TENNIS Preview: Djokovic and Federer headline ATP Finals starting Sunday

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November 9, 2018

First held in 1970, what is now known as the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Finals will start Sunday at the O2 Arena in London (GBR), heading toward the end of a 2009-20 venue agreement.

The event pits the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams in competition for $8 million in prize money. Competition starts Sunday and runs through the following Sunday, with both events using round-robin group play to determine the semifinalists.

The singles groups include (with seed nos.):

∙ Group Guga Kuerten:
Marin Cilic (CRO: 5) ~ 2018 Australian Open runner-up
Alexander Zverev (GER: 3) ~ 2018 Madrid Open winner
Novak Djokovic (SRB: 1) ~ 2018 Wimbledon & U.S. Open winner
John Isner (USA: 8) ~ 2018 Atlanta Open winner

∙ Group Lleyton Hewitt:
Dominic Thiem (AUT: 6) ~ 2018 French Open runner-up
Kei Nishikori (JPN: 7) ~ 2018 Japan Open runner-up
Kevin Anderson (RSA: 4) ~ 2018 Wimbledon runner-up
Roger Federer (SUI: 2) ~ 2018 Australian Open winner

The doubles groups (and seeds):

∙ Group Knowles/Nestor:
Oliver Marach (AUT)/Mate Pavic (CRO): 1
Lukasz Kubot (POL)/Marcelo Melo (BRA): 3
Mike Bryan/Jack Sock (USA): 5
Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut (FRA): 8

∙ Group Llodra/Santoro:
Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah (COL): 2
Jamie Murray (GBR)/Bruno Soares (BRA): 4
Raven Klaasen (RSA)/Michael Venus (NZL): 6
Nikola Mektic (CRO)/Alexander Peya (AUT): 7

Djokovic has won the singles competition five times and Federer has won six titles, the last in 2011.

None of the doubles teams have won before, but Kubot and Melo made it to the finals last season; Mike Bryan won in 2003-04-09-14 when teamed with his brother Bob.

The event will have television coverage in the U.S. on ESPN2 and streaming coverage on ESPN3. Look for results here.

SWIMMING Preview: Weertman looks to clinch Marathon World Series title

By

Rich Perelman

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November 9, 2018

tsx pix 111418 weertman ferry 750 — Dutch Olympic 10 km Open Water Champion Ferry Weertman

The final leg of the eight-stop FINA/HOSA Marathon Swimming World Series is coming in Abu Dhabi (UAE) on Friday, with the seasonal title still on the line in the men’s division. The current standings, after seven races:

Men:
1. 78 Ferry Weertman (NED)
2. 62 Jack Burnell (GBR)
3. 55 Simone Ruffini (ITA)
4. 51 Marcel Schouten (NED)
5. 50 Matteo Furlan (ITA)
6. 44 Fernando Ponte (BRA)
7. 42 Rob Muffels (GER)

Women:
1. 96 Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA)
2. 66 Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED
2. 66 Rachele Bruni (ITA)
4. 62 Leonie Beck (GER)
5. 52 Finnia Wunram (GER)
5. 52 Xin Xin (CHN)
7. 41 Samantha Arevalo (ECU)

With the scoring at 20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-3 for the top 10 places, Weertman – the 2016 Rio champion in the 10 km Open Water event – can only be passed by Burnell, and only if Weertman finishes 10th or lower.

Weertman has participated in five of the seven races, winning the opener in Doha (QAT) and finishing second once, fourth twice and fifth once. Burnell was the last race at Chun’An (CN) and has one second and one third on the season. The seasonal title will be the first for either.

The women’s seasonal title was wrapped by Brazilian star Cunha, who has placed in six of the seven races, winning twice plus a second, third and fourth. She’s no stranger to winning the World Series; this is her third title after winning in 2010 and 2014. Van Rouwendaal, Arianna Bridi (ITA), Haley Anderson (USA) and Xin are the other winners on tour this season.

There is prize money at stake in the race as well as the seasonal series. The race prizes are $3,500-3,000-2,500-1,700-1,500-1,200-950-650 for the top eight places and $38,000-26,000-18,000-15,000-11,000-8,500-5,000-3,500 for the seasonal placings down to eighth.

Look for results here.

SWIMMING Preview: Hosszu’s quandary: Quantity or Quality?

By

Rich Perelman

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November 9, 2018

tsx pix 113016-swim hosszu 580x373 — The Iron Lady: Hungary's Katinka Hosszu

Since FINA changed the rules in 2017 to limit the number of points that swimmers can compile by swimming in multiple events, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu saw her five-year grip on the World Cup ended by Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in 2017.

That looked to be the case once again in 2018, as Sjostrom started strong in the long-course events and won the first cluster easily. But after a very strong performance in the Beijing (CHN) stop last week, Hosszu is suddenly on top of the standings for the third cluster (60 points) and has closed the gap to Sjostrom to just 15 points. The seasonal standings:

Men:
1. 272 Vladimir Morozov (RUS)
2. 168 Kirill Prigoda (RUS)
3. 165 Mitch Larkin (AUS)
4. 150 Michael Andrew (USA)
5. 147 Anton Chupkov (RUS)

Women:
1. 237 Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)
2. 222 Katinka Hosszu (HUN)
3. 204 Yulia Efimova (RUS)
4. 162 Ramoni Kromowidjojo (NED)
5. 132 Femke Heemskerk (NED)

This week, the next-to-last World Cup meeting is in Tokyo (JPN), at the Tatsumi International Swimming Center from Friday through Sunday. Hosszu now faces a decision on how to approach this meet if she wants to try for her sixth seasonal title.

On one hand, The Iron Lady is enraptured with swimming as many events as she can. She has entered a staggering 15 individual events, skipping only the 100 m Free and 100 m Fly, both likely wins for Sjostrom. But with event scoring at 12-9-6 for a maximum of three events, both Hosszu and Sjostrom will likely get the three wins. But the key to the scoring race is the bonus for the best performance according to the FINA points table. Hosszu scored the top event last week, getting an extra 24 (with 18-12 for places 2-3); can she do so again?

That raises the question: will Hosszu scratch out of some events in order to put more effort into getting max points from the FINA scoring table?

Sjostrom has a normal program of six events, including the 50-100-200 Frees, 50-100 Flys and 100 m Medley.

On the men’s side, Morozov is on the way to his second title in three years and he is entered in five events, including the 50-100 m Frees, 50 m Back, 50 m Fly and the 100 m Medley.

The meet prize money is $1,500-1,000-500-400-300-200 for the top six places; the seasonal title is worth $150,000, with second yielding $100,000 and third, $50,000.

The season will conclude next week in Singapore; look for results from Tokyo here.

SHORT TRACK Preview: Another relay record in Salt Lake City?

By

Rich Perelman

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November 9, 2018

The second stage of the 2018 ISU World Cup in Short Track is at the Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City this weekend, with competition in the full program of events. Last week’s winners in the season opener in Calgary:

Men:
∙ 500 m I: Dajing Wu (CHN)
· 500 m II: Wu
∙ 1,000 m: Shaoang Liu (HUN)
∙ 1,500 m: Kazuki Yoshinaga (JPN)
∙ 5,000 m Relay: Hungary

Women:
· 500 m I: Natalia Maliszewska (POL)
· 500 m II: Lara van Ruijven (NED)
· 1,000 m: Suzanne Schulting (NED)
· 1,500 m: Schulting (NED)
· 3,000 m Relay : Russia

The highlight from Calgary came in the men’s 5,000 m Relay, where the Hungarian quartet of Csaba Burjan, Cole Krueger, Shaoang Liu and Shaolin Sandor Liu set a world record of 6:28.825. It took a record time to edge Korea, second in 6:28.857 with Kyung-Hwan Kim, June-Seo Lee, Hyo-Jun Lim and Ji-Won Park. More of the same this week, especially in the thin air?

PyeongChang Olympic champions Wu (CHN: 500 m) and Schulting (NED: 1,000 m) were impressive in Calgary, winning two races each. Unbeatable?

Look for results here.

JUDO Preview: World Tour heads to final four in Tashkent

By

Rich Perelman

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November 9, 2018

The IJF World Tour has four events left in 2018, this week in Tashkent (UZB), with 352 judoka from 47 nations getting ready to compete. The top seeds, with their current world rankings:

Men:
∙ -60 kg:
1. Amartuvshin Dashsavaa (MGL: 7)
2. Sharafuddin Lutfillaev (UZB:8)

∙ -66 kg:
1. Yerlan Serikzhanov (KAZ: 10)
2. Adrian Gomboc (SLO: 13)

∙ -73 kg:
1. Tommy Macias (SWE: 4)
2. Zhansay Smagulov (KAZ: 12)

∙ -81 kg:
1. Aslan Lappinagov (RUS: 6)
2. Anri Egutidze (POR: 13)

∙ -90 kg:
1. Krisztian Toth (HUN; 3)
2. Nemanja Majdov (SRB: 10)

∙ -100 kg:
1. Elmar Gasimov (AZE: 10)
2. Ramadan Darwish (EGY: 11)

∙ +100 kg:
1. Iurii Krakovetskii (KGZ: 13)
2. Bekmurod Oltiboev (UZB: 17)

Women:
∙ -48 kg:
1. Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh (KAZ: 6)
2. Milica Nikolic (SRB: 7)

∙ -52 kg:
1. Evelyne Tschopp (SUI: 11)
2. Gili Cohen (ISR: 13)

∙ -57 kg:
1. Nora Gjakova (KOS: 3)
2. Theresa Stoll (GER: 6)

∙ -63 kg:
1. Andreja Leski (SLO: 6)
2. Katharina Haecker (AUS: 8)

∙ -70 kg:
1. Anna Bernholm (SWE: 7)
2. Michaela Polleres (AUT: 14)

∙ -78 kg:
1. Anastasiya Turchyn (UKR: 11)
2. Anna Maria Wagner (GER: 15)

∙ +78 kg:
1. Maryna Slutskaya (BLR: 6)
2. Iryna Kindzerska (AZE: 8)

Prize money for this tournament is $3,000-2,000-1,000 (for both thirds). Look for results here.

FIGURE SKATING Preview: Uno, Miyahara headline NHK Trophy in Hiroshima

By

Rich Perelman

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November 9, 2018

The fourth of six ISU Grand Prix events is the famed NHK Trophy, being held this season in Hiroshima (JPN) with competition in all four events:

Men:
∙ Shoma Uno (JPN) ~ 2018 Olympic silver medalist; 2017-18 Worlds silver medalist
∙ Deniss Vasiljevs (LAT) ~ 6th at 2018 World Championships
∙ Dmirti Aliev (RUS) ~ 7th at PyeongChang 2018 and in 2018 World Championships
∙ Vincent Zhou (USA) ~ 2017 World Junior Champion; 6th at PyeongChang 2018

Women:
∙ Mai Mihara (JPN) ~ 5th at 2017 World Championships
∙ Satoko Miyahara (JPN) ~ 2015 Worlds silver and 2018 Worlds bronze; 4th at PyeongChang ‘18
∙ Alena Leonova (RUS) ~ 2012 World Championships silver medalist; now 28!
∙ Maria Sotskova (RUS) ~ 8th in PyeongChang 2018 and in 2018 World Championships
∙ Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS) ~ 2015 World Champion; won Skate Canada International
∙ Mariah Bell (USA) ~ 12th at 2017 and 2018 World Championships

Pairs:
∙ Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Mariano (CAN) ~ 6th at 2018 Worlds; 11th in PyeongChang
∙ Cheng Peng/Yang Jin (CHN) ~ 9th at 2018 Worlds; 17th in PyeongChang ‘18
∙ Natalia Zabiiako/Alexander Enbert (RUS) ~ 4th at 2018 Worlds; 7th at PyeongChang ‘18
∙ Alexa Scimera Knierim/Chris Knierim (USA) ~ 15th at 2018 Worlds and PyeongChang

Ice Dance:
∙ Anastasia Skoptcova/Kirill Aleshin (RUS) ~ 2018 World Junior Champions
∙ Tiffani Zagorski/Jonathan Guerreiro (RUS) ~ 8th at 2018 World Champs; 13th in OWG ‘18
∙ Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker (USA) ~ 10th at 2018 World Championships

The focus of many of the skaters who have already competed at Skate America, Skate Canada Int’l or Helsinki is to confirm their place in the Grand Prix Final, scheduled for Vancouver (CAN) from 6-9 December. Uno won at Skate Canada Int’l and Miyahara (Skate America) and Tuktamysheva (Skate Canada Int’l) have both been winners already and only one can win in Hiroshima. In Pairs, the only prior winner is Zabiiako and Enbert, while the Ice Dance event is open, without a prior winner from this season.

The prize money is as usual for the Grand Prix events: $18,000-13,000-9,000-3,000-2,000 for the top five.

NBC has a highlights show on Sunday at noon Eastern time. Look for results here.

FENCING Preview: Season openers in Germany, Estonia and France!

By

Rich Perelman

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November 9, 2018

The FIE schedule for 2018-19 gets started this week, with competition in the men’s Foil, the women’s Epee and women’s Sabre:

∙ Men’s Foil in Bonn:

The 47th Lowe von Bonn tournament comes this weekend for both individuals and teams. A total of 236 fencers are entered; the top entries by their FIE World Rankings show the entire top ten lined up to compete:

1. Alessio Foconi (ITA) ~ 2018 World Champion
2. Richard Kruse (GBR) ~ 2018 World Championships silver medalist
3. Race Imboden (USA) ~ 2018 World Championships Team silver medalist
4. Andrea Cassara (ITA) ~ 2018 World Championships Team gold medalist
5. Alexey Cheremisinov (RUS) ~ 2018 World Championships Team bronze medalist
6. Timur Safin (RUS) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze medalist
7. Daniele Garozzo (ITA) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion
8. Alex Massialas (USA) ~ 2016 Olympic silver medalist
9. Erwann Le Pechoux (FRA) ~ 2017 World Championships Team bronze medalist
10. Giorgio Avola (ITA) ~ 2018 World Championships Team gold medalist

Individual competition will be held on Friday and Saturday, with the team event on Sunday. Follow the results here.

∙ Women’s Epee in Tallinn:

The 49th Glaive de Tallinn will be held in the Kalev Sports Hall, with 258 entries, including the surprise World Champion from 2018! The top entries according to the World Rankings:

1. Mara Navarria (ITA) ~ 2018 World Champion
2. Ana Maria Popescu (ROU) ~ 2016 Olympic Team gold medalist
4. Olena Kryvytska (UKR) ~ 2018 World Championships bronze medalist
5. Yiwen Sun (CHN) ~ 2017 World Championships Team silver medalist
6. Young Mi Kang (KOR) ~ 2018 World Championships Team silver medalist
8. Katrina Lehis (EST)
9. Man Wai Vivian Kong (HKG)
10. Courtney Hurley (USA) ~ 2018 World Championships bronze medalist

Competitions for individuals and teams are scheduled; live results are available here.

∙ Women’s Sabre in Orleans:

This is also a venerable competition, the 21st World Cup for women in Sabres in Orleans, with 188 ready to compete. The top entries, according to their world rankings:

2. Sofya Velikaya (RUS) ~ 2018 World Championships silver medalist
3. Anna Marton (HUN) ~ 2015 World championships bronze medalist
4. Cecilia Berder (FRA) ~ 2017 World Championships bronze medalist
5. Bianca Pascu (ROU)
8. Sofia Pozdniakova (RUS) ~ 2018 World Champion
9. Rossella Gregorio (ITA) ~ 2018 World Championships Team gold medalist
10. Dagmara Wozniak (USA) ~ 2016 Olympic Team bronze medalist

There will be competitions for individuals and teams; look for results here.

THE BIG PICTURE: USOC timing slaps USAG athletes right before their World Champs

By

Rich Perelman

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November 9, 2018

The United States Olympic Committee announcement that it will begin the process to de-certify USA Gymnastics as the National Governing Body for gymnastics came two days after the end of the FIG World Championships in Artistic Gymnastics in Doha (QAT).

But the timing could hardly have been worse for another U.S. team.

USA Gymnastics has a 24-member team competing this week at the FIG World Championships for Trampoline & Tumbling, in St. Petersburg (RUS). The staff report from the pre-meet training camp noted the news hit hard:

“Unfortunately, today started with the news that the U.S. Olympic Committee has begun the process to decertify USA Gymnastics. Having this happen the day before we begin competing at our World Championships was upsetting and unsettling for everyone who has worked so hard to be here. Thankfully with support from the International Gymnastics Federation, the athletes were reassured that they will still be able to compete.”

Said U.S. tumbler Alex Renkert, “I knew something like this was most likely going to happen. I was extremely surprised to see it fall upon us at this time. It’s a situation that no one wants to experience when you’re trying to concentrate on the gymnastics, so that was a challenge that’s come forth to us. It’s mostly a challenge because we’re all confused. We’re not really that worried – we know we’re going to have something for us there, it’s just the confusion, wondering what the state of it will be.”

The men’s Future Stars competition in Artistic Gymnastics is also this week, in Colorado Springs. How will they be affected?

The USOC is doing what it feels best for the future of gymnastics in the U.S. But, apparently, only Artistic Gymnastics counts. Just ask the Trampoline and Tumbling athletes who are competing for the United States in Russia this week. Could the USOC have waited until next Monday?

LANE ONE: Not all hosting costs are going down; Budapest to spend $111 million on IAAF ‘23!

By

Rich Perelman

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November 9, 2018

The plague of high costs which has confounded the International Olympic Committee, especially in attracting cities to host the Olympic Winter Games is spreading to other sports, most notably track & field.

It’s true that we’re talking millions vs. billions, but did you know that the 2021 and 2023 IAAF World Track & Field Championships are slated to cost $85.6 million and than about $111 million?

Also true.

As a part of the process for the State of Oregon’s $10 million grant to the event, through the Oregon Tourism Commission, the agreement between the state and the Oregon 21 organizing committee was made public and published by the Eugene Register-Guard. The budget exhibit shows a projected spend of $85.59 million:

∙ $16.76 million: Administration and prize money
∙ $20.81 million: Operations, including athlete travel & housing
∙ $12.45 million: Marketing costs
∙ $ 3.88 million: Protocol and ceremonies
∙ $ 3.47 million: Facilities, including temporary seating
∙ $ 2.32 million: Competition support and training sites
∙ $ 1.07 million: Medical and doping control
∙ $ 6.10 million: Press operations and technical support
∙ $14.20 million: Television production
∙ $ 0.09 million: Telecommunications
∙ $ 4.00 million: Contingency
∙ $ 0.45 million: Legacy

The grand total is $85,589,975 for a 10-day event. This will be financed by:

∙ $51.00 million: Public funds, sponsorships, foundation grants
∙ $18.04 million: Tickets, merchandise and concession sales
∙ $16.55 million: IAAF contribution and other items

Let’s note from the start that the IAAF is paying, according to the document, enough to cover the $7.2 million in prize money and for a chunk of the athlete travel and housing (or part of the TV production costs) depending on how you want to allot their payment. Removing that means that the Oregon folks must raise about $69 million from local sponsorships, public funds and ticket sales. The ticketing program will be fascinating, as the new Hayward Field will be stretched to fit 30,000 spectators, which after removing seats for athletes, officials and news media, will leave less than 25,000 for sale.

There were 15 sessions at the 2017 IAAF Worlds in London, so if the schedule in 2021 were similar, there would be about 375,000 tickets available for sale across the entire event. At an average of $50 apiece, and if every ticket were sold, the yield is $18.75 million, right in line with their budget. Look for a higher average price, which would include corporate hospitality service, and at a $75 average, the take is $28.1 million.

Because of the shortage of hotel rooms in the Eugene-Springfield area, spectators coming from out of town are going to have to stay as far away as Portland – a two-hour drive in good conditions – so combination admission tickets and bus transfers could drive the average session price to more than $100 (per session, not per day!).

That’s going to be needed if Oregon21 does not get the $40 million it is seeking from the state, of which it has the agreement for $10 million.

And then there is the question of Nike, which is NOT an IAAF sponsor for the 2017 and 2019 Worlds – ASICS is the IAAF partner for those – but 2021 has been left open (so far) and Nike could come in and help the organizing committee if it chose to. But that deal is not done yet.

The moral of all this: $85.6 million in a lot of money to put on a track meet. There are costs that could be shaved; quite possibly $5-7 million, maybe as much as $10 million. But it’s still a lot.

But that’s the price for 2021 and it’s going up. There are no financial statements – transparency anyone? – from the 2017 World Championships in London, but the cost was reported around in the $80 million range. Doha (QAT), the site of the 2019 IAAF Championships, offered the IAAF a package of about $236 million for the 2017 event, but got 2019 instead. Its offer was $80 million to organize the event, another $120 million to renovate its Al Khalifa stadium complex, an IAAF sponsorship and a television rights fee for Qatar for $29 million and payment of the $7 million in prize money.

And just in time for 2019, lo and behold, the IAAF announced a 2018-22 sponsorship with the Qatar National Bank last July.

But the expected costs of the IAAF Worlds appears to be accelerating. On 25 October, the Hungarian Athletics Federation (MASZ) announced that the national government had agreed to guarantee the organizing committee budget – approved by the IAAF, but not disclosed publicly – of 31.5 billion Hungarian forints, or about $111. 88 million U.S.

The IAAF cleverly ended its open-bid process for its World Champs in favor of trying to find cities and countries willing to spend heavily for the no. 3 event in worldwide impact. So far, so good … but how long will this last?

Rich Perelman
Editor

SAILING: New Keelboat event approved for Paris 2024

By

Rich Perelman

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November 9, 2018

The World Sailing Annual Conference closed in Sarasota, Florida (USA) last Sunday with a major change to the Olympic events program for the 2024 Games in Paris.

The World Sailing Council had earlier approved changing the men’s Finn class with a Mixed One-Person Dinghy event – two boats, including the Finn for men – with combined times for placement.

This was hardly popular, and a new concept for a Mixed Two-Person Keelboat event was confirmed after a lot of debate, first by the Council and then by the general meeting, 43-17 with four abstentions.

The change raises all kinds of questions, including what equipment will be used – boats of up to 33 feet have been suggested – and how an offshore regatta is going to be handled. Who pays for the security offshore? What costs for television production will be incurred?

How many nations will even be able to mount such boats?

The Finn class was the oldest on the Olympic program, having been a part of the Games since 1952. The president of the International Finn Association, Balazs Hajdu (HUN) noted, “We feel the Finn class has become collateral damage in the quest for gender equality and Olympic TV rights income for World Sailing.”

Remember, this is Paris 2024 we’re talking about; there’s still a long way to go.

WEIGHTLIFTING: China’s Deng claims fourth IWF world title

By

Rich Perelman

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November 7, 2018

tsx pix 111418 wei deng iwf — China's World Champion Wei Deng (Photo: IWF)

The International Weightlifting Federation’s 2018 World Championships continues in Ashgabat (TKM), with China’s Wei Deng continuing her dominance with a fourth world title, winning the women’s 64 kg title and setting five more world records.

She won the Rio 2016 title at the then-63 kg class and already owned world titles from 2010, 2014 and 2015, but lifting in the new, 64 kg class, she set a new mark of 112 kg in the Snatch and followed with another world mark of 140 kg in the Clean & Jerk. All three of her lifts in the C&J gave her new world records of 247, 250 and 252 kg. All this and she is still only 25!

China’s Wangli Zhang was just as supreme in the women’s 71 kg class, setting world records in the Clean & Jerk of 148 and 152 kg and total lift records of 263 and 267 kg. “I came here to set World Records and win the World Championships. I got everything I wanted,” she said afterwards.

The U.S. got its first medal of the Championships with a bronze for Mattie Rogers at 71 kg in the Clean & Jerk. Her second lift of 133 kg was good enough for third, but she missed on her final try at 137 kg. It’s her second consecutive World Championships medal after earning a bronze in all three categories last year.

The parade of world records, in significant part because of the changes in weight classes from eight to 10, continued in Ashagat. Through just the first four days, here are the 15 new men’s records (across six classes) and 31 women’s records, also over six classes:

∙ Men’s 55 kg:
Yun Chol Om (PRK) Clean & Jerk: 162 kg

∙ Men’s 61 kg:
Eko Irawan (INA) Clean & Jerk: 174 kg
Irawan Total: 313 kg
Irawan Total: 317 kg

∙ Men’s 67 kg:
Lijun Chen (CHN) Total: 332 kg

∙ Men’s 73 kg:
Zhiyong Shi (CHN) Snatch: 161 kg
Shi Snatch: 164 kg
Shi Clean & Jerk: 196 kg
Shi Total: 352 kg
Shi Total: 360 kg

∙ Men’s 81 kg:
Xiaojun Lyu (CHN) Snatch: 172 kg
Mohamed Ihab Mahmoud (EGY) Snatch: 173 kg
Mahmoud Total: 369 kg
Mahmoud Total: 373 kg
Lyu Total: 374 kg

∙ Men’s 89 kg: none

∙ Women’s 49 kg:
Huihua Jiang (CHN) Snatch: 92 kg
Sopita Tanasan (THA) Snatch: 93 kg
Chayuttra Pramongkhol (THA) Clean & Jerk: 120 kg
Zhihui Hou (CHN) Total: 205 kg
Jiang Total: 206 kg
Hou Total: 208 kg
Pramongkhol Total: 209 kg

∙ Women’s 55 kg:
Yajun Li (CHN) Snatch: 100 kg
Sukanya Srisurat (THA) Snatch: 101 kg
Li Snatch: 102 kg
Srisurat Snatch: 103 kg
Srisurat Snatch: 105 kg
Srisurat Clean & Jerk: 127 kg
Li Total: 223 kg
Srisurat Total: 227 kg
Srisurat Total: 230 kg
Srisurat Total: 232 kg

∙ Women’s 59 kg:
Hsing-Chun Kuo (TPE) Snatch: 105 kg
Kuo Clean & Jerk: 132 kg
Guiming Chen (CHN) Clean & Jerk: 133 kg
Kuo Total: 233 kg
Kuo Total: 237 kg

∙ Women’s 64 kg:
Wei Deng (CHN) Snatch: 112 kg
Deng Clean & Jerk: 140 kg
Deng Total: 247 kg
Deng Total: 250 kg
Deng Total: 252 kg

∙ Women’s 71 kg:
Wangli Zhang (CUB) Clean & Jerk: 148 kg
Zhang Clean & Jerk: 152 kg
Zhang Total: 263 kg
Zhang Total: 267 kg

As the sport tries to recover from the doping scandals which have pushed it to the edge of being removed from the 2024 Olympic program in Paris, it’s interesting to see if athletes from either of the last two World Championships were able to repeat. The 2017 Worlds in Anaheim was quite clean in terms of doping, as nine nations were excluded completely. The 2015 Worlds in Houston had 24 positives and almost cost weightlifting its place in the Olympics. Repeaters from these two events in 2018:

∙ 2017: Anaheim
Women 59 kg: Hsing-Chun Kuo (TPE) (Won at 58 kg)

∙ 2015: Houston
Men 55 kg: Yun Chol Om (PRK) (Won at 56 kg)
Men 67 kg: Lijun Chen (CHN) (Won at 62 kg)
Men 73 kg: Zhiyong Shi (CHN) (Won at 69 kg)
Men 85 kg: Artem Okulov (RUS) (Won at 89 kg)
Women 63 kg: Wei Deng (CHN) (Won at 64 kg)

Among the men, 2018 marked the fourth World Championship for 2012 Olympic winner Om, the third for Chen and second for Shi and Okulov. For the women, Deng won her fourth world title and the women’s 59 kg title in the third for Kuo.

A noteworthy performance for the U.S. was from 2017 bronze medalist Harrison Maurus, who finished sixth overall, but set another World Junior Record at 81 kg, this time with a lift of 200 kg in the Clean & Jerk. Summaries so far:

IWF World Championships
Ashgabat (TKM) ~ 2-11 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men

55 kg: 1. Yun Chol Om (PRK), 282 kg total combined weight; 2. Arli Chontey (KAZ), 258 kg: 3. Mirco Scaratino (ITA), 252 kg; 4. Young-Ho Kim (KOR), 251 kg; 5. Josue Brachi Garcia (ESP), 250 kg; 6. Angel Rusev (BUL), 248 kg; 7. Sergio Massidda (ITA), 236 kg; 8. Muammer Sahin (TUR), 235 kg.

61 kg: 1. Eko Yuli Irawan (INA), 317 kg; 2. Fabin Li (CHN), 310 kg; 3. Fulin Qin (CHN), 308 kg; 4. Francisco Mosqueda (COL), 304 kg; 5. Kim Tuan Thach (VIE), 298 kg; 6. Adkhamjon Ergashev (UZB), 293 kg; 7. Shofa Mishvelidze (GEO), 293 kg; 8. Yoichi Itokazu (JPN), 292 kg.

67 kg: 1. Lijun Chen (CHN), 332 kg; 2. Minhao Huang (CHN), 323 kg; 3. Julio Mayora (VEN), 322 kg; 4. Doston Yokubov (UZB), 319 kg; 5. Oscar Figueroa (COL), 318 kg; 6. Jong Ju Pak (PRK), 315 kg; 7. Goga Chkheidze (GEO), 311 kg; 8. Deni (INA), 310 kg. Also: 18. Alex Lee (USA), 292 kg.

73 kg: 1. Zhiyong Shi (CHN), 360 kg; 2. Jeongsik Won (KOR), 348; 3. Vadzim Likharad (BLR), 343 kg; 4. Chong Song Ri (PRK), 342 kg; 5. Kang Chol O (PRK), 339 kg; 6. Briken Calja (ALB), 339 kg; 7. Karem Ben Hnia (TUN), 337 kg. Also: 10. Clarence Cummings Jr. (USA), 335 kg.

81 kg: 1. Xiaojun Lyu (CHN), 374 kg; 2. Mohamed Ihab Mahmoud (EGY), 373 kg; 3. Dayin Li (CHN), 372 kg; 4. Rejepbay Rejepov (TKM), 363 kg; 5. Petr Asayonak (BLR), 357 kg; 6. Harrison Maurus (USA), 357 kg; 7. Nico Mueller (GER), 348 kg; 8. Safaa Aljumaili (IRQ), 346 kg.

89 kg: 1. Artem Okulov (RUS), 372 kg; 2. Pavel Khadasevich (BLR), 371; 3. Revaz Davitadze (GEO), 371; 4. Brayan Rodallegas COL), 370 kg; 5. Arley Mendez (CHI), 369 kg; 6. Keydomar Vallenilla (VEN), 369 kg; 7. Hakob Mkrtchyan (ARM), 365 kg; 8. Jhor Moreno (COL), 363 kg.

Women

45 kg: 1. Thunya Sukcharoen (THA), 186 kg; 2. Yulduz Dzhumbayeva (TKM), 179 kg; 3. Chiraphan Nanthawong (THA), 171 kg; 4. Katherin Echandia Zarate (VEN), 157 kg; 5. Alessandra Pagliaro (ITA), 156 kg; 6. Thi Thu Trang Nguyen (VIE), 151 kg; 7. Daniela Padvova (BUL), 141 kg; only entrants.

49 kg: 1. Chayuttra Pramongkhol (THA), 209 kg; 2. Zhihui Hou (CHN), 208 kg; 3. Huihua Jiang (CHN), 206 kg; 4. Sopita Tanasan (THA), 201 kg; 5. Elena-Ramona Andries (ROU), 188 kg; 6. Beatriz Piron Candelario (DOM), 187 kg; 7. Sri Wahyuni Agustiani (INA), 186 kg; 8. Thi Huyen Vuong (VIE), 183 kg. Also: 12. Alyssa Richey (USA), 178 kg.

55 kg: 1. Sukanya Srisurat (THA), 232 kg; 2. Yajun Li (CHN), 225 kg; 3. Wanqiong Zhang (CHN), 225 kg; 4. Cristina Iovu ((ROU), 220 kg; 5. Zulfiya Chinshanlo (KAZ), 213 kg; 6. Muattar Nabieva (UZB), 212 kg; 7. Nouha Landoulsi (TUN), 211 kg; 8. Kristina Shermatova (TKM), 210 kg. Also: 15. Jourdan Delacruz (USA), 198 kg; … 20. Caitlin Hogan (USA), 191 kg.

59 kg: 1. Hsing-Chun Kuo (TPE), 237 kg; 2. Guiming Chen (CHN), 231 kg; 3. Rebeka Koha (LAT), 227 kg; 4. Pimsiri Sirikaew (THA), 225 kg; 5. Mikiko Sirikaew (THA), 225 kg; 6. Thi Duyen Hoang (VIE), 223 kg; 7. Chineye Fedelis (NGR), 215 kg; 8. Acchedya Jagaddhita (INA), 212 kg. Also: 12. Jessica Lucero (USA), 204 kg.

64 kg: 1. Wei Deng (CHN), 252 kg; 2. Un Sim Rim (PRK), 239 kg; 3. Rattanawan Wamalun (HA), 239 kg; 4. Tzu-Chi LIN (TPE), 235 kg; 5. Loredana-Elena Toma (ROU), 234 kg; 6. Mercedes Perez (COL), 232 kg; 7. Assem Sadykova (KAZ), 226 kg; 8. Karina Goricheva (KAZ), 224 kg. Also: 15. Mattie Sasser (USA), 218 kg; … 22. Hunter Elam (USA), 207 kg.

71 kg: 1. Wangli Zhang (CHN), 267 kg; 2. Sara Ahmed (EGY), 252 kg; 3. Nadezda Likhacheva (KAZ), 242 kg; 4. Anastasiia Romanova (RUS), 240 kg; 5. Mattie Rogers (USA), 238 kg; 6. Meredith Alwine (USA), 233 kg; 7. Mari Sanchez (COL), 228 kg; 8. Jennifer Cantu (MEX), 216 kg.

SHOOTING: U.S. wins all three Mixed titles at Americas Championship

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

tsx pix 111418 browning kayle 750 — U.S. Trap star Kayle Browning

The U.S. continued its march through the 12th Championship of the Americas in Guadalajara (MEX), winning all three of the Mixed Team titles.

In the 10 m Air Pistol event, the U.S. went 1-2 with the duos of Lexi Lagan and Nick Mowrer, who won with 481.1 points, and Sandra Uptagrafft and James Hall, second with 479.6.

Almost the same in the Mixed 10 m Air Rifle, with Minden Miles and Dempster Christenson winning with 496.7 points, ahead of the Argentinian pair of Salma Antorena and Alexis Eberhardt (494.9). This was Sarah Beard and Lucas Kozeniesky of the U.S. with 429.4 points.

In the Mixed Trap, Ashley Carroll and Grayson Davey teamed up for a 46-42 win over Alejandra Ramirez and Jorge Orozco of Mexico. Kayle Browning won the women’s Trap, defeating Adriana Ruano of Guatemala, 45-43.

“It wasn’t my best score in the world, but I felt consistent,” said Browning. “The lighting was really bad so I think the key was staying aggressive. When you can’t see the well, you’ve just got to shoot it really fast. The first round today was the first time the sun came out during the match, so I had to change lenses, and of course the second the Final starts, a storm comes through and it starts raining on us and the lighting changes, so it was not ideal.”

Competition continues through the 11th. Summaries so far:

Americas Championships
Guadalajara (MEX) ~ 3-11 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men

10 m Air Pistol: 1. James Hall (USA), 240.9; 2. Jose Castillo (GUA), 236.6; 3. Philipe Neves Freitas Severo (BRA), 236.6; 4. Julio Almeida (BRA), 195.3; 5. Nick Mowrer (USA), 174.0.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Alexis Eberhardt (ARG), 52.2; 2. Lucas Kozeniesky (USA), 51.7; 3. Dempster Christenson (USA), 50.9; 4. Bryant Wallizer (USA), 50.7; 5. Julio Iemma Hernandez (VEN), 50.0.

Trap: 1. Alessandro de Souza (PER), 45; 2. Jorge Orozco (MEX), 43; 3. Glenn Eller (USA), 33; 4. Francisco Boza (PER), 28; 5. Gianluca Dapelo (CHI), 23.

Women

10 m Air Pistol: 1. Lynda Kiejko (CAN), 235.2; 2. Lexi Lagan (USA), 234.2; 3. Diana Durango (ECU), 231.1; 4. Lilian Castro (ESA), 192.4; 5. Alejandra Zavala (MEX), 172.6. Also: 8. Sandra Uptagrafft (USA), 111.3.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Minden Miles (USA), 248.4; 2. Alison Weisz (USA), 247.9; 3. Fernanda Russo (ARG), 226.2; 4. Gabriela Martinez (MEX), 205.2; 5. Michel Quezada (MEX), 184.1. Also: 6. Sarah Beard (USA), 162.8.

Trap: 1. Kayle Browning (USA), 45; 2. Adriana Ruano (GUA), 43; 3. Ashley Carroll (USA), 34; 4. Aeriel Skinner (USA), 29; 5. Alejandra Ramirez (MEX), 22.

Mixed

10 m Air Pistol: 1. Lexi Lagan/Nick Mowrer (USA), 481.1; 2. Sandra Uptagrafft/ James Hall (USA), 479.6; 3. Andrea Perez Pena/Yautung Cueva Cordova (ECU), 411.1; 4. Cheila Gonzalez/Guillermo Pias (CUB), 367.2; 5. Annia Becerra/Marco Carrillo (PER), 325.7.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Minden Miles/Dempster Christenson (USA), 496.7; 2. Salma Antorena/Alexis Eberhardt (ARG), 494.9; 3. Sarah Beard/Lucas Kozeniesky (USA), 429.4; 4. Carla Carrera/Maurilio Morales (MEX), 386.0; 5. Sara Vizcarra/Cristian Morales (PER), 339.9.

Trap: 1. Ashley Carroll/Grayson Davey (USA), 46; 2. Alejandra Ramirez/Jorge Orozco (MEX), 42; 3. Adriana Ruano/Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas (GUA), 33; 4. Aeriel Skinner/Glenn Eller (USA), 30; 5. Abril Soto/Enrique Brol (GUA), 21.

TABLE TENNIS Preview: Fan looks for fourth tour win at Austrian Open

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

One of the six ITTF World Tour Platinum events, the Austrian Open is getting ready at the TipsArena Linz. The top seeds:

∙ Men’s Singles:
1. Zhendong Fan (CHN)
2. Xin Xu (CHN)

∙ Men’s Doubles:
1. Youngsik Jeong/Sangsu Lee (KOR)
2. Masataka Morizono/Yuya Oshima (JPN)

∙ Women’s Singles:
1. Yuling Zhu (CHN)
2. Ning Ding (CHN)

∙ Women’s Doubles:
1. Hina Hayata/Mima Ito (JPN)
2. Jihee Jeon/Haeun Yang (KOR)

∙ Mixed Doubles:
1. Chien-An Chen/I-Ching Cheng (TPE)
2. Maharu Yoshimura/Kasumi Ishikawa (JPN)

Three defending champions are back, including Gaoyuan Lin (CHN: 5th seed), Manyu Wang (CHN: 6) and the women’s Doubles pair of Xingtong Chen/Yingsha Sun (CHN: 5).

Fan defeated Xu last week at the Swedish Open and has won three events in tour this season; among the women, Wang has also won three times. Look for results here.

KARATE Preview: World Championships underway in Madrid

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

The 24th world championships in Karate started on Tuesday at the WiZink Center in Madrid, with a record total of 1,117 entries from 140 countries assembled for competition. The draws have been completed with the top-seeded entries including:

Men: (* = defending champion)
∙ Kata:
1. Ryo Kiyuna (JPN)*
2. Danian Quintero (ESP)

∙ Team Kata:
1. Japan*
2. France

∙ Kumite:
-60 kg:
1. Amir Mehdizadeh (IRI)*
2. Firdovsi Farzaliyev (AZE)

-67 kg:
1. Jordan Thomas (ENG)
2. Yves Tadissi (HUN)

-75 kg:
1. Rafael Aghayev (AZE)*
2. Luigi Busa (ITA)

-84 kg:
1. Ryutaro Araga (JPN)*
2. Aykhan Mamayev (AZE)

+84 kg:
1. Sajad Ganjzadeh (IRI)*
2. Andjelo Kvesic (CRO)

Team:
1. Iran*
2. Japan

Women:
∙ Kata:
1. Kiyou Shimizu (JPN)*
2. Sarah Sayed (EGY)

∙ Team Kata:
1. Japan*
2. Spain

∙ Kumite:
-50 kg:
1. Alexandra Recchia (FRA)*
2. Miho Miyahara (JPN)

-55 kg:
1. Valeria Kumizaki (BRA)
2. Tzu-Yun Wen (TPE)

-61 kg:
1. Giana Lotfy (EGY)*
2. Anita Serogina (UKR)

-68 kg:
1. Katrine Pedersen (DEN)
2. Marina Rakovic (MNE)

+68 kg:
1. Ayumi Uekusa (JPN)*
2. Eleni Chatziliadou (GRE)

Team:
1. France*
2. Spain

Japan dominated the 2016 Worlds, winning six events in all and collecting nine medals (6-2-1), tied for the most medals won with France (3-2-4), Iran also had three wins and won six medals (3-0-3) for third.

Look for results here.

GYMNASTICS Preview: St. Petersburg hosts World Trampoline Champs

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

One of the reasons that many international federations are loath to suspend Russia for doping violations is that the country hosts so many Grand Prix or World Cup or World Championship events. The FIG World Trampoline Championships are just the latest, at the St. Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex.

More than 250 athletes from 34 countries are entered in individual and team events in Trampoline and Tumbling. Entries of note include:

Men:
∙ Uladzislau Hancharou (BLR) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion and 2015 Worlds silver medalist
∙ Gao Lei (CHN) ~ 2016-17 World Champion and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist
∙ Dmitrii Ushakov (RUS) ~ 2012 Olympic silver and 2017 Worlds silver medalist
∙ Andrey Yudin (RUS) ~ 2015 World Championships bronze medalist
∙ Dong Dong (CHN) ~ 2009-10-13 World Champion and thrice Olympic medalist: 3-1-2 in 2008-12-16

Women:
∙ Rosie MacLennan (CAN) ~ 2012-16 Olympic Champion and 2013 World Champion
∙ Bryony Page (GBR) ~ 2016 Olympic silver medalist
∙ Tatsiana Piatrenia (BLR) ~ 2017 World Champion
∙ Dan Li (CHN) ~ 2016 Olympic silver medalist; 201-15 World Champion
∙ Lingling Liu (CHN) ~ 2014 World Champion

Page is returning from injury just in time for the Worlds; MacLennan, now 30, is back in action after a slow recovery from concussions and ligament damage in her neck.

In Trampoline Synchro, men’s winners Hancharou and Aleh Rabtsau (BLR) are back for Belarus; half of the Chinese women’s team – Xueying Zhu – is also returning.

In the Tumbling events, defending champions Kuo Zhang (CHN) and Fangfang Jia (CHN) both return.

The U.S. has a full team in St. Petersburg, but national Trampoline champs Jeffrey Gluckstein and Savannah Thompson are not able to compete. National runner-ups Aliaksei Shostak and Nicole Ahsinger and bronze medalists Isaac Rowley and Alyssa Oh will lead the U.S. squad.

Look for results here.

CYCLING Preview: Urban World Champs starting in Chengdu

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

The second edition of the UCI’s Urban World Championships in cycling are getting underway in Chengdu (CHN), with competition in BMX Freestyle Park, Mountain Bike Eliminator and Trials.

For the Olympic event of BMX Freestyle Park, which will debut in Tokyo at the 2020 Olympic Games, the competition is really just an extension of last week’s Chengdu finale of the UCI World Cup. Those results showcased the favorites for this week’s Worlds:

Men:
∙ Chengdu:
1. Jake Wallwork (AUS)
2. Dennis Enarson (USA)
3. Declan Brooks (GBR)

∙ Season:
1. Martin Rantes (CRO)
2. Daniel Dhers (VEN)
3. Nick Bruce (USA)

Women:
∙ Chengdu:
1. Lara Lessmann (GER)
2. Hannah Roberts (USA)
3. Nikita Ducarroz (SUI)

∙ Season:
1. Hannah Roberts (USA)
2. Lara Lessmann (GER)
3. Nikita Ducarroz (SUI)

In terms of returning medal winners, five of last year’s six medalists will be back. Men’s gold medalist Logan Martin (AUS) is injured and won’t be competing, but Alex Coleborn (GBR) and Colton Walker (USA) are both entered.

Roberts and Lessmann – both still teenagers at 17 and 18 – were 1-2 last year at the Worlds, with American Angie Marino third and ready to move up in 2018.

Look for results here.

CURLING Preview: Gushue looking for repeat at Tour Challenge

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

The 2018 Grand Slam of Curling has nearly reached the halfway point, with this week’s assembly in Thunder Bay, Ontario (CAN) for the Tour Challenge. The top entries (by Skip):

Men:
∙ Peter de Cruz (SUI) ~ 2018 Olympic bronze medalists
∙ Niklas Edin (SWE) ~ 2018 World Champion and Olympic silver medalists
∙ John Epping (CAN) ~ 2018 The Masters gold medalists
∙ Brad Gushue (CAN) ~ Defending Grand Slam of Curling champs; won the Elite 10 in 2018
∙ Brad Jacobs (CAN) ~ 2014 Olympic gold medalists
∙ Kevin Koe (CAN) ~ 2016 World Champions
∙ John Shuster (USA) ~ 2018 Olympic gold medalists

Women:
∙ Cory Christensen (USA) ~ 2016 World Junior Championships silver medalists
∙ Rachel Homan (CAN) ~ 2018 Grand Slam of Curling winners; 2017 World Champions
∙ Jennifer Jones (CAN) ~ 2014 Olympic gold medalists and 2018 World Champions
∙ Nina Roth (USA) ~ Two-time U.S. national champions
∙ Jamie Sinclair (USA) ~ 2018 U.S. national champions

This is the third of six “regular-season” tournaments, with the winners qualifying for the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup. Gushue returns after winning last year’s Tour Challenge over Steffen Walstad (NOR); he also won the season-opening Elite 10 tournament this season.

This is only the fourth year for the Tour Challenge; Koe, Edin and Gushue have won the three men’s tournaments. Swiss Silvana Trininzoni – who is entered – won the inaugural women’s tournament in 2015.

Round-robin play in groups continues through Friday (9th) with the playoffs on Saturday and final matches on Sunday. Look for results and scores here.

BADMINTON Preview: Three Rio champs in Fuzhou China Open

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

A strong field has assembled for the Fuzhou China Open, a tournament previously known as the China Masters. The top entries (and current world rankings):

∙ Men’s Singles:
1. Kento Momota (JPN: 1)
2. Yuqi Shi (CHN: 2)

∙ Men’s Doubles:
1. Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA: 1)
2. Junhui Li/Yuchen Liu (CHN: 2)

∙ Women’s Singles:
1. Akane Yamaguchi (JPN: 2)
2. P.V. Sindhu (IND: 3)

∙ Women’s Doubles:
1. Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (JPN: 1)
2. Misaki Matsumoto/Ayaka Takahashi (JPN: 2)

∙ Mixed Doubles:
1. Siwei Zhang/Yaqiong Huang (CHN: 1)
2. Yilu Wang/Dongping Huang (CHN: 2)

It’s worth noting the presence of Rio Olympic champs Long Chen (CHN) and Carolina Marin (ESP) in the men’s and women’s draws, even though they are not in the top two, plus women’s Doubles stars Matsumoto and Takahashi. Also returning are three 2017 winners: women’s Singles champ Ohori Aya (JPN), men’s Doubles winners Hung-Ling Chen/Chi-Lin Wang (TPE) and Mixed Doubles winners Wang and Huang from China.

Prize money in this $700,000 tournament is excellent, with Singles payouts of $$49,000-23,800-9,800 (x2) for the top four places and on down to $700 for the losers in the Round of 64. For Doubles, the winners get $51,800, then $24,500 and $9,800 for the semifinalists and on down to $700.

Look for results here.

THE BIG PICTURE: Baumann’s World Urban Games becoming a reality

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

The newest multi-sport competition is the “World Urban Games,” a project of the late Swiss IOC member Patrick Baumann, who was the Secretary-General of the International Basketball Federation and head of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).

Baumann championed the concept of new multi-sport events which he felt could bring added interest and excitement in the years between Olympic Games. The World Beach Games was another concept that Baumann supported and it will take place in San Diego from 9-15 October 2019, although under the auspices of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC).

Los Angeles, or more accurately, El Segundo was announced as the site (over Budapest (HUN)) for the first World Urban Games, to take place in September next year, just ahead of the World Beach Games.

The GAISF announcement noted that the “World Urban Games will present up to 700 athletes in 7 urban sports.” The current competition program includes 3×3 Basketball, BMX Cycling Freestyle, Sports Climbing (Bouldering), Break Dancing, Freestyle Flying Disc, Parkour, Skateboard Street, and Park Roller Freestyle. Also: “In addition to these competitions, an urban sports showcase will feature up to 100 athletes in at least four other disciplines.” Look for eSports to have a place in these Games as well.

So it’s an 800-athlete program, eminently manageable. The World Beach Games is almost double the size at 1,360 athletes in 17 disciplines. The beach event has a television agreement with NBC; none yet for the Urban Games.

The World Urban Games is a project of Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Siong, a billionaire from his work in anti-cancer drug development. The Times headquarters has moved to El Segundo and it will be fascinating to see how much promotion the newspaper gives to the event vis-a-vis its annual Times Festival of Books and The Taste food festival, both of which it promotes relentlessly. Oh, and did we mention that Soon-Siong also owns the San Diego Union-Tribune, home paper of the World Beach Games?

LANE ONE: U.S. Olympic Committee drops the hammer on USA Gymnastics, but also on itself?

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

The FIG World Championships in Artistic Gymnastics finished in Doha (QAT) on Saturday. On Monday, new U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive, Sarah Hirshland, announced that the organization would begin the process of revoking the membership of USA Gymnastics as the National Governing Body for Gymnastics.

Hirshland’s comment was significant in the details, including:

“In the long-term, it will be the critically important responsibility of the recognized Gymnastics NGB, whether the existing organization or a new one, to lead gymnastics in the United States and build on the supportive community of athletes and clubs that can carry the sport forward for decades to come.”

So USA Gymnastics may yet survive. The next question is what happens next?

As Hirshland’s letter outlined, the legal process for de-certifying a National Governing Body is detailed in Section 8 of the USOC’s By-Laws, the current version of which was updated on 21 September 2018:

§ 8.20.1: Hirshland must issue a complaint “setting forth the legal and factual basis of non-compliance or other deficiency, and … the remedy requested.”

Hirshland will then appoint a three-person panel consisting of one member of the USOC Board, one member of the “NGB Council” – a president or chief executive of another National Governing Body – and one member of the Athletes Advisory Council. Those will be interesting choices.

§ 8.20.2: The panel will conduct a hearing, where USA Gymnastics will be able to respond to the complaint. After that,“the hearing panel shall prepare a report to the Board on the Organization’s noncompliance or deficiency. The report shall also include a recommendation as to the action to be taken by the Board.”

§ 8.20.3: After the panel’s report is provided to Hirshland and USA Gymnastics, the latter will be able to file a reply to it and both documents will be sent to the USOC’s Board of Directors.

§ 8.20.4: “The Board shall consider the matter relating to the Olympic, Pan American or Paralympic Sport Organizations membership and recognition as soon as is practicable.” This means that the USOC’s Board could act by a conference call and not wait for a scheduled meeting on the subject. The decision of the Board is final.

OK, let’s assume that USAG is de-certified and is no longer the National Governing Body for Gymnastics. That may be emotionally satisfying to some, but the appointment of a new NGB is not quick or easy. The Ted Stevens Olympic Amateur Sports Act of 1978 – as amended (36 U.S.C. §2205 et seq.) – requires that the selection of a new NGB for any sport:

(1) Must be of “an amateur sports organization which files an application and is eligible for such recognition in accordance with the provisions of subsection (a) or (b) of section 220522.” That section includes a long list of requirements for any potential NGB, in line with the USOC’s current requirements for all existing NGBs regarding elections, freedom from outside influence and so on.

(2) Prior to selecting an organization as the NGB, the USOC is required to hold not less than two public hearings, with notice given at least 30 days prior to each hearing. The USOC is required to “send written notice, which shall include a copy of the application, at least 30 days prior to the date of any such public hearing to all amateur sports organizations known to the [USOC] in that sport.”

So the process is not going to be quick, even if USA Gymnastics, as currently constituted, were to – as Hirshland put it – surrender “its recognition voluntarily.” But the USA Gymnastics Board put out its own statement on Monday which simply acknowledged the USOC’s action and added:

USA Gymnastics’ board was seated in June 2018 and inherited an organization in crisis with significant challenges that were years in the making. … We immediately took steps to change the leadership and are currently conducting a search to find a CEO who can rebuild the organization and, most importantly, regain the trust of the gymnastics community. Substantial work remains — in particular, working with the plaintiffs and USA Gymnastics’ insurers to resolve the ongoing litigation as quickly as possible. (Emphasis added.)

Don’t underestimate the importance of that last sentence. The USOC Board is well aware that its organization is also named in many of the same suits as USA Gymnastics and the two are tied together in the mind of the public (although there will be a great difference legally).

Moreover, the USOC’s own work in this process will be closely watched by those in the Congress demanding amendments in the Ted Stevens Act to change the way the USOC does business. The blowback could be epic, so don’t be surprised if the progress is slow, steady and methodical.

And it could mean that the USOC might hollow out USA Gymnastics – change the name and excuse many of its 69 employees – and then re-animate the shell to minimize the chaos among athletes, coaches and clubs … and minimize the legal liabilities of both organizations.

Rich Perelman
Editor

ANTI-DOPING: A call for ethics in sports medicine

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

tsx pix 111418 tygart travis 720x500 — The new, de facto head of worldwide anti-doping? U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart

The chief of the United States Anti-Doping Agency is now campaigning about more than doping; he’s now working on ethical use of allowed drugs.

Travis Tygart told the online version of the British newspaper The Daily Mail that “‘The days of blood transfusions, and open and obvious growth hormone and testosterone use we saw at US Postal and BALCO are gone. I’m not saying athletes aren’t still going to take some risks but it’s not like it was.

“The frontier is pressure being put on athletes to use non-prohibited drugs like thyroxine, like tramadol, to gain performance advantage. Putting athletes in a position where they have to use non-prohibited drugs in a way that is not medically acceptable just to get performance enhancement. It’s a real concern. …

“We are talking about code of conduct rules — not anti-doping rules. But they could apply to the coaches, the doctors, the sport federation providing drugs without a clear medical need and just for performance enhancement. It’s an unacceptable culture.” Tygart’s idea is right, but there’s a long way to go to get to where he wants the World Anti-Doping Agency to go.

WATER POLO: Anti-Semitism in Spain in women’s World Cup qualifier

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 7, 2018

tsx pix 111418 spain flag 750 — Spain's national flag

The newest instance of anti-Semitism in sports came in Spain, in the Barcelona suburb of Molins de Rei, where a second-round game of the European preliminaries of the 2019 FINA Women’s Water Polo World League had Israel playing Spain.

When the Israeli women arrived in Barcelona, they were informed that the town was refusing to hold the game due to pressure from a local pro-Palestinian activist group.
The Israeli government now applied its own pressure, demanding that the game be held and the safety of the athletes guaranteed. The head of Spain’s National Olympic Committee called to apologize and the mayor of Molins posted an apology on Twitter (whatever happened to a letter sent by courier?).

For its part, the international aquatics federation (FINA), pushed for a resolution and issued a statement which included:

FINA shall not allow any discrimination against National Federations or individuals (competitors, officials, judges, delegates, etc.) on the grounds of race, gender, religion, or political affiliations”;

Therefore, FINA strongly condemns the actions of any political organisation aiming at disturbing the normal organisation of a sport competition between two Water Polo national teams;

The competition has been directly organised by the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation and the City of Barcelona;

After FINA was alerted to the difficulties in staging this match as originally scheduled, everything possible was done to avoid having to alter the date of the game, on November 6, 2018. This was achieved with success.

In fact the game was played on the sixth, but three hours earlier than scheduled to avoid issues and in the High Performance pool of Sant Cugat, another town north of Barcelona. The attendance consisted of about 20 Israeli fans and a dozen other local spectators, as Spain defeated Israel, 11-5.

WEIGHTLIFTING: Avalanche of world records at IWF World Championships

By

Rich Perelman

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November 5, 2018

tsx pix 111418 irawan eko yuli IWF 750 — Indonesia's World Champion Eko Yuli Irawan (Photo: IWF)

Changing weight classes always creates a tsunami of new world records and with the International Weightlifting Federation moving from eight to 10 classes for men and women, the re-write of the record books at the 2018 IWF Worlds is in full swing. Through just the first three days, check out the 10 new men’s records (across four classes) and 22 women’s records, also over four classes:

∙ Men’s 55 kg:
Yun Chol Om (PRK) Clean & Jerk: 162 kg

∙ Men’s 61 kg:
Eko Irawan (INA) Clean & Jerk: 174 kg
Irawan Total: 313 kg
Irawan Total: 317 kg

∙ Men’s 67 kg:
Lijun Chen (CHN) Total: 332 kg

∙ Men’s 73 kg:
Zhiyong Shi (CHN) Snatch: 161 kg
Shi Snatch: 164 kg
Shi Clean & Jerk: 196 kg
Shi Total: 352 kg
Shi Total: 360 kg

∙ Women’s 49 kg:
Huihua Jiang (CHN) Snatch: 92 kg
Sopita Tanasan (THA) Snatch: 93 kg
Chayuttra Pramongkhol (THA) Clean & Jerk: 120 kg
Zhihui Hou (CHN) Total: 205 kg
Jiang Total: 206 kg
Hou Total: 208 kg
Pramongkhol Total: 209 kg

∙ Women’s 55 kg:
Yajun Li (CHN) Snatch: 100 kg
Sukanya Srisurat (THA) Snatch: 101 kg
Li Snatch: 102 kg
Srisurat Snatch: 103 kg
Srisurat Snatch: 105 kg
Srisurat Clean & Jerk: 127 kg
Li Total: 223 kg
Srisurat Total: 227 kg
Srisurat Total: 230 kg
Srisurat Total: 232 kg

∙ Women’s 59 kg:
Hsing-Chun Kuo (TPE) Snatch: 105 kg
Kuo Clean & Jerk: 132 kg
Guiming Chen (CHN) Clean & Jerk: 133 kg
Kuo Total: 233 kg
Kuo Total: 237 kg

As the sport tries to recover from the doping scandals which have pushed it to the edge of being removed from the 2024 Olympic program in Paris, it’s interesting to see if athletes from either of the last two World Championships were able to repeat. The 2017 Worlds in Anaheim was quite clean in terms of doping, as nine nations were excluded completely. The 2015 Worlds in Houston had 24 positives and almost cost weightlifting its place in the Olympics. Repeaters from these two events in 2018:

∙ 2017: Anaheim
Women 59 kg: Hsing-Chun Kuo (TPE) (Won at 58 kg)

∙ 2015: Houston
Men 55 kg: Yun Chol Om (PRK) (Won at 56 kg)
Men 67 kg: Lijun Chen (CHN) (Won at 62 kg)
Men 73 kg: Zhiyong Shi (CHN) (Won at 69 kg)

It’s the fourth World Championship for 2012 Olympic winner Om, the third for Chen and second for Shi. The women’s 59 kg title in the third for Kuo.

The U.S. has no medals so far, but Clarence Cummings, Jr., still 18, finished 10th at 73 kg, but set World Junior Records for the Clean & Jerk (181 kg and 187 kg) and for the Total, of 329 kg and 335 kg.

There was more doping news prior to the start of the event, as 79 lifters from 27 countries were banned from the event because they did not report their locations (“whereabouts”) through the World Anti-Doping Agency’s database system (known as “ADAMS”). However, the IWF Board voted to allow four Turkmenistan lifters – all men – to compete as exhibition lifters, with their results not allowed to count in the competition. The IWF may end up regretting this when it discusses its status with the IOC Executive Board in December. Summaries so far:

IWF World Championships
Ashgabat (TKM) ~ 2-11 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men

55 kg: 1. Yun Chol Om (PRK), 282 kg total combined weight; 2. Arli Chontey (KAZ), 258 kg: 3. Mirco Scaratino (ITA), 252 kg; 4. Young-Ho Kim (KOR), 251 kg; 5. Josue Brachi Garcia (ESP), 250 kg; 6. Angel Rusev (BUL), 248 kg; 7. Sergio Massidda (ITA), 236 kg; 8. Muammer Sahin (TUR), 235 kg.

61 kg: 1. Eko Yuli Irawan (INA), 317 kg; 2. Fabin Li (CHN), 310 kg; 3. Fulin Qin (CHN), 308 kg; 4. Francisco Mosqueda (COL), 304 kg; 5. Kim Tuan Thach (VIE), 298 kg; 6. Adkhamjon Ergashev (UZB), 293 kg; 7. Shofa Mishvelidze (GEO), 293 kg; 8. Yoichi Itokazu (JPN), 292 kg.

67 kg: 1. Lijun Chen (CHN), 332 kg; 2. Minhao Huang (CHN), 323 kg; 3. Julio Mayora (VEN), 322 kg; 4. Doston Yokubov (UZB), 319 kg; 5. Oscar Figueroa (COL), 318 kg; 6. Jong Ju Pak (PRK), 315 kg; 7. Goga Chkheidze (GEO), 311 kg; 8. Deni (INA), 310 kg. Also: 18. Alex Lee (USA), 292 kg.

73 kg: 1. Zhiyong Shi (CHN), 360 kg; 2. Jeongsik Won (KOR), 348; 3. Vadzim Likharad (BLR), 343 kg; 4. Chong Song Ri (PRK), 342 kg; 5. Kang Chol O (PRK), 339 kg; 6. Briken Calja (ALB), 339 kg; 7. Karem Ben Hnia (TUN), 337 kg. Also: 10. Clarence Cummings Jr. (USA), 335 kg.

Women

45 kg: 1. Thunya Sukcharoen (THA), 186 kg; 2. Yulduz Dzhumbayeva (TKM), 179 kg; 3. Chiraphan Nanthawong (THA), 171 kg; 4. Katherin Echandia Zarate (VEN), 157 kg; 5. Alessandra Pagliaro (ITA), 156 kg; 6. Thi Thu Trang Nguyen (VIE), 151 kg; 7. Daniela Padvova (BUL), 141 kg; only entrants,

49 kg: 1. Chayuttra Pramongkhol (THA), 209 kg; 2. Zhihui Hou (CHN), 208 kg; 3. Huihua Jiang (CHN), 206 kg; 4. Sopita Tanasan (THA), 201 kg; 5. Elena-Ramona Andries (ROU), 188 kg; 6. Beatriz Piron Candelario (DOM), 187 kg; 7. Sri Wahyuni Agustiani (INA), 186 kg; 8. Thi Huyen Vuong (VIE), 183 kg. Also: 12. Alyssa Richey (USA), 178 kg.

55 kg: 1. Sukanya Srisurat (THA), 232 kg; 2. Yajun Li (CHN), 225 kg; 3. Wanqiong Zhang (CHN), 225 kg; 4. Cristina Iovu ((ROU), 220 kg; 5. Zulfiya Chinshanlo (KAZ), 213 kg; 6. Muattar Nabieva (UZB), 212 kg; 7. Nouha Landoulsi (TUN), 211 kg; 8. Kristina Shermatova (TKM), 210 kg. Also: 15. Jourdan Delacruz (USA), 198 kg; … 20. Caitlin Hogan (USA), 191 kg.

59 kg: 1. Hsing-Chun Kuo (TPE), 237 kg; 2. Guiming Chen (CHN), 231 kg; 3. Rebeka Koha (LAT), 227 kg; 4. Pimsiri Sirikaew (THA), 225 kg; 5. Mikiko Sirikaew (THA), 225 kg; 6. Thi Duyen Hoang (VIE), 223 kg; 7. Chineye Fedelis (NGR), 215 kg; 8. Acchedya Jagaddhita (INA), 212 kg. Also: 12. Jessica Lucero (USA), 204 kg.

TABLE TENNIS: Fan and Ito impress with Swedish Open titles

By

Rich Perelman

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November 5, 2018

tsx pix 111418 fan zhendong 2018 750 — China's Zhendong Fan (Photo: ITTFworld)

China has been the gold standard in table tennis for a long time and the next star is obviously Zhendong Fan, who won his third tournament of the 2018 season with a 4-1 victory over teammate Xin Xu at the Swedish Open in Stockholm.

Fan, still just 21, has won individual bronze (2015) and silver (2017) medals in the World Championships, but is not coming into his own on the ITTF World Tour with three wins and the Asian Games gold medal in Indonesia. And he’s now ranked no. 1 in the world after his third Swedish Open title (also in 2014 and 2015).

Japan’s Mima Ito – now 18 – demonstrated that fear can never be a part of a champion’s diet. She negotiated the toughest draw in the tournament by beating three Chinese stars in a row: no. 6-ranked Shiwen Liu (CHN) in the quarterfinals, 4-3; then defeated 2016 Olympic champ (and world no. 2) Ning Ding (CHN) by 4-2, and then took out top-ranked Yuling Zhu (CHN), 4-0, in the final!

“I was very focused, played one point at a time,” said Ito afterwards. “Suddenly I won the match, it’s incredible! In Halmstad at the World Championships, I won against China. Today I did it again; that’s the best for me that I could do it again.”

China also won the women’s Doubles behind Xingtong Chen and Yingsha Sun in an all-China final, and the Chinese Taipei team of Cheng-Ting Liao and Yun-Ju Lin won the men’s Doubles. Summaries:

ITTF World Tour Swedish Open
Stockholm (SWE) ~ 1-4 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men’s Singles: 1. Zhendong Fan (CHN); 2. Xin Xu (CHN); 3. Mattias Falck (SWE) and Qihao Zhou (CHN). Semis: Fan d. Falck, 4-0; Xu d. Zhou, 4-0. Final: Fan d. Xu, 4-1.

Men’s Doubles: 1. Cheng-Ting Liao/Yun-Ju Lin (TPE); 2. Mattias Falck/Kristian Karlsson (SWE); 3. Anton Kallberg/Truis Moregard (SWE) and Paul Drinkhall/Liam Pitchford (ENG). Semis: Falck/Karlsson d. Kallberg/Moregard, 3-2; Liao/Lin d. Drinkhall/Pitchford, 3-1. Final: Liao/Lin d. Falck/Karlsson, 3-2.

Women’s Singles: 1. Mima Ito (JPN); 2. Yuling Zhu (CHN); 3. Ning Ding (CHN) and Meng Chen (CHN). Semis: Zhu d. Chen, 4-2; Ito d. Ding, 4-2. Final: Ito d. Zhu, 4-0.

Women’s Doubles: 1. Xingtong Chen/Yingsha Sun (CHN); 2. Gaoyang Liu/Rui Zhang (CHN); 3. Jihee Jeon/Haeun Yang (KOR) and Ke Chen/Manyu Wang (CHN). Semis: Liu/Zhang d. Jeon/Yang, 3-2; Chen/Sun d. Chan/Wang, 3-1. Final: Chen/Sun d. Liu/Zhang, 3-1.

SWIMMING: Four wins for Morozov and Hosszu in Beijing World Cup

By

Rich Perelman

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November 5, 2018

tsx pix-83116 vlad morozov-santa clara 2015 (bob stanton) 750 — Russia's two-time World Cup champ Vladimir Morozov (Photo: Bob Stanton)

The first meet of the final cluster of the FINA Swimming World Cup at Beijing’s famed Water Cube facility was a showcase for the 2016 winners of the seasonal World Cup for men and women: Vladimir Morozov of Russia and Katinka Hosszu of Hungary.

Morozov won four events – the 50-100 m Frees, the 50 m Fly and the 100 m Medley – and a bronze for five medals, while Hosszu took the lead in the final cluster with four wins – 100-200-400 m Medleys and 200 m Fly – plus a silver in the 100 m Back.

With three events counting in World Cup scoring, Morozov – the overall leader – piled up another 36 points and also received 18 bonus points for the no. 2 men’s performance of the meet per the FINA performance tables, for a total of 54. His closest pursuer, Australia’s Mitch Larkin, scored 21 points for a gold and a silver in the 100 m Back (gold) and the 200 m Back. The scoring leader for the meet, however, was Russia’s Kirill Prigoda, who won the 50-100-200 m Breaststrokes and had the best performance of the day (per the FINA scoring table) for 60 points.

While Morozov appears to be a near-certain winner in the men’s division, Hosszu had another good meet while women’s leader Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) stumbled just a little. Hosszu swam in seven finals, winning four with one silver, one bronze and a sixth. Just as important, she had the top score on the FINA points table for her 100 m Medley win in 57.05, so she received a full 60 points for the meet.

Sjostrom, who led the seasonal scoring by 204-162 entering the meet, won the 50-100 m Flys and was second in four other events for 33 points, but did not score any bonus performance points. On our scoresheet, that makes the seasonal race now 237 for Sjostrom and 222 for Hosszu, so it’s not over.

Russia’s breaststroke specialist, Yuliya Efimova, had 153 points coming in, and won two events, plus a silver and the no. 2 performance of the meet for 51 points, increasing her seasonal total to 204.

American Michael Andrew continued to sprint, with five silver medals in the four 50 m races and the 100 m Medley. He now has 21 for the World Cup, behind Morozov’s 24; Larkin has 18. Hosszu leads everyone with an astonishing 37 medals through five meets.

The World Cup continues in Tokyo (9-11 November) and Singapore (15-17 November). All three of these events will be held in 25 m (short course) pools.

There was prize money for each race of $1,500-1,000-500-400-300-200. Summaries:

FINA Swimming World Cup V
Beijing (CHN) ~ 2-4 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Freestyle: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 20.87; 2. Michael Andrew (USA), 21.44; 3. Yujie Hou (CHN), 21.84. Also: 4. Blake Pieroni (USA), 21.94.

100 m Free: 1. Morozov (RUS), 45.66; 2. Pieroni (USA), 47.00; 3. Hou (CHN), 47.52.

200 m Free: 1. Pieroni (USA), 1:42.65; 2. Xinjie Ji (CHN), 1:42.87; 3. Jiayu Xu (CHN), 1:43.59.

400 m Free: 1. Xinjie Ji (CHN), 3:40.82; 2. Mykhallo Romanchuk (UKR), 3:43.32; 3. Pieroni (USA), 3:45.32.

1,500 m Free: 1. Romanchuk (RUS), 14:29.88; 2. Ji (CHN), 14:35.13; 3. Sergey Frolov (RUS), 14:38.01.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Xu (CHN), 22.70; 2. Andrew (USA), 23.14; 3. Morozov (RUS), 23.36.

100 m Back: 1. Mitchell Larkin (AUS), 49.97; 2. Guangyuan Li (CHN), 51.60; 3. Bradley Woodward (AUS), 51.91. Also: 4. Andrew (USA), 51.93.

200 m Backstroke: 1. Xu (CHN), 1:49.08; 2. Larkin (AUS), 1:50.72; 3. Woodward (AUS), 1:51.92.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Kirill Prigoda (RUS), 26.02; 2. Andrew (USA), 26.15; 3. Ilya Shymanovich (BLR), 26.22.

100 m Breast: 1. Prigoda (RUS), 56.61; 2. Zibei Yan (CHN), 57.01; 3. Shymanovich (BLR), 57.10. Also: 7. Andrew (USA), 57.91.

200 m Breast: 1. Prigoda (RUS), 2:01.59; 2. Anton Chupkov (RUS), 2:02.10; 3. Matthew Wilson (AUS), 2:03.26.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Morozov (RUS), 22.27; 2. Andrew (USA), 22.76; 3. Yauhen Tsurkin (BLR), 22.88.

100 m Fly: 1. Zhuhao Li (CHN), 50.74; 2. Yauhen Tsurkin (BLR), 50.84; 3. Keita Sunama (JPN), 50.88.

200 m Fly: 1. Li (CHN), 1:51.94; 2. Masayuki Umemoto (JPN), 1:53.54; 3. David Verraszto (HUN), 1:54.81.

100 m Medley: 1. Morozov (RUS), 50.84; 2. Andrew (USA), 51.65; 3. Hiromasa Fujimori (JPN), 51.95.

200 m Medley: 1. Shun Wang (CHN), 1:52.08; 2. Fujimori (JPN), 1:53.87; 3. Matthew Wilson (AUS), 1:54.50.

400 m Medley: 1. Verraszto (HUN), 4:04.09; 2. Fujimori (JPN), 4:07.36; 3. Jared Gilliland (AUS), 4:09.55.

Women

50 m Freestyle: 1. Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), 23.48; 2. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 23.54; 3. Femke Heemskerk (NED), 23.91.

100 m Free: 1. Kromowidjojo (NED), 51.51; 2. Sjostrom (SWE), 51.56; 3. Heemskerk (NED), 51.92.

200 m Free: 1. Heemskerk (NED), 1:52.22; 2. Sjostrom (SWE), 1:52.35; 3. Junxuan Yang (CHN), 1:53.41.

400 m Free: 1. Bingjie Li (CHN), 3:59.20; 2. Heemskerk (NED), 4:02.04; 3. Yaxin Liu (CHN), 4:03.30.

800 m Free: 1. Caiping Yang (CHN), 8:29.05; 2. Ruohan Chen (CHN), 8:30.04; 3. Zhitong Liu (CHN), 8:35.37.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Kira Toussaint (NED), 26.21; 2. Yuanhui Fu (CHN), 26.33; 3. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 26.39.

100 m Back: 1. Minna Atherton (AUS), 56.49; 2. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 56.53; 3. Toussaint (NED), 56.54.

200 m Back: 1. Atherton (AUS), 2:02.02; 2. Seebohm (AUS), 2:02.22; 3. Hosszu (HUN), 2:04.11.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Alia Atkinson (JAM), 29.16; 2. Yuliya Efimova (RUS), 29.63; 3. Seebohm (AUS), 30.35.

100 m Breast: 1. Efimova (RUS), 1:03.09; 2. Atkinson (JAM), 1:03.44; 3. Vitalina Simonova (RUS), 1:05.90.

200 m Breast: 1. Efimova (RUS), 2:16.98; 2. Simonova (RUS), 2:19.86; 3. Yun He (CHN), 2:21.33. Also: 6. Hosszu (HUN), 2:29.69.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Sjostrom (SWE), 25.03; 2. Kromowidjojo (NED), 25.04; 3. Yufei Zhang (CHN), 25.31.

100 m Fly: 1. Sjostrom (SWE), 55.58; 2. Yufei Zhang (CHN), 56.53; 3. Yichun Wang (CHN), 57.13.

200 m Fly: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:02.88; 2. Yufei Zhang (CHN), 2:03.33; 3. Yuhan Zhang (CHN), 2:08.23.

100 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 57.05; 2. Sjostrom (SWE), 57.71; 3. Seebohm (AUS), 58.63.

200 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:05.25; 2. Seebohm (AUS), 2:07.86; 3. Shiwen Ye (CHN), 2:08.16.

400 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 4:25.68; 2. Min Zhou (CHN), 4:37.02; 3. Tianyao Li (CHN), 4:40.22.

Mixed

4×50 m Freestyle: 1. China (Hou, Yu, Wu, Zhu), 1:31.17; 2. Australia, 1:33.22; 3. China (Shanghai club), 1:34.62.

4×50 m Medley: 1. China (Xu, Yan, Yufei Zhang, Zhu), 1:38.69; 2. Australia, 1:40.53; 3. China (Shanghai club), 1:42.83.

SPEED SKATING: Mantia and Bowen win three at World Cup qualifiers

By

Rich Perelman

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November 5, 2018

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

Five days of skating produced the U.S. team for the upcoming ISU Speedskating World Cup, led by World Champions Joey Mantia and Brittany Bowe. The team:

Men:
∙ Joey Mantia: 1,000 m, 1,500 m, Mass Start
∙ Kimani Griffin: 500 m, 1,000 m, 1,500 m
∙ Ethan Cepuran: 500 m, Mass Start
∙ Brett Perry: 500 m
∙ Austin Kleba: 1,000 m
∙ Justin Stelly: 1,500 m
∙ Casey Dawson: 1,500 m

Women:
∙ Kimi Goetz: 500 m, 1,000 m, 1,500 m, Mass Start
∙ Brittany Bowe: 500 m, 1,000 m, 1,500 m
∙ Mia (Manganello) Kilburg: 1,500 m, 3000 m, Mass Start
∙ Brianna Bocox: 500 m, 1,000 m
∙ Carlijn Schoutens: 3,000 m, 5,000 m
∙ Erin Jackson: 500 m
∙ Paige Schwartzburg: 1,500 m
∙ Maria Lamb: 5,000 m

Said U.S. National Team coach Ryan Shimabukuro, “Overall, we had some great performances for our returning skaters and it was nice to see the developing, younger skaters step up their game. Coming into a trials, it’s always interesting to see where everyone’s at. We’ve got a good mix of veterans and new faces. Every new skater will have freshman jitters. It can be tough. Rarely, do you have skaters come to their first World Cup and do good right away.”

Goetz will be one of the more interesting stories for the 2018-19 season, as she noted: “After a challenging two seasons on Short Track, I decided I wanted to try something new. It’s intimidating switching to a sport where my competition is Brittany Bowe, but she’s been super welcoming and helpful in my transition as have the other coaches and athletes.”

“I still have a ton to learn and hopefully a lot of room for improvement. This weekend has been a good marker to see where I am at two months into my long track career. I’m having a lot of fun with long track and looking forward to seeing where I can be in four years from now in 2022.”

Summaries:

U.S. World Cup Qualifier
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (USA) ~ 31 October-4 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men

500 m I: 1. Kimani Griffin, 35.53; 2 Brett Perry, 36.03; 3. Austin Kleba, 36.39.
500 m II: 1. Griffin, 35.86; 2. Joey Mantia, 36.06; 3. Kleba, 36.44.

1,000 m: 1. Mantia, 1:09.75; 2. Griffin, 1:10.01; 3. Kleba, 1:11.42.

1,500 m: 1. Mantia, 1:46.91; 2. Justin Stelly, 1:49.59; 3. Casey Dawson, 1:50.68.

5,000 m: 1. Viktor Thorup, 6:27.19; 2. Ethan Cepuran, 6:37.87; 3. Dawson, 6:39.76.

10,000 m: 1. Ian Quinn, 13:58,75; 2. Kelin Dunfee, 14:54.02; 3. Zachary Snyder, 15:37.63.

Mass Start I: 1. Mantia, 88 points; 2. K.C. Boutiette, 46; 3. Quinn, 40.
Mass Start II: 1. Mantia, 96; 2. Cepuran, 52; 3. Stelly, 50.
Mass Start final standings: 1. Mantia, 200 points; 2. Cepuran, 140; 3. Boutiette, 140.

Women

500 m I: 1. Brittany Bowe, 38.23; 2. Erin Jackson, 38.86; 3. Brianna Bocox, 39.72.
500 m II: 1. Bowe, 38.19; 2. Jackson, 38.41; 3. Kimberly Goetz, 39.73.

1,000 m: 1. Bowe, 1:14.45; 2. Goetz, 1:16.13; 3. Bocox, 1:16.66.

1,500 m: 1. Bowe, 1:56.41; 2. Kilburg, 2:00.95; 3. Goetz, 2:01.47.

3,000 m: 1. Mia (Manganello) Kilburg, 4:13.74; 2. Carlijn Schoutens, 4:14.13; 3. Rebecca Simmons, 4:28.21.

5,000 m: 1. Schoutens, 7:18.70; 2. Maria Lamb, 7:31.74; 3. Simmons, 7:45.11.

Mass Start I: 1. Goetz, 104 points; 2. Kilburg, 64; 3. Simmons, 28.
Mass Start II: 1. Kilburg, 100; 2. Goetz, 62; 3. Simmons, 32.
Mass Start final standings: 1. Kilburg, 180 points; 2. Goetz, 180; 3. Simmons, 140.

SHORT TRACK: Olympic champs Wu and Schulting win two at Calgary World Cup

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 5, 2018

tsx pix 111418 wu dajing 750 — China's Short Track star Dajing Wu

If you saw the Short Track competitions at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, you saw some familiar faces at the opening stage of the 2018-19 ISU Short Track World Cup in Calgary (CAN).

The men’s 500 m winner, China’s Dajing Wu, won both of the 500 m races and Dutch star Suzanne Schulting, the PyeongChang winner at 1,000 m, took the 1,000 m and 1,500 m. “I was a little nervous before this competition because I want to show the world that I’m not only able to win gold at the Olympics, but I can do it at the World Cups, World Championships and Europeans,” Schulting said.

The other highlight came in the men’s 5,000 m relay, where the quartet of Cole Krueger, Csaba Burjan, Shaoang Liu and Shaolin Sandor Liu set a world record of 6:28.625, eclipsing the November, 2017 mark set by the United States of 6:29.052.

The World Cup season is now in full swing, with the second stop in Salt Lake City, Utah next weekend. Summaries:

ISU Short Track World Cup
Calgary (CAN) ~ 2-4 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men

500 m I: 1. Dajing Wu (CHN), 39.836; 2. Shaoang Liu (HUN), 40.044; 3. Gun Woo Kim (KOR), 40.415. Also: 5. Thomas Hong (USA), 41.407.

500 m II: 1. Wu (CHN), 39.915; 2. Abzal Azhgaliyev (KAZ), 40.136; 3. Shaolin Sandor Liu (HUN), 40.194.

1,000 m: 1. Shaoang Liu (HUN), 1:24.818; 2. Ji Won Park (KOR), 1:24.868; 3. Ziwei Ren (CHN), 1:24.883.

1,500 m: 1. Kazuki Yoshinaga (JPN), 2:17.285; 2. June Seo Lee (KOR), 2:17.557; 3. Vladislav Bykanov (ISR), 2:18.195.

5,000 m Relay: 1. Hungary (Krueger, Burjan, Shao. Liu, S.S. Liu), 6:28.625 (World Record; old, 6:29.052, United States, 2017); 2. Korea, 6:28.857; 3. Netherlands, 6:28.879.

Women

500 m I: 1. Natalia Maliszewska (POL), 43.142; 2. Yara van Kerkhof (NED), 43.353; 3. Alyson Charles (CAN), 43.449.

500 m II: 1. Lara van Ruijven (NED), 43.070; 2. Kexin Fan (CHN), 43.214; 3. Alyson Charles (CAN), 43.575.

1,000 m: 1. Suzanne Schulting (NED), 1:29.257; 2. Sofia Prosvirnova (RUS), 1:30.350; 3. Veronique Pierron (FRA), 1:30.419.

1,500 m: 1. Schulting (NED), 2:28.423; 2. Courtney Lee Sarault (CAN), 2:28.432; 3. Ekaterina Efremenkova (RUS), 2:28.614.

3,000 m Relay: 1. Russia (Efremenkova, Konstantinova, Prosvirnova, Malagich), 4:03.925; 2. Korea, 4:03.966; 3. Canada, 4:05.267.

Mixed

2,000 m Relay: 1. China (Fan, Li, Ren, Wu), 2:38.245; 2. Netherlands, 2:38.492; 3. Korea, 2:38.827. Also: 4. United States (Aaron Tran, Kristen Santos, Maame Biney, Thomas Hong), 2:39.346.

SHOOTING: U.S. dominating Americas Championship

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 5, 2018

tsx pix 111418 hall james gold americas 750 — James Hall takes gold at the Championship of the Americas in the 10 m Air Pistol

The U.S. shooting squad figured to be the best coming into the 12th Championship of the Americas, being held in Guadalajara (MEX) and it is certainly starting out that way.

In the first four events of the tournament, American shooters have won six medals, including a 1-2 finish in the women’s 10 m Air Rifle from Minden Miles and Alison Weisz, and a gold medal from James Hall in the men’s 10 m Air Pistol. These were the first international medals for each, and Miles and Hall also secured a quota slot for the U.S. for the 2020 Tokyo Games in their events.

“Winning a quota in my first international Final is an amazing achievement!” said Hall. “After working the past two years with coach Libby Callahan, I felt like I really polished my shot process and felt strong going into the event. I felt like I worked through the match exactly as I have been training and was mentally prepared for it. [National Coach] Jason Turner gave me a great strategy to keep me calm through the Final, which totally paid off.”

Competition continues through the 11th. Summaries so far:

Americas Championships
Guadalajara (MEX) ~ 3-11 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men

10 m Air Pistol: 1. James Hall (USA), 240.9; 2. Jose Castillo (GUA), 236.6; 3. Philipe Neves Freitas Severo (BRA), 236.6; 4. Julio Almeida (BRA), 195.3; 5. Nick Mowrer (USA), 174.0.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Alexis Eberhardt (ARG), 52.2; 2. Lucas Kozeniesky (USA), 51.7; 3. Dempster Christenson (USA), 50.9; 4. Bryant Wallizer (USA), 50.7; 5. Julio Iemma Hernandez (VEN), 50.0.

Women

10 m Air Pistol: 1. Lynda Kiejko (CAN), 235.2; 2. Lexi Lagan (USA), 234.2; 3. Diana Durango (ECU), 231.1; 4. Lilian Castro (ESA), 192.4; 5. Alejandra Zavala (MEX), 172.6. Also: 8. Sandra Uptagrafft (USA), 111.3.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Minden Miles (USA), 248.4; 2. Alison Weisz (USA), 247.9; 3. Fernanda Russo (ARG), 226.2; 4. Gabriela Martinez (MEX), 205.2; 5. Michel Quezada (MEX), 184.1. Also: 6. Sarah Beard (USA), 162.8.

FREESTYLE SKI & SNOWBOARD: Snowboard sweep for Japan in Modena

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 5, 2018

tsx pix 111418 iwabuchi reira (yonhap) 750 — Japan's Snowboard star Reira Iwabuchi (Photo: Yonhap)

The 2018-19 World Cup season in Europe for Big Air for Freestyle and Snowboard got started in Modena (ITA) over the weekend with a powerful display by Japanese snowboarders.

In the men’s Big Air, it looks like Takeru Otsuka, 17, collected his second World Cup medal and first World Cup win of his career with two superb runs that scored 90.25 and 96.00 for a total of 186.75. Corning, 19, who was fourth in the Big Air contest at the PyeongChang Games, had the first-round lead at 92.50 and repeated that score in the second round for a total of 185.00, just short of Otsuka’s total.

“I think Takeru and I are going to battle it out all season,” said Corning. “It’s going to be fun season for both of us. He rode really good today and I couldn’t put it all together so he won fair and square, but I’ll be coming for him next time.”

The women’s competition was a re-run of the season opener in New Zealand back in September, with Reira Iwabuchi and Miyabi Onitsuka going 1-2 with Olympic gold medalist Anna Gasser (AUT) in third. Iwabuchi, just 16, was competing in just her sixth World Cup event ever and won her fourth medal. In her six starts, she’s only been lowered than fourth once!

In the Freestyle Big Air event, Norway’s Birk Ruud came from behind in the third round to score 87.50 and pass American Alex Hall for the win. Ruud scored 90.75 in the second round to get close to Hall’s first-round effort of 91.25; those were the only two 90+ scores of the day. But Hall was only able to muster a 86.25 mark for his final run and ended up second by 178.25-177.50.

It was Hall’s second career World Cup medal and first in Big Air. Ruud won his third career World Cup medal, but first outside of Norway.

Swiss Mathilde Gremaud won the women’s Freestyle Big Air, earning a medal for the third straight World Cup season and her second win. Summaries:

FIS Freestyle World Cup
Modena (ITA) ~ 3-4 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men’s Big Air: 1. Birk Ruud (NOR), 178.25; 2. Alex Hall (USA), 177.50; 3. Andri Raggetli (SUI), 173.75; 4. Fabian Boesch (SUI), 172.74; 5. Henrik Harlaut (SWE), 171.75. Also: 9. Colby Stevenson (USA), 100.00.

Women’s Big Air: 1. Mathilde Gremaud (SUI), 172.50; 2. Sarah Hoefflin (SUI), 160.25; 3. Kea Kuehnel (GER), 159.00; 4. Elena Gaskell (CAN), 146.00; 5. Lara Wolf (AUT), 124.50.

FIS Snowboard World Cup
Modena (ITA_ ~ 3-4 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men’s Big Air: 1. Takeru Otsuka (JPN), 186.75; 2. Chris Corning (USA), 185.00; 3. Kalle Jarvilehto (FIN), 179.75; 4. Ruki Tobita (JPN), 174.25; 5. Marcus Kleveland (NOR), 170.50.

Women’s Big Air: 1. Reira Iwabuchi (JPN), 166.50; 2. Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN), 165.00; 3. Anna Gasser (AUT), 159.50; 4. Lia-Mara Boesch (SUI), 145.25; 5. Silje Norendal (NOR), 130.75.

FIGURE SKATING: Hanyu and Zagitova good as gold in Helsinki

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 5, 2018

tsx pix 111418 hanyu yuzuru 2018 750 — 2014 and 2018 Olympic Champion Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)

The 2018 Olympic champions, Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) and Alina Zagitova (RUS), looked the part once again at the ISU Grand Prix of Helsinki with dominating performances.

Hanyu executed four quadruple jumps, including an impressive quad toe-triple axel combination on the way to winning the Free Skate, 190.43-164.67 over Michal Brezina (CZE), who finished second overall. “Actually I was fighting my condition, as it was not so good before I came here and after I came here,” Hanyu said. “But I beat myself. Although the quad loop and quad toe were not perfect, I am pleased I was able to stay on my feet.

“I was trying hard to do the quad toe-triple Axel without a hop in between and when I’m fresh I felt the confidence I can do it.” His final margin of victory was 297.12-257.98.

Zagitova, still only 16, won easily, but wasn’t all that happy with her performances, especially in the Short Program. She led by more than five points heading into the Free Skate, then scored 146.39 to win that segment and total 215.29, well ahead of Stanislava Konstantinova (RUS), who scored 197.57.

“I did not quite have the focus I usually have and I took a long time to put the short program behind me. I analyzed it for a long time, almost all night long. When I got up, I told myself that I have to skate well in the free to please the spectators.”

Russia’s Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert – fourth at the 2018 World Championships – figured to be the class of the Pairs event and won by almost 13 points over Italy’s Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise.

The Ice Dance was much closer, but Russia got its third win of the event with Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin winning both the Short Dance and Free Dance to edge Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (ITA) by 200.09-196.29.

Prize money was as usual for the Grand Prix: $18,000-13,000-9,000-3,000-2,000 for the top five place winners in all divisions. Summaries:

ISU Grand Prix/Grand Prix of Helsinki
Helsinki (FIN) ~ 2-4 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men: 1. Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN), 297.12 (1+1); 2. Michal Brezina (CZE), 257.98 (2+2); 3. Junhwan Cha (KOR), 243.19 (4+3); 4. Mikhail Kolyada (RUS), 238.79 (6+4); 5. Boyang Jin (CHN), 227.28 ((3+5). Also: 7. Alexei Krasnozhon (USA), 211.03 (8+6).

Women: 1. Alina Zagitova (RUS), 215.29 (1+1); 2. Stanislava Konstantinova (RUS), 197.57 (4+3); 3. Kaori Sakamoto (JPN), 7+2; 4. Yuna Shiraiwa (JPN), 191.46 (2+5); 5. Loena Hendrickx (BEL), 191.22 (3+4). Also: 11. Angela Wang (USA), 149.57 (9+11).

Pairs: 1. Natalia Zabiiako/Alexander Enbert (RUS), 198.51 (2+1); 2. Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise (ITA), 185.77 (1+3); 3. Daria Pavliuchenko/Denis Khodykin (RUS), 185.61 (3+2); 4. Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer (AUT), 174.81 (4+5); 5. Tae Ok Ryom/Ju Sik Kim (PRK), 174.24 (5+4). Also: 6. Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Nathan Bartholomay (USA), 159.21 (6+6).

Ice Dance: 1. Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin (RUS), 200.09 (1+1); 2. Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA), 196.29 (2+2); 3. Lorraine McNamara/Quinn Carpenter (USA), 176.66 (3+4); 4. Sara Hurtado/Kirill Khaliavin (ESP), 172.09 (5+3); 5. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA), 167.28 (4+5).

CYCLING: Wallwork and Lessmann surprise in Chengdu

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 5, 2018

tsx pix 111418 lessmann lara 750x535 — Germany's BMX Freestyle star Lara Lessmann

The seasonal titles in the 2018 UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup were on the line in Chengdu (CHN), and surprises were the order of the day.

Germany’s Lara Lessmann, 18, came into the event trailing American Hannah Roberts, 17, by just 30 points in the women’s competition. Roberts win the semifinal round with a 89.80 score, with Lessmann fifth at 83.80. But in the final, Lessmann was steady, again scoring 83.80, but Roberts was hampered by an ankle injury and could manage only 81.20, giving Lessmann her first win of the season.

In the men’s Freestyle final, it was unheralded Jake Wallwork of Australia, who ha 16th and 50th in his two World Cup starts this season, winning with a final-round performance scored at 90.20. He edged American Dennis Enarson, who had only one start on the circuit this season (a third), who scored 90.00. “I can’t actually believe I won it,” said Wallwork afterwards.

Summaries:

UCI Freestyle World Cup
Chengdu (CHN) ~ 2-4 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men: 1. Jake Wallwork (AUS), 90.20; 2. Dennis Enarson (USA), 90.00; 3. Declan Brooks (GBR), 87.40; 4. Jack Clark (GBR), 86.20; 5. Marin Rantes (CRO), 84.90.

Women: 1. Lara Lessmann (GER), 83.80; 2. Hannah Roberts (USA), 81.20; 3. Nikita Ducarroz (SUI), 77.40; 4. Perris Benegas (USA), 7.20; 5. Oike Minato (JPN), 76.80.

BADMINTON: First-time golds for Lee and Li at Macau Open

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 5, 2018

You’re never too old to feel good about winning and two veteran players notched their first-ever BWF World Tour wins at the Macau Open in China.

Korea’s Hyun-Il Lee has been around a long time, winning a bronze medal in the World Championships way back in 2006. But at 38, he had never won a BWF World Tour event until now, dispatching China’s Zaqi Zhou, 21-9, 21-19 in the final.

Canada’s Michelle Li is only 27, but also a champion in her own right, having won he Commonwealth Games title in Gold Coast (AUS) earlier this year. But this was also her first BWF World Tour championship, as she came back to defeat China’s Yue Han in the final, 23-25, 21-17, 21-15.

The other competitors to watch were in the men’s Doubles, where Korea’s Gi Jung Kim and Yong Dae Lee won their second World Tour tournament of the season over countrymen Sung Hyun Ko and Baek Chol Sin, 17-21, 21-13, 21-19. Kim and Lee also won the Spanish Masters at the start of September and appear to be a duo on the way up. Summaries:

BWF World Tour Macau Open
Macau City (CHN) ~ 30 October-4 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men’s Singles: Hyun-Il Lee (KOR); 2. Zaqi Zhou (CHN); 3. Chia Hung Lu (TPE) and Sitthikom Thammasin (THA). Semis: Zhou d. Lu, 21-19, 13-21, 21-14; Lee d. Thammasin, 18-21, 21-17, 21-4. Final: Lee d. Zhou, 21-9, 21-19.

Men’s Doubles: 1. Gi Jung Kim/Yong Dae Lee (KOR); 2. Sung Hyun Ko/Baek Chol Shin (KOR); 3. Ching Yao Lu/Po Han Yang (TPE) and Ko-Chi Chang/Chia Pin Lu (TPE). Semis: Kim/Lee d. Lu/Yang, 19-21, 21-8, 25-23; Kp/Shin d. Chang/Lu, 21-14, 21-15. Final: Kim/Lee d. Ko/Shin, 17-21, 21-13, 21-19.

Women’s Singles: 1. Michelle Li (CAN); 2. Yue Han (CHN); 3. Ayumi Mine (JPN) and Ngan Yi Cheung (HKG). Semis: Li d. Mine, 21-15, 8-21, 21-13; Han d. Cheung, 22-20, 21-23, 21-7. Final: Li d. Han, 23-25, 21-17, 21-15.

Women’s Doubles: 1. Vivian Hoo/Cheng Wen Yap (MAS); 2. Misato Aratama/Akane Watanabe (JPN); 3. Yulfira Barkah/Jauza Fadhila Sugiarto (INA) and Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida (JPN). Semis: Aratama/Watanabe d. Barkah/Sugiarto, 17-21, 21-14, 21-15; Hoo/Yap d. Matsuyama/Shida, 21-16, 21-17. Final: Hoo/Yap d. Aratama/Watanabe, 21-15, 22-20.

Mixed Doubles: 1. Chun Man Tang/Ying Suet Tse (HKG); 2. Chun Hei Reginald Lee/Hoi Wah Chau (HKG); 3. Pang Ron Hoo/Yee See Cheah (MAS) and Akbar Bintang Cahyono/Winny Oktavina Kandow (INA); Semis: Tang/Tse d. Hoo/Cheah, 21-16, 19-21, 21-11; Lee/Chau d. Cahyono/Kandow, 22-20, 21-10. Final: Tang/Tse d. Lee/Chau, 21-14, 21-15.

ATHLETICS: Keitany cruises to fourth New York City Marathon title

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 5, 2018

tsx pix 41918 keitany mary 750 — Another New York City Marathon for Kenya's Mary Keitany on Sunday?

Kenya’s Mary Keitany, one of the greatest women marathoners in history, placed her name next to marathon legends Grete Waitz and Bill Rodgers in winning her fourth TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday.

Only those three have won this race four (or more) times, and Keitany dominated the field, thinning the lead pack from nine to two between the halfway mark and 18 miles, with only Ethiopia’s Rahma Tusa still close. Then Keitany took off, running miles of 4:54 and 5:00 for a 54-second lead at the 20 mile mark. Her lead reached 1:56 by 22 miles, 2:34 by 24 miles and she finally won by 3:13 over Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot, who had beaten her at the London Marathon after Keitany took over early at world-record pace and then blew up.

Cheruiyot took second at the 23-mile mark, forcing Tusa into third. In the meantime, American Shalane Flanagan, the defending champion, was coming up steadily and passed Tusa for third at the 25-mile mark, and the top three finished that way. American Molly Huddle passed a tiring Tusa in the 26th mile and finished fourth, with Tusa fifth.

Keitany’s run was brilliant and her time of 2:22:48 was the second-fastest in New York City Marathon history, behind only the course record of 2:22:31 by Margaret Okayo (KEN) in 2003. Keitany’s previous New York best was 2:33:38 back in 2011 (for third). And she ran 2:25:07, 2:24:25 and 2:24:26 for her 2014-15-16 wins.

“I didn’t want to rush at the beginning to suffer at the end,” said Keitany. “I wanted to be comfortable so I could be strong at the finish.” He mid-race surge demolished a good field.

The U.S. women’s marathon corps showed well in this race with Flanagan – in perhaps her last race at age 37 – finishing third, Huddle (34) fourth, Boston winner Des Linden (35) sixth and Allie Kieffer (31) in seventh, all at 2:28:12 or better.

The men’s race had a lot more drama, with defending champion Geoffrey Kamworer (KEN) in control of a pack including Ethiopians Shura Kitata, Lelisa Desisa and Tamirat Tola and Kenya’s Festus Talam at the halfway mark in 1:03:55. Talam was the first to drop back, at 21 miles, then Tola had to let go a mile later.

That left Kamworer, Desisa and Kitata together and then Kitata fell off the pace by 24 miles and it was a two-man race to the finish … or so it seemed. Kamworer and Desisa ran stride for stride until less than a mile was left and then Desisa took off. Kamworer couldn’t respond and began looking behind him, and found Kitata moving well and catching up fast.

Desisa, who had finished 2-3-3 in New York in 2014-15-17, continued strongly to the finish in 2:05:59, the second fastest time in the history of the race, with only Geoffrey Mutai (KEN) faster at 2:05:06 in 2011. Desisa was closing in on him too, but ended up two seconds short (!) at 2:06:01, the no. 3 performance in race history. Kamworer’s 2:06:26 was no. 4 and more than four minutes faster than his winning mark of 2:10:53 in 2017.

“I am very, very satisfied to be the champion,” said Desisa. “I have finished on the podium before and this time I did such hard training, but with everything under control. Today is my day. Thank you, New York.”

American Bernard Lagat made his marathon debut in New York and finished 18th in 2:17:20.

The prize purse for 2018 was a minimum of $825,000, with the top 10 places receiving $100,000-60,000-40,000-25,000-15,000-10,000-7,500-5,000-2,500-2,000. But Desisa earned an additional time bonus of $45,000 and Kitata and Kamworer both won an additional $40,000 for their marks. Tola’s 2:08:30 earned him a bonus of $15,000.

Sixth-placer Jared Ward was the top American and earned a U.S.-finisher bonus of $25,000, with 15,000-10,000-5,000-3,000 for the next four American men.

Keitany’s fabulous time was worth a bonus of $45,000, and Cheruiyot, Flanagan and Huddle each got $10,000 extra for running sub-2:27. The American-finisher bonuses for the women rewarded Flanagan, Huddle, Linden, Kieffer and Stephanie Bruce (2:30:59).

Summaries:

World Marathon Majors/TCS New York City Marathon
New York, New York (USA) ~ 4 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men: 1. Lelisa Desisa (ETH), 2:05:59; 2. Shura Kitata (ETH), 2:06:01; 3. Geoffrey Kamworer (KEN), 2:06:26; 4. Tamirat Tola (ETH), 2:08:30; 5. Daniel Wanjiru (KEN), 2:10:21; 6. Jared Ward (USA), 2:12:24; 7. Scott Fauble (USA), 2:12:28; 8. Festus Talam (LEN), 2:12:40; 9. Shadrack Biwott (USA), 2:12:52; 10. Chris Derrick (USA), 2:13:08.

Women: 1. Mary Keitany (KEN), 2:22:48; 2. Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN), 2:26:02; 3. Shalane Flanagan (USA), 2:26:22; 4. Molly Huddle (USA), 2:26:44; 5. Rahma Tusa (ETH), 2:27:13; 6. Des Linden (USA), 2:27:51; 7. Allie Kieffer (USA), 2:28:12; 8. Lisa Weightman (AUS), 2:29:11; 9. Mamitu Daska (ETH), 2:30:31; 10. Belaynesh Fikadu (ETH), 2:30:47.

GYMNASTICS: Historic Worlds for Simone Biles ends in Doha

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 5, 2018

The 2018 FIG World Championships in Doha (QAT) will be remembered for many things, not least of which is the first time this event has been held in the Middle East. But after a year off, American Simone Biles returned to author one of the most outstanding performances in the long history of the event:

• She won individual medals in all four apparatus finals, becoming only the eighth woman in history to achieve the feat. The list:

1950 Helena Rakoczy (POL) ~ 3-0-1 apparatus medals and All-Around gold
1958 Larisa Latynina (URS) ~ 3-1-0 and A-A gold
1962 Larisa Latynina (URS) ~ 1-2-1 and A-A gold
1966 Natalia Kuchinskaya (URS) ~ 3-0-1 and A-A silver
1974 Ludmilla Tourischeva (URS) ~ 2-1-1 and A-A gold
1974 Olga Korbut (URS) ~ 1-3-0 and A-A silver
1987 Yelena Shushunova (URS) ~ 2-1-1 and A-A silver
2018 Simone Biles (USA) ~ 2-1-1 and A-A gold

As noted, in the nine times that a woman has won medals in all four apparatus, she has also won a medal in the All-Around. No one has ever won all four apparatus finals; this is harder than winning the team title and All-Around due to the presence of specialists who excel in just one event.

• In her fourth World Championships, Biles now has 20 total medals, tied with Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina (9-8-3 from 1994-2003) for the most ever in women’s competition.

• Biles won the Vault and Floor and added to her own record for the most World Championships golds; she has 14. Khorkina, Latynina (URS: 1954-66) and Gina Gogean (ROU: 1993-97) each won nine among the women; Biles also passed Vitaly Scherbo (RUS/BLR) who won 12 golds from 1991-96) for the most of any gymnast in World Championships history.

• In terms of individual-event medals – All-Around and the apparatus – Biles now has 17 (11-3-3), the most ever. She passed Khorkina’s total of 16.

• With her fourth All-Around title, Biles set a new record for the Worlds, where only she and Russia’s Khorkina had won three.

All of this took place while Biles was suffering from a kidney stone that was diagnosed in Doha!

“I am definitely very happy, especially to win a medal in every event,” said Biles. “No matter what color the medal, I’m really proud of myself. It feels really rewarding because I’ve put a lot of hard work and dedication into this sport, so I couldn’t be happier. I’m really proud of my performances here. I wish some of them would have been better, but I’m really proud of the outcome.”

All of this at age 21, with the 2019 Worlds and the 2020 Olympic Games ahead of her … at a minimum.

The U.S. had other good news in the apparatus finals, as Morgan Hurd backed up her All-Around bronze with a silver in the Floor Exercise for a 1-2 finish with Biles. “It just feels absolutely wonderful,” Hurd said. “My team final wasn’t the absolute best that I could have done, and I was really happy to be in final this year. I wanted it so badly.”

Equally delighted was American Sam Mikulak, who won his first World Championships medal with a bronze in the Horizontal Bar, to go along with fourths on the Parallel Bars and Pommel Horse and a fifth in the All-Around. “This was my one goal for the entire year: just getting one,” said Mikulak. “I didn’t care what color it was, just breaking into the scene. It was an emotional journey, and just going out and hitting High Bar after High Bar was the event I messed up in All-Around finals and getting that redemption. There was just so much buildup.”

In addition, Yul Moldauer finished fourth in the Floor Exercise, and the U.S. finished fourth in the Team finals, so the rebuilding process for the men’s team is well along.

Thanks to eight medals from the women – six from Biles – and Mikulak, the U.S. totaled nine medals and won the overall medal count for the first time since 2015 and for the fourth time in the last five Worlds.

There were lots of other highlights, including a lot of familiar faces winning another World Championship:

• Greece’s Eleftherios Petrounias won his third World title on the Rings despite a raw shoulder that will be operated on next week!

• North Korea’s Se-Gwang Ri won the Vault for the third time (2014-15-18);

• China’s Jingyuan Zou defended his Parallel Bars title from 2017;

• Dutch Horizontal Bar specialist Epke Zonderland won his third World title – also in 2013 and 2014 – and his sixth career Worlds medal.

Also worth noting was Belgium’s Nina Derwael winning her country’s first-ever gold in the World Championships, winning the Uneven Bars over Biles, and 43-year-old Oksana Chusovitina (UZB) missing a bronze medal on the vault by 0.208 for fourth place; she won 11 career Worlds medals dating back to 1991!

The attendance in Doha was poor, not too surprising for a country that has no background in the sport, but it was a first for the region. The 2019 Worlds will be in Stuttgart (GER). Summaries from Doha:

FIG World Artistic Championships
Doha (QAT) ~ 25 October-3 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men

Team Qualifications (top 8 qualify for Final): 1. Russia, 258.402; 2. China., 257.836; 3. Japan, 253.312; 4. United States, 250.362; 5. Great Britain, 249.836; 6. Brazil, 246.961; 7. Netherlands, 245.663; 8. Switzerland, 245.186.

Team Final: 1. China (Shudi Deng, Chaopan Lin, Wei Sun, Ruoteng Xiao, Jingyuan Zou)), 256.634; 2. Russia (David Belyavskiy, Artur Dalaloyan, Nikolai Kuksenkov, mitrii Lankin, Nikita Nagornyy), 256.585; 3. Japan (Kazuma Kaya, Kenzo Shirai, Yusuke Tanaka, Wataru Tanigawa, Kohei Uchimura), 253.744; 4. United States (Sam Mikulak, Akash Modi, Yul Moldauer, Colin van Wicklen, Alec Yoder), 251.994; 5. Great Britain, 248.628; 6. Switzerland, 244.294; 7. Brazil, 243.994; 8. Netherlands, 240.660.

All-Around Qualifications (top 24 qualify for Final): 1. Ruoteng Xiao (CHN), 87.332; 2. Nikita Nagornyy (RUS), 87.098; 3. Sam Mikulak (USA), 86.598; 4. Artur Dalaloyan (RUS), 84.572; 5. Wei Sun (CHN), 84.007; 6. Kenzo Shirai (JPN), 83.864; 7. James Hall (GBR), 83.198; 8. Kazuma Kaya (JPN), 82.915. Also: 17. Yul Moldauer (USA), 80.365.

All-Around Final (limit 2 per country): 1. Dalaloyan (RUS), 87.598; 2. Xiao (CHN), 87.598; 3. Nagornyy (RUS), 86.331; 4. Sun (CHN), 85.598; 5. Mikulak (USA), 85.273; 6. Kaya (JPN), 84.765; 7. Shirai (JPN), 84.531; 8. Hall (GBR), 84.298. Also: 12. Moldauer (USA), 81.932.

Floor: 1. Dalaloyan (RUS), 14.900; 2. Shirai (JPN), 14.866; 3. Carlos Edriel Yulo (PHI), 14.600; 4. Moldauer (USA), 14.566; 5. Artem Dolgopyat (ISR), 14.566; 6. Nagornyy (RUS), 14.500; 7. Mikulak (USA), 14.233; 8. Kaya (JPN), 14.100.

Pommel Horse: 1. Xiao (CHN), 15.166; 2. Max Whitlock (GBR), 15.166; 3. Chih Kai Lee (TPE), 14.966; 4. Mikulak (USA), 14.333; 5. Nariman Kurbanov (KAZ), 13.400; 6. Nagornyy (RUS), 12.533; 7. David Belyavskiy (RUS), 11.833; 8. Cyril Tommasone (FRA), 11.500.

Rings: 1. Eleftherios Petrounias (GRE), 15.366; 2. Arthur Zanetti (BRA), 15.100; 3. Marco Lodadio (ITA), 14.900; 4. Artur Tovmasyan (ARM), 14.766; 5. Nagornyy (RUS), 14.733; 6. Vahagn Davtyan (ARM), 14.733; 7. Nikita Simonov (AZE), 14.266; 8. Igor Radivilov (UKR), 14.133.

Vault: 1. Se-Gwang Ri (PRK), 14.933; 2. Dalaloyan (RUS), 14.883; 3. Shirai (JPN), 14.675; 4. Dominick Cunningham (GBR), 14.666; 5. Nagornyy (RUS), 14.650; 6. Wai Jung Shek (HKG), 14.366; 7. Artur Davtyan (ARM), 13.933; 8. Caio Souza (BRA), 13.883.

Parallel Bars: 1. Jingyuan Zou (CHN), 16.433; 2. Oleg Verniaiev (UKR), 15.591; 3. Dalaloyan (RUS), 15.366; 4. Mikulak (USA), 15.233; 5. Chaopan Lin (CHN), 15.200; 6. Jossimar Calvo (COL), 15.033; 7. Belyavskiy (RUS), 14.633; 8. Lukas Dauser (GER), 13.700.

Horizontal Bar: 1. Epke Zonderland (NED), 15.100; 2. Kohei Uchimura (JPN), 14.800; 3. Mikulak (USA), 14.533; 4. Tin Srbic (CRO), 14.500; 5. Chia-Hung Tang (HKG), 14.266; 6. Shudi Deng (CHN), 14.066; 7. Xiao (CHN), 13.900; 8. Dalaloyan (RUS), 12.666.

Women

Team Qualifications (top 8 qualify for Final): 1. United States, 174.429; 2. Russia, 165.497; 3. China, 165.196; 4. Canada, 163.897; 5. Brazil, 162.529; 6. Japan, 162.180; 7. France, 161.629; 8. Germany, 161.071.

Team Final: 1. United States (Simone Biles, Riley McCusker, Morgan Hurd, Kara Eaker, Grace McCallum), 171.629; 2. Russia (Liliia Akhaimova, Irina Alekseeva, Angelina Melnikova, Aliia Mustafina, Angelina Simakova), 162.863; 4. China (Yile Chen, Tingting Liu, Jinru Liu, Huan Luo, Jin Zhang), 162.396; 4. Canada, 161.644; 5. France, 161.294; 6. Japan, 160.262; 7. Brazil, 159.830; 8. Germany, 159.428.

All-Around Qualifications (top 24 qualify for Final): 1. Simone Biles (USA), 60.965; 2. Morgan Hurd (USA), 56.465; 3. Mai Murakami (JPN), 55.632; 4. Nina Derwael (BEL), 55.564; 5. Angelina Melnikova (RUS), 55.465; 6. Ellie Black (CAN), 54.999; 7. Melanie de Jesus dos Santos (FRA), 54.798; 8. Riley McCusker (USA), 54.765.

All-Around Final (limit 2 per country): 1. Biles (USA), 57.491; 2. Murakami (JPN), 55.798; 3. Hurd (USA), 55.732; 4. Derwael (BEL), 55.699; 5. Melnikova (RUS), 55.698; 6. De Jesus dos Santos (FRA), 55.599; 7. Chen (CHN), 54.632; 8. Flavia Saraiva (BRA), 54.366.

Vault: 1. Biles (USA), 15.366; 2. Shallon Olsen (CAN), 14.516; 3. Alexa Moreno (MEX), 14.508; 4. Oksana Chusovitina (UZB), 14.300; 5. Seojeong Yeo (KOR), 14.233; 6. Jinru Liu (CHN), 14.150; 7. Black (CAN), 14.116; 8. Rye Yong Pyon (PRK), 13.616.

Uneven Bars: Nina Derwael (BEL), 15.200; 2. Biles (USA), 14.700; 3. Elisabeth Seitz (GER), 14.600; 4. Huan Luo (CHN), 14.500; 5. Aliia Mustafina (RUS), 14.433; 6. Hurd (USA), 14.433; 7. Rebecca Downie (GBR), 13.333; 8. Jonna Adlerteg (SWE), 13.166.

Beam: 1. Tingting Liu (CHN), 14.533; 2. Anne-Marie Padurariu (CAN), 14.100; 3. Biles (USA), 13.600; 4. Derwael (BEL), 13.466; 5. Black (CAN), 13.033; 6. Kara Eaker (USA), 12.833; 7. Sanne Wevers (NED), 12.666; 8. Jin Zhang (CHN), 11.500.

Floor: 1. Biles (USA), 14.933; 2. Hurd (USA), 13.933; 3. Murakami (JPN), 13.866; 4. Melnikova (RUS), 13.833; 5. Flavia Saraiva (BRA), 13.766; 6. De Jesus dos Santos (FRA), 13.433; 7. Liilia Akhaimova (RUS), 13.366; 8. Brooklyn Moors (CAN), 13.066.

THE BIG PICTURE: IOC tells Int’l Biathlon Union they are OK (and starts sending checks)

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 5, 2018

One of the international sports federations in hot water over the past several months has been the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which had its president step aside and its secretary-general suspended over an investigation of possible bribes to ignore Russian doping positives.

The International Olympic Committee noted the turmoil and suspended payments of Winter Games television money to the federation last June. That got everyone’s attention.

The investigation is ongoing, by authorities in Austria and Norway, but the IBU elected a new president, Olle Dahlen of Sweden and extensive reforms on governance, ethics and anti-doping programs were undertaken immediately.

On 2 November, Dahlin met with IOC chief Thomas Bach in Lausanne, and the outcome of their talks was the immediate lifting of all restrictions on the IBU and the resumption of IOC payments to the federation. Of special note in the IOC’s statement was this aspect of the IBU’s reforms:

“Implementation of measures to strengthen the fight against doping, including the completion of a full independent audit of the IBU anti-doping programme, the IBU’s commitment to join the International Testing Agency (ITA), and the notification of anti-doping rule violation charges against four Russian athletes based on WADA independent investigations and other related information from WADA.”

Note the mention of the International Testing Agency, an agency set up by the IOC to handle – completely independently – testing for doping and which has begun active operations. Look for a lot more announcements like this, as the IOC pushes as many federations as possible to use the ITA for testing.

And the IOC announced that it was carrying out additional re-tests on specimens from the 2012 Games in London. Who’s in charge of this? “[T]he IOC has delegated results management to the ITA, which will therefore review all the test results and notify the athletes concerned.”

LANE ONE: Boxing elects “organized crime” leader Rakhimov as president; now what?

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 5, 2018

tsx pix 110418 rakhimov gafur-aiba 750x417 — AIBA elected Gafur Rakhimov (UZB) as its new president

Elections of international federation presidents aren’t usually too exciting except for those in the sport. There are exceptions, of course, and one of those came on Saturday in Moscow (RUS), when the International Boxing Federation (AIBA) met to elect its new leader.

The result may end boxing’s participation in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. How is this possible?

The AIBA has been in turmoil for more than a year, after the forced resignation of C.K. Wu (TPE), who was president from 2006 until November of 2017. Within the federation, he was accused of financial mismanagement and placing the continued future of the organization in doubt because of excessive debt.

Wu had been a highly-respected member of the International Olympic Committee since 1988 before ascending to the AIBA presidency, and he continues to serve today. But he has nothing to do with AIBA any more, and the IOC, looking at the AIBA mess, suspended any further payments of television rights monies to the federation in December of 2017.

Said IOC chief Thomas Bach (GER), “There is the governance issue, there is the fact that financial statements have not been made fully transparent, there are still questions open with regard to judging, refereeing and anti-doping and therefore we have asked AIBA for a full report by the end of January.” The wretched judging at the Rio Games in 2016 was deemed so bad that Wu “removed” all 36 of the Rio judges in January 2017 from further assignments pending a review.

The AIBA made its report to the IOC, but the suspension of payments continued. AIBA then held an Extraordinary Congress in Dubai (UAE) and elected Vice President Gafur Rakhimov (UZB) as Interim President. This changed everything.

While Rakhimov had been associated with the AIBA since 1995, his selection as AIBA President brought an unwelcome focus on his background. In 2012, the U.S. Treasury Department identified him as “one of the leaders of Uzbek organized crime with a specialty in the organized production of drugs in the countries of Central Asia. He has operated major international drug syndicates involving the trafficking of heroin.”

The Treasury has not backed down from this position, although Rakhimov has protested that he is innocent of any such charge. In December 2017, the Treasury issued a notice specifying that Rakhimov has “has collaborated with Thieves-in-Law [Russian crime ring] on business, as well as assisted Thieves-in-Law by providing warning of law enforcement issues, arranging meetings, and addressing other problems. Rakhimov has been described as having moved from extortion and car theft to becoming one of Uzbekistan’s leading criminals and an important person involved in the heroin trade.”

Now he’s the elected head of AIBA, winning Saturday’s vote over Asian Boxing Confederation head and 1980 boxing silver medalist Serik Konakbayev (KAZ) by an 86-48 vote.

In October, the IOC issued an unusually harsh statement noting that “the IOC reiterates its clear position that if the governance issues are not properly addressed to the satisfaction of the IOC at the forthcoming AIBA Congress, the existence of boxing on the Olympic programme and even the recognition of AIBA as an International Federation recognised by the IOC are under threat.”

If this were to pass, AIBA would be near death as an organization. Its financial statement for 30 June 2018, posted at the AIBA Congress this past weekend, showed that the IOC’s contribution of about CHF 4.3 million a year had made up about 65% of its revenue in 2017-18 and more than 78% of its revenue for 2016-17 (The exchange rate between the Swiss franc and U.S. dollar is about 1:1.)

Even with the IOC’s cash, AIBA posted a loss of CHF 1.79 million in 2017-2018 and CHF 7.2 million in 2016-17. The AIBA balance sheet shows CHF 3.9 million in assets and CHF 22.9 million in liabilities, so it’s much more than broke.

At the same time, the IOC’s statement on 3 October had a strange final paragraph:

“At the same time, we would like to reassure the athletes that the IOC will – as it has always done in such situations and is currently doing at the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 – do its upmost to ensure that the athletes do not have to suffer under these circumstances and that we will protect their Olympic dream.”

What does that mean?

It’s worth noting that boxing was fully a part of the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, but the AIBA was not. There were AIBA-certified judges at the matches, but no AIBA executives, officials or staff were allowed to be accredited, or to have access to any part of the tournament (although they were in the building). The PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit firm was present to compile a report on the judging process, for presentation to the IOC.

The next IOC Executive Board meeting comes on 30 November, and the AIBA situation will be high on the agenda. Rakhimov offered an “olive branch” to the IOC and said “We are committed to continue improving in any area you feel we should improve.” Judging by the IOC’s comments, it may keep boxing in the Games and keep AIBA out. It can afford to do so, and other federations with similarly thin finances should consider themselves warned.

Rich Perelman
Editor

SHORT TRACK Preview: World Cup season starts in Calgary

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 2, 2018

The first of five stages in the 2018-19 ISU Short Track World Cup comes this weekend in Calgary (CAN), with competition in the 500-1,000-1,500 m for men and women plus relays for both and a mixed relay of 2,000 m.

A lot of the match-ups from PyeongChang will be replayed in Calgary, with 10 Olympic medalists (and 13 medals) returning to the ice:

Men
∙ 500 m: 1. Dajing Wu (CHN); 2. Dae-Heon Hwang (KOR); 3. Hyo-Jun Lim (KOR)
∙ 1,000 m: 1. Sam Girard (CAN)
∙ 1,500 m: 1. Hyo-Jun Lim (KOR); 2. Sjinkie Knegt (NED)

Women
∙ 500 m: 2. Yara van Kerkhof (NED); 3. Kim Boutin (CAN)
∙ 1,000 m: 1. Suzanne Schulting (NED); 2. Kim Boutin (CAN)
∙ 1,500 m: 1. Min-Jeong Choi (KOR); 2. Jinyu Li (CHN) ; 3. Kim Boutin (CAN)

In addition, five of the six individual World Cup event winners from last season are entered:

Men
· Wu (CHN: 500 m); Sandor Shaolin Liu (HUN: 1,000 m), and Hwang (KOR: 1,500 m).

Women
· Boutin (CAN: 1,000 m) and Choi (KOR: 1,500 m).

For the U.S., 2018 Olympians Aaron Tran and Thomas Hong and teen star Maame Biney are all entered. Look for results here.

FREESTYLE SKIING & SNOWBOARD Preview: World Cup Big Air seasons resume in Modena

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 2, 2018

tsx pix 110218 corning, chris 750 — American Olympic Snowboarder Chris Corning

The World Cup season in Big Air for Freestyle and Snowboard will resume after a two-month break with competitions in Modena (ITA) this weekend.

It’s not the start of the season, as the opener actually came in September, with competitions during the Winter Games New Zealand in Cardrona:

∙ In the Freestyle Big Air, Andri Ragettli (SUI) was the men’s winner, followed by Evan McEachran (CAN) and Finn Bilous (NZL). Elena Gaskell (CAN) won the women’s event, ahead of Caroline Claire (USA) and Yuki Tsubota (JPN).

∙ In Snowboard Big Air, Chris Corning (USA) was the winner over Takeru Otsuka (JPN) and Mons Roisland (NOR) in the men’s event, and Reira Iwabuchi (JPN) led teammate Miyabi Onitsuka to a 1-2 finish, with Klaudia Medlova (SVK) third.

Some of those names are familiar ones from the 2017-18 World Cup seasonal finish in both disciplines:

∙ Freestyle/Big Air – Men:
1. 229 Christian Nummedal (NOR)
2. 179 Elias Ambuhl (SUI)
3. 174 Hugo Burvall (SWE)

Women:
1. 162 Silvia Bertagna (ITA)
2. 160 Giulia Tanno (SUI)
3. 155 Dominique Ohaco (CHI)

∙ Snowboard/Big Air – Men:
1. 1,800 Chris Corning (USA)
2. 1,500 Yuri Okubo (JPN)
3. 1.464 Jonas Bosiger (SUI)

Women:
1. 2,000 Anna Gasser (AUT)
2. 1.960 Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN)
3. 1,940 Julia Marino (USA)

The qualifying and finals are both scheduled for Saturday, but could be held over to Sunday in case of bad weather. The Modena venue replaces the Milan stop on last year’s World Cup tour, won by Ambuhl and Corine Ballet Baz (FRA) in Freestyle and Corning and Gasser in Snowboard.

Look for results here.

FIGURE SKATING Preview: OWG champs Hanyu and Zagitova on the ice in Helsinki

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 2, 2018

World Figure Skating Championships - Milano — 2018 Olympic Champion Alina Zagitova (Photo: ISU)

It’s hard to believe, but the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating has already reached the halfway mark with the Grand Prix in Helsinki (FIN). This week’s line-up is led by 2018 Olympic champions Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) and Alina Zagitova (RUS). The top entries:

Men:
• Boyang Jin (CHN) ~ 2016-17 Worlds bronze; 4th at PyeongChang ‘18
• Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN) ~ 2014-18 Olympic gold medalist; 2014-17 World Champion
• Alexei Bychenko (ISR) ~ 4th at 2018 World Championships; 2016 European silver medalist
• Mikhail Kolyada (RUS) ~ 2018 Worlds bronze medalist; eighth in PyeongChang ‘18

Women:
• Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) ~ 2018 Four Continents winner; second at Skate America ‘18
• Alina Zagitova (RUS) ~ 2018 Olympic Champion; 2017 World Junior Champion
• Leona Hendrickx (BEL) ~ 9th at 2018 World Championships
• Hanul Kim (KOR) ~ 13th in PyeongChang ‘18; 15th at the 2018 World Championships

Pairs:
• Natalia Zabiiako/Alexander Enbert (RUS) ~ 7th in PyeongChang ‘18; 4th at Worlds ‘18
• Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise (ITA) ~ 10th at PyeongChang ‘18; 5th at Worlds ‘18

Ice Dance:
• Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (ITA) ~ 10th at PyeongChang ‘18; second at Skate America
• Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin (RUS) ~ 7th at the 2018 World Championships
• Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) ~ 3rd-2nd at World Juniors ‘17-18
• Lorraine McNamara/Quinn Carpenter (USA) ~ World Junior Champions 2016

This third leg of the ISU Grand Prix is normally held in China, but the Chinese deferred for this year and after the successful World Championships held in Helsinki in 2017, the Finns picked it up.

Hanyu, 23, and Zagitova, now 16, were the darlings of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang (KOR). Hanyu overcame injuries that threatened to keep him out of the Games, while Zagitova came from the junior ranks to dazzle everyone and win the gold medal over two-time World Champion Evgenia Medvedeva (RUS).

Prize money is as usual for the Grand Prix: $18,000-13,000-9,000-3,000-2,000 for the top five place winners in all divisions.

NBC will have a highlights show of the Helsinki Grand Prix on Sunday, starting at 1 p.m. Eastern time. Look for results here.

CYCLING Preview: Season titles for U.S. Freestylers Bruce and Roberts?

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 2, 2018

tsx pix 110418 roberts, hannah 2018 750 — 2017 BMX Freestyle World Champion Hannah Roberts

The final leg of the 2018 UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup is in Chengdu (CHN), with seasonal titles on the line, with two U.S. riders at the top of the standings:

Men:
1. 2,390 Nick Bruce (USA)
2. 2,260 Daniel Dhers (VEN)
3. 1,950 Marin Rantes (CRO)
4. 1,900 Martin Logan (AUS)
5. 1,850 Justin Dowell (USA)

Women:
1. 2,770 Hannah Roberts (USA)
2. 2,740 Lara Lessmann (GER)
3. 2,540 Oike Minato (JPN)
4. 2,290 Nikita Ducarroz (SUI)
5. 2,140 Angie Marino (USA)

The scoring in BMX Freestyle is 1,000-900-820-770-720 for the top five places and on down to one point for 50th, so the seasonal title is up for grabs.

Bruce, 26, is coming back from a July injury, but won the second leg at Montpellier (FRA). Logan won the last World Cup, held in Edmonton (CAN), and is the reigning UCI BMX Freestyle World Champion from 2017, incidentally also held in Chengdu!

The gold, silver and bronze medalists from the 2017 World Championships for women are 1-2-5 in the standings in 2018. American teenage sensation Roberts, 17, is the current World Champion, but has only a 30-point lead over silver winner Lessmann, now 18. Marino won bronze at the 2017 Worlds and with this scoring format, could vault all the way to the top. Roberts won in Hiroshima and Edmonton and Minato took gold in Montpellier.

The final will be on Sunday; look for results here.

ATHLETICS PREVIEW: Kamworer and Flanagan to defend New York City Marathon titles

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 2, 2018

The final World Marathon Majors race for 2018 is the 48th edition of the TCS New York City Marathon, coming this Sunday, starting on Staten Island and then racing in all five of the New York City boroughs.

The celebrated five-boroughs course began in 1976, but is hardly a time-friendly route for the elite fields. The course records are only 2:05:05 for the men (by Geoffrey Mutai (KEN) in 2011) and 2:22:31 for women (by Margaret Okayo (KEN) in 2003). Nevertheless it is one of the truly prized races in the marathon world and has again attracted a noteworthy elite field:

Men

2:04:06 ‘18 Tamirat Tola (ETH) ~ 2017 World Champ silver; PR in Dubai in January
2:04:45 ‘13 Lelisa Desisa (ETH) ~ 2013 World Champs silver; 2-3-3 in NY in 2014-15-17
2:04:49 ‘18 Shura Kitata (ETH) ~ 2018 London runner-up; 59:16 Half-Mar in September
2:05:21 ‘16 Daniel Wanjiru (KEN) ~ 2017 London Marathon winner; 8th in 2017 Worlds
2:06:12 ‘12 Geoffrey Kamworer (KEN) ~ Defending champion, 2nd in NY in 2015
2:06:13 ‘17 Festus Talam (KEN) ~ Eindhoven Marathon winner in 2016-17
2:08:56 ‘06 Abdi Abdirahman (USA) ~ 2012 U.S. Marathon Olympian; 3rd in NY in 2016
Debut Bernard Lagat (USA) ~ Olympic 1,500 m bronze ‘00 and silver ‘04 (for Kenya); 2007 World Champ in 1,500 and 5000 m; Peachtree 10 km winner 2018

Kamworer’s most amazing quality is that he wins the biggest races consistently. He’s a five-time World Champion, winning the IAAF Cross Country titles in 2015 and 2017 and the Half Marathon worlds in 2014-1618. But he hasn’t raced since May, so how much can we expect?

No one quite knows what Lagat, now 43, will do. He says he’s retired from the track and he’s run just three races this year, winning the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on 4 July (28:35) and has also run two so-so Half Marathon races in January (62:00 for 15th) and March (62:16 for 31st at the IAAF World Championships in Valencia). But he ran 27:49.35 for 10,000 m on the track in 2016 and if he’s in shape, anything could happen.

Kenyans have won five of the last six NYC Marathons; the last Ethiopian winner was in 2010 and the last American winner was Meb Keflezighi in 2009.

Women

2:17:01 ‘17 Mary Keitany (KEN) ~ NYC winner in 2014-15-16
2:18:31 ‘18 Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN) ~ London Marathon winner; Rio Olympic 5,000 m gold
2:21:14 ‘14 Shalane Flanagan (USA) ~ Defending champion; 1st U.S. winner since 1977!
2:21:59 ‘11 Mamitu Daska (ETH) ~ 3rd in New York in 2017
2:22:28 ‘11 Des Linden (USA) ~ 2018 Boston Marathon winner; 7th in Rio in 2016
2:23:46 ‘18 Rahma Tusa (ETH) ~ 2018 Roma Marathon winner
2:25:15 ‘17 Lisa Weightman (AUS) ~ Commonwealth Games silver; PR at London ‘17 (5th)
2:28:13 ‘16 Molly Huddle (USA) ~ 3rd in New York ‘16; 13th (2:50:28) in Boston ‘18

Keitany, 36, has the IAAF’s “world record” for the best mark ever in a women’s only marathon, her 2:17:01 to win in London in 2017. She hasn’t done much in 2018: three races, including a fifth in the London Marathon in 2:24:27.

Cheruiyot, 35, won the London Marathon this year in 2:18:31, moving her to no. 5 on the all-time list, and beating Keitany along the way. She also has a special record on the track, winning the Rio 5,000 m and world titles in 2009 (5,000 m), 2011 (5,000-1,000 m) and 2015 (10,000 m).

Huddle has been a star on the track, with multiple American records and a fourth (2015 Worlds) and a sixth (2016 Olympic Games) in the 10,000 m. Now 34, she sees her future more on the roads, with six of her nine races in 2018 on the streets. She did take time out to win the 10,000 m at the U.S. Nationals in Des Moines in June.

Linden won the 2018 Boston Marathon in miserable conditions; she’s run twice since and her last race was a 71:46 win at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon in September.

Flanagan, 37, was sixth in Boston in 2018, but didn’t finish her only race since then, a 5,000 m on the track in Heusden (BEL) in July. Her New York win last year was so iconic that many forget she was sixth in the Rio Olympic marathon in 2016.

Kenyans had won four women’s races in a row until Flanagan won in 2017. Look for five out of six.

The prize purse for 2018 is $825,000, with the top 10 places receiving $100,000-60,000-40,000-25,000-15,000-10,000-7,500-5,000-2,500-2,000. The top U.S. runners will get $25,000-15,000-10,000-5,000-3,000. There are also time bonuses for specified marks, from $10,000 up to $50,000.

The race will be shown starting at 9 a.m. Eastern time on ESPN2. Look for results here.

GYMNASTICS: Biles makes history with fourth world All-Around title

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 2, 2018

tsx pix 110118 gymnastics wmn A-A podium 750 — The women's All-Around podium: Mai Miyahara, Simone Biles and Morgan Hurd

With the team competition over and a fourth straight World Championships gold medal for the United States secured, it’s now Simone Biles’ opportunity to re-write the record book for herself.

She got an excellent start at the FIG World Championships in Doha (QAT) with her fourth All-Around title, a new record for the Worlds, where only she and Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina (1997-01-03) had won three, in an championships which dates back to 1934!

Her performance was uncharacteristically uneven, as she fell on the Vault and on the Beam and still piled up 57.491 points, well clear of Japan’s Mai Murakami (55.798) and defending champion Morgan Hurd of the U.S. (55.732).

“It was a tough day,” she said. “I didn’t know if I was going to pull it off today, and then I started doubting myself and I tried to track back to training and see how well that went. I tried to just think of that. You should always fall back on training because I’ve had such good training here.”

Hurd also had problems on the Beam, having to grab it to keep from falling, but ended up just 0.067 away from silver. “Last year it was my first time, so I did not really know what to expect,” she said afterwards. “This year I came in basically as a veteran, and I had a lot more expectations of myself.” What she proved is that her 2017 World All-Around gold was not a fluke and there is much more to come from her.

Biles, competing despite having a kidney stone that was diagnosed in Doha, did not score as well as she did in the qualifying (60.965) or in the Team Final (58.865), but it was enough to make history. She will compete in the four apparatus finals on Friday and Saturday, trying to become the first to ever win all four events at a World Championships. And that could mean:

∙ In her fourth World Championships, she now has 16 total medals, four behind the 20 collected by Russia’s Khorkina (9-8-3 from 1994-2003). If Biles were to medal in all four apparatus finals (very possible), she would equal Khorkina’s career total … all by age 21.

∙ Biles added to her own record for the most World Championships golds, as the All-Around was her 12th win. Khorkina, Larisa Latynina (URS: 1954-66) and Gina Gogean (ROU: 1993-97) each won nine.

∙ In terms of individual-event medals – All-Around and the apparatus – Biles now has 13 (9-2-2) and has moved into second place all-time. If she should medal in all four apparatus finals, she would surpass Khorkina’s total of 16. Biles and Khorkina both now have nine golds in individual events and Biles will likely surpass her, unless the kidney stone fells her.

As noted, Biles has qualified for all four event finals; the other U.S. entries are Hurd in Uneven Bars and Floor and Kara Eaker on the Beam. No other gymnast qualified for more than two apparatus finals, other than Biles.

In the men’s All-Around, China’s defending champion Ruoteng Xiao and Russia’s Artur Dalaloyan dueled through all six events and even after all that, were still tied at 87.598. The tie-breaking procedure counts only the five highest scores and that gave the gold to Dalaloyan, 74.198 to 73.465.

“I had only one goal, and that was to perform my job from beginning to end without mistakes,” said the winner. “I’m just so happy. I can’t believe it yet. I need to probably go to my hotel, take a deep breath and realize that yes, I won this championship.”

It was the first Worlds win for Russia in the men’s All-Around since Nikolai Kryukov in 1999, and the first time that Russians won two men’s All-Around medals ever (Soviet men swept the All-Around in their last appearance as a team in the 1991 Worlds, and two other times previously).

A very tight race for third had American Sam Mikulak in place for a bronze medal, but missed a re-grip the Horizontal Bar on the final rotation, dangled for a moment and even though he recovered to finish, he dropped to fifth place. Russia’s Nikita Nagornyy won the bronze instead, with 86.331 points; Mikulak ended with 85.273.

“I thought this was my year. I felt so good for it,” said Mikulik. “I had done this a million times and I was so ready for every single thing, and it showed until high bar. I’ll probably watch that routine like a million times just to make sure that doesn’t happen again. I used to not watch [routines with errors], but I think as you get older you’ve got to learn from your mistakes. Things hurt, but if you don’t let it hurt, you’re not going to get over it and you’re not going to get better.”

The remaining schedule:

∙ 02 November: Apparatus finals
(Men: Floor/Pommel Horse/Rings; Women: Vault/Uneven Bars)

∙ 03 November: Apparatus finals
(Men: Vault/Parallel Bars/Horizontal Bar; Women: Beam/Floor)

Mikulak isn’t done, and will compete in the individual finals on the weekend on Floor, Pommel Horse, Parallel Bars and Horizontal Bar. Yul Moldauer, who finished 12th in the All-Around, qualified for the individual final on Floor.

The NBC Olympic Channel has continuing Worlds coverage from Doha. Summaries so far:

FIG World Artistic Championships
Doha (QAT) ~ 25 October-3 November 2018
(Full results here)

Men

Team Qualifications (top 8 qualify for Final): 1. Russia, 258.402; 2. China., 257.836; 3. Japan, 253.312; 4. United States, 250.362; 5. Great Britain, 249.836; 6. Brazil, 246.961; 7. Netherlands, 245.663; 8. Switzerland, 245.186.

Team Final: 1. China (Shudi Deng, Chaopan Lin, Wei Sun, Ruoteng Xiao, Jingyuan Zou)), 256.634; 2. Russia (David Belyavskiy, Artur Dalaloyan, Nikolai Kuksenkov, mitrii Lankin, Nikita Nagornyy), 256.585; 3. Japan (Kazuma Kaya, Kenzo Shirai, Yusuke Tanaka, Wataru Tanigawa, Kohei Uchimura), 253.744; 4. United States (Sam Mikulak, Akash Modi, Yul Moldauer, Colin van Wicklen, Alec Yoder), 251.994; 5. Great Britain, 248.628; 6. Switzerland, 244.294; 7. Brazil, 243.994; 8. Netherlands, 240.660.

All-Around Qualifications (top 24 qualify for Final): 1. Ruoteng Xiao (CHN), 87.332; 2. Nikita Nagornyy (RUS), 87.098; 3. Sam Mikulak (USA), 86.598; 4. Artur Dalaloyan (RUS), 84.572; 5. Wei Sun (CHN), 84.007; 6. Kenzo Shirai (JPN), 83.864; 7. James Hall (GBR), 83.198; 8. Kazuma Kaya (JPN), 82.915. Also: 17. Yul Moldauer (USA), 80.365.

All-Around Final (limit 2 per country): 1. Dalaloyan (RUS), 87.598; 2. Xiao (CHN), 87.598; 3. Nagornyy (RUS), 86.331; 4. Sun (CHN), 85.598; 5. Mikulak (USA), 85.273; 6. Kaya (JPN), 84.765; 7. Shirai (JPN), 84.531; 8. Hall (GBR), 84.298. Also: 12. Moldauer (USA), 81.932.

Women

Team Qualifications (top 8 qualify for Final): 1. United States, 174.429; 2. Russia, 165.497; 3. China, 165.196; 4. Canada, 163.897; 5. Brazil, 162.529; 6. Japan, 162.180; 7. France, 161.629; 8. Germany, 161.071.

Team Final: 1. United States (Simone Biles, Riley McCusker, Morgan Hurd, Kara Eaker, Grace McCallum), 171.629; 2. Russia (Liliia Akhaimova, Irina Alekseeva, Angelina Melnikova, Aliia Mustafina, Angelina Simakova), 162.863; 4. China (Yile Chen, Tingting Liu, Jinru Liu, Huan Luo, Jin Zhang), 162.396; 4. Canada, 161.644; 5. France, 161.294; 6. Japan, 160.262; 7. Brazil, 159.830; 8. Germany, 159.428.

All-Around Qualifications (top 24 qualify for Final): 1. Simone Biles (USA), 60.965; 2. Morgan Hurd (USA), 56.465; 3. Mai Murakami (JPN), 55.632; 4. Nina Derwael (BEL), 55.564; 5. Angelina Melnikova (RUS), 55.465; 6. Ellie Black (CAN), 54.999; 7. Melanie de Jesus dos Santos (FRA), 54.798; 8. Riley McCusker (USA), 54.765.

All-Around Final (limit 2 per country): 1. Biles (USA), 57.491; 2. Murakami (JPN), 55.798; 3. Hurd (USA), 55.732; 4. Derwael (BEL), 55.699; 5. Melnikova (RUS), 55.698; 6. De Jesus dos Santos (FRA), 55.599; 7. Chen (CHN), 54.632; 8. Flavia Saraiva (BRA), 54.366.

THE BIG PICTURE: “Emergency summit” rips WADA for Russian reinstatement

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 2, 2018

An “emergency summit” of national anti-doping agencies and athletes was called by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and held on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. to promote reform of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

This is the latest pressure tactic – coming two days after a similar meeting in Paris (FRA) – from the national anti-doping organizations and some athlete groups which are protesting the conditional reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency by the WADA Executive Committee in September. And WADA itself was not invited to this meeting, although individuals who sit on the Executive Committee were present.

The “Washington Anti-Doping Summit Declaration” stated that “As a result of the recent state-sponsored doping crisis in Russia, and widespread athlete and public disillusionment in how the crisis was handled, confidence in clean sport is at an all-time low” and, among other requests, “The governance structure of WADA must be overhauled in a significant and meaningful way. Individuals with active roles in sport must not simultaneously serve in leadership positions at WADA.”

WADA itself has already heard this, emphasizing at its own Global Education Conference in Beijing (CHN) last week “the WADA Athlete Committee’s development of an Anti-Doping Charter of Athlete Rights” and “the role of education in clean sport programs.”

The tragedy of the situation is that the conditional reinstatement of Russia has touched off a civil war within the anti-doping community instead of efforts to further find and deter doping, especially through athlete education. And as WADA is funded by the International Olympic Committee and by governments, this is a dangerous game being played by the national anti-doping organizations and athlete groups, who risk having the IOC and government ministries reduce or cancel their funding in view of other priorities. Cooler heads and in-depth discussions could produce a better result than public indignation, but time will tell.

LANE ONE: Calgary 2026 bid comes back from the dead … on Halloween!

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 2, 2018

tsx pix 103118 undead 750 — Back from the dead!

On Wednesday, the Calgary City Council voted 8-7 to kill the city’s bid for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games and yet the bid still lives on and will continue to a public vote on 13 November.

How?

Because the Council motion to kill the bid required a two-thirds vote – a 10-5 margin – the 8-7 vote allowed the project to survive for now.

But what had been a straightforward process in Calgary got badly muddied in the final hours and could hurt the project moving forward. “It’s been really messy,” said Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, noting the seven-hour Council debate that preceded the vote. Some of the messiness came from:

• News reports indicated that Council members on both sides of the vote were concerned that C$773,000 had already been spent on the logistics of the referendum and that advance voting was already taking place.

• The bid appeared to be dead because of a lack of a completed funding plan for the government support aspects of the project, estimated at C$3.01 billion. So what changed?

(1) The Calgary 2026 Bid Corporation reduced the amount to C$2.875 billion – saving C$226 million – by reducing contingencies in the budget.

(2) A last-minute agreement was reached with the Canadian federal and Alberta provincial governments and the Calgary municipal government to provide:

$1.453 billion from the Canadian federal government
$ 700 million from the Alberta provincial government
$ 390 million from the Calgary municipal government
$ 150 million in credit toward the budget from existing renovations at venues to be used for the Winter Games

That’s C$2.693 billion, but C$20 million of Calgary’s commitment will be used to fund an insurance policy (if available) for coverage up to the targeted C$2.875 million total.

The head of the Calgary 2026 Bid Corporation, Mary Moran, used the figures to show that Calgary’s C$390 investment would bring back C$4.4 billion to the area from the three levels of government and the organizing committee funds from the private sector (including the International Olympic Committee’s contribution of more than $1 billion U.S. in cash and services). The CBC report noted that “When questioned, however, it became clear there was no insurance policy identified as yet and if none could be found, Calgary 2026 just said it would find more cuts in their budget.” But Moran also indicated that a new location for the Olympic Village would be needed because of an existing transit hub on the identified site.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation was not impressed: “The CTF will be continuing to educate the public on why the Olympic bid is just not a good choice for Calgarians,” said Alberta director Franco Terrazzano.

“Unfortunately today city council did not end the bid. This is a smoke-and-mirror show right now. We don’t have a deal between the three levels of government. We have a deal to start negotiating a deal.”

It’s also worth noting that even with all of these details in hand, the city of Calgary would still be on the hook as the guarantor of the funding of the Games.

So now the question of proceeding with the bid is up to the voters. A public poll from the spring indicated a small majority favored the bid going forward. The “No Calgary Olympics” group – there is one – said a poll from mid-October showed 64% against the bid proceeding.

The arguing will go on for the next two weeks, but what has emerged out of this is a sign of our times: overnight agreements, plenty of demonstrating, leaks to the media and lots and lots of emotion on both sides.

Wasn’t this what Calgary had hoped to avoid? Because win or lose on 13 November, the two sides are further apart and more hostile to each other than before, and that’s a bad thing.

In fact, even if the referendum passes, it is legally non-binding on the Council. Member Evan Woolley – who originally supported the Games concept, but is now against it – told the CBC that even if the public vote is in favor of the bid, but no concrete funding agreement is completed, he will remain against it. “I personally will not support a deal that’s not in the best interests of Calgarians. We do not have the deal in front of us today. Calgarians need to have trust and confidence in our ability to host the games and this did not install that in me or in Calgarians.”

So now the people get to vote, essentially on the question of whether they are willing to promise to spend C$390 million of their money, accept the risk for further loss, and bid for the 2026 Winter Games, with no assurance of winning. These funding “developments” show how shaky the Calgary 2026 projected budget is and how quickly any issue can become polarized, especially over money. The only word for all of this: sad.

Rich Perelman
Editor

THE BIG PICTURE: Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad steps down from IOC and ANOC posts after indictment

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 2, 2018

tsx pix 120318 sheikh ahmad 750 — Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah (KUW)

The current explosion in the Olympic world is the saga of Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, the head of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and a member of the International Olympic Committee.

Sheikh Ahmad, as he is known, was indicted in Switzerland on charges of “fabricating” an arbitration case in order to manufacture “evidence of corrupt practices by ex-premier Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah and former parliament chief Jassem al-Khorafi.”

Sheikh Ahmad is a former minister of the Kuwaiti government himself, for energy and economics, and this affair is widely seen as an internal struggle about future succession in the country.

Nevertheless, Sheikh Ahmad wrote to the IOC and suspended himself from his duties as a member. “Please allow myself to state in all clear terms that the judiciary matter … is a politically and maliciously motivated case, relating to a Kuwaiti political dispute dating back to 2012. The matter has absolutely nothing to do with sport and I will vigorously defend my
innocence and integrity before the competent Swiss courts, which I trust, and I am confident that I will be successful in this.”

The Associated Press reported “Sheikh Ahmad has also been asked by the IOC ethics commission to attend its Jan. 11 meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. His trial in Geneva is expected in the first half of next year.”

He also suspended himself from his ANOC duties, effective immediately after opening the ANOC General Assembly meeting in Tokyo (JPN). ANOC elections are to be held at this year’s meeting and Sheikh Ahmad was the only candidate for the office of President, which he has held since 2012.

He had to give up his association with FIFA in 2017 after being identified as “involved” in a bribery scheme of Audit and Compliance Committee member Richard Lai from Guam, who pled guilty to wire fraud charges.

SWIMMING Preview: Hosszu enters 14 events in Beijing World Cup!

By

Rich Perelman

-

November 2, 2018

tsx pix 80817 hosszu katina 2013 750 — Triple Olympic Champion Katinka Hosszu (HUN)

The FINA Swimming World Cup enters its final phase at the famed Water Cube in Beijing (CHN), as the first of three meets in the last cluster will be held starting this weekend, to be followed by meets in Tokyo (9-11 November) and Singapore (15-17 November). All three of these events will be held in 25 m (short course) pools.

Although scoring in each cluster starts over, the overall World Cup scoring continues and since the first two clusters only had two meets each, the final three stops can make the difference. The overall leaders after four events:

Men:
1. 218 Vladimir Morozov (RUS)
2. 144 Mitch Larkin (AUS)
3. 126 Anton Chupkov (RUS)
4. 123 Michael Andrew (USA)
5. 117 Blake Pieroni (USA)

Women:
1. 204 Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)
2. 162 Katinka Hosszu (HUN)
3. 153 Yuliya Efimova (RUS)
4. 129 Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED)
5. 122 Jianjiahe Wang (CHN)

Morozov, who won the seasonal title in 2016 and Sjostrom, who won last year, are well positioned to win again. However, FINA made a series of changes over the past year that extend prize money for each cluster down to eight places ($50,000-35,000-30,000-20,000-10,000-5,000-4,000-3,000) and the seasonal prizes to three places: $150,000-100,000-50,000.

So it pays to keep swimming. And Hungary’s Hosszu – The Iron Lady – has demonstrated her astonishing fitness during each of the four previous meets and will do so again in Beijing. She has entered 14 of the 16 individual events: 50-100-200-400-800 m Freestyles, 50-100-200 m Backstrokes, 100-200 m Breaststrokes, 50-200 m Butterflys and the 100-200-400 m Medleys.

Through the first four meets, Hosszu had won an amazing 31 total medals (20-3-8), way ahead of everyone else. Sjostrom is second at 21 (15-6-0), followed by Kromowidjojo with 16 (4-8-4). In the men’s division, the biggest medal winner so far is Morozov with 19 (10-4-5), then Andrew with 16 (4-10-2) and Larkin at 15 (12-0-3).

In Beijing, Sjostrom will swim in six events, including the 50-100-200 m Frees, 50-100 m Flys and 100 m Medley.

Among the men, Andrew is entered in eight events, all of 50 or 100 m; Pieroni is the only other American entered in the meet.

There is prize money for each race of $1,500-1,000-500-400-300-200. Look for results here.

FOOTBALL Preview: U.S. and Mexico favored in CONCACAF men’s U-20 Champs

By

Rich Perelman

-

October 31, 2018

The 22nd edition of the CONCACAF men’s U-20 Championship is set to start at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida (USA), running from 1-21 November, with all 34 national federations fielding a team included. The first round will be played in six groups (CONCACAF ranking shown):

∙ Group A: United States (1), Trinidad & Tobago (9), Suriname (18), Puerto Rico (21), St. Vincent & the Grenadines (25), U.S. Virgin Islands (31)

∙ Group B: Mexico (2), Jamaica (12), Aruba (17), Nicaragua (19), Grenada (26), Saint Martin (36)

∙ Group C: Honduras (3), Cuba (7), Antigua & Barbuda (13), Dominican Republic (20), Belize (29), Sint Maarten (35)

∙ Group D: Panama (4), Canada (11), St. Kitts & Nevis (15), Guadeloupe (22), Dominica (30), Martinique (32)

∙ Group E: Costa Rica (5), Haiti (10), Bermuda (14), Saint Lucia (23), Barbados (28)

∙ Group F: El Salvador (6), Guatemala (8), Curacao (16), Guyana (24), Cayman Islands (27)

The group stage will run from 1-10 November, followed by the playoffs on 13-16-19-21 November. The winner of each group will advance to the second round, where two groups of three teams will play another round-robin tournament, with the second-round winners advancing to the final.

The real prize is making the semifinals, as the top four teams in the tournament will qualify for the FIFA men’s U-20 World Cup, to be played next year in Poland.

The U.S. is the defending champion, having won its first CONCACAF U-20 title in 2017 in Costa Rica. Mexico has been the most successful nation, winning 13 titles in all, including the prior three (2011-13-15) before the U.S. won in 2017.

Look for match results here.

BADMINTON Preview: BWF World Tour heads to Asia, and Macau

By

Rich Perelman

-

October 31, 2018

The first of three BWF World Tour events in “China” starts this week in Macau for the $150,000 Macau Open, to be followed by the Fuzhou China Open and Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open in the following two weeks.

The Macau Open is not a major tournament, but still draws interest from players trying to collect points to qualify for the season-ending World Tour Finals in Guangzhou (CHN) starting 12 December. The top seeds for Macau:

∙ Men’s Singles:
1. Ka Long Angus Ng (HKG)
2. Wing Ki Vincent Wong (HKG)

∙ Men’s Doubles:
1. Hung Ling Chen/Chi-Lin Wang (TPE)
2. Min Chun Liao/Ching Heng Su (TPE)

∙ Women’s Singles:
1. Michelle Li (CAN)
2. Minatsu Mitani (JPN)

∙ Women’s Doubles:
1. Ayako Sakuramoto/Yukiko Takahata (JPN)
2. Jinhua Tang/Xiaohan Yu (CHN)

∙ Mixed Doubles:
1. Chun Man Tang/Ying Suet Tse (HKG)
2. Chun Hei Reginald Lee/Hoi Wah Chau (HKG)

The Macau Open was founded in 2006 and China has been the overwhelming winner over its history, taking 28 of the total of 60 medals awarded all-time. For the 2018 tournament results, click here.

GYMNASTICS: U.S. women win fourth straight Worlds team title

By

Rich Perelman

-

October 31, 2018

tsx pix 110718 usa women gym team 750 — The 2018 World Champion U.S. women: Kara Eaker, Grace McCallum, Simone Biles, Morgan Hurd, Riley McCusker, and alternate Ragan Smith (Photo: USA Gymnastics, by John Cheng)

For the fourth straight time, the United States women’s gymnastics team won the Team All-Around title at the FIG World Championships, being held in Doha (QAT) and in utterly dominating, historic fashion.

Not only did the U.S. team of Simone Biles, Kara Eaker, Morgan Hurd, Riley McCusker and Grace McCallum won the overall title, but they won on all four apparatus: Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam and Floor Exercise, the first time this has been done since the USSR in 1991!

Moreover, the U.S. margin of victory was the biggest of its four straight World Championship golds:

∙ 2017: 171.629 Doha (2. Russia, 162.863; +8.766)
∙ 2015: 181.338 Glasgow (2. China, 176.164; +5.174)
∙ 2014: 179.280 Nanning (2. China, 172.587; +6.693)
∙ 2011: 179.411 Tokyo (2. Russia, 175.329; +4.082)

How outstanding is this? Consider that the U.S. margin of victory of 8.766 points is the most since 1958 (!), when the USSR team piled up 381.620 points to finish 9.765 ahead of Czechoslovakia (371.855). True, the Code of Points in use today makes this possible – no more 10.00 limit – but the chasm between the U.S. and the rest of the world is breathtaking.

Moreover, the four straight for the U.S. is the best streak at the World Championships since the five consecutive wins by Romania in 1994-95-97-99-2001. No other country has won four straight. The U.S. run of six Worlds Team titles in the last eight has only been bested by the USSR’s run of 11 out of 14 between 1954-91.

Also: the U.S. did not use Ragan Smith, who is the alternate; she was last year’s national champion and the favorite for the 2017 Worlds All-Around title until suffering an injury in warm-ups! One more note on the depth of the American women’s team: only Biles returns from any of the prior three winning squads from 2011-14-15 (she was on the 2014-15 teams).

Biles was the only one on the U.S. team to compete in all four events and piled up an “All-Around” score of 58.865, which would have been second in the qualifying round only to her own score of 60.965 (Hurd was next at 56.465 in qualifying). Biles, despite having a kidney stone, is closing in on multiple World Championships medal records:

∙ In her fourth World Championships, she now has 15 total medals, tied for second with Soviet Larisa Latynina (9-4-1 from 1954-66) and is five behind the 20 collected by Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina (9-8-3 from 1994-2003). If Biles were to medal in the All-Around (yes) and all four apparatus finals (possible), she would equal Khorkina’s career total … at age 21.

∙ Biles already owns the record for the most World Championships golds, as the Team title gave her an 11th victory. Khorkina, Latynina and Gina Gogean (ROU: 1993-97) each won nine.

∙ In terms of individual-event medals – All-Around and the apparatus – Biles has 12 (8-2-2) and is tied for second with Gogean (6-2-4). If Biles should win the All-Around (yes) and medal in all four apparatus finals, she would surpass Khorkina’s total of 16. Biles has eight individual-event golds to Khorkina’s nine and will likely surpass her on Doha, unless the kidney stone fells her.

Is Biles the greatest women’s gymnast of all time? It’s worth considering … after we finish in Doha.

By winning, the U.S. women qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The U.S. men showed well, but missed the last qualifying spot (and the bronze medal) by 1.750 points to finish fourth.

The American team of Sam Mikulak, Akash Modi, Yul Muldauer, Colin van Wicklen and Alec Yoder finished second among all teams on Floor, was third on Pommel Horse and Horizontal Bar, but was fourth in the Parallel Bars, fifth on Vault and sixth on Rings.

“We really had a shot at a medal there, and we did an awesome job, we really did,” said Yoder. “I was raging for these guys, and to be able to see these guys perform the way they did was amazing. I’m so proud. I’m so proud to be on this team.”

Added Modi, “We knew we needed to go 18 for 18 to get on the podium, and the results showed that we were 1.8 behind, so [without mistakes] we would have been right up there. I’m feeling pretty great, but definitely not settling.”

China continued its run as the top men’s team, winning the World title for the 11th time in the last 13 editions, and seven of the last eight. Russia and Japan went 2-3 and qualified for the 2020 Games.

The remaining schedule:

∙ 31 October: Men’s All-Around final
∙ 01 November: Women’s All-Around final
∙ 02 November: Apparatus finals
(Men: Floor/Pommel Horse/Rings; Women: Vault/Uneven Bars)
∙ 03 November: Apparatus finals
(Men: Vault/Parallel Bars/Horizontal Bar; Women: Beam/Floor)

In the individual All-Around final coming up on Wednesday, defending champion Ruoteng Xiao (CHN) led the qualifying with 87.332 points, slightly ahead of Russia’s Nikita Nagornyy (87.098) and Sam Mikulak (USA: 86.598). The U.S. also qualified Yul Moldauer, 17th with 80.365.

Mikulak will compete in the individual finals later in the week on Floor, Pommel Horse, Parallel Bars and Horizontal Bar. Moldauer qualified for the individual final on Floor.

The women’s All-Around will feature Biles, who led the qualifying with 60.965 points, ahead of fellow American and defending World All-Around Champion Morgan Hurd (56.465) in second and Riley McCusker of the U.S. in eighth at 54.765. Biles also qualified for all four event finals, with Hurd in Uneven Bars and Floor and Kara Eaker on the Beam.

The NBC Olympic Channel has continuing Worlds coverage from Doha. Summaries so far:

FIG World Artistic Championships
Doha (QAT) ~ 25 October-3 November 2018
(Full results here )

Men

Team Qualifications (top 8 qualify for Final): 1. Russia, 258.402; 2. China., 257.836; 3. Japan, 253.312; 4. United States, 250.362; 5. Great Britain, 249.836; 6. Brazil, 246.961; 7. Netherlands, 245.663; 8. Switzerland, 245.186.

Team Final: 1. China (Shudi Deng, Chaopan Lin, Wei Sun, Ruoteng Xiao, Jingyuan Zou)), 256.634; 2. Russia (David Belyavskiy, Artur Dalaloyan, Nikolai Kuksenkov, mitrii Lankin, Nikita Nagornyy), 256.585; 3. Japan (Kazuma Kaya, Kenzo Shirai, Yusuke Tanaka, Wataru Tanigawa, Kohei Uchimura), 253.744; 4. United States (Sam Mikulak, Akash Modi, Yul Moldauer, Colin van Wicklen, Alec Yoder), 251.994; 5. Great Britain, 248.628; 6. Switzerland, 244.294; 7. Brazil, 243.994; 8. Netherlands, 240.660.

All-Around Qualifications (top 24 qualify for Final): 1. Ruoteng Xiao (CHN), 87.332; 2. Nikita Nagornyy (RUS), 87.098; 3. Sam Mikulak (USA), 86.598; 4. Artur Dalaloyan (RUS), 84.572; 5. Wei Sun (CHN), 84.007; 6. Kenzo Shirai (JPN), 83.864; 7. James Hall (GBR), 83.198; 8. Kazuma Kaya (JPN), 82.915. Also: 17. Yul Moldauer (USA), 80.365.

Women

Team Qualifications (top 8 qualify for Final): 1. United States, 174.429; 2. Russia, 165.497; 3. China, 165.196; 4. Canada, 163.897; 5. Brazil, 162.529; 6. Japan, 162.180; 7. France, 161.629; 8. Germany, 161.071.

Team Final: 1. United States (Simone Biles, Riley McCusker, Morgan Hurd, Kara Eaker, Grace McCallum), 171.629; 2. Russia (Liliia Akhaimova, Irina Alekseeva, Angelina Melnikova, Aliia Mustafina, Angelina Simakova), 162.863; 4. China (Yile Chen, Tingting Liu, Jinru Liu, Huan Luo, Jin Zhang), 162.396; 4. Canada, 161.644; 5. France, 161.294; 6. Japan, 160.262; 7. Brazil, 159.830; 8. Germany, 159.428.

All-Around Qualifications (top 24 qualify for Final): 1. Simone Biles (USA), 60.965; 2. Morgan Hurd (USA), 56.465; 3. Mai Murakami (JPN), 55.632; 4. Nina Derwael (BEL), 55.564; 5. Angelina Melnikova (RUS), 55.465; 6. Ellie Black (CAN), 54.999; 7. Melanie de Jesus dos Santos (FRA), 54.798; 8. Riley McCusker (USA), 54.765.

THE BIG PICTURE: Civil war among the anti-doping agencies? Yes!

By

Rich Perelman

-

October 31, 2018

The internal battle in the world anti-doping community is continuing unabated, as the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations (iNADO) is calling for “meaningful reform of WADA governance.”

It its latest statement, the group of 17 of the largest anti-doping organizations – including the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency – met in an “emergency summit” in Paris (FRA) to confirm “their ongoing and unwavering commitment to stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with the global athlete community, and acknowledging the recent global athlete uproar following the process that led to the WADA Executive Committee’s controversial September 20 decision to reinstate the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).”

The group backed an “athlete-led Governance Reform Paper” released on 9 October called “The Alternative.” It asks for:

● An independent president and vice president of WADA, not tied (as at present) to person affiliated with governmental or sport organizations, but elected separately.

● A new format for the WADA Executive Committee, which is its primary decision-making body. The new concept is for 15 members, 12 of whom would be independently elected, and not tied to governmental or sport organizations, plus three athletes, who would also not be affiliated with another organization (such as the IOC’s Athletes Commission).

● A new “Governance and Nominations Committee” of seven members, functioning as a sort of oversight team to ensure the independence in form and performance of the WADA Board and Executive Committee: “It will ensure that there is an extra layer of security, protecting the clean athletes from misplaced, out-of-touch and poor decision-making that affects their lives adversely in future.”

And there was the usual, continuing call to strictly enforce the conditions for Russia’s continued reinstatement.