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: When Paris 2024 announced its selections for four added sports, there were a lot of unhappy federations from the sports that weren’t selected. This was hardly unexpected, but some are organizing new campaigns to get into the Paris Games anyway. But looking to the future, doesn’t Agenda 2020 suggest that bid committees be able to select some of the sports to be held in their city? We explore the possibilities.
THE BIG PICTURE
Saturday: Much more information about the five skiers who were arrested for doping has come out, and the Estonian and Kazah athletes have been blood-doping for years. This leads to serious questions about how to keep sport clean, because the cheating isn’t always about medals.
Monday: The Global Assn. of International Sports Federations (GAISF) moved its 2019 World Urban Games – a new event – from Los Angeles to Budapest (HUN). There are multiple implications from this move, but it’s good for the San Diego-based World Beach Games at a minimum.
ALPINE SKIING
Saturday: Thanks to the cancellation of all of the races at Rosa Khutor (RUS), American Mikaela Shiffrin clinched her third straight overall World Cup title … while sitting in a hotel room in Italy! She shared her thoughts, which we transcribed from her Instagram video.
Sunday: Italy’s Dominik Paris won both the Downhill and Super-G races at Kvitfjell (NOR) and is in position – with two weeks left in the season – to win his first Crystal Globe in either of these events … or both!
ARTISTIC SWIMMING
Sunday: Japan’s Yukiko Inui upset Worlds silver winner Ona Carbonell of Spain in the season opener of the FINA World Series in Paris.
ATHLETICS
Saturday: Ethiopia’s Berhanu Legese and Ruti Aga won impressively in a rainy Tokyo Marathon, in the first World Marathon Majors race of the season.
Sunday: Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha finally got the indoor world record in the mile in a special race, running 3:47.01 on the fast Boston University track.
BADMINTON
Sunday: No. 1-ranked Kento Momota of Japan won the German Open in Muelheim, as one of three Japanese winners in the tournament.
BOBSLED & SKELETON
Sunday: The first week of the IBSF World Championships showcased Francesco Friedrich (GER), who won his fifth straight world title in the two-man, tying the record of the legendary Eugenio Monti of Italy. Germany’s Mariama Jamanka won her first world title, ahead of teammate Stephanie Schneider as defending champ Elana Meyers Taylor (USA) crashed on her third run.
CURLING
Sunday: Another honor for Olympic champion John Shuster, who teamed with Cory Christensen to win their first U.S. Mixed Doubles Championship. They defeated a team which included one of Shuster’s teammates, Chris Plys, and Vicky Persinger, in a tight final.
CYCLING
Saturday: Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic medaled in four of the seven stages and that was enough to win the UAE Tour, while Zdenek Stybar (CZE) made the best final sprint to win the 74th Omloop Het Niewsblad race in Belgium.
Sunday: The UCI Track Cycling Worlds concluded in Poland, with Hong Kong’s Wai Sze Lee the star with two big wins, in the women’s Sprint and Keirin. The Dutch led the medal table with 11, one more than Australia.
DIVING
Sunday: China won all 10 events in the first FINA Diving World Series, in Japan. Yuan Cao won three medals.
FENCING
Sunday: The Pharoah’s Challenge in Cairo for Foil saw the U.S. men win the team title, plus bronze medals for Alex Massialas and Lee Kiefer. The winners? Rio Olympic champs Daniele Garozzo and Russia’s Inna Deriglazova.
FOOTBALL
Saturday: The U.S. women played to another 2-2 draw in the SheBelieves Cup, this time with England. After four games in 2019, the no. 1-ranked Americans are 1-1-2 and have given up seven goals while scoring six. Huh?
FREESTYLE SKIING
Sunday: The Aerials and Moguls seasons concluded in China and Kazakhstan. China’s Xindi Wang and Mengtao Xu won the seasonal Aerials titles, while Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) and France’s Perrine Laffont won the Crystal Globes for Moguls.
GYMNASTICS
Saturday: The American Cup in Greensboro may have given the U.S. a new star: 15-year-old Leanne Wong won, in her first senior-level competition! In the men’s competition, Yul Moldauer managed to edge Sam Mikulak in a battle of national champions, by 0.001!
MODERN PENTATHLON
Sunday: The opening UIPM World Cup of the season was a showcase for Egypt in Cairo, as 19-year-old Ahmed Elgendy won the men’s event and teamed with Haydy Morsy to win the Mixed Team Relay.
NORDIC SKIING
Sunday: The FIS Nordic Skiing World Championships closed in Austria, and the big story was the arrests of five skiers for doping. On the snow, however, it was the comeback story of Norway’s Therese Johaug (NOR) from her own doping suspension that stunned the world: three-for-three in the distance races and none were close. She now owns a career total of 15 Worlds medals; amazing.
RUGBY
Sunday: The U.S. men broke through after four straight second-place finishes and won the World Rugby Sevens Series in Las Vegas with a 27-0 finals win over Samoa. That leaves the U.S. atop the standings after five of the 10 legs of the season series, ahead of New Zealand and Fiji. Wow!
SNOWBOARD
Sunday: There have been four events in the SnowCross season and with one remaining, Czech Eva Samkova and American Lindsey Jacobellis are in a tie. Samkova won and weekend’s event in Spain, with Jacobellis third and the season title will be decided in Switzerland in two weeks.
SPEED SKATING
Sunday: The World Allround Championships in Calgary (CAN) featured two world records in the women’s competition, both by Czech star Martina Sabilkova, who eclipsed her own mark in the 5,000 m and erased Canadian Cindy Klassen’s 2006 mark, also set in Calgary. Sabilkova needed all of that speed to edge defending champ Miho Takagi (JPN), while Patrick Roest (NED) defended his men’s title over Sverre Lunde Pedersen of Norway.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Sunday: The IWF World Cup was completed in Fuzhou (CHN), showcasing the powerful Chinese team, which set world records for combined lifts in four classes among the 10 Chinese winners. Olympic champ Wei Deng was the star, not just winning the 64 kg class, but setting world marks in the Snatch, Clean & Jerk and the combined total!
WRESTLING
Monday: The U.S. sent a strong delegation to the Dan Kolov meet in Ruse (BUL), a UWW ranking tournament, and won the men’s Freestyle division and was third in the women’s standings. Four Americans won their divisions, including Jordan Burroughs, Alex Dieringer, Kyle Snyder and Tamyra Mensah-Stock.
UPCOMING
Highlights of the coming week, with previews in the coming days on TheSportsExaminer.com:
● Biathlon: Start of the IBU World Championships in Sweden.
● Football: Can the U.S. women wake up vs. Brazil in the final SheBelieves Cup game?
● Swimming: The second Tyr Pro Swim Series event for 2019, in Des Moines.
And a look at the future of international federations; a warning has been sounded.
