Ten things to know from what happened in the world of sport. May 11-17, 2021. Chelsea losses, Rinus VeeKay, Egan Bernal...

  1. Chelsea loses two finals. Leicester City beat Chelsea to win their first ever FA Cup, the oldest football tournament. They won 1-0 in a match with few scoring chances. A game with many scoring chances was the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final, where Barcelona beat Chelsea 4-0.
  2. Breakthrough, comeback, establishment. Twenty year-old Rinus van Kalmthout (NED) won his first IndyCar race, by taking the Indianapolis road course win, over pole-sitter Romain Grosjean (FRA) -series rookie that is coming off a near-fatal accident at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix a few months ago- and Álex Palou (ESP). In NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports did the fourth 1-2-3-4 in NASCAR Cup history, at Dover. Alex Bowman (USA) won from Kyle Larson (USA), Chase Elliott (USA) and William Byron (USA).
  3. The best Super Bantamweight! Brandon Figueroa (MEX/USA) cleared up the Super Bantamweight division in boxing by beating Luis Nery (MEX) via a liver hook TKO in the 7th round to unify the WBA and WBC World Titles. He is now set to unify three belts against WBO Champion, Stephen Fulton (USA).
  4. Jackass. Jack Miller (AUS) shone in humid conditions again and won the French Moto Grand Prix at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans, beating local riders Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo. Marc Márquez (ESP) was looking to be a contender in his third race after coming back from injury but fell down and retired.
  5. Call of Duty. Atlanta FaZe (USA) won the Call of Duty League 2021 – Stage 3 Major, which is not a big surprise. The surprises were that the New York Subliners (USA) made it to the Finals, instead of defending Champions, Toronto Ultra (CAN). World Champions, Dallas Empire (USA) struggled and were out early, making some wonder if it was right to trade James “Clayster” Eubanks (USA), who made it to the Final with New York.
  6. Nadal rules on clay. Rafael Nadal (ESP) defeated World’s #1, Novak Djokovic (SRB), to win the Italian Open, an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, in 3 sets. Nadal won his record 10th Italian Open title, which is also a record 61st clay court title, record 18th consecutive year winning an ATP title. He of course also has the record for most clay matches won.
  7. NHRA’s Force. John Force (USA) had to sit out most of the 2020 NHRA season but he is back, with his first win in two years. His Funny Car win at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, is his 152nd, which extends his all-time record, at age 72. Steve Torrence (USA) meanwhile has now won six of the last seven Top Fuel four-wide events. Steve Johnson (USA) took his first Pro Motorcycle win in seven years, with the third quickest time ever in the category. Dallas Green (USA) won his first Pro Stock event.
  8. World Records. Hannah Cockroft (ENG) smashed her own World Record for the 800 meters T34 class by taking the gold medal at the 2021 World Para Athletics Grand Prix Nottwil (SUI) with a time of 1:50.91, almost five seconds faster than the record she set in 2017. She also took the gold medal in the 100 meters T38. Jong Fleur (NED) became the first athlete to go over the 6m-barrier in the female T62 long jump.
  9. No Spirit. Medina Spirit (USA) could not win the Preakness Stakes after taking the Kentucky. She was third in a race won by Rombauer (USA), ridden by Flavien Prat (FRA).
  10. Bernal climbs. Caleb Ewan (AUS) left the Giro D’Italia after knee pain. He had won two stages. Meanwhile Egan Bernal (COL) took the lead with a fantastic mountain climb. He has won the Tour de France but had never won a Grand Tour Stage.