Monthly Archives: May 2016

Modern Pentathlon, UIPM World Cup

Fantastic Final Day as Nathan Schrimsher Finishes Seventh at UIPM World Cup Final

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One would probably not have predicted that Nathan Schrimsher, 28th after the fencing competition, would finish anywhere near the top. Schrimsher trailed Jianli Guo of China, the fencing winner, by 53 seconds of handicap for the combined event as the day started. But Schrimsher posted the third best swimming sore and won the riding competition to move into the top 10. A sixth place finish in the combined meant he was within eight seconds of medaling and finished seventh. An outstanding day for Schrimsher. His brother Lucas Schrimsher had finished tenth in fencing but 16th in fencing and 31st in riding left him out of contention. He finished 19th in the combined event and 27th overall.

Tomorrow the event wraps up with a mixed relay competition.

Previous UIPM World Cup Final Coverage:

Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update

Judo, Judo Grand Slam and Grand Prix

US Competitors 0-3 on Second Day of Judo Grand Slam Event in Baku

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The US competitors didn’t find any success on the second day of the Judo grand slam event in Baku as they went 0-3. In the women’s -63kg division Leilani Akiyama lost to Franciska Szabo of Hungary on a waza-ari while Hannah Martin was defeated by Alice Schlesinger of Great Britain via an ippon. It’s worth noting that Schlesinger did go on to win the gold. In the men’s -73kg division Nicholas Delpopolo was defeated by Georgios Azoidis of Greece by a Yuko in the first round.

Sunday’s final day of competition will feature three more Americans. Nina Cutro-Kelly will take part in the women’s +78kg division. On the men’s side Colton Brown takes part in the -90kg division and Ajax Tadehara competes in the -100kg division.

Previous Judo Grand Prix Coverage:
Baku Preview
Day 1 Update

BMX, Cycling, UCI BMX Supercross World Cup

Ten of 13 Americans Advance to Sunday in BMX Supercross World Cup in Papendal

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Ten of the 13 Americans in this weekends BMX Supercross World Cup event in Papendal, including all three of the US women, reached the Sunday knockout rounds after advancing from qualifying. All of the top riders advanced, though not all comfortably. Shealen Reno took a DNF in her first of three qualifying runs but overcame the slow start with back-to-back second place finishes to qualify in the 15th of 24 spots to advance to the quarterfinals. In the time trial portion Alise Post had the second best time in the field of eight.

The best men in qualifying were Barry Nobles and Jeffrey Upshaw who each won two of their three qualifying heats and qualified in 9th and 11th. Tanner Sebesta was the last American to qualify finishing 37th among the 48 qualifiers. Tyler Faoro missed out on qualifying after finishing fifth in his final qualifying run having won his second run. Corben Sharrah finished eighth of the 16 time trial participants.

The rest of the event will take place on Sunday with knockout rounds leading to the hotly contested finals. The US has taken at least one medal in each of the first two events of the year and placed multiple riders in the final in both men’s and women’s competition.

Previous BMX Supercross World Cup:
Papendal Preview

Wrestling

Tamyra Mensah and Kelsey Campbell Both Lose to Olympic Qualifiers in Istanbul

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The US women were both strong competitors on Saturday but perhaps luck didn’t go their way and both Kelsey Campbell and Tamyra Mensah were eliminated before their respective finals by eventual Olympic qualifiers. Campbell started the 58kg division competition with an 8-0 win before a tight 4-2 win to reach the quarterfinals. Her Olympic dreams ended in the quarterfinals where she lost 4-1 to eventual overall winner Valeria Koblova-Zholobova of Russia. Campbell went on to reach a bronze medal match but lost it as well 4-3.  Her 4-1 loss to Koblova-Zholobova was actually the closest anyone was to defeating her on the day.

Mensah won her opening match 5-0 and was leading her second match 2-6 before suffering a fall in the quarterfinals to Alina Stadnik Makhynia of Ukraine. Despite the heartbreaker Mensah went on to finish the competition strong with a 10-0 win and a fall to wrap up a bronze medal. Stadnik Makhynia went on to advance to the Olympics and Mensah, winning on the scoreboard when she was beaten, was as close to beating her as anyone.

The final competitor looking for an Olympic spot will be Frank Molinaro on Sunday going for a spot in the men’s 65kg freestyle division.

Previous Wrestling Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update

ATP Tour, Tennis, WTA Tour

Serena Williams Headlines Americans Competing in Italian Open

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Play begins on Sunday in Rome as the 2016 Italian Open kicks off with Americans involved throughout the field. Two of those Americans will get underway in the singles tournaments on the first day of the tournament. In the men’s singles matches we’ll see Steve Johnson take on Juan Monaco of Argentina and Sam Querrey take on Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain. Neither of the Americans, nor their opponents, are seeded. The men’s and women’s qualifying is still wrapping up on Sunday as well so most of those draws will get underway on Monday.

Previous WTA & ATP Coverage:
Mutua Madrid Open Recap

Diamond League, Track and Field

US Athletes Win Seven of Eleven Events They Compete in at Diamond League in Doha

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It was a dominant start to the 2016 Diamond League in Doha, Qatar as the US had athletes competing in 11 of the 16 events and won seven of those. On the men’s side the US went four for five with only the 110m hurdles title eluding the US athletes. All three athletes for the US had season best marks but David Oliver, the defending champion, was 0.11 seconds off the winner and finished fourth in 13.16. Ameer Webb set a meet record in the 200m as he won by .21 seconds at 19.86. Lashawn Merritt won the 400m in 44.41, a winning margin of 0.27.  Erik Kynard was the only one to clear 2.33m in the high jump, the best mark in the world this year, while Christian Taylor also posted a world best mark in the triple jump at 17.23m, winning by .16m.

Tori Bowie similarly set a 2016 world best and a Doha meet record with a fast 10.80 100m, just 0.03 ahead of second place. The other two US wins were Tia Brooks in the shot put with a personal best 19.48m (winning by 0.26m) and Sandi Morris who dominated the pole vault with a 4.83m score that tied the Diamond League record as well as being the top score of 2016. She tried three times unsuccessfully to set a new record of 4.93m.

In the other women’s events the US was unable to medal. Chanelle Price was the top American in the 400m but her time of 2:01.05 was sixth place and 1.31 off third place despite being a season best. Cassandra Tate had a season best in the 400m hurdles in 55.57, good enough for fifth place 0.52 behind bronze. Over in the javelin Brittany Borman’s 61.27m throw was only fifth best and 1.15m less than third place.

The next Diamond League event will be in Shanghai on May 14th though with different events featured than this weekend.

Previous Diamond League Doha Coverage:
Preview

Olympic Trials, Rio 2016 Olympic Trials, Weightlifting

Darren Barnes and Jacob Horst Win National Championships on Day One

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On the first day of the USA Weightlifting National Championships two divisions decided their national champions. In the men’s 56kg division Darren Barnes was the national champion fairly easily lifting 110kg in the snatch and 130kg in the clean and jerk to total 240kg and win by 25kg over Brey Kobashigawa and Andrew Cheung. Jacob Horst was the winner in the men’s 62kg division leading the field by 4kg after a 106kg snatch and then lifting 132kg in the clean and jerk to finish with a 238kg score and defeat Dillon Casillas by 9kg.

Caleb Williams was the top competitor in the men’s 69kg division with a total score of 295kg though he’s not expected to stay atop the standings once the Olympic trials happen on Sunday. The same story is true in the women’s 48kg division where Hayley Reichardt and Megan Seegert both scored 157kg and in the women’s 58kg division where Sarabeth Phillips scored a 196kg total.

There could be some intrigue on Sunday in the women’s 53kg division as Caitlin Hogan hit every lift she attempted topping out at 77kg on the snatch and 105kg on the clean and jerk to post a big score of 182kg. That score matches the top qualifying score that has Cortney Batchelor competing in the trials on Sunday so if she struggles some Hogan has a real shot at the national championship.

Saturday will feature the men’s 77kg, 85kg, and 94kg divisions, along with the women’s 63kg and 69kg divisions. All these divisions have competitors in the Olympic trials on Sunday so national champions will not be decided on Saturday.

Previous USA Weightlifting National Championship Coverage:
Preview

ATP Tour, Tennis, WTA Tour

Remaining Americans Bounced on Friday in Madrid

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The Mutua Madrid Open came to a sudden end for the US on Friday as all the Americans playing in the event were knocked out of the competition. Louisa Chirico missed out on the chance for a shocking final appearance when she lost 1-6, 1-6 in under an hour to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. Far from a shocking result and in the end a tournament that might propel Chirico into her prime years to compete internationally.

In women’s doubles Vania King/Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) were also swept, and badly, 2-6, 0-6 by #1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Sania Mirza of India in the semifinals on Friday. Also failing to win a set was #8 Jack Sock/Vasek Pospisil (Canada) who lost 3-6, 4-6 to#4 Ivan Dodig (Croatia) and Marcelo Melo (Brazil). #5 Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan did take one set, but that was all, in a 6-3, 6-7, 8-10 loss to#1 French duo Pierre-Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. With a tiebreaker loss in set two and a tight third set super-tie break the Bryans were really close to advancing.

High level competition continues over the next week as things move to Rome for the Italian Open, a Masters 1000 event for the men and a Premier event for the women. Matches begin on Monday.

Previous Mutua Madrid Open Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update
Day 3 Update
Day 4 Update
Day 5 Update
Day 6 Update

Cycling, UCI Men's World Tour

Chad Haga Finishes 12th to Start Giro d’Italia

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Things began well at the Giro d’Italia for Chad Haga. Coming off a season best finish in the Tour de Romandie Haga posted his best stage finish of the season when he was 12th in the opening time trial. Haga dropped just 16 seconds behind the leader and was the only American in the top 75. Joey Rosskopf, 78th place and 42 seconds back, and Larry Warbasse 47 seconds back in 100th, were the next two Americans to finish.

Things continue in the Netherlands Saturday with a 118 mile flat stage. In what you’d expect to be a stage with a big peloton it’s important for the riders to stay in the pack.

Previous UCI World Tour Coverage:
Giro d’Italia Preview

Cycling, UCI Women's WorldTour

Alison Tetrick Finishes as Part of Large Peloton on First Day of Tour of Chongming Island

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A large peloton finished in 3:21:25 on the first day of the Tour of Chongming Island and Alison Tetrick was part of it. Tetrick finished 71st in the 81-woman peloton. It wasn’t such a good day for Erica Zaveta who finished 100th and 21:06 back. The race was 86.9 miles on day one, the longest of the competition, and drops to 70.1 miles on Saturday for stage two.

Previous UCI Women’s World Tour Coverage:
Tour of Chongming Island Preview