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ALPINE SKIING: Comebacks complete: Stuhec wins and Vonn third in women’s Downhill

By
Rich Perelman
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The women's Downhill medalists: Suter, Stuhec and Vonn (Photo: FIS)

While the American media has been consumed with Lindsey Vonn’s final race in Sunday’s women’s Downhill at the FIS World Championships in Are (SWE), there was another comeback story going on at the same time.

Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec – like Vonn a World Champion in her own right and the defending champion in the Downhill – was trying to come all the way back from a devastating injury that kept her out of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. She missed all of the 2017-18 season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during a crash.

So on Sunday, it was a return to glory for both as Stuhec won her second consecutive world title in the women’s Downhill and Vonn took the bronze medal, her eighth in World Championships competition.

Vonn posted an emotional tweet hours before starting:

One last time I will stand in the starting gate.
One last time I will feel the adrenaline running through my veins.
One last time I will risk it all.
One last time… I will remember it forever.
Let’s do this!

Vonn rushed down the mountain in the no. 3 position and posted a swift time of 1:02.23, but then began the long process of waiting to see what came after. Olympic Downhill champ Sofia Goggia (ITA) came two skiers later, but was slower at 1:02.76. Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel skied sixth, but her 1:02.33 was slower than Vonn. Austria’s Stephanie Venier was next and was also slower, at 1:02.27.

Stuhec was ninth in the order and skied aggressively and took the lead at 1:01.74, a time that looked hard to beat, and no one did.

Vonn looked good for silver for a long time, but Swiss Corinne Suter, the bronze medalist in the Super-G, came on from the 19th position to scare Stuhec’s time and finished n 1:01.97 for the silver medal.

Stuhec was overjoyed. “I still have to gather all my feelings because I’m quite emotional so it might take a while. None of what happened before actually matters because it’s a new day and a new chance. We all start from zero and it’s the same for everyone. I just do my best and apparently it was good enough.”

Vonn was satisfied. “I think everyone knows my mentality by now, I always risk everything all the time, which is the reason I’ve been able to win so much and it’s also the reason why I crash so much and have had so many injuries. I risked it all today. I was so nervous all day and had serious anxiety. I wanted more than anything to finish strong. I didn’t want to end up like I did on Tuesday, in the fence.”

Vonn won a medal in her sixth World Championships and is reportedly the oldest women’s medal winner in Worlds history at 34. Stuhec, at 28, and Suter, at 24, will be stars for years to come, but they shared the podium with a skiing legend.

There was bad news in the American camp, as Laurenne Ross’s crash last Thursday will end her season. She posted on Instagram, “On Thursday morning, while warming up for the training run, I crashed and sustained a concussion and left-knee injury. My knee doesn’t seem to need surgery, but it is time for some rest for both my body and head. Unfortunately this means I won’t be able to race in the World Champs DH tomorrow, and will likely be out for the remainder of the season.”

The Worlds continue with the Men’s Alpine Combined on Monday. Look for results here. Summaries:

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

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

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

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

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

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

FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD: Blunck & Laffont defend Freestyle World titles in Park City

By
Rich Perelman
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The Freestyle Halfpipe medalists in Park City, including winners Aaron Blunck (USA) and Kelly Sildaru (EST).

The final day of Freestyle events at the World Freestyle and Snowboard Championships in Utah produced four champions, including two defending their 2017 titles, a double gold medalist and a 16-year-old sensation from Estonia.

The women’s Halfpipe looked like it might be a replay of the 2018 Winter Games in Korea. Into the final were the gold and bronze medalists, Canada’s Cassie Sharpe and Brita Sigourney (USA). And both were brilliant right away, with Sharpe scoring a fabulous 94.40 in the first round to take a big lead, with Sigourney claiming an excellent score of 90.60. Those were scores that could stand up throughout the competition.

In fact, neither improved in the second round, but 16-year-old Kelly Sildaru moved into third with a good run at 88.00. She wasn’t able to compete in PyeongChang due to injury, but was a dangerous competitor and already a World Cup event winner.

In the final round, Sigourney, Sildaru and Sharpe were the last three in the order. Sigourney put down another strong run at 89.80, but inferior to her first-round score. Then came Sildaru and he run was near-perfect and spectacular, scoring 95.00 and putting her into the gold-medal position. Sharpe could not answer and aborted her run, giving Sildaru the gold.

“I still can’t believe it” said Sildaru “I wasn’t sure if I should go for a switch 1080, because I simply haven’t tried it before and I didn’t know if I was going to land it. I decided to save it for my last run and I did it. I’m shaking right now, because I’m so happy.”

One champion had been dethroned and then it was the men’s turn, with American Aaron Blunck trying to defend his 2017 World Championships crown against teammates David Wise and Alex Ferreira, who went 1-2 in Korea,

Wise and Ferreira were good, scoring 86.60 and 84.20, respectively, but this was one of the best competitions ever in the Halfpipe and those marks earned only seventh and eighth places. In the meantime, four men scored over 90.

Canada’s Noah Bowman, competing third in the order, got the party started with an excellent 90.00 in the first round, but he was surpassed three skies later by France’s Kevin Rolland, the 2017 bronze medalist in the Halfpipe. He rang up a 93.80 score to take the lead, and maybe the event. Blunck showed he wasn’t going to give anything away and rode into second at 91.80. Canada’s Simon d’Artois roared into third at 91.00 as the next-to-last rider in the first round.

D’Artois improved slightly in the second round to 91.40, but was still third. In the final round, Bowman rose up with a great run and was rewarded with a score of 91.60, moving him just ahead of d’Artois. Rolland fell off his run and opened the door for Blunck. He spun through four doubles in a row and wowed both the crowd and the judges for a 94.20 score and his second consecutive World Championship.

“I’m on cloud nine right now,” said Blunck afterwards, “The X-Games didn’t go my way so I just wanted to come here and redeem myself. We’ve got to ski quite a bit of powder beforehand and I really think that was a recipe for success. I was happy and I was having fun the whole time.

“The Park City crowd is always so good and it’s definitely one of the biggest events of the year. Everyone from Park City and Salt Lake comes out for this. They’re huge ski and snowboard fans.”

This was the seventh time that the Halfpipe has been held at the World Championships level and Blunck is the first to repeat a title.

The evening event was the Dual Moguls, with Canada’s superstar Mikael Kingsbury the men’s favorite and France’s Perrine Laffont trying to defend her 2017 title and move up from her bronze in Moguls.

Kingsbury was outstanding in the men’s event, winning his first three rounds decisively, while 2017 silver medalists Bradley Wilson of the U.S. eked out a first-round win, then sailed past defending champion Ikuma Horishima (JPN) and Japan’s Daichi Hara in the semis.

The final was tight, but Kingsbury managed an 87.62-84.69 win and a sweep of the Moguls golds in 2019. It’s his second Dual Moguls gold after 2015 and his fourth World Championships title.

Laffont eked out three wins in the eighth, quarter and semis and met American Jaelin Kauf, the 2017 bronze medalist in the final. Another tight match ended with Laffont scoring 84.74 to Kauf’s 82.59 and a second gold medal in Dual Moguls for the 20-year-old. She now has a total of four career World Championships medals.

The Freestyle and Snowboard Worlds finishes Sunday, with the Snowboard Slopestyle. Summaries:

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

Men’s Aerials (at Deer Valley)/ Super Final: 1. Maxim Burov (RUS), 130.09; 2. Oleksandr Abramenko (UKR), 126.24; 3. Noe Roth (SUI), 125.22; 4. Pavel Krotov (RUS), 107.24; 5. Stanislav Nikitin (RUS), 80.54; 6. Xindi Wang (CHN), 61.50.

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. Nick Goepper (USA), 43.00.

Men’s Halfpipe (at Park City): 1. Aaron Blunck (USA), 94.20; 2. Kevin Rolland (FRA), 93.80; 3. Noah Bowman (CAN), 91.60; 4. Simon D’Artois (CAN), 91.40; 5. Birk Ruud (NOR), 88.20; 6. Thomas Krief (FRA), 87.00; 7. David Wise (USA), 86.60; 8. Alex Ferreira (USA), 84.20. Also: 10. Taylor Seaton (USA), 82.80.

Men’s Moguls (at Deer Valley): 1. Mikael Kingsbury (CAN), 84.89; 2. Matt Graham (AUS), 81.94; 3. Daichi Hara (JPN), 81.66; 4. Ikuma Horishima (JPN), 81.30; 5. Benjamin Cavet (FRA), 81.02; 6. Philippe Marquis (CAN), 79.50.

Men’s Dual Moguls (at Deer Valley)/ Big Final: 1. Kingsbury (CAN); 2. Bradley Wilson (USA); Small Final: 3. Daichi Hara (JPN); 4. Walter Wallberg (SWE).

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).

Men’s Slopestyle (at Park City): 1. James Woods (GBR), 86.68; 2. Birk Ruud (NOR), 85.40; 3. Goepper (USA), 85.18; 4. Mac Forehand (USA), 83.30; 5. Henrik Harlaut (SWE), 82.70; 6. Colin Wili (SUI), 81.81; 7. McRae Williams (USA), 76.28; 8. Jonas Hunziker (SUI), 73.43.

Women’s Aerials (at DeerValley)/ Super Final: 1. Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya (BLR), 113.18; 2. Liubov Nikitina (RUS), 89.88; 3. Mengtao Xu (CHN), 89.88; 4. Laura Peel (AUS), 87.77; 5. Ashley Caldwell (USA), 58.81; 6. Sofia Alekseeva (RUS), 37.80.

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 Halfpipe (at Park City): 1. Kelly Sildaru (EST), 95.00; 2. Cassie Sharpe (CAN), 94.40; 3. Brita Sigourney (USA), 90.60; 4. Rachael Karker (CAN), 85.20; 5. Fanghui Li (CHN), 80.20; 6. Maddie Bowman (USA), 77.00; 7. Elisabeth Gram (AUT), 74.80; 8. Kexin Zhang (CHN), 73.60.

Women’s Moguls (at Deer Valley): 1. Yulia Galysheva (KAZ), 79.14; 2. Jakara Anthony (AUS), 78.99; 3. Perrine Laffont (FRA), 78.70; 4. Anastasia Smirnova (RUS), 72.67; 5. Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN), 71.25; 6. Jaelin Kauf (USA), 66.41.

Women’s Dual Moguls (at Deer Valley)/ Big Final: 1. Laffont (FRA); 2. Kauf (USA); Small Final: 3. Tess Johnson (USA); 4. Yulia Galysheva (KAZ).

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).

Women’s Slopestyle (at Park City): Canceled due to the weather.

Mixed Team Aerials (at Deer Valley): 1, Switzerland (Bouvard, Gygax, Roth), 303.08; 2. China (Xu, Sun, Wang), 297.82; 3. Russia (Nikitina, Nikitin, Burov), 296.74; 4. Belarus, 272.15; 5. Canada, 244.56; 6. United States (Ashley Caldwell, Chris Lillis, Jon Lillis), 227.18; 7. Australia, 218.29; 8. Kazakhstan, 178.00.

ATHLETICS: Kejelcha misses World Indoor Mile mark by 0.01 at Millrose Games

By
Rich Perelman
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Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but it was a thrilling try as Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha made a brilliant effort at breaking Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj’s 1997 mile mark of 3:48.45 at the New York Road Runners Millrose Games at the Armory in New York.

He ran 3:48.46.

Kejelcha got a fast pace from American Rob Napolitano through four laps (809 m/885 y), with Kejelcha leading in 1:52.99, well within world-record pace. But as Kejelcha moved out on his own, his pace slowed in the third quarter. In a race of 9 m more than eight laps, he ran the first two laps (447 yards) in 56.25, then another 400 m in 56.75. But he was slower on the fifth and sixth laps, slowing to 57.96 and that cost him the record. He rallied in the final two laps to run 57.54, but it was just barely too slow.

Kejelcha ran all alone and that hurt him as well. Kenyan Edward Cheserek, admittedly not in top form, still ran a highly creditable 3:53.29 for second and Clayton Murphy finished in 3:53.30 for third (and no. 13 all-time U.S.). Kejelcha passed 1,500 m in a world-leading 3:33.17 as well (=6th performer all-time), with Clayton at 3:37.40 (no. 7 all-time U.S.).

As he streamed across the line, Kejelcha looked for the clock and then fell to the ground and shook his head in disbelief as he saw the final time posted and how close his record attempt had been.

That was the highlight, but was just one of six world-leading marks during the meet:

● Men’s 800 m: 1:43.98, Michael Saruni (KEN),
● Men’s 1,500 m: 3:33.17, Yomif Kejelcha (ETH)
● Men’s Mile: 3:48.46, Yomif Kejalcha (ETH)
● Men’s Shot Put: 22.33 m, Ryan Crouser (USA) (73-3 1/4)
● Women’s 800 m: 1:58.60, Ajee Wilson (USA)
● Women’s Mile: 4:19.98, Konstanze Klosterhalfen (GER)

The details:

World lead no. 1:
American Donavan Brazier had been threatening Johnny Gray’s 1992 American Record of 1:45.00 for two seasons and was determined to get it at Millrose.

The pace was hot at 50.41 through 400 m, but Brazier was being shadowed by Kenyan Michael Saruni, last season’s 800 m champ for UTEP, a 1:43.25 man. Brazier led into the final turn, but Saruni had more gas left at the finish and burst ahead on the straightaway to win in 1:43.98 to make him the second-fastest performer in history with the third-fastest race ever.

But Brazier did get Gray’s mark, finishing in 1:44.41 and moving to no. 5 on the all-time world list, with the eighth-fastest race ever. At 25 (Saruni) and 21 (Brazier), both have a lot more to show on the world stage later this year.

World lead no. 2:
The men’s shot was a showcase for 2016 Olympic champ Ryan Crouser. Healthy again, he put together a sensational series of 21.60 m (70-10 1/2), 21.34 m (70-0 1/4) and 21.51 m (70-7) to take complete control of the event, with Joe Kovacs (USA) next best at 20.40 m (66-11 1/4).

In the fourth round, Kovacs improved to 20.86 m (68-5 1/4) and Crouser responded with a fabulous 22.33 m (73-3 1/4), a lifetime best indoors, and the no. 4 throw in indoor history. It’s the longest throw indoor since Adam Nelson’s 21.40 m (73-6) back in 2008.

The final round in the shot was delayed because Jamaica’s Kemoy Campbell collapsed while leading the men’s 1,000 m just behind the ring at the end of the Armory. NBC’s Lewis Johnson reported that Campbell was unconscious, but was revived and was shown being carried out of the building by paramedics.

The final round of the shot was held, but without improvements. Crouser reached 21.39 m (70-2 1/4), so all of his throws were beyond 70 feet. Very, very impressive.

World lead no. 3:
In the women’s mile, Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen ran away from the field after halfway and rambled to a brilliant win in 4:19.98, fastest in the world for 2019. It’s German indoor record and moves her to no. 5 all-time. At 21, she is clearly a rising star.

Even though not in contention to win, Americans Colleen Quigley and Kate Grace ran very well, finishing 2-3 in 4:22.86 and 4:24.27. That moves Quigley to no. 4 on the all-time U.S. list, just ahead of Grace’s 4:22.96 from 2017.

World lead no. 4:
American 800 m star Ajee Wilson had targeted the American Record in this race and she got it. She stayed close to pacemaker Kendra Chambers (USA) through 400 m in 57.19 and was set up to take the lead and push the pace. She led the remainder of the way and held off Jamaica’s Natoya Goule to finish in 1:58.60, eclipsing Nicole Teter’s 1:58.71 mark from 2002. Goule was second in a Jamaican record of 1:59.13 and American Ce’Aira Brown (USA), 1:59.74 (no. 10 all-time U.S.).

Kejelcha provided the other two world leaders, but there were plenty of other highlights:

● The men’s 3,000 m saw lifetime bests from the first eight finishers, led by former Stanford star Grant Fisher in the no. 2 time in the world, 7:42.62 He was followed by the nos. 3-4 times in the world this season, by Morgan McDonald (AUS: 7:42.76) and Amon Kemboi (KEN: 7:44.77).

● American English Gardner returned to competition after her second leg injury that eliminated most of her 2018 season with a flourish. She was a clear winning in the women’s 60 m, running an indoor personal best of 7.10, the second-fastest time in the world this season. Only Poland’s Ewa Swoboda, at 7.08, has been faster. That’s a good sign for Gardner later this season.

Also worth noting was an interesting win for John Teeters, a 10.00 100 m man from Oklahoma State in the men’s 60 m, where he finished a full 0.10 ahead of Ameer Webb, 6.56-6.66. Summaries:

NYRR Millrose Games
New York, New York (USA) ~ 9 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

60 m: 1. John Teeters (USA), 6.56; 2. Ameer Webb (USA), 6.66; 3. Tevin Hester (USA), 6.69.

400 m: Marcus Chambers (USA), 46.99; 2. Dontavius Wright (USA), 47.04; 3. Brycen Spratling (USA), 47.37.

800 m: 1. Michael Saruni (KEN), 1:43.98; 2. Donavan Brazier (USA), 1:44.41 (American Record; old, 1:45.00, Johnny Gray, 1992); 3. Sam Ellison (USA), 1:46.13.

Mile: 1. Yomif Kejelcha (ETH), 3:48.46; 2. Edward Cheserek (KEN), 3:53.29; 3. Clayton Murphy (USA), 3:53.30. (1,500 m en route: 1. Kejelcha, 3:33.17; 2. Murphy, 3:37.40; 3. Cheserek, 3:37.71).

3,000 m: 1. Grant Fisher (USA), 7:42.62; 2. Morgan McDonald (AUS), 7:42.76; 3. Amon Kemboi (KEN), 7:44.77.

60 m Hurdles: 1. Devon Allen (USA), 7.61; 2. Freddie Crittenden (USA), 7.61; 3. Chad Zallow (USA), 7.69.

Shot Put: 1. Ryan Crouser (USA), 22.33 m (73-3 1/4); 2. Joe Kovacs (USA), 20.86 m (68-5 1/4); 3. Ashinia Miller (JAM), 20.54 m (67-4 3/4).

Women

60 m: 1. English Gardner (USA), 7.10; 2. Michelle-Lee Ayhe (TTO), 7.15; 3. Javianne Oliver (USA), 7.19.

400 m: 1. Jaide Stepter (USA), 53.25; 2. Phil Healy (IRL), 53.72; 3. Brittany Brown (USA), 53.76.

800 m: 1. Ajee Wilson (USA), 1:58.60 (American Record; old, 1:58.71, Nicole Teter, 2002); 2. Natoya Goule (JAM), 1:59.13; 3. Ce’Aira Brown (USA), 1:59.74.

Mile: 1. Konstanze Klosterhalfen (GER), 4:19.98; 2. Colleen Quigley (USA), 4:22.86; 3. Kate Grace (USA), 4:24.27 (1,500 m en route: 1. Klosterhalfen, 4:02.70; 2. Quigley, 4:06.16; 3. Grace, 4:06.55).

3,000 m: 1. Alicia Monson (USA), 8:45.97; 2. Rachel Schneider (USA), 8:46.44; 3. Jessica O’Connell (CAN), 8:46.50.

60 m Hurdles: 1. Sharika Nelvis (USA), 8.01; 2. Toni Amusan (NGR), 8.03; 3. Isabelle Pedersen (NOR), 8.24.

High Jump: 1. Vashti Cunningham (USA), 1.95 m (6-4 3/4); 2. Priscilla Frederick (ANT), 1.88 m (6-2); 3. Levern Spencer (LCA), 1.88 m (6-2).

There were also two world-leading marks at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Saturday, as Florida super star Grant Holloway won the 60 m hurdles in 7.43, and former Arkansas star Andrew Irwin cleared 5.88 m (19-3 1/2) to take the world lead in the pole vault.

ALPINE SKIING: Norway’s Jansrud and Svindal exchange places in men’s Downhill

By
Rich Perelman
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Norway's World Champion Kjetil Jansrud

At the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang (KOR), the men’s Downhill saw Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal and Kjetil Jansrud claim the gold and silver medals.

They reversed that order on Saturday morning in Are (SWE), with Jansrud winning his first World Championship gold.

The conditions weren’t the best, with a hard snowfall on the course and the event delayed for a few hours. But when the skiing started, the results were strong. Of the expected medal contenders, Austria’s Matthias Mayer took the lead in the fifth position with a 1:20.63 time.

But Jansrud was next and skied aggressively, coming to the line hard, and was rewarded with a stunning 1:19.98 time that was clearly going to be hard to beat. Svindal, the World Champion in this event in 2007 and 2013, was just as fast and skied all out as he had previously announced that he would retire after this race.

He crossed the line in 1:20:00, just .02 behind his teammate and leaving very little room for the rest of the challengers. Starting 13th, Super-G winner Dominik Paris (ITA) finished in 1:20.72 and ended up sixth. Defending champion Beat Feuz (SUI) started 15th and skied well, but his 1:20.42 left him only third. He dropped to fourth as Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT), who tied for second in the Super-G, claimed the bronze medal at 1:20.31. None of the following skiers could do better than 11th place.

Norway has not been a factor until recently in the Downhill. Jansrud’s win in the third World Championship in the event in the last seven editions and broke a streak of two straight wins by Swiss skiers. Jansrud, 33, now has three World Championships medals, with one each in the Downhill, Super-G (2017 silver) and Combined (2015 silver).

For the retiring Svindal, he leaves – at age 36 – as one of the great speed skiers in history. He won four Olympic medals (two gold), seven World Championships medals (five gold), two overall World Cup titles (2007-09), won 36 World Cup races and 80 World Cup medals. He is no. 2 all-time in World Cup Super-G victories with 17.

Kriechmayr, 27, is having a fine Worlds with two medals and leads the World Cup Super-G standings; he’s having a career year as well.

The U.S. has a good showing in the Downhill, with Bryce Bennett tying for ninth and Ryan Cochran-Siegle finishing 12th.

The Worlds continue with the Women’s Downhill on Sunday. Look for results here. Summaries:

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

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

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

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

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

FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD: Kingsbury retains his crown as Moguls King

By
Rich Perelman
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When the subject is Freestyle Moguls, the first question to ask is always about Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury.

The best Moguls skier of all time, Kingsbury has won world titles in 2013 (Moguls) and 2015 (Dual Moguls) and the Olympic gold medal in PyeongChang. He came into the 2019 Worlds, however, having been third in Sierra Nevada (ESP) in 2017. And he was returning to Deer Valley, where he won “only” bronze (Moguls) and silver (Dual Moguls) back at the 2011 Worlds.

No worries. Kingsbury has been at the top of his game all season, winning five of the first six Moguls events during the World Cup season. At the World Championships in Deer Valley on Friday night, he had the top score in qualifying (81.29), the top score in the first final (83.60) and then scored 84.89 in the medal-final to grab his third world crown, and he’s still just 26.

There was a lively fight for second, with Australia’s Matt Graham winning the silver, with places 2-5 separated by only 0.92 for Graham (81.94), Daichi Hara (JPN: 81.66), defending champion Ikuma Horishima (JPN: 81.30) and Benjamin Cavet (FRA); 81.02).

Kingsbury had the highest base score and the highest or equal-highest degree of difficulty on his jumps to aid him in victory.

The women’s Moguls event was far less predictable, as the five events on this season’s World Cup tour had been won by four different skiers, with only France’s Perrine Laffont a double victor (and the 2018 Olympic gold medalist).

Australia’s Jakara Anthony and Laffont were 1-2 (75.80-75.11) in the qualifying, then the same pair led the first final, 79.58-78.31.

In the medal-final, however, it was Yulia Galysheva of Kazakhstan who got off a strong run that scored 79.14 from the third position and put the pressure on the final three. American Jaelin Kauf, the Dual Moguls bronze medalist from 2017, could score only 66.41 and finished sixth. Laffont responded strongly and posted a 78.70 score to move into second with only Anthony remaining.

Anthony had a better base score than Galysheva – 51.90 to 49.40 – but was not as good in the air, losing that segment by 15.24-12.52 as her degree of difficulty was not as high as the Kazazh and that was the difference as Galysheva survived as the gold medalist by 79.14-78.99.

It was her first World Championship gold and third career Worlds medal, after bronze (2015) and silver (2017) in the Dual Moguls. It was Anthony’s first career Worlds medal of any kind and third for Laffont, who repeated her silver-medal finish in Moguls from 2017.

The Freestyle and Snowboard Worlds continues through the 10th, with the Dual Moguls and Halfpipe scheduled for Saturday. The broadcast schedule is here. Look for results here. Summaries:

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

Men’s Aerials (at Deer Valley)/ Super Final: 1. Maxim Burov (RUS), 130.09; 2. Oleksandr Abramenko (UKR), 126.24; 3. Noe Roth (SUI), 125.22; 4. Pavel Krotov (RUS), 107.24; 5. Stanislav Nikitin (RUS), 80.54; 6. Xindi Wang (CHN), 61.50.

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. Nick Goepper (USA), 43.00.

Men’s Moguls (at Deer Valley): 1. Mikael Kingsbury (CAN), 84.89; 2. Matt Graham (AUS), 81.94; 3. Daichi Hara (JPN), 81.66; 4. Ikuma Horishima (JPN), 81.30; 5. Benjamin Cavet (FRA), 81.02; 6. Philippe Marquis (CAN), 79.50.

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).

Men’s Slopestyle (at Park City): 1. James Woods (GBR), 86.68; 2. Birk Ruud (NOR), 85.40; 3. Goepper (USA), 85.18; 4. Mac Forehand (USA), 83.30; 5. Henrik Harlaut (SWE), 82.70; 6. Colin Wili (SUI), 81.81; 7. McRae Williams (USA), 76.28; 8. Jonas Hunziker (SUI), 73.43.

Women’s Aerials (at DeerValley)/ Super Final: 1. Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya (BLR), 113.18; 2. Liubov Nikitina (RUS), 89.88; 3. Mengtao Xu (CHN), 89.88; 4. Laura Peel (AUS), 87.77; 5. Ashley Caldwell (USA), 58.81; 6. Sofia Alekseeva (RUS), 37.80.

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 Moguls (at Deer Valley): 1. Yulia Galysheva (KAZ), 79.14; 2. Jakara Anthony (AUS), 78.99; 3. Perrine Laffont (FRA), 78.70; 4. Anastasia Smirnova (RUS), 72.67; 5. Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN), 71.25; 6. Jaelin Kauf (USA), 66.41.

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).

Women’s Slopestyle (at Park City): Canceled due to the weather.

Mixed Team Aerials (at Deer Valley): 1, Switzerland (Bouvard, Gygax, Roth), 303.08; 2. China (Xu, Sun, Wang), 297.82; 3. Russia (Nikitina, Nikitin, Burov), 296.74; 4. Belarus, 272.15; 5. Canada, 244.56; 6. United States (Ashley Caldwell, Chris Lillis, Jon Lillis), 227.18; 7. Australia, 218.29; 8. Kazakhstan, 178.00.

CURLING Preview: 18 teams meet in U.S. Curling Nationals in Kalamazoo

By
Rich Perelman
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The gold medal in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games was great But 2019 is a new year, and the USA Curling National Championships start Saturday at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

A total of 10 men’s teams and eight women’s teams will vie to be in the top four (men) or top three for the women, to advance to the playoffs. The top entries include (listed by skips):

Men:
John Shuster ~ 2018 Olympic gold medalists; national champ 2003-05-06-09-15-17
Rich Ruohonen ~ U.S. national champion 2008 and 2018
Todd Birr ~ U.S. national champion 2007

Women:
Jamie Sinclair ~ U.S. national champion 2017-18
Nina Roth ~ U.S. national champion 2010-14; 2018 U.S. Olympic Trials winner
Cory Christensen ~ 2018 U.S. national runner-up

Shuster’s rink returns three of the four players from its PyeongChang squad, including Matt Hamilton and John Landsteiner.

Round-robin play will continue through next Thursday with playoffs beginning on Friday (15th) and the finals on Saturday (16th).

Look for results here.

ATHLETICS: World leads for Sidorova and Rojas and American Record for Franklin in Madrid

By
Rich Perelman
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2017 World Triple Jump champion Yulimar Rojas (VEN) (Photo: catholympique via Wikipedia Commons)

The field events had the fireworks at the IAAF Indoor World Series meet in Madrid on Friday, especially in the women’s vault and triple jump.

Russian Anzhelika Sidorova cleared 4.91 m (16-1 1/4), a lifetime best indoors or out, on her third try at the height. That mark is not only a world leader for 2019, but ties her for no. 4 all-time in the women’s indoor vault, with the equal-no. 10 performance.

Only Jenn Suhr (USA: 5.03 m/16-6), Yelena Isinbaeva (RUS: 5.01 m/16-5 1/4) and Sandi Morris (USA: 4.95 m/16-2 3/4) have ever jumped higher. American Katie Nageotte also cleared 4.91 m, last season.

In the triple jump, Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas roared back to form after injuries ended her 2018 season following a win in the World Indoor Championships. She exploded to 14.92 m (48-11 1/2) on her first jump and effectively ended the competition. She moved to 11th on the all-time performers list and the mark is the longest indoor triple jump since 2010!

American Tori Franklin wasn’t going to beat Rojas, but she also had big jump in the second round, out to 14.57 m (47-9 3/4), which surpassed Keturah Orji’s American Record of 14.53 m (47-8) from January of 2018. As if to show that wasn’t a fluke, she also jumped 14.48 m (47-6 1/4) in the fifth round. Franklin now holds both the U.S. indoor and outdoor records.

The U.S. had a pretty good night, as Michael Rodgers won the men’s 60 m in 6.57, Nathan Strother won the 400 m in 46.21 and Jarret Eaton won the 60 m Hurdles in 7.56, beating Spain’s Orlando Ortega by 1/100th.

In the featured men’s field event, Germany’s two-time World Champion David Storl defeated Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki and Michal Haratyk, reaching 21.01 m (68-11 1/4) to Bukowicki’s 20.66 m (67-9 1/2). However, Polish power prevailed in the women’s 60 m, as Ewa Swoboda remained undefeated in this indoor season with a 7.11-7.18 win over Dutch star Dafne Schippers. Summaries:

IAAF Indoor World Series
Madrid (ESP) ~ 8 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

60 m: 1. Michael Rodgers (USA), 6.57; 2. Jan Volko (SVK), 6.58; 3. Brandon Carnes (USA); 6.61. Also: 4. Bryce Robinson (USA), 6.61.

400 m/Race 1: 1. Nathan Strother (USA), 46.21; 2. Luka Janezic (SLO), 46.55; 3. Oscar Husillos (ESP), 46.71. Race 2: 1. Raidel Acea (CUB), 46.74; 2. Kennedy Luchembe (ZAM), 46.92; 3. Karol Zalewski (POL), 46.99.

800 m: 1. Cornelius Tuwei (KEN), 1:47.76; 2. Matreusz Borkowski (POL), 1:48.00; 3. Kevin Lopez (ESP), 1:48.02.

1,500 m: 1. Bethwell Birgen (KEN), 3:40.17; 2. Jesus Gomez (ESP), 3:40.59; 3. Adel Mechaal (ESP), 3:41.82.

60 m Hurdles: 1. Jarret Eaton (USA), 7.56; 2. Orlando Ortega (ESP), 7.57; 3. Milan Trajkovic (CYP), 7.57. Also: 4. Aaron Mallett (USA), 7.70.

Long Jump: 1. Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE), 8.23 m (27-0); 2. Lamont Jacobs (ITA), 8.05 m (26-5); 3. Emiliano Lasa (URU), 7.98 m (26-2 1/4).

Shot Put: 1. David Storl (GER), 21.01 m (68-11 1/4); 2. Konrad Bukowiecki (POL), 20.66 m (67-9 1/2); 3. Michal Haratyk (POL), 19.98 m (65-6 3/4).

Women

60 m: 1. Ewa Swoboda (POL), 7.11; 2. Dafne Schippers (NED), 7.18; 3. Jamile Samuel (NED), 7.26.

1,500 m: 1. Sofia Ennaoui (POL), 4:08.31; 2. Ciara Mageen (IRL), 4:10.12; 3. Lemlem Hailu (ETH), 4:11.16.

3,000 m: 1. Alemaz Samuel (ETH), 8:43.76; 2. Claudia Bobocea (ROU), 8:47.59; 3. Maureen Koster (NED), 8:48.85.

Pole Vault: 1. Anzhelika Sidorova (RUS), 4.91 m (16-1 1/4); 2. Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou (GRE), 4.74 m (15-6 1/2); 3. Alysha Newman (CAN), 4.56 m (14-11 1/2).

Triple Jump: 1. Yulimar Rojas (VEN), 14.92 m (48-11 1/2); 2. Tori Franklin (USA), 14.57 m (47-9 3/4; American Indoor Record; old, 14.53 m (47-8), Keturah Orji, 2018); 3. Patricia Mamona (POR), 14.44 m (47-4 1/2).

SNOWBOARD: Scotty James wins third World Halfpipe title and Chloe Kim gets her first

By
Rich Perelman
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World Halfpipe Champions Scotty James (AUS) and Chloe Kim (USA) (Photo: Sarah Brunsson/USSA)

The Snowboard Halfpipe events were among the best at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, with brilliant victories from Shaun White and Chloe Kim of the U.S. That made them among the host-hyped for the 2019 World Freestyle & Snowboard Championships in Utah, and they delivered.

Australia’s Scotty James defended his 2015 and 2017 titles with two runs better than anyone else in the field and Kim won her first world title, with her first run of the final.

In the men’s final, James started in the no. 8 position, with likely challengers Patrick Burgener (SUI) and Yuko Totsuka (JPN) behind him. The first sevens runs were all lackluster, with the top score at just 79.00.

James tore through his first run with lots of power and ended up with changing the entire event with a sensational score of 94.25 and put the pressure on everyone else.

Totsuka did well, at 85.50 for second and then Burgener settled into third at 84.75. American Toby Miller scored 90.00 on his second trial, moving into second and signaling to Totsuka and Burgener that they had work to do. James aborted his second run, but Totsuka responded better with a 92.25 score and Burgener scored 91.25 to move back into third.

On the final runs, Miller scored only 48.00 as his run went awry, so the medal winners appeared to be set. By the time James got ready to go again, he was assured of a medal, and likely the gold again, but he was ready for a supreme effort.

And his run was sensational, earning a 99 and three 98s on the way to a 97.50 score that appeared to assure him of his third consecutive world title. Both Totsuka and Burgener’s runs were off-line, so James went to the top of the podium again. At 24, he has more Worlds in front of him, and he stepped up from the bronze he won in PyeongChang last season.

“I had two very, very fierce competitors behind me, and I knew they would be coming down and throw some good runs,” said James about his final run. “But for me also, I knew I could clean up my run a bit. I was happy with my first run, but my plan was to do it better, and I executed it. To win, I’m just over the moon about it. I haven’t really had time to think about it yet. I was pinching myself when I won my second world championships and I’m pinching myself again now that I’ve got three. I got to go out there and do wanted to do and I’m proud of that.”

Interestingly, his 97.50 score in 2019 equaled his score at the 2017 World Championships in Spain.

The women’s Halfpipe turned out to be more of a coronation than a competition. There were eight in the finals, with a quality field that had tons of World Cup, World Championships and Olympic experience. Kim went sixth and was looking to better the 84.00 from China’s Xuetong Cai, the two-time defending World Champion (just like James).

Game over. Kim ripped through her run with style and the only question was how big a lead she had forged. Scores of 95-94-93-93-93 ended up at 93.50 and the event was essentially over.

In fact, Cai and Kim both were unable to do better and no one else could reach the 80s in the second round. In the third, Spain’s Queralt Castellet popped into third place with a score of 81.00. But she was immediately replaced as the bronze medalist by American Maddie Mastro, with a score of 82.0 and that’s how it ended.

“I was really nervous,” said Kim. “Today was actually the first decent day we’ve had, so it was kinda crazy getting all my tricks back in this halfpipe. I landed my first run and I was stoked, and then my second run was kind of a set-up run to try the double. I really wish I was able to put (the double) down, but hopefully the next contest I can do it. But I’m super stoked to take home the win here at world championships. I love it here in Park City, and I’m proud of all the ladies’ riding today.”

Kim has now won the Olympic and World titles by margins of 8.50 and 9.50 points, respectively, at age 18. Mastro, also a 2018 Olympian, won her first World Championships medal, also at 18.

The final Snowboard Worlds event will be the Slopestyle, scheduled for Sunday (10th). Summaries:

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).

Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Dmitry Loginov (RUS); 2. Tim Mastnak (SLO); Small Final: 3. Stefan Baumeister (GER); 4. Vic Wild (RUS).

Men’s Parallel Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Loginov (RUS); 2. Ronald Fischnaller (ITA); Small Final: 3. Baumeister (GER); 4. Dmitry Sarsembaev (RUS).

Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Selina Joerg (GER); 2. Natalia Soboleva (RUS); Small Final: 3. Ladina Jenny (SUI); 4. Milena Bykova (RUS).

Women’s Parallel Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Julie Zogg (SUI); 2. Annamari Dancha (UKR); Small Final: 3. Ramona Hofmeister (GER); 4. Maria Valova (RUS).

Men’s Big Air (at Canyons Village): Cancelled due to bad weather.

Women’s Big Air (at Canyons Village): Cancelled due to bad weather.

Men’s Halfpipe: 1. Scotty James (AUS), 97.50; 2. Yuto Totsuka (JPN), 92.25; 3. Patrick Burgener (SUI), 91.25; 4. Toby Miller (USA), 90.00; 5. Kent Callister (AUS), 79.00; 6. Ikko Anai (JPN), 75.75; 7. Derek Livingston (CAN), 73.75; 8. Yiwei Zhang (CHN), 61.25.

Women’s Halfpipe: 1. Chloe Kim (USA), 93.50; 2. Xuetong Cai (CHN), 84.00; 3. Maddie Mastro (USA), 82.00; 4. Queralt Castellet (ESP), 81.00; 5. Arielle Gold (USA), 79.00; 6. Verena Rohrer (SUI), 75.00; 7. Kurumi Imai (JPN), 74.50; 8. Elizabeth Hosking (CAN), 60.25.

SPEED READ: Headlines from The Sports Examiner for Friday, 8 February 2019

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

LANE ONE

Wednesday: What do International Federation review commissions do, anyway? In Biathlon, quite a lot. Faced with criminal investigations of its ex-President and Secretary General for possible bribery to cover up Russian doping positives, the IBU External Review Commission has taken an activist role, with specific actions designed to find out what is going on, recommend changes to make it doesn’t happen again, cooperation with the criminal authorities, its own interviews of witnesses and a lot more. This could be a blueprint for federations going forward.

Friday: The Olympic Games cannot solve the world’s problems, as Paris 2024 is finding out. French president Emmanuel Macron criticized his own government’s work on the 2024 Games for not “doing more” for the area which will get much of the Olympic construction work, including the Olympic Village. It showcases the folly of making a lot of promises that can’t be kept. Isn’t it better to under-promise and over-deliver? That’s hard in a time when humility seems to be a disappearing virtue.

THE BIG PICTURE

Thursday: Race walkers are desperate to save their place in the Olympic Games, and have proposed a massive change to their events to stay there. This includes giving up on the first walking event to be held in the Games … 87 years ago!

Friday: The International Paralympic Committee conditionally reinstated Russia on Friday, but with a laundry list of conditions. The IPC’s disclosure of its step-by-step reasoning, list of new requirements and transparency on the impact of Para-athletes on the decision, was a breath of fresh air. Hopefully, more will follow in this way; well done!

GLOBETROTTING by Phil Hersh

Monday: A celebration of American skiing star Lindsey Vonn, who won a lot and crashed a lot, but never gave up and will end her career at the Alpine World Championships with her head held high.

Thursday: It may be hard for fans of Japan’s double Olympic figure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu to hear this, but – at his best – Nathan Chen may be just as good!

ALPINE SKIING

Tuesday: The World Alpine Championships opened in Sweden, with Mikaela Shiffrin speeding to victory in the women’s Super-G, while Lindsey Vonn missed a gate and was disqualified.

Wednesday: Dominik Paris (ITA) won the men’s Super-G, while Shiffrin decided not to compete in the Alpine Combined. She will try for wins in the Giant Slalom and Slalom; if successful, she would be the ninth woman to win three golds in a single Alpine Worlds!

Friday: Swiss Wendy Holdener defends her title in the women’s Alpine Combined. She wasn’t the fastest in either the Downhill or Slalom, but she was the most consistent and that’s what mattered.

ARCHERY

Wednesday: Preview of the world’s largest indoor archery tournament – the Vegas Shoot – which will also host the World Archery Indoor World Series Final. What will 14-year-old Casey Kaufhold do?

ATHLETICS

Wednesday: At the IAAF World Indoor Tour in Torun (POL), home favorite Ewa Swoboda upset Marie Josee Ta Lou (CIV) in the women’s 60 m and American Sam Kendricks won a duel with Poland’s Piotr Lisek to take the pole vault. Plus two world-leading marks!

Thursday: Preview of Saturday’s Millrose Games in New York, with a try for a world record in the men’s mile, starring Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who has already run 3:51.70 this season!

FIGURE SKATING

Tuesday: Preview of the Four Continents Championships in Anaheim, California, with American Ice Dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue for their second Four Continents gold!

FREESTYLE SKIING & SNOWBOARD

Tuesday: A World Snowboard Championships Parallel events sweep for Russia’s Dmitry Loginov, but the weather cancels the Snowboard Big Air event in Utah.

Wednesday: Britain’s James Woods wins the Freestyle Slopestyle title at the World Championships in Utah, with American Nick Goepper claiming the bronze. Mac Forehand of the U.S. got fourth, even though he broke his skis in training … his Mom came to the rescue!

Thursday: The Swiss team wins the first Freestyle Mixed Team Aerials event at the World Championships, this time in Deer Valley in Utah.

SPEED SKATING

Wednesday: Brittany Bowe goes for two titles in the World Single-Distance Championships in Inzell (GER), but will have stiff competition, especially from Japan’s Nao Kodaira!

UPCOMING

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

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

● Athletics: The Muller Grand Prix indoor meet in Birmingham, Great Britain.

● Ice Hockey: Old rivals meet: the U.S. and Canadian women’s teams, in three games.

Many more previews for this weekend’s action are available, here on TheSportsExaminer.com.

ALPINE SKIING: Consistent Holdener wins women’s Alpine Combined

By
Rich Perelman
-
Swiss World Champion Wendy Holdener (Photo: Roland Osbeck via Wikipedia Commons)

The Alpine Combined is the least-appreciated and least-held event on the Alpine World Cup calendar, but it is still part of the Alpine World Championships. Friday’s competition showcased that winning this event requires consistency more than anything else.

Swiss Wendy Holdener, the 2017 World Combined Champion, repeated her victory with two quality runs. She finished fifth in the Downhill run, an event in which she has never won a World Cup medal. The leader was Ramona Siebenhofer, an excellent speed racer, but not a strong technical skier.

When the Slalom came, Holdener – an excellent technical skier – was ready to pounce, and produced the third-fastest run of the session, which was enough to put her in first place. She edged ahead of Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova, who had the eighth-fastest Downhill, but turned in the second-fastest Slalom, and ended up with the silver medal.

Holdener still had to wait for Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel to go, and after the third-fastest Downhill, she had a real chance to win. But her Slalom was “only” the sixth-fastest of the day and she had to settle for the bronze medal.

The fastest Slalom belonged to unheralded Canadian Roni Remme and that moved her up from 28th after the Downhill to fifth overall. Siebenhofer finished fourth and had a very creditable Slalom – eighth-fastest – but not enough to medal.

It’s Holdener’s fourth career World Championships medal, and she will be a contender in the Slalom as well. It was the first Worlds medal for Mowinckel and the second for Vlhova.

American Lindsey Vonn had skipped the Downhill training after her crash in the Super-G, but cleverly jumped into the Combined and just skied the Downill, finishing eighth.

The Worlds continue with the Men’s Downhill on Saturday. Look for results here. Summaries:

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

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

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

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

THE BIG PICTURE: Int’l Paralympic Committee reinstates Russia, but with lot of conditions

By
Rich Perelman
-

Since the Russian doping scandal broke in 2015, the International Paralympic Committee has been much stronger in its dealings with its Russian National Paralympic Committee than the International Olympic Committee has been with the Russian Olympic Committee.

That continued today (8th), even as the IPC agreed to conditionally re-admit Russia after 29 months on suspension, by 15 March of this year. In a fairly clever set of moves, it continued to apply pressure on Russia even after readmission.

The IPC President, Andrew Parsons, said in a statement:

“In August 2016 the IPC suspended the RPC because it was necessary and proportionate to the situation we faced and essential to ensure clean sport.

“Twenty-nine months later it is the IPC Governing Board’s firm belief that keeping the RPC suspended is no longer necessary and proportionate to the situation we now face in Russia.

“During its suspension, the RPC has implemented 69 measures which provide the IPC with confidence that it is now a very different organisation to the one that it was prior to Rio 2016. Russian Para athletes are amongst, and will continue to be, the most tested athletes in the Paralympic Movement. Under the supervision of WADA, RUSADA has effectively been rebuilt from the ground up, is back testing and is conditionally reinstated by the global body responsible for it.

“With these factors in mind, maintaining the RPC’s suspension on the grounds of Russia’s continuing refusal to not accept the McLaren Report does not seem right. We need to move things forward and find a solution that protects the integrity of Para sport, acknowledges the significant reforms made by the RPC, and enables the RPC to comply with its membership obligations.”

So the Russians adopted 69 of the 70 requirements, but will not acknowledge the McLaren Reports that detailed the state-run doping program in the country from 2011-15. The IPC, therefore, is re-instating Russia with multiple added requirements, including added testing of Russian Para-athletes under supervision of the World Anti-Doping Agency, new anti-doping education programs, a whistle-blower hotline for reporting doping activities, barring any Russian government official from serving with the Russian Paralympic Committee and reimbursement of expenses to the IPC for the added supervision and testing efforts, and more. These conditions will continue through the end of 2022.

Parsons added:

“At our meeting the Board concluded that disappointingly Russia most probably will never accept the findings of the McLaren Report, bearing in mind it has not provided any proper response to it since its publication in July 2016.

“Therefore, the Board was faced with a fairly straight-forward question: should we dig our heels in and continue waiting for a very unlikely Russian response to the McLaren Report – a move that will keep the RPC suspended indefinitely and, as a result, Russian Para athletes ineligible to compete – or do we consider whether it is possible to find another way forward to enable the RPC to comply with its IPC membership obligations?

“The Board chose the latter and decided to lift the suspension under strict conditions.”

Moreover, Parsons noted that six of the 13 Governing Board members are Para-athletes, all of whom supported the decision.

The IPC’s decision is a master stroke in that it sets out crystal-clear reasoning for its decision, explicitly confirms its belief that doping in Russia is better controlled and sets out very clear and comprehensive conditions for remaining off suspension. It also requires a report from the RPC on how it is meeting these conditions every six months for the next three years.

Unlike the IOC, which simply embraced the Russian Olympic Committee after PyeongChang, the IPC has gone slow and has been much more transparent in its requirements and reasoning. Its decision, and especially its process, does not undermine the continuing efforts of the other groups which have Russia under a microscope, including the World Anti-Doping Agency, the IAAF and the International Biathlon Union.

LANE ONE: The Olympic Games cannot solve the world’s problems, as Paris 2024 is finding out

By
Rich Perelman
-
Signing of the May 2018 agreement where Paris 2024 pledged help vs. poverty and pollution. (Photo: Paris 2024)

There was a time when modesty and humility were prized, and the idea that if you made reasonable promises and over-delivered on those promises, the results would be widely viewed as positive.

Those concepts appear today to be as ancient as Egypt’s pyramids. Society in many countries appears divided along many lines and the social turmoil in France has reached out and touched the 2024 Olympic Games to be held in Paris.

French President Emmanuel Macron, elected in 2017, told an audience in the southern Paris community of Evry-Courcouronnes on Monday that, concerning the 2024 effort, “At the moment, we are not meeting the goals we should have for the parts of the Paris region that are most affected by this big event.”

He added that “It is clear that the region, and above all Seine-Saint-Denis because it will be most affected by several big new venues, is not getting a fair return. So we are going to work on it because for now, I’m not happy.”

He was referring to the northern Paris community of Seine-Saint Denis, in which much of the construction work is slated for the Games, including the Olympic Village and media housing, which will be used for housing after the Games.

It’s a remarkable set of comments, because the issues involved are controlled by the government he leads. Some of the leaders of the Seine-Saint-Denis area responded to this right away, as noted in a report from Agence France Presse:

“‘I think it’s a bit much for the president to come out with this. At the moment, it’s the state that is not taking care of things,’ said Clement Remond, the vice president of FSGT, which organises sports activities for people from all walks of life and who was attending an event to promote the Olympics through schools.

“Under Macron’s drive to reduce public spending, the government has cut grants for sports facilities in local areas and slashed the number of state-subsidised jobs, many linked to sports clubs.”

Macron is in the difficult position of responding to what has turned into the national “yellow vest” movement started last November to protest his government’s policies. The protests are apparently from those who did not vote for Macron in the first round of the 2017 Presidential elections, where he was the leading vote-getter at 24% of the total. Macron won the Presidency in a run-off vs. Marine Le Pen, where he was elected by 66-34%.

The Paris 2024 chief executive, former Olympic canoeing medalist Tony Estanguet, told AFP, “We will obviously be able to go further in helping people with a state that is highly motivated at our side.”

This is a real danger for the Paris 2024 organizers, because an Olympic organizing committee is not designed to be a social-service agency. Its job is to plan and stage an event of worldwide interest, whose size and complexity makes it incredibly difficult to organize efficiently, in both cost and time.

But this is old news to those who have watched the Olympic Movement over the decades. It is only those who do not know what happened before who are surprised.

In the run-up to the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, the organizing committee kept as low a profile as possible. The Olympic Games was not especially popular in the U.S., following Montreal’s billion-dollar deficit following the 1976 Games and the American boycott of the Moscow Games in 1980.

Organizing Committee chief Peter Ueberroth focused the public’s attention on the athletes. In speech after speech to groups of all sizes and interests, he emphasized the ambitions and sacrifices of athletes who would be coming to the Games from around the world and how important it was for Los Angeles and the United States to be good hosts. As for the organizing effort, he said – again and again – that the committee’s work was to be the “stage hands” who worked behind the scenes to make the event happen, and without government funding. And he asked for help, as volunteers, ticket buyers or just fans who watched at home.

His approach worked well and the Games were lauded for sensational performances such as Carl Lewis’s four gold medals, gymnastics star Mary Lou Retton and so on. That the LAOOC approach yielded a $232.5 million surplus and reshaped sports marketing and sports management into the future was a welcomed, added bonus.

But 12 years later, the head of the organizing committee in Atlanta, Billy Payne, proclaimed the 1996 Games would be the “greatest peace-time event in the 20th Century.” That Games was not, and while the competitions were historic, so were very public aspects of the Games that did not go as well as planned … and were widely noted.

So there were those who have experienced both of these events whose hearts sank when reading of a triumphant announcement in May 2018 of an agreement between the Paris 2024 organizing committee, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, the Yunnus Centre and the SAMU humanitarian social-services agency which assists the homeless. The headline was “Paris 2024 to sign partnership aiming to achieve zero poverty, unemployment and carbon emissions.”

Signed, of course, in Seine-Saint-Denis, the program is designed “to promote the integration of people facing difficulties, while creating jobs in large numbers for vulnerable members of the public. Efforts will also be made to promote social initiatives.”

Eliminate poverty, unemployment and carbon emissions? Paris 2024 has no chance to achieve this. It can help. It can employ some people, it can engage some people in the operations of the Games, but an organizing committee for 30 days of Olympic Games and Paralympic Games is not the government and can not be the linchpin of a wholesale change in France as a whole, or even Paris in particular.

This is an object lesson for future bidders and organizers of Olympic Games and other major events. They can be catalysts, they can introduce new energies into a city or region, but the Games are not a panacea for the economic and social problems of millions of people.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Games organizers have a specific and possibly achievable goal of using the Games to introduce winter sports participation to more of the Chinese public. The Los Angeles 2028 organizers have been busy with increasing participation in City youth programs, especially in swimming, and have otherwise said very little for now.

Maybe they learned something from Mr. Ueberroth. I learned a lot in my four years with the LAOOC. Others would benefit by learning from him too.

Rich Perelman
Editor

SHORT TRACK Preview: World Cup Final – and seasonal titles – beckons in Turin

By
Rich Perelman
-
China's Short Track star Dajing Wu

The final stop on the 2018-19 World Cup tour is in Turin (ITA), with the seasonal titles (and prize money) on the line. The current standings:

Men

● 500 m:
1. 30,000 Dajing Wu (CHN)
2. 22,400 Shaoang Liu (HUN)
3. 21,439 Hyo-Jun Lim (KOR)

● 1,000 m:
1. 29.745 Ji-Won Park (KOR)
2. 23,277 Shaoang Liu (HUN)
3. 20,715 Kyung-Hwan Hong (KOR)

● 1,500 m:
1. 28,000 Gun Woo Kim (KOR)
2. 22,515 June Seo Lee (KOR)
3. 19,821 Hyu-Jun Lim (KOR)

● 5,000 m Relay:
1. 29,677 Hungary
2. 26,397 Canada
3. 21,617 China

Women

● 500 m:
1. 37,920 Natalia Maliszewska (POL)
2. 26,665 Lara van Ruijnen (NED)
3. 21,313 Martina Valcepina (ITA)

● 1,000 m:
1. 40,000 Suzanne Schulting (NED)
2. 27,933 Sofia Prosvirnova (RUS)\
3. 20,240 Alyson Charles (CAN)

● 1,500 m:
1. 28,192 Min Jeong Choi (KOR)
2. 24,400 Suzanne Schulting (NED)
3. 21,277 Ji-Yoo Kim (KOR)

● 3,000 m Relay:
1. 32,400 Korea
2. 32.096 Russia
3. 28.240 Netherlands

The final World Cup standings will translate into prize money for the top 10 in each distance: $15,000-12,000-9,000-7,000-6,000-5,000-4,000-3,500-3,000-2,500. Look for results here.

NORDIC COMBINED Preview: With Riiber the champ, the fight is for second in Lahti

By
Rich Perelman
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World Nordic Combined Champion Johannes Rydzek (GER)

The 2018-19 Nordic Combined World Cup champion has been decided: Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber. With four events left, including the Gundersen 130 m hill and 10.0 km race in Lahti (FIN), he has an impregnable 497-point lead. But the fight for second is tight:

1. 1,258 Jarl Magnus Riiber (NOR) ~ 2018-19 World Cup Champion
2. 761 Johannes Rydzek (GER) ~ 2017 World Champion
3. 755 Franz-Josef Rehrl (AUT) ~ 2 wins and 5 total medals this season
4. 731 Vinzenz Geiger (GER) ~ 1 win and three total medals this season
5. 694 Akito Watabe (JPN) ~ 2017-18 World Cup Champion

This week’s events in Lahti will start with a Team Sprint off the 130 m hill and a 2×7.5 km race. The individual Gundersen race will be on Sunday.

Look for results here. This is the last World Cup before the action moves to the World Nordic Championships in Seefeld (AUT) beginning 20 February.

LUGE Preview: Two seasonal titles could be clinched this week in Oberhof

By
Rich Perelman
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Germany's luge star Johannes Ludwig (Photo: Sandro Halank via Wikipedia)

The eighth of nine stops on the FIL World Tour comes this weekend in Oberhof (GER), with competitions will be held in the standard races, plus a team relay. Thus far, none of the seasonal titles have been clinched, but that could change this weekend:

● Men’s Singles:
1. 543 Johannes Ludwig (GER)
2. 537 Felix Loch (GER)
3. 520 Reinhard Egge (AUT)

● Men’s Doubles:
1. 810 Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken (GER)
2. 652 Thomas Steu/Lorenz Koller (AUT)
3. 598 Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (GER)

● Women’s Singles:
1. 782 Natalie Geisenberger (GER)
2. 651 Julia Taubitz (GER)
3. 506 Summer Britcher (USA)

Loch really closed in on the last with his win last week in Altenberg, with Ludwig third and could take over the lead this week. Geisenberger and Eggert and Benecken have just about sewn up their seasonal titles, and could clinch this week.

There will be two races in all three classes in Sochi (RUS) to end the season, a standard race and a sprint. Look for results from Oberhof here.

JUDO Preview: Six no. 1-ranked judoka in the 2019 Paris Grand Slam

By
Rich Perelman
-

A huge field of 609 judoka from 98 nations will gather at the AccorHotels Arena of Bercy for the annual Paris Grand Slam, the biggest event of 2019 so far, on Saturday and Sunday.

There are some excellent match-ups, notably with the no. 1-ranked and no. 2-ranked fighters in the men’s 66 kg, 81 kg, 90 kg and 100 kg divisions and the women’s 63 kg class. The top entries by seeding (and IJF World Ranking in parentheses):

Men

● -60 kg:
1. Naohisa Takato (JPN: 4)
2. Amartuvshin Dasvdavaa (MGL: 5)
3. Yeldos Smetov (KAZ: 6)

● –66 kg:
1. Hifumi Abe (JPN: 1)
2. Vazha Margvelashvili (GEO: 2)
3. Baruch Shmailov (ISR: 4)

● -73 kg:
1. Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO: 2)
2. Soichi Hashimoto (JPN: 3)
3. Tommy Macias (SWE: 5)

● -81 kg:
1. Saeid Mollaei (IRI: 1)
2. Frank de Wit (NED: 2)
3. Takeshi Sasaki (JPN: 3)

● -90 kg:
1. Nikoloz Sherazadishvili (ESP: 1)
2. Krisztian Toth (HUN: 2)
3. Ivan Felipe Silva Morales (CUB: 4)

● -100 kg:
1. Varlam Liparteliani (GEO: 1)
2. Michael Korrel (NED: 2)
3. Peter Paltchik (ISR: 3)

● +100 kg:
1. Lukas Krpalek (CZE: 2)
2. Kokoro Kageura (JPN: 6)
3. Tamerlan Bashaev (RUS: 7)

Women

● -48 kg:
1. Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL: 2)
2. Ami Kondo (JPN: 5)
3. Distria Krasniqi (KOS: 8)

● -52 kg:
1. Natsumi Tsunoda (JPN: 3)
2. Charline van Snick (BEL: 5)
3. Ai Shishime (JPN: 6)

● -57 kg:
1. Nora Gjakova (KOS: 2)
2. Jessica Klimkait (CAN: 5)
3. Theresa Stoll (GER: 6)

● -63 kg:
1. Clarisse Agbednenou (FRA: 1)
2. Tina Trstenjak (SLO: 2)
3. Nami Nabekura (JPN: 3)

● -70 kg:
1. Mahie Eve Gahie (FRA: 2)
2. Sanne van Dijke (NED: 3)
3. Saki Niizoe (JPN: 4)

● –78 kg:
1. Ruika Sato (JPN: 2)
2. Natalie Powell (GBR: 3)
3. Mami Umeki (JPN: 4)

● +78 kg:
1. Idalys Ortiz (CUB: 1)
2. Akira Sone (JPN: 4)
3. Iryna Kindzerska (AZE: 5)

Prize money of $5,000-3,000-1,500 will be available for the top three places. Look for results here.

FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD: Consistent Swiss win inaugural Mixed Team Aerials

By
Rich Perelman
-

Following the desire of the International Olympic Committee for mixed-gender events, the first Mixed Team Aerials event was held at the Freestyle Worlds in Deer Valley, Utah (USA) on Thursday night.

The winner turned out to be Switzerland, with Carol Bouvard, Nicolas Gygax and bronze medalist Noe Roth compiling 303.08 points. These weren’t the skiers with the biggest reputations, but they were the most consistent.

China, with Mengtao Xu starting off, was second (297.82) and Russia, with Aerials gold medalist Maxim Burov, took the bronze with 296.74 points. Interestingly, Gygax had the highest score among all of the men’s skiers at 121.68 (ahead of Burov’s 117.70); Russia’s Lyubov Nikitina had the highest women’s total at 85.68.

The Freestyle and Snowboard Worlds continues through the 10th, with the Freestyle Moguls and Snowboard Halfpipe – one of the premier events on the program – scheduled for Friday (8th). The broadcast schedule is here. Look for results here. Summaries:

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

Men’s Aerials (at Deer Valley)/ Super Final: 1. Maxim Burov (RUS), 130.09; 2. Oleksandr Abramenko (UKR), 126.24; 3. Noe Roth (SUI), 125.22; 4. Pavel Krotov (RUS), 107.24; 5. Stanislav Nikitin (RUS), 80.54; 6. Xindi Wang (CHN), 61.50.

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. Nick 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).

Men’s Slopestyle (at Park City): 1. James Woods (GBR), 86.68; 2. Birk Ruud (NOR), 85.40; 3. Goepper (USA), 85.18; 4. Mac Forehand (USA), 83.30; 5. Henrik Harlaut (SWE), 82.70; 6. Colin Wili (SUI), 81.81; 7. McRae Williams (USA), 76.28; 8. Jonas Hunziker (SUI), 73.43.

Women’s Aerials (at DeerValley)/ Super Final: 1. Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya (BLR), 113.18; 2. Liubov Nikitina (RUS), 89.88; 3. Mengtao Xu (CHN), 89.88; 4. Laura Peel (AUS), 87.77; 5. Ashley Caldwell (USA), 58.81; 6. Sofia Alekseeva (RUS), 37.80.

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).

Women’s Slopestyle (at Park City): Canceled due to the weather.

Mixed Team Aerials (at Deer Valley): 1, Switzerland (Bouvard, Gygax, Roth), 303.08; 2. China (Xu, Sun, Wang), 297.82; 3. Russia (Nikitina, Nikitin, Burov), 296.74; 4. Belarus, 272.15; 5. Canada, 244.56; 6. United States (Ashley Caldwell, Chris Lillis, Jon Lillis), 227.18; 7. Australia, 218.29; 8. Kazakhstan, 178.00.

ATHLETICS Preview: Indoor mile record targeted in Saturday’s Millrose Games

By
Rich Perelman
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Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha

The mile has been one of the mainstays of indoor track & field for decades and is perhaps the most cherished record on the books. Today it stands at 3:48.45 by Morocco’s Hicham el Guerrouj back in 1997, but it may not make it past Saturday’s New York Road Runners Millrose Games at the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory in New York (USA).

That’s because of Ethiopia’s 21-year-old star Yomif Kejelcha, who has blazed through two mile wins so far this season in remarkable times of 3:52.61 in Seattle and 3:51.70 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Roxbury a couple of weeks ago.

That’s the fastest in the world by a little more than three seconds this season, and places him no. 12 on the all-time list. He’ll be running in a meet with a long history of mile records, and the meet record is a sensational 3:50.63 – the no. 6 performance all-time – by Olympic champ Matthew Centrowitz from 2016.

His principal challengers are expected to be Kenyan Edward Cheserek, who owns the no. 2 mark in history at 3:49.44 from 2018, and Rio 800 m bronze medalist Clayton Murphy, who has run 3:51.99 outdoors from 2017.

The 112th edition of the Millrose Games will also feature:

● Men’s Shot Put: The Rio Olympic gold and silver medalists will be in the ring: Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs. Crouser has been just about unbeatable when he is healthy and has an indoor best of 21.73 m (71-3 1/2). Kovacs has thrown 21.46 m (70-5) indoors.

● Women’s 60 m: The Rio Olympic 100 m finalist English Gardner is finally back from injury and will be trying to improve on her 7.12 indoor best from 2012. She will have to run pretty well beat Rio 200 m Olympian Deajah Stevens (7.17 indoor best in 2017) and 2018 Commonwealth Games 100 m champion Michelle-Lee Ahye (TTO).

● Women’s 800 m: Ajee Wilson of the U.S. has been one of the top 3-4 800 m runners of the past three years, but coming on fast is former LSU star Natoya Goule (JAM). Wilson has impressive lifetime bests of 1:55.61 from 2017 and an indoor PR of 1:58.99 from last year. But Goule exploded in 2018, dropping from 1:59.38 to a national record 1:56.15. Both of them should be running for medals in the Doha Worlds much later this year.

● Women’s Mile: Konstanze Klosterhalfen (GER) is really good and has won all three of her 2019 races: a 1,000 m and mile (4:29.06 on an oversized track) in Seattle and 15:15.80 in the 5,000 m at the New Balance meet in Roxbury. Now she’s matched up with the 1-2 finishers from last year’s Wanamaker Women’s Mile: Colleen Quigley and Kate Grace, who ran 4:30.05 and 4:30.08.

And a lot more. NBC has coverage of the Millrose Games on Saturday beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern time. Look for results here.

The IAAF World Indoor Tour continues in Madrid (ESP) on Friday, with a host of intriguing match-ups, starting with the women’s 60 m.

Poland’s Ewa Swoboda has been the women’s sprint star of the early season, defeating two-time World 200 m Champion Dafne Schippers in Karlsruhe (GER) and African and Continental Cup 100 m champ Marie Josee Ta Lou (CIV) in Torun (POL) on Wednesday.

Now Schippers get another chance, and told reporters that a sub-7.00 clocking is possible. Swoboda’s world-leading mark is 7.08.

The men’s 60 m will also be interesting with the season debut of China’s Bingtian Su, who raced to an Asian Indoor Record of 6.42 last season. He will be challenged by veteran American sprinter Mike Rodgers (9.89 for 100 m outdoors in 2018), Arthur Cisse (CIV: 6.53 this season) and others.

The men’s shot put will feature all three medalists from last year’s European Championships: Poles Michal Haratyk (20.45 m/67-1 1/4 in 2019), Konrad Bukowiecki (20.95 m/68-8 3/4 this season) and Germany’s David Storl (21.26 m/69-9). The world lead of American Payton Otterdahl – 21.64 m/71-0 – is definitely in jeopardy.

Look for results here.

THE BIG PICTURE: Race walking desperate to save its place on the Olympic program

By
Rich Perelman
-

It’s no secret that when discussions about contracting the number of athletes and events in the Olympic Games come up, race walking is always mentioned.

The race walking community knows this, too, and some major changes to the entire discipline were recommended by the IAAF Race Walking Committee. The proposals promise to re-shape the entire program of events which have characterized walking in the Games since 1932. According to the IAAF’s announcement:

“The three major recommendations, agreed at a meeting in Monaco last weekend, reflect the reality that the event programme across all major athletics meetings and events will become shorter and more dynamic so innovation is required in Race Walk to ensure it remains a core discipline in the World Championships and the Olympic Games.

“● Equality between the sexes should be achieved in Olympic Games and maintained in all major international competitions, with two men’s and two women’s events included on championships programmes;

“● Distances for senior competitions should be changed from 20km and 50km to 10km and 30km from the 2023 World Championships;

“● RWECS electronic chip insole technology [for judging] should be incorporated into competitions from 2021.”

The changes from the 20 km and 50 km distances – the current cornerstones of the discipline – to 10 km and 30 km would be phased in over three years:

● 2020 Olympic Games: 20/50 km for men; 20 km for women
● 2021 World Champs: 20 km/30 km for men and women
● 2022 Race Walk Team Champs: 10 km/30 km for men and women

And the program would remain that way going forward.

The events will be shorter. Consider the difference in time in the world records:

● Men’s 10 km Walk: 38:31.4 (indoors; by Werner Heyer/GER in 1980)
● Men’s 20 km Walk: 1:16:36 (by Yusuke Suzuki/JPN in 2015)

● Men’s 30 km Walk: 2:01:44 (by Maurizio Damilano/ITA in 1992)
● Men’s 50 km Walk: 3:32:33 (by Yohann Diniz/FRA in 2014)

The women have been walking 10,000 m for a long time and have just started walking the 50 km, so the switch will be on quickly to change to 30 km.

These are smart, if somewhat desperate, moves for the walking community to maintain their place as a part of the Olympic program. Four-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time World Champion Robert Korzeniowski (POL) put it this way:

“As you know my heart is passionate about the 50 km, and all the great achievements and medals I won were in 50 km, but the world is changing fast and we need to be realistic, to move forward and be brave in order to be relevant with the broadcast and digital media and to secure the future of race walking in major competitions. The numbers in 50 km are not very promising and if we care about the development and the healthy status of our event, this is the only way to do it. I have no doubt that 30 km is a distance that will provide equal opportunities to endurance race walkers to perform and achieve their goals.”

The IAAF Council will consider the recommendations at its next meeting on 10-11 March.

ARCHERY Preview: Vegas Shoot hosts Indoor World Series Final

By
Rich Perelman
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American Casey Kaufhold, 14, in the Nimes Indoor World Series final (Photo: World Archery)

The enormous Vegas Shoot – the world’s largest indoor archery tournament – takes place this weekend and includes within in the final stage of the World Archery Indoor World Series and the World Series Final.

The event had its roots as long ago as 1962 and will attract more than 3,700 entries from all 50 U.S. states and 51 other nations. It’s the most prestigious indoor archery event in the world, held this year at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa.

But as far as the Indoor World Series is concerned, the last leg will be held on Friday and Saturday and then the World Series Final will be held on Saturday evening. The top 16 archers in each division will face off in elimination matches in the Final, with all shooting at 18 m.

The top-ranked archers going into the final leg of the series:

● Men/Recurve:
1. 1,000 Seung-Yun Lee (KOR) ~ Nimes Tournament winner
2. 750 Jin-Hyek Oh (KOR) ~ 2012 Olympic Champion; Macau Indoor winner;
3. 600 Sergii Makarevych (UKR) ~ 2016 World Indoor silver medalist
4. 500 Steve Wijler (NED) ~ 2017 World Championships bronze medalist
5. 360 Jae-Yeop Han (KOR)

● Men/Compound:
1. 1,300 Braden Gellenthien (USA) ~ 2007 World Indoor Champion
2. 810 Mike Schloesser (NED) ~ 2018 World Indoor Champion
3. 675 Kris Schaff (USA) ~ Nimes Tournament runner-up
4. 495 Stephan Hansen (DEN) ~ 2014 World Indoor bronze; 2015 World Champion
5. 330 Domagoj Buden (CRO)

● Women/Recurve:
1. 1,125 Chae-Young Kang (KOR) ~ Nimes Tournament winner
2. 895 Casey Kaufhold (USA) ~ GT Open winner; Nimes Tournament runner-up
3. 520 Ye-Ji Sim (KOR) ~ Third in Nimes Tournament
4. 490 Gabriela Bayardo (NED) ~ Roma Trophy runner-up
5. 320 Yun Jin (KOR)

● Women/Compound:
1. 1,030 Janine Meissner (GER) ~ Nimes Tournament winner
2. 680 Alexis Ruiz (USA) ~ Roma Trophy winner
3. 660 Chae-Won So (KOR) ~ Nimes Tournament runner-up
4. 520 Natalia Avdeeva (RUS) ~ 2018 World Indoor Champion
5. 470 Toja Ellison (SLO)

Much attention will be focused on Kaufhold, the 14-year-old American sensation who has a gold and silver in this season’s World Series.

Prize money for the Final is CHF 8,000-4,000-1,500 for the top three places. Look for results here.

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING Preview: Klaebo and Nilsson defend seasonal Sprint leads in Lahti

By
Rich Perelman
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Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (Photo: Steffen Proessdorf via Wikipedia)

The next-to-last stop prior to the World Nordic Championships in Seefeld (AUT) is a Sprint festival in Lahti (FIN), with an Freestyle individual event on Saturday and a Classical team event on Sunday.

There have been seven men’s Sprint events so far this season, and Norway’s Johannes Klaebo, the overall World Cup leader, has won four of them, including four of the last five. He has the seasonal Sprint lead as well, with 404 points, ahead of Sindre Bjoernestad Skar (NOR: 281) and Eirik Brandsdal (NOR: 269).

Besides Klaebo, Russian Alexander Bolshunov, Italy’s Federico Pellegrino and Skar have won Sprints this season.

The women’s Sprint standings show Sweden’s Olympic Champion, Stina Nilsson as the leader, with 426 points, well ahead of teammate Maja Dahlqvist (SWE: 280) and defending World Cup champ Maiken Caspersen Falla (NOR: 263). Of the seven women’s Sprints, Nilsson has won four, with Yulia Belorukova (RUS), Jonna Sundling (SWE) and and Falla the winners of the others.

Last season, Pellegrino and Alexey Poltoranin (KAZ) won the men’s Sprints, and Falla and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski won the women’s events.

Look for results here.

SKI JUMPING Preview: Kobayashi looks for 11th win this season; Lundby trying for six in a row

By
Rich Perelman
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Japan's Olympic Champion Ryoyu Kobayashi

With two weeks to go to the World Nordic Championships, there are two more stops on the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup tour, starting this week in Lahti (FIN) for the men and Ljubno (SLO) for the women.

The men’s program includes a team and individual event from a 130 m hill, with all eyes on Japan’s wunderkind, Ryoyu Kobayashi. He’s leading the seasonal standings by 1,380-929-917 over veteran champions Kamil Stoch (POL) and Stefan Kraft (AUT).

Kobayashi’s amazing season includes 10 wins in the 19 competitions held so far, plus three bronze medals. While Stoch has been strong all season as well, Kraft has been on fire, with three wins and five medals in the last seven events to move into third place.

The women’s jumping in Ljubno (SLO) will be off of a 94 m hill, with individual competitions on Friday and Sunday and a team event on Saturday.

Norway’s reigning World Cup champ, Maren Lundby (NOR) has taken over the seasonal lead and looks to extend her five-meet winning streak (and has won six of the last seven events). She now has a 988-867 lead over Katharina Althaus (GER), but there are 11 competitions remaining.

Lundby won six in a row last season, including the first event at Ljubno; Austria’s Daniela Iraschko-Stolz won the second, with Lundby second and Althaus third.

Look for results from both events here.

FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD: Veteran Woods wins Slopestyle as Goepper claims bronze

By
Rich Perelman
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2019 World Freestyle Slopestyle medalists: Birk Ruud (NOR: 2); James Woods (GBR: 1) and Nick Goepper (USA: 3).

The Freestyle Slopestyle at Park City was initially postponed for the women due to more rough weather, but the men’s event was completed, albeit with a late afternoon start instead of in the morning.

American Nick Goepper, a two-time Olympic Slopestyle medalist – bronze in 2014 and silver last year – took the lead in the first round at 84.46, an impressive score given the heavy snows, wind and low visibility.

That looked like it might hold up and it did … for a while. No one else managed 77 points in the first round and through the first three runs of the second run. But then Britain’s James Woods, who came in with two Worlds medals from 2013 and 2017, put together an excellent run that earned 86.68 from the judges to take the lead.

Two skiers later came Norway’s Birk Ruud, 18 – who has a World Cup win this season – and put down a nice run that was rewarded with a 85.40 score and second place.

Goepper responded in the third round with his best score of the day, 85.18, but stayed in third and no one else could get close. It was Goepper’s second Worlds Slopestyle bronze; he also did in back in 2013.

“It was great to have my my sister, my fiancé, and my friends out here along with some family watching at home,” said Goepper. “It’s been a great experience here in Park City. There were some positive emotions and some negative emotions today, but we were able to get the contest off. In this type of weather it’s about competing and not necessarily the skiing.

“There’s a lot of strategy involved. If you going forward or switch, because you tend to get more speed forward. I’m one of the veterans out here and I think experience really helps. It’s about picking those tricks that allow you to dial in your landing and carry speed into a tuck and get through the next feature. That was my play today.”

American Mac Forehand was fourth, but with a remarkable story. “I broke my skis in practice,” he said afterwards. “I ended up not having any skis for finals, but the French coach offered his skis for my first run. For my second run, my mom actually ran to where we were staying and picked up my other pair and brought them up to the top of the course for me. Shout out to all moms out there, especially my mom for making it happen.” And Forehand’s second-round 83.30 – on the skis his mom brought – got him up to fourth.

Later in the evening, FIS and the organizing committee announced that the women’s Slopestyle had to be canceled, the second event to be lost due to weather.

The Freestyle Aerials events were held, with Russian Maxim Burov, 20, coming through to score his first meaningful results, and getting even – sort of – with his brother!

Burov was the final skier in the Super Final, so he knew what he had to do: beat the 126.24 mark of Ukraine’s Oleksandr Abramenko, who took the lead on the third run. Burov was up to the task and responded with a 130.09 to put himself on the top of the podium.

Quite a difference from 2018, when Maxim and his older brother Ilya both competing in the Winter Games in PyeongChang. Ilya won the bronze medal there, but a year later, Maxim can say he’s a World Champion!

The women’s Aerials was won by 22-year-old Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya of Belarus. Who?

Hardly a well-known name on the World Cup circuit, she was the 2016 World Junior Champion and has won three World Cup medals in 2015, 2016 and 2018. But after a 15th in her only World Cup appearance this season, how could she win?

She took the Simone Biles route: her run was so much more difficult than anyone else’s that a good run was going to score very big. And it did. Her back layout with two full twists had a difficulty level of 4.028, almost a half-point more than anyone else in the final! When multiplying that by the best in-air form, the best landing and best jumping, she routed the field at 113.18. Next best were Russian Lyubov Nikitina and China’s Mengtao Xu, both at 89.88, but with Lyubov getting the silver on criteria.

The Freestyle and Snowboard Worlds continues through the 10th, with the Freestyle Team Aerials scheduled for Thursday. The broadcast schedule is here. Look for results here. Summaries:

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

Men’s Aerials (at Deer Valley)/ Super Final: 1. Maxim Burov (RUS), 130.09; 2. Oleksandr Abramenko (UKR), 126.24; 3. Noe Roth (SUI), 125.22; 4. Pavel Krotov (RUS), 107.24; 5. Stanislav Nikitin (RUS), 80.54; 6. Xindi Wang (CHN), 61.50.

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. Nick 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).

Men’s Slopestyle (at Park City): 1. James Woods (GBR), 86.68; 2. Birk Ruud (NOR), 85.40; 3. Goepper (USA), 85.18; 4. Mac Forehand (USA), 83.30; 5. Henrik Harlaut (SWE), 82.70; 6. Colin Wili (SUI), 81.81; 7. McRae Williams (USA), 76.28; 8. Jonas Hunziker (SUI), 73.43.

Women’s Aerials (at DeerValley)/ Super Final: 1. Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya (BLR), 113.18; 2. Liubov Nikitina (RUS), 89.88; 3. Mengtao Xu (CHN), 89.88; 4. Laura Peel (AUS), 87.77; 5. Ashley Caldwell (USA), 58.81; 6. Sofia Alekseeva (RUS), 37.80.

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).

Women’s Slopestyle (at Park City): Canceled due to the weather.

FENCING Preview: First Grand Prix in Foil ready in Turin

By
Rich Perelman
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Russia's Olympic and World Foil Champion Inna Deriglazova

The first of three Grand Prix events in the Foil discipline will begin on Friday in Turin (ITA), for the Trofeo Inalpi, at the Pala Alpitour. The fields include 216 men and 171 women, with the top 10 in the world rankings entered in both competitions:

● Men:
1. Richard Kruse (GBR) ~ 2018 World Champs silver medalist
2. Alessio Foconi (ITA) ~ 2018 World Champion
3. Race Imboden (USA) ~ 2016 Olympic Team bronze medalist
4. Daniele Garozzo (ITA) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion; 2017 World Champs bronze
5. Alexey Cheremisinov (RUS) ~ 2018 World Champs Team bronze medalist
6. Andrea Cassara (ITA) ~ 2018 World Champs Team gold medalist
7. Timur Safin (RUS) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze medalist
8. Alexander Massialas (USA) ~ 2016 Olympic silver medalist
9. Jun Heo (KOR) ~ 2018 World Champs bronze medalist
10. Enzo Lefort (FRA) ~ 2017 World Champs Team bronze medalist

● Women:
1. Inna Deriglazova (RUS) ~ 2016 Olympic and 2017 World Champion
2. Alice Volpi (ITA) ~ 2018 World Champion; 2017 Worlds silver medalist
3. Lee Kiefer (USA) ~ 2018 World Champs Team gold medalist
4. Ines Boubakri (TUN) ~ 2018 World bronze medalist
5. Arianna Errigo (ITA) ~ 2017-18 Worlds bronze medalist
6. Ysaora Thibus (FRA) ~ 2018 Worlds silver medalist; 2017 Worlds bronze medalist
7. Leonie Ebert (GER)
8. Eleanor Harvey (CAN)
9. Svetlana Tripapina (RUS) ~ 2017 World Champs bronze medalist
10. Nzingha Prescod (USA) ~ 2018 World Champs Team gold medalist

This is the strongest weapon for the U.S., and the American entries also include 12th-ranked Nicole Ross in the women’s field as well. Look for results here.

The FIE World Cup schedule is also busy, with men’s Epee action in Vancouver (CAN) and the women’s Epee tournament in Barcelona (ESP), for both individuals and teams. These fields have 198 men and 281 women (!). The top entries per the FIE World Rankings:

● Men in Vancouver:
2. Bogdan Nikishin (UKR) ~ 2018 World Champs bronze medalist
3. Ruben Limardo Gascon (VEN) ~ 2018 World Champs silver medalist
4. Dmitry Alexanin (KAZ)
5. Sang-Young Park (KOR) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion
7. Koki Kano (JPN)
8. Max Heinzer (SUI) ~ 2018 World Champs Team gold medalist
10. Kazuyasu Minobe (JPN)

● Women in Barcelona:
1. Mara Navarria (ITA) ~ 2018 World Champion
2. Man Wai Vivian Kong (HKG)
3. Young Mi Kang (KOR) ~ 2018 World Champs Team silver medalist
4. Ana Maria Popescu (ROU) ~ 2016 Olympic Team gold medalist
5. Violetta Kolobova (RUS) ~ 2016 Olympic Team bronze medalist
7. Olena Kryvytska (UKR) ~ 2017 World Champs bronze medalist
8. Yiwen Sun (CHN) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze medalist
9. Julia Beljajeva (EST) ~ 2017 World Champs bronze medalist
10. Katrina Lehis (EST)

This will be the 43rd edition of the World Cup in Barcelona, which actually began 62 years ago, back in 1957. The event has been dedicated to women’s Epee beginning in 2005.

Look for results here.

ATHLETICS: Swoboda upsets Ta Lou and Kendricks wins vault in Torun

By
Rich Perelman
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American vault star Sam Kendricks

The third stop on the IAAF World Indoor Tour was in the Torun Arena in Poland, where the home fans had a lot to cheer about, especially sprint star Ewa Swoboda.

Already having defeated Dutch star Dafne Schippers in Karlsruhe (GER) last week, Poland’s Swoboda took on an even bigger challenge in 2018 World Indoor silver medalist Marie Josee Ta Lou (CIV).

No problem, as Swoboda came on for a tight, 7.15-7.16 victory over Ta Lou, to the delight of the home crowd. That’s three wins in a row for Swoboda, who also owns the world lead at 7.08 in the Karlsruhe heats. At 21, is she a star of the future?

The other standout event in Torun was the men’s vault, with American World Champion Sam Kendricks battle Poland’s Piotr Lisek and Pawel Wojciechowski. All three came in at 5.48 m (17-11 3/4) and while Kendricks and Lisek cleared on their first trials, Wojciechowski was eliminated with three misses. In fact, Kendricks and Lisek were the only ones in the eight-man field to clear the height.

They next jumped at 5.68 m (18-7 1/2) and both cleared, moving the bar to 5.78 m (18-11 1/2). Here it got interesting, with both missing their first tries. But Kendricks snaked over on his second try, putting the pressure on Lisek, who set meet record of 5.91 m (19-4 3/4) last season.

Lisek missed twice and had to settle for second. As the winner, Kendricks elected to try for a meet record and world lead of 5.92 m (19-5), but missed all three times.

There was one new world leader and a tie in Torun. Ethiopia’s Sam Tefera held off hometown hero Marcin Lewandowski (POL) to win the 1,500 m in 3:35.57, fastest in the world for 2019, and Spain’s Orlando Ortega equaled American Grant Holloway’s mark of 7.49 in the 60 m Hurdles.

Among the other highlights were American Erik Sowinski won the 800 m in 1:47.49, and a great finish in the women’s 800 m, as Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu barely edged Britain’s Laura Muir, 1:59.49-1:59.50.

The IAAF World Indoor Tour will continue on Friday in Madrid (ESP). Summaries from Torun:

IAAF World Indoor Tour
Torun (POL) ~ 6 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men

400 m: Race 1: 1. Nathan Strother (USA), 46.32; 2. Rafat Omelko (POL), 47.24; 3. Liemarvin Bonevacia (NED), 47.39. Race 2: 1. Pavel Maslak (CZE), 46.19; 2. Luke Janezic (SLO), 46.46; 3. Karol Zalewski (POL), 46.67.

800 m: 1. Erik Sowinski (USA), 1:47.49; 2. Mostafa Smaili (MAR), 1:47.70; 3. Mateusz Borkowski (POL), 1:47.78.

1,500 m: 1. Samuel Tefera (ETH), 3:35.57; 2. Marcin Lewandowski (POL), 3:36.50; 3. Kalle Berglund (SWE), 3:36.63.

60 m Hurdles: 1. Orlando Ortega (ESP), 7.49; 2. Milan Trajkovic (CYP), 7.54; 3. Jarret Eaton (USA), 7.60.

High Jump: 1. Ilya Ivanyuk (RUS), 2.25 m (7-4 1/2); 2. tie, Sylwester Bednarek (POL) and Norbert Kobielski (POL), 2.20 m (7-2 1/2). Also: 4. Trey Culver (USA), 2.20 m (7-2 1/2).

Pole Vault: 1. Sam Kendricks (USA), 5.78 m (18-11 1/2); 2. Piotr Lisek (POL), 5.68 m (18-7 1/2); 3. Bokai Huang (CHN), 5.28 m (17-3 3/4).

Long Jump: 1. Juan Miguel Echevarria (CUB), 8.12 m (26-7 3/4); 2. Thobias Nilsson Montler (SWE), 7.97 m (26-1 3/4); 3. Tomasz Jaszczuk (POL), 7.87 m (25-10). Also: 8. Jarvis Gotch (USA), 7.14 m (23-5 1/4).

Women

60 m: 1. Ewa Swoboda (POL), 7.15; 2. Marie Josee Ta Lou (CIV), 7.16; 3. Imani Lansiquot (GBR), 7.23.

400 m: 1. Iga Baumgart (POL), 51.91; 2. Justyna Swiety-Ersetic (POL), 52.14; 3. Lea Sprunger (SUI), 52.48.

800 m: 1. Habitam Alemu (ETH), 1:59.49; 2. Laura Muir (GBR), 1:59.50; 3. Sofia Ennaoui (POL), 2:00.40.

60 m Hurdles: 1. Pam Dutkiewicz (GER), 7.95; 2. Reetta Hurske (FIN), 7.98; 3. Nooralotta Neziri (FIN), 8.03. Also: 4. Evonne Britton (USA), 8.04.

Shot Put: 1. Christina Schwanitz (GER), 18.97 m (62-3); 2. Aliona Dubitskaya (BLR), 18.91 m (62-0 1/2); 3. Jessica Ramsey (USA), 18.73 m (61-5 1/2).

ALPINE SKIING: Italy’s Paris wins Worlds Super-G; Shiffrin to try for 3 golds, not 4

By
Rich Perelman
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Italy's 2019 World Super-G champion Dominik Paris (Photo: Vale93b via Wikipedia)

Italy’s Dominik Paris was clearly one of the medal contenders in the men’s Super-G, but having drawn the third position, he had very little information on the course when his turn came.

But having been one of the best speed skiers in the world so far this season, he let it rip and took the lead at 1:24.20. And then he waited.

The next skier was France’s Brice Roger, but his 1:24.61 was only good enough for second. In ninth position was a real threat, Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr, the season leader in the Super-G. He looked good, but the clock read 1:24.29, so Paris stayed in the lead.

The racers continued and another Frenchman, 38-year-old Johan Clarey, who had won a silver in the Super-G at Kitzbuehel 10 days prior, made an excellent run, but he too finished in 1:24.29, tied for second.

And so Paris waited, and waited … and he was finally the winner!

While Paris has been a consistent medalist on the World Cup tour, with 28 medals, this was his first World Championships medal since 2013, when he won a silver in the Downhill. Now he’s World Champion in the Super-G.

And the rewards for Kriechmayr and Clarey were also splendid, as both were first-time medalists at the World Championships. For Clarey, he proved that even 38-year-olds can compete with the best on one day when it matters.

The U.S. men also had a good debut, with Steven Nyman tying for eighth place, his best-ever Super-G finish at a Worlds 9and second-best ever), and Ryan Cochran-Siegle in 11th.

Off the snow, American Super-G winner Mikaela Shiffrin shared her plans for the rest of the Worlds on Twitter:

“It has been a tough decision for me, but my team and I have finally decided that competing in AC will be too much to manage in this World Championships. This season has already been beyond my wildest dreams and it still isn’t over.”

And

“The most difficult thing through it all has been balancing my desire to race as much as possible with managing my energy levels both physically and mentally and not taking anything for granted. We believe the SL and GS are where I need to focus my energy. Good luck to all!!”

This means Shiffrin would max out at three wins, which would make her the 10th woman to win three in a single World Championships. It was first done in 1933 and the last time was in 2007 by Swede Anja Parson, also in Are!

(In case you were wondering, winning four golds in a single Worlds has only been done twice, both times by men: Toni Sailer (AUT) in 1956 and Jean-Claude Killy (FRA) in 1968.)

The Worlds will continue Friday with the women’s Alpine Combined and the Men’s Downhill on Saturday. Look for results here.

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

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

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

GLOBETROTTING by Phil Hersh: In men’s skating, Nathan Chen now a real challenger to even the best of Yuzuru Hanyu

By
Phil Hersh
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Nathan Chen of the U.S. (r) beat Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan (l) for the 2017 Four Continents gold. (Photo: Getty Images)

All you Hanyu bots can start getting your fingers near the send button.

Because no figure skating fans get more dyspeptic than many of Yuzuru Hanyu’s if anyone dares suggest the sport’s biggest global star is not one million times better at all times than any other men’s figure skater.

And I’m saying this: the free skate Nathan Chen did in winning his third straight U.S. championship nine days ago was considerably better than any other men’s free skate in the world since Hanyu’s at the 2017 World Championships.

That 2017 Hanyu performance in Helsinki simply is the best free skate ever when one looks at it in terms of execution and difficulty of jumps (four pristine quads), quality of footwork and spins and overall level of artistry and skating skills.

No. 1 at the Olympics again: Yuzuru Hanyu in 2018. (Getty Images)
No. 1 at the Olympics again: Yuzuru Hanyu in 2018. (Getty Images)

Chen’s skating at the 2019 nationals was as close to Hanyu’s 2017 worlds free skate as anyone – even the Japanese skater himself – has come since then.  The U.S. champion’s four quads were huge and steady, his artistry a huge leap forward from his past level, going from good to excellent.

There could be quite a showdown between the two at March’s World Championships in Japan, because Chen has developed into a skater whose best skating now can challenge even Hanyu’s best skating.

Because injuries have kept Hanyu out of the last two Grand Prix Finals and because he chose not to push the injured foot on which he won a second straight Olympic title last winter, the 2018 Winter Games is the only time Hanyu and Chen have met In the last 14 months.

Chen bombed his 2018 Olympic short program so badly he was hopelessly out of medal contention before the free skate, in which he finished first, 7.01 points ahead of Hanyu.  That moved Chen from 17th to fifth overall, still 20.5 points behind Hanyu, who remained then in a league of his own.

Since Chen became a senior internationally in the 2016-17 season, he has met Hanyu six times, with the U.S. star winning twice, at the 2017 Four Continents Championships and the 2017 Rostelecom Cup.  Chen won the 2018 worlds and the last two Grand Prix Finals in Hanyu’s absence.  Neither is competing at this week’s Four Continents Championships in Anaheim, Calif.

Beginning with the 2013-2014 season, there has been no better big-event skater than Hanyu, even if he did squander leads after the short program in the 2015 and 2016 worlds, finishing second in both.  Over that span, Hanyu is 2-for-2 gold at the Olympics, 2-for-4 at worlds, 4-for-4 at the Grand Prix Final.

So it would be no surprise if Hanyu lays it down at the upcoming worlds, which are to be his first competition in four months.

And no matter how home-cooked the 2019 worlds judging might be, Hanyu will likely need such brilliance again if Chen repeats what he did at nationals – dazzling skates in both the short program and the free.

If that happens, Hanyu will get more gold, and the big winner will be skating.

FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD: Loginov doubles in Parallel Slalom, but weather knocks out Snowboard Big Air

By
Rich Perelman
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Swiss Parallel Slalom World Champion Julie Zogg

The inevitable reality of winter sports is that the weather dictates the schedule, not vice versa. So it was on Tuesday that one set of events had to be canceled, while two more events were held.

The Snowboard Parallel Slalom had a familiar look to it, as two of the three men’s medalists from the day before were on the podium once again! Russia’s Dmitry Loginov, 19, swept to his second gold in as many days and Germany’s Stefan Baumeister ended up third again.

Loginov pressed hard in each of his races, winning by 0.62 and 1.86 in his first two races, then winning his semifinal over countryman Dmitry Sarsembaev as the latter was disqualified. In the final, he used his speed to force Italy’s Ronald Fischnaller to go through a gate and also lost by disqualification.

Loginov became only the fourth man ever to win both the Parallel Giant Slalom and Slalom in the World Championships, after Jasey-Jay Anderson (CAN) in 2005, Benjamin Karl in 2011 and Austria’s Andreas Prommegger in 2017. Fischnaller collected his fifth World Championships medal, with hardware from the 2011-13-15-19 Worlds.

In the women’s Parallel Slalom, it was Swiss Julie Zogg who became a first-time World Champion. She joined the World Cup tour in 2007, but scored her first Worlds medal after torching a series of medalists. She edged Natalie Soboleva (RUS), winner of the Parallel Giant Slalom silver the day before, by 1.36 seconds. She then beat Swiss Patrizia Kummer, the 2017 Worlds silver medalist, in the quarters and Maria Valova (RUS) by more than 11 seconds in the semis. The final, against the unheralded Annamari Dancha (UKR) was a win by 0.85 seconds.

“Today wasn’t the best conditions for me to race in, but I did do the best in this race, and it’s just unbelievable,” said Zogg afterwards.“Now it’s the time to relax for a few days; we’re heading to Hawaii tomorrow!” For Dancha, 28, it was her first medal of any kind in 101 starts in World Cup, Olympic and World Championship events.

The much-anticipated Big Air competition to be held on Tuesday didn’t happen. The FIS statement started with “After much careful consideration, the organizers of the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships have taken the decision to cancel the snowboard big air competition, based on the weather forecast and with the best interests of the athletes in mind, and the remaining events scheduled to take place.”

The amount of snow coming in and the forecast for even more snow and very cold temperatures led to the decision.

The Freestyle and Snowboard Worlds continues through the 10th, with the Freestyle Aerials and Slopestyle events scheduled for Wednesday. Look for results here. Summaries:

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).

Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Dmitry Loginov (RUS); 2. Tim Mastnak (SLO); Small Final: 3. Stefan Baumeister (GER); 4. Vic Wild (RUS).

Men’s Parallel Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Loginov (RUS); 2. Ronald Fischnaller (ITA); Small Final: 3. Baumeister (GER); 4. Dmitry Sarsembaev (RUS).

Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Selina Joerg (GER); 2. Natalia Soboleva (RUS); Small Final: 3. Ladina Jenny (SUI); 4. Milena Bykova (RUS).

Women’s Parallel Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Julie Zogg (SUI); 2. Annamari Dancha (UKR); Small Final: 3. Ramona Hofmeister (GER); 4. Maria Valova (RUS).

LANE ONE: What do federation review commissions do anyway? In Biathlon, quite a lot.

By
Rich Perelman
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IBU President Olle Dahlin (SWE)

For those who are not close watchers of the Biathlon scene, these have been troubled months for the International Biathlon Federation.

Last year, the federation saw the resignation of its long-time President, Anders Besseberg (NOR) and Secretary General, Nicole Resch (GER) after allegations of bribery over Russian doping positives surfaced from an investigations by Austrian and Norwegian authorities.

A new president, Swede Ollie Dahlin, was elected and the promise was that the federation would be cleaned up from the inside. The investigations have continued, and there have been several apparently unrelated resignations from the IBU staff in recent days, including the acting Secretary General, Martin Kuchenmeister (AUT).

All this tumult has led to an extensive work program for the IBU’s specially-appointed External Review Commission, which is trying to figure out what happened with Besseberg and Resch and how to prevent it in the future.

The group published a four-page report made public by the IBU on its Web site and it provides a fascinating look into what such groups do. Without boring you with the entire report, here’s a summary:

● Consultation with the Austrian criminal prosecutors, to figure out which crimes are alleged to have been committed, what evidence is available that can be released to the IBU’s Commission and establishing a line of communications for the exchange of information going forward.

The report noted that “The discussions were very constructive, and we are confident that the Commission will be in a position to assist the criminal authorities with their investigations.”

● Review of the IBU’s own governance documents, rules and regulations to identify the necessary sections which may need revisions to ensure future checks on administrative power to assure that future criminal activities do not occur.

● A review of Austrian law to make sure that IBU’s own regulations comply with national laws there, since the IBU headquarters is in Salzburg.

● A review of the actions of Besseberg and Resch and possibly others with Austrian laws so that a civil action could be filed in addition to any criminal action in Austria (or Norway).

● Consultation with the World Anti-Doping Agency on its investigations of Russia, especially data concerning biathletes at the Sochi Games in 2014 and IBU World Championships and World Cups from 2011-15.

● Consultation with the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to obtain the Athlete Biological Passport data for Russian biathletes, for comparison to the Moscow Lab data obtained by WADA and eventually for added testing of the actual samples.

● Interviews with witnesses, “starting with current and former IBU directors, officers, employees and representatives” beginning in the near future.

● Creation of a whistle-blowing “hotline” via a third-party contractor, “so that any stakeholder in the sport (whether an athlete, an official within the IBU or any of its member federations, or any other interested third party) who believes s/he has information that may be relevant to the Commission’s work may provide that information safely, securely, and confidentially to the Commission via a web-based site.”

In addition, a secure file-sharing portal for the use of Commission members, is also going to be created.

● A continuing review to see if there are individuals within the purview of the IBU who should be suspended, based on the information obtained from the prosecutors, WADA or others.

This is a comprehensive approach and well thought out, covering criminal and civil issues and the IBU’s own rules and regulations. The chair of the Commission is British lawyer Jonathan Taylor, better known to many as the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Compliance Review Commission … the one that recommended Russia be provisionally reinstated back in September.

At the same time, the IBU has new projects underway to confirm or change the direction of the federation. There is a group working on what is called the first-ever “strategic plan” for the IBU, a constitutional review and the IBU’s anti-doping working group, all trying to complete their processes in time for passage of legislation at the next IBU Congress, scheduled for September. And the IBU’s new Ethics Commission met for the first time in January.

It was especially worthwhile to note the IBU’s statement of the stakeholders involved in the strategic-vision group:

“Focus Group meetings with Athletes, Coaches, National Federations, Committee Members, Staff Members, Technical Delegates, Organising Committees and External Partners were held earlier this month to provide them with a forum to voice the opportunities and challenges they face. A large number of athletes were involved in both the Focus Group meetings and questionnaires, which were sent to stakeholders by the IBU in December 2018, and the Strategic Plan is now being developed.”

As the U.S. Congress looks at what to do about the United States Olympic Committee and the U.S. National Governing Bodies in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal, the IBU’s list of stakeholders is a reminder that there are a lot more folks involved in sport – especially at the national and international level – than just the athletes.

However, the IBU would help itself by noting the number of athletes who are involved in the process, as well as those who may have declined given that the sport is in mid-season.

Change in any organization which has been around for a long time, especially one that had a president who served for 26 years (!), is difficult. But the IBU appears to be on the right track, at least with a comprehensive agenda for reform which can move it forward even if the future holds news of criminal indictments of its former leadership.

The IAAF is in the same situation, but is far less transparent about its activities and finances than the IBU, excepting its Russian working group reports from Norway’s Rune Andersen. Here’s hoping that the track & field federation become more transparent rather than less, and follows some of the example set by the biathlon crowd.

Rich Perelman
Editor

SPEED SKATING: Bowe vs. Kodaira in World Single Distance Champs in Germany

By
Rich Perelman
-
Japan's Olympic champion Nao Kodaira

The ISU World Single Distance Championships will be held for the third time in Inzell (GER) this weekend, with some tantalizing showdowns scheduled on the ice. The schedule:

● 07 February: Men’s 5,000 m; Women’s 3,000 m; Team Sprints
● 08 February: Men’s and Women’s 500 m; Team Pursuits
● 09 February: Men’s and Women’s 1,000 m; Men’s 10,000 m, Women’s 5,000 m
● 10 February: Men’s and Women’s 1,500 m; Men’s and Women’s Mass Start

This has already been a busy season for the speed skaters, with five of the six World Cup stops completed, so the top skaters are well known. The World Cup leaders:

Men

500 m:
1. 452 Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) ~ 2015 and 2016 World Champion
2. 366 Tatsuya Shinhama (JPN)
3. 350 Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR) ~ 2018 Olympic gold medalist

1,000 m:
1. 222 Kjeld Nuis (NED) ~ 2017 World Champion
2. 217 Pavel Kulizhnikov (RUS) ~ 2016 World Champion
3. 217 Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen ~ 2018 Olympic silver medalist

1,500 m:
1. 223 Denis Yuskov (RUS) ~ 2013-15-17 World Champion
2. 203 Seitaro Ichinohe (JPN)
3. 199 Min Seok Kim (KOR) ~ 2018 Olympic bronze medalist

Distances:
1. 237 Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) ~ 2016 World 5,000 m bronze medalist
2. 236 Alexander Rumyantsev (RUS)
3. 212 Marcel Bosker (NED)

Mass Start:
1. 475 Cheonho Um (KOR)
2. 430 Bart Swings (BEL) ~ 2018 Olympic silver medalist
3. 366 Ruslan Zakharov (RUS)

Women

500 m:
1. 504 Vanessa Herzog (AUT)
2. 403 Olga Fatkulina (RUS) ~ 2013 World Championships bronze
3. 388 Angelina Golikova (RUS)

1,000 m:
1. 277 Brittany Bowe (USA) ~ 2015 World Champion; 2013-16 bronze
2. 217 Vanessa Herzog (AUT)
3. 202 Nao Kodaira (JPN) ~ 2018 Olympic 500 m gold; 1,000 m silver

1,500 m:
1. 270 Brittany Bowe (USA) ~ 2015 World Champion; 2016 bronze
2. 217 Ireen Wust (NED) ~ 2018 Olympic gold; 2011-15 World Champion
3. 211 Miho Takagi (JPN) ~ 2018 Olympic 1,000 m bronze; 1,500 m silver

Distances:
1. 250 Martina Sabilkova (CZE) ~ 2018 Olympic 5,000 m silver; 9-time World 5,000 champ
2. 239 Natalia Voronina (RUS) ~ 2018 Olympic 5,000 m bronze medalist
3. 236 Isabelle Weidemann (CAN)

Mass Start:
1. 328 Francesca Lollobrigida (ITA)
2. 316 Bo-Reum Kim (KOR) ~ 2018 Olympic silver medalist; 2017 World Champion
3. 294 Nana Takagi (JPN) ~ 2018 Olympic gold medalist; 2017 World silver medalist

The women’s 500 m standings are somewhat illusory due to Japan’s Kodaira skipping one competition; she is six-for-six in her races at this distance this season, but stands only fifth at 360. Bowe has scored well in eight of the nine 500 m races and is sixth at 348; she is entered in the 500m, but her medal chances are better in the 1,000 m and 1,500 m.

Look for results here.

FIGURE SKATING Preview: Americans Hubbell & Donohue look for second Four Continents golds

By
Rich Perelman
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American Ice Dance stars Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue

The 21st edition of the ISU Four Continents Championship will be held this week at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California (USA), the fifth time the event has been held in the U.S.. The schedule:

● 07 February: Men’s and Women’s Short Program
● 08 February: Pairs Short Program, Ice Dance Rhythm Dance, Women’s Free Skate
● 09 February: Men’s and Pairs Free Skate
● 10 February: Ice Dance Free Dance

The Four Continents was created as a counterpart to the annual European Championships and showcases skaters primarily from Asia and North America. Among the top contenders:

Men:
● Boyang Jin (CHN) ~ 2018 Four Continents Champion; 2016 Four Continents silver
● Shoma Uno (JPN) ~ 2018 Four Continents silver; 2018 Olympic silver medalist
● Jason Brown (USA) ~ Third at 2019 U.S. Nationals; 2018 Four Continents bronze
● Vincent Zhou (USA) ~ 2019 U.S. Nationals runner-up

Women:
● Rika Kihira (JPN) ~ 2018 Grand Prix Final winner; second at 2019 Japan Nationals
● Mai Mihara (JPN) ~ 2017 Four Continents winner; second in 2018
● Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) ~ 2018 Four Continents winner; 2019 Japanese Champion
● Mariah Bell (USA) ~ Sixth in 2017 Four Continents; fifth in 2018
● Bradie Tennell (USA) ~ 2018 U.S. National Champion; 2019 runner-up

Pairs:
● Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro (CAN) ~ Sixth at 2018 World Championships
● Cheng Peng/Yang Jin (CHN) ~ 2018 Grand Prix Final runners-up; ninth at 2018 Worlds
● Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (CHN) ~ 2018 Winter Games silvers; 2017 World Champions
● Ashley Cain/Tim LeDuc (USA) ~ 2018 Four Continents silvers
● Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier (USA) ~ 2017 U.S. National Champions
● Tarah Kayne/Danny O’Shea (USA) ~ 2018 Four Continents winners

Ice Dance:
● Piper Gilles/Paul Poirer (CAN) ~ 2014 Four Continents silvers; eighth in OWG 2018
● Kaitlin Weaver/Paul Poje (CAN) ~ 2015 Four Continents golds; 2018 Worlds bronze
● Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) ~ Four Continents 3-2-2-3 in 2013-15-16-17
● Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker (USA) ~ 2018 Four Continents golds
● Madison Hubbell/Zach Donohue (USA) ~ 2014 Four Continents golds; 2018-19 U.S. champs

NBC has coverage of the Four Continents on Thursday on NBCSN at 5 p.m. Eastern and 11:30 p.m. Eastern time (delayed); on Friday (delayed) at 6 p.m. Eastern and midnight Eastern and on Saturday at midnight Eastern (delayed). Sunday’s coverage is only online. Look for results here.

BIATHLON Preview: IBU World Cup returns to Canmore, site of the 1988 Winter Games competition

By
Rich Perelman
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The Canmore Nordic Center, site of the 1988 Winter Games Biathlon events

The Canmore Nordic Center outside of Calgary (CAN) was the site for biathlon at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games and the World Cup returns for the first time since 2016 for six competitions:

● 07 February: Men’s 20 km and women’s 15 km Individual
● 09 February: Men’s 4×7.5 km Relay and women’s 4×6 km Relay
● 10 February: Men’s 15 km Mass start and women’s 12.5 km Mass Start

This is the seventh out of nine stops on the tour, which has been dominated by Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe, winner of 11 out of 15 races this season. He has a 836-554 lead over seven-time defending champion Martin Fourcade of France, with Alexander Loginov (RUS) third with 548.

The women’s situation is more complex, with a fight between Italians Dorothea Wierer (632) and Lisa Vittozzi (598) at the top of the standings. Norway’s Marte Olsbu Roiseland is third at 508.

This will be the second IBU World Cup held in Canmore and appears to be a popular choice. According to the IBU Race Director, Borut Nunar (SLO): “The Canmore OC has done a great job; everything done on time, even early. The stadium and tracks are all ready to go.

“And, of course the athletes are eager. Who would not want to compete in this beautiful place? I think the athletes love coming here. It is a nice atmosphere without so much media and fan pressure; very refreshing for them.” It’s quite cold, but as Nunar noted, “This is a winter sport.”

Look for results here.

ATHLETICS Preview: Poland faces the world in IAAF World Indoor Tour in Torun

By
Rich Perelman
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Polish sprinter Ewa Swoboda (Photo: Zorro2212 vai Wikipedia)

The third stop in the IAAF World Indoor Tour comes Wednesday in Torun (POL) for the Orlen Copernicus Cup. In case you were wondering, “Orlen” is the meet sponsor – an oil and gas refiner – and not directly related to Nicolaus Copernicus, the 16th Century astronomer and mathematician who was born in Torun!

There are several highlighted events, especially with Polish stars engaged with the best in the world:

● Men’s 1,500 m: Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski, the 2018 World Indoor silver medalist, will be taking on the reigning World Indoor Champion, Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera. Still 19, Tefera ran 3:31.63 outdoors last season and if in shape, will be hard to beat. Defending Torun champ Teresa Tolosa (ETH: 3:34.77 in 2017) and teammate Aman Wote (ETH: 3:29.91 ‘14) are the other likely challengers

● Men’s Pole Vault: A fabulous meeting of two great Polish vaulters and American star Sam Kendricks. The event has been hot indoors, and Poland’s Piotr Lisek – a two-time World Championships medal winner – has cleared 5.85 m (19-2 1/4) already and 2011 World Champion Pawel Wojciechowski made 5.80 m (19-0 1/4) in Lodz on Monday. Kendricks, the reigning World Champion, stands no. 2 in the world this year with his 5.86 m (19-2 3/4) make in the ISTAF indoor meet in Berlin (GER) last Friday.

● Men’s Long Jump: Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echavarria had a rough time with his approach in Karlsruhe (GER) and both he and Sweden’s Thobias Nilsson Montler jumped a modest 8.08 m (26-6 1/4), with the Swede winning on his back-up jump. Echevarria says he’ll do better this time.

● Women’s 60 m: Pole Ewa Swoboda won in Karlsruhe ahead of Dutch star Dafne Schippers, so now she gets to face Marie Josee Ta Lou (CIV), last year’s winner in Torun and the African Champion and Continental Cup champ. Ta Lou has run 7.05 indoors; Swoboda ran 7.08 in her heat last weekend, just 1/100th off her national record.

● Women’s 800 m: Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui was the European 1,500 m silver medalist last season and has run 2:00.11 (‘15), but she will have her hands full with Britain’s European 1,500 m Champion, Laura Muir (1:58.69 ‘17 in the 800), Habitam Alemu (ETH: 1:56.71 ‘18), Swiss Selina Buchel (1:57.95 ‘15) and Kenyan Nelly Jepkosgei (1:58.96 ‘18).

There are some other interesting individual entries, including Germans Pam Dutkiewicz in the 60 m Hurdles, and Christina Schwanitz in the shot put. Look for results here.

ALPINE SKIING: First race, first gold for Mikaela Shiffrin in Alpine Worlds

By
Rich Perelman
-
American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin

What will be a historic year for Mikaela Shiffrin became even more legendary as she skied to her first World Championships gold outside of the Slalom in Are, Sweden, winning the Super-G by 0.02 seconds on Tuesday.

And now?

“I’m going to take a minute tonight and talk with my coaches and see what we think we can do for the rest of these World Champs,” Shiffrin said.

It’s not unusual for a skier to win two golds in a Worlds, but three or more is tougher. The last woman to win three in a single Worlds was Sweden’s Anja Parson – in Are – in 2007, when she won the Downhill, Super-G and Combined.

Shiffrin was already the favorite in the Slalom and Giant Slalom, but with the Super-G win – not totally unexpected, but still remarkable – she could take a run at the Combined and even the Downhill, if the weather (and the schedule) hold up.

On Tuesday, Shiffrin and teammate Lindsey Vonn were nos. 15-16 out of the start gate, both chasing a sensational run by Italy’s Sofia Goggia, the no. 3 starter, at 1:04.91. But Shiffrin was on the gas the entire way and almost missed a gate, but managed to finish.

“I knew that everybody was pushing really hard, and the surface was amazing, so you could really go for it,” she said. “You had to have the balance between risk and also really nice turns. I was going really aggressive, and just the one spot towards the bottom where I had to fight to stay in the course, but otherwise it was all good and I was accelerating all the way.

“This is crazy. It was a really tight race: seven-hundredths to fourth place, I mean, come, on.”

Next up, Vonn crashed out after missing a gate, but was able to ski down to the bottom of the course and embrace Shiffrin. Vonn still has one more race, the Downhill, after which she says she will retire. She tweeted afterwards, “If adversity makes you stronger I think I’m the Hulk at this point….”

Behind Shiffrin and Goggia came Corinne Suter (1:04.94) and German Viktoria Rebensburg (1:04.96). American Alice Merryweather, in her first Worlds, was 22nd in 1:07.22.

This was Shiffrin’s fourth World Championships gold, after the Slalom in 2013-15-17.

The Worlds continue Wednesday with the men’s Super-G and then the women’s Combined on Thursday and the women’s Downhill on Friday. Look for results here.

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

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

GLOBETROTTING by Phil Hersh: Lindsey Vonn, who sped past limits to top of ski racing (and sometimes flew into safety nets), is coming to a stop

By
Phil Hersh
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Eight-time World Championships medal winner Lindsey Vonn of the U.S.

Lindsey Vonn in downhill training Monday at the World Championships in Are, Sweden.

I am not a skier.  So, when I began intermittently writing about the sport in the 1980s, I had no first-hand appreciation of the speeds top Alpine ski racers reached – and the danger that sped along with them.

Television didn’t help, because the head-on camera angle does not provide a frame of reference.  And you could tell me they were hitting 75 miles per hour, but I had no perspective on what that meant until the 1989 World Championships in Vail, Colo.

One day during women’s downhill training, I hiked partway up the side of the final pitch to the finish.  From that vantage point, with the skiers coming past me rather than coming at me, as they did when I stood in the media area at the finish, it was very clear how fast they were moving.  Frighteningly fast.

(A colleague who is a good skier pointed out that even in the slalom, which appears on TV as a moderately paced sashay down the hill, the racers are going very, very fast.)

I had another epiphany while jogging on a snow-covered path in Norwegian woods on an overcast day the week before the 1994 Winter Games opened.  I fell once and nearly fell several times more because the flat light made it impossible to distinguish any bumps or contours on the essentially level path.  My missteps happened at a speed of about 9 mph.

How amazing it is, I thought, that skiers navigate in such light, with no shadow to help indicate terrain features, when they are descending at breakneck speeds on courses that change as a race goes on.  The rut that wasn’t there during training runs.  The bump they hadn’t seen before because a mistake knocked them slightly off a planned line.

Elite ski races are decided by hundredths of a second.  Some athletes achieve medal-winning margins because of superior technique, allowing them to take less risk – to a degree.  Others shave those hundredths by skiing like the title of a terrific book on Alpine ski racing, “Right on the Edge of Crazy,” which means frequently on the brink of crashing.

Which, in Lindsey Vonn’s case, meant frequently over the brink.

That isn’t to say Vonn lacks good technique.  No one could have gotten where she did without it.  But what made her the world’s utterly dominant women’s downhill and Super-G racer for several seasons was her willingness to throw caution – and several of her body parts – to the wind.

“It’s a bit like losing control of a car in the snow, in traffic,” NBC ski analyst Steve Porino said in a text message Monday.  “99.9 percent of the people go immediately for the brake, which is the worst thing you can do, but it’s the normal reaction for survival.

“In the face of danger or a moment of disturbance, Vonn instinctively goes for the gas and pulls it back on the road. . .most of the time.”

The other times became more frequent in the past six years, perhaps because her reflexes had slowed just enough to make regaining control after a mistake and preventing a crash more difficult.  That is why I wrote in February 2017, “Is your heart in your throat now every time Lindsey Vonn hurtles down a hill at 70 mph?  Mine is.”

Vonn had missed much of 2013 and 2014 with knee injuries from crashes.  A terrible training crash in November 2016 shattered her arm.  She had insisted to me in an interview several months before the arm injury that she was managing risk better – not by taking a lot less risk overall, but backing off in certain weather and course conditions.

That clearly was easier for Vonn to say than do.  It is why I wrote in the same 2017 column, “It would be nice if Vonn could end her brilliant career when she wants to, not when her body is in pieces.”

She is ending at the World Alpine Championships in Are, Sweden, where Vonn plans to race Tuesday’s Super-G and Sunday’s downhill.  The end is coming earlier than she hoped, because, as Vonn wrote Friday on her social media accounts, “My body is broken beyond repair and it isn’t letting me have the final season I dreamed of.”  She revealed in those posts that there had been another knee surgery last spring and that a training crash last November had resulted in another knee ligament tear and fractures.

Vonn is disappointed by having to leave competitive skiing just four wins short of the career World Cup record, 86, held by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark.  Less than three years ago, it had seemed a near certainty that she would break that record, just as it now seems certain that countrywoman Mikaela Shiffrin will do it, given her 56 World Cup wins at just age 23.

Screen Shot 2019-02-04 at 5.18.39 PM.png

Yet there are no certainties in a sport where athletes race on slats down ice-injected courses at speeds that would get drivers a ticket on many of this country’s interstate highways.  That Vonn was able to display her remarkable ability and nonpareil athletic courage and determination for this long was a gift – to her, to her sport, to anyone who appreciates athletic greatness.  The result was 82 World Cup wins, 20 World Cup season titles, three Olympic medals and seven World Championship medals.

There could have been so many more, but for the injuries.  There may not have been as many, but for the will to overcome them.  What she did still is enough to call her, with no doubt, the greatest women’s skier of all time and the greatest U.S. skier of all time.

Porino is among those who feel Vonn is simply the best ever on the global level, no gender qualification needed.  The veteran ski technician Heinz Hemmerle, who worked with Vonn Monday, told Porino “she would have easily won over 100 (World Cup) races” but for the 2013 crash in Schladming, Austria.

Just as remarkably, Vonn became a well-known personality in a country that pays little or no attention to Alpine ski racing, in part because nearly 90 percent of the World Cup circuit takes place outside North America.  Until the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when Vonn won the downhill, most U.S. sports fans asked to name a skier would have picked Jean-Claude Killy, the dashing Frenchman whose career ended in 1968.  (If they could name any skier, that is.)

Vonn’s romantic liaison with Tiger Woods later improved her standing among A-list celebrities.  Although most of her compatriots know who she is, few paid any attention to what she does, no matter that, even as a multimillionaire athlete, she was still accessible to fans, still the kid who went from learning to ski on a molehill in Minnesota to the top of the world’s most perilous downhill courses, then to the bottom of them usually ahead of everyone else.

I did my first story on Vonn in January 2005, when she was still Lindsey Kildow and suddenly had become a medal contender at that year’s World Championships.  In that story, her first coach, Eric Sailer, and her father, Alan KIldow, already had identified the qualities that would make her an extraordinary skier in the speed events – and leave her in the safety netting so many times.

“Lindsey can be a superstar because of her guts and fearlessness,” Sailer said.

Her father gave a variation of the same analogy Porino would use 14 years later.

“It’s like car racing,” Alan Kildow said. “Some have the ability to hold their foot on the gas pedal longer than the others.  She has that ability.”

By 2005, she already had endured a severe crash in a downhill at Lake Louise, Alberta, the World Cup tour spot that would come to be known as “Lake Lindsey” because of her relentless success there.  From December 2004, when she won at Lake Louise for the first time, through December 2015, the last time she skied there in peak form, she won 14 of 22 downhills and four of 12 Super-Gs.

When injury kept her out of the Lake Louise races this season, Vonn vowed to go back in December 2019 for a last hurrah.  She won’t get there, despite yet another gut-busting attempt to put another patch on her tattered 34-year-old body.  Hers was a generational talent combined with an even rarer competitive will.

One of Vonn’s many crashes

One of Vonn’s many crashes

No one expects miracles from her at these World Championships.  She has started just three races this season, all in mid-January, getting ninth and 15th in downhills and failing to finish a Super-G.

One can only hope this ends well, no matter how far from the podium she winds up.  The problem is that it is hard to imagine Vonn taking these races as a mere victory lap, snowplowing down the hill to deserved applause.

What made her great also imperiled her, no matter that skiing at this level is perilous for everyone who does it.  It is fast, so fast, so mind-bogglingly fast.  And Lindsey Vonn pushed the limits, and she was faster than everyone else for so long.

ALPINE SKIING: 45th World Championships opens in Are Tuesday

By
Rich Perelman
-
Record-setter: American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin (courtesy U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association; copyright Reese Brown)

The Alpine skiing world is gathered in Are (SWE) for the start of the 45th FIS World Championships in the famed ski town, with stars galore and what are promised to be the final races for two of the sport’s great stars. First, the schedule:

● 05 February: Women’s Super-G
● 06 February: Men’s Super-G
● 07 February: Women’s Combined
● 08 February: Women’s Downhill
● 09 February: Men’s Downhill
● 10 February: Women’s Downhill
● 11 February: Men’s Combined
● 12 February: Mixed Team Event
● 13 February: Rest day
● 14 February: Women’s Giant Slalom
● 15 February: Men’s Giant Slalom
● 16 February: Women’s Slalom
● 17 February: Men’s Slalom

Now, the form charts:

Men

Downhill:
● 2017 World Champs:
1.Beat Feuz (SUI); 2. Erik Guay (CAN); 3. Max Franz (AUT)

● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR); 2. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR); 3. Beat Feuz (SUI)

● 2019 World Cup:
1. Beat Feuz (SUI: 420); 2. Dominik Paris (ITA: 320); 3. Christof Innerhofer (ITA: 260)

Super-G:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Erik Guay (CAN); 2. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR); 3. Manuel Osborne-Paradis (CAN)

● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Matthias Mayer (AUT); 2. Beat Feuz (SUI); 3. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR)

● 2019 World Cup:
1. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT: 236); 2. Matthias Mayer (AUT: 233); 3. Dominik Paris (ITA: 230)

Giant Slalom:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT); 2. Roland Leitinger (AUT); 3. Leif Kristian Haugen (NOR)

● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT); 2. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR); 3. Alexis Pinturault (FRA)

● 2019 World Cup:
1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT: 540); 2. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR: 302); 3. Alexis Pinturault (FRA: 276)

Slalom:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT); 2. Manuel Feller (AUT); 3. Felix Neureuther (GER)

● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Andre Myhrer (SWE); 2. Ramon Zenhausern (SUI); 3. Michael Matt (AUT)

● 2019 World Cup:
1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT: 676); 2. Clement Noel (FRA: 401); 3. Daniel Yule (SUI: 396)

Combined:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Luca Aerni (SUI); 2. Marcel Hirscher (AUT); 3. Mauro Caviezel (SUI)

● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT); 2. Alexis Pinturault (FRA); 3. Victor Muffat-Jeandet (FRA)

● 2019 World Cup:
1. Marco Schwarz (AUT: 100); 2. Victor Muffat-Jeandet (FRA: 80); 3. Alexis Pinturault (FRA: 60)

Women

Downhill:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Ilka Stuhec (SLO); 2. Stephanie Venier (AUT); 3. Lindsey Vonn (USA)

● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Sofia Goggia (ITA); 2. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR); 3. Lindsey Vonn (USA)

● 2019 World Cup:
1. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT: 364); 2. Ramona Sibenhofer (AUT: 346); 3. Ilka Stuhec (SLO: 343)

Super-G:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT); 2. Tina Weirather (LIE); 3. Lara Gut (SUI)

● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Ester Ledecka (CZE); 2. Anna Veith (AUT); 3. Tina Weirather (LIE)

● 2019 World Cup:
1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA: 300); 2. Tina Weirather (LIE: 268); 3. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT: 253)

Giant Slalom:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Tessa Worley (FRA); 2. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA); 3. Soffia Goggia (ITA)

● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA); 2. Ragnhild Mowinckel (NOR); 3. Federica Brignone (ITA)

● 2019 World Cup:
1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA; 455); 2. Tessa Worley (FRA: 374); 3. Petra Vlhova (SVK: 318)

Slalom:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA); 2. Wendy Holdener (SUI); 3. Frida Hansdotter (SWE)

● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Frida Hansdotter (SWE); 2. Wendy Holdener (SUI); 3. Katharina Gallhuber (AUT)

● 2019 World Cup:
1. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA: 860); 2. Petra Vlhova (SVK: 725); 3. Wendy Holdener (SUI: 485)

Combined:
● 2017 World Champs:
1. Wendy Holdener (SUI); 2. Michelle Gisin (SUI); 3. Michaela Kirchgasser (AUT)

● 2018 Winter Games:
1. Michelle Gisin (SUI); 2. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA); 3. Wendy Holdener (SUI)

● 2019 World Cup:
None held yet!

The storylines start with two stars who are retiring and two who could make history:

(1) Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. will compete in the Downhill and Super-G in what she says will be her last races. The all-time World Cup women’s leader at 82 wins, she owns seven World Championships medals (2-3-2), including golds in the 2009 Downhill and Super-G. Injuries have taken their toll, and at 34, she wants to be able to walk by herself into old age.

(2) Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, the reigning Olympic Champion in the Downhill, has also announced his retirement after the Worlds. He’s 36 and owns eight World Championships medals, including five titles in the Downhill (2007 & 2013) and wins in the Combined in 2009 and 2011, plus a Giant Slalom win in 2007, at Are!

(3) American Mikaela Shiffrin is on her way to he third straight overall World Cup title – at age 23 – and is already a three-time World Champion in the Slalom. She also won a silver in the 2017 Worlds Giant Slalom and is a threat in Are in the Super-G, Giant Slalom and Slalom – all of which she leads in the World Cup standings – and the Combined. She says she has very specific goals for this World Championships, but she is not saying what they are. Her schedule could be impacted by any weather delays, as was her program for the 2018 Winter Games; her most precious commodity over the next two weeks will be rest.

(4) Austria’s Marcel Hirscher is also on his way to another World Cup overall title, which would be his eighth! He owns nine World Championships medals, including six wins, with two each in 2013 (Slalom, Team Event), 2015 (Combined, Team Event) and 2017 (Giant Slalom and Slalom). He has dominated the current World Cup season and leads in the Giant Slalom and Slalom. How many events will he attempt?

NBC has extensive coverage of the Alpine Worlds on the NBC Olympic Channel, NBCSN and NBC on the weekends; the schedule is here. Look for results here.

FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD: Loginov & Joerg are surprise PGS winners in Park City

By
Rich Perelman
-
World Champion Selina Joerg (GER)

No such thing as a sure thing at the 2019 Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard World Championships in Utah, as skiers that were hardly at the top of the form charts continue to take the honors. On Monday, it was Russian Dmitry Loginov and Germany’s Selina Joerg who became World Champions.

Perhaps Joerg could have been considered a favorite, but the Parallel Giant Slalom event has belonged the Czech Ester Ledecka, who skipped the Snowboard World Championships in order to compete in the Alpine Worlds starting Tuesday in Sweden.

So for Joerg, this was her chance to claim the top of the podium in an event she hasn’t done well. At 31, this was her seventh appearance in the Snowboard Worlds; she had only finished higher than eighth once. But did earn the silver behind Ledecka in PyeongChang last season, so she was one to watch.

Her opponent in the final was 23-year-old Russian Natalia Soboleva, 23, who was in her fourth World Championships, with a prior best of seventh.

Joerg was on from the start, winning her races by 0.38, 0.69 and then 2.79 seconds in the semi against Ladina Jenny (SUI). In the final, Joerg put on the pressure from the start and Soboleva, whose first two opponents had been disqualified, ended up disqualified herself. Still, both collected their first-ever Worlds medals.

The men’s event was all about 19-year-old Loginov. He blew past a series of quality opponents, taking out World Cup stalwarts Andreas Prommegger (AUT) and Edwin Coratti (ITA) in the first two rounds. He then faced fellow Russian (and former American) Vic Wild – the double gold medalist from Sochi – in the semi and posted a stunning +3.21-second win.

More of the same in the final, as Loginov faced down Slovenia’s Tim Mastnak – a winner on the World Cup tour earlier this season – who did not finish, handing the gold to Loginov.

Quite a change from PyeongChang for Loginov, who was 32nd at the Winter Games and only ninth in the PGS in the 2017 Worlds (at age 17). Although he hadn’t finished higher than sixth in seven World Cup starts this season, he’s now the World Champion.

The Freestyle and Snowboard Worlds continues through the 10th, with the Snowboard Parallel Slalom and Big Air finals on tap for Tuesday. Look for results here. Summaries:

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).

Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Dmitry Loginov (RUS); 2. Tim Mastnak (SLO); Small Final: 3. Stefan Baumeister (GER); 4. Vic Wild (RUS).

Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Selina Joerg (GER); 2. Natalia Soboleva (RUS); Small Final: 3. Ladina Jenny (SUI); 4. Milena Bykova (RUS).

STAT PACK: Results for the week of 28 January-3 February 2019

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

In this week’s issue are reports on 24 events in 17 sports:

● Alpine Skiing
● Athletics
● Biathlon
● Bobsled & Skeleton
● Curling
● Fencing
● Football
● Freestyle Skiing
● Luge
● Nordic Combined
● Rugby
● Sailing
● Short Track
● Ski Jumping
● Snowboard
● Speed Skating
● Table Tennis

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

[wpdm_package id=10606 template=”link-template-button-popup.php”]

THE BIG PICTURE: IOC starts boxing inquiry with 41 questions

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

By
Rich Perelman
-
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

By
Rich Perelman
-

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

LANE ONE

Monday: 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

By
Rich Perelman
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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

By
Rich Perelman
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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

By
Rich Perelman
-
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

By
Rich Perelman
-
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

By
Rich Perelman
-
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

By
Rich Perelman
-
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

By
Rich Perelman
-
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

By
Rich Perelman
-
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

By
Rich Perelman
-

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.

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