phelps

Helsinki Swim Meet (1st & 2nd April 2019)... best results from day #2... Sarah Sjostrom didn't start in any race today, so the general level of the competition was definitely lower than yesterday... to be mentioned: Henrik Christiansen won the men's 800m free in 7.53.52; Kim Buys won the 50m fly for the girls in 26.64; Katinka Hosszu won another bunch of events, but always with times really slow for her standard (2.13.93 over the 200m fly, 1.00.74 over the 100m backstroke and 4.48.40 over the 400 IM); Gedrius Titenis just edged out Erik Persson over the men's 100m breaststroke (1.00.53 vs 1.00.68) and finally Michelle Coleman won the women's 100m free in a modest 54.89...

Another top-tier European League entering the semifinal stage, is the Finnish Liiga the quarterfinals were completed very quickly, no series reached the 7th game and only 1 went to the 6th... but it wasn't always the favourites to dominate the games, as 2 of the 4 series actually resulted in the lower seeded team eliminating the higher seeds... Quarterfinals Recap HIFK Helsinki (6) b. Pelicans Lahti (3) 4-2 (0-6; 3-2; 2-1OT; 3-1; 1-5; 2-1) HPK Hämeenlinna (5) b. TPS Turku (4) 4-1 (3-2; 5-3; 2-3OT; 2-1; 3-2OT) Kärpät Oulu (1) b. Ilves Tampere (8) 4-0 (4-3OT; 4-0; 2-1; 3-2OT) Tappara Tampere (2) b. Lukko Rauma (7) 4-0 (3-2; 3-2; 3-2; 2-1) Semifinals (best-of-7 series) are scheduled to start later next Thursday, according to the following pairings: Kärpät Oulu vs HIFK Helsinki and Tappara Tampere vs HPK Hämeenlinna

DEL The German league also completed their quarterfinal stage... and as usual, we've seen a lot of very tight series, 2 of them ending only after 7 hard fought games... the series with most expectations on, was surely the revenge of last year's finals between Red Bull Munich and Eisbären Berlin...and once again the Bavarians edged out the men from Berin, and this time they did it in "only" 6 games (last year they went to the 7th and decisive match)... Quarterfinals Recap Red Bull Munich b. Eisbären Berlin 4-2 (3-2OT; 0-4; 4-1; 5-2; 0-3; 4-3) Adler Mannheim b. Thomas Sabo Nürnberg Ice Tigers 4-1 (7-2; 4-2; 4-1; 3-4OT; 7-4) Augsburger Panther b. Düsseldorfer EG 4-3 (7-1; 1-4; 3-4; 2-1; 4-3OT; 3-4OT; 2-1) Kölner Haie b. ERC Ingolstadt 4-3 (2-6; 3-4OT; 3-2OT; 2-3OT; 4-2; 5-2; 3-2) Semifinals (best-of-7 series) are scheduled to start later today (7.15 p.m. CET), according to the following pairings: Adler Mannheim vs Kölner Haie and Red Bull Munich vs Augsburger Panther

KHL Conference Finals Western Conference: Finally, SKA showed some sign of life in the series against their arch-rivals from Moscow, winning game #3 by a score of 2-1 (after the OT)... but it wasn't as easy as walking around the streets of the town...and when CSKA's Pavel Karnaukhov scored the opening goal of the night just as the 1st period was expiring, the entire world seemed to collapse over the home team... on the contrary of the 2 Moscow games, this time in any case SKA didn't give up early and entered the second period still fulle determined to get the game back on track, which happened after 7 mins and 58 secs of the middle stint, thanks to Alexander Barabanov... since that moment, both teams looked more afraid of getting one more goal against rather than effectively trying to score another goal by themselves...and the quality of play dramatically lowered down, with the game that became quite boring... it was therefore inevitable to go to the OT, where, after 12.43 minutes of play, Nikolai Prokhorkin was able to take advantage of a sleepy CSKA defence (5 Moscow men around him...and nobody really trying to steal the puck from his stick ) and score the game winner, giving SKA the chance to re-open the series, that frankly looked quite dead after the first 2 games in the Russian Capital (and even if they won the match, it's not that also today SKA was the best team on the ice...they really have to thank their goalie Shestyorkin for keeping them alive early in the OT with the save of the night)... game #4 of the Western Conference Finals is scheduled for Tomorrow, once again in St.Petersburg (7.30 p.m. local, 6.30 p.m. CET) Game #3 highlights

always... p.s. yes, your calculations are definitely more accurate than mine...still, I see that you understand my point... maybe I shouldn't have written that those currently at 4000 (or something like that) points are "safe" ('cause there are still so many points to be awarded), but tbh I only wanted to make a still photo of the current situation, more than really analyzing the future implications... p.p.s. however, I think (Ihope) Italy can keep those 4 spots currently in our (virtual) hands...it would be a huge success for us (especially because I think that those 4 guys -Bottaro, Busato, Busà and Crescenzo- are also good medal chances, once they actually qualify for the Games)... and hopefully we can also get Cardin back very quickly...she could be the women's kumite medal candidate we're missing right now (the heavyweights girls -Semeraro and Ferracuti, whoever should get the chance- are too inconsistent to be considered a real medal threat, even should they qualify through the world tournament in May 2020)...

oh, yes...I didn't multiplied the bonus points... well, as I wrote, you have to win or at least get a silver medal to make all those points...so, it's not that easy for the outsiders to climb the rankings as it could look only considering the big prize for the top 1 or 2 of each tournament... for instance, just making a good 5th place, it gives "only" 120 + bonus points away...not to mention how penalizing is, if you're not among the lucky guys entering the repechage round...you could get until the pool final and then come home with just a bunch of bonus points for the 3/4 matches won that given day... and you have to perform regularly, because the top guys (those already ahead in the ranking) somehow are always grabbing points, tournament after tournament... so, yes, there are still a lot of points to be awarded, but at the same time the tendency of an entire year of competition is quite clear and it's not likely to change that much in the next 12 months (obviously there will be some changes in the standing from now to april 2020, but I don't expect too many of them)...

Helsinki Swim Meet (1st & 2nd April 2019)... best results of today's sessions... Sarah Sjostrom won the women's 200m free in 1.55.44, the 100m fly in 57.03 and the 50m free in 24.22, Gedrius Titenis won the men's 50m breastroke in 27.51, Katinka Hosszu won the women's 200m IM in 2.13.72, the 800m free in 8.54.x and the 200 backstroke in 2.11.76

yes, you're right...I just missed her name while reading the composite ranking between the -50 and -55kg classes... which means that we have a good race also for the second -50kg spot... however, Germany also have Jana Bitsch still in contention in the -55kg (even if she's currently a bit behind her main contenders)...at the end of the OQP, it could go down to a German derby to get a spot in the Olympic lightweights (only 1 of the 2 girls -the higher in the respective standings- will get a quota place, even if both end up in the theoretical qualifying position)...

unless WKF plays it dirty, we should have 5 K1PL and 3 Serie A events left in 2019 and 2 K1PL and 1 Serie A event left in the first 4 months of 2020 (with Oceania, Asia and Africa still to complete also the continental champs that should actually count for the final ranking)... which means that we have a lot of points still up for grabs and things could change a lot, but at the same time I made some considerations on the fact that since karate became an Olympic sport, most of the major events have seen on the podium (or around it) almost always the same (top) athletes...big upsets do happen always more rarely...and the scoring system is really generous only with those who make at least the gold medal match (and if you don't make at least the medal round you only get marginal points)... moreover, in the next Kata PL and Serie A events, the Japanese athletes will surely take all the major points away from the other competitors (apart those 2 or 3 stars already in the qualifying positions), making really improbable any change in the standings... p.s ranking points calculation is here: http://setopen.sportdata.org/wkfranking/docs/WKFRanking20190101.pdf basically, K1PL and continental champs give the same points: 600 for the win + 10 every match won (and Serie A is half of them, 300 for the win + 10 each match won)...

looking at those rankings, in the men's Kata the 4 currently in the qualifying position look almost safe...the first not yet qualified man is the German Smorguner, but he has to make up around 500 points over Busato and 600 over Diaz, which is highly unlikely... in the men's -67kg Kumite, we have Dacosta and Crescenzo miles and miles ahead of the rest, and also Figueira in the -67kg "original" still has some margin over his closest rival...but the fight for the second spot in the -60kg "original" is very close, with many players within a few points... in the men's -75kg, the situation is quite locked in, with only Horuna having a small chance to catch the 4th useful place (but he has a lot of points -around 500- to make up over Scott)... in the men's +75kg, Horne and Ganjzadeh from the "original" +84kg class are almost safe, they have such a wide margin over their rivals that probably they don't even need to show up at all the remaining events to qualify...meanwhile the -84kg part of the Olympic Heavyweights is a lot more interesting, even if the fight is basically down to 3 players ( Kvesic, Isakau and Chobotar) for 1 place ( Aktas is also almost safe in his top spot)... the women's Kata has 3 names ( Sanchez Jaime, Bottaro and Lau) basically sure to be in Tokyo, with the 4th spot still up for grabs and with many pretenders (at least 4 still fully in contention)... in the women's -55kg class, we have the -50kg "original" part of the ranking already decided, with Arapoglu and Plank having a really wide margin over the closest rival ( Bouderbane, who has more than 700 points to make up, almost impossible)...meanwhile the -55kg "original" part is still a mess, with 5 girls still in contention with legitimate ambition... and this class is also our main regret, with Sara Cardin out because of an injury to her knee since a few months and now basically with only the highly risky world tournament left to keep her Olympic dream alive... in the women's -61kg, we have Lofty and Yin well ahead of the other girls, Coban with a slimmer margin over the "dangerous zone" and then Prekovic and Philippe fighting for the last spot, but with at least 3 more girls ( Sadini, Grande and Jumaa) not to be completely left out of contention... in the women's heavyweights, Chatziliadou is pretty much safe in top spot, with the +68kg "original" part of the ranking featuring a great fight for the second spot ( Keinanen, Aboualyazed, Florentin and Palacio Gonzalez are all still within a few points) and the -68kg even more messy (only Zaretska is quite a few points above the rest of the girls, but still not so far ahead to be considered safe)...

Grand Prix (Tbilisi, GEO) Day #3 Recap Once again, like last Friday, today we had 5 Gold medallists from 5 different Countries (even if some of those already won Gold medals in the previous days)... Today's champions are: Ivan Felipe Silva Morales (men's -90kg), Kazbek Zankishiev (men's -100kg), Levani Matiashvili (men's +100kg), Loriana Kuka (women's -78kg) and Julia Tolofua (women's +78kg)... with these results, France won the medal table with 3 Gold Medals, edging out Georgia, Kosovo and the Netherlands, who won 2 Gold Medals each... meanwhile Cuba, Israel, Italy, Portugal and Russia shared the remaining Gold medals (1 each)... Full Results and Rankings here: https://live.ijf.org/gp_geo2019/results

Austrian "Open League" Ebel The quarterfinals ended ith no surprise at all, which means, among others, that HC Bolzano/Bozen Foxies were beaten by KAC Klagenfurt and won't be able to repeat the extraordinary 2018 season... Quarterfinals Recap Vienna Capitals b. HC Orli Znojmo (CZE) 4-1 (7-0; 3-4; 5-2; 4-2; 5-1) KAC Klagenfurt b. HC Bolzano/Bozen Foxies (ITA) 4-1 (5-4OT; 4-3OT; 4-1; 2-4; 5-3) Graz 99ers b. EHL Liwest Linz 4-2 (7-3; 3-4OT; 4-3OT; 5-2; 2-3; 3-2OT) Red Bull Salzburg b. Fèhèrvar AV19 (HUN) 4-2 (0-1; 3-2OT; 6-4; 5-4; 1-2OT; 6-1) Semifinals (best-of-7 series) are already underway, according to the following pairings: Vienna Capitals vs Red Bull Salzburg (Vienna currently 2-0 ahead in the series) and Graz 99ers vs KAC Klagenfurt (KAC leading the series 1-0 so far)...

Czech Extraliga The quarterfinals ended last night with the series between HC Škoda Plzeň and HC Olomouc playing the decisive game #7 in Plzeň... and it was a double-faced match, with the hosts running away early, taking a 3-0 lead already in the first period... but when it was looking so easy for them, HC Olomouc showed a great pride and fighting spirit, slowly but steadily coming back until they scored the goal of 2-3 with less than 3 minutes to go... unfortunately for them, their final assault to Frodl's net was unsuccessful and HC Škoda could finally enjoy the win of the game and of the entire series... Quarterfinals Recap HC Kometa Brno b. Mountfield HK 4-0 (3-1; 5-0; 2-1; 3-2) HC Škoda Plzeň b. HC Olomouc 4-3 (8-1; 2-3OT; 2-3OT; 3-2; 2-0; 1-4; 3-2) HC Oceláři Třinec b. HC Vìtkovice Ridera 4-0 (3-2; 3-0; 2-1; 5-2) Bílí Tygři Liberec b. BK Mladá Boleslav 4-1 (5-1; 6-2; 1-4; 3-2; 2-1OT) Semifinals (best-of-7 series) will start next Wednesday, April 3rd with the following pairings: Bílí Tygři Liberec vs HC Kometa Brno and HC Oceláři Třinec vs HC Škoda Plzeň

KHL Conference Finals Eastern Conference: Avangard won also game #2 of the series against Salavat Yulaev Ufa...and this time they didn't even need to fight through the entire 60 mins and over, like in game #1...after a sleepy 1st period, in fact, they took the lead in the second and, apart from a few minutes at the beginning of the 3rd stint, when Ufa scored the temporary 1-1 goal against the game's goings, they led the contest without many troubles... Salavat looked a lot more tired than the hosts after game #1 battle and didn't show that urgency and pride they showed 2 days ago... finally, it was 4-1 for Avangard, who now lead the series 2-0... so far, in both the Conference finals the teams with the better seed are dominating beyond any expectation...let's hope that the teams currently in troubles can get some boost by getting back to home ice, otherwise we're gonna know the teams playing for the Gagarin Cup earlier than expected... game #3 of the Eastern Conference Finals is scheduled for next Tuesday in Ufa (7 p.m. local, 4 p.m. CET) Game #2 highlights

1st ever shutout by a Bulgarian goalie in the NHL... Alexandar Gergiev, at his 30th appearance of the season (40th of his career), finally got his net unbeaten for the whole 60 mins in the game played earlier tonight by his NY Rangers in Philadelphia (they won 3-0)...

I agree...even if I don't like this kind of arrogance, too...

naaa...now it's live because they forced the competitions to actually start at good US TV times (like swimming finals at 10 p.m. in Rio and at 10 a.m. in Tokyo)...

still from the Chinese Champs in Qingdao... women's 800 freestyle: 1st, Wang Jianjiahe in 8.14.64 (new Asian record), followed by Li Bingjie in 8.27.96 and Bi Wenxin in 8.29.35...

well, I must admit that I've never been perfectly fit, but at least I've always tried to keep in decent shape until the end of my studying years and Military service... I used to play handball (at competitive level, my team won the regional championship once and was 3rd twice during the boys class years...then when I switched to the cadet class, the new team wasn't that good and moreover in the second year I ijured my right knee, so, well conscious that I'd have never had a pro career, I decided to give up playing), swimming (I was good in the short distances of freestyle and backstroke, but I never tried to compete seriously) and occasionally having some fun with my friends at the playground (playing some futsal and some basketball, but, as I wrote, just for fun and nothing more)... then, once my studies and my Military service were over, a new life started... and nowadays my daily excercise is something like this: morning session: or mid-day session: or evening session: or + or and in between those epic efforts...

26 Nations winning at least a Medal, 8 of them winning at least 1 Gold Medal... and with only 12 individual and 4 team events (p.s. 25 of the 26 Countries on the podium at least once and all the 8 Gold Medal winners would be in the medal table also without the team events, just considering the individual competitions alone)... and talking of 1 continent only, not even the most dominant one in the world of karate... but still, this isn't enough...better have that fuckin' break dance at the Olympic Games rather than, Athletics and Soccer apart, the most widely spread sport in the world (at the top level, at least)......'cause it's not youth and urban...someone said...

Karate EKF European Championships 2019, Final Medal Table ESP, 5 / 0 / 1 TUR, 3 / 4 / 4 FRA, 3 / 0 / 1 ITA, 1 / 3 / 4 RUS, 1 / 0 / 2 UKR, 1 / 0 / 2 GER, 1 / 0 / 1 LUX, 1 / 0 / 0 SRB, 0 / 2 / 1 AZE, 0 / 1 / 2 AUT, 0 / 1 / 1 MNE, 0 / 1 / 1 BLR, 0 / 1 / 0 GRE, 0 / 1 / 0 SLO, 0 / 1 / 0 SUI, 0 / 1 / 0 CRO, 0 / 0 / 3 BUL, 0 / 0 / 1 DEN, 0 / 0 / 1 ENG, 0 / 0 / 1 FIN, 0 / 0 / 1 HUN, 0 / 0 / 1 MKD, 0 / 0 / 1 POR, 0 / 0 / 1 SCO, 0 / 0 / 1 SVK, 0 / 0 / 1

Karate EKF European Championships 2019, Full Medallists Recap women's Individual Kata Gold: Sandra Sanchez Jaime Silver: Viviana Bottaro Bronze: Dilara Eltemur & Alexandra Feracci men's Individual Kata Gold: Damian Hugo Quintero Capdevila Silver: Alì Sofuoglu Bronze: Roman Heydarov & Mattia Busato women's Individual Kumite, +68kg Gold: Laura Palacio Gonzalez Silver: Eleni Chatziliadou Bronze: Titta Keinanen & Meltem Hocaoglu women's Individual Kumite, -68kg Gold: Alizèe Agier Silver: Elena Quirici Bronze: Silvia Semeraro & Katrine Pedersen women's Individual Kumite, -61kg Gold: Merve Coban Silver: Tjasa Ristic Bronze: Ingrida Suchankova & Anita Serogina women's Individual Kumite, -55kg Gold: Jennifer Warling Silver: Tuba Yakan Bronze: Amy Connell & Ivet Goranova women's Individual Kumite, -50kg Gold: Sophia Bouderbane Silver: Bettina Plank Bronze: Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu & Jelena Milivojcevic men's Individual Kumite, +84kg Gold: Jonathan Horne Silver: Slobodan Bitevic Bronze: Asiman Gurbanli & Andjelo Kvesic men's Individual Kumite, -84kg Gold: Ugur Aktas Silver: Anton Isakau Bronze: Nikola Malovic & Ivan Kvesic men's Individual Kumite, -75kg Gold: Luigi Busà Silver: Rafael Aghayev Bronze: Stanislav Horuna & Joe Kellaway men's Individual Kumite, -67kg Gold: Steven Dacosta Silver: Mario Hodzic Bronze: Yves Martial Tadissi & Stefan Pokorny men's Individual Kumite, -60kg Gold: Evgeny Plakhutin Silver: Angelo Crescenzo Bronze: Emil Pavlov & Eray Samdan women's Team Kata Gold: Spain Silver: Italy Bronze: Portugal & Russia men's Team Kata Gold: Spain Silver: Turkey Bronze: Italy & Russia women's Team Kumite Gold: Ukraine Silver: Turkey Bronze: Italy & Germany men's Team Kumite Gold: Turkey Silver: Serbia Bronze: Spain & Croatia

women's Team Kata Gold Medal Match: Spain b. Italy 26.36-25.54 men's Team Kata Gold Medal Match: Spain b. Turkey 26.96-26.88 men's Team Kumite Gold Medal Match: Turkey b. Serbia 3-0

the championships are coming to a close...only the last 3 team gold medal matches left (starting @ noon CET)...

men's Team Kumite Bronze Medal Match #1: Spain b. Portugal 3-0 Bronze Medal Match #2: Croatia b. Ukraine 3-0