phelps

6.04.91...medal for sure...highly likely, it's gonna be gold... at least, I hope he wins gold...he deserves it after having such a difficult season...

it looks Kramer is going well, but he's not going to skate a new WR...

sorry, I didn't think you still had to watch that race... I'm not going to talk of things not related to the thread anymore, I promise...

I do really fear that Ghiotto is going to struggle like Ichinoe...he's a notorious too fast starter and today if you misjudge the early pace, you're going to die on the ice more than usual... and now the first "big shot"...Kramer's on the ice...let's see if he's really in top shape...

mee too...but I fear it's quite a common practice on many tv networks from all around the world...

also our Biathlon medal earlier today was more or less expected (and it was "only" silver), but you should listen to our eurosport commentator once Windisch completed his standing shooting session... it was not like last year's worlds Mass Start finale, but almost...

you just didn't lose anything special...6.14 for Zakharov, very disappointing 6.15 for Giovannini...

Karate stars ready to fight for glory and Olympic dream at Karate 1-Premier League Dubai The second stop of the 2020 Karate 1-Premier League takes place this weekend in Dubai (UAE). Scheduled from February 14 to 16, the event will gather top karatekas in the quest to earn the qualification to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. As one of the last events in the Olympic qualification process, the Karate 1-Premier League Dubai is expected to be crucial in the race to determine the athletes who will participate in Karate’s Olympic debut in Tokyo. Nearly 600 competitors from no less than 85 countries have confirmed their participation at the big event. All but two of the current World champions and ten out of the 12 defending Grand Winners are registered to participate in Dubai. The top four-ranked athletes in the Olympic standings will qualify directly to the Games when the qualification process by ranking is due on April 6. The quest to take the qualifying positions is too close to call in most of the categories, thus making the points to be awarded in Dubai critical to the final list of Olympic athletes. In Male Kumite -67kg, athletes Vinicius Figueira 0f Brazil and Ali Elsawy of Egypt are tied with the same number of points (5872.5) in the last qualifying spot, while Eray Samdan of Turkey and Angelo Crescenzo of Italy are separated by only 202.5 points in third and fourth place respectively for the second qualifying spot for karatekas coming from Male Kumite -60kg. Meanwhile, in Male Kumite -75kg, Stanislav Horuna of Ukraine is just 360 points away from the last qualifying spot currently in USA’s Thomas Scott’s hands. In Female Kumite -55kg, Iran’s Sara Bahmanyar has 660 points advantage over Jana Messerschmidt of Germany in the last qualifying spot, while the difference between Jovana Prekovic of Serbia in fourth place and France’s Gwendoline Philippe in fifth position in Female Kumite -61kg is only of 502.5 points. The quest is even more thrilling in Female Kumite +68kg with seven athletes separated by less than 1000 points fighting for the last qualifying spots. The Karate 1-Premier League Dubai starts on Friday, 09:00 (local time). The elimination rounds will be held on Friday and Saturday, with the medal bouts taking place on Sunday. The finals are scheduled from 14:30 to 17:00 (local times). You can follow the event on the Karate 1-Premier League Dubai micro-site on WKF.net. CLICK HERE to go to all the info on the event including competition programme, entries and where to watch the competition LIVE.

so, Martina does it again! and good 8th place for Lollo in the end... it could have gone worse, definitely...

it's to make @hckosice happy, of course! sorry, my friend...I just had to write it! p.s. Weidemann is the big disappointment of the day...by far...

Czech TV commentator is not even shouting...he's like Martina just drank a cup of tea... they should hire Robert Zaruba also for speedskating...

are you sure?

Sablikova!

and the clean sweep is already gone...even before Sabliklova, Weidemann and Blondin... and here we go also with some Russian exhibitionists...

you look very confident... but I think that at the end of the day it won't be a clean sweep (actually, I wouldn't take Achtereekte's Gold for granted)...

wow! huge new PB (and NR) for Francesca...

Lollo must have mistaken the race she's doing...someone gotta tell her that's the 3000m, not the 1000m...

yeah, but most people have PB skated in calgary or SLC, which makes it less obvious to improve each and every time... Bonazza's best came in Hereenveen earlier this season (the first one she's trying to switch from the shorter distances to the 1500m/3000m disciplines)... so, in this particular case it's normal to expect people improving from time time, especially when you go from a sea level european track to the altitude North American ice ovals... but something must have happened with her, since she's having the worst 2 weeks of the season (I hope she's not sick)... p.s. Achtereekte...wow! luchtcirculatie troubles or not...huge PB for her...

and we are underway... first Italian athlete, Noemi Bonazza in the women's 3000m and first disappointing outing...PB of 4.04 (in Hereenveen), she skated 4.08 in SLC... she totally missed out on her peaking, to say the least... by the way, our National TV has blocked the YT broadcast, as they are also showing this event...in streaming on their website with Italian commentary only (of course an awful commentary) and with the wonderful resolution of 404p... I'd better watch some football on tv...

by the way, the main subject of the day, of the entire season is this sh*t of the new 3-batters rule just enforced by his excellence himself, the super-hyper-Commissioner of all of us, mr. Rob Manfred... https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rule-changes-for-2020-season how to ruin the wonderful game of Baseball...

https://www.mlb.com/astros/video/crane-on-investigation-of-astros?t=t117-default-vtp https://www.mlb.com/astros/video/baker-on-astros-transgressions?t=t117-default-vtp https://www.mlb.com/astros/video/astros-on-mlb-s-investigation?t=t117-default-vtp https://www.mlb.com/astros/video/altuve-apologizes-to-fans-mlb?t=t117-default-vtp https://www.mlb.com/astros/video/bregman-on-astros-transgressions?t=t117-default-vtp https://www.mlb.com/news/astros-discuss-sign-stealing-from-spring-camp

Asuka Teramoto is out of the Home Games...torn Achilles Tendon is the diagnosis (she has already had an operation and she's expected to sit out at least 8/10 months)... I don't follow Gymnastics that closely, but I read that's an important loss for the Japanese team...

yes, that was the 2019 world championship...this is the 2020 world championship... as they were both awarded to Countries in the southern emisphere (and world sailing wanted the 2020 worlds before the olympics), now we have this weird situation with 2 world championships within just a couple of months (even if technically they are 2 different years)... it's not the first time it happens (and I guess it won't be the last one, too)...

I think so, but I'm not sure at all... I only read about the Italians... we have to wait for FINA to publish some news/results...and knowing how they work, if you don't watch the race on fina.tv (paid service), it's highly likely nothing will be known until the day is over in Qatar...

Italian shot put specialist Leonardo Fabbri was measured at 21m59cm earlier today in Stockholm, new National indoor record, beating the 33 years old mark set by Alessandro Andrei (1987 world -outdoor- silver medallist)...