Review of the Week – 31st July 2017

My sporting week this week has mostly been spent watching the electric atmosphere in Budapest for the Aquatics World Championships, although I did find time over the weekend to catch a bit of football, Formula 1 and cricket as well. The reappearance of Fantasy Football chat in my office also means that we have only a few short weeks before the sports news is even more dominated by the re-emergence of the Premier League.

KEY HEADLINES

Football – England exorcise French demons to progress to Euro 2017 semi-final against Dutch hosts; Germany shocked by Denmark, who will meet Austria

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40765772 (England 1-0 France) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40765446 (Netherlands 2-0 Sweden) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40765453 (Germany 1-2 Denmark) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40766590 (Austria 0-0 Spain)

England’s Lionesses beat France for the first time in 43 years to progress to their second successive semi-final at a major tournament. It was a fourth win in a row at Euro 2017 for England, and, although the quarter-final was a cagier affair than the group games, the performance of the likes of Jordan Nobbs, Lucy Bronze and Jodie Taylor justified the approach taken by coach Mark Samson to rest his first choice team against Portugal. It looked an even better decision in the 75^th minute when first-choice goalkeeper Karen Bardsley was forced off with an injury and replaced by Siobhan Chamberlain, who had played the full match against Portugal, and might otherwise have found her first action of the tournament to have been a very nervous 15 minutes defending a slender lead against a resilient French side. England now move on to a semi-final against the Netherlands on Thursday. The Dutch women overcame a strong Swedish side, and have also won all four of their matches so far, and will present a tough challenge for England.

The Lionesses will go into their semi-final as the newly-installed tournament favourites and highest-ranked team left in the competition, following Germany’s surprise defeat to Denmark in a rearranged fixture on Sunday lunchtime. Originally scheduled to play on Saturday evening, the match was postponed due to heavy rain, although not before a farcical wait for the referees to determine that the pitch was not suitable for play. When the game finally did kick-off, it seemed to be a decision that favoured Germany, as they took a 1-0 lead after just 3 minutes, following a goalkeeping error by Stina Lykke Pedersen. Danish forward Nadia Nadim equalised after half-time and Theresa Nielsen scored late on to snatch the win. The other quarter-final, between Spain and Austria, finished goalless, but it was Austria who triumphed in the penalty shootout, as Silvia Meseguer missed the crucial spot-kick for Spain. The Spanish side have dominated possession charts, but have now failed to score in their past three games, and failed to create enough chances here. Austria have been the surprise package of the tournament so far, and their match-up against Denmark should be an exciting game.

 

Swimming – Katinka Hosszú brings curtain down on Budapest championships with second gold; Sjöström, Ledecky and King also shine

https://www.fina.org/news/swimming-day-8-two-more-wr-final-consecration-dressel

On the final day of the swimming World Championships in Budapest, Katinka Hosszú brought delight to the home crowd, winning her second gold medal of the meet in the 400m Individual Medley. The week has seen a number of spectacular performances, not least from Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström, who won three gold medals, all in individual events, and broke the 100m Freestyle world record on the opening day. USA’s Katie Ledecky won enough to come second on the medal table on her own, with five gold medals (400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle, 4x100m Freestyle relay and 4x200m Freestyle relay) and one silver (200m Freestyle).

 

Water Polo – USA back up Olympic victory with record fifth World title

https://www.fina.org/news/day-7-womens-water-polo-usa-rolls-spain-fifth-world-crown

The USA proved they remain the dominant force in women’s water polo with a 13-6 victory in the final against Spain. The European side did well to keep the game tight at 5-3 at half-time, but saw the Americans up the tempo in the third and fourth quarters, scoring four goals in each to stretch away. 19-year-old Madeline Musselman was named tournament MVP for the USA. In the bronze medal match, Russia won 11-9 against Canada.

 

BMX – Alise Post wins Elite Women World Championship after photo finish in Rock Hill, USA

http://www.uci.ch/bmx/news/article/corben-sharrah-and-alise-post-claim-elite-uci-bmx-world-championship-titles-rock-hill-usa/

USA’s Alise Post just held off a late surge from Australian Caroline Buchanan to claim the World Championship title. After both progressed easily through their semi-finals, it was Post who made the early move in the final, but as her stamina ran out towards the end of the race, Buchanan came storming back and was only denied on the line thanks to photographic evidence. Venezuela’s Stefany Hernandez initially looked well set to take bronze, until she was passed by Colombia’s Mariana Pajon. Earlier in the day, the UK’s Bethany Shriever won the Junior World Championship title.

 

Tennis – Jordanne Whiley reveals pregnancy, just weeks after Wimbledon triumph

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/40762837

Britain’s wheelchair tennis player Jordanne Whiley revealed on Saturday that she was 11 weeks pregnant as she won the wheelchair doubles title earlier this month against Wimbledon. The news came just months after Serena Williams made a similar announcement following her Australian Open win. My wife can’t understand it – she struggles to get off the sofa during her first trimester, never mind playing competitive sport!

 

WOMEN’S SPORT IN THE NEWS

A new thing here, but there has been a couple of articles that I thought were worth highlighting.

The Good: Marina Hyde – “Why can’t we celebrate women’s sport without relating it to men’s?”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/jul/26/womens-sport-celebrate-world-cup-cricket-success-mens-sport

The Bad: The Economist – “The rise of women’s cricket”

https://www.economist.com/news/britain/21725590-world-cup-win-marks-double-victory-englands-female-athletes-4000-spectators

While it’s great to see an article about women’s cricket in The Economist, it’s also sad to see that the only player mentioned by name is Len Hutton.

 

COMING UP THIS WEEK

• Football: UEFA European Championships, Netherlands – July 16th-August 6th
  • Denmark v Austria – July 27^th 5:00pm
  • Netherlands v England – July 27^th, 7:45pm
  • The Final – August 6^th, 4:00pm
• Beach Volleyball: World Championships, Vienna – July 26^th-August 6^th
• Athletics: World Championships, London – August 4^th-13^th

Report – Swimming & Water Polo – FINA World Championships Update

Just a few of the headlines from the FINA World Championships that are currently underway in Budapest.

Pellegrini stuns Ledecky in 200m Freestyle

Federica Pellegrini (picture courtesy of Lis í Jákupsstovu)

Federica Pellegrini, who has won medals in the 200m Freestyle at every World Championships since 2005, made it an unlucky 13^th world championship final for Katie Ledecky, the defending world and reigning Olympic champion in this event. Ledecky has won her first 12 world championship finals, but after battling Australia’s Emma McKeon in the middle lanes, was unable to cope with Pellegrini’s surge from the outside. Thankfully for Ledecky, she can console herself with her gold medals from the 400m Freestyle, 1500m Freestyle and 4x200m Freestyle relay earlier in the meet. After the event, Pellegrini announced that this would be her final appearance in the 200m Freestyle: “I was only fourth at the Olympic Games last year, so this is a great success for me. I was thinking of the medal but I never thought it would be gold! What a nice gift for the last 200m freestyle of my life.”

Hosszú brings the house down with 200m IM victory

Katinka Hosszú of Hungary (picture courtesy of Doha Stadium Plus Qatar)

Hungary has long since been associated with enthusiasm for winter sports, and a number of swimming legends have hailed from these shores. One of the biggest names of the current generation is Katinka Hosszú, and the ‘Iron Lady’ did not disappoint the home crowd on Day 2 in the pool, storming to victory in the 200m Individual Medley, and in the process becoming the first swimmer in history to win the event three times. On the electric atmosphere that greeted her victory, Hosszú said: “I am feeling the same way that the very time I won a race. I have been training in this pool since it opened, trying to imagine the crowd. You can’t be ready for such an amazing atmosphere. It is crazy!”

Kylie Masse is first Canadian female world champion

After 16-year-old Penny Oleksiak won a stunning 100m Freestyle gold medal at the Rio Olympics last year, Canadian swimming seemed to be on an upwards trajectory. While it was Oleksiak who grabbed most of the headlines at that time, Kylie Masse was also impressing by winning a bronze medal in the 100m Backstroke. In the 12 months since then, Masse has continued her improvement, and was delighted to become the first Canadian woman to win a world title earlier this week, breaking the world record in the process.

Sjöström shows class over 100m in both Butterfly and Freestyle

Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström gave us a spectacular opening to the World Championships, when she broke the 100m Freestyle world record on the opening leg of the 4x100m Freestyle relay, finishing in 51.71. While the rest of the Swedish relay team weren’t able to provide a medal to go with the record, Sjöström made no mistake in her first individual event of the meet, winning gold in the 100m Butterfly to make it four world championships in a row that she has won the event.

USA and Spain will do battle for water polo gold

This week saw the water polo competition reach the knockout stage, with a number of exceptional performances from unexpected sources. Canada overcame hosts Hungary 6-4 in the quarter-finals, thanks to a five-goal performance from Monika Eggens, but then lost out to an impressive Spanish side in the semi-finals. Spain had overcome Greece in a penalty shoot-out in their quarter-final after drawing 10-10 in normal time. In the other quarter-finals Russia upset Olympic silver-medallists Italy 9-8, and the USA defeated Australia 7-5, with the US team then going on to win comfortably 14-9 in the semi-final. With three of four Group Stage winners losing in the quarter-finals, there is a question mark over the merits of the four-day break in competition for those teams, although the benefit of that extra rest for the US team may become apparent in the final against Spain on Saturday.

What about Adam Peaty?!

Finally, and I know it’s supposed to be a blog about women’s sport, but as a Brit I have to say “WOW!” about the performances of Adam Peaty during the swimming competition this week. The man is head and shoulders above the rest of the world in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke, and became the first man under 26 seconds for 50m Breaststroke as he broke his own world record in the 50m semi-finals. It is a bit of a novelty seeing a British sportsperson so dominant in their event, so I’ll make no bones about shouting it from the rooftops. Great to see him inspiring the next generation of talent as well, as training partner Sarah Vasey made the 100m Breaststroke final in her first World Championships (there, a reference to women’s sport!).