Jinzha

I haven't had much time at home the past few weekends, but this weekend was a great weekend for some sport viewing: Strade Bianche, World Championship Indoor Athletics and PSV-Feyenoord! Looking forward to (highlights from) the first Beach Pro Tour tournament next week, and mostly the week after: Borussia Dortmund - PSV, World Championship Shorttrack, Milan - San Remo and handball champions league (highlights).

Unbelievable solo by Pogacar!! Big congratulations to Skujins as well for winning the mortal men classification.

Nice little course recon from a future Strade Bianche winner

CEV Champions League semi finals Women: Allianz Vero Volley Milano vs. Fenerbahce Oper Istanbul Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul vs. A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano Men: Jastrzebski Wegiel vs. Ziraat Bank Ankara Cucine Lube Civitanova vs Trentino Itas Slight and dominance if I may say so. I was really rooting for Allianz MTV Stuttgart after their 5-set victory in the first game versus Fenerbahce, but they couldn't keep it up in the away game.

Yeah we're looking completely out of our depths versus Germany and Spain, the intensity of the game has increased and it feels like our team can't keep up anymore.

Still 0-0 , but the Dutch have been struggling all game. I don't see us winning this (nor deserving it). Edit: they scored 0-1 basically as I posted this.

Ideas like these just devaluate the titles and competition in other events because of competition inflation. It's happening in all of the sports, but nowhere does more competition actually lead to happier athletes or happier spectators I feel...

I feel like this sport is really growing very well and naturally! New climbing halls are constantly opening up in the Netherlands as well. This one in Bulgaria is looking amazing!

I really want to believe McLaughlin is not a lock for gold, because Bol is still continuously improving and McLaughlin rarely ever competes. Feels like there is a real chance she can be beaten. I would hate to see someone run 3 races per year and then sweep into the most important race of the year and destroy the competition. Two other contenders for a 'locked gold': Field hockey women's team Archery women's team (despite the upset in the 2023 World championship)

Femke Bol just improved her indoor 400m record by another 0,02 seconds at the National Championships! 49,24 Meanwhile Lieke Klaver improved her indoor PB to 50,10 and 16 years old Madelief van Leur ran a NR U18 with 53,96 in the heats yesterday (improving the NR of Bol herself!).

A PB by 0.18 seconds yeah! And a new NR as well, previous NR was 52.69 by Femke Heemskerk in 2015.

Great development for Van Westering! He's another Dutch-American growing up and swimming in America with Dutch parents and choosing to represent the Netherlands, just like Corbeau. With Van Westering-Kamminga/Corbeau-Korstanje we almost have a competitive 4x100m medley on the mens side. Just need a proper freestyle swimmer.

Hachinohe City, Japan hosted the junior world championship this weekend: Women: 500m: 1. Angel Daleman 2. Huidan Jung 3. Hana Noake 1000m: 1. Angel Daleman 2. Emika Miyagawa 3. Meike Veen 1500m: 1. Angel Daleman 2. Emika Miyagawa 3. Meike Veen (yes, it's the exact same podium for 1000m and 1500m) 3000m: 1. Aurora Grinden Lovas 2. Hana Noake 3. Akane Iida Team Pursuit: 1. Japan 2. Netherlands 3. Kazachstan Team Sprint: 1. Netherlands 2. Kazachstan 3. Canada Mass Start: 1. Angel Daleman 2. Patricia Koot 3. Hana Noake Men: 500m: 1. Kyungmin Koo 2. Yuta Hirose 3. Issa Gunji 1000m: 1. Kyungmin Koo 2. Issa Gunji 3. Finn Sonnekalb 1500m: 1. Didrik Eng Strand 2. Finn Sonnekalb 3. Szymon Wojtakowski 5000m: 1. Sigurd Henriksen 2. Metodej Jilek 3. Didrik Eng Strang Team Pursuit: 1. Canada 2. Norway 3. Japan Team Sprint: 1. Norway 2. Canada 3. Poland Mass Start: 1. Yuta Fuchigami 2. Daniel Hall 3. Taiki Shingai Another dominant performance for Daleman. And a rather anonymous tournament for the Dutch boys.

Still a very interesting battle for the 4-6 positions. Interesting that GB has 2 serious medal candidates (and Tokyo Olympic medalists), but not enough depth for a second quota at the moment. This is an issue for the Dutch men as well, youngsters Ynze Oegema (23) and Jaymio Brink (19) will have to step up to really secure that second quota for us.

I'm travelling with Dutch friends and a Parisian friend. I'm not sure if I can fit a meet up in, but I'll be in Paris the second week (mon-fri).

I'm so ready for the Paris trip!! I just booked my train tickets to Paris! Tickets, accomodation, travel: everything ready now! And I recently bought tickets for 2 days at the TeamNL House as well!

The prediction is surprisingly close, with only 1 more gold and 1 less bronze in the Gracenote table. 12 gold medals is our best result ever, so if we get 15 or 16 I would be very surprised! A lot will depend on whether the rowing squad is still as dominant as they were at the 2023 World Championship. Five golds in rowing would be an incredible result to repeat.

I don't have high hopes about the volleyball and football teams qualifying, but hopefully the handball team will be there! If all three somehow qualify we could exceed our Tokyo squad probably, because we had no volleyball team then. I don't think we're losing any major quotas compared to last time. And in the best case we will hopefully also add a womens archery team and 3x3 basketball team.

I liked the standings better after one run, can we go back?

We should've sent a field hockey team instead

And he's only 26 still, if he keeps this up till LA 2028 he could potentially beat Ireen Wüsts 6 gold medal record to become our most succesful Olympian. He's that good! That dominating keirin has me all excited!

Already signed up of course!!

Keep it up @Agger!! I've also got some athletics new years resolutions, I'm beginning to train for my first triathlon. I've already got a second hand road bike and I'm joining a weekly swimming group next week, alongside my regular running. I'm hoping to do a 1/4 or Olympic Distance triathlon in the summer.

What a stunning award ceremony for a great year in sport. Thank you @vinipereira!! Loved all the photos you used and the gorgeous aftermovie.

Thank you once again @vinipereira for the beautiful presentation! I tried not to be too biased with my votes, but no guarantees BEST MALE ATHLETE for sportsmen in Olympic sports #1: Noah Lyles #2: Mathieu van der Poel #3: Leon Marchand BEST FEMALE ATHLETE for sportswomen in Olympic sports #1: Faith Kipyegon #2: Femke Bol #3: Kaylee McKeown BEST NON-OLYMPIC ATHLETE for athletes in Non-Olympic sports and disciplines #1: Shohei Ohtani (baseball) BEST PARALYMPIC ATHLETE for athletes with a disability #1: Diede de Groot BEST YOUTH ATHLETE for athletes up to 18 years old (born after January 1st, 2005) (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Summer McIntosh #2: Kaylia Nemour #3: Rayssa Leal BEST MEN'S TEAM for national men's teams or groups (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Volleyball team #2: Baseball team #3: Handball team BEST WOMEN'S TEAM for national women's teams or groups (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay #2: Football team #3: Handball team BEST DOUBLES/PAIR OR MIXED TEAM for doubles and pairs or mixed teams and groups (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Duda/Ana Patricia #2: Bodnar/Radis #3: Tita/Banti BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR for the most improved athlete (aged 19 or over) or national team (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Qin Haiyang #2: Jordan Stolz #3: Letsile Tebogo COMEBACK OF THE YEAR for athletes or national teams who made a comeback performance in 2023 (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Simone Biles #2: Katerina Johnson-Thompson #3: Ruta Meilutyte SPORT MOMENT OF THE YEAR for any sport moment from 2023 #1: Femke Bol redemption in women's 4x400m relay #2: Mollie O’Callaghan’s women’s 200m freestyle WR #3: Spain wins women's football world cup TOTALLYMPICS’ STARS AWARD @Josh for his many helpful and positive contributions in a large variety of sports. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Annemiek van Vleuten for her long and succesful career, her impact on womens cycling and the joy she had in cycling and competing.