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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡
● RUSSIA ● In the latest foreign-policy maneuver to use sports, Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev announced the details of the fourth Russian-Chinese Winter Youth Games, to take place in 2025. According to the Russian news agency TASS:
“The competition will be held in January 2025 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in 10 sports: cross-country skiing, short track, figure skating, alpine skiing, curling, snowboarding, freestyle, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and ski mountaineering.”
Think this isn’t somehow political? Degtyarev told a conference in Vladivostock:
“Our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin said: ‘Russian-Chinese relations at the moment are the cornerstone of global stability and an example of harmonious creative cooperation between major powers.’ So, in fact, we will implement creative harmonious cooperation together with our Chinese partners.”
● ATHLETICS ● An American record for steepler Duncan Hamilton, who won the rarely-run men’s 2,000 m Steeple at the Copenhagen Athletics Games in Denmark in 5:19.68, ahead of Vidar Johansson of Sweden (5:22.58). Hamilton, who has run 8:16.23 for the 3,000 m Steeple and was sixth at the Olympic Trials, broke Farley Gerber’s 5:21.96 mark from 1984.
Lots of other U.S. stars at this meet, with Matthew Boling winning the 400 m in 45.24, Waleed Suliman taking the men’s mile in 3:52.03, Cooper Teare winning the 5,000 m in 13:15.12. Helen Schlachtenhaufen running 2:00.26 to win the women’s 800 m and Jillian Shippee reaching 73.79 m (242-1) to take the women’s hammer.
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Hilary Bor won his seventh U.S. national title and former American women’s marathon record holder Keira D’Amato won her second USATF 20 km title in three years on Monday, held in conjunction with the Faxon Law New Haven Road Race.
Bor was a clear winner in a race record of 58:09, well ahead of Nathan Martin (58:26). Bor was alone from the three-mile mark.
D’Amato won this event in 2022, and broke away after nine miles, finishing in 1:06:25, eventually followed by Jess McClain in second at 1:06:50.
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A horrific story from Kenya concerning Ugandan women’s marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was doused with gasoline, set on fire and suffered burns over 75% of her body. According to an AIPS Media report:
“Cheptegei, who finished 44th in the Olympic marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympics, suffered the brutal attack in her house in western Trans Nzoia County. Her partner, Dickson Ndiema Marangach, doused her with petrol, which he had bought, and set her on fire during a disagreement on Sunday, Trans Nzoia police commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said. Local media reported that Marangach secretly entered Cheptigei’s home while she and her children were at church.”
Cheptegei and Marangach were taken to a local hospital and transferred to larger facility in Eldoret. Cheptegei was reported on Wednesday to be in critical condition.
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Grand Slam Track, the four-meet circuit coming in 2025, announced the signings of Paris 1,500 m champ Cole Hocker and bronze winner Yared Nuguse, both of the U.S. Silver medalist Josh Kerr (GBR) has already signed as a committed “Racer.”
● CYCLING ● It’s a lot closer at the 79th Vuelta a Espana, as three-time winner Primoz Roglic (SLO) has almost close the gap on Australia’s Ben O’Connor.
After O’Connor’s sensational stage 6 win that gave him a 4:51 lead on Roglic, the Slovenian star has been gnawing at the gap. On Tuesday, he got almost all of it back, on the triple-climb, 181.5 stage to Lagos de Covadonga with another brutal uphill finish.
In fact, Roglic wasn’t close to the front, as the stage was won by Marc Soler (ESP) in 4:44:46 with an attach inside of 5 km remaining, finishing 18 seconds ahead of Filippo Zana (ITA: 4:45:04). Roglic finished 11th (+3:54), but broke away from O’Connor with about km left, who was 20th (+4:52).
That brought O’Connor’s lead down to just five seconds over Roglic, with Enric Mas (ESP) third (+1:25) and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz fourth (+1:46) and very much in contention.
On Wednesday’s 17th stage, the 141.5 km route to Santander had two climbs in the middle, but a long, relatively flat stretch to the end and was therefore a mass sprint to the line, with by Australian Kaden Groves in 3:32:14 over Pavel Bittner (CZE) and Vito Braet (BEL), as the first 61 riders received the same time. O’Connor and Roglic were 28th and 35th; it’s third stage win for Groves in this race.
Thursday’s hilly stage may not be an agent for change, but the miserable uphill finishes in stages 19 and 20 will be, before Sunday’s Individual Time Trial in Madrid.
● SWIMMING ● Biting comment from Texas Christian athletics director Jeremiah Donati at a news conference on 27 August, explaining that if the current settlement proposal on paying $2.7 billion to college athletes for restraint of trade, and changing scholarship levels going forward, now being considered by a Federal judge goes through, it will impact non-revenue sports at universities like his:
● “The plan is not to add new scholarships. It’s potentially reallocating that. We’re going to be focused primarily on putting that $21 million of [proposed] rev share in the hands of the players, in the hands of the student athletes.”
● “We have no plans to eliminate sports right now. However, I would tell you that they’re probably going to look different.”
● “I think what’s fair is that the revenue should be commensurate with the programs that generate the revenue.”
Translation: at least some (many? most?) scholarships for non-revenue sports will be transferred to the revenue sports. And then there was this:
“The irony of this, if you will, we talked about the House case [settlement]. [Grant] House was a swimmer at Arizona State; that’s the irony of this, right? He’s from a non-revenue sport, right?
“So that’s Grant House, so that’s kind of the irony in this, so I don’t think if you were sitting here in this room, this is the outcome he probably would have imagined when he signed up for this.
“Again, I’m not throwing jabs at plaintiff’s attorneys, but that’s where we’re at.”
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