phelps

World Skate and the organizing committee of the World Skate Games released Yesterday the dates, the full program of events and the locations where the various disciplines will take place. This is the full calendar of events:

what a disaster start of the season (and actually, also the end of last year) for Today even the unbelievable streak of Odette Giuffrida's podium finish in GS tournaments came to a premature end

yes, now I have the full selection for Paltrinieri is going to swim both the 5k and the mixed relay (plus both the 800m and the 1500m in the pool) they decided to skip the 10k because he wanted a couple more days rest after the altitude training and because the water in Doha is supposed to be too cold for his taste (around 20° C, they even think it might be possible for the swimmers to be allowed to use the full wet suit) by the way, this is the full team: women's 10 km: Ginevra Taddeucci & Arianna Bridi men's 10 km: Dario Verani & Domenico Acerenza women's 5 km: Barbara Pozzobon & Giulia Gabbrielleschi men's 5 km: Gregorio Paltrinieri & Domenico Acerenza Team Event 4x1500m: TBD after the 5km races (but the men are surely Paltrinieri & Acerenza, unless something goes wrong in the previous days)

I think they're messing it up a bit... Paltrinieri is not taking any gamble...he's already sure to participate to the Olympic race, as he already swam 14.40 in the 1500m last December and every Nation can start 2 swimmers in the Olympic race provided they are directly qualified through the 2023 and 2024 worlds OR they have reached the A standard in the 800m/1500m in the pool this means that for Doha's race is only about a second quota place (both Acerenza and Verani don't have good pool clockings yet, so they need to earn a place in Sunday's competition) for what concerns the internal selection, he's already safe, Verani has been named clearly the number #3 in the Paris list (even if he wins the world title, he would be selected for the Olympics only if Greg and Mimmo are injured)

better not to write what I think of the all-star events (in every sport)

why not? we have a lot of wonderful locations in the middle of the most beautiful mountains in the world... when it's not down to "big stuff" (like the "true" Olympics), I think we are among the best possible hosts for Winter Sports when major infrastructure is needed, well, that's another story (and most likely we're not a good choice, but I guess there was no better option when they awarded the 2026 Games to us)

meanwhile, at the top of the men's standings, Luc Van Opzeeland and Nicolò Renna have already destroyed the entire field (the 3rd ranked, Tom Reuveney is 33.5 pts behind the 2nd ranked Renna) they're just a class apart, I'd be really upset if the Olympic Gold and Silver won't be a close fight between those 2 guys in the top 10, there are 4 surfers from and 2 from , then 1 each from and in the women's ranking, Emma Wilson has a comfortable (20 pts) lead Pilar Lamdrid Trueba, who also has a big margin over the 3rd ranked, Katy Spichakov in the top 10, there are 4 girls from , meanwhile and have 1 surfer each one in any case, it's important to remember that the medal stages will eventually reshuffle the entire field, with the only exception of the series winner, who's sure to get at least the Bronze medal (thanks to the craziest format man can find in the sport)

p.s. tbh, I didn't really expect to see on top of the medal table, even in this small version of the Winter Games that's something to remember for the ages hope it's a good sign on the road to Paris 2024

if everything goes well, might host them, just (2 years) after the "true" Winter Games at least, all the infrastructure should still be in place (except for the speedskating track, but for the Youth events I'm pretty sure that the IOC would accept Baselga or Collalbo as they are -open air tracks, I mean- with no complaint)

Giovanna Epis and Sofia Yaremchuk have been officially named for the women's Marathon squad in Paris

Gregorio Paltrinieri will not take part in the men's 10km race he will be replaced by Dario Verani, world silver medallist and European champion over 25km (but a good specialist also in the 10km) Paltrinieri will swim only the mixed relay in OWS (and the 1500m in the pool)

actually, it's not even Tony, but Toby Roberts p.s. I don't think he has a chance to win gold, maybe a medal, but gold would definitely be a surprise

imho, he has very good chances I'd be surprised if he misses out (by winning a direct quota place rather by ranking)

to me, Skt.Moritz should have been the Olympic choice from the beginning (it's a track where we always perform very well, after all) the Cortina track should have been a project not related to the Olympic Games, their hype and media exposure (we definitely need a sliding sports track, but we should have built it "under the radar", keeping all the opposing idiots on local basis only as much as we could instead of giving them such a big stage and such a chance to make enormous damage to the sport in this fuckin' Country) I don't really see any advantage now in having a home track where we didn't have the time to train a lot more than any other Nation

next WC stops, in about 10 days Foil GP, men's Sabre and both Epee events p.s. Buenos Aires men's Epee events have been relocated to Tbilisi on the last weekend of February

Men's Individual Epee Grand Prix ( Doha) Gold: Yuval Shalom Freilich Silver: Federico Vismara Bronze: Samuel Imrek & Yeisser Ramirez Semifinals Vismara b. Imrek 15-12 Freilich b. Ramirez 14-13 Final Freilich b. Vismara 15-9 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2024/387?tab=results

Women's Individual Epee Grand Prix ( Doha) Gold: Vivian Kong Man Wai Silver: Giulia Rizzi Bronze: Darja Varfolomyeyeva & Hadley Husisian Semifinals Rizzi b. Varfolomyeyeva 15-12 Kong b. Husisian 15-14 Final Kong b. Rizzi 14-13 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2024/79?tab=results

in this 1st World Cup stage of the year, got 2 Gold medals each, meanwhile all got one Gold in total, good 22 Countries have been on the podium at least once in the 15 events held in the Egyptian Capital that's all, folks! next stop, Rabat, where only the Shotgun specialists will be in action (next week)

men's 50m 3-Position Rifle Gold: Jiri Privratsky Silver: Romain Aufrere Bronze: Akhil Sheoran Final Ranking and Results https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=19226

Epee Grand Prix ( Doha) women's Semifinals Darja Varfolomyeyeva vs Giulia Rizzi Hadley Husisian vs Vivian Kong Man Wai men's Semifinals Yuval Shalom Freilich vs Yeisser Ramirez Federico Vismara vs Samuel Imrek

women's 50m 3-Position Rifle Gold: Seonaid McIntosh Silver: Chiara Leone Bronze: Emely Jaeggi Final Ranking and Results https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=19225

mixed Team Skeet Gold: Qatar (Reem Al Sharshani & Rachid Saleh Al-Athba) Silver: France 1 (Lucie Anastassiou & Eric Delaunay) Bronze: Mexico (Gabriela Rodriguez & Luis Raul Gallardo Oliveros) Final Ranking and Results https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=19224

it depends on the place and on the fate...and climatic change doesn't help if you're closer to the see or up the mountains, it's obvious that there's a higher chance to be in a windy place, if you live in the middle of Pianura Padana, instead, you can only dream of little wind gusts once every century (that's why this is the place with most pollution in the whole European Continet)

Olympic Quota Places Juan Maegli (relocated to ) Milivoj Dukic Clemente Seguel (relocated to ) Johan Lundgaard Schubert Vishnu Saravanan Yigit Yalcin Citak Emil Bengtson

men's ILCA7 2024 World Championships Gold: Matt Wearn Silver: Hermann Tomasgaard Bronze: Michael Beckett Full Results https://jpvm.org/results/2024/ILCA_7/results.html