Josh

[2] Aryna Sabalenka defeats [12] Qinwen Zhang 6-3, 6-2, to win back-to-back Australian Open titles! First to achieve this feat since Azarenka did it in 2012/2013. Saba struggled a bit when serving for the match, but finally got it done after 5 set points (Zheng also had a break point) And she did it in dominant fashion, managing to not drop a set all tournament long! That’s now 14 consecutive matches won at the Australia for Sabalenka. Zheng hadn’t faced a single top 50 player all tournament, so this result seemed kind of inevitable IMO. To see what I mean, here was her draw: R128: v. Krueger (#76) R64: v. Boutler (#54) R32: v. Wang (#60) R16: v. Dodin (#94) QF: v. Kaliskaya (#75) SF: v. Yastremska (#95)

[2] Aryna Sabalenka is one set away from her back-to-back Australian Open titles, taking the first set 6-3 over [12] Qinwen Zheng!

Didn’t know Elizabeth Lemley was competing at Gangwon 2024 Thought she would’ve chosen to focus on the remainder of WC season, she’s a medal contender in both moguls and dual moguls on any given day (Behind Jakara there’s like 8 all capable of challenging for podiums, Kauf, Giacco, Soar, Schwinghammer, Yanagimoto, Macuga, Tomitaka are the others)

Nicola* but YESSS! Really hoping she can win gold at the Olympics this year

Perth SVNS Quarterfinals Women v. v. v. v. Men v. v. v. v. Spain advances to the QFs for the first time the season, with New Zealand shockingly failing to advance to the QFs.

Just took a look at the updated rankings, and apparently Edward Ly had shot up from 177 to 37 with that title

Not even a week later we have another 70 piece as Luka Doncic scores 73 points (tied for the 4th most in a game in NBA history), as the Dallas Mavericks (25-20) record a 148-143 win over the Atlanta Hawks (18-27)!

Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe Gold- Scotty James (93.00) Silver- Ayumu Hirano (87.00) Bronze- Kaishu Hirano (86.33) These judges are terrible, Ayumu Hirano deserved the win over Scotty James in my mind.

Canada win their first match in mixed doubles curling defeating South Korea 9-5. Great start.

Men’s Freestyle Skiing Big Air Gold- Troy Podmilsak (86.00) Silver- Alexander Hall (85.00) Bronze- Dylan Bacher (70.00)

By no means do I think Nusantara 2036 will actually happen though it would be pretty cool to see an event of that caliber in Indonesia (You had the Asian Games in 2018, but it obviously isn’t as big as an Olympics) I’m curious though, what are your thoughts on Santiago hosting?

John Terrier Classic- Boston, United States January 26-27, 2024 Full Results Men’s 5000m Edwin Kurgat Yared Nuguse Nico Young Morgan Beadlescomb Abihamid Nur George Mills Sam Atkin Geordie Beamish Benjamin Flanagan John Heymans Women’s 5000m Fentaye Belayneh Aynadis Mebratu Marta Garcia Alonso Josette Andrews @maestro

Men’s Snowboard Knuckle Huck Gold- Liam Brearley Silver- Zeb Powell Bronze- Darcy Sharpe

@hckošice

Personally, if it was me choosing, I’d want Santiago as the host for the 2036 Olympics. They did a really great job at hosting the Pan Am Games this year. Other than that, Seoul/Budapest/Nusantara would probably be my next three choices. I do think it will probably go to a European nation though, three non-European Olympics in a row sounds unlikely, although it certainly is possible. Regarding India, I don’t think they’re ready to host the Olympics yet (but that doesn’t mean they won’t be ready in 2040/2044)

Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe Gold- Chloe Kim (96.00) Silver- Mitsuki Ono (87.00) Bronze- Cai Xuetong (83.66) IMO Brooke D’Hondt was severely underscored on her last (76.00), that run was at least a bronze medal and maybe even a silver.

Pretty tame day by our standards, but Valerie Maltais wins bronze in the women’s 3000m at the Salt Lake City WC!

Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Gold- Mia Brookes (97.66) Silver- Kokomo Murase (94.33) Bronze- Reira Iwabuchi (92.00)

Jordan Stolz’s men’s 1000m WR

Speed Skating WC Salt Lake City | Salt Lake City, United States Day 1 Women’s 1000m Gold- Miho Takagi (1:12.77) Silver- Kimi Goetz (1:12.85) Bronze- Mei Han (1:13.64) Men’s 1000m Gold- Jordan Stolz (1:05.37/WR) Silver- Zhongyan Ning (1:06.97) Bronze- David Bosa (1:07.06) Women’s 3000m Gold- Joy Beune (3:56.86) Silver- Irene Schouten (3:58.20) Bronze- Valerie Maltais (3:59.71) Men’s Mass Start Gold- Jae-Won Chung (60 SP/7:42.35) Silver- Bart Swings (40 SP/7:42.40) Bronze- Bart Hoolwerf (20 SP/7:42.77) Full Results

IJF Grand Prix Ovidelas | Ovidelas, Portugal Day 1 Women’s 48kg Gold- Hikari Yoshioka Silver- Kano Miyaki Bronze- Ganbaatar Narantsetseg Bronze- Abiba Abuzhakynova Women’s 52kg Gold- Diyora Keldiyorova Silver- Reka Pupp Bronze- Glafira Borisova Bronze- Mascha Ballhaus Women’s 57kg Gold- Mimi Huh Silver- Daria Kurbonmamadova Bronze- Seija Ballhaus Bronze- Ayami Takano Men’s 60kg Gold- Dilshotbek Baratov Silver- Michel Augusto Bronze- Turan Bayramov Bronze- Yang Yung-Wei Men’s 66kg Gold- Yago Abuladze Silver- Yashar Najafov Bronze- Shinsei Hattori Bronze- Kamran Suleymanov Full Results

Sprint Men’s Singles Gold- David Gleirscher (33.001) Silver- Max Langenhan (33.071) Bronze- Kristers Aparjods (33.124) Sprint Men’s Doubles Gold- Martin Bots/Roberts Plume (27.863) Silver- Thomas Steu/Wolfgang Kindl (27.895) Bronze- Juri Thomas Gatt/Riccardo Martin Schoepf (28.973) Sprint Women’s Singles Gold- Julia Taubitz (37.702) Silver- Natalie Maag (37.774) Bronze- Elina Ieva Vitola (37.813) Sprint Women’s Doubles Gold- Andrea Voetter/Marion Oberhofer (28.421) Silver- Zane Kaluma/Anda Uplte (28.438) Bronze- Marta Robezniece/Kitija Bogdanova (28.467) Full Results

Moguls WC Waterville | Waterville, United States Women Gold- Jakara Anthony (81.22) Silver- Jaelin Kauf (71.71) Bronze- Hannah Soar (67.93) Men Gold- Ikuma Horishima (85.84) Silver- Cooper Woods (81.04) Bronze- Mikael Kingsbury (80.07) Full Results

Bronze for Mikael Kingsbury in men’s moguls at the Waterville WC!

Decided to take a crack at a potential VNL/Olympic (still need to qualify first though) roster for the Canadian women. Alexa Gray OH Kiera Van Ryk OPP Brie King S Emily Maglio MB Andrea Mitrovic OH Hillary Howe OH Kacey Jost L Julia Murmann L Jazmine White MB Layne Van Buskirk MB Jenn Cross MB Anna Smrek MB Shainah Joseph OPP Alicia Ogoms MB Smrek is exchangeable for Palermo.