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Hordeloper Smet waives World Cup indo approaching fatherhood
3.16 pm: Koen Smet will not participate in the World Indoor Athletics Championships next weekend in the Serbian capital Belgrade. The hurdler will soon become a father and would rather stay at home in Amsterdam with the little one on the way, reports technical director Ad Roskam of the Athletics Union.
Two weeks ago, Smet already hinted at the NK Indoor that he thought the coming fatherhood was more important than the World Indoor Championships. “Sometimes there are more beautiful things in life”, he said after he had conquered the Dutch title in the 60 meters hurdles for the sixth time. He now focuses on the outdoor season, with the World Championship in Eugene as the highlight.
Tim Verbaandert is still an uncertain factor in the Dutch team of 21 athletes. The global athletics association has not recognized the time that the Brabant runner set in February in the 3000 meters (7.47.42) and has yet to reject him for the World Cup. “That time was well below the World Cup limit, but it was a split time in a 2-mile race. So the start line on the track had been moved and the association now wants the track in Dortmund to be measured again. We hope that before to get together before the start of the World Cup,” said Roskam.
The team also misses Emma Oosterwegel. The winner of the Olympic bronze in the heptathlon was injured at the Dutch National Championships indoor and had to decline the invitation to participate in the pentathlon in Belgrade. Nadine Visser is also missing. The two-time European champion in the 60 meter hurdles also injured her hamstring at the Dutch National Championships.
Two-time Olympic champion Sifan Hassan and former world champion Dafne Schippers have not run any indoor competitions and are therefore also not present in Belgrade. Femke Bol and Liermarvin Bonevacia are now the figureheads of the team. Bol, who won bronze in the 400 meters hurdles at the Tokyo Games, is considered the big favorite for gold in the 400 meters. She leads this year’s world ranking with a time of 50.30.
DSM with Eekhoff and Nieuwenhuis in Milan-Sanremo
12.55 pm: Team DSM will start on Saturday with the Dutch cyclists Nils Eekhoff and Joris Nieuwenhuis in Milan-Sanremo, the first classic of the season. The team says it can compete with several riders in the longest race of the year, over almost 300 kilometers. The Dane Søren Kragh Andersen and the German former winner John Degenkolb (2015) are also part of the selection.
“We have to save as much energy as possible for the climbs of the Cipressa and Poggio in the final,” says sports director Matt Winston. “We have several options for what is normally an exciting final, where the decision is made by a small group that pulls away, a late attack or a reduced group that sprints for it.”
For Wednesday’s Nokere Koerse, DSM has formed a team around sprinter Cees Bol. Bol won the Belgian one-day race in 2019. In the women’s race, sprinter Lorena Wiebes is the spearhead of the team in Nokere Koerse.
KNSB appoints Olympic champion as national figure skating coach
12:53 pm: The Dutch skating association KNSB has appointed Aljona Savchenko as national figure skating coach. The Olympic champion of the 2018 Pyeongchang Games in pair riding will lead the National Figure Skating Training Center, which will start in Heerenveen this spring. Savchenko, a German of Ukrainian descent, has signed a contract until mid-2024.
The 38-year-old Savchenko specialized in horse riding. She won four European titles and six world titles. The highlight of her career was the Olympic gold she won in 2018 with her French partner Bruno Massot. She won bronze twice at previous Games.
“We are proud that Aljona has chosen us. With her wealth of international experience, she will be able to significantly improve the quality of our best figure skaters together with the coaches at our associations for talent development”, says Remy de Wit, technical director of the KNSB. “The search for the best national coach took longer than we would have liked. There was great enthusiasm for this position, but care was our top priority.”
The Netherlands was represented in figure skating for the first time in 46 years at the Beijing Games with Lindsay van Zundert. In addition to Van Zundert, pair drivers Michel Tsiba and Daria Danilova will also be competing at this month’s World Championships in Montpellier.
It is not yet known which figure skaters will join the National Training Center in Heerenveen. “The enthusiasm among the potential participants was great,” says De Wit. “But everyone wanted to know: who will be the national coach? And what will the program look like?”
Savchenko, who played for Germany since 2003, became a coach after ending her career in 2018. “We are convinced that Aljona will be of great added value to both the pairs and individual drivers,” says De Wit. The national coach moves from Germany to Friesland. When that will happen exactly depends on the war in Ukraine, where her family lives.
“I would prefer to get started tomorrow, because I think it is a big challenge to take figure skating in the Netherlands to a higher level,” says Savchenko. “But there is a war going on, one man is destroying my motherland. This war has a great impact on the Ukrainian people and on my family. My parents are safe with me now, but my three brothers are still there and I worry a lot about them.”
Wildcards for Vuelta to three Spanish cycling teams
12.34 pm: The organization of the Tour of Spain has given three cycling teams from their own country a wildcard. The teams Euskaltel-Euskadi, Equipo Kern Pharma and Burgos-BH will be at the start of the Vuelta on Friday 19 August in Utrecht.
The eighteen teams from the WorldTour, including the Dutch Jumbo-Visma, are automatically admitted to all major races. The procontinental teams Alpecin-Fenix (of Mathieu van der Poel) and Arkéa-Samsic are allowed to participate in the Vuelta based on their performances from last year.
The three-week stage race starts with a team time trial over more than 23 kilometers through Utrecht. The second and third stage also pass through the Netherlands, from Den Bosch to Utrecht and a stage with start and finish in Breda. After that, the participants already have a rest day, on which they travel to Spain for the continuation of the round. The finish is on September 11 in Madrid.
Slovenian climber Primoz Roglic of Jumbo-Visma has won the Vuelta in the past three years.
Paralympic medalists visit Rutte and the king
12.06 pm: The three Dutch medalists at the Beijing Paralympic Games will visit Prime Minister Mark Rutte and King Willem-Alexander on Tuesday. The sitting skiers Jeroen Kampschreur and Niels de Langen and snowboarder Chris Vos are honored in the Catshuis by Rutte and Minister Conny Helder of Sport. They then continue in The Hague to Noordeinde Palace, where they are received by King Willem-Alexander and Princess Margriet. She is a member of the honorary board of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The coaches involved and chef de mission Esther Vergeer will also be present at the ceremony at the Catshuis. TeamNL, which consisted of eight winter athletes in China, won four medals at the Paralympic Games: three silver and one bronze. De Langen, who carried the Dutch flag at the closing ceremony on Sunday, took care of half of the harvest. The sit skier won bronze in the super combination and silver in the slalom. The Netherlands finished in sixteenth place in the medal standings.
Infected Fernandes uncertain at Man United for duel with Atlético
12.05 pm: For Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United it is a race against time whether he has recovered in time from a corona infection. Trainer Ralf Rangnick hopes that the Portuguese midfielder can be used on Tuesday in the return against Atlético Madrid in the eighth finals of the Champions League. The first game in Spain ended in 1-1.
Fernandes has scored nine times for United this season and has provided 14 assists. He was absent from the 3-2 league match against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday due to a positive corona test. Luke Shaw and Scott McTominay also missed that game.
“Luke will hopefully be back in training and with Bruno we have to wait until Tuesday,” said Rangnick. “That will probably only be decided at the last minute, because of Covid-19. We also have to be careful with the corona tests. The same was true for David de Gea. He wasn’t supposed to play, but then his rapid test turned out to be a false positive.”
Tennis Federation replaces Russia and Belarus in country tournaments
9.11 am: The international tennis federation ITF has appointed replacements for Russia and Belarus in the two country tournaments, the Davis Cup (men) and Billie Jean King Cup (women). At the beginning of this month, the ITF decided to suspend both countries because of the war in Ukraine. Russia won both the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup last year.
As defending champions, the Russian men and women were automatically qualified for this year’s final round. Australia takes over from Russia in the Billie Jean King Cup. The Australian tennis players would face Slovakia in the qualifying round next month. That country now gets a ‘bye’ and can also prepare for the final round at the end of this year. Belgium, which would compete against the suspended Belarus, is already certain of participating. The Dutch tennis players compete with Spain in Den Bosch for a place in the last twelve.
In the Davis Cup tournament, in addition to Russia, losing finalist Croatia, Serbia and Great Britain (both with a wild card) were already certain of participating in the Finals. Twelve countries were added this month, including the Netherlands, which defeated Canada in the qualification. Russia’s place is taken over by a country that lost in the qualifying round.
The ITF is the worldwide umbrella organization of tennis. In addition, there are also the ATP and the WTA, the professional associations for men and women respectively. Those unions have decided that tennis players from Russia and Belarus may continue to participate in tournaments, but under a neutral flag.
Milestone for basketball player James with 10,000th assist in NBA
07:51 am: Basketball player LeBron James has reached another milestone in the NBA. The 37-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star gave his 10,000th assist in the American top league in the lost away game against Phoenix Suns (140-111). James is the only basketball player who has broken the 10,000 mark in points, rebounds and assists.
“The first. The only. The king,” LA Lakers wrote on Twitter at an overview of James’ numbers. The American signed against the Phoenix Suns for 31 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. At the home team, already certain of participating in the play-offs, Devin Booker was the top scorer with 30 points. The Suns recorded their 54th win of the season, losing only 14 times.
James is third on the NBA’s all-time scorers list with 36,824 points. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leads the ranking with 38,387. James has so far grabbed 10,150 rebounds and he now stands at 10,004 assists. He is the seventh player to have provided more than 10,000 assists in the NBA.
James was a four-time NBA champion: in 2012 and 2013 with the Miami Heat, in 2016 with the Cleveland Cavaliers and two years ago with the Lakers.