★ 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 ≡
● NCAA ● A bump in the road for the proposed settlement of the House vs. NCAA suit, as U.S. District judge Claudia Wilken said Wednesday that she will not approve it unless current athletes on collegiate rosters are not subject to the new sport roster limits set to be imposed.
“We are closely reviewing Judge Wilken’s order,” an NCAA spokesperson said in a statement. “Our focus continues to be on securing approval of this significant agreement, which aims to create more opportunities than ever before for student-athletes while fostering much-needed stability and fairness in college sports.”
It appears that the roster limits, per se, are not an issue for Wilken, but she sees an issue of “fairness” that the settlement should not cost existing athletes or those who have received roster spot offers for the future, their places on teams.
The parties were given two weeks to modify the settlement agreement before Wilken will review it again and possibly approve it.
● Athletics ● The Ryan Crouser-designed “World Shot Put Series” debuted indoors at the Drake Fieldhouse in Des Moines, with a unique format on Wednesday.
There were six collegiate and nine elite competitors, with the college athletes trying to get past the 40-foot mark in order to get to the next round. The field included world-record holder Crouser, 2025 World Indoor silver medalist Roger Steen, 2025 World Indoor bronze medalist Tripp Piperi, Jamaican Olympic bronzer Rajindra Campbell and Olympic fourth-placer Payton Otterdahl.
The idea was to through past the required line within two tries, or you didn’t advance to the next distance. So it went like this:
● 40 ft.: 5 collegians advanced
● 50 ft.: 5 collegians advanced
● 60 ft.: 1 collegian, 9 elites advanced
● 65 ft.: 9 elites advanced
● 68 ft.: 7 elites advanced
● 70 ft.: 5 elites advanced (Crouser, Steen, Piperi, Campbell, Otterdahl)
● 71 ft.: 4 elites advanced (Steen, Piperi, Campbell, Otterdahl)
● 72 ft.: 2 elites advanced (Steen, Otterdahl)
● 73 ft.: 2 elites advanced
● 74 ft.: neither reached
The throws were not measured – you either cleared the line or you didn’t – and Steen threw past 73 ft. on his first try and Ottderdahl on his second. Steen won by having less “failures” (4) than Otterdahl (6). Steen threw 11 times to get the victory.
The crowd in the fieldhouse loved it and both Steen and Otterdahl threw past their official lifetime bests. They’ll get a shot at measured results on Saturday.
¶
USA Track & Field named its teams for the World Athletics Relays next month in China, with multiple Olympic performers included, but many of the biggest names missing.
The last two legs of the men’s Olympic 4×100 m team that won its heat in 37.47 – a time good enough to have won the final – are back in Kyree King and Courtney Lindsey. Also available are Olympic 200 m runner-up Kenny Bednarek (also seventh in the 100 final) and 2023 Worlds 200 m silver winner Erriyon Knighton.
For the men’s 4×400 m, current 400 m world leader Chris Robinson (44.15) leads the squad, with Justin Robinson from the 2023 Worlds 4×400 gold-medal team and Elija Godwin, who led off the 2022 Worlds gold-medal team. Johnnie Blockburger, fourth at the NCAAs last year for USC, brings a 44.51 lifetime best to the team.
The women’s 4×100 m possibilities include Paris relay member TeeTee Terry and sprint stars Mikiah Brisco (10.96 lifetime best), Cambrea Sturgis (10.87) and Kayla White (10.95). Olympic 400 m veterans Kendall Ellis, Lynna Irby-Jackson and Courtney Okolo will be joined by Bailey Lear, a member of the 2025 World Indoor Championships 4×400 m winners.
¶
USA Track & Field released the schedule for the first combined national championships incorporating Paralympic athletes, to be held in Eugene, Oregon beginning on 31 July. These will be long days:
Thursday, 31 July:
● 8:30 a.m. first event: Mixed Paralympic club event
● 8:30 p.m.: last event: men’s 10,000 m
Friday, 1 August:
● 10:00 a.m.: men’s Paralympic long jump
● 6:25 p.m.: women’s Paralympic 400 m
Saturday, 2 August:
● 6:30 a.m.: women’s 20,000 m walk
● 5:38 p.m.: men’s Paralympic 100 m
Sunday, 3 August:
● 12:00 p.m.: women’s Vault, women’s discus
● 2:54 p.m.: men’s 110 m hurdles
No Paralympic events are scheduled for Sunday.
● Curling ● In terms of a “regular season” for the world’s best curling teams, it’s the annual, five-stop Grand Slam of Curling, held in five Canadian venues from September to January.
Now, the company which owns that circuit, The Curling Group, is developing a new concept – “Rock League” – for the post-Milan Cortina Olympic period, in April 2026, with a six-week program with six mix-gender teams.
Two teams each will be set up from Canada and Europe with one each from the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific, with star captains including World Champion Rachel Homan, and Olympic winner Brad Jacobs (Canada), Korey Dropkin (USA), Bruce Mouat (SCO), Alina Paetz (SUI) and Chinami Yoshida (JPN).
More details are to come in the fall, but this appears to be the first shot at a fully-professionalized curling league. No announcement yet on venues.
● Swimming ● If you haven’t heard of Brazilian sprinter Gui Caribe – an All-American at Tennessee for the last three seasons – you have now. He won the Brazilian nationals in the men’s 100 m Freestyle in a world-leading 47.10, moving to equal-10th on the all-time list and no. 2 in Brazilian history.
His prior best was 47.82 from 2022 and now figures in the mix for this summer’s World Aquatics Championships, where everyone will be chasing Paris 2024 winner and world-record holder Zhanle Pan of China (46.80 in 2024).
¶
★ 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, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
