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

Boxing

Antonio Vargas, Gary Russell, and Jonathan Esquivel Advance at Olympic Boxing World Qualification Event

Leave a comment

All of the American boxers competing in Baku have remained on track to qualify for the Olympics as three more boxers won their opening matches on Friday. Antonio Vargas (52kg), Gary Russell (64kg), and Jonathan Esquivel (81kg) all took 3-0 decisions on Friday to advance to the next round. Vargas took his matchup with India’s Gaurav Bidhuri 29-27 according to all three judges while Russell won 30-27 according to all three judges when he beat Ukraine’s Viktor Petrov. Esquivel defeated Jordan’s Mohammad Alyazouri by three 30-27 scores as well. These three will fight again on Sunday.

Paul Kroll will fight again on Saturday in his second bout at 69kg while Cam F. Awesome (91kg) has his first bout. Marlo Moore (+91kg) will continue to wait for his first bout.

Preliminaries continue Saturday 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

Cycling, UCI Men's World Tour

Tejay Van Garderen Wins Seventh Stage of Tour de Suisse

Leave a comment

For the first time this year an American has won a stage on the UCI World Tour. Tejay Van Garderen was 16 seconds clear of the field on the tough 139.4 mile mountain stage Friday to earn his first stage win, or even top three finish so far this season. Van Garderen’s win topped Joe Dombrowski’s third place finish in the 20th stage of the Giro d’Italia as the best finish by an American in 2016. The win was nice for Van Garderen but didn’t help him make up too much ground as new leader Warren Barguil of France was 16 seconds back in third. Andrew Talansky remained the top American overall by finishing 33 seconds back in fifth, his best stage finish of the season, and is still third overall but now just 24 seconds back.

Peter Stetina was 26th, 5:22 back, and moved up six spots to 24th, now trailing the leader by 18:42. Dombrowski finished 42nd, 11:50 back, and swapped spots 31 and 32 overall with Ian Boswell, who finished 54th. Dombrowski is now 25:53 back with Boswell 26:47 back.

The race continues with a 10 mile time trial on Saturday and then 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

Cycling, UCI Women's WorldTour

Katie Halls and Tayler Wiles Finishes Top-50 in Third Stage of The Aviva Women’s Tour

Leave a comment

For the first time the US didn’t have any riders that finished in the top 25 at the Aviva Women’s Tour but still had two finish in the top 50. Katie Hall and Tayler Wiles both finished 49 seconds behind the leaders with Hall in 43rd and Wiles in 45th. Hall actually stayed in 23rd and is now one minute back overall. Wiles is 48th overall and 5:57 back.

Finishing further back were Alison Tetrick in 79th and Lauren Rathbun in 85th. Tetrick is now 79th overall and Rathbun is 85th overall.

The fourth stage on Saturday will be 74.3 miles. The Aviva Women’s Tour runs through Sunday.

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

Diamond League, Track and Field

Kendra Harrison and Christian Taylor Three-Peat at Diamond League in Stockholm

Leave a comment

Three tries and three wins, that’s the Diamond League results so far this year for Kendra Harrison and Christian Taylor as both kept up their winning ways without too much pressure from second place this weekend. Harrison led a 1-2-3 American top three in the 100m hurdles, the fourth straight time this year the US has swept the top three, as Nia Ali and Queen Harrison both had season best finishes. It’s starting to look like the three Olympic medalists might be decided in Eugene in the US Olympic trials. The US didn’t go 1-2-3 in the triple jump but Chris Carter and Chris Bernard did give the US three of the top four with their third and fourth place finishes.

Those were the only winners for the US but a few other athletes did have good finishes. Kerron Clement finished second in the 400m hurdles as Michael Tinsley pulled up before the final 100m and did not finish and Berhsawn Jackson was DQd. The US took second and third in the long jump as Brittney Reese and Tianna Bartoletta both had strong finishes. Dentarius Locke was the lone American in the 100m and finished fourth missing out on a top three spot on a photo finish. Other Americans finishes included: Charonda Williams (7th in the 200m) and Stephanie Garcia (10th in the 3000m steeplechase).

The next Diamond League event will be after the US Olympic Trials in Monaco on July 15th. The US Olympic Trials are July 1st-10th in Eugene, Oregon.

Previous Diamond League Coverage:
Stockholm Preview

Boxing

Paul Kroll Advances at Olympic Boxing World Qualification Event

Leave a comment

Paul Kroll started his quest to make the Olympics on the right foot Thursday defeating Greece’s Dimitrios Poulikos Tsagkrakos 3-0 with all three judges scoring in 30-27 to the American. Kroll’s 69kg division has the second largest field of the ten divisions competing with 47 entrants so Kroll still has a lot of competition for the five Olympic spots with 32 boxers still remaining. Kroll will fight next on Saturday.

Friday will be the first bouts for Antonio Vargas (52kg), Gary Russell (64kg), and Jonathan Esquivel (81kg). Cam F. Awesome (91kg) and Marlo Moore (+91kg) will continue to wait for their first bout.

Preliminaries continue Friday 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

Covering America's Athletes