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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Boxing ● Former middleweight World Champion Gennadiy Golovkin (KAZ) — “Triple G” – was elected by acclimation as the sole candidate for a three-year term as the President of World Boxing as the federation’s electoral congress in Rome (ITA).
The 2003 World Champion in the middleweight class and Athens 2004 Olympic silver medalist, Golovkin, 43, help to promote World Boxing as the new International Federation for Olympic boxing on its way to provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee in 2025.
Golovkin, who is also the head of the Kazakhstan National Olympic Committee, was to be opposed by former Greek federation head Mariolis Charilaos from Greece, who served from 2021-25. But Charilaos was not cleared by the independent review group for all electoral candidates, leaving Golovkin as the only one standing.
The original list of candidates for Saturday’s Congress had 17 candidates in total for President, Vice President and Executive Board. After the vetting process, there are 13 total candidates. Canada’s Ryan O’Shea won the single Vice President seat available and Michael Muller (GER) and Tatsuya Nakama (JPN) won the two Board seats.
The U.S. has three members of the new Board, including Panamerican Boxing President Elise Seignolle, athlete rep Richard Torrez, Jr., and Medical Committee head Dr. Armando Sanchez.
● Fencing ● A new version of professional fencing is coming in April 2026, the World Fencing League, founded by Olympic and World Championships medalist Miles Chamley-Watson, a 2012-16-24 U.S. Olympian and the 2013 World Foil Champion.
The project is to debut in Los Angeles with a one-day event with mixed-gender teams in timed bouts with 12 fencers competing, and prize money of $100,000. The event will be live streamed and Olympic women’s Foil gold medalist Lee Kiefer of the U.S. has signed on.
This is a venture capital-funded program, developed by Swiss-based Chiron Sports Group, with the full league schedule to be running by the end of 2026.
● Football ● Politico reported that the U.S. government ban issued in June covering 19 countries and preventing the issuance of entry visas will keep fans from Haiti from attending FIFA World Cup 2026 matches held in the U.S.
Haiti made the tournament finals for the first time since 1974, but Politico reported Friday that the U.S. State Department confirmed that Haitian fans will not be allowed in, just as Iranian fans are also covered by a U.S. ban. Of the 16 sites for the 2026 World Cup, 11 are in the U.S., but two are in Canada and three are in Mexico.
The players and officials of both teams will be allowed to enter the U.S. for the tournament; the decision on which teams will play where will be determined on 5 December at the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final Draw in Washington, D.C.
● Wrestling ● Serbian Greco-Roman wrestler Zurabi Datunashvili had his appeal of his doping positive – for sample substitution – for a 27 May 2021 test dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He also created a video to try and excuse a missed test on 6 January 2022.
That means Datunashvili’s five-year ban imposed by the Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport from 19 September 2024 will stand and he will be ineligible until 10 April 2028. His Tokyo 2020 Olympic 87 kg bronze medal and 2021 and 2022 World Championships 87 gold medals are nullified.
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Alpine Skiing ● For the second straight week, American star Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the FIS World Cup Slalom in Gurgl (AUT), leading after the first run by 0.31 and then winning the second run to finish at 1:48.11, extending her lead to 1.23 seconds over second-place Lara Colturi (ALB: 1:49.34).
Swiss Camille Rast was third (1:49.52) and American Paula Moltzan was fifth (1:49.85). Shiffrin extended her all-time record for World Cup wins to 103.
Saturday’s men’s Slalom was the first-ever World Cup medal and World Cup win for France’s 27-year-old Paco Rassat, who came from 14th (!) after the first run, had the fastest second run and won in 1:44.55. Belgian Armand Marchant also zoomed up on the second run, from ninth to second and finished in 1:44.62 for second, with first-run leader Atle McGrath (NOR: 1:44.64) getting the bronze.
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Swiss star Lara Gut-Behrami suffered severe knee injuries during a training crash at Copper Mountain, Colorado late last week and it was reported that she struck a gate with her hand on a run, then somersaulted and crashed. Initial indications are of torn ligaments in her left knee, which, if true, will almost certainly end her season.
Gut-Behrami, 34, has said this would be her last season, trying to defend her Beijing 2022 Olympic gold in the Super-G; she is also a two-time World Champion in the Super-G and Giant Slalom – both in 2021 – and was the World Cup seasonal champion in 2016 and 2024, with 48 World Cup golds to her credit.
● Athletics ● At the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Missouri, defending champion Doris Lemngole (Alabama-Kenya) was a convincing winner, finishing all alone on the 6 km course in 18:25.4, running away from BYU star frosh Jane Hedengren in the final kilometer.
Hedengren was a strong second in 18:38.9, followed by Hilda Olemomoi (Florida-Kenya) in 18:46.4, her second straight NCAA third-place finish! North Carolina State won the women’s team title, 114-130 over BYU.
The men’s race finally went to Habtom Samuel (New Mexico-Eritrea), who had been second the past two years, in 28:33.9, well clear of Wake Forest’s Rocky Hansen (28:38.0) and Solomon Kipchoge (Washington State-Kenya) in third at 28:40.1. Oklahoma State was a dominant team winner, with just 57 points to 82 for New Mexico and 158 for Iowa State.
● Badminton ● Korea’s Olympic women’s Singles champion Se Young An scored yet another win this season at the BWF World Tour Australian Open in Sydney (AUS). She sailed past Indonesia’s second-seeded Putri Kusuma Wardani, 21-16, 21-14, win her 10th World Tour tournament of the year in her 11th final!
Seventh-seed Lakshya Sen (IND) won the men’s Singles over Yushi Tanaka (JPN), 21-15-, 21-11. Indonesian teams won the men’s and women’s Doubles and Malaysia won the Mixed Doubles.
● Beach Volleyball ● At the 15th FIVB World Championships in Adelaide (AUS), both the men’s and women’s winners were first-time champions from first-time countries.
Americans Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher, seeded third, made it to the championship round for the first time, moving up after a third-place finish in 2023. So did Latvia’s fifth-seeded Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova, who a tightly-contested final by 21-15, 15-21, 15-11. It’s Latvia’s first-ever Beach Worlds medal.
The thrilling third-place match was all-Brazilian, as second-seeded Carol Salgado and Rebecca Cavalcante Silva out-lasted no. 1 Thamela Galil and Victoria Lopes, 21-18, 22-20.
The men’s final was an all-Swedish affair, with Olympic champs David Ahman and Jonatan Helvig moving up from silver at the 2023 Worlds and grabbing their first Worlds gold with a 25-23, 21-19 sweep of countrymen Jacob Holting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson. It was the first Worlds gold for Sweden on the men’s side.
France’s 17th-seeded Teo Rotar and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat collected a surprise bronze, beating Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler (GER), 21-15, 21-15.
● Bobsled & Skeleton ● The IBSF World Cup season got rolling on the new, Olympic track in Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA), with two-time Monobob World Champion Laura Nolte (GER) taking the women’s race in 1:59.57 over two runs, just ahead of American Kaysha Love, the 2025 World Champion, in 1:59.62. Fellow Americans Kaillie Armbruster Humphries (1:59.73) and Elana Meyers Taylor (2:01.90) finished fourth and 19th.
Nolte (with Deborah Levi) and Love (with Azaria Hill) were 1-2 in the Two-Women races, in 1:54.23 and 1:55.00, with fellow Americans Armbruster Humphries third (with Sylvia Hoffman) in 1:55.02. Meyers Taylor and Jasmine Jones finished sixth in 1:55.31.
Although the track was new, the Two-Man results were not, with 2017 World Champion Johannes Lochner (GER, with Georg Fleischauer) winning in 1:51.15 over two-time defending Olympic champ Francesco Friedrich and Alexander Schuller (GER) second in 1:51.49. Adam Armour (with Alexander Schaller) completed the German sweep in 1:51.75. The U.S.’s Frank Del Duca, with Joshua Williamson, finished fifth in 1:52.29.
Lochner, the 2022 Olympic silver winner, doubled up in the Four-Man, winning in 1:49.73 over two-time Olympic winner Friedrich (1:49.95) and Korea’s Jinsu Kim (1:50.34). Kris Horn had the top American sled, in seventh at 1:50.76.
The Skeleton season opened with two-time World Champion Matt Weston taking the men’s title at 1:53.84, followed by Samuel Maier (AUT: 1:53.99) and Yin Zheng (CHN: 1:54.02). Austin Florian was the top American, in 10th (1:54.31).
German Jacqueline Pfeifer, the 2017 World Champion, won the women’s races in 1:55.93, with teammate Hannah Niese (1:56.16) second and Belgium’s Kim Meylemans in third (1:56.25). Kelly Curtis was the top American, in 20th (1:58.03).
Great Britain won the Mixed Team gold with Marcus Wyatt and Tabitha Stoecker in 2:01.23; the U.S. was fifth with Mystique Ro and Florian in 2:02.08.
● Figure Skating ● The sixth and final stage of the ISU Grand Prix series was the Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki (FIN), with Japan sweeping the individual competitions.
Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama won the men’s Singles, coming from third after the Short Program by winning the Free Skate and totaling 270.45 points. That easily surpassed Short Program leader Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA), the two-time European Champion, who scored 256.98. American Jimmy Ma was 11th at 196.11.
Rising star Mone Chiba was second in the Short Program, but won the Free Skate to take the women’s gold at 217.22, passing American Amber Glenn, the two-time U.S. champion (213.41). Fellow American Bradie Tennell was fourth (190.38).
Germany’s Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin won the Pairs at 206.88, winning both segments, barely ahead of the U.S.’s Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov (205.49) and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea (199.09).
The new pairing of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and 2022 Olympic champ Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) earned their second win of the season, winning both Ice Dance segments for a 204.18 win over Canadian stars Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (202.11),. Americans Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik finished third (196.02). Comebacking Americans Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani finished fifth (185.68) and Oona Brown and Gage Brown, also siblings, were ninth at 170.47.
The Grand Prix season will end with the Grand Prix Final in Nagoya (JPN) from 4-7 December.
● Football ● At the FIFA men’s U-17 World Cup in Qatar, the quarterfinals saw four tight games, three settled by one goal.
The biggest win was by Portugal, which defeated Switzerland by 2-0 and will meet Brazil, the second seed, which edged Morocco, 2-1, getting two goals from striker Dell, the winner at 90+5!. In the lower bracket, Austria won over Japan, 1-0 and Italy slid past Burkina Faso, 1-0 on an 82nd-minute goal by Thomas Campaniello. The semifinals will be played on Monday (24th),
● Freestyle Skiing ● The FIS World Cup opener in Slopestyle was scheduled in Stubai (AUT), but high winds eliminated the men’s event completely and only the women’s qualifying was completed.
But that was enough to hand a World Cup win to Swiss Mathilde Gremaud at 81.92, followed by Olivia Asselin (CAN: 76.71) and Finn Anni Larava (68.07). For Gremaud, 25, it’s her 15th career World Cup gold.
● Shooting ● American stars Vincent Hancock and Sam Simonton won the USA Shooting Fall Shotgun Selection in Skeet in Tucson, Arizona, with four-time Olympic champ Hancock leading the qualifying at 247/250 and winning the Hillsdale Selection Match to finish with a National Team Selection score of 496. That was six points up on Christian Elliott (490), followed by Dustan Taylor (485).
Simonton, the 2025 World Champion, won the qualifying at 244 and the Selection Match for a 488 total and the win, ahead of 2017 World Champion Dania Jo Vizzi (482). Third was Julia Nelson (477), edging ageless Kim Rhode, the six-time Olympic medalist (474). All four are qualified as national team members.
In Trap, Paris Olympian Will Hinton was second in the qualifying, but first in the Selection Match and scored 472 points to lead the national selection total. He was followed by Glenn Eller, 43, the Beijing 2008 Double Trap gold medalist, with a 468 total, then Jack Brosseau (460) and 2022 World Champion Derrick Mein (456).
Paris Olympian Rachel Tozier won the women’s Trap with 436 points, followed by Ava Downs (432) and Ryann Phillip (431). Kayle Browning, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic runner-up, led the qualifying but ended up fourth overall (424), but made the national team.
● Short Track ● The third of four stops on the FIS World Tour this season was in Gdansk (POL), with four-time World Championships gold medalist William Dandjinou continuing his hot skating. He won four events in the first two stops and continued with wins in the men’s 1,500 m and 500 m on Saturday.
He took the 1,500 m in 2:24.153 over Italians Thomas Nadalini (2:24.215) and Pietro Sighel (2:24.288) and then the 500 m in 40.849 in front of Xiaojun Lin (CHN: 41.120) and Canadian teammate Steven Dubois (41.505). American Brandon Kim was fourth (41.929).
On Sunday, five-time Worlds medalist Jens van’t Wout (NED) won the 1,000 m at 1:25.57, barely ahead of three-time worlds 1,000 m medalist Sighel (1:25.195) and 2025 World Champion Dubois (1:25.283). Korea won the men’s 5,000 m relay in 7:07.098.
The women’s 500 m was another triumph for three-time World Champion Xandra Velzeboer (NED) in 43.295, barely ahead of Corrine Stoddard of the U.S. (43.406) and 2018 World 500 m champ Min-jeong Choi (KOR: 43.773).
World Champion Hanne Desmet (BEL) won her first race of the season in the women’s 1,000 m on Saturday in 1:30.422 in front of Courtney Sauralt (CAN: 1:30.575) and Corinne Stoddard of the U.S. (1:30.589). Korean Gil-li Kim, the 2024 World 1,500 m champ, took that event, 2:30.610 to 2:30.656 over countrywoman Choi, with Sauralt third (2:30.985) and Stoddard fourth (2:31.122).
The Dutch won the women’s 3,000 m relay in 4:13.005, with the U.S. just behind in second in 4:13.115. Korea won the Mixed Team Relay in 2:40.155, ahead of the Dutch (2:40.224).
● Ski Jumping ● The FIS World Cup season kicked off in Lillehammer (NOR), on the 140 m hill for men and women.
It was an Austrian men’s sweep on Saturday, with defending World Cup champion Daniel Tschofenig coming from fourth to first on his second jump and scoring 311.5 to 307.2 for 2025 Worlds Large Hill runner-up Jan Hoerl and 306.43 for two-time World Champion Stefan Kraft.
On Sunday, Japan’s two-time World Cup winner Ryoyu Kobayashi got his 36th career World Cup win at 290.5 points, coming from second after the first jump to overtake Domen Prevc (SLO: 287.3). Jason Colby was 26th for the U.S.
The women’s opener was a first-ever World Cup win for 27-year-old Nozomi Maruyama (JPN: 285.5), way ahead of Abigail Strate (CAN: 259.7) and Lisa Eder (AUT: 255.4). Maruyama repeated on Sunday, winning both jumps on the way to 283.6 points, over Heidi Traaserud (NOR: 254.8) and Slovenia’s 2025 double World Champion Nika Prevc (250.4).
● Speed Skating ● Following last week’s blistering performances in Utah, the FIS World Cup moved on to Calgary (CAN), but American star Jordan Stolz remained hot.
The six-time World Champion won the men’s 1,000 m on Friday at 1:06.00, with 2025 Worlds silver winner Jenning De Boo (NED) second at 1:06.11; they were in the same pairing. World Champion Jeop Wennemans was third at 1:06.44 and Cooper Mcleod of the U.S. got a lifetime best of 1:06.62 in fourth.
On Saturday, Korean Jun-ho Kim won the first men’s 500 m in 33.99, with De Boo, the World Champion, in 34.02 in second and Stolz (also 34.02) in third. Stolz then won the 1,500 m in 1:42.01, edging Germany’s Finn Sonnekalb (1:42.31) and two-time Olympic champ Kjeld Nuis (NED: 1:42.42).
Then Stolz came back with a win in Sunday’s second 500 m in 33.79, ahead of Damian Zurek (POL: 33.85) and Kim (33.99). And Stolz wasn’t done, finishing third in the Mass Start race, won by Italy’s World Champion Andrea Giovaninni (7:42.51) ahead of Jae-won Chung (KOR: 7:42.74) and Stolz (7:42.83)!
The U.S. also got a win from Casey Dawson with another American Record in the 5,000 m of 6:01.84, busting his 6:04.40 from World Cup I It was the first U.S. win in an ISU World Cup 5,000 m since 2005! World Champion Sander Eitrem (NOR: 6:01.86) was a tight second and Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen, the 2020 World Champion, was third (6:02.26).
The U.S. World Champion trio of Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran again won the Team Pursuit in 3:35.34, way ahead of France (3:38.05).
The women’s skating was all about the Dutch, as World 500 m champ Femke Kok won the 500 m in 36.65 over Ying-chu Chen (TPE: 37.14) and Olympic champ Erin Jackson of the U.S. (37.15). Kok also won the second 500 m in 36.72 with the Dutch taking the top five places; Jackson was seventh in 37.35.
Kok won the 1,000 m with a lifetime best of 1:12.36, ahead of teammate Isabel Grevelt (1:13.14); American Brittany Bowe was fifth in 1:13.43. As at the first World Cup, double World Champion Joy Beune won the 1,500 m (1:51.17) over 2024 World Champion Miho Takagi (JPN: 1:51.68) with Bowe third at 1:51.84. Beune then doubled again in the 3,000 m in 3:54.52, beating Norway’s 2023 World Champion Ragne Wiklund (3:55.25). American Greta Myers got another U.S. record in the B race, in 4:00.70, improving her mark of 4:01.66 from last week.
Two-time World Champion Ivanie Blondin (CAN) won the Mass Start in a mass finish in 8:08.48 over 2025 Worlds winner Marijke Groenewoud (NED: 8:08.51) and American Mia Manganello (8:08.70). Netherlands won the Team Pursuit (2:52.52) over Canada (2:52.68), with the U.S. fourth (2:53.58).
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