Ten things to know from last week. August 23-29, 2022 included: PGA's hero, Racquet's number one, a French sweep in Downhill, etc.
Ten things to know from last week
  1. PGA’s hero. Rory McIlroy (IRL) -who has been very vocal about his support for the PGA Tour-, overcame a six-stroke deficit to become the first player that wins the season-crowning FedEx Cup -started in 2007- for the third time. Scottie Scheffler (USA) was leading throughout but a poor round of 73 on the final day made him finish 2nd, tied with Im Sung-jae (KOR), one stroke behind McIlroy. Meanwhile, in Canada, Paula Reto (ZAF) won her first LPGA tournament title, the Canadian Women’s Open, after 157 starts. Another South African, Thriston Lawrence, won the DP World Tour’s Omega European Masters in Switzerland, while Linn Grant (SWE) won her home Skaftö Open, part of the Ladies European Tour.
  2. Homecoming Empress. Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) won her second straight Women’s singles Badminton World Championship, beating Olympic Champion Chen Yufei (CHN), in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. The men’s home hero, Kento Morita (JPN), lost in the second round, as Viktor Axelsen (DNK), Olympic Champion, won his second World title in singles. Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan (CHN) won their third Women’s Doubles title, and fellow Chinese Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong won Mixed Doubles. Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik (MYS) delivered a great moment for Malaysian sports, as they gave their country its first Badminton world title with their Men’s Doubles win.
  3. Max speed. Max Verstappen (NED, Red Bull) won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps even though he had to start from 14th due to a penalty (he had been the fastest in qualifying). Second came his teammate, Sergio Pérez (MEX) and then Carlos Sainz (ITA, Ferrari). In NASCAR, Austin Dillon (USA) clinched his place in the playoffs winning the last regular season race, at Daytona. Toni Bou (ESP) won another record-extending event at the TrialGP World Championship in France. Dan Bewley (ENG) won another Speedway GP race, this time in Poland. In DTM, the van der Linde brothers from South Africa, Sheldon and Kelvin, did a 1-2 at the Nürburgring.
  4. Winter during summer. Biathlon is a Winter Olympic sport but it also has a summer version, which includes shooting and roller skates. Dorothea Wierer (ITA), a three-time winter World Champion, won two Summer titles (Women’s SuperSprint and Mass) in Germany, and compatriot Lisa Vittozzi won the Women’s Sprint. Local Philipp Horn (DEU) won the Men’s SuperSprint, and 2018 Olympic Champion Sebastian Samuelsson (SWE) won the Men’s Sprint and Mass Start.
  5. French sweep. Les Gets, France, saw the blue, white and red secure a 1-2-3 in the Men’s Downhill at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, with Loïc Bruni ahead of Amaury Pierron and Loris Vergier while Valentina Höll (AUT) won the first Women’s Downhill World title for her country. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won two more world titles for the locals, in Short Track and Olympic distances, making her the best ever in the Women’s Cross-Country World Championships. Sam Gaze (NZL) took the men’s Short Track as Christopher Blevins (USA) crashed out on the last lap. Gaze crashed in the Olympic distance event, which was won by Nino Schurter (CHE) for a tenth time, making him the best ever among the men in the division. He also helped Switzerland win gold in the Relay competition.
  6. Racquet’s best. Paola Longoria (MEX) continued to extend her legacy as the best Racquetball player of all time as she won her record-extending fifth Singles and Doubles World Championships, plus the gold medal in the Women’s Team Championship, and also helped Mexico win the Overall Team competition. Compatriot Álvaro Beltrán eon the Men’s Doubles alongside Daniel de la Rosa to become the winningest men’s gold medalist in the World Championship’s history, with five doubles and one singles title. Mexico also won the first Mixed Doubles competition, with Rodrigo Montoya and Samantha Salas, who also won the Women’s Doubles along Longoria. The only tournament that Mexico dropped was Men’s singles, won by Conrrado Moscoso (BOL) over Rocky Carson (USA).
  7. The ONE. Apichet Kotanon (Nong-O Gaiyanghadao) (THA) might now be called the most successful Muay Thai practitioner of all time, as he has now won 19 world-level title fights. He defended his ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Title for a sixth time, against Liam Harrison (ENG) with a brutal leg kick in the first round. Another impressive KO with a kick was that over Demetrious Johnson (USA) Adriano Moraes (BRA) for the MMA ONE Flyweight World Championship, his 14th win in a world title fight. It happened during the fourth round. Tang Kai (CHN) Thanh Le (USA/VIE) won the ONE Featherweight World Championship, becoming the first male Chinese MMA Champion. Christian Lee (SGP/USA) beat Ok Rae Yoon (KOR) to win the ONE Lightweight World Championship.
  8. Mind Sports Olympiad. Vincent Frochot (FRA) won his 9th Abalone World Championship at the Mind Sports Olympiad, extending his all-time record as the winningest competitor in this game. He also won a bronze medal in Quoridor. Andres Kuusk (EST) won his 6th gold medal in the overall Abstract Games competition, thanks to his gold in Trench.
  9. Unstoppable Jornet. Killian Jornet (ESP) remains unstoppable. He won the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc -perhaps the most prestigious Trial race in the world- for a fourth time -tying François D’Haene (FRA)-, smashing the record with a time of 19:49:30 for the 71 kilometers, including 10 kilometers uphill. Katie Schide (USA) won the women’s division at 23 hours and 15 minutes. Jornet’s time was over half an hour faster than the previous record. Some of his first kilometers were done in under four minutes. This is right after he had covid. This week also saw the 100 km World Championships in Germany, with Floriane Hot (FRA) and Haruki Okayama (JPN) emerging as winners.
  10. Female Champions. The Inclusion World Championship for Sailing featured a mixed men’s and women’s competition. Being held in pairs, five of the sailors in the first six positions were female, including the all-female team of Silke Basedow and Nadine Löschke (DEU). In Ireland, Tom Gillard (ENG) won the World Championship in Fireball for a fifth time, this time crewed by Andy Thompson (NIR).