phelps

what a great couple of days for Italy! let's hope we can fill the last blanks and come home with a new record of gold medals tomorrow...

Karate 1 Premier League Stage #2 ( Matosinhos) Medal Matches lineup Women's Individual Kata Gold Medal Match: Kiyou Shimizu vs Grace Lau Mo Sheung Bronze Medal Match #1: Maho Ono vs Carola Casale Bronze Medal Match #2: Natsuki Shimizu vs Hikaru Ono Men's Individual Kata Gold Medal Match: Alì Sofuoglu vs Kakeru Nishiyama Bronze Medal Match #1: Yaroslav Fedorov vs Enes Ozdemir Bronze Medal Match #2: Damian Hugo Quintero Capdevila vs Ariel Torres Gutierrez Women's Individual Kumite, -50kg Gold Medal Match: Yorgelis Salazar vs :Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu Bronze Medal Match #1: Seden Bugur vs Tsang Yee Ting Bronze Medal Match #2: Sara Leal vs Irene Kontou Women's Individual Kumite, -55kg Gold Medal Match: Anzhelika Terliuga vs Tuba Yakan Bronze Medal Match #1: Carlota Fernandez Osorio vs Maria Stoli Bronze Medal Match #2: Veronica Brunori vs Jennifer Warling Women's Individual Kumite, -61kg Gold Medal Match: Assel Kanay vs Anita Serogina Bronze Medal Match #1: Alessandra Mangiacapra vs Diana Shostak Bronze Medal Match #2: Haya Jumaa vs Alexandra Grande Women's Individual Kumite, -68kg Gold Medal Match: Silvia Semeraro vs Irina Zaretska Bronze Medal Match #1: Alisa Buchinger vs Elena Quirici Bronze Medal Match #2: Miroslava Kopunova vs Halyna Melnyk Women's Individual Kumite, +68kg Gold Medal Match: Meltem Hocaoglu Akyol vs Lucija Lesiak Bronze Medal Match #1: Marta Pascual Chico vs Ayaka Saito Bronze Medal Match #2: Fabienne Kaufmann vs Ingrid Creemers Men's Individual Kumite, -60kg Gold Medal Match: Angelo Crescenzo vs Christos-Stefanos Xenos Bronze Medal Match #1: Danilo Greco vs Oussama Edari Bronze Medal Match #2: Eray Samdan vs Dominik Imrich Men's Individual Kumite, -67kg Gold Medal Match: Steven Dacosta vs Abdel Rahman Almasatfa Bronze Medal Match #1: Noah Pisino vs Said Oubaya Bronze Medal Match #2: Tural Aghalarzade vs Soichiro Nakano Men's Individual Kumite, -75kg Gold Medal Match: Daniele De Vivo vs Farid Aghayev Bronze Medal Match #1: Thomas Scott vs Tiago Duarte Bronze Medal Match #2: Lorenzo Pietromarchi vs Andrii Zaplitnyi Men's Individual Kumite, -84kg Gold Medal Match: Michele Martina vs Brian Timmermans Bronze Medal Match #1: Mehdi Sriti vs Mohamed Ramadan Bronze Medal Match #2: Andrea Minardi vs Faraj Alnashri Men's Individual Kumite, +84kg Gold Medal Match: Babacar Seck Sakho vs Rob Timmermans Bronze Medal Match #1: Asiman Gurbanli vs Andjelo Kvesic Bronze Medal Match #2: Robin Rettenbacher vs Luca Costa

Athletics, men's 110m HS...it was a difficult choice...most likely, I'd have voted for Colin Jackson, if only he had been capable of winning an Olympic Gold medal, but he wasn't... so, I made a personal ballot between Roger Kingdom and Allen Johnson, and finally my pick is Allen Johnson, also because of what he achieved in his career beyond the Olympic Gold medal in 1996... Judo, men's Heavyweights...here's a no brainer... Teddy Riner at his best was just on another level... Judo, women's Heavyweights...given her young age, thinking of what she can still do, I think Akira Sone deserves a lot of consideration...she might become the greatest female player ever if she keeps going... Fencing, men's Individual Sabre...one of the most traditional sports and events of the history of the Olympic Games...a lot of true champions...but the triple by Aron Szilagyi speakes for himself, there's no way to pick anybody else... Field Hockey, men's tournament...India would be the logical choice because of their unmatched streak, but frankly that was another sport compared to the modern game, so...I decided to pass on this event ...

@hckošice Slovakia always on fire! Stefecekova was "only" 4th this time, but it was Varga to make the headlines, after defeating Josip Glasnovic at the shoot-off... meanwhile, strange decisions were taken by the Italian coaches... Mauro De Filippis (men) dominated the field in the qualification stage and Alessia Iezzi was second among the girls, but they were both registered only as RPO, so they were both deprived of the chance to fight for the medals... instead the eternal Giovanni Pellielo did qualify for the medal stage (and then failed, of course)... I really don't know how they can still waste time and resources letting him compete officially for our team instead of giving chances to the youngsters to compete together with the top shooters and/or putting on the team our best shooters themselves... finally, an impressive stat...after the poor participation to the previous world cup stages (both shotgun and rifle+pistol events), this time we had 176 starters in the men's Trap and 78 starters in the women's Trap...

men's Individual Trap Gold: Erik Varga Silver: Josip Glasnovic Bronze: Adria' Martinez Torres Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16084 women's Individual Trap Gold: Kirsty Hegarty Silver: Augusta Rose Campos-Martyn Bronze: Ray Bassil Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16081

here we go with the new shotgun world cup stage in Lonato... and I saw things out there...

I don't think so...

c'mon! 12 starters in the Speed Climbing event is a farce! it will be a lot harder to qualify rather than winning a medal...

however, here's a quick summary of what's going on around Europe... Austria (open to more Countries): we already wrote how the season ended, with Red Bull Salzburg crowned champions once again Russia: CSKA Moscow and Metallurg Magnitogorsk are playing the Gagaring Cup Finals...the teams are tied 1-1 after the first couple of games played in Magnitogorsk Finland: we already wrote yesterday about it...Tappara Tampere are leading 1-0 against TPS Turku in the Liiga Finals Czech Republic: Ocelari Trinec and Sparta Prague are tied 1-1 after the first 2 games of the Extraliga Finals played in Trinec Switzerland: ZSC Lions Zurich won the first 2 matches of the NLA Finals against EV Zug, first on the road and then at home, both times coming from behind late in the game (in game #1 the winning goal came with only 2.2 secs to play ) Denmark: Aalborg Pirates are leading the final series of the Metalligaen against Rungsted Seier Capitals by a score of 2-1 Norway: Stavanger Oilers have a comfortable 2-0 lead over Storhamar Elite after 2 games in the final series of the Fjordkraft-Ligaen Slovakia: as @hckošice already wrote, we're ready for the start of the Finals, which are going to be played by HK Nitra and Slovan Bratislava Sweden: here we're still at the semifinals' stage...Farjestad BK are leading 2-1 against CHL Champions Rogle BK (having stolen the home ice advantage in game #1) and Lulea are leading 2-1 against Frolunda Indians (1 away win for both teams so far) Germany: here the semifinals just started last night (in this case, they play best-of-5 series, meanwhile all the other Countries play best-of-7)...Red Bull Munchen destroyed the Wolfsburg Grizzlys in the first match of the series; on the other side, Eisbaren Berlin survived a scare by Mannheim and won the first match of this series in the OT France: Les Bruleurs des Loups from Grenoble are once again the French Champions after winning the final series of the Ligue Magnus by a score of 4-1 against Les Ducs from Angers

yeah, I saw that match on RTVS :Sport... it looked that Slovan had it in full control, but then Kosice came back and I started thinking that they had enough momentum to close it down, but unfortunately for them, Slovan find the way to put the word "end" on the series... despite losing the chance of watching the KHL (well, it's not that I don't know how to make up for AMC's boycott...but still, I'm also going for a personal boycott since they made it harder to watch them with good quality picture -poor pictures' streams are not an option for me), I'm going mad with all the main European League finals going on at the same time... since it's impossible for me to watch all of them live and save myself from spoilers at the same time, I'm gonna post only a quick recap of them all once they finish, as I did with the ICE League last week...

I missed that! really, let's hope it's not a serious (long term) problem...

@hckošice Slaf strikes again! but unfortunately "his" TPS loses game #1 on the ice of Tappara in the Liiga final series by a score of 2-1... here, the highlights of tonight's match (with Slaf's goal at the beginning)...

3 rounds of team pursuit in about 10 hours... they're completely crazy...and then people pretends to be shocked if the athletes have to dope... by the way, Italy are competing in Glasgow with their top riders (Ganna, Milan, Viviani, Balsamo, Paternoster and so on) because of the new rule stating that people must compete in at least 1 Nations Cup stage to be able to enter the World Championships... not sure how many of this people can do on the track one week after riding the Paris-Roubaix (or any other demanding road race), though...

Olympic Champion Amos Mosaner is injured (left quad strain) and therefore he's going to miss the upcoming Mixed Doubles World Champs... Her usual partner Stefania Constantini will play together with Sebastiano Arman... source (in Italian): https://www.oasport.it/2022/04/curling-amos-mosaner-infortunato-il-campione-olimpico-salta-i-mondiali-di-doppio-misto-constantini-con-arman/?refresh_ce

Athletics, men's High Jump... Javier Sotomayor...GOAT without any doubt...but a special mention must go to Dick Fosbury because of how he did completely change the discipline... Swimming, women's 200m Fly... Mary T. Meagher...as already explained in a previous poll, she was truly a great swimmer, but she was also heavily penalized by the 1980's US boycott and by the poor following that the other global events used to have at that time...she definitely deserves a lot more credit for her efforts... Cycling, women's Road Race...with all respect for Marianne Vos, Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli's career says it all...imho, that's a no brainer... Tennis, women's Doubles...the 2 best players in the history of the game, sisters, playing togheter...there's not even need to ask... Venus & Serena Williams is the only reasonable choice... Women's Football...when you say "women's Football", you just think of the USA...

Athletics, men's 100m...I think almost every people is still shocked by Usain Bolt's results (that's why he's also my pick), but I also think Jesse Owens deserves more than a symbolic mention of honor for what he did under the circumstance he did it... Athletics, women's 100m...once again, Elaine Thompson-Hera's effort might be unmatched (she's obviously my pick), but Wilma Rudolph...guys, she was so classy...she truly deserves a mention of honor, too... Swimming, men's 100m Freestyle... Alexander Popov is my pick...I already explained why in the 50m Free poll... Swimming, women's 100m Freestyle... Dawn Frazier is maybe the most iconic swimmer of all times, she is the starting point that allowed all of today's girls to shine and make swimming a professional activity as it is right now... Cycling, men's Road Race...looking further beyond the Olympic race itself, I think it should be a 2-way battle between Jan Ullrich and Hennie Kuiper (with all respect for people like Baldini, Bettini, Richard and a few others), but I pick the Dutch on a personal bias...

so, another World Cup stage is over... Germany truly dominated the (very, very poor) starting field in Rio with 7 gold medals... but the main outcome is that the new Olympic Qualification rules (and the current global situation) just killed the series, with basically all the events not having most of the best shooters at the start... however, next stop is in Lonato (ITA) in a few days time, when the shotgun specialists will be on stage for their third event of the season...

last event of this stage... men's Team 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (only 3 teams at the start) Gold: Germany Silver: Brazil Bronze: Thailand Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16062

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Men's Team Foil ( Belgrade) Gold: Italy Silver: Poland Bronze: France Semifinals Italy b. France 45-29 Poland b. Hong Kong 45-32 Bronze Medal Match France b. Hong Kong 45-38 Gold Medal Match Italy b. Poland 45-27 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/205

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Women's Team Foil ( Belgrade) Gold: France Silver: Germany Bronze: Italy Semifinals Germany b. Japan 39-34 France b. Italy 45-44 Bronze Medal Match Italy b. Japan 45-15 Gold Medal Match France b. Germany 45-30 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/492

mixed Team 50m 3-Position Rifle Gold: Norway 1 Silver: Czech Republic 2 Bronze: Norway 2 Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16053

last "serious" event of the tournament... men's Individual 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Gold: Christian Reitz Silver: Jean Quiquampoix Bronze: Henry Turner Leverett Full Results page: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/csevent.ashx?cseventid=16056

early prediction... I hope in 2024 we're still here to think about this kind of frivolities and make any sort of prediction... at the moment, I wouldn't take it for granted...

disaster weekend for Italy in Paris, but some unexpected success for us in Belgrade, where a lot of surprising results happened...

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Women's Individual Foil ( Belgrade) Gold: Anne Sauer Silver: Leonie Ebert Bronze: Martina Batini & Lee Kiefer Semifinals Sauer b. Kiefer 15-10 Ebert b. Batini 15-7 Final Sauer b. Ebert 15-14 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/125 Men's Individual Foil ( Belgrade) Gold: Tommaso Marini Silver: Giorgio Avola Bronze: Kazuki Iimura & Daniel Giacon Semifinals Marini b. Giacon 15-9 Avola b. Iimura 15-9 Final Marini b. Avola 15-9 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/135