phelps

I couldn't agree more... after that...well, here I'm quite in trouble...because I'd like to put all the other sports of this lit (except for figure skating) tied for 2nd...but I guess I can't... so, I voted for Biathlon as my 2nd pck and Short Track as my 3rd choice... but I have to say also that I like, more than most of those sports in general, some of their special disciplines... for instance, Snowboarding for me is almost only Snowbordcross (and Freestyle Skiing is almost only about Skicross), meanwhile among the Alpine Skiing special disciplines I like especially the speed events, Downhill and SuperG...and so on...

really? this would be quite a brave move, if done...especially after this week's results... however, I don't think he would get any individual start over those who beat him this week...maybe he could keep just his 3rd spot in the 5000m...

c'mon, man! that's not such a big fantasy effort...

naaaa...you should be a little bit more trustful to your youngsters... just joking...but wow! that was quite a surprise by SVK...yesterday's win, I mean... hopefully now they don't lose focus on their main goal and don't waste it all in the next 2 matches (especially the last one, probably the most important of all in any case, unless they can add another point in the standings aftr the game against the Finns)... by the way, very nice match between Czech Republic and Sweden, with the Scandinavians being a lot stronger in the first period and the Czechs trying to comeback in the second... in the third period the Czechs raised the pressure, but they couldn't close the gap, meanwhile the Swedes showed their killer instinct and took the 3 points in the standings... p.s. I still remember the match between Italy and Sweden at the 1992 Worlds (in Prague and Bratislava)...we got one of the best results of our history (a 0-0 draw), but the shooting score was 89-1 for Sweden so, I'm quite expert in this kind of "humiliating superiority", at least for what concerns the overall level of play... p.p.s. guess who was elected as the "man of the match" in that game? yes! you're right! It was our goalie...David Delfino on that given day, to be precise...

meanwhile Blokhuijsen is definitely out (he has already 8 skaters in front of him in the scheme...and we still have to wait for the entire 1000 and 1500 podium finishers, who also will go ahead of Jan)... and this means that the Team Pursuit trio also needs to be revised... p.s. and now I want to see how they manage the Mass (Mess) Start issue, too...could be fun...

Russian Olympic ‘Fans House’ in PyeongChang to be allowed to use national symbols https://www.rt.com/sport/414455-russian-flags-olympic-fans-house/

at least the Canadians didn't get a double digit score...

don't worry...if they want, they can take blood samples in any part of the world and then sent them where they could be properly tested... the question is always only: "do the UCI (and other authorities) want that to be done?" personally, I have an answer...but I keep it for myself (since I don't count for nothing...I'm only a sports fan without money and without power)...

so, now I guess that De Jong and Wust don't have to be worried anymore...they can fly together to Korea (not that there was any doubt even before today's race...but still)... and looking forward to the next races, among the girls there's a chance that all the slots from 1000m to 5000m & MS would be covered by just 6/7 skaters, so to allow also the 500m specialists to have a real shot at the qualification... among the guys...Ronald Mulder...just "wow!"

yesterday (actually, this morning) I watched the CZE vs RUS game...and it was quite entertaining and with an eventual unexpected winner... maybe the Czechs were a bit messy on defense and when trying to start their organized attacks, but at the same time they were lethal on counter-attacks and very effective on special teams... they also have a couple of players (namely, Necas and Kaut) well above the average... they dominated the game a lot more than the final score might say...meanwhile the Russian were really disappointing over any aspect of the game...no team play, bad defense, awful goaltending...they just had a useless reaction in the ast couple of minutes that was too little and too late...at least yesterday, they definitely deserved the loss (which now could mean a lot of troubles in the playoffs, starting from a now highly possible pairing in the quarterfinal against USA or Canada)... I couldn't watch the game, but I also expected Canada to thrash Finland out, which luckily wasn't the case...so, maybe this time the Finns have a better team than last year... Today I'm quite curious to see how Switzerland and Slovakia start their campaign...and I hope SVK can at least limit the damage like Finland did yesterday against the everlasting favoutite Canadians...

nice effort by Mountfield HK against Team Canada, even if in the end it wasn't enough... now I hope today they won't be blown out by HC Davos... meanwhile the other game from yesterday was really horrible...a boring one-side show by the Swiss National Team, with Dinamo Riga being just spectators who didn't pay their tickets...

looking at the scheme for the girls, I'd say that Schouten is already locked in...she's at number 8 with 10 places up for grab, so... Verweij, instead, it looks he has to earn his spot (in the Team Pursuit, too) in another race, since the Mass Start no.1 is only at number #11 in the scheme (which is probably going to be enough, but still he's not mathematically safe yet)...

or maybe a Tumulero/Giovannini "Fabris 2006-alike detonation"... It would take more than a miracle...but you know...Santa was here just a couple of days ago...

the other Continental Quota will be surely awarded through the World Surfing Games (where normally all the best surfers in the world are there) because they only asked the crème-de-la-crème of surfing sport (the WSL crew) to be available for that event, meanwhile the Continental Champs run by ISA generally speaking have much lower level of participation and it would make no sense using that as a selection race... I guess the Pan_Am Games are a concession to the organizers for putting a surfing event on the program and because this sport is mainly practiced at the top level in that Continent (with the notable exception of France -thanks above all to the Oversea's Territories- Australia and South Africa...and maybe even Portugal, but still they're not quite there yet with those 3 Countries and the top American Nations -USA and Brazil more than others)...

if they go live, all competition times are reported on the uitslagen page I linked before... p.s. @gianlu33 remember...you need a VPN (even a free one like Hola) in order to watch the NOS live broadcast (here in Italy, of course)...

sure, but I guess there are quite a few chances something similar happens (at least in the longer distances...in the 500m that's always possible)...

I guess De Jong still has her chances in the 1500m, where the top 3 have an Olympic place guaranteed... moreover, the Ter Mors/Wust/Leenstra trio should already be in because of the other events...I mean...in any case, her name should be among the top 10 of the selection scheme, so to be named for Pyeongchang (I also see that she has a sort of bonus being one of the 3 provisionally named athletes for the Team Pursuit)... so, I think she won't miss out her trip to Korea anyway (even if it remains to be seen if then she actually gets an individual start once there)... meanwhile with that kind of scheme I don't know if there will be place in the team for even a single 500m only specialist (among the girls, obviously)... in the men's competition, instead, I see the things being more easy to understand...basically the top 2 in any event get their individual start and probably there won't be many 3rd ranked guys on the final selection (maybe 1)... and because of today's result, I think Blokhuijsen now is really with his shoulders against the wall...I think only a top 2 finish in the 10k would save his flight to Korea (where his absence could lead to some troubles making up the team in the pursuit events -as I see, he's 1 of the 3 provisional names for that event)... same for Bergsma, of course...but here I guess there won't be many people crying for such possible epic fail...

here you can find startlists, results and also the general scheme for who's going to be preferred in the final selection based on the placings in the various events (it's just above the results -uitslagen- list)... https://www.schaatsen.nl/kalender/2017/12/okt/

and yesterday night, at the first Kings home game after he reached that milestone, he was properly celebrated by the LA team and organization... in particular, there was a wonderful pre-game "party" at center ice, where Marian and his family (Mom, Dad, Brother, Niece and Wife) could re-live the best moments in Majo's NHL career (when the pictures of him celebrating a goal together with Pavol Demitra did play on the big scoreboard, he hardly could keep himself from crying, meanwhile I couldn't...and a few tears did come down my cheeks)... then he was also presented some nice gifts (actually, the best and most precious gift of the night was a jewel received by his wife from Kings president Luc Robitaille, but still )... unfortunately, after that, there was also a game to be played against Colorado...and for 40 minutes the Kings were really awful, totally not focused, with their minds being somewhere else... but then, they did wake up just in time to save the day with a late tying goal by Alec Martinez and an OT winner by Dustin Brown, who, irony at 100%, was actually playing his 1000th game in the NHL (all of them in the Kings uniform)... so, double celebration night in LA...

yeah, nowadays it's a real challenge... when first Epee and then Sabre were started also among the women by FIE, it was quite common to see athletes going for 2 weapons at one time, but then there was a full specialization as it is among the men since many, many years... still, I don't think that even such a talent like Errigo would finally make the Olympic team in her "second" weapon...at least in a Country like Italy...maybe for those who come from "smaller" (in Fencing terms, of course) Nations would be easier...but for now nobody gave it a real try...Errigo is the first with such ambition... let's wait and see...personally, I'd prefer her to stay more focused on "her" Foil, but if she gets Kharlan-alike level of play also in Sabre, why not taking advantage of her talent?

Men's Individual Sabre (Cancun, MEX) Final Results: Gold: Oh Sanguk (KOR) Silver: Aron Szilagyi (HUN) Bronze: Gu Bon Gil (KOR) & Andras Szatmari (HUN) Semifinals: Oh b. Szatmari 15-10 Szilagyi b. Gu 15-13 Gold Medal Match: Oh b. Szilagyi 15-14 Here is the Full Final Ranking (and Results) from Yesterday's competition: http://fie.org/competitions/2018/158/results/rank