The US women advanced to the semifinals of the 2016 Water Polo World League Super Final with a 14-7 win over Russia. The US won both of the first half quarters 4-2 to grow a big lead by the half. They put the game away though in the third quarter notching a shutout and growing the lead to 12-4. Russia did manage three in the fourth but the US was already well ahead. Melissa Seidemann, Maggie Steffens, Courtney Mathewson, Aria Fischer, and Makenzie Fischer all scored two goals while Ashleigh Johnson had 11 saves in the win.
The US will be facing China in the semifinals after the Chinese defeated Canada 13-8 in the quarterfinals. These two sides met in the intercontinental qualifying tournament with the US defeating China 19-5. China has been a semifinalist each of the last five years but their only medal was in 2013 when they won it all. The two finalists on the other side are Australia and Spain.
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
Eight riders will compete in the US Olympic BMX Trials on Saturday competing for a spot in the Rio games. One of the riders will be selected from a last chance qualifier on Friday while the other seven are already set. The biggest name in the field is Corben Sharrah who won the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup event in Santiago earlier this year and reached the final in Manchester. But Sharrah was eliminated in the quarterfinals in Papendal and the semifinals at the world championships so winning here is anything but certain.
Other riders who have reached a quarterfinal or better in the BMX Supercross World Cup this year are Jeffrey Upshaw (one semifinal and one quarterfinal), David Herman (a quarterfinal in Manchester), and Tanner Sebesta (a quarterfinalist at the world championships.
Aaron Gwin will look to build on his series lead over Troy Brosnan of Australia when he competes in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup downhill event in Leogang, Austria this weekend. Gwin won the season opening event in Lourdes, France and has followed it up with a fourth place finish in Cairns, Australia and a second place finish last week in Fort William, Scotland. The nine Americans that will compete in the qualifying round on Saturday also includes Luca Shaw, who has two top twenty finishes this year including a sixth place finish last year, and Eliot Jackson, who finished 14th in Cairns but did not qualify for the final last week.
US athletes won a pair of events on Thursday at the Diamond League in Oslo, one on the track and one in the field. Brianna Rollins added to a stellar year in the 100m hurdles as she won for the first time this season. Her previous two finishes had been in second place right behind American record holder Kendra Harrison who was not competing in this event. Even without Harrison the US was able to go 1-2-3 as Dawn Harper-Nelson posted a season best time and a season best finish in second while Jasmin Stowers was third for the second time this year. Also winning for the US was Joe Kovacs in the shot put. Kovacs has now won the last two shot put contests after coming in third in Shanghai to start the year.
For the first time this year Michael Tinsley didn’t win the 400m hurdles. Going for his third straight win Tinsley was only third as the two in front of him posted season best times. Kerron Clement finished right behind Tinsley for the second straight event. Natasha Hastings on the other hand improved her finish for the first time this year in the 400m jumping up to second after two previous third place finishes.
In the 100m the US was missing two-time winner Justin Gatlin but Michael Rodgers nearly kept the title in America losing by just 0.02 seconds. The US had all of the top four spots other than first as Dentarius Locke and Ameer Webb rounded out the top four with Locke tying a season best time. Tianna Bartoletta finished fourth in the long jump while Chris Bernard and Omar Craddock went fourth and fifth in the triple jump. One other US competitor was Whitney Ashley, seventh in the discus throw.
The next Diamond League event is in Stockholm next Thursday.
2016 Olympians Kimberly Rhode and Morgan Craft both were competitive in the women’s skeet event on Thursday but each were just off enough to miss out on a final appearance. 72 ended up being the cutoff score and when Rhode missed the fifth to last target of her final round she sealed her fate with a 71 that left her ninth. For Craft it was the opening round 22 that set her day off to a bad start and despite 24s in the second two rounds her total of 70 was only good enough for 12th. The US had multiple finalists in each of the first two world cup events so this was a disappointing showing.
In the men’s competition 2016 Olympian Vincent Hancock was nearly perfect on Thursday missing just one target his 49 has him in 11th with seven shooters perfect so far. Frank Thompson started with a 21 and despite a 25 to follow his 46 on day one has him in 52nd and needing a perfect storm on day Friday. After the final three rounds of qualifying on Friday morning there will be a final later in the day.
Brent Bookwalter had his best stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Thursday with a 12th place finish in the fourth stage. Bookwalter was part of a small peloton at the front of the race, just 21 riders deep, as he moved up five spots to 63rd overall, 6:17 back. For the first time in the race two Americans were in the top 50, Alex Howes was 46th, nine seconds back, while Benjamin King and Alexey Vermeulen made it four Americans in the top 100 for the first time.
The Criterium du Dauphine continues Friday with the first mountain stage, 87 miles, and the overall race continues until Sunday.
Last weekend at the ICF Slalom World Cup’s first stop of the year in Ivrea, Italy the US didn’t have any of their top athletes as none of the Olympic team members were present. That might have been reflected in the final standings as the US wasn’t able to advance anyone past the semifinals other than the new K1 cross event. Things will be a bit different this weekend as those Olympians will be competing in La Seu d’Urgell, Spain. All of the events begin on Friday with heats to qualify competitors for the semifinals which will take place on Saturday or Sunday depending on the event.
The Olympic athletes joining this week are Casey Eichfeld in the men’s C1, Eichfeld and Devin McEwan in the men’s C2, Michal Smolen in the men’s K1, and Ashley Nee in the women’s K1. They are joined by returning athletes from last weekend, most notably the two semifinalists from last weekend, Zachary Lokken in the men’s C1 (29th last weekend), Richard Powell in the men’s K1 (30th last weekend)..
Previous ICF Slalom World Cup Coverage: Ivrea Recap
The US women won their group at the 2016 Water Polo World League Super Final by notching a tight 12-10 win over Spain to finish 3-0 in the group stage. The US was the better side in both the first and second quarters as the outscored Spain 4-3 in each quarter. The third and fourth quarters were both even at 2-2. The US was led by four goals from Kiley Neushul while Maggie Steffens added three and KK Clark had two. Ashleigh Johnson and Sami Hill both played in goal with Johnson recording three saves and Hill recording two.
Russia ended up last in Group A after going 0-3 so they will be the US opponent in the quarterfinals. Russia has not been outclassed though, as Brazil was in Group B (GD -34), each of their three losses was by a single goal. In fact, Russia has the second best GD of all three teams in Group A. The US met Russia in this same stage last year and opened up an 8-0 halftime lead en route to a 17-6 win. Russia was the runner-up of this tournament in 2013 and won it in 2008. The possible semifinal opponents for the US are China and Canada.
Group B Results:
Tuesday – USA 20-2 Brazil, Canada 12-16 Spain
Wednesday – USA 11-8 Canada, Spain 10-6 Brazil
Thursday – USA 12-10 Spain, Brazil 4-16 Canada
Brent Bookwalter finished 38th in the third stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Wednesday as part of an 88-man peloton. Bookwalter was able to raise his overall position to 68th and is still 6:26 behind the leader. Bookwalter, who is now the only American in the top 100 overall, has been the top American in all four stages so far this week. Chad Haga snuck into the top 100 for the first time in 96th.
The Criterium du Dauphine continues Thursday with a 109.4 mile hilly stage while the overall race continues until Sunday.
Iris Wang for the second straight event had a real close and competitive match but was unable to advance, losing in three games to He Bingjiao of China in Australia. Wang and Bingjiao traded the lead in the first game with Wang up 19-18 before Bingjiao got the last laugh by winning the last three points to take the game 21-19. In game two it was Wang with the late run coming back from down 17-15 to win six of the last seven points and take the game 21-18. In game three Wang never saw the lead and never was even after an early 3-3 score as Bingjiao pulled away for a 21-14 win. Wang was within one at 11-10 but after a 5-0 run by Bingjiao never got any closer than five points.
This was the last Super Series event before the Olympics, where Wang will compete for the US. The next Super Series event is in Tokyo, Japan starting September 20th.