Standout athlete celebrates sensational success in the North Channel

Marburg, 16 September 2024

It’s an incredibly impressive achievement: after more than ten years of hard graft, many successes and also setbacks, extreme swimmer and two-time world record holder Nathalie Pohl, who comes from Hesse, has made her biggest dream come true by becoming the first German woman to complete the Ocean’s Seven challenge of crossing the world’s seven most dangerous straits. The 29-year-old swam the approximately 41-kilometre stretch from Gobbins in Northern Ireland to Portpatrick in Scotland on 15^th of September in an impressive time of 11:05:24 hours. She has been one of the best female open water swimmers in the world for some time. But with this incredible achievement, Nathalie Pohl has finally made history as the first German woman and the 33rd person in the world to rise to this challenge.

It took the standout athlete and best-selling author (book title: Im Meer bin ich zu Hause) more than 40.000 arm strokes to swim to Scotland – in what is probably the toughest of the seven ocean swims. At around 41 kilometres, the North Channel is around 10 kilometres longer than the English Channel, depending on the current, and is considered the much more difficult route. For a start, the water temperature is lower – while the water temperature in Dover is around 17 degrees in summer, it is a mere to 14 degrees around Gobbins at that time of the year. Secondly, the currents and the somewhat unpredictable sea conditions make this route extremely challenging. The biggest hurdle, however, is the sea dwellers, in particular the lion’s mane jellyfish. And unlike the water temperature or the route, you can’t prepare yourself for their stings all that well. They are extremely painful. The North Channel was therefore considered uncrossable for swimmers for a long time. The first successful crossing only came in 1947, followed only in 1970 by the second successful attempt. By way of comparison, the North Channel has only been successfully swum by around 150 people, whereas there have been more than 3,000 successful crossings of the English Channel. Nathalie Pohl’s success has involved making it across both stretches. She is overjoyed: “It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I trained for this moment for ten years, spending hours in the water every day. I feel incredibly proud to have now actually made it. It feels fantastic to have been able to push my body beyond its limits. And being rewarded with this success makes it all the more wonderful.”

Nathalie Pohl’s path to this extraordinary success was not always straightforward. On her first leg of the Ocean’s Seven, the English Channel, in 2015, rather than heading to the shore, she was taken directly to hospital with a pulmonary embolism. But in spite of all the challenges, Nathalie Pohl didn’t give up, modifying her training and coming back stronger than ever in 2016. She set a German record when swimming this stretch. In the course of her career as an extreme swimmer, she has set two world records (Strait of Gibraltar in 2016, Jersey Channel in 2020) and has written a book. Published in spring 2024, the book covers her impressive story that took her from the swimming pool to the oceans of the world. It made it onto the SPIEGEL best-seller list in its first week.

None of these successes would have been possible without one thing in particular – Nathalie Pohl’s iron will. Complete discipline, countless hours at swimming pools and in the sea, and a lifestyle entirely oriented towards her training have been part and parcel of the standout athlete’s life for years. A great deal of work went into completing each and every leg, all beginning up to a year in advance. “But the water temperature in the North Channel in particular took our preparations to a completely new level,” explains Nathalie Pohl’s coach Joshua Neuloh. After winter training had been held in Portugal and Majorca, he and Nathalie Pohl travelled to Ireland and Scotland in the summer to step up training in the rough seas there that were just 14 degrees. This was necessary in order for her body to be better prepared. “You never entirely get used to it. Cold water is cold,” adds Nathalie Pohl. By crossing the North Channel, she has now realised her biggest dream. In conclusion, she says “I’m incredibly proud to have achieved my objective. Although the journey was really tough, every arm stroke, every extra kilometre in training and every cold shower was more than worth it. My success clearly illustrates that you should never give up and should always believe in yourself and your dream, no matter how difficult it may be.”

More information available at: https://nathaliepohl.de/

Contact:

www.nathaliepohl.de / presse@nathaliepohl.de

Can Ilia Topuria retain his title, how can Max Holloway become the new champion again, and what are we most intrigued by in this matchup? Let’s dive in.

Paths to Victory for Ilia Topuria at UFC 308

Max Holloway is a cheater.

MMA is supposed to be an honorable combat sport, where two men step into a cage to find out who is the better, more skilled fighter. This is why fighters get so bent out of shape about Performance Enhancing Drugs because when one fighter takes them and the other doesn’t, it constitutes an unfair advantage. Well, Max Holloway also has an unfair advantage in every fight he’s in: he’s impossible to hurt.

Holloway’s chin is made of some alloy of adamantium and mithril. Through 29 UFC bouts and nearly eight hours of octagon time, Holloway has never officially been knocked down (I say officially because Justin Gaethje 100 percent did drop him, and the stat keepers are idiots) much less out. He’s fought some of the heaviest hitters across two weight classes and they can’t dent him. That’s astonishing, to put it mildly. It’s also cheating because if you cannot be killed, then what chance does your opponent have?!

Well, that chance is in out-working Holloway tactically over 25 minutes, as Alexander Volkanovski did three times. That’s the task ahead for Topuria in his first title defense.

In broad terms, over their first two fights, Volkanovski was able to edge out Holloway with feints, footwork, a sturdy jab, and a bevy of low kicks, both inside and outside. Then in their third encounters, Volkanovski simply whipped his ass with those same tools, plus a renewed willingness to throw in combination, with power. And fortunately for Topuria, he can do all of those things.

Topuria does not generally throw a lot of leg kicks, but I expect that to change for this fight. The champion is certainly capable of throwing them, and they’re a huge weapon both to score and to stifle Holloway’s movement as Topuria tries to back him to the fence. More importantly though, I think the best thing Topuria can do in this fight is commit to body work early and often.

Holloway’s game is built off of his jab and so to beat him, that needs to be priority one. Volkanovski solved that with low kicks and while Topuria should do those as well, he also has the opportunity to change his level under the jab and hit to the body with his own jab or right hand. It’s an excellent weapon to both move Holloway back, square him up, and create openings for going up high in combination. That is the sort of offense that will really get to Holloway and put him behind the eight ball early.

As mentioned, Holloway’s chin is nigh uncrackable, and while that doesn’t mean Topuria should abandon attacking it entirely, it’s ambitious to think all he needs to do to beat Holloway is get him along the fence and lower the boom. Instead, Topuria needs to be prepared for a drawn-out contest where he simply out-scoring Holloway by attacking all levels available.

Paths to victory for Max Holloway at UFC 308

For years, Max Holloway has claimed to have the best boxing in the UFC. Well, that’s about to be put to the test once again.

Though he is only 27 years old, Ilia Topuria already has some of the best boxing in MMA. He has excellent pressure footwork, cuts angles, throws in combination, works all levels of the body and head, and packs ludicrous power. It’s a game designed to walk down opponents, seize the initiative, and level them with efficiency. But it’s not without its weaknesses.

At this point the book is out on kicking Topuria on the open side. Volkanovski, Josh Emmett, and even Jai Herbert all made a point of popping left kicks into the body and up to the head. Topuria employs a high and tight boxing guard, and wants to walk opponents down and these kicks make that more difficult by setting a longer range, outside of his punching threat, or by simply keeping his guard locked in to defend.

In a similar vein, Holloway should also look to kick the legs. Though Topuria ultimately clubbed him with a combination, Volkanovski had decent success against Topuria early by moving around on angles and chopping the lead leg. Given his heavy boxing stance and the frequency with which Topuria uses feints and level changes, it’s a good scoring tool for Holloway.

Lastly, and this would be a relatively new one for Holloway, would be for Max to look for clinches. Holloway does solid work when he’s forced into the clinch but never seeks it out, and so against Topuria that could be a good wrinkle, especially as Topuria himself isn’t a focused clinch fighter. Volkanovski landed good knees in the clinch and Holloway could have similar success.

One Big Thing

The outcome of most high level fights depends on dozens of different things, but frankly, it’s a lot to list all of those out. Instead, let’s simplify things by determining the One Big Thing that will determine Saturday’s winner.

Who seizes the initiative?

Both Topuria and Holloway prefer to fight on the front foot, taking the initiative and leading the dance. For Topuria, it’s imposing pressure and physicality to maneuver opponents back to the fence, cut off their escape routes, and level them. For Holloway, it’s simply to force opponents to the back foot where he has more freedom to work in long combinations against retreating forces. But in both cases, both men want to be leading the dance and whoever wins this battle of wills should win the fight.

One Small Thing

Now we know the single most important factor of Saturday’s main event, but what about something else entirely that almost certainly won’t happen but if it does could change everything.

Stand your ground.

May fighters have signature moves but Holloway has perhaps the coolest one in MMA history: pointing to the ground and beckoning a brawl in the last 10 seconds of a fight. Earlier this year it lead to one of the greatest knockouts of all-time, and as a result, Topuria even challenged Holloway to start their fight off like that. Holloway already vetoed this idea, but what if he doesn’t? Honestly, this might be a very good strategy for Holloway as his unbreakable chin gives him a decided advantage in any wild firefight like that.

Prediction

I fear this may be a difficult fight for Max Holloway. “Blessed” has had a remarkable career and his win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 will live forever, but upon closer inspection that victory has some of the trappings of an all-time great fighter proving his bonafides despite declining. Meanwhile, Topuria is not yet in his best or final form and was able to Volkanovski — a man who beat Holloway three times — with relative ease. And given that Holloway isn’t nearly as good on the back foot as Volkanovski is, the most likely scenario to mean seems to be Topuria bullying Holloway around the cage for 25 minutes.

Holloway is an exceptional fighter and if he can defy the odds on Saturday, it will be an all-time great performance, but I think we’re living in the Topuria era now.

Ilia Topuria def. Max Holloway via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46).

Alex Rins says he is still struggling to adapt his riding style to the Yamaha M1 package and feels he cannot simply copy Fabio Quartararo’s efforts in MotoGP.

With Rins approaching the conclusion of his maiden premier class campaign with the Japanese manufacturer, he has consistently been unable to match team-mate Quartararo’s performances and results.

That has continued in Thailand, with Quartararo ending Friday 12th overall and Rins down in 18th, with almost half a second splitting them on single-lap pace.

After a 2023 MotoGP season blighted by injury, Rins’ switch from Honda to Yamaha has seen him struggle to get back to the form that had him score five victories with Suzuki, along with his sole triumph for Honda in the United States last year.

While Rins’ arrival coincided with Yamaha’s ongoing difficulty in extracting more performance from the M1 package, the Spaniard – who has a best result of ninth place in Aragon this season – feels he still doesn’t have a bike to suit his riding style.

“Every time I come back from the track I try to give good feedback, I still do not feel that they have given me a bike that resembles my riding style,” he commented after Friday practice for the Thailand Grand Prix.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Rins feels he simply cannot copy Quartararo’s riding style and that it wouldn’t be a fruitful pursuit regardless, given the French rider is also unable to be competitive at the sharp end of the grid.

“I cannot copy Fabio’s bike, I do not have his riding style,” he added. “When I come back from the track the feedback I give is the best I know. In the end there are no bad people here in MotoGP, Yamaha is a factory team that has the best people.

“Obviously he is going through a tough time, but Fabio has won a championship and many races with this bike, and now he is not achieving it, and there is a reason for that.

“We are in a period of quite a bit of stress, of evolution and maybe that is what we have to go through now.”

Watch highlights of the Euro 2025 play-off semi-final first leg between Slovakia and Wales.

Goals from Martina Surnovska and Maria Mikolajova give Slovakia the advantage heading into the second leg in Cardiff on Tuesday, 29 October.

Wales did not leave empty handed though as Ffion Morgan’s late goal reduced the aggregate deficit to one goal.

MARTIN GRAY went from naughty schoolboy to a promotion winner at both Sunderland and Oxford – now he is helping other youngsters in need.

The 53-year-old was a self-confessed bad boy as a kid and he never dreamed that he would make it as a footballer when he was released by Middlesbrough aged 15.

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Three years later he was handed a lifeline by Denis Smith and Malcolm Crosby at Sunderland, and that led to him working under the pair for the best part of ten years.

“I remember leaving the Northern League, where I was playing for Ferryhill, and Denis Smith signed me for Sunderland,” Gray told Sun Sport. “Seven years later he and Malcolm Crosby signed me for Oxford United. I probably had ten years playing under them.

“Malcolm was an inspiration and like a father figure to me if I’m honest. I was a late developer and wasn’t at the level of the other players when I first went to Sunderland but I don’t think they signed me based just on my skills.

“I think they got me for my work ethic, hunger and toughness etc. I found it really difficult at first as I knew I didn’t have the qualities of the lads that were there but Dennis and Malcolm, mainly, what they did to try and help me as a person and player was amazing.

“Malcolm was the best person that I worked with in football and had the biggest impact. He’s a great person.”

Smith was sacked by Sunderland in December 1991 with assistant Crosby taking over, and Gray would go on to make his debut and was even part of the travelling squad that went to Wembley in the 1992 FA Cup Final where they lost 2-0 to Liverpool.

He said: “That was special. I played against Blackburn the week before as he had rested Paul Bracewell and a few others. I was involved in the last couple of matches leading up to the final and managed to get in the travelling squad.

“I never, and didn’t deserve to, make the bench but that whole occasion of wearing the suits and being part of it was unbelievable.”

FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS

Gray was part of Peter Reid’s squad that won promotion to the Premier League – and that was a campaign he enjoyed double joy after departing the North East for a reunion with his mentors at Oxford.

He said: “I signed on deadline day and we were celebrating promotion a few weeks later. That was amazing.

“I played the last ten or 12 games of that season and it was good to contribute to help get over the line and reach the Championship.

“I was eventually made club captain down there and I had an amazing time there. I had four special years at Oxford.

“We were the small club in the big league going up against the likes of Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Man City, Sunderland, many thought that we would just be the whipping boys.

“We had Joey Beauchamp and some other really good players that went on to become Premier League regulars like Matty Elliott, Phil Gilchrist, Darren Purse and Dean Windass, who I still speak with almost every day.

“Dennis created a great working ethic within the club and we were a very close team with no superstars and if anybody got above themselves then they were soon brought back into line.”

Oxford, whose draws with West Brom and Derby over the past week have left them 11th, are now back in the Championship and travel to the Stadium of Light to face table-topping Sunderland tomorrow.

Gray, who moved to Darlington in 1999 before hanging up his boots, said: “It’s great to see them back after coming close a few times.

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“They are still a small fish in a big pond but they are holding their own. It goes to show that by putting trust in young managers and allowing people to develop can really pay off.

“They are in the top half and got a good result last weekend against a tough opponent. “They’ve done great and then you look at Sunderland and wonder where all this has come from.

“I didn’t know much about Regis Le Bris but I heard after pre-season some really good feedback about what he was doing. And what he is doing is working and they’ve got off to a start that most of us never expected.

“I’ve been to the Derby and Leeds matches recently and from where they were two or three years ago to now is something I didn’t foresee to be honest.”

Gray is set to attend the clash between his two former teams, but unlike his tigerish displays on the pitch, he is holding back when it comes to making a prediction.

“I’m sitting on the fence and going for a draw aren’t I,” he says with a huge grin when pressed for a prediction.

“Both clubs have had a great start to the season and I want them to each do well. So I’ll be supporting both teams massively as they both played a massive part in my career.”

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Away from the pro game and his coaching career, including leading Darlington to numerous promotions, Gray has also made a huge impact in the North East with his work in education – especially in providing alternative provision for children and young people.

In 2018 Future Pathways began in Darlington, a provision which set out to offer support and education to young people. The young people accessing the service have a range of complex needs, and felt mainstream schooling was unable to meet them, but are now thriving in the small bespoke environment.

Gray added: “Whether you are dealing with a young child that has difficulties due to trauma that they have unfortunately come across to a footballer that is not getting a new contract or being released, then you have to deal with people in a caring way.

“It’s amazing. It used to be kids just getting kicked out of school and being labelled as naughty, and I’ll be honest, that was me.

“But there was no alternative education around then, you were just labelled and got excluded.

“Our provision is based around a sporting theme from boxing, biking, football… They do their education around the sport and the education is built around that and developing life skills, it feels so rewarding and it’s just great to help the kids we have.”

Still keen to stick to his sporting roots, Gray still runs a sporting academy in partnership with a local college, where he hopes to inspire the next generation of players and offer high quality coaching. 

Staff from Gray’s Future Pathways Alternative Provision company are about to embark on a sponsored 30-mile walk from Sunderland Royal Hospital to Darlington Memorial Hospital.

The money earned from this fundraiser will go towards delivering Christmas Presents to children in both of these hospitals in December.

If you would like to sponsor them please visit: Fundraiser for Anthony Verity by Tyler Hutchinson : Future Pathways Staff Walk from Sunderland to Darlington

Who are these famous footballers?

ABU DHABI – Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway won’t have to wait much longer to settle their differences following their final faceoff at Friday’s UFC 308 ceremonial weigh-ins.

After making weight earlier in the day, Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) got a last look at each other in front of the fans, media and the world watching ahead of Saturday’s highly anticipated featherweight championship contest at Etihad Arena on Yas Island (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN+).

Topuria talked nonstop while Holloway merely nodded. It appeared Topuria said, in part: “I’m the best in the world. … I’m the best in the world. … I work my ass off. … I’ve got something for you. … Let’s go, boy. … I’m going to be the first one to knock you out – trust me.”

Topuria claimed the 145-pound belt in February when he scored a stunning knockout of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298. He has endlessly claimed he will run through “Blessed” with an early knockout, but Holloway clearly thinks otherwise. The Hawaiian looks to regain the belt he lost in December 2019 following the momentum of his unforgettable knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 in April.

There is a tremendous amount at stake between the two athletes, and the intensity of the moment was clear from Topuria and Holloway during the final staredown, which can be seen in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.