phelps

yeah, you're right...she might not have been a perfect fit in that category, so I changed my choice (I don't know how I could leave Pieterse out of my initial list ) to me, Katzberg is still in the category of the one-hit wonders rather in the established, consistent newcomers in the elite of the discipline actually, if there was a category named "upset/surprise of the Year", he'd be very high in that ranking

yes, of course... I already fixed that in the PM I sent you a few days ago, now I'm gonna do it also in this public thread

I meant Karoline, of course I don't know how I came up with the name Guri...most likely, I was "under influence" you know, this almost Holiday period, you always have to see people you normally don't see very often, friends, relatives...there's always a chance to party

I must admit it wasn't easy... in some categories I had even too many names/events in mind that I found extremely difficult to choose only 6 (some times 7, thanks to a couple of ex-aequo) meanwhile in a few other categories I had the opposite problem, had to dig deep to find 6 really good options I also tried not to be so "obvious" when possible, but without being "extravagant" however, this is my effort for this year... BEST MALE ATHLETE for sportsmen in Olympic sports #1: Lèon Marchand (Swimming) #2: Marco Odermatt (Alpine Skiing) #3: Noah Lyles (Athletics) #4: Johannes Thingnes Boe (Biathlon) #5: Hifumi Abe (Judo) #6: Karlos May Nasar (Weightlifting) BEST FEMALE ATHLETE for sportswomen in Olympic sports #1: Molly O'Callaghan (Swimming) #2: Faith Kipyegon (Athletics) #3: Femke Bol (Athletics) #4: Mikaela Shiffrin (Alpine Skiing) #5: Rebeca Andrade (Artistic Gymnastics) #6: Yui Susaki (Wrestling) & Uta Abe (Judo) BEST NON-OLYMPIC ATHLETE for athletes in Non-Olympic sports and disciplines #1: Shohei Ohtani (Baseball) #2: Christian McCaffrey (American Football) #3: Naoya Inoue (Boxing) #4: Islam Makhachev (MMA) #5: Virat Kohli (Cricket) #6: Bart Swings (Inline Speedskating) BEST PARALYMPIC ATHLETE for athletes with a disability #1: Marcel Hug (Athletics) #2: Simone Barlaam (Swimming) #3: Jesper Pedersen (Alpine Skiing) #4: Alexandre Lèautè (Cycling) #5: Karen Palomeque (Athletics) #6: Diede De Groot (Tennis) BEST YOUTH ATHLETE for athletes up to 18 years old (born after January 1st, 2005) (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Connor Bedard (Ice Hockey) #2: Summer McIntosh (Swimming) #3: Darja Varfolomeev (Rhythmic Gymnastics) #4: Qiu Qiyuan (Artistic Gymanstics) #5: Luana Marton (Taekwondo) #6: Maximilian Maeder (Sailing, Kitesurfing) BEST MEN'S TEAM for national men's teams or groups (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Baseball NT #2: Basketball NT #3: Rugby (Union) NT #4: Rugby (Union) NT #5: Waterpolo NT #6: Cricket NT BEST WOMEN'S TEAM for national women's teams or groups (including Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic sports) #1: Volleyball NT #2: Swimming Freestyle Relays 4*100m & 4*200m #3: Waterpolo NT #4: Football NT #5: Biathlon Relay 4*6km #6: Handball NT 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, Nacra 17 Class) #2: Ana Patrícia Ramos & Eduarda Lisboa (women's Beach Volleyball) #3: Show Jumping Team (Equestrian Sports) #4: Ondřej Perušič & David Schweiner (men's Beach Volleyball) #5: Melvin Twellaar & Stef Broenink (Rowing) #6: Toni Eggert & Sascha Benecken (Luge) 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 (Swimming) #2: Akhmed Tazhudinov (Wrestling) #3: Matt Temple (Swimming) #4: Karoline Knotten & Juni Arnekleiv (Biathlon) #5: Puck Pieterse (Mountain bike) #6: Ilia Malinin (Figure Skating) 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 (Artistic Gymnastics) #2: Cameron McEvoy (Swimming) #3: Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Athletics) #4: Sha'carri Richardson (Athletics) #5: Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (Biathlon) #6: Antonella Palmisano (Athletics) SPORT MOMENT OF THE YEAR for any sport moment from 2023 #1: Shohei Ohtani striking out (at that time) club teammate Mike Trout to close the men's Baseball WBC #2: Glenn Maxwell scoring 201/not out to lead an amazing comeback by his team vs at the Cricket World Cup #3: Team Europe winning the Ryder Cup in style (Golf) #4: Femke Bol losing a Relay Gold already in the pocket after a dramatic fall just before the finish line at the World Champs (Athletics) #5: Molly O'Callaghan breaking the women's oldest rubber suit World Record in Swimming (ITA icon Federica Pellegrini's women's 200m Freestyle) #6: the 4 most important Baseball Leagues all having the most unexpected new champions in the same season (MLB, Texas Rangers, 1st title in history; NPB, Hanshin Tigers, 1st title in 38 years; KBO, LG Twins Seoul, 1st title in 29 years; CPBL, Wei Chuan Dragons, 1st title in 24 years) [#7: Italy winning the Davis Cup (Tennis) after a 47-year drought, with Sinner's matches breaking all the TV viewership records] (personal bias I couldn't resist to)

I don't know if it's more appropriate this or that I mean, when people get in trouble it's never a good thing, but reading the equation 'Bulgarian weightlifting = scandals' makes me laugh because it happens so often that's like saying 'water is wet', more or less

Wintersports (mainly Alpine Skiing), Euroleague Basketball, a lot of Hockey and tons of US Sports (above all, Football...the NFL is coming to the RS climax and in the NCAA it's Bowl season! )

Medal Table 2 / 3 / 1 2 / 0 / 0 1 / 2 / 1 1 / 0 / 1 1 / 0 / 0 1 / 0 / 0 1 / 0 / 0 1 / 0 / 0 1 / 0 / 0 0 / 2 / 0 0 / 1 / 1 0 / 1 / 0 0 / 1 / 0 0 / 1 / 0 0 / 0 / 2 0 / 0 / 1 0 / 0 / 1 0 / 0 / 1 0 / 0 / 1 0 / 0 / 1

2023 Youth Sailing World Championships ( Buzios) men's Windsurfer (iQFOiL) Gold: Stanislaw Trepczynski Silver: Leonardo Tomasini Bronze: Noè Garandeau women's Windsurfer (iQFOiL) Gold: Kristyna Pinosova Silver: Lina Erzen Bronze: Darcey Shaw men's Kiteboarding (Formula Kite) Gold: Maximilian Maeder Silver: Huang Qibin Bronze: Riccardo Pianosi women's Kiteboarding (Formula Kite) Gold: Derin Atakan Silver: Catalina Turienzo Bronze: Mika Kafri men's One-Person Dinghy (ILCA 6) Gold: Mattia Cesana Silver: Luka Zabukovec Bronze: Joao Pontes women's One-Person Dinghy (ILCA 6) Gold: Roos Wind Silver: Emma Mattivi Bronze: Sienna Wright men's/mixed Two-Person Dinghy (420) Gold: Quan Cardi & Mattia Tognocchi Silver: Zou Schemmel & Jean-Philippe Boudard Bronze: Miguel Angel Morales Hernandez & Alejandro Martin women's Two-Person Dinghy (420) Gold: Joana Faulhaber Tostes Antunes Gonçalves & Gabriela Vassel Silver: Maayan Shemesh & Emilie Louviot Bronze: Kerkezou Iakovina & Giannouli Danai men's/mixed Skiff (29er) Gold: Hugo Revil & Karl Devaux Silver: Alex Demurtas & Giovanni Santi Bronze: Ben O'Shaughnessy & Ethan Spain women's Skiff (29er) Gold: Ewa Lewandowska & Julia Maria Zmudzinska Silver: Sarah Jannin & Fleur Babin Bronze: Boroka Feher & Szonja Feher mixed Two-Person Multihull (Nacra 15) Gold: Daniel Garcia De La Casas & Nora Garcia De La Casas Silver: Cody Roe & Brooke Mertz Bronze: Clement Guignard & Marie Mazuay Full Results https://worldsailingywc.org/notice-board/

by the way, took their revenge Tonight in Cortina, as Benny Karl edged out Andreas Promegger in the night PGS. the best , the veteran Captain Fisch, aka Roland Fischnaller, finished only 3rd among the women, it went a little better, as Lucia Dalmasso miraculously came 2nd behind the unstoppable Ramona Theresia Hofmeister. Sabine Schoeffman was 3rd.

what should I say, now?

2014 & 2018 Olympics, 2013 and 2017 Worlds (not mentioning some world cup stages and the X-games)

it was the same in 2021, Europeans, a lot of Grand Slam tournaments and Worlds in the Spring of that year actually, the Worlds were held in June, only 1 month and a half before the Olympics (and in fact many players who were already safe in the OQR missed that Championship, with many teams attending with the 2nd tier guys)

they should have played Reistad in a totally different way... you just can't let a woman like her score half the goals of her team at this level by the way, are destroying in the 2nd semifinal...boring match so far...

yeah, among the women it's pretty safe that they will choose -49kg, -81kg, +81kg (even if I wouldn't be surprised if they still go for the -71kg instead of the -81kg, but it's unlikey to happen)

in the old glory days, it was normally twice a year... nowadays there are new training methods, new ideas, a lot more scientific knowledge around physiology, some money can be earned in the commercial meets (that didn't exist until a few years ago)... so, many swimmers can keep a very high level of performance through almost the whole season, or at least through the main stints in a season but a true peak, really at 100% of their chances, it's maybe twice a year for those who have tough internal selection, if not even only once a year (the "Big" event) for those who can afford that (the stronger Italians, for instance, are among them)

yeah, those coming from smaller Nations for sure... have already announced that none of the selected swimmers for the Games will show up in Belgrade and that it will be the guys coming off the youth ranks' chance to make an impression an earn some consideration for the next Olympic cycle the last chance for our swimmers will be, as usual, in Rome at Settecolli meet just a few days earlier

Thomas Ceccon likely to skip the World Champs (decision not official yet, but his coach released an inteview that basically confirmes that) p.s. the 50m Pool Europeans will be held from June 10th through June 23rd, site is still TBA...that's crazy! it means that not a single swimmer going to Paris will be there, wherever they will be

Men's Quarterfinals Skaters advancing to the Semifinals Men's Quarterfinals Skaters Eliminated

yes, but mine has both the scores and the eliminated skaters

Women's Quarterfinals Skaters advancing to the Semifinals Women's Quarterfinals Skaters Eliminated

I wouldn't take for granted that would eventually choose those 3 weight classes if Shi is reasonably healthy, they might take him (in the -73kg) over Li and Tian in the -89kg, where they don't have any chance for Gold and even getting a miserable (for them) bronze might prove very difficult we'll see...

Men's Qualifiers Skaters already Eliminated (Part II)

Men's Qualifiers Skaters already Eliminated (Part I)

Men's Qualifiers Skaters advancing to the Quarterfinals

I think having male and female separation is enough.