phelps

the youngster is good! Marcel is...lost!

I think there won't be anything to know before early 2025

Dzhima is not starting Today in the women's Mass Start, therefore yesterday's Italian hero Hannah Auchentaller is going to replace her.

tbh, I expected Goggia destroying the field in DH, Brignone and Curtoni going 1-2 (or 1-3 at max) in Super-G, Bassino retaining her Parallel Slalom gold (especially after having a half-sized starting field in terms of big names) and winning also the GS (with Brignone also on the podium) after Shiffrin's choke in the combined event (where Brignone's gold is the obvious and direct consequence of Shiffrin's fault). so, yes...it's absolutely true that more gold medals were expected in alpine skiing.

bleah! shitty day for Italy... I guess we already used all of our good luck yesterday in Oberhof...

so, also this CHL campaign is over! see you next August with a new chapter, full of new features and a new revised format for the regular season.

Knockout Stage Final Saturday 18.02.2023 - Highlights Luleå Hockey (SWE) - Tappara Tampere (FIN)

Knockout Stage Final Saturday 18.02.2023 - Result 16:20 Luleå Hockey (SWE) - Tappara Tampere (FIN) 2-3 (0-2, 0-0, 2-1) Goal Scorers: 0-1, 01:42, Kristian Tanus, PP (Maksim Matushkin, Anton Levtchi) 0-2, 07:06, Niko Ojamäki (Ben Thomas, Juuso Ikonen) 0-3, 41:00, Jori Lehterä (Kristian Tanus, Veli-Matti Savinainen) 1-3, 52:04, Erik Gustafsson, PP 6-on-4 (Linus Fröberg, Jack Connolly) 2-3, 57:50, Juhani Tyrväinen, EV 6-on-5 (Brendan Shinnimin, Jack Connolly)

Tappara Tampere are the new European Champions! thanks to a strong start, they earned a 3-0 lead and then they were able to defend it through the entire match. Luleå did too little and too late, cutting Tappara's lead to just 1 goal in the final minutes of the game, but they couldn't complete their comeback. Final score: Tappara 3, Luleå 2

tbh, in alpine skiing we've won way less precious metal than expected... and also in Biathlon, it's not that the mixed relays and Vittozzi in her individual events weren't out of any prediction. the only true surprise is today's gold medal in the biathlon women's relay.

by the way, I'm still shocked by this result...I didn't really expect Comola and Auchentaller to perform like they did today... and actually, I didn't expect even Vittozzi to blow Herrmann out like she did in the last shooting session. congrats to all of our girls...thanks for this great afternoon...my cardiologist couldn't be happier... now I hope this race gives all of our youngsters a new perspective and represents a boost to their effort to improve more and more on their weak side (definitely not the shooting, let's say).

well, her dad is the US National Team's coach since quite a bit...she's grown up among good native speakers...

Tappara dominating the first period and comfortably leading 2-0 after 20 mins.

FINAL PREVIEW - SECOND CHL FINAL FOR BOTH LULEÅ AND TAPPARA The 2023 Champion Hockey League Final promises to be nothing more than packed full of action as two European heavyweights line up against each other with silverware on the line. The two contenders are Finland's Tappara Tampere and Sweden's Luleå Hockey. Both know what sort of pressure a CHL Final brings, but only one of them can win! For Finnish side Tappara, it's been a long and twisty road to the 2023 CHL Final. The reigning Liiga champions are back where they were last season - this time hoping to get their hands on the elusive European Trophy and first title of Champions of Europe! The eight-time participants of Europe's premier international club ice hockey competition are back in the Final for a second year in a row, following six straight exits in the Round of 16 or earlier between 2014-2020. Their composed, defense-focused style of play that emphasises building up play rather than turn-overs has paid off, with the Finns recording an astonishing four shutouts while only letting 17 goals in over 12 games. They've only scored 35 times, which is six times less than fellow Finalists Luleå, but their goals have been backed up by another season of table-topping goaltending from Christian Heljanko who has been their go-to man in net and is once again a huge reason behind their success in 2022/23. Jori Lehterä leads the team with nine assists so far this season, while Niko Ojamäki's 12 points (7G, 5A) are the most for the Finns. Unbeaten Luleå enter the 2023 CHL Final as the team to beat this season as the 2014/15 CHL Champions eye their second title of Champions of Europe. Luleå have turned games around with late goals, won in OT, came out on top in a shootout and have managed games when they've needed to with tight defending and reliable goaltending, cementing them their place in the ultimate game of the pan-European competition. Furthermore, their near-perfect sporting record also earned them the right to host the biggest game of the season in Luleå, in front of their faithful home fans. The Swedish team have everything in place to end their memorable season on the European stage with another win and, more importantly, the European Trophy high above their heads! Aiding them on their quest of seeing their name on the shiny silver trophy will be ace passer Juhani Tyrväinen and snipers Brendan Shinnimin and Isac Brännström. Tyrväinen has managed seven points (2G, 5A) in 10 games played and his 13 points have him in third place CHL-wide. Shinnimin is tied for third among Luleå’s forwards in points but his seven tucks lead the team while Brännström, who's second in scoring with ten points, has registered six tallies.

ROAD TO THE FINAL - TAPPARA TAMPERE It's been a long and twisty road to the 2023 Champions Hockey League Final for Finnish side Tappara Tampere who are back where they were last season - this time hoping to get their hands on the elusive European Trophy and first title of Champions of Europe! The eight-time participants of Europe's premier international club ice hockey competition are back in the Final for a second year in a row, following six straight exits in the Round of 16 or earlier between 2014-2020. Their composed, defense-focused style of play that emphasises building up play rather than turn-overs has paid off, with the Finns recording an astonishing four shutouts while only letting 17 goals in over 12 games. They've only scored 35 times, which is six times less than fellow Finalists Luleå Hockey, but their goals have been backed up by another season of table-topping goaltending from Christian Heljanko who has been their go-to man in net and is once again a huge reason behind their success in 2022/23. They've slayed some big teams along the way, scored some important goals and won all-or-nothing games, but their path hasn't always been an easy one - join us for a look back at Tappara Tampere's Road to the Final

ROAD TO THE FINAL - LULEÅ HOCKEY Unbeaten Luleå Hockey enter the 2023 Champions Hockey League Final as the team to beat this season as the 2014/15 CHL Champions eye their second title of Champions of Europe. Luleå have turned games around with late goals, won in OT, came out on top in a shootout and have managed games when they've needed to with tight defending and reliable goaltending, cementing them their place in the ultimate game of the pan-European competition. Furthermore, their near-perfect sporting record also earned them the right to host the biggest game of the season in Luleå, in front of their faithful home fans. The Swedish team have everything in place to end their memorable season on the European stage with another win and, more importantly, the European Trophy high above their heads! But before the big game rolls around, join us for a look back at their Road to the Final

DON'T MISS THE CHL FINAL TODAY AT 16:20 CET! The 2022/23 Champions Hockey League season will culminate later today with the all-or-nothing Final between Luleå Hockey and Tappara Tampere. The game in the Coop Norrbotten Arena in Luleå, Sweden will start at 16:20 CET. For both 2022 SHL finalists Luleå and reigning Liiga champions Tappara, it is their second participation in a CHL Final. Whereas Luleå won the very first season of the competition in 2014/15, Tappara are still waiting for their chance to lift the European Trophy after losing to Rögle Ängelholm last year. Luleå earned the right to host the ultimate showdown due to their higher points total throughout the 2022/23 season compared to Tappara's (31 points for Luleå to Tappara's 28 points). CHL 2023 FINAL, PROMO COOP NORRBOTTEN ARENA (the site of the 2023 CHL Final) Tour

also Paola and Lara Magoni

we don't have any other option since Sanfilippo was left out of the Biathlon team and Passler is totally useless on this kind of track and snow (too heavy and too much out of shape)... our plan is as simple as it looks: Comola is somehow more reliable than Auchentaller in the shooting range, so we hope she can limit the damage before Wierer hopefully makes the difference (I'm dreaming, I know), giving Auchentaller a small margin to keep our team in contention for something worth the effort before Vittozzi's final leg.

just another day to forget for the Italian team elsewhere, great comeback by Sagi Muki, who destroyed his opponents in brilliant style with some explosive throws

first ever win by Klimkait vs Deguchi in a IJF international tournament (head-to-head matchups were 6-0 in favor of Deguchi before Yesterday). tbh, Deguchi was doing better than her rival and the she was heavily penalized by an injury to a hand, she couldn't grab Klimkait sleeves anymore after that. no comment about the Italians in day #1 of the tournament. they basically missed the Paris Grand Slam to focus on this event and we came out with just a miserable bronze medal (thanks to the usual suspect Giuffrida, who lost once again vs Giles in the semifinal match ). the only encouraging performances came from Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Fabio Basile (who made his comeback after a long injury break in the -66kg class -which he left after Rio- and lost in the first round against the eventual winner Margvelashvili only after 3 mins into the GS period and after scoring a waza-ari against him in regulation) and youngster Veronica Toniolo (women's -57kg), who beat Telma Monteiro in rd#1 and then lost after 4 mins into the GS period by 3rd shido vs Daria Bilodid after actually dominating the fight.

Stage #5 ( Val Martello) Women's Individual Race (NOT an Olympic event) Gold: Axelle Gachet-Mollaret Silver: Emily Harrop Bronze: Giulia Murada

Stage #5 ( Val Martello) Men's Individual Race (NOT an Olympic event) Gold: Matteo Eydallin Silver: Robert Antonioli Bronze: Xavier Gachet

2nd run to be set by an American coach (not Shiffrin's, who's been fired and left France a couple of days ago). curious to see if he/she goes for a speedy design or if he/she does set a slalom with gs gates up. in the first case, most likely the 2nd run won't change the 3 girls currently on the podium (maybe Brignone can overtake Worley). otherwise, it might mix things up a bit and give some girls now ranked 4th/10th a slim chance to comeback (at least for silver and bronze...gold is only Shiffrin's to lose).