Zakaria will leave Mönchengladbach. Cologna with a modest upward trend. Three Swiss in Oberstdorf in the top 15. Lausanne HC is now also in quarantine. Niskanen wins the Tour de Ski, Fähndrich in the top 15. And Janis Moser scores the first two goals in the NHL, Timo Meier also scores. The most important sports news at a glance.
Equestrian sport: again no World Cup in Basel
Steve Guerdat and his horse Victorio des Frotards will not be able to start in Basel in 2022 either.
(sda) The CSI Basel has to be canceled for the second time in a row due to the corona pandemic. The World Cup event with show jumping and dressage riders should have taken place from January 13th to 16th in the St. Jakobshalle.
After the approval for the event was revoked by the canton of Basel-Landschaft, the organizers decided to reject it, even if it might have been possible to hold the event without a spectator. However, since the situation could get worse, the decision was made to take the radical step.
Thomas Straumann, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CHI Basel, emphasized that everything had been tried to the end. «The best riders would have loved to come to Basel. Our sponsorship and hospitality offers were sold out and ticket sales were at a record level. “
Basel has developed into one of the best indoor events in show jumping in recent years. This year, in view of an application for the World Cup final in 2025, dressage should have been included in the program.
How it will continue is open. “Now that we have been canceled for the second time in a row and the realignment of our event, which has unfortunately become impossible, we cannot avoid thinking about fundamental issues,” said Straumann.
Ice hockey: Czech and Russian juniors in quarantine
With the Czech Republic and Russia, two other teams had to be quarantined at the U20 World Cup in Red Deer, Canada. The Czechs lost their preliminary round game against Finland just as forfait with 0: 1 as the Russians in the Swiss group against Slovakia.
The day before, the USA had been quarantined due to corona cases and had lost the game against Switzerland 0: 1. When the three teams can return to the tournament is still open.
As a protective measure, the international association IIHF decided that the referees at the U20 World Cup would have to wear a mask until further notice.
Nordic skiing: Cologna with a modest upward trend
(sda) Dario Cologna only convinced to a limited extent in Lenzerheide over 15 km classic with a single start. The Bündner took 20th place, losing 1:39 minutes to the winner Iivo Niskanen from Finland.
Cologna already suffered the second broken pole in the third race at the World Cup level this winter. This mishap explains part of the backlog, but nothing more. The 35-year-old would have hoped for a little more than just being the best Swiss, four seconds ahead of Jonas Baumann (22nd).
Two hours after his sister Kerttu, the classic specialist Iivo Niskanen celebrated a superior victory. Even Alexander Bolschunow, Russia’s defending champion of the Tour de Ski, lost 20 seconds.
Johannes Hösflot Klaebo was one of the winners of the day. The sprint dominator from Norway was a strong fourth. He only lost 15 seconds on Bolshunov. After two of six stages, Klaebo is leading 15 seconds ahead of compatriot Paal Golberg and 37 seconds ahead of Niskanen. Bolschunow lies in wait as fourth with a handicap of 44 seconds.
Soccer: Zakaria will leave Mönchengladbach
Gladbach plans in the future without Denis Zakaria (right).
(sda) Denis Zakaria leaves Borussia Mönchengladbach in summer at the latest. The 25-year-old informed the Bundesliga club that he would not extend his contract, which was due to expire in six months.
Mönchengladbach’s sports director Max Eberl had asked his players with expiring contracts to be clear before the end of the year. After Zakaria’s negative decision, Eberl was quoted as follows on the club’s website: “I contacted his agency before Christmas and informed them that we would plan without him from summer at the latest.”
In order to still earn money with Zakaria, Mönchengladbach would have to sell 40 times the Swiss international in January. The value of the midfielder, who moved from YB to Mönchengladbach in 2017, is estimated at just under 30 million euros.
Nordic skiing: three Swiss in the top 15
(sda) The Swiss ski jumpers convince as a team at the start of the Four Hills Tournament in Oberstdorf. The winner of the first stage of the classic is called Ryoyu Kobayashi.
Killian Peier, actually the clear number 1 in the team, was only the third-best Swiss in 14th place. Simon Amman (13th) and Gregor Deschwanden (10th) were a few points better.
The great team result is also a disappointment. Peier, recently fourth twice in Engelberg and top ten in the overall World Cup, fell short of expectations. Since the top jumpers found the best conditions in the second round, the Vaudois is already very far behind in the overall standings. The gap on the tour podium is the equivalent of 23 m.
The victory went to the Japanese Ryoyu Kobayashi ahead of the Norwegian Halvor Egner Granerud and his compatriot Robert Johansson.
Ice hockey: Lausanne is also in quarantine
(sda) In the National League, the game plan continues to be mixed up. HC Lausanne has to be in quarantine after several positive corona cases. Therefore, the Vaudois cannot compete in the SCL Tigers on January 2nd.
According to the current status, two of five scheduled games will take place on January 2nd: ZSC Lions against Friborg-Gottéron and Biel against Bern.
The Lausanne team, whose match against Zug on January 4th had already been postponed due to the situation in Central Switzerland, should be back in action against Friborg-Gottéron on January 7th, according to the schedule.
In addition to Lausanne, Ambri, Davos, Lugano, Zug and the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers are currently in quarantine. Ajoie, which has also recorded several corona cases, is still pending a decision.
Nordic skiing: Kerttu Niskanen surprise winner in the snowdrift
(sda) Kerttu Niskanen surprisingly takes over the yellow jersey of the Tour de Ski leader. The Finn won the 2nd stage over 10 km in Lenzerheide with a classic single start.
The drifting wet snow around the zero degree limit formed the horror scenario for the wax crew, and the snowfall subsided during the race. Surprises were inevitable: the big favorite Frida Karlsson had to be content with 5th place and 44 seconds behind Kerttu Niskanen, or the best-ranked Norwegian couldn’t get past 10th place in the person of the unknown Anne Kjersti Kalvaa.
Nadine Fähndrich ran into 14th place with the high and therefore cheap start number 58 and was even faster than the Tour de Ski defending champion Jessie Diggins.
In the overall classification, Niskanen is 29 seconds ahead of Diggins. Frida Karlsson is 1:13 minutes behind and has therefore grown. After the sprint, the Swede was 1:07 behind. Fähndrich is in 15th place, 1:18 minutes behind – the fall on Tuesday in the sprint should have cost her at least 40 bonus seconds.
Ice Hockey: Janis Moser’s first NHL goals
Two weeks after being promoted to the NHL squad, Janis Moser (left) scores the first two goals.
Two weeks after being promoted to the NHL team, defender Janis Moser scores his first NHL goals. Despite two hits by the Swiss, the Arizona Coyotes lose 7: 8 at the San Jose Sharks. Not only Moser shone. At the San Jose Sharks, Timo Meier also impressed with a goal (to 5: 3), an assist (to 1: 0) and a plus-1 record. In the end, San Jose prevailed in the penalty shootout, the Swiss weren’t among the shooters.
Moser scored his first NHL goal 140 seconds before the first break to equalize 2-2. 23 seconds before the end of the second section, he later shortened the majority to 4: 5. Arizona was never in the lead in the spectacular game with 15 goals, but four times behind with two goals (2: 4, 3: 5, 4: 6, 5: 7).
Although Janis Moser has not yet been able to stabilize the shaky defense of the Arizona Coyotes, the most unsuccessful NHL team this season, his first two (interrupted) weeks in the NHL can be described as successful. Even with Moser, the Coyotes conceded 16 goals in three games, but the Bieler played significantly more than other defenders, helped Arizona to three points in three games and earned a plus-3 balance in his first three games.
In the game between the San Jose Sharks and the Arizona Coyotes, Swiss scored three goals.
Chess: 17-year-old Uzbek becomes world rapid chess champion
Nodirbek Abdusattorow wins the world title in rapid chess in Warsaw.
(sda / dpa) The Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorow has duped all favorites and sensationally crowned himself rapid chess world champion. The only 17-year-old prevailed in Warsaw in a play-off round.
The Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who had led the field for a long time two weeks after defending his title in classical chess, came third.
In the end, Abdusattorow had the best rating of the four players who had scored 9.5 points in 13 rounds. In the event of a tie, the regulations stipulated that the first two would play off. As third place with equal points, top favorite Carlsen was out of the race – the Norwegian then spoke of “an absolutely idiotic rule”.
Abdusattorow prevailed in the jump-off against the loser of the classic World Cup, the Russian Jan Nepomnjaschtschi. Rapid chess is played with 15 minutes per player plus ten seconds per move.
In the women’s category, Alexandra Kostenjuk, a Swiss-Russian citizen, won. The Blitz Chess World Cup will follow in Warsaw on Wednesday and Thursday. The total prize money for all four competitions is one million dollars.