★ 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! ★
≡ SPOTLIGHT I ≡
● Speed Skating ● The International Skating Union posted Monday that American star Brittany Bowe has officially retired, after she indicated she would at the end of the 2025-26 season.
Now 38, Bowe has been a star for more than a decade, winning her first World Championships medal way back in 2013, a bronze in the women’s 1,000 m. Now, she is a four-time World Champion in the 1,000 m (three times) and the 1,500 m (once) and twice the World Sprint Champion in 2015-16.
She won Olympic bronzes in 2018 (Team Pursuit) and in the 1,000 m in 2022, and four world records, in the 1,000 m (three times) and one in the 1,500 m.
Pretty good for a former Florida Atlantic point guard and an eight-time World Champion in inline skating!
≡ SPOTLIGHT II ≡
● Football ● The site TicketData.com tracks ticket sales pricing for many events, including the FIFA World Cup 2026, and a Monday check of the least-expensive ticket pricing showed that with exactly a month to go before the tournament starts, the five lowest-priced games were:
● $144: Austria vs. Jordan (16 June) in Santa Clara
● $159: Capo Verde vs. Saudi Arabia (26 June) in Houston
● $174: Jordan vs. Algeria (22 June) in Santa Clara
● $175: Algeria vs. Austria (27 June) in Kansas City
● $175: Uzbekistan vs. D.R. Congo (27 June) in Atlanta
The five highest-priced for “get-in” tickets:
● $8,017: Final (19 July) in East Rutherford
● $2,543: Colombia vs. Portugal (27 June) in Miami Gardens
● $2,250: Semi-final (14 July) in Dallas
● $2,173: Semi-final (15 July) in Atlanta
● $1,802: Quarter-final (11 July) in Miami Gardens
In terms of interest in the U.S., the 12 June opener against Paraguay in Inglewood is shown at $916 for the cheapest ticket available, with the 19 June match vs. Australia in Seattle at $1,008 and the group finale against Turkey in Inglewood on 25 June for $719.
FIFA was reported to place “Category 1 Front” seats for the World Cup Final at $32,970 and for the semifinals at $11,130 in Dallas and $10,635 in Atlanta.
≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Enhanced Games ● Roku Sports Channel will stream the doping-friendly Enhanced Games from Las Vegas on 24 May, beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Competitions will be held in swimming, track and weightlifting.
● Gymnastics ● First-time winners at the World Gymnastics Challenge Cup in Varna (BUL) claimed nine of the 10 victories, including all four on the women’s side.
Mara Slippens (NED) won on Vault (13.233 average), Israel’s Roni Shamay on Uneven Bars (13.200), Maria Drobniak (POL: 12.866) on Beam and Shantae-Eve Amankwaah (GBR: 13.233) on Floor.
Bulgaria took two men’s titles, with David Ivanov scoring 14.633 on the Pommel Horse and Daniel Trifonov on the Horizontal Bar (13.666). Other new winners included Victor Tournicourt (BEL) on Floor at 13.466, Malaysia’s Ng Chun Chen scored an average of 14.183 for the win on Vault and Turkey’s Altan Dogan won on Parallel Bars at 14.166. Veteran star Artur Avetisyan (ARM) won on Rings (14.233)
● Judo ● There were eight repeat champions at the USA Judo National Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico over the weekend, including five on the men’s side, in Lenny Sheynfeld at 66 kg; Olympian Jack Yonezuka at 73 kg, Oleksandr Nyzhnyk at 90 kg, plus Daniel Liubimovski at 100 kg and Alex Semenenko at +100 kg.
The women’s repeaters were Toni Pepia at 52 kg, Paris Olympian Maria Laborde at 48 kg and 70 kg winner Nancy Nguyen.
New champions included Christopher Velazco in the men’s 60 kg class, Dominic Rodriguez at 81 kg and Daniel Barboza in the Open category; the new women’s winners were Danielle Pekler (57 kg), Emily Jaspe (63 kg), Laonna Cramer (78 kg), Jessica Alaynick at +78 and Hasmik Manaseryan (ARM) in the Open.
● Skating ● The International Skating Union released its candidate list for the upcoming 12 June elections at the ISU Congress in Tenerife (ESP), with President Jae Youl Kim (KOR) to run unopposed for a second term.
Kim has been busy with a modernization and reform agenda to make the federation more friendly to new technologies – he is, after all, the President of the Samsung Global Strategy Group – and to raise its profile on a continuing basis during the winter months.
● Skiing ● The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) certified its list of candidates for elections at the FIS Congress in Belgrade (SRB) on 10-11 June. There are five candidates for President.
Incumbent Johan Eliasch is running for a second term, but while he was nominated by the British federation in 2020, he is now running as a candidate from Georgia. Candidates are nominated by national federations and according to the FIS Statutes, “Candidates must hold a valid passport with the nationality of their nominating Member Association.” He was born in Sweden.
He is being challenged by Anne Harboe Falkenburg (DEN), Victoria Gosling from Britain, Alexander Ospelt (LIE) and American Dexter Paine. Falkenburg, Gosling and Ospelt are or have just recently finished terms as the heads of the skiing federations. Paine was the Chair of U.S. Ski & Snowboarding for 13 years and has been a member of the FIS Council, on and off, for 10 years.
Eliasch has not been universally popular during his term, especially among some of the powerful European federations, in part due to his forceful approach, which has seen his project to centralize media rights in alpine skiing into a single unit completed, but not yet in effect. He has also pushed forward an essentially all-discipline “FIS Games” to start in 2028.
● Swimming ● Twelve-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte is coming back to swimming, joining the staff at Missouri State as an assistant coach for the 2026-27 season.
Always competitive and sometimes controversial, he last competed in 2021; he will be working with veteran head coach Dave Collins, and associate head coach Chelsea Dirks-Ham. The Bears were the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference men’s champs and the women finished third.
● Tennis ● The International Tennis Federation replied Friday to the International Olympic Committee Executive Board recommendation that Belarusian athletes and teams be reinstated without restriction:
“The International Tennis Federation confirms that the IOC’s announcement does not change its existing position regarding the Belarus and Russian Tennis Federations’ suspensions which remain in place.
“The membership status of the Belarus Tennis Federation will be considered at the ITF Annual General Meeting in October by the ITF’s voting member nations (‘The AGM Council’) in accordance with ITF constitutional process.”
Russian and Belarusian players are shown as “neutrals” by the ITF.
¶
★ 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, 681-event International Sports Calendar for 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
