phelps

no, it won't happen... this same course has already hosted 3 world champs in the past 30 years or so if they had to change something, they would have done it already years ago yeah, it's not only about the sprint races, all the mass start events will suffer from that uncommon, too long (and not adequate) final straight

first time in history miss out on the final four of the men's Jr. Worlds 2 years in a row what a game by the young Czechs I already saw that weren't that good this year in the previous games, but still, I didn't expect to upset them like that

this week is mostly about Hockey (NHL, SHL, NLA and Junior Worlds), CC Skiing (Tour de Ski), Football (NCAA Bowls and NFL), Basketball (Euroleague) and Cricket (mainly BBL, but also some BPL highlights...sorry, but I just can't stand Test Cricket )

Christmas has gone... however, I did nothing special...I'm not in any party mood (and I'm not religious, so basically Christmas Day is just another day on my calendar)

Alberto Razzetti will also join the group from January 2nd through the end of March (Ceccon will be in from January 10th through April 15th) from January 10th through January 24th also Alberto Burlina (Ceccon's coach) will act as an assistent to the high caliber training group

I'm all in!

so... my 2 cents for this year (unfortunately, I couldn't pick anybody in the last couple of categories because of a lack of time )... BEST MALE ATHLETE for sportsmen in Olympic sports #1: Leon Marchand (Swimming) #2: Harry Lavreysen (Track Cycling) #3: Tadej Pogacar (Road Cycling) #4: Marco Odermatt (Alpine Skiing) #5: Jannik Sinner (Tennis) #6: Armand Duplantis (Athletics) BEST FEMALE ATHLETE for sportswomen in Olympic sports #1: Summer McIntosh (Swimming) #2: Simone Biles (Artistic Gymnastics) #3: Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Athletics) #4: Lisa Carrington (Sprint Canoeing) #5: Beatrice Chebet (Athletics) #6: Imane Khelif / Raygun (IOC Circus Farce) BEST NON-OLYMPIC ATHLETE for athletes in Non-Olympic sports and disciplines #1: Shoei Ohtani (Baseball) #2: Naoya Inoue (Boxing) #3: Oleksandr Usyk (Boxing) #4: Patrick Mahomes (American Football) #5: Jasprit Bumrah (Cricket) #6: / Ilia Topuria (Mixed Martial Arts) BEST PARALYMPIC ATHLETE for athletes with a disability #1: Jiang Yuyan (Swimming) #2: Stefano Raimondi (Swimming) #3: Catherine Debrunner (Athletics) #4: Ilhar Boki (Swimming) #5: Sun Gang (Fencing) #6: Saysunee Jana (Fencing) BEST YOUTH ATHLETE for athletes up to 18 years old (born after January 1st, 2006) (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Kaylia Nemour (Artistic Gymnastics) #2: Huang Yuting (Shooting) #3: Viviana Marton (Taekwondo) #4: Tara Babulfath (Judo) #5: Metodej Jilek (Inline & Ice Speedskating) #6: Sorato Anraku (Sport Climbing) BEST MEN'S TEAM for national men's teams or groups (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: United States (Basketball) #2: Denmark (Handball) #3: Spain (Football) #4: India (Cricket) #5: South Africa (Rugby XV) #6: Australia Pursuit Team (Track Cycling) BEST WOMEN'S TEAM for national women's teams or groups (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Italy (Volleyball) #2: United States (Basketball) #3: Netherlands (Field Hockey) #4: Norway (Handball) #5: Japan (Softball) #6: Canada (Ice Hockey) BEST DOUBLES/PAIR OR MIXED TEAM for doubles and pairs or mixed teams and groups (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti (Sailing) #2: David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig (Beach Volleyball) #3: Ana Patricia & Duda Lisboa (Beach Volleyball) #4: Fintan McCarty & Paul Donovan (Rowing) #5: women's 4*100m Medley Relay Team (Swimming) #6: France Mixed Team (Judo) BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR for the most improved athlete (aged 19 or over) or national team (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Adriana Ruano (Shooting) #2: Daniel Wiffen (Swimming) #3: Jasmine Paolini (Tennis) #4: women's Field Hockey Team #5: Eleanor Harvey (Fencing) #6: men's Epee Team (Fencing) COMEBACK OF THE YEAR for athletes or national teams who made a comeback performance in 2024 (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Lisa Vittozzi (Biathlon) #2: Kristof Milak (Swimming) #3: Steeve Guerdat (Equestrian) #4: Tom Daley (Diving) #5: Sunisa Lee (Artistic Gymnastics) #6: Therese Johaug (Cross Country Skiing)

can we share our votes in this thread like in the past years or is it better to keep them hidden until after the deadline?

I haven't read anything about that meanwhile many skiers were complaining about the snow and the different consistency of it between the sectors of the track Odermatt was quite polite but very tough at the same time on that...

we already have something like that...it's the regular world championships! I mean, if we spread the Games all around the Globe, we completely lose the fascination of a single great multi-disciplinary event in a single place (more or less, given that some sports are always held far away from the actual Olympic City) it's just another thing, it's not the Olympic Games anymore if that's to be the case, I'd rather prefer the single championships to be well spread through the whole year, so to be able to watch the most of them without losing hours of sleep

my picks...

and Pietro Zazzi also had a bad crash, ending up with broken tibia and fibula in his right leg a few more skiers also went down Today, but luckily with no injuries the different quality and consistence of the snow (and ice) in some points of the track made it very difficult and will be a problem also Tomorrow, when the skiers will have to go full speed

before the Olympics, all the teams will not have a proper warm up period it's like putting on an all-star team...individuals are called to find the way to play together in the most effective way through the early games of the tournament technically, they're all on the same boat

I made the list of current NHL players who could be declared eligible to play for Italy in 2026 1 or 2 pages back in this thread and there are a lot more playing in the AHL and in the best European leagues if NHL and IOC want, it's never too late even if they want the players to have the italian passport, many of them already have it...meanwhile for some others, it would only take a few days to our President of the Republic to give it to them for special sport reasons the true obstacle is such an idiot of a fisg president, who would like to oppose even a direct request by nhl, iihf and ioc

no, as I wrote, Wintersports is FISI (Snow disciplines, Lugue, Bobsleigh, Skeleton) all the Ice sports are a different federation (FISG) with separate funding, of course

OK, this is a déjà-vu and a joke... earlier Today, our Ice Sports Federation's president, Andrea Gios, was interviewed by Discovery Media journalists after attending the Figure Skating Nationals he said a lot of things about all the disciplines administrated by his federations and when Ice Hockey came to the attention, he said he's not interested in calling up any player from North America with Italian heritage, especially those who have never played in any of our teams he also said that he knows that the NHL and the IOC want the team to be the best possible and make the Olympic tournament the most competitive as possible, so, if they will still push the cause of Italy playing with the NHLers, he won't accept any command and will try to find some kind of compromise, as he's only interested in keeping in the team the Italian born guys (even if they just can't play hockey at that level and will make Italy a joke of a team, because he's only interested in saving his ass and Chair, not losing votes from the hockey representatives at the next federal elections) the words in Italics are mine, of course he didn't say that, even if I'm sure that this is what he actually thinks to say that I'm disgusted by that little idiot, it's an enormous euphemism

Sports funding in 2025 budget, as established by the National Government our National Federations will receive a total of 300.879.333€, about 11.5 millions (3.8%) more than 2024 more details Football (Soccer) 35.235.965€ (-1,72%) Volleyball 17.080.283€ (+3,4%) Swimming 16.839.489€ (+13,91%) Track & Field 14.890.298€ (-1,72%) Tennis & Padel 14.026.305€ (+15%) Wintersports (Snow & Sliding disciplines) 12.548.319€ (-0,92%) Basketball 10.384.752€ (+1,83%) Fencing 10.128.052€ (+8,8%) Gymnastics 10.082.146€ (+15%) Cycling 9.650.303€ (-1,72%) Judo / Wrestling / Karate 8.137.860€ (-1,72%) Shotgun Shooting 7.192.291€ (+2,87%) Ice Sports 6.983.352€ (+0,42%) Sailing 6.503.923€ (+15%) Rugby 6.306.288€ (+5,69%) Rowing 6.191.746€ (-1,72%) Equestrian Sports 5.514.691€ (-1,72%) Boxing 5.436.573€ (-1,72%) Canoeing (all disciplines) 5.328.387€ (+12,46%) Taekwondo 5.217.058€ (+11,42%) Baseball & Softball 5.038.302€ (-1,41%) Weightlifting 4.936.971€ (-0,74%) Modern Pentathlon 4.912.341€ (+9,48%) Motorsports (all disciplines) 4.825.669€ (-1,72%) Archery 4.808.859€ (-1,72%) Roller Sports 4.706.247€ (+4,74%) Golf 4.642.027€ (+7,2%) Sports & Underwater Fishing 4.272.910€ (-1,72%) Shooting (Pistol, Rifle & Historical Fire Weapons) 4.067.312€ (-0,91%) Boccia 3.584.528€ (-1,72%) Table Tennis 3.561.171€ (+15%) Triathlon 3.280.237€ (+15%) Water Ski & Wakeboarding 3.053.599€ (-1,72%) Handball 3.007.535€ (-1,72%) Field Hockey 2.912.231€ (-1,72%) Sport Climbing 2.760.058€ (+15%) Badminton 2.493.733€ (-7,62%) Sport Dance 2.373.154€ (-1,72%) Motorboating 1.845.809€ (-10%) Hunting Sport Weapons 1.553.638€ (-1,72%) Squash 1.231.130€ (-2,99%) Biliards & Bowling 1.041.901€ (+15%) Federkombat (Non-Olympic Combat Sports like Mixed Martial Arts, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Savate and many more) 716.941€ (+15%) American Football 291.468€ (+40%) Cricket 286.110€ (+40%)

well, in the last 35 years we've had a lot of seasons where the singles weren't the best at all (despite Georg Hackl and Jens Mueller winning a few Olympic and World titles in this span) among the men, people like Markus Prock and Armin Zoeggeler have won tons of races and world cups in the Nienties and 2000's...and they haven't been the only ones actually, there have been more periods with and/or dominating the field rather than among the women, after the Doris & Angelika Neuner + Gerda Weissensteiner's runs in the early/mid Nineties, it's really been all

Knockout Stage Semifinals Tuesday/Wednesday 14/15.01.2025 - 1st Leg Tuesday/Wednesday 21/22.01.2025 - 2nd Leg Färjestad Karlstad (SWE) - Sparta Prague (CZE) Genève-Servette (SUI) - ZSC Lions Zürich (SUI)

Knockout Stage Quarterfinals, 2nd Leg Tuesday 17.12.2024 - Highlights Färjestad Karlstad (SWE) - Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) Växjö Lakers (SWE) - Sparta Prague (CZE) Pinguins Bremerhaven (GER) - Genève-Servette (SUI) ZSC Lions Zürich (SUI) - Eisbären Berlin (GER)

Knockout Stage Quarterfinals, 2nd Leg Tuesday 17.12.2024 - Results Färjestad Karlstad (SWE) - Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) 6-0 (0-0, 3-0, 3-0) Aggr. Score: 7-3 Växjö Lakers (SWE) - Sparta Prague (CZE) 4-6 OT (2-0, 1-1, 1-4, 0-1) Aggr. Score: 6-7 Pinguins Bremerhaven (GER) - Genève-Servette (SUI) 2-2 (0-0, 0-0, 2-2) Aggr. Score: 2-6 ZSC Lions Zürich (SUI) - Eisbären Berlin (GER) 5-4 (0-3, 2-0, 3-1) Aggr. Score: 9-7

Summer 1.this is easy...Rio 2016, the last Olympics with my mom still alive (but already sick), very emotional period of my life 2.Barcelona 1992, I was so young...and I had s much enthusiasm and hype (despite not winning many medals in those years) 3.Sydney 2000, the best Olympic Games ever...and one of the most successful for 4.Tokyo 2020, the Games of medal record for us and the first time I could actually choose at 100% what to watch and when...incomparable! 5.Atlanta 1996, more or less for the same reason of Tokyo...a lot of medals for and my first time with satellite TV and the chance to watch (at least partially) many of my favourite sports ignored by the Italian TV 6.Los Angeles 1984...my first Olympic Games, the discover of a new world, the enthusiasm of a very young kid (I was 10 at that time) 7.London 2012...again, a new step ahead in the TV coverage if compared to the previous Games 8.Paris 2024, despite everything that went around 9.Athens 2004, good memories but not so deep into my heart 10.Seoul 1988, the Games of scandals...moreover, I was too young to overcome the time difference and the fact that they were scheduled just when the first couple of weeks at the high school started but at least I was still very young, enthusiast and hungry to know about sports not so popular in 11.Beijing 2008, the artificial Games, the disturbing celebration of Chinese power, the lack of a true, genuine international athmosphere around the venues (and not because of lack of spectators)...definitely, my least favourite Games ever (among those I watched, of course) Winter 1.Lillehammer 1994, the perfect Games (with a lot of medals) 2.Torino 2006, despite the not so good results overall, the Home Games always have a special place in the heart of the sports fans around the World, and I'm not an exception 3.Sarajevo 1984, like the Summer Games in LA, the enthusiasm of a kid, the discover of a new world made all the difference...and, above all, I saw some international high level (Ice) Hockey for the first time 4.Albertville 1992...Tomba, Compagnoni, Belmondo... 5.Vancouver 2010...disappointing results, but amazing Games...perfect organization, beautiful venues, entertaining competitions (and for the first time, the chance to watch all the men's Hockey matches of the tournament...a great tournament, probably the best Olympic Hockey tournament ever) =6.Calgary 1988 / Salt Lake City 2002 / Beijing 2022...nice memories, but for some different reasons, all of those Games have been very difficult to follow and appreciate at 100% 9.Nagano 1998...awful Games...bad weather, penalizing time difference, disappointing performances...I only save the first ever participation of the NHL players in the Hockey tournament 10.Sochi 2014, a farce...Summer temperatures and results completely compromised by the systematical doping...not to mention the "0 tituli" for 11.Pyeongchang 2018...as if they weren't even held because of personal reasons...at that time I had absolutely no interest/enthusiasm for anything in my life

the loser of the vs matchup would have an easier group than the winner (with all respect, + >>> + ) @hckošice meanwhile will have to face either or (the winner of that matchup) + and

no way! when I say Basketball, I mean Euroleague first, then NCAA followed by Caitlin Clark NBA RS doesn't even exist (that's not basketball)...NBA playoffs are still at the bottom of my list

meanwhile Gretchen Walsh destroyed another WR (this time, the women's 100m Fly) and she did it with a time that was bettered by just 1 guy after the first 3 heats of the corresponding male competition