OLYMPIC MEDAL RACE UPDATE
ATHLETICS: Adrienn Kóbor, women's javelin (WR; Thursday), Ayat Ghabdulin, men's shot put (Wednesday).
CYCLING: Béata Hederváry, women's keirin (Tuesday), Kiriyak Kouldev and Gavril Chicherin, men's madison (Thursday) Kiriyak Kouldev, men's sprint (Wednesday), Inessa Karina, women's keirin (Tuesday), Gavril Chicherin, men's omnium (Tuesday), Çayana Khalidov and Kirsti Sinisalo, women's madison (Wednesday).
KARATE: Aron Mikhaylov, men's 67kg (Wednesday), Lyydiä Talola, women's 55kg (Wednesday), Shakhar Yeshayakhov, women's 61kg (Thursday).
WRESTLING: Luka Batukhtin, men's 125kg freestyle (Thursday), Hedvig Pokorni, women's 53kg (Thursday), Soini Nousiainen, men's 67kg Greco-Roman (Tuesday), Berény Kovács, men's 87kg Greco-Roman (Tuesday), Jyri Sorsa, men's 74kg freestyle (Thursday).
WUSHU: Ritva Ikola, women's 63kg sanda (Tuesday), Andrian Zuybimov, men's 90kg (Wednesday), Dénes Fekete, men's 100kg (Thursday)
URALICA STILL UP FOR MEDALS IN LAST TWO DAYS
As the events get fewer as the end of the Olympics approaches, Uralica is still in the hunt for medals in what little there is left. Sure, there are some disciplines in which they don't really have a shot (*cough*MODERN*cough*PENTATHLON*cough*) but most of the remaining events do have a chance of seeing a Uralican medallists. Taking a look:
Athletics
As far as Uralica goes, all eyes are on the men's javelin throw, especially after Kaupo Belushin and 2016 medallist Maunu Laitinen finished 1-2 in the preliminary rounds. It seems almost inevitable that Uralica will be going home with a double unless Belushin really screws up, but his throwing arm is better than ever, coming up not only with a personal best and an NCIS record in the prelims, but coming dangerously close to the Olympic record in the preliminaries. Sound familiar? Adrienn Kóbor did that in prelims as well, only to throw a seventy-three metre (on the dot) world-record, beating Barbora Špotáková's previous record by 72 centimetres!
Although Tanya Plekhanova is expected to finish in the mid-twenties in women's heptathlon, her male counterpart has been among the biggest decathlon surprises. Believe it or not, Dinar Gubaidulin is still an outside shot at a medal... and he's only twenty. He may be a future decathlon contender at this rate! Father Akhmetkhan is justly proud of his son, who at this point is on pace for a top ten finish.
Now the marathons? It would be a miracle of Biblical proportions if a Uralican medalled there, because the runners from the Horn of Africa, as always, are just too good.
Cycling
All three remaining track-cycling events have Uralicans remaining going into the final day of that particular competition - mind you, the omnium is a one-and-done event anyway! But here's something to keep in mind. Every last one of the participants tomorrow has at least one medal already!
Kirsti Sinisalo (women's omnium) - bronze in women's madison
Inessa Karina (women's sprint) - bronze in women's keirin
Çayana Khalidov (women's sprint) - bronze in women's madison
Ilya Kasheyev (men's keirin) - bronze in men's team sprint
Aado Metsala (men's keirin) - bronze in men's team pursuit
It's worth noting that Khalidov in particular is a gold medal possibility - she has the second-fastest time in the competition thus far!
Karate
All four remaining karatekas have a shot. The two heavier ones, Porfiry Linchuk and Kseniya Karnova, are expected to medal. Karnova in particular is the consensus favourite to win the whole shebang. And given that Uralican men have only lost the highest weight class in Judo out of any combat sport in these Olympics, I'd put money on Linchuk as well. What? You think I'm kidding? Let's see:
Men's superheavyweight boxing - Ildar Mekhdiyev beat his own compatriot (Paul Morgenstern) for gold.
Men's judo - Naum Galperin was the only exception, and he had a respectable bronze, especially given how close his fight with gold medallist Lukáš Krpalek was in the semis! He absolutely destroyed Guram Tsushishvili in the bronze medal final, to the delight of the crowd, since it was Tsushishvili who injured hometown favourite Hisayoshi Harasawa in a prior tournament's semifinal that prevented him from coming to the Olympics at all. Accidental or not (yes, it was - and he felt terrible about it), that did not fly with Japanese fans!
Men's kickboxing - Jarkko Salomäki: five rounds, five knockouts. Yes, that even included compatriot Maksim Khomutov. His long, powerful legs have enough reach to deal finishing blows to kickboxers quite a bit taller than he is.
Men's MMA - Jarkko Salomäki. He can grapple, too! He won this one by submission, having made Boris Svechnikov tap to an ankle lock.
Men's taekwondo - Jar... WHAT THE CRAP, MR. PRESIDENT!? Seriously, the man is a monster. He holds the world record for most taekwondo matches won by knockout now, and he readily admits he holds back enough to not endanger people's lives or careers. He cannot be stopped. Especially not in taekwondo, which he considers his best discipline
Men's freestyle wrestling - Luka Batukhtin laying the smack down. Only Taha Akgül even made him break a sweat.
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling - Artur Saveliyev is as clinical as he is huge. The tallest (6'10") and third-heaviest (283.5 lbs) Uralican combat sport practitioner after Jarkko Salomäki (304 lbs) and Boris Svechnikov (293 lbs), but what shocks most people is just how technically sound he is.
So yeah, Uralican top-weights aren't someone you should be messing around with!
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Anastasiya Tatareva is the best bet for a medal. She was third going into the final round of individual competitions, behind Bangladesh's Margarita Mamun and Russia's Yana Kudryavtseva, and is rumoured to be saving her best for last. Lana Pankrateva looked good as well, but in this tight competition she just failed to make the finals, finishing eleventh.
Given the relative youth of the team, they are not expected to medal. At least they're actually competing as a team this time! Tatareva and Ametiszt Cizinski were the only competitors in 2016!
Modern Pentathlon
Yeah... given Uralica's penchant for coming up short on horseback, I can't see them really doing better than mid-table out of the 36 competitors.
Wrestling
Even with the biggest guys already done, there's still something to hope for here - Rayna Sokolova (women's 50kg) finished fourth in Cape Town while Káplony Vámos in (men's 97kg) is looking to improve on his bronze from the same. Stanislav Faustin is considered a dark horse in the men's 65kg.
Wushu
Varsány Pecely isn't expected to medal in his taolu event, but it'll still be interesting how he deals with his first Olympics, especially given how he improves with every tournament he participates in. On the other hand, Oleg Nagalitsev is expected to medal the men's >100kg and Szabina Pálffy is expected to win the women's >78kg! (Given Uralica's men's superheavyweight hot streak, I wouldn't be surprised if they turned out a superheavyweight double!)
ATHLETICS: Adrienn Kóbor, women's javelin (WR; Thursday), Ayat Ghabdulin, men's shot put (Wednesday).
CYCLING: Béata Hederváry, women's keirin (Tuesday), Kiriyak Kouldev and Gavril Chicherin, men's madison (Thursday) Kiriyak Kouldev, men's sprint (Wednesday), Inessa Karina, women's keirin (Tuesday), Gavril Chicherin, men's omnium (Tuesday), Çayana Khalidov and Kirsti Sinisalo, women's madison (Wednesday).
KARATE: Aron Mikhaylov, men's 67kg (Wednesday), Lyydiä Talola, women's 55kg (Wednesday), Shakhar Yeshayakhov, women's 61kg (Thursday).
WRESTLING: Luka Batukhtin, men's 125kg freestyle (Thursday), Hedvig Pokorni, women's 53kg (Thursday), Soini Nousiainen, men's 67kg Greco-Roman (Tuesday), Berény Kovács, men's 87kg Greco-Roman (Tuesday), Jyri Sorsa, men's 74kg freestyle (Thursday).
WUSHU: Ritva Ikola, women's 63kg sanda (Tuesday), Andrian Zuybimov, men's 90kg (Wednesday), Dénes Fekete, men's 100kg (Thursday)
URALICA STILL UP FOR MEDALS IN LAST TWO DAYS
As the events get fewer as the end of the Olympics approaches, Uralica is still in the hunt for medals in what little there is left. Sure, there are some disciplines in which they don't really have a shot (*cough*MODERN*cough*PENTATHLON*cough*) but most of the remaining events do have a chance of seeing a Uralican medallists. Taking a look:
Athletics
As far as Uralica goes, all eyes are on the men's javelin throw, especially after Kaupo Belushin and 2016 medallist Maunu Laitinen finished 1-2 in the preliminary rounds. It seems almost inevitable that Uralica will be going home with a double unless Belushin really screws up, but his throwing arm is better than ever, coming up not only with a personal best and an NCIS record in the prelims, but coming dangerously close to the Olympic record in the preliminaries. Sound familiar? Adrienn Kóbor did that in prelims as well, only to throw a seventy-three metre (on the dot) world-record, beating Barbora Špotáková's previous record by 72 centimetres!
Although Tanya Plekhanova is expected to finish in the mid-twenties in women's heptathlon, her male counterpart has been among the biggest decathlon surprises. Believe it or not, Dinar Gubaidulin is still an outside shot at a medal... and he's only twenty. He may be a future decathlon contender at this rate! Father Akhmetkhan is justly proud of his son, who at this point is on pace for a top ten finish.
Now the marathons? It would be a miracle of Biblical proportions if a Uralican medalled there, because the runners from the Horn of Africa, as always, are just too good.
Cycling
All three remaining track-cycling events have Uralicans remaining going into the final day of that particular competition - mind you, the omnium is a one-and-done event anyway! But here's something to keep in mind. Every last one of the participants tomorrow has at least one medal already!
Kirsti Sinisalo (women's omnium) - bronze in women's madison
Inessa Karina (women's sprint) - bronze in women's keirin
Çayana Khalidov (women's sprint) - bronze in women's madison
Ilya Kasheyev (men's keirin) - bronze in men's team sprint
Aado Metsala (men's keirin) - bronze in men's team pursuit
It's worth noting that Khalidov in particular is a gold medal possibility - she has the second-fastest time in the competition thus far!
Karate
All four remaining karatekas have a shot. The two heavier ones, Porfiry Linchuk and Kseniya Karnova, are expected to medal. Karnova in particular is the consensus favourite to win the whole shebang. And given that Uralican men have only lost the highest weight class in Judo out of any combat sport in these Olympics, I'd put money on Linchuk as well. What? You think I'm kidding? Let's see:
Men's superheavyweight boxing - Ildar Mekhdiyev beat his own compatriot (Paul Morgenstern) for gold.
Men's judo - Naum Galperin was the only exception, and he had a respectable bronze, especially given how close his fight with gold medallist Lukáš Krpalek was in the semis! He absolutely destroyed Guram Tsushishvili in the bronze medal final, to the delight of the crowd, since it was Tsushishvili who injured hometown favourite Hisayoshi Harasawa in a prior tournament's semifinal that prevented him from coming to the Olympics at all. Accidental or not (yes, it was - and he felt terrible about it), that did not fly with Japanese fans!
Men's kickboxing - Jarkko Salomäki: five rounds, five knockouts. Yes, that even included compatriot Maksim Khomutov. His long, powerful legs have enough reach to deal finishing blows to kickboxers quite a bit taller than he is.
Men's MMA - Jarkko Salomäki. He can grapple, too! He won this one by submission, having made Boris Svechnikov tap to an ankle lock.
Men's taekwondo - Jar... WHAT THE CRAP, MR. PRESIDENT!? Seriously, the man is a monster. He holds the world record for most taekwondo matches won by knockout now, and he readily admits he holds back enough to not endanger people's lives or careers. He cannot be stopped. Especially not in taekwondo, which he considers his best discipline
Men's freestyle wrestling - Luka Batukhtin laying the smack down. Only Taha Akgül even made him break a sweat.
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling - Artur Saveliyev is as clinical as he is huge. The tallest (6'10") and third-heaviest (283.5 lbs) Uralican combat sport practitioner after Jarkko Salomäki (304 lbs) and Boris Svechnikov (293 lbs), but what shocks most people is just how technically sound he is.
So yeah, Uralican top-weights aren't someone you should be messing around with!
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Anastasiya Tatareva is the best bet for a medal. She was third going into the final round of individual competitions, behind Bangladesh's Margarita Mamun and Russia's Yana Kudryavtseva, and is rumoured to be saving her best for last. Lana Pankrateva looked good as well, but in this tight competition she just failed to make the finals, finishing eleventh.
Given the relative youth of the team, they are not expected to medal. At least they're actually competing as a team this time! Tatareva and Ametiszt Cizinski were the only competitors in 2016!
Modern Pentathlon
Yeah... given Uralica's penchant for coming up short on horseback, I can't see them really doing better than mid-table out of the 36 competitors.
Wrestling
Even with the biggest guys already done, there's still something to hope for here - Rayna Sokolova (women's 50kg) finished fourth in Cape Town while Káplony Vámos in (men's 97kg) is looking to improve on his bronze from the same. Stanislav Faustin is considered a dark horse in the men's 65kg.
Wushu
Varsány Pecely isn't expected to medal in his taolu event, but it'll still be interesting how he deals with his first Olympics, especially given how he improves with every tournament he participates in. On the other hand, Oleg Nagalitsev is expected to medal the men's >100kg and Szabina Pálffy is expected to win the women's >78kg! (Given Uralica's men's superheavyweight hot streak, I wouldn't be surprised if they turned out a superheavyweight double!)
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(06-11-2022, 10:13 PM)Kyng Wrote: I love how [Abacab] has a track with a section named "Lurker", when the album title itself looks like Lurker's attempt to spell "Abacus" or something .
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