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≡ THE 5-RING CIRCUS ≡

● Athletics ● The 2026 Wanda Diamond League finishes with the annual Memorial Van Damme meet in Brussels (BEL) on Friday and Saturday, with the biggest prizes of the season on offer so far:

● Diamond disciplines: $30,000-12,000-7,000-4,000-2,500-2,000-1,500-1,000-500.

● Diamond+ disciplines: $60,000-20,000-9,000-4,000-2,500-2,000-1,500-1,000-500.

Friday’s events will have multiple American stars in action, including Paris Olympic men’s 1,500 m champ Cole Hocker facing bronze winner Yared Nuguse and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen; 2019 World Champion Christian Coleman in the 100 against World Champion Oblique Seville (JAM); the hurdles quartet of world-record holder Ja’Kobe Tharp, World Champion Cordell Tinch, Jamal Britt and Trey Cunningham, plus JuVaughn Harrison in the high jump. World-record man Mondo Duplantis (SWE) will be in the men’s vault.

The top U.S. women’s entries include Anna Cockrell (400 m hurdles), new American Record setter Chase Jackson (shot) and discus champ Valarie Sion, plus Olympic runner-up Julien Alfred (LCA) in the women’s 200 m.

On Saturday, Brazil’s new world-record setter, Alison dos Santos, headlines the men’s 400 m hurdles, with American Kenny Bednarek one of the favorites in the men’s 200 m. World leader Leonardo Fabbri (ITA) faces American Jordan Geist in the men’s shot.

Sha’Carri Richardson, the 2023 World Champion, leads the field in the women’s 100; Paris champ Marileidy Paulino (DOM) is favored in the 400, and Swiss Audrey Werro faces Femke Broeders-Bol (NED) in the 800. World-record-setter Masai Russell leads the 100 m hurdles and Americans Katie Moon and Hana Moll look strong in the women’s vault.

The meet is being shown on the FloTrack subscription channel.

The USA Track & Field Foundation announced 100 athletes who will receive Stephen A. Schwarzman Grants, with 65 receiving $40,000 and 35 receiving $30,000 each, for a total of $3.65 million. The selection announcement noted:

“All USATF Foundation grants are selected from a pool of qualified applicants. Elite athletes are required to apply each year and are encouraged to complete the process in May or June. The Stephen A. Schwarzman Grants are decided upon by the USATF Foundation Elite Grant Committee and criteria is based primarily on athlete’s potential to medal at the next major global competition. Consideration is also given to monetary need.”

Schwarzman, 79, is the Chair and chief executive of investment firm Blackstone, Inc. and has been a major donor to the USATF Foundation since his first gift of $500,000 in February 2013.

● Cycling ● Stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana finished with a major uphill climb to the Calar Alto at the end of a 166.6 km ride, with Jakob Omrzel (SLO) breaking away with 12 km to go and winning easily in 4:29:53. That was 1:56 ahead of Urko Berrade (ESP) and 2:13 up on Santiago Buitrago (COL).

Race leader Enric Mas finished sixth at +2:56 and expanded his lead over four-time winner Primoz Roglic (SLO: +1:45) and Austria’s Felix Gall (+2:06). American Sepp Kuss is eighth at +7:58.

● Football ● FIFA replied to filings in Colorado by the European confederation UEFA for documents related to the failed FIFA Forward Enterprise private-equity project, saying “While these applications are styled as legal pleadings with captions and docket numbers, they are little more than press releases in further support of UEFA’s smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership.”

The FIFA reply opposing the UEFA requests, also filed in New York and Florida, stated that all of them suffer “from a fundamental defect: UEFA seeks discovery in aid of a foreign criminal proceeding that does not exist and that UEFA admittedly lacks the authority to initiate.”

UEFA’s request included a charge that FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) “claimed that the plan would ‘unleash the commercial potential and opportunity that FIFA has. In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from FIFA’s most valuable assets to the detriment of FIFA, its members, and other parties within the football family.”

No hearing has been set for any of the requests.

● Skiing ● The International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS) Council wants more world championships. At its meeting concluded in Switzerland:

“Having been presented with a preliminary feasibility study centered on sporting value, calendar assessment, and commercial and media-rights potential, the FIS Council agreed on the concept of increasing the frequency of the FIS World Championships so that they would be organized not only biennially in odd years, but also in even, non-Olympic years as of 2032.”

The meeting summary noted that added championships could be started for 2028, at least in some disciplines. The current structure has Worlds in the year following an Olympic Winter Games and the year before.

The notation about 2028 indicates that the FIS Council may be abandoning the giant, all-discipline “FIS Games” concept undertaken under the administration of immediate past president Johan Eliasch (GBR).

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For our updated, 814-event International Sports Calendar for 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!