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≡ SPOTLIGHT ≡
● Aquatics ● Lots of reaction to the sensational swimming at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, especially from men’s 200 m Medley world-record setter Leon Marchand (FRA), Luca Urlando of the U.S. for his men’s 200 m Butterfly gold and American Record sprinter Jack Alexy in the men’s 100 m Free semis:
● Marchand:
“I actually can’t really believe it right now. I knew I was going to get close to my [personal best] because I felt really good today, and the preparation has been pretty good, so I was really excited to race. It’s unbelievable for me.
“What’s crazy is that it’s [a record by] a whole second … and it’s still hard to believe. A 1:52 on the 200 m?; that’s insane. I’m so happy, it’s just incredible.
“Today, I felt really good before the race. In the water, I felt light, I was taking in a lot of water, and technically, everything felt clean. I had talked with [coaches Bob Bowman (USA) and Nico Castel (FRA)], and we agreed that tonight was the time to go for it. In the end, I went out hard from the start, but I stayed super relaxed. I kept taking in a lot of water, my underwaters were really hitting 15 meters every time, and I didn’t make many mistakes. I didn’t realize I was going that fast, but I gave it absolutely everything. Arms at full speed all the way to the wall. At that point, I wasn’t even thinking about technique anymore.”
● Urlando:
“Oh, it’s huge. Winning a world championship was my goal from the beginning of the season. To be able to actually do it is a whole another thing and doing it in a best-time fashion … I truly can’t put it into words.
“I hope to just build off more experiences like this. It’s a huge stepping stone for 2028. I have some new goals going forward, going to work through them with my coach and see how much I can get better at the little things. Just continue with that.
“It was a great race, just embracing the moment, trying to have as much fun as I can with it too. It felt good, felt smooth, controlled, where I wanted to be.”
● Alexy:
“I felt pretty good throughout that race, and I knew I was going pretty fast. It is really great to go under 47 [seconds] again, especially at this stage. I am grateful and happy, and hopefully I can shave a few more tenths off that time tomorrow and have a good finish. I am looking forward to that race tomorrow night.”
≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Aquatics ● In diving at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Italy’s Matteo Santoro and Chiara Pellacani won the Mixed 3 m Synchro gold, scoring 308.13 to edge Australia’s Maddison Keeney and Cassiel Rousseau (307.26) and China’s Zilong Cheng and Yajie Li (305.70).
Cheng and Li won the first three dives, but ranked sixth on dive no. four, won by the Italians, who then held on to win. The U.S. pair of Luke Hernandez and Kyndal Knight finished seventh (267.60).
● Biathlon ● Terrible news from Pakistan, where German biathlon champion Laura Dahlmeier – a double gold medalist at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games – died on 28 July (Monday) as the result of a rock fall while climbing Laila Peak in the Kashmir region. Per ExplorersWeb:
“Dahlmeier’s home team has issued a press release that states that the accident took place on Monday, as the 31-year-old Dahlmeier and partner Marina Krauss were descending from the summit of 6,069m Laila Peak in Pakistan’s Hunza Valley. They were rappelling at 5,700m when a rope maneuver caused a rockfall that hit Dahlmeier.
“Krauss, also from Germany, was unharmed and immediately sent an SOS message. She also tried for many hours to reach her partner, but the difficult terrain and the risk of further rockfall thwarted her attempts. Eventually, in the middle of the night, Krauss decided to retreat from the dangerous area and continued rappelling down the dagger-sharp mountain to Base Camp.”
Dahlmeier’s body was spotted on Tuesday by helicopter and she was reached by a ground rescue team who confirmed her death. In accordance with her written will, Dahlmeier’s body will be left on the mountain.
Just 31, Dahlmeier retired from biathlon in 2018 after three medals in PyeongChang (2-0-1) and 15 Worlds medals (7-3-5) from 2015-19.
● Cycling ● At the Tour de France Femmes, the hilly, 165.8 km fifth stage ended with a sprint of seven riders, won by Kimberley Pienaar (MRI) in 3:54:07, ahead of Dutch stars Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen. Overall, Pienaar took the lead, over Paris 2024 Mountain Bike gold medalist Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (FRA: +0:18) and Vollering (+0:23), jumping from sixth to third on Wednesday, after a bad crash at the third stage cost her 19 seconds.
The climbing stages start Thursday, with the race finishing on Sunday.
● Fencing ● The FIE World Championships finished in Tibilisi (GEO), with Japan winning the men’s Team Epee behind individual gold medalist Koki Kano, defeating Hungary, 45-35, in the final. Just as Kano won Japan’s first individual title in this weapon, this was also the first Worlds Team Epee win for Japan!
France won the women’s Team Sabre title for the first time since 2018 and for the fourth time overall, besting South Korea, 45-37 in the final. The French defeated defending champ Hungary in the semifinals, 45-41. The U.S. team – Maia Chamberlain, Alexandra Lee, Lola Possick, Siobhan Sullivan – barely lost to the Koreans in the quarterfinals by 45-44 and finished sixth overall.
France (2-3-1), Italy (2-0-4) and Hungary (0-3-3) led the medal table with six each; the U.S. tied with four other countries with three (2-1-0).
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