20th - 21st May
The Upset in Dublin
Katie Taylor, 36, Ireland's favourite and arguably the most famous female boxer in the world at present, came home to Dublin to contest the light welter-weight crown against England's 32-year-old champion and holder Chantelle Cameron. With 22 pro fights behind her and having not lost since the 2016 Rio Olympics, Taylor was the favourite. However, Cameron had a plan of her own and silenced the partisan crowd with a points victory to retain her title and remain the undisputed light-welterweight champion, in addition to being a World Champion in two weight classes. Cameron has also extended her undefeated record to 18 wins. There may be a rematch later this year. Meanwhile Chantelle Cameron has announced herself as one of the world's best.
Golfo Aranci on Sardinia's northeast coast was the location for Meet 2 of the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup 2023. Leonie Beck (GER) and Kristof Rasovszky (HUN) won gold in the 10km swim, while Germany also claimed the Mixed 4x1500m. Sweden's Anton Dahlberg and Lovisa Karlsson skippered their boat to victory in the 2023 470 Class Open European Championship in Sanremo, Italy. Two continental championships also completed over the weekend. The first is the ECA Wildwater Canoeing European 2023 Championships in Skopje, North Macedonia. Here are the full results:
Tunisia's Hammamet hosted the African Championships for Seniors, U20, and U17 in Freestyle, Greco-Roman, and Women's Wrestling. Here are the full results:
Cesenatico in Italy hosted the International Tennis Federation Beach Tennis World Championship. Nicolas Gianotti (FRA) and Mattia Spoto (ITA) are the Men's Champions, while the Women's Champions are Ariadna Costa Graeli (ESP) and Elena Francesconi (ITA). Remaining with tennis and on this occasion the Internazionale BNL d'Italia on Rome's clay-court, Daniil Medvedev and Elena Rybakina claimed the singles titles. It was Medvedev's sixth ATP Masters 1000 and Rybakina's second WTA 1000 title. Joshua Filler (GER) has won the 2023 Wisconsin Open, the next round of the Predator Pro Billiard Series. China has won their sixth Sudirman Cup title at home, and their 13th overall. The tournament forms part of the Badminton World Federation World Tour and was hosted in the city of Suzhou.
With one week remaining of the Giro d'Italia, the current holder of the Maglia Rosa is Bruno Armirail (FRA). This is after Remco Evenepoel (BEL), the leader at the time, had to withdraw from the tour earlier in the week after a positive Covid test. In the UCI Women's WorldTour, Demi Vollering (NED) has again won a major race this season at the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas held in Spain. The opening weekend of the UCI E-MTB Cross-Country World Cup took place in Monaco. Jérôme Gilloux (FRA) and Nicole Göldi (SUI) claimed the Elite victories on Saturday, while Sunday's champions are France's Emeric Ienzer and Justine Tonso. It was also the first weekend of the UCI MTB Eliminator World Cup with Sakarya in Turkey hosting. The Elite Champions are Titouan Perrin Ganier (FRA) and Marion Fromberger (GER). Montpellier in France had a full weekend of various sporting events. We focus on the UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup. Flatland Elite was won by Yu Shoji (JPN) and Aude Cassagne (FRA), while Logan Martin (AUS) and Huimin Zhou (CHN) were victorious in Park Elite.
A number of motorcycling championships also took place. Manuel Lettenbichler (GER) claimed his first victory of 2023 FIM Hard Enduro season. Jaime Busto (ESP) and Emma Bristow (GBR) won Round 3 of the FIM TrialGP World Championship held in Motegi, Japan. Tramatza in Sardinia hosted Round 2 of the FIM Supermoto World Championship with Andreas Buschberger (AUT) taking victory. Jake Gagne completed a double at the Barber Motorsports Park to top the overall standings of the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship. Jeremy Seewer (SUI) rose to the top at the MXGP of France, Round 7 of the FIM Motocross World Championship.
Over to motor racing where Gabriel Gomez (ITA) has won Round 2 of the FIA Karting European Championship hosted in the Czech Republic. At the Circuit of the Americas, it was Wright Motorsports claiming the race on Saturday in the Pro Class of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America. Sunday's race belonged to Racers Edge Motorsports. Two races featured on Sunday in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series at the North Wilkesboro Speedway. Josh Berry made it his first win of the season in the NASCAR All-Star Open, while Kyle Larsen made it his third win this year claiming the NASCAR All-Star Race. Ross Chastain still leads the overall standings.
Both USA and Switzerland lead their respective groups and remain unbeaten in the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Next week we head to the knockout stages with the final scheduled for Sunday. Shanghai hosted Stage 2 of the Hyundai Archery World Cup. Brady Ellison (USA) and Kang Chae Young (KOR) are the Recurve champions. Compound victories went to South Korea's Kim Jongho and Oh Yoohyun. It was a special weekend for South Korea as the nation claimed Recurve Team, Compound Team, Compound Mixed Team, and Recurve Mixed Team titles.
Delfi Brea and Bea Gonzalez have won the Danish Open, the next stage of the World Padel Tour. The men's champions were Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno. Egypt's Nour El Tayeb and Ali Farag have won the Professional Squash Association Manchester Open. Argentina have won the London Sevens, the last stage of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. Slovenj Gradec in Slovenia hosted the World Masters MTB Orienteering Championship 2023. Up to 23 categories in four stages were contested. The full results can be viewed here:
Maria Perez (ESP) has broken the women’s 35km race walk world record by 29 seconds to win at the European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady, Czech Republic. Brooks Koepka (USA) is king again holding a one-shot lead over Viktor Hovland (NOR) to win the PGA Championship, the second Professional Golf Association Major of they year. Koepka has now won his third PGA Championship and his fifth career major. The fourth leg of the International Federation of Sport Climbing World Cup Series 2023 at Salt Lake City produced gold medals for Narasaki Tomoa (JPN) in the men’s Boulder event, and Veddriq Leonardo (IDN) in the men’s Speed. In the women's events, home hero Natalia Grossman was the Boulder champion, while Speed gold was claimed by Aleksandra Miroslaw (POL).
Until next time, have a great week in sport.