Monzanator

Tennis is my default sport so to speak so I follow WTA more than you realize She drew Sloane Stephens in R1, arguably the hardest player any of the qualifiers could get but maybe this is for the best as she will find out how far away she is from a regular WTA player at this stage. She had a relatively easy Q draw (nothing is easy for a 14yo in her first WTA tournament but past-prime Errani away from clay & Kung who won 5 matches since the start of 2021 are as good as it gets) and we'll hear about the sisters for years to come since Czech Republic does have a good record of setting up established players on the WTA scene for years.

Jacques Villeneuve wrecking other cars in Daytona 500. Welcome to 2022!

Brenda Fruhvirtova beat Leonie Kung in Q2 and has qualified for Guadalajara MD. Obviously first player born in 2007 to achieve that feat. Meanwhile her older sister Linda won ITF 25k in Cancun beating veteran Rebecca Marino in the final.

Some of the biathlon races were more predictable aka boring in 2022 and of course our Dutch friend wasn't posting as much due to known circumstances. Freestyle skiing was hardly a highlight either, the in-breeding in some events makes people ignore the action and I believe slopestyle & half-pipe just doesn't really do much with the same nations taking medals over & over again.

There used to be two runs on each course for individual parallel at the start of this event but it lasted too long for TV window so they scaled back to one and it's been unfair 9/10 times since. Obviously they could introduce two runs each again only if men & women would have separate venues which is unlikely to happen. As for team event, technically they are alternating the courses. It's a question of figuring out what is the winning formula. Here in Beijing it was to put your best two skiers on the blue course. Surprise, surprise... eventual gold medal winners Austria did just that - Liensberger & Brennsteiner raced on blue course in QF, SF and Final. I do wonder if Austria noticed that pattern after 1/8 when they had a bye. Total times from two winning runs on blue ALWAYS decided every tie. The gaps to red & DNFs on red were irrelevant. If USA put Shiffrin on blue in SF they would make the final, if they put her on blue in small final they would win bronze. They got lucky de Aliprandini crashed on blue course in QF but it was criminal to keep putting Moltzan on blue after that.

Diggins silver and Niskanen takes bronze! Andersson collapsed in the last 500 meters after all.

Andersson's gap down to 11 secs with 1,4 to go.

Justyna Kowalczyk foreshadowing Ebba Anderson's collapse

Nepryaeva DNF after 20 minutes.

Yes, obviously.

Yesh, Shiffrin on red lost to Bassino by 0,02! Most red losses for women were by at least 0,4 if not 0,7! Shiffrin would have smoked everyone on blue course most likely. USA will look back at this and realize how badly they blew this. DNF didn't mean jack shit here. Blue course winning times were the key. Radamus on blue course was fast enough to carry them but they put Moltzan on blue instead of Shiffrin.

Austria wins in lieu of the total time rule. You could literally DNF both runs on the red course and win all the ties based on two wins from the blue course. A complete joke. USA putting Shiffrin on the red course in QF, SF & small final was clearly a big mistake.

Liensberger was faster than Duerr on the blue course. Almost impossible for Germany to win this.

Bingo. All the ties were decided by faster winning time instead of the gap. Gaps were big enough to get the tie but the total time never was.

Norway takes bronze. Austria have Liensberger & Brennsteinter on blue course in the final so they should win gold.

Yeah, well, even Polish ES who usually notices nothing noticed how the blue course is clearly faster.

USA beats Italy 3-1.

Well, at least Poland didn't completely embrass themselves with 2-2 score. Norway through.

If ROC wins ice hockey New Zealand will finish ahead of Finland... in Winter OG As expected for Poland, this are the worst WOG since Nagano 1998 which was the last time we didn't win a single medal.

Brenda Fruhvirtova managed to win the second ITF 25k in Tucuman a week later and just now she beat former French Open finalist Sara Errani in first round of qualifying for WTA Guadalajara tournament. That's the first WTA victory for the 14 year old! First of many I believe!

I was one of them But @hckošicewas not! He's got some explaining to do!

had a challenging WOG but Jelena Ostapenko just won WTA 500 in Dubai!

Craig Ramsay almost smiled there. Almost!

4-0 now! Polish ES mocking Swedes to let Slovakia score more goals

Empty net goal! Polish ES exploded like it was our team playing! They were really cheering for these guys! Bronze medal for Slovensko!!! TV studio extended until Monday