It’s been a bit longer than I have meant to go without posting. There has been a lot of Olympic news, so let’s just get to it.
The New Section Dedicated to the Olympic Torch Relay is Now Online (Olympics.com)
The Olympic flame that will march into the Stadio San Siro on February 6th, will start its journey from Olympia later this month. In advance of the relay’s beginning, the official Olympic website and on its App launched a new feature where readers can track the torch’s journey in detail.
As always, I am looking forward to Olympic hockey. There is something special about seeing All Star line ups in a tournament the players actually care about.
On the men’s side, the US vs Canada will be a doozy, just like last year’s Four Nations Cup. Both federations probably know the core of their teams, but with the fire power these teams have, games will be won on the margins. There is still time for those on the fringe to make their case to be on the team and potentially cement their place in Olympic lore.
United States having ‘good problems’ filling Olympic roster, GM Guerin says (NHL.com)
Canada honing in on players to fill out Olympic roster, GM Armstrong says (NHL.com)
If the clash between the US and Canadian men will be a heavyweight bout, the tilt on the women’s side will be of Clash of the Titans proportions. Going back to the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the US or Canadian women have won every gold medal. The half of the pair that didn’t win the golf medal, won the silver six out of seven Olympics. In the 2006 Turin Games did the U.S. win bronze. With the PWHL in preseason, the US and Canada are playing a series of pre-Olympic games in ahead of February.
In the most recent game, Hilary Knight netted a hattrick and the US beat the Canadians 6-1. The two hockey titans will face off again in Edmonton in December.
On the sartorial side of things, Canada, Finland, and Slovakia have released their jerseys for the Olympics.
I think the Fins hit it out of the park with their jerseys. The Slovakian jerseys are pretty nice as well. Unfortunately, I don’t think the Canadians did great with these jerseys. They have a history of some really great Olympic jerseys, the Nagano games ones in particular. These just don’t meet the mark for me.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team Trials preview (Grand Slam of Curling)
The US Olympic and Paralympic Curling Team Trials are underway in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Because US didn’t earn enough points at the World Championships, US teams will need to win their spots in the Olympics at next month’s World Qualification Event in Canada. This week and weekend four men’s and four women’s teams are competing for a spot in that event. Check out Grand Slam of Curling’s preview here.
What the international track and field boss wants added to Utah’s next Olympics (Deseret News)
We haven’t even reached the start of the 2026 Games and there are already ongoing discussion about what events will be added in 2030 in France and 2034 in Utah. Candidates include cyclocross and cross country running. The potential addition of cross country would mark a return to the Games for the sport as it featured in the Olympics from 1912-1924.
Kipchoge’s professional career running marathons may be over but that doesn’t mean he’s done running the distance. After finishing 17th at the NYC Marathon, Kipchoge annonced the ‘Eliud Kipchoge’s World Tour’ which will have him run a marathon on all seven continents over the next two years.
Moving to the 2028 Los Angeles Games, a lot of news continues to trickle out about the next summer games.
LA28 launches volunteer programme with strong focus on local communities (Olympics.com)
Its going to take a ton of volunteers to execute the LA Games, and interested parties can apply to volunteer now.
CFL to allow its players to participate in flag football at 2028 Summer Games (Yahoo Sports)
Since the announcement Flag Football would be part of the games, there has been a lot of talk about how these rosters would be populated. Many have assumed NFLers will just walk in and claim a roster spot and the Gold Medal. That perception hasn’t gone over well with the current players representing US Flag Football. This announcement from the CFL will add more heat to this debate.
I’ll end with a preview of Olympic-related events for this upcoming weekend.
Olympic sports weekend preview: Saatva Skate America, U.S. curling trials (NBC Sports)
Until next time.
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