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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 2040 ● The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) announced last week that its approach to a future Olympic bid is being refined:
“The cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and the Rhine-Ruhr region, which have been involved in the process since the beginning, have approved the further roadmap under the leadership of the DOSB and will submit refined concepts by the end of May 2025. The specific content of the bid process and the timeline were discussed and agreed upon in workshops with the Olympic federations, the state sports associations, the applicant regions, and the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI).”
Beyond the May 2025 submittal, the DOSB will report on its view of the proposals in December and then each of the four will have an “opportunity” for a public referendum on their bid by June 2026, but this is not required. A final decision on a bid candidate and proposal is to be made by the fall of 2026.
The German government is keen on a 2040 bid as it would come 50 years after the reunification of the country in 1990.
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The 2026 Winter Games organizers in Milan announced an increase in the organizing committee budget of “about” €100 million to €1.7 billion or $1.93 billion U.S.
On 24 March 2024, the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 announced a “lifetime budget” of €1.5 billion, but it has now been increased once again.
This is the organizing committee’s budget for staging the Games, but does not count the cost of new facilities or upgrades being made by the Italian or regional governments, or privately-built sites that will be leased for the 2026 Games.
● Football ● FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) announced an organizational grant to the host cities of the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup that will start in June:
“We care about our social role, which is why we are in the process of establishing the FIFA Foundation USA. Also, for the legacy of the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, we will contribute USD 1 million to each of the 11 cities that will host matches to support local social projects.
“This means ideally installing mini pitches and organising soccer activities with children on these pitches in areas where they are most needed in each city, something that will ensure that the impact of this groundbreaking global tournament will be felt for years to come.”
The host cities listed by FIFA include “Atlanta, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York-New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, D.C.”
● Sport Climbing ● The International Federation of Sport Climbing elected Marco Scolaris (ITA) for a fifth (and final) term as President, this time over European Federation chief Tijl Smitz (BEL) by 48-35.
Now 66, he helped to create the federation in 2007, and was named President, then won election in 2009-13-17-21-25. Scolaris has guided the sport into the Olympic program as an added sport at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 and as a mandatory sport for Los Angeles 2028 with separate competitions for all three events.
● Swimming ● USA Swimming made a long-awaited announcement of a new National Team Managing Director, hiring Stanford coach Greg Meehan, who was the school’s women’s coach from 2012-23 and win three straight NCAA team titles in 2017-18-19.
He was 2020 U.S. Olympic Women’s Head Coach, and assistant coach for the 2016 and 2024 Games. He was the women’s head coach for the U.S. swim teams at the 2017 and 2019 World Aquatics Championships, and an assistant in 2015 and 2022.
Meehan replaces Lindsay Minentko, who served in that role from 2017-24. Coaches had lobbied hard for her replacement to be an experienced coach, as was her predecessor, Frank Busch (ex-Arizona) from 2011-17.
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Archery ● The World Archery World Cup opener was in Auburndale, Florida, Germany’s Florian Unruh, a Mixed Team silver winner in Paris last year, got a major win over an Olympic champion.
Unruh, 31, dominated the men’s Recurve final against Tokyo 2020 Olympic winner Mete Gazoz (TUR), 7-3, winning the first, second and fifth ends, 30-26, 30-28 and 30-29. India’s Dhiraj Bommdevara took the bronze.
Britain’s 2023 European Games champ Penny Healey was a convincing winner in the women’s recurve final by 6-0 over Alejandra Valencia (MEX), while China’s Jiaman Li, a Paris 2024 Team silver medalist, won the bronze-medal match over 2023 World Champion Casey Kaufhold of the U.S., also 6-0.
China won the men’s Team Recurve final convincingly, 5-1, over India, with Chinese Taipei in third; and China also won the women’s Team gold over the U.S. trio of Kaufhold, Catalina GNoriega and Jennifer Mucino, 5-3. The Recurve Mixed Team final went to Valencia and Matias Grande (MEX) by 5-3 over Elia Canales and Pablo Acha of Spain, with Germany third.
In the Compound Mixed Team event now added to the 2028 Olympic program, India’s Jyothi Vennam and Rishabh Yadav won the final over I-Jou Huang and Chieh-Lun Chen (TPE), 153-151, with a 39-36 win in end no. four.
● Artistic Swimming ● The second leg of the World Aquatics World Cup was in Somabay (EGY), with two-time 2024 World Cup Super Final medal winner Klara Bleyer taking the women’s Solo Technical at 238.2966 over Ukraine’s 17-year-old Daria Moshynska (234.3666) Bleyer then finished second to Italy’s Enrica Piccoli in the women’s Solo Free, 215.3751 to 208.3589.
In the women’s Duet Technical, Russian “neutrals” Mayya Doroshko and Tatiana Gayday scored 268.0551 to edge Ukraine’s Moshynska and Anastasiia Shmonina (261.6125). The second Russian pair, 18-year-olds Anastaiia Sidorina and Veronika Sokolova won the Women’s Duet Free at 256.0388, ahead of Japan’s Uta Kobayashi and Tomoka Sato.
Spain’s Dennis Gonzalez and Mirela Hernandez won the Mixed Duet Tech at 207.3858, over Sitong Guo and Haoyue Shi (CHN: 196.1908) and followed up with another win in the Mixed Duet Free at 273.6421, well ahead of Thailand’s Kantinan Adisaisiributr and Supitchaya Songpan (237.6159).
The men’s Technical was won by 16-year-old Muye Guo (CHN: 224.5450), who also took the men’s Solo Free at 196.7401.
Spain won the Team Technical (276.2168) and the Team Free (317.8093), with Ukraine taking the Team Acrobatic (200.011).
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At the USA Artistic Swimming national championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, Mona Schweikert won the Solo Technical title at 217.8767, over Emily Robinson (195.5075) and then Schweikert and Sophie Schroeder won the women’s Duet Technical final at 252.333, ahead of Noriko Gervacio-Denda and Anusha Murarka (233.5042).
Schweikert and Schroeder then took the Duet Free final at 223.8791, winning by more than 70 points. Daria Rodova won the Solo Free final, scoring 162.6625.
● Athletics ● Fast sprinting at the World Athletics Continental Tour Golden Grand Prix in Gaborone (BOT), with a world-leading men’s 100 m in 9.90 into a 1.4 m/s headwind by South Africa’s Akani Simbine, with Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala in second at 10.00.
Headliner Letsile Tebogo, the Olympic 200 m champ, thrilled the home crowd with a 20.23 win (-1.6) in the featured men’s 200 m, but the world lead went to Sinesipho Dambile in the second race, winning in 20.01 over Collen Kebinatshipi (BOT: 20:13), into 1.8 m/s headwind.
Botswana’s Paris 4×400 m relay silver-medal star Bayapo Ndori just missed the men’s 400 m world lead – by 1/100th – winning in 44.35, and world 800 m leader Kethobogile Haingura (BOT) took his race in 1:44.18.
American Marquis Dendy won the long jump at 7.94 m (26-0 3/4) and Rio 2016 gold medalist Dalilah Muhammad won the women’s 400 m over fellow American Cassandra Tate, 53.81 to 55.59.
South Africa’s women’s Olympic javelin silver winner, Jo-Ane van Dyk won at 61.23 m (200-10) with Ariana Ince of the U.S. in fourth (54.78 m/179-9).
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The first European Running Championships were in Brussels and Leuven (BEL), opening with France’s Jimmy Gressier, the 2021 European Cross Country winner, storming away in the second 5 km to win the men’s Half Marathon in 59:45, a lifetime best, and crossing the line by hurdling over the finish tape! Norway’s Awet Kibrab was a distant second in 1:01:08.
Why the jump? Said Gressier: “I celebrated like this because I will do steeplechase in the summer.”
Home favorites Chloe Herbiet and Juliette Thomas went 1-2 in the women’s Half in 1:10:43 and 1:10:57, with Sara Nestola (ITA: 1:11:26) a distant third.
France scored a 1-2 in the men’s 10 km with Yann Schrub and Etienne Daguinos in 27:37 and 27:46, and Italian star Nadia Battocletti, the Paris women’s 10,000 m runner-up, won the women’s 10 km road title with ease, finishing in 31:10 to 31:25 for Eva Dieterich (GER).
Italy got a second win in the men’s marathon with a surprise from Illiass Aouani, breaking free only in the final meters to win in 2:09:05 from Israelis Gashau Ayale (2:09:08), Maru Teferi (2:09:17) and Haimro Alame (2:09:27). It was Aouani’s second career marathon.
Spain claimed the women’s marathon title – and a 1-2 finish – with Fatima Ouhaddou Nafie in 2:27:14 and Majida Maayouf (2:27:41), ahead of two more Israelis: Lonah Salpeter (2:28:01) and Maor Tiyouri (2:28:01).
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Paris Olympic 20 km silver medalist Caio Bonfim (BRA) dominated the World Athletics Race Walk Tour Gold race in Rio Maior (POR), winning in 1:20:47 over four-time Worlds medal winner Perseus Karlstrom (SWE: 1:21:26).
Ecuador’s Paula Torres, ninth in the Paris 20 km, scored an impressive win in the women’s race in 1:29:47, walking to a 15-second victory over 2022 World Champion Kimberly Garcia Leon (PER).
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Sudan’s Abubaker Kaki, a two-time Olympian who was the 2011 Worlds men’s 800 m silver medalist, was killed in a shelling by rebels in the North Darfur region according to a local media report. He was 35.
● Beach Volleyball ● Another classic showdown in the men’s final of the Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 in Saquarema (BRA) between the last two Olympic gold medal teams: Paris winners David Ahman and Jonatan Helvig (SWE) and Tokyo champs Anders Mol and Christian Sorum (NOR).
This time it was Mol and Sorum with a straight-sets win, 21-18, 21-15, the 27th career FIVB World Tour win for the Norwegian stars.
Third place went to Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot (NED), who defeated the surprise team of the tournament, 23rd-seeded Pedro de Oliveira and Renato de Carvalho (BRA), 21-11, 21-14.
The women’s tournament played out exactly according to seeds, with the Brazilian pair of Thamela Galil and Victoria Tosta (BRA) defeating second-seeded Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher of the U.S. by 21-19, 16-21, 15-10.
In the third-place match, the 2022 Worlds bronze winners, Svenja Muller and Cinja Tillmann (GER) defeated Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw of the U.S., 21-16, 21-16.
● Curling ● The Grand Slam of Curling’s final tournament of the season, the Players’ Championship was in Toronto (CAN), with re-matches of the 2025 World Championships in both the men’s and women’s final.
The women had Worlds winner Rachel Homan (CAN) and her rink against the legendary Swiss squad skipped by Silvana Tirinzoni (SUI), the defending champion in this tournament. The Swiss got single points in the third and fourth ends to go up 2-0 and then 4-1 by the end of the sixth.
But Homan slammed back with three in the seventh to tie. But Tirinzoni’s rink managed a match and tournament-winner in the eighth for a 5-4 victory and a second straight Players’ title.
The men’s final had World Champion Bruce Mouat (SCO), the winner of this tournament in 2021 and 2022 facing Worlds finalist Yannick Schwaller (SUI) again. Mouat tied the match at 2-2 with two points in the fourth, then scored two in the sixth for a 4-3 lead, extended to 5-3 in the seventh. But Schwaller got two in the eighth to tie, only to see Mouat got a final point in the extra end and won, 6-5.
For Schwaller, it was his second final at the Players’ in the last three seasons, but he’s now 0-2.
● Cycling ● The 122nd edition of the famed Paris-Roubaix race covered 259.2 km total, with 55 km of cobbled roads across 30 different sections and was expected to be a showdown between two-time defending champion Mathieu van der Poel (NED) and Slovenian star Tadej Pogacar.
It was.
Pogacar attacked with 72 km to go, breaking down a lead group of five with only van der Poel and Belgian Jasper Philipsen keeping pace. With 45 km left, Philipsen let go and then it was 1×1 until, with 38 km left, Pogacar missed a corner, hit a crash barrier and had to change bikes; by then, van der Poel had a 20-second lead and could not be touched.
Winning for the third time in a row – not done since 1978-79-80 by Italy’s Francesco Moser – van der Poel crossed all alone in 5:31:27, with Pogacar second (+1:18) and Mads Pedersen (DEN) winning a three-way sprint for third (+2:11).
The women’s race was another monument to the talent of 33-year-old French star Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, the 12-time World Championships gold medalist in Mountain Bike, but also a dangerous road racer, and the 2014 Worlds Road Race winner.
Now concentrating on the roads, she scored her biggest win since that 2014 victory, negotiating the 148.5 km course from Denain to Roubaix – with 29.2 km of cobbled roads – in 3:40:07, breaking free of the peloton with 19 km to go and winning easily. Even more impressive is that she had been ill a couple of days before and wasn’t even sure she could go!
Italy’s Letizia Borghesi was second (+0:58), with Dutch stars Lorena Wiebes and Marianne Vos both at +1:01 in third and fourth. Chloe Dygert was the top American, in eighth (+1:06). In the fifth running of the women’s race, Ferrand-Prevot is the first French winner!
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Portugal’s 26-year-old Joao Almeida got his biggest win yet by taking the 64th Itzulia Basque Country stage race in Spain by a hefty 1:52 over Spain’s Enric Mas and by 1:59 against Maxmilian Schachmann (GER).
Schachmann won the first-stage time trial and held the lead through three stages, then Almeida took over with a 28-second win in the hilly fourth stage and was never headed. He also won the final sixth stage in a sprint finish with Mas.
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The second weekend of the UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Araxa (BRA) saw American Christopher Blevins move up from silver in the first Cross Country Olympic men’s race to the top spot on Saturday, winning a three-way dash to the finish in 1:22:42 to 1:22:44 for last week’s bronze winner Martin Vidaurre (CHI) and 1:22:45 for Adrien Boichis (FRA).
Blevins also won the Short-Course race on Friday in 21:02 over last week’s XCO winner, Victor Koretzky (FRA: 21:07) and 10-time World Champion Nino Schurter (SUI: 21:09).
Rio 2016 Olympic gold winner Jenny Rissveds won the women’s Cross Country in 1:26:59, racing away from last week’s winner, Samara Maxwell (NZL: 1:27:27) on the third lap, with 2021 World Champion Evie Richards (GBR: 1:27:33) in third. Richards took the Short Course race on Friday in 21:24, ahead of last week’s XCO runner-up, Laura Koller (SUI: 21:25) and Rissveds (21:25).
● Diving ● The second World Aquatics World Cup was in Windsor (CAN), with the Chinese continuing to dominate, winning eight of the nine events.
The men’s Springboard saw Britain’s Jourdan Houlden score a big win at 470.85, followed by American Carson Tyler (20) at 447.65 and China’s Jiyuan Zheng (also 20) at 433.15. Zheng teamed with Yukang Hu to win the 3 m Synchro title at 388.05, with Mexico’s Osmar Olvera and Juan Celaya claiming silver at 381.72; Americans Jack Ryan and Quentin Henninger took the bronze at 374.73.
The men’s 10 m was a Chinese 1-2 with Zilong Cheng coming from ninth after the first dive to win the last two and take the gold with 511.10 points, ahead of countryman Zifeng Zhu (499.40) and Ukraine’s 2024 Worlds bronzer Oleksii Sereda (490.80). American Joshua Hedberg was sixth at 413.30. Cheng and Zhu were easy winners in the 10 m Synchro with 437.25 points, with the U.S. pair of Hedberg and Carson Tyler second at 387.90.
In the women’s 3 m Springboard, Jia Chen won for the second straight World Cup, edging Olympic champ Yiwen Chen, 379.05 to 369.90, with Australia’s Paris 2024 silver winner Maddison Keeney third (336.55).
In the 3 m Synchro, Olympic champions Chen and Yani Chang were easy winners at 312.54, followed by Canada’s Sonya Palkhivala and Amelie-Laura Jasmin (276.30); Americans Kyndal Knight and Anna Kwong finished sixth (257.40).
In the women’s Platform diving, Paris silver winner Yuxi Chen (19) and Olympic champ Hongchan Quan (18) went 1-2 at 417.55 and 407.55, with American Anna Lemkin in 11th at 263.30. In the 10 m Synchro, China’s Wei Lu and Minjie Zhang won at 327.36, ahead of Mexico’s Gabriela Agundez and Alejandra Estudillo (291.90), with Lemkin and Lanie Gutch of the U.S. in fourth (274.26).
China won the Mixed Team event, with Yuxi Chen, Yiwen Chen, Zilong Cheng and Zongyuan Wong with 478.80 points, way ahead of Mexico (412.70) and Italy (402.45), with the U.S. (Gutch, Jack Ryan, Sophia Verzyl and Tyler) in fifth, scoring 385.85.
● Gymnastics ● A break-out performance for 17-year-old Jayla Hang of the U.S. at the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Osijek (CRO)!
The World Junior All-Around fourth-placer in 2023, Hang started with a bronze on the Vault at 13.766, behind winner Valentina Georgieva (BUL: 14.149) and China’s Linmin Yu (14.066). She was eighth on the Uneven Bars (11.666), won by China’s Fanyuwei Yang (13.766), then scored a silver on Beam, behind only Eythora Thorsdottir (NED), 13.900 to 13.766.
Finally, Hang won on Floor, scoring 13.466, ahead of Israeli Yali Shoshani (13.300), for her second career World Cup gold and third medal of the meet.
Israel scored two men’s wins, with Tokyo Olympic Floor winner Artem Dolgopyat winning that event at 14.133, ahead of American Jun Iwai (14.133), earning a medal in his World Dup debut.
Ron Pyatov got the other Israeli gold, winning the Parallel Bars at 14.300, ahead of Italy’s Lorenzo Minh Casali (14.133).
Armenia’s Hamlet Manukyan took the Pommel Horse (14.633), 2022 World Champion Adem Asil (TUR) won on Rings in a tight battle with Nikita Simonov, 14.700 to 14.500, and Croatia’s Aurel Benovic scored a 14.400 to 14.383 win on Vault over Paris Olympic bronze medalist Harry Hepworth (14.383).
Kazakhstan’s Milad Karimi, the 2023 Worlds Floor bronze winner, took the Horizontal Bar title at 14.666, over Alexander Myakinin (ISR: 14.433) with Iwai in eighth place (12.433).
● Ice Hockey ● At the IIHF Women’s World Championships in Ceske Budejovice (CZE), the undefeated American and Canadian teams faced off on Sunday after two easy wins each. The U.S. handled Finland, 7-1 and the Czechs by 4-0 and Canada posted victories against the Finns (5-0) and by 4-0 against the Swiss.
The U.S. took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal by defender Lee Stecklein at 10:36 and then double the edge at 12:22 of the second from a slick goal by defender Megan Keller, taking the puck at center ice, weaving through three defenders and wristing a shot past two more. The Americans had an 18:12 edge on shots after two periods.
In the third, the U.S. was aggressive, but Canada got right back in it with a goal at 6:50 from Laura Stacey, but that was all the scoring. The U.S. controlled the action, even when Canada added an extra attacker in the last two minutes and American keeper Aerin Frankel turned away a Stacey try in the final minute to preserve the 2-1 victory. The U.S. ended with a 28-19 shots edge for the game.
In the 24 prior women’s Worlds, the U.S. and Canada have played in the final in 23 of them, and four straight and will be favored to do so again. Group play continues through the 15th with the playoffs beginning on 17 April.
● Ski Mountaineering ● The ninth and final ISMF World Cup of the season was in Tromso (NOR), with Swiss Remi Bonnet finishing a perfect Vertical Race season with his fourth win in four races, in 18:41.9, comfortably ahead of Belgian Maximilien Drion du Chapois (18:57.6).
The men’s Sprint went to Swiss Thomas Bussard for his first win of the season, ahead of teammate Jon Kistler. The Individual Race on Sunday was another win for Bonnet, in 1:02:41.6, ahead of Davide Magnini (ITA: 1:03:14.5) and teammate Matteo Eydallin (1:04:29.7). Bonnet also won all four of the Individual World Cup races this season.
The women’s Vertical saw the third win in four races for French star Axelle Gachet Mollaret, an easy winner in 22:00.2, ahead of teammate Emily Harrop (22:37.7). In the Sprint, it was Harrop once again, with her seventh win in seven races in 3:30.2, beating Marianne Fatton (SUI: 3:24.8).
Sunday’s Individual Race was a second gold – and a perfect, four-for-four season, for Gachet Mollaret (1:14:14.1), again ahead of Harrop (1:16:11.8) and Alba de Silvesto (ITA: 1:17:09.7).
● Swimming ● A world record in the men’s 400 m Freestyle, with Germany’s Olympic champ Lukas Martens winning the Stockholm Open in Sweden in 3:39.96 to remove the 3:40.07 by countryman Paul Biedermann from 2009.
Martens smashed another of the “super suit” world records, aided by polyurethane swim suits which were banned in 2010. Men’s world marks from the “super suit” era remain in the 50 m Free, 200 m Free (by Biedermann), 800 m Free and 200 m Backstroke, plus the 4×200 m Freestyle.
● Water Polo ● Defending champion Spain and emerging power Greece faced off in the World Cup men’s final in Podgorica (MNE), after the Greeks defeated Hungary, 18-14, in their semi and the Spanish got by Croatia, 19-14.
Greece had not make the final of this tournament since 1997, but jumped on the 2023 World Cup winners with a 4-2 lead after the first period, but after an 10-goal second quarter, the game was tied, 8-8, at half. The Spanish poured in four more in the third for a 12-10 lead, and held on. Both sides scored four in the fourth and Spain prevailed, 16-14. It’s their second straight title after having never made the final before their 2023 win.
In the third-place match, Hungary and Croatia were in a 14-14 tie after regulation and went to a penalty shoot-out, with the Hungarians managing a final, 18-15 victory.
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