CYCLING Preview: World Tour’s Quebec doubleheader starts Friday

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September 7, 2018

The UCI World Tour makes its appearance in Quebec (CAN) for two races, the ninth Grand Prix de Quebec in Quebec City and Grand Prix de Montreal on Sunday:

∙ Grand Prix de Quebec:
The course is 201.6 km, with 16 laps of a 12.6 km loop in the city center and a total climb of 186 m per loop. The returning medalists:

○ Simon Gerrans (AUS) ~ Winner in 2012-14
○ Greg van Avermaet (BEL) ~ Runner-up in 2016-17
○ Michael Matthews (AUS) ~ Runner-up in 2015
○ Arthur Vichot (FRA) ~ Runner-up in 2013
○ Edvard Boasson Hagen (NOR) ~ Runner-up in 2010
○ Rui Costa (POR) ~ Bronze medalist in 2012
○ Anthony Roux (FRA) ~ Bronze medalist in 2016
○ Alexander Kristoff (NOR) ~ Bronze medalist in 2015

This race has been dominated by Slovakian star Peter Sagan in each of the last two years, but he’s off at the Vuelta a Espana this year. Look for results here.

∙ Grand Prix de Montreal:
Centered on Mount Royal, the course is 195.2 km, with 16 laps of a 12.2 km loop that features a significant climb up the Cote Camillien-Houde that is repeated 16 times! There are five returning race champions in the field for 2018:

○ Greg van Avermaet (BEL) ~ Winner in 2016
○ Rui Costa (POR) ~ Winner in 2011
○ Diego Ulissi (ITA) ~ Winner in 2017
○ Simon Gerrans (AUS) ~ Winner in 2014
○ Tim Wellens (BEL) ~ Winner in 2015
○ Tom-Jelte Slagter (NED) ~ Bronze medalist in 2017

Look for results here.

There are other capable riders in both fields, notably Slovenia’s Binck Bank Tour winner, Matej Mohoric, and Simon Spilak, South Africa’s Daryl Impey, Belgium’s Oliver Naesen, Italy’s Sonny Colbrelli, Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang and sprint star John Degenkolb (GER).

In the background of these races is the upcoming UCI World Road Championships in Innsbruck (AUT) from 22-30 September. Are some of the riders training through these races, or looking to win?

ATHLETICS Preview: Willis & Simpson back to defend Fifth Avenue Mile titles

By

Rich Perelman

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September 7, 2018

The annual Fifth Avenue Mile comes Sunday, running from 80th Street to 60th Street in Manhattan and with defending champs Nick Willis (NZL) and Jenny Simpson (USA) both returning.

This race started in 1981 and for many U.S. athletes, is a fun way to end the season. Willis, a two-time Olympic medalist in the 1,00 m (2008-16) and 2011 Wold 1,500 m Champion Simpson have been among the most successful entrants ever; Willis has won three times in 2008-15-17 and Simpson has won five in a row and six of the last seven in 2011-13-14-15-16-17.

In the men’s race, Willis will face 2016 Olympic 1,500 m gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz (3:53.61 this year) and a host of quality miles, including Americans Lopez Lomong (3:523.86 this year on the track), Ben Blankenship (3:54.88), Johnny Gregorek (3:54.53) and Craig Engels (3:55.12) and Chris O’Hare (3:55.53) from Great Britain.

Simpson, whose tactical brilliance has been the key to her wins in this race, ranks no. 4 in the world this season at 4:17.30 fo the mile. She will be challenged by Britain’s Laura Weightman (4:20.49 this year on the track), Marta Pen Freitas (POR: 4:22.45 to win at ISTAF last week), Americans Alexa Efraimson (4:24.82) and Shannon Osika (4:25.27) and steeplechase stars Emma Coburn (4:31.08 this year) and Colleen Quigley (4:24.88i in 2017).

NBC will have live coverage of the elite races beginning at noon Eastern time on Sunday. Look for results here.

ATHLETICS Preview: Good match-ups at IAAF’s outdated Continental Cup

By

Rich Perelman

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September 7, 2018

There was enormous excitement in 1977 when the then-International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) created its first “championship”-type competition, the World Cup, held in Dusseldorf (GER).

It paved the way for the first World Championships in 1983, but once that event took place, the World Cup, with its continental teams, the U.S. and a couple of other national teams from Europe, lost relevancy.

It was changed to the Continental Cup in 2008 and held under a new format in 2010, slotted into the “off year” between World Championships. It features four teams – Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe – with two entries each.

Yawn. Even the IAAF knows there’s no place for this meet now, so it introduced several format changes that make the event more “unique” and to be taken less seriously:

∙ Team scoring is 8-6-4-2 in each event, based on the combined point total (from 8 for first down to 1 for eighth) of the two athletes from each continent in each individual event.

∙ There are captains of each continental team and they will choose one “Joker” for each day’s men’s and women’s events. If the team wins the event (by combined points) in which the Joker participates, that team receives double points (+8).

∙ The 3,000 m and 3,000 m Steeple will include the “Devil Take the Hindmost” format. Everyone runs the first 1,400 m, but then the last competitor is eliminated at the end of each lap, leaving only four runners on the final lap. Too bad the IAAF hasn’t imported the Berlino mascot to escort the eliminated runners off the track, maybe driving an electric car to pick them up just past the finish line?

∙ The high jump and pole vault will be held under normal conditions. The rest of the field events will use a “knock-out” format. All eight jumpers receive three jumps and then the only the best from each team will continue to the fourth round. At the end of the fourth round, only the two best marks in that round will continue to round five and the third and fourth placers in round four will be placed 3-4 in the final standings.

The top two competitors in round four will compete in round five and their placement in that round will determine who wins and is second. No round six!

∙ There are 4x100m relays for men and women (mixed nationalities) and a Mixed 4×400 m at the end of the program.

Although this all smacks of having fun and making some money, but there are some tantalizing match-ups in most of the events:

∙ Men’s 100 m: Nice field, with Noah Lyles (USA: 9.88 in 2018) teaming with Yohan Blake (JAM: 9.94) against Bingtian Su (CHN: 9.91) and Akani Simbine (RSA: 9.93).

∙ Men’s 400 m: European champ Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR: 44.63) takes on Qatar’s Asian Games winner Abdalelah Haroun (QAT: 44.07) and Botswana’s Baboloki Thebe (44.59).

∙ Men’s 800 m: World leader Emmanuel Korir (KEN: 1:42.05) is in, along with Nijel Amos (BOT: 1:42.14) and American Clayton Murphy (1:43.12 this year).

∙ Men’s 1,500 m: World Champion Elijah Manangoi (KEN: 3:29.64) faces Norway’s 17-year-old European champ Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:31.18). American Andrew Hunter (3:35.90) leads the Americas team in this event.

∙ Men’s 3,000 m: American Paul Chelimo is in the field, running against European 5,000 m silver winner Henrik Ingebrigtsen and Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew, no. 9 on the 5,000 world list at 13:01.09.

∙ Men’s 3,000 m Steeple: This will actually be one of the best events in the meet, with Olympic champ Conseslus Kipruto (KEN: 8:08.40) running against world leader Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR: 7:58.15) and American Record holder Evan Jager (8:01.02)!

∙ Men’s 110 m Hurdles: The IAAF is allowing Russian Sergey Shubenkov to run here – that’s a mistake; he’s a “neutral” athlete and should not be part of any continental team – but he’s the world leader (12.92) and will face European champ Pascal Martinot-Largarde (FRA: 13.17), Commonwealth champ Ronald Levy (JAM: 13.13) and American Devon Allen (13.23).

∙ Men’s 400 m Hurdles: Another great field, with Qatar’s Asian Games champ Abderrahman Samba (46.98) back on the track against World Champion Karsten Warholm (47.64) and Kyron McMaster (IVB: 47.54) and Turkey’s 2017 Worlds silver winner Yasmani Copello (47.81)!

∙ Men’s Pole Vault: Most of the usual suspects are here: 2012 Olympic champ Renaud Lavillenie (FRA), World Champion Sam Kendricks of the U.S., 2015 World Champion Shawn Barber (CAN) and Russia’s hot Timor Morgunov, who cleared 6.00 (19-8 1/2) for second at the European Championships. Same complaint as for Shubenkov: how can a “neutral” athlete compete for a continental team?

∙ Men’s Triple Jump: Olympic and World Champion Christian Taylor of the U.S. is in – 17.81 m (58-5 1/4) – and no one else is close. With no pressure and a nice payday for a win, could this be the meet where he does something crazy?

∙ Men’s Shot Put: Nos. 1-2-4-5-6 on the world list are in, led by Tom Walsh (NZL: 22.67 m/74-4 1/2), with Ryan Crouser (USA: 22.53 m/73-11), European champ Michal Haratyk (POL: 22.08 m/72-5 1/4), Brazil’s Darlan Romani (21.95 m/72-0 1/4) and Czech Tomas Stanek (21.87 m/71-9). Nice.

∙ Men’s Discus: Top three on the world list are entered, starting with Daniel Stahl (SWE: 69.72 m/228-9), Jamaica’s Fedrick Dacres (69.67 m/228-7) and Andrius Gudzius (LTU: 69.59 m/228-3).

∙ Women’s 100 m: Terrific showdown between world leaders Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV: 10.85) and Euro champ Dina Asher-Smith (GBR), plus Jenna Prandini of the U.S. (10.96) and Dutch star Dafne Schippers (10.99).

∙ Women’s 200 m: Ta Lou (22.34) and World Champion Schippers (22.14) face the best 200 and 400 m runner on the planet in Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH: 22.06) and Commonwealth Games runner-up Shericka Jackson (JAM: 22.05).

∙ Women’s 400 m: Interesting clash between Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser (49.08) and South African 800 m star Caster Semenya (50.06), plus American Shakima Wimbley (49.52) and Jamaica’s Stephenie Ann McPherson (50.31).

∙ Women’s 800 m: The 400 m final is on Saturday and the 800 is on Sunday, so Semenya is in again (1:54.25) and will be chased by familiar faces including Francine Niyonsaba (BDI: 1:55.86), Ajee Wilson of the U.S. (1:56.45) and Jamaica’s Natoya Goule (1:56.15).

∙ Women’s 1,500 m: Shelby Houlihan of the U.S. is the fastest in the field (3:57.34) and this figures to be a tactical race, with only Rababe Arafi (MAR: 3:59.15), Kenya’s Winny Chebet (4:00.60) and Australia’s Linden Hall (4:00.66) to challenge. How will Houlihan handle being the hunted instead of the hunter?

∙ Women’s 3,000 m: This devil-take-the-hindmost has the nos. 1-2-4 runners at 5,000 m this season: Kenya’s Hellen Obiri (14:21.75), Dutch star Sifan Hassan (14:22.34) and Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi (14:23.33). Will the elimination format keep the pace honest?

∙ Women’s 3,000 m Steeple: The new world-record holder, Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech (8:44.32) is in and doesn’t seem to care if there is a pacesetter or not. So American Record-setter Courtney Frerichs (9:00.85) is likely to try and hold on as best she can for as long as she can, chasing the 9:00 barrier.

∙ Women’s 100 m Hurdles: World Record holder Keni Harrison (12.36) is the class of the field, but could be beaten by Jamaica’s Danielle Williams (12.48) if she’s already thinking about how to spend the $30,000 first prize. Surprise European champ Elvira Herman (BLR: 12.64) should not be a factor, but will gave Euro runner-up Pam Dutkiewicz (GER: 12.67) again.

∙ Women’s 400 m Hurdles: Shamier Little’s season has had more ups and downs than the mountain stages of the Tour de France. She won the U.S. title, but has also failed spectacularly. Here’s another chance to claim a title. She (53.32) and Jamaica’s Janieve Russell (53.46) are the only ones in the field to run under 54 seconds this season.

∙ Women’s High Jump: How can an athlete who is not supposed to be representing a nation be allowed to represent a continent? But Russian “neutral” Mariya Lasitskene (world leader: 2.04/6-8 1/4) will compete and win. The only question is whether she will smile at any time of the day or night.

∙ Women’s Pole Vault: The cash is assembled, including Olympic and World Champion Katerina Stefanidi (GRE: 4.87 m’15-11 3/4), World Indoor Champion Sandi Morris (USA; 4.95 m/16-2 3/4), Commonwealth Games runner-up Eliza McCartney (NZL: 4.94 m/16-2 1/2) and “neutral” Anzhelika Sidorova (RUS: 4.85 m/15-11).

∙ Women’s Long Jump/Triple Jump: Colombia’s Caterine Ibarguen will be going for a World Cup/Continental Cup first: winning both horizontal jumps! She’s the clear favorite in the TJ (where she is Olympic champ), but ranks only fifth in the long jump field, notably behind world leader and European champ Malaika Mihambo (GER: 6.99 m/22-11 1/4).

∙ Women’s Discus: This is one of the few events that Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic has not won, so she’ll be paying attention, especially with the shoot-out format in place. She’s the world leader (of course) at 71.38 m (234-2).

The complete entry list is here. The lane assignments were pre-drawn by team and you can see them here.

The venue is the 15,000-seat Mestsky Stadium, built in 1961 and site of the annual “Golden Spike” meet in Ostrava. Prize money is fairly substantial at $30,000-15,000-10,000-7,000-5,000-3,000-2,000-1,000 for individual events and $30,000-20,000-10,000-8,000 for relays.

Each athlete on the winning team will also receive a personal crystal baton as a trophy; how many of those will show up on eBay?

The meet runs from 2:30-6 p.m. local time on Saturday and Sunday, which is 8:30 a.m.-noon Eastern time. It’s not clear if NBC is televising the meet – it doesn’t shown on their listings – but check the NBC Olympic Channel. Because NBC has the rights to this meet, the live stream is not available to U.S. viewers.

The IAAF has blanket coverage of the event on its Web site here; look for results here.

THE BIG PICTURE: Israel allowed to compete in IJF events in UAE

By

Rich Perelman

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September 7, 2018

What appears to be a welcome breakthrough in Middle Eastern sports relations was announced by the International Judo Federation this week under the heading of “Israelis welcome to the Abu Dhabi Judo Grand Slam.”

Last July, the IJF suspended the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in the United Arab Emirates and the Tunis Grand Prix in Tunisia for its refusal to allow Israeli athletes to either compete at all (by refusing entry visas for its athletes) or to compete in their national uniforms and have their flag raised or national anthem played during victory ceremonies.

The IJF required that both countries provide a “governmental guarantee is given to ensure free and equal participation of all nations at the said events.”

The Emirates finally came through on 2 September, as the IJF posted a statement noting that the “UAE Judo Federation confirmed in an official letter sent to the IJF that all nations participating in the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam will have the possibility to do so in equal conditions.

“The historic decision will thus allow all nations to display their national insignia and national anthem, including Israel. …

“Consequently, the International Judo Federation is hereby re-instating the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam to the IJF calendar. … The Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2018 will take place from 27-29 October.”

After preventing Israeli junior taekwondo athletes from competing last May, Tunisia’s bid for the 2022 Youth Olympic Games was frozen by the IOC. That bid was reinstated after the Tunisian government sent a letter guaranteeing that Israeli athletes would be able to compete in the country without restrictions in the future.

The IJF’s calendar for 2019 shows that the Tunis Grand Prix will be held from 18-20 January.

OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES 2018: Korea’s Gangwon Province pops the IOC’s cost-containment balloon

By

Rich Perelman

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September 7, 2018

The English-language version of the Korea newspaper, the Chosun Ilbo, started the story this way:

“Gangwon Province is mired in massive debts after hosting the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang earlier this year.

“The mountainous province with a population of 1.5 million had to host the biggest Winter Olympics so far, and six months on conflict with locals and unpaid wages continue to plague the local government, while the astronomically expensive venues sit empty.”

The 29 August article by Sung-won Jeong, went on to note in detail the financial crisis caused by the PyeongChang Winter Games held last February and continuing today:

∙ The venues for speed skating, ice hockey and the sliding sports – bobsleigh, luge and skeleton – are a “bottomless pit of maintenance costs” which are estimated to run 20.3 billion Korean Won through 2022 (about $18.1 million U.S.). The provincial government is asking for three-quarters of the total to be paid by the national government, which is not interested.

∙ The Jeongseon skiing center, built in a forest, is now a tug-of-war between environmentalists who wants it dismantled and the forest reinstated, and local skiing interests who see the potential for continued use as a ski resort.

∙ There are multiple unpaid contractors, with an 8 billion Won construction bill (~ $7.1 million U.S.) already being discussed with the Korean Fair Trade Mediation Agency.

∙ Not in the story, but also problematic is the 35,000-seat stadium constructed for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic Winter Games and Winter Paralympic Games – for a reported $100 million U.S. – which was always scheduled for demolition after the Games after being used for a total of four events.

The governor of the Gangwon Province, Moon-soon Choi, told the Chosun Ilbo, “Most of the Olympic legacies have either been demolished or are gathering dust, causing a tremendous amount of disappointment for local residents. We need urgent financial support from the government.”

This is a big problem for PyeongChang, for the Gangwon Province and for Korea. But it is an even bigger – and ill-timed – problem for the International Olympic Committee.

In July, the IOC’s Executive Director for the Olympic Games, Christophe Dubi (SUI) told the Inside the Games Web site that the PyeongChang Games ran a financial surplus, which will be detailed in September “down to the last penny. What we know is these Games are financially profitable and that is a great thing.”

What’s worse is that the IOC could stick to this story and be technically correct.

Dubi’s surplus claim refers only to the PyeongChang organizing committee – known as POCOG – and not to the Games as a whole. Reports prior to the Games put the total cost of the event at $13 billion U.S., mostly paid for by various levels of Korean governments … and not the organizing committee. So POCOG could run a surplus and the Games could have a huge and continuing deficit.

This couldn’t come at a worse time for the IOC, which is facing an imminent decision in Calgary (CAN) about whether that city will bid for the 2026 Winter Games. The City Council will meet on 10 September to consider ending the bid, and if still alive, there will be a referendum on 13 November.

The 2026 field could also include Stockholm (SWE), a three-city joint bid from Italy and Erzurum (TUR), but the Swedish government support is not yet assured and the Italian effort is far from coordinated at present. Sapporo (JPN) is interested, but would prefer to bid for 2030.

Moreover, the financial problems in Korea mark the fourth straight Games with major cost issues, as 2012 (London), 2014 (Sochi Winter) and 2016 (Rio) all had massive cost overruns. The next Games in Tokyo in 2020 also has massive cost issues and the 2022 Winter Games will be in Beijing, which spent a reported $40 billion-plus on the 2008 Olympic Games.

So far from showcasing the financial changes that the IOC has insisted have come from its Agenda 2020 and “The New Norm,” the reinforced narrative is that the Olympic Games is an exercise in financial madness.

Just last month, IOC chief Thomas Bach told CNN Money Switzerland that “you can see that organizing the Olympic Games is a feasible investment. And in PyeongChang 2018, you will hear in the near future that there the budget will again make a profit.”

Thanks to the news from Korea, the Olympic naysayers will have a field day.

The IOC now is in a position it has never faced before. It must, in public statements and through its highly-visible Coordination Commission meetings in candidate and host cities, to campaign against and insist that new facilities NOT be built for the Olympic and Winter Games.

In effect, the IOC must turn around a well-known sports-marketing tagline to, “Don’t Do It.”

Rich Perelman
Editor

OLYMPIC GAMES: Anniversary of the Munich Massacre

By

Rich Perelman

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September 7, 2018

This week is also the 46th anniversary of the worst day in the history of the modern Olympic Movement, when Palestinian terrorists kidnapped, abducted and then murdered 11 members of the Israeli delegation at the Munich Games on 5 September.

Many athletes felt that the remainder of the Games – the incident took place on the 11th day of the Games – should be canceled, but during a 10 a.m. memorial service held on the 6th, International Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage (USA) said:

“We have only the strength of a great ideal. I am sure the public will agree that we cannot allow a handful of terrorists to destroy this nucleus of international cooperation and goodwill we have in the Olympic movement.

“The Games must go on and we must continue our efforts to keep them clear, pure and honest and try to extend sportsmanship of the athletic field to other areas.

“We declare today a day of mourning and will continue all the events one day later than scheduled.”

The competition resumed later on that day, beginning at 4:30 p.m., the same time that events were stopped the day before when the hostage-taking became known.

WATER POLO: U.S. outscores Group B, 61-6, in Women’s World Cup

By

Rich Perelman

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September 7, 2018

The quadrennial FINA women’s Water Polo World Cup has completed the group stage in Surgut (RUS), with seven teams trying to unseat the two-time defending champions from the United States. It hasn’t worked so far; the groups and records:

∙ Group A:
1. Russia (3-0); 2. Spain (1-1-1); 3. Australia (1-1-1), 4. China (0-3).

∙ Group B:
1. United States (3-0), 2. Canada (2-1), 3. New Zealand (1-2); 4. South Africa (0-3).

The U.S. has simply overwhelmed its opponents, defeating New Zealand, 18-2; South Africa by 26-1 and Canada by 17-3, for a 61-6 total over three games. Russia defeated Spain (13-9), Australia (14-8) and China (19-11).

The playoffs start Friday with quarterfinal play:

∙ Spain vs. New Zealand
∙ Russia vs. South Africa

∙ Australia vs. Canada
∙ United States vs. China

The winners in each game will meet in the semis on Saturday and the semi winners will vie for the championship on Sunday.

This event debuted back in 1979 and the U.S. has won three times (1979-2010-2014) in the 16 prior editions. The traditional power has been the Netherlands, with eight wins, but not involved in 2018. Australia has also won three times, in 1984-1995-2006.

The U.S. beat Australia in the 2010 and 2014 finals; China won bronze in 2010 and Spain in 2018.

Look for results here.

SHOOTING: Former champs forge golden comebacks at ISSF Worlds

By

Rich Perelman

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September 7, 2018

It wasn’t easy, but two champions from prior ISSF World Championships found a way to win again in Changwon (KOR).

The home crowd at the Changwon International Shooting Centre – a full house – went wild for the defending men’s 10 m Air Pistol champion, Jong-Oh Jin (KOR) as he mounted a comeback from 6.2 points down to get into a shoot-off with Artem Chernousov (RUS). He ended the suspense with a 10.3-9.5 win to take his second world title.

Jin trailed, 185.3-179.1 with six shots left, but rang up six brilliant shots in a row: 9.8, 10.0, 10.5, 10.4, 10.3 and 10.4 to tie the match. Not bad for the four-time Olympic gold medalist, who won the Free Pistol in 2008-12-16 and the Air Pistol in London in 2012.

Slovakia’s Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova returned to the top of the World Championships podium again with a shoot-out win in the women’s Trap competition. She won in 2010, finished 13th in 2014 and in between won Olympic silver medals in 2008 and 2012.

This time, she had to out-shoot Xiaojing Wang (CHN), who led with 24 hits in her first 25 targets to 22 for Rehak Stefecekova. But the former champ got closer and closer, scoring 16 targets in a row to draw even after 40 shots. Both hit eight of the final 10 targets to go to the shoot-off and Slovakian hit three targets in a row and Wang missed her third shot to decide the outcome.

“The goal of the day was to achieve an Olympic quota place [in the top four]. And I made it. I am so happy that’s in my pocket! Everybody know that I struggle in finals, sometimes. It can be great or it can be really bad. Today it has been great, probably my best final ever.

“It was open until the end, it was really thrilling.”

The U.S. has won two team medals in the senior division, with a silver in the men’s Trap with Walton Eller, Grayson Davey and Casey Wallace and a team bronze in women’s Trap, with Kayle Browning, Ashley Carroll and Aeriel Skinner hitting 339 clays.

The 2018 championships continue through 15 September. It’s also the start of the Olympic qualification cycle for Tokyo as 60 quota places – generally the top four in each event – will be assigned for the 2020 Games. The remaining senior-level events and finals schedule:

∙ 7 September:
Men’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions
Mixed Team Trap

∙ 8 September:
Women’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions
Women’s 25 m Pistol

∙ 9 September:
Women’s 10 m Running Target
Men’s 10 m Running Target

∙ 10 September:
Men’s 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol

∙ 11 September:
Women’s Skeet

∙ 14 September:
Men’s Skeet

The ISSF has exceptional coverage on its Web site here. Summaries so far:

ISSF World Championships
Changwon (KOR) ~ 31 August-15 September 2018
(Full results here)

Men

10 m Air Pistol: 1. Jong-Oh Jin (KOR), 241.5; 2. Artem Chernousov (24.15), 241.5 (Jin won shoot-off: 10.3-9.5); 3. Dae-Myung Lee (KOR), 220.6; 4. Pavlo Korostylov (UKR), 198.5; 5. Ruslan Lunev (AZE), 177.7; 6. Seung-Woo Han (KOR), 158.8; 7. Quoc Cuong Tran (VIE), 136.9; 8. Abhishek Verma (IND), 118.0.

Team 10 m Air Pistol: 1. Korea (Dae. Lee, Jin, S. Han), 1,747; 2. India (Verma, Mitharval, Rizvi), 1,738; 3. Russia (Chernousov, Koulakov, Gourianov), 1,736; 4. Vietnam, 1,731; 5. Serbia, 1,729; 6. Ukraine, 1,729; 7. China, 1,726; 8. Italy, 1,726. Also: 17. United States (Nick Mowrer, Jerson Herndon, James Hall), 1,710.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS), 248.4; 2. Petar Gorsa (CRO), 247.5; 3. Miran Maricic (CRO), 227.3; 4. Zicheng Hui (CHN), 206.1; 5. Hoaran Yang (CHN), 185.7; 6. Deepak Kumar (IND), 164.1; 7. Mahyar Sedaghat (IRI), 143.0; 8. Taeyun Nam (KOR), 121.4.

Team 10 m Air Rifle: 1. China (Yang, Hui Yu), 1,887.4 (World Record; old, 1,886.5, China, 2014); 2. Russia (Kamenskiy, Maslennikov, Dryagin), 1,884.0; 3. Korea (Nam, Kim, Song), 1,878.5; 4. India, 1,878.4; 5. Croatia, 1,878.3; 6. Japan, 1,877.6; 7. Hungary, 1,876.6; 8. Iran, 1,875.9. Also: 17. United States (Bryant Wallizer, Dempster Christiansen, Lucas Kozeniesky), 1,866.0.

Trap: 1. Alberto Fernandez (ESP), 48 (equals World Record, Fernandez, 2017); 2. Erik Varga (SVK), 47; 3. Abdulrahman Al Faihan (KUW), 32; 4. James Willett (AUS), 28; 5. Mauro de Filippis (ITA), 23; 6. Walton Eller (USA), 17.

Team Trap: 1. Kuwait (Abdul Al Faihan, Talai Alrashidi, Khaled Almudhaf), 360; 2. United States (Walton Eller, Grayson Davey, Casey Wallace), 360; 3. Italy (De Filippis, Pellielo, Grazini), 360; 4. Russia, 359; 5. Croatia, 358; 6. Czech Republic, 357; 7. Portugal, 356; 8. Slovakia, 355.

Women

10 m Air Pistol: 1. Anna Korakaki (GRE), 241.1; 2. Zorana Arunovic (SRB), 239.8; 3. Bomi Kim (KOR), 218.8; 4. Qian Wang (CHN), 198.1; 5. Ranxin Jiang (CHN), 178.7; 6. Vitalina Batsarashkina (RUS), 157.2; 7. Klaudia Bres (POL), 136.9; 8. Minjung Kim (KOR), 116.5.

Team 10 m Air Pistol: 1. China (Jiang, Wang, Ji), 1,739 (World Record; new event); 2. Korea (Min. Kim, B. Kim, Kwak), 1,734; 3. Russia (Batsarashkina, Lomova, Medvedeva), 1,720; 4. India, 1,713; 5. France, 1,712; 6. Iran, 1,711; 7. Poland, 1,710; 8. Chinese Taipei, 1,708. Also: 14. United States (Sandra Uptagrafft, Lexi Lagan, Nathalia Granados), 1,700.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Hana Im (KOR), 251.1; 2. Anjum Moudgil (IND), 248.4; 3. Eunhea Jung (KOR), 228.0; 4. Apurvi Chandela (INDZ0, 207.0; 5. Adele Tan (SGP), 184.3; 6. Ying-Shin Lin (TPE), 163.4; 7. Petra Zublasing (ITA), 142.9; 8. Isabella Straub (GER), 122.1.

Team 10 m Air Rifle: 1. Korea (Im, Jung, Keum), 1,886.2 (World Record; new event); 2. India (Moudgil, Chandela, Ghosh), 1,879.0; 3. Germany (Straub, Gschwandtner, Simon), 1,878.4; 4. Chinese Taipei, 1,878.2; 5. Mongolia, 1,877.3; 6. China, 1,876.5; 7. Russia, 1,875.6; 8. Romania, 1,873.5. Also: 16. United States (Sarah Beard, Minden Miles, Alison Weisz), 1,867.0.

Trap: 1. Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova (SVK), 45; 2. Xiaojing Wang (CHN), 45 (Rehak Stefecekova won shoot-off, 3-2); 3. Silvana Stanco (ITA), 36; 4. Laetisha Scanlan (AUS), 30; 5. Chun Lin Yi (CHN), 25; 6. Beatriz Martinez (ESP), 19.

Team Trap: 1. Italy (Stanco, Rossi, Iezzi), 343 (World Record; new event); 2. Spain (Martinez, Galvez, Munoz), 342; 3. United States (Kayle Browning, Ashley Carroll, Aeriel Skinner), 339; 4. China, 338; 5. Chinese Taipei, 329; 6. Finland, 329; 7. Korea, 326; 8. India, 325.

Mixed

Team 10 m Air Pistol: 1. Vitalina Batsarashkina/Artem Chernousov (RUS), 488.1; 2. Qian Wang/Meng Yi Wang (CHN), 480.2; 3. Olena Kostevych/Oleh Omelchuk (UKR), 416.7; 4. Zorana Arunovic/Damir Mikec (SRB), 376.7; 5. Sonia Franquet/Pablo Carrera (ESP), 331.6.

Team 10 m Air Rifle: 1. Ruozhu Zhao/Haoran Yang (CHN), 500.9; 2. Mingyang Wu/Buhan Song (CHN), 500.6; 3. Anastasia Galashina/Vladimir Maslennikov (RUS), 434.2; 4. Laura-Georgeta Coman/Alin George Moldoveanu (ROU), 390.5; 5. Isabella Straub/Maximillian Dallinger (GER), 346.9.

SHOOTING: Spain’s Fernandez equals own world record to win Trap Worlds

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

A battle of two World Champions ended with the world record being equaled in the men’s Trap competition at the ISSF World Championships in Changwon (KOR).

After the first four rounds of the elimination-style finals, it was the 2010 World Champion, Spain’s Alberto Fernandez, facing the 2014 World Champion, Slovakia’s Erik Varga. Fernandez hit 39 of his first 40 targets and Varga was just two behind at 37.

Varga hit all 10 of his final-round targets, but Fernandez didn’t open the door beyond missing one target and finished with 48/50, equaling his world record from the 2017 World Cup Final in New Delhi.

The other events already decided have been spread among several countries. Russian Sergey Kamenskiy, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, won the men’s 10 m Air Rifle on his final shot, saying afterwards, “I am still shaking.”

Greece’s Anna Korakaki continued her brilliant shooting in the women’s 10 m Air Pistol event, winning the world title and moving up after a bronze in Rio in 2016 in the same event. She won the Olympic title in the 25 m Pistol event.

Korea’s Hana Im, 17, won the women’s 10 m Air Rifle in front of the home crowd in her first ISSF Worlds.

The 2018 championships continue through 15 September. It’s also the start of the Olympic qualification cycle for Tokyo as 60 quota places – generally the top four in each event – will be assigned for the 2020 Games. The remaining senior-level events and finals schedule:

∙ 6 September:

Men’s 10 m Air Pistol
Women’s Trap

∙ 7 September:

Men’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions
Mixed Team Trap

∙ 8 September:

Women’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions
Women’s 25 m Pistol

∙ 9 September:

Women’s 10 m Running Target
Men’s 10 m Running Target

∙ 10 September: Men’s 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol

∙ 11 September: Women’s Skeet

∙ 14 September: Men’s Skeet

The ISSF has exceptional coverage on its Web site here. Summaries so far:

ISSF World Championships
Changwon (KOR) ~ 31 August-15 September 2018
(Full results here)

Men

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS), 248.4; 2. Petar Gorsa (CRO), 247.5; 3. Miran Maricic (CRO), 227.3; 4. Zicheng Hui (CHN), 206.1; 5. Hoaran Yang (CHN), 185.7; 6. Deepak Kumar (IND), 164.1; 7. Mahyar Sedaghat (IRI), 143.0; 8. Taeyun Nam (KOR), 121.4.

Trap: 1. Alberto Fernandez (ESP), 48 (equals World Record, Fernandez, 2017); 2. Erik Varga (SVK), 47; 3. Abdulrahman Al Faihan (KUW), 32; 4. James Willett (AUS), 28; 5. Mauro de Filippis (ITA), 23; 6. Walton Eller (USA), 17.

Women

10 m Air Pistol: 1. Anna Korakaki (GRE), 241.1; 2. Zorana Arunovic (SRB), 239.8; 3. Bomi Kim (KOR), 218.8; 4. Qian Wang (CHN), 198.1; 5. Ranxin Jiang (CHN), 178.7; 6. Vitalina Batsarashkina (RUS), 157.2; 7. Klaudia Bres (POL), 136.9; 8. Minjung Kim (KOR), 116.5.

10 m Air Rifle: 1. Hana Im (KOR), 251.1; 2. Anjum Moudgil (IND), 248.4; 3. Eunhea Jung (KOR), 228.0; 4. Apurvi Chandela (INDZ0, 207.0; 5. Adele Tan (SGP), 184.3; 6. Ying-Shin Lin (TPE), 163.4; 7. Petra Zublasing (ITA), 142.9; 8. Isabella Straub (GER), 122.1.

Mixed

Team 10 m Air Pistol: 1. Vitalina Batsarashkina/Artem Chernousov (RUS), 488.1; 2. Qian Wang/Meng Yi Wang (CHN), 480.2; 3. Olena Kostevych/Oleh Omelchuk (UKR), 416.7; 4. Zorana Arunovic/Damir Mikec (SRB), 376.7; 5. Sonia Franquet/Pablo Carrera (ESP), 331.6.

Team 10 m Air Rifle: 1. Ruozhu Zhao/Haoran Yang (CHN), 500.9; 2. Mingyang Wu/Buhan Song (CHN), 500.6; 3. Anastasia Galashina/Vladimir Maslennikov (RUS), 434.2; 4. Laura-Georgeta Coman/Alin George Moldoveanu (ROU), 390.5; 5. Isabella Straub/Maximillian Dallinger (GER), 346.9.

FOOTBALL: Heath brilliant for U.S. women in 4-0 win vs. Chile

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

It wasn’t easy at the start, but the no. 1-ranked United States women’s national team finally solved the Chilean defense and cruised to a 4-0 win at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California on Tuesday night.

Two goals within five minutes settled the issue, the first starting with a penalty shot by Alex Morgan that was saved by Chilean keeper Christiane Endler, but the rebound came back to the front of goal, where it was kneed in by Mallory Pugh for a 1-0 U.S. lead in the 34th minute. It was a takedown of Pugh in the box that drew the penalty.

Another U.S. push in the 38th minute ended with a rocket from the foot of Tobin Health that found the underside of the crossbar and extended the American lead to 2-0 and the game was decided.

Health was outstanding as a playmaker throughout, and right after halftime, her free kick sailed toward the right corner of the Chilean goal, where it was headed in by Carli Lloyd for her 101st career goal and a 3-0 advantage.

Lloyd scored again in stoppage time (90+3), driving the ball down the right side of the field, darting to the left and then to the right to open space for a right-footed shot that ran diagonally into the left side of goal for the 4-0 final.

With the sweep of the two games against Chile, the American women are 11-0-2 in 2018 and have a 21-match unbeaten streak (18-0-3), going back to mid-2017. The U.S. has outscored its opponents by 65-17 during those matches.

With the friendlies out of the way, the U.S. women will next open the World Cup-qualifying CONCACAF Championships against Mexico on 4 October in Cary, North Carolina.

CYCLING: Viviani claims second stage win in Vuelta a Espana

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

After the first rest day of the La Vuelta a Espana, the racing resumed with a fairly flat stage on Tuesday, perfect for the sprinters.

And once again, it was Italy’s Elia Viviani who got to the line first, once again outleaning Slovakia’s Peter Sagan, who finished second for the third time in the last four stages!

Under cycling’s “in-the-area” rules on timing, the top 117 riders in Tuesday’s stage all for the same time, so the overall standings did not change. Britain’s Simon Yates has a one-second edge over Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, then 14 seconds over Nairo Quintana (COL), 16 seconds over Emanuel Buchmann (GER) and 17 seconds ahead of Ion Izagirre (ESP). The first 10 riders are within a minute of the lead.

The rest of the week features two hilly stages and three serious mountain stages (13-14-15) before another rest day on 10 September.

NBC’s Olympic Channel has daily coverage of La Vuelta, usually beginning at 9:30 or 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Summaries and stage notes:

UCI World Tour/La Vuelta a Espana
Spain ~ 25 August-16 September 2018
(Full results here)

Stage 1 (8.0 km Indiv. Time Trial): 1. Rohan Dennis (AUS), 9:39; 2. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL), 9:45; 3. Victor Campanaerts (BEL), 9:46; 4. Nelson Oliveira (POR), 9:56; 5. Dylan van Baarle (NED), 9:59. Also in the top 50: 15. Brent Bookwalter (USA), 10:02; … 21. Joey Rosskopf (USA), 10:07; … 24. Ben King (USA), 10:08.

Stage 2 (163.5 km): 1. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), 4:13:01; 2. Kwiatkowski (POL), 4:13:01; 2. Laurens de Plus (BEL), 4:13:04; 4. Wilco Kelderman (NED), 4:13:04; 5. George Bennett (NZL), 4:13:04. Also in the top 50: 48. Ian Boswell (USA), 4:14:06.

Stage 3 (178.2 km): 1. Elia Viviani (ITA), 4:48:12; 2. Giacomo Nizzolo (ITA), 4:48:12; 3. Peter Sagan (SVK), 4:48:12; 4. Nacer Bouhanni (FRA), 4:48:12; 5. Simone Consonni (ITA), 4:48:12.

Stage 4 (161.4 km): 1. King (USA), 4:33:12; 2. Nikita Stalnov (KAZ), 4:33:14; 3. Pierre Rolland (FRA), 4:33:25; 4. Luis Angel Mate (ESP), 4:33:20; 5. Ben Gastauer (LUX), 4:34:51. Also in the top 50: 27. Sepp Kuss (USA), 4:37:04.

Stage 5 (188.7 km): 1. Simon Clarke (AUS), 4:36:07; 2. Bauke Mollema (NED), 4:36:07; 3. Alessandro de Marchi (ITA), 4:36:07; 4. Davide Villella (ITA), 4:36:15; 5. Floris de Tier (BEL), 4:36:15. Also in the top 50: 16. Bookwalter (USA), 4:39:59; 17. Kuss (USA), 4:39:49; … 24. King (USA), 4:41:02.

Stage 6 (155.7 km): 1. Nacer Bouhanni (FRA), 3:58:35; 2. Danny van Poppel (NED), 3:58:35; 3. Elia Viviani (ITA), 3:58:35; 4. Simone Consonni (ITA), 3:58:35; 5. Matteo Trentin (ITA), 3:58:35.

Stage 7 (185.7 km): 1. Tony Gallopin (FRA), 4:18:20; 2. Sagan (SVK), 4:18:25; 3. Valverde (ESP), 4:18:25; 4. Eduard Prades (ESP), 4:18:25; 5. Omar Fraile (ESP), 4:18:25. Also in the top 50: 10. Kuss (USA), 4:18:25; … 48. King (USA), 4:20:08.

Stage 8 (195.1 km): 1. Valverde (ESP), 4:35:54; 2. Sagan (SVK), 4:35:54; 3. Van Poppel (NED), 4:35:54; 4. Ion Izagirre (ESP), 4:35:54; 5. Nizzolo (ITA), 4:35:54. Also in the top 50: 47. King (USA), 4:35:54.

Stage 9 (200.8 km): 1. King (USA), 5:30:38; 2. Mollema (NED), 5:31:26; 3.Dylan Teuns (BEL), 5:33:16; 4. Miguel Angel Lopez (COL), 5:33:18; 5. Nairo Quintana (COL), 5:33:18. Also in the top 50: 20. Kuss (USA), 5:34:10.

Stage 10 (177.0 km): 1. Viviani (ITA), 4:08:08; 2. Sagan (SVK), 4:08:08; 3. Nizzolo (ITA), 4:08:08; 4. Nelson Andres Soto (COL), 4:08:08; 5. Marc Sarreau (FRA), 4:08:08. Also in the top 50: 27. Kiel Reiknen (USA), 4:08:08.

Stage 11: 05 September Mombuey to Ribeira Sacra (207.8 km; hilly)
Stage 12: 06 September Mondoñedo to Faro de Estaca de Bares (181.1 km; hilly)
Stage 13: 07 September Candas. Carreño to Valle de Sabero (174.8 km; mountains)

Stage 14: 08 September Cistierna to Les Praeres (171.0 km); mountains
Stage 15: 09 September Ribera de Arriba to Lagos de Covadonga (178.2 km; mountains)

10 September Rest day

Stage 16: 11 September Santillana del Mar to Torrelavega (Indiv. Time Trial: 32.0 km)
Stage 17: 12 September Getxo to Balcon de Bizkaia (157.0 km; hilly)
Stage 18: 13 September Ejea de los Caballeros to Lleida (186.1 km; flat)
Stage 19: 14 September Lleida to Andorra. Naturlandia (154.4 km; flat)
Stage 20: 15 September Escaldes-Engordany to Coll de la Gallina (97.3 km; mountains)
Stage 21: 16 September Alcorcon to Madrid (112.3 km; flat)

ATHLETICS: Crouser superb in win over Walsh in Zagreb

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

These “city center” competitions in the pole vault and shot put are becoming more common all the time and American Olympic shot champ Ryan Crouser voiced his support for the shot event held in mid-city Zagreb (CRO) as an early element in the Hanzekovic Memorial meet that completed the IAAF’s World Challenge Series on Tuesday.

“It’s one of my favorite venues,” he said after winning his seventh meet in 11 events in 2018 and throwing past 22 m once again at 22.09 m (72-5 3/4) to defeat world-leader Tomas Walsh (NZL: 21.78 m/71-5 1/2).

It was yet another meet past 22 m (72-2 1/4) for Crouser, the eighth time he has thrown at least that far in 2018, one of the best seasons ever. He’s not done, either, as he will be in Ostrava (CZE) this weekend for the IAAF Continental Cup.

The main portion of the meet on Tuesday was marred by rain early, but there were still numerous excellent performances:

∙ Mike Rodgers of the U.S. continued a good string of performances, winning the men’s 100 m in 10.08, ahead of Jamaica’s Tyquendo Tracey (10.18). It was Rodgers’ second win in three days, after taking the 100 m in the Citta di Padova (ITA) race in 10.10 on Sunday.

∙ Botswana’s Nigel Amos gritted his teeth and held on down the final straight to win the men’s 800 m in 1:44.08 over Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski (1:44.43) and Kenyan Jonathan Kitilit (1:44.50). Clayton Murphy of the U.S. was fifth in 1:45.79.

∙ World Champion Elijah Manangoi (KEN) won a terrific men’s 1,500 m, out-striding Yomif Kejelcha (ETH), 3:32.52-3:32.59, with Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI: 3:33.93) third and Morocco’s Abdelaati Iguider fourth in 3:34.21.

∙ Spain’s Orlando Ortega had very little trouble in the 110 m Hurdles, running 13.39, ahead of Americans Devon Allen (13.50 including hitting seven hurdles) and Freddie Crittenden (13.52).

In the men’s field events, South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga was an easy winner in the long jump at 8.46 m (27-9 1/4) and Jamaican Fedrick Dacres overwhelmed the discus field with a throw of 68.17 m (223-8). Among the women:

∙ World 100 m co-leader Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV) continued her excellent season with an 11.05 win, well ahead of Michelle-Lee Ahye (TTO: 11.28).

∙ Another American showdown in the 100 m Hurdles saw Sharika Nelvis take charge in the middle of the race, then hold on against Olympic champ Brianna Rollins-McNeal, 12.65-12.66, with Christina Manning third in 12.79.

Seventh was 2008 Olympic champ Dawn Harper-Nelson (13.25) in what might have been her final race. She’s retiring at season’s end and this was the last of the major meets for the year. She’s been a great star for the U.S. and a class act since her days at UCLA.

∙ Over the illness that plagued her in the Diamond League final, Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic was the darling of the crowd and won easily with a throw of 67.60 m (221-9), more than nine feet in front of runner-up Yaime Perez (CUB: 64.78 m/212-6).

Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser won the 400 m easily in 50.54 and Kenya’s Lilian Rengeruk won a fast 3,000 m in 8:33.37 from Nora Jeruto (KEN: 8:33.61) and Gudaf Tsegay (ETH: 8:33.78).

Also in the meet in Padua on Sunday, Genzebe Dibaba (ETH) won the women’s mile in 4:20.51, no. 7 on the world list for 2018, and English Gardner of the U.S. won the women’s 100 m in 11.11. Russian Sergey Shubenkov won the 110 m Hurdles in 13.09, a time only he and Ortega have bettered in 2018.

WATER POLO: U.S. opens Women’s World Cup with 18-2 rout

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

The quadrennial FINA women’s Water Polo World Cup is underway in Surgut (RUS), with eight teams competing in two groups, trying to unseat the two-time defending champions from the United States. The groups:

∙ Group A: Russia, Australia, China, Spain
∙ Group B: United States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand

In Group A, Russia defeated Spain (13-9) and Australia beat China (11-8), while the Group B openers were both mis-matches, as the U.S. zipped past New Zealand, 18-2, and Canada stomped South Africa, 18-3.

The U.S. was led in scoring by Kiley Neushul (5), and Aria Fischer (4). Said Neushul afterwards, “This was not our best showing. We did not execute a lot on our offensive plays early in the game.

“We started a little slowly, and I think we can improve coming up here in the tournament. We never considered New Zealand an easy opponent, like every team here, we are sure they will be looking to show their best game against us. We want to be the best every game, so we are happy to celebrate the first win in Surgut. It was a good warm-up for the next games.”

Pool play continues through the sixth, with the playoffs continuing through the ninth (Sunday).

This event debuted back in 1979 and the U.S. has won three times (1979-2010-2014) in the 16 prior editions. The traditional power has been the Netherlands, with eight wins, but not involved in 2018. Australia has also won three times, in 1984-1995-2006.

The U.S. beat Australia in the 2010 and 2014 finals; China won bronze in 2010 and Spain in 2018.

Look for results here.

SPORT CLIMBING Preview: Tokyo preview in 2018 World Championships

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

The 15th Sport Climbing World Championships will provide a preview of what to expect in Tokyo over 11 days through the 16th, at Innsbruck (AUT).

The competition includes Bouldering, Lead and Speed events, plus a Combined classification, which will be the event to be held at the 2020 Olympic Games. The finals schedule:

∙ 08 September: Women’s Lead
∙ 09 September: Men’s Lead
∙ 13 September: Men’s and Women’s Speed
∙ 14 September: Men’s Bouldering
∙ 15 September: Women’s Bouldering
∙ 16 September: Men’s and Women’s Combined

Sport Climbing World Championships are held every 0ther year; the medalists from 2016:

∙ Men’s Bouldering:
1. Tomoa Narasaki (JPN)
2. Adam Ondra (CZE)
3. Manuel Comu (FRA)

∙ Men’s Lead:
1. Adam Ondra (CZE: 2nd title)
2. Jakob Schubert (AUT)
3. Gautier Supper (FRA)

∙ Men’s Speed:
1. Marcin Dzienski (POL)
2. Reza Alipour (IRI)
3. Aleksandr Shikov (RUS)

∙ Men’s Combined:
1. Sean McColl (CAN: 3rd title)
2. Manuel Comu (FRA)
3. David Firnenburg (GER)

∙ Women’s Bouldering:
1. Petra Klinger (SUI)
2. Miho Nonaka (JPN)
3. Akiyo Noguchi (JPN)

∙ Women’s Lead:
1. Janja Garnbret (SLO)
2. Anak Verhoeven (BEL)
3. Mina Markovic (SLO)

∙ Women’s Speed:
1. Anna Tsganova (RUS)
2. Anouk Jaubert (FRA)
3. Iullia Kaplina (RUS)

∙ Women’s Combined:
1. Elena Krasovskaia (RUS)
2. Claire Buhrfeind (USA)
3. Charlotte Durif (FRA)

The best predictor, of course, of the 2018 Worlds is what has happened in the 2018 World Cup:

∙ Bouldering:
Men: Jernej Kruder (SLO), 442; Tomoa Narasaki (JPN), 400; Rei Sugimoto ((JPN), 334.
Women: Miho Nonaka (JPN), 500; Akiyo Noguchi (JPN), 495; Fanny Gibert (SUI), 320.

∙ Lead:
Men: Jakob Schubert (AUT), 335; 2. Stefano Ghisolfi (ITA), 286; Alexander Megos (GER), 230.
Women: Janja Garnbret (SLO), 380; Jessica Piulz, 340; Anak Verhoeven (BEL), 181.

∙ Speed:
Men: Danyil Boldyrev (UKR), 373; Dmitrii Timofeev (US), 353; Bassa Mawem (FRA), 311.
Women: Anouck Jaubert (FRA), 436; Mariia Krasavina (RUS), 341; Iullia Kaplina (RUS), 289.

Look for results here.

MODERN PENTATHLON Preview: World Championships start in Mexico City

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

The 62nd World Championships in the Modern Pentathlon is getting set to start in Mexico City (MEX), the first time in 12 years that this event is being held in the Western Hemisphere, and the 20-year anniversary of the 1998 World Championships in Mexico City. The schedule:

∙ 07 September: Women’s Relay
∙ 08 September: Men’s Relay
∙ 09 September: Mixed Relay
∙ 12 September: Women’s final
∙ 13 September: Men’s final

The medalists from the 2017 Worlds and the 2018 World Cup points leaders:

∙ Men/2017 Worlds:
1. Jin-Hwa Jung (KOR)
2. Robert Kasza (HUN)
3. Justinas Kinderis (LTU)

∙ Men/2018 World Cup:
1. 161 Woongtae Jun (KOR)
2. 134 Jihun Lee (KOR)
3. 134 Pavlo Tymoshchenko (UKR)

∙ Women/2017 Worlds:
1. Gulnaz Gubaydullina (RUS)
2. Zsofia Foldhazi (HUN)
3. Anastasiya Prokopenko (BLR)

∙ Women/2018 World Cup:
1. 150 Chloe Esposito (AUS)
2. 148 Tamara Alekszejev (HUN)
3. 147 Gulnaz Gubaydullina (RUS)

∙ Mixed Relay/2017 Worlds:
1. Ronja Steinborn/Alexander Nobis (GER)
2. Haydy Morsy/Eslam Hamad (EGY)
3. Valentin Belaud/Julie Belhamm (FRA)

This is really a wide-open championship, especially being held outside of Europe. While the sport has traditionally been dominated by Europeans, new stars like the Koreans Jun and Lee and 2016 Olympic champ Esposito in the women’s competition makes this an unpredictable week of events.

Jung and Gubaydullina will hardly be expected to repeat; there has been no men’s repeat World Champion since Sebastien Deleigne (FRA) in 1997-98 and no women’s repeater since Amelie Caze (FRA) in 2007-08.

Look for results here.

FREESTYLE SKI & SNOWBOARD Preview: World Cup season starts in New Zealand!

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

Why are we writing about snow sports in September? Because it’s winter in New Zealand!

The Audi quattro Winter Games are becoming a bigger and bigger deal down under and have FIS World Cup Big Air competitions – the real thing with points that count – this weekend.

The NZ Winter Games are being held at the Cardrona Alpine Resort, which has had more than a week of various skiing events, which will be completed with these World Cup openers.

In the Freestyle Big Air, the one returning World Cup medalist from last season is Sweden’s Oscar Wester, who earned a silver medal in Germany in December 2017. Canada’s Alex Beaulieu-Marchand was the Olympic bronze medalist in Slopestyle in Korea and James Woods (GBR) was fourth. American Alex Hall won the Slopestyle World Cup in Salvaplana (SUI) last season.

There are only six women entered; Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru won the World Junior Championships silver in Big Air in Cardrona in August. Canada’s Dara Howell and Silvia Bertagna (ITA) were 1-2 in the Big Air World Cup last season in Quebec City (CAN), and American Caroline Claire won a Slopestyle World Cup last season.

In the Snowboard Big Air, a Slopestyle event was held in Cardrona last season, with Markus Kleveland (NOR) and Jamie Anderson of the U.S. as the winners. The World Cup leaders from last season in Big Air were Chris Corning of the U.S., Yuri Okubo (JPN) and Jonas Bosiger (SUI) among the men and Anna Gasser (AUT), Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN) and Julia Marino (USA) for the women.

The Freestyle Big Air results will be here; look for the Snowboard results here.

FOOTBALL Preview: U.S. men begin Kickoff Series vs. Brazil

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

Now that the 2018 FIFA World Cup is over, the U.S. men’s national team will start again, beginning with a “Kickoff Series” against six high-profile national squads:

∙ 07 September: U.S. vs. Brazil in East Rutherford, New Jersey
∙ 11 September: U.S. vs. Mexico in Nashville, Tennessee
∙ 11 October: U.S. vs. Colombia in Tampa, Florida
∙ 16 October: U.S. vs. an opponent to be named
∙ 15 November: U.S. vs. England in London (GBR)
∙ 20 November: U.S. vs. Italy at a site to be announced

The Brazil match will begin at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time and will be shown on FS1, UniMas and UDN.

Brazil has 13 members of its World Cup roster assigned to the game, including superstar striker Neymar, keeper Alisson, midfielders Casemiro, Willian and Fred and defenders Thiago Silva and Filipe Luis, among others.

U.S. interim coach Dave Sarachan has a mix of youth and experience, including striker Bobby Wood, midfielders Tim Weah, Kellyn Acosta, Paul Arriola and Julian Green, defenders John Brooks, Eric Lichaj and DeAndre Yellin and keeper Zach Steffen.

Brazil has a 17-1-0 all-time record vs. the U.S., with the lone American win coming at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1998, 1-0, in the CONCACAF Gold Cup semis.

CYCLING Preview: Schurter tries for sixth Mountain Bike World Championship

By

Rich Perelman

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September 5, 2018

A massive field of 716 riders from 55 countries are gathering in Lenzerheide (SUI) for the 29th UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Junior (ages 17-18), U-23 (19-22) and Elite classes in both Cross Country and Downhill.

The senior Cross Country races will be held on Saturday and the Downhills on Sunday. The Cross Country route comprises 4 km and meanders through the Seewald Forest. The Downhill course is 2.2 km with a 413 m drop.

The just-completed UCI World Cup finished with these medalists:

∙ Men/Cross Country:
1. 1,861 Nino Schurter (SUI)
2. 1,355 Mathieu van der Poel (NED)
3. 1,242 Maxime Marotte (FRA)

∙ Women/Cross Country:
1. 1,930 Jolanda Neff (SUI)
2. 1,743 Annika Langvad (DEN)
3. 1,305 Emily Batty (CAN)

∙ Men/Downhill:
1. 1,178 Amaury Pierron (FRA)
2. 884 Danny Hart (GBR)
3. 860 Troy Brosnan (AUS)

∙ Women/Downhill:
1. 1,476 Rachel Atherton (GBR)
2. 1,316 Tahnee Seagrave (GBR)
3. 1,055 Tracey Hannah (AUS)

In terms of prior World Championships, the big stars have included:

∙ Nino Schurter (SUI) ~ Men’s Cross Country World Champion 2012-13-15-16-17
∙ Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE) ~ Men’s Cross Country Worlds silver medalist 2010-16-17
∙ Thomas Litcher (SUI) ~ Men’s Cross Country Worlds bronze medalist 2017

∙ Jolanda Neff (SUI) ~ Women’s Cross Country World Champion 2017
∙ Annika Langvad (DEN) ~ Women’s Cross Country World Champion 2016
∙ Pauline Ferrard-Prevot (FRA) ~ Women’s Cross Country World Champion 2015
∙ Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (NOR) ~ Women’s Cross Country World Champ 2002-04-05-06
∙ Maja Wloszczowsla (POL) ~ Women’s Cross Country World Champion 2010

∙ Loic Bruni (FRA) ~ Men’s Downhill World Champion 2015-17
∙ Danny Hart (GBR) ~ Men’s Downhill World Champion 2011-16
∙ Greg Minaar (RSA) ~ Men’s Downhill World Champion 2003-12-13
∙ Mick Hannah (AUS) ~ Men’s Downhill silver medalist 2013-17
∙ Aaron Gwin (USA) ~ Men’s Downhill bronze medalist 2017

∙ Rachel Atherton (GBR) ~ Women’s Downhill World Champion 2008-13-15-16
∙ Miranda Miller (CAN) ~ Women’s Downhill World Champion 2017
∙ Myriam Nicole (FRA) ~ Women’s Downhill silver medalist 2016-17
∙ Tracey Hannah (AUS) ~ Women’s Downhill bronze medalist 2013-15-16-17
∙ Tahnee Seagrave (GBR) ~ Women’s Downhill bronze medalist 2014

Prize money for these events is €5,000-3,000-2,000 for the top three places winners in the senior divisions. Look for results here.

CANOE-KAYAK Preview: Fox headlines Slalom World Cup final in Spain

By

Rich Perelman

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September 5, 2018

The fifth and final World Cup in Canoe Slalom comes this weekend at the famed course at La Seu d’Urgell (ESP); the current standings:

∙ Men’s C-1:
1. 220 Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK)
2. 204 Sideris Tasiadis (GER)
3. 162 Luca Bozic (SLO)

∙ Men’s K-1:
1. 204 Jiri Prskavec (CZE)
2. 162 Dariusz Popiela (POL)
3. 162 Mathieu Biazizzo (FRA)

∙ Women’s C-1:
1. 240 Jessica Fox (AUS)
2. 174 Viktoria Wolffhardt (AUT)
3. 144 Tereza Fiserova (CZE)

∙ Women’s K-1:
1. 235 Jessica Fox (AUS)
2. 193 Corinna Kuhnle (AUT)
3. 182 Ricarda Funk (GER)

∙ Mixed C-2:
1. 215 Tereza Fiserova/Michal Jane (CZE)
2. 188 Veronika Vojtova/Jan Masek (CZE)
3. 183 Yves Prigent/Margaux Henry (FRA)

Fox was the story during the World Cup season, winning both the C-1 and K-1 races in the first three World Cups – the first anyone had won both in a single event since 2013, when Fox also did it – then finished second last week in Tacen (SLO) in the K-1 to Austria’s Kuhnle. Tasiadis (GER) won three World Cups this season, also winning in Tacen last week.

Look for results here.

ARCHERY Preview: World Field Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo

By

Rich Perelman

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September 5, 2018

The 26th World Field Archery Championships are starting up in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, with competitions for juniors and seniors in Recurve, Compound and Barebow disciplines.

Instead of shooting at a stationary target at a consistent distance, field archery is based on walking through a course and shooting at targets laid out along that course, from 5-60 m away with six scoring rings on each target. Qualifications will include one day of 24 targets marked for distance and a second day with unmarked distances. Elimination matches and finals will follow. A total of 261 archers are expected to compete.

World Field Champs are held every two years and field archery was held at the 2017 World Games in Poland. The individual-event medal finalists:

∙ Men’s Recurve:
○ 2016 Worlds: 1. Brady Ellison (USA); 2. Sebastian Rohrberg (GER)
○ 2017 W. Games: 1. Amedeo Tonelli (ITA); 2. Brady Ellison (USA)

∙ Men’s Compound:
○ 2016 Worlds: 1. Steve Anderson (USA); 2. Stephan Hansen (DEN)
○ 2017 W. Games: 1. Stephan Hansen (DEN); 2. Esmaeil Ebadi (IRI)

∙ Men’s Barebow:
○ 2016 Worlds: 1. Erik Jonsson (SWE); 2. David Garcia Fernandez (ESP)
○ 2017 W. Games: 1. Istvan Kakas (HUN); 2. John Demmer (USA)

∙ Women’s Recurve:
○ 2016 Worlds: 1. Amy Oliver (GBR); 2. Jessica Tomasi (ITA)
○ 2017 W. Games: 1. Lisa Unruh (GER); 2. Naomi Foilkard (GBR)

∙ Women’s Compound:
○ 2016 Worlds: 1. Irene Franchini (ITA); 2. Linda Ochoa-Anderson (MEX)
○ 2017 W. Games: 1. Sara Lopez (COL); 2. Toja Ellison (SLO)

∙ Women’s Barebow:
○ 2016 Worlds: 1. Chantal Porte (FRA); 2. Eleonora Strobbe (ITA)
○ 2017 W. Games: 1. Cinzia Noziglia (ITA); 2. Lina Bjorklund (SWE)

Ellison has won the last two World Field Archery Championships and France’s Jean-Charles Valladont won the prior event, in 2012. Valladont finished third in the 2016 Worlds. In addition to her 2017 World Games gold, Germany’s Lisa Unruh won the World Field title in 2014. American men have won five straight Compound world titles with Rod Menzer, Dave Cousins, Jesse Broadwater (2) and Anderson.

Cortina did host the World Field Archery Champs once before, in 2000. Sweden’s Morgan Lundin won the men’s Compound division (and also later in 2006) and returns to compete in 2018! Look for results here.

ATHLETICS: Transfers of allegiance to win medals overstated

By

Rich Perelman

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September 5, 2018

A recent study in the academic journal Citizenship Studies examined the transfer of allegiance crisis in track & field. The paper, by three scholars at Erasmus University in Rotterdam (NED), is entitled “Nationality swapping in the Olympic field: towards the marketization of citizenship?”

After examining 167 cases in track & field from 1948-2016, the authors noted a huge increase in transfers for the 1996-2000-2004-2008 Olympic Games and less in 2012 and 2016. But a breakdown of the reasons for the changes in nationality showed that the largest number of cases came from athletes who changed to the country in which they now lived (vs. where they were born), or of the nationality of their spouse.

Their conclusion: “Acquiring citizenship via the explicit market principle of jus talenti is conceived of as more prevalent than ever. Our strategic selection, however, indicates that in reality only a few nationality switches in the 11 countries we studied were the outcome of a purely instrumental talent-for-citizenship exchange between athletes and states between whom no prior connection existed.”

SWIMMING: Madisyn Cox eligible again after consent decree

By

Rich Perelman

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September 5, 2018

American swimmer Madisyn Cox, 23, had her doping suspension cut to six months from two years – essentially time already served – in a consent decree with the International Swimming Federation (FINA) and approved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Cox, a member of the gold-medal-winning U.S. 4×200 m Free team at the 2017 World Championships and a bronze medalist in the 200 m Medley, was found guilty of a doping violation from a test in February 2018. Cox appealed and was able to show that the doping agent – Trimetazidine – was present in a recent dose of a multivitamin supplement she had taken for many years and that had never caused a doping positive.

FINA agreed and the CAS, noting that “Cox’s degree of fault appears light,” approved her reinstatement as of 2 September 2018.

A bad Asian Games for boxing; will it be knocked out for 2020?

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

tsx pix 90318 boxer knocked out 750 — Should boxing be knocked out of the Olympic Games? The IOC might be getting ready to do just that!

These are tense days for the International Boxing Federation, known in Olympic circles by its French acronym, AIBA.

After an internal struggle over its finances, with charges that the organization is near bankruptcy and counter-charges of a coup, its 11-year president, C.K. Wu (TPE) was forced out of office in 2017. Its interim president, Gafur Rakhimov (UZB) has been “described” by the U.S. Treasury Department “as one of his country’s ‘leading criminals’ and ‘an important person involved in the heroin trade,’” which Rakhimov vehemently denies.

The International Olympic Committee put AIBA on notice that it could be excused from the 2020 Tokyo Games, with a spokesperson noting last January that “The IOC is extremely worried about the governance in AIBA,” and requiring a report that covered plans for changes in governance, management, financial, judging, refereeing and anti-doping. The IOC also stopped making payments of television rights monies to AIBA, further injuring its finances.

The AIBA submitted its response to the IOC Executive Board in May, but IOC president Thomas Bach said “This report shows some progress and shows goodwill but still lacks execution and in some areas lacks substance. So our concerns on governance, financial and sporting integrity are continuing and we think that we need to see action on the plans.”

AIBA’s follow-up statement expressed disappointment and stated that “AIBA will continue its efforts to convince the IOC of its determination to not repeat any of the past mistakes and its commitment to a fresh, positive future centered on good governance and sound management.” A new president is scheduled to be elected at the AIBA Congress in early November.

That brings us to the just-completed Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang (INA), where the AIBA was hoping to avoid more problems such as the judging fiasco at the 2014 Asiad in Korea, where – among other ridiculous verdicts – India’s Sarita Devi “lost” in her Lightweight (-60 kg) semifinal and then refused to wear the bronze medal during the victory ceremony, tried to give it to the Korean fighter who “won” their semifinal (and finished second) and then finally just left the medal on the podium and walked away after the ceremony.

At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, there was so much anger at the AIBA judging that the federation “re-assigned” its executive director, Karim Bouzidi (FRA), who was in charge of the tournament, and then – two months later – suspended all 36 referees and judges who had worked at the Games pending an investigation into their conduct, sparking corruption claims.

So, with this background, one would think that the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia would be a showcase for a crisply-run and well-officiated tournament.

Guess again:

∙ Two North Korean coaches refused to clear the ring in protest after their fighter, Pang Choi Mi, lost a 3-2 decision to China’s Chang Yuan in the women’s Flyweight final and were led away by police and security staff. Boxer Pang refused to face the Chinese flag during the victory ceremony and walked away from the traditional group picture of the medal winners.

∙ Ed Picson, the head of the Philippine Boxing Association assailed the judging in multiple bouts and said “We’ve seen a lot of strange things happening here, not just with the Philippine team but so many other teams. So it’s really very sad that it has come to this. We have talked to other countries and they are just as upset as we are. It’s atrocious.”

∙ On Sunday, the recently-appointed AIBA executive director – and former USA Boxing president – Tom Virgets announced “We’re going to have a protest committee in place because even in the best of times there will be (controversial) decisions, officials get tired, it’s like any other sport that is subjective.

“Years ago we had a right to protest. The organization felt it was being abused. They removed it from the rules. I think we swung the pendulum too far. We should have just corrected the process to get rid of the abuses, instead we did away with the protests.

“I think that increased the problems, because it increased the frustration by not having any avenue to see if a perceived wrong could be corrected. Now the AIBA Executive Committee has voted to have a protest allowed and right now we are investigating different tools to use in order to have an appropriate process.”

This is not going to help AIBA as the IOC considers whether to keep it in the Tokyo Games. Asked in Jakarta about the future of eSports by the Associated Press, Bach said “We cannot have in the Olympic program a game which is promoting violence or discrimination. So-called killer games. They, from our point of view, are contradictory to the Olympic values and cannot therefore be accepted.

“Of course every combat sport has its origins in a real fight among people. But sport is the civilized expression about this. If you have e-games where it’s about killing somebody, this cannot be brought into line with our Olympic values.”

Whose values include corruption, cheating and a judging process so warped that the new process is almost sure to be overwhelmed as soon as it is implemented? The IOC needs to reduce the size of the Games and make an example of a sport in order to electrify its drives against corruption and doping. Will boxing, a part of every Games from 1920, be the one punched out? How can it survive?

Rich Perelman
Editor

Perry forced out as USA Gymnastics CEO

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 5, 2018

More turmoil for USA Gymnastics as chief executive Kerry Perry resigned on Tuesday. She took over for Steve Penny on 1 December 2017 amid the fallout from the Larry Nassar scandal, but was criticized for a lack of communications with the athletes and a bad mis-step with the hiring and firing last week of Mary Lee Tracy as the women’s elite development coordinator. Tracy had made comments supportive of Nassar several years ago at the beginning of the inquiry into his abuse of gymnasts and the hire caused considerable anguish, and triggered harsh comments from new U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive Sarah Hirshland.

USAG Board chair Karen Golz posted an open letter which noted that “USA Gymnastics has been in the midst of a difficult and painful transition to ensure that the safety and interests of our athletes remain at the heart of our mission. While much as been accomplished over the past several months to stabilize the organization, we still face tremendous challenges as we all work to achieve fundamental changes to move our sport forward.”

A management committee will manage the federation while an interim chief executive is found. A search committee has been formed to find the next USAG chief executive.
Perry came to USAG from Learfield Communications, where she had been vice president of business development, and had run her own sports marketing company prior to that.

VOLLEYBALL: U.S. and Cuba win NORCECA Youth Championships

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 3, 2018

The Pan American titles in youth and junior volleyball were decided over the past week, with the U.S. and Cuba dominating both tournaments and each winning one. The details:

∙ NORCECA women’s U-18 Championship in Tegucigalpa (HON)

The U.S. and Cuba both breezed through the group stage with 3-0 records and moved both directly to the semifinals.

In the semis, Cuba fell to Canada in a very tight, five-set match – 18-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-23, 16-14 – with the total points actually favoring Cuba by 106-104. The U.S. had no trouble with the Dominican Republic, winning in straight sets, 25-12, 25-17, 25-17, in 60 minutes.

That pushed the U.S. into the final against Canada and the Americans swept it, winning by 25-13, 25-12, 25-23. Cuba won the bronze medal over the Dominican Republic, 3-1.

Not only did the U.S. finish 5-0 in the tournament, they never lost a set! They won all three group games by 3-0 and finished by winning 15 sets to none for the opponents. The final standings:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. Cuba
4. Dominican Republic

5. Costa Rica
6. Honduras
7. Nicaragua
8. Barbados

The individual awards were dominated by the U.S. team. Jessica Mrusik was named Most Valuable Player and Best Wing; teammates Allison Jacobs (Best Wing), Kennedi Orr (Setter), Emily Londot (Opposite) and Hattie Monson (Receiver and Receiver) were all honored.

Dominican blockers Geraldine Gonzalez and Estefany Rabit were awarded, as was Katerina Geordiadis (CAN: Libero).

The top scorer was Thainalien Castillo (CUB), who compiled 77 points.

∙ NORCECA men’s U-21 Championship in Havana (CUB)

Both Cuba and the U.S. won their groups with 3-o records. In the semifinals, Cuba defeated Canada, 3-1 and the Dominican Republic edged the U.S. by three sets to one in a very tight match (21-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-18).

That placed the U.S. and Canada in the bronze-medal match, and Canada won by 3-1 in four close sets: 25-22, 25-23, 25-27, 25-17.

The Cubans zipped past the Dominicans, 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-20) in the final. The final standings:

1. Cuba
2. Dominican Republic
3. Canada
4. United States

5. Guatemala
6. Haiti
7. Nicaragua
8. Barbados

Cuba’s Jose Carlos Romero was named Most Valuable Player and was named to the tournament all-star team as the Best Opposite. His teammates Julio C. Cardenas and Bayron Valdez were named as the Best Hitters; Akeil Williams (BAR) and Fynnian McCarthy (CAN) were the Best Defenders; Erick Villar (DOM) was Best Libero and Best Receiver; Jaylen Jasper and Blake Crisp were the Best Server and Best Setter, respectively, and Jordan Carcache (NIC) was the Best Defender.

Valdez was the tournament’s top scorer with 113 points (95 attacks, three blocks and 15 service aces), the only one to exceed 100.

VOLLEYBALL: Argentina defends men’s Pan American Cup title

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 3, 2018

The 13th men’s Pan American Cup in Veracruz (MEX) finished with an undefeated Argentina defeating Brazil in five sets to defend its 2017 title.

The group stage saw the 12 teams divided into three groups and five teams won their two group games: Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Canada and Argentina. In the quarterfinals, Mexico was defeated by Puerto Rico and Cuba defeated Canada to get to the semis.

Argentina handled Cuba, 3-1, in the first semifinal and Brazil defeated Puerto Rico, also by 3-1. So in the final, it was two 3-0 teams and it was just that close. Brazil won the first set, 27-25, then Argentina won the next two by 25-17 and 25-22. Brazil came back to win the fourth set, 27-25, but Argentina was able to triumph in the fifth and final set, 15-10, to win back-to-back titles in 2:04.

Cuba defeated Puerto Rico in the bronze-medal match, 3-1, so the final standings showed:

1. Argentina
2. Brazil
3. Cuba
4. Puerto Rico
5. Mexico
6. Canada

7. United States
8. Chile
9. Colombia
10. Dominican Rep.
11. Guatemala
12. Peru

Argentina’s title was its second; in the history of the event, the U.S. still leads with five; Brazil has three wins and Cuba also has two.

The U.S. finished seventh, defeating Chile in the 7-8 classification match, 3-1.

SHOOTING: China and Russia start fast at ISSF World Champs

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 3, 2018

As with most of the Olympic sports, the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) has adopted a series of mixed-gender events because the International Olympic Committee will add them to the Olympic program.

So the opening medals of the 2018 World Championships – held only once per four years – are for the Mixed Team 10 m Air Pistol and Air Rifle.

China was the big winner, going 1-2 in the 10 m Air Rifle, with Ruozhu Zhao and Haoran Yang finishing just 0.3 ahead of Mingyang Wu and Buhan Song, 500.9-500.6, and claiming a silver in the 10 m Air Pistol, thanks to Qian Wang and Meng Yi Wang (CHN).

The Mixed 10 m Air Pistol gold went to Russia’s Vitalina Batsarashkina and Artem Chernousov, who won easily, by 488.1-480.2.

The 2018 championships continue through 15 September. It’s also the start of the Olympic qualification cycle for Tokyo as 60 quota places – generally the top four in each event – will be assigned for the 2020 Games. The remaining senior-level events and finals schedule:

∙ 3 September:

Men’s 10 m Air Rifle
Women’s 10 m Air Rifle
Men’s Trap

∙ 4 September:

Women’s 10 m Air Pistol

∙ 6 September:

Men’s 10 m Air Pistol
Women’s Trap

∙ 7 September:

Men’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions
Mixed Team Trap

∙ 8 September:

Women’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions
Women’s 25 m Pistol

∙ 9 September:

Women’s 10 m Running Target
Men’s 10 m Running Target

∙ 10 September:

Men’s 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol

∙ 11 September:

Women’s Skeet

∙ 14 September:

Men’s Skeet

The ISSF has exceptional coverage on its Web site here. Summaries so far:

ISSF World Championships
Changwon (KOR) ~ 31 August-15 September 2018
(Full results here)

Mixed

Team 10 m Air Pistol: 1. Vitalina Batsarashkina/Artem Chernousov (RUS), 488.1; 2. Qian Wang/Meng Yi Wang (CHN), 480.2; 3. Olena Kostevych/Oleh Omelchuk (UKR), 416.7; 4. Zorana Arunovic/Damir Mikec (SRB), 376.7; 5. Sonia Franquet/Pablo Carrera (ESP), 331.6.

Team 10 m Air Rifle: 1. Ruozhu Zhao/Haoran Yang (CHN), 500.9; 2. Mingyang Wu/Buhan Song (CHN), 500.6; 3. Anastasia Galashina/Vladimir Maslennikov (RUS), 434.2; 4. Laura-Georgeta Coman/Alin George Moldoveanu (ROU), 390.5; 5. Isabella Straub/Maximillian Dallinger (GER), 346.9.

JUDO: Dominicans wins five at Pan American Open

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 3, 2018

The fourth Pan American Open in 2018 was a showcase for the host country – the Dominican Republic – in Santo Domingo, as the home team won five events and took a total of 13 medals (5-3-5).

A total of 178 judoka from 24 countries competed. This is not a championship event, but a high-level open competition for development purposes.

The U.S. won 12 medals, second-highest in the tournament, but had only one win, from Alisha Galles in the women’s -63 kg class. Summaries:

Pan American Open
Santo Domingo (DOM) ~ 1-2 September 2018
(Full results here)

Men

-60 kg: 1. Julio Molina (GUA); 2. David Agoglia (USA); 3. Johan Rojas (COL) and Daniel Santos (DOM).
-66 kg: 1. Wander Matteo (DOM); 2. Juan Postigos (PER); 3. Gar Uriarte (ESP) and Ricardo Valderrama (VEN).
-73 kg: 1. Jeffrey Ruiz (PUR); 2. Liam Wright (USA); 3. Leider Navarro (COL) and Alonso Wong (PER).
-81 kg: 1. Medickson del Orbe Cortorreal (DOM); 2. Francois Gauthier Drapeau (CAN); 3. Luis Angeles Sotelo (PER) and Igor Herrero (ESP).
-90 kg: 1. Robert Florentino (DOM); 2. Colton Brown (USA); 3. Francisco Balanta (COL) and Daryl Yamamoto Servan (PER).
-100 kg: 1. Shady El Nahas (CAN); 2. Lewis Medina (DOM); 3. Andrew Jacobs (USA) and Jose Nova Al Cantera (DOM).
+100 kg: 1. Pedro Pineda (VEN); 2. Irinel Vasile Chelaru (ESP); 3. Kevin Gauthier (CAN); only entrants.

Women

-48 kg: 1. Estefania Soriano (DOM); 2. Priscilla Morand (MRI); 3. Paola Garcia (PUR) and Anne Suzuki (USA).
-52 kg: 1. Marie Besson (CAN); 2. Alaine Abuan (USA); 3. Francine Echevarria (PUR) and Brillith Gamarra Carbajal (PER).
-57 kg: 1. Wisneybi Machado (VEN); 2. Ana Rosa (DOM); 3. Mariah Holguin (USA) and Luisa Jimenez (DOM).
-63 kg: 1. Alisha Galles (USA); 2. Helene Wezeu Dombeu (CMR); 3. Hanako Kuno (CAN) and Arela Sanchez (DOM).
-70 kg: 1. Eiraima Silvestre (DOM); 2. Chantal Wright (USA); 3. Emely Bautista (DOM) and Shianne Gronen (CAN).
-78 kg: 1. Sarah Myriam Mazouz (GAB); 2. Karen Leon (VEN); 3. Nefeli Papadakis (USA); only entrants.
+78 kg: 1. Melissa Mojica (PUR); 2. Moira Morillo (DOM); 3. Nina Cutro-Kelly (USA) and Mackenzie Williams (USA).

FOOTBALL: U.S. women overpower Chile, 3-0

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 3, 2018

The U.S. women easily handled Chile in a 3-0 win at the StubHub Center in Carson, California last Friday night in a game which was not as close as the score indicated.

A lively crowd of 23,544 saw Tierna Davidson score off a corner kick from Tobin Heath for the U.S. in the eighth minute for a 1-0 lead and the issue was decided in the 32nd minute when a Julie Ertz header glanced off defender Carla Guerrero into the Chilean goal for a 2-0 advantage.

Christen Press ended the scoring in the 59th minute when she finished off a Mallory Pugh cross that rolled past Carli Lloyd, to Press’s right foot for her 45th career goal. Shots were 24-1 for the U.S. in the game.

The U.S. and Chile will play again on Tuesday (4 September) at the Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, starting at 10 p.m. Eastern (televised on ESPN2)

The CONCACAF Championships draw for the tournament that will qualify teams for the 2019 World Cup will be held that day as well. The U.S. will play group games on 4-7-10 October in Cary, North Carolina, but the opponents are unknown; this draw is scheduled to be shown at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Fox Sports.

CYCLING: Valente wins three at Pan American Track Champs

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 3, 2018

American track cycling star Jennifer Valente collected three gold medals going into the final day of the Pan American Track Championships in Mexico City (MEX).

She won her specialties in the Omnium and the Scratch Race, but also teamed with Cristina Birch, Kimberly Geist and Kelly Catlin to win the Team Pursuit final. Catlin also won the Individual Pursuit.

Other double winners included Canada’s Hugo Barrette in the Sprint and Keirin, and Ashton Lambie of the U.S. won the Individual Pursuit and teamed with Eric Young, Gavin Hoover and Colby Lange to win the Team Pursuit.

Mexico’s Daniela Gaxiola won the women’s Sprint and Team Sprint (with Yuli Verdugo) and won a silver in the Time Trial for three total medals. Summaries (Sunday’s results were not posted at press time):

Pan American Track Championships
Mexico City (MEX) ~ 29 August-2 September 2018
(Full results here)

Men

Sprint: 1. Hugo Barrette (CAN); 2. Nicolas Paul (TTO); Third: 3. Kevin Quintero (COL); 4. Jair Tjon (SUR).

Team Sprint/Final: 1. Trinidad & Tobago (Phillip, Paul, Browne), 42.849; 2. Colombia, 43.095. Third: 3. Brazil, 43.860; 4. Venezuela, 44.031.

Individual Pursuit/Final: 1. Ashton Lambie (USA); 2. Gavin Hoover (USA), overtaken. Third: 3. Luis Villalobos (MEX); 4. Ignacio Prado Sarabia (MEX), overtaken.
Team Pursuit/Final: 1. United States (Eric Young, Gavin Hoover, Ashton Lambie, Colby Lange), 3:53.868; 2. Colombia, 3:56.302. Third: 3. Mexico; 4. Canada, overtaken.

Keirin: 1. Hugo Barrette (CAN); 2. Santiago Ramirez (COL); 3. Kevin Quintero (COL); 4. Kwesi Browne (TTO); 5. Nicolas Paul (TTO).

Points Race: 1. 1. Felipe Penaloza (CHI), 72; 2. Jorge Luis Montenegro (ECU), 71; 3. Ruben Ramos (ARG), 70; 4. Sarabia (MEX), 68; 5. Robert Sierra (VEN), 61. Also: 9. Daniel Holloway (USA), 29.

15 km Scratch Race: 1. Adrian Hegyvary (USA); 2. Ivan de Jesus Carbajal (MEX); 3. Antonio Cabrerra (CHI); 4. Pedro Rodriguez (ECU); 5. Carlos Tobon (COL).

Omnium: 1. Angel Pulgar (VEN), 148; 2. Carlos Quishpe (ECU), 140; 3. Ignacio Prado (MEX), 138; 4. Alonso Gamero (PER), 135; 5. Holloway (USA), 128.

Women

Sprint/Final: 1. Daniela Gaxiola (MEX); 2. Jessica Salazar (MEX); Third: 3. Martha Bayona (COL); 4. Lauriane Genest (CAN).

Team Sprint/Final: 1. Daniela Gaxiola/Yuli Verdugo (MEX), 32.768; 2. Madalyn Godby/Mandy Marquardt (USA), 33.468. Third: 3. Amelia Walsh/Lauriane Genest (CAN), 33.515; 4. Lizandra Guerra/Mirtha Garcia (CUB), 34.256.

Individual Pursuit: 1. Kelly Catlin (USA); 2. Marlies Mejias (CUB), overtaken. Third: 3. Jennifer Wheeler (USA), 3:34.059; 4. Lina Hernandez (COL), 3:37.193.

Team Pursuit/Final: 1. United States (Jennifer Valente, Cristina Birch, Kimberly Geist, Kelly Catlin); 2. Mexico, overtaken. Third: 3. Canada; 4. Chile, overtaken.

500 m Time Trial: 1. J. Salazar (MEX), 33.028; 2. Gaxiola (MEX), 33.138; 3. Bayona (COL), 33.173; 4. Lizandra Guerra (CUB), 33.654; 5. Mandy Marquardt (USA), 34.162.

10 km Scratch Race: 1. Jennifer Valente (USA); 2. Marlies Mejias (CUB); 3. Mayra de la Rocha (MEX); 4. Devaney Collier (CAN); 5. Amber Josep (BAR).

Omnium: 1. Valente (USA), 118; 2. Lizbeth Salazar (MEX), 112; 3. Lina Hernandez (COL), 110; 4. Allison Beveridge (CAN), 104; 5. Amber Joseph (BAR), 94.

20 km Madison: 1. Lizbeth Salazar/Sofia Arreola (MEX), 28; 2. Allison Beveridge/Stephanie Roorda (CAN), 25; 3. Cristina Birch/Kimberly Geist (USA), 20; 4. Jessica Parra/Jannie Salcedo (COL), 12; 5. Lillibeth Chacon/Daniely Garcia (VEN), -15.

CYCLING: Van Vleuten takes World Tour lead after Boels Ladies Tour

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 3, 2018

With Women’s World Tour leader Marianne Vos (NED) skipping the Boels Ladies Tour, Dutch star Annemiek van Vleuten had a chance to take the seasonal points lead with a big performance.

She didn’t miss her chance. Van Vleuten dominated the event, winning three stages and finishing 52 seconds clear of countrywoman Ellen van Dijk and 1:05 ahead of Anna van der Breggen (NED).

The overall win, stage wins and bonus points lifted van Vleuten, 35, into the seasonal lead at 1,411.86 points, with Vos second at 1,394.88 and van der Breggen third with 1,323.33. That means the Women’s World Tour race will continue through the final two events of the season, the La Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta (16 September) and the Tour of Guangxi in China on 21 October.

Van der Breggen won in 2017, finishing just ahead of Van Vleuten, 1,016-989. Summaries:

UCI Women’s World Tour/Boels Ladies Tour
Netherlands ~ 28 August-02 September 2018
(Full results here)

Prologue (3.3 km): 1. 1. Annemiek Van Vleuten (NED), 4:22; 2. Anna van der Breggen (NED), 4:29; 3. Ellen van Dijk (NED), 4:30; 4. Leah Kirchmann (CAN), 4:31; 5. Lisa Brennauer (GER), 4:31. Also in the top 50: 21. Megan Guarnier (USA), 4:42; … 26. Leah Thomas (USA), 4:43; … 29. Tayler Wiles (USA), 4:44; … 44. Lily Williams (USA), 4:49.

Stage 1 (132,2 km): 1. Van Vleuten (NED), 3:28:29; 2. Eugenia Bujak (SLO), 3:28:41; 3. Elena Cecchini (ITA), 3:28:41; 4. Marta Cavalli (ITA), 3:28:41; 5. Amanda Spratt (AUS), 3:28:41. Also in the top 50: 16. Wiles (USA), 3:28:41; … 23. Guarnier (USA), 3:28:41; … 27. Thomas (USA), 3:28:45.

Stage 2 (129.0 km): 1. Amalie Dideriksen (DEN), 2:58:57; 2. Lorena Wiebes (NED), 2:58:57; 3. Jolien D’Hoore (BEL), 2:58:57; 4. Maria Confalonieri (ITA), 2:58:57; 5. Amy Pieters (NED), 2:58:57. Also in the top 50: 31. Williams (USA), 2:58:57; … 37. Thomas (USA), 2:58:57.

Stage 3 (124.3 km): 1. Dideriksen (DEN), 3:28:04; 2. Brand (NED), 3:28:04; 3. Wiebes (NED), 3:28:04; 4. Barbara Guarischi (ITA), 3:28:04; 5. Lotte Kopecky (BEL), 3:28:04. Also in the top 50: 26. Williams (USA), 3:28:06; … 36. Thomas (USA), 3:28:06; … 47. Guarnier (USA), 3:28:06.

Stage 4 (158.4 km): 1. Lucinda Blaak (NED), 4:10:24; 2. Giorgia Bronzini (ITA), 4:11:10; 3. Brand (NED), 4:11:10; 4. Kopecky (BEL), 4:11:10; 5. Marta Bastianelli (ITA), 4:11:10. Also in the top 50: 25. Williams (USA), 4:11:10; 26. Guarnier (USA), 4:11:10… 35. Thomas (USA), 4:11:10; … 42. Wiles (USA), 4:11:10.

Stage 5 (Individual Time Trial: 18.6 km): 1. Van Vleuten (NED), 24:00; 2. Van Dijk (NED), 24:22; 3. Van der Breggen (NED), 24:32; 4. Mieke Kroger (GER), 24:49; 5. Wiles (USA), 25:00. Also in the top 50: 9. Thomas (USA), 25:25; … 17. Guarnier (USA), 25:43; … 35. Williams (USA), 26:40.

Final Standings: 1. Annemiek van Vleuten (NED), 14:34:54; 2. Ellen van Dijk (NED), +0:52; 3. Anna van der Breggen (NED), +1:05; 4. Tayler Wiles (USA), +1:44; 5. Leah Kirchmann (CAN), +1:4; 6. Amanda Spratt (AUS), +2:05; 7. Eugenia Bujak (SLO), +2:09; 8. Amy Pieters (NED), 2:11; 9. Leah Thomas (USA), +2:12; 10. Elena Cecchini (ITA), +2:14. Also in the top 50: 14. Megan Guarnier (USA), +2:25; … 33. Lily Williams (USA), +6:32.

CYCLING: Second stage win for Ben King in Vuelta a Espana!

By

Rich Perelman

-

September 3, 2018

When American Ben King won the fourth stage of this year’s La Vuelta a Espana, he said it was a dream come true.

He’s still dreaming!

King won his second stage in this year’s La Vuelta, outlasting some of the big names in climbing with a Stage 9 win on the uphill finish of La Covatilla in La Hoya, Spain.

“I feel so bad right now,” King said after keeping Dutch chaser Bauke Mollema at bay during the final climb of more than 1,000 m over the last 24 km of the 200.8 km race. King said later, “The climb was really hard, with some very steep sections, and I thought Mollema would come back. I suffered a lot but I kept hoping and I made it.”

The brutal stage also reshuffled the overall leaders in the race, with Britain’s Simon Yates – one of the pre-race favorites – taking the lead. He has a one-second edge over Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, then 14 seconds over Nairo Quintana (COL), 16 seconds over Emanuel Buchmann (GER) and 17 seconds ahead of Ion Izagirre (ESP). The first 10 riders are within a minute of the lead.

The first rest day is on Monday and then two more weeks of racing. Next week’s stages are flat, then two hilly stages and three mountain stages (13-14-15) before another rest day on 10 September.