Team Russia Wins Mixed Curling
Russia earned its second-ever title and third-ever podium at the World Mixed Doubles Championship this week, with a 7-5 victory over China in the final match. It was also China's second-ever podium placement. The United States won the bronze medal with a 9-7 win over Scotland. This was the first time Sweden did not make the medal stand since 2011 in the annual competition, as the 2015 medalists failed to repeat. Defending champions Hungary lost in the round of 16, silver-medalists Sweden failed to make it out of group play, and bronze medalist Norway finished in ninth.

Ethiopia Dominates Boston Marathon
At the 120th running of the Boston Marathon, both the men's and women's races were won by Ethiopians. Atsede Baysa won the women's race in 2:29:19 for her seventh career international marathon title, and first since Chicago in 2012. Compatriot Tirfi Tsegaye finished second, with Joyce Chepkirui of Kenya in third to lead eight Africans in the top 10. In the men's race, 21 year-old Lemi Hayle won over compatriot and defending champion Lelisa Desisa, with Yemane Tsegay completing the Ethiopian sweep in third place. As in the women's race, eight of the top 10 placements went to African runners.

While Kenya Dominates London Marathon
Six days after Boston, the London Marathon took place, with the Easy African rivalry taking a different turn. Kenyans Jemima Sumgong and Florence Kiplagat finsihed 1-3 in the women's race, bookending Ethiopian Tigist Tufa in second. And, Kenyans Eliud Kipchoge and Stanley Biwott did one better, going 1-2 in the men's race, ahead of Ethiopian Kenensisa Bekele. Both wins were dramatic, as Sumgong recovered from a fall in the latter stages of her race, while Kipchoge finished just eight seconds off the world best. As in Boston, Africans took eight of the top 10 in the women's, but now nine of the top 10 in the men's.

France and Georgia Top European Judo
​The 2016 European Judo Championships were held in Kazan this week, with France leading the medal table, tied with Georgia, but with a 5-3 gold-medal advantage overall. In all 22 nations won at least one medal, including Kosovo's gold by their star athlete Majlinda Kelmendi in the women's -52kg class, and two medals for Israel (one each in men's and women's competition). Georgia was the men's team classification winner, with Poland taking the women's team classification - with both of those titles over Russia in second place. France - despite four individual medalists, finished third in the women's team event.
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​Final Olympic Gymnastics Qualifiers Held
The Olympic Test Event and Qualifiers were finished in Rio this week, with trampoline and rhythmic gymnastics qualifiers for the Games named following last weeks artistic's. In trampoline, Already having qualified for the Games, Belarus' Uladzislau Hancherou won the men's event, while New Zealand's Dylan Schmidt in third was the top Rio qualifier. Portugal, Great Britain, USA, Australia, Canada, and Kazakhstan filled out the rest of the men's qualifiers. For the women, Russian Yana Pavlova's second-place behind China's Liu Lingling earned her country a Rio spot, followed by Ukraine, Japan, Uzbekistan, Germany, Portugal, USA, and France. In rhythmic, Kazakhstan's Sabina Ashirbayeva's second-place finish led the way for a total of eight individual Games qualifiers, from Austria, Italy, Finland, Uzbekistan, Romania, China and Germany. Germany, Uzbekistan and Greece won the three available group spots for Rio.

European Weightlifting Champs Conclude
Somewhat surprisingly, Romania stood tallest at the conclusion of the European Weightlifting Championships this week, driven to the top of the top of the overall medal table on the strength of both their men's and women's teams (4 men's medalists and 3 women's, for a total of seven 'big' medals). Armenia was second with six medals, while tying Turkey for tops in golds with three. Russia finished with five medals. Eighteen nations, including Estonia and Moldova, won at least one medal.

Olympic Gymnastics Field Fills In
At the Rio Final Gymnastics Qualifier and test event starting this weekend, the last Olympic spots available across all gymnastic disciplines (men's and women's artistic, rhythmic and trampoline) are to be decided. Men's artistic was up first, and delivered inspired performances. Reaching the podium in the team event were Germany, Ukraine, and the Netherlands, followed by France in fourth to earn the four team spots. On the individual side, notable qualifiers for Rio included Chile's Tomas Gonzalez, Ireland's Kieran Behan, and Colombia's Jossimar Calvo Moreno, who finished just behind Ukraine's star Oleg Vernaiev in the all-around. Meanwhile, the shock continues for Romania's women. After finishing out of the top eight at the last worlds, and being relegated to the test event for team qualification, they finished seventh of eight here to not qualify for the Games as a team. They had won 62 total medals in women's gymnastics over the course of the Olympics, and had appeared in every Games competitions for women since 1968. Instead, Brazil, Germany, Belgium (!) and France secured the four spots. Romania will be able to send only one individual athlete to the women's competition, same as with their men. Notable individual qualifiers include Dipka Karmakar of India, Ana Gomez of Guatemala, Toni-Ann Williams of Jamaica, and  - at for her seventh (!) Olympics - Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan. A single tripartite invitation for an individual is still available for both the men's and women's competitions. And, still to come is rhythmic and trampoline qualifications in the new week.

Canada Wins Men's Curling Worlds
At the World Men's Curling Championships in Basel this week, Canada won the gold medal after a 5-3 defeat of Denmark in the final match. Canada had also won in 2012 in Basel, the last time Canadians were crowned world champions. A surprise Denmark team - which wasn't even in the top grouping at this year's European Championships - had made it to the final match, and kept pace until the ninth and tenth ends. The gold marked Canada's 35th title in history. Meanwhile, in the third place match, the United States defeated Japan 8-6 to claim the bronze medal.

But the Danes Win in Handball
At the three Olympic Qualification Tournaments for men's handball, all three host teams successfully secured Rio tickets. That included Denmark, winning their group over Croatia in second, Sweden slipping in with a second place by virtue of goal differential and behind group winners Slovenia, and Poland sweeping their group to finish above second-place Tunisia. All three winners and three second-place finishers qualified to Rio. In that Slovenia and Sweden group, Spain finished third - due to a one point goal differential behind Sweden, who they had beaten by two points in the final match. That resulted in Spain - three-time Olympic bronze medalists - would not compete at the Olympics for the first time since 1968.

Hungary Leads Final Water Polo Qualifications
At the last Olympic Qualifying Tournament for water polo, Hungary continued their power in the sport by taking the gold and leading the final quartet of Games qualifiers to Rio. At the 12-team tournament in Trieste, Hungary, Italy, Spain and France won their quarterfinal matches to secure Olympic berths at the expense of the other quarterfinalists Germany, Romania, Canada and the Netherlands (in penalty shots), respectively. The Hungarians then went on to take the title over Italy, 10-8 in the final match while Spain took third over France. Those four teams now join Brazil, Serbia, USA, Japan, Croatia, Greece, Australia and Montenegro in Rio.

(Almost) All Champions Repeat at Figure Worlds
At this year's World Figure Skating Championships in Boston this week, three of the four gold medalists were repeat winners from 2015. First up, France's ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron successfully defended their crown from the U.S. challenge of siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani (silver) and Madison Chock and Evan Bates (bronze). The Americans' double placement on the podium marked the third time ever that the U.S. earned two medals in the event, after 2006 and 2011. Next, Spain's Javier Fernandez came back from second-place in the short program with a champion-worthy long, to overtake rival - and training partner - Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, the 2014 champion. Jin Boyang of China finished third, to mark his country's first appearance on that event's podium. On the final day, Canada's Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford defended their title, similarly from a second-place after the short, defeating China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, that also a repeat of last year. In the ladies' competition, Russia landed the first new champion of the tournament, with Evgenia Medvedeva in her first senior worlds. Russia's current depth in the event was showcased, as Anna Pogorilaya finsihed with the bronze and last year's bronze medalist Elena Radionova finished sixth. And note, their team this year did not even include the reigning Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova, 2014 world silver medalist Yulia Lipnitskaya, nor defending world champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva! Meanwhile, the U.S.'s Ashley Wagner finally made a major international podium with silver, marking the first time an American was on the stand in more than ten years.

Colombia Boots U.S. from Olympic Soccer
After a 1-1 draw in Colombia last week, the U.S. and Colombia met this week for a winner-takes-the Olympic-spot match in Frisco, Texas. And Colombia won, 2-1 in a physical game, to earn the last remaining spot available for the Rio Games. For the U.S., it's the first time in more than fifty years that they've failed to qualify for two straight Olympics, a streak that will surely hamper the development of the younger generation to come up. Colombia joins Brazil, Argentina, Honduras, and Mexico as the North and South Americans in the Olympics.