Ten things to know from last week. October 17-23, 2022 included Red Bull's title for Mateschitz, Triple Backflips, A Champion in two sports, etc.
Ten things to know from last week |
- For Dietrich. Red Bull secured the Formula 1 Constructor’s World Championship in Austin, Texas, with a win by Max Verstappen (NED) and fourth place by Sergio Pérez (MEX), who is now headed home for the Mexico City Grand Prix. This emotional title was dedicated to Red Bull Co-Founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, who died last Saturday. There was motorsport action around the world, In the US, Kody Swanson (USA) won his record seventh USAC Silver Crown Champ Car title. In Spain, Sébastien Ogier (FRA, Toyota) -who is contesting a part-season- won his 55th World Rally Championship round, with Benjamin Veillas (FRA), who has his maiden win. Also in rally, the Africa Eco Race is racing towards Dakar in Senegal. Maurizio Gerini (ITA, Husqvarna) leads in motos, while Philippe Gosselin and Christophe Crespo (FRA, MD Optimus) lead in autos. There was a tragedy, as Armindo Neves (52, POR, SWM) died after an accident, the first fatality in the event’s history. In Mexico Ricardo Cordero and Marco Hernández (MEX) won their fifth Carrera Panamericana.
- More Red Bull. It might not be an understatement to say Mateschitz is the person that did the most for the world of sport in the last two decades, considering that some sports survived thanks to Red Bull, some world-class competitions were invented by the, and thousands of athletes are able to do their sport professionally due to the support received by the company. An example of these events is the Red Bull Rampage, a freeride mountain bike competition featuring the best in the world. Since 2015 every event has been won by a Canadian. Brett Rheeder won this year. Brandon Semenuk, who won the last two editions, was third.
- Triple Backflip! The Nitro World Games saw history in the making, with the first two motorcycle triple backflips landed on competition, first by Jayo Archer and then a flawless execution by Harry Bink, who took home the Best Trick gold. The only other time that a triple backflip had been landed had also been accomplished by an Aussie: Josh Sheehan, back in 2015. He won gold in this edition of the Nitro World Games, in Motocross Freestyle. This happened in Brisbane. Also in Australia, Ken Roczen (DEU, Honda) won the first FIM World Supercross Championship not held in conjunction with AMA -but with some of its stars-, after its two rounds, in Cardiff (WAL) and Melbourne.
- A repeat result. It is the second year in a row that SC Magdeburg (DEU, EHF Cup Champions) beats FC Barcelona (ESP, EHF League Champions) in the IHF Super Globe Final, which features the Continental Handball Champions. This year it was closer, as the German team won 41–39 (OT) in Over Time.
- World Champion in two sports. Regian Eersel (SUR/NED) beat Sinsamut Klinmee (THA) to win the inaugural ONE Muay Thai Lightweight title and become a simultaneous World Champion in two sports, as he is also the Lightweight Kickboxing World Champion. On the same card, Kade Ruotolo (USA) became the first ONE Submission Grappling Lightweight World Champion by beating multiple Sambo World Champion, Uali Kurzhev (RUS). Also, John Lineker and fellow Brazilian Fabrício Andrade were unable to claim the ONE Bantamweight World Championship -that was only on the line for Andrade due to weight issues- after an accidental groin strike against Lineker
- British greats. Great Britain topped the UCI Para Track Cycling World Championships with 20 gold medals ahead of Australia’s 20. One of these came from Sarah Storey, who now has an impressive 19 World Championship gold medals just in Track Cycling. She has more world titles than anyone else in cycling history. She won gold in the women’s Individual pursuit C5, her eighth world title in the discipline. She is unbeaten at the World Championships in this discipline since 2006. Jody Cundy is second of all time amongst any cyclist in terms of world titles, as he increased his number in track cycling to 18. He won his record-extending 13th World Title in the Men’s Kilo (C4) in a row, unbeaten since 2006. Another British great, Neil Fachie, won his 15th world title in track cycling, in the Men’s Tandem B kilo -his eight since 2009. He repeated the world title with Matt Rotherham. Then, Fachie won his 16th world title -also joined by Rotherham- by winning the Men’s Tandem B Sprint, also his eight in the discipline. Fachie is also among the winningest cyclists of all time.
- Scottish rocks. Scotland revalidated its curling tradition of excellence by winning the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship by beating the host team of Switzerland 7-9 in the Final. This is the second titel in a row, and ever.
- Back-to-back horse. Anna Lena Schaaf (DEU) achieved the unlikely feat of winning the 6-year-olds FEI WBFSH Eventing World Breeding Championships and repeating one year later with the same horse, in the 7-year-olds division. She achieved this feat with Lagona OLD. They are the first non-French rider, and mare, to achieve this. The rider who last did this, Tom Carlile (FRA) -in 2014-, could repeat next year, as he won the 6-year-old competition this time at Mondial du Lion.
- Chinese in Olympic sports. This year’s Diving World Cup in Germany had the lowest showing in history but not for the Chinese, who won eight gold medals in nine competitions. The only golf they did not win was the team competition, because they were absent. USA won it. The People’s Republic of China is also winning the 1st ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Shooting Championships, with several of their young Olympians taking gold medals.
- First Federated World Championship. The World DanceSport Federation held its first official World Championships for Breaking, a discipline that will make its Olympic debut in Paris 2024. The event, held in Seoul (KOR), saw Ami Yuasa ‘Bgirl Ami’ (JPN) and ‘Bboy’ Philk Wizard (CAN) emerge as victors. 56 countries participated.