A big medal haul of 11 on Saturday including five more golds, including a surprising track win, brought the US to 114 total, their best Olympics since Los Angeles in 1984 (174) and third all time behind 1904 St. Louis as well (239). Those two Olympics are very unique and will probably never be surpassed so the US total in Rio is noteworthy. The 43 golds the US has in Rio are within striking distance of Beijing’s 46 for second most all-time behind 1984 and 1904. The US should take gold in men’s basketball and women’s boxing on Sunday but the question is if they can find one more gold to take home from Rio in perhaps the marathon or wrestling.
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.
Lucas Schrimsher and Samantha Achterberg were as competitive as any US athletes at the UIPM World Championship when they competed in the mixed relay to wrap up the event on Sunday. Finishing 14th of 23 the Americans were respectable to end what had been a tough competition for the US athletes. Things didn’t start off great as they were 22nd in fencing and left themselves a large deficit to overcome. They were strong though the rest of the day finishing eighth in swimming, ninth in riding, and eighth in combined to move backup to 14th. A top-14 place finish in fencing would have moved them into the top 10.
The next major modern pentathlon event will be the Olympics where the women and men both begin competition on August 18th. Expect the US to be more competitive there than they were this week in Moscow.
Just like on Wednesday with the US women the US men failed to qualify anyone for the final at the UIPM World Championship. Lucas Schrimsher was the top finisher for the US, 24th in his qualifying group with a 1095 score. Schrimsher was behind after fencing, where he placed 27th, and despite a 12th place finish in swimming was unable to climb higher after a 22nd place finish in the combined. In the same qualifying group Justin Torrellas was 29th with a 1010 score. Torrellas was 30th in fencing, 32nd in swimming, but did finish 17th in the combined event. In another qualifying group Sam Ruddock was 30th with a 1030 score with a 32nd place finish in fencing, 18th in swimming, and 24th in the combined.
With no men or women competing in the finals on Friday and Saturday the only remaining US competition will be Schrimsher and Samantha Achterberg in the mixed relay on Sunday.
There won’t be any finalists for the US at the UIPM World Championship as all four of their competitors were eliminated in the qualifying round. Margaux Isaksen did the best for the US finishing 16th in her qualifying round with a score of 1032. Isaksen was strongest in the fencing where she finished eighth but 14th in swimming and finished 21st in the combined event. She was 13 points behind the final qualifier for the 36-woman final.
Competing in the same qualification group Jessica Davis was 24th with a score of 963. Davis was seventh in the fencing but 25th in swimming and 23rd in the combined event. In the second qualifying group Isabella Isaksen was 20th with a score of 1005 after finished 13th in fencing, 19th in swimming, and 14th in the combined. Samantha Achterberg also scored a 1005 after starting with a 25th place finish in fencing but moving up with a 14th place finish in swimming and a fourth place finish in the combined.
Tomorrow in the men’s qualifying competition Lucas Schrimsher, Justin Torrellas, and Sam Ruddock will compete.
The UIPM World Championships continue through Sunday.
Justin Torrellas and Sam Ruddock got off to a strong start in fencing at the men’s relay in the UIPM World Championship but couldn’t sustain their momentum as they finished in 16th of the 17 countries competing. Torrellas and Ruddock finished 4th in the fencing competition but a 16th in swimming put them far behind. After being one of four countries to fail to score points in the riding competition they didn’t have a chance at finishing highly and were 14th in the combined event to finish the day at 16th.
Tomorrow will be the women’s qualification event with Margaux Isaksen, Samantha Achterberg, Isabella Isaksen, and Jessica Davis competing for the US.
The UIPM World Championships continue through Sunday.
Previous UIPM World Championship Coverage: Preview
Seven US athletes will compete in the UIPM World Championship starting Tuesday in Moscow. Four women and three men will compete in the individual events later in the week but things get started for the US with Justin Torrellas and Sam Ruddock competing in the men’s relay on Tuesday. They will be joined by Lucas Schrimsher for the men’s individual event.
The UIPM World Championships continue through Sunday.
Logan Storie and Samantha Achterberg fell behind early in the team-relay mixed competition on Sunday and weren’t able to recover very far. After wining just 17 of their fencing duels and placing seventh of the eight teams they did have their best part of the day next winning the swimming competition. The score gap was so large though as they dropped 21 points compared to fifth place in the fencing while picking up only 10 points fifth place in the swimming. They finished seventh in riding and fifth in the combined to end up sixth overall but 90 seconds behind the winners from Ireland.
The UIPM World Championships are coming up in Moscow May 15th-23rd.
