(Delayed by urgent family business)
Kerri Walsh Jennings? Michael Phelps? What is this — 2008?
That’s the modern-day Olympic athlete for you. It ain’t over until they’re my age.
Best team:
Best team visiting China: U.S. archers grabbed five medals at a World Cup stop in Shanghai.
Best race:
Closest race: They had to break out the thousandths to determine that Kristi Castlin upset world champion Brianna Rollins in the Drake Relays 100 hurdles.
Best race in water: And to think that Katie Ledecky is best known for her long-distance swims …
Best mental matchup: The USA’s Hikaru Nakamura loves to challenge world chess champion Magnus Carlsen. Just went astray this time.
Weirdest closing position: Hey, if it takes 101 moves and this weird double-phalanx position to get a draw with world chess champion Magnus Carlsen, knock yourself out, Teimour Radjabov. Looks like the pieces are collapsing toward the center of a black hole.
Best 1-2:
Best 3-4 (week) and 4-5 (season): Gwen Jorgensen and Sarah Groff are getting used to being in triathlon contention.
Best comeback:
Best record: Kerri Walsh Jennings, now paired with April Ross after the retirement of longtime partner Misty May-Treanor, has a record 47 FIVB beach volleyball titles.
Biggest domination: World Series of Diving stopped by the London 2012 Olympic venue (just a week after I was there), and … it was a lot of China.
Biggest throw: This brief judo matchup comes from the always essential Frontier Sports roundup:
Best punchline setup: Also from Frontier Sports: “Rio’s mayor says sports are making too many “unnecessary demands” ahead of the Games.”
Like … having places to play games, run, swim, etc.
Least convincing denial / best humblebrag:
Worst handoff: It’s only fair that the Bahamas beat the USA in the Penn Relays men’s 4×400 after the U.S. anchor tried to run off with their baton.
https://twitter.com/dailyrelay/status/460147994583920640
Full wraps:
– Penn Relays/Drake Relays (and several marathons) at Daily Relay’s Monday Morning Run. Also includes a GIF of the messed-up baton handoff.
– Sailing: Stacked World Cup competition in France.
– TeamUSA.org: All the swimming, plus equestrian and field hockey.
Duresport.com 