Wednesday will be the kickoff for the five day UCI Mountain Bike World Championships for cross country in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. Competition begins with the eliminator competitions before the team relay on Thursday and the main cross country races for the women on Saturday and the men on Sunday. The US will have Kate Courtney competing in the women’s elimination event while there are no US men entered in the men’s event.
Emil Milev Wins 25m Rapid Fire Pistol in Dominant Fashion at USA Shooting National Championships
2016 Olympian Emil Milev dominated the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event on day two scoring a competition best 582 and winning the final to grab the gold by 41 points over Anatoly Pikman. Justin Ahn struggled on day two and fell to fourth while Glenn Zimmerman took advantage to grab the bronze, 24 behind Pikman.
In the men’s 10m air rifle Bryant Wallizer holds the lead after day one with a 625.2. With Thomas Kyanko in second with a 624.3 and Connor Davis in third with a 623 none of the favorites are at the top. 2016 Olympians Lucas Kozeniesky and Daniel Lowe are seventh and fifth respectively but are both within five points of the leader. Defending champion Dempster Christenson is less in contention in 11th, six points back.
The women’s 50m three position rifle event is more predictable. 2016 Olympian Virginia Thrasher is leading with a 586 while fellow Olympian Sarah Scherer is third with a 583. Minden Miles is second with a 585. Last year’s runner-up, Erin McNeil, is in ninth with a 578 while last year’s third place finisher, Amy Sowash, is in fourth place with a 582.
Those two events wrap up on Tuesday with the second day of qualifying and the final in both events. The women’s 25m sport pistol event and the men’s 50m free pistol event will both be beginning. The women’s sport event will feature 2016 Olympian and defending champion Enkelejda Shehaj as well as the second and third place finishers from last year, Sandra Uptagrafft and Brenda Silva. The men’s free event won’t feature any of the 2016 Olympians but does feature defending champion Nick Mowrer and defending bronze medalist Jason Turner. The overall competition continues in Ft. Benning until Wednesday.
Previous 2016 USA Shooting National Championships Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Saturday Update
Sunday Update
Amber English Wins Gold in Skeet at ISSF World Cup Event in Baku
With a limited roster of competitors at the ISSF World Cup event in Baku the US has had few medal chances. Their first finalist didn’t happen until the second to last day of the competition when Amber English finally made it in skeet and shot her way to gold. English was third in qualifying with a 72 and advanced to the gold medal final with a 15 in the semifinal after hitting her last nine targets (the most of any of the six semifinalists). In the gold medal match English was a bit off to start hitting just four of her first six but hit her final ten to score a 14 that was more than enough to beat Italian Chiara Cainero’s 12. It was the second gold of the year by an American (Morgan Craft in Nicosia) and the third medal (Kimberly Rhode in Rio). The skeet is one of the best events for the US and the depth is why English won’t be in the Olympics as Rhode and Craft have the two spots from the US. Caitlin Connor was also strong with a 14th place finish with a 69. Her final round 22 was not enough to get her into a shoot-off at 71.
Things aren’t going as well in the men’s competition as all three American men seem to be out of of contention after the first three rounds. Phillip Jungman shot a 69, Mark Staffen a 65, and Hayden Stewart a 63. Jungman went 23-24-22 but sitting five points back of the top six would almost certainly miss the final even if he shot a 50 tomorrow. Staffen was hurt by 21’s in the first and third round while Stewart shot a final round 19. The men’s competition wraps up on Tuesday.
Previous ISSF World Cup Baku Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Sunday Update
Howard Grotts Finishes Ninth at UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships
Howard Grotts had a strong ride at the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championship and finished in the top ten in ninth place. Grotts was over four minutes behind the winner, Tiago Jorge Oliveira Ferreira of Portugal, but the 23-year-old was the youngest finisher in the top 30. On the other side of the age spectrum 40-year-old Jeremiah Bishop finished 23rd while 41-year-old Todd Wells was 48th.
Next year’s marathon world championship will be held in Singen, Germany from June 24th-25th.
Previous UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championship Coverage:
Preview
USA Men Lose in Final of Water Polo World League Super Final
The USA men got off to a slow start against three-time defending champions Serbia in the final of the FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final on Sunday and by the time they got going it was too little too late to prevent Serbia from becoming the four-time defending champs. The US didn’t score in the first quarter and was down 5-1 at the half. Needing to cut into the lead quickly the US was again shut out in the third quarter as Serbia put the game away by taking an 8-1 lead. The US made a nice comeback attempt in the fourth with five goals to make the scoreline a respectable 10-6 at the end but Serbia was never in much trouble.
The silver for the US is their first medal since grabbing a silver in 2008 as they had lost in the semifinals the last five times they reached that stage. Six players scored for the US: Alex Obert, Luca Cupido, Alex Bowen, Bret Bonanni, Ben Hallock, and Nikola Vavic. Leading scorer Tony Azevedo was held scoreless for the first time in the tournament. Merrill Moses and McQuin Baron split time in goal once again with Moses recording seven saves to Baron’s six.
The US quest for a gold in the Super Final will have to wait to next year but a chance at Olympic gold comes much sooner. The US will face Spain, France, Montenegro, Italy, and Croatia in the group stage of the Olympics with competition beginning Saturday August 6th. The gold medal will be decided two weeks later on August 20th.
USA Schedule:
Tuesday – Group B – USA 12-6 China
Wednesday – Group B – USA 10-7 Brazil
Thursday – Group B – USA 8-10 Serbia
Friday – Quarterfinals – USA 8(8)-8(7) Australia
Saturday – Semifinals – USA 11(6)-11(5) Greece
Sunday – Final – USA 6-10 Serbia
Previous FINA Men’s Water Polo World League Super Final Coverage:
Preview
China Recap
Brazil Recap
Serbia Recap
Australia Recap
Greece Recap
Kayla Harrison Wins Gold at Judo Grand Prix Event in Budapest, Hungary
2012 gold medalist Kayla Harrison won her first gold in three Judo Grand Prix/Slam events this year as she took top honors in the women’s -78kg division in Budapest, Hungary. Harrison needed 11 seconds to get an ippon over Slovenia’s Klara Apotekar in the quarterfinals but over three minutes to score a similar result over the Netherlands’ Karen Stevenson in the semifinals. Harrison won the final over Slovenia’s Anamari Velensek with only a yuko on the board. Harrison has now won a gold, silver, and bronze between her three events this year in Budapest, Havana, and Paris.
Things didn’t go so well for the two American men. Travis Stevens competed in the men’s -90kg division instead of his traditional -81kg division, except he didn’t really compete. He was entered in the draw but did not take to the mat against Hungary’s Gabor Ver. Colton Brown had a first round bye but lost to Great Britain’s Max Stewart on a yuko.
The next Judo Grand Prix event is in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia next weekend starting Friday and running through Sunday.
Previous Judo Grand Prix Coverage:
Budapest Preview
Saturday Update
Michael McPhail, Nick Mowrer, Alexis Lagan, and Morgan Phillips Grab Wins at USA Shooting National Championships
2016 Olympian Michael McPhail won the men’s 50m rifle prone event as he grabbed a commanding lead of 5.3 points over Dempster Christenson going into the final and finished second in the final behind Christenson to win the national championship after finishing second last year. McPhail was the best shooter in qualifying on both days. Jason Dardas had fallen into fourth before the final but finished third in the final to move back into the bronze medal position. 2016 Olympian David Higgins missed out on the final and finished ninth,
In the women’s 50m rifle event Morgan Phillips fired off a competition best 625.1 on the second day to win the title on a tiebreaker after finishing in a tie with Hanna Carr. Ariana Grabowski stayed in third and finished 3.1 behind Phillips and Carr. Barrett Ray had been in second but a second day 608.4 left her in seventh. Defending champion Reya Kempley was able to move up to fourth but finished three behind the bronze medal position.
Greg Markowski’s quest for his third win of the week, in the men’s 10m air pistol, came down to the wire but a strong performance by Nick Mowrer did just enough to win the event. Mowrer was three points better in the qualifying to take a point lead going into the final. That margin was vital as Markowski won the event with Mowrer in second, causing the title to be decided by inner ten’s during the qualifying rounds, a tiebreaker that went to Mowrer. James Hall fell from second to third where he finished six points behind the top two.
In the women’s event Alexis Lagan maintained a six point lead going into the final and finished third to lock up the gold. Sandra Uptagrafft was second in the final and finished five points behind Lagan. Brenda Silva finished eight points behind Uptagrafft in third.
In the first day of the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event 2016 Olympian Emil Milev was the start shooting a 573 to take an 18 point lead over Anatoly Pikman. Justin Ahn is in third place with a score of 553. The event will wrap up on Monday with a second day of qualifying and then a final.
Monday will also be the first day of qualifying in the men’s 10m air rifle and the women’s 50m three position rifle events. The men’s event will feature 2016 Olympians Lucas Kozeniesky and Daniel Lowe as well as defending champion Dempster Christenson. Lowe was third in the competition last year with Kozeniesky in 22nd. The women’s event will feature 2016 Olympians Sarah Scherer and Virginia Thrasher as well as the second and third place finishers from last year, Erin McNeil and Amy Sowash. Thrasher was fourth last year. The overall competition continues in Ft. Benning until Wednesday.
Previous 2016 USA Shooting National Championships Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Saturday Update
Joshua Richmond Finishes Tenth in Double Trap at ISSF World Cup Event in Baku
Joshua Richmond notched the top finish by an American so far in Baku with a tenth place finish in the double trap competition on Saturday. It was a disappointing finish for Richmond considering it was his worst of the four world cup stops this year and came off a win in San Marino. Richmond started out with a 26 and 27 to really put the pressure on his final 3 rounds. He improved with a 29 and 26 before shooting a final round 28 that left him two short with a total of 136. Richmond will be representing the US in the event in Rio where he will be a medal contender. In the 10m air pistol event Alexander Chichkov was 27th after shooting a 575. The score was five off the final qualifier spot as Chichkov lost the most ground in his fourth round where he shot a 93.
The final US competitors will begin on Monday in the men’s and women’s skeet competition. In women’s skeet, which also wraps up on Monday, it’ll be Amber English (fourth in Rio) and Caitlin Connor (her first world cup event of 2016). In men’s skeet it’ll be Phillip Jungman, Mark Staffen, and Hayden Stewart competing. Stewart was 13th in Rio while Jungman was 25th in Nicosia. The men’s competition wraps up on Tuesday.
Previous ISSF World Cup Baku Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Antonio Vargas Loses Final of Olympic Boxing World Qualification Event
Antonio Vargas (52kg) was the only American competing in the finals of the Olympic Boxing World Qualification Event on Saturday and with an Olympic berth locked up there was a bit less to fight for. Vargas was defeated 30-27 according to all three judges by Daniel Panev Asenov of Bulgaria. The fight actually had much more at stake for the boxers these two defeated in the quarterfinals as the one who was defeated by the eventual champion would receive an Olympic spot. Unfortunately for Italy’s Vincenzo Picardi Vargas did not earn him a spot.
For those boxers who did not qualify this week the final Olympic spots will be awarded at the APB and WSB Olympic Qualifier July 3rd-8th in Vargas, Venezuela. The US will still be hoping to qualify boxers in the 69kg, 81kg, 91kg, and +91kg divisions. Paul Kroll (69kg), Jonathan Esquivel (81kg), and Cam F. Awesome (91kg) will be competing in the event while Marlo Moore (+91kg) is not eligible for the event as it is for boxers who competed in the World Series of Boxing.
Previous 2016 AIBA World Olympic Qualifying Event Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Saturday Update
Sunday Update
Monday Update
Tuesday Update
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Marti Malloy Grabs Bronze at Judo Grand Prix Event in Budapest, Hungary
2012 bronze medalist Marti Malloy seems to be in good form with less than two months remaining until the Olympics in Rio as she won a bronze medal in the women’s -57kg division this weekend at the Judo Grand Prix event in Budapest, Hungary. Malloy has now won three medals in her three grand prix/grand slam events this year. Malloy needed just six seconds to score an ippon in her quarterfinal match against Sappho Coban of Germany but lost her semifinal to Japan’s Momo Tamaoki on shido penalties 2-1. Tamaoki went on to win the gold. Malloy won bronze by defeating another German, Johanna Mueller, on shido penalties 1-0 in her bronze medal match.
Angelica Delgado had her most successful grand prix event of the year winning her opener with a waza-ari against Uzbekistan’s Diyora Keldiyorova to reach the quarterfinals. A yuko allowed Romania’s Larisa Florian to advance to the semifinals and Delgado lost on a yuko again in the repechage bracket to France’s Astride Gneto. It was the first finish inside the top 32 for Delgado this year. Adonis Diaz also posted a season best finish reaching the round of 16, though it was from a bye. Diaz might have gone further but he ran into eventual gold medalist Dai Aoki of Japan and that match lasted only 17 seconds before Aoki had secured an ippon.
Sunday World Masters gold medalists Travis Stevens and Kayla Harrison, will compete in the men’s -81kg division and the women’s -78kg division. Also competing in the men’s -90kg division will be Colton Brown who finished seventh in the last grand prix event in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Previous Judo Grand Prix Coverage:
Budapest Preview