ATP Tour, Tennis, WTA Tour

Two of Three American Men Out on First Day of Italian Open

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The Italian Open men’s singles competition didn’t last very long for Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey as both Americans were bounced from the field in Rome on the very first day of competition in straight sets. Both Johnson and Querrey lost their matches by identical 4-6, 4-6 scorelines, Johnson to Juan Monaco of Argentina and Sam Querrey to Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain. The losses leave Jack Sock as the last American man in the field. Sock will open his competition today against Guido Pella of Argentina. Ironically Johnson and Querrey are teamed up together in doubles and will begin to focus on that today as they take on Daniel Nestor of Canada and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.

On the women’s side there is an all-American first round matchup as #12 Venus Williams faces Coco Vandeweghe. The other American woman to start singles play will be Madison Keys who will look to continue a strong year as she takes on Andrea Petkovic of Germany to start her Italian Open. In doubles action Venus teams up with Serena Williams to face Andreja Klepac and Katrina Srebotnik of Slovenia.

Previous Italian Open Coverage:
Preview

Olympic Trials, Rio 2016 Olympic Trials, Weightlifting

Cecily Basques Potential Contender at USA Weightlifting National Championships

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In four of the five divisions competing on the second day of the USA Weightlifting National Championships the top score doesn’t appear to be high enough to stand through the competitors in Sunday’s Olympic Trials. The women’s 63kg division just might be the exception. Cecily Basques posted an 86kg snatch and a 112kg clean and jerk for a total of 198kg. That’s one shy of Mary Peck‘s 199kg total that got her into the Olympic Trials on Sunday and high enough that she may have a chance to win it. Basques score would have been even better had she completed the 115kg or 118kg clean and jerk attempts she missed to end her competition.

In the women’s 69kg division Danielle Hudes is the clubhouse leader after posting a 206kg total while Tanner Reichardt leads the men’s 77kg division with a 295kg total. John Downey leads the men’s 85kg division with a 306kg total and Phil Sabatini leads the men’s 94kg division with a 335kg total.

 

Things wrap up on Sunday with the men’s 105kg and +105kg divisions as well as the women’s 75kg and +75kg divisions. Then of course the Olympic trials for both the men and the women.

Previous USA Weightlifting National Championship Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update

Cycling, UCI Men's World Tour

All Six Americans Part of 174-Man Peloton in Stage Two of Giro d’Italia

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We expected a big peloton and that’s just what we got. The first 174 riders all crossed together and the Americans were a part of it on Saturday. Only Larry Warbasse was in the top 100, 86th, but Chad Haga moved up a spot to 11th and didn’t drop time and Joey Rosskopf rose five spots to 73rd.

Another 118 mile flat stage awaits on Sunday and likely another massive peloton at the front.

Previous UCI World Tour Coverage:
Giro d’Italia Preview
Day 1 Update

Cycling, UCI Women's WorldTour

Both Americans Out of Peloton on Second Day of Tour of Chongming Island

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Day two of the Tour of Chongming Island was the end of the two Americans being theoretically in contention as both Alison Tetrick and Erica Zaveta failed to finish with the peloton. Both finished 5:51 behind the winner with Tetrick in 82nd and Zaveta in 87th and are now outside of the top 80 in the overall standings. The event wraps up with a 61.5 mile third stage on Sunday.

Previous UCI Women’s World Tour Coverage:
Tour of Chongming Island Preview
Day 1 Update

Modern Pentathlon, UIPM World Cup

Fantastic Final Day as Nathan Schrimsher Finishes Seventh at UIPM World Cup Final

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One would probably not have predicted that Nathan Schrimsher, 28th after the fencing competition, would finish anywhere near the top. Schrimsher trailed Jianli Guo of China, the fencing winner, by 53 seconds of handicap for the combined event as the day started. But Schrimsher posted the third best swimming sore and won the riding competition to move into the top 10. A sixth place finish in the combined meant he was within eight seconds of medaling and finished seventh. An outstanding day for Schrimsher. His brother Lucas Schrimsher had finished tenth in fencing but 16th in fencing and 31st in riding left him out of contention. He finished 19th in the combined event and 27th overall.

Tomorrow the event wraps up with a mixed relay competition.

Previous UIPM World Cup Final Coverage:

Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update

Judo, Judo Grand Slam and Grand Prix

US Competitors 0-3 on Second Day of Judo Grand Slam Event in Baku

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The US competitors didn’t find any success on the second day of the Judo grand slam event in Baku as they went 0-3. In the women’s -63kg division Leilani Akiyama lost to Franciska Szabo of Hungary on a waza-ari while Hannah Martin was defeated by Alice Schlesinger of Great Britain via an ippon. It’s worth noting that Schlesinger did go on to win the gold. In the men’s -73kg division Nicholas Delpopolo was defeated by Georgios Azoidis of Greece by a Yuko in the first round.

Sunday’s final day of competition will feature three more Americans. Nina Cutro-Kelly will take part in the women’s +78kg division. On the men’s side Colton Brown takes part in the -90kg division and Ajax Tadehara competes in the -100kg division.

Previous Judo Grand Prix Coverage:
Baku Preview
Day 1 Update

BMX, Cycling, UCI BMX Supercross World Cup

Ten of 13 Americans Advance to Sunday in BMX Supercross World Cup in Papendal

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Ten of the 13 Americans in this weekends BMX Supercross World Cup event in Papendal, including all three of the US women, reached the Sunday knockout rounds after advancing from qualifying. All of the top riders advanced, though not all comfortably. Shealen Reno took a DNF in her first of three qualifying runs but overcame the slow start with back-to-back second place finishes to qualify in the 15th of 24 spots to advance to the quarterfinals. In the time trial portion Alise Post had the second best time in the field of eight.

The best men in qualifying were Barry Nobles and Jeffrey Upshaw who each won two of their three qualifying heats and qualified in 9th and 11th. Tanner Sebesta was the last American to qualify finishing 37th among the 48 qualifiers. Tyler Faoro missed out on qualifying after finishing fifth in his final qualifying run having won his second run. Corben Sharrah finished eighth of the 16 time trial participants.

The rest of the event will take place on Sunday with knockout rounds leading to the hotly contested finals. The US has taken at least one medal in each of the first two events of the year and placed multiple riders in the final in both men’s and women’s competition.

Previous BMX Supercross World Cup:
Papendal Preview

Wrestling

Tamyra Mensah and Kelsey Campbell Both Lose to Olympic Qualifiers in Istanbul

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The US women were both strong competitors on Saturday but perhaps luck didn’t go their way and both Kelsey Campbell and Tamyra Mensah were eliminated before their respective finals by eventual Olympic qualifiers. Campbell started the 58kg division competition with an 8-0 win before a tight 4-2 win to reach the quarterfinals. Her Olympic dreams ended in the quarterfinals where she lost 4-1 to eventual overall winner Valeria Koblova-Zholobova of Russia. Campbell went on to reach a bronze medal match but lost it as well 4-3.  Her 4-1 loss to Koblova-Zholobova was actually the closest anyone was to defeating her on the day.

Mensah won her opening match 5-0 and was leading her second match 2-6 before suffering a fall in the quarterfinals to Alina Stadnik Makhynia of Ukraine. Despite the heartbreaker Mensah went on to finish the competition strong with a 10-0 win and a fall to wrap up a bronze medal. Stadnik Makhynia went on to advance to the Olympics and Mensah, winning on the scoreboard when she was beaten, was as close to beating her as anyone.

The final competitor looking for an Olympic spot will be Frank Molinaro on Sunday going for a spot in the men’s 65kg freestyle division.

Previous Wrestling Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update

ATP Tour, Tennis, WTA Tour

Serena Williams Headlines Americans Competing in Italian Open

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Play begins on Sunday in Rome as the 2016 Italian Open kicks off with Americans involved throughout the field. Two of those Americans will get underway in the singles tournaments on the first day of the tournament. In the men’s singles matches we’ll see Steve Johnson take on Juan Monaco of Argentina and Sam Querrey take on Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain. Neither of the Americans, nor their opponents, are seeded. The men’s and women’s qualifying is still wrapping up on Sunday as well so most of those draws will get underway on Monday.

Previous WTA & ATP Coverage:
Mutua Madrid Open Recap

Diamond League, Track and Field

US Athletes Win Seven of Eleven Events They Compete in at Diamond League in Doha

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It was a dominant start to the 2016 Diamond League in Doha, Qatar as the US had athletes competing in 11 of the 16 events and won seven of those. On the men’s side the US went four for five with only the 110m hurdles title eluding the US athletes. All three athletes for the US had season best marks but David Oliver, the defending champion, was 0.11 seconds off the winner and finished fourth in 13.16. Ameer Webb set a meet record in the 200m as he won by .21 seconds at 19.86. Lashawn Merritt won the 400m in 44.41, a winning margin of 0.27.  Erik Kynard was the only one to clear 2.33m in the high jump, the best mark in the world this year, while Christian Taylor also posted a world best mark in the triple jump at 17.23m, winning by .16m.

Tori Bowie similarly set a 2016 world best and a Doha meet record with a fast 10.80 100m, just 0.03 ahead of second place. The other two US wins were Tia Brooks in the shot put with a personal best 19.48m (winning by 0.26m) and Sandi Morris who dominated the pole vault with a 4.83m score that tied the Diamond League record as well as being the top score of 2016. She tried three times unsuccessfully to set a new record of 4.93m.

In the other women’s events the US was unable to medal. Chanelle Price was the top American in the 400m but her time of 2:01.05 was sixth place and 1.31 off third place despite being a season best. Cassandra Tate had a season best in the 400m hurdles in 55.57, good enough for fifth place 0.52 behind bronze. Over in the javelin Brittany Borman’s 61.27m throw was only fifth best and 1.15m less than third place.

The next Diamond League event will be in Shanghai on May 14th though with different events featured than this weekend.

Previous Diamond League Doha Coverage:
Preview

Covering America's Athletes