phelps

Oceania in Fencing goes together with Asia, there's no Continental Confederation... in the past, the Pan-American Championships were also held in the year of the Pan-American Games, too...but there are still no news about a possible 2019 edition, therefore we can suppose that the Pan-Am Games will be also useful as the Continental Champs next year (but with FIE we can't be sure of that, we have to wait until next Spring to have some updated news)...

and Switzerland, as expected, take the 1st Gold of their home World Championships, thanks to a strong last lap by the great Nino Schurter... meanwhile Italy paid the prize of having Eva Lechner in the senior women's leg...she lost so much time that nullified the strong start by Gerhard Kerschbaumer (1st at the opening changeover) and left without any hope the attempt to comeback by Marika Tovo (women's Sub-23...she even had a better time than Jolanda Neff in the 4th leg) and Jury Zanotti (our Sub-23 guy) in the last leg...in the end, it was a bitter 4th place for us... Team Relay Gold: Switzerland Silver: Germany Bronze: Denmark

Combined Event format for the Olympic Games http://www.ifsc-climbing.org/images/World_competitions/Event_regulations/170314_Combined-Olympic-Format.pdf Olympic Qualification Rules http://www.olimpiyatkomitesi.org.tr/Tokyo2020_Branslar/Sportif_Tirmanis.pdf

well, looking at the qualification rules, I think Japan (they only have 1 host Nation quota) will easily earn their 2nd spot at the 2019 World Champs (which will be held in Tokyo)... then "timing" could play a decisive game for some Countries (Iran included)...because if the Continental Champs will be held before the global qualification tournament (towards the end of 2019, but not yet officially scheduled right now), then we could have 1 if not 2 Koreans competing for a single spot, which could prove a problem for your climbers... meanwhile if we have let's say at least 1 Korean qualified through the World Champs and/or the World Cup and the World qualifier held before the Continental Champs, then the chances for athletes from Countries other than KOR and JPN would increase a lot... all this, provided that the Chinese don't start taking Olympic Climbing seriously and, above all, someone from Russia doesn't change his/her Nationality to any of the Asian former Soviet Republics (something like that could change the entire Olympic qualification perspective for the Asian Continent...apart for Japan, of course)... p.s. I just gave a look at the Olympic format...in the final (with 6 climbers), the speed part of the event will be contested with the format: Quarterfinals (#1 vs #6 seed, #2 vs #5 and #3 vs #4), then Semifinals (the 3 winners and the "lucky -best time- loser" of the 3 QTF heats) and 3rd place + 1st place Finals... therefore, I think they will use the same format also in the upcoming Worlds...

yes, normally we give Italian passport to athletes who have a true "love" marriage with an Italian partner, so the vast majority of times they settle here forever (Fiona May and Josefa Idem, for instance, still live here -even if they are not married anymore to the man who led them here, which is May's case)... meanwhile the North and South Americans with Italian heritage generally only stay here for their sporting career (and if we talk of individual sports, often they even stay home during the sport career, too...they just represent Italy at the global events)... of course there are exceptions, but not too many...

Inline Sakting Downhill World Championships (Teolo, ITA) Italy, hosted the 15th edition of the Inline Downhill World Championships. 60 athletes competed in one of the most thrilling circuit around the world reaching 100km/h on the hairpin turns of the Sp43 in the beautiful landscape on the Colli Euganei. With 8 medals on the 12 up for grabs, Italy confirmed its leading role in this discipline. In the Chrono Women, the run for the gold was all between the Italians Claudia Massara and Martina Paciolla. Only third the French Severine Thomas who got the third position also on the overall ranking. Sylvain Behr - France - reached the third step of the podium in the Chrono Men, after Augustin Tussetto - Italy. Gold Medal for the Italian Renato Pennuti. Chrono downhill Women 1- Claudia Massara 2- Martina Paciolla 3- Severine Thomas Chrono downhill Men 1- Renato Pennuti 2- Agustin Tussetto 3- Sylvain Behr In the cross competition Martina Paciolla got the better of both Annalena Rettemberger - Germany, and the other "Azzurra" Claudia Massara. Again Tussetto and Pennuti on the podium of the Chrono Men, but in inverted positions; Bronze medal for Severine Thomas - France. Cross downhill Women 1- Martina Paciolla 2- Annalena Rettemberger 3- Claudia Massara Cross downhill Men 1- Agustin Tussetto 2- Renato Pennuti 3- Sylvain Behr Overall Women 1- Claudia Massara 2- Martina Paciolla 3- Severine Thomas Overall Men 1- Renato Pennuti 2- Agustin Tussetto 3- Sylvain Behr

Roller Skating European Championships (San Miguel Island, POR) Medallists Recap Junior Competitions Women's Junior Compulsory Figures Gold: Alina De Silva Silver: Desirè Cocchi Bronze: Ludovica Riccardo Men's Junior Compulsory Figures Gold: Davide Arminchiardi Silver: Marc Brokelmans Bronze: Matteo Fabris Women's Junior Free Skate - Short Program Gold: Cecilia Marocchi Silver: Nadia Iglesias De Salvador Bronze: Laura Mezzatesta Women's Junior Free Skate - Overall Competition (Short + Long Program) Gold: Cecilia Marocchi Silver: Nadia Iglesias De Salvador Bronze: Laura Mezzatesta Men's Junior Free Skate - Short Program Gold: Diogo Craveiro Silver: Tim Schubert Bronze: Javier Martinez Garcia Picher Men's Junior Free Skate - Overall Competition (Short + Long Program) Gold: Diogo Craveiro Silver: Tim Schubert Bronze: Jorge Canales Rodriguez Women's Junior Solo Dance - Style Dance Gold: Martina Nuti Silver: Natalia Baldizzone Morales Bronze: Rute Freire Women's Junior Solo Dance - Overall Competition (Style + Free Dance) Gold: Natalia Baldizzone Morales Silver: Martina Nuti Bronze: Daniela Dias Men's Junior Solo Dance - Style Dance Gold: Francisco Silva Silver: Nicholas Masiero Bronze: Emanuele Garbolino Men's Junior Solo Dance - Overall Competition (Style + Free Dance) Gold: Francisco Silva Silver: Nicholas Masiero Bronze: Emanuele Garbolino Junior Couples Dance - Style Dance Gold: Francisco Silva/Beatriz Sousa Silver: Daniele Cavallini/Martina Bonera Bronze: Nicholas Masiero/Francesca Semino Junior Couples Dance - Overall Competition (Style + Free Dance) Gold: Francisco Silva/Beatriz Sousa Silver: Daniele Cavallini/Martina Bonera Bronze: Nicholas Masiero/Francesca Semino Junior Pairs - Short Program Gold: Alessandro Liberatore/Arianna Ferrentino Silver: Aldo Rapushi/Gaia Colucci Bronze: Diogo Craveiro/Catarina Craveiro Junior Pairs Free Skate - Overall Competition (Short + Long Program) Gold: Alessandro Liberatore/Arianna Ferrentino Silver: Aldo Rapushi/Gaia Colucci Bronze: Diogo Craveiro/Catarina Craveiro Juniors Medal Table ITA, 6 / 8 / 8 POR, 6 / 0 / 4 ESP, 1 / 3 / 0 GER, 1 / 3 / 2 Senior Competitions Women's Compulsory Figures Gold: Lina Goncharenko Silver: Elena Donadelli Bronze: Chiara Trentini Men's Compulsory Figures Gold: Alessio Gangi Silver: Tim Jendricke Bronze: Aaron Wunder Women's Free Skate - Short Program Gold: Micol Zangoli Silver: Michela Cima Bronze: Daniela Sardinha Women's Free Skate - Overall Competition (Short + Long Program) Gold: Micol Zangoli Silver: Michela Cima Bronze: Carla Escrich Sole Men's Free Skate - Short Program Gold: Pere Marsinyach Torrico Silver: Diogo Silva Bronze: Marco Bisciari Men's Free Skate - Overall Competition (Short + Long Program) Gold: Pere Marsinyach Torrico Silver: Michele Sica Bronze: Giuseppe Marco Giustino Women's Solo Dance - Style Dance Gold: Rachele Campagnol Silver: Ana Wagolde Bronze: Anna Remondini Women's Solo Dance - Overall Competition (Style + Free Dance) Gold: Rachele Campagnol Silver: Ana Wagolde Bronze: Anna Remondini Men's Solo Dance - Style Dance Gold: Ricardo Pinto Silver: Pedro Wagolde Bronze: Andrea Bassi Men's Solo Dance - Overall Competition (Style + Free Dance) Gold: Ricardo Pinto Silver: Pedro Wagolde Bronze: Andrea Bassi Couples Dance - Style Dance Gold: Pedro Wagolde/Ana Wagolde Silver: Josè Cruz/Daniela Dias Bronze: Massimiliano Antonelli/Camilla Barguin Couples Dance - Overall Competition (Style + Free Dance) Gold: Pedro Wagolde Silver: Josè Cruz/Daniela Dias Bronze: Massimiliano Antonelli/Camilla Barguino Pairs - Short Program Gold: Alessandro Fratalocchi/Alessia Gambardella Silver: Thomas Picard/Camellia Cherifi Bronze: Artur Balaguè Guell/Elisenda Prat Celma Pairs Free Skate - Overall Competition (Short + Long Program) Gold: Alessandro Fratalocchi/Alessia Gambardella Silver: Thomas Picard/Camellia Cherifi Bronze: Artur Balaguè Guell/Elisenda Prat Celma Seniors Medal Table ITA, 7 / 4 / 9 POR, 4 / 7 / 1 ESP, 2 / 0 / 3 GER, 1 / 1 / 1 FRA, 0 / 2 / 0 Overall Medal Table ITA, 13 / 12 / 17 POR, 10 / 7 / 5 ESP, 3 / 3 / 3 GER, 2 / 4 / 3 FRA, 0 / 2 / 0

great... since Italian TV networks don't even know that there's a sport named Mountain Bike, most of the Italian fans will really appreciate this (don't look at me...I'm just outside the italian standard in fact of resources )...

at the moment we have a questionable federation and basically no more kids practicing wrestling... so, not that this makes me happy at all, but I guess this is one of the few circumstances in which we have to go shopping or just close down this sport at the highest level... because I think that also our decent juniors who won a few medals at the recent youth European Champs won't become anything close to world class athletes...

thanks for the explaination about Reza's name... at the World Champs, the combined event final (with the 6 best athletes according to the summary of the 3 individual events qualifications) will have speed as the 1st event, then Boulder and finally Lead...so, I think there won't be a knockout system in the Speed phase, but I'm not sure about anything, since this is the 1st time it will be contested at the World Champs)... however, this is not a premiere overall, since last year we had the European Champs in this same combined event (held separately from any other competition) and we also had the Junior Worlds a couple of weeks ago... in lead, boulder and probably combined event Asian climbers are very good, I'd say dominant if we look at the Japanese men and women... then there's also the Korean Kim Ja In among the girls... meanwhile Chinese and Indonesians (+ Alipour) are pure speed specialists, so, as I wrote in the general thread, I don't think they have a real chance to make it to the Olympics (especially because we're going to have only 20 starters in both men and women's Olympic competitions -with max 2 climbers per Nation- which is a very small number if you think that lead and boulder events in world cup stages normally have more than 100 starters -even if the powerhouses generally start up to 10 athletes each), since the format heavily favors the lead & boulder specialists... the only hope could be the fact that this event, being totally new to every climber, can develop in the most unexpected way in a very short time... as I wrote above, I'm really curious to see how this thing's going to work out in Innsbruck (and in the next couple of years)...

Oilers bring back old blue jersey to celebrate 40th anniversary... https://www.nhl.com/news/oilers-celebrate-40th-anniversary-with-blue-jerseys/c-299942208?tid=281396148 Chara, Krug won't play pre-season's China exhibition games for the Bruins... https://www.nhl.com/news/zdeno-chara-torey-krug-wont-join-bruins-in-china/c-299935226

and here's (part of) a post about this tournament I wrote in the general thread a few days ago: (...) I'm really curious to see how the combined (olympic) event is going to develop... for this year's champs I expect Ondra, Schubert, McColl and the Japanese guys (maybe also someone from France) to dominate the men's field, meanwhile I think the women's event is gonna be more open to some surprising winner (even though a battle between JPN and SLO is more likely than any other option)... my 2 cents (more a preview than a prediction)... Women's Lead: the medallists will be among this girls: Garnbret (SLO), Pilz (AUT), Nonaka (JPN), Noguchi (JPN), Verhoeven (BEL)...anybody else would be a major upset Men's Lead: Ondra (CZE), Ghisolfi (ITA), Megos (GER), Schubert (AUT), Desgranges (FRA), the entire Slovenian team Women's Boulder: Nonaka (JPN), Noguchi (JPN), Gejo (SRB), Garnbret (SLO), Coxey (GBR), Gibert (FRA)...with the US girls as very dangerous outsiders Men's Boulder: it's gonna be a SLO vs JPN vs Ondra (CZE) question, but Hojer (GER) and Rubtsov (RUS) must not be underestimated Women's Speed: RUS vs POL vs INA (if they are not done after their home Asian Games) with Joubert (FRA) as the only other option Men's Speed: Boldyrev (UKR), Mawem (FRA), Alipourshenadzandifar (IRI), the Indonesians and the Russians (hoping for some Italian surprise, too...especially by Fossali)

the Championships start Tomorrow... here you can find the competition schedule: https://www.innsbruck2018.com/en/sport/competition-schedule.html meanwhile you can find a small but very useful recap of the main rules of the game...for all those who're not so "in touch" with Sport Climbing: https://www.innsbruck2018.com/en/detail/artikel/a-laymans-introduction-to-ifsc-rules.html

this weekend the Polish Open (part of the UWW Ranking Series) will be on stage... and it looks that Italy have gone shopping once again...in the Greco-Roman -97kg class, in fact, we're going to start a guy named Nikoloz Kakhelashvili, which is not a typical Italian name (and it's the 1st time I read about him)... probably his status is the same of Conyedo and Kudiiamagomedov (not yet eligible for our team at the Olympic qualifications/Olympic Games), but still... p.s. I just noticed that he was Junior World Champion in 2015! so, he could be a very nice addition to our team, if we really get him into our squad...

Today's Results Women's Individual 50m Prone Rifle Gold: Seonaid McIntosh Silver: Isabella Straub Bronze: Daniela Demjen Peskova Men's Individual 50m Prone Rifle Gold: Steffen Olsen Silver: Stian Bogar Bronze: Thomas Mathis Men's Individual 50m Running Target Fast Run Gold: Mikhail Azarenko Silver: Lukasz Czapla Bronze: Tomi-Pekka Heikkila Men's Team 50m Running Target Fast Run Gold: Russia Silver: Sweden Bronze: South Korea Men's Junior Individual 50m Running Target Fast Run Gold: Nicolas Tranchant Silver: Danylo Danilenko Bronze: Espen Teppdalen Nordsveen Women's Junior Individual Air Pistol Gold: Sevval Ilayda Tarhan Silver: Choo Ga Eun Bronze: Lizi Kiladze Women's Junior Team Air Pistol Gold: South Korea Silver: Mongolia Bronze: Russia Junior Mixed Team Air Rifle Gold: Italy 1 (Sofia Benetti & Marco Suppini) Silver: Iran 1 (Sadeghian Armina & Amir Mohammad Nekounam) Bronze: India 2 (Shreya Agrawal & Divyansh Singh Panwar) Updated Medal Table here: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/schedule.ashx?cshipid=1750

wow! very surprising win for Italy in the Junior Mixed Air Rifle competition! that really came out of nowhere... good...once every while we can get an unexpected success, too... meanwhile I really don't understand why Petra Zublasing didn't start in the women's Prone Rifle...I know that's just a training for the 3-position Rifle event (the only one that really matters, right now), but once she took part in the elimination round (and scored the 3rd most points), why give up the actual competition (and probably a world medal, too)???

unfortunately it looks they will show only Saturday and Sunday races (at least for the Italian viewers)... https://www.redbull.com/int-en/tv/live/AP-1WNUU4YX92111/uci-mtb-world-championship however, as I wrote, tomorrow's relay and friday's sub-23 CC races will be broadcasted live by the Swiss TV (the German speaking channel, SF-2)... maybe you can find a stream for that (with a good VPN you can easily use their online portal)...

tomorrow's the day... first in action, the Team Relay event (@ 5.30 p.m. CET) this is the full program of the championships... https://lenzerheide2018.ch/en/race-programme p.s. and I'm so happy that almost every important race will be live on the Swiss TV (in HD), so I can give up the average streaming of Red Bull TV (and their special "crowded podium" commentator* )... * @dcro & @heywoodu helloooo!

Nate Schmidt (Vegas Golden Knights) suspended 20 games for violating the NHL's PED policy (which means he was tested positive to a banned substance)... https://www.nhl.com/news/vegas-golden-knights-nate-schmidt-suspended-for-performance-enhancing-substances/c-299924770

Today's Results Women's Individual Air Pistol Gold: Anna Korakaki Silver: Zorana Arunovic Bronze: Kim Bo Mi Olympic Quota: Greece, Serbia, South Korea & China Women's Team Air Pistol Gold: China Silver: South Korea Bronze: Russia Women's Team Prone Rifle Gold: Germany Silver: Denmark Bronze: Great Britain Men's Team Prone Rifle Gold: Germany Silver: United States Bronze: China Junior Mixed Team Air Pistol Gold: South Korea 1 (Choo Ga Eun & Sung Yun Ho) Silver: South Korea 2 (Yoo Hyun Young & Lim Ho Jin) Bronze: India 1 (Abhidnya Ashok Patil & Chaudhary Saurabh) Updated Medal Table here: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/schedule.ashx?cshipid=1750

great win for Anna Korakaki (GRE) in the women's Air Pistol... Korea once again with 2 girls in the final, but this time they won "only" the bronze medal (and the subsequent Olympic spot)... however, after a poor world cup season, as expected, they're on fire at the home soil world champs... and many people still say that there's no home factor in shooting...

p.s. I think that also these posts should go into the World Champs thread...

I think he doesn't have many chances...he's a pure sprint specialist, meanwhile the combined event normally is good for those who have both lead and boulder as their strongest events (and it's such a farce that it doesn't have any real specialist among the already established athletes)... however, I'm really curious to see how the olympic event is going to develop... for this year's champs I expect Ondra, Schubert, McColl and the Japanese guys (maybe also someone from France) to dominate the men's field, meanwhile I think the women's event is gonna be more open to some surprising winner (even though a battle between JPN and SLO is more likely than any other option)... my 2 cents (more a preview than a prediction)... Women's Lead: the medallists will be among this girls: Garnbret (SLO), Pilz (AUT), Nonaka (JPN), Noguchi (JPN), Verhoeven (BEL)...anybody else would be a major upset Men's Lead: Ondra (CZE), Ghisolfi (ITA), Megos (GER), Schubert (AUT), Desgranges (FRA), the entire Slovenian team Women's Boulder: Nonaka (JPN), Noguchi (JPN), Gejo (SRB), Garnbret (SLO), Coxey (GBR), Gibert (FRA)...with the US girls as very dangerous outsiders Men's Boulder: it's gonna be a SLO vs JPN vs Ondra (CZE) question, but Hojer (GER) and Rubtsov (RUS) must not be underestimated Women's Speed: RUS vs POL vs INA (if they are not done after their home Asian Games) with Joubert (FRA) as the only other option Men's Speed: Boldyrev (UKR), Mawem (FRA), Alipourshenadzandifar (IRI), the Indonesians and the Russians (hoping for some Italian surprise, too...especially by Fossali)

Today's Results Women's Individual Air Rifle Gold: Im Ha Na Silver: Anjum Noudgil Bronze: Jung Eun Jea Olympic Quota: South Korea, India, South Korea & India Men's Individual Air Rifle Gold: Sergey Kamenskiy Silver: Petar Gorsa Bronze: Miran Marincic Olympic Quota: Russia, Croatia, Croatia & China Women's Team Air Rifle Gold: South Korea Silver: India Bronze: Germany Men's Team Air Rifle Gold: China Silver: Russia Bronze: South Korea Men's Individual Trap Gold: Alberto Fernandez Silver: Erik Varga Bronze: Abdulrahman Al Faihan Olympic Quota: Spain, Slovakia, Kuwait & Australia Men's Team Trap Gold: Kuwait Silver: United States Bronze: Italy Women's Individual Junior Trap Gold: Erica Sessa Silver: Manisha Keer Bronze: Daria Semianova Women's Team Junior Trap Gold: Italy Silver: China Bronze: United States Updated Medal Standings here: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/schedule.ashx?cshipid=1750

we're just at the beginning, but this World Championship is already a total disaster for Italy... Zublasing losing her Air Rifle World Title without even getting at least an Olympic spot and...the Men's Trap...what a shame of a competition for us! I expected our guys to dominate the field and take home 2 medals and 2 Olympic quota (De Filippis won the World Cup event in this same range in April and Pellielo...well, he simply is Giovanni Pellielo...no need for anything alse to be written about him)...and instead...nothing! bleah! I'm really disgusted...