Dennis

That means Stage 3 of the World Cup has been completed.
 
Host country has shown well here, much better than in the first two World Cups. and the   also had their best World Cup weekend of the season so far in Beijing.   
 
was disappointing, but can hopefully make up for that next week in front of their home crowd in Seoul and also and as well as had their worst weekend of the season so far. Poland was pretty invisible this whole weekend except for the women's relay.
    
These are the top 10 countries in the world based on the number of World Cup points they have gained this year, including points gained in relays:
 South Korea - 4.025 points (+1.014)  Canada - 3.728 points (+1.153)  China - 3.282 points (+1.505)  the Netherlands - 2.686 points (+1.094)  Italy - 1.873 points (+520)  United States of America - 1.462 points (+476)  Belgium - 1.115 points (+318)  Poland - 1.028 points (+264)  Japan - 992 points (+297)  Kazakhstan - 779 points (+333)

ISU World Cup 2023/24 -  Beijing (Stage 3/6)
 
Women's 3.000m Relay:
 
01.  the Netherlands
02.  South Korea
03.  Poland
 
Men's 5.000m Relay:
 
01.  Canada
02.  South Korea
03.  China

ISU World Cup 2023/24 -  Beijing (Stage 3/6)
 
Overall World Cup Standings after Stage 3 - Women:
 Kim Gilli - 615 points (-)  Kristen Santos-Griswold - 600 points (-)  Xandra Velzeboer - 525 points (+1)  Hanne Desmet - 479 points (-1)  Selma Poutsma - 372 points (+3)  Seo Whimin - 343 points (-1)  Courtney Sarault - 306 points (-1)  Corinne Stoddard - 306 points (+4)  Gong Li - 305 points (+6)  Lee Soyoun - 212 points (-1)  
Overall World Cup Standings after Stage 3 - Men:
 Kim Gun Woo - 534 points (-)  Steven Dubois - 473 points (-)  Park Ji Won - 456 points (-)  William Dandjinou - 374 points (-)  Liu Shaoang - 373 points (+3)  Jordan Pierre-Gilles - 370 points (+13)  Pietro Sighel - 345 points (-1)  Jens van 't Wout - 327 points (+1)  Luca Spechenhauser - 293 points (-2)  Stijn Desmet - 292 points (+1)

ISU World Cup 2023/24 -  Beijing (Stage 3/6)
 
Women's 500m [2/2]:
 
01.  Xandra Velzeboer
02.  Selma Poutsma
03.  Fan Kexin
 
Men's 500m [2/2]:
 
01.  Jordan Pierre-Gilles
02.  Steven Dubois
03.  Sun Long

ISU World Cup 2023/24 -  Beijing (Stage 3/6)
 
Women's 1.000m:
 
01.  Kristen Santos-Griswold
02.  Corinne Stoddard
03.  Gong Li
 
Men's 1.000m:
 
01.  Liu Shaoang
02.  Park Ji Won
03.  Jang Sungwoo

Medal for  

ISU World Cup 2023/24 -  Beijing (Stage 3/6) 
 
Mixed 3.000m Relay:
 
01.  the Netherlands
02.  China
03.  United States of America

ISU World Cup 2023/24 -  Beijing (Stage 3/6)
 
Women's 500m [1/2]:
 
01.  Kristen Santos-Griswold
02.  Fan Kexin
03.  Wang Ye
 
Men's 500m [1/2]:
 
01.  Jordan Pierre-Gilles
02.  Quentin Fercoq
03.  Jens van 't Wout

ISU World Cup 2023/24 -  Beijing (Stage 3/6)
 
Women's 1.500m:
 
01.  Kim Gilli
02.  Gong Li
03.  Xandra Velzeboer
 
Men's 1.500m:
 
01.  Kim Gun Woo
02.  Li Wenlong
03.  William Dandjinou

If you get lapped, you get taken out of the race. Schouten passed almost everyone in her final sprint and therefore more than half of the skaters were taken out of the final classification. 

If you get lapped, you get taken out of the race. Schouten passed almost everyone in her final sprint and therefore more than half of the skaters were taken out of the final classification. 

The event is moved to  @heywoodu @Dennis @CCB
 
https://www.len.eu/european-water-polo-championships-to-go-ahead-in-january-2024-with-two-co-hosts/

I go for some surprises:
 
Pool A:    Pool B:    

Interesting New York marathon with the women starting 25 minutes before the men, but  Tola finishing in 2:04:59 was only shortly after the top 3 women with  Obiri winning the women's race in 2:27:23.
 
The women were consistently running at a 2:30:00+ pace for more than 35km, where the men's race was hard right from the start.

Rather unlikely, alright. If Churandy Martina gets a medal I swear I'm not gonna keep my eyes dry  
 
Individual medal for Liemarvin Bonevacia would be absolutely amazing as well. Both guys are true gold medal winners in terms of life attitude and overal source of inspiration. For example, I love Bonevacia's answer in Tokyo when, after the semi's (where he qualified for the final), he was asked about his 'prayer' before the race, asked if he was asking for help from above: "Not really, you're not gonna ask God to make other people have a bad race. I just asked, please, if today is my day, let my dream come true, if it's someone else's day, let their dream come true."
 
Just a minor example, they're just overall great guys.

The result on the ISU website has also been adjusted 

According to our national broadcaster the result has indeed been changed, with NL as winner, South Korea as second.

Less surprises on the women's 1.500m.
 
Groenewoud (5th at World Championships), Kiel (surprising 2nd place, making her World Cup debut at age 27), Rijpma-de Jong (reigning World Champion), Beune (6th last year in the final World Cup standings) and Wijfje (back after a poor season) qualified for the first World Cups.
 
Only one smaller surprise: Irene Schouten finished in 8th place, one spot behind 16-year old 6x junior World Champion (1.000m, 1.500m, mass start, team pursuit, team sprint & allround) Angel Daleman. Last year Schouten also finished in 8th spot at the qualification tournament, but that was after she took it a little easier during the summer, following her 3 Olympic gold medals in Beijing.

I was also surprised that Korea finished one lap before the rest, but then again, it was probably the most chaotic race I've ever seen. Some of the skaters were also confused as Kristen Santos was sprinting to the finish with the Korean skater, and then it turned out that the US had to skate one more lap. Well now it turns out that Korea also had to skate one more, so both teams sprinted to early. 

I was wrong. If you sum the total World Cup points won (excl. relays) in week 1 versus week 2, then Italy is indeed under-performing compared to Stage 1.
 
Most improved are:
 +336 points (796 vs. 460)  +115 points (1143 vs. 1028)  +115 points (716 vs. 601) Biggest decreases:
 -151 points (442 vs. 593)  -142 points (211 vs. 353)  -121 points (243 vs. 364)

The women's 1.500m final today was the strongest final so far this season won by  Hanne Desmet .
 
Incredible field here with Desmet, Santos, Kim Gilli, Xandra Velzeboer, Shim Suk Hee, Sarault and Gong Li all in the same race. That's what we want to see!

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 2/6)
 
Women's 1.000m:
 
01.  Seo Whimin
02.  Danae Blais
03.  Park Jiyun
 
Men's 1.000m:
 
01.  Jens van 't Wout
02.  Hwang Daeheon
03.  Lee Jeongmin
 

The women's 1.500m final today was the strongest final so far this season won by  Hanne Desmet .
 
Incredible field here with Desmet, Santos, Kim Gilli, Xandra Velzeboer, Shim Suk Hee, Sarault and Gong Li all in the same race. That's what we want to see!

ISU World Cup 2023/24 - Montréal (Stage 2/6)
 
Women's 1.500m [2/2]:
 
01.  Hanne Desmet
02.  Kim Gilli
03.  Kristen Santos-Griswold
 
Men's 1.500m [2/2]:
 
01.  Kim Gun Woo
02.  Park Ji Won
03.  Steven Dubois