Olympic champion Goggia's season over after breaking arm

07:08, February 10, 2020

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  Judo champion Riner loses after nine years undefeated

  Judoka Teddy Riners loss to Kokoro Kageura on Sunday was the Frenchmans first defeat since 2010 ending a run of 154 consecutive wins. (Photo: AFP)One of sports longest winning runs came to an end on Sunday when two-time Olympic and serial judo world champion Teddy Riner was beaten for the first time in over nine years.After 154 successive wins, the 30-year-old Frenchman, who competes in the 100-kilogramme heavyweight category, was beaten by ippon by the Japanese Kokoro Kageura in the third round of the Paris Grand Slam.Riners last defeat was back in September 2010 when he was controversially beaten by another Japanese Daiki Kamikaw in the openweight final at the world championships in Tokyo.The defeat comes five months before the Tokyo Olympics when Riner will hope to emulate the lightweight judoka Tadahiro Nomura in winning gold at three successive Olympics.Ten-time world champion Riners record ranks alongside some of the greats of the sporting world.American hurdler Ed Moses won 122 consecutive races over a 10-year period from 1977 to 1987, and Pakistani squash legend Jahangir Khan won 555 successive matches from 1981 to 1986.Boxing has also thrown up at least two remarkable winning streaks.Heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano never lost a fight in his professional career, winning 49 in a row between 1947 and 1955 while the Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez, a world champion at three different weights, won 87 consecutive fights before drawing with Pernell Whitaker in 1993.

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  Massive firework shot over Colorado breaks world record

  A firework launched over Colorado ski resort town of Steamboat Springs explodes February 8, 2020. (Photo: AP)A massive firework launched over a Colorado ski resort town has set a record for the worlds largest aerial firework.The 2,800-pound (1,270-kilogram) shell flew 2,200 feet (671 meters) above the Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival before it burst, turning the sky bright red and drawing gasps from the crowd, The Steamboat Pilot & Today reported.Tim Borden of Steamboat Springs headed the team that developed the firework over seven years. Borden first attempted to set the world record last year, but failed when the shell exploded inside the mortar without lifting off the ground, the newspaper reported.Guinness World Records representatives witnessed both attempts. Christina Conlon of Guinness said she verified the shell launched Saturday was the worlds largest.The firework was 400 pounds (181 kilograms) heavier than the previous record-holder, a 2,397-pound (1,087 kilograms) explosive launched in the United Arab Emirates in 2018.During a ceremony after the launch to present Borden and his team with their certificate, Conlon said they showed tenacity and perseverance in coming back after last years failed attempt.A winter storm dumped more than 2 feet (0.61 meters) feet of snow on the 26-foot-long (7.92-meter-long) mortar used to launch the shell, and also made transporting the shell difficult. Borden said getting the area plowed was more trouble than setting up the firework itself.

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  Democrats on edge after 2020 election season's ragged launch

  For Democrats, this was supposed be a moment to begin easing three years of built-up of anxieties. Instead, the launch of the 2020 presidential primary has left the party deeply unsettled and President Donald Trump gleeful about the chaos.File photo: CGTNParty leaders are on edge over embarrassing technical issues that marred this past weeks Iowa caucuses, as well as lower than expected turnout in the leadoff state. Front-runners Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg face questions about their long-term political viability, while some supporters of the two leading women left in the race — Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — are raising alarms about what they view as persistent sexism.“It’s a hard start,” said Laura Keeler, a 35-year-old from Concord, New Hampshire.Indeed, it’s far from the 2020 launchpad most Democrats envisioned as they eagerly anticipated their opportunity to take on Trump. The turbulent start to this election year has also crystallized the challenges confronting Democrats in trying to mount a formidable challenge to an incumbent backed by an energized and united Republican Party and fortified by a soaring economy.“We’re capable of shooting ourselves in the foot,” warned Jim Hodges, an ex-South Carolina governor who supports former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 race. Hodges is among those who predict that Sanders, a Vermont senator who is a self-described democratic socialist, would be a weak general election candidate.With one primary contest complete and the second scheduled for Tuesday in New Hampshire, some sorting of the Democratic field has begun.Though The Associated Press has been unable to declare a winner in last Mondays Iowa caucuses, Sanders and Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, emerged in an effective tie.Biden, the longtime national front-runner, finished a distant fourth in Iowa. Hes now facing a money crunch, a staff shakeup, and a looming challenge from billion...