Monthly Archives: June 2016

ISSF World Cup, Shooting

ISSF World Cup Event in Baku Begins with Trap Events on Wednesday

Leave a comment

The fourth ISSF World Cup event will be this week in Baku, Azerbaijan as the shotgun, rifle, and pistol athletes will all be competing together. For the US this is not the best timing as the national championships in rifle and pistol are in Ft. Benning, Georgia starting Wednesday. That won’t affect the shotgun athletes though, their national championship is in July, so expect a good showing in Baku. Things begin on Wednesday with the women’s trap competition and the beginning of the men’s trap competition.

The only American competing in the women’s trap competition is Ashley Carroll. Carroll wasn’t competing in San Marino but finished ninth in her last ISSF World Cup event in Rio. In the men’s trap competition Seth Inman and Ryne Baxter Barfield will be competing. Inman was 57th in Rio and Barfield 70th in Nicosia in their only World Cup events so far this year.

The ISSF World Cup in Baku will continue through Tuesday.

Previous ISSF World Cup Coverage:
San Marino Recap

Men's World League, Water Polo

USA Men Open Water Polo World League Super Final With 12-6 Win Over China

Leave a comment

The USA men opened the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final with a solid win over China 12-6 on Tuesday as they moved to 1-0 in the group stage. The USA wasn’t as dominant as they were in a 19-2 win over China last month but still were ahead 6-2 at the half. Tony Azevedo scored four goals in the win as did Josh Samuels. Ben Hallock had a pair with Merrill Moses saving six shots while McQuin Baron had five.

Serbia beat Brazil 14-10 in the other Group B match. The US faces Brazil next on Wednesday and owns a 16-11 win over them from the qualifying tournament in May. These two sides met in the third place match last year with Brazil defeating the US on penalties 14-13 to claim their first ever medal.

All eight teams will compete in the quarterfinals so only seeding is at stake in the group stage. The knockout round trickles all the way down to a 7th/8th place game so the US will have games each of the next six days.

Group B Schedule:
Tuesday – USA 12-6 China, Serbia 14-10. Brazil
Wednesday – USA vs. Brazil, Serbia vs. China
Thursday – USA vs. Serbia, Brazil vs. China

Previous FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final Coverage:
Preview

Boxing

Cam Awesome Into Quarterfinals at Olympic Boxing World Qualification Event

Leave a comment

Cam F. Awesome (91kg) put on a strong performance Monday in the round of 16 dispatching Kosovo’s Armend Xhoxhaj 30-27 according to all three judges to move one step closer to reach the Olympics. Awesome is one of just eight boxers remaining in his weight class but needs three more wins to advance to Rio. Awesome will fight again in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Paul Kroll (69kg) will not qualify for the Olympics in Baku after he lost a split decision to Hungary’s Imre Balazs Bacskai. All three judges saw it as a 29-28 right but two of the three gave it to the Bacskai.

Tuesday will also feature Antonio Vargas (52kg) and Gary Russell (64kg) in round of 16 matches, and Marlo Moore (+91kg) in his quarterfinal match.

Preliminaries for the weight classes with more than 16 fighters in contention wrap up Tuesday to narrow fields down to eight in each weight class for quarterfinals that will take place on Thursday. The weight classes already down to eight will have quarterfinals Tuesday before having Wednesday and Thursday off in advance of Friday’s semifinals.

Previous 2016 AIBA World Olympic Qualifying Event Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Saturday Update
Sunday Update

Cycling, UCI Women's WorldTour

Katie Hall Finishes 22nd in Aviva Women’s Tour

Leave a comment

Katie Hall finished in the peloton in 43rd on Sunday at the Aviva Women’s Tour and that was enough to keep Hall in the top 25, finishing 22nd and 3:45 back. It wasn’t her best finish of the year, she had been better at both the races on American soil, but it did make three straight top 25 finishes.

Tayler Wiles ended up finishing 72nd on Sunday and was the only other American to finish the event. She finished 46th overall, 17:06 back.

The next UCI Women’s WorldTour event is the Giro d’Italia Internazionale Femminile. It’s the longest race of the season, contested from July 1st through the 10th.

Previous Aviva Women’s Tour Coverage:
Preview
Wednesday Update
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Saturday Update

Men's World League, Water Polo

USA Men Set for Water Polo World League Super Final

Leave a comment

The US men will look to match the women’s world title from earlier this month when they compete in the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final starting Tuesday in Huizhou, China. The US men are competing in Group B with Serbia, Brazil, and China in the opening stage of the tournament. While the US women have been the dominant nation in the women’s event the US men have only medaled twice and have finished fourth or fifth in the last seven years.

Serbia has been the dominant country on the men’s side winning seven titles in nine years since becoming an independent nation including the last five times they have entered the tournament (they did not enter in 2012). Brazil is making their fifth straight Super Final appearance but a bronze last year was their first medal. China is appearing in the Super Final for the seventh straight year but has never finished higher than fourth.

All eight teams will compete in the quarterfinals so only seeding is at stake in the group stage. The knockout round trickles all the way down to a 7th/8th place game so the US will have games each of the next six days. The US opens with China who they defeated in the qualifying tournament 19-2 in May.

Group B Schedule:
Tuesday – USA vs. China, Serbia vs. Brazil
Wednesday – USA vs. Brazil, Serbia vs. China
Thursday – USA vs. Serbia, Brazil vs. China

 

Previous FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Coverage:
FINA Intercontinental Qualification Tournament

Cycling, UCI Men's World Tour

Andrew Talansky Finishes Tour de Suisse in Fifth, Tejay Van Garderen in Sixth

Leave a comment

Andrew Talansky wasn’t able to maintain his second place position at the Tour de Suisse during the final stage as he couldn’t stay with the leading pack of seven riders and finished in eighth, 56 seconds back. Those 56 seconds were enough to drop him from second to fifth overall, 1;04 back, still a great result for him. Talansky finished in the top eight of the last five stages of the race.

Finishing 22 seconds behind Talansky overall was Tejay Van Garderen who moved up one spot on the day after finishing fifth in the same time as the race winner. Van Garderen has now been in the top 10 of the last three races he entered on the UCI World Tour. Joe Dombrowski also finished the race on a good note with a 10th place finish Sunday, finishing with the same time as Talansky. Dombrowski ended up 26th, 29:16 back, a season best finish for him as well.

Peter Stetina was the fourth American in the top 30 as he was 3:54 back in 28th. He finished a season best 22nd overall, 23:56 back, and became only the fifth American to finish in the top 25 of a race this season. Kiel Reijnen finished 66th, his best stage of the race and only his second top 100 finish, while Ian Boswell rounded out the six top 100 American finishers with a 90th place finish. Boswell was 37th overall, 39:53 back.

 

The next race on the UCI World Tour is the big one, the Tour de France, starting July 2nd and running through the 24th.

Previous Tour de Suisse Coverage:
Preview
Stage One Recap
Stage Two Recap
Stage Three Recap
Stage Four Recap
Stage Five Recap
Stage Six Recap
Stage Seven Recap
Stage Eight Recap

Boxing

Antonio Vargas, Gary Russell, Marlo Moore Advance at Olympic Boxing World Qualification Event

Leave a comment

Three Americans kept their Olympic hopes alive on Sunday in Baku while one tasted defeated and won’t qualify for Rio here. Antonio Vargas (52kg), Gary Russell (64kg), and Marlo Moore (+91kg) all grabbed victories to reach the quarterfinals with all there winning fairly comfortably. Vargas went the distance but got 30-27 scores from all three judges in a win over Yoel Segundo Finol Rivas of Venezuela. Things went a bit quicker for Rusell and Moore as Russell got a TKO at 2:58 of the first round against Ethiopia’s Girmachew Bahiru Tadesse while Moore beat Dohyeon Kim of Korea 10-9 according to all three judges after the fight was stopped at the end of the first round. Vargas and Russell are among 16 left in their respective weight classes needing to finish in the top five to qualify while Moore has reached the quarterfinals but needs to win his weight class.

Things didn’t go as well for Jonathan Esquivel (81kg) who lost 29-28 according to two judges and won 29-28 according to the third in a 2-1 loss to Mongolia’s Erdenebayar Sandagsuren.

Paul Kroll (69kg) and Cam F. Awesome (91kg) will return to the ring on Monday for their round of 16 bouts.

Preliminaries continue Monday and run through Tuesday to narrow fields down to eight in each weight class for quarterfinals that will take place on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.

Previous 2016 AIBA World Olympic Qualifying Event Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Saturday Update

Boxing

Paul Kroll and Cam F. Awesome Advance at Olympic Boxing World Qualification Event

Leave a comment

Through three days of the Olympic Qualifying event in Baku the American boxers have yet to taste defeat in six bouts. Paul Kroll won his second bout and Cam F. Awesome his first as they stayed in contention for spots in Rio. Kroll defeated Guatemala’s Lester Normandy Martinez Tut 29-27 according to all three judges in his 69kg bout while Awesome was a 29-28 winner according to all three judges in a 91kg win over Chile’s Miguel Angel Veliz Correa. Kroll has reached the final 16 with five Olympic spots up for grabs in his class while Awesome is one of 16 left but with only the winner qualifying. Both will have their round of 16 fight on Monday.

On Sunday Antonio Vargas (52kg), Gary Russell (64kg), and Jonathan Esquivel (81kg) return to the ring for their second fights while Marlo Moore (+91kg) makes his debut in Baku.

Preliminaries continue Sunday and run through Tuesday to narrow fields down to eight in each weight class for quarterfinals that will take place on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.

Previous 2016 AIBA World Olympic Qualifying Event Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update

Cycling, UCI Women's WorldTour

Katie Halls Finishes 35th in Fourth Stage of The Aviva Women’s Tour

Leave a comment

Katie Hall continued her track towards a top 25 finish at the Aviva Women’s Tour when she finished 35th in the fourth stage, 2:39 back. Hall did drop a spot overall to 24th and is 3:42 behind the leaders. Tayler Wiles in 68th and Alison Tetrick in 79th were the other finishers for the US. Wiles is still hanging in the top 50 overall, 14:58 back in 49th, while Tetrick is 79th.

The final stage on Sunday will be 70.3 miles.

Previous Aviva Women’s Tour Coverage:
Preview
Wednesday Update
Thursday Update
Friday Update

Cycling, UCI Men's World Tour

Andrew Talansky Moves to Second in Tour de Suisse After Penultimate Stage

Leave a comment

Andrew Talansky is in position to notch the top finish by an American so far this year on the UCI World Tour, and maybe even win, as he moved into second place of the Tour de Suisse after a fifth place finish in the 10 mile time trial on Saturday. Talansky was 23 seconds back of the winner but only dropped five seconds to the new leader, Miguel Angel Lopez of Colombia. Talansky now trails Lopez by eight seconds in the overall standings with only a 73.1 mile mountain stage between them and the finish.

Tejay Van Garderen, who had won stage seven, finished 34 seconds back in 10th. Van Garderen kept his seventh place spot in the overall standings but is now 1:26 back. For the first time since stage four there wasn’t a third American in the top 30 as the next American to finish was Peter Stetina who ended up 65th, 1:59 back. Stetina stayed in 24th and is 20:02 back overall. No other Americans were in the top 100 but Joe Dombrowski and Ian Boswell are in 32nd and 33rd overall while trailing by 28:20 and 28:52 respectively.

The race wraps up with a 73.1 mile mountain stage on Sunday.

Previous Tour de Suisse Coverage:
Preview
Stage One Recap
Stage Two Recap
Stage Three Recap
Stage Four Recap
Stage Five Recap
Stage Six Recap
Stage Seven Recap