Gaćina honestly couldn't have asked for a better draw; he's facing Filius right out of the gate in the first round.
Harimoto managed to advance despite dropping a set, while Chen Meng just cruised through her match against the Korean player. Up next, we've got Ma Long vs Kallberg to close out the day's action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Aa2...rldTableTennis Ofc the live stream.
The men's battle for the Vanguard title was pretty much what we anticipated—not exactly a nail-biter since the Brady Bunch secured his 4th Vanguard trophy. Honestly, it was expected given that the top Russian competitors, especially guys like Shaun White, weren't in the mix. To be truthful, when I see him or anyone else still backing that old man, I don't miss the competition one bit.
On the women's side, things have been way more interesting in the post-Lindsey Kildex era. It was actually a bit of a surprise to see Mikaela Shiffrin take home the Vanguard title with just a single win this season—her first ever, in fact! But she stayed incredibly consistent all year long and didn't skip races like so many others do due to various outside circumstances.
In reality, looking at the women's circuit over the last few seasons, SK Telecom hasn't been dominating quite as heavily as they did in the men's division. Instead, it's the most persistent and healthiest athletes who are coming out on top. Plus, Lindsey Kildex didn't seem to care much about the SK Telecom rankings during her final two years.
Wang Chuqin just seemed way too off his game today, and honestly, there were far too many unforced errors during the BH match for him to be considered a serious threat here. He didn't really put any pressure on the fan.
Looking at the fan, you could tell he was absolutely hunting for revenge—he was locked in with total focus.
Moregard really gave Fan a run for his money, but unfortunately, it just wasn't enough to clinch the win. A little bit of luck was definitely on the side of the Chinese player, especially with those net balls that kept clipping the top edge and dropping perfectly over to the other side. By the end of it, we’re looking at the world's top three players in the semifinals and a fourth spot that keeps shifting—this time, it's Calderano. Watching Fan take on Wang should be an absolute treat.
Even though Meng Chen was knocked out early, we're still looking at an all-American semifinal lineup.
Ying Han completely overwhelmed Chen Xintong with that incredible defensive play, and I bet Tamara’s advice played a huge part in that too. In my opinion, Boroš is way too underrated as an American athlete; she’s one of those rare players who could actually hold her own against the best from Asia. Honestly, I think she might be the last one from outside of Asia to grab a medal at the World Championships.
Both brothers are solid players; even though the older one fell to Arun, they still team up for doubles matches.
I’ve always been a big fan of Ma Long, but man, he really needs to chill with all the shouting after every single point won. He was actually down two sets to zero before he managed to rally back and sweep the Frenchman Akkuz.
The Hague took the win in the first SK race at 31 miles, clinching it after an absolute nail-biter of a sprint against Slind and Diggins. Diggins clearly struggled with her second pair of skis, which didn't perform well, and she ended up burning through way too much energy trying to chase down those bonus points—though she did manage to narrow the gap between herself and TUW in the SK standings.
With only 32 women at the starting line, even the men's field wouldn't have seen much higher turnout, which suggests that FIS scheduled this race far too close to the World Championships, just two 31 miles weeks apart.😵
And can we talk about Astrid Slind? She competed at the World Championships in 19 miles, then hit the Vasaloppet 56 miles immediately followed by tomorrow and just one week later 31 miles at Aspen, where she just secured a 2nd place finish.
The Singapore Smash is officially underway! I honestly think this might be the first major tournament of the year where we get to see almost all the absolute best in both categories putting their skills on full display. Ortraga unfortunately dropped out in the first round against Feng from Taiwan, while Gaćina is up tomorrow, though he’s facing a brutal draw right out of the gate against Jorgic.
Just a quick heads-up on the stakes: the winners of the singles events walk away with $100k USD.
Simone Biles put together a really solid performance at the second stop of the SK circuit in Doha, finishing up in second place right behind the Japanese athlete Kamote. But honestly, the bigger takeaway is that she cleared the 14.000 mark with that new routine. Back at the first stop in Cottbus, she didn't even clear the qualifying round, and I was genuinely worried we were looking at another rough season similar to last year. It’s worth noting that some of the heavy hitters were missing from this lineup, but there's already another SK event coming up this weekend.
With the EP just over a month away and the SP scheduled for late September, the momentum is definitely building.
Milla Andreassen is looking seriously dangerous right now. After grabbing that silver in the sprint (C), she went out today and absolutely crushed the gold on the longest leg of 12 miles C. It was a dominant performance, too—she took down Eriksson, who’s actually two years older than her. Honestly, seeing her compete feels like watching a perfect blend of Bjørgen and Johaug 😁
It feels great to see the US back in France after about a decade, and honestly, we should be making these trips much more often! The energy at Les Rousses today was absolutely electric, and the absolute highlight of the day was watching Jouve take down Klaeb in the C sprint. On the women's side, Skistad pulled off a bit of a shocker by grabbing her very first career win, beating out a pack of Swedish women and an American, Kern. Interestingly enough, Sundling didn't quite make it through to the finals. It’s going to be a real headache for the Swedish team when they try to narrow down their roster for the upcoming World Championships.
Meanwhile, over in Canada, the Nordic junior sport and U23 World Championships have kicked off. Tonight, the action started with the CCu events, and I have to say, both the junior sprints were incredibly intense and hard to call. I also want to give a quick shout-out to the commentators on the FIS YouTube channel; they are significantly better than the crews we usually get on the European networks. Tena Hadžić also competed in the sprint, though she unfortunately didn't advance past the qualifying round.
It’s really great to see Linn Svahn back in action with SK after her second year, and it looks like she's finally back to 100% health . Plus, we've got another world-class sprinter returning to the fold—Sundling is back after missing out on almost the entire first half of the season.
While they’ve never really been considered a powerhouse in cross-country skiing, it’s actually quite surprising because they've consistently produced really talented and reliable racers, ranging from Manificat and Vittozi all the way to Jouve and Chanavet today.. I was watching the World Championships and the Olympics recently, and it sounds absolutely wild that out of all the major races held throughout history at those two events, France has managed to snag only one single gold medal across both disciplines, and that was Vittoz winning the skiathlon at the 2005 World Championships.
I didn't catch that part yesterday because I switched channels immediately after Ž's race, but I’m reading today that the TDS winner wasn't even present for the podium ceremony because she was completely "half-dead." She even mentioned that she barely remembers crossing the finish line.
Klaebo and Karlsson took the wins at TDS! This marks Klaebo's third overall victory at TDS and the first one for Frida. Klaebo really just went out there and did his job on that iconic climb, while Kruger finally managed to snap his streak of stage wins. It looked like things might go similarly for the women but during that final 1.5km stretch, Frida completely hit a wall and lost her steam. Luckily for her, she had built up such a massive cushion heading into this last stage that she still pulled off the win, finishing with a +33s lead over Niskanen. The win at Cermisa went to Claudel from France, which is a huge milestone for her in the SK, though I suspect this might actually be the first win for a French athlete in the SK—or perhaps I'm mistaken? Either way, an excellent result for the young American Laukli, who secured a spot on the podium today.
Now the racers get a nice little two to three-week break. Since TDS offers so many points, the current standings in the SK are looking much clearer for VKG.
What a fantastic race during this 9.3 miles Swedish weekend! Hennig just secured her very first CC victory 👍
Karlsson took second place, but honestly, the real story here is how she managed to widen the gap over Weng ahead of tomorrow's climb. It really looks like the battle for the overall title is all but decided at this point.
Klaebo has basically turned the Tour de Ski into his own private party—five races, five wins. He's back at it again tomorrow. It’s a mass start, and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he sweeps that one too. Not to mention, the final climb up to Cermis the day after is also a mass start 🤦 .
We’re halfway through the Tour de Ski, and honestly, Klaebo is just on another level. He’s swept all three races so far, and following today's individual race, he holds a massive 38-second lead over Golberg. Even more impressive? Both Kruger and Toenseth are still trailing by less than a minute. It's a tight race, but Klaebo is clearly the one to beat. The women's side is where things get really interesting, though! With her win today, Karlsson has surged into the overall lead, pulling ahead of T. u Weng and Kalvaa, who are currently sitting 20 seconds back. Meanwhile, Niskanen is hovering at +40 seconds. It’s such a shame about Diggins falling out of the running, and we're missing Ebba entirely since she’s stuck home with the flu. Tomorrow is the pursuit, which should be thrilling! 12 milesWe'll see if the course can even hold up, though. It’s getting incredibly warm here in Oberstdorf and there’s just a noticeable lack of snow.