phelps

actually the most ambitious and richest teams (AUT, SUI, GER, ITA, the Scandinavian Countries) already always spend their European Summer in South America to complete their training (ski testing is in March and April, meanwhile conditioning normally is in June and July and in August they already have to start the technical work on ski), since they can't use anymore the glaciers before September (thanks to global warming)... so, I don't think that would be a real problem...as it's been written, the (sad) truth is just that those Countries supposed to host those events are not interested and don't want to waste money for what it is a "minor event" on their scale of interests...

good news for Italy also in Golf and Sailing... in Sailing, we're pretty safe in Gold (women) and Silver (men) medal position in the windsurfing classes after 9 of 12 races...and we're also currently 2nd in the women's Kiteboarding, but here only 4 of 12 races have been completed so far... in Golf, Alessia Nobilio is still tied for 1st (with Grace Kim) after 2 of 3 rounds of play in the girls' event...

and here we go...Gold and Silver for Japan and Bronze for France... Schenk...well, there's some tasty wood for him... by the way, medal for Italy in Taekwondo...Assunta Cennamo won her quarterfinal bout against the Tunesian girl and has assured herself at least the Bronze medal...

no, if Doi goes in front of him, the French gets the bronze medal...

Doi already won Gold before even attempting his Lead climb... but if if he goes top, he denies his compatriot Tanaka a medal, meanwhile if he goes 2nd or 3rd, he gives a medal to Avezou... instead of Schenk... complicated situation...

noooooo...Schenk could reach the top in the Lead section of the men's Climbing final... Gold chances gone...hopefully he can still stay on the podium with a bit of luck (but the Japanese Tanaka must be thrown down for his current 1st place)...

It already happened a few times in the late Eighties and early Nineties... but then the idea was abandoned due to economical issues (most Nations couldn't afford a trip in the Southern Hemisphere)... this is a quick reminder of those times... 1985/1986 2 men's Downhill races in Las Leñas (August 16th & 18th, 1985...both won by Karl Alpiger) 1986/1987 2 men's Downhill races in Las Leñas (August 15th & 16th, 1986...the first one won by Peter Mueller and the second one won by Pirimin Zurbriggen) 1989/1990 1 men's Giant Slalom + 1 men's Slalom in Thredbo (August 11th & 12th, 1989...the GS won by Lars-Borje Eriksson and the SL won by Armin Bittner) 1 women's Downhill + 1 women's Super-G races in Las Leñas (August 8th & 9th, 1989...the DH won by Michaela Gerg and the SG won by Anita Wachter) 1990/1991 1 men's Giant Slalom + 1 men's Slalom in Mount Hutt (August 8th & 9th, 1990...the GS won by Fredrik Nyberg and the SL won by Peter Roth)

the only unnamed plan B (which is well in IOC's mind) is Beijing going back-to-back... () it would be the beginning of the end for the Winter Games, but still, that's the only real option to save the 2026 edition, should things go from bad to worse for the 3 official candidates...

2018 Artistic Skating World Championships (Mouilleron-Le-Captif, FRA) Medallists Recap (so far) Junior Competitions Women's Junior Compulsory Figures Gold: Desirè Cocchi Silver: Elettra Signorini Bronze: Sabrina Mur Men's Junior Compulsory Figures Gold: Brayan Carreno Silver: Davide Arminchiardi Bronze: Facundo Fina Women's Junior Free Skate - Overall Competition (Short + Long Program) Gold: Rebecca Tarlazzi Silver: Daria Alexandra Matei Bronze: Bruna De Castro Wurts Men's Junior Free Skate - Overall Competition (Short + Long Program) Gold: Pau Garcia Domec Silver: Alessandro Liberatore Bronze: Edgar Waterbor Women's Junior Solo Dance - Overall Competition Gold: Natalia Baldizzone Morales Silver: Chiara Giron Bronze: Maria Beatriz Lopes Sousa Men's Junior Solo Dance - Overall Competition Gold: Brayan Carreno Silver: Mattia Qualizza Bronze: Giovanni Piccolantonio Men's Junior Inline Skating - Overall Competition Gold: Colin Motley Silver: Xan Rols Bronze: Abhijith Amal Raj Women's Junior Inline Skating - Overall Competition Gold: Chiara Censori Silver: Anna Semysinova Bronze: Veronika Kimont Senior Competitions Women's Compulsory Figures Gold: Giada Cavataio Silver: Anabella Mendoz Bronze: Giselle Soler Men's Compulsory Figures Gold: Aaron Wunder Silver: Luis De Mattia Bronze: Tim Jendricke Men's Inline Skating - Overall Competition Gold: Chen Yi-Fan Silver: Antonio Panfili Bronze: Chien Hung-Ho Women's Inline Skating - Overall Competition Gold: Natalie Motley Silver: Anastasia Nosova Bronze: Serena Giraud Sincro Groups - Overall Competition Gold: Millennium (Team) Silver: Roller Dreams (Team) Bronze: Sicro Roller Calderara (Team) Sincro Small Groups - Overall Competition Gold: Roma Roller (Team) Silver: Division (Team) Bronze: CP L'Aldea (Team) p.s. in the next few days I'm going to complete the list of medallists... this is not the final one yet...

I wouldn't call it a Boycott...it's just lack of interest mixed with some typical arrogance and sense of superiority towards the "minor" events... they also take the senior world champs just as a needed passage towards the real Olympic Games (the only thing that matters for most of them)...

and this is a quite surprising Gold for us after watching how the preliminaries went...

nothing for today...they will start their "robbery show" from tomorrow...

just another farce underway... why don't save their money and just give the medals away to their "protected"?

I agree... p.s. actually, I would get rid of this combined event that doesn't have anything to do with the Sport Climbing (it's just a new format invented to get into the Olympic program, but no athlete likes it and thinks it's a good format)... Sport Climbing has always been, is and probably always will be only about the 3 single disciplines (Lead, Boulder and Speed...in order of importance and prestige)...

by the way, medal for Italy in taekwondo...Gabriele Caulo won his quarterfinal match against a Saudi opponent in the men's -63kg class and he's assured himself a place in the semifinals and therefore at least the bronze medal...

OK, thanks...I just forgot that they started to use this special fuc*in' tie-breaker for the combined event... that makes sense for ranking purposes...still, it's a sh*t of a tie-breaker...

no, wait... what???? they said Lettner won Gold ahead of Lukan and Lammer won Bronze ahead of Meul... what the hell of rules are they using????? as I wrote before, this event under a pure sport point of view is an absolute FARCE!!!!!

I think Meul, since the final placing in the Lead section should count (but this is not a world cup event, so I'm not sure...we have to wait for confirmation)...

and Lammer misses out with an unexpected mistake... Lukan wins Gold, Lettner Silver and Lammer is out of the medals, since Meul should be the Bronze medallist...

and Lukan was 6 seconds slower than Lettner, but still she's in front in the overall ranking (tied on points, but she has a segment win)... now Lammer needs to be at least 4th in the lead section to win the Gold medal...

but slower than the German...and I fear it will cost her a lot...

7 seconds too slow... for now... and it's time for Lukan to show her stuff...she desperately needs to go in provisional 1st place

way too easy...but still, the Japanese girls made a big mistake and compromised her final result... meanwhile Lettner is going well, but she looks a bit too slow...

I fear you're not right... normally it's not up to the athlete deciding which event he has to go...especially in certain Countries...

in any case, the world ranking is pretty much decided for 2018...the top 11 oin the current ranking are already mathematically safe in the Premier 12 of 2019...the only position that could change is the 12th and last...and only if Colombia win the sub-23 world cup and the Dominican Republic end up in 11th or 12th place, which is one of the most improbable combination people could even imagine...