The US women once again are champions of the Water Polo World League Super Final as they picked up their tenth title in 13 tournaments with a 13-9 victory over Spain in the final. The US defeated the Spaniards for the second time in four days by taking a 3-2 lead after the first eight minutes and pushing to a 7-4 lead half way through. Spain stayed in reach with a 3-3 third quarter but the US put it away in the fourth for the four goal win. For the third straight game no American had more than two goals with Courtney Mathewson, Maddie Musselman, and Maggie Steffens sharing the goal scoring lead. Ashleigh Johnson had nine saves in the win.
The Olympic women’s water polo tournament begins August 9th and runs through the 19th. The USA has been drawn into a group with fellow finalists Spain, their semifinal opponent China, and Hungary. They will open their Olympic play on Tuesday the 9th with 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
Semifinals Saturday – USA 11-5 China
Final Sunday – USA 13-9 Spain
The US was not far from winning the Freestyle Wrestling World Cup on Sunday but two tiebreakers going the wrong way saw the US knocked to fourth instead of having a shot at the top spot. It started with a group deciding match against Iran, the four-time defending champions. The US fell behind as they lost the first two matches but then won four of the next five to set up a winner-take-all match at 125kg. Jake Varner lost the match 3-1 to Parviz Hadi and Iran went to the gold medal match against Russia with the US being forced to settle for a bronze medal showdown with Georgia.
The script stayed exactly the same for the US against Georgia as once again they lost the opening two matches and won four of the next five to take the lead. This time the 125kg bout featured Zach Rey but he was unable to get the win and the bronze for the US as he lost 6-2 to Geno Petriashvili.
Frank Molinaro, James Green, and Kyle Snyder went 2-0 on Sunday and 4-0 for the tournament.
US Team:
57 kg – Daniel Dennis – 2-2
61 kg – Tony Ramos – 2-2
65 kg – Frank Molinaro – 4-0
70 kg – James Green – 4-0
74 kg – Alex Dieringer – 2-2
86 kg – J’Den Cox – 3-1
97 kg – Kyle Snyder – 4-0
125 kg – Jake Varner – 2-1, Zach Rey 0-1
Gwen Jorgensen is building a new winning streak. The American got her second straight World Triathlon Series win on Sunday when she once again cleared the field and won by almost a minute. With a time of 2:00:33 she held off second place Flora Duffy of Belarus by 51 seconds on this occasion to grab the top spot. Jorgensen wasn’t the only one with a good finish as fellow American Sarah True finished 15th. On the men’s side neither William Huffman and Hunter Lussi were factors in the top spot with Huffman finishing 28th and Lussi in 34th. Both were over five and a half minutes behind the winner.
The next Triathlon World Series event is in Stockholm, Sweden on July 2nd.
Previous IRU World Triathlon Series Coverage: Leeds Preview
Brent Bookwalter finished 49th at the Criterium du Dauphine as he pushed into the top 50 with a 44th place finish in the final stage, 12:58 behind the stage winner. Bookwalter was not the top American on the day with Alexey Vermeulen finishing ten spots in front of him in 34th, 9:40 back. Benjamin King and Alex Howes made it four in the top 100 for the third time in the final four stages as they finished 75th and 85th. All three finished in the top 100 overall as King was 77th, Vermeulen in 82nd, and Howes in 98th.
Sunday in the Tour de Suisse Tejay Van Garderen finished as the top American in 46th place, part of a large group of 122 riders that finished three seconds behind the winner. Also finishing in that group were Andrew Talansky in 64th, Joe Dombrowski in 94th, Ian Boswell in 113th, and Peter Stetina in 114th. Talansky is now 40th overall, 30 seconds back, with Van Garderen two seconds further back in 47th. Stetina in 51st and Dombrowski in 86th make four Americans in the top 100. The race continues with a 119.7 mile flat stage on Monday and continues through Sunday the 19th.
Other than the Tour de Suisse the next event on the UCI World Tour schedule is the Tour de France beginning on July 2nd and running through the 24th.
Sage Donnelly was third in the women’s K1 cross event as for the second straight weekend the US appears to have a strong set of competitors in the new event. Donnelly had a decently easy path to the final as she was one of only eight to compete in the seeding trial run which she finished third in. All eight who qualified were advanced from the quarterfinals to the semifinals where Donnelly came in second in her heat to reach the final. Fellow American Ashley Nee did not take part in the event despite being in the start list.
On the men’s side Richard Powell was sixth in the trial run with Tyler Smith tenth though all 21 who entered advanced to the 1/8 finals. Both were in heats that had just two in the 1/8 finals so they advanced automatically. In the quarterfinals both won their heat and ended up in the second heat of the semifinals together. Smith held off Powell for second in that event to grab a spot in the final. Smith was last in the final to finish fourth while Powell finished second in the small final to finish sixth.
Earlier in the day Casey Eichfeld was eliminated in the semifinals of the men’s C1 when he finished 25th of the 30 semifinalists. Eichfeld finished in 106.64 after two penalties and missed a spot in the final by 4.34. In the men’s K1 semifinals Michal Smolen was 22nd in the semifinals out of 40 and missed a spot in the final by 2.53 after finishing in 97.23.
The third stop on the ICF Slalom World Cup is in Pau, France next month from July 17th-19th.
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.
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
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.
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
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