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

Water Polo, Women's World League

USA Women Advance to Semifinals of Water Polo Super Final

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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

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

BMX, Cycling

Eight US Men Will Compete for Spot in US Olympic Team in BMX Trials on Saturday

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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.

Cycling, Mountain Bike, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup

Series Leader Aaron Gwin Headlines Nine Americans at Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill Event in Leogang

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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.

Previous Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill Coverage:
Fort William Recap

Diamond League, Track and Field

Brianna Rollins and Joe Kovacs Grab Wins at Diamond League in Oslo

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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.

Previous Diamond League Coverage:
Oslo Preview

ISSF World Cup, Shooting

Kimberly Rhode Finishes Ninth at ISSF World Cup in San Marino

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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.

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

Covering America's Athletes