saw new opportunities for Los Angeles beyond the Games and joined the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce as a Senior Vice President, intent on extending the enthusiasm for international sports and for the area’s teams even deeper into our community.

“He formed the Chamber’s Sports Committee in 1987 and with the backing of the late John Argue – the man most responsible for bringing the 1984 Games to Los Angeles – formed the Los Angeles Sports Council in 1988.

“Who could have foreseen how important a move that was.

“The Sports Council’s concept of creating economic development through sports led to a revolution in civic involvement in the global sports industry that saw the Sports Council become a model for sports commissions that popped up across this country. Through David’s tireless work in coordinating bids, private-sector support and cooperation with local, regional and national levels of governments, Los Angeles has continued to be the epicenter of sports in the United States.

“The [1991] U.S. Olympic Festival, the 1993 Super Bowl – the last one held in the Los Angeles area – the [1994] FIFA World Cup and [1999] Women’s World Cup, the [2015] Special Olympics World Games and national and world championships in Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Figure Skating, Gymnastics, Horse Racing, Ice Hockey, Modern Pentathlon, Track & Field and many others all came here thanks to the Sports Council.

“And let us not forget the enormous effort in the Olympic Movement, and the bids for the 2012 and 2016 Games plus the 2012 IOC World Conference on Women and Sport that set the stage for Los Angeles to be awarded the Games of the 34th Olympiad in 2028.

“David Simon was in the vanguard of all of it, and we owe him our thanks, along with his wife Cheryl, who was more than giving of David’s time, and we took a lot of it.

“But there is more. The Sports Council created a first-of-its-kind program with the “100 Greatest Moments in Los Angeles Sports History” book and television program in 1995. That morphed into the annual Los Angeles Sports Awards, another Los Angeles original. We hope to see all of you there for the 2019 show on March 25, and yes, tables are available.

“It’s a pleasure to be here to recognize the vision, wisdom and courage of a man whose own legacy we will be hard-pressed to match, David Simon.”

There was warm applause in the room from people who had seen Simon’s work first-hand, such as the senior International Olympic Committee member Anita DeFrantz – an LAOOC colleague – who read a special message of congratulations from IOC President Thomas Bach (GER). And stars including Olympic icons like basketball silver medalist Ann Meyers Drysdale, swimming gold medalist John Naber and 1984 Olympic breaststroke finalist John Moffet, immediate past chair of the LA84 Foundation, Frank Sanchez, the legendary former sports editor and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Bill Dwyre, and many more.

Simon himself spoke about the challenge of starting a new concept from scratch back in 1987, as a civic, private-sector-only organization to support local teams and bring new events to an area was untried.. But it worked, and created more than $1 billion in economic impact for the region.

He also noted the motivation behind the idea. “What has motivated me all these years is … the desire, as a life-long L.A. resident to generate the sense of community that sports can uniquely provide.

“Let’s face it, a sense of community can be hard to come by in L.A. Those of us who live here don’t share a common urban environment. Some of us live near the beach, some in the mountains and some in the desert – not to mention that most of us live in one of the dozens of cities which lie outside the Los Angeles city limits.

“What cuts through the clutter and provides a regional sense of community isn’t the Freeways or the weather – it’s sports. When the Dodgers are in the World Series, or the Rams are in the Super Bowl, or when we host an Olympics or the World Cup, it’s the ultimate water-cooler moment. We feel a sense of pride and shared experience with our neighbors and co-workers that otherwise doesn’t happen here, but which we desperately need. These occasions – which only sports can provide – make us a closer and better community.”

This is an insight which is not well enough appreciated. The emotion – whether for victory or defeat – which sports provide go beyond the athletes on the field or the court and are shared by spectators in the arena or watching from elsewhere, near or far.

Simon had an idea, and he inspired people from sports and those who wanted to help bring more sports to Southern California, to help achieve it. Now, however, as he noted that his frequent-flyer miles are the biggest number in his life, his retirement will allow him to start using them and see many more places where sports are played. And although he has retired from the Sports Council, he will now have more time to devote to many other roles, including as a Board member of USA Badminton.

This is the power of one person with an idea, and the tenacity, talent and drive to make it a reality. Not just for athletes, but for anyone who thinks their idea might not worth pursuing, Simon shows that change starts with ideas, and often with one person.

Congratulations, David, on your 30 years of contributing to the Olympic Movement and to making the Los Angeles area more special through sports. Enjoy your travels, but let us see you at some home games, too.

Rich Perelman
Editor

FENCING Preview: Men’s Sabre-rattlers meet in Warsaw

Rich Perelman

January 31, 2019

tsx pix 112418 dershwitz, eli 750 — American Sabre star Eli Dershwitz

A light schedule for the FIE World Cup this week, with only one event, the 64th edition of the Sabre de Wolodyjowski, with an individual competition on Friday and Saturday and a team event on Sunday. The field is quite large at 221, with the top entries by world ranking:

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

In addition, the Rio Olympic silver medalist – American Daryl Homer, currently ranked 16th – is also in the field.

Korea’s Gu is the defending champion, defeating Germany’s Matyas Szabo in the final. You can follow the results of this year’s tournament here.

RUGBY Preview: U.S. men tied for Sevens Series lead heading into Sydney

Rich Perelman

January 31, 2019

Both the men’s and women’s Seven Series are in play this week in Australia, with the U.S. men’s team – the Eagles – sitting with Fiji at the top of the points table.

In the three men’s legs held so far, the U.S. has been second each time, losing to New Zealand in Dubai (UAE), and Fiji in Cape Town (RSA) and Hamilton (NZL). Both Fiji and the U.S. have 57 points, followed by New Zealand (54), South Africa (44) and England (38).

The Sydney pools:

● Pool A: Fiji, Samoa, England, Japan
● Pool B: United States, Canada, Kenya, France
● Pool C: New Zealand, Scotland, Spain, Wales
● Pool D: South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Tonga

The U.S. has never finished higher than fifth in any Sevens Series season and was sixth last season. But the finals losses, by 21-5, 29-15 and 38-0 last week, sting.

However, the schedule should be moving in the U.S.’s favor, with the next two stops in North America: Las Vegas and Vancouver.

The top individual scorer in the series continues to be New Zealand’s Andrew Knewstubb, with 119 points, followed by John Porch (AUS: 104) and then Madison Hughes of the U.S. and Fiji’s Waisea Nacuqu (97). Look for results here.

The Sydney leg for women is the third of six stops, with New Zealand having won both in Glendale, Colorado and Dubai, for 40 points. Canada has finished third and second, for 34 points and the U.S. stands third with 32 after a second and a fourth.

This week, the pools are:

● Pool A: New Zealand, France, England, Papua-New Guinea
● Pool B: Fiji, Canada, Russia, Ireland
● Pool C: Australia, United States, China, Spain

The top two in each pool, plus the two highest-ranked third-place teams will advance to the championship playoffs.

The Black Ferns have won four of the six seasonal titles in the women’s Sevens Series, but Australia won last season, beating New Zealand in the final. The best-ever finish for the U.S. was fourth in the inaugural season in 2012-13.

The top women’s scorers are Tyla Nathan-Wong (NZL) with 91, ahead of Ghislaine Landry (CAN: 77) and Bianca Farella (CAN: 70). The top U.S. scorer is Ilona Maher, standing seventh overall, with 50. Look for results here.

CURLING Preview: Third World Cup underway in Jonkoping

Rich Perelman

January 31, 2019

tsx pix 2019-131 hamilton matt & becca 750 (wcf-celine stucki) — U.S. siblings Matt and Becca Hamilton in Mixed Doubles action (Photo: WCF ~ Celine Stucki)

The inaugural season of the World Curling Federation’s World Cup has started its second half, with a competition in Jonkoping (SWE) for men and women. Through the first two legs, in Suzhou (CHN) and Omaha, Nebraska (USA):

● Men:
I: Kevin Koe (CAN) d. Steffen Walstad (NOR), 6-5
II: John Shuster (USA) d. Niklas Edin (SWE), 3-1

● Women:
I: Rachel Homan (CAN) d. Anna Hasselborg (SWE), 7-3
II: Satsuki Fujisawa (JPN) d. Min-Ji Kim (KOR), 7-6

● Mixed Doubles:
I: Laura Walker/Kirk Muyres (CAN) d. Sarah Anderson/Korey Dropkin (USA), 7-3
II: Kristin Skaslien/Magnus Nedregotten (NOR) d. Jenny Perret/Martin Rios (SUI), 10-5

In Jonkoping, the men’s team are led by multi-time World Champion Edin and Walstad, along with Matt Dunstone skipping the Canadian team and Korey Dropkin leading the U.S. squad.

The women teams feature finalists Kim and Hasselborg. Canada has a new squad, with Darcy Robertson as Skip and the U.S. has a team led by Cory Christensen.

The Mixed Doubles program has Skaslien back for Norway, but now teamed with Thomas Ulsrud and the Swiss have Perret and Rios back for a possible re-match with the Vikings. The U.S. has the brother-and-sister squad of Olympic gold medalist Matt Hamilton, and Becca Hamilton. Canada has Kadriana Sahaidak and Cotton Lott.

The teams are playing a double round-robin in groups, with the group winners moving on to Sunday’s finals. Look for match scores and updates here.

ALPINE SKIING Preview: Shiffrin expected back on the slopes in Slovenia

Rich Perelman

January 31, 2019

tsx pix 111718 shiffrin mikaela levi — American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin

Just about two-thirds of the women’s Alpine World Cup racing has been completed, and the final races prior to the 2019 World Alpine Skiing Championships come this weekend in Maribor (SLO).

The schedule calls for a Giant Slalom and Slalom and that means American Mikaela Shiffrin will try to continue her dominance over the technical races. She has won six of the eight Slalom-style events held so far and two of the five Giant Slaloms. She has also won three Super-G races for 11 total wins this season.

Much attention is now being focused on the single-season wins record of 14 by Vreni Schneider (SUI) back in 1989 and Shiffrin could come within one with a sweep in Maribor. She has won there twice before, a Slalom in 2015 and another in 2017.

In terms of the overall standings, Shiffrin leads with 1,494 points, ahead of Petra Vlhova (SVK) with 898, then Wendy Holdener (SUI: 637) and Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT: 617). Shiffrin also leads the Super-G, Giant Slalom and Slalom categories, but not by more than 80 points in any one of them.

NBC’s Olympic Channel will have coverage from Maribor on Friday morning at 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. Eastern time and the second run of the women’s Slalom on Saturday at 7 .m. Eastern time. Look for results here.

The men’s World Cup racing will be in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER) this week, with a Downhill and Giant Slalom on Saturday and Sunday.

Like Shiffrin, the seasonal record for wins is also being chased by Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, who is well positioned to win his eighth straight World Cup overall title. He has a 1,216-732 lead over Alexis Pinturault (FRA) in the overall standings, followed by Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR: 671) and Dominik Paris (ITA: 550).

Hirscher has 10 wins on the season; he is one of three men to have won 13 races in a season, along with Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark and Austria’s Hermann Maier. There are seven more Giant Slalom and Slalom-style races remaining this season and he will be favored in all of them.

He leads the Giant Slalom and Slalom categories as well as the overall, and is way ahead: 540-302 over Kristoffersen in the Giant Slalom and 676-401 to new challenger Clement Noel in the Slalom.

In the Downhill, defending champ Beat Feuz (SUI) is now the seasonal leader with 420 points, a full race – 100 points – ahead of Italy’s Dominik Paris (32) and Christof Innerhofer (ITA: 260).

One of the finest Downhillers of this generation, Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal announced last weekend that he will retire after the World Alpine Championships in Sweden next month. Now 36, he won two Olympic golds in 2010 (Super-G) and 2018 (Downhill) and won two World Cup overall titles in 2007 and 2009. He will skip Garmisch to get ready for the Worlds.

The men’s Downhill from Garmisch will be on the NBC Olympic Channel at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, with the Giant Slalom on Sunday on the same channel starting at 5:30 a.m. Look for results here.

LANE ONE: The USOC figured out that it has an undiscovered sponsor: the NCAA

Rich Perelman

January 29, 2019

With all of the news about Congressional commissions and inquiries into the United States Olympic Committee, an important story appeared in the 21 January issue of the Sports Business Journal.

Titled, “USOC, NCAA agree to allow schools to promote their Olympic ties,” reporter Ben Fischer described a new program developed by the USOC’s collegiate partnerships initiative to be called “Olympians Made Here.”

For the first time, the USOC will allow a university to combine its logo with that of the USOC – Olympic rings included – in a shared mark to promote the school’s Olympic ties to its own athletes. According to Fischer, “The NCAA, college conferences and USOC-governed national governing bodies also can activate the campaign. The USOC is seeking institutional opt-in by April for the “Olympians Made Here” campaign, but there is no hard deadline considering some schools may not be sure of their Olympic connection until the 2020 Olympic trials.”

This may not seem like a lot, but it is a major step forward for the USOC. Former chief executive Scott Blackmun recognized the strategic threat to the quality of the U.S. Olympic Teams of the future if collegiate programs in Olympic sports continue to shrink.

The USOC created a new collegiate outreach project in 2016 and hired Sarah Wilhelmi from the West Coast Conference to coordinate it. Working in conjunction with a 10-member Collegiate Advisory Council of athletic directors and a conference commissioner, the USOC is looking for ways it can work together with universities to add value to their Olympic-sports programs.

Fischer got a scoop with the story, as the program is not designed to launch until 24 July – one year before the opening of the Tokyo Games – but is being circulated for interest now.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, on the day after the story appeared, the NCAA posted a story on its Web site on how school investments in Olympic sports are seeing a return in Olympic athletes from their teams. “The results make one thing clear: Because of college sports, the Olympic development system in the United States is unique, with no peers in the world. Division I schools together invest more than $5 billion annually.”

And a clever graphic showcased the amount spent by Division I schools for the top 10 Olympic sports:

1. $2.1 billion: Basketball
2. $577 million: Cross Country and Track & Field
3. $519 million: Soccer (Football)
4. $439 million: Baseball
5. $345 million: Volleyball
6. $281 million: Tennis
7. $279 million: Softball
8. $253 million: Swimming and Diving
9. $252 million: Golf
10. $143 million: Ice Hockey

The NCAA also has championship programs in beach volleyball, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, rifle, rowing, rugby, skiing, triathlon, water polo and wrestling, all of which are development opportunities for American Olympic teams.

In terms of strategic planning, this is a welcome shift by the USOC. The continued loss of collegiate programs is already hurting American performance in some sports, but allowing schools to capitalize on the publicity generated by Olympic ties – with some modest use of the Olympic rings – is a sure winner for schools which have the marketing and promotional capacity to take advantage. And this can work for schools beyond the athletic department to admissions and alumni relations as well.

There are, of course, restrictions on the program, such as not allowing any presence of a university or conference corporate partner on the combined USOC/school mark, or the use of such a mark by a collegiate sponsor; that would dilute the USOC’s rights with its own sponsors.

But the program is free and can be the jumping-off point for new projects, even co-promotions between NCAA programs and the training and competition programs of the USOC, but also the National Governing Bodies.

Long-time observers of Olympic sport in the U.S. will remember the decades-long war between the NCAA and the old Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) over athlete eligibility. That fight was so intense that a President’s Commission on Olympic Sports was formed during the Gerald Ford administration, under the direction of Mike Harrigan. Its report in 1977 led directly to the landmark Amateur Sports Act passed in 1978, which is now being reviewed in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal and the loose oversight of the National Governing Bodies by the USOC.

Now the NGBs and the USOC could be working together on this program and the NGBs could obtain modest use of the USOC’s marks to further promote its own athletes. This has been, up to this point, unthinkable, so let’s credit the USOC – and Blackmun – where due.

Closer ties between NCAA institutions, National Governing Bodies and the USOC can work. We see this today in wrestling, where USA Wrestling’s showcase events are most often held at university arenas where the wrestling teams are storied, such as at Iowa, Lehigh and Penn State, to name a few. USA Wrestling’s Executive Director, Rich Bender, is conveniently a new member of the USOC’s Board, as one of the NGB representatives, and may be able to contribute further insights for this program.

One of the USOC’s ancient goals, especially by its former marketing chief John Krimsky (later disgraced by a child pornography conviction), was to increase small-amount giving from American households to support the USOC. He was famous for saying, “America doesn’t send its athletes to the Games. Americans do.” The potential for mutual benefit for the USOC, the National Governing Bodies and university athletic departments is real and the “Olympians Made Here” program can be a starting point.

The willingness of the USOC to look at new ways to recognize its strategic partners is a good sign for an organization that must become more nimble, more creative and more inclusive – in many ways – to continue its success into the future.

Rich Perelman
Editor

SWIMMING Panorama: Doping rumors about China’s Yang Sun, and a cancer challenge for Nathan Adrian

Rich Perelman

January 29, 2019

tsx pix 2019-129 adrian nathan after surgery 750 — Olympic swimming champ Nathan Adrian (USA) after surgery

Rough news this week for two of the finest swimmers in the world, both from the medical side:

● China’s Yang Sun, the triple Olympic gold medalist and nine-time World Champion in distance Freestyles, is in the news thanks to a sensational story in the Sunday Times (GBR) that “A clash with anti-doping testers ended in him and his security guard using a hammer to smash a sealed vial containing the swimmer’s blood,” back on 4 September at his home in China.

The back story to the incident is that Sun, 27, was previously suspended for three months by the Chinese Swimming Association for doping back in May of 2014 due to the use of trimetazidine, then classified as a stimulant (but since downgraded, although still banned).

So, another doping positive could result in a long suspension and even a lifetime ban. FINA issued a statement on Monday, noting “FINA is aware of the reports in the Sunday Times and other media outlets regarding Chinese swimmer Sun Yang. In accordance with FINA’s Anti-Doping Policy (FINA DC Rules 14.1.5 and 14.3.3) and the decision of the Doping Panel, FINA is not authorised to comment the case.”

Sun’s representatives went on the offensive against the story, telling the Chinese Xinhua news service that “We reserve the right to file a lawsuit against the relevant international media which reports the incident.”

According to their version, “Sun rejected an out-of-competition doping test at his home in Zhejiang on Sept. 4, 2018 as doping testers from IDTM, the organisation to conduct out-of-competition doping tests, failed to show adequate identification proofs [of identity].”

The newspaper The Australian noted in a Wednesday post that “The case may not be over yet as the [Sunday Times] findings have been sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency, which has 21 days to decide whether to lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”

● American Olympic sprint champion Nathan Adrian was surprisingly absent from the first Tyr Pro Swim Series meet in Knoxville, Tennessee, a circuit that he has favored over the past several years.

Then came last Thursday’s announcement by Adrian on Instagram that explained “After a few tests and visits with a specialist, I unfortunately learned that I have Testicular Cancer. On the bright side, we caught it early, I have already started treatment and the prognosis is good. I will be back in the water in a few short weeks with my sights fully set on Tokyo!

“Along the way, I hope to share my journey in an effort to help break the stigma of discussing men’s health issues. I’ve realized that too often we tend to avoid these important topics, ignore the potential warning signs, and put off getting the medical help that we may need.

“As I told my family, I’ll be putting my public health degree to work a little sooner than I planned! But in all seriousness, I am keeping a positive attitude as cases such as mine are curable.”

He posted new details on Tuesday, including “Quick update: I underwent a laparoscopic RPLND procedure yesterday which means they took out some of my lymph nodes that the cancer may have spread to with the help of a robot. My doctor said it went well and my pathology report (which will tell us if it had spread) should be back in another week or so. Until then, we are going to do everything we can to get back to normal life as quickly as possible while staying well within my doctors’ parameters of course!”

Adrian, 30, is on the U.S. Pan American Games and World Championships team for 2019 and USA Swimming will monitor his situation before considering any change in his status.

ALPINE SKIING: Home crowd happy with Hirscher’s 10th win of the season in Schladming

Rich Perelman

January 29, 2019

tsx pix 122518 hirscher, marcel 2017 (Jonas Ericcsoon) 750 — Austria's Marcel Hirscher (Photo: Jonas Ericcsoon via Wikipedia)

It’s only been 16 days since Austria’s Marcel Hirscher won a FIS Alpine World Cup race, but it seemed like so much longer after losing twice to France’s new star, Clement Noel. So Tuesday’s Slalom win in Schladming (AUT) was welcomed by a happy Austrian crowd and Hirscher himself.

FIS reported some 45,000 fans in attendance for the night racing, with Hirscher the star from the beginning. He tore down the mountain for a 52.28 first-run time that no one could approach and he entered the second run 0.99 seconds ahead of Swiss Daniel Yule.

In the meantime, his rival from the past two races – Noel – skied off the course during the first run and did not advance.

“The last few days were not the easiest ones because of the first runs and everybody is talking about the first runs, so I thought to myself ‘Okay let’s show a first run that everyone will want to see’ and I’m happy it was possible.” Hirscher said afterwards.

Even with Noel out, Hirscher hardly let up and again had the fastest time on the course – 52.52 – to win in 1:44.81, a massive 1.21-second victory over France’s Alexis Pinturault (1:46.02) and 1.60 over Yule (1:46.41).

Said Hirscher, “It was a perfect run [the second] and it was so crazy to ski and the crowd were amazing.”

It was his third career win in Schladming and his 10th of the season. He won 13 last season and still has three Giant Slaloms and three Slaloms (including a City Event) remaining on the schedule. Both he and Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) are chasing the all-time single-season record of 14 wins by Vreni Schneider (SUI) in 1989. Shiffrin has 11 wins so far; Hirscher’s 13 wins last season is tied with Ingemar Stenmark (SWE: 1978-79) and Hermann Maier (AUT: 2000-01).

FIS Alpine World Cup
Schladming (AUT) ~ 29 January 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Slalom: 1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT), 1:44.81; 2. Alexis Pinturault (FRA), 1:46.02; 3. Daniel Yule (SUI), 1:46.41; 4. Ramon Zenhaeusern (SUI), 1:47.06; 5. Marco Schwarz (AUT), 1:47.40.

ATHLETICS Panorama: Remembering Fred Thompson, Steve Prefontaine and Franklin Jacobs

Rich Perelman

January 29, 2019

tsx pix 2019-129 thompson, fred 750 — Fred Thompson, founder and coach of the Atoms Track Club

Sports creates enduring memories, not only of events and wins and losses, but of the places you go and the people you meet. In the past week, this was underscored by three unforgettable people who made the sport better.

● The most recent, and sad, occurrence was last Tuesday’s passing of Fred Thompson, for decades the coach of the Atoms Track Club in Brooklyn and a man in the forefront of promoting women’s track & field.

He was an outstanding coach and a dynamic personality. If he was present, you knew it right away, whether you were another athlete, a coach, a spectator or especially if you were an official in an event in which his athletes were competing.

If one of his athletes was a sprinter, he was at the start. If a long jumper, he was right next to the pit and watched carefully to see where she took off from and if the official in the sand marked the jump properly. And his enthusiasm when his athletes did well was widely noticed because he did not hold his emotions back.

He cared deeply for his athletes and some of them were stars, including Cheryl Toussaint and Diane Dixon, who won Olympic relay medals in the 1972 and 1984 Games, respectively. A lawyer by trade and a formidable personality if you took the time to speak with him, he cared as much for his age-group runners as he did for his stars. This video from the 1970s explains Thompson’s impact well and showcases what one person can do to change lives through sport.

Thompson passed on 22 January at his home in Brooklyn, New York, apparently from complications from Alzheimer’s Disease. The New York Times had an excellent obituary here.

● Last Friday, 25 January, would have been the 68th birthday for distance icon Steve Prefontaine, who died in a car crash in Eugene, Oregon at age 24 back in 1975.

Pre was deservedly a legend, because his fearless running style and brash personality made you either love him or hate him. There was very little in between, but he was the greatest American distance runner of his time. He held American Records in the 2,000 m, 3,000 m, 2-mile, 3-mile, 5,000 m, 6-mile and 10,000 m at various times between 1971 and 1979. His best 5,000 m mark of 13:22.2 from 1974 lasted until 1976 and his 10,000 m time of 27:43.6 was not surpassed until 1979.

He won seven NCAA titles for the University of Oregon, two national championships in the 3-mile and finished a memorable fourth at the 1972 Olympic 5,000 m in Munich.

Running in the “shamateurism” era of the 1970s, he was a huge draw, especially at indoor meets where fans could see him up close, but he bemoaned the lack of opportunities for athletes to be paid directly. But his impact was felt as the rules began to change dramatically in the years following his death.

He is remembered annually at the Prefontaine Classic track meet. Originally known as the Hayward Field Restoration Meet when inaugurated in 1973, the name was changed two days after his death and the 1975 meet was held in his honor, and ever since.

Pre helped make the Nike brand, developed in Eugene, world famous, and promoted it tirelessly in its early years. The brand has not forgotten him, nor should anyone who appreciates competitive zeal.

● Franklin Jacobs is, happily, still alive, but back on 27 January 1978, he set an amazing World Indoor Record of 2.32 m (7-7 1/4) at the Millrose Games. Impressive for sure, but astonishing for someone standing 5-8!

That jump, some 23 1/4 inches above his head, has never been surpassed for the unique “jumping over your height” category. It was equaled by Sweden’s Stefan Holm in 2005. He is 5-11 1/4 and jumped 2.40 m (7-10 1/2). In fact, Holm keeps track of this particular statistic at his own Web site, with a list of everyone who has jumped 50 cm (1-7 3/4) or more over their height. He and Jacobs both cleared 59 cm over!

Jacobs, of course, was among those athletes whose Olympic dreams were shattered by the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games. He eventually settled in Arizona, working as a manager for a home-building company there. But he is still remembered for his exploits on the infield and how he amazed the crowds everywhere he went in the 1970s.

Thanks to Walt Murphy’s excellent Eastern Track results service and daily track & field history bulletins for noting the anniversaries of Prefontaine and Jacobs. If you are interested in knowing more, contact Walt at [email protected]

Kenyan distance star Jemima Sumgong, the 2016 Olympic Marathon winner in Rio, had her suspension for doping doubled from four years to eight by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)’s Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

Her original doping positive was reported in April 2017. Her explanations for the incident did not ring true and the AIU brought another action against her for “a false explanation of her r-EPO before, and the submission of false medical documents by her to the Kenyan Tribunal.” The complete decision is here.

This second action was judged to be another doping positive under the rules in which a cover-up is considered as a positive in and of itself. So her period of ineligibility was extended to April 2025, when she is 42.

Sumgong can appeal this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Brett Clothier, Head of the AIU said; “We welcome the decision of the Disciplinary Tribunal. We hope that it sends a message to dopers that the AIU has strong investigative capabilities and does not tolerate false evidence in doping cases.”

THE BIG PICTURE: USA Gymnastics stays on course, makes new hires

Rich Perelman

January 29, 2019

For an organization that the United States Olympic Committee is trying to destroy, USA Gymnastics seems quite alive and even well.

New USAG chair Kathryn Carson posted an open message on the usagym.org site on 17 January, noting:

● “We have made executive leadership changes, and we are close to hiring a new president and CEO. We are actively recruiting for several other top-level positions, including a permanent chief legal officer, chief programs officer and director of sports medicine. We will continue to update you on our progress toward filling those positions.

● “The Chapter 11 [bankruptcy] process will allow us to reach resolution with the survivors in a fair and expeditious manner, while allowing us to continue to our work to support gymnastics at all levels. …

● “We have further strengthened our safe sport policies and bylaws — including provisions on mandatory reporting — to establish greater accountability and make reporting easier. Additionally, we have expanded our Safe Sport Department, including hiring a child advocate to oversee safe-sport education and training.”

Doesn’t sound like an organization whose future is revocation of its National Governing Body status. In fact, the changes being made are exactly those which are needed to ensure that if the USOC decides to de-certify it as the NGB for Gymnastics, it could ultimately win in binding arbitration, as specified in the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.

The key hurdle for USAG to clear will be the cited resolution with the Larry Nassar survivors. If this can be achieved, then those individuals can be directly integrated into the SafeSport process to ensure that athlete safety is achieved through intervention by those who know what to look for.

As time grinds on, the USOC’s own process will have to be mindful of the timetable going forward as the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo get closer and closer. The 2019 Pan American Games starts 26 July in Lima (PER) and the 2019 U.S. National Championships are from 8-11 August in Kansas City and Olympic selection will be front and center after that.

It could be that the USOC’s de-certification timetable for USAG – including any arbitration hearings if the USOC revokes USAG’s NGB status – may get delayed until after the 2020 Games are concluded. For those opposing USAG as an organization going forward, that may seem disastrous, but from an athlete and coaching perspective, might be the best path forward for the sake of stability in preparation and performance at the Tokyo Games.

SAILING Preview: Second World Cup sets sail in Miami starting on Tuesday

Rich Perelman

January 28, 2019

tsx pix 2019-125 miami sailing world cup 750 — The World Sailing World Cup in Miami (Photo: World Sailing)

The World Sailing World Cup Series for Olympic-class boats takes place in Biscayne Bay off of Miami, Florida (USA) this week, starting on Tuesday. All 10 classes are scheduled, with more than 650 sailors from 60 nations expected. Schedule:

Racing five days from 29 January-2 February:
● RS:X ~ 54 men, 41 women entered
● 49er/49er FX ~ 100 men, 59 women entered
● Nacra 17 ~ 27 entries

Racing six days from 29 January-3 February:
● Laser/Laser Radial ~ 37 men, 29 women entered
● Finn ~ 26 entries
● 470 ~ 37 men, 29 women entered

The competition is expected to be fierce, among a talented group of entrants. Among the expected stars of recent events:

RS:X/Men:
● Louis Giard (FRA) ~ 2018 World Championships bronze & 2017-18 Miami winner
● Pierre Le Coq (FRA) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze medalist

RS:X/Women:
● Lilian de Geus (NED) ~ 2018 World Champion
● Charlene Picon (FRA) ~ 2018 Worlds silver; 2016 Olympic gold; 2014 World Champion
● Yunxiu Lu (CHN) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist; 2017 Miami World Cup winner
● Peina Chen (CHN) ~ 2016 Olympic silver medalist
● Helene Noesmoen (FRA) ~ 2018 Miami World Cup winner

49er:
● Sime Fantela/Mihovil Fantela (CRO) ~ 2018 World Champions
● Mathieu Frei/Noe Delpech (FRA) ~ 2018 Worlds silver medalists
● Tim Fischer/Fabian Graf (GER) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalists
● Erik Heil/Thomas Plossel (GER) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze medalists
● Dylan Fletcher-Scott/Stuart Bithell (GBR) ~ 2017 & 2018 Miami World Cup winners

49er FX:
● Tanja Frank/Lorena Albricht (NED) ~ 2018 World Champs silver medalists
● Sophie Weguelin/Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) ~ 2018 World Champs bronze medalists
● Martine Grael/Kahena Kunze (BRA) ~ 2016 Olympic Champions
● Alex Maloney/Molly Meech (NZL) ~ 2016 Olympic silver medalists
● Victoria Jurczok/Anika Lorenz (GER) ~ 2018 Miami World Cup winners

Laser:
● Matthew Wearn (NZL) ~ 2018 World Champs silver medalist
● Philipp Buhl (GER) ~ 2018 World Champs bronze medalist; 2015 Miami World Cup winner
● Tom Burton (AUS) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion; 2018 Miami World Cup winner
● Sam Meech (NZL) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze medalist

Laser Radial:
● Emma Plasschaert (BEL) ~ 2018 World Champion
● Marit Bouwmeester (NED) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion; 2011-14-17 World Champion
● Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) ~ 2018 World Champs bronze; 2016 Olympic bronze

Finn:
● Max Salminen (SWE) ~ 2018 World Champs silver medalist
● Caleb Paine (USA) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze; 2013 Miami World Cup winner
● Jorge Zarif (BRA) ~ 2016-17 Miami World Cup winner

470 Men:
● Kevin Peponnet/Jeremie Mion (FRA) ~ 2018 World Champions
● Tetsuya Isozaki/Akira Takayanagi (JPN) ~ 2018 World Champs silver medalists
● Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nicolas Rodriguez (ESP) ~ 2018 World Champs bronze
● Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis (GRE) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze medalists
● Luke Patience/Chris Grube (GBR) ~ 2018 Miami World Cup winners

470 Women:
● Ai Kondo Yoshida/Miho Yoshioka (JPN) ~ 2018 World Champions
● Silvia Mas Depares/Patricia Cantero Reoina (ESP) ~ 2018 Worlds silver medalists
● Hannah Mills/Eilidh McIntyre (GBR) ~ 2018 World bronze; (Mills: 2016 Olympic gold)
● Camille Lecointre/Aloise Retornaz (FRA) ~ Lecointre: 2016 Olympic bronze
● Tina Mrak/Veronika Macarol (SLO) ~ 2018 Miami World Cup winners

Nacra 17/Mixed:
● Santiago Lange/Cecilia Carranza Saroli (ARG) ~ 2016 Olympic Champs; 2018 Worlds bronze
● Jason Waterhouse/Lisa Darmanin (AUS) ~ 2016 Olympic silver; 2018 Miami winners
● Thomas Zajac/Barbara Matz (AUT) ~ Zajac: 2016 Olympic bronze medalist

Look for results here.

STAT PACK: Results for the week of 21-27 January 2019

Rich Perelman

January 28, 2019

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 38 reports on 23 sports:

● Alpine Skiing
● Athletics
● Badminton
● Biathlon
● Bobsled & Skeleton
● Cross Country Skiing
● Cycling
● Fencing
● Figure Skating
● Football
● Freestyle Skiing
● Handball
● Judo
● Karate
● Luge
● Nordic Combined
● Nordic Skiing
● Rugby
● Short Track
● Ski Jumping
● Snowboard
● Tennis
● Wrestling

plus our calendar of upcoming events through 3 March. Click below for the PDF:

[wpdm_package id=10367 template=”link-template-button-popup.php”]

SPEED READ: Headlines from The Sports Examiner for Monday, 28 January 2019

Rich Perelman

January 28, 2019

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 … and a lot happened:

LANE ONE

Monday: The International Paralympic Committee impressively and decisively dealt with the anti-Semitic stance of the Malaysian government by removing July’s World Para Swimming Championships from the country. The IPC issued a statement noting that free access to the event was promised when the event was awarded to Kuching in 2017, but a change in the government led to the public announcement that no Israeli swimmer would be allowed into the country for the competition.

The IPC now has to find a new host, but the best choice would be Israel, which has excellent experience with swimming events and has hosted much larger programs, such as the quadrennial Maccabiah. And, of course, Malaysian para-swimmers would be welcome!

ALPINE SKIING

Sunday: Once is a surprise, but twice may be a trend. France’s Clement Noel, 21, beat Austria’s World Cup superstar Marcel Hirscher in the Slalom at Kitzbuehel for the second race in a row. Dominik Paris (ITA) won the Kitzbuehel Downhill, and in Garmisch (GER), Olympic Downhill gold medalist Sofia Goggia returned to competition with silver medals in the Downhill (won by Nicole Schmidhofer/AUT) and Super-G (won by Stephanie Venier/AUT).

ATHLETICS

Saturday: The IAAF World Indoor Tour opened with the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The headliner, Sydney McLaughlin, won the women’s 500 m in fine style, but the stars were Ethiopians Yomif Kejelcha and Hagos Gebrhiwet. Kejelcha won the mile in 3:51.70 and is a threat to break the 22-year-old world indoor mark of 3:48.45. Gebrhiwet took the 3,000 m in 7:37.41 and ran away from Kenya’s Edward Cheserek.

Saturday: While the New Balance meet was on in Boston, there were great marks at the Norb Sander Columbia Challenge in New York, including a 5.71 m (18-8 3/4) clearance from 2018 California State High School champ Sondre Guttormsen (from Norway), now a freshman at UCLA.

Friday: Astonishing results from the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon: Ethiopia’s Getaneh Molla made his marathon debut in 2:03:34 – the fastest first-time marathon ever – and made him the no. 6 performer in history! Countryman Herpassa Negasa ran 2:03:40 … and lost! The women’s winner, Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich ran 2:17:08 for the no. 3 marathon ever, ahead of Worknesh Degefa (ETH), whose 2:17:41 makes her the no. 4 performer in history! Wow!

BADMINTON

Sunday: Upset at the Indonesia Masters in Jakarta, as Denmark’s Anders Antonsen defeated no. 1-ranked Kento Momota (JPN), while India’s Saina Nehwal won over Olympic champ Carolina Marin (ESP), when the latter was injured during the first set.

BIATHLON

Sunday: Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe won two races and was second in a third at the IBU World Cup stop in Antholz-Anterselva (ITA) to tighten his grip on the World Cup seasonal lead. The last seven years have belonged to France’s Martin Fourcade, but who can stop Boe now? Italy’s Dorothea Wierer won one of the women’s races and continues in the seasonal lead.

BOBSLED & SKELETON

Sunday: German sleds had won every World Cup Bobsleigh race this season – 15 in a row – coming into St. Moritz (SUI), but after Francesco Friedrich extended the streak to 16 with a win in the Two-Man, it was Elana Meyers Taylor and Lauren Gibbs of the U.S. who stopped it. They posted a solid win, the fourth in a row – with three different brakemen – for Meyers Taylor at St. Moritz and left the Germans to start a new streak. They did, with Friedrich piloting the Four–Man sled to another win, his fourth in six starts this season.

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING

Sunday: The seventh straight distance win for Norway’s comebacking Therese Johaug, who pounded the competition at Ulricehamn (SWE), taking the 10 km Freestyle race with a 22.8-second win. She’s now closing in on some World Cup history if she keeps winning.

CYCLING

Sunday: The UCI Track Cycling World Cup concluded in Hong Kong and the home fans had lots to cheer for as Wai Sze Lee won both the Sprint and the Keirin, and took the seasonal Keirin title.

Sunday: Down in Australia, Italy’s Elia Viviani mounted a final sprint to win the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race outside of Melbourne.

FENCING

Sunday: A heavy schedule saw current World Champion Yannick Borel (FRA) and former World Champion Julia Beljajeva (EST) win titles in the first Epee Grand Prix of the season in Doha (QAT). There were surprise seconds and thirds, however, including Jacob Hoyle of the U.S., who won his first career Grand Prix medal with a bronze.

In Tokyo, Richard Kruse (GBR) defeated Race Imboden of the U.S. in the final of the Foil World Cup in Tokyo and Russia’s Inna Deriglazova won another women’s Foil World Cup, this one in St. Maur (FRA). France’s Cecilia Berder won the women’s Sabre World Cup in Salt Lake City.

FIGURE SKATING

Friday: A new American women’s skating star? Alysa Liu, just 13, won the U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Detroit, ahead of defending champ Bradie Tennell and Mariah Bell. Liu is so young that she doesn’t qualify to compete in not only the ISU World Championships, but is also barred from the ISU World Junior Champs!

FOOTBALL

Sunday: The Gregg Berhalter Era opened for the U.S. men’s National Team in Glendale, Arizona, with a 3-0 win over a young Panama team. American youngsters Djordje Mihailovic, Walker Zimmerman and Christian Ramirez all scored, as the U.S. dominated possession and the offensive chances for most of the game.

FREESTYLE SKIING

Sunday: Another American teenager scored big, this time at the Slopestyle World Cup in Seiser Alm (ITA). Eileen Gu, 15, won her first World Cup gold, after collecting a silver a couple of weeks ago in France. She was joined on the podium by Julia Krass, 21, who won her first World Cup medal – a bronze – after six seasons on tour. Another U.S. teen, Kiernan Fagan, who his first World Cup medal with a bronze in the men’s Slopestyle.

Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury got back to winning in the men’s Moguls at Tremblant (CAN), for his 54th World Cup victory. France’s Perrine Laffont won the women’s Moguls for her fifth medal in five competitions this season.

HANDBALL

Sunday: Urged on by a capacity crowd in Herning, Denmark won its first-ever men’s World Championship with an impressive 31-22 victory over Norway. Mikkel Hansen led the Danes with seven goals and was named the Most Valuable Player.

JUDO

Saturday: Historic IJF World Tour Grand Prix in Israel saw the home team earn the most medals, including four wins, topped by Or Sasson’s victory in the men’s heavyweight class.

KARATE

Sunday: The first Karate 1 Premier League stop for 2019 was in Paris, but it was Japan that had the strong team, winning four classes and 10 medals overall.

LUGE

Sunday: The FIL World Championships in Winterberg (GER) saw the home team won five of the seven events and extend its streak of leading the medal count to 19 straight Worlds. Felix Loch won his sixth world title in the men’s Singles and Natalie Geisenberger won her fourth in the women’s race. But American Emily Sweeney, who memorably crashed out in PyeongChang, won the bronze medal, her first World Championships medal ever!

NORDIC COMBINED

Sunday: Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber hadn’t won in a little while, but he silenced any doubters with two wins over the weekend before home fans in Trondheim (NOR).

RUGBY

Sunday: Fiji won the third leg of the men’s Rugby Sevens tournament, this time in Hamilton (NZL), but the U.S. was second once again. So Fiji and the U.S. are tied at 57 points for the series lead!

SKI JUMPING

Sunday: Sweeps were the order of the weekend, with Austria’s Stefan Kraft winning both events in Sapporo and Norway’s Maren Lundby taking both competitions in Rasnov (ROU). The sweeps moved Kraft into second place in the seasonal World Cup standings and Lundby into the lead.

SNOWBOARD

Sunday: The Slopestyle events at Seiser Alm (ITA) produced first-time winners in Markus Olimstad (NOR) and Isabel Derungs (SUI), and also a silver medal for American Lyon Farrell.

WRESTLING

Sunday: The important Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix in Siberia saw a Russian sweep of the 10 men’s classes, but Americans Sarah Hildebrandt and Tamyra Mensah-Stock won their classes in the women’s division and three other Americans won medals as the 2019 season got underway.

UPCOMING

Highlights of the coming week, with coverage aplenty coming on TheSportsExaminer.com:

● Athletics: The IAAF World Indoor Tour continues in Karlsruhe (GER).

● Skiing: Start of the FIS World Freestyle and Snowboard Championships in Utah.

Our Stat Pack for a 38-event weekend will be issued later on Monday (we hope).