US Teams Advance to Quarterfinals at World Fencing Championships

The World Fencing Championship began on Monday with the first matches for both the women’s foil team and the men’s sabre team. In women’s foil the #4 seed US started with a match against #13 seed Colombia on Monday. Nzingha PrescodNicole Ross, and Lee Kiefer competed for the US and it was a dominant performance. The US won all but the final of the nine matches and took the overall victory 45-17. The US advanced to Tuesday’s quarterfinals where their opponent will be #5 seed and 2015 bronze medalist France. That should be an extremely tight matchup.

Over in men’s sabre the #1 seed US faced #17 seed Japan for a spot in the quarterfinals. The US team of Eli DershwitzDaryl Homer, and Jeff Spear much like the women won eight of the nine matches and overall won with a 45-24 win. The US will match up with #9 seed Iran in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. These two countries met last year in the round of 16 with the US winning 45-38.

Previous World Fencing Championships Coverage:
Preview

Kirsten Kasper Fifth, Sarah True Ninth in Cape Town Triathlon

Five of the seven Americans competing in the Cape Town Triathlon on Sunday had their top finishes of the year. That started with Kirsten Kasper who was fifth and 19 seconds behind the winner Non Stanford of Great Britain. Kasper wasn’t the only American in the top ten as Sarah True, 25th in her only previous race, was ninth and 25 seconds behind Kasper. Lindsey Jerdonek made it three Americans in the top 20 with a 16th place finish 15 sconds behind True.

On the men’s side Kevin McDowell was the top American but finished 2:23 behind winner Fernando Alarza of Spain. McDowell was joined in the top 50 by Robby Webster who finished exactly 50th in his first race of the series. Webster was 1:50 behind McDowell.

Previous IRU World Triathlon Series Coverage:
Cape Town Preview

Chloe Woodruff 13th in World Cup Cross-Country Event

The top American in the cross-country event at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup event in Cairns, Australia on Sunday was Chloe Woodruff. Woodruff was the second highest finishing American in the series last year with a 21st overall finish. She was eighth after the first through third laps on Sunday before falling off a bit down the stretch and finishing 13th 4:27 back. Georgia Gould finished 18th while Lea Davison, last year’s third place overall finisher, was 19th. Erin Huck made it four Americans in the top 32 with a 27th place finish.

On the men’s side Stephen Ettinger was the only American in the top 50 on the series last year and he started off this year with a 20th place finish, 2:50 back. Ettinger got off to a slow start and was 35th after the first lap before climbing as high as 17th after the sixth lap. No other Americans finished in the top 50.

The next Mountain Bike World Cup stop is in Albstadt, Germany from May 21st through the 22nd. Only the cross-country portion will be held. The downhill competition doesn’t pick back up until June 4th and 5th in Fort William, Great Britain.

Previous Mountain Bike World Cup Cairns Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update

Steele Johnson a Surprise Fourth at Diving World Series

A surprising turn of events on Sunday at the FINA Diving World Series saw the US go 4-5 in the men’s 10 platform but in the order you might have expected. Steele Johnson had not competed for the US in the event at the first two world series stops and when he did compete in Windsor last weekend he was tenth of 11. This week Johnson was not spectacular in qualifying, only one of his six dives was better than third in his heat, but each round he was consistently solid and avoided devastating mistakes. The same couldn’t be said for David Boudia who bested Johnson on five of the six dives but came up over 30 points behind him on the sixth. Johnson finished with a 507.75 while Boudia was right behind him at 497.20, both making the final.

In the final both fell off the pace by the middle of the competition with Johnson eventually holding off Boudia by 28.25 points. Johnson was still 54.25 points behind the bronze medal winner but for the 19-year-old this still a really big result.

The Diving World Series has finished for the year with the next big event the US Olympic Trials June 18th through the 26th in Indianapolis.

Previous Diving World Series Kazan Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update

J’Den Cox is Going to the Olympics

The US had two wrestlers competing in the final day of the Olympic qualifying event this weekend and for one of them it will be a day to remember. J’Den Cox in the 86kg division was dominant in the first two rounds with 11-0 and 10-0 wins before the competition got a little stronger. First he defeated Zbigniew Baranowski of Poland (12th in the 2014 World Championships) 4-1 in the quarterfinals and then faced Umidjon Ismanov of Uzbekistan for a spot in the Olympics. Cox won 5-2 to grab the Olympic spot and advance to the gold medal final. Baranowski also advanced to the Olympics by finishing third. In the final Cox took on Pedro Ceballos Fuentes of Venezuela and won 6-0.

The other American competing was in the 65kg division where Frank Molinaro was victorious 12-0 in his opening match before losing 6-4 to Yakup Gor of Turkey. Gor was a tough matchup for Molinaro as he had finished third and second at the last two world championships in the non-Olympic 70kg division. He went on to finish third on Sunday and qualify for Rio.

With Cox qualifying on Sunday and Haley Augello and Helen Maroulis qualifying on Saturday the US now has qualified 12 of their 18 wrestlers for Rio. The six left to qualify (three greco-roman, two women’s freestyle, and one men’s freestyle) will have their final chance in the qualifying tournament in Istanbul on May 6th through the 8th.

Previous Wrestling Coverage:
Olympic Qualifying Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update

Silver for Matthew Emmons at ISSF World Cup

On the final day of the ISSF World Cup event in Rio de Janeiro the Americans added one more medal though it wasn’t the one Matthew Emmons was hoping for. Emmons had won the gold in the 50m 3-position rifle in Bangkok and was close to winning another. Instead he was topped in the final by Zicheng Hui of China who set a new world record with a 463.7 smashing the old mark of 462.5 while Emmons had only a 461.6. Emmons trailed from the start of the final but got within 0.8 points before Hui pulled away on the final shot. Dempster Christenson finished 43rd after shooting an 1153 in qualifying (for reference an 1172 was the final qualifying mark and Emmons shot an 1182).

Finally in the men’s skeet qualifying Vincent Hancock had a strong Sunday shooting 23/25 and was able to hang on to his top six spot finishing third with a 122. Frank Thompson went 25/23 and Hayden Stewart went 24/23. As I speculated on Saturday they both needed 49’s to tie for the final qualifying spot. Instead Thompson wound up ninth and Stewart 13th.

In the final Hancock missed on his fourth target and with the pressure on missed one more on target #12 to end up with 14. That put him a three-way tie for third and in the resulting shoot-off he missed first (on the fourth shot) and was eliminated finishing fifth.

Having wrapped up in Rio the shotgun athletes will have their sights set on the final step in the Olympic Trials May 16th through the 25th in Tillar, Arkansas. The next ISSF World Cup events are split for the shotgun athletes and the rifle/pistol athletes. The rifle/pistol event is May 19th through the 26th in Munich while the shotgun athletes will compete in San Marino from June 1st through the 11th.

Previous ISSF World Cup Coverage:
Day 5 Update
Day 6 Update
Day 7 Update
Day 8 Update
Day 9 Update

Alex Howes an American High 21st in Liege-Bastogne-Liege Race

For the second time in three races on the UCI World Tour Alex Howes finished as the top American. After finishing 32nd in the Amstel Gold Race last Sunday Howes finished 21st in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege a week later in a group just 12 seconds behind the winner. Howes’ finish was the third highest by an American on the tour this season.

Lawson Craddock was the next American to finish in 37th and 1:41 behind winner Wout Poels. The only other American in the top 100 was Peter Stetina who finished 85th, 5:27 back. Kiel Reijnen ended a streak of three straight races he had not finished and was 151st.

The next UCI World Tour event is the Tour de Romandie starting Tuesday and running until May 1st. Howes is scheduled to be in the field as will Tejay Van Garderen who has not raced since the Volta a Cataluyna a month ago where he finished fifth. Joe Dombrowski also hasn’t raced since then and finished 37th in that, his only event so far this year. Stetina, fresh off the 85th place finish Sunday is in the field and Andrew Talansky who did not finish his only event so far this year, the Paris-Nice race.

The Tour de Romandie starts with a 3.95km time trial on Tuesday.

Previous UCI World Tour Coverage:
Liege-Bastogne-Liege Preview

Genevra Stone Reaches Second Straight Olympics

Four boats qualified for the Olympics on Sunday at the US Olympic Rowing Trials but only one is someone going back to the Olympics. In the women’s single sculls 2012 Olympian Genevra Stone held off a Stesha Cole by over seven seconds. Stone was the fastest of anyone in the Olympic finals in 2012 but was in the B Final after finishing fourth in the semifinals.

Also advancing to the Olympics without a close finish were Ellen Tomek/Meghan O’Leary in the women’s double sculls by over 12 seconds, Kate Bertko/Devery Karz in the women’s lightweight double sculls by over 11 seconds, and Andrew Campbell/Joshua Konieczny in the men’s lightweight double sculls by over four seconds.

The Paralympic qualifying on Sunday advanced two athletes to Rio: Blake Hexton by over 44 seconds in the men’s arms and shoulders single sculls and Jacqui Kapinowski by over 15 seconds in the women’s arms and shoulders single sculls.

In the men’s single sculls no Olympic spot has yet been secured but with the last chance for qualification upcoming the US selected the athlete who will compete for that spot and reach the Olympics if they qualify. It came down to a tight race between 2012 Olympian Ken Jurkowski and Thomas Graves. Graves had been last at the 500m and 1000m marks while Jurkowski led, though it was always very close. Graves had moved up to second, 3.6 seconds behind Jurkowski, with 500m left and closed hard but Jurkowski held on to win by 1.31 seconds. The same qualifying situation applies to the men’s double sculls but the final was not nearly as close. Willy Cowles/Stephen Whelpley cruised to a victory by over 17 seconds.

The last chance to qualify will be in the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta that will take place from May 22nd to the 25th in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Previous Olympic Rowing Trials Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update
Day 3 Update
Day 4 Update
Day 5 Update

US Will Compete at World Fencing Championships Starting Monday

To put a quick wrap on the epee grand prix event that was held in Rio this weekend, Jason Pryor managed to advance from the first round on Sunday before being eliminated in his second match. Both matches were scored 15-13 with German opponents both time. Pryor defeated Stephan Rein before losing to Constantin Boehm. Boehm went on to reach the quarterfinals.

Fencing competition is not done though in Rio as the world championships begin Monday. It’s an Olympic year so the World Fencing Championships are not featuring most of the fencing disciplines. The only events held are the two that won’t be held at the Olympics, the team competitions for men’s sabre and women’s foil. Those events start on Monday with the competitions narrowing down to the top eight teams in each event.

For the US in the men’s sabre competition the team consists of Eli DershwitzPeter SoudersDaryl Homer, and Jeff Spear and is the #1 seed in the competition. The women’s foil team of Nzingha PrescodSabrina MassialasNicole Ross, and Lee Kiefer is the #4 seed. Both will have real shots at medaling this week.

In the women’s foil the US will start with a match against #13 seed Colombia on Monday. Colombia was not among the 18 women’s foil teams that qualified for the 2015 World Championships and is ranked #32 in the world so the US will be a heavy favorite to advance to Tuesday’s quarterfinals where their likely opponent would be #5 seed and 2015 bronze medalist France.

Over in men’s sabre the US as the #1 seed has a first round bye and will face the Japan-Canada winner for a spot in the quarterfinals. Canada is #19 in the world with Japan #22. Those two countries actually met in the same round in 2015 with Canada winning but being eliminated in the round of 16. The men’s sabre quarterfinals are not until Wednesday.

The world cup fencing events resume with a men’s sabre event in Madrid and a men’s foil event in St. Petersburg starting May 13th. The next epee events will be for the women in Legnano, Italy and for the men in Paris, France both starting May 20th.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix Preview
Friday Update
Saturday Update

Courtney Hurley Eliminated in Quarterfinals at Grand Prix Event in Rio de Janeiro

Only one of the three American women competing in the table of 64 on Saturday won a match. That was Courtney Hurley, the only one to advance from the preliminary round, and she won multiple times. Hurley dominated her first two matches 15-3 and 15-4 before finally being tested in the round of 16 where she won 15-11.

The test got really tough though in the quarterfinals where she faced #2 Anqi Xu of China and lost a really close match 11-10. Xu went on to finish second. Kelley Hurley and Katharine Holmes both lost their opening matches, Hurley to Coraline Vitalis of France 15-14 and Holmes to Francesca Boscarelli of Italy 15-9.

Sunday Jason Pryor will compete in the men’s table of 64.

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix Preview
Friday Update