Ten things to know from what happened in the world of sport. August 17-23, 2021. Manny Pacquiao, Lucky 7 at Le Mans, Diamond League...
  1. Double Championship! BMX Racing produces very close finishes, which makes it difficult for results to repeat. But both Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champions were able to also take the 2021 UCI World Championship: Bethany Shriever (ENG, GBR) and Niek Kimmann (NED). The same happened in Triathlon, as this was the first time that a Triathlete won both the Olympic and World Titles in the same year: Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) won the World Championship Finals in Edmonton and the overall Championship while Flora Duffy (BMU) won bronze, which allowed her to secure the Title. Taylor Knibb (USA) won the Final.
  2. The Lucky 7 and the Unlucky too.. The #7 had not given one of the two Le Mans Toyota cars good luck. Finally, after being in contention for years, the car with Mike Conway (ENG), José María López (ARG) and track record-holder Kamui Kobayashi (JPN) won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, ahead of the other Toyota. There was a big heartbreak in the LMP2 Class, as the leading car driven by Louis Deletraz (SUI), Robert Kubica (POL) and Ye Yifei (CHN) broke down after 23:58 hours. Since they did not finish, they were not classified. Team WRT won that Class, with Robin Frijns (NED), Ferdinand von Habsburg (AUT) and Charles Milesi (FRA). GTE Pro and GTE Am were won by AF Corse Ferraris. In other forms of racing, Josef Newgarden (USA, Penske) won the IndyCar race at Gateway ahead of Patricio O’Ward (MEX), who is now the Championship leader. In Rallycross, the Hansen brothers (SWE) made the 1-2 in their home race in Sweden.
  3. Coll’s Breakthrough. Paul Coll (NZL) was able to take his maiden major Squash Championship, by winning the British Open, the longest standing Squash tournament. He ended the Egyptian dominance for the moment, by beating World Champion Ali Farag (EGY), although Egypt did win the women’s division, thanks to Nour El Sherbini, who beat fellow Egyptian, Nouran Gohar. In the 60’s another Oceanian, Geoff Hunt (AUS), ended the Pakistani dominance of the sport. Can Coll produce a similar effect?
  4. Champion in three decades. Anna Nordqvist (SWE) became the first Non-American to win a Women’s Major Golf tournament in three decades, by winning the 2021 Women’s British Open, held at Carnoustie Golf Links (SCO). In the US, Tony Finau (USA) finally won another PGA tournament after several close calls during the last five years. He took the Northern Trust, the first tournament of the PGA’s FedEx Playoffs.
  5. First for Atlanta FaZe. The Atlanta FaZe (USA) won its first Call of Duty League Championship, after they beat the Toronto Ultra (CAN) in this year’s Final. Atlanta was almost perfect throughout the tournament, although Toronto did take a map from them.
  6. Pacquiao’s last? Manny Pacquiao (FIL) will go down in history as one of the greatest boxers of all time. Last Saturday he fought against Yordenis Ugás (CUB) to determine the World Boxing Association’s Welterweight “Super” Championship. The Cuban -who was a late replacement- won via Unanimous Decision and is now the “Super” Champion. “Super”, because they were both WBA World Champions…Although Jamal James (USA) is now considered the actual WBA Champion. This might be Pacquiao’s last fight as me may announce a run for being his country’s President.
  7. 2nd fastest ever. The 100-meter women’s Olympic Champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah (JAM), won her first race after the Games by winning the Wanda Diamond League Meet in Eugene, Oregon (USA) with a spectacular time of 10.54 seconds, the second fastest 100-meter run by a woman, ever. The time was also a Diamond League Record. She beat two more Jamaicans: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson, repeating the exact same podium of Tokyo 2020.
  8. Super sweep. Steve Torrence (USA) won the NHRA Top Fuel event at Brainerd (USA) and has now won on every single NHRA track on the calendar. This is his 7th win in the last 12 events and the 47th in his career. He beat Clay Millican (USA) in the Final.
  9. Bou leads. Toni Bou extended his TrialGP World Championship record for most wins by taking the first day of the TrialGP Andorra, barely edging out Adam Raga (ESP), who took the second day ahead of Jaime Busto (ESP) and Bou. He leads the Championship.
  10. Mind Sports Olympiad. For the sake of our own definition, we do not count every “mind sport” as a sport. Yet we do count abstract games that are movement-based. In these, Andres Kuusk (EST) won three medals in the Mind Sports Olympiad, taking place online He won gold in Lines of Action and Quarto as well as silver in Three-check Chess.