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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Olympic Games 1984: Los Angeles ● Once an Olympic Games ends, the city remains and will always be known as an Olympic City. Especially if that city hosts multiple Games as has Los Angeles (1932 and 1984) and Beijing (2008 and 2022 Winter).
Representatives of cities which have hosted past Games remain connected through a quiet organization called the World Union of Olympic Cities, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland (of course). It was at a World Union meeting that a visit by the Beijing Olympic Development Association – responsible for Beijing’s Olympic legacy – to Los Angeles developed, which finally happened last month in conjunction with a follow-on meeting in Colorado Springs of the Olympic Museums Network, at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum.
Four members of the Beijing Olympic Development Association were only able to visit Los Angeles for a day, but were welcomed by the American Chinese Athletic Association, a Southern California non-profit group of former professional athletes. The quick tour featured a trip to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which will host a third Games in 2028, to the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games and its 2016 bid legacy athlete-mentoring program in schools – Ready, Set, Gold! – and to the LA84 Foundation, currently displaying a memorabilia retrospective on the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
The Chinese delegation moved on to Colorado Springs for the Olympic Museum Network meetings, but not before an agreement for the Beijing ODA and the SCCOG to work together on future events in Southern California on the road to the 2028 Olympic Games, including with the SCCOG’s sister organization, the Los Angeles Sports Council.
Another Olympic legacy in two Olympic cities.
● Olympic Games 2040 ● With an eye toward a 2040 Olympic Games which would celebrate 50 years since German reunification in 1990, reports indicate Berlin has the idea to partner with other German states, such as Brandenburg, Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Schleswig-Holstein.
A decision by the German National Olympic Committee (DOSB) on which city/cities/regions will bid is expected later this year.
● Boxing ● George Foreman, the 1968 Olympic heavyweight boxing champion who went on to twice become world heavyweight champion, passed away on Friday (21st) at age 76, in Houston, Texas.
Foreman stopped Soviet Jonas Cepulis in the second round of their fight in the 1968 Olympic final in Mexico City and turned professional shortly afterwards. He won the world heavyweight title in 1972, but lost it to Muhammad Ali in the “Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasa, Zaire in 1974, and retired (for the first time) in 1977.
He became a minister, but then returned to boxing in 1987 and won the world title again in 1994, but let it go in 1995. In 1994, he began a fabulous business career as the face of the George Foreman Grill, which sold more than 100 million units.
● Skiing ● A first for Czech two-discipline star Ester Ledecka, who won an Alpine Worlds bronze this year in the women’s Downhill, then won her third Snowboard Worlds gold in the Parallel Giant Slalom, becoming the first ever to win two FIS World Championship medals in different disciplines in the same season.
Ledecka is asking to have the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games schedule changed to avoid an alpine skiing-snowboard conflict, as the women’s Alpine Downhill and the Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom are on the same day – 8 February – with the PGS qualifying starting at 9:00 a.m. at the Livigno Snow Park in Valtellina and the Downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo at 11:30 a.m., about 200 miles east.
She was the surprise winner of the 2018 PyeongChang women’s Super-G gold medal, and also won the Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom gold in 2018 and 2022. She said last December:
“It’s like someone has broken your dream. So please change it. Please, please, please. It’s my biggest dream to do both. I can create a great show for people.”
≡ RESULTS ≡
● Alpine Skiing ● The season-ending FIS World Cup Finals are in Sun Valley, Idaho, with a message for fans ahead of the 2026 Winter Games: don’t forget about U.S. star Lindsey Vonn.
Now 40, Vonn won her first World Cup medal since March of 2015 with a silver in Sunday’s women’s Super-G, finishing in 1:13.64, behind 2024-25 discipline winner Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI: 1:12.35) and ahead of World Cup seasonal champion Federica Brignone (ITA: 1:13.68). Said Vonn afterwards:
“It’s really emotional because as much as I love this journey, it has not been an easy one. Today makes it all worth it.
“Today I wanted to give everything I had for the home crowd. This is my last chance in my career to race at home and I just gave it everything I had.”
Gut-Behrami won the Super-G seasonal Crystal Globe with 665 points to 630 for Brignone.
The men’s Super-G went to Austria’s Lukas Feurstein (1:10.96) over teammate Raphael Haaser (1:11.15) and World Downhill champ Franjo von Allmen (SUI: 1:11.38). American Ryan Cochran-Siegle was 13th (1:12.86). Swiss World Cup champion Marco Odermatt was the seasonal Super-G winner with 536 points over teammate Stefan Rogentin (321).
Saturday’s Downhill opener was canceled due to high winds, leaving Odermatt as the seasonal men’s discipline champion, 605-522, over van Allmen. Brignone won the women’s seasonal Downhill title over Cornelia Huetter (AUT), 384-368; American Lauren Macuga was fourth (230).
The World Cup Finals continue with the Giant Slaloms on Tuesday.
● Athletics ● A world record in the men’s 35 km Walk for the Tokyo 2020 men’s 50 km Walk bronze medalist Evan Dunfee (CAN), who won the Dudince 50 in Slovakia in 2:21:40. That’s a seven-second improvement from the prior mark of 2:21:47 by Masatora Kawano (JPN) from last October in Takahata (JPN).
German Christopher Linke was a distant second in 2:24:40.
● Badminton ● China scored four titles at the BWF World Tour Swiss Open in Basel (SUI), including both Singles finals.
Hong Yang Weng (CHN) won the men’s Singles in straight sets, 21-18, 21-3 over Christo Popov (FRA). And Yu Fei Chen took the women’s win by 21-17, 21-17 against Line Kjaersfeldt (DEN).
Yi Fan Jia and Shu Xian Zhang (CHN) won the men’s Doubles over countrymen Sheng Shu Liu and Ning Tan, 21-19, 14-21, 21-17, and Yan Zhe Feng and Ya Xin Wei (CHN) won the Mixed Doubles against Yi Jun Zhu and Chi Zhang (CHN), 21-13, 21-15.
Thailand’s Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol Puavaranukroh won the men’s Doubles, 21-15, 18-21, 21-14 over Muhammad Fikri and Daniel Marthin (INA).
● Biathlon ● The IBU World Cup concluded in Oslo (NOR), with seasonal titles in the balance to the end.
The men’s 10 km Sprint went to Johannes Thingnes Boe (NOR) in 24:49.5 (0 penalties), leading a Norwegian sweep, followed by Sturla Holm Laegreid (25:15.2/0) and Johannes Dale Skjevdal (25:26.2/1). Then the men’s 12.5 km Pursuit was a Norwegian 1-2, with Laegreid winning in 31:45.0 (0), ahead of Boe (32:00.5/3) and France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet (32:08.9/1). American Campbell Wright finished eighth (33:40.9/2).
On Sunday, Swede Sebastian Samuelsson got his second World Cup win of the season in the 15 km Mass Start in 39:11.8 (1), ahead of Eric Perrrot (FRA: 39:17.4/1) and Endre Stroemsheim (NOR: 39:21.1/0).
Laegreid won the seasonal title with 1,291 points to 1,173 for J.T. Boe, who has said he will retire. Perrot was third at 926.
Germany Franziska Preuss won the women’s 7.5 km Sprint, outleaning Lou Jeanmonnot (FRA) at the line, 20:57.2 to 20:57.4, with no penalties for either. Suvi Minkkinen (FIN) got third in 21:19.1 (0). Jeanmonnot won the 10 km Pursuit in a rout in 30:16.9 (1) over Elvira Oeberg (SWE: 30:39.1/2) and Lena Haecki-Gross (SUI: 30:41.1/2).
The seasonal title was decided on the final day, as Preuss won the 12.5 km Mass Start in 38:23.8 (1), just ahead of Oeberg (38:27/1/3) and Jeanmonnot (38:35.5/1). For the season, Preuss scored 1,278 to edge Jeanmonnot (1,238), with Julia Simon (FRA: 902) in third place. French athletes won 12 of the 21 women’s races on the season.
● Cross Country Skiing ● The final stop of the 2024-25 FIS World Cup was in Lahti (FIN), with seasonal winner Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo continuing his domination of the Sprint discipline, winning the Freestyle on Saturday in 2:45.42, ahead of Jules Chappaz (FRA: 2:45.85) and 2017 World Champion Federico Pellegrino (ITA: 2:46.07). American JC Schoonmaker was sixth (2:46.86).
Klaebo and Even Northug won the men’s Team Sprint in a final sprint over the Swiss, 16:22.66 to 16:24.33, with France third (16:24.53) and the U.S. duo of Kevin Bolger and Schoonmaker fourth in 16:24.63.
Then Klaebo, who won a record six golds at the World Championships, finished in style with his 13th win of the season in the final race, the 50 km Freestyle, in 2:07:32.1, leading another Norwegian sweep, but barely ahead of Martin Nyenget (2:07:32.6) and Simon Krueger (2:07:33.1). American Gus Schumacher was eighth in 2:11:06.1.
Klaebo’s all-conquering season ended with 2,200 points for the men’s title, way ahead of of Swede Edwin Anger (1,731).
The women’s Sprint was the first-ever World Cup win for German Coletta Rydzek, in 3:05.64, beating Kristine Skistad (NOR: 3:05.85) and Swiss Nadine Faehndrich (3:06.02). Germany won the women’s Team Sprint over Sweden and Switzerland
Norway’s Therese Johaug, who returned to competition after retiring following the 2022 Winter Games, won the women’s 50 km Freestyle in 2:14:40.7 for her 89th career World Cup gold. She was more than a minute ahead of teammate Astrid Slind (2:15:44.0) with Ebba Andersson (SWE: 2:18:08.8) well back. Seasonal World Cup winner Jessie Diggins of the U.S. was ninth in 2:21:02.0.
Diggins finished with 2,197 points for her second straight World Cup overall win, to 1,827 for Victoria Carl (GER).
● Curling ● Either Switzerland or Canada had won the last 10 editions of the World Curling Women’s World Championship, and in 2025, it went to 11 in Uijeongbu (KOR), as Rachel Homan’s Canadian squad repeated as champions, defeating Silvana Tirinzoni’s Swiss team in the final.
The Swiss dispensed with China, 4-2, in the semifinals and Canada edged the home team, skipped by Eun-ji Gim, 6-5, with a point in the 11th end.
The final saw the Swiss with a 3-2 edge after five ends, but Homan’s rink scored two each in the sixth and seventh ends and another in the eighth to take home a 7-3 win and defend their 2024 title. It’s Homan’s third Worlds gold, also in 2017.
China, with Rui Wang as skip, won the bronze-medal match, 9-4, over the Koreans.
● Cycling ● The UCI World Tour turned to the famed 116th Milan-Sanremo race in Italy, with a thrilling finish to the men’s race, right to the line.
The 289 km course from Pavia to San Remo featured several small hills toward the end and the race came down to a three-way fight between Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogacar, the 2023 World Road Champion Mathieu van der Poel (NED) and Italy’s two-time World Time Trial champ, Filippo Ganna.
Van der Poel and Pogacar were dueling into the final kilometer when Ganna made a hard move to re-establish contact and the race to the line was on with 700 m left. A final surge in the last 200 m by van der Poel got him to the line first in 6:22:53, with Ganna passing Pogacar for second. The rest of the field followed 43 seconds back.
It’s the second win for van der Poel in this race, also in 2023, while Pogacar was third for the second year in a row. Ganna was also second behind van der Poel in 2023.
The women’s race, renewed in 2025 after a 20-year absence, was a mass sprint to the line of 12 riders, with two-time European champ Lorena Wiebes (NED) winning over countrywoman Marianne Vos, with both at 3:32:32 for the 156 km course that began in Genoa.
Noemi Reugg (SUI) finished third and American Chloe Dygert was sixth.
● Fencing ● Olympic silver medalist Filippo Macchi (ITA) won an all-Italian men’s final at the FIE Foil Grand Prix in Lima (PER), defeating world no. 2 Guillaume Bianchi by 15-12. American Nick Itkin, a two-time Worlds medalist, won one of the bronzes.
Japan’s Komaki Kikuchi won the women’s tournament for her first Grand Prix gold, downing Anna Cristino (ITA), 15-9. Olympic champ Lee Kiefer of the U.S. won one of the bronzes, losing to Cristino in the semis, winning her 14th career Grand Prix medal.
● Football ● The CONCACAF Nations League final in Inglewood, California featured Mexico and Panama, a taut game that was finally decided by a penalty kick in stoppage time to give Mexico a 2-1 win and its first Nations League title.
Striker Raul Jimenez got Mexico on top right away with an 8th-minute goal on a header off a perfect cross from midfielder Roberto Alvarado. But Panama tied it at 45+2 as midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla converted a penalty, after a foul on striker Cecilio Waterman.
Neither side could score in the second half, but in stoppage time, Panamanian defender Jose Cordoba was called for a hand ball in the box and Jimenez stutter-stepped, then sent a clean shot to the winning goal to the left side of the net. Panama had 53% of possession, but Mexico led on shots, 15-8, and took home the trophy.
In the third-place match, Canada defeated the U.S., 2-1, with striker Tani Oluwaseyi kicking in a blocked shot by forward Jonathan David in front of the American goal in the 27th minute for a 1-0 lead. The game was tied in the 35th, as striker Patrick Agyemang scored on a perfect feed from forward Diego Luna steaming into the box on the left side and laying it off to his right for the right-footed finish.
That was the score at half. The winner came in the 59th from David, who took a pass from forward Ali Ahmed just inside the center of the box, then turned and sent a left-footed laser into the left corner of the net, past a diving Matt Turner in the U.S. goal.
Canadian keeper Dayne St. Clair saved a promising chance from Luna in the 85th and despite 59% possession, the U.S. lost and was out-shot, 8-5.
● Freestyle Skiing & Snowboard ● The FIS World Championships are ongoing through the 30th in Engadin (SUI), with the U.S. scoring a gold from Beijing 2022 Olympic silver winner Jaelin Kauf.
A veteran at 28, Kauf came into Engadin having won four career Worlds Freestyle Skiing medals – a 2023 silver in Moguls and three in Dual Moguls, including a 2023 silver – and promptly sawed through three rounds in the women’s Dual Moguls on Friday (21st) to reach the semis. There, she defeated fellow American Kylie Kariotis, 23-012 and faced another U.S. star, Tess Johnson, the 2019 Worlds bronze winner, in the final.
But Kauf won her first Worlds gold, winning by 21-14. Kariotis finished fourth, as Anastassiya Gordenko (KAZ) won the bronze-medal match by 22-13.
Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury won the men’s Dual Moguls, winning over Moguls gold medalist Ikuma Horishima (JPN), who did not finish. Matt Graham (AUS) won the bronze; Kingsbury defended his 2023 Worlds gold and won his fifth Worlds gold in the event (2015-19-21-23-25).
In the Freestyle Ski Cross, Switzerland scored a sweep, with Ryan Regez skiing to the men’s win as Tobias Muller (GER) and Ryo Sugai (JPN) both failing to finish, but awarded silver and bronze medals as France’s Youri Duplessis Kergomard was penalized for interference and placed fourth. The women’s race went to Swiss star Fanny Smith, ahead of Courtney Hoffos (CAN) and Daniela Maier (GER) for her second Worlds gold, 12 years after her first in 2013!
Regez and Smith teamed up to win the Ski Cross Mixed Team gold, over France’s Melvin Tchiknavorian and Jade Aubert.
The Freestyle Slopestyle saw the defending champions win again, as Birk Ruud (NOR) – the 2022 Olympic Big Air champ – won the men’s title, scoring 89.l0 in the second round to beat Americans Mac Forehand (85.53) and Olympic champ Alex Hall (84.72).
Swiss Mathilde Gremaud won the women’s Slopestyle again, to go with her 2022 Olympic gold; she scored 85.65 on her first run to win, over Lara Wolf (AUT: 73.33) and Megan Oldham (CAN: 70.63).
¶
In Snowboard, the men’s Parallel Slalom was a surprise win for 20-year-old Bulgarian Tervel Zamfirov, winner of the 2025 Winter World University Games title in February. This time, he scored three close wins to get to the final against Arvid Auner (AUT), the 2023 runner-up. But Zamifrov won the final by 0.40 seconds to get the win, with Italy’s Aaron March getting the bronze over 44-year-old Andreas Prommegger (AUT).
The women’s Parallel Slalom was a reversal of the Parallel Giant Slalom, as Japan’s Tsubaki Miki beat Czech star Ester Ledecka in the final by 1.08 seconds, after Ledecka won their first showdown. It’s Miki’s second career Worlds gold, after her 2023 Parallel Giant Slalom gold. Ledecka, now 30, won her fifth career Worlds snowboard medal.
In the Team Parallel Slalom on Sunday, it was Italy’s Maurizio Bormolini and Elisa Caffont winning over the third Italian team of Gabriel Messner and Jasmin Coratti, by 0.92 seconds in the final.
The Snowboard men’s Slopestyle gold went to Canada’s Liam Brearley in an upset over China’s 2022 Olympic runner-up Yiming Su, 90.15 to 85.07, with Oliver Martin of the U.S. third (78.98) and Red Gerard, the 2018 Olympic winner, fifth (74.61).
New Zealand’s 2022 Olympic winner, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, scored her third women’s Slopestyle gold, scoring 90.15 in the second round to win over Kokomo Murase (JPN: 87.02) and Reira Iwabuchi (JPN: 83.55). Sadowski-Synnott has now been first or second in this event in five straight Worlds.
● Gymnastics ● U.S. Junior All-Around champion Claire Pease, 16, made her debut at the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Antalya (TUR) a memorable one, scoring a win and three silver medals in the four-event women’s program.
She opened with a second on the Vault to teammate Jayla Hang, 13.667 to 13.567, then for another silver on the Uneven Bars at 14.234, with China’s Fanyuwei Yang winning at 14.800. Hang was sixth (12.734).
On Sunday, Pease won on Beam, scoring 13.266 to 13.11 for Mana Okamura (JPN), with Hang in sixth (12.734). On Floor, Japan’s Akio Sugihara won at 13.633, with Pease second at 13.266 and Hang sixth at 12.966.
The men’s finals started with a win for American Taylor Burkhardt on Floor at 13.934 for the only U.S. Men’s medal. China’s 2021 World Champion Xingyu Lan won Rings at 14.567; Kazakh Nariman Kubanov, the Paris silver medalist, took the Pommel Horse win at 14.634; Armenia’s Paris 2024 runner-up Artur Davtyan won on Vault; Turkey’s Tokyo 2020 bronze winner Ferhart Arican won the Parallel Bars final (14.466), and Croatian star Tin Srbic, the 2017 World Champion, won the Horizontal Bar at 14.166. Burkhardt was fourth in that event at 13.700.
● Judo ● France led the medal table with three winners at the IJF World Tour Tbilisi Grand Slam in Georgia, with Paris Olympic silver winner Luka Mkheidze taking the men’s 60 kg, Amandine Buchard, the women’s Olympic 52 kg bronze medalist winning that class, and +78 kg star – and Olympic bronze medalist – Romane Dicko taking her class.
The home team scored wins by London 2012 Olympic 66 kg champ Lasha Shavdatuashvili at 73 kg, and 2019 World Junior champ Eteri Liparteliani in the women’s 57 kg class.
● Nordic Combined ● The FIS men’s World Cup season-ender was in Lahti (FIN), with 2023 World Cup winner Johannes Lamparter (AUT) sweeping both events, jumping off the 130 m hill and a 10 km race.
He won Friday’s race in 23:59.4, well ahead of Ilkka Herola (FIN: 24:26.8) and Julian Schmid (GER: 24:41.0). On Saturday, Lamparter beat Schmid, 23:09.0 to 23:30.2, with Laurent Muhlethaler (FRA: 23:44.7).
With the wins, Lamparter finished third in the overall World Cup standings (1,317 points), behind winner Vinzenz Geiger (GER: 1,506) and retiring Norwegian star Jarl Magnus Riiber (1,385).
● Ski Jumping ● The FIS women’s World Cup finished in Lahti (FIN) with two events off the 130 m hill, and, of course, it was Slovenian teen sensation Nika Prevc winning both, to finish with wins in the final 10 events of the season (and the seasonal title)!
Prevc took Thursday’s event by winning both rounds and scoring 302.6, way ahead of Selina Freitag (GER: 277.4) and Alexandria Loutitt (CAN: 275.1). On Friday, Prevc won again, over Freitag, 328.8 to 277.4, with Ema Klinec (SLO: 274.4) in third.
Prevc overwhelmed everyone in the seasonal standings, scoring 1,933 to 1,293 for Freitag and 1,201 for Katharina Schmid (GER).
The single men’s event, on Saturday, was the first win of the season for two-time Worlds gold medalist Anze Lanisek (SLO), scoring 276.9 points to 270.8 for Stefan Kraft (AUT) and 263.9 for Pole Pawel Wasek.
Sunday was the men’s Team Event, with Lanisek and Lovro Kos winning for Slovenia at 813.4 points, ahead of Austria (809.3) and Japan (802.5). The U.S., with Jason Colby and Tate Frantz, was eighth (601.6).
● Ski Mountaineering ● World champions remained on top at the ISMF World Cup in Val Martello (ITA), with Swiss star Remi Bonnet winning the men’s Individual Race in 1:23:45.9 for his fifth World Cup gold this season. William Bon Mardion (FRA) was second at 1:25:15.0 and Matteo Eydallin (ITA: 1:25:43.9) was third.
France’s Axelle Gachet Mollaret, the women’s Individual Race World Champion, won the women’s Individual Race in 1:25:07.3, well ahead of teammate Emily Harrop (1:26:26.4) and Alba de Silvestro (ITA: 1:26:28.1). It’s also the fifth World Cup gold this season for Gachet Mollaret.
The Mixed Relay went to the Swiss pair of Caroline Ulrich and Thomas Bussard in 36:19.1, over Spain’s Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll (36:38.5) and France’s Harrop and Pablo Giner Dalmasso (37:02.2).
● Snowboard ● France starred at the FIS World Cup in Snowcross in Montafon (AUT), starting with the first win of the season for Loan Bozzolo in the men’s final over Adam Lambert (AUS) and Aidan Chollet (FRA).
The women’s race was a French 1-2 for Lea Casta – her second gold of the season – and Julia Pereira de Sousa, with 2021 World Champion Charlotte Bankes (GBR) third.
Sunday’s team event was a third win for France, with Chollet and Pereira de Sousa winning as France 2 over Australia and France 1.
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