Ten things to know from last week. March 1-7, 2022: Paralympic Games, Allround Speed Skating, fastest Tokyo Marathons...
  1. Allround. Nils van der Poel (SWE) continued the good run that gave him two Olympic gold medals by winning the World Speed Skating Allround Championship in dramatic fashion, as he had to cut 21 seconds off three-times World Champion Patrick Roest (NED) to win and he pulled it off. Jutta Leerdam (NED) won her first Women’s Allround title. She also won the Women’s Sprint and the  Women’s team sprint titles.
  2. Too disabled to win? Cécile Hernandez (FRA) and Brenna Huckaby (USA) won the gold and bronze in the Paralympic Women’s Snowboard SB-LL2 competition, a few weeks after they won a lawsuit that allowed them to compete in this “higher” category, as theirs was not included. Matti Suur-Hamari (FIN) won the Men’s division for the second tie in a row. Tyler Turner (CAN) won the Men’s SB-LL1, and Ji Lijia (CHN) the Men’s SB-UL.
  3. 14th gold. Brian McKeever (CAN) extended his record s the winningest Para Cross-Country Skier in Winter Paralympic history, as he won his 14th Paralympic gold medal, this time with Russell Kennedy. He won the Men’s 20km classical visually impaired for the fourth time in a row. Taiki Kawayoke (JPN) won the Men’s 20 kilometers classical Standing, and Zheng Peng (CHN) the 18 kilometers classical Sitting competition. China won another gold medal, as Yang Hongqiong won the Women’s 15 kilometers classical Standing competition, while Natalie Wilkie (CAN) won the Sitting division, and Oksana Shyshkova (UKR) won the Visually Impaired category, with guide Andriy Marchenko (UKR) won the Visually Impaired category, with guide Andriy Marchenko.
  4. Ukrainian wins. Vitaliy Lukyanenko extended his record as the winningest Para Biathlon competitor in Winter Paralympic history, winning his seventh gold medal. He won the Men’s 6 kilometers Visually impaired with guide Borys Babar, in a Ukrainian 1-2-3. Grygorii Vovchynskyi (UKR) won the Standing competition and Liu Zixu (CHN) in sitting The Women’s division saw more Ukrainian gold with Oksana Shyshkova and her guide Vitaliy Kazakov taking the Women’s 6 kilometers Visually Impaired, while Guo Yujie (CHN) won the Standing division, and Oksana Masters (USA) won the Sitting division, which means she has now won Paralympic gold medals in three sports.
  5. Para Alpine. Henrieta Farkašova (SVK) has already won two gold medals at the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, as she won the Women’s Alpine Skiing Downhill Visually Impaired, with Martin Motyka, and the Super combined with Michal Červeň. She now has 11 Paralympic gold medals which place her as the winningest women’s Visually Impaired competitor of all time. The Super-G competition was son by other Slovakians: Alexandra Rexová and Eva Trajčíková. In Women’s Sitting, Anna-Lena Forster (DEU) won the Super Combined sitting but was defeated by Momoka Muraoka (JPN) in Super-G and Downhill. Jesper Pedersen (NOR) won the Men’s Super-G and Super Combined, while he was defeated by Corey Peters (NZL). Another notable winner was Arthur Bauchet (FRA), winning the Men’s standing Super combined and Downhill competitions.
  6. Fastest in Tokyo. Eliud Kipchoge (KEN), the winner of the last two Olympic Marathons, successfully started his Olympic cycle by winning the Tokyo Marathon with a record-breaking 2:02:40 -only Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) and himself have gone faster-. He was now won four of the six World Marathon Majors, plus the Olympic and World Championships. Second-placed Amos Kipruto (KEN) moved to ninth of all time, with 2:03:13. Brigid Kosgei (KEN) won the Women’s division, also setting a course record 2:16:02, which is the third fastest of all time. She holds the World Record. At times the Marathon had an adverse wind of 20 km/h.
  7. Arnold Sports Festival. The Arnold Sports Festival hosted several disciplines and saw some Word Records. Kevin Faires (USA) carried two rocks that combine to a weight of 733 Pounds to break the dinnie stone carry World Record at 25 feet and eight inches, almost 10 feet longer than the previous record. Tamara Walcott (VIR) lifted a record-breaking 641 pounds in the women’s elephant bar deadlift event. Charles ‘Trey’ Mitchell broke the men’s forward hold record, by holding a Thor hammer for 60.72 seconds. The Festival also included combat sports, such as Slap Fighting, where Dawid “Zales” Zalewski (POL), the current PunchDown Champion, now has a professional record of 17-0.
  8. The Eagles fly. The USA Eagles secured a third PBR Global Cup of Bull riding win, breaking their tie with second-placed Brazil. México was the dark horse and won their first medal, with bronze.
  9. Happy retirement. The greatest thrower of all time, Valerie Adams (NZL), has decided to retire from competition in order to take care of her children and her health. She won the bronze in Tokyo 2020’s Women’s Shot Put competition, as well as two Olympic golds, four Outdoor World Championships, and four Indoor World Championships.
  10. From where she left off. Ko Jin-young (KOR) won the LPGA’s HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, starting her season from where she left off: winning. The world’s #1 female golfer has won four of the last five tournaments she has contested.