Welcome to The Sports Examiner SPEED READ, a 100 mph (44.7 m/s) review of what happened over the last 72 hours in Olympic sport:
LANE ONE
Monday: The Olympic anti-doping movement was empaneled to answer questions from athletes at the International Olympic Committee’s International Athletes Forum 10 days ago in Lausanne. Asked about money, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Chief Operating Officer said it was “very stretched.” That’s not good, but there were some positive elements to report.
THE BIG PICTURE
Saturday: Kenya’s 2008 Olympic 1,500 m champion, Asbel Kiprop, received a four-year suspension for doping, continuing a worrying trend for doping in Kenya, with seven athletes suspended so far this year!
ARTISTIC SWIMMING
Sunday: Have no doubt that Russia still rules the waves in Artistic Swimming, as shown by the World Series meeting in Kazan. World Champion Svetlana Kolesnichenko dominated the Solo Technical event and teamed with Olympic Duet gold winner Svetlana Romashina to easily win both Duet events.
ATHLETICS
Saturday: Astonishing marks for April, as Nigerian (and Texas Tech’s) Divine Oduduru runs 9.94 and 19.76, Michael Norman screams a 43.45 400 m at the Mt. SAC Relays, and Ryan Crouser reached 74-7 and 74-7 1/4 … in the same series! And there were more world leaders … must be a World Championships year!
CYCLING
Sunday: Did Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel pull off an impossible comeback to win the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday? Well, not impossible – because he did it – but it was a remarkable victory in what is a career year for him.
Sunday: In multi-stage races, it’s usually the mountains that make the difference. That’s exactly what happened at the Presidential Tour of Turkey, as Austria’s Felix Grossschartner won his first-ever World Tour races, winning the crucial fifth stage … and because of it, the entire race!
GYMNASTICS
Sunday: Aleksandra Soldatova was the headliner at the Rhythmic World Cup in Tashkent (UZB), and she come through, winning the All-Around and three of the four apparatus finals. And thanks to teammate Anastasia Guzenkova, Russia swept all of the individual titles.
Sunday: There was a major surprise in the Trampoline World Cup in Minsk, as Russian Mikhail Melnik – who? – took the men’s title, ahead of Worlds medalist Andrey Yudin, while China’s Xueying Zhu outscored Russia’s Yana Pavlova for the women’s title.
KARATE
Sunday: Ukraine scored three wins and Japan and Turkey each had two in the third Karate1 Premier League tournament in Morocco. Four current and former World Champions won their classes.
RUGBY
Sunday: A last-second try by Canadian star Ghislaine Landry tied the Women’s Sevens Series championship match in Kitakyushu (JPN) as time ran out, and she made the conversion to give Canada its first Women’s Sevens win since 2017!
SAILING
Sunday: Light winds meant tight sailing at the third World Sailing World Cup in Genoa (ITA). Seven of the right classes were so tight that they came down to the medal races before being clinched. But the best sailors were Brazil’s Fernanda Oliveira and Ana Luiza Barbachan, as they ran away with the women’s 470 class.
WRESTLING
Sunday: Astonishing performance by the U.S. teams at the Pan American Championships in Argentina. Not just team titles in all three disciplines – men’s Freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s Freestyle – but a first-time-ever sweep of all 10 weight classes in the men’s Freestyle division! Wow!
PREVIEWS
Shooting: More Olympic quota slots available in the Rifle/Pistol World Cup in Beijing
Table Tennis: Chinese dominance in play as World Championships start in Budapest
UPCOMING
Highlights of the coming week, with previews in the coming days on TheSportsExaminer.com:
● Athletics: Another of the World Marathon Majors is here: London!
● Cycling: Two more Ardennes Classics: La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege;
● Swimming: The new, big-money FINA Champions Series starts in China!
And much more as three World Championships continue in Norway, Sweden and Hungary.