Other Sports

After three days so far of the 2023 World Swimming Championships, the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team are still on top even though Team USA picked up just two gold medals off the back from Katie Ledecky (800m Freestyle) & Ryan Murphy (100m Freestyle). We just added another gold medal though to five now thanks to Kaylee McKeown’s stunning display that saw her dominate in the 100m backstroke Final.

What a moment is has been by Kaylee whose course record time (57.53) wasn’t far off from her own current WR standing (57.45), but love how she motored her way towards the last 25-30 metres of the wall when she captured the winning move past Team USA’s Regan Smith from 2nd to 1st.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t easy to get away with things for Lani Pallister after she finished 5th in the 1500m Freestyle Final. Yes, she wasn’t bad in 3rd fastest during the heats but wished she could have the same fight as Ledecky to bring home another Aussie gold like she did in the short course World Championships back in December 2022.

Let’s hope we can stay that way going into tomorrow night where more gold is up for grabs and it’s up for our Aussie Dolphins to help stay on top of this medal tally. We got Mollie O’Callaghan & Ariarne Titmus in the Women’s 200m Freestyle, Sam Short in the Men’s 800m Freestyle, Sean Williamson in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke & the 4 x 100 Mixed Medley Team Relay.

There’s nothing much happening last night on Day 2 of the 2023 World Swimming Championships over in Fukuoka, Japan, for our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team when they may not have collected any medals at all, but they’re still holding out in front with four gold going into Day 3 today.

Some of them have put in a huge effort as seen during the lead-up races beforehand, especially with the likes of Emma McKeon (4th) & Brianna Throssell (7th) over in the women’s 100m butterfly Final. However, their results in that final meet weren’t quite enough to reach the Top 3 or even the best on top of the podium.

The same goes to Jenna Forrester as the lone Aussie in the Women’s 200m IM Final after Kaylee McKeown’s unfortunate DQ in the heats on Day 1, although Kaylee will be looking to rebound in the women’s 100m backstroke final tonight. Back to Jenna now, she was 3rd fastest and 6th overall in the heats followed by 2nd fastest & 4th overall in the semis beforehand, which wasn’t bad for a start to hopefully go one better. But again, she just fell short by two seconds at the finish line (2:08:98) to Yiting Yu as well as Alex Walsh (2nd) & Kate Douglass (1st) both from Team USA.

Oh so close but sure she’ll get better with more rewards coming her way going into the next world champs and Olympics.

As said, we could see our Aussies collect at least a gold or two tonight. All of Australia will be behind Kaylee thanks to her backstroking prowess when she will take centre stage in the women’s 100m final. It’s not just Kaylee you need to cheer on, but there’s also Lani Pallister over in the Women’s 1500m freestyle where she will be up against Katie Ledecky. I know this can be a bit of stretch when comparing the two, but I’m sure Dawn Fraser will be watching her swim on the Tele at home hoping she gets gold. Who knows? The Dolphins might still be in 1st on the medal tally after all at the of Day 3.

What an unreal start to the 2023 World Swimming Championships in 1st on the medal tally by our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team as they collected four gold including some world records best being broken on the first day of eight in Fukuoka, Japan.

First of all, hats off to Sam Short who won the Men’s 400m Free after he blew Ahmed Hafnaoui (Tunisia) away with a huge smile on his face once he touched the end of the wall on what has been a close finish towards the last 50m metres (3:40:68).

Then how good was Ariarne Titmus when she got away pretty comfortably against the likes of Katie Ledecky, Erika Fairweather & Summer McIntosh also in the Women’s 400m Free that gave her the chance to set that new WR time (3:35:38).

Really good competition there that made Ariarne push back better at her best, having just reclaimed the World Record books off McIntosh when the Canadian previously bested Titmus with that WR category during their national swim trials earlier this year in Toronto (3:56.08).

It’s not just Short & Titmus making such a brilliant show, but our Dolphins also made a big team display over in the men’s and women’s 4 x 100 freestyle relays as well.

Love how Kyle Chalmers always brings us home when he got the chance to dive him with 100m to go & he too went from 2nd right to gifting Aussies the gold in 1st (3:10:16) where his finishing was absolutely unbelievable to watch that wowed Italy’s Thomas Ceccon.

And in the women, great to see Mollie O’Callaghan wrap up her first shift with a decent lead, so her team-mates to build some momentum by going the extra mile as the race goes on. Not only they were absolutely too good v the likes of USA & China, but they also broke another WR time as well (3:27:96).

Let’s hope the Dolphins can stay on top with more gold up for grabs going into the Day 2 finals later tonight.

The 151st Open Championship concluded on Sunday at Royal Liverpool with minimal drama, as Brian Harman opened with a five-shot lead and cruised to a six-shot victory. The victory was the third PGA Tour win for the 36-year-old and his first career major championship.

There were a few tense moments for Harman, who bogeyed two of his first five holes without a birdie. The struggles allowed Jon Rahm to get to within three of the lead. As quickly as the lead shrunk, Harman got his game back on track with birdies on six and seven to increase his lead to five. His seven-footer for par on the 72nd hole gave Harman a 70 for the day and 13-under par total. Harman avoided becoming the seventh player to blow a 54-hole lead in a major with a lead of at least five shots.

Australian native Jason Day posted three consecutive rounds in the 60s after a mediocre 72 on Thursday to finish at seven-under par and a tie for second along with Rahm, Tom Kim, and Stepp Straka. Day’s quest for his second career major came up short, but his finish was his best at the Open Championship. The 35-year-old entered the week ranked 27th, up from his 112th ranking at the end of 2022.

Emiliano Grillo and Rory McIlroy finished tied for 6th at 6-under par, while Shubhankar Sharma and Cameron Young finished at 5-under. Rounding out the top ten were Tommy Fleetwood and Max Homa at four-under par.

Other Australians with solid showing this week include Adam Scott and Carmeron Smith. Scott used a final round of two-under par 69 to finish in a tie for 33rd at one-over par. The 43-year-old Scott has never won the Open, with a best finish 2nd in 2012. Smith also finished at one-over after a round of 73 that included three bogeys and a birdie. Smith entered as the defending champion and was never a serious factor to repeat.

Min Woo Lee started with rounds of 71 and 68. He entered Sunday 17th after a third round of 72. However, he struggled to a 75 on Sunday which included seven bogeys. He finished tied for 41st at two-over par.

New Zealand native Ryan Fox rebounded from a first round 78 which included a triple bogey on the par 5 18th hole. He made the cut after a sensational round of five birdies and a bogey for a 67. He posted another sub-70 round on Saturday but struggled a bit in the wet conditions on Sunday, recording a final round of 74. Fox finished four-over par and tied for 52nd.

It was a pretty close final to watch where Man City & Inter Milan both failed to find the net throughout the opening 45 minutes at 0-0. The search went on for a while before Man City got away with a 1-0 lead in the 67th minute thanks to a brilliant strike from Rodri. Meanwhile, Inter’s continuous hit and miss attempts saw some wonderful saves by Ederson before Man City were able to lift the Champions League trophy for the first time. The final score at Ataturk Olympic Stadium is 1-0.

Commiserations to Inter with the loss after a great start here to keep the Man City attack in check defensively. Yes, they did create some opportunities & advantages along the way, particularly when Kevin De Bruyne had to limp off sometime during the first 45 mins of play. But then their executions through the net via the counter was simply flying everywhere without a clear target of irritating Ederson. That gave Man City the chance to strike back where that Rodri goal haunted them, while their own shots on target approach continued to fail before it was too late.

And congrats to City with the Champions League triumph at last after finishing off the season with the Premier League title & FA Cup Final win that marked the treble, having fell short when they last competed in the UCL Final once before two years ago v Chelsea 0-1. They were almost sweating towards another UCL final loss at one point when Kevin De Bruyne had to limp off due to injury. But they had to play on without him as the game goes on when Inter’s poor finishing gave them the chance to fire one in return. Not only they took great care of good possession of the ball, but the rewards were there later in the 2nd 45 & that is how Man City got away with the win they deserve in Turkey.

Football club competition season is over for now as we can’t wait for next year’s Europa League & Champions League Final that can turn out really exciting once again.

Wow!! What a race that is to close down another unreal Kentucky Derby for the 149th running this year over at Churchill Downs. There were a mix of early front-runners who put their names earlier on for the majority, while others chose to save their best for last like race favourite Angel of Empire. But then we saw the climax going into the last two corners & the front stretch that all changed everything.

Two Phil’s may have secured the first move where he tried to hold off top spot towards the finish line after he kept the other front-runners in check for the whole time. But look out for Mage who supercharged his way from mid-pack past Two Phil’s side-by-side before they closed them out with the big win followed by race favourite Angel of Empire in 3rd.

Congratulations to the team at Mage who is celebrating that huge breakthrough moment right now, having pulled the curtains down on both Two Phil’s & the resurgent Angel of Empire that capped off such a close three-way battle in the end.

I’m sure there will be many more memorable & mind-blowing finishes like this one as the next Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing heads off to Pilmico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, in two weeks’ time.

Gotta say that the fourth & final round of The Masters at Augusta National has changed everything in the lead up towards the finish line. Yes, I mean the for the leader in particular when Brooks Koepka, who kept top spot for the majority until this point, didn’t have a great run today with a mix of putting mishaps after he finished joint 2nd alongside the now oldest best Masters finisher of Phil Mickelson (age 51).

That paves the way for Spaniard Jon Rahm the opportunity to capitalise on Koepka’s mistakes & go one better for the top spot. And he too has done more than enough to not only keep it consistent bar the bogey on the Par 4 9th through the end of his final shift (4 birdies & all other pars of 3 under 69), but also secure his 2nd major Championship since the 2021 US Open, as well as his first Masters victory at a total of -12. Congrats to Jon on what has been a stellar Easter Sunday as he now gets to don the green jacket.

While there’s plenty of late movers we can name a few that ended up on a high in the Top 10 leaderboard, we didn’t have much hope in making a late charge into the top-half spots despite some promising progress from the beginning at our Aussies & NZ corner. Kiwi Ryan Fox finished T26 on his first Masters appearance after a great first couple of days, but then began to slip away towards the end. Meanwhile, Cameron Smith topped the charts for Australia in T34 ahead of Adam Scott & Jason Day in T39.

And even though he had a difficult 2nd half run, shoutout to Amateur Sam Bennett who finished in T16, having been around Rahm & Koepka for the lead at one stage earlier on Day 2. Now he’s set to play more golf without a caddie ahead of tomorrow’s 36-hole/two-day Aggie Invitational for his school – Texas A & M. 

What a wild few days it has been where we saw some stop-start play due to wet weather before there’s so much movement alongside an jaw-dropping change of leader on the run home, as we can’t wait for next year’s 88th Masters edition.