Ten things to know from last week: December 14-20: Heaviest lift ever, a perfect season, Rosberg beats Hamilton...
  1. Perfect year. Francesco Friedrich (DEU) won the 2-Man and 4-Man Bobsleigh competitions at the World Cup in Altenberg (DEU) and in this way, he ended the 2021 calendar year unbeaten and extending his record for most World Cups and consecutive races won.
  2. American Record-breakers. Stephen Curry (USA, Golden State Warriors) made his 2,974th career 3-pointer in the NBA while playing against the New York Knicks at the Madison Square Garden. He is now the all-time leader, ahead of Ray Allen (USA). Tom Brady (USA, Tampa Bay Rays) extended his record for the record for most completed passes in the NFL. He had broken it one week prior, passing of Drew Brees (USA). That week he also became the first player to reach 700 touchdown passes, including playoffs.
  3. Rosberg beat Hamilton and Button…In 2021? Nico Rosberg (DEU) retired from racing in 2016 after finally beating teammate Lewis Hamilton (ENG) for the F1 title. Now he beat him again -alas as team owners- as his Rosberg X Racing drivers Johan Kristoffersson (SWE) and Molly Taylor (AUS) became the first-ever Extreme E Champions, a global Electric-SUV Rallycross Championship. Hamilton’s Team X44 drivers Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) and Sébastien Loeb (FRA) won the final event in Doret (ENG) but were pipped by rae wins in the team Championship. Third as an owner was another former F1 World Champion, Jenson Button (ENG), whose JBXE was third in the Championship. Button himself raced in the first event of the season.
  4. Singaporean upset!  Loh Kean Yew (SGP) wrote one of the brightest chapters in Singapore’s sports history by pulling a huge upset to win the 2021 Badminton World Championships, the first for the nation. En route, the #22 in the world shocked Olympic and World Champion Viktor Axelsen (DNK) in the first round and then world No. 3 Anders Antonsen (DNK) in the semi-finals. He beat Srikanth Kidambi (IND) in the Final. Japan won two gold medals: the women’s singles -where Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) beat Olympic runner-up Tai Tzu-ying (TWN)- and the Men’s Doubles. Thailand won the Mixed Doubles and P.R. China the Women’s Doubles.
  5. 4th World title for İstanbul. Turkey’s VakıfBank İstanbul won the Women’s Volleyball Club World Championship for the fourth time, clearly putting them in the first place of all time. They have won three of the last four since 2017, except for the 2019 edition that was won by Imoco Volley Conegliano (ITA), their rivals in this year’s final that ended 3-2 (15-25, 25-22, 22-25 and 25-22).
  6. O’Sullivan back to the winning ways. Ronnie O’Sullivan (ENG) had not won a title in 16 months after losing five finals, but returned to his winning ways by beating Neil Robertson (AUS) 10-8 in the final of Snooker’s Cazoo World Grand Prix. Te 46 year-old extends his ranking titles record to 38.
  7. Heaviest lift. Lasha Talakhadze (GEO) broke his own Weightlifting World Record with a mark of 492 kilograms lifted at the 2021 Weightlifting World Championships, with a Snatch World Record of 225 kg and a Clean & Jerk World Record of 267 kg. This was his fifth consecutive World Title in the +109 kg division, which places him as second of all-time in the maximum category of weightlifting. Also reaching five world titles was Kuo Hsing-chun (TWN), by winning the women’s -59 kg category. South Korea won the most gold medals in a World Championship that barely had Olympic medalists competing.
  8. Short course. Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) became the second swimmer to win gold at six different World Short course (25m) Swimming Championships, after Ryan Lochte (USA) and she won two gold medals in total. Daiya Seto (JPN) became the fourth swimmer to win a World short course Title five consecutive times, after winning gold in the 400 meters Individual Medley, and he also won gold in the 200 Individual Medley. Then Vladimir Morozov (RUS) made it to 5 Championship with medals and a historic total of 11 gold medals, third of all-time among men. Siobhán Haughey (HKG) was also impressive, by setting a new world record in the women’s 200m Freestyle and made the rare double by winning the 100 meters Freestyle as well. The US topped the medal tally with 9 golds.
  9. Agüero’s retirement. Sergio Agüero (ARG, FC Barcelona) announced his retirement after having been diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia. In his career, he was an Olympic Champion, scored a Premier League-winning goal, -he won the tournament five times-, and a World Cup Runner-Up, among many accolades. He had just arrived to Barcelona to play with his friend Lionel Messi (ARG) and scored in one of his first four matches.
  10. Esports Games. NaVi (UKR) won the Blast Premier World Finals beating Gambit. Natus Vincere has won all CS:GO LAN tournaments in which they competed this year. In Smash, Leonardo López ‘MkLeo’ (MEX) has been the most dominant force in Nintendo game Smash and now won the first Smash Ultimate Tour Championship, for the new version of the game. In PUBG, Newhappy (CHN) won the Global Championship. In Arena of Valor, Buriram United Esports (THA) won the International Championship after defeating V Gaming (VNM) 4-3. The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M3 World Championship saw Blacklist (PHL) sweep Onic PH (PHL) to win the title. Finally, the Global Esports Games by the Global Esports Federation was held in Singapore, featuring DOTA, e.Football and Street Fighter. Brazil won two gold medals.