Japan's Ryoyo Kobayashi soars through the air during a qualification jump of the ski jumping event on January 5, 2022 in Bischofshofen, Austria, that replaces the third event of the Four Hills Ski Jumping tournament (Vierschanzentournee). - The tournament's third event in Innsbruck on January 4, 2022 had to be cancelled due to strong wind. (Photo by Christof STACHE / AFP)

Ten things to know from last week. January 4-10, 2022: Almost Four Hills, lowest ever PGA score, Dakar's cross-over winners, Skiing...

  1. Almost Grand Slam. Ryōyū Kobayashi (JPN) won his second Four Hills Tournament in Ski Jumping. He had won the first two events in the first week and this past week he won the Large Hill World Cup event at Bischofshofen (AUT), before finishing fifth in the last event, on the same hill. Local Daniel Huber (AUT) won. He also won as part of the Austrian team that took the Men’s Team World Cup event also in the Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze, ahead of Kobayashi and Japan, while Marius Lindvik (NOR) took the individual honors.
  2. Historically benign course. Cameron Smith (AUS) won the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, scoring a PGA 72-hole record of 34 shots under par, one better than Jon Rahm (ESP) and two better than Matt Jones (AUS). They were both also ahead of Ernie Els’ (ZAF) previous record. Rahm scored a Kapalua’s Plantation Course record of 61 shots in round 3 and he also tied the PGA Tour record for birdies in a 72-hole tournament with 32.
  3. Dakar’s cross-overs. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT, Toyota) / Mathieu Baumel (FRA) remain on the lead of the cars classification. It is closer in Motorcycles, where Sam Sunderland (ENG, Gas Gas) lead over Matthias Walkner (AUT, KTM) but this changed on Tuesday, before ending this newsletter. Dmitry Sotnikov (RUS, Kamaz) and his team still lead in Trucks. Francisco López Contardo (CHL, Can-Am) leads in Light Prototypes, Austin Jones (USA, Can-Am) in SSV’s and Alexandre Giroud (FRA, Yamaha) in Quads. Danilo Petrucci (ITA, KTM) won the Moto Stage 5 and became the first rider to win a Dakar Stage and a Moto GP race. Mattias Ekström (SWE, Audi) won the Cars Stage 8, his first. He has also been a DTM and World Rallycross Champion.
  4. Homecoming and a shock. Marco Odermatt (CHE) has won all Giant Slalom events in this season’s FIS Alpine Ski World Cup. Perhaps the most special was this week, winning at home in Adelboden (CHE). Johannes Strolz (AUT) pulled a shock win in Slalom, as the 29-year-old won his first World Cup race, starting with bib number 38. Odermatt leads the overall World Cup. In Kranjska Gora (SVN), Petra Vlhová (SVK) won her third Slalom World Cup race in a row, while Sara Hector (SWE) won the Giant Slalom.
  5. Gu’s run and a blunder. Eileen Gu (CHN) made one of the best Women’s Ski Halfpipe runs of all-time -scoring 97.5 points- to win the event at Mammoth (USA) and take the overall World Cup Honors. She won all four World Cup events this season. The men’s World Cup had an incredible outcome: with Brendan Mackay (CAN) opting to sit out of the event, Alex Ferreira (USA) only needed to finish 30th in order to clinch the title. But he bombed it, finishing 34th and last during the qualification, giving up the title to the Canadian. Nico Porteous (NZL) won the event with a score of 97.
  6. 100th podium. The German 4-Man Bob “Team Friedrich” is having a perfect season. By winning the race in Winterberg (DEU) they have won all of the seven races so far in the season, which secures the 2021/2022 BMW IBSF World Cup title with one race to go. Friedrich and Schüller also won the 2-Man Bob race, which means Friedrich has won six out of seven races in the season. These victories mean adding up to a total of 100 podiums and 65 victories in World Cup races (plus a Team event won), the first of all time. He also now moves to first of all-time in World Cup titles clinched.
  7. The King of the Moguls. Kingsbury won both Moguls World Cup Events at Mont-Tremblant (CAN), which moved him to first place n the Moguls Overall World Cup standings and increase his lead as the winningest Freestyle Skier in World Cup competitions. On the women’s side, 17-year-old Anri Kawamura (JPN) and World Cup Champion Perrine Laffont (FRA) took each of the victories.
  8. The winning Climb. Klæbo became the sole leader in the all-time Cross-Country Ski World Cup win list, by taking the Tour de Ski, his 47th World Cup win. A fifth place in the Final Climb of 10 kilometers at Val di Fiemme (ITA) was enough for him to take the overall win, ahead of last year’s winner, Alexander Bolshunov (RUS). Sjur Røthe (NOR) won the final race. Johannes won 4 out of 6 races. On the women’s side, Natalya Nepryayeva (RUS) won the overall Tour de Ski with two race wins, while Heidi Weng (NOR) won the 10 kilometer Final Climb.
  9. Mixed, Combined. Norway won the first ever Nordic Combined Mixed Team World Cup event -and the only for this season-, in Val di Fiemme. One day later, Gyda Westvold Hansen (NOR) also won the Women’s World Cup event, which was her sixth win in six events. A perfect season for the 19 year-old. Vinzenz Geiger (DEU) won the Men’s competition.
  10. Two each. Aritz Erkiaga (ESP) beat Imanol López (ESP) in the Final of the Cesta Punta Individual Tournament, held in Berriatua (ESP). Each of them now have two titles.