KAYAKING
Ice waterfall record set
Aniol Serrasolses has descended a 20m ice waterfall in the arctic — the biggest recorded descent of a glacial waterfall. The 32-year-old Catalan adventurer paddled through the rapids and ice tunnels of the glacial river on the ice cap before descending the ice waterfall in Brasvellbreen, the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. “The first time navigating through those rapids was absolutely incredible,” Serrasolses said. “Like kayaking on another planet. It was actually crazier than I ever thought it would be ... one of the roughest, most wild and virgin places I’ve ever seen.” To access the waterfall, the crew had to climb the ice cap using a ladder and then walk 11km across the ice to access the river. As the first person to run the waterfall Serrasolses named the descent “Philip’s Ladder” as a tribute to a crew member who pulled the ladder for the duration of the 11km trek to allow the team to get from the boat to the waterfall.
SWIMMING
Ledecky wins 800m free
Seven-time Olympic champion Katie Ledecky on Wednesday eased to victory in the women’s 800m freestyle in the opening race of the US Open Swimming Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. Ledecky, the three-time defending Olympic gold medalist and world champion in the 800m free, posted a time of 8 minutes, 15.91 seconds to win by almost 15 seconds. Ledecky’s time was more than 11 seconds shy of her world record, set in 2016, and almost two seconds behind her winning time from last year’s US Open.
WOMEN
Revenue to cross US$1bn
Annual global revenue for women’s elite sports is expected to cross the US$1 billion threshold for the first time next year, Deloitte said on Wednesday. The predicted US$1.28 billion revenue based on matchday earnings, broadcast and commercial revenue is “at least 300 percent higher” than their previous valuation three years ago, Deloitte said. “Women’s sport is increasingly being viewed as a unique product that is becoming ever more distinct from men’s elite sport,” said Jennifer Haskel, insight lead for Deloitte’s Sports Business Group. “This surge in fan and investor engagement is leading to new and improved opportunities for clubs and leagues.” Commercial deals by leagues and teams would bring in the majority of the revenue at 55 percent, while broadcast would account for 27 percent, Deloitte said.
NETBALL
Australia may miss funding
Netball Australia might miss out on A$18 million (US$11.94 million) in public funding amid an ongoing pay dispute with players from the country’s professional Super Netball league. The Australian government said it had not received a satisfactory business case for the funding, part of a A$30 million pledge by the previous government in 2019. “On the matter of remaining uncontracted funds that had been set aside for Netball Australia, those funds had always been subject to the receipt of a sufficiently robust business case,” the government said in a statement. “A satisfactory proposal has not been received that would enable appropriate use of these taxpayer funds.” Netball Australia was unable to provide immediate comment.
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
Taiwan on Wednesday finished with 15 medals at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Hong Kong, taking home four gold, five silver and six bronze medals across the age group divisions. Taiwan ranked third on the medal table after South Korea with 17 golds and the US with eight golds at the five-day competition. “Your athletes have proven themselves as the best in the world,” World Taekwondo president Choue Chung-won said at the closing ceremony of the martial art contest that was attended by a record 1,727 athletes from around the world. On the first day of the competition at the Hong Kong
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
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