Ten things to know from last week: November 2-8, 2021. Rossi retires, amazing Hamilton, Aussie T20...
Ten things to know from last week
  1. Racing at its best. Max Verstappen (NED, Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton (ENG, Mercedes) had a fantastic fight for the Brazilian Grand Prix victory with the World Champion emerging victor. He was disqualified from qualifying for a technical infringement in his Drag Reduction System’s height, so he had to start last in the sprint qualifying, where he finished fifth. Verstappen now leads the Driver’s Championship by 14 points, while Mercedes leads the Constructor’s one by 11.
  2. Also in Brazil… Mikaili Sol (BRA) is just 17 years old, yet she just won her fourth Kiteboarding Freestyle World Title, winning the last event of the GKA Freestyle World Cup at home, in Cumbuco, Brazil. In Itapema, Brazil closed out both 4-Star Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals, with Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Duda Lisboa ending their five-year partnership together on a high note, while Andre Loyola and George Wanderley won the Men’s Division. 
  3. T20 is Aussie. Australia is now the Cricket T20 World Champion in both divisions, as the men beat New Zealand to win their first world title in the division.
  4. Ciao Vale e Toni! The biggest figure in the motorcycling, Valentino Rossi (ITA), retired from MotoGP competition with a 10th place at the Valencian Grand Prix, won by his protégé, Francesco Bagnaia (ITA). Historic Antonio Cairoli (ITA) also retired, in his case from Motocross. Finished 5th in his last ever MXGP heat. With three riders mathematically able to win the Motocross World Championship, it was Jeffrey Herlings (NED) that took the title after winning both heats in Mantova. Romain Febvre (FRA) was second, after he finished 2nd and 3rd, ahead of Tim Gajser (SVN). This is the second World Title for Herlings in the main division.
  5. NHRA. In a very different motorcycling competition, Matt Smith (USA) won his fifth Pro Motorcycle Championship. In the car divisions, Steve Torrence (USA) won his fourth Top Fuel title, Greg Anderson (USA) his fifth in Pro Stock, and Ron Capps (USA) his second in Funny Car.
  6. Esports. Ørjan Larsen (NOR), also known as TheViper, on the first Age of Empires 4 ‘Major’ tournament, GENESIS, even after he has been battling a long-term wrist injury. Meanwhile, the MotoGP eSport Championship was won by Lorenzo “Trast73” Daretti (ITA), who has won three of the five editions of the Championship. In Starcraft II, an all-Korean final saw Cho “Maru” Seong-ju beat Lee “Rogue” Yeol to win the DH SC2 Masters 2021 Winter: Season Finals.
  7. Power. Sergey Fedosienko (RUS) won his second World Championship this year, having previously won the IPF Classic World Championship and now taking the IPF Open World Championship. He has won every single equipped 59 kg World Championship since its first edition in 2011. He took this year’s World Championship with a total score of 747.5 kilograms. He is the second Powerlifter with most World titles in history, with 16.
  8. Russian Sambo. Artem Osipenko (RUS) won his 9th Sambo World Championship, which places him as the third most successful Sambo practitioner of all time and the second in the Heavyweight category, which is now over-98 kilograms. Russia (competing as the Russian Sambo Federation) was the most successful team again, taking 8 gold medals of 22 available.
  9. Aquabikes. Jeremy Perez (FRA) retained his UIM-ABP Aquabike Runabout GP1 world title, to become Champion for a fourth time, making him the second-best of all-time in his category. He finished 2nd, 3rd, and 7th in Kuwait, where the local hero -and best of all-time in the category, Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq won all three races. Kevin Reiterer (AUT) won the Ski GP1 World Championship for the fourth time, Rashid Al-Mulla (ARE) won the Freestyle World Championship and Jonna Borgström (SWE) won the Women’s World Championship.
  10. Discilpine. Francisco ‘Kiko’ Martínez (ESP) had last been a World Boxing Champion in 2014 and had made two unsuccessful attempts at a Featherweight title, so few gave the 35-year-old a shot at beating Kid Galahad (ENG) for the IBF Featherweight World Title. He did not only win: he knocked the British fighter out in the sixth round with a brutal punch.