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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Winter Games 2026: Milan Cortina ● The Olympic Truce related to the Milan Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Games will be introduced at the United Nations on 19 November (Wednesday).
Italy, as host country for the 2026 Games, is the primary sponsor. The International Olympic Committee revived the tradition in 1992 and it has been submitted for each Games since.
● Commonwealth Games 2026: Glasgow ● Britain’s Daily Mail reported:
“At present, however, the slimmed-down Commonwealths, which are due to return to Scotland next summer, will leave decisions on transgender participation to the organisations which govern the sports involved, meaning transgender athletes could yet take part alongside biological females.”
The International Olympic Committee has a working group considering the “protection of the female category” under President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), but has not yet changed its 2015 guidelines, which urge each sport to determine its rules on transgender women.
● Deaflympics ● The 2025 Deaflympics opened at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Japan, with a record 3,081 athletes from 81 countries and territories, plus a refugee team and a “neutral” team. The program includes 21 sports and 209 events and will conclude on 26 November.
● U.S. Sports Marketing ● A first-time trip by 16 American cities or regions interested in hosting international sporting events is being organized for 3-5 December to Lausanne (SUI), home not only to the International Olympic Committee, but also to many of the International Federations for Olympic sports.
The Sports Events and Tourism Association (Sports ETA), a trade association founded in 1992, is organizing the trip and delegates from 11 states and the District of Columbia are participating: Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Las Vegas, Nevada; Miami, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; Phoenix, Arizona; Portland, Oregon; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Salt Lake City, Utah; Washington, D.C.; and the State of Florida.
A reception at the Olympic Museum is scheduled for 3 October and one-on-one sessions for 4 December.
● Memorabilia ● The Ingrid O’Neil auction no. 99 closed on Saturday, with some noteworthy sales of Olympic torch and related items:
● $16,000: Paris 2024 Olympic torch
● $7,000: London 2012 flame safety lamp
● $3,750: London 1948 Olympic torch
The unique 1956 Melbourne Italian team commemorative boomerang created by the Italian community of Melbourne sold for $140!
● Boxing ● Algerian Olympic women’s 66 kg champion Imane Khelif was reported by Britain’s Daily Mail as saying she will continue her career with an eye toward the LA28 Olympic Games:
“Yes, God willing, I am still determined to achieve another Olympic medal.
“I am working on many surprises that I have not yet announced, but God willing, we will be on the right track.
“In the Paris Olympics and after, and even now, I am still being subjected to campaigns, injustice, and new decisions from international federations, but I currently have a case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and God willing, it will be for the best.
“The dream continues, and the work continues, and as for the campaigns and the people who criticize, I say to them, continue, because I am developing.”
World Boxing, now the International Federation for Olympic boxing, is requiring all competitors for the female category to take a one-time sex-screening test and Khelif did not compete at the World Boxing Championships in October.
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Alpine Skiing ● The brilliant American star Mikaela Shiffrin earned her 102nd career FIS World Cup win in Saturday’s Slalom in Levi (FIN), destroying the field on the first run and cruising to the win.
She clocked 56.08 to lead the first run, 1.08 seconds up on Lara Colturi of Albania, a huge margin in skiing. She came back to lead the second run as well in 52.84 and her combined time of 1:48.92 had 1.66 seconds on Colturi (1:50.58), who took silver. Emma Aicher (GER: 1:51.51) was third and American Paula Moltzan was fourth (1:51.66).
Shiffrin extended her record for the most World Cup wins in history and got her ninth win – and fifth straight – in Levi, getting to name a reindeer; no word yet on the newest name. The others were Rudolph (of course), Sven, Mr. Gru, Ingemar, Sunny, Lorax, Grogu and Rori.
Sunday’s men’s Slalom was the first World Cup win for ex-Norwegian Lucas Braathen as a Brazilian skier. He led after the first run and hung on to win in 1:50.72, ahead of defending champ Clement Noel (FRA: 1:51.03) and Eduard Hallberg (FIN: 1:51.29).
Cooper Puckett was the only American finalist, in 26th. Braathen won five World Cup races from 2020-23 representing Norway, but switched allegiance in 2024.
● Archery ● At the World Archery Indoor World Series GT Open in Strassen (LUX), Israel’s Roy Dror, 20, won his fourth career Indoor World Series stage with a 6-5 shoot-off, closest-to-the-center decision over Willem Bakker (NED) in the final. Spain’s Elia Canales won the women’s Recurve title, 6-2, over Korean Duna Lim. American Casey Kaufhold was fourth.
India’s Kushal Dalal won the men’s Compound gold in another shoot-off, with Stephan Hansen of the U.S., after a 148-148 tie. Both shot 10, then 10 again, but Kushal’s arrow was deemed closest to the center. The women’s Compound winner was Britain’s Ella Gibson, 148-147, vs. Elisa Roner (ITA).
● Badminton ● At the BWF World Tour Kumamoto Masters in Japan, the home crowd cheered Kodai Naraoka and Kenta Nishimoto in the all-Japan men’s Singles final, won by Naraoka, 21-11, 10-21, 21-15.
Thailand won twice, with Ratchanok Intanon taking the women’s Singles gold over Gregoria Tunjung (INA), 21-16, 22-10; Thailand also won in Mixed Doubles.
South Korea won in the Men’s Doubles and Malaysia took the women’s Doubles title.
● Curling ● At the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, five-time winner John Shuster’s rink sailed through the men’s round-robin with a 6-0 record, ahead of Danny Casper (4-2), Korey Dropkin (2-4) and Caden Hebert (0-6).
That set up the best 2-of-3 playoffs and Casper pulled off a 7-6 upset in the first match with a point in the 10th end. Shuster came back to lead the second match by 5-3 after eight ends, but Casper flashed a triple in the ninth to take a 6-5 lead. Shuster, however, managed two points in the 10th to even things up with a 7-6 victory.
The third and final play-off match is n Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern time; this post will be updated with the results.
In the women’s competition, Tabitha Peterson’s rink went 5-1 in the round-robin, with Elizabeth Cousins at 3-3 and advancing in a play-off over Delaney Strouse (3-3), and Allory Johnson (1-5) in fourth. Peterson swept the playoff with wins by 8-4 and 8-4 to advance to the Olympic qualifying tournament from 6-13 December in Kelowna (CAN).
● Figure Skating ● The home fans at the ISU Grand Prix Skate America at Lake Placid, New York cheered two wins by American entries, starting with World Ice Dance Champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates in the Rhythm Dance, where they forged an 84.77 to 77.42 lead over Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha (CAN).
In the Free Dance on Sunday, Chock and Bates won easily, scoring 127.81 to 119.74 for Lajoie and Lagha and won by 212.58 to 197.16. It’s the ninth career Grand Prix gold for the Americans. Fellow Americans Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko (186.03) and Oona Brown and Gage Brown (182.11), finished 5-6.
In the women’s Singles, Japan’s Rinka Watanabe, second at Skate America in 2024, led the Short Program at 74.35, just ahead of World Champion Alysia Liu of the U.S. (73.35). But Liu won the Free Skate (140.54) with Watanabe third and took the overall win at 214.27. Watanabe’s 210.96 was good for second and Anastasiia Gubanova (GEO: 204.69) was third.
Fellow Americans Starr Andrews (195.28) and Josephine Lee (147.28)) finished 5-12.
Japan’s Kazuki Tomono led the men’s Singles after the Short Program, scoring 95.77, but it was France’s Kevin Aymoz who got his first ISU Grand Prix victory by winning the Free Skate with 252.53 points.
Aymoz scored 159.97 in his Free Skate for second place and moved up from second to first. Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ), despite two falls, won the Free Skate at 161.42 and totaled 251.09. Tomono fell on his first two elements and was eighth in the Free Skate, but third overall at 245.47. American veteran Jason Brown moved up from fifth to third in the Free Skate, with a 239.59 total. This was Aymoz’s 13th Grand Prix start, but his first win after four silvers.
Two-time World Champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) were dominant winners in Pairs, moving up by winning the Free Skate and scoring 215.99 points. Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (GEO), the Short Program winners, were second at 195.73 and Canada’s Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier won bronze (182.87).
Americans Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe (180.82), Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez (163.26) and Olivia Flores and Luke Wang (161.44) finished 5-7-8.
Next up is the Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki next week.
● Football ● The U.S. Men’s National Team got a 2-1 win vs. Paraguay – a World Cup 2026 qualifier – at Chester, Pennsylvania on Saturday, with striker Folarin Balogun getting the winner in the 71st minute off a pass from forward Gio Reyna that deflected off of defender Damian Bobadilla to Balogun, who scored from the center of the box.
Reyna opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a header off the crossbar off a Max Arfsten cross, but Paraguay tied it in the 10th as striker Alex Arce scored on a header. The U.S. ended with 66% of possession and shots were 8-8.
The two teams met for the first time since 2018; the U.S. is now 5-2-2 all-time against Paraguay and will play no. 15 Uruguay on Tuesday (18th) in Tampa, Florida.
¶
The playoff round began at the FIFA men’s U-17 World Cup in Qatar with the round-of-32; the U.S. lost to Morocco on penalties, 4-3, after a 1-1 tie in regulation. The round-of-16 will be played in Tuesday (18th).
● Judo ● France and Spain were the stars at the IJF World Tour Zagreb Grand Prix in Croatia, with each winning three classes. The French took golds with Enzo Jean in the men’s 60 kg, Arnaud Aregba in the men’s 81 kg and 19-year-old, 2025 World Junior champ Celia Cancan in the women’s +78 kg. The French led all countries with nine total medals (3-4-2).
The Spanish saw wins from David Garcia in the men’s 66 kg, from two-time World Champion Nikoloz Sherazdishvili in the men’s 100 kg and Eva Perez in the women’s 48 kg.
Tokyo 48 kg Olympic winner Distria Krasniqi of Kosovo, the Paris 2024 runner-up at 52 kg, won the women’s 52 kg class. World Champion Shiro Tanaka (JPN) took the women’s 70 kg gold.
● Speed Skating ● The ISU World Cup I in held on the ultra-fast ice of the Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah, with lots of eyes on 21-year-old, six-time World Champion Jordan Stolz of the U.S., who had a “down year” in 2024 with three medals (0-2-1) at the Worlds.
But the meet also saw world records in three events and Stolz was close in three!
Stolz was on it from the start, winning the men’s 1,000 m in 1:05.66, just 0.29 off the world record, with Pole Damien Zurek (1:06.02) second and Worlds silver medalist Jenning De Boo (NED: 1:06.34) third.
On Saturday, Stolz won the 500 m in 33.88 (0.27 off the world record) with Zurek second in 33.90, and then won the 1,500 m in a lifetime best – and American Record – of 1:40.48 (just 0.31 off the world record), with 2024 Worlds runner-up Zhongyan Ning (CHN: 1:41.02) in second.
He came back for a fourth win on Sunday and just missed in the second 500 m, with De Boo winning in 33.63, a lifetime best and just 0.02 off the world record! Yevgeniy Koshkin (KAZ) was second (33.67) and Stolz was fourth in 33.79.
Dutch star Jorrit Bergsma, now 39, the 2014 Olympic 10,000 m champion, won the men’s Mass Start race in 7:39.20 over Felix Maly (GER: 7:40.17), with Stolz 15th in 7:46.40 in his fifth event of the meet!
Meanwhile, France’s Timothy Loubineaud won the 5,000 m in a world record 6:00.23, busting Swede Nils van der Pohl’s mark of 6:01.56 from 2021, also set in Kearns. Czech Metodej Jilek was second in 6:02.78 and Casey Dawson set an American Record of 6:04.40 in fourth.
The American World Champion trio of Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran won the men’s Team Pursuit in 3:32.49 – another world record, breaking their own mark of 3:33.66 on the same track in 2024 – way ahead of Norway (3:35.20) and China (3:36.65).
The women’s events saw reigning World Champion Femke Kok (NED) off to a flying start, winning the first of two 500 m races in 36.48, a lifetime best, ahead of American Erin Jackson (36.87), the 2022 Olympic champion.
The second race was on Sunday and Kok was eve better, blasting a world record of 36.09, crushing the 2013 mark of 36.36 by two-time Olympic champion Sang-hwa Lee (KOR). Jackson was second again, in a lifetime best of 36.57.
In the 1,000 m, two-time World Champion Jutta Leerdam (NED) won in 1:12.35, just ahead of Kok (1:12.43). American stars Brittany Bowe (1:13.26) and Jackson (1:13.72 lifetime best) finished 5-8. Dutch star and double World Champion Joy Beune won the 1,500 m (1:51.05 lifetime best) and the 3,000 m (3:53.69 lifetime best). Bowe was fifth in the 1,500 in 1:52.46 and Greta Myers got an American Record of 4:01.66 in the 3,000 m in the second group.
American Mia Manganello, a 2018 Olympic bronze winner in the Team Pursuit, won the women’s Mass Start race in a late dash in 8:25.57, ahead of Canada’s Valerie Maltais (8:25.62) and Bente Kerkhoff (8:25.85). In the Team Pursuit, Japan won in 2:52.13, ahead of the U.S. trio of Bowe, Manganello, and Myers (2:54.01).
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