Alongside the end of the Paralympic Games on Sunday, other competitions took place over the weekend.
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It’s hard to find a place in the news with the end of the adventure of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, where the Blues finished in style by fulfilling their initial objective of being in the top 8 nations in the medal rankings. However, whether in cycling in Madrid with Primoz Roglic, in tennis in New York with Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner, or in rugby on the Top 14 fields, other reasons to get excited were not lacking. A look back at the main highlights of the last forty-eight hours.
Paralympic Games: an objective achieved and a successful celebration
One last one for the road. History will remember that Nélia Barbosa brought her 75th medal, silver in paracanoe KL3, to the French delegation which thus managed to grab 8th place in the medal standings, its announced objective. But, beyond the purely sporting aspect of the French record, it is the entire course of these Paralympic Games that will leave a lasting mark on people’s minds.
Paralympics 2024 – The complete DJ passage
The big DJ set at the end of the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games, at the Stade de France.
(FTV)
Tennis: Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner extend their grip
She is no longer the player who only wins her Grand Slams in Australia. Already a double winner in Melbourne, the Belarusian won on Saturday in New York, beating the local Jessica Pegula (7-5, 7-5) in the final of the US Open. Finally in control of her nerves when the situation gets tense, Sabalenka proves with this victory that she is indeed the best player in the world on hard court, at the same time as she asserts herself as the most serious threat to the reign of Iga Swiatek, the current world number one.
On Sunday evening, world number one, Italian Jannik Sinner, largely dominated American Taylor Fritz (12th) in three sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, to win his first US Open. Implacable, the boss of the ATP circuit won in 2h16. Like Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s category, he therefore won the two hard-court Majors of the season, becoming, at 23 years old, the youngest player to achieve such a feat. He also confirmed his stranglehold on world tennis, while Carlos Alcaraz, winner of Roland-Garros and Wimbledon, was eliminated in the second round of the tournament and Novak Djokovic in the third.
Cycling: Primoz Roglic, it’s square
Primoz Roglic is the king of the Vuelta. In a race neglected by his usual main competitors on the grand tours (Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel), the Slovenian took a fourth overall victory on Sunday in the streets of Madrid. His change of team in the off-season has not changed anything, the new leader of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe handled difficulties and opponents perfectly, even if he was not imperial.
This was again the case in the final time trial, held on Sunday, where he was only beaten by Stefan Küng. (Groupama-FDJ). Second in the time trial, 31 seconds behind the Swiss, Roglic equals Roberto Heras’ record with four victories on the roads of Spain.
Rugby: Bordeaux-Bègles has digested well
UBB has clearly left the trauma of the thrashing received in the Top 14 final at the end of last season (59-3 against Stade Toulousain) in the locker room. To celebrate the opening of the championship, the Bordeaux-Bègles backs treated Chaban-Delmas to offer a festival to their public against Stade Français, swept aside 46-26.
The other Parisian club, Racing, where English star Owen Farrell was starting, was no more successful, losing in the final seconds to Castres (31-28). Apart from the successes of Clermont, Bayonne and Lyon on Saturday, at the expense of Pau, Perpignan and Montpellier, this first day was marked the next day by the close victory of La Rochelle against Toulon (19-15), in the clash of contenders.
Finally, no miracle at La Rabine: Stade Toulousain, the two-time reigning French champion, had a successful start to the season by beating (43-18) RC Vannes, who played the first match in the history of Breton rugby in the first division.