Ten things to know from what happened in the world of sport. June 22-28, 2021. Euro 2020, NHL, Tour de France, the Flying Swiss...
- Euro 2020 and Copa América. Switzerland was not able to pull off another penalty kick upset as they were eliminated by Spain from Euro 2020 in penalties. Space faces Italy after they defeated start-studded Belgium 2-1. The other semi pits England -who beat Ukraine 4-0- and Denmark, who beat Czechia 2-1. Copa América’s favorite, host team, Brazil, awaits the winner of Argentina and Colombia after beating Perú in the first semifinal.
- Championship run. Tampa Bay Lightning, Ice Hockey’s NHL Champions, beat the Montréal Canadiens in the first three games but Montréal was able to win the fourth game in Overtime to survive for at least one more game. In Basketball, the Phoenix Suns face Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Finals. The Bucks will not be able to count with their figure Giannis Antetokounmpo (GRC), due to an injury. He might come back at some point during the Finals series.
- Cavendish creeping on Merckx. Mark Cavendish (IOM) has won three stages in this year’s Tour de France and is one stage win off Eddy Merckx’s (BEL) record of 34 Stage wins. Tadej Pogačar (SVN) lead a Tour that has already seen the departures of countryman Primož Roglič and Mathieu van der Poel (NED), who has set focus on the Olympic Games.
- Verstappen again. The Austrian GP’s Red Bull Ring was full of Dutch fans who came to support Max Verstappen (NED, Red Bull), who ended up extending his F1 lead by winning his third race in a row. He was followed by Valtteri Bottas (FIN, Mercedes) and Lando Norris (ENG, McLaren). In the US, Josef Newgarden (USA) won the race at Mid-Ohio. Álex Palou (ESP) still leads the Championship standings.
- Won after losing #1. Ko Jin-young (KOR) lost her #1 status one week ago after Nelly Korda (USA) won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She, however, won her first tournament after that, by taking the Volunteers of America Classic in Texas.
- The Flying Swiss. Christian ‘Chrigel’ Maurer (SUI) won the Red Bull X-Alps -one of the toughest sporting competitions in the world- for a record seventh time, having won all seven editions that have been held since 2009. This year’s race comprised paragliding, hiking and trailing from Salzburg (AUT) to Mont Blanc (FRA) and then back to Zell Am See (AUT). Maurer finished in 8 days and 6 hours, almost a full day before second-placed Patrick von Känel (SUI).
- World Record at home. Karsten Warholm (NOR) has been the dominant, unbeaten force in the Men’s 400 meters Hurdles for the last couple of years. Now he finally accomplished breaking the World Record in the event, after he clocked 46.70 seconds at the Bislett Stadion in his native Norway, en route to winning the Wanda Diamond League Bislett Games. Kevin Young’s (USA) World Record had stood since 1992.
- Bou wins 120. Toni Bou (ESP) keeps on exteding his Trial Motorcycling records. He won his 120th Trial by taking the World Championship round in Charade, France. This is his 13th Outdoor World Championship win in France. Emma Bristow (ENG) won the Women’s Round. In World Superbike, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu (TUR) is the new Championship leader, after winning two out of three races at Donington.
- German Derby. Andrasch Starke (DEU) won his 8th Deutsches Derby, which equals Gerhard Streit’s (DEU) record attained from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. Starke has also won the race in 4 different decades: his first win at the race was in 1999. Starke rode Sisfahan (DEU) to the win. His sire Isfahan (DEU) had also won the race.
- Olympic deadline. July 5th marked the deadline for registering athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. A total of 205 delegations will participate, including a Refugee team. Russians will compete under the “Russian Olympic Committee”. North Korea will skip the Games for the first time since 1988, due to the pandemic. Some notable athletes that failed to qualify include Mo Farah (GBR), Caster Semenya (RSA) and Timothy Cheruiyot (KEN), current 1500 meters World Champion.
