Monthly Archives: February 2014

Alpine Skiing, FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup

Seven Americans to Compete in Downhill at FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup Stop in Kvitfjell

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It’s going to be a busy few days for the downhill skiers in Kvitfjell, Norway as they will race separate events on Friday and Saturday (one is to make up for a cancelled event last month) at this stop of the World Cup. Seven Americans are in the field for this one including Travis Ganong who finished fifth in the downhill at the Olympics.

The other Americans are Bode Miller (eight at the Olympics), Steven Nyman (27th at the Olympics), Marco Sullivan (30th at the Olympics), Erik Fisher, Jared Goldberg (15th in the downhill portion of the combined at the Olympics), and finally Andrew Weibrecht (20th in the downhill portion of the combined at the Olympics and the silver medalist in the super-g).

Things get underway at a very early hour on Friday and I’ll have coverage of the results later in the day on Friday.

Schedule:

  • 5:45 AM – Downhill
    • Marco Sullivan
    • Steven Nyman
    • Travis Ganong
    • Bode Miller
    • Erik Fisher
    • Jared Goldberg
    • Andrew Weibrecht
FIS Nordic Combined World Cup, Nordic Combined

Bryan Fletcher Advances to Compete in FIS Nordic Combined World Cup Event in Lahti

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The field of 62 at the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup event in Lahti, Finland was narrowed from 62 to 50 today with four Americans vying to make the cut. Only one, Bryan Fletcher, was successful while brother Taylor Fletcher came very close to qualifying in 56th place. Nick Hendrickson and Adam Loomis rounded out the field in 61st and 62nd.

Bryan jumped a strong 106.5m and had a good judges score as well to easily qualify, a margin of around 15 points over the final qualifier. Taylor’s jump was a little too short as he was just meters short of qualifying. The main event begins on Friday with the jumping round followed by a 10km cross-country round.
Lahti - Qualification Round

Schedule:

  • 8 AM – Ski Jumping Round
    • Bryan Fletcher
  • 10 AM – Cross-Country 10km Round
    • Bryan Fletcher
Archery, World Championships

Four American Individuals and Two American Teams Into Semifinals at World Archery Indoor Championships

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Previous World Archery Indoor Championship Coverage

The elimination rounds began with nine Americans in three individual events and four teams still in the running. After narrowing every competition down the final four there are still Americans in three individual events, including one with a potential all-American final, and two teams still in the running. All of the semifinals will take place on Friday so we’ll know who is playing for a World Championship pretty soon.

Men’s Compound

Jesse Broadwater and Braden Gellenthien were the top two seeds for the elimination rounds but only one will be in the semifinals. American Reo Wilde who was the “other American” in the ranking round knocked off Gellenthien in the quarterfinals to end Thursday so there are still two Americans alive and both Wilde and Broadwater are opposite sides of the bracket so they can set up an all-American final if they both win today.

Compound Men Individual - Elimination Rounds - 2-28-14

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In the team event the US had a bye into the quarterfinals and then put away Great Britain 238-233 to advance to the semifinals on Friday where they will take on #4 Sweden. With the three American men yet to be beat head-to-head by anyone from another country this week the expectations will be high for a potential double gold for Broadwater or Wilde.

Compound Men Team - Elimination Rounds - 2-28-14

Continue reading Four American Individuals and Two American Teams Into Semifinals at World Archery Indoor Championships →

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, Ski Jumping

Nick Alexander Finishes 45th at Ski Jumping World Cup Event in Falun

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Previous FIS Ski Jumping World Cup Coverage

Nick Alexander wasn’t able to duplicated his jump from Tuesday and finished 45th at the World Cup event in Falun. Alexander did go father than he had in the qualification round but that was due to a wind change that was now at his back. He was a large 16 point gap behind the 30th place jumper, the last to make the final round.

FIS World Cup - 2013-14 - Falun - First Round

The next FIS Ski Jumping World Cup event is in Lahti, Finland starting on Friday. I presume that some Americans will be in the field but I have yet to see a start list of who exactly will be there. I’ll have further coverage when I know more.

Figure Skating, Olympics, Recaps, Sochi 2014

Sochi Figure Skating Recap – A Gold For The US, but a Down Year for Singles

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The US won two medals in Sochi but it was certainly a disappointing Olympics still as the men weren’t in contention for a medal and the team wasn’t close enough to silver to make the end of the team event interesting. There were disappointing performances in a few events but also some bright moments as well with the first gold in ice dancing and a strong showing by some young women in the ladies’ singles.

Men’s Singles

Mens Singles

In the men’s competition we didn’t necessarily expect the US to be a strong medal contender but we certainly hoped for a better result than we got. The best finisher for the US was Jason Brown, but he finished just 9th in the competition. It was the first time since 1936(!!) that the US didn’t have a finisher in the top six. Brown is young enough that he may be the leading man in 2018 and hopefully if he is he’ll be able to finish a little higher. The US isn’t used to being out of the medal race like this.

Mens Singles Yearly Best

Continue reading Sochi Figure Skating Recap – A Gold For The US, but a Down Year for Singles →

ATP Tour, Tennis

All Four Americans Done at Mexican Open, Just Doubles Players Remain

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Mexican Open (ATP)

Previous Mexican Open Coverage

Two Americans were left in the single’s draw going into Wednesday’s play at the Mexican Open, but neither survived long against seeded players. Donald Young took on #6 Gilles Simon and lost 6-4, 6-3 in a match where serve was held just 10 times in 19 games. Young was broke six times though to three for Simon so he came out the loser. Sam Querrey put up a real battle against #5 Kevin Anderson, there was only one break in the two sets played, but still lost 7-6 (2), 6-4.

That’s the end of singles play for the Americans in Acapulco. We’ll have more coverage of men’s singles very soon with the BNP Paribas Open starting on Monday.

Mexican Open - Singles - 2-27-14
In doubles action. Eric Butorac and South African Raven Klaasen didn’t even have to take the court as Jeremy Chardy and Gilles Simon retired due to a Chardy injury. The other American, Scott Lipsky, teamed up with Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico, took out #2 Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 6-4, 4-6, 10-5. This was a very even match with Lipsky/Gonzalez winning just three more overall points. In the next round Butorac/Klaasen take on Kevin Anderson/Matthew Ebden while Lipsky/Gonazlez take on the all Mexican-team of Cesar Ramirez/Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela.

Both are first time meetings and in both the team featuring the Americans would seem to be favored. If they do both advance they would meet in the semifinals on Friday.

Mexican Open - Doubles - 2-27-14

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Schedule

  • Approx. 6 PM – Scott Lipsky/Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) vs. Cesar Ramirez/Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela
  • Approx. 10 PM – #4 Eric Butorac/Raven Klaasen (South Africa) vs. Kevin Anderson/Matthew Ebden
Archery, World Championships

Erika Jones Sets New World Record as 9 of 12 Americans Advance at World Archery Indoor Championships

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Previous World Archery Indoor Championship Coverage

There were 12 athletes in competition for the US but there was no doubt the headline maker was Erika Jones. The 25-year old compound archer broke the world record by two points scoring a 595 (out of a possible 600) in her ranking round. She has three team gold medals at the World Championships and an individual gold at the World Games last year, but still is searching for the individual world championship she is quite capable of winning. We’ll see if breaking the 13-year old record is a sign of how strong she’ll be in the knockout round beginning tomorrow where she will be the #1 seed.

A busy day is ahead on Thursday. We start the day with 32 alive in each of the individual competitions. Those will all be narrowed to four as will the team competitions that begin with between eight and 16 teams a piece. The rest of the World Championships is at a bit of a slower pace, but which Americans will get to take part in that?

Men’s Compound

World Archery Indoor Championships - Compound Men Individual - Ranking RoundJesse Broadwater and Braden Gellenthien, led the way with 598s to take the top two spots in the elimination rounds. American Reo Wilde had a good day as well shooting a 594 to get seeded 10th. All three will start competition on Thursday in the round of 32 with the field being narrowed down to just four by the end of the day. Gellenthien and Wilde would meet today in the quarterfinals if both win their first two matches.

World Archery Indoor Championships - Compound Men Individual - Elimination Rounds - 2-27-14

World Archery Indoor Championships - Compound Men Team - Ranking Round

On the team side the US had a good day and topped the Dutch by four points for top spot. They have earned a bye for the round of 16 but will have to beat a team in the quarterfinals on Thursday to advance to Friday’s semifinal.

World Archery Indoor Championships - Compound Men Team - Elimination Rounds - 2-27-14

Continue reading Erika Jones Sets New World Record as 9 of 12 Americans Advance at World Archery Indoor Championships →

Cycling, World Championships

UCI Track Cycling World Championships Set to Begin in Cali, Colombia

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The UCI Track Cycling World Championships begin on Wednesday evening in Cali, Colombia with seven women and one man set to represent the US. The first American to get underway will be Jennifer Valente. Valente will take part in the women’s scratch 10km race on Wednesday evening. The scratch race is the simplest race in the World Champions to explain. It starts with all of the competitors together at the start and the first one across the line wins. Just your basic race. Valente is just 19 and won the Junior World Championship scratch race in 2011.

We’ll have coverage of the results of Valente’s event tomorrow along with information about tomorrow’s women’s team pursuit event.

Schedule:

  • 7:40-8 PM – Women’s Scratch 10km
    • Jennifer Valente
ATP Tour, Tennis

John Isner Upset at Mexican Open, Donald Young Into Second Round

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Mexican Open (ATP)

Previous Mexican Open Coverage

The top American in the Mexican Open, #3 seed John Isner started his tournament on Monday vs.  Ivo Karlovic. To say he played poorly wouldn’t be accurate, he won 74% of his service points. The problem is, as can happen with Isner, that this game turned into a “I can’t break you but you can’t break me” deadlock. Both men were only broken once, in the first set, and Karlovic won an even higher 86% of his service points, with Isner only winning 11 points off him all night. On a side note managing to break once while only winning 11 points off your opponents serve in 12 service games is kind of amazing. Lots of 40-0 games I imagine…

Anyways this match went to tiebreakers in both of the first two sets and in those small sample sizes Karlovic was better, winning the match 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5). Isner has not had the greatest start to 2013 and it will be interesting to see how he does next month with the two big tournaments back in the US looming.

In other action on Tuesday Tim Smyczek looked out of his league against Gilles Simon as he lost 6-1, 6-2 and was broke four times in seven service games. Donald Young, who Smyczek had originally knocked out of the event in qualifying, will get his shot at Simon on Wednesday after beating Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-3. Young is 0-4 against Simon with their last meeting a 6-2, 7-5 win in Rome last year in the round of 64.

Wednesday means the return of Sam Querrey to action with a second round matchup with #5 Kevin Anderson. Querrey holds a 6-3 all-time edge in the matchup with the two splitting four matchups last season. Querrey won the last meeting, a 6-4, 6-4 decision in the quarterfinals in Washington D.C.

Mexican Open - Singles - 2-26-14
Things get underway in the doubles draw for two Americans on Tuesday as well. Eric Butorac is teamed up with South African Raven Klaasen and they’ll take on Jeremy Chardy and Gilles Simon in the first round. The teams have never met in doubles play. The other American in the draw is Scott Lipsky who is teamed up with Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and is taking on #2 Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. These teams have never met as well.

Mexican Open - Doubles - 2-26-14

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Schedule

  • 5 PM – Sam Querrey vs. #5 Kevin Anderson – Querrey leads 6-3 all-time
  • 5 PM – Donald Young vs. #6 Gilles Simon – Simon leads 4-0 all-time
  • Approx. 9 PM – Eric Butorac/Raven Klaasen (South Africa) vs. Jeremy Chardy/Gilles Simon – First ever meeting
  • Approx. 1 AM Thursday – Scott Lipsky/Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) vs. Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau – First ever meeting
Olympics, Recaps, Ski Jumping, Sochi 2014

Sochi Ski Jumping Recap – US Women Provide Hope For Future

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The US men have not really been a factor in the ski jumping competitions in the Olympics in a long time (just once since 1992 has the US had a top 25 finisher in an event). So with the debut of women’s ski jumping this year it was a chance to see the potential for that new event, and for the US that might be where the success comes from in the future. Two US competitors were in the top 15 and the one who didn’t, Sarah Hendrickson, was the World Champion last year at 18 but suffered a knee injury that hurt her Olympic chances.

Men’s Normal Hill

Ski Jumping - Mens Normal Hill

The US did advance three of their four jumpers to the first round on the normal hill but none were able to place higher than 34th there, missing out on the top 30 who advance to the final round. Nick Alexander was the best for the US in the event with a first round score of 116.0. Alexander’s 34th place finish was an improvement on his result from 2010 and the best for the US since 2002.

Ski Jumping - Mens Normal Hill Yearly Best

Continue reading Sochi Ski Jumping Recap – US Women Provide Hope For Future →