Ten things to know from last week. October 4-10, 2022 included tragedy and celebration in Motorsports, the deepest dive, the Ironman record, etc.
Ten things to know from last week
  1. Dutch celebration and tragedy. Max Verstappen (NED, Red Bull) became the 2022 Formula 1 World Driver Champion-elect, after winning a shorter-than-usual Japanese Grand Prix due to the rain, with a few races to go. Sheldon van der Linde (ZAF) became the DTM Champion with two podiums at the Season Finale in Hockenheim (DEU). In Motorcycling, Manuel Lettenbichler (DEU) won the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship by taking the Hixpania Hard Enduro. Gerard Bailo (ESP) won the FIM Flat Track World Championship. Not everything was a celebration, though. The Supersport 300 World Championship concluded in tragedy, as Victor Steeman (NED, Kawasaki) succumbed -on Tuesday as we wrote this- to injuries sustained during the first lap of the season finale. He finished 2nd in the standings behind Manuel Díaz (ESP, Yamaha). Steeman was 22.
  2. Deepest. Petar Klovar  (HRV) took two World Titles at the CMAS World Outdoor Freediving Championship in Turkey, both with World Records. He broke the Free Immersion World Record, with 127m/417ft -five meters ahead of the previous record-, and the Constant Weight No Fins, with 94m/308ft. Alenka Artnik (SVN) and Arnaud Jerald (FRA) won the Women’s and Men’s Constant Weight golds. 
  3. Japanese Judo. Japan is taking the place in which they belong at the 2022 World Judo Championships in Uzbekistan, with five gold medals after the first few days of competition. Some of their gold medalists include Naohisa Takato -with his 4th gold medal in the Men’s under 60 kg-, and the Abe siblings: Hifumi -with his 3rd world title in Men’s under 66 kg-, and Uta – with her third in Women’s -52 kg.
  4. Ironman. Gustav Iden (NOR) won the Men’s Ironman World Championship with a record time of 7:40:24. Countryman and last year’s Ironman and Olympic Champion, Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR), was third. Chelsea Sodaro (USA) won the women’s race.
  5. Archery triplet. Cinzia Noziglia (ITA) made the triplet in women’s barebow, winning the Field World Championship after having won the World Games and the 3D World Championships golds in the same year. In the recurve events, – Chiara Rebagliati (USA) and Florian Unruh (DEU) also repeated their World Games golds. The first mixed team world titles were won by a couple that might be in their last tournament: Erik Jonsson and Lina Bjorklund (SWE). Italy won the most gold medals. Dave Cousins (USA) won in Men’s Compund, his third since he won for the first time two decades ago.
  6. 25th World Championship! Pankaj Advani (IND) claimed his 25th World Championship, by taking his IBSF World Billiards Championship, this time in the 150-Up modality in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He beat Sourav Kothari (IND) 4-0. Another Indian, S. Shrikrishna, won the World Men 6Red Snooker Championship. Waratthanun Sukritthanes (THA) won her second World Women’s 6Red Snooker title, and Malaysia took the Team Snooker title.
  7. Unsurprising. China won the Men’s ITTF World Table Tennis Team Championships Finals for the 10th time in a row, since 2001. Ma Long has been part of the winning team since 2006, and now has 13 World Championship gold medals, which puts him 4th among men and 7th overall in the historic medal tally. They beat Germany 3-0 in the Final. For the women’s team, it was their 5th World title in a row since 2012.
  8. Gravel and the hour record. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA) is having a brutal year with four World Championships within three months. In August she won the Short-Track, Cross-Country, and Marathon World Championships in Mountain Bike, and she now added to her triumphs by taking the first-ever Gravel World Championship, in Italy. Gianni Vermeersch (BEL) won in the men’s division. Another impressive effort in cycling this week was that by Filippo Ganna (ITA), who broke the hour World Record with 56.792 kilometers (35.289 mi) at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland, beating the previous record by over one kilometer. He now has the unified World Record.
  9. Almost the 10th…Tatyana McFadden (USA) was unable to win the Chicago Marathon in the women’s wheelchair division for a 10th time, as 31 year-old Susannah Scaroni (USA) beat her for the win by almost 4 minutes. In the men’s wheelchair division, Marcel Hug (CHE) is continuing with a good run in the World Marathon Majors and won again. Kenya won in both runner’s divisions, with Benson Kipruto (2:04:24) and Ruth Chepng’etich (2:14:18).
  10. Tough as always. The 132nd edition of the tough Velká Pardubická steeplechase in Czech Republic only saw 8 of 15 horses finishing the race, after a series of falls. Mr Spex (DEU), ridden by Lukáš Matusky (SVK), improved from his third place last year to win the race, ahead of last year’s winner, Talent (CZE).