1. How to save a life.  Romain Grosjean (FRA) had one of the biggest accidents seen in the last decades of Grand Prix racing, at the Bahrain Grand Prix. His car ended incrusted in the contention barrier and burst into flames. He came out with some hand burns but walked out of the crash. Several factors combined to save his life, including the halo, the car breakin in two, not losing consciousness, and the actions taken to fight the fire. Lewis Hamilton (ENG, Mercedes-Benz) went on to win his fifth consecutive race, over Max Verstappen (NED, Red Bull) and Alex Albon (THA; Red Bull), who inherited the podium after Sergio Pérez' (MEX, Racing Point) engine blew from third place with two and a half laps to go. Watch the race highlights (F1)
2. Big in Japan. It was a big weekend for sports in Japan, but the Giants lost to the SoftBank Hawks, who won their fourth straight Japan Series Baseball championship and have now won 12 straight Japan Series Games. In horse racing, Almond Eye (JAP) -ridden by Christophe Lemaire (FRA)- saw her career come to an end by winning the Japan Cup over Triple Crown winners Contrail (JAP) and Daring Tact (JAP). In car racing, Nissan's Naoki Yamamoto (JAP) and Tadasuke Makino (JAP) won the Super GT GT500 Championship literally in the last meters, when Ryō Hirakawa (JAP) ran out of fuel in the final straight in front of his Toyota home crowd. It was also dramatic in GT300, where Hiroki Yoshida (JAP) and Kohta Kawaai (JAP) won the race but they could not stop Kiyoto Fujinami (JAP) and João Paulo de Oliveira (BRA) from becoming Champions by taking the second place. Finally in Golf, Erika Hara (JAP) took the Japan LPGA Tour Championship, although Ayaka Furue (JAP took the Mercedes ranking. Watch the Fuji 300km race highlight (Super GT)
3. Germany and Norway lead the way in snow. Winter sports are on. Some athletes and the top two nations in the 2018 Winter Olympics are dominating the scene. Norway took 5 out of 6 gold medals in the FIS Cross-Country Skiing World Cup and both golds in the Nordic Skiing World Cup (Jarl Magnus Riiber), while Germany took a gold and a silver in the FIS Ski Jump World Cup opening round (Markus Eisenbichler), and Halvor Egner Granerud (NOR) took the other one. Where Germany is dominating is in bobsled, with four golds in four Men's Bobsled World Cup races so far. In Luge they took three out of four golds in the first FIL Luge World Cup. The other dominant force seems to be Latvian Skeleton, with Martins Dukurs (LTA) seeming unstoppable with a home World Cup win following two last weekend, winning over his brother Tomass (LAT) - watch (IBSF).
4. Consecutive wins. Emily Kristine Pedersen (DEN) became the second player ever -the first in 31 years- to win three consecutive Ladies European Tour (Golf) tournaments after winning the Spanish Open. She also won the Race to Costa del Sol, the end-of-year rankings. Another consecutive victory happened in Table Tennis, where Ma Long (CHN) won again, now taking the WTT Macau, which showcased new made-for-fans rules (Watch the highlights - WTT).
5. £1m on Darts The PDC Tour season has come to an end with the conclusion of the Players' Championship, won by Michael van Gerwen (NED) for a sixth time, eight months after his last televised title. He defeated Mervyn King (ENG), who had eliminated World Number One Peter Wright (SCO), who had en erratic performance in the semifinals. Wright, however, ended the year as the first player to top £1m on the Order of Merit. Earlier in the week, José de Sousa (POR) defeated James Wade (ENG) to take the Grand Slam (PDC).

 

Week Preview

Formula 1 will have a second consecutive race at Bahrain albeit this time in the outer circuit, which will see the lowest lap times in history of the series. Hamilton will not be able to take a sixth consecutive win since he has tested positive for covid-19 and will have to be substituted. Pietro Fittipaldi (BRA) will make his deébut for Haas F1, replacing injured Romain Grosjean (FRA).

The NFL Game Week has been extended until Wednesday when the Ravens face top league Steelers (10-0). The game has been postponed three times amid a Ravens' covid-19 outbreak. Covid also affected Broncos, who did not have an eligible Quarterback, which meant they had to use Wide Receiver Kendall Hinton (USA). They only achieved one successful pass in their 37-12 defeat to the Raiders.

Boxing is back in the mainstream not after the more-important Minimum Title fight where Chayaphon Moonsri (THA) was surprised by Panya Pradabsri (THA) but after the exhibition bout where Mike Tyson (USA) unofficially drew to Roy Jones Jr (USA) and YouTuber Jake Paul (USA) knocked former NBA star Nate Robinson (USA) out. This momentum should be carried over to the fight between unbeaten Errol Spence Jr (USA) and Danny Garcia (USA), who lost to Shawn Porter (USA), the last rival Errol beat. There will also be an All-Brit showdown for the WBO Super Middle and an All-Japanese for the WBO Female Minimum Title.

Horse Racing will have Group I races around the world, a week after we saw a Triple Crown winner in Trinidad & Tobago, with Wise Guy (TTO), ridden by Kimal Santo (TTO), and also saw Summer Pudding (RSA) -with Warren Kennedy (RSA) on the mount- take the G1 Gauteng Summer Cup, her ninth win in nine races.

Petra Vlhová (SVK) won again, now in the latest Parallel Slalom FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup. Will she also win the Giant Slalom race this weekend?

The UEFA Champions League will have its second-to-last Matchday of the Preliminary Phase. Bayern München (GER), Manchester City (ENG), Chelsea (ENG), Sevilla (ESP), Barcelona (ESP), and Juventus (ITA) are already classified to the knock-out stage.

Yachting has been eventful, as Thomas Coville's (FRA) Sodebo crossed the equator nine hours ahead of the Round-the-world World Record of the Trophée Jules Verne. Meanwhile, the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race has seen drama, as third place Kevin Escoffier (FRA) activated his distress button and has just been rescued from his raft by Jen Le Cam (FRA). Five skippers were on the way to rescue him.

The Cyclo-Cross World Cup is now in usual Belgian territory, after a round in Czechia that saw a Belgian 1-2-3-4 (Vanthourenhout-Iserbyt-Van Aert-Aerts) in the men's race and a Dutch 1-2-3 (Brand-Alvarado-Betsema) in the women's race.