MiniGolf Summer "parent-child Summer camp activity was held
Smartputt
Kunshan Minigolf Sport Association was launched three days parent-child Minigolf Summer camp activity in Zhouzhuang Primary School in Kunshan
Parents and children are involved together, meanwhile,with the professional guidance of coaches, Parents and kids get their starting with basic training, competitive competition and other Parent-child interaction activities
Both team and Individual winners were awarded and All the participants enjoyed this activity very much in that it combines entertainment with sport. The origin and development of Minigolf sport was understood deeply.
On behalf of Kunshan Minigolf Sport Association, the vice Director, Chen Wenqiao, awarded Zhouzhuang Primary School the ambassador of Minigolf Sport Promotion. As a starting point, from Zhiuzhuang Primary School, Minigolf Sport will be promoted widely in whole Kunshan and provide more selection for youth sporting and cultivate their interests and habits in Minigolf sport.
World Championships 2023 Announced For Sweden
World Minigolf Federation
Uppsala, Sweden - The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) together with Svenska Bangolfförbundet (SBGF) and Uppsala Bangolfklubb (UBGK) are excited to announce the awarding of the Minigolf World Championships 2023 General Class to Uppsala. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the first time the World Championships will be played since 2019 when they were held in Zhouzhuang, China. The World Championships are the premier international miniature golf tournament, normally held every two years. The tournament will be held from August 22 through August 26, 2023 with training days starting as early as August 12.
The competition will be held on the miniaturegolf and feltgolf courses at the UBGK. The UBGK was founded in 1934 and is one of Sweden’s oldest bangolf clubs, with approximately 250 members. Svenska Bangolfförbundet was founded in 1937 to support the sport. Uppsala is located in eastern Sweden and is the 4th largest city in the country. Besides minigolf, Uppsala is also known for the Uppsala Castle as well as being home to Sweden’s largest cathedral and the oldest Scandinavian higher education center. The city will offer many destinations for minigolfers and spectators alike who come for the championships.
Mr. Pasi Aho, WMF Vice President Sport said: “We are very grateful to SBGF and UBGK for applying at short notice after our main candidate in Switzerland withdrew its application. At the same time we are very pleased to return to Sweden with General Class championships 12 years after the fantastic 2011 World Championships in Stockholm. We are sure all parties will provide a most enjoyable championship at a perfect location, in the home of one of the world’s best minigolf clubs in recent history of the game.“
"This means a lot to us as a sport, to sports in Sweden generally and it will hopefully give a proper boost to mingolf in the country after virtually all championships have been canceled during the two-year pandemic,” says Mats Söderkvist, president of Svenska Bangolfförbundet.
The WMF looks forward to bringing the minigolf sport world together again for the World Championships and celebrating the best of the best in the sport.
The WMF is the umbrella organisation of Minigolf sports associations worldwide and continental associations in Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The WMF is a member of GAISF (Global Association of International Sports Federations), AIMS (Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport) and TAFISA (The Association For International Sport for All).
IFBB FIT MODEL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2021
The IFBB Fit Model World Championships were held in Riga, with a magnificent organization.
The winners were Anastassiya Chshekotilova from Kazakhstan, in Women’s Fit Model, Nikita Stepanovs from Latvia in Men’s Fit Model, and Kristina Mickiene from Lithuania, in Master Women’s Fit Model, among others.
IFBB DIAMOND CUP SERBIA
The IFBB Diamond Cup of Serbia has been a new opportunity to demonstrate the great organizational capacity and leadership of this national federation, under the presidency of Mr. Goran Ivanovich.
The champions were, Dmytro Marchenko from Ukraine, in Men’s Bodybuilding, Marko Vukotic from Montenegro, in Men’s Physique, and Viktoriia Lysenko from Ukraine, in Bikini Fitness, among others.
SUCCESSFUL IFBB WORLD BODYBUILDING AND FITNESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
The IFBB World Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships 2021 celebrated in Santa Susanna, the world capital of fitness, has been the largest event in the history of bodybuilding and fitness.
With the occasion of these championships the IFBB celebrated its 75th anniversary, in a competition that counted with the participation of 1. 800 athletes and more than 500 officials from 102 countries.
The event started with the IFBB annual congress, and continued with four days of incessant activity in a competition in which the new world champions were, Vladimir Holota from Slovakia in Men’s Bodybuilding, Kikwan Seol from South Korea, in Men’s Classic Bodybuilding, Farshad Valipour from Iran, in Men’s Classic Physique, Serhiy Royko from Ukraine, in Men’s Physique, Mohamed Ibrahim from Egypt, in Men’s Bodybuilding over 100 kg, William Yuri Rodriguez from El Salvador, in Men’s Games Classic Bodybuilding over 175 cm, and Abdulla Albalooshi from the United Arab Emirates, in Muscular Men’s Physique, among others.
In the women’s senior categories the main winners were, Kateryna Stoianova from Ukraine, in Bikini Fitness, Meri Akievska from the Republic of North Macedonia, in Wellness, Yuliia Shykula from Ukraine, in Bodyfitness, and Nataliia Prokhorova from Ukraine, in Women’s Physique, among others.
IFBB NATIONAL EVENTS
19 November, 2021
IFBB National Federations continue to hold their national events around the world.
Among the last celebrated ones, the Venezuelan National Championships was held past weekend, resulting as winner, Roberto Rattia in the Bodybuilding category.
In Belarus, another great national competition was celebrated, in which the athlete Sergey Yurkevich was the winner in Men’s Bodybuilding.
IFBB ELITE PRO MASTER CHAMPIONSHIPS AND DIAMOND CUP PORTUGAL
26 November, 2021
The IFBB Elite Pro Master World Championships took place in Portugal.
The city of Póvoa de Lanhoso, hosted the IFBB Elite Pro Master World Championships together with the amateur competition, IFBB Diamond Cup Portugal.
The new world master pro champions are, Pedro Quiala Pereira from Angola, in Men’s Bodybuilding, Katerina Jakubcova from United Kingdom, in Bikini Fitness, and Alzbeta Petkova from Slovakia, in Women’s Body Fitness.
At the IFBB Diamond Cup event the main winners were, Ahmed Al Maskari from Oman, in Men’s Bodybuilding, Boaventura Jose Macuacua from Mozambique, in Men’s Physique, Jessica Rodriguez from Spain, in Bikini Fitness, and Silvio Koorndijk from Romania in Men’s Classic Physique, among others.
"To be here is a miracle" – Devers donates Budapest 2004 singlet and spikes to MOWA
When Gail Devers settled into her starting blocks for the women’s 60m final on the opening night of the 2004 World Indoor Championships in the Budapest Sportarena, the consensus among the track and field cognoscenti was that her best days were probably behind her.
True, the great US sprint hurdler-turned-sprinter had produced a golden blast from the past on “the boards” 12 months previously, blasting to her first world indoor 60m hurdles crown ahead of Spain's Glory Alozie in 7.81, having clocked a championship record 7.80 in the semifinals.
Still, one year on, Devers had turned 37, and it had been seven years since her last success on the global stage in a flat sprint, indoors or out. The odds, it seemed, were stacked against the preacher’s daughter from Seattle.
But, then, Yolanda Gail Devers always did relish a battle. The veteran campaigner produced her fastest time for five years, finishing 0.04 clear of Belgian Kim Gevaert in 7.08.
In doing so, Devers became the first woman to complete a hat-trick of world indoor 60m titles, emulating her victories from Toronto in 1993 (in 6.95, still a championship record) and Paris in 1997. She might have completed a famous double in Budapest but in the final of the 60m hurdles two days later she was beaten to the gold by Perdita Felicien of Canada, 7.75 to 7.78.
Devers has generously donated the spikes and the singlet which she wore during Budapest 2004 to the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA).
Dogged by Olympic hurdling ill fortune
The world didn’t know it at the time but those 2004 World Indoor Championships were to be a final medal-winning hurrah for the odds-defying Devers. Though she made the US team for that year’s Olympic Games in Athens, the ill-fortune that dogged her in her specialist event in every four-year Olympic cycle struck once again. She suffered a calf injury and failed to clear the opening barrier in the 100m hurdles heat.
The irony was that, in between Olympics, Devers had a Midas touch when it came to the high hurdles in the outdoor World Championships. As with the indoor 60m, outdoors she took 100m gold on three occasions: in Stuttgart in 1993, in Gothenburg in 1995 and in Seville in 1999. They remain unique trebles.
There were also outdoor silvers in Tokyo in 1991, and in Edmonton 10 years later – the former, a prelude to the remarkable success story that was to unfold in the atmospheric Montjuic Stadium, high on the hill overlooking Barcelona, at the 1992 Olympic Games.
Devers’ victory in a dramatic 100m final came against all kinds of odds. At the time a 25-year-old sociology student at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, she was ranked only fifth as she took her place on the start line in the Catalan capital.
It what was at the time the closest finish in Olympic history, the first five women flashed across the line seemingly together. There was an interminable five-minute wait before the scoreboard flashed up confirmation that Devers had won in 10.82, ahead of Juliet Cuthbert of Jamaica (10.83), Russia’s Irina Privalova (10.84), Devers’ US teammate Gwen Torrence (10.86) and Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey (10.88).
It was, by coincidence, the third straight victory in the event by a UCLA student, following Evelyn Ashford’s success in Los Angeles in 1984 and Florence Griffith-Joyner’s triumph in Seoul in 1988.
Undiagnosed disorder for two and a half years
It could have been just another outsider-come-good story but it was much more than that. Just two years previously, Devers had been a physical wreck. She came within two days of having her feet amputated.
Unknown to her, she had been suffering from the symptoms of Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder which causes an overactive thyroid gland.
The symptoms had started in June 1988, with migraines, dizziness and a temporary loss of vision in one eye. Devers still managed to qualify for the Seoul Olympics that year but exited the 100m hurdles at the semifinal stage.
Doctors diagnosed stress and athlete’s foot but Devers continued to deteriorate. Only her persistence saved her. She refused to accept that her condition was not serious.
“I was finally diagnosed in September 1990,” she recalled, speaking at the medallists’ press conference in Barcelona. “I was told I was two weeks away from being cancerous.
“My condition had been wrongly diagnosed. They told me it was athlete’s foot. I don’t have a degree but I could tell there was more to it.
“My weight ballooned from 95lbs to 137lbs within a week. I suffered memory loss, migraine, loss of vision, and I had three menstrual cycles every month. I looked like a monster.
“The condition went undiagnosed for two and half years. They told me, ‘You’re an athlete. You’re fine, just fatigued and stressed out. Take time off.’
“I did, but in February last year I started getting blood blisters on my feet. The doctor said it was just a bad case of athlete’s foot, but I was crawling on my hands and knees.
“I can’t describe the pain. It was so excruciating. I would get back into bed and my knees would start to itch. Twenty minutes after the itching, they would bleed.
“I was told later that if I’d walked on my feet for two more days they would have had to have been amputated.”
Devers had a cyst the size of a child’s fist removed from her thyroid. As she was registered on the US drug-testing programme, she was unable to take the beta blockers that would have relieved the side effects of radiation treatment.
“To be here as an Olympic champion is a miracle,” she said. “I’d like people to use me as an example that anything is possible.
“Two years ago I was nearly gone. Now I believe there is no barrier I cannot get over.”
That was not strictly true. In the 100m hurdles final in Barcelona, Devers surged ahead from the fourth barrier and she led by a metre at halfway – only to falter at the final flight. As she rose to clear it, she glanced to her right, clattered the hurdle with her lead leg and lost balance.
Her momentum carried her forward to the line, but she was passed with 3m remaining, finishing fifth in 12.75. Paraskevi Patoulidou prevailed in 12.64, becoming the first Greek track and field Olympic gold medal winner since Konstantinos Tsiklitiras won the standing long jump in Stockholm in 1912.
Back-to-back OIympic 100m double
Devers took the world outdoor 100m hurdles titles in 1993 and 1995 but again finished outside the Olympic medal frame in her specialist event on home ground in Atlanta in 1996, missing bronze by 0.01 in fourth place.
Instead, in the city that was to become her home in post-competitive retirement, Devers ran her way into the annals of track and field history as only the second woman to win back to back Olympic 100m titles, emulating her fellow countrywoman Wyomia Tyus, who prevailed in 1964 and 1968.
Two Jamaicans, of course, have since followed: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (2008-2012) and Elaine Thompson-Herah (2016-2021). In successfully defending her title, Devers denied the trailblazing female speed merchant from the Caribbean isle, in the most nail-biting manner.
The fast-starting Devers was caught by Ottey at 60m and the two women fought neck-and-neck all of the way through the line. Both were clocked at 10.94 but the photo-finish picture gave the verdict to the US sprinter by a margin of 0.005, just 5cm.
It was a repeat of the 100m final at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart. Devers and Ottey were timed at 10.82 on that occasion. The photo showed that Devers’ right shoulder had cut the line fractionally first. The difference was a miniscule 0.001: 10.811 to 10.812.
The margin was more clear cut when it came to the 4x100m relay final in Atlanta, Devers collecting the third Olympic gold of her career with a second leg run in a US quartet that finished clear winners in 41.95, with Bahamas second in 42.14 and Jamaica (featuring Ottey and Cuthbert) in third.
Fighting for greater awareness of Graves’ disease
Thereafter, Olympics-wise, Devers poured her energy into a quest for gold in her first-string event. It was not to be.
She started as favourite in Sydney in 2000 but suffered a hamstring injury in her semifinal and pulled up after five hurdles. In Athens four years later, her fifth Olympic appearance, she failed to clear the first barrier in her heat, the victim of a calf injury.
Now 55, the hugely decorated sprint hurdler and sprinter spends much of her time fighting for greater awareness of Graves’ disease. “No-one should have to go through what I went through,” Devers told CNN earlier this year. “The way you alleviate that suffering is through education.”
"Indoors is fun" – Pearson gifts Sopot 2014 singlet and spikes to MOWA
When you happen to live on Australia’s Gold Coast, with its sub-tropical climate and 300 days of sunshine every year, indoor athletics must seem like an alien concept.
For Sally Pearson, though, leaving behind the sun and heading halfway around the world to tread the track and field “boards” proved to be a worthwhile exercise.
Not that the Gold Coast sprint hurdler with the Midas touch was a prolific indoor racer. In an international career that spanned 16 years, the two-time world outdoor, one-time Olympic 100m hurdles champion and seventh fastest 100m hurdler of all-time only contested nine indoor meets over the barriers.
Three of those meets happened to be World Indoor Championships, and, in turn, they featured the joy, the frustration and the physical pain that hallmarked Pearson’s long and productive career.
Sopot silver
Now 35, living happily in competitive retirement with husband Kieran and one-year-old daughter Ruby, Pearson has generously donated the spikes and singlet from the second of those global indoor campaigns to the ever-expanding Museum of World Athletics (MOWA).
The 2014 World Indoor Championships in the Polish seaside resort of Sopot required Pearson to harness the fighting spirit she doubtless inherited from her single mother Anne, who worked two jobs to make enough money to support her daughter’s burgeoning athletics ambitions.
Pearson arrived in Sopot as the defending champion, success at the 2012 World Indoor Championships in Istanbul (in 7.73) having maintained the momentum of her stunning world outdoor success in Daegu in 2011 through to what proved to be a victorious Olympic year campaign.
However, she was still rebuilding her form, technique, and confidence after being undermined by two hamstring tears in 2013. She led the world rankings with a 7.79 clocking in Berlin but whacked the ultimate hurdle in the final and had to settle for silver in 7.85, 0.05 behind the emerging Nia Ali of the US. “I stuffed up,” Pearson lamented, with characteristic Aussie frankness.
Hampered by injury, she exited at the semifinal stage of the 2018 championships in Birmingham, her final taste of track and field indoors.
“Indoors is fun,” she said in Sopot. “It’s got a huge atmosphere because the crowd are so much closer. I think that’s what I like about it the most.”
Melbourne’s 80,000 home crowd
It was in the outdoor arenas, however, that the pride of the Gold Coast Victory club was at her sparkling best.
After dabbling in swimming and gymnastics, Sally Pearson – née McLellan – first made her mark in track and field in 2001, winning the 100m and the 90m hurdles at the Australian Youth Championships as a 14-year-old. Guided by Sharon Hannan, her coach until 2013, she combined sprinting and hurdling throughout her formative years.
It was in the 100m hurdles that she claimed a world youth title in 2003 at Sherbrooke in Canada, where Usain Bolt (just a month older, having been born in August 1986) took the boys’ 200m in a championship record of 20.40. McLellan prevailed in 13.42.
A month later, still only 16, the future Sally Pearson became Australia’s youngest ever representative at the World Championships. Making her senior international debut in Paris. she was entrusted with anchor leg duties in the 4x100m relay heats.
At the 2004 World U20 Championships in Grosseto, Italy, McLellan claimed a bronze medal in the 100m, clocking a personal best of 11.40, but finished fourth in the 100m hurdles final, missing a second podium place by 0.01.
The following year her twin talents took her into the record books as the first woman to win the senior Australian 100m and 100m hurdles titles and early in 2006, still a teenager, she sampled the pressure cooker of a home major championships at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
The athletics events were held on a specially laid track and field arena inside the iconic MCG, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with 80,000-plus crowds replicating something of the 2000 Sydney Olympic atmosphere. It proved to be a rollercoaster experience for McLellan.
She reached the final of the flat 100m, finishing seventh in 11.50, but crashed out in dramatic, heart-breaking style while challenging for a medal in the 100m hurdles final. Consolation came with a bronze in the 4x100m relay, the home quartet taking third place behind Jamaica and England.
It was at the end of her prolonged 2006 season, at the World Cup meet in Athens in September, that McLellan broke through the 13-second barrier in the high hurdles, finishing fourth in 12.95. Then, six months later, at the Australian Championships in Brisbane in March 2007, she improved to 12.92, shaving 0.01 off Pam Ryan’s 34-year-old national record.
That year she continued to pursue both the 100m and the 100m hurdles, reaching the semifinals of each at the World Championships in Osaka and lowering her lifetime best over the flat to 11.14. That, however, proved to be the limit of her personal ambition as a sprinter – and her fastest time too.
World title and World Athlete of the Year
Come Olympic year, in 2008, McLellan channelled her focus solely on the 100m hurdles. It paid off in the Beijing Bird’s Nest.
In a dramatic finish, as clear favourite Lolo Jones hit the ninth hurdle and stumbled home seventh and her US teammate Dawn Harper took gold in 12.54, the five women from second to sixth flashed across the line virtually together. Just 0.02 separated them and, after the photo-finish picture had been scrutinised, an ecstatic McLellan was given the silver medal in 12.64, the same time as bronze medallist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada.
Hampered by a torn disc in her back, McLellan finished fifth in the 2009 world outdoor final in Berlin and then won the 2010 Commonwealth title in Delhi before entering the purple – or golden – patch of her career in 2011.
By now, she was Sally Pearson, having married school sweetheart Kieran Pearson in April 2010.
In the semifinals of the World Championships in Daegu, Pearson lowered her Oceania record to 12.36 (0.3m/s), then blitzed to her first global crown with a stunning 12.28 (1.1m/s) in the final. It moved her to the No.4 spot on the world all-time list – behind Bulgarians Yordanka Donkova (12.21) and Ginka Zagorcheva (12.25) and Russia’s Lyudmila Narozhilenko (12.26) – although it now ranks seventh best.
The hot favourite delivers Olympic gold
Then, after world indoor triumph in Istanbul, came Olympic glory at London 2012.
Voted Female World Athlete of the Year in 2011, Pearson needed all of her steely determination to overcome the mounting pressure and the challenge of her rivals. There were inevitable parallels, and contrasts, to Cathy Freeman, who rode the host nation’s expectations to her momentous, monumental 400m victory at the Sydney Olympics.
Back in 2000, Freeman travelled 11,000 miles to escape the mounting pressures of home by preparing for the Games in London, alongside her British rival Donna Fraser. Pearson based herself close to London in Kent, her mother’s home county in England, living with her aunt.
That might have afforded some protection from the attentions of home but when Pearson emerged from training to take part in her final test before the Games, the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace, she was the reddest of hot favourites. She had been unbeaten by any of her rivals in 31 hurdles races, outdoors and in, stretching back to August 2010. She had lost in Brussels in 2011 but it was one of the barriers that beat her in the Belgian capital; she fell at the sixth hurdle.
Warming up for her heat at Crystal Palace, she clattered into the second hurdle and tumbled to the rain-sodden track. She picked herself up but was clearly rattled. The usual decisive thrust of acceleration was absent as she rose from the blocks. She had to dig deep to hold off Kellie Wells, pipping the US hurdler by 0.01 in 12.53. Wells got the better of her in the final, prevailing by 0.02 in 12.57.
When it came to Games time, however, Pearson proved her thoroughbred pedigree – and her mettle. The resurgent Harper pushed her hard all the way in the final but the Australian edged the defending champion by 0.02, setting an Olympic record of 12.35, with Wells a distant third in 12.48.
London gold again. The last hurrah!
The following year Pearson suffered two hamstring tears but still took world outdoor silver in Moscow. In 2014 there was world indoor silver and a second Commonwealth gold, but in 2015 she broke her wrist and left forearm after crashing in the Golden Gala in Rome and in 2016 a hamstring injury kept her out of the Rio Olympics.
And so, to the 2017 World Championships in London. Keni Harrison lined up clear favourite on the track where she scorched to her 12.20 world record twelve months prior. The US athlete could only finish fourth, however, as Pearson regained her Midas touch, winning from Harper again in London in 12.59.
It proved to be a final hurrah. An achilles tendon injury cruelly ruled Pearson out of her home Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018. Then, in 2019, came the announcement of her competitive retirement.
Now working as a mentor for Athletics Australia, the Gold Coast’s finest can draw upon many a golden memory for inspiration.
“Winning Olympic gold was obviously huge,” she told Steve Landells in an interview for World Athletics’ Personal Bests series. “But my career highlight came at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, because of the time I ran in the final (12.28) and winning the gold medal.
“I couldn’t have asked for any more.”
Japan's first Olympic champion and New York City Marathon among seven new recipients of Heritage Plaques
World Athletics Heritage Plaques have been awarded today (9) to seven recipients in Asia, Europe, NACAC and South America, across the categories of Competition, Culture and Legend.
The World Athletics Heritage Plaque, a location-based recognition, is awarded for “an outstanding contribution to the worldwide history and development of the sport of track & field athletics and of out of stadia athletics disciplines such as cross country, mountain, road, trail and ultra-running, and race walking.”
The programme was inaugurated by World Athletics President Sebastian Coe on 2 December 2018 and today’s announcement brings the total number of plaques worldwide to 71.
Category: Competition
Enschede Marathon
The 75th anniversary (2022) of historically one of the classic elite marathons of the pre-mass race era.
The Enschede Marathon is the oldest marathon in the Netherlands and Western Europe. At the first edition, in July 1947, 51 runners took part. Today there are almost 11,000 participants and the numbers are still growing.
Veikko Karvonen, Jim Peters, Ron Hill, Priscilla Welch and more lately Eliud Kipchoge are some of the big-name winners.
New York City Marathon
The 50th edition (2021) of the marathon which helped establish and define the worldwide mass race movement.
The first New York City Marathon took place in 1970 and was held entirely in Central Park. There were just 127 entrants and only 55 of them finished. By 2018 and the number of participants crossing the finish line was over 55,000.
Among the victors in the Big Apple have been Bill Rodgers, Douglas Wakiihuri, Paul Tergat, Grete Waitz, Ingrid Kristiansen, Mary Keitany.
Thames Hare & Hounds
Established in 1868. The oldest adult cross-country running club in the world. Based in Roehampton in southwest London.
The club was created by members of Thames Rowing Club at Putney who were looking for a way to keep fit during the winter. They staged three ‘Thames Handicap Steeplechases’ on Wimbledon Common between 7 December 1867 and 21 March 1868.
Out of these races, Thames Hare and Hounds emerged, staging its first run on 17 October 1868 in the form of a paperchase, a game which originated in Shrewsbury School in 1819.
Rising star Knighton taking one step at a time in pursuit of greatness
For many young sprinters that have emerged in recent years, being touted as ‘the next Usain Bolt’ can be something of a poisoned chalice.
No one, not least a teenager, needs that kind of pressure on their shoulders, after all. And the focus for any young athlete should of course be on making a name for themselves; not on trying to become a replica of a past once-in-a-generation star.
But sometimes the comparisons are unavoidable – especially when a superstar’s records are broken.
Erriyon Knighton made headlines earlier this year when he broke Usain Bolt’s world U18 best for 200m by 0.02. The 17-year-old US sprinter scorched to a 20.11 victory in Jacksonville in late May, beating a field that included established international seniors including 2016 world indoor 60m champion Trayvon Bromell, European 100m champion Zharnel Hughes and 2014 European 200m champion Adam Gemili.
Knighton, who earlier in the year had clocked a wind-assisted 9.99 and wind-legal PB of 10.16 over 100m, didn’t compete again until the US Olympic Trials where, at the time of the first round, he had just the 10th-fastest PB of the 200m field.
But he caught almost everyone – opponents and fans – by surprise when he blazed to a 20.04 PB in the first round, finishing comfortably ahead of world champion Noah Lyles, breaking the North American U20 record and rewriting Bolt’s world U18 best.
This was just the first round. And it looked as though Knighton wasn’t even going flat-out.
Sure enough, he moved up a gear the next day for the semifinals. Once again, Knighton was drawn in the same heat as Lyles. And once again, Knighton produced the fastest time of the round with a 19.88 PB, this time breaking Bolt’s world U20 record of 19.93 that had stood since 2004. And this, despite Knighton having two more full years as an U20 athlete.
“Heading into the US Trials, for me it was just about making the final, I didn't know I was going to make the team,” says Knighton. “My prelim was a good race, I ran 20.04, and I felt really good and made it to the semifinals. Then I ran 19.88, which put me at the top of the list going into the finals. At that point, it became all about making the team, so I just ran as fast as I could and hoped that I'd make the team.”
Little more than 24 hours later, Knighton lined up for the biggest race of his short career to date. Despite being the youngest in the field by six years, he wasn’t overawed by the occasion and kept his cool to finish third in a lifetime best – and another world U20 record – of 19.84. He was just 0.1 behind Lyles, 0.06 behind Kenny Bednarek, who would go on to take Olympic silver over the distance, and 0.06 ahead of Fred Kerley, who went on to earn Olympic 100m silver.
More significantly, though, Knighton’s third-place finish meant he had booked his spot on the US team for the Tokyo Olympics.
In between the Trials and the Games, Knighton had one race and finished a highly respectable third at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Szekesfehervar, just 0.06 behind Canada’s Andre De Grasse, who went on to win gold over the distance in Tokyo.
The competition was a valuable one ahead of his Olympic debut. And once he arrived in Tokyo, he simply tried to soak in as much of the experience as he could.
“After securing my place on the team, I was nervous because it felt as though I had a new burden on my back,” he says. “The Olympics was just my second time competing overseas, but I had to just keep my mind focused and train consistently.
“It felt pretty good to be part of the US team,” he added. “When I got to Tokyo, it felt like a new world. It's so different to the US, so when I got there I was just taking everything in. I talked to some of the athletes who've been doing this for a really long time, trying to learn from them and take in every piece of knowledge I could get because it was my first Olympics.”
Knighton’s Olympic encounter was incredibly similar to his US Trials campaign. Once again, he won his heat (20.55) and semifinal (20.02). Once again, he finished behind Bednarek and Lyles in the final. The only difference was that De Grasse finished ahead of the US trio, meaning Knighton finished fourth, just outside the medals.
Although he was initially disappointed to miss out on a medal by just 0.19, Knighton soon realised the magnitude of his achievement.
“At the time I was a bit upset that I didn't get a medal, but I tried to look on the bright side of things and realised that placing fourth at such a young age is a huge accomplishment,” he says.
“My Tokyo experience, and getting fourth place, is actually my highlight of the year. And it gives me something to build on going into the next Olympics.”
Rising star, guided by established stars
Knighton’s Olympic performance and numerous world U20 records led to him being named the Male Rising Star of the Year at the World Athletics Awards 2021.
He beat the likes of French sprint hurdler Sasha Zhoya, US 400m hurdler Sean Burrell, Ethiopian distance runner Tadese Worku and Kenyan 800m runner Emmanuel Wanyonyi. Given the high-quality list of finalists, Knighton was pleasantly surprised to receive the award.
“I really didn't know (if I would win),” he says. “I thought it was going to be super close between me and the hurdler (Zhoya).”
A big part of Knighton’s success this year, he says, is down to the people and training partners with whom he surrounds himself. He trains in Florida alongside the likes of world 110m hurdles champion Grant Holloway, 2016 world indoor long jump champion Marquis Dendy and 2016 world U20 long jump champion Yanis David.
Holloway, in particular, has become something of a mentor to Knighton.
“Almost everything I've learned about being a professional athlete has come from Grant,” says Knighton. “After the Olympic Trials, he told me to just believe in myself and to not let anyone set unrealistic goals for me. He told me the sky is the limit.
“Going into each training session, everyone in the group has the shared goal of getting better. I also know that I will continue to improve simply by being around them because I can see they're all hungry to do the work that's required to achieve their big goals.”
Knighton has already started to turn his attention to his targets for 2022, which includes earning a global medal on home soil at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
“Making the podium is my goal for the World Championships,” he says. “And I’d love to be picked for a relay, whether it’s the 4x100m or 4x400m. I'd also love to compete at the World U20 Championships in Cali. I feel like I missed an opportunity by not being in Nairobi this year.”
He has also learned to embrace the Bolt comparisons, taking them as a compliment as opposed to a burden.
“It feels really good (to be faster than Bolt was at this age), but I try to stay humble with it and not get a big head,” he says. “I just have to keep training and hopefully I can keep progressing at this rate.
“I would like to break Usain Bolt's world record. I'm going to do all I can to get there, but I'll just take it step by step.
“Technically and physically, I think I can get a lot stronger,” he adds. “Getting a bigger base and knowing how to run the 200m right. Once I learn how to really run it, I think I'll be a lot better.”
Mu and Wilson set to clash over 800m at Millrose Games
Organisers of the Millrose Games have announced that Olympic champion Athing Mu will take on world bronze medallist Ajee Wilson in the 800m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting on 29 January.
Aged just 19, Mu has this year established herself as the best 800m runner in the world and was undefeated at the distance indoors and outdoors. She won Olympic gold in Tokyo, breaking Wilson’s US 800m record, and then earned a second gold medal in the 4x400m. She went on to lower the US 800m record to 1:55.04 when winning at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene.
“Millrose is the ideal place to begin my season,” said Mu, who last week was named by World Athletics as the 2021 Female Rising Star. “The audience brings great energy and I always look forward to the atmosphere and competing at The Armory – It's iconic.”
Wilson, a six-time Millrose Games champion, has not lost at this meeting since 2013. Wilson broke her own US indoor record at the 2020 Millrose Games, clocking 1:58.29.
“It's been a while,” Wilson said, referring to last season’s cancelled Millrose Games due to the pandemic. “I'm super excited to return to The Armory for the Millrose Games.”
World and Olympic finalist Natoya Goule-Toppin, the Jamaican record-holder indoors and outdoors, will join Mu and Wilson in the 800m at the Millrose Games.
These 800m stars are the latest big names to be announced for the Millrose Games, following the recent confirmations of Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser, world shot put champion Joe Kovacs and US 1500m champions Elle Purrier St Pierre and Cole Hocker.
Korda’s golden season continues as Japan’s Inami sees silver lining
SAITAMA, JAPAN - AUGUST 07: (L-R) Mone Inami of Team Japan celebrates with the silver medal, Nelly Korda of Team United States celebrates with the gold medal and Lydia Ko of Team New Zealand celebrates with the bronze medal at the Victory Ceremony after the final round of the WomenÕs Individual Stroke Play event on Day 18 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at the Kasumigaseki Country Club on August 7, 2021 in Saitama, Japan. (Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/IGF)
Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/IGF
August 07, 2021 05:14 AM
On a day of multiple twists and turns, it was the resiliency of American Nelly Korda that ultimately secured her place in history as an Olympic gold medalist.
The 23-year-old shot a closing 2-under par 69 Saturday on Kasumigaseki Country Club’s East Course for a 17-under 267 total and one-stroke victory over silver medalist Mone Inami of Japan and bronze medalist Lydia Ko of New Zealand, who finished second in the 2016 Rio Olympics and is now Olympic women’s golf’s first repeat medalist.
“It feels amazing,” said Korda, who this year has won her first major championship, moved to No. 1 in the world and now claimed Olympic gold. “After today Lydia was playing really well, so was Mone, they both played super well, so we were all bunched up there. It was very stressful, but I kept it together, I fought pretty hard.”
Ko and Inami, who tracked and briefly caught Korda with five birdies on the back nine including four straight, shot 65 before settling their order in a one-hole playoff on No. 18. Inami’s quest for gold in her home country ended with a bogey on the 72nd hole after her hybrid approach shot plugged in the face of the front bunker.
“I lost the opportunity to win the gold because of my failed shot and so forth, but still I'm delighted,” said Inami, who plays on the Japan LPGA Tour. “This Olympic Games was held in Japan and I'm so grateful to win this medal. I'm so happy.”
Ko entered the day with the words of her coach in mind, that “what's meant to be is going to be. So I think that's what I tried to think today. The Olympics is a very special occasion where obviously, yes, we play for our country on a daily basis, but we're really playing for them, this means so much then just for us. So, yeah, it's a huge honor to be able to bring two medals for New Zealand and to be a two-time medalist in the last couple Games.”
Aditi Ashok of India, who started the day in second place three strokes behind Korda, gutted her way around the course despite a distinct disadvantage in length before finishing one stroke out of the playoff with a 68. She hung in and gave herself a chance by holing a number of crucial putts.
“I think today I didn't really drive the ball very good and then it's hard to get birdie putts or hit greens when you're not in the fairway,” said the 23-year-old, who impressed throughout the week and received congratulatory messages from both the Prime Minister and President of India. “So, yeah, that was definitely the hardest part to make a score today. … I didn't leave anything out there, I think I gave it my hundred percent, but, yeah, fourth at an Olympics where they give out three medals kind of sucks.”
Ultimately, the day was about Nelly Korda and her perseverance, though it started with an early start due to the threat of weather interference with a tropical storm headed toward the area. As it turned out, the only moisture before the brief rain delay was produced by cooling misting fans strategically placed around the grounds.
Korda’s march to the women’s golf title had been tracking ever since she took the second-round lead Thursday en route to her record-tying 62. She briefly built her lead to four with a birdie on the second hole before her coronation took an unexpected detour with a double-bogey 5 on the 7th hole, the result of two misplayed chip shots. It erased what by then was a two-stroke lead over Ko and Ashok and brought others into the mix, including Emily Kristine Pedersen of Denmark (one back) and Inami (two back), thus issuing a reset for the tournament.
Korda, though, quickly rallied with three straight birdies starting at No. 8, displaying a rare sign of emotion with a mild fist-pump as her birdie fell on No. 9.
“Yeah, I think I was very frustrated with myself and I was not happy at all, so I told myself there's still a lot of golf to be left and I'm very proud of how I handled the next three holes or even just the entire round after that,” Korda said.
A bogey-5 on No. 11 kept things close, then a weather delay hit at 12:26 p.m. after the final group of Korda, Ko and Ashok hit their tee shots on the 17th hole. But that actually might have been a blessing for Korda.
“Obviously I was nervous,” she said, “but during the rain delay I was just with my sister (Jessica), we were relaxing, kind of chit chatting on the ground, in the clubhouse and I think that really helped a lot just to kind of not think about it and just to kind of take a step away in a sense during that rain delay and have some fun.”
Korda then parred the final two holes to secure the victory. She admitted afterward to feeling a different sort of pressure than she’s used to.
“I mean, you're playing for something way bigger than just yourself, you're playing for a gold medal, you're playing for your country and I mean it's an amazing achievement, so obviously that was in the back of my head,” Korda said. “So, it's a different feeling, but I feel like as a golfer or just an athlete you go into every competition or every whatever tournament wanting to win, you have a one goal and that's to tee it up and hopefully make the last putt on Sunday. So that's every tournament I feel like is kind of in a sense you stress yourself out the same amount.”
She then added, “I'm going to grow old very fast.”
For now, though, she’s young, mature and an Olympic champion.
News, Notes and Quotes
High praise for Ashok
After her final-round 68 (-3) left her one stroke shy of the playoff for the silver and bronze medals, Aditi Ashok shook off her disappointment and went through the line of multiple media interviews. After satisfying every request, she returned to the clubhouse to start the process of departing Tokyo following a stunning performance that will inspire many in India and around the globe. When she finally got around to checking her phone, she would have seen the following messages.
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi tweeted: “Well played @aditigolf! You have shown tremendous skill and resolve during #Tokyo2020. A medal was narrowly missed but you’ve gone farther than any Indian and blazed a trail. Best wishes for your future endeavours.”
The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind also tweeted: “Well played, Aditi Ashok! One more daughter of India makes her mark! You have taken Indian golfing to new heights by today’s historic performance. You have played with immense calm and poise. Congratulations for the impressive display of grit and skills”
Jessica Korda finishes strong with a 64, turns attention to younger sister
While all eyes were on little sister Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda had a strong finish in her first Olympic competition, firing a bogey-free round of 7-under-par 64 to finish 9-under and tied for 15th . She had a disappointing start with rounds of 71-67-73.
Asked about the experience, she said, “I wish it wasn't so hot, I think I got a little maybe heat issue, especially after the first day. But what a great week to have playing the Olympics and I could only dream of this. I wasn't even dreaming of this, if we had to qualify last year I wouldn't have been anywhere near it. So, the fact that we had it this year being, having to qualify for the U.S., being the fourth girl, it's not easy to make our team. So I'm just really proud of myself for grinding it out and playing consistent enough to be able to climb my way on to the team.”
Jessica, who now was going to turn her attention to Nelly’s final stretch run toward the gold, was asked how her observation of her sister might be different from a regular spectator.
“Her and I kind of talked about it that we're really calm watching each other, we're definitely more stressed watching our brother,” she said, referring to their young brother Sebastian, a world-class tennis professional. “For some reason we're just pretty calm with each other and I think it just kind of know how the other one's playing and it's golf, so you don't really know what could happen coming down the stretch, but I feel like we both have so much fate in each other that we're just really calm.”
So why is it more nerve-wracking to watch her brother? “Because you don't know what the other person's going to do and it's more like head-to-head and so anything kind of goes, I feel like,” Jessica said. “Whereas this is just a little, you know it's just a little different. You kind of plot your way around a golf course and you're a little bit more in control whereas I think in tennis it's more unknown.”
Returning bronze medalist Shanshan Feng has strong finish, noncommittal about retirement
Shanshan Feng of China, who won the bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics, was slow out of the gate with a 3-over-par 74 but came on strong the final three days with rounds of 64-68-67, finishing in 8th place at 11-under par.
“It was great,” she said of her Olympic return. “I have been waiting for so long for this to come. I thought it was going to happen last year during my birthday, but it was just one year later. And I waited and the good thing was I was still good enough to at least qualify for the team. So here I am and, yeah, I'm already, I already finished the whole tournament.
“I didn't have a great start, but I felt like the last three days I played like a champion, even though I was like really behind after the first round, but I think I really came back and there's no regret because this is golf, I mean especially in the Olympics, you have the best girls in the world playing. You just have to have four good days to be able to win a medal. So I think the girls on the top they deserve it. And I'm very happy to see actually like some new faces like some players that are not ranked like really high but they're all up there competing for the medal, I'm very happy to see that because we need some new faces from new countries. I played with Matilda (Castren) and she's from Finland, I think she's an upcoming star. She's already won a tournament this year and she was great. But other than that, I hope that I can see more Chinese faces getting on the Tour and get on the top of the leaderboard and win tournaments.”
Regarding ongoing speculation of her retirement at age 32, Feng said, “I don’t know. I wouldn’t say I’m retired yet. I would like to play some more on the LPGA, just to give it like a conclusion or what do you call it?”
Send off? Finale? Swan song?
“Okay, something like that,” she said. “But I just don't feel like I want to do three times quarantine in this second half of the year … So I think that might be a little too much, so I'm going to wait to see how the schedule is like in Asia next year maybe, so hopefully I'll come back.”
Yuka Saso gets untracked in the final round
U.S. Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso of the Philippines had a strong finish with a 6-under 29 on the back nine with four birdies, including three straight, and an eagle-2 on the short 17th hole, where she hit a 3-wood to 10 feet. That gave her a 6-under-par 65 for the day to finish at 10-under 274.
“I putted really good,” Saso said. “I finished that way. Yeah, it feels good. The first birdie (on the back) came, it was really long putt. I didn't really expect it to go in but it did. Next hole I hit it close and it was a downhill putt, I putted really good. The par-5 I reached it in two, that was really good, a 3-wood. Then on the last hole as well. I really hit a good second shot and made the putt. Now it's a finish like that, it felt really good to end that way. I hoped I would play that well the first three days.”
Another 29 recorded by Kelly Tan on the back nine
While the drama was unfolding atop the leadership early in the day, Kelly Tan of Malaysia, was quietly putting together her own 29 on the back nine – where she started her round – with six birdies, including five on the last six holes. She cooled off on her final nine, but still finished at 7-under 64. It was a satisfying finish after entering the day five over par with rounds of 73-73-72.
“Yeah, honestly I felt the same every day, I felt that I could do that, it's just that today the score reflected it and it’s really great to see,” Tan said. “Deep down I felt that I was playing really well, just that the first two days it didn't show on my card but, yeah, it felt great to be able to just pull it off like that.
“To be able to shoot 7-under at the Olympics on the final round I think that's something that I'll never forget,” she added. “Shooting 29 on the back nine, that's something I haven't done in my career, so that's a positive for me as well. Yeah, I know I didn't get a medal, but I know that I fought hard and I played hard for my country and I'm really proud of the way I did and I bettered my position from the last Olympics and that's all that matters, so it's great to see those improvements.”
Green closes in 30 after early struggle
Hannah Green began the day in the penultimate group, five strokes back of Nelly Korda’s lead with the goal of winning a gold medal, but that possibility quickly faded after a 2-over 38 on the front nine. However, the Aussie never gave up, notching four birdies and an eagle at the par-5 14th before the horn sounded suspending play while she was on 17 green. Forty-nine minutes later, she returned to make par before dropping a shot at the 72nd hole, eventually finishing tied for fifth, three strokes out of the playoff for bronze.
“I think to be even in contention come the last couple holes…really proud of myself for how I hung in there and didn't get too down on myself and tried to think of the bigger picture I guess and being so lucky that we even have an Olympics to compete in,” said a reflective Green.
“I felt like with nine holes to go that I was nowhere near it so when I made the putt on 10 I think it was really important for my confidence,” said Green. “I think the eagle putt on 14 really was when like oh, okay, maybe I am in contention. So super happy to have birdied 15 and 16, but I felt like I made almost a bogey on 17 not birdieing that hole.”
Green had such good momentum and admitted the delay hurt her chances of a medal, but she was happy officials were able to allow the players to complete 72 holes.
“It was hard to pump myself back up again,” she said about returning after the weather delay. “I felt like I was on Cloud 9 for those five holes so, yeah, it was definitely hard to go back and rest and then come back out again.”
Green has been bitten by the Olympic bug and will be striving to make it to Paris in 2024.
“I didn't really think too much of it but I guess it is only a few years away, so hopefully I can keep continuing to play well,” she said.
Tavatanakit saves best for last
Following rounds of 71-71-69 Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit saved her best for last with a final-round 68, eventually finishing in a tie for 23rd at 5-under par. She did it with a PGA TOUR winner, who is also her instructor, on the bag.
Grant Waite won the Kemper Open in 1993. He also famously finished second to Tiger Woods at the 2000 Canadian Open when Woods hit a spectacular fairway bunker shot over water onto the green on the 72nd hole to secure the win.
“Grant has been a huge part of my success so far this year just because he put my game in a good place and mentality too in the sense that I look at the course differently,” said Tavatanakit. “I approach things differently on the course, just the way I look at things or just in a better perspective.”
Tavatanakit has worked with Waite for a year now and feels like she still has a lot of work to improve.
“My game is trending upwards,” she said.
India’s Aditi Celebrated by Entire Nation after Finishing Fourth at Olympics
KAWAGOE, JAPAN - AUGUST 06: Aditi Ashok of Team India plays her shot from the 16th tee during the third round of the Women's Individual Stroke Play on day fourteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Kasumigaseki Country Club on August 06, 2021 in Kawagoe, Japan. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
August 07, 2021 05:14 AM
India’s Aditi Ashok agonisingly missed an historic medal in women’s golf at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 on Saturday as she was celebrated at home with tributes led by the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind.
The 23-year-old Aditi fought bravely throughout the final round at Kasumigaseki Country Club, shooting a closing 3-under 68 to finish one shot shy of a podium finish with her 15-under 269 aggregate.
American World No. 1 Nelly Korda took gold on 17-under 267 after a 69, with Mone Inami securing Japan’s first ever medal in golf by taking the silver after defeating New Zealand’s Lydia Ko in the first hole of a sudden-death playoff after both tied on 16-under.
All week, Aditi, who had her mother Maheshwari on caddying duties, was a picture of confidence and calm as she courageously stayed in the medal hunt throughout a thrilling final round and had a couple of birdie chances to join the playoff, only to agonisingly miss putts on the 17th and 18th holes.
Soon after play concluded, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Well played @aditigolf! You have shown tremendous skill and resolve during #Tokyo2020. A medal was narrowly missed but you’ve gone farther than any Indian and blazed a trail. Best wishes for your future endeavours.”
India’s President Ram Nath Kovind also posted a congratulatory tweet for the young Indian. “Well played, Aditi Ashok! One more daughter of India makes her mark! You have taken Indian golfing to new heights by today's historic performance. You have played with immense calm and poise. Congratulations for the impressive display of grit and skills.”
Aditi, the lone Indian on the LPGA Tour, was downcast after the final round after being so close to a medal.
“Yeah, 17 was perfect. I hit it exactly the speed I wanted, the line I wanted, I just - maybe I made too many (putts) through the four rounds, golfing gods were like, okay, we're not going to give her this one,” said Aditi, who led the Strokes Gained: Putting category with 13.01 strokes gained over the field throughout the week.
“I just tried my best, even the last hole, although it was really out of range, it was almost a long putt, but I still tried to give it a chance. I think I gave it my best attempt. I mean I wanted to hole it and I gave my best attempt, it's hard to force the issue when you're like 30 feet away.”
A uncharacteristic wayward driver cost her dearly as she hit only five fairways in the final round which stopped her from being more aggressive into the greens. “I didn't really drive the ball very good and then it's hard to get birdie putts or hit greens when you're not in the fairway. That was definitely the hardest part to make a score,” said Aditi, who picked up golf when she was five.
“The front nine I just hit one and I think the back nine I must have hit maybe a couple more, maybe three or four more. So that was bad today, kind of put me out of position so I couldn't get close to the flag. I tried my best to like hole the last few putts and just knowing because in a regular tournament whether you finish second or fourth it really doesn't matter, no one cares. But like at this event you need to be in the top 3. I didn't leave anything out there, I think I gave it my hundred percent, but, yeah, fourth at an Olympics where they give out three medals kind of sucks.”
India’s other representative, Diksha Dagar, finished T50 on 6-over 290. She said Aditi’s run was truly inspiring and will encourage young girls to pick up the sport. “It’s been a wonderful experience and I’ll keep working hard to improve,” she said. “Aditi had a very good week and I want to try and follow in her footsteps. This performance will certainly create more awareness for golf as not everybody in India knows about golf.”
Aditi hopes her medal run in Tokyo will put greater spotlight on the game at home, which by the reaction from the country’s leading politicians would have certainly made many sit up and take notice of the sport. “I think it's good, just even top 5 or top 10 at an Olympics is really good. Because you know that sport or that person has a medal chance. So just having more top finishes, even if it's not exactly a podium finish, will maybe bring eyes to the sport and more support, more kids pick up more, whatever, that helps grow the game,” Aditi said.
“Obviously when I started golf, I never dreamt of being or contending at the Olympics, golf wasn't even an Olympic sport. So sometimes you just pick it up and work hard and have fun every day and sometimes you get here.”
Indeed, Aditi Ashok has arrived at the highest level of women golf.
China’s Feng Falls Short of Medal at Olympics
KAWAGOE, JAPAN - AUGUST 07: Shanshan Feng of Team China plays her shot from the eighth tee during the final round of the Women's Individual Stroke Play on day fifteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Kasumigaseki Country Club on August 07, 2021 in Kawagoe, Japan. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
August 07, 2021 04:09 AM
China’s Shanshan Feng fell a few shots shy of winning an Olympic medal in golf for her country after signing off with a 4-under 67 in the women’s competition on Saturday.
The 10-time LPGA Tour winner, who won the bronze in Rio 2016, finished solo eighth on 11-under 273 at Kasumigaseki Country Club, some five strokes behind bronze medallist Lydia Ko of New Zealand who lost in a playoff to Japan’s Mone Inami after both tied on 16-under.
American World No. 1 Nelly Korda, the overnight leader, claimed the gold medal by one shot after closing with a 69 for a winning total of 17-under 267 while Feng’s countrywoman, Xiyu Lin enjoyed a top-10 finish by sharing ninth place after a final round 68.
“It was great. I think I didn't have a great start, but I felt like the last three days I played like a champion, even though I was like really behind after the first round. I think I really came back and there's no regret because this is golf. In the Olympics, you have the best girls in the world playing and you just have to have four good days to be able to win a medal,” said Feng.
She opened with a disappointing 74 but bounced back like the champion she is with a 64 in the second round before adding a 68 on Friday to keep alive her hopes of earning a podium finish again. In the final round, she made five birdies against a lone bogey but she did not quite threaten the leaders in the groups behind her.
“The girls at the top, they deserve it. I'm very happy to see like some new faces, like some players who are not ranked like really high but they're all up there competing for the medal. I'm very happy to see that because we need some new faces from new countries,” said the 32-year-old Feng.
She shrugged off talk of an impending retirement, saying she isn’t quite done yet competing at the highest level on the LPGA Tour. “I wouldn't say I'm retired yet,” the former World No. 1 said laughing. “I would like to play some more on the LPGA, just to give it like a conclusion.”
Lin, 25, hopes her top-10 at the Olympics will be the springboard to a maiden victory on the LPGA Tour. “I think there's a lot of positives,” said the two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour. “This week, there're so many things I did really, really well and the only thing that I think is missing is definitely the performance on the green. But in general, top-10 it's a big compliment for me.”
While there are no prizes for those who finish outside the top-3 at the Olympics, Lin is already looking forward to resuming her chase for success on the LPGA Tour and has her eye on Paris 2024. She said there was always expectations when representing her country and believes she will be better prepared for the next Olympics.
“I'm entering the tournament wishing to be able to get a medal. So that's a little extra pressure because we only have one start in every four years. In general I still had a great week. Getting into Tokyo really gave me lots of confidence because I would say two years ago, I wasn't even close to being on the team and then this year because of some really key performances, I ended up in this tournament. I think it gave me lots of confidence and obviously I will be looking forward to representing China again in Paris and looking forward to a break through on the LPGA Tour,” she said.