Monthly Archives: March 2014

ATP Tour, Tennis, WTA Tour

Sloane Stephens Bright Spot in Rough Day for Americans at BNP Paribas Open

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Previous BNP Paribas Open Coverage

Things did not go great for the US at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday. US players went 1-6 in singles and 1-3 in doubles (though one of those was a matchup of two American teams). The only singles player to advance was Sloane Stephens while Bob and Mike Bryan moved on in men’s doubles play. Of course it is worth noting that every player or team that lost was the lower ranked of the two sides in their matchup.

Women’s Singles

Womens Singles - 3-9-14

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#17 Sloane Stephens got her tournament off to a great start by winning set one 6-4 and then dominating set two to beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-0. Stephens will have a tough matchup in the next round as she takes on #11 Ana Ivanovic. Beyond that looks like a winnable round of 16 matchup so it’s likely that the winner of the Stephens–Ivanovic matchup will be a quarterfinalist.

The other American who looked good on Saturday was 17-year-old Taylor Townsend. Townsend couldn’t get the exciting upset over #20 Flavia Pennetta but did take the second set 7-6 (4) in between losing sets one and three 3-6, certainly a good performance.

Sunday sees the all-American third round matchup between Lauren Davis and Varvara Lepchenko. Davis is riding high off her upset of #3 Victoria Azarenka and a round of 16 here would be great for her.

Women’s Doubles

Womens Doubles - 3-9-14

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The US women’s doubles teams are done after the last Americans left, Raquel Kops-Jones/Abigail Spears, lost 3-6, 4-6 to #5 Cara Black/Sania Mirza on Saturday.

Men’s Singles

Mens Singles - 3-9-14

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The US didn’t get a men’s singles winner on Saturday but Sam Querrey did get to a third set against #29 Andreas Seppi but lost 6-4, 6-7 (3), 3-6. He had a chance in the second set but just couldn’t get over the hump. Ryan Harrison also had a chance on Saturday after winning set one 7-5 against #13 Fabio Fognini but he fell in three sets 7-5, 1-6, 4-6.

#12 John Isner is the final American left in the men’s singles draw. He takes on Nikolay Davydenko in the second round on Sunday. Isner who would be the higher ranked player in the next round no matter who he plays so anything less than the round of 16 will be a disappointment here.

Men’s Doubles

Mens Doubles - 3-9-14

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Two American teams were eliminated on Saturday but both against strong competition. Eric Butorac/Raven Klaasen (South Africa) lost 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-10 to #2 Alexander Peya/Bruno Soares while Scott Lipsky/Florian Mayer (Germany) lost 1-6, 3-6 to #1 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan. The only other American team left is John Isner/Sam Querrey and they will face Jeremy Chardy/Gilles Simon in the first round on Sunday.

Broadcasting Information:

Tennis Channel will be broadcasting the tournament from 2 PM – 2 AM ET while ESPN3.com has streams of the play at three stadiums that will include the Isner matches.

Schedule:

  • Men’s Second Round
    • Approx. 4 PM ET – #12 John Isner vs. Nikolay Davydenko – Stadium 2 – ESPN3.com – Davydenko leads 3-2 all-time
  • Women’s Third Round
    • Approx. 6 PM ET – Lauren Davis vs. Varvara Lepchenko – Lepchenko leads 1-0 all-time
  • Men’s Doubles First Round
    • Approx. 12 AM ET – John Isner/Sam Querrey vs. Jeremy Chardy/Gilles Simon – Stadium 2 – ESPN3.com – First Ever Meeting
Track and Field, World Championships

Francena McCorory, Ashton Eaton, and Nia Ali Win Golds on Second Day of 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships

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Previous 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships Coverage

The US won five medals on Saturday and three of them were gold. Two of them came on the track with Francena McCorory in the women’s 400m and Nia Ali in the women’s 60m hurdles while the other was from Ashton Eaton’s dominating win in the heptathlon. Eaton couldn’t set the world record settling for the second best all time behind the last time he competed in the heptathlon.

Men’s High Jump

Mens High Jump - Qualification

The qualification round for the men’s high jump was held on Saturday. Dusty Jonas was looking good until he hit 2.25m and couldn’t clear it in three attempts. Erik Kynard got over the 2.25 and 2.28m. 2.28m was the top distance cleared by all the top six and since they’d all qualified already the qualifying round stopped there. The final on Sunday should be interesting to see who at the top can keep going the farthest.

Women’s 400m

Womens 400m - Final

The US was strong on Saturday in the women’s 400m as Francena McCorory took home the gold for the US winning by 0.42 seconds. Her teammate Joanna Atkins finished 6th, a half second out of the medals.

Women’s Shot Put

Womens Shot Put - Qualification

The US qualified both of their athletes into the final of the women’s shot put. Michelle Carter moved into the final by clearing the automatic qualifying distance of 18.70m on her first throw, an 18.79m throw. Jeneva McCall needed to qualify on spot and finished eighth with an 18.20m throw to reach the final. Carter did improve her score in the final with a 19.10m on her second throw but would up fifth, 0.14m behind the third place finisher. McCall wasn’t able to throw as long and finished eighth with an 18.05m throw.

Womens Shot Put - Final

Continue reading Francena McCorory, Ashton Eaton, and Nia Ali Win Golds on Second Day of 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships →

Soccer

USA U-18 Women’s Soccer Starts Off With 3-3 Draw Against Sweden in Ten Nations Tournament

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We don’t have a ton of details on the first match from the Ten Nations Tournament for the US but we can report that it was a wild one. According to Women’s Soccer United the Swedes got out to a 3-0 lead after scoring two goals in the first 15+ minutes of the second half. The US then mounted a furious rally scoring five minutes after Sweden’s third and then 11 minutes later to make it 3-2. They tied things up with a goal four minutes from the end and things wound up 3-3. Rebecca Rasmussen, Kayla Cappuzzo, & Imani Dorsey score the goals (though I can’t guarantee they were in that order).

Ten Nations Tournament 3-8-14

The US was one of six teams to draw their opening match so the standings are pretty clogged with teams at 1 point. Only two teams won on the first day and they just happen to be the two remaining US opponents, Denmark and France. So if the US wins their next two there is no way they won’t finish in a tie for first on points. It’d just be a question of if anyone else can win their final two games and what the goal differentials might end up being.

The USA takes on Norway on Monday morning at 10 AM ET. WeSupportTheUS.com will have a report on that one sometime after it’s ended and I’ve got enough data on what happened.

Schedule:

  • March 8th
    • USA 3-3 Sweden
    • Netherlands 2-2 Scotland
    • England 1-1 Ireland
    • Italy 0-2 Norway
    • Denmark 0-2 France
  • March 10th
    • 6 AM ET – France vs. England
    • 7 AM ET – Italy vs. Netherlands
    • 9 AM ET – Scotland vs. Sweden
    • 10 AM ET – USA vs. Norway
    • 12 PM ET – Ireland vs. Denmark
  • March 12th
    • 6 AM ET – USA vs. France
    • 7 AM ET – Denmark vs. Scotland
    • 9 AM ET – Netherlands vs. Norway
    • 10 AM ET – Italy vs. England
    • 12 PM ET – Ireland vs. Sweden
FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, Ski Jumping

Jessica Jerome With Another Top 10 In Oslo Ski Jumping World Cup Event

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Previous Oslo – FIS Ski Jumping World Cup Coverage

Oslo - Womens First Round

Jessica Jerome wasn’t able to replicate the top three finish from earlier this week in Rasnov but she didn’t fall too far down the standings either. Her first and second jumps were very similar with a slight increase of four points from the first to second jump. Jerome was 11th after her first jump but was ninth best on her second to finish 10th for the event. She was 13 points behind third in the final standings.

Oslo - Womens Final Round

On the men’s side it was a better day for Anders Johnson though he still didn’t advance from the qualification round. Johnson came close in 43rd but was still about five points behind the score he needed with a 97.4. Alexander finished 52nd about 20 points behind the qualification score of the 40th place jumper.

Oslo - Qualification Round

The women will be back in action next week at Falun with two events (Saturday and Sunday). The men are off on the World Cup schedule until Thursday the 20th when they’ll have qualifying at the final stop of the year. In the meantime the FIS Ski Flying World Championships will be held starting Thursday the 13th and running until the 16th. No Americans competed at the last FIS Ski Flying World Championships in 2012 but that doesn’t mean they won’t this year, we’ll know later in the week.

ISU World Cup, Speed Skating

Shani Davis Wins 1000m and Heather Richardson Her 2nd Straight 500m at ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Inzell

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Previous Inzell – ISU Speed Skating World Cup Coverage

What was it about Sochi? The US showed no lingering effects from a horribly disappointing Olympics as they won one event and grabbed a medal in another in the first day of competition at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Inzell. Both came from the women with Heather Richardson winning the 500m by just one hundredth of a second while Brittany Bowe grabbed a third in the women’s 1500m.

Women’s 3000m

Womens 3000m Division B

The US didn’t have anyone in the Division A race of the women’s 3000m but they did have two in the B Division. Maria Lamb and Anna Ringsred went 12th and 13th with Lamb 9.44 seconds behind the winner.

Women’s 500m

Womens 500m Race 2

Heather Richardson followed up a win in the 500m on Friday with another on Saturday. Richardson had a bit more time to spare winning by 0.14 seconds this time. Sugar Todd in 15th and Kelly Gunther in 20th rounded out the field for the US. Richardson is now in second in the season long 500m standings by 10 points with 690.

Men’s 500m

Mens 500m Division A Race 1

The men’s 500m Division A race on Saturday had one American near the top and one well off the pace. Tucker Fredricks was 0.31 seconds behind the winner in 8th place while Mitchell Whitmore must have fallen or had some other issue as he finished in 1:34.68, almost a full minute behind.

Men’s 1000m

Mens 1000m Division A

The US grabbed two medals in the men’s 1000m and showed the strength that we all expected to see in Sochi. Shani Davis took the top spot by a tenth of a second with Brian Hansen two tenths behind Davis in third. The US placed three more (Joey Mantia – 11th, Mitchell Whitmore – 14th, and Jonathan Garcia – 17th) in the top 20. Davis has won the event at four of the five World Cup stops and will win the season long championship in it. Hansen has only raced it three times but sits in third after placing… third in all three.

Men’s Mass Start

Mens Mass Start

The US was strong in the men’s mass start on Saturday with Patrick Meek finishing 5th and within 0.31 seconds after staying in the main pack. Brian Hansen was out of the main pack but still finished 6th, 7.06 seconds back. 

Upcoming on Sunday:

Four more events will be held on Sunday. The second men’s 500m race, the women’s 1000m, and the men’s 1500m will all have both A and B division races with the US having competitors in both. The women’s mass start will also be held with three Americans in the field. WeSupportTheUS.com will have coverage of the results on Sunday night.

Schedule:

  • March 9th
    • 4:30 AM ET – Men’s 500m (2 of 2) Division B
      • Jonathan Garcia
      • Joey Mantia
    • 4:57 AM ET – Women’s 1000m Division B
      • Anna Ringsred
      • Kelly Gunther
    • 5:42 AM ET – Men’s 1500m Division B
      • Patrick Meek
    • 7:30 AM ET – Men’s 500m (2 of 2) Division A
      • Mitchell Whitmore
      • Tucker Fredricks
    • 7:57 AM ET – Women’s 1000m Division A
      • Sugar Todd
      • Heather Richardson
      • Brittany Bowe
    • 8:42 AM ET -Men’s 1500m Division A
      • Brian Hansen
      • Joey Mantia
      • Shani Davis
    • 9:36 AM ET – Women’s Mass Start
      • Maria Lamb
      • Heather Richardson
      • Brittany Bowe
Alpine Skiing, FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup

On Top Again: Ted Ligety Wins Giant Slalom at Alpine Skiing World Cup Event in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia

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Previous Men’s Alpine Skiing World Cup Coverage

Ted Ligety raced out to a great start in the first giant slalom run opening up a lead of 0.42 seconds and then hung on in the second run as he finished 12th in that run but still 0.18 seconds faster in total that anyone else to win another giant slalom event on the Alpine Skiing World Cup. Ligety, who just won gold in the giant slalom in Sochi, took his sixth giant slalom title at Kranjska Gora including three straight.

Ligety was joined in the top ten by Tim Jitloff who was 23rd on run one but second fastest in run two to get back within 1.21 seconds of Ligety and finish eighth. Bode Miller was the only other American to advance to the second run and he ended up 24th.

Ligety is now within 50 points of the lead for the season long giant slalom standings. He’d need some help in the final event of the year in Lenzerheide to catch the leader and win the title, but it certainly is possible.

Kranjska Gora - Mens Giant Slalom

On Sunday they’ll turn to the slalom event at the same site. Ted Ligety will compete in that as well and be joined by four other Americans including Nolan Kasper who finished 13th in the slalom in Sochi.

Schedule:

  • March 9th
    • 2:30 AM ET – Slalom – Run 1
      • Ted Ligety
      • David Chodounsky
      • Will Brandenburg
      • Nolan Kasper
      • Colby Granstrom
    • 6:30 AM ET – Slalom – Run 2
Paralympics, Sochi 2014

Three Medals for the US in Women’s Downhill Highlight the First Day of the Paralympics

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Previous 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympics Coverage

The US got the Paralympics off to a good start by grabbing three medals (two bronze and a silver) in the women’s downhill on the first day. There were a few other top ten finishes including two athletes who missed out on bronze by a matter of seconds. The other highlight of the first day was a strong 5-1 win for the ice sledge hockey team.

Wheelchair Curling

Round Robin #1Round Robin #2

 

The US wheelchair curling team got underway on Saturday with two matches to open the Sochi Olympics. The US fell behind 3-0 in each match while starting with the hammer and were able to come back to get within a goal against Slovakia but fell 6-4 while they could never get closer than down two to Korea falling 9-5. There are still plenty of games for the US in Sochi but it wasn’t the start they wanted.Round Robin Standings - 3-8-14

Alpine Skiing – Women’s Downhill

Womens Downhill - SittingWomens Downhill - Standing Womens Downhill - Visually ImpairedFour US women competed in the downhill on Saturday with three of them grabbing medals. Alana Nichols grabbed silver, missing gold by 0.14 seconds, with Laurie Stephens in the sitting race. Allison Jones grabbed the bronze in the standing race while Danelle Umstead was fifth in the visually impaired race.

Biathlon – Women’s 6km

Womens 6km - Sitting

Oksana Masters was the only woman in the 6km biathlon for the US. She competed in the sitting race and, despite missing no targets, finished fourth, missing out on bronze by just over three seconds.

Biathlon – Men’s 7.5km

Mens 7.5km - Sitting Mens 7.5km - Visually Impaired Mens 7.5km - Standing

The men’s 7.5km biathlon was full of Americans with nine taking part. Only one finished in the top ten in any of the three events: Andrew Soule who missed no targets and finished fourth in the sitting race. Soule missed out on the bronze by about three seconds. In the standing race Omar Bermejo was the top American in 18th and Jacob Adicoff was the top Amercan in the visually impaired race in 14th.

Alpine Skiing – Men’s Downhill

Mens Downhill - SittingMens Downhill - Visually Impaired

Mark Bathum came the closest to medaling for the US on Saturday in the men’s downhill with a fifth place finish in the visually impaired, 0.8 seconds behind the bronze. In the sitting event Christopher Devlin-Young was the only one of the three Americans to start that was able to finish as he placed 10th.

Ice Sledge Hockey

Group B Scores - 3-8

The ice sledge hockey team got off to a good start with a 5-1 win over Italy. That left the US in first place in Group B as Korea beat Russia in overtime in the other game. Brody Roybal had two goals to lead the way for the US. The US next takes on Korea in a matchup that could decide the winner of the group.

Group B Standings - 3-8

Upcoming:

Both the wheelchair curling and the ice sledge hockey teams will be playing on Sunday and 17 other individuals will be competing in five events between the Super-G and cross-country skiing.

Broadcast Information:

TeamUSA.org will have live streaming of likely all of the events Sunday while NBCSN will cover the cross-country skiing live from 1-5:30 AM ET Saturday and show a daily coverage show from 11 PM-1 AM ET Sunday night.

Schedule:

  • March 9th
    • 12:30 AM ET – Wheelchair Curling – Round Robin – USA vs. Norway
    • 1 AM ET – Men’s Alpine Skiing – Super-G – Visually Impaired
      • Mark Bathum
    • 1 AM ET – Men’s Cross-Country Skiing – 15km – Sitting
      • Bryan Price
      • Augusto Jose Perez
      • Aaron Pike
      • Andrew Soule
      • Sean Halsted
      • Daniel Cnossen
    • 1:20 AM ET – Men’s Alpine Skiing – Super-G – Standing
      • James Stanton
      • Ralph Green
      • Jonathan Lujan
    • 2:15 AM ET – Men’s Alpine Skiing – Super-G – Sitting
      • Heath Calhoun
      • Jasmin Bambur
      • Christopher Devlin-Young
    • 4:30 AM ET – Women’s Cross-Country Skiing – 12km – Sitting
      • Beth Requist
      • Monica Bascio
      • Tatyana McFadden
      • Oksana Masters
    • 8:30 AM ET – Ice Sledge Hockey – Group Round – Group B – USA vs. South Korea
FIS Nordic Combined World Cup, Nordic Combined

Taylor Fletcher in 22nd Leads Pair of Top-30 Americans in Nordic Combined World Cup Event in Oslo

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Previous Trondheim – FIS Nordic Combined World Cup Coverage

Well it wasn’t quite the 10th place finish that Bill Demong achieved earlier in the week but the US was respectable on Saturday. Taylor Fletcher was the top American in 22nd and was joined by Demong in the top 30 after Demong used a strong cross-country time to move up from 38th. Bryan Fletcher in 36th and Nick Hendrickson (47th) rounded out the field for the US.

Oslo - Large Hill-10km

The Nordic Combined World Cup is now headed for the final weekend of competition. Falun, Sweden will host things as a team competition will be contested on Saturday, March 15th and an individual event is scheduled for that Sunday. WeSupportTheUS.com will have coverage of those events next weekend as the US looks to end the year on a high note.

Alpine Skiing, FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup

Just Like Sochi: Mikaela Shiffrin Wins the Slalom Again at Alpine Skiing World Cup Event in Are, Sweden

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Previous Are – Women’s FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup Coverage

Mikaela Shiffrin finally got to race the slalom again and the 18-year-old picked up where she left off in Sochi with another slalom win, her fourth win in seven events this year. Her total of 538 points in the slalom has clinched her the season title with one slalom race left. Resi Stiegler showed some nice skill as well navigating the course to a sixth best time on her second run and finishing 14th overall despite being over three seconds behind Shiffrin on the first run.

Are - Womens Slalom

The slalom will be back in action next Saturday at the final stop in Lenzerheide, Switzerland while the next women alpine skiing event is Wednesday in Lenzerheide when the final women’s downhill is held. WeSupportTheUS.com will have coverage of all the skiing in Lenzerheide.

Biathlon, Biathlon World Cup

Lowell Bailey Leads Way with 10th Place Finish in Men’s Pursuit at Biathlon World Cup in Pokljuka

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Previous Pokljuka – Biathlon World Cup Coverage

The US continued to find success in the biathlon, especially on the men’s side, with two men placing in the top 13 in the men’s pursuit on Saturday. Lowell Bailey led the way with a 10th place finish after missing three targets and finishing 1:20.5 behind the winner. He was just seven seconds ahead of Tim Burke who also missed three targets. Both Bailey and Burke will be in the mass start event on Sunday. Leif Nordgren missed just two targets but started 2:42 behind the first competitor to start so he was going to finish pretty far down the list and ended up 31st, 3:55.1 behind.

Pokljuka - Mens Pursuit

Things didn’t go as well on the women’s side where both Susan Dunklee and Sara Studebaker were already stuck starting about two minutes behind. Dunklee missed two targets in both the third and fourth round and finished 20th, 3:27.5 behind the winner. Studebaker was a cleaner shooter, missing three targets, but she wasn’t as quick as she finished over a minute behind Dunklee in 37th. Neither of them will compete in the women’s mass start on Sunday.

Pokljuka - Womens Pursuit

WeSupportTheUS.com will have coverage of the men’s mass start results on Sunday evening. The women will be back in action at the next Biathlon World Cup stop in Kontiolahti starting on Thursday.

Schedule:

  • March 9th
    • 6:15 AM – Men’s 15km Mass Start
      • Tim Burke
      • Lowell Bailey