Ten things to know from last week. April 26-May 2: The greatest women's fight, the jumping legend, Ronnie O'Sullivan...
| Five things to know from last week |
- The jumping legend. 58-year-old Ludger Beerbaum (DEU) is riding as good or better than when he won his first Olympic gold in 1988 and has now won two out of three Longines Global Champions Tour events this year, after winning the event in Mexico City, riding Mila (DEU). Darragh Kenny (IRL) also had an impressive event, as he took the two 5-star events on the last day. In the Global Champions League, the Hamburg Giants won with a clean sheet, with Michael Pender (IRL) and Daniel Deusser (DEU). Arturo Parada (MEX) and Patricio Pasquel (MEX) made the Campo Marte crowd happy also winning 5-Star events. Also in Mexico, Jon Rahm (ESP) won the PGA’s Vidanta Mexico Open.
- Champion-elect. Eli Tomac (USA, Yamaha) secured his second AMA Supercross title with 5th place in Denver, while runner-up Jason Anderson (USA, Kawasaki) won the race. In IndyCar, Patricio O’Ward (MEX, McLaren) grabbed the lead with an outside pass over Rinus van Kalmthout (NED, Ed Carpenter) and would remain there to win at Barber, Alabama. In Spain, Moto GP Champion Francesco Bagnaia (ITA, Ducati) won the race at Jerez, leading every lap. In NHRA; John Force, aged 73, won his 155th event.
- Sweet Sixteen. Honeysuckle (ENG/IRL) repeated her win at the Champion Hurdle at Punchestown, with Rachael Blackmore (IRL) on the saddle, again. This is Honeysuckle’s 16th consecutive win in her unbeaten career. James Doyle (ENG) had a memorable weekend, as he made the Classic Guineas Double – he became the fifth jockey in the modern era to win the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas in the same year, winning the races with Cachet (IRL) and Coroebus (IRL), respectively.
- Greatest women’s fight. Katie Taylor (IRL) defeated Amanda Serrano (PUR) in a fight for the unified, undisputed, WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO, and The Ring Lightweight World Titles. This fight is the fifteenth World title fight won in a row for Taylor since 2017, and the seventh with all the titles, all records. She can probably now be considered the best female boxer of all time. Serrano moved up from Featherweight and almost kncoked Taylor down in the middle rounds. This has been widely considered the greatest women’s fight of all time. The card also saw a unification fight for the Women’s Super Middleweight world Title, with Franchón Crews-Dezurn (USA) beating Elin Cederroos (SWE) for all the big belts. In a fight between two former Olympians, Shakur Stevenson (USA) dominated Óscar Valdez (MEX) to unify the WBO and WBC Super Featherweight Titles, and win The Ring’s belt as well. He is now 18-0.
- A Champion run ended. Alex Mateos’s (FRA) reign as the PF1 Paramotors World Champion since 2014 ended, as he failed to score points in a task due to an engine problem, and finished 5th. Pasquale Biondo (ITA) won the title, Boris Tysebaert (FRA) won the PL1 category, and France took the team honors.
- Seventh heaven. Ronnie O’Sullivan (ENG) increased his lead as the winningest Ranking Title Snooker player of all time, with 39 wins, as he won the World Snooker Championship for a seventh time, placing him fourth of all time and joint first in the modern era, alongside Stephen Hendry (SCO). This is also his 21st Triple Crown tournament win, another record. The 46-year-old beat Judd Trump (ENG) in the final 18-13.
- Triple Crown. Just as last year, Ben Johns (USA) won the Triple Crown in the US Open Pickleball Championships -the largest in the world-, after winning the Pro Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles Divisions of the tournament. He won doubles with his brother Collin again, and with Simone Jardim (BRA/USA) -who has won the Triple Crown three times- in Mixed Doubles. He is perhaps the best Pickleball player of all time.
- Perfect tournament. Eve Muirhead and Bobby Lammie (SCO) had a perfect World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Geneva, winning all of their 11 games en route to the Championship, including defeating locals Alina Pätz and Sven Michel 9-7 in the final.
- Great match in Manchester. Manchester City (ENG) beat Real Madrid (ESP) 4-3 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Semi-Final match. By 11′ they were ahead 2-0 but Real Madrid bounced back with two goals by Karim Benzema (FRA). Liverpool beat Villarreal 2-0 at home.
- 8th in a row. The Water Ski Pro Tour held its Swiss Pro Slalom in Florida. Regina Jaquess (USA) prevailed for an 8th year in a row, beating Whitney McClintock Rini (CAN) in a run-off. Nate Smith (USA) also repeated his win on the men’s side.
