★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● Curling ● Apologies for a silly error in Sunday’s post, reporting the USA Curling Mixed Fours National Championships in Denver, where it was defending champion Dave Falco’s rink– from the host Denver Curling Club – that was a 7-3 winner over Nina Roth‘s team in the championship final.
Falco took a 4-1 lead after three ends and while Roth closed to 4-3 after five, three more points in ends 6-7 clinched the title for Falco’s home team. Jesus Barajas‘ rink defeated Greg Persinger’s squad, 8-2, for third. Many thanks to reader Beau Dure for being the first to point out the mix-up, now corrected.
● Gymnastics ● Aimee Boorman, the American gymnastics coach who worked with superstar Simone Biles from age seven through the 2016 Olympic Games, said Biles went through the same spatial awareness loss – “the twisties” – even before her break-out, four-gold performance in Rio.
In her new book, with writer Steve Cooper, “The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles,” Boorman wrote:
“Yep, before Simone introduced the world to the twisties in 2021, she had experienced this proprioception phenomenon in January of 2016.
“When this happens to a gymnast who is flipping ten-plus feet in the air and they lose body awareness in space and time – not knowing if they’re going to land on their back, feet or head – it’s much more dangerous [than the ‘yips’ in baseball or golf].”
There was no magic wand to wave to calm Biles, but a patient approach to work through the issues, and Biles eventually conquered the problem in time prior to the Olympic Trials.
It recurred in 2019 and, of course, at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Biles came back to win three more golds and a silver at the Paris 2024 Games.
● Ice Hockey ● Canada’s star forward Marie-Philip Poulin was honored as the Most Valuable Player of the IIHF women’s World Championship that concluded Sunday with a 4-3 overtime win by the U.S. over Canada.
Poulin finished as the top scorer in the tournament with 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists), winning her second Worlds MVP trophy. She was selected as the top forward by the tournament directorate, with American defender Caroline Harvey and U.S. keeper Aerin Frankel.
The media-selected All-Star team included forwards Poulin, Kristyna Kaltounkova (CZE) and American Kelly Pannek; defenders Ronja Savolainen (FIN) and Renata Fast (CAN) and Klara Peslarova (CZE) in goal.
The tournament, played in Ceske Budojovice (CZE) set an all-time women’s Worlds attendance record of 122,331, besting the old mark of 119,231 in Winnipeg (CAN) in 2007.
● Shooting ● The ISSF World Cup in Lima, Peru finished up with China topping the medal table with 13 (4-3-6), followed by the U.S. with seven (4-2-1) and India with seven (2-4-1).
In the women’s 25 m Pistol final, 2024 World Junior 10 m Air Rifle bronze winner Yujie Sun (CHN) outlasting India’s Simranpreet Brar, 34-33.
The women’s Trap final went to Paris runner-up Silvana Stanco (ITA), beating Olympic fourth-placer Mar Molne Magrina (ESP), 45-44, despite missing two of her last six shots! Olympic champ Adriana Ruano (GUA) was third (33).
The Trap Mixed Team final was a win for Australia’s Mitchell Iles and Penny Smith, 25-18 over Guatemala’s Ruano and Jean Pierre Brol.
● Swimming ● Fascinating experiment in bringing more attention to collegiate dual meets announced for 17-18 October 2025 at Georgia Tech, with Army, Auburn, Florida Steve, George Washington, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Minnesota and North Carolina State facing off.
The details are all clear as yet, but these are to be scored as one vs. one dual meets: four in the first round, with the winners advancing to semifinals and then a final.
Dual meets used to be the basic format of the sport until scholarship limits made them more difficult; both swimming and track & field have looked at a return to school vs. school events to bring more popularity to their sports at a time when both are on the potential chopping block as money is now being shifted to pay (mostly) football and basketball players.
● Volleyball ● The Russian Volleyball Federation has had a long-running suit against the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) over the removal of the 2022 men’s World Championship in view of the invasion of Ukraine, asking $80 million in damages.
On Monday, the Russian news agency TASS reported that comments from RVF Secretary General Alexander Yaremenko:
“The only thing I can say is that there was an attempt to agree on a settlement agreement, but I can’t say yet how events will develop further.”
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
