Monthly Archives: June 2016

BMX, Cycling

Corben Sharrah Wins Spot on US Olympic Team at BMX Trials

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Corben Sharrah is on the US Olympic Team after winning the BMX Trials on Saturday in Chula Vista, California. Sharrah held off seven competitors throughout the afternoon as the field was narrowed to six for a winner-take-the-ticket-to-Rio final. Sharrah won that final to grab the Olympic spot with Barry Nobles a surprise second. For a full recap of the day’s racing see this great recap from Jason Mcguire.

Sharrah joins Nicholas Long on the Olympic team with one more spot to be determined by a selection committee. Long secured his spot with a third place finish at the world championship last month.

Wrestling

US Freestyle Wresting Team Wins 15 of 16 Matches in Dominant Day One at Wrestling World Cup in Los Angeles

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The US freestyle wresting team was dominant on day one at the Wrestling World Cup in Los Angeles. The US won 15 of the 16 individual matches in a 7-1 win over India and an 8-0 win over Azerbaijan to set up a group deciding showdown with Iran on Sunday.

All of the US wrestlers that competed on Saturday wrestled twice and only Alex Dieringer lost a match. Dieringer lost to India’s Parveen Rana 5-4.

Iran shutout India but struggled against Azerbaijan and held on for a 5-3 victory. The US and Iran met last year in the gold medal match with Iran winning 5-3. Iran has won the last four wrestling world cups and the US has not finished ahead of Iran since 2008 when Iran did not compete in the world cup event.

US Team:
57 kg – Daniel Dennis – 2-0
61 kg – Tony Ramos – 2-0
65 kg – Frank Molinaro – 2-0
70 kg – James Green – 2-0
74 kg – Alex Dieringer – 1-1
86 kg – J’Den Cox – 2-0
97 kg – Kyle Snyder – 2-0
125 kg – Jake Varner – 2-0

Cycling, UCI Men's World Tour

Benjamin King Top American for Second Straight Day at Criterium du Dauphine

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Benjamin King wasn’t able to break into the top 30 on Saturday but he did finish as the top American for the second straight day at the Criterium du Dauphine. King was 56th on this occasion and three minutes faster than any of his fellow countrymen, but still 19:41 behind the winner of the stage. Brent Bookwalter finished 63rd with Alexey Vermeulen in 60th as both finished with the same time. Alex Howes made it four in the top 100 when he finished 93rd. Bookwalter actually gained spots overall, now 58th, but trails the leader by 37 minutes. King is 72nd and still has a chance to finish as the top American.

The Criterium du Dauphine wraps up Sunday with a 93.8 mile medium-mountain stage.

Saturday in the Tour de Suisse Andrew Talansky was the top American in the four mile individual time trial, 26 seconds behind the leader. Talansky was joined in the top 60 by Tejay Van Garderen in 53rd and Peter Stetina in 58th. The race continues with a 116.6 mile medium-mountain stage on Sunday and continues through Sunday the 19th.

Previous Criterium du Dauphine Coverage:
Preview
Prologue Recap
Stage One Recap
Stage Two Recap
Stage Three Recap
Stage Four Recap
Stage Five Recap

Previous Tour de Suisse Coverage:
Preview

Cycling, Mountain Bike, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup

Only Three Americans Will Compete in Final of Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill Event in Leogang

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Aaron Gwin was the top finisher in the qualifying round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup downhill event in Leogang, Austria on Saturday but overall it was not a particularly bright day for the American riders. Gwin was the only American to finish in the top 20 though both Luca Shaw in 25th and Eliot Jackson in 72nd did reach the final. For the other six Americans it was a finish outside the top 100, over 30 seconds back, and a one day event in Leogang. Gwill will look to build on his series lead over Troy Brosnan of Australia on Sunday in the final as the world cup crosses the halfway point.

Previous Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill Coverage:
Leogang Preview

Water Polo, Women's World League

USA Women Reach Final of Water Polo Super Final, Will Face Spain for Second Time

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The US women advanced to the final of the 2016 Water Polo World League Super Final with a comfortable 11-5 win over China on Saturday. The US was up 3-1 after the first eight minutes and 5-2 at the half. China was still in it at 7-4 going to the fourth quarter but the US pulled away for the six point win. Rachel Fattal, Alys Williams, Makenzie Fischer, and Kami Craig each had two goals in the win while Ashleigh Johnson had 13 saves in the win, her second straight start in the knockout round.

The US will be facing Spain in the final after they defeated Australia 10-8 in a semifinal upset. Spain had only reached six Super Finals over the last nine years and had only made it to one semifinal and had never medaled. They won’t be a pushover for the US by any means, they are the only team to finish within two goals of the US when they lost to them 12-10 in the group stage.

USA Results:
Group B Tuesday – USA 20-2 Brazil
Group B Wednesday – USA 11-8 Canada
Group B Thursday – USA 12-10 Spain
Quarterfinals Friday – USA 14-7 Russia
Semifinals Saturday – USA 11-5 China

Previous 2016 Water Polo World League Super Final Coverage:
Preview
Brazil Recap
Canada Recap
Spain Recap
Russia Recap

ITU World Triathlon Series, Triathlon

Gwen Jorgensen Goes for Back-to-back Wins at Leeds Triathlon

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Gwen Jorgensen leads a small US field competing in the Leeds Triathlon on Sunday as she goes for her second straight win in the World Series. Jorgensen started a new winning streak in Yokohama last month but for it to be a true streak she’ll need to win a second straight in Leeds. The only other American woman in the field is Sarah True who did not take part in Yokohama but was ninth in her last race in Cape Town.  On the men’s side the only two entrants, William Huffman and Hunter Lussi, are yet to compete in an event so far this season.

Previous IRU World Triathlon Series Coverage:
Yokohama Recap

ISSF World Cup, Shooting

Vincent Hancock Wins Bronze on Final Day of ISSF World Cup in San Marino

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2016 Olympian Vincent Hancock grabbed the third medal by an American at this World Cup event with a strong final day that had barely a hiccup. Hancock hit 74 of 75 targets in the second day of qualifying to finish with 123 and avoid the shoot-off for the final as he was in third. Italy’s Tammaro Cassandro tied the world record with a perfect 125 in qualifying. Hancock’s hiccup was in the semifinals and it was a single missed target. Three of the other semifinalists were 16/16 so Hancock was relegated to the bronze medal match. There he regained his perfect form and defeated Jesper Hansen of Denmark to grab the bronze. It was the first medal of the year for Hancock who now has third, fourth, and fifth place finishes might as well round that out with a silver in the world cup event in Baku in a couple weeks and a gold in Rio. Frank Thompson ended up with a second day 70 and a total of 116 to finish 42nd.

The next ISSF World Cup event is a combined rifle, pistol, and shotgun event in Baku, Azerbaijan from June 20th-29th.

Previous ISSF World Cup San Marino Coverage:
Preview
Friday Update
Monday Update
Thursday Update

Cycling, UCI Men's World Tour

Mountains Suit Him Well, Benjamin King Jumps to 29th in Stage Five of Criterium du Dauphine

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After finishing outside of the top 100 four times to start the Criterium du Dauphine and only breaking through to 92nd on Thursday, Benjamin King had a great ride on Friday as the race entered the mountains and finished 29th, 1:48 back. The top American so far, Brent Bookwalter was over seven minutes further back in 78th with Alex Howes right behind him in 79th. Bookwalter remains the top American but slid to 66th overall, 15:20 back. King was one of the biggest climbers of the day moving from 114th to 87th.

The Criterium du Dauphine continues Saturday with the second mountain stage, 87.6 miles, and the overall race wraps up Sunday with a 93.8 mile medium-mountain stage.

Saturday will also be the beginning of the Tour de Suisse. Seven Americans are in the field for the nine stage race, including big names like Tejay Van Garderen, 5th in the Volta a Cataluyna, Joe Dombrowski, 34th in the Giro d’Italia, and Peter Stetina, 35th in La Fleche Wallonne. The race begins with a 4 mile individual time trial, one of two in the overall event, and continues through Sunday the 19th.

Previous Criterium du Dauphine Coverage:
Preview
Prologue Recap
Stage One Recap
Stage Two Recap
Stage Three Recap
Stage Four Recap

Canoeing, ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup

Two Americans Qualify for Semifinals at ICF Slalom World Cup in La Seu d’Urgell, Spain

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Just like last weekend only two Americans were able to advance from the qualifying heats at the ICF Slalom World Cup event. This weekend in La Seu d’Urgell, Spain those two are both Olympians who didn’t compete last weekend. Casey Eichfeld qualified in the men’s C1 while Michal Smolen qualified in the men’s K1. Eichfeld qualified for the semifinals with a 15th place finish in the first C1 heat. Eichfeld’s time of 97.49 was 5.07 behind the top time and less than a second ahead of not qualifying from the heat. Smolen was unable to qualify from the first men’s K1 heat after finishing 42nd in 94.48, just over a second short of qualifying. He grabbed one of the ten spots available from the second heat by finishing sixth in 90.42, over a second and a half clear of 11th.

In other action…
Men’s C1: Zachary Lokken just missed out on qualifying as he was 12th in the second qualifying heat, missing the semifinals by 1.71 seconds after picking up a two second penalty on his fourth gate and finishing in 100.51. Tyler Smith was 23rd in the second heat and over five seconds back with no penalties.
Women’s C1: Sage Donnelly, who didn’t compete last weekend, finished eighth in the second qualifying heat but 1.03 behind the five semifinals qualifier. Donnelly took four penalty points which cost her a spot.
Men’s K1: Richard Powell finished 31st in the first heat, missing qualifying by just 0.06 seconds despite not picking up any penalties in 93.39. The same time wouldn’t have advanced him in heat two but his time and he picked up four penalty seconds in a 95.34 finish that was 21st, and about three and a half seconds shy of qualifying. Tyler Westfall was 33rd in the second heat in 99.38.
Women’s K1: Olympian Ashley Nee did not take part in either of the heats while Anna Maria Ifarraguerri finished 25th in the second heat in 113.64, over 10 seconds back of the qualifiers.
Men’s C2: Devin McEwan and Eichfeld finished eighth in the second qualifying heat, missing a top five qualifying spot by over six seconds.

Eichfeld in the C1 and Smolen in the K1 will both take part in the semifinals on Saturday with the finals for those events later in the day. Also on Saturday will be the men’s K1 cross event and the women’s K1 cross event. Powell and Tyler Smith are entered in the men’s event, where Powell took third last weekend, while Donnelly and Nee are entered in the women’s event.

Previous ICF Slalom World Cup Coverage:
La Seu d’Urgell Preview

Wrestling

US Freestyle Wresting Team set for Wrestling World Cup in Los Angeles

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The US freestyle wresting team will be competing in the Wrestling World Cup starting Saturday in Los Angeles. The US will face India and Azerbaijan on the first day of competition before facing Iran on Sunday. Depending on where the USA finishes in their group they will wrestle for gold, bronze, fifth, or seventh in their second match on Sunday.

The US team has two wrestlers per weight class so it’s not certain who will wrestle for the US yet.

US Team:
57 kg – Daniel Dennis, Alan Waters
61 kg – Tony Ramos, Nahshon Garrett
65 kg – Frank Molinaro, Zain Retherford
70 kg – James Green
74 kg – Jordan Burroughs, Alex Dieringer
86 kg – J’Den Cox, David Taylor
97 kg – Kyle Snyder, Jake Varner
125 kg – Tervel Dlagnev, Zach Rey