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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2028: Los Angeles ● As expected, the San Clemente City Council unanimously approved Resolution 25-114 last week, supporting USA Surfing to be the recognized National Governing Body for Surfing in the United States.
USA Surfing, headquartered in San Clemente, had been the U.S. NGB for the sport but had financial and governance issues and withdrew as the governing body in December 2021, allowing the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee to re-start the recognition process. U.S. Ski & Snowboard, whose chief executive was previously the head of the World Surf League, filed to become the NGB for surfing, despite Federal law allowing a National Governing Body to be affiliated with only one International Federation (USSS is a member of the skiing federation FIS).
The City Council had previously sent a letter on 5 August to the USOPC, urging USA Surfing’s selection, and followed up with a 5-0 vote on the resolution last Tuesday (19th).
● Asian Winter Games 2029 ● A Bloomberg report on Friday said that delays on the under-construction Trojena winter-sport resort in Saudi Arabia have led to sports officials checking on a possible venue change for the 2029 Asian Winter Games.
China and South Korea were noted to have been contacted about taking over, with the Saudis coming back for the 2033 edition, if approved by the Olympic Council of Asia. Harbin (CHN) hosted the event in February of this year, with 1,222 athletes competing in 11 sports.
● Junior Pan American Games ● The II Junior Pan Ams closed in Asuncion (PAR) on Saturday with a vibrant closing ceremony at the end of 15 days of events, with Brazil finishing as the top medal-winner with 175 medals (70-50-55).
The U.S. had a strong showing in second place with 142 medals (54-42-46), followed by Mexico (129: 29-45-55) and Colombia (115: 48-27-20). A total of 34 National Olympic Committees won medals.
● Athletics ● The BBC confirmed that Grand Slam Track founder Michael Johnson will not be appearing as a commentator on its coverage of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (JPN) next month.
A Grand Slam Track spokesman explained: “He has other commitments, unfortunately, but is looking forward to working with the BBC in the future.” Johnson has been a part of BBC’s athletics coverage since 2001.
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Plenty to talk about after Friday’s Van Damme Memorial in Brussels (BEL), with American Record holder and world women’s shot put leader Chase Jackson looking for another milestone breakthrough:
“I threw a meeting record here (20.90 m/68-7), that felt very good. I was pretty consistent and hope to stay that way. I hurt my finger before the U.S. nationals and it keeps bugging me. So I’ve got to figure out what to do these next few weeks, especially for Tokyo [World Championships].
“I hope I don´t have to let it rest but I still have to get it checked. For Zurich [Diamond League Final], I hope that I can win the final and be consistent. Maybe some shots over 21 m, we´ll see!
“It was a good meeting, sometimes a bit crowdy with the pole vault next to it but everyone was so sweet. The crowd was amazing and they really cheered for each and everyone of us so that felt amazing.”
Jackson set the American mark of 20.95 m (68-8 3/4) in June; if she reaches 21.00 m (68-10 3/4), she will be the 34th in history to do it, and perhaps more impressively, only the fourth this century!
American sprint star Melissa Jefferson-Wooden was perhaps the most impressive, destroying a good field in 10.76, her sixth time under 10.80 this season, a time only Olympic champ Julien Alfred has also achieved. Jefferson-Wooden said afterwards:
“I felt so much love. I was happy to come out here and compete the way I wanted it to be. Right now I´m going back home to the States to get some good training in and clean up the small things.
“I know that I´m in great shape and that it´s all about putting together the perfect race at the perfect time, when it matters the most, and that is at the World Championships in Tokyo. So now all the small meetings are done and it´s time to go back home and work on the biggest one of the season.
“The plan is definitely to go out there and take gold. I feel like I put myself in a really good spot to be a contender for that and now it´s time to have trust. I´m so grateful for everyone in my circle that helped and pushed me to get here. This year I have put in a lot of work and that is what makes me confident, I know what I´m capable of. This is probably the first season that I have zero doubts because I know that I worked hard.”
Perhaps the happiest athlete in Brussels was Ruben Querinjean (LUX), the surprising – and stunned – winner of the men’s Steeple in a lifetime best of 8:09.47:
“This is really exceptional. In the last meters I felt that it was possible to take the win, but I never thought that this time would be possible. I have the confidence in my sprint at the end of a race, but to do it here tonight is something else. A time around 8:12 was the goal, but this is really unbelievable. And now I’m going to the World Championships!”
The Diamond League Final comes on 28-29 August at the Weltklasse Zurich in Switzerland.
● Football ● U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that the Final Draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on Friday, 5 December 2025 at noon.
The mid-day time slot offers easy watch times in the Americas, Europe and Africa, but overnight or early-morning times in most of Asia and Oceania. FIFA noted that 42 of the 48 teams in the tournament will be known by then.
FIFA further announced that match tickets will go on sale on 10 September 2025.
● Ski Jumping ● The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) announced that Norwegian ski jump stars Johann Andre Forfang and Marius Lindvik agreed on Friday to a three-month suspension and a payment of CHF 2,000 each in costs for their roles in the suit-manipulation case from the 2025 Nordic World Championships in Trondheim (NOR).
The agreement noted that the athletes “agree that they should have checked and asked questions about the night-time adjustments” to their suits but also stated that “[t]hey were not charged with actual knowledge of the manipulations.”
Lindvik, 27, is the 2022 Olympic Large Hill champion and Forfang, 30, is a two-time Olympic medal winner from 2018. With the short suspensions, both will be eligible to compete at the 2026 Winter Games in Milan Cortina.
● Swimming ● USA Swimming announced its major meet schedule for 2026, with four Tyr Pro Swim Series dates:
● 14-17 Jan.: Tyr Pro Swim in Austin, Texas
● 04-07 Mar.: Tyr Pro Swim in Westmont, Illinois
● 20-23 May: Tyr Pro Swim in Sarasota, Florida
● 17-20 Jun.: Tyr Pro Swim in Indianapolis, Indiana
● 28 Jul.-01 Aug.: USA Swimming Nationals in Irvine, California
The USA Swimming nationals in open-water will be held in Sarasota from 2-4 April.
There are no long-course World Aquatics Championships in 2026, but a 25 m (short course) Worlds in Beijing (CHN) from 12-15 December 2026. The major long-course event of the year for the American team will be the Pan-Pacific Championships – also in Irvine – from 12-15 August, with the U.S. squad selected based on 2025 performances.
● Taekwondo ● World Taekwondo announced its candidate list for the 23 October elections in Wuxi (CHN), with incumbent President Chungwon Choue (KOR) standing unopposed for a seventh term. Now 77, he has been the federation chief since 2004.
American Chun Jae Park is one of six candidates for three Vice President positions, and Inseon Kim and Richard Warwick are U.S. candidates from the field of 34 looking to be elected to 14 Council seats.
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Canoe-Kayak ● Ukraine’s Liudmyla Luzan was already a star, but she went wild at the ICF Sprint World Championships in Milan (ITA), taking four golds and dominating the women’s canoeing races.
She won the C-1 200 m in 46.09 over Cuba’s Olympic bronzer (and defending World Champion), Yarisleidis Cirilo (46.27), the C-1 500 m in 2:01.47 over defending champ and Paris C-1 200 winner Katie Vincent (CAN: 2:02.50), and teamed with Iryna Fedoriv to take the C-2 200 m (41.87), and C-2 500 m (1:53.30) with Vincent and Zoe Wojtyk (1:54.36) in second.
Vincent won three silvers, in the C-1 500, the C-1 5,000 m and in the C-2 500 m to give her a career total of 15 Worlds medals (9-3-3).
Hungary dominated the rest of the championships, with six golds and 13 total medals, with wins in the men’s C-4 500 m, Kolos Csizmadia in the K-1 200 m, Tokyo Olympic champ Balint Kopasz in the K-1 1,000 m and Levente Kurucz and Bence Nadas in the K-2 500 m.
The Hungarian women scored wins in the C-4 500 m and Zsoka Csikos in the K-1 1,000 m; she also won a bronze in the K-1 500 m.
Paris Olympic champion Martin Fuksa (CZE) won the men’s C-1 1,000 m, defending his 2023 title and taking his fourth Worlds career gold; he was also second in the C-1 500 m. Olympic K-1 1,000 m champ Josef Dostal (also CZE, and 6-8!) won the K-1 500 m, his seventh career Worlds golds and 14th career Worlds medal!
Poland’s Anna Pulawska was a double winner, taking the K-1 500 m and teaming with Martyna Klatt to strike gold in the K-2 500 m; second in both was Australia’s Natalia Drobot, with Kailey Harden in the K-2 500.
The U.S. won one medal, by Audrey Harper and Andreea Ghizila in the women’s C-2 200 m, behind Ukraine and (“neutral”) Belarus. It’s the first American medal in this event and only the third U.S. medal in women’s Canoe events at the ICF Worlds! American women have won a total of five ICF Worlds medals all-time.
● Cycling ● The 80th La Vuelta Ciclista a Espana began in Italy this year, with Belgian sprint star Jasper Philipsen winning the mass sprint to win the 186.7 km first stage in Novara.
He finished in 4:09:12 for his fourth career Vuelta stagte win and first since 2021, followed by Ethan Vernon (GBR) and Orluis Aular (VEN), with the first 179 riders receiving the same time.
Sunday’s 159.5 km ride to Limone Piemonte featured a final, 30 km ascent to the finish in rainy conditions and with a big crash with 26 km to go. But race favorite Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) was able to recover and master the final sprint to the line in 3:47:14 and won his third career La Vuelta stage, ahead of Giulio Ciccone (ITA), David Gaudu (FRA) and Egan Bernal (ECU). Vongegaard now has the race lead by four seconds on Ciccone.
The first four stages will start in Italy, with the stage 5 Team Time Trial the first to start in Spain, in Figueres.
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The 20th UCI World Tour Renewi Tour in the Netherlands and Belgium saw Belgian sprint star – and two-time defending champ – Tim Merlier win the first and fourth stages, but it was countryman Arnaud de Lie who took the fifth and final stage on Sunday and won the overall title.
Merlier led for two stages, then de Lie finished second to 2020 winner Mathieu van der Poel (NED) on stage three, but took the lead. He kept a one-second lead on van der Poel after Merlier’s stage four win, then won the final mass sprint in Leuven in stage five to win in 19:24:42, with van der Poel second on Sunday and finishing three seconds back overall. Belgian Tim Wellens was third (+0:31).
● Gymnastics ● The FIG World Rhythmic Championships was held for the first time in South America, in Rio de Janeiro (BRA), with German star Darya Varfolomeev defending her 2023 Worlds gold in the All-Around, scoring 121.900, ahead of Bulgaria’s Stiliana Nikolova (119.300) and 2022 winner Sofia Raffaeli (ITA: 117.950).
American Rin Keys – 16 – was seventh (112.650) and teammate Megan Chu – 17 – finished 12th (109.950).
In the individual apparatus finals, Raffaeli won on Hoop, scoring 30.650 over Stiliana’s 29.950 and Anastasia Simakova (GER: 29.400). Keys was a close fourth at 29.200.
On Ball, Varfolomeev was the winner at 12.600, followed by Keys at 12.300 and Raffaeli at 12.100.
For Keys and the U.S., this was a momentous result, as it’s the first-ever American medal at the Rhythmic Worlds, first held in 1963! Keys won a World Junior bronze in Clubs in 2023 and two years later is a senior-level Worlds medalist.
Varfolomeev was an easy winner on Clubs, scoring 31.700, followed by Lica Amalia (ROU: 29.000) and Stiliana (28.800), and got her third gold on Ribbon at 30.250, beating Stiliana (29.800) and Ukraine’s Taisiia Onofriichuk (29.100). Keys was fifth on Ribbon at 28.100.
In the Team All-Around, Japan edged Brazil, 55.550 to 55.250, with Spain third at 54.750. The U.S. was 31st. China won the 5 Ribbons final, 27.550 to 26.650 for Japan, with Spain third (25.950), and Ukraine took the Team 3 Balls-2 Hoops final at 28.650, ahead of Brazil (28.550) and China (28.350).
● Swimming ● The World Aquatics Junior Championships concluded in Sofia (BUL), with the U.S. leading the medal table with 22 total, and 10 golds, six silvers and six bronzes.
The American women’s team was sensational, with nine of the 10 golds, and the 10th in the Mixed 4×100 m Free relay. Sprinter Rylee Erisman won five golds, in the 50-100 m Frees and three relays (plus two relay silvers); Audrey Derivaux won the 200 m Backstroke, 200 m Butterfly, 200 m Medley, a relay gold and the 100 m Fly silver; Rachel McAlpin won the 50 m Breaststroke and Charlotte Crush took the 100 m Back, a relay gold and was second to Derivaux in the 200 Back.
The U.S. men? Four bronzes, including just one medal among the three relays. Not counting the 2022 World Juniors, where the U.S. did not compete, it’s the first time ever that a U.S. men’s team did not win a single event at this meet (this is the 10th edition).
The men’s stars were double winners Carlos D’Ambrosio (ITA) in the 100-200 m Frees, Kuzey Tuncelli (TUR) in the 800-1,500 m Frees, John Shortt (IRL) in the 100-200 m Backstrokes, and Filip Nowacki (GBR) in the 100-200 m Breaststrokes.
China’s Peiqi Yang dominated the distance women’s Freestyles, winning the 200-400-800-1,500 m events, and won a gold, silver and bronze on relays.
● Volleyball ● The 20th FIVB Women’s World Championship opened in Thailand, with matches in four host cities for the 32 teams, playing in eight groups.
The no. 3-seed U.S., playing in Group C, defeated Slovenia, 25-23, 17-25, 25-22, 25-14 in its opener on Friday and Argentina (25-14, 23-25, 25-12, 25-17) on Sunday. Its final pool game will be on Tuesday against the Czech Republic. The top 16 teams will advance to the playoffs, with the Americans already through.
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