The NBA All-Star break is over. Action returns Thursday night with a 10-game slate. Every team has between 26 and 29 games remaining. So let’s to lock back in and refocus on the second “half” of the NBA season. Some teams have already sent out messages like bat signals to show how they’re going to approach the last two months of the regular season.

The Sacramento Kings announced that both Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine will have season-ending surgery. It’s a move that very clearly states the Kings will be tanking the rest of the season to prioritize draft positioning. The Dallas Mavericks did a similar move, announcing Kyrie Irving will not play this season as he continues to rehab from a torn ACL he suffered in March 2025. 

While that’s happening at the bottom of the standings, we could be in store for some compelling finishes at the top of the standings with several teams within a few games of each other in both the East and West. As we resume the regular season, let’s take a look at the biggest storylines post-All-Star break.

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1. Jayson Tatum’s potential return to the Celtics

When Tatum tore his Achilles in May 2025, it appeared the Celtics would take a gap year with their superstar sidelined. It seemed highly possible that Tatum would be out the entirety of the 2025-26 season, and that Boston would refocus its efforts around the 2026-27 campaign.

But here we are nine months from Tatum’s Achilles surgery, and there’s hints that he could make a return in the coming weeks. The All-Star forward practiced with Boston’s G League squad before the All-Star break, and took part in 5-on-5 scrimmages with Celtics teammates and coaches. Everything is lining up toward a potential return ahead of the playoffs.

Boston owns a 35-19 record, and sits second in the East. There’s a world in which the Celtics could make a deep run in the postseason without Tatum. Having Tatum healthy should only strengthen Boston’s postseason hopes, and shake things up considerably in the East.

The race for the East couldn’t be more wide open at the All-Star break. The Cavs are considered the favorites with +350 odds on FanDuel. The Celtics, Pistons and Knicks all have +370 odds.

The version we get of Tatum will greatly impact Boston’s outlook for the rest of the season. If he comes back close to his All-NBA self, then every other team in the East should be worried about matching up with the Celtics in the postseason. — Jasmyn Wimbish

2. How seriously do we take the Knicks?

I don’t think anyone knows exactly what to make of the Knicks, who entered the All-Star break having won 10 of their previous 12 but remain a defensively deficient team that will likely have to play the rest of the regular season without Miles McBride (who has been the lone Knick with a 100% approval rating this year). 

Two big additions to watch: Jose Alvarado, obviously, and also Jeremy Sochan, who fell out of the rotation in San Antonio but could bring real defense and energy to a Knicks team that could use both if given any kind of opportunity. 

We’re all waiting for Karl-Anthony Towns to find his range in what has been the worst shooting season of his career, but aside from McBride, Towns’ plus-7.6 net rating is still the best mark on the team, per Cleaning the Glass. The defense is actually worse off with Jalen Brunson on the court sans Towns than vice versa. 

Brunson, meanwhile, has been up and down of late himself. He’s got two 40-pieces this month but his 43/31 shooting splits since Feb. 1 leave a lot to be desired. He went 4 for 20 and 0 for 8 from 3 in a 38-point loss to Detroit a couple weeks ago. 

Nobody is questioning Brunson’s offensive greatness, but it is a real question whether that’s enough to make up for his own, and largely by extension New York’s collective defensive ails, particularly if Towns doesn’t get the shot going. All of these questions are happening in the context of what feels like the Knicks’ best chance to make the Finals with this team. Can they seize it? These next six weeks won’t tell us everything (anything can happen in the playoffs), but they will tell us a lot. — Brad Botkin

3. Can the Lakers secure a top-six seed?

The Lakers sit 1 ½ games back of the Denver Nuggets for the No. 3 spot in the West. But they also sit just 1 ½ games ahead of the seventh-placed Phoenix Suns as the season resumes. Things are far from settled in the West. The Lakers are one of many West teams who could either host a first-round playoff series or have to earn their playoff spot through the Play-In Tournament.

Having to go through the play-in isn’t the end of the world, but when this team once sat second in the conference at the start of December, falling to seventh and having to potentially face Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in the first round would not be ideal.

The positive? Austin Reaves is back from a calf strain, and in the five games he’s played since returning, the Lakers have gone 4-1. Having Reaves back is a night and day difference for the Lakers, who were relying far too much on Luka Dončić’s offensive heroics and prime performances from a 41-year-old LeBron James. Reaves takes some of the offensive pressure of Doncic, gives the Lakers another guy who can create offensively and give you 20+ points a night. In just his second game back he had 35 points, showing that had it not been for the calf injury Reaves would’ve probably been a first-time All Star this season.

The have the eighth most difficult schedule over the rest of the season, but the Nuggets and the Timberwolves both have harder schedules, which could provide a nice path towards a top-four spot for L.A. — Jasmyn Wimbish

4. Can the Spurs jump the Thunder?

Let’s keep things in the Western Conference standings. San Antonio is my No. 1 team to watch down the stretch. They resume play on Thursday night against the Suns having won six straight and 11 of their last 14 and three games back of the Thunder for the West’s No. 1 seed. 

They have every right to believe they can catch and pass OKC. For starters, the Thunder, who have lost six of their last 11 and will be without Jalen Williams for the foreseeable future, have the second-toughest remaining schedule, per Tankathon. Besides that, the Spurs own the tiebreaker with a 4-1 head-to-head record. 

If this happens, how are we not going to classify the Spurs as the title favorite? What other No. 1 seed who has defeated the defending champs four out of five times and won potentially north of 60 games would be considered anything less?

The Spurs are starting to feel a little like the 2015 Warriors to me. The ascent is happening before everyone is ready to fully accept it. They were supposed to be a few years away from contention. This year was supposed to about maybe getting into the playoffs and getting some experience under their belt. 

But Victor Wembanyama, like Stephen Curry when he burst onto the scene, has rearranged the geometry of a basketball court to such a degree that no typical timeline can be applied. He’s a force beyond anything we’ve ever seen, honestly, and the Spurs are stacked behind him with every marker of a top-tier contender. Perhaps the top contender. That still feels premature to say, but if they jump OKC for the top seed, I’m not sure how you could call them anything other than the title favorites. — Brad Botkin

5. Tanking wars at the bottom of the standings

The talk of the NBA over the last two weeks has been about the league’s tanking “problem.” The league fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for “conduct detrimental to the league.” The Jazz were fined for pulling players in the fourth quarter on two occasions despite being in closely-contested games. The Pacers held players out despite them being healthy. Both were obvious efforts by Utah and Indiana to tank, something that the league is seemingly trying to come down hard on.

“Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in the league’s statement.

Since the league’s punishment, there has been a lot of chatter about how to solve the league’s tanking problem. Calls for eliminating the draft, setting lottery odds earlier in the season and holding a lottery tournament to determine who gets what pick have all been bandied about. But while everyone thinks they have the idea that’s going to solve this issue for the league, teams will continue to tank.

How can the NBA stop tanking? Breaking down the internet’s craziest solutions — and why most would never work

Sam Quinn

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The Wizards, Pacers, Nets, Kings, Jazz, Mavericks and Grizzlies have all essentially been eliminated from the postseason races already and want the best chance possible at the No. 1 pick. The Pacers and Jazz both could potentially lose their picks if they fall below certain slots.  

One look at the collegiate basketball landscape this season and most front office executives are probably salivating over the prospect of landing Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer or a handful of other high-profile draft prospects. This is being billed as one of the best drafts in recent memory. Of course these teams want to do everything possible to try and land one of these guys. People might say tanking is bad for the league, but, for now, it’s a necessary evil for teams to try and find generational talent. — Jasmyn Wimbish

6. Cavs, Harden primed for a run

Three games with James Harden, three wins with James Harden, who had four assists down the stretch and hit the game-tying 3 with under a minute to play in Cleveland’s victory over Denver last week.

Cleveland started to find its sea legs after Christmas. They Cavs had won 13 of their previous 18 when the Harden deal went down. Everyone has been waiting for the team that won 64 games last season to emerge, and it feels safe to say that it has. But the question is: How much better can the Cavs be with Harden?

“I understand that this team is going to be something special [with Harden],” Donovan Mitchell wrote in his latest diary installment for Andscape. “We’re 3-0 so far, so we’re not doing too bad. But I’m excited to see what we do when we get some practices under our belt, and we’ll see what that looks like going forward.”

We’ve already seen some of the best of what Harden will bring. He’s carded 26 assists in his three games so far, which speaks to the playmaking burden he’ll lift from the shoulders of Mitchell, the league’s fifth-leading scorer who should be as free as he’s been all season to, well, score. 

It’s largely the same tag-team dynamic that existed with Darius Garland, but Harden is a better creator than Garland and, importantly, he’s healthy. The combined gravitational force of these two has already been on display. 

Watch here as Harden has the ball on the wing with Mitchell in the short corner, and how the whole defense shifts their way as Jarrett Allen (with whom Harden has already looked very comfortable in two-man actions) cuts straight down the lane. 

Possessions like this one below should become more of the norm, with Harden collapsing defenses and making life easier on Mitchell, who is making 40% of his catch-and-shoot 3s this season, per Synergy. 

With the threat of Mitchell keeping defenses honest on one side and Allen rolling down the lane, the opposite side shooters should get a lot of looks like this as Harden is a master at waiting for defenses to commit before delivering. 

Of course, this is the best of Harden. Time will tell if the worst of him — his defense, namely, and some of his postseason disappearing acts — will bite the Cavs when it counts most. But for now, Cleveland continuing to rise up the Eastern Conference standings (with the league’s fifth-easiest remaining schedule, per Tankathon) looks like a pretty good bet. — Brad Botkin

7. Rookie of the Year race between Flagg and Knueppel

This is one of the most intriguing Rookie of the Year races in recent memory, even if the oddsmakers view Cooper Flagg as a heavy favorite with two months to go (-750 odds at FanDuel). Both Flagg and Kon Knueppel have valid cases to walk away with the award, and on any given night you could argue that one deserves it more. Flagg is shouldering the entirety of Dallas’ offense and has been among the most efficient rookies given the types of shots he’s taking. His defense is also years ahead of where rookies typically are, and he’s already shown he can be the go-to guy in the clutch.

For Knueppel, he’s the best shooting prospect we’ve seen since Stephen Curry, and he’s completely elevated Charlotte’s offense. He’s benefiting from the brilliance of LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, but he’s much more than just a catch-and-shoot player. Knueppel’s off-ball movement creates so many opportunities directly and indirectly, and he’s about as automatic as it comes from 3-point land.

The first time these former teammates faced each other it was an absolute classic. Flagg had 49 points, while Knueppel had 34 points in the win. We’ll get one more matchup between these two on March 3, and given how close this race is, perhaps it can help in figuring out who should come out on top for Rookie of the Year. — Jasmyn Wimbish

8. The MVP race just got interesting again

When Nikola Jokić went down with a hyperextended knee right before New Year’s, it looked like it would bring an end to his MVP bid on account of not being able to meet the 65-game threshold. But the Nuggets superstar made it back just in time to be able to miss exactly one more game the rest of the way and maintain award eligibility. 

As long as Jokić remains eligible, this is a tight race between him and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been out with an injury of his own as the Thunder have lost six of their last 11. Also lurking is Victor Wembanyama, who has missed 14 games so far and thus can miss three more while remaining eligible. SGA remains the betting favorite (Gilgeous-Alexander has -190 odds to Jokić’s +300, while Wembanyama is currently a +3300 longshot).

As mentioned above, San Antonio is a real threat to catch OKC for the No. 1 seed; they’re three games back and own the tiebreaker via a 4-1 head-to-head advantage. Wembanyama’s numbers considering he’s only playing 29 minutes a game are crazy. Factoring in both ends of the court, he’s probably the most impactful per-minute player in the NBA, and if the Spurs do claim the No. 1 seed it will be tough to not consider him seriously for MVP. 

Now add in Cade Cunningham, Luka Doncic and Jaylen Brown, and this race that once looked to be all but sewn up for SGA when Jokić went down suddenly looks like it could be in for a photo finish. — Brad Botkin

The Mountain West has been a multi-bid league in every NCAA tournament since 2017, when Nevada was the league’s sole representative.

The Wolf Pack went 28-7 that year under Eric Musselman, winning both the regular-season and conference tournament crowns en route to a seven seed in the Big Dance.

That streak of multiple bids is in serious doubt heading into the final two and a half weeks of the 2025-26 men’s basketball season.

The league’s chances of getting an at-large birth took a big hit on Tuesday, with Grand Canyon knocking off San Diego State inside Viejas Arena.

The loss snapped a 10-game home court winning streak for the Aztecs and signaled a season sweep for the Antelopes over SDSU.

It was also a big blow to the Aztecs’ NCAA hopes. San Diego State is firmly on the bubble at the moment and most likely on the outside looking in if Selection Sunday were today.

However, Utah State’s win over Boise State on Wednesday night was a step in the right direction for the Aggies and for the conference.

While the Aggies are the highest MW team in the NET rankings, they are among seven conference squads ranking among the top 101.

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The problem is that the next-highest teams are New Mexico and San Diego State, and they fall firmly into the bubble range in ranking in the mid-40’s.

The other four teams in the top third of the nation fall between the 60-101 range, and at this point, that would require an auto bid.

SDSU still enters the weekend having won 15 of their last 19 games, but the Aztecs are lacking the signature win, going 1-4 in Quad 1 games. The Aztecs rank 44th in the NET as of February 18.

If the Aztecs can close the regular season with a flurry, they could play their way off the bubble.

A visit from Utah State and trips to New Mexico and Boise State offer SDSU a chance to pad the resume and three chances at Quad 1 wins.

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Again, according to Bracket Matrix, the Aztecs are still a consensus NCAA team appearing in 84 of 124 projections and ranging anywhere from a 10 to a 12 seed…So in, but firmly on the bubble.

The Lobos find themselves in a similar situation. New Mexico is ranked slightly higher in the NET at 42, compared to SDSU’s 44, but appears on just 16 of the 124 bracket projections.

UNM also has a chance to play its way off the bubble, but has just two grand opportunities: The showdown with SDSU in The Pit, which would be a Quad Two win for the Lobos, and the regular season finale at Utah State.

The intriguing team in the mix is Grand Canyon. The Antelopes have picked up some big wins but have also underperformed at times. A more consistent showing this season, and GCU could be a near lock.

The Lopes are an impressive 3-4 in Quad 1 games this season, but just 5-4 in Quad 2 and Quad 3 games combined, and the early-season home loss to Youngstown State is still an inexplicable result.

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The Mountain West has shown itself to be a deep conference this season, but the streak of multiple NCAA bids is in jeopardy. Nonetheless, a couple of paths remain to get there.

writes about various topics for SuperWest sports, including stats and records, college sports, and motorsports. He also founded and runs the Sports and Entertainment Research Center (SERC).

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After winning gold in Italy, becoming the first South American to win a Winter Olympic medal, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen said: “I just hope that Brazilians look at this and truly understand that your difference is your superpower.”

Pinheiro Braathen, who competed for Norway in the 2022 Winter Olympics and is the son of a Brazilian mother and a Norwegian father, is far from the only athlete with mixed nationality. However, his success reignited a long-standing debate about nationality and identity at the Olympics.

The five factors affecting Olympic nationality

Gijsbert Oonk is a professor at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam who specializes in global history, sport and the migration of athletes and national identity. The Dutchman says there are several important stakeholders to consider when discussing nationality in sport.

Individual athletes want to compete at the top level, but may find themselves caught between a sending state which wants to retain them after investiging in their training and career, and a receiving state that might challenge a medal and thereby increase its prestige. Then there are the sports federations which wish to create a level playing field on the international stage, and the audiences who want to feel connected to their sporting heroes.

“There is a competition on who decides on belonging,” Oonk told DW.

“States provide you with citizenship, but now in sports, states increasingly provide certain fast-track citizenship procedures that normal people don’t have access to.”

Karen McGarry is an associate professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, who specializes in the anthropology of sport. McGarry believes one of the most decisive factors is the desire to compete at the elite level.

“In international sporting competitions like the Olympics, athletes will increasingly move to whatever country provides them with the most resources, incentives or chances of competitive success,” McGarry told DW.

“The current French Olympic champion in ice dancing, Laurence Fournier Beaudry, has competed for Canada, Denmark and France. Some fans view such practices as selfish, overly individualistic, or not in keeping with a more sociocentric ‘Olympic’ mentality that position the ‘nation’ at the heart of the competition, others are indifferent.”

The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) charter states that an athlete who has represented one country at the Olympics or another major international competition must wait three years before representing another.

But as socio-economic and political climates change, so does the perception of nationality, particularly in sport. According to a news report in The Moscow Times, over 30 Russian athletes who changed their sporting nationality are competing for other countries in Italy this month.

“I’m from Canada, for instance, and Canadian patriotism and nationalism is currently very high, largely as a form of resistance to threats of tariffs and political takeover from (US president) Donald Trump,” McGarry explained.

“When political tensions escalate, for instance, nations often become insular, exclusionary, and nationalistic, which can spill over to the Olympic games, particular with reference to media coverage.”

Ukrainian Winter Olympian Vladislav Heraskevych’s story may be another example of this.

Individual athlete at the forefront to start

Changing nationality is not a new phenomenon. Perhaps more interesting is that the notion of representing nations is not what the Olympics was founded on.

“In the beginning there were obviously no regulations,” Oonk said. “The whole idea was that actually, athletes should represent themselves, not a country or a king.”

Indeed, it was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the co-founder of the IOC, who said: “The true Olympic hero is, in my view, the individual adult male.”

While his idea in terms of gender is outdated, the focus on the athlete rather than the nation is intriguing. But eventually countries were asked to select their best athletes and send them, and that’s when things began to change.

“And here you see the countries coming in, with their interests, financial and political aspects, and the importance of the flag and the hymn,” Oonk explained.

Furthermore, Oonk believes the media creation of the medal table, which came along during the 1920s and 30s when the Olympics started to become more accepted as an event and the competition between the United States and the British became more intense, also aided the development of competition between nations.

Nevertheless, even in the face of increased migration from the 1980s onwards and the mobility of international athletes in terms of training and development, the cultural construct of nationality has remained valuable.

“Nationality and nationalism have a market value in domestic contexts,” McGarry said.

“Olympic corporate sponsors, for instance, recognize the value of showcasing their athletes as ‘homegrown’ athletes to appeal to a certain kind of domestic nostalgia for ‘national’ athletes.”

Audience role not to be underestimated

Perception is not to be underestimated. The way the world views an athlete plays a huge role in either being accepted or dismissed.

“Audiences are very nationalized because they are fed by the national language and the national media,” said Oonk, who added that the way national history is taught in schools also plays a key role.

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“The idea of nationality and belonging is kind of hyped into what in academic areas we call an imagined community. ‘I don’t know that sports person, but he’s one of us, he speaks my language… However, from a really academic and more philosophical point, who cares? These are individual athletes trying to do their best and trying to skate as fast or whatever as they can.”

Ultimately, with so many factors at playthis debate promises to continue to burn brightly in the years ahead. Right now marks perhaps a real reflection point when it comes to what it means to represent a country at the Olympics.

“It’s an interesting time because, while we are seeing the rise of populism and insular forms of nationalism on the global political stage, we also see that many people increasingly view their identities as cosmopolitan and fluid, including national affiliations,” noted McGarry.

Edited: by Chuck Penfold

NEW DELHI: The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) confirmed on Thursday that the upcoming Ranji Trophy final between Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir will be played in Hubballi. The move has been made to allow safety upgrade work at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru to progress faster.The final will begin on February 24.“KSCA had the option of hosting this prestigious final either at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, or at the KSCA Hubballi grounds. After careful evaluation and detailed consultations, the Association, in coordination with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, has taken a considered and strategic decision to stage the final at Hubballi,” said Vinay Mruthyunjaya, the KSCA official spokesperson.He said infrastructure and safety upgrade work is in progress at the Bengaluru venue as per recommendations of a state-appointed expert committee and other authorities.“Several spectator gates and access points are currently being dismantled and widened, along with other critical improvement works.”“In view of these ongoing developments, it would not have been feasible to ensure the high-quality match-viewing experience and spectator convenience that a marquee fixture such as the Ranji Trophy Final deserves,” said Mruthyunjaya.He added that the shift also allows a major match to be staged outside Bengaluru, in line with the vision of the newly elected KSCA managing committee led by Venkatesh Prasad.“This initiative is aimed at promoting cricket across the State, nurturing regional fan engagement, and strengthening the sporting ecosystem beyond Bengaluru,” he added.

“It offers the perfect combination of grueling climbs and exhilarating descents,” explains Tatjana Paller.

The 30-year-old German finished fourth in the Olympic sprint and will also compete in the mixed team event of ski mountaineering, or” skimo” for short.

Last year, Paller won bronze in the sprint at the World Championships in Morgins, Switzerland. She has been a ski mountaineer since 2020; before that, she was a successful junior track cyclist.

Paller believes there are similarities between the two sports.

“Endurance sports are endurance sports. You either have a motor, or you don’t. But ski mountaineering is even more strenuous. At least you’re sitting down when you’re cycling,” says Paller.

Ski touring

Skimo is the competitive version of ski touring, which is becoming increasingly popular in the European Alps due to skyrocketing lift ticket prices. The German Alpine Club (DAV), Germany’s national mountaineering association, estimates the number of ski tourers in Germany alone at more than 600,000, which is more than three times as many as at the turn of the millennium.

On a classic ski tour in the mountains, you don’t use a lift but ascend on skis and then ski down ungroomed slopes. However, many now also ascend along the edge of actual ski slopes and then ski down them.

Special bindings, climbing skins under the skis

The skis are equipped with special bindings that allow you to lift your heels while ascending. For the descent, the heels can be locked in place using the bindings, just like on regular downhill skis.

To prevent the skis from slipping back while ascending, climbing skins made of synthetic or natural fibers are attached to them. These are either glued on or adhere to the skis on their own. Once you reach the top, you remove the skins and can ski down the hill.

There are now also so-called hybrid skins. They hold almost as well as glued-on skins but are as easy to attach as self-adhering skins.

“I use hybrid skins for the sprint and mixed relay because you can peel them off quickly,” Paller explains.

The procedure only takes a few seconds.

Light, narrow skis

The skis, which are carried on the skiier’s back during a mandatory foot climb, weigh between 700 and 800 grams (24.7 – 28.2 ounces), making them extremely light. They are also wider than cross-country skis but narrower than normal downhill skis: around 6.5 centimeters wide (2.6 inches) in the middle. The minimum ski length is 1.50 meters (4′ 11″) for women and 1.60 meters for men.

In the sprint in Bormio, a 610-meter course awaits the athletes, with a 70-meter elevation gain. The race is divided into:

• The ascent on skis

• A carrying section where the athletes, with their skis on their backs, must climb a set of stairs

• Another short ascent phase

•The final descent, where the gates are spaced approximately the same distance apart as in a giant slalom race

Speed ​​and tactics

The transition phases are crucial, where every second counts. One lap lasts between 2:30 and 3:30 minutes. Six athletes compete against each other in each heat. The two fastest advance to the next round.

In the mixed relay, one female and one male athlete per team alternate, completing two laps each. Here, it’s not just about speed, but also about the right tactics and good teamwork.

“We push each other really well,” says Tatjana Paller, who competes in the relay with 23-year-old Finn Hösch. They are both good individual athletes, adds Hösch.

“But it’s a different kind of pressure when you know you’re influencing not just your own result, but the team’s overall performance.”

First World Championships in 2002

The sport’s roots go back more than 100 years. One of its forerunners was the so-called military patrol, which made its Olympic debut at the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924. In this event, teams of four—in uniform and with gear in backpacks—had to complete a 30-kilometer (18.6 miles) course with considerable inclines on skis and then shoot at targets—similar to the biathlon.

Skimo in its modern form, however, is still relatively young. The first World Championships were held in 2002, and the World Cup premiered in 2004.

Distance competitions not yet Olympic

Skimo comprises of four disciplines, but medals will only be awarded in the two fastest this week in Bormio: the women’s and men’s sprints on Thursday, and the mixed relay on Saturday.

The other two disciplines are not yet Olympic: the so-called individual, with up to 1,900 meters of elevation gain, the longest competition distance, and the vertical, which consists of just one long ascent and no descent.

“The original form of ski mountaineering is the longer one. That’s why I can understand everyone who misses distance competitions in the Olympic program,” says sprint specialist Paller.

“But for us, it was a stroke of luck that the sprint competitions were chosen.”

Whether skimo will also be an Olympic sport at the next Winter Games in 2030 in the French Alps is not yet clear, but it does seem likely, given the current boom in ski touring.

This article was originally published in German.

Last Sunday afternoon, the Duke Blue Devils beat the North Carolina Tar Heels, 72-68 in front of a raucous, sold-out crowd at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The win kept Duke undefeated in ACC play and atop the conference.  When the buzzer sounded, head coach Kara Lawson beamed as she embraced her two seniors, Ashlon Jackson and Taina Mair, who capped off an emotional senior night by leading the team in scoring and making key plays down the stretch to seal the win.

The postgame vibes on the court were completely different from those nine weeks ago, when Duke fell 93-77 to LSU for its fourth loss in a row to drop to 3-6 on the season. 

Every basketball season has its ups and downs, but Duke’s arc — from being preseason No. 7; to being out of the top 25 all together by the third week of the season amid a stretch that included a humiliating road loss to a West Virginia team that played the entire second half with only one starter and four bench players due to ejections and a loss to a South Florida team that is currently No. 75 in the NET rankings; to its current 16-game winning streak and return to No. 9 in the rankings — has been one of the most extreme in recent memory.

So how exactly has Duke turned things around so dramatically? There’s never just one factor, especially in a team sport, but Lawson’s postgame presser gave some invaluable insight — just not for the reason you might think.

First, here’s Lawson’s response when a reporter asked what she said to her team back in November in the thick of their struggles. 

I think what’s really important, whether you’re in a season of prosperity or you’re in a season of adversity … I think it’s really important that you stick to what’s real and true. What’s real and true in basketball? Film, analytics, what you see every day from your team. And when you stay focused and locked in on that, then you can give a real assessment of where you are and where you need to get to. Anything outside of that is irrelevant, right? Someone’s opinion doesn’t change whether you can do it or not. It’s just someone’s opinion. So to spend time and energy on that doesn’t serve you. And so the fastest way to get from a season of adversity to a season of prosperity is to lock in on what’s real and true. Figure out where you need to work and get better, and then it will turn at some point.

We don’t get to control the length of our adversity. That’s a frustrating thing about life. When we’re in adversity, we’re like, ‘OK, is it over yet?’ You wake up and you’re like, ‘Is it over yet?’ You don’t get to control that. You get to control who you are in it. That’s it. Who are you in adversity? That’s what you get to control. So what I focus on during that time, and what I encourage my players to focus on, is, ‘Who are we in this time, and where do we need to get to?’ And when you lock in on that, then you’re gonna have success at some point.

Her answer has struck a nerve with people, which isn’t a surprise. If you’ve paid any attention to Lawson over the years, you know she always has a deep reflection on life, work or personal growth on the tip of her tongue, even moreso than most coaches I encounter on the job, and her speeches frequently go viral.

But on Sunday, I wasn’t so much struck by the words she was saying, though they certainly were powerful. Rather, I was struck by how familiar they sounded. 

Sure enough, when I went back and revisited her press conference after the LSU loss, I realized she gave the exact same message. When asked what she was telling her players, she said she was telling them the truth and getting them to focus on film and individual plays rather than wins and losses. She praised them for staying positive amidst the adversity.

If you’ve gone through adversity in your life … you know you want it to end right away. You know, most of us want adversity and go really quickly. Like, OK, it’ll be tough for half a day and then we’re done. And this has been tough for longer for us. Like, good! Good. Because this is what life is about. You don’t get to control the length of your adversity. All you get to do is control your attitude and your focus and just work like heck to try and change it. And so it’s such a great life lesson for us, and I think it will turn for us at some point and I think we’ll look back on this stretch as a formative part.

Again, she said this minutes after her team suffered its fourth loss in a row, a loss that dropped the preseason ACC favorites to 3-6. People were calling for her to be fired.

That consistency and commitment to the big picture have clearly served her players well. Because it wasn’t just Lawson whose Feb. 15 press conference sounded eerily similar to her Dec. 4 one.

“We’re in the mud right now, and that’s both physically and literally,” Jackson said after the LSU game. “We’re very uncomfortable right now, which is a good thing, because in March, everybody is on and popping, so the team that is most comfortable with being uncomfortable, they usually succeed.”

And after the North Carolina win? 

“We got out of the mud,” Jackson said. “We all know how we started the season, but that was on purpose. How are you supposed to grow if you’re not used to playing this type of environment?”

Let’s be clear about one thing: Motivational words and self-help philosophies alone do not win games. Duke’s rebirth can be attributed to many things: Mair gaining confidence in a more assertive offensive role; the impressive development of redshirt freshman center Arianna Roberson; Riley Nelson’s move into the starting lineup; a relatively weak year in the ACC, to name a few. And it is far from a given that Duke will win the ACC tournament and make it back to the Elite Eight like it did last March. But after the way this team started the season, the fact that Lawson has them back in contention to achieve those things is a testament to her connection with her players.

“During that time, you know, Coach took a lot for us. It was not Coach. It was simply us. So we just really had to buy in and take accountability at some point. We couldn’t let her hold everything by herself. We had to have her back, because she always has our back,” Jackson said on Sunday.

“There’s not a thing in this world that I don’t love about Kara Lawson, even whenever she’s mad at me. She challenges me, she trusts me, she believes in me.”