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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Athletics ● Two more signings for Grand Slam Track, both from Jamaica in the hurdles: women’s 2024 world leader Ackera Nugent (12.24) in the 100 m hurdles and men’s 400 m hurdler Roshawn Clarke – still just 20 – who finished fourth at the 2023 Worlds in Budapest.
This brings the total signees to 20 of the 48 “Racers” expected for the 2025 season.
● Cricket ● In a re-match of the 2023 final, three-time defending champion Australia was eliminated in the first semifinal at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, being played in the UAE. South Africa won, 135-134, with eight wickets remaining, to advance to the final. Beth Mooney scored 44 runs for Australia, with Laura Wolvaardt scoring 42 for the winners.
The Proteas will face the winner of Friday’s West Indies-New Zealand semi, with the winners to meet on Sunday for the title.
● Cycling ● Japan had a big second day of the 2024 UCI Track World Championships, in Ballerup (DEN), taking individual titles in the men’s Keirin and Scratch races.
Kento Yamasaki, 31, surprised the field in the men’s Keirin, winning the final in a tight finish with Israel’s Mikhail Yakovlev (+0.34) and Colombia’s defending champion Kevin Quintero (+0.68). Olympic winner Harrie Lavreysen (NED) was relegated to the B Final, finishing eighth overall.
After silver medals in the 2022 and 2023 Worlds Scratch Races, Kazushige Kuboki got to the top of the podium, ahead of European bronze medalist Tobias Hansen (DEN) and Clement Petit (FRA).
In the Team Pursuit, defending champs Denmark won again, led by Tokyo 2020 Team Pursuit winner Niklas Larsen, with Hansen also along, and Carl-Frederik Bevort and Frederik Madsen. Britain was second, 3:45.642 to 3:45.963 in the final, with Germany winning the bronze final.
The women’s Elimination Race was a win for Paris Omnium bronze medalist Ally Wollaston, who won the Scratch Race bronze on Wednesday. She outlasted Belgian star Lotte Kopecky, the two-time defending champion, and American Jennifer Valente, who repeated her bronze-medal performance in this race from 2023.
In the Team Pursuit, Great Britain defended their 2023 Worlds gold, winning over Germany by lapping them. It’s the seventh straight Worlds in which the British women have medaled in this race! Canada overtook Italy to win the bronze.
The Worlds continue through Sunday.
● Figure Skating ● The ISU Grand Prix circuit begins in Allen, Texas this weekend with Skate America, led by two American star attractions.
World Champion Ilia Malinin of the U.S. heads the men’s Singles, and included a somersault (backflip) in an earlier routine in a Challenger event; maybe a Grand Prix first, now that the move has become allowed?
Two-time World Ice Dance Champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S, will be in action and looking for a fifth Skate America title. In Pairs, the 2024 Worlds silver medalists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) are the favorites.
American Isabeau Levito, the 2024 Worlds runner-up, was beaten by U.S. newcomer Elyce-Lin Gracey, 17, at the Challenger Series Nebelhorn Trophy event, and former U.S. champ Bradie Tennell is back from injury to challenge as well. All three will be pushed by Japan’s 2018 Worlds runner-up, Wakaba Higuchi and teammate Rinka Watanabe.
NBC has coverage on Sunday at noon Eastern (men’s Free Skate), but blanket coverage on Peacock. The men’s Short Program and women’s Free Skate will be on E! on Saturday and E! will have the Ice Dance Free Dance on Sunday as well.
● Shooting ● The ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi (IND) concluded with the shotgun events, including a gold for American Sam Simonton in the women’s Skeet final.
The 2022 Worlds bronze medalist, Simonton missed two of her first four targets and three of her first 14, but then hit 35 in a row before missing and then finished with 10 straight for a final total of 56. That was just enough, with Italy’s Rio 2016 Olympic champ Diana Bacosi at 54 and France’s Lucie Anastassiou third at 42. Fellow American Dania Jo Vizzi, the 2017 World Champion, finished fourth.
San Marino’s Alessandra Perelli, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist, won the women’s Trap title, 45-39, over Erica Sessa (ITA).
The men’s Skeet final was an Italian 1-2, with 2019 Worlds silver medalist Tammaro Cassandro winning over Rio 2016 Olympic champ Gabriele Rossetti, 57-56, as Rossetti missed his final shot. Paris silver medalist Ying Qi won the men’s Trap, 47-44, over India’s Vivaan Kapoor.
● Swimming ● The first of three World Aquatics World Cup meets will be in Shanghai (CHN) this weekend, with 100 m Freestyle world-record holder Zhanle Pan in action for the host country.
This meet is short-course (25 m pool), with marks qualifying for the Short-Course Worlds in mid-December in Budapest (HUN). French Olympic superstar Leon Marchand will make his return to the pool in Shanghai, entered in five events: the 100 m Free, 200 m Breast and the 100-200-400 m Medleys.
Olympic 200 m Breaststroke gold medalist Kate Douglass of the U.S. is entered in eight events, but may not swim all of them. She is in the 200 Breast and the 200 m Medley, where she won the Olympic silver.
The Kaylee McKeown (AUS) vs. Regan Smith (USA) battles, with McKeown winning the 100 and 200 m Backstroke events in Paris, will continue as both are entered in the 50-100-200 m Back events.
● Triathlon ● Two deaths were reported at the World Triathlon Torremolinos-Andalucía AG Sprint Distance World Championships in Spain on Thursday, both older competitors.
Agence France Presse reported that a British triathlete, age 57, died after suffering a heart attack, and the Mexican Triathlon Federation said that 79-year-old Roger Mas Colomer died at the event.
World Triathlon posted a statement including, “Our deepest condolences go to their respective family, friends, National Federations and all the triathlon family. World Triathlon, the Spanish Federation and the LOC are in contact with their families and NFs to provide all the support needed in these difficult and sad times.”
The Torremolinos event will include the World Triathlon Championship Series seasonal finals over the weekend.
● Volleyball ● A recent post from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) extolled the achievements reached under Brazilian President Ary Graca, now 81, noting the expansion of the annual FIVB Nations League, and added participation in the FIVB World Championships, as well as a better world-ranking system.
The story, however, left out what may be the most important development during Graca’s 12 years as the FIVB chief since 2012 and now termed out in 2024.
That would be the groundbreaking $100 million private-equity investment by Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners in February 2021, creating a new entity: Volleyball World. Owned by the FIVB (67%) and CVC (33%), it’s a strictly commercial entity, dedicated to expanding the sport’s profile and popularity worldwide.
The concept, per Volleyball World chief executive Finn Taylor (CAN), speaking in 2022:
“The challenge is that [indoor] volleyball and beach volleyball have huge fanbases in the hundreds of millions both participating and interested in the sport.
“But the sport has never been able to aggregate that audience into a mass number. It’s very dispersed, it’s very spread out. So we’re not trying to reinvent the sport, but we’re trying to provide it in a platform that is digestible for as many people as possible.”
Whether the venture turns out to be a success or failure is still to be determined, but the introduction of private equity into an international federation like volleyball is very much a landmark that Graca should be recognized for, and has already led to discussions and smaller-scale experiments in other sports. It may turn out to be a major pivot point for Olympic-focused sports worldwide, and it started with volleyball.
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