Five more medals for the US on Friday pushed them to 105 total, passing their London total and now within five of their total from Beijing. The US medal winning was diverse with golds in a track relay, BMX, and water polo including great stories in track and BMX of gold medalists who thought their Olympic dreams might have been over.
Thursday was all about the track and field for the US where they won six medals including a 1-2 shot put finish and a 1-3 women’s 400m hurdles finish. The US also had Ashton Eaton claim the “World’s Greatest Athlete” title for the second straight Olympics and had their first ever women’s wrestling gold medalist in a huge upset.
A nine medal haul on Wednesday that had only two golds but five performances that were better than any non-Americans in the field as the US went 1-2 in women’s long jump and the women’s 100m hurdles. There was also the best US finish in the men’s 3000m steeplechase in 64 years and the US continue their streak of taking a beach volleyball in every Olympics it’s been contested at.
The US got back atop the medal stand Tuesday with two golds on a day where the US had an impressive four medal in gymnastics and went 1-2 in both the events they won gold. There was also the first sailing medal for the US since Beijing and the first EVER women’s 1500m medal in the 44 year history of the event for the US. The women’s basketball and volleyball teams also advanced but there was an upset in beach volleyball.
Corben Sharrah is on the US Olympic Team after winning the BMX Trials on Saturday in Chula Vista, California. Sharrah held off seven competitors throughout the afternoon as the field was narrowed to six for a winner-take-the-ticket-to-Rio final. Sharrah won that final to grab the Olympic spot with Barry Nobles a surprise second. For a full recap of the day’s racing see this great recap from Jason Mcguire.
Sharrah joins Nicholas Long on the Olympic team with one more spot to be determined by a selection committee. Long secured his spot with a third place finish at the world championship last month.
Eight riders will compete in the US Olympic BMX Trials on Saturday competing for a spot in the Rio games. One of the riders will be selected from a last chance qualifier on Friday while the other seven are already set. The biggest name in the field is Corben Sharrah who won the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup event in Santiago earlier this year and reached the final in Manchester. But Sharrah was eliminated in the quarterfinals in Papendal and the semifinals at the world championships so winning here is anything but certain.
Other riders who have reached a quarterfinal or better in the BMX Supercross World Cup this year are Jeffrey Upshaw (one semifinal and one quarterfinal), David Herman (a quarterfinal in Manchester), and Tanner Sebesta (a quarterfinalist at the world championships.
For the second straight day Nicholas Long and Alise Post both finished in the same place at the UCI BMX World Championships in Medellin, Colombia. Thankfully on Sunday that place was third and not fourth as they grabbed medals. Long didn’t come close to moving up the standings in this race, finishing over a second and a half behind the second place rider while Post was a half a second behind silver in the women’s race. The third place finishes were season best marks for the two Americans who have been consistent finalists but yet to medal.
Post and Long were the only two Americans to reach the finals though Corben Sharrah and Felicia Stancil both were eliminated in the semifinals after crashes knocked them behind the pack. Additional quarter finalists from the US were Tanner Sebesta and Danielle George.
The top riders return to the UCI BMK Supercross World Cup way after the Olympics when the next event is held in Rock Hill, South Carolina from September 29th to October 1st. In the meantime the US riders will have the BMX Olympic Trials on June 11th in Chula Vista, California.
Previous UCI BMX World Championship Coverage:
Preview
Saturday Update
Both Nicholas Long and Alise Post came within a second of medaling in the time trial at the UCI BMX World Championships in Medellin, Colombia on Saturday night but both ended up in fourth place. Long’s margin of defeat was an incredible .081 seconds behind bronze and just .323 seconds from a world title. Long was one of two US riders to reach the final as Corben Sharrah finished ninth, though within a second of the world title.
Post was 0.307 seconds behind the bronze, an eternity compared to Post’s margin, but was over a second faster than fifth place as the leaders really showed their talent. Felicia Stancil was the second US woman in the final and finished 11th.
Sunday will be the World Championship Races with men’s and women’s competitions working their way through motos, 1/8 finals, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.
Previous UCI BMX World Championship Coverage:
Preview
The UCI BMX World Championships take place in Medellin, Colombia this week and begin with a time trial world championship tonight. Six US men and three US women will be competing for the world title. The top contenders for the US are Corben Sharrah, Nicholas Long, and Jeffrey Upshaw on the men’s side and Alise Post and Danielle George on the women’s side. There will be a qualifying round followed by a final.
Nine of the 32 finalists between the men’s and women’s events in Santiago and Manchester were Americans. That trend didn’t continue in Papendal where none of the 16 finalists were American and on the men’s side no one advanced past the quarterfinals. Nicholas Long was the first shocking departure as he was in position to overcome a DNF in his first run of the motos but suffered a DNF in his third run as well and missed out on advancing. Only Corben Sharrah and Jeffrey Upshaw advanced to the quarterfinals, both with strong moto finishes. Upshaw ended up off the pace in his heat and was more than seven seconds behind the qualifiers in seventh place. Sharrah was a lot closer to qualifying as he was in fifth in his heat and just 0.092 seconds behind the fourth place rider. His time was also fast enough to qualify him in any of the other heats and would have won one of the heats.
On the women’s side Alise Post and Brooke Crain went 1-2 in the same heat of the quarterfinals while Shealen Reno was off the pace in two of her three runs and eliminated. Post had a crash in her semifinal run and finished sixth but Crain was beaten to the line by 0.05 seconds to finish fifth in her heat in a time that would have been second in the other semifinal.
So perhaps some tough breaks that helped keep the US from sending anyone to the finals in Papendal. The next event on the BMX calendar is the World Championships in Medellin, Colombia May 28th and 29th.
Previous BMX Supercross World Cup:
Papendal Preview
Day 1 Update