Qualifying’s #7 seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands continued what’s been a good week in the Persian Gulf with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Kristýna Plíšková on Saturday. Mattek-Sands is now the lone American left in the qualifying draw after Varvara Lepchenko was upset 6-4, 6-3 by Maryna Zanevska, Abigail Spears (a long shot alternate who doesn’t play singles often) was beaten 2-6, 6-0, 6-2 by Annika Beck.
Mattek-Sands is now two wins away from joining Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens, and Venus Williams in the main draw.
Qualifying Draws
This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Click to expand.
The path to the main draw did get easier for Mattek-Sands as the Lepchenko loss means if she can get by Mona Barthel then Petra Martic would be the highest ranked player she would meet in the final round of qualifying.
What’s on tap today? Nine disciplines and competition in ten events with five gold medals up for grabs. In today: Biathlon, bobsleigh (making its Sochi debut) figure skating, and snowboarding. Out today: Short track, skeleton (finished for Sochi), and ski jumping.
All times below are ET.
Alpine Skiing
Events: Four American men are in the 63-man field for the Super-G are Americans at 1 AM. After seeing the women fail to complete the course in large number it will be interesting to see how aggressive they are. Ted Ligety goes first for the US, ninth overall with Bode Miller soon behind him in 13th. The final two Americans are Travis Ganong who goes 25th and Andrew Weibrecht who goes 29th.
When:
*Men’s Super-G – 1 AM
Live Streaming: A live stream will be available on the NBC Olympics website and on the NBC Sports Live Extra app. You will probably have to authenticate a cable subscription to watch the live streams of the Olympics.
TV Coverage: The alpine skiing will be included in NBC’s evening coverage from 8-11 PM ET.
My tech Alex hard at work getting the skis fast for tomorrow. Hours of work for a minute on snow. #Sochi2014http://t.co/woBvvPKs0j
Another disappointing day as the US only managed to pick up one medal and wasn’t real close in most of the events. The highlight of the day though was an amazing hockey game between the US and Russia.
Alpine Skiing
Events:
*Women’s Super-G
There were 50 women scheduled to start the women’s super-G and only 31 completed the course. That’s how difficult the course was this morning. Leanne Smith was the first to go for the US and the only of the first eight skiers to finish the course. She finished in 1:28.38 and was 18th. Laurenne Ross was next to go for the US and while she made it through the early tough portion where many skiers succumbed she did have problems near the end and got too wide and lost the race line taking a DNF. Julia Mancuso was able to finish the course without too many difficulties but she finished 8th in 1:27.04. The final American was Stacey Cook and her run didn’t last long as she DNF’d in the treacherous early steep section.
Results Summarized:
Laurenne Ross – Made it through much of the course but missed a gate near the end and was a DNF.
Stacey Cook – Missed a gate in the earl portion and was a DNF.
Leanne Smith – Finished 18th with a time of 1:28.38.
Julia Mancuso – Finished 8th with a time of 1:27.04.
Tough day up there… that course was tricky and I let it get to me. So grateful for the days it came together. Winning feels magical.
After knocking off Eugenie Bouchard in Doha earlier in the week Bethanie Mattek-Sands finds herself in qualifying in Dubai trying to reach the main draw of the tennis championship. Mattek-Sands is joined in the qualifying draw by Varvara Lepchenko and a late addition, Abigail Spears (normally a doubles player).
Qualifying Draws
This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Click to expand.
What’s on tap today? Eight disciplines and competition in nine events with seven gold medals up for grabs. In today: Ice hockey, short track, and speed skating. Out today: Biathlon, figure skating, and freestyle skiing.
All times below are ET.
Alpine Skiing
Events: Four women in the 50-woman field for the Super-G are Americans. This single run event begins at 2 AM and it won’t take long before the first American is underway. Leanne Smith will be the second down the mountain. Laurenne Ross goes seventh, Julia Mancuso bids for a second medal in Sochi while starting 14th, and Stacey Cook goes 29th.
When:
*Women’s Super-G – 2 AM
Live Streaming: A live stream will be available on the NBC Olympics website and on the NBC Sports Live Extra app. You will probably have to authenticate a cable subscription to watch the live streams of the Olympics.
TV Coverage: The alpine skiing will be included in NBC’s evening coverage from 8-11:30 PM ET.
Friday was not great for the US. Both curling teams suffered crucial losses and the US picked up only one medal while struggling to compete for medals in most of the traditional events conducted.
Alpine Skiing
Events:
Men’s Super Combined – Downhill
*Men’s Super Combined – Slalom
The Americans hoped to get out to good starts in the downhill portion of the event. That wouldn’t exactly happen. Ted Ligety was the first to go and his time of 1:55.17 left him in 18th, 1.93 seconds off the lead. Andrew Weibrecht went next and his time of 1:55.33 was only 20th best, 2.09 seconds behind the leader. The best American was Bode Miller who finished 12th in the downhill in 1:54.67 but was still 1.43 seconds off pace. Finally Jared Goldberg finished 15th in 1:54.90 and was 1.66 seconds behind the lead.
In the slalom portion Weibrecht took a spill halfway down after straddling a pole and took a DNF. Ligety put up a 52.22 that wasn’t enough (8th fastest) and he finished 12th in 2:47.39, Goldberg couldn’t keep pace either and his 52.39 was only 10th best in the slalom and he finished 11th in 2:47.39, Miller failed to make his mark as well as his 51.93 was 6th best and he finished 7th in 2:46.60.
Results Summarized:
Andrew Weibrecht – In the downhill he was 20th in a time of 1:55.33, 2.09 seconds behind first. In the slalom he fell after straddling a pole and took a DNF.
Ted Ligety – Finished 12th overall with a time of 2:47.39. In the downhill he was 18th in a time of 1:55.17, 1.93 seconds behind first. In the slalom he was 8th with a time of 52.22.
Jared Goldberg – Finished 11th overall with a time of 2:47.29. In the downhill he was 15th in a time of 1:54.90, 1.66 seconds behind first. In the slalom he was 10th with a time of 52.39.
Bode Miller – Finished 6th overall with a time of 2:46.60. In the downhill he was 12th in a time of 1:54.67, 1.43 seconds behind first. In the slalom he was 7th with a time of 51.93.
Really tough day of racing, congrats to viletta, kostelic, and innerhoffer on their medals. It was hard fought.
The last time the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series was in action was 2.5 months ago in late November in Duabi. The US went 2-3-1 and but they lost to every team in the top six that they faced. Now they come home to American soil for the 2nd event of the year in Atlanta. While the home crowd support will be nice it’s not going to be easy as the US will be in a pool with Australia (1st), Canada (4th), and China (first tournament of year).
The fans who made it to this match had to deal with some bad weather and the game being rescheduled from Wednesday to Thursday. Once they got inside the Georgia Dome though they were warm and entertained as a strong American side destroyed Russia 8-0 behind seven second half goals. Perhaps the US women watched the US men’s hockey team put up six in the second period against Slovakia in a 7-1 win and though, we can do better.
The US put out a strong lineup…
Hope Solo
Ali Krieger, Whitney Engen, Rachel Van Hollebeke, Kelly O’Hara
Heather O’Reilly, Morgan Brian, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe
Amy Rodgriguez, Abby Wambach
and used six subs in the game: Jill Loyden, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kristie Mewis, Lauren Holiday, Sydney Leroux, and Christen Press.
What’s on tap today? Just eight disciplines and competition in 10 events with six gold medals up for grabs. In today: Alpine skiing and ski jumping. Out today: Ice hockey, luge, short track, and speed skating.
All times below are ET.
Alpine Skiing
Events: Alpine skiing returns with the men’s super combined on Friday. The 50-man field starts the downhill portion at 1 AM. Four Americans are in the field and they will take to the course in a tight grouping. Ted Ligety will start 22nd, Andrew Weibrecht 23rd, Bode Miller 24th, and Jared Goldberg 28th. The slalom begins at 6:30 AM and will start in the reverse-order of the times from the downhill portion.
When:
Men’s Super Combined – Downhill – 1 AM
*Men’s Super Combined – Slalom – 6:30 AM
Live Streaming: A live stream will be available on the NBC Olympics website and on the NBC Sports Live Extra app. You will probably have to authenticate a cable subscription to watch the live streams of the Olympics.
TV Coverage: The alpine skiing will be included in NBC’s evening coverage from 8-11:30 PM ET.
If you were waiting for the US to break out and make a move in the medal count then perhaps Thursday was your day… or perhaps a single event on Thursday was your event. The men’s ski slopestyle cross took the US from nine medals to 12 as the US swept the medals and headlined a good day for the US.
Biathlon
Events:
Men’s individual 20 km
Thursday was the men’s 20 km individual event at 9 AM. The first American to start was Tim Burke. Burke got off to a good start as he was 17th after 8 km and a round of shooting. He took a big hit with two missed targets in round two and fell into the 40s. He recovered his position some before two more missed targets in the final round left him with a 44th place finish. Next up was Lowell Bailey. Bailey combined a strong skiing performance with just one missed target to consistently be in the top 20 at checkpoints and eventually move into the top ten and finish 8th, the best ever finish by a US man. Leif Nordgren was in the top 40 through 12 km but a disastrous third round of shooting where he missed all five targets left him well behind the pack and he finished 83rd. Finally Russell Currier missed two targets on each of the first two rounds of shooting as he plummeted to 85th out of 88. He roared back however and didn’t miss another target as he ended up in 50th place.
Results Summarized:
Leif Nordgren – Finished 83rd in 58:47.6, 9:15.9 behind the leader. Missed six targets.
Russell Currier – Finished 50th in 55:07.5, 5:35.8 behind the leader. Missed four targets.
Tim Burke – Finished 44th in 54:21.2, 4:49.5 behind the leader. Missed four targets.
Lowell Bailey – Finished 8th in 50:57.4, 1:25.7 behind the leader. Missed one target.
