★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2032: Brisbane ● Australian architects COX Architecture and Hassell were appointed as the design team for the 2032 Olympic stadium, with renderings provided, showing a multi-level oval with a roof over the seating areas, but not the field.
COX Architecture Board Chair Richard Coulson commented:
“We are humbled and delighted to have been awarded the project which will be a Stadium for all of Queensland. The Stadium will be of the Park and be a catalyst for increasing the connectivity, useability and amenity of Victoria Park. It will have a critical role in 2032 but its life after the Games will be its most important legacy for the community.”
The 63,000-seat venue will host athletics and the major ceremonies in 2032 and will be paid for by the Queensland government in coordination with the national government.
● Olympic Games 2036 ● Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated in a video that the country is aiming to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
He spoke online at the opening of the senior national volleyball championship in Varanasi, stating:
“The 2030 Commonwealth Games will be held in India, and the country is making strong efforts to host the 2036 Olympics, with the aim of giving more and more players greater opportunities to compete. …
“India has hosted more than 20 major international events across several cities, including the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, Hockey World Cup, and major chess tournaments.
“The government has significantly increased the sports budget, and today India’s sports model has become athlete-centric, with focus on talent identification, scientific training, nutrition, and transparent selection, ensuring that the interests of players are prioritized at every level.
“Today the nation is riding on the ‘reform express’, with every sector and every development destination connected to it, and sports being one of them.”
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● Speaking with reporters before the final of the IIHF men’s World Junior Championships in St. Paul, Minnesota, International Ice Hockey Federation chief Luc Tardif (FRA) spoke about the delayed finish of the new PalaItalia Santagiulia Arena in Milan:
“We’re going to have a tournament in this building. The infrastructure for ice hockey – the dressing rooms, the practice area and the field of play – that’s going to be ready.
“We supervise and the experts of NHL, NHLPA, us are following it day by day. But the quality of the ice, the quality of the infrastructure is there. You can be confident on that. The [test event] will not be exactly what I expected, but it will be a nice setup for the Olympic Games. We will be able to sleep much better.”
The arena will host the IHL Serie A and Italian Cup Final Four from 9 to 11 January, replicating the Olympic program with three games per day.
● Athletics ● Kenyan superstar Beatrice Chebet, 25, the double Olympic gold medalist in Paris and the 2025 Worlds 5-10 winner, will take 2026 off for maternity, posting on Instagram on Monday:
“I’ve chased finish lines, medals, and dreams. Now I’m chasing a love I haven’t met yet. Motherhood begins in 2026.”
She added in a second post, “The last 2yrs have been more than incredible for us, every goal and dream checked out! Unfortunately won’t be able to defend my world cross title @worldxcchampionships. Our hearts are full and can’t wait for this next chapter of life…..see you in 2027!”
● Ice Hockey ● /Updated/Two-time winners Sweden and the Czech Republic faced off for the gold medal in the IIHF World Junior Championship in St. Paul, Minnesota on Monday, with the Swedes racing off to a 3-0 lead with just 16:13 left in the game. But the Czechs got two goals in two minutes to close to 3-2 with 24 seconds left; an empty-netter ended it at 4-2 for Sweden.
The Swedes earned their third win in this tournament, previously winning in 1981 and 2012. The Czechs won their second silver in four years, having lost to Canada in 2023.
Canada faced Finland in the bronze-medal match, and had a 3-2 lead at the period, 5-3 after two and finished with a 6-3 win, its sixth bronze in the history of the event.
Speaking about the tournament before Monday’s games, IIHF President Tardif told reporters:
“The Wild gave us a fantastic arena, and sometimes you get good crowds, but you can see empty seats … We’re satisfied. And we’re satisfied also about the quality of the infrastructure.
“It’s winter time, it’s cold, and we cannot forget the geopolitical situation makes it not so easy. I think you understand what I want to say, I don’t want to go further, but that was important.”
That’s a reference to the currently fractious relations between the U.S. and Canada, which did not send fans in strong numbers.
¶
USA Hockey unveiled its 2026 Olympic Winter Games team on Friday, with 25 players chosen and all but three from the team that placed second in last February’s Four Nations Face-Off, losing to Canada by 3-2 in overtime in the final.
U.S. general manager Bill Guerin told reporters, “I liked the way we played: Everybody was together, everybody played the right way. The biggest thing for me was the chemistry, and I think the chemistry allowed the guys to play the way that they did.”
Defensemen Jack Sanderson and Brock Faber are the only ones on the team with Olympic experience; they played for the U.S. team in 2022 in Beijing (CHN). Four players from the gold-medal-winning 2025 IIHF World Championship team were included: forward Clayton Keller, keeper Jeremy Swayman, forward Tage Thompson and defender Zach Werenski. All 25 members of the team are NHL players.
Olympic rules allow 20 skaters and two goalies to dress for each match at the Games.
¶
The American women’s team of 23 players includes 11 with Olympic experience and 21 of the 23 players who won the 2025 IIHF World Championship gold over Canada.
Forward Hilary Knight will be a five-time Olympian, while Kendall Coyne Schofield and defender Lee Stecklein made their fourth team. Three-time selections include defender Cayla Barnes, Alex Carpenter, defender Megan Keller and Kelly Pannek; and defender Caroline Harvey, Abbey Murphy, Haley Scamurra and Grace Zumwinkle are to be two-time Olympians.
● Ski Jumping ● The women’s FIS World Cup tour was in Villach (AUT), jumping off the 98 m hill on Monday and Tuesday, with World Champion Nika Prevc winning her sixth gold of the year, scoring 247.9 points to 245.2 for Lisa Eder (AUT) and 234.5 for Germany’s Selina Freitag. Josie Johnson was the top American, in 16th (205.2).
● Speed Skating ● US Speedskating’s Olympic Trials finished in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Monday, with drama in the 500 m and Mass Start events.
Men’s star Jordan Stolz had already qualified by prior performance for the 500-1,000-1,500 m and Mass Start races, and he finished second to Casey Dawson in the first Mass Start race, 7:56.580 to 7:58.799, with Ethan Cepuran third in 7:59.067. Cepuran was the leader going into the second race to get the second and last U.S. spot in Milan.
Stolz blew away the field, rolling into the lead with 2 1/2 laps to go and won in 7:54.716. Cepuran pulled away with less than two laps to go and was a clear second in 7:58.104 and will make the team for Milan in this race; Dawson was third in 7:58.718. Stolz finished with 180 points, to 162 for Cepuran and 146 for Dawson. Cepuran and Dawson are already part of the star U.S. Team Pursuit squad, with Emery Lehman.
In the second 500 m races, both Stolz and Olympic champ Erin Jackson, both already qualified, skipped the round, leaving the drama to who else would qualify. In the men’s races, Zach Stoppelmoor was fastest at 34.661, ahead of Conor Mcdermott-Mostowy (34.959) and Austin Kleba (35.312). Taking the best times of the two races at the Trials, Stoppelmoor won the event (34.661), with Stolz second (34.761) and Cooper Mcleod third (34.820) and Mcdermott-Mostowy fourth (34.959). So, Stoppelmoor and Mcleod are in line to join Stolz in Milan.
The U.S. has one spot besides Jackson in the women’s race and Sarah Warren won the final pair in 38.663, her best of the Trials, ahead of Mckenzie Browne (39.009, best of 38.888), and clinched her place on the American team – her first at age 29.
The women’s Mass Starts were open for one place as Mia Manganello was already qualified based on her ISU World Cup performances. Greta Myers, 21, won the first race in 8:40.495, just ahead of Piper Yde (8:40.579) and well up on Marley Soldan (8:46.192). In the second, Manganello shot past Myers in the final lap-and-a-half and won cleanly, 9:12.064 to 9:12.880.
Myers, in second, clinched the second spot for the U.S., in addition to her 1,500 m slot. Manganello finished with 180 points to 162 for Myers and 145 for Yde.
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 45-sport, 910-event International Sports Calendar for 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
