The Sports Examiner

TSX REPORT: Lake Placid 1980 silver gets $86,136 at auction; $18.5 million in LA28 funds for youth sports proposed; new T&F transgender rules in review

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medal won by Cuban boxer Roniel Iglesias and sold by RR Auction last Thursday for $83,188 (Photo: RR Auction)

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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

1. Two Olympic medals bring $80,000-plus for RR Auction
2. LA28 youth sports funding of $18.5 million projected for 2023-24
3. World Athletics proposing tighter transgender and DSD regs
4. U.S. women stomp New Zealand, 5-0, for two-match sweep
5. Lake Placid Winter Universiade concludes

A wide-ranging auction of Olympic memorabilia saw a Lake Placid Olympic silver medal go for $86,136 as the highest-priced item, but also $83,188 for a boxing gold from the Tokyo 2020 Games. The City of Los Angeles is planning to spend $18.5 million from the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee on youth sports programs in 2023-24, having seen a 35.5% rise in participation since the subsidies began in 2018-19. World Athletics is circulating for comment a new, tighter set of regulations for participation by transgender women and those with differences in sex development, leaving a small window open for post-pubescent males who transfer to the women’s division. In New Zealand, the U.S. women’s National Team finished a to-game sweep of the Football Ferns with a 5-0 win on Saturday, with the U.S. enjoying a 22-0 shots advantage. The 2023 Winter World University Games in Lake Placid, New York, finished up on Sunday with Japan (48) and South Korea (29) atop the medal table.

1.
Two Olympic medals bring $80,000-plus for RR Auction

Olympic medals led the way with the highest sale prices at the just-closed RR Auction of Olympic memorabilia, with two selling for more than $80,000, including the buyer’s premium:

● $86,136 for a 1980 Lake Placid Olympic Winter Games silver medal, won by Soviet defenseman Sergei Starikov, who later played in the NHL for New Jersey, and including the silver-medal diploma and a certificate of authenticity. It was only expected to sell for $15,000!

● $83,188 for a 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medal, won by Cuban boxer Roniel Iglesias in the men’s 69 kg Welterweight class. Iglesias won a gold at Light Welterweight at London 2012 after a bronze in 2008 in Beijing. It was expected to bring $50,000.

There were 19 items that sold for more than $10,000, 15 of which were Olympic medals, with the remaining four all Olympic Torches. The other top sellers:

● $54,904 for a 1952 Oslo Winter Games gold medal, very rare.

● $44,588 for a 1988 Calgary Winter Games gold, won by Starikov. His Sarajevo 1984 gold also sold, for $20,139.

● $37,500 for a Beijing 2008 gold medal from the football competition, won by Argentina (no indication of the player to whom it was originally awarded).

● $35,851 for a Stockholm 1912 gold medal; the name of the medal winner is to be provided to the new owner only!

● $35,670 for a Lake Placid 1980 Olympic Winter Games torch, one of only 140 made.

● $25,005 for two 1952 Helsinki Olympic silver medals, won by South Africa’s Thomas Shardelow (1931-2019), from the 4,000 m Team Pursuit and 2,000 m Tandem events.

There were 19 items that sold for $125, the lowest winning price at the auction; these included two event programs from the Los Angeles 1932 Games, a Berlin 1936 ashtray, a Berlin 1936 pin, a pin set and a souvenir glass plate and a 1952 Helsinki volunteer merit medal.

A program from the Athens 1896, combined with a ticket, sold for $9,166, and two Calgary 1988 cowboy hats given to former IOC member Jim Worrall of Canada sold for $656. A Paris 1924 event program for swimming went for $250; a daily program from the 1906 Athens Intercalated Games sold for $368.

And yes, diver Greg Louganis’s swim trunks from the 1976 Olympic Games, expected to bring $1,000, sold for $6,504!

2.
LA28 youth sports funding of $18.5 million projected for 2023-24

A 200-page plan to spend $18,465,802 for the City of Los Angeles’ youth sports programming funded by the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee was submitted on Thursday (19th).

The program, approved in 2017, allocated $160 million of International Olympic Committee funds advanced to LA28 to be used for youth sports in Los Angeles, primarily to reduce costs and fees to the participants, as described in the proposal:

“Through the [Youth Sports Program], [L.A. City Recreation and Parks] is using the funding provided by LA 2028 to directly support and increase citywide youth participation in quality sport and fitness programming by removing financial barriers limiting access to participation.

“The YSP is structured to overcome these barriers to participation, including considerations to achieve gender equity and to increase access and opportunity for all young people, particularly the economically disadvantaged and physically impaired and to ensure enduring health and wellness benefits for all communities in the City of Los Angeles.”

The payment plan agreed on provides annual payments of the City’s Recreation and Parks Department of $19.2 million per year from July 2020 through June 2028. According to the proposal:

“Using FY2018-19 as our “baseline”, RAP had 61,925 youth participant enrollments in YSP programs at Recreation Centers during that fiscal year, and 31,013 youth participant enrollments in YSP programs at Aquatic Facilities. RAP projections for the 2023-24 fiscal year are for 86,695 youth participant enrollments to be enrolled in YSP subsidized programs at Recreation Centers, an increase of 40% over the baseline; and 39,244 youth participant enrollments to be enrolled in YSP Aquatics subsidized programs, representing a 27% increase over the baseline.”

League and classes programs are proposed:

● $11,362,104 for recreational leagues and classes (123 sites)
● $1,826,499 for aquatics swim classes (53 sites)
● $1,080,420 for Swim L.A. classes (10 sites)
● $432,600 for judo programs (20 sites)
● $428,792 for surfing (12 sites)
● $284.400 for tennis (20 sites)
● $256,320 for track & field (20 sites)
● $231,800 for skateboarding (10 sites)
● $214,705 for kayaking (5 sites)
● $209,000 for teqball (sites not specified)
● $144,416 for equestrian (9 sites)
● $74,432 for golf (8 sites)
● $47,082 for marathon training (sites not specified)

In addition, funds are specified for adaptive sports ($841,012), for marketing and outreach ($781,500) and $250,000 for the U.S. Center for SafeSport for “training and tools to ensure the safety of all youth participants in RAP sports and fitness programs.”

The plan is now in the hands of the Los Angeles City Council for approval or amendment.

3.
World Athletics proposing tighter transgender and DSD regs

The British newspaper The Telegraph reported that World Athletics circulated for comment last November a proposal to tighten its regulations for the participation of transgender athletes and those with differences in sex development (DSD).

The current World Athletics rules – upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport – specify a serum testosterone limit of 5 nmol/L, maintained for one year, for transgender athletes, and for hyperandrogenistic athletes competing in the women’s division in the 400-800-1,000-1,500 m and mile distances (including hurdles), for six months.

The proposed new regulations would tighten the testosterone limit to 2.5 nmol/L as World Aquatics has recently done, but for two years, and does not eliminate transgenders who have undergone male puberty as World Aquatics did. Part of the World Athletics communication to its federations includes:

“This preferred option would allow significant (although not full) reduction of anaerobic, aerobic performances and body composition changes, while still providing a path for eligibility of trans women and 46 XY DSD individuals to compete in the female category.”

The new regulations would apply to all events, not just the 400 m-to-mile events as in the current policy, adopted in late 2021. The note to the federations admits that trans women who have gone through male puberty “retain an advantage in muscle mass, volume and strength over cis women after 12 months” even with hormone reduction therapy.

The World Athletics Council could act on the proposal as early as March, depending on the reaction from its federations.

4.
U.S. women stomp New Zealand, 5-0, for two-match sweep

After losing three of their last four games in 2022, the no. 1-ranked U.S. women’s National Team ended their January advance trip to New Zealand with two dominant wins against no. 24 New Zealand, including a 5-0 shutout on Saturday (21st).

After a scoreless first half in the first game on Wednesday in Wellington, the U.S. got off to a faster start in Auckland, opening the scoring in the 22nd minute with Ashley Hatch pounding in a swerving pass from Trinity Rodman from 12 yards out. Midfield star Rose Lavelle made it 2-0 on a left-footed tap off a perfect cross from Sofia Huerta. The Football Ferns were aggressive, committing eight fouls against the U.S., but the Americans had 73% of possession in the half and an 8-0 edge on shots.

The second half was more of the same, with goals from Mallory Swanson (nee Pugh) in the 53rd, smashing a loose ball in the box into the net, and then Lavelle again in the 74th and Taylor Kornieck on a Lavelle assist in the 80th.

The U.S. ended with 70% possession and a 22-0 advantage on shots, despite 12 New Zealand fouls. Keeper Casey Murphy got credit for the shutout for the U.S., which won the two games by a combined 9-0 score.

Next up will be the SheBelieves Cup in February, against Canada, Japan and Brazil, all World Cup qualifiers.

5.
Lake Placid Winter Universiade concludes

The second Winter World University Games to be held in Lake Placid, New York finished up on Sunday after a successful, 10-day run that saw Japan run away with the medal count, ending with 21 golds and 48 total (21-17-10).

Korea finished second in total medals with 29 and in golds with 12 (8 silver and 9 bronzes), followed by France (18), and Poland and the U.S., with 17 each.

The big individual winner was Korean Short Track star Min-jeong Choi, the three-time Olympic Winter gold medalist from 2018 and 2022. In Lake Placid, she swept the women’s 500-1,000-1,500 m races and was on the winning 3,000 m relay. Four others win three golds and another medal for four total: Japan’s Sakutaro Kobayashi in Nordic Combined and Ryo Hirose in Cross Country Skiing, Pole Nicole Konderla in Ski Jumping and Czech Jan Zabystran in Alpine Skiing.

Niklas Malacinski was the top American medal winner with four (1-2-1), including a gold with Evan Nichols in the Nordic Combined Team Sprint; the other gold-medal winners were Bjorn Westervelt in the men’s 12.5 km Pursuit in Biathlon, and John Steel Hagenbuch in the 30 km Freestyle Mass Start in Cross Country Skiing.

In the final event of the Games, the Canadian men won the ice hockey gold with a 7-2 victory over the U.S. The Canadian women also won the ice hockey gold, 5-0, over Japan.

≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡

● Handball ● We’re getting serious now in the IHF men’s World Championship in Poland and Sweden, with second-phase round-robin play concluding on Sunday.

France won Group I with a 3-0 mark, defeating Montenegro, Iran and Spain, while Sweden was also undefeated, beating Hungary, Iceland and Portugal.

Germany and Norway both won their first two games in Group III and will face off on Monday. In Group IV, Egypt won its first two and Denmark was 1-0-1 and will also play Monday.

The U.S., which won its first World Championships game ever in the first round against Morocco, advanced to Group IV, but lost to Bahrain (27-32), and Denmark (24-33) and will play Belgium on Monday.

The quarterfinals will be played on the 25th, semis on the 27th and medal matches on the 29th.

● Hockey ● Pool play in the FIH men’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar (IND) has concluded, with the group winners Australia (2-0-1), Belgium (2-0-1), Netherlands (3-0) and England (2-0-1) all moving to the quarterfinals. They will await the winners of play-in matches of the second and third-place teams in each group.

The quarterfinals will be on the 24th and 25th, with the semis on the 27th and finals in the 29th. The leading scorer so far in France’s Victor Charlet with six.

≡ PANORAMA ≡

● Alpine Skiing ● The first speed events of the women’s FIS World Cup season in Italy means it was time for Olympic Downhill champ Sofia Goggia to be back in gear. And she was!

Goggia won the first of two Downhills at Cortina d’Ampezzo for her fourth victory of the season and 21st of her career, in 1:33.47. Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec was second (1:33.60) and Kira Weidle (GER) third in 1:33.83. American Mikaela Shiffrin was a very creditable fourth in 1:33.97 and Breezy Johnson finished an encouraging ninth in 1:34.25.

On Saturday, two-time World Downhill champ Stuhec advanced to the top of the podium for her 10th career win, in 1:04.73, ahead of Kajsa Lie (NOR: 1:04.99) and Elena Curtoni (ITA: 1:05.07. Shiffrin continued to rack up points with a seventh-place finish in 1:05.12; Johnson tied for 10th at 1:05.37.

Sunday’s Super-G was the first win in almost a year for two-time Olympic silver medalist Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway, who timed 1:23.22 to finish ahead of Cornelia Huetter (AUT: 1:23.52) and Marta Bassino (ITA: 1:23.69). Shiffrin was seventh again (1:23.84) and now has a 1,317 to 796 lead on Petra Vlhova (SVK) in the overall World Cup race.

The schedule gets better for Shiffrin now, with three Giant Slaloms and two Slaloms – her best races – on the schedule prior to the World Championships.

The men’s tour was in Kitzbuehel (AUT) for two Downhills and a Slalom, with home favorite Vincent Kriechmayr, the 2021 World Champion, winning on Friday in 1:56.16, trailed by Florian Schieder (ITA: 1:56.39) and Swiss Niels Hintermann (1:56.47). Travis Ganong of the U.S. tied for seventh in 1:56.62.

Saturday’s Downhill was the seventh win of the season for Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (1:56.90), who edged France’s Beijing 2022 silver winner Johan Clarey (1:57.57) and Ganong (1:57.85), who won his sixth career World Cup medal – at age 34 – in third (1:57.85).

The Slalom saw Swiss Daniel Yule win his sixth career World Cup race – all in this event – in 1:44.63, with Britain’s Dave Ryding second (1:45.03) and Lucas Braathen (NOR: 1:45.04) third.

● Archery ● The annual World Archery Indoor World Series (18 m) tournament in Nimes (FRA) had an all-French Recurve podium, with Thomas Chirault winning in a shoot-off with Baptiste Addis, 6-5, for the gold, and Clement Jacquey (FRA) winning the bronze, 6-2, over Alex Potts (AUS).

Italy’s Tatiana Andreoli, the 2019 European Games champ, won the women’s Recurve final, 7-2, over Katharina Bauer (GER). Britain’s Penny Healey took the bronze, 6-4, over Michelle Kroppen (GER).

● Athletics ● The USATF National Cross Country Championships in Mechanicsville, Virginia saw Emmanuel Bor take control of the men’s 10 km race just after halfway and surge to a five-second lead by 6 km and then 12 seconds by the 8 km mark.

He gave back most of the lead in the final 2 km, but won his first national cross-country title in 28:44, four seconds up on Andrew Colley and five seconds ahead of former champions Anthony Rotich and Leonard Korir, and then Sam Chelanga, all in 28:49.

The women’s race had six runners at the front at the half, who stayed together through the 8 km mark, then Ednah Kurgat jumped to the lead and powered away from the rest, taking a 12-second lead with one km to go and finishing in 32:07 for her first USATF national title. Makena Morley was second in 32:24, ahead of Emily Durgin (32:27) and Emily Lipari (32:32).

At the American Track League opener in Iowa City, Iowa, a couple of world-leading marks in the early season, as American C.J. Allen won the 400 m hurdles (!) in an impressive 48.88, the no. 2 performance in history, and Regan Yee (CAN) edged Molly Sughroue in the women’s mile in a world-leading 4:30.46 to 4:30.89.

In the men’s 1,000 m, Clayton Murphy won in 2:20.70, no. 2 in the world for 2023, Freddie Crittenden and Michael Dickson went 1-2 in the men’s 60 m hurdles in 7.53, the second-fastest performances this year (Crittenden is the world leader at 7.52), and Chuk Enekwechi (NGR ) won the men’s shot in 21.20 m (69-6 3/4), no. 3 on the year list.

High jump star Vashti Cunningham won the women’s competition at 1.97 m (6-5 1/2), now no. 2 in 2023.

● Badminton ● The important Yonex Sunrise Open in New Delhi (IND) saw global powers China and Japan each reach three finals, but sickness impacted the final results.

It was a tough day to be the no. 1-ranked player in the world, as Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA) shocked Viktor Axelsen (DEN), 22-20, 10-21, 21-12 in the men’s final and Se Young An (KOR) stung no. 1 Akane Yamaguchi (JPN), 15-21, 21-16, 21-12, in the women’s title match.

In the men’s Doubles final, Wei Keng Liang and Chang Wang (CHN) overcame Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh (MAS), 14-21, 21-19, 21-18, but the other two Doubles matches were canceled due to both Chinese pairs being ill.

In the women’s Doubles, Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida (JPN) were given a walkover against Qing Chen Chen and Yi Fan Jia (CHN), and Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino (JPN) were also awarded a walkover against Yi Lyu Wang and Dong Ping Huang (CHN).

● Biathlon ● The sixth and final stop on the IBU World Cup tour prior to the World Championships in February was at Antholz-Anterselva (ITA) with the question: can anyone beat Norwegian star Johannes Thingnes Boe?

Nope.

Boe won his 10th and 11th races of the season – out of 14 held so far – with victories in the men’s 10 km Sprint on Friday (22:44.1 with one penalty) and the 12 km Pursuit on Saturday (31:24.4/2).

In both cases, he finished ahead of Swede Martin Ponsiluoma and Norwegian teammate Sturla Holm Lagreid: in that order in the Sprint (23:15.5/1 to 23:21.4/0) and with Lagreid second 32:04.6/0) and Ponsiluoma third (32:26.5/2) in the Pursuit.

Despite his dominance, Boe has not yet clinched the seasonal title, as he holds a 1,049-845 lead over Lagreid.

Three-time World Champion Dorothea Wierer of Italy was a popular women’s winner in the 7.5 km Sprint (20:59.6/0) – her first win of the season – over Chloe Chevalier (FRA: 21:02.4/0) and Sweden’s Olympic silver winner Elvira Oeberg (21:08.3/0).

Germany’s Denise Hermann-Wick took the 10 km Pursuit title for her second title this season in 29:53.1 (2), ahead of Italian Lisa Vittozzi (30:04.1/0) and Oeberg (30:10.3/2), who won her sixth medal in 14 races this season! French star Julia Simon’s seasonal lead is down to 811-735 over Oeberg.

● Bobsled & Skeleton ● The second week of sliding in Altenberg (GER) looked a lot like the first one, with wins – again – for Germany’s Johannes Lohner in the Two-Man, Brad Hall (GBR) in the Four-Man and American Kaillie Humphries in the women’s Monobob.

Lochner claimed his fourth straight win this season, this time with Erec Bruckert aboard in 1:51.50, and teammate (and Olympic champ) Francesco Friedrich again third (1:51.88). This time it was Swiss Michael Vogt in second , for his fourth medal of the season (1:51.55, with Sandro Michel aboard).

Hall, who drove to a sixth-place finish in the Beijing Winter Games in 2022, won for the third time on tour this season, in 1:49.32, ahead of twice-Olympic winner Friedrich (1:49.41) and Vogt (1:49.54).

Humphries and German Two-Woman Olympic winner Laura Nolte were 1-2 in the Monobob again, 2:00.61 to 2:01.13, with Australia’s Breeana Walker third (2:01.89).

Humphries doubled her pleasure in the Two-Woman race, teaming with Kaysha Love to win in 1:54.79, ahead of Nolte (1:54.81) and Swiss Melanie Hauser (1:55.36).

The Skeleton results were also eerily similar. The top three in the men’s race were the same as last week: Matt Weston (GBR: 1:54.16), and Germans Christopher Grotheer (1:54.51) and Axel Jungk (1:54.54). Four-time women’s World Champion Tina Hermann won again for her third win in six races this season (1:56.52), beating Janine Flock (AUT: 1:57.14) and teammate Susanne Kreher (1:57.15).

● Cross Country Skiing ● A lighter schedule this week, with a single individual Freestyle Sprint at Livigno (ITA), and Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo getting back to the top of the podium for his 60th career World Cup victory, extending his own record for the most career wins.

Klaebo won in 2:28.38, ahead of Richard Jouve (FRA: 2:28.73) and Janik Riebli (SUI: 2:29.82.

Sweden swept the women’s medals, with Jonna Sundling leading Maja Dahlqvist and Emma Ribom to the finish, in 2:45.70-2:46.75-2:47.00. It’s Sweden’s eighth win in 18 races so far this season, and the first sweep. Sundling scored her first World Cup gold of the season, and her sixth career victory. Julia Kern of the U.S. made the final and finished sixth (2:53.04).

In the women’s Freestyle Team Sprint, Sweden went 1-2, but the U.S. pair of Kern and Rosie Brennan finished third in 13:07.15, with winners Linn Svahn and Dahlqvist timing 13:06.10.

● Cycling ● The first event on the UCI men’s World Tour is the Santos Tour Down Under in Australia, with six stages that ended Sunday. It’s the first time this race has been held since 2020, before the explosion of the coronavirus, with Australian riders winning five of the prior seven editions.

The race developed with five different winners in the first five stages – a Prologue and then four stages – with the fifth on Sunday. Italy’s Alberto Bettiol won the flat Prologue, then hilly stage wins went to Paul Bauhaus (GER), Rohan Dennis (AUS), Pello Bilbao (ESP) and Bryan Coquard (FRA). Going into the Sunday finale, Australian Jay Vine was on top by 15 seconds – having finished 9-68-2-3-22 – over 2018 Vuelta a Espana champ Simon Yates (GBR) and Bilbao.

On the final, hilly, 112.5 km ride to the uphill finish at Mount Lofty, Vine and Yates battled to the line with Yates getting the stage win (2:41:16), but Vine ending up as the overall champ at 16:07:41 (now six of the last eight winners have been Australian). Yates finished 11 seconds back and Bilbao was third (+0:27). American Magnus Sheffield was fourth (+0:57), pretty impressive for a 20-year-old!

● Freestyle Skiing ● Busy weekend of action, starting with Halfpipe action in Calgary (CAN) and a win for Olympic champ Eileen Gu (CHN) on Thursday. She scored 90.00, 95.00 and 95.00 on her three runs and her best of 95.00 was a clear winner, with Beijing bronze medalist Rachael Karker (CAN: 89.00) and Hanna Faulhaber (USA: 77.25) following.

Saturday’s second event was another showcase for the Chinese star, as she scored 90.00, 93.50 and 91.75 on her three runs – all six were 90.00 or better on the weekend – to win easily over Karker (85.50) and Kexin Zhang (CHN: 81.75). Faulhaber was fourth again (79.25).

In the men’s Halfpipe, Finland’s Jon Salinen, 22, won his first career World Cup medal with a gold, scoring 96.00 to barely beat Canadians Brendan MacKay (94.50) and Simon D’Artois (93.00). Americans Alex Ferreira (the Beijing bronze winner), two-time Olympic champ David Wise, Birk Irving and Aaron Blunck finished 4-5-6-7.

Saturday was an American 1-2 as Ferreira won at 94.50, followed by Irving (93.00) and Noah Bowman (CAN: 90.50). For Ferreira, now 28, it was his fourth career World Cup gold.

Also in Canada – at Le Relais in Quebec – were the second and third Aerials events of the season, with American Quinn Dehlinger, 20, getting his first World Cup medal and victory, out-scoring Noe Roth (SUI), the 2019 Worlds bronze medalist, 122.62-121.24. Ukraine’s Dmytro Kotovskyi claimed the bronze at 120.81.

On Sunday, Roth moved up to the top of the podium, scoring 124.43 with the 21-year-old Kotovskyi taking silver (119.91) and American Chris Lillis – the 2021 Worlds silver winner – scoring 118.55 for bronze.

Home favorite Marion Thenault (CAN) took the first women’s event – with her second career World Cup gold – scoring 96.23 ahead of America’s 2017 World Champion Ashley Caldwell (92.00) and Ukraine’s Anastasiya Novosad (86.71), who won her second career individual World Cup medal.

Australia’s two-time World Champion Laura Peel won on Sunday at 109.15, ahead of Caldwell (93.06) and Novosad (90.59).

The third Slopestyle competition of 2023-23 was in Laax (SUI), with Swiss Andri Ragettli – the 2021 World Champion – scoring a 79.08-76.81 win over American Alex Hall – the Beijing 2022 gold medalist – with Olympic Big Air champ Birk Ruud (NOR) third at 75.63.

Johanne Killi (NOR) won again in the women’s competition, after taking the season opener last November. She scored 85.65 to edge 2018 Olympic winner Sarah Hoefflin (SUI: 81.53) and France’s 2017 World Champion Tess Ledeux (80.21).

Two rounds of Ski Cross for men and women were on in Idre Fjall (SWE), with the unstoppable Sandra Naeslund thrilling the home fans with her sixth straight win this season and 14th in a row over two seasons in the first women’s final, on Saturday. She finished ahead of Swiss Fanny Smith, with Germany’s Daniela Mayer third.

On Sunday, more of the same, as Naeslund winning in front of Katrin Ofner (AUT) and Canada’s Marielle Thompson.

The first men’s race also was a Swedish win, for David Mobaerg, ahead of 2022 Cross Alps Tour winner Reece Howden (CAN) and older brother Erik Mobaerg. Howden came back to win on Sunday, beating Erik Mobaerg and Tobias Mueller (GER) to the line.

● Nordic Combined ● Two races in the men’s World Cup were moved due to weather from Chaux-Neuve (FRA) to Klingenthal (GER), but while more weather difficulties scrambled the schedule, both races were held.

In the 140 m jumping and Gundersen 10 km race, Austria’s 2021 World Champion, Johannes Lamparter was the winner in 27:54.9, beating Norwegian star Jarl Magnus Rieber (28:01.9) and Franz-Josef Rehrl (AUT: 28:17.8).

Lamparter won the second event, too, a Mass Start 10 km race after the jumping, with 146.2 points to 141 for Rehrl and 139.3 for Riiber. Riiber mains in front in the seasonal standings, with 698 points to 605 for Lamparter.

● Rugby Sevens ● Argentina and New Zealand took the titles at the HSBC Worlds Sevens Series tournaments in Hamilton (NZL), with the U.S. earning medals in both.

Argentina surprised the hosts in the men’s final with a 14-12 win for its first medal of the season, with the U.S. men edging France, 15-14, for its second-straight bronze finish and moving into third place in the seasonal standings, behind New Zealand, 63-61.

The Black Ferns won their second straight women’s tourney title with a 33-7 win over the U.S. women and continued in first place with 58 points. Australia is second with 54 after a third-place win over Ireland, 33-17. The American women stand third (50) after a silver medal finish that followed bronze medals in the first two events.

● Shooting ● The Trap section of the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Rabat (MAR) concluded on Sunday,

In the men’s individual final, it was Britain’s 2019 World Champion Matthew John Coward-Holley who eked out a 32-31 win over 47-year-old Czech David Kostelecky – the 2008 Olympic winner – with Joao Azevedo (POR: 18) third and 37-year-old American Derrick Mein (13) – the 2022 World Champion – fourth.

Spain’s 2019 European Junior Champion Mar Molne Magrina won the women’s division, 29-26, over Safiye Sariturk Temizdemir (TUR), with American Rachel Tozier taking the bronze (20).

The American pair of Tozier and Mein won the Mixed Team event over Poland, 2-1 in a shoot-off after a 5-5 tie in regulation time. The World Cup ends on Monday with the men’s and women’s Team Trap events.

● Ski Jumping ● The men’s World Cup was in Sapporo (JPN) and Beijing 2022 gold winner Ryoyu Kobayashi gave the home fans what they wanted: his first win of the season – and 28th of his career – scoring 271.5 on Friday to beat Poland’s seasonal leader Dawid Kubacki (264.3) and Four Hills winner Halvor Egner Granerud (NOR: 262.6).

Austria’s Stefan Kraft, a three-time World Champion, took the win on Saturday off the 137 m hill, scoring 283.5 with Granerud moving up to second (277.9) and Kobayashi third (276.1).

Kobayashi got back on top on Sunday, scoring 280.9 to win decisively over Granerud (268.9) and German Markus Eisenbichler (256.9).

● Snowboard ● Difficult weather in Laax (SUI) wiped out the Halfpipe competition scheduled for Saturday, so the results from the qualifying round had to stand, with Ruka Hirano (JPN) winning his third career World Cup gold at 95.25, ahead of four-time World Champion Scotty James (AUS: 95.00) and Yuto Totsuka (JPN: 91.50).

The women’s title went to first-time winner Mitsuki Ono (JPN: 18), who scored 89.50 to beat China’s Shaotong Wu (89.00), who won her first World Cup medal. American Maddie Mastro scored her 10th career World Cup medal in third (82.50).

Sunday’s Slopestyle was a win for Norway’s 2021 World Champion, Marcus Kleveland, scoring 83.61 to beat American Dusty Henricksen (82.45) and Sven Thorgren (SWE: 80.23). Beijing Olympic champ Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won the women’s title at 81.30, with 16-year-old Mia Brookes (GBR) getting her first World Cup medal at 79,9 and Austria’s two-time Olympic Big Air winner Anna Gasser third (77.05).

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