2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
Dexter Fowler led off the game with a home run for Chicago off Kluber, becoming the first player ever to hit a lead-off home run in a World Series Game 7. The Indians tied the game in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI single by Carlos Santana after Coco Crisp doubled and advanced to third on a Roberto Pérez sacrifice bunt.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
The Cubs scored two runs in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly by Addison Russell (Kris Bryant running aggressively to tag up from third on the short fly ball and slide under the tag at home) and a double by Willson Contreras. To start the fifth inning, Javier Báez hit a home run to center making it 4–1 on the first pitch he saw to knock Kluber out of the game.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
ALCS MVP Andrew Miller came on in relief and gave up a walk to Bryant and RBI single to Anthony Rizzo to push the lead to 5–1 (Bryant's aggressiveness again instrumental as he was attempting to steal second on the hit, allowing him to score all the way from first). In the bottom of the fifth inning, Hendricks retired the first two batters. A two-out walk to Santana persuaded Joe Maddon to relieve his starter. This move, along with others throughout the series, would be highly criticized afterward, as it appeared to some that Hendricks was pulled out too soon. (Maddon also drew criticism for having Báez attempt a squeeze bunt with two strikes and Jason Heyward on third base in the 9th inning—Báez bunted the pitch foul for strike 3.)


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
Jon Lester, who had started Games 1 and 5, came on in relief for the first time since the 2007 ALCS, coincidentally also against the Indians. David Ross committed a throwing error that allowed Jason Kipnis to reach base and put runners on second and third. A wild pitch that ricocheted off Ross's helmet allowed Santana and Kipnis to score, narrowing the Cubs' lead to 5–3. To atone for his blunders, the 39-year-old Ross hit a home run to center, in his last official at-bat of his career, in the top of the sixth to make it a 6–3 game, becoming the oldest player to hit a home run in a World Series Game 7.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
Lester retired the first two batters in the eighth inning, but was pulled after a José Ramírez single. Maddon opted to use Aroldis Chapman, who had thrown 42 pitches in Game 5 and had also pitched in Game 6, despite the fact that the Cubs had already built a large lead. Brandon Guyer promptly hit a run-scoring double off Chapman, making the score 6–4. The next batter was Indians center fielder Rajai Davis, who had hit 55 career home runs in 11 seasons entering this game, and who was hitting .132 in the postseason up to that point.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
Davis hit a dramatic 2-run home run off Chapman, just barely clearing the left field wall and the left field foul pole, scoring Guyer and tying the game, making the score 6–6. Davis's home run was the latest-occurring game-tying home run in World Series Game 7 history. Many fans and Chapman himself believe he blew the lead due to his unnecessary use in Game 6.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
The Cubs squandered a scoring chance in the top of the 9th. David Ross led off with a walk and Jason Heyward grounded into a fielder's choice to take pinch runner Chris Coghlan off the bases. Heyward stole second and advanced to third on a throw to second by Yan Gomes that got away from Kipnis. Javier Baez attempted a bunt with two strikes, fouling it off for the second out. Dexter Fowler would eventually ground out on a spectacular game-saving play by shortstop Francisco Lindor to end the top of the ninth. To the shock of many observers, Aroldis Chapman was asked by Maddon to return to the mound for the bottom of the ninth and promptly retired the Indians in order, facing Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis, and Francisco Lindor.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
With the game tied 6–6 after nine innings, a sudden cloudburst resulted in a 17-minute rain delay. During the delay, Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward called his teammates into a weight room behind Chicago's dugout and told them, "We're the best team in baseball ... for a reason... Stick together and we're going to win this game." After the game, many of Heyward's teammates credited him with renewing their spirits.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
When play resumed in the top of the tenth, Kyle Schwarber promptly led off with a single off of Indians pitcher Bryan Shaw and was replaced by pinch-runner Albert Almora. Kris Bryant then hit a deep fly ball to center, and Almora tagged up and advanced to second base in what was called the "savviest baserunning play of the season." After an intentional walk to Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist stepped up to the plate.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
Zobrist had been 0-for-4 in the game, but he delivered a clutch RBI double into the left field corner, scoring Almora and breaking the tie, making the score 7–6. Zobrist later said, "I was just battling, grinding up there. Fortunately, that last one he left over the plate and up to where I could just slap it down the line, and that was all I was trying to do."


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
After another intentional walk to Addison Russell, Miguel Montero, who had replaced Ross at catcher and was hitting just .091 in the postseason, singled into left, scoring Rizzo and making the score 8–6. Trevor Bauer, the loser of Games 2 and 5, relieved Shaw and got out of the bases-loaded jam by striking out Heyward and retiring Baez on a flyout to escape further damage.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7
Carl Edwards Jr. was called on to finish off the Indians in the bottom of the tenth, but after retiring the first two hitters (Mike Napoli and José Ramírez), he walked Brandon Guyer, who took second base on defensive indifference. Rajai Davis, following up on his eighth-inning heroics, lined a single to center, making it a one-run game, and the score 8–7. Maddon then called on Mike Montgomery, who had zero career saves. Montgomery retired Michael Martinez (who had scored the game-winning run in Game 3) with an infield grounder fielded by Bryant, who threw to Rizzo. This ended the game and the World Series, with the Cubs winning the series and ending their 108-year World Series championship drought. Zobrist was awarded the World Series MVP award after hitting .357 in the series and delivering the go-ahead hit.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7, After Game 7
Rizzo called the rain delay "the most important thing to happen to the Chicago Cubs in the past 100 years. I don't think there's any way we win the game without it." Cubs president Theo Epstein said that when he heard about the meeting called by Heyward, "Right then I thought, 'We're winning this game.'"


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7, After Game 7
The Cubs became the first team to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win the Series since the 1985 Kansas City Royals. They were also the first since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates to do so while winning Games 6 and 7 on the road, and the second team since the 1979 Pirates to win Game 7 as the visiting team, with the 2014 San Francisco Giants also having achieved that feat in Kansas City; almost one year later, the 2017 Houston Astros did the same thing in Los Angeles.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7, After Game 7
Yet another Game 7 would be won by a road team in 2019, when the Washington Nationals did so in Houston. With the Game 7 victory, Joe Maddon is 3–0 in postseason series against Terry Francona, having also won the 2008 ALCS and the 2013 Wild Card Game against him. Game 7 was the 60th extra inning game in World Series history as well as the first extra inning Game 7 won by the road team. In the previous four times in 1912, 1924, 1991 and 1997, the home team won all four extra inning Game 7s.


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Game 7, After Game 7
With this loss, the Indians now have the longest championship drought, which stands at 72 years. Their last title came in 1948; however, before this series began, the Cleveland sports curse had already been broken, with the Cavaliers having won the city's first championship since 1964 by defeating the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals. Like the Cubs, the Cavaliers came back from a 3–1 deficit, and won a deciding Game 7 on the road (in this case, it was in Oakland, California, the then-home city of the Warriors).


2016 World Series, Game summaries, Composite line score
2016 World Series (4–3): Chicago Cubs (NL) beat Cleveland Indians (AL).


2016 World Series, Broadcasting, Television
Fox televised the series in the United States, under contract with Major League Baseball giving it exclusive rights to the World Series through 2021. Joe Buck was the network's play-by-play announcer, with John Smoltz as color commentator and Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci as field reporters. Fox Deportes also aired the Series and provided a Spanish-language simulcast over-the-air via Fox's SAP audio, with Carlos Álvarez and Duaner Sánchez announcing.


2016 World Series, Broadcasting, Television
Sportsnet in English and RDS in French televised the series in Canada. Sportsnet used the MLB International feed produced by the MLB Network; Matt Vasgersian was MLB International's play-by-play announcer with the Toronto Blue Jays' play-by-play announcer Buck Martinez as their color analyst and MLB Network correspondent Lauren Shehadi and analyst Mark DeRosa as field reporters. Alain Usereau and former Montreal Expos player Marc Griffin handled the French-language telecast for RDS. BT Sport televised the series live in the United Kingdom and Ireland. WAPA-TV transmitted the series to Puerto Rico, with Rafael Bracero at the helm of the station's sports commentary of the series.


2016 World Series, Broadcasting, Television, Ratings
Initial reports often utilize "fast national" ratings, which are subject to revision. Game 7 had over 40 million viewers, the largest audience for a baseball game since Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, while the series as a whole was the first to average double-digit ratings nationally since 2009.


2016 World Series, Broadcasting, Radio
ESPN Radio's national network covered the World Series through affiliated stations, with Dan Shulman providing the play-by-play and Aaron Boone serving as color analyst. Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Chris Archer appeared as a guest analyst for select innings of Games 1 and 2.


2016 World Series, Broadcasting, Radio
Locally, the teams' flagship stations broadcast the series with their regular announcers. In Cleveland, WTAM (1100) and WMMS (100.7) carried the Indians' play-by-play with Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus, while in Chicago, WSCR (670) carried the Cubs' play-by-play with Pat Hughes, Ron Coomer, and Len Kasper. The affiliate stations of the teams' regional radio networks were contractually obligated to carry the national ESPN Radio feed; even so, since both WSCR and WTAM are clear-channel stations, most of the eastern and midwestern United States was able to hear the local broadcasts.


2016 World Series, Celebration
Following the team's win in Game 7, Cubs fans congregated outside of Wrigley Field and the surrounding Wrigleyville neighborhood to celebrate the championship. On November 4, the team's victory parade began at Wrigley Field and headed down Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue at downtown for a noon rally at Grant Park. Country singer Brett Eldredge sang a cover of "Go, Cubs, Go" during the rally. The city of Chicago estimated that over five million people attended the World Series parade and rally celebration, which would make it one of the largest human gatherings in history. After the season, the Cubs chose to make two traditional White House visits during then-President (and White Sox fan) Barack Obama's final week in office on January 16, 2017, and during President Donald Trump's tenure on June 28, 2017.


2016 World Series, Aftermath, Cubs
The 2015–2020 Cubs had the greatest sustained run of success in franchise history since the dead-ball era, but the Cubs’ teams after 2016 would fail to recapture the magic the team had in October 2016. The 2017 Cubs returned to the NLCS, but would lose to the Dodgers in a non-competitive five games. In 2018, the Cubs finished tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for the division. They lost to the Brewers in a 163rd game to determine the Central Division champions, failing in their quest to win the division for a third consecutive year.


2016 World Series, Aftermath, Cubs
Instead, they hosted the 2018 NL Wild Card Game against the Colorado Rockies, but the Cubs lost 2–1 in 13 innings. They would fail to make the playoffs in 2019 after a nine-game losing streak took them out of the NL postseason picture entirely. They did manage to win the NL Central again during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. However, they lost to the underdog Marlins in two games in the 2020 NL Wild Card Series.


2016 World Series, Aftermath, Cubs
The Cubs' 2016 championship core would slowly move on via free agency, trade, or retirement. After nearly signing with the Baltimore Orioles the season before 2016, Dexter Fowler signed with the rival St. Louis Cardinals during the 2016–2017 off-season. Aroldis Chapman would return to the Yankees by signing the largest relief contract ever, with no trade involvement in the first 3 years of the contract. At the 2016 Winter Meetings, Jorge Soler and Travis Wood were traded for All-Star closer Wade Davis, effectively replacing Chapman. Game 7 was also the last game for fan favorite David Ross, who retired.


2016 World Series, Aftermath, Cubs
After the 2019 season, Ross replaced Joe Maddon as Cubs manager. Maddon mutually parted ways with the club after five seasons in Chicago. After publicly complaining about playing time due to the emergence of Wilson Contreras, Miguel Montero would be traded to Toronto during the 2017 season for cash. 2017 also turned out to be Jake Arrieta's last season with the club, who signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as John Lackey's, who retired (Arrieta would later return to the Cubs for the 2021 season).


2016 World Series, Aftermath, Cubs
Mike Montgomery, the man who recorded the Cubs' last out in the 2016 World Series, joined Jorge Soler in Kansas City after he was traded near the trade deadline in 2019. After abuse allegation made against him by his ex-wife, Addison Russell's career came to an abrupt end after he was non-tendered by the Cubs following the 2019 season. World Series MVP Ben Zobrist would walk away from the game after 2019, as well. Theo Epstein announced that he would step down from his role with the Cubs as President of Baseball Operations effective November 20, 2020. A few weeks later, the Cubs non-tendered Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora. Later in the off-season, Schwarber and Jon Lester signed one-year free agent contracts with the Washington Nationals, while Almora signed with the New York Mets.


2016 World Series, Aftermath, Cubs
By the 2021 trade deadline, the Cubs had fully committed to a re-build, as established players such as Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Craig Kimbrel (acquired during the 2019 season), and Joc Pederson (acquired in free agency in 2020) were traded away for young players and prospects.


2016 World Series, Aftermath, Cubs
Many fans and media drew a comparison with the 2016 Cubs to the 1986 Mets, as both had young stars when they won a World Series and it looked like a budding dynasty; however, both teams would peak in their championship season and would not win, or even get back to, another World Series.


2016 World Series, Aftermath, Indians
2016 was also the high point for the Indians. The 2017 Indians won 22 straight games (just four games shy of the most consecutive wins record in Major League Baseball history),  finished the season with a record of 102–60, won the AL Central and claimed the best record in the American League. However, they lost to the New York Yankees in five games in the ALDS after taking a 2–0 series lead, thus losing consecutive postseason series after holding a two-game advantage on each occasion.


2016 World Series, Aftermath, Indians
The Indians won their division again in 2018, but lost in the ALDS again; this time to the Astros in a three-game sweep. Like the Cubs, the Indians did not make the playoffs in 2019, but returned in 2020, only to lose to the New York Yankees in the 2020 AL Wild Card Series in a two-game sweep.


2016 World Series, Aftermath, Indians
During the 2020-2021 off-season, the Indians had traded star shortstop Francisco Lindor, along with longtime rotation stalwart Carlos Carrasco, to the New York Mets. In fact, Roberto Perez, Bryan Shaw and Jose Ramirez were the only 2016 Indians on the roster in 2021. In 2021, the Cleveland Indians also announced they would move away from the Indians moniker, long criticized as racist, and renamed themselves the Cleveland Guardians, effective at the end of this season.


2016 World Series of Boxing
The 2016 World Series of Boxing is the 6th edition of the World Series of Boxing since its establishment in 2010 and runs from January 18 to May 21 of 2016. The event is organised by the International Boxing Association (AIBA). The sixteen teams, divided into four groups of four, contain a majority of boxers from the country in which they are based along with a smaller number of overseas boxers.


2016 World Series of Darts
The 2016 World Series of Darts was a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. There were 6 World Series events and one Final event being held – one in the United Arab Emirates, one in New Zealand, one in China, one in Japan, two in Australia, with the finals being held in Scotland.


2016 World Series of Darts Finals
The 2016 Ladbrokes World Series of Darts Finals was the second staging of the tournament, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The tournament took place in the Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland, between 5–6 November 2016. It featured a field of 24 players.


2016 World Series of Darts Finals
Michael van Gerwen was the defending champion after beating Peter Wright 11–10 in last year's final. He defended his title this year by again beating Wright 11–9.


2016 World Series of Darts Finals, Qualification and format
The top eight players from the six World Series events of 2016 are seeded for this tournament. They are:


2016 World Series of Darts Finals, Qualification and format
In addition, eight players were invited as "global prospects", as were the next four highest ranked players from the PDC Order of Merit following the  2016 World Grand Prix on 9 October 2016. Another four places were awarded in a qualifying event that took place in Coventry on October 23, 2016.


2016 World Series of Poker
The 2016 World Series of Poker was the 47th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). Most of the events occurred May 31-July 18 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. There were 69 bracelet events, including the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event which began on July 9. The Main Event final table was reached on July 18, with the November Nine returning to play from October 30-November 1.


2016 World Series of Poker, Main Event
The $10,000 Main Event No Limit Hold'em Championship began on July 9 with the first of three starting flights. The November Nine was reached on July 18, with the final table being contested over three days from October 30-November 1.


2016 World Series of Poker, Main Event
The Main Event attracted 6,737 players, generating a prize pool of $63,327,800. The top 1,011 players finished in the money, with the winner earning $8,005,310.


2016 World Series of Poker, Main Event, Performance of past champions
* Indicates the place of a player who finished in the money


2016 World Series of Poker, Main Event, Other notable high finishes
NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.


2016 World Series of Poker, Main Event, November Nine
*Career statistics prior to the beginning of the 2016 Main Event.


2016 World Series of Poker results
Below are the results of the 2016 World Series of Poker, held from May 31-July 18 at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Paradise, Nevada.


2016 World Series of Poker results, Results, Event #68: $10,000 Main Event No Limit Hold'em Championship
The finalists for this event, known as the November Nine, competed in the fall to determine the champion; The event location is the Penn & Teller Theater.


2016 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships
The 2016 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships took place from 11 to 13 March 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the 41st World Short Track Speed Skating Championships.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships
The 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held between 11 and 14 February 2016 in Kolomna, Russia.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships, Participating nations
161 speed skaters (not all skaters at the team pursuit included) from 24 nations participated at the championships. The number of speed skaters per nation that competed is shown in parentheses.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Men's 10,000 metres
The Men's 10,000 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 11 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Men's 1000 metres
The Men's 1000 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 13 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Men's 1500 metres
The Men's 1500 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 11 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Men's 500 metres
The Men's 500 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 14 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Men's 500 metres, Results
The first run was started at 14:34 and the second run at 16:19.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Men's 5000 metres
The Men's 5000 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 13 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Men's mass start
The Men's mass start race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 14 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Men's team pursuit
The Men's team pursuit race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 12 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Women's 1000 metres
The Women's 1000 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 12 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Women's 1500 metres
The women's 1500 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 14 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Women's 3000 metres
The Women's 3000 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 11 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Women's 500 metres
The women's 500 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 13 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Women's 500 metres, Results
The first run was started at 17:01 and the second run at 18:36.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Women's 5000 metres
The Women's 5000 metres race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 12 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Women's mass start
The women's mass start race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 14 February 2016.


2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships – Women's team pursuit
The Women's team pursuit race of the 2016 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships was held on 13 February 2016.


2016 World Snooker Championship
The 2016 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2016 Betfred World Snooker Championship due to sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament, that took place from 16 April to 2 May 2016 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 40th year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the venue. It was the tenth and last ranking event of the 2015–16 snooker season.


2016 World Snooker Championship
The defending champion was Stuart Bingham, having defeated Shaun Murphy in the 2015 event final. Bingham lost 9–10 against Ali Carter in the first round falling to the Crucible curse and becoming the 17th first-time champion unable to defend his title at the venue. China's Ding Junhui and Scot Alan McManus set a new record in their semi-final for the most century breaks achieved in a professional match, scoring ten. Ding also setting a new record for the most centuries by one player in a single World Championship match with seven. Ding defeated McManus to become the first Asian player ever to reach a World Championship final. In the other semi-final, Englishman Mark Selby and Hongkonger Marco Fu set a new record for the longest frame of snooker ever played at the Crucible, at 76 minutes 11 seconds.


2016 World Snooker Championship
After beating Robert Milkins 10–6, Sam Baird 13–11, Kyren Wilson 13–8, and Fu 17–15, Selby defeated Ding 18–14 in the final to claim his second World title, having won the 2014 event previously. A total of 86 century breaks were made at the event, the same number as the previous year, with Kyren Wilson making the tournament's highest break of 143. The total global audiences for the tournament exceeded 300 million, with 210 million viewers in China alone.


2016 World Snooker Championship
The afternoon sessions of the final were watched by audiences of 45 million in China, the country's largest audience for a sporting event that year. During the tournament, six-time champion Steve Davis played the last professional match of his 38-year career against Fergal O'Brien in the qualifiers; he announced his retirement later during the first round of the event.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Prize fund
The total prize money of the event was raised to £1,500,100 from the previous year's £1,364,000. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:


2016 World Snooker Championship, Prize fund
The "rolling 147 prize" for a maximum break stood at £20,000.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary
The World Snooker Championship is an annual cue sport tournament and is the official world championship of the game of snooker. The sport of snooker was founded in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary
The world championship sees 32 professional players compete in one-on-one snooker matches in a single elimination format, each played over several frames. The 32 players for the event are selected through a mix of the world snooker rankings, and pre-tournament qualification rounds. The first world championship was held in 1927 taking place in Camkin's Hall, Birmingham, England and was won by Joe Davis. Since 1977, the event has been held in the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary
Stephen Hendry is the most successful player in the modern era, having won the championship 7 times. The previous year's championship was won by England's Stuart Bingham, who won the event defeating Shaun Murphy in the final 18–15. This was Bingham's first championship. The winner of the 2016 event earned prize money of £330,000, from a total pool of £1.5 million. The event was the tenth and last ranking event of the 2015–2016 season.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Seeding and qualifying rounds
The top 16 seeds automatically qualified for the first round. Defending champion Stuart Bingham was seeded first, while other seeded places were allocated based on the latest world rankings. All the other players (from 17th place in ranking) started in the first round of qualifying, and were required to win three best-of-19-frame matches to reach the Crucible. Qualifying rounds were held at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield from 6 to 13 April 2016.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Seeding and qualifying rounds
Eleven former world champions competed in the tournament. Six-time champion Steve Davis lost 4–10 to Fergal O'Brien in the first round of qualifying, and subsequently announced his retirement from the sport after 38 years as a professional. The 1997 champion Ken Doherty lost 6–10 to Ryan Day in the final round of qualifying. Former world number one Ding Junhui was no longer in the top 16 ranked players prior to the tournament, and had to qualify to the Crucible. He did that at the loss of only seven frames, defeating Greg Casey 10–4, Ross Muir 10–1, and the 1995 runner-up Nigel Bond 10–2.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Seeding and qualifying rounds
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh missed the final black in attempting a maximum break against Anthony McGill in the fourth frame of their final qualifying round match. Un-Nooh had also missed the last black in attempting a maximum break earlier in the season, in a match against Neil Robertson in the 2015 UK Championship. Hong Kong's Ng On-yee attempted to become the first woman ever to reach the Crucible; however, lost 1–10 against Peter Lines in the first round of qualifying.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, First round
The first round was played between 16 and 21 April as best-of-19-frame matches. Mitchell Mann was the only player making his Crucible debut. He lost 3–10 in the first round to Mark Allen. Steve Davis announced his retirement on live television during the tournament's first weekend, before play began on the first Sunday afternoon.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, First round
Playing the defending champion Stuart Bingham, Ali Carter led 5–1 and 8–5 before Bingham won four consecutive frames to lead 9–8. Carter tied the match with a century break in the 18th frame, before winning the deciding frame to win 10–9. The loss made Bingham the 17th player to succumb to the Crucible curse, as no first time defending champion won the event the following season. Shaun Murphy, the previous year's runner-up, also received a first-round exit when he lost 8–10 to Anthony McGill. This was the first time since the 1980 championship that both of the previous year's finalists lost the first matches they played upon their return.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, First round
Stephen Maguire lost 7–10 to fellow Scot Alan McManus in his fourth consecutive first-round defeat at the Crucible. As a result, Maguire was guaranteed to be outside of the world's top 16 at the end of the tournament. After his 10–7 victory over David Gilbert, Ronnie O'Sullivan refused to attend a post-match meeting with the press or talk to tournament broadcasters, and received a formal warning. Following losses by Ebdon and Dott, Neil Robertson became the fifth former champion to exit in the first round when Michael Holt defeated him 10–6. This meant that O'Sullivan, Selby, Williams, and Higgins were the only former winners to reach the second round.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Second round
The second round was played between 21 and 25 April as best-of-25-frames, over three sessions. Alan McManus won 13–11 over Carter, who defeated him 10–5 in the first round in 2015. Ding Junhui won 13–10 over Judd Trump, who had defeated him 13–4 in the previous year's quarter-finals. Carter was strongly critical of the table on which he played McManus, calling it "the worst I have ever played on." In response, tournament organisers changed the cloth and cushions used on the tables.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Second round
Kyren Wilson led at both 7–0 and then 11–5 over Mark Allen before Allen won four straight frames to trail 11–9, but Kyren won the next two to win the match 13–9 and advance to his first World Championship quarter-final. Mark Selby led Sam Baird 11–7 before Baird won four consecutive frames to level at 11–11. Selby then won the next two frames to win 13–11. Four-time champion John Higgins beat Ricky Walden 13–8, and two-time champion Mark Williams defeated Michael Holt, also 13–8, to get past the second round for only the second time since 2006. Marco Fu defeated Anthony McGill 13–9 to reach his first quarter-final in a decade.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Second round
Trailing Barry Hawkins 9–12, Ronnie O'Sullivan won three consecutive frames to take the match to a deciding frame. Hawkins prevailed in the decider to win the match 13–12, the first time in 14 years that Hawkins had beaten O'Sullivan in a competitive match. This was also the only the second time in 13 years that O'Sullivan had failed to reach the quarter-finals. Despite losing, O'Sullivan made four century breaks and eight more breaks over 50, scoring 1409 points to Hawkins's 1135.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
The quarter-finals were played between 26 and 27 April as best-of-25-frames, over three sessions. Ding Junhui's 13–3 victory over Mark Williams saw him win the match with a session to spare to reach his second Crucible semi-final, after his first appearance in 2011. After going 6–0 ahead, Mark Selby defeated Kyren Wilson 13–8. Wilson made a 143 break in the 20th frame, the highest of the tournament.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
Alan McManus came from 9–11 behind against John Higgins to win 13–11 and reach his first Crucible semi-final since 1993. At the age of 45, he became the oldest Crucible semi-finalist since Ray Reardon, who was 52 when he reached that stage in 1985. Marco Fu led Barry Hawkins by 9–1 before Hawkins won five straight frames to within one at 10–9. Fu won 13–11 to reach his second Crucible semi-final, a decade after his first in 2006.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
The semi-finals were played 28–30 April over four sessions as best-of-33-frame matches. In the first, Ding Junhui was leading Alan McManus 5–0 and 9–3 scoring five centuries in nine frames. McManus scored centuries of his own winning six frames to trail 8–9. Ding increased his lead to 12–8, and won 17–11 to reach his first World Championship final. In frame 20, Ding attempted a maximum break, but missed the 15th black for a break of 113, his sixth century.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
In the 27th frame, Ding made his seventh century to set a new record for the most centuries made by a player in a World Championship match. The record surpassed the previous record of six centuries set by Joe Davis in 1946, Mark Selby in 2011, and Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2013. Ding's seven centuries equalled the record for the most by one player in any professional snooker match, set by Stephen Hendry in the 1994 UK Championship final. In total, 10 centuries were made in the match, which was a record in professional play.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
In the opening session of the other semi-final, Mark Selby took a 3–0 and 5–3 lead, before Marco Fu ended the second session all-square at 8–8. Fu's cue tip separated from his cue in the 15th frame as he was chalking it. A ten-minute break was called while the tip was glued back on. Frame 24, won by Selby to level at 12–12, lasted 76 minutes 11 seconds. This was the longest frame ever played at the Crucible, breaking the previous record of 74 minutes 58 seconds set in the 2009 match between Stephen Maguire and Mark King. The match was later tied at 15–15 until Selby won the final two frames to win the match 17–15. Frame 32 also lasted more than an hour.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
The final was played 1–2 May, held as best-of-35-frames, over four sessions. Ding Junhui was the first qualifier to play the World final since Judd Trump was beaten by John Higgins in 2011. Ding also became the first Asian finalist in the championships.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
In the first session of the final, Mark Selby took a 6–0 lead, before Ding won the last two frames of the session to leave Selby 6–2 ahead. Ding won five of the next seven frames to trail by only one frame at 7–8, but Selby won the final two frames of the day for a 10–7 overnight lead. Some frames in the second session were lengthy, and play did not end at the Crucible until 00:24 local time on Monday morning.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
On the second day of the final, Ding again fought back to trailing by only one frame at 10–11; however, Selby won three of the session's last four frames to go into the final session 14–11 ahead. Selby won the next two frames to need only two more frames for victory. Ding won three more frames in the evening session – coming from 16 to 11 behind to 16–14. Selby clinched the match by 18 frames to 14 to claim his second world title, along with the £330,000 prize.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
The match ended just minutes after Selby's home city of Leicester celebrated Leicester City F.C. 's first ever Premier League title win. The afternoon session of the final were watched by audiences of 45 million in China, the country's largest audience for a sporting event that year. The event as a whole saw a total of 210 million viewers from China on CCTV-5 in China. of a total viewership of 300 million.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Main draw
Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding. Players in bold denote match winners.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Qualifying
A total of 128 players competed in the qualifying. There were three qualifying rounds, reducing the qualifiers to 16, who would go on to play in the final stages. Qualifying took place between 6 and 13 April 2016 at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre. All matches were the best-of-19-frames. The draw for the final stages was made on 14 April.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Qualifying
The players competing in the qualifying included remaining tour players ranked outside the top 16, players featured as top-ups from the Q School and invited players from the WPBSA. The 16 invited qualifiers were made up of seven players who won or were runner-up in the following events together with 9 players invited based on the EBSA Order of Merit. Players invited by the Order of Merit were limited to one player per country.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Qualifying, Round 3
Winning players qualified for the main tournament. Players in bold denote match winners.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Century breaks, Televised stage centuries
There were 86 century breaks made by 24 players in the televised stage of the World Championship, equalling the record set the year before. For every century break made during the 17-day championship in Sheffield, the title sponsor, Betfred, donated £200 to the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice. The donation was rounded up to £25,000 as the goal of 70 centuries was achieved. Ding Junhui made 15 centuries, one short of the record of 16 set by Stephen Hendry in 2002.


2016 World Snooker Championship, Century breaks, Qualifying stage centuries
There were 132 century breaks made by 63 players in the qualifying stage of the World Championship.


2016 World Snowshoe Championships
The 2016 World Snowshoe Championships was the 9th edition of the global snowshoe running competition, World Snowshoe Championships, organised by the World Snowshoe Federation and took place in Vezza d'Oglio from 5 to 6 February 2016.


2016 World Snowshoe Championships, Results
The race, held on the distance of 9.5 km, has compiled two different ranking (male and female) overall, it was the mass start system and more than 100 competitors participated.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships
The 2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships was held in Seoul, South Korea, from 27 to 28 February 2016.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships, Participating nations
60 speed skaters from 17 nations participated. The number of speed skaters per nation that competed is shown in parentheses.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships – Men
The Men's event of the 2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships was held on 27–28 February 2016.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships – Men, Results, 500 m
The race was started on 27 February 2016 at 17:52.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships – Men, Results, 1000 m
The race was started on 27 February 2016 at 19:34.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships – Men, Results, 500 m
The race was started on 28 February 2016 at 17:50.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships – Men, Results, 1000 m
The race was started on 28 February 2016 at 19:34.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships – Women
The women's event of the 2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships was held on 27–28 February 2016.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships – Women, Results, 500 m
The race was started on 27 February 2016 at 17:02.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships – Women, Results, 1000 m
The race was started on 27 February 2016 at 18:44.


2016 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships – Women, Results, 500 m
The race was started on 27 February 2016 at 17:00.


2016 World Surf League
The 2016 World Surf League World Championship Tour (WCT) is a professional competitive surfing league run by the World Surf League. Men and women compete in separate tours with events taking place from late February to mid-December, at various surfing locations around the world. Surfers receive points for their best events. The surfer with the most points at the end of the tour (after discarding their two worst results) is announced the 2016 World Surf League Surfing World Champion.


2016 World Taekwondo Grand Prix
The 2016 World Taekwondo Grand Prix was the 4th edition of the World Taekwondo Grand Prix. As 2016 was an Olympic year, unlike in 2015, the series consisted of a single Grand Prix Final event, and was held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 9 to 10 December 2016. Contests were held over the eight Olympic weight categories, rather than the full sixteen categories employed at World Championships level


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships
The 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships was held in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia from 28 February to 6 March 2016.


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships, Seeding
The top sixteen teams of the first division and the top two teams of the second division at the 2014 World Team Championships were guaranteed a place in the first division, along with the top six placed teams in the world rankings not already qualified.


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships, Seeding
China Germany Chinese Taipei Japan Austria South Korea Portugal Singapore


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships, Seeding
China Japan Singapore Hong Kong North Korea Romania Germany Netherlands


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships, Seeding
Ukraine South Korea Belarus Chinese Taipei Hungary Poland Czech Republic Austria


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships, Schedule
Five individual events were contested. Qualification rounds were held from 26–27 April.


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships – Men's team
The Men's team tournament of the 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships was held from 28 February to 6 March 2016.


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships – Men's team, Championship Division, Knockout stage
The group winners of Groupd C and D were drawn, as well as the second and third placed teams. Same for the fourth, fifth and sixth placed teams.


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships – Men's team, Division 2, Knockout stage
The group winners, as well as the second and third placed teams were drawn. Same for the fourth, fifth and sixth placed teams.


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships – Men's team, Division 3, Knockout stage
The group winners,  the second and third placed teams were drawn. Same for the fourth, fifth and sixth placed teams.


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships – Women's team
The Women's team tournament of the 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships was held from 28 February to 6 March 2016.


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships – Women's team, Championship Division, Knockout stage
The group winners of Groupd C and D were drawn, as well as the second and third placed teams. Same for the fourth, fifth and sixth placed teams.


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships – Women's team, Division 2, Knockout stage
The group winners, as well as the second and third placed teams were drawn. Same for the fourth, fifth and sixth placed teams.


2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships – Women's team, Division 3, Knockout stage
The group winners,  the second and third placed teams were drawn. Same for the fourth, fifth and sixth placed teams.


2016 World TeamTennis season
The 2016 World TeamTennis season was the 41st season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. Pursuant to a sponsorship agreement with Mylan N.V., the official name of the league was Mylan World TeamTennis in 2016.


2016 World TeamTennis season
The San Diego Aviators defeated the Orange County Breakers, 25–14 in extended play, in the WTT Finals to win the King Trophy as WTT champions.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Competition format
The 2016 World TeamTennis season included six teams. Unlike previous seasons, the teams were not split into two conferences. Each team played a 12-match regular-season schedule with six home and six away matches. The top two teams in the regular season qualified for the World TeamTennis Final at Forest Hills Stadium in New York City. The higher seed was treated as the "home" team in the WTT Final and had the right to determine order of play. The winner of the WTT Final was awarded the King Trophy.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Franchise movement, contraction and expansion
On December 14, 2015, the Austin Aces announced that the team would move back to Orange County, California for the 2016 season and be renamed the Orange County Breakers. On January 27, 2016, the Breakers announced that they would play their home matches at Breakers Stadium at the Newport Beach Tennis Club.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Franchise movement, contraction and expansion
In December 2015, Randy Peters Catering of Citrus Heights, California sued the California Dream and its three owners in Sacramento County Superior Court demanding US$19,249 for its unpaid bills as the team's food concessionaire. Also in December 2015, one of the Dream's minority owners, Bob Kaliski, told The Sacramento Bee that he had personally lost US$175,000 investing in the team and that majority owner Jeff Launius had told him the Dream owed its vendors US$192,000 at the end of the season. Kaliski said, "I don't know if the team is going to be back or not.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Franchise movement, contraction and expansion
I know I'm not going to be back. I don't know about the rest of the team." WTT said that the Dream had until the end of December to meet its financial commitments to the league in order to secure its spot for 2016. On January 13, 2016, WTT announced that the Dream franchise had been terminated due to noncompliance with the team's obligations to the league.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Franchise movement, contraction and expansion
On February 17, 2016, WTT announced that the Boston Lobsters had folded. The team had been owned and operated by the league during the 2015 season after the retirement of its former owner Bahar Uttam, who walked away from it. WTT had been unable to find a new owner for the franchise. In a press release, WTT commissioner Ilana Kloss said, "We spent more than a year seeking a local owner or ownership group, but unfortunately we were not able to find the right fit."


2016 World TeamTennis season, Franchise movement, contraction and expansion
She went on to say that WTT was leaving the door open for a return to Boston if the right ownership could be found. Keith Callahan, general manager of the Manchester Athletic Club said that the club had been approached by WTT to take over ownership of the team but had turned it down. "We just made a decision not to do that," he said.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Franchise movement, contraction and expansion
"It would have taken an enormous amount of resources to take on an operation like that, and we made a decision to commit those resources to improving the business and to making improvements for our members to make the operation better for them and for the community." WTT's asking price for the Lobsters was US$1 million.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Franchise movement, contraction and expansion
Concurrent with the announcement of the folding of the Lobsters, WTT announced an expansion team for New York City named the New York Empire that began play in 2016. The team played its home matches at Forest Hills Stadium in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, New York.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Draft
WTT conducted its 2016 draft on March 25, in Key Biscayne, Florida. The order in which teams selected was based on the results the teams achieved in 2015, with weaker teams selecting earlier and stronger teams selecting later. The draft order is ordinarily determined as follows:


2016 World TeamTennis season, Draft
Expansion teams select in the middle of each round. If there is an even number of teams, an expansion team will select in the middle position that is closest to the first pick. There were three nonplayoff teams in 2015, and ranked from worst record to best record, they were


2016 World TeamTennis season, Draft
However, the Lobsters folded prior to the draft. Therefore, the Lasers and Aviators were the only two nonplayoff teams and assigned the preliminary first and second positions. The Philadelphia Freedoms lost the 2015 Eastern Conference Championship Match and had a worse record than the California Dream, which lost the Western Conference Championship Match. Therefore, the Freedoms were assigned the preliminary third position. Since the Dream franchise was terminated, it was not assigned a draft position. The Orange County Breakers, playing in 2015, as the Austin Aces, lost the WTT Final and were assigned the preliminary fourth draft position.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Draft
The WTT Champion Washington Kastles were assigned the preliminary fifth draft position. The expansion New York Empire was assigned the third draft position by rule, since there was an even number of teams, and this is the middle position closest to the first position. This resulted in the Freedoms, Breakers and Kastles all moving down one position from their preliminary positions. Each team could protect certain players from its 2015 roster. Marquee players or doubles teams and wildcard players could be protected if they appeared in a match for the team in 2015.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Draft
Exempt, roster and substitute players who appeared in at least three matches for the team in 2015, could also be protected. Teams could also protect players who qualified for protection based on match appearances in 2014, but were unable to play in 2015, due to injury. Teams holding the right to protect players could trade those rights before or during the draft.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Draft
If a team chooses a roster-exempt player, one who is not required to be a full-time member of the team, it is possible for a team to make four selections in the roster player portion of the draft and not have two male and two female full-time players. In such cases, these teams are permitted to make selections in additional rounds of the roster player draft until they have a complete roster. Teams that have two male and two female full-time players may select roster-exempt players in rounds past the fourth round. The selections made are shown in the tables below.


2016 World TeamTennis season, WTT Finals match summary
August 26, 2016 at Forest Hills Stadium, New York City, New York:#1 SAN DIEGO AVIATORS 25, #2 Orange County Breakers 14 (extended play)


2016 World TeamTennis season, Individual statistical leaders
The tables below show the WTT players who had the highest regular-season winning percentages in each of the league's five events. Only players who played in at least 40% of the total number of games played by their team in a particular event are eligible to be listed among the official WTT league leaders for that event.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Team statistics
The tables below show the regular-season winning percentages of each team in each of the league's five events.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Television
The 2016 season was the third year of a four-year television rights contract between WTT and ESPN, Inc. The WTT Final was streamed live on ESPN3, which also streamed one match each night during the regular season. ESPN2's live telecast of the WTT Final began at 5:00 pm EDT, one hour after the match's start time.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Television
The following regular-season matches were streamed live on ESPN3 and rebroadcast the following day on the Tennis Channel:


2016 World TeamTennis season, Television
Select matches streamed live by ESPN3 were rebroadcast by regional sports networks Altitude Sports and Entertainment, Comcast SportsNet affiliates, Mediacom Connections and MSG.


2016 World TeamTennis season, Sponsorship
On December 8, 2014, WTT announced that its title-sponsorship agreement with Mylan N.V. was extended for two more years through the 2017 season. As part of its partnership with WTT, Mylan will continue to sponsor events at which children meet with WTT players and are introduced to tennis, charitable events and the Mylan Aces program which allows each team to select a local charity for which it can earn money donated by Mylan by recording the most aces in the league on a given day during the regular season.


2016 World Touring Car Championship
The 2016 World Touring Car Championship is the thirteenth season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the twelfth since the series was revived in 2005.


2016 World Touring Car Championship
In 2016 a new manufacturer Polestar (with Volvo S60) entered while Citroën reduced the number of official entries to two, and announced their retirement in 2017. A new team time trial format was introduced for manufacturers, titled Manufacturers Against the Clock (MAC3), consisting in three cars per manufacturer completing two laps at the same time (only one lap at the Nürburgring) against the clock, whereby the total time of the last car determines the result. The cars must finish in a 15 seconds gap.


2016 World Touring Car Championship, Calendar
The provisional 2016 schedule was revealed on 2 December 2015. With the confirmation of the 2016 SMP F4 Championship calendar, it was originally confirmed the season would start at the Sochi Autodrom, with the Russian round of the championship switching from Moscow Raceway. However, on 9 February 2016, the calendar was adjusted, leaving the Russian round at Moscow in June.


2016 World Touring Car Championship, Results and standings, Compensation weights
The most competitive cars keep an 80 kg compensation weight. The other cars get a lower one, calculated according to their results for the three previous rounds. The less the cars get some good results, the less they get a compensation weight, from 0 kg to 80 kg. For the first two rounds, Citroën C-Elysée WTCC had an 80 kg compensation weight.


2016 World Touring Car Championship, Results and standings, Championship standings, Drivers' championship
† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 75% of the race distance.


2016 World Touring Car Championship, Results and standings, Championship standings, Drivers' championship
Championship points were awarded on the results of each race at each event as follows:


2016 World Touring Car Championship, Results and standings, Championship standings, Manufacturers' Championship
Only the two best placed cars of each manufacturer earned points.


2016 World Touring Car Championship, Results and standings, Championship standings, Manufacturers' Championship
In MAC3 points are awarded if 3 cars of the same manufacturer within a 15 seconds gap. MAC3 points were awarded as follows:


2016 World Touring Car Championship, Results and standings, Championship standings, WTCC Trophy
WTCC Trophy points are awarded to the first eight drivers classified in each race on the following scale: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. One point is awarded to the highest-placed WTCC Trophy competitor in qualifying and for another for the fastest lap in each race.


2016 World Touring Car Championship, Results and standings, Championship standings, WTCC Teams' Trophy
All the teams taking part in the championship were eligible to score points towards the Teams' Trophy, with the exception of manufacturer teams, with the first two cars from each team scoring points in each race on the following scale: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.


2016 World Touring Car Championship, Regulation changes
The sporting regulations were approved by the FIA, at the December 2015 meeting of the World Motor Sport Council.


2016 World U-17 Hockey Challenge
The 2016 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge was an ice hockey tournament held in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada between October 30 and November 5, 2016. The World Under-17 Hockey Challenge is held by Hockey Canada annually to showcase young hockey talent from across Canada and other strong hockey countries. The primary venues used for the tournament are the Essar Centre and the John Rhodes Community Centre.


2016 World University American Football Championship
The 2016 World University American Football Championship was an international college American football tournament that was held from June 1 to June 11, 2016 in Monterrey, Mexico, at Estadio Tecnológico. It was the 2nd World University Championship for team American football. The tournament was held in round-robin format, with each team facing each other once.


2016 World University Cycling Championship
The 2016 World University Cycling Championship was the 7th edition of the World University Cycling Championship. The tournament was hosted by the Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines (FESSAP), sponsored by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The championship proper took place in Tagaytay, Philippines from March 17–20, 2016 with the opening ceremonies held on March 16. It is the first FISU World University Cycling Championship to be held outside of Europe and the first in Asia.


2016 World University Cycling Championship, Race details
Four races was conducted in the Tagaytay-Batangas City route: Road Race spaning 122-km, Criterium spanning 80-km, Cross-country cycling spanning 35-km and, Cross Country Eliminator spanning 1.2 km.


2016 World University Cycling Championship – Women's road race
The women's road race at the 2016 World University Cycling Championship took place in Tagaytay, Philippines on 18 March 2016. The race was 80 km long. 26 riders from 13 countries registered for the race. Half of the riders did not finish.


2016 World University Handball Championship
The 2016 World University Handball Championship was the 23rd edition of this Handball Event organized by the FISU and it was held in the city of Antequera, Spain, from 27 June to 3 July.


2016 World University Netball Championship
The second World University Netball Championship was organised by the Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU) and held in Miami, United States. It is a women's indoor tournament with a maximum of 12 teams competing. 12 competitors and 5 officials are allowed per team.


2016 World University Netball Championship
Silver medallist in 2012 South Africa won the tournament from Jamaica. Australia came home with the bronze.


2016 World University Netball Championship, Competition, Day 1
South Africa beat USA 93 - 18 Uganda beat Trinidad & Tobago 73 - 37 Jamaica beat Australia 42 - 38 South Africa beat Namibia 74 - 30 Trinidad & Tobago beat USA 55 - 39


2016 World University Netball Championship, Competition, Day 2
Uganda Beat Australia Jamaica beat England Namibia beat USA South Africa beat Trinidad & Tobago Australia beat England  Jamaica beat Uganda


2016 World University Netball Championship, Competition, Quarter Finals
South Africa beat England 71 - 30 Australia beat Namibia 61 - 44 Uganda beat Trinidad & Tobago 50 - 22 Jamaica beat USA 98 - 9


2016 World University Squash Championship
The 2016 World University Squash Championship is the 2016 edition of the World University Squash, which serves as the individual world squash championship for students. The event was scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.


2016 World University Wrestling Championships
The 2016 World University Wrestling Championships were the 12th edition of World University Wrestling Championships of combined events and were held from 25 to 30 October in Çorum, Turkey.


2016 World University Wrestling Championships
Iran claimed 5 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 4 bronze medals.


2016 World Wheelchair Curling Championship
The 2016 World Wheelchair Curling Championship was held from February 21 to 28 at the Eiszentrum Luzern in Lucerne, Switzerland.


2016 World Wheelchair Curling Championship, Qualification, Qualification event
Norway and South Korea qualified for the World Championship from the qualifying event held in November 2015 in Lohja, Finland.


2016 World Wheelchair Curling Championship, Round robin results
All draw times are listed in Central European Time (UTC+01).


2016 World Wheelchair Curling Championship, Round robin results, Tiebreaker
Slovakia is relegated to the 2016 World Wheelchair Curling B-Championship


2016 World Wheelchair Curling Championship – Qualification Event
The qualification event of the 2016 World Wheelchair Curling Championship, known as the 2015 World Wheelchair Curling B-Championship, was held from November 7 to 12, 2015 at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland. The qualification event was open to any World Curling Federation member nation not already qualified for the World Championship. The event's two top finishers will join the top seven finishers from the last World Wheelchair Curling Championship at this season's event in Lucerne, Switzerland.


2016 World Wheelchair Curling Championship – Qualification Event
This event marked the first appearance of the nations of Estonia, Israel, and Lithuania at an international wheelchair curling event.


2016 World Wheelchair Curling Championship – Qualification Event, Round robin results
All draw times are listed in Eastern European Time (UTC+02).


2016 World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship
The 2016 World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship was held from November 4 to 11, 2016 at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland.


2016 World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship
The qualification event is open to any World Curling Federation member nation not already qualified for the 2017 World Wheelchair Curling Championship.


2016 World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship
The event's two top teams, Finland and Scotland, join the host and the top seven finishers from the last World Wheelchair Curling Championship at this season's event in Gangneung, South Korea.


2016 World Women's Curling Championship
The 2016 World Women's Curling Championship (branded as the 2016 Ford World Women's Curling Championship presented by Meridian for sponsorship reasons) was held from March 19 to 27 at the Credit Union iPlex in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.


2016 World Women's Curling Championship
Team Switzerland won the championship 9–6 over Team Japan. The playoffs made history for Team Japan, which had never made the final before.


2016 World Women's Curling Championship
Switzerland's win makes this their country's 6th Women's World Championship gold medal, 3rd gold medal in a row, and 4th gold medal in the last 5 years.


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Qualification
The following nations qualified to participate in the 2016 World Women's Curling Championship:


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Chelsea CareyThird: Amy NixonSecond: Jocelyn PetermanLead: Laine PetersAlternate: Susan O'Connor


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Lene NielsenThird: Stephanie RisdalSecond: Isabella ClemmensenLead: Charlotte ClemmensenAlternate: Madeleine Dupont


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Oona KausteThird: Milja HellstenSecond: Maija SalmiovirtaLead: Marjo HippiAlternate: Jenni Räsänen


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Daniela DriendlThird: Analena JentschSecond: Marika TrettinLead: Pia-Lisa SchöllAlternate: Maike Beer


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Federica ApollonioThird: Stefania MenardiSecond: Chiara OlivieriLead: Maria GaspariAlternate: Claudia Alverà


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Satsuki FujisawaThird: Chinami YoshidaSecond: Yumi SuzukiLead: Yurika YoshidaAlternate: Mari Motohashi


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Anna SidorovaThird: Margarita FominaSecond: Alexandra RaevaLead: Nkeiruka EzekhAlternate: Alina Kovaleva


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Eve MuirheadThird: Anna SloanSecond: Vicki AdamsLead: Sarah ReidAlternate: Rachel Hannen


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Fourth: Gim Un-chiThird: Um Min-jiSecond: Lee Seul-beeSkip: Kim Ji-sunAlternate: Yeom Yoon-jung


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Fourth: Maria PrytzThird: Christina BertrupSecond: Maria WennerströmSkip: Margaretha SigfridssonAlternate: Agnes Knochenhauer


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Binia FeltscherThird: Irene SchoriSecond: Franziska KaufmannLead: Christine UrechAlternate: Carole Howald


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams
Skip : Erika BrownThird: Allison PottingerSecond: Nicole JoraanstadLead: Natalie NicholsonAlternate: Tabitha Peterson


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Teams, WCT ranking
World Curling Tour Order of Merit ranking of national teams (year to date total)


2016 World Women's Curling Championship, Round robin results
All draw times are listed in Central Time Zone (UTC−6).


2016 World Wrestling Championships
The 2016 UWW World Wrestling Championships for non-Olympic weights were held from December 10 to 11 in SYMA Sports and Conference Centre, Budapest, Hungary.


2016 World Wrestling Championships – Men's Greco-Roman 71 kg
The men's Greco-Roman 71 kg is a competition featured at the 2016 World Wrestling Championships, and was held in Budapest, Hungary on 10 December.


2016 World Wrestling Championships – Men's Greco-Roman 80 kg
The men's Greco-Roman 80 kg is a competition featured at the 2016 World Wrestling Championships, and was held in Budapest, Hungary on 11 December.


2016 World Wrestling Championships – Men's freestyle 61 kg
The men's freestyle 61 kg is a competition featured at the 2016 World Wrestling Championships, and was held in Budapest, Hungary on 10 December.


2016 World Wrestling Championships – Men's freestyle 70 kg
The men's freestyle 70 kg is a competition featured at the 2016 World Wrestling Championships, and was held in Budapest, Hungary on 11 December.


2016 World Wrestling Championships – Women's freestyle 55 kg
The women's freestyle 55 kg is a competition featured at the 2016 World Wrestling Championships, and was held in Budapest, Hungary on 10 December.


2016 World Wrestling Championships – Women's freestyle 60 kg
The women's freestyle 60 kg is a competition featured at the 2016 World Wrestling Championships, and was held in Budapest, Hungary on 11 December.


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle
The 2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup – Men's freestyle was the last of a set of three World Wrestling Clubs Cups in 2016.


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
61 kg – Ivan Bileychyk   4 - 4  Shota Phartenadze


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
65 kg – Gor Oganesyan  4 - 3  Levan kelekhsashvili


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
70 kg – Vasil Mikhailov  10 - 6  Aleksandre Yatchvadze


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
74 kg – Rustam Dudaiev  6 - 10  Avtandil Kenchadze


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
86 kg – Dmytro Rochniak  6 - 8  Nodar Egadze


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
97 kg – Andriy Vlasov  0 - 11  Elizbar Odikadze


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
125 kg – Oleksandr Khotsianivskiy  2 - 3  Giorgi Meshvildishvili


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
61 kg – Vladimer Khinchegashvili   8 - 0  Ivan Bileychyk


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
65 kg – Bernard Futrell  10 - 0  Aleksey Boruta


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
70 kg – Nazar Kulchystky  10 - 5  Vasil Mikhailov


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
74 kg – Alex Dieringer  10 - 0  Ruslan Rychko


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
86 kg – David Taylor  2 - 6  Dmytro Rochniak


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
97 kg – Kyle Snyder  7 - 0  Andriy Vlasov


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
125 kg – Nick Gwiazdowski  2 - 1  Oleksandr Khotsianivskiy


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
61 kg – Shota Phartenadze   8 - 10 Vladimer Khinchegashvili


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
65 kg – Levan kelekhsashvili  1 - 4  Bernard Futrell


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
70 kg – Aleksandre Yatchvadze  3 - 1  Nazar Kulchystky


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
74 kg – Avtandil Kenchadze  0 - 13 Alex Dieringer


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
86 kg – Nika Kentchadze  6 - 5F David Taylor


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
97 kg – Elizbar Odikadze  2 - 2  Kyle Snyder


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool A
125 kg – Giorgi Meshvildishvili  5 - 4  Nick Gwiazdowski


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
61 kg – Vasyl Shuptar   11 - 0  Sarmandakh Bilguun


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
65 kg – Andriy Kvyatkovskyy  10 - 0  Khishigbat Khuyagtbaatar


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
70 kg – 'Semen Radulov'  10 - 0  Khatanbaatar Davaatseren


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
74 kg – 'Giya Chykhladze'  8.df - 8  Batchuluuny Ankhbayar


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
86 kg – Bogdan Bohdan  10 - 0  Mungushagai Tumurbat


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
97 kg – Murazi Mchelidze  8 - 6  Batsul Ulzisaikhan


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
125 kg – Alen Zasyeyev  6 - 1  Natsagsürengiin Zolboo


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
61 kg – Artiom Krauchanka   0 - 12  Vasyl Shuptar


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
65 kg – Uladzislau Zharykau  0 - 10  Andriy Kvyatkovskyy


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
70 kg – Aleksander Hryharovich  0 - 10  Semen Radulov


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
86 kg – Andrey Kavalevski  2 - 6  Djafarian Mraz


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
97 kg – Vladimir Yezapenkov  2 - 12  Murazi Mchelidze


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool B
125 kg – Vadim Shvedov  5 - 9  Danilo Kartavyi


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
61 kg – Masoud Esmaeilpour   9 - 0  Hassan Moradgoly


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
65 kg – Ilyas Bekbulatov  10 - 0  Norbert Lukacs


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
74 kg – 'Reza Afzali'  11 - 0  Lukacs Botond


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
86 kg – Alireza Karimi  10 - 0  Gergely Gyurits


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
97 kg – Abbas Tahan  10 - 0  Attila Szmik


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
125 kg – Parviz Hadi  9 - 2  Dániel Ligeti


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
61 kg – Baktybek Ulu   0 - 10  Masoud Esmaeilpour


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
65 kg – Bakbergen Usenov  0 - 10  Ilyas Bekbulatov


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
70 kg – N Askarbekov  0 - 6  Atsamaz Sanakoev


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
74 kg – Oibek Nasirov  0 - 10  Bahman Teymouri


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
86 kg – Chingiz Kerimkulov  0 - 10  Alireza Karimi


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool C
97 kg – Kantoro Talantbek Uulu  0 - 10  Abbas Tahan


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
61 kg – Mehran Sheikhi   10 - 0  Garik Barseghyan


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
65 kg – Sajjad Zabihi  6 - 16  Narek Sirunyan


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
70 kg – Sobhan Mohammadzadeh  1 - 10won by Fall  Valter Margaryan


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
74 kg – Saeb Kalantari  0 - 10  Suren Khachatryan


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
86 kg – Kianoush Naderi  7 - 10  Vahe Tamrazyan


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
97 kg – Elias Bakhtiyari  13 - 7  Shamir Atyan


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
125 kg – Jaber Sadeghzadeh  12 - 1  Andranik Galstyan


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
61 kg – Emin Ogut   2 - 11  Mehran Sheikhi


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
65 kg – Burak Dogan  4 - 9  Gholamreza Abdollahpour


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
70 kg – Serdar Cavusoglu  7 - 2  Sobhan Mohammadzadeh


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
74 kg – Nuri Temur  10 - 0  Saeb Kalantari


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
86 kg – Firat Binici  13 - 3  Kianoush Naderi


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
97 kg – Elias Bakhtiyari  2 - 12  Elias Bakhtiyari


2016 World Wrestling Clubs Cup - Men's freestyle, Pool stage, Pool D
125 kg – Huseyin Civelek  0 - 10  Jaber Sadeghzadeh


2016 World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament 1
The 2016 World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament 1 was the first of two worldwide qualification tournaments for the 2016 Olympics. Competitors at this tournament failed to qualify for the Olympics at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships or at their respective regional qualifier. The top three competitors in each weight class for the men and top two competitors for the women qualified.


2016 World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament 1
It was held between 22–24 April 2016 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.


2016 World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament 2
The 2016 World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament 2 was the second of two worldwide qualification tournaments for the 2016 Olympics. Competitors at this tournament failed to qualify for the Olympics at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships, at their respective regional qualifier, or at the 2016 World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament 1. The top two competitors in each weight class qualified.


2016 World Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament 2
It was held between 6–8 May 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey.


2016 World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series
The 2016 World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series season was the 38th season of the winged sprint car series in North America. The season began with the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park on February 12, and ended with the Bad Boy Off Road World of Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on October 29. Donny Schatz entered the season as the defending series champion, and won the 2017 championship, his eighth overall.


2016 World's Best Racehorse Rankings
The 2016 World's Best Racehorse Rankings, sponsored by Longines was the 2016 edition of the World's Best Racehorse Rankings. It was an assessment of Thoroughbred racehorses issued by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) on 24 January 2017. It included horses aged three or older which competed in flat races during 2016. It was open to all horses irrespective of where they raced or were trained.


2016 World's Strongest Man
The 2016 World's Strongest Man was the 39th edition of the World's Strongest Man competition. The event was held in Kasane, Botswana, from August 13 to 20. Brian Shaw won his 4th World's Strongest Man title, putting him in an elite group of only three other men; Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Magnús Ver Magnússon, and Žydrūnas Savickas. Only Mariusz Pudzianowski holds more titles, with a total of five.


2016 World's Strongest Man
Various world records were broken in the course of the qualifying heats and the grand final, including the Keg Toss at 7 meters 25 centimetres. Eddie Hall broke another deadlift world record.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results
The heats were held in various parts of Kasane, Botswana, such as the golf course and hot springs. Each heat allowed for a maximum of 42 points to be scored by competitors. The scoring worked the same as in the prior year but not previous years; in the final event in the heats, the Atlas Stones were awarded double points. The top two from each heat qualified for the grand final. There were six events in each heat chosen out of the following: Loading Race, Hercules Hold, Truck Pull, Squat Lift, Dumbbell Press, Atlas Stones, Viking Press, and Keg Toss.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 1
Heat 1 featured three former finalists (Arsjo, Felix and Oberst) and three young hopefuls (Belsak, Licis and Stoltman), with the latter two being rookies.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 1
The big stage didn't intimidate Martins Licis, the American running out to a lead in the Loading Race, getting three barrels in 41.01 seconds. Belsak was second, with Arsjo third, while Oberst tore a bicep. The big OB stepped up in the Hercules Hold, holding on to the pillars for 42.91 seconds. Mark Felix, last in the first event, shattered that mark and got the win by 15 seconds, to the great joy of the local crowd. Oberst had to retire because of his injury.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 1
One of the favorites in the heat, Johannes Arsjo, finally delivered in the Fingal Fingers, being the only man to get all five flipped. Licis got good points again with second place, and he led the heat after three events with 15 points. Arsjo and Belsak were tied for second place with 11.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 1
The Squat Lift was next, and Johannes Arsjo was determined to set a good score. However, his quadriceps gave way after three reps, which forced him to pull out of the contest. Belsak then got to five, but Licis squatted his way to seven reps and the win, celebrating with the weight still on his back. Only four men took part in the Dumbbell Press, and Belsak attacked that one. The Slovenian powerhouse managed 10 repetitions, while Licis got six. Belsak's mark set a World's Strongest Man record with a 100 kg dumbbell. The Atlas Stones did not matter much, but Licis put on a show for the fans by getting all five stones up. The American rookie won the heat overall, with Belsak taking second. Both men advanced to their first career final.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 2
Heat 2 featured a favorite for the title, Eddie Hall, as well as 2010 finalist Nick Best. Grzegorz Szymanski and Adam Bishop tried to make their first final, while Jon Olav Granli and Jon Lane were rookies. Lane, originally a reserve, had stepped up to replace Frank Okalome of Nigeria.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 2
The heat started with a disaster for Eddie Hall, who dislocated two fingers while training for the Barrel Loading Race. The organizers decided to make the men of Heat 2 load sacks instead, but it didn't help the Englishman that much. He could only get 4th place, while Szymanski edged out Bishop by 0.15 seconds for the win. The Truck Pull saw another close result, with Hall beating Szymanski by less than a second. Nick Best grabbed another third place in that event. The Keg Toss for height followed, and Hall struggled early, settling with a tie with Best. Both men got 6 meters. Bishop and Szymanski, meanwhile, matched each other throw for throw, and opted to tie after both clearing 7 meters. Szymanski's consistency gave him the lead halfway in, with 16.5 points. Bishop and Hall were tied with 12.5, while Best wasn't far back with 11.5 points.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 2
Next up was the Deadlift for reps. Nick Best, finally putting his back problems to rest, managed a solid 12 reps while Szymanski got nine. Jon Lane powered up and pulled an impressive six reps. The two Brits then went against each other, and Eddie Hall knew what he had to do. He stayed one rep ahead of his compatriot, edging out Bishop 13 reps to 12. In the Viking Press, Jon Olav Granli finally broke through by getting six reps. He beat Szymanski (five), Bishop (three), Best (two), and Lane (none). However, that was no match for Eddie Hall's shoulder power, The Beast getting the weight overhead nine times.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 2
These results meant that after five events, Hall was ahead of Szymanski by one point. Bishop was 3.5 points back of the Pole, with Best 5.5 points behind him. Bishop thus needed to beat Szymanski by two places in the Atlas Stones (worth double points), while Best needed to beat the Pole by three spots. This plan did not materialize for the man from Nevada, as Bishop got four stones up in 29.85 seconds. Unfortunately, number five fell just short for him. Eddie Hall destroyed the first four stones, getting the event win, while Szymanski paced himself for number four. The Polish contender stopped the clock at 33.78 for four, keeping him ahead of Bishop. This was a third final for Hall, and a first for Szymanski.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 3
Heat 3 featured four rookie competitors, along with two veterans. These two, Hafthor Bjornsson of Iceland and Terry Hollands of Great Britain, had combined for 14 final appearances and six podiums before arriving in Botswana. They were thus the favorites to make it out of the heat. An interesting fact is that all of the athletes in the group were 196 cm (6 ft 5 in) or more in height, the shortest man being Colm Woulfe.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 3
The first event, the Loading Race, saw Bjornsson win easily, finishing 26 seconds faster than his closest rival, Derek DeVaughan. The American beat Johnny Hansson of Sweden by 5 seconds, while Terry Hollands, battling an illness, finished in 4th place. In the next event, Fingal's Fingers, Hansson scored well again, finishing all five cylinders in 50.52 seconds. This performance put pressure on Bjornsson, but the Mountain delivered, completing the course in 44.15 seconds for the win. Konstantine Janashia was fastest on four fingers for 3rd place, with Hollands 4th again. The third discipline was the Keg Toss for max height.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 3
Derek DeVaughan failed early, while Colm Woulfe's strong 6.5 meters only gave him 5th spot. Hollands just cleared 6.75 meters to tie for second spot with rookies Janashia and Hansson, but Thor was yet again unstoppable. His throw on the 7m bar cleared by a mile, and he went for his own world record, which he broke by setting a mark of 7.15 meters. After three events, Bjornsson had a perfect score of 18 points, with Johnny Hansson second with 13. Terry Hollands, surprisingly, was down in a tie for third with Konstantine Janashia, both men having 10 points.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 3
Event 4 was the Car Deadlift, and this is where it all unraveled for Johnny Hansson, the Swede only getting two reps. The Mountain stopped at six, knowing it would be enough for good points, but the real story was the duel between Janashia and Hollands. The Georgian Bull cranked out the early lifts fast, and stayed one rep ahead of the Englishman all the way to get the event win, 10 reps to 9. All of a sudden, Janashia was now in a position to make the final. He had 16 points, while Hollands had 15 and Hansson 14.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 3
The Dumbbell Press was the penultimate event. In this one, Colm Woulfe and Derek DeVaughan tied on four reps in the first pairing. Next up were Janashia and Hollands, with the latter needing a big result to put pressure on the rookie from Georgia. However, the opposite materialized: Hollands struggled and finished with three lifts, while Janashia was solid and managed five reps to take the lead. The last two men were the Scandinavians. Hansson, perhaps affected by the heat of Botswana, did not get a lift, but Bjornsson was solid as always and got the six repetitions he needed for the win. Therefore, heading into the final event, Bjornsson had 28 points, Janashia sat in second with 21 and Hollands had 17.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 3
The Atlas Stones, worth double points, again determined who made it to the final. While all Hafthor Bjornsson needed to qualify was to put one stone up, Terry Hollands had to beat Konstantine Janashia and hope that someone snuck in between him and the Georgian. Derek DeVaughan and Colm Woulfe each got three stones up, which took us to Hollands and Janashia. The two of them stayed neck-and-neck through the first four stones, the Brit getting it 24.84 seconds against 25.36 for the Georgian.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 3
The latter was first to commit on number five, but dropped the ball after almost getting it up. Hollands also came close but failed on stone five, meaning he would need someone to lift four stones in between 24.84 and 25.36 seconds. The odds of that happening were very slim, and it did not happen. Bjornsson completed five in 24.15 seconds, while Hansson got four stones in just under 38 seconds. This meant that Bjornsson, of course, qualified, while Konstantine Janashia created one of the biggest upsets in World's Strongest Man history by beating Terry Hollands, a nine-time finalist, in the heats.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 4
Heat 4 had two clear favorites to make the final. Laurence Shahlaei, freshly crowned Europe's Strongest Man, was one of them, and so was Jean-François Caron of Canada, a three-time finalist. Four rookies made up the rest of the heat; Mikhail Shivlyakov, a 2015 finalist, was supposed to be there but pulled out and was replaced by Stan Carradine.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 4
In the Loading Race, Shahlaei struggled and finished all the way down in 5th, while Caron was the only man to complete the event. Ari Gunnarsson of Iceland took second place. The Hercules Hold, a classic test of grip strength, saw Carradine set the early pace by posting a time of 41.68 seconds. Shahlaei then beat the American by a second, but Caron had the advantage of going last. The French Canadian knew what he had to beat, and did just that, holding on for 44 seconds and the win. The Truck Pull was up next, and Shahlaei finally showed what he was capable of, setting a time of 41.66, while Caron could only produce a 43.60. After three events, it was JF Caron on top with 17 points, Shahlaei second with 13, with Bryan Benzel in third with 10.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 4
It was then on to the Squat Lift, and neither of the first four men to go made an impression as Ari Gunnarsson took the lead with three reps. Caron and Shahlaei decided to settle for the tie and 5.5 points each, both of them getting four easy reps before stopping. Event 5, the Dumbbell Press, was a real struggle for the Englishman in the group, as he could only manage two reps. That gave him last place, while Mikkel Leicht battled through his quadriceps injury to win the event with 8 reps. Gunnarsson was second, with 6.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 4
This meant that the Icelander was right back in the hunt, and the battle for second place in the heat would come down to the Atlas Stones. However, Gunnarsson's inexperience cost him in that event and he could only get three stones up, while Shahlaei lifted four in a fast time to win the event ahead of Caron. The two veterans therefore made it into the final yet again.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 5
Heat 5 featured the defending World's Strongest Man, Brian Shaw, squaring up against five men who had never made the final. Eben Le Roux and Gerhard Van Staden were veterans of the competition, while Mateusz Kieliszkowski, Charlie Gough and Johan Els were rookies. Els appeared as a replacement to Benedikt Magnusson of Iceland, who had suffered an infection to an insect bite.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 5
Up first was the Loading Race, where Johan Els raced out to a lead, surprising many by running with all four sacks and posting a time of 47.27 seconds. The next heat, however, saw Mateusz Kieliszkowski of Poland sprinting away and finishing at 37.02, while Shaw was 3rd in 48.06. Els performed well again in the Bus Pull, finishing just behind his compatriot Van Staden, but Shaw set a time of 41 seconds to send a message to the rest of the heat.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 5
Kieliszkowski was not too impressed by that time, as he stopped the clock at 42.16 despite a stumble. In the Keg Toss for height, Kieliszkowski tied with the South Africans on 6.75 meters, while Shaw cleared the bar easily at 7 meters. The American then went for Bjornsson's record of 7.15, set in Heat 3, and shattered it by throwing his keg over the 7.25-meter bar. After 3 events, Shaw led with 16 points, Kieliszkowski was one point back in second place, and Els was in third with 12 points, a point ahead of his compatriot Van Staden.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Heat Results, Heat 5
The Car Deadlift was a struggle for Els, who only got two reps. Kieliszkowski, suffering from back problems, managed five, while Van Staden and Gough tied with seven reps. Brian Shaw got 10 very easy lifts in less than 30 seconds, before stopping to save energy. In the Viking Press, Els struggled again while Van Staden set a solid mark of six repetitions to beat. The two leaders did not let that affect them, Kieliszkowski and Shaw blasting their way to nine reps each to tie for the win. In the Atlas Stones, the South Africans failed to get the fourth stone up, which meant that the leaders had no pressure. Shaw lifted four fast, while Kieliszkowski was a bit slower, but both men moved on to the final in strong fashion.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results
The final was held at the Cultural Village in Botswana, with the following events.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results
The final featured five first-time finalists, including three World's Strongest Man rookies, a number not seen since the days of the IFSA split in the mid-2000s. Two Americans, two Brits, two Poles, an Icelander, a Canadian, a Slovenian and a Georgian made up the field. Poland had not had a finalist in four years, while it was a first representation of Slovenia and Georgia in the World's Strongest Man final.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results, Event 1: Frame Carry
In the first event, the Frame Carry, Laurence Shahlaei sprinted out to an early lead in the first heat but injured his calf on the way back. He was be able to complete the course, and his competition was already over. That gave Mateusz Kieliszkowski a clear path to the win, the young Pole setting an incredible time of 17.69 seconds. Konstantine Janashia, another rookie in the final, was five seconds slower in second, while Brian Shaw grabbed 8 points for third. Hafthor Bjornsson's grip failed him, and he finished in 5th place. Another favorite for the title, Eddie Hall, was battling two dislocated fingers and could not hold the weight. He had to settle for last place.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results, Event 2: Circus Barbell Press
The second event was a test of overhead pressing power. The nine athletes had to press a 163 kg circus barbell for reps in 75 seconds. Konstantine Janashia and Martins Licis stole the show early, with the Georgian Bull getting seven reps to Licis' six. The next pairing featured Kieliszkowski and Shaw. The Polish rookie struggled with the wobbly bar and got five reps, while Shaw was only able to tie Janashia's mark. That proved crucial, as Bjornsson and Hall attacked the bar and both got eight repetitions, thus tying for the win. This meant that the man from Georgia lead after two events with 16.5 points, while Shaw and Bjornsson were tied on 15.5. Kieliszkowski was 4th with 15 points.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results, Event 3: Max Deadlift
The final event on day one was the Max Deadlift. Everyone cleared the opening weight of 375 kg, but both Poles failed to get 400 kg. Licis and Matjaz Belsak had to settle for 400 kg, while five men locked out successfully on 420 kg. The next weight, 435 kg, was cleared by Jean-François Caron for a new Canadian record, with Hall and Shaw getting it too. Janashia and Bjornsson were not able to get the lift. 445 kg followed, and Caron failed it despite getting it to his knees.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results, Event 3: Max Deadlift
Hall and Shaw were successful again, and they settled for the tie to save energy for day two. At the halfway point, it was defending champion Brian Shaw leading with 25 points, two ahead of Janashia and three ahead of Bjornsson. Eddie Hall now found himself back in the hunt, with 20 points in 4th place.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results, Event 4: Plane Pull
Day two started with the brutal Plane Pull. This was supposed to be a timed event to see who could finish the 25 meter course fastest, but it became apparent that distance would be key after the first five athletes failed to get to the finish, Belsak leading with 23.55 meters. Eddie Hall then went, and his huge body weight helped him get to a distance of 24.45 meters. Konstantine Janashia didn't quite manage that, but he did edge out Belsak.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results, Event 4: Plane Pull
Hafthor Bjornsson, having lost the pulling events in 2014 and 2015, drove very hard and fought for every inch, taking the lead with a distance of 24.90 meters. Brian Shaw, going last, had a good pace but stumbled with a few meters to go, and couldn't find his rhythm again. His distance of 24.53 meters gave him second place. The win gave Bjornsson a fighting chance, as he was now trailing Shaw by only two points. Janashia was two points behind the Viking, with Hall two points behind Janashia for third. The scores were 34 for Shaw, 32 for Thor, 30 for the Georgian Bull, and 28 for Hall.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results, Event 5: Kettle Bell Throw
The penultimate event was the Kettlebell Throw, a tough explosive event where athletes were timed for each kettlebell they got over a 15'7 bar. JF Caron got things going by getting 5 over in 31.88 seconds. Martins Licis really struggled and did not get a good throw, giving him no points in that event. It was Eddie Hall next, and the Englishman took his time to make sure each throw counted. Despite making a few mistakes along the way, The Beast managed 5 in 56.92 seconds.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results, Event 5: Kettle Bell Throw
Konstantine Janashia was quick on the first few, but just cleared the fourth and then got the crowd going for number five. The time spent doing so proved costly for the Georgian, who was a few seconds slower than Hall for five bells. Hafthor Bjornsson won the throwing event in the 2014 final, and was a favorite heading into this one. The first five cleared in just under 17 seconds for the Icelander, but his need for speed cost him dearly on the sixth. Thor didn't get the right launch angle and missed, which broke his rhythm.


2016 World's Strongest Man, Finals Events Results, Event 5: Kettle Bell Throw
He had to take two more attempts to get it, and then lacked the necessary energy for the seventh. His score was of 6 in 40.22. Brian Shaw then knew what he had to beat, and was much more sensible in his throws. The man from Colorado paced himself well, clearing the sixth in 34.97 seconds, before trying the seventh for the roaring crowd but not quite getting it. Still, this meant Shaw now had a three-point lead heading into the stones, while the battle for third was a one-point affair between Janashia and Hall.