Ten things to know from what happened in the world of sport. September 28-October 4, 2021. Upset at the Arc, Hour World Record, an epic Paris-Roubaix...
Five things to know from last week
  1. Arc de Triomphe!Torquator Tasso (DEU) pulled a 70-1 upset win ridden by Rene Piechulek (DEU) in the 100th edition of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, one of the the most horse races in the world. Torquator Tasso, Grosser Preis von Baden winner, won ahead of Breeder’s Cup Turf Champion Tarnawa (IRL), and St Leger winner Hurricane Lane (IRL). In the US, Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (USA) won the Awesome Again Stakes in Santa Anita, Calfornia, again under John Velázquez (PUR).
  2. Exciting bikes. Reining six-time World Superbike Champion, Jonathan Rea (NIR), fell down in Race 1 and the Superpole Race of the World Superbikes Championship Portuguese Round, allowing Toprak Razgatlıoğlu (TUR) to increase his Championship lead, by winning an exciting first race, ahead of Scott Redding (ENG). Toprak fell down in Race 2, allowing Rea to take the win and decrease the gap. Michael van der Mark gave BMW its first win since 2013, by taking the Superpole Race. Meanwhile in the Speedway GP, Artem Laguta (RUS) secured his first Individual World Title, ahead of Bartosz Zmarzlik (POL), who won the last round on home ground. In America, Marc Márquez (ESP) won the Moto GP race at Austin for a seventh time.
  3. Sweet home, Alabama! Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace Jr (USA) became the first black driver to win a NASCAR Cup race since Wendell Scott (USA) did it in 1963. Wallace won in Talladega, Alabama – his native state. The race had to be run on Monday and was rained out before the third stage even started.
  4. Epic Paris-Roubaix. The 2021 Paris-Roubaix cycling race will be one to remember. Under very muddy conditions, débutant Sonny Colbrelli (ITA) won ahead of Florian Vermeersch (BEL) and Mathieu van der Poel (NED) on a Final sprint at the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux. Gianni Moscon (ITA), who tried to win with an escape, finished fourth, 44 seconds behind. Wout van Aert (BEL) fell down and eventually recovered to finish seventh. Lizzie Deignan (ENG) won the first edition of the Féminin race, more than one minute ahead of Marianne Vos (NED), silver medalist at the World Championship one week before.
  5. The fourth time was good. Hassan Yazdani (IRI) was finally able to beat David Taylor (USA) in their fourth wrestling match, winning gold in the Men’s Freestyle 86kg final of the Wrestling World Championships in Oslo, Norway. Taylor had beaten Yazdani in the Final seconds of their Olympic gold medal match. Amir Hossein Zare (IRI) also avenged his Tokyo 2020 loss in the 125kg by winning gold against Geno Petriashvili (GEO), with Olympic Champion Gable Stevenson (USA) absent. Sensational Abasgadzhi Magomedov (RUS) won the 61 kg category in his World Champinship debut.
  6. …And Burroughts takes his fifth. Jordan Burroughs (USA) became the first US American to become a five-time Wrestling World Champion, after taking gold in the 79 kg competition of the UWW World Championships (Oslo, NOR). He has also won single Olympic and World Cup gold medals. This was his debut in the 79 kg world-class, having won the other gold medals in the 74 kg category. He beat Mohammad Nokhodi Larimi (IRI) in the Final.
  7. Powerful. Sergey Fedosienko (RUS) won the Men’s 59 kg category at the IPF World Powerlifting Championships, by also taking gold in each of the three types of exercises: squat, benchpress and deadlift, for a total of 640 kg. He is now a 15-time overall IPF World Champion in his weight class. He has won every single equipped 59 kg World Championship since its first edition in 2011 and won his first World Championship back in 2003. He is the second winningest powerlifter in the International Olympic Committee – sanctioned International Powerlifting Federation World Championships.
  8. One Hour Record. Joss Lowden (ENG) -who had not won a world-class event before- broke the Women’s One Hour Record, one of the most prestigious in cycling. She completed 48.405 kilometers in Grenchen (CHE), beating the 48.007 kilometer record set by Vittoria Bussi (ITA) in 2018, in Aguascalientes (MEX). She also finally broke the best human effort of 48.159 km that had been set by Jeannie Longo (FRA) back in 1996, also in Aguascalientes. The “best human effort” mark allows for modern equipment.
  9. Brady increases legacy. Tom Brady (USA) beat his former team, the New England Patriots, in an NFL Regular Season game. He became the fourth player that beats every NFL franchise and he also broke the NFL’s yard passage record
  10. China’s 12th. While Japan had a great start of year in Badminton, China has reclaimed its spot as the number one country in the sport, by taking its 12th Mixed World Team Championships win (Surdiman Cup), over Japan.