phelps

p.s. by the way, decent result for Italy...Giovanni De Gennaro easily made it through to tomorrow's final...let's see if he can finally get a world medal (after winning the world cup final a few weeks ago)... a pity for 2 seconds penalty to Zeno Ivaldi...without that, he could paddle a decent time, good enough to make the final (even if also other guys in front of him did some mistakes, too)...

yeah, that's also true... p.s. no, the course is actually very good, tough and demanding, as I wrote...even if I don't like those blue plastic elements to build the route...I'd like them to be more "mimetic" with the rest of the environment...just to give the idea of being "natural", at least to a not so focused first look...

yeah, they've been great in these 2 days...they really match well together... but honestly, they've been helped a lot by a disastrous Patrick Reed on both their fourball matches and by a tired and frustrated Tiger in today's foursome match... however, Europe lead 10-6 after day #2, with only the 12 singles remaining (tomorrow)... today's results Fourballs Sergio Garcia & Rory McIlroy b. Tony Finau & Brooks Koepka 2&1 Paul Casey & Tyrrel Hatton b. Dustin Johnson & Rickie Fowler 3&2 Francesco Molinari & Tommy Fleetwood b. Tiger Woods & Patrick Reed 4&3 Justin Thomas & Jordan Spieth b. Ian Poulter & Jon Rahm 2&1 Foursomes Henrik Stenson & Justin Rose b. Dustin Johnson & Brooks Koepka 2&1 Bubba Watson & Webb Simpson b. Sergio Garcia & Alex Noren 3&2 Francesco Molinari & Tommy Fleetwood b. Tiger Woods & Bryson De Chambeau 5&4 Justin Thomas & Jordan Spieth b. Ian Poulter & Rory McIlroy 4&3

lol yes... that's exactly what I meant...the whole setup and the good enthusiast crowd, the excitement all around made those races much more enjoyable than this week's, where there are no stands, almost no spectators, no excitement all around... basically, it looks like we're watching some anonymous training session... and that's what I called "depressing"... for what concerns the actual sport event, I don't have anything against it...the races are quite interesting (even if they're not the best I've ever seen), the course is tough and demanding as a world champs course should be... but I would have liked to see a much more involving surrounding...just that...

but also

by the way, comparing these world champs to the Rio Olympics is quite depressing...it doesn't even seem the same place as 2 years ago...

all 3 your guys are in the Final... so, you've been too pessimistic once again...

sure... even if today it wasn't so punishing, as fairways and greens had been softened by the night rain and wind didn't play a decisive role... maybe tomorrow the course condition changes and it's gonna be more difficult for all the players... p.s. watching all that crowd following the players and that landscape is just amazing...I love the Ryder Cup (and Le Golf National)...

tbh, it was more the US duo (especially Mickelson) playing really bad ("Lefty" was just walking around with hands in his pockets when not throwing)... more in general, I think the US made a lot of "tactical" mistakes in building this afternoon's pairings...and they paid a very big prize for that...

by the way, it's midnight local time, which means 11 p.m. CET as of current time rules (but in a year the whole EU could adopt the GMT+1 time 12 months/year*, so Qatar's midnight would become 10 p.m. CET)... *hopefully not...and in any case, I hope it would be GMT +2 all year long...I hate those winter days when it's already dark at 4 p.m. (and I hate even more the idea of getting dark at 6/7 p.m. in the Summer days)...

wow! what a turnaround! Europe just won all 4 Foursome matches of the afternoon (last time a team won all 4 matches of a Friday/Saturday session between both contenders -and it was still the European team, but in Fourballs- was in 1989 at The Belfry) and now lead 5-3 at the end of day #1... Forsomes results Henrik Stenson & Justin Rose b. Dustin Johnson & Rickie Fowler 3&2 Ian Poulter & Rory McIlroy b. Bubba Watson & Webb Simpson 4&2 Sergio Garcia & Alex Noren b. Phil Mickelson & Bryson DeChambeau 5&4 Francesco Molinari & Tommy Fleetwood b. Justin Thomas & Jordan Spieth 5&4

Molinari & Fleetwood MVP for the European team this morning... they just saved the honor of the Old Continent and gave the team a bit of hope before the Foursome matches of the afternoon, where they will be the closing pair once again (and this time they're going to face the best US duo, Thomas & Spieth, who easily beat McIlroy and Olesen this morning... and frankly I just can't understand why this McIlroy is still playing also this afternoon (this time paired with Ian Poulter)...

and the morning Fourball matches have been completed... unfortunately, the USA are leading 3-1 over the European Team... Fourballs Results Tony Finau & Brooks Koepka b. Justin Rose & Jon Rahm 1UP Dustin Johnson & Rickie Fowler b. Rory McIlroy & Thorbjørn Olesen 4&2 Justin Thomas & Jordan Spieth b. Paul Casey & Tyrrel Hatton 1UP Francesco Molinari & Tommy Fleetwood b. Tiger Woods & Patrick Reed 3&1

Mike Keenan goes public with prostate cancer... https://www.nhl.com/news/former-nhl-coach-mike-keenan-discusses-prostate-cancer/c-300452720?tid=282796264 somehow, it looks that's been taken early enough...good luck, Mike!

I think they don't feel good enough in both women and men's +78/+90kg classes (in fact only Kyle Reyes in men's -100kg was part of the team individually in the "heavy" weights)...

Women's Recurve Lee Eun Gyeong vs Ksenia Perova Tan Ya-Ting vs Lisa Unruh Lei Chien-Ying vs Deepika Kumari Chang Hye Jin vs Yasemin Anagoz

and the Japanese second-tier fighter surprises Clerget... so, it's all over: Japan 4-1 France Japan, as expected, win the Gold Medal in the Mixed Team Event (and France must be satisfied with Silver)...

and France shorten the distance after Gahie scores an ippon against the Japanese girl... 3-1 Japan... and now Axel Clerget (individual Bronze medallist) against Soichiro Mukai (who didn't take part in the individual event) in the men's -90kg match...

4th match on the mat is the Silver medallist (Gahie) against the Bronze medallist (Yoko Ono) of the women's -70kg in the individual competition (where they didn't fight against each other, anyway)...

and now it's 3-0 Japan...Tatsukawa just won his -73kg bout against Chaine...

if I see the picture well enough, they should be 2 of the German girls who just missed out on the Bronze medal (for sure they are 2 athletes who competed earlier)...

2-0 Japan...Yoshida defeated Gneto in the women's -57kg match...

Russia (4-1 vs Azerbaijan) and Unified Korean Team (4-0 vs Germany) have won the Bronze Medals in the Mixed Team Event... and are still fighting for Gold, with Japan leading 1-0 after Harasawa defeated Maret in the men's +90kg match...

senza "pare"... Vianello ha preso la sua decisione e ha firmato un contratto con Bob Arum per diventare professionista (con base negli USA)... https://www.oasport.it/2018/09/boxe-guido-vianello-lascia-la-nazionale-passera-da-pro-negli-stati-uniti/#comment-251871 tecnicamente questo non lo escluderebbe dalla possibilità di tentare di qualificarsi per le Olimpiadi (ed eventualmente poi prendervi parte...vedi Mangiacapre, che, pur passato tra i Pro, ha già confermato che non rinuncerà ad inseguire una medaglia a Tokyo, CIO permettendo), però lui stesso si è chiamato fuori dal "sistema" Olimpico accettando quel contratto che per sua natura non prevede un suo ulteriore impegno a quel livello... p.s. aggiungo io che Vianello tanto alle Olimpiadi non ci sarebbe andato comunque, visto che il talento è quello che è e che per ora l'Azzurro è un colore politicamente così inviso a chi manovra la carretta dell'AIBA che le speranze dei nostri sono destinate a infrangersi contro il proverbiale muro di gomma in qualunque circostanza...

yeah, but Stigger has already done it......meanwhile he's still to get it... let's talk about it when the men's Junior race is over (since there ahs been many riders that did try the double, but I don't know how many got it -if any, very few...I guess)...