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EGNA, Italy -- Carolina Kostner is coming full circle.The Italian has returned to her native Alto Adige region to climb back to the elite level of international figure skating after a nearly three-year absence due to a suspension for helping her then-boyfriend evade doping controls.While the hometown fans gave her a heroines welcome during the Italian championships this week, Kostner was nowhere near her top form of 2014, when she won the bronze medal at the Sochi Winter Olympics with a near flawless free skate.But if anyone can raise her back to Olympic levels, it is Alexei Mishin, the Russian coach who trained Alexei Urmanov, Alexei Yagudin, and Yevgeny Plushenko to greatness.Kostner has been training with Mishin full-time in St. Petersburg since Sept. 1.When she came to me, she was destroyed, Mishin said after Kostner claimed her eighth Italian title on Thursday.He said his first mission, after her long absence from competition, was to give her confidence that she is able to complete. And step by step, I think we did. His second task has been to radically shake up her approach to the elements. Mishins skaters dont learn by repetition, a common approach to vanquish errors and create muscle memory. Instead, Mishin assigns them a set of exercises for each jump to create the proper technique.The program, call it creative destruction, is nothing less than grueling, Kostner acknowledged.He has revealed an interesting but not so simple method that has provoked many moments of frustration, some cursing, many falls, and many moments of uncertainty, Kostner said.She said she felt like she has been learning all over again.In some ways, I feel like a 14-year-old who is learning, almost from zero. It is not from zero, it is only a change in perception, which often in life isnt bad.Kostners last competitive season in 2014 was by far her finest. She won the Olympic bronze with a career-best 142.61 points in the free skate after landing eight triples, three in combination, to a fluidly choreographed Bolero. She followed that with a best-ever short program at the world championships in Saitama, Japan, where she finished third.She always planned to take off at least part of the 2015 season to rest, but the suspension turned that into two full years. She called it a period of maturation when addressing reporters after reaching a deal last year to return to competition. She exuded a newfound tranquility, along with a determination to get back into competition, sights set on the 2018 Winter Games.During the break, Kostner kept up exhibition skating, and she started training with a dance company in Rome to enhance her expression. But she was missing critical ice hours working on top-level elements.Fast forward 2 1/2 seasons, and her level of difficulty has clearly diminished.In her final free program before an adoring hometown crowd, the former world champion skipped a simple triple toe loop jump in combination. As she came off the ice, Mishin gave her a quizzical look and pointed to his head, as if to say, What happened?The error was surprising, but Mishin played it down.We did not plan to be perfect right now, he said.He huddled backstage after the nationals with Lori Nichols, Kostners longtime choregrapher, telling her that they needed to add more difficulty to the program to be competitive.Kostners next challenge will be the Europeans in Ostrava, Czech Republic, at the end of January. Depending on the outcome, the Italian federation will make a final decision on whether Kostner will get Italys single worlds berth, which last year went to Roberta Rodeghiero, who finished 16th.Kostner is spending two weeks at home in Alto Adige with her family, at least part of that time she will be working huddled with Nichol to add difficulty to the program according to Mishins prescription.Mishin is confident in Kostners ability, saying Carolina is one of the most precise and serious pupils which I ever had.The multilingual Kostner likened Mishins technique to learning to converse in a new language. The experience has been nothing if not humbling.Slowly, slowly, I am managing to put into practice what he is teaching me. I still have a lot to learn, and that is wonderful because two years ago, I thought I had learned everything in my sport. Instead, every day I am aware there is a whole new world. 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Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. To be the fastest is a compelling human desire. Whatever the pursuit - physical or technological - we push to do it, surpass it, then do it again in a never-ending quest. The Olympics are a timely reminder of exactly this, and the obsessive commitment it requires.Cricket is no different. Cast your mind back to the contest between Brett Lee and Shoaib Ahktar at the turn of the last century to pass the 100mph barrier. It was close to the most tantalising match-race in the modern game. The energy was comparable a couple of generations earlier when Jeff Thomson was hitting similarly high notes. From Spofforth to Larwood to Tyson to Holding to Tait, theres an abiding romance about the very fastest.So heres another name for you: Shabnim Ismail. She talks fast. She likes fast cars. She probably eats fast. And she bowls fast. Faster than any woman in the world, if you ask her. And if you dont, its likely shell tell you anyway.The spirited South African spoke to ESPNcricinfo while in England as one of Yorkshire Diamonds overseas players in the inaugural Kia Super League.It was during her brief cameo with Melbourne Renegades in the Womens Big Bash League in January that she was clocked - at the MCG no less - at 128kph (79mph). That number means a lot to her. It is the evidence on which she bases her claim to the mantle of the quickest.It was always something I wanted to do, she says. Now that I bowl 128, it is a huge honour because no one would expect me to come up there and bowl gas.Why wouldnt they expect it? Its because shes small. Tiny, even: 165cm tall in modern parlance, or about 53 in the old money. To be honest, Im not sure how that happens, Ismail laughs, reflecting on the disconnect between her stature and the speed gun.They told me before I came here, the only job they had for me was to bowl fast and take wickets. Thats all I needed to do. Im quite happy doing that.She speaks of how the first wicket feels - how it puts subsequent batsmen on the back foot before theyve so much as taken guard. Its a compulsion that was born of watching former South Africa quick Andre Nel in her formative years.His aggression was crazy and I looked up to him, she reflects. Its why the number she wears on her shirt is 89: Nels. His passion for the game was just enormous, and it makes my day to see youngsters coming through the system being aggressive. It motivates me to go out there, show them that this is how it is done.At Diamonds she shared new-ball duties with Katherine Brunt, the only bowler in the womens game who could contest Ismails tag as worlds fastest. It all just adds to the fun for Ismail. Once I knew I was going to open the bowling with Brunty, I was really excited about two fiery people coming from either side - the batters must be shitting themselves!But in womens cricket you need to have more than rapid pace and a refreshing d