The party is over. The closing day, the eighth, of the formidable Fukuoka Swimming World Championships produced a last world record, the tenth, to the final compliment of the palate.

It came from the hand of Ruta Meilutyte, who, after equaling on Saturday, in the semifinals, the record of the 50 breaststroke (29.30), surpassed it in the final with 29.16. Another “bite” of consideration for such a short journey. The other tests, as if they did not want to share, getting in the way, the primacy of the Lithuanian, returned from her own psychological hell, flirted with the records without conquering them.

It was about again Sarah Sjöström. His record (23.61) in the, also, semifinals of the 50 free foreshadowed another in the final. But, with 23.62, the Swede lacked, then, one hundredth to match it and two to beat it.

It wasn't that close, but it wasn't that far either, in the 1,500m, the Tunisian long-distance runner, already winner in the 800m and silver in the 400m, Hahmed Hafnaoui. His 14:31.54 was close to Sun Yang's 14:31.02, set at the 2012 London Games.

The other individual winners of the day were Hunter Armstrong (USA) in the 50 backstroke (24.05) and, in the 400 IM, the Canadian pearl, Summer McIntosh (4:27.11), who, already in the first section, the butterfly, He sank to the bottom of the pool the hopes of the “other Katie”, American: Grimes, second with 4:31.41.

A question hung in the air. Well, in the water: would the United States finally win a relay? Six had been played, between men, women and mixed, and the Americans had won five silvers and one bronze.

The answer was: yes. And twice, in the 4×100 styles. The masculine and the feminine. Both already decided at the first exchange, in the inaugural back section, with the relays of Ryan Murphy and Regan Smith. The boys won in 3:27.20, a Championships record. The girls, with 3:52.08.

Those two golds in the events that brought the curtain rounded off a great day for the stars and stripes, with three golds and four silvers in one go. A final burst of pride to overtake China and maintain those historical hierarchies that place the United States and Australia as the great powers.

And so the ranking was left, in which the golds rule: Australia: 25 medals (13-7-5); United States, 38 (7-20-11) and China, 16 (5-3-8).

With the calendars still dragging the consequences of the covid, the next World Cup event will take place in Doha, in February 2024, with the Paris Games on the horizon.

The runrún began on July 23 in Karakorum and in a short time it reached the entire planet of mountaineering. Would Kristin Harila be able to climb K2 (8,611 m) and complete her feat? The Norwegian had just descended from Cho Oyu, another 8,000-meter mountain in the Pakistani range, and was immediately heading to base camp on the second-highest mountain on Earth.

Doubts were dispelled only four days later. July 27. Thus culminated a science fiction record: climbing the 14 giants of the Earth faster than anyone else, in three months and one day.

At the end of May, when he had his challenge with nine eight-thousanders in his bag, Harila announced that he wanted to raise them all in three months, lowering the 189 days (six months) that the Nepali Nirmal Purja had held since 2019, when he swept the previous mark of the Korean Chang Ho Kim, who employed seven years, 20 months and six days.

Few valued his words, despite the fact that a few weeks earlier he had reached the summits of Everest and Lhotse in just eight hours, one after the other, followed six days later by a third eight-thousander: the fearsome Dhaulagiri.. He did it in the end in 93 days, slightly failing his forecasts.. Last year Harila tried to beat the record of Purja. When he had 12 eight-thousanders, the Chinese authorities denied him the climbing permits for the two he was missing, Cho Oyu and Shisha Pangma, located in his territory. This spring he resumed his project, repeating the 12 of the first round.

Allied with speed and confident in the professionalism of some Sherpas who have proven to be much more than just high-altitude porters, the Nordic woman has used all possible means. Thanks to the sponsorship of a bank, this 37-year-old woman has been able to resort to aid that is not available to most.

Climbing an eight-thousander is expensive, but doing it the way the Norwegian has done, much more. The sherpa agency with which he has worked has put the best men at his service. These, with the help of Sherpas from other companies, have equipped the routes of the fourteen giants with fixed ropes from top to bottom.. They have also served him bottled oxygen at will, they have taken care of all the infrastructure of the expeditions and even the heavy task of making tracks in the fresh snow.

More than all this, usual for all those who climb eight thousand today, with few exceptions, the most criticized of Harila's sprint method has been the use of helicopters to move from one eight thousand to another. This has eliminated the long approaches to the foot of the mountains and has saved precious time.

Kristin Harila and Tenjin Sherpa at the Kanchenjunga AFP

His latest trick has been to transport the Sherpas through the air to the top of the routes, so that they can place the fixed ropes from top to bottom, much faster than the traditional way, the other way around.. The detractors of this express Himalayanism point out that the ethical values and inalienable commitment of authentic mountaineering have been carried away. The simple fact of talking about records in this sport gives some people rashes.

Harila's defenders, on the other hand, argue that this method of air transport is essentially no different from the cable cars and funiculars that are used at will to reach the foothills of mountains such as the Alps.

On the other hand, they point out that the mountains can be climbed in many ways. All must be respected, as long as it is indicated how they are carried out.. The lie is the only thing that cannot be allowed. Harila has never hidden the system he has used. On the contrary, he has embraced it and has indicated that it is the only way to achieve success in his challenge.. He accompanied Harila at the summit of K2 Tenjin Sherpa, who has been a partner on his fourteen climbs, for which he shares the Norwegian's record. On the same day as them, dozens of climbers from other expeditions – there is talk of more than half of the 200 climbers committed to climbing that day – also reached the second peak of the Earth.

Beyond the style used, Harila's feat is exceptional. To contextualize it, it should be mentioned that Reinhold Messner, the first to climb 14, needed 16 years, although those were other times and it has recently been shown that he did not reach the true summit of Annapurna.

The resistance, tenacity and mastery of risky situations of this former cross-country skier and her team are beyond doubt.. The enormous logistical capacity demonstrated to culminate one after the other and in such a short time, all these escalations should also be highlighted.

It is true that the practices of the Norwegian athlete renounce the severe principles of traditional mountaineering, but it is also true that with her express method she has opened the door to a different way of climbing mountains.

The 1,500 meters, the most anticipated and highest-level test of the Spanish Athletics Championships, which are held in Torrent (Valencia), brought about a splendid duel between two of the favourites, Adel Mechaal and Mohamed Katir, two athletes, especially Katir , world-class.

The race was very fast from the first moment, launched by an enthusiastic and “suicidal” Abderrahman El Khayami. The greats (Mohamed Katir, Adel Mechaal and Mario Garcia Romo) guarded, mimed with the package, events. Some events that depended fundamentally on the trio and that Katir began to unleash.

The national record holder lengthened his stride shortly before the last lap. When the bell rang, his tactic was abundantly clear, summed up in a brutal and sustained attack. Only Mechaal followed him. García Romo seemed surprised and, reacting, tried in vain to join the duo. It didn't lose much ground, but it didn't gain a meter either.

The final stretch saw a superb battle between Katir, still in the lead, and Mechaal. Gritting teeth, maximum effort, equivalent determination. Strength, class, rage. Inch by inch, Mechaal was eating up Katir's ground, taking air from him, taking time away from him.. He overtook him in his last breaths to finish in 3:33.44, a Championship record, taking it from Fermín Cacho. Katir did 3:33.76. García Romo, 3:34.77, withstood the attack by Ignacio Fontes (3:34.95). The three confirmed their trip to the World Cup in Budapest. And they will not go exactly as tourists.

The preseason is the season of good principles. Like when at the beginning of the course the name is carefully written on the first page of those books that always open less than they should. Xavi, well applied, returns to the Barca calligraphy that follows the dots with the ball, and imaginarily returns to the place where it is most used: the youth academy. The first led him to the goal, this time thanks to strategy, and the second, to another name for the future.. It is Fermín López, an appearance in a classic, at 20 years old, the goal of a gunner and jam assists. aim.

The ball followed those little dots to Dembélé, who has his own football spelling, indecipherable, to put this Barça of good principles ahead, always with the ball, in search of the utopia that his coach calls “infinite conservation”.. The League offered him that sense of reality. Glory, Xavi knows it well, is achieved like Fermín López, no matter how old you are.

FOUR MIDFIELDS

Ancelotti, on the other hand, lives glory as others live reality. No anathema system, no transgressions in any tactical variation. Barcelona and Madrid met for the first time when the official course has not yet started with four midfielders each. Xavi started from a double pivot, because for that he has made Oriol Romeu return home, Zumosol's cousin who made the crossbar tremble as soon as he started, together with Frenkie de Jong. When he was in the field, the formula seemed sacrilegious to him. Time flies.

With such a cousin by his side, the Dutchman can better unleash his talent and overtake those who have so much: Gundogan and Pedri. For Ancelotti, on the other hand, it is the best way to adjust Bellingham to the most advanced vertex of an imaginary rhombus.. English is actually a player of two diamonds. If you have space, it's scary. At the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, he had little, as watched as a running back.

VINICIUS, ON THE PENALTY

The Bellingham that astonished in the first two games of the tour did not appear, out of place, dwarfed in the spaces well controlled by Barcelona, and lukewarm, as he demonstrated in an arrival. When Madrid pushed, the chances were for Vinicius, three sticks included, or Rodrygo, who was stopped by Ter Stegen. One of Vini's crossbars came from a penalty, one of the first he shot as a Real Madrid player. After Benzema's departure, it may be the sign of who inherits the 11-meter throne, pure hierarchy.

Madrid pushed to lock up Barça in their field after a dominating start with the ball from the Catalans, with de Jong in command. Madrid's midfield, without Modric or Kroos, was not able to counteract it at the start, and the high pressure from Ancelotti's men did not have an effect in the first minutes either.. Barça's dominance at the start was repeated again after the break. The situation soon claimed the Croatian-German axis.

Dembélé not only put Barça ahead but also proved to be, today, the most destabilizing element of Barça, with the respect of the young Fermín. Dembélé indicated the Achilles heel of Madrid. It was Mendy, calamitous. He left his place to Fran García for alleged inconvenience. I could have done it before. If Xavi put Araujo back on the right wing because he is the best antibody for Vinicius, on the left he has a dagger on the wing. Balde emulates the offensive role of Jordi Alba, an interesting potential for what is to come, and of course for the national team.

Barça has the intentions but not the way to sustain them, so in the second half they found themselves back in their field due to Madrid's push, now with Joselu on the field of play, and under the tremor of another crossbar, of Tchoauméni, third for the Whites and fourth in the match. Ancelotti sat down Bellingham. Xavi, for his part, entered a carousel of changes in which he included Fermín López. The 20-year-old from Huelva, who hit the ball with his soul as soon as he could, as if he were reclaiming his place in the sun, and caressed it so that Ferran Torres could close this little hamburger classic. For Fermín López, the classic of his life. For now.

The Moroccan Nouhaila Benzina has become this Sunday the first player with a veil to play a match of a women's World Cup, against South Korea.

FIFA had lifted its ban on wearing headscarves nearly a decade ago, a provision initially made for the safety of players.

The Moroccan defense had not played the first game against Germany, but started in Adelaide this Sunday in the victory against South Korea (1-0), Morocco's first in a Women's World Cup.

“A lot of work has been done over several years, and there has been a positive result,” the player had told Al-Jazeera before the competition.

The ban on wearing a headscarf in football is still in force in some countries, such as France.