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Chronicle
Russians Andrey Parfenov and Nikita Kryukov became fourth in the team sprint at the World Championships in the Czech town of Liberec. The debutants of the world championship lost to the strong Norwegian duo Ole Vigen Hattestad and Johan Kjestad 2.2 seconds. The silver and bronze medalists were determined by a photo finish. Axel Teichmann and Tobis Angerer from Germany were second, Finns Ville Nousiainen and Sami Jahojarvi were third.
Until the penultimate stage, the Russians were in the leading group. However, on the fifth lap, Parfenov was unable to maintain the set pace and passed the baton to fifth, with a lag of 4.7 seconds. Nikita Kryukov managed to cut this time difference in half and moved to fourth place in the last meters of the distance. However, the Russian was unable to reach the Norwegians, Germans and Finns ahead. This is the third and fourth place for our team at this championship.
Unfortunately, the Russian women's tandem Natalya Matveeva and Evgenia Shapovalova, who made it to the main final, finished the race in the penultimate, 9th position, losing to the Finnish winners Aino Kaise Saarinen and Virpi Kuitunen by 1 minute. 39.7 sec. After the third stage, it became clear that coach Tatyana Revina’s wards could give up their thoughts about medals. Evgenia Shapovalova failed her segment and finished 38 seconds behind. The Finns, on the contrary, removed all questions about the championship after the starting lap. The world champion in the individual classic race of the current championship, Aino Kaisa Saarinen, managed to break away from the rest of her pursuers, and Virpi Kuitunen further increased her advantage, making it simply indecent. Swedes Anna Olsson and Lina Andersson finished second, and Italians Arianna Follis and Marianna Longa finished third. With the exception of the Swedes and Kuitunen, all the other athletes who were included in the team sprint prizes already had medals at this championship.
Bryant moves up in scoring list
Basketball. NBA. Regular season . “Toronto” – “Minnesota” – 118:110, “Cleveland” – “Memphis” – 94:79, “Miami” – “Detroit” – 103:91, “Oklahoma” – “Lakers” -- 93:107, "Chicago" -- "Orlando" -- 120:102, "Houston" -- "Portland" -- 98:94, "San Antonio" -- "Dallas" -- 97:76, “Phoenix” – “Charlotte” – 112:102.
On Wednesday night, eight matches took place in the NBA, in which the leaders Cleveland, Lakers and San Antonio won. Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, one of the contenders for the title of most valuable player of the regular season, scored 21 more points than his main competitor LeBron James of the Cavaliers. Bryant would have achieved more if not for the consequences of his ankle injury. “Yes, the ankle made itself felt a little, but everything is fine,” the basketball player admitted. As a result, with 36 points, Kobe became 19th on the list of the best snipers in NBA history.
Ovechkin scored his 44th goal of the season
Hockey. NHL. Regular season . "Boston" -- "Florida" -- 6:1, "Buffalo" -- "Anaheim" -- 2:3, "Washington" -- "Philadelphia" -- 2:4 -- Ovechkin "B" (1+ 1), Sergey Fedorov “B” (0+1) , “Atlanta” - “Colorado” - 4:3 - Kovalchuk “A” (1+0), Kozlov “A” (0+1), “ Montreal" -- "Washington" -- 3:0 -- Markov "M" (1+0), Kovalev "M" (0+1), "Ottawa" -- "Carolina" -- 4:2 -- Babchuk “K” (1+0), “Minnesota” – “Los Angeles” – 1:2 B, “St. Louis” – “Phoenix” – 2:1, “Calgary” – “Columbus” -- 4:1, "Edmonton" -- "Tampa Bay" -- 5:3.
Montreal goalkeeper Jaroslav Halak became the first star of the day. The Slovakian goalkeeper played a dry match against Vancouver, stopping all 34 shots on his goal. Calgary forwards Jerome Iginla and Boston forwards Byron Beetz were named the second and third stars of the game day. By the way, Boston won the most convincing victory, defeating Florida with a score of 6:1.
As for the Russians, Washington's Alexander Ovechkin scored his 44th goal of the season. Phoenix goalkeeper Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 22 of 24 shots on goal.
The American team was helped by the economic crisis
The creators of the USF1 team, which will appear in Formula 1 next season, Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor, are confident that the global economic crisis has played into their hands. “If there was an economic boom now, money was falling from the sky, and teams were queuing for the right to compete in Formula 1 and billionaires were all captivated by the glamor of racing, it would be very difficult for us to create an effective team with a meager budget. But now we can do it and be different from everyone else,” Windsor said.
He also added that the Americans planned their project when no one had heard of the crisis, but in the changed situation they began to take them seriously. In addition, the rules for the entry of new teams have changed. Now there is no need to pay the $48 million entry fee, which Windsor called “strange.” He also predicted that in three or four years in Formula 1 everything will change beyond recognition. “Forget $100 million budgets and $30 million driver salaries,” Windsor was quoted as saying by Autosport.
WADA will introduce biological passports for athletes
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) plans to provide athletes with biological passports in the near future. The development of this system, initiated by representatives of cycling and skiers, has been ongoing since 2006. Its essence is that accredited anti-doping laboratories will have “biological fingerprints” that last much longer than regular doping tests. An athlete's biological passport will allow the detection of changes in the chemical composition of the blood that are difficult to determine by other methods.
WADA has already collected blood samples from athletes in preparation for passports. The method will be tested at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin. The decision on abnormal tests will be made by an independent commission of experts.