Monthly Archives: June 2016

Diamond League, Track and Field

Kendra Harrison Sets Another Meet Record in 100m Hurdles

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Last week in Eugene Kendra Harrison set a new American record and a new Diamond League record in the 100m hurdles. This week in Birmingham, England she only set a new meet record with a time of 12.46. After leading an all-American top five last week Harrison was only the first of four Americans atop the standings this time. Brianna Rollins was once again in second place but this time third place went to Kristi Castlin and fourth went to Dawn Harper-Nelson, up from eighth in Eugene and posting a season best time. Harrison wasn’t the only American to win for the second time in the Diamond League this year as Tia Brooks rebounded in the shot put with a personal best 19.73m to win after a fifth place finish in Rome. Jillian Camarena-Williams was fifth for the US.

Marquise Goodwin got his first win of the year in the long jump with an 8.42m jump that bested fellow American Michael Hartfield. Goodwin has now gone third-second-first over the last three meets. Another first time winner was Cassandra Tate, who had been second in the 400m hurdles in Rabat but finished fourth in that event in Rome. Tate’s season best time of 54.57 just barely won on a photo finish. The top two were followed by Georganne Moline and Dalilah Muhammad as they finished third and fourth. Another improved finish for the US came from English Gardner in the 100m. Gardner was second in Rome but jumped up to win this week posting the same top time of 11.02 in both a heat and the final. Tianna Bartoletta was third for the US in the event.

Sean McLean finished third in the 200m for his first top three finish of the year and Ameer Webb couldn’t grab his third top-two finish as he came in fifth. Vernon Norwood also finished a season best third in the 400m while Erik Sowinski did the same with a personal best in a non-Diamond League 600m race. Another non-Diamond League race that was held was a 100m race that didn’t feature Justin Gatlin but did see Michael Rodgers finish second with fellow Americans McLean and Isiah Young in fourth and fifth. Erik Kynard finished second for the second straight time in the high jump as a season best jump of 2.35m was only good enough for second.

In the pole vault Katie Nageotte finished sixth clearing 4.50m. Sixth was also where Brittany Borman finished in the javelin throw. Rodney Brown was slightly better finishing fifth in the discus throw while Chanelle Price was another sixth place finisher in the 800m despite a season best performance.

The next Diamond League event will be Thursday in Oslo with another in Stockholm a week later. That will wrap up the initial eight events in six weeks portion of the Diamond League with just six more remaining. There will be two in July, three in an eight day span to end August and begin September, and then one last one in Brussels September 9th.

Previous Diamond League Coverage:
Birmingham Preview

Olympic Trials, Rio 2016 Olympic Trials, Shooting

Daniel Lowe Only One to Move into Olympic Spot on Findal Day of Air Shooting Olympic Trials

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The men’s rifle competition didn’t see much drama at the top as Lucas Kozeniesky cruised to the first of two qualifying spots with the top qualifying score (627.4) and a second place finish in the final. His final margin of 18.6 over second place showed there was no real drama for him on Sunday. But drama was plentiful in the race for second. Ivan Roe had been in second going into the day but had a disaster shooting a 617.5 and not making the final. He held on to second place before the final but it was only by a tenth of a point over Daniel Lowe so there was no way he could stay in front and his Rio hopes were over. Lowe wasn’t guaranteed the spot though. Bryant Wallizer came from nowhere to pull a point behind Lowe after a big time qualifying round and Dempster Christenson had rallied from a first day missed final to sit just 1.3 behind Lowe. Wallizer ended up being the first man out in the final narrowing the race for the final Olympic spot to Lowe and Christenson. Those two became part of the final three but Christenson was knocked out first and finished in sixth, clinching the spot for Lowe. In the end Lowe finished with a 3.3 point lead over Christenson.

Jason Turner put himself in position to challenge Will Brown for the Olympic berth in the men’s air pistol during Sunday’s final but was unable to take advantage as a last place finish cost him any hopes of going to Rio and saw Brown rise to the occasion with fourth place finish that was plenty good enough. Turner had been one of four shooters (though the only one in occasion) to post a qualifying high 575 to start the day, one better than Brown’s score, but he needed to finish ahead of Brown in the final to overcome his one point deficit and when he was the first one knocked out Brown had locked up a spot in Rio. Brown finished with a 1746 total, five ahead of Turner, while Alexander Chichkov won the final to lock up third, 11 points behind Brown.

Sarah Scherer had no easy path on Sunday as she won the women’s air rifle competition with a second place finish in the final. Sagen Maddalena closed to within 3.2 points with Elizabeth Gratz just 1.1 behind her after both topped Scherer in qualifying where Gratz had a qualifying high 417.5. Scherer would be fine as long as she finished in the top half and did more than that as she outlasted both Maddalena (who finished fourth) and Gratz (who finished sixth) en route to a second place finish. Scherer’s final margin was 5.2 over Maddalena with Gratz another 3.1 back.

Lydia Paterson grabbed her spot with ease in the women’s air pistol as she posted the best qualifying score of the day (a 381) and won the final for the third straight day. Her final margin of victory was a whopping 24 points over Alexis Lagan with Courtney Anthony and Sandra Uptagrafft both finishing 28 points back in third. Paterson may or may not be a medal contender in Rio but she’s clearly the best the US has to send.

In the end all five shooters who held the Olympic spots after day one ending up securing them, with only Lowe losing his hold on the spot on Saturday evening.

With the US Olympic team finalized the attention turns to two separate events that will attract US shooters later in June. The Rifle and Pistol National Championships will take place in Ft. Benning, Georgia June 22nd-29th while from June 20th-29th in Baku, Azerbaijan there will be an ISSF World Cup event featuring rifle, pistol, and shotgun events.

Previous US Air Shooting Olympic Trials Coverage:
Preview
Friday Update
Saturday Update

Canoeing, ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup

Maggie Hogan Wins Silver in K1 5000m at ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Montemor

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Maggie Hogan won a silver in the women’s K1 5000m on Sunday finishing second to Ireland’s Jennifer Egan by just 0.99 seconds in a time of 23:32.47. Hogan, who will compete in the K1 500m in Rio, adds the silver to a bronze medal she won in the 1000m at the world championships last year as she has put together a stellar career including several world cup medals.

In other events wrapping up on Sunday…
Men’s K1 200m: Timothy Hornsby finished eighth in the final B in a time of 36.08, his best time of the weekend and just over a second back from the winner of the final B.
Women’s K1 500m: Hogan finished the final B in third place in 1:55.73 to finish 12th overall but over two seconds behind the final B winner. Ariel Farrar-Wellman was seventh in 2:00.61.
Men’s K1 500m: Timothy Burdiak finished eighth in the final B in 1:49.63, his best time of the weekend. Burdiak was over seven seconds behind the top three in the final.
Men’s K2 500m: Christopher Miller and Stanton Collins finished fourth and Aaron Mullican and Shawn Kaho’okele finished fifth as both contended for a medal. Miller/Collins were 1.3 seconds behind third in 1:43.64 while Mullican/Kaho’okele were two seconds behind third in 1:44.32.
Men’s K4 200m: Kaho’okele, Burdiak, Collins, and Miller finished ninth of nine in 36.27 and were over four seconds behind the bronze medal winner.
Men’s K1 5000m: Mullican finished 21st in 23:30.39 as he finished around 2:35 behind the medalists and Burdiak finished 25th in 24:14.57.
Men’s C1 5000m: Gavin Ross finished tenth in 26:56.65 and was over 1:50 behind the medalists.

This is end of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup season, just three events in three weeks. Hogan’s K1 500m event in Rio will have heats on Wednesday, August 17th with the semifinals and final on Thursday, August 18th.

Previous ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Coverage:
Montemor Preview
Friday Update
Saturday Update

Cycling, Mountain Bike, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup

Aaron Gwin Finishes Second at Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill Event in Fort William

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Aaron Gwin made it three top five finishes in three tries on the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup downhill tour but was unable to capture the title for the second time this season. Gwin was a bit slow out of the gate as he was tenth at the first split but picked it up over the next couple minutes to move into the top five and finished strong to beat the third and fourth place riders by less than a second. The second place finish gave Gwin 160 points as he grew his lead over Troy Brosnan of Australia who finished fifth.

Gwin wasn’t the only American to find success as Luca Shaw had his best finish of the year in sixth place. Shaw is now 12th in the overall standings. The other three Americans in the final didn’t fare as well with Mitch Ropelato in 55th, Shane Leslie in 60th, and Dakotah Norton in 83rd. All three were over 20 seconds behind the winner.

The next UCI Mountain Bike World Cup downhill event will be in Leogang, Austria next weekend on June 11th and 12th.

Previous Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill Coverage:
Fort William Preview
Saturday Update

Cycling, UCI Men's World Tour

Brent Bookwalter Finishes 27th in Prologue of Criterium du Dauphine

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Brent Bookwalter was the top American in the prologue of the Criterium du Dauphine on Sunday as the American finished 27th in the 2.4 mile run, 58 seconds behind the leading 11:36 time of Spaniard Alberto Contador. Bookwalter was joined in the top 100 by Alexey Vermeulen who finished 65th and Alex Howes who finished 98th.

The Criterium du Dauphine continues Monday with a 115.6 mile flat stage while the overall race continues until next Sunday.

Previous Criterium du Dauphine Coverage:
Preview

Canoeing, ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup

Richard Powell Takes Bronze in K1 Cross at ICF Slalom World Cup in Ivrea, Italy

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While the Americans didn’t have any real success in the traditional events at the ICF Slalom World Cup event in Ivrea, Italy Richard Powell did grab a bronze in a new event. Powell won the bronze in the K1 cross event, a competition where competitors race head to head instead of competing on time. Powell’s competition started off with a seventh place finish among the 15 who competed in the time trial to seed the field for the main event. Powell’s time of 40.40 was 3.77 behind the top time. Fellow American Tyler Westfall was right behind Powell in eighth in 40.88.

In the quarterfinals where the top two in each heat would advance Westfall caught the break of being in a heat with just three but finished third of those three and was eliminated. Powell also caught a break as only three started his heat and one of those three was disqualified. Powell still won his heat to advance to the semifinals. Powell came in second in his semifinal to become one of the four finalists and then came in third in the final to win the bronze medal.

Earlier in the day Powell finished 30th in the semifinals of the men’s K1 event. Powell had just two penalties but his total of 97.75 was over six behind the ten final qualifiers. Also competing in the semifinals was Zachary Lokken in the men’s C1. Lokken finished 29th after picking up a 50 point penalty and finishing with a 164.65 score.

The next ICF Slalom World Cup event will be in La Seu d’Urgell, Spain next weekend from the 10th through the 12th.

Previous ICF Slalom World Cup Coverage:
Ivrea Preview
Friday Update

Badminton

Favorites Dominate on Day Two at US Badminton National Championships

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The favorites dominated on day two of the US Badminton National Championships with some really dominant performances on Saturday. In women’s doubles Beiwen Zhang and Jing Yu Hong didn’t see any of the six games they played in go past 21-7 as they needed just 55 total minutes to win three matches 2-0 and get to 4-0 for the event. They face #2 seed Deepti Reddy and Yen-Fang Wang in their final match who are 3-1 so far. Zhang won twice in women’s singles (both with 21-5 and 21-6 games) and will face Ariel Lee in the final on Sunday.

The men’s doubles team of Phillip Chew and Sattawat Pongnairat won their opener easily 21-2, 21-6. The second matchup was a bit harder but they led 21-12, 5-1 before their opponents retired. The semifinal matchup was a real contest though and they dropped the first game 20-22 to Charles Gu and Sheng Lyu but came back to win the next two 21-17. 21-15. They will face Mu He and Ricky Xiu Liuzhou in the final on Sunday.

In mixed doubles Chew and Jamie Subandhi got 21-7, 21-5 and 21-14, 21-10 wins to advance to Sunday’s final. Their second win came over defending champion Yu Hong and her partner this year, Abhishek Ahlawat, who did win two matches to start the day. Chew/Subandhi will face Yoga Pratama and Zhang in the final. Zhang has three finals on Sunday.

Previous US Badminton National Championships Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update

Olympic Trials, Rio 2016 Olympic Trials, Shooting

Crazy Events Shakeup Field in Men’s Rifle at Air Shooting Olympic Trials

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The most dramatic event on Saturday at the Air Shooting Olympic Trials might be one where an Olympic spot is all but locked in. Lucas Kozeniesky has seemingly locked up one of the two spots available in the men’s rifle competition as he had the top qualifying score of 626.5 and finished second in the final to open up a 9.6 point lead over second place and a seemingly insurmountable 18 point lead over third place. I say seemingly because the events of Saturday’s competition show you almost anything is possible. Daniel Lowe had held the second qualifying spot after day one but was way off the pace in qualifying and missed out on the final by 2.2 points. Ivan Roe took advantage with a solid qualifying score and a fourth place finish (nothing spectacular) and went from 0.3 behind Lowe to a big 8.9 point lead. Matthew Rawlings moved into third but after finishing last in the final he is well behind Roe and would need a big final day to get into second. Dempster Christenson is in the same boat but won the final to at least keep himself afloat just a tenth of a point behind Rawlings. One this is certain, Rawlings, Christenson, and Lowe will all be hoping Roe has the same misfortune in his qualifying round that Lowe did on Saturday to open the door for others to move into contention.

Things also continue to remain tight in the men’s air pistol where Jason Turner posted a qualifying best 281 to bring himself level with Will Brown going into the final on day two. Brown won the final to stay in first overall with Turner finishing third and ending the day two points behind Brown, right where he started it. Miscues by James Hall (an eighth place finish in the final), Alexander Chichkov (a 571 in qualifying), and Nickolaus Mowrer (a 575 in qualifying and a sixth place finish in the final) mean third place Chichkov and Hall are now 10 points behind second. This one seems like it’ll come down to the final on Sunday to determine if Turner or Brown is going to Rio.

Lydia Paterson pulled away in the women’s air pistol as she was within a point of the top score in qualifying (a 381 by Alexis Lagan) and then won the final for the second straight day to extend her lead from 10 points to 20 over Lagan. Brenda Silva is now third but 23 points back. Paterson seems to have this one in the bag barring an absolute collapse on the final day of the trials.

Sagen Maddalena posted a phenomenal 418 in qualifying, 1.9 points better than anyone else in the field, but finished fourth in the final to miss an opportunity to put some real pressure on Sarah Scherer going into the final day of the women’s air rifle competition. Scherer was fairly average in qualifying, leaving the door open to competitors, but slammed it shut with a win in the final to grow her lead to four points going into the final day. With Rhiann Travis and Amy Sowash faltering (Travis with a 411.5 and Sowash with a 412.5 in qualifying as both missed the final) Elizabeth Gratz took advantage with a second place finish in the final to move into third, six points back.

Previous US Air Shooting Olympic Trials Coverage:
Preview
Friday Update

Canoeing, ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup

Maggie Hogan Finishes Fourth in K1 1000m at ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Montemor

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Maggie Hogan was just over a second short of grabbing a medal in the K1 1000m at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Montemor, Portugal on Saturday as she finished fourth in 4:11.8, 1.16 seconds shy of the third place finisher. Hogan was the only American to advance to a final A on the first day of the event. Also competing for a medal were Ian Ross and Gavin Ross in the final of the Men’s C2 200m (the only race in the class all weekend). They finished eighth of eight in 45.08 and 3.3 second behind the bronze.

In other events wrapping up on Saturday…
Men’s K1 1000m: Shawn Kaho’okele finished eighth in the final B in a time of 3:48.6, his best time of the weekend.
Women’s K1 200m: Emily Wright finished ninth in the final B in 44.868. The final was close with only 1.4 seconds separating first and last.
Men’s K2 1000m: Christopher Miller and Stanton Collins finished fifth in the final B with a time of 3:28.9, their best time of the weekend and better than several racers in the final A.

In other events starting on Saturday…
Men’s K1 200m: Kaho’okele was eliminated in his heat when he finished eighth in 42.43. He needed a top seven finish to advance to the semifinals and missed it by 1.34 seconds.Timothy Hornsby did advance to the semifinals with a fifth place finish in his heat in 39.5. Hornsby gave it a good run in the semifinals and came up one spot short of advancing to the final A when he finished fourth in 38.18. He was 0.8 seconds away from qualifying for the final A but will have to settle for participating in the final B on Sunday.
Men’s C1 200m: Ian Ross was eliminated in his heat after finishing eighth in 47.02. Ross needed a top seven finish to advance to the semifinals and missed it by 0.6 seconds. Benjamin Hefner did advance with a sixth place finish (out of six) in his heat in 50.15. Hefner was eliminated in the semifinals when he finished eighth and missed out on the “best time” spot in the final B by over two seconds after posting a time of 47.19.
Men’s K1 500m: Timothy Burdiak finished sixth in his heat in 1:57.30 to reach the semifinals but finished eighth in his semifinal despite improving to a 1:54 flat time. Burdiak was the fastest eighth place finisher by over two and a half seconds so he will take part in the final B on Sunday.
Men’s C1 500m: Gavin Ross and Ian Ross both advanced from their heats to the semifinal. Gavin was seventh in his heat in 2:18.452, 3.5 seconds clear in the final direct qualifying spot. Ian was sixth in his heat in 2:07.42 but only 0.8 seconds ahead of the ninth place finisher who was eliminated. Neither man advanced from the semifinal with Gavin finishing eighth and Ian ninth in 2:31.66 and 2:54.44 respectively. There was 21 seconds between Gavin and the next finisher ahead of him.
Women’s K1 500m: Ariel Farrar-Wellman finished sixth in her heat in 2:18.51 as she automatically qualified for the semifinals while Hogan did the same in her heat with a third place finish in 2:10.32. Farrar-Wellman was eighth in her semifinal in 2:11.30 but qualified for the final B as all semifinalist reached either final A or B. Hogan will also be in final B after finishing fifth in her heat in 2:05.26. Hogan was over six seconds behind the final qualifier for the final A. This is the event Hogan will be competing in during the Olympics.
Men’s C2 1000m: Ian Ross and Gavin Ross finished sixth in 5:10.59, over 30 seconds behind the fifth place duo, but had an automatic spot in the semifinals. They were much stronger as expected in the semifinals but their 4:00.74 time was only good enough for fifth and they missed out on the final spot by five seconds.
Men’s K4 1000m: Kaho’okele, Burdiak, Collins, and Miller finished their heat in 3:22.98, good enough for fifth place with an automatic semifinal spot. They were about 3.5 seconds behind the final direct qualifier to the final. In the semifinal they finished fifth as well in 3:18.74. This time they were over eight seconds short of qualifying for the final.

There are several finals on Sunday that will take place without having had any previous races this weekend. Miller and Collins as well as Aaron Mullican and Kaho’okele will compete in the men’s K2 500m while the K4 team of  Kaho’okele, Burdiak, Collins, and Miller compete in the men’s K4 200m. Mullican and Burdiak will take part in the men’s K1 5000m while Gavin Ross competes in the men’s C1 5000m. Finally Hogan competes in the women’s K1 5000m.

Previous ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Coverage:
Montemor Preview
Friday Update

Diamond League, Track and Field

Kendra Harrison Will Defend 100m Hurdle Win at Diamond League in Birmingham

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As the Diamond League heads to Birmingham, England attention will turn to Kendra Harrison who competes in the 100m hurdles on Sunday. Harrison set a new Diamond League record last week in Eugene and leads a field that features two of the other Americans who finished as part of an all-USA top five that day. Brianna Rollins was the closest to Harrison and is back along with Nia Ali who finished fourth. Other previous winners competing in Birmingham will be Ameer Webb in the 200m, Tia Brooks in the shot put, and Erik Kynard in the high jump. All three won in Doha but have been beaten since then. In the shot put Brooks will also have to compete against Brittany Smith, third in Rabat.

Other previous top-three finishers who will be competing in Birmingham include Cassandra Tate, second in the 400m hurdles in Rabat, and Marquise Goodwin, already with a third and second place finish in his two long jump competitions so far this year.

Previous Diamond League Coverage:
Rome Recap