Olympic Trials, Rio 2016 Olympic Trials, Rowing

Ken Jurkowski and Genevra Stone Both Reach Olympic Rowing Trials Finals

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With Sunday’s finals looming Saturday was the final day the field would be cut as semifinals were held in a variety of event at the US Olympic Rowing Trials. The first event was the men’s single sculls and in the first heat 2012 Olympian Ken Jurkowski won and had the top time of the day for the first time in the trials. Justin Keen had the top time in the second heat and was just 0.24 seconds behind Jurkowski. Greg Ansolabehere who had the top time in the time trials and previous round, also reached the final though he was over three seconds behind the top times. The final in this event looks to be an exciting and dramatic one.

Over in the women’s single sculls 2012 Olympian Genevra Stone won her heat to advance to the final without any real challenge but Stesha Cole was the fastest of the day by 3.2 seconds. Stone will probably be a bit faster in the final when finishing first is all that matters.

In the men’s double sculls repechage two more teams made the final. There was a decently close finish as Thaddeus Babiec/Theo Pritz advanced to the final by just 2.4 seconds. It was even closer in the women’s double sculls as Jamie Chapman/Elizabeth Vogt only advanced to the final by 1.88 seconds. Another close finish was in the women’s lightweight double sculls as Rosa Kemp/Monica Whitehouse had only 2.92 seconds to spare. The men’s lightweight double sculls wasn’t quite so competitive as neither heat was decided by less than 4.5 seconds.

Sunday will have eight finals. Two of those are for Paralympic spots, four are for Olympic spots, and two are for spots in a final qualifying event for the Olympics.

Previous Olympic Rowing Trials Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update
Day 2 Update
Day 3 Update
Day 4 Update

ISSF World Cup, Shooting

US Triples Medal Count on Second to Last Day at ISSF World Cup

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The US has been lacking medals in this ISSF World Cup event with only one going into Saturday’s action. That number wouldn’t last long as the US won more medals on Saturday than they had in all the previous events combined.

In the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol Keith Sanderson proved the better of the two Americans in qualifying finishing with a 582 and advancing on inner 10s to reach the final. Emil Milev was a bit worse on the day and ended up with only 578 and eliminated in 18th place. Sanderson had the second lowest score of the final six after the first stage of the final but was strong to start the second stage and survived past three of those who were in front of him to end up with the silver medal.

It’s no surprise that the other US medal came in the women’s skeet where Amber English, Morgan Craft, and Kimberly Rhode were all in qualifying position after the first two rounds of shooting. Rhode shot a 25 and English a 24 to advance to the final while Craft’s 22 left her a point short of the top six and eliminated in 10th place. Craft had been the winner in the first World Cup event in Nicosia. Rhode had the top score in the semifinals at 14 to advance to the gold medal match while Craft finished in a 3-way tie with 13 and finished second in the shoot-off to end up in the bronze medal match. In the bronze medal match Craft lost to China’s Min Lu 13-12 and missed out on the medal opportunity. With gold on the line both Rhode and her opponent, Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit of Thailand had strong scores of 15 of a possible 16. The shoot-off would take a little while but eventually Jiewchaloemmit outlasted Rhode 8-7 and Rhode had to settle for the silver medal.

Men’s skeet qualifying continued on Friday with the third round of shooting. Vincent Hancock went perfect on Saturday and is now in a 3-way tie at the top with 74 points. Hayden Stewart and Frank Thompson each went for 24 and are part of the massive group from fourth to 17th with 72 points. They have a great chance to make the final but it will take really good scores on Sunday, probably 49 or a perfect 50. The final will be Sunday after the final two rounds of qualifying.

Finally in the 50m men’s 3 position rifle Matthew Emmons as expected was easily through the elimination round into the qualifying while Dempster Christenson and George Norton both had to sweat it out. Christenson did enough to move on finishing with an 1155 in his relay in 20th place. Norton was close, oh so close, but his 1149 only left him in a tie for the final qualifying spot and Jinseop Han of Korea had more inner 10’s (54 to 43) to advance. Christenson and Emmons will compete in qualifying and the final (should they advance to it) on Sunday as the entire competition in Rio wraps up.

Previous ISSF World Cup Coverage:
Day 5 Update
Day 6 Update
Day 7 Update
Day 8 Update

Marathon, World Marathon Majors

Tatyana McFadden Wins Again At London Marathon

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Tatyana McFadden made it back-to-back wins to start the first ever World Marathon Majors Wheelchair Series when she beat Manuela Schar of Switzerland to the finish line by just one second. These two had gone 1-2 in Boston as well but Schar was a lot closer this time. Amanda McGrory finished fourth to make it two Americans in the top five. It was the second straight top five for McGrory who was fifth in Boston. Susannah Scaroni was seventh with Chelsea McClammer in eighth.

On the men’s side James Senbeta was the top American in fifth, just like in Boston, while Aaron Pike was seventh, Joshua George 17th, and Brian Siemann was 24th.

Over in the elite women’s category only Sara Hall from the US was competing and finished 12th. Ruben Sanca competed in the men’s marathon and was 32nd overall beating several of the elite runners.

The next World Marathon Major is not until Berlin on September 25th.

Previous World Marathon Majors Coverage:
London Preview

ITU World Triathlon Series, Triathlon

Kirsten Kasper and Kevin McDowell Lead Seven Americans to Race in Cape Town Triathlon

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Seven Americans will be competing in the Cape Town Triathlon on Sunday though the top American finishers so far this year on both the men’s and women’s side will not be taking part. On the women’s side the top American competing is Kirsten Kasper who was tenth in her only race so far this year, Gold Coast. Two other Americans who finished in the top 25 at the Gold Coast, Lindsey Jerdonek (23rd) and Sarah True (25th) will also be competing.

On the men’s side Kevin McDowell, 19th at the Gold Coast in his only race, is the only one in the field who has competed in other races so far this year. The two new competitors are Robby Webster and Alex Libin.

 

Previous IRU World Triathlon Series Coverage:
Gold Coast Recap

Cycling, Mountain Bike, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup

Aaron Gwin Finishes Fourth but Four Americans in Top 25 in World Cup Downhill Event

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The downhill final was a chance for Aaron Gwin to win his second straight event to start the year but the winner from Lourdes was unable to do so finishing almost three seconds behind winner Loic Bruni of France. Bruni came closer to Gwin’s series lead but Gwin still leads Bruni by 28 points and leads second place Troy Bosnan by 13 points.

While Gwin couldn’t match his finish from Lourdes the other three Americans in the final all improved on their previous season high. Luca Shaw finished 13th after a 21st place finish in Lourdes while Eliot Jackson was 14th after not participating in the first event. Neko Mulally was 23rd on Saturday after a 45th place finish in Lourdes. Shaw is the only American other than Gwin in the top 25 as he sits 19th.

Sunday will be the cross-country event and six men and five women will be competing for the US. The top American finisher from last year’s series in the field on the men’s side is Stephen Ettinger who was 36th while on the women’s side Lea Davison was one of the top riders finishing third for the season. Three other Americans, Chloe Woodruff (21st), Georgia Gould (22nd), and Erin Huck (24th), finished in the top 25 last season.

Previous Mountain Bike World Cup Cairns Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update

Diving, FINA Diving World Series

Amy Cozad Eliminated in Semifinals, Tenth of Twelve at Diving World Series

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Amy Cozad competed for the US on Saturday in the women’s 10m platform. Competing in semifinal B Cozad was never in qualifying position starting off in fourth but eventually ending up in sixth of the six divers in her semifinal. Cozad would have actually been close to qualifying had she been in the other semifinal as her final score of 304.55 was only 11.55 behind the third place finisher in that group. This was the worst finish for Cozad in any of the four world series events this year.

David Boudia and Steele Johnson have the final chance to medal for the US in Kazan. Both will compete in the men’s 10m platform on Sunday and are in the same semifinal. Boudia has been in the final at the three previous series stops and will be expected to reach the final again here.

Previous Diving World Series Kazan Coverage:
Preview
Day 1 Update

Wrestling

Halley Augello and Helen Maroulis Win Olympic Berths

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After the three greco-roman American competitors were unable to grab Olympic spots on Friday the attention turned the US women in the freestyle on Saturday. The women had a little more success as two of the four, Halley Augello and Helen Maroulis, claimed Olympic spots. For Maroulis this was not surprising at all. The reigning world champion at 55kg dominated the field winning 8-2, 10-0, and getting a fall to grab the Olympic spot and reach the final. In the final she shut out Maria Prevolaraki of Greece 10-0.

For Augello the Olympic berth was a little more shocking. The 21-year-old 48kg competitor had never wrestled at a senior world championship and was 15th at the junior world championships when she last appeared in 2013. Augello blitzed through the field with 12-1, 10-0, and 10-0 wins to get an Olympic berth and qualify for the final. Admittedly her opponents were not the strongest but she won’t be worried about that as she heads for Rio. In the final against Hyon Gyong Kim the result was not so favorable with Augello losing 9-2.

Coming close to qualifying in the 69kg division was Tamyra Mensah. Mensah opened with 10-0 and 10-7 wins before running into Ilana Kratysh of Israel in the semifinals. Kratysh narrowly out wrestled Mensah 6-5 to advance to the Olympics. Mensah did win her bronze medal match against Diana Miranda Gonzales of Mexico 7-0 and will have a good chance to qualify in the second Olympic qualifying event.

In the 58kg division Kelsey Campbell didn’t come close to qualifying but also lost in the tightest manner possible, on a tiebreaker at 1-1 to Emese Barka of Hungary. Barka lost in the next round so Campbell did not participate in the repechage competition at all. Campbell and Mensah will join the three greco-roman wrestlers at the second and final Olympic qualifying competition in Istanbul May 6th-8th.

Sunday on the final day of competition two American men in the freestyle category will attempt to qualify. In the 65kg division Frank Molinaro will face Vietnam’s Xuan Dinh Nguyen in the first round needing to win three times to reach the semifinals. Nguyen was 17th in the world championships in the fall. The other American competing is J’Den Cox in the 86kg division. Cox will take on Shamir Atyan of Armenia in the first round needing three wins to reach the semifinals like Molinaro. Atyan is yet to compete at a world championship on the senior level.

Previous Wrestling Coverage:
Olympic Qualifying Preview
Day 1 Update

Cycling, UCI Men's World Tour

Lawson Craddock and Ten Other Americans to Take Part in Liege-Bastogne-Liege Race

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Eleven Americans will be in the field Sunday for the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race in Belgium, a 157.2 mile race. Lawson Craddock is the top American in the field but finished 121st in the last race, La Fleche Wallonne, on Wednesday. The best American in that race, Peter Stetina who finished 35th, is in this race as is Alex Howes who was the top American finisher in the Amstel Gold Race last Sunday where he finished 32nd. Kiel Reijnen will be hoping to complete the race and break a streak of three straight races he has not finished.

The next six events on the Tour and seven of the next eight are multi-day events instead of the single day races that have been six of the last seven.

 

Previous UCI World Tour Coverage:
La Fleche Wallonne Recap

Fencing, Fencing World Cup

Three US Women, One Man Reach Table of 64 at Grand Prix Event in Rio de Janeiro

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There wasn’t a lot of success for the US fencers on Friday in the preliminary rounds for the epee grand prix event. Only one man and one woman advanced from the preliminaries, joining the two women who were already qualified directly to the table of 64. Joining Kelley Hurley and Katharine Holmes in the table of 64 will be Courtney Hurley. She advanced by going 5-1 in her pool and earning a spot in the table of 64 for being one of the 16 best women in pool play. Two other American women were eliminated in pool play: Natalie Vie and Katarzyna Trzopek who both went 2-4.

Trzopek missed out on a spot in the preliminary knockout matches for the last six spots in the table of 64 by hits scored, two less than the final qualifier, while Vie missed out on indicator score as her aggregate score was -5 in pool play while Trzopek and the last qualifier had -2 scores. Kelly Hurley will be seeded 12th, Holmes 15th, and Courtney Hurley 26th in the table of 64 so hopefully the US will have some success on Saturday.

On the men’s side Jason Pryor went 5-1 to grab one of the 16 spots advancing to the table of 64 from pool play while on the low end Lewis Weiss went 1-5 and was eliminated after pool play. The other three Americans participated in knockout competition for the final 32 spots in the table of 64. Ariel Simmons lost 15-10 to Nelson Lopez Pourtier of France, Dennis Kraft lost 15-13 to Satoru Uyama of Japan, and Alen Hadzic lost 15-6 to Martin Capek of the Czech Republic. Pryor will be seeded 27th in the table of 64 on Sunday. 

Previous Fencing World Cup Coverage:
Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix Preview

Diving, FINA Diving World Series

David Boudia and Steele Johnson Finish Fourth at Diving World Series

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Friday as the final Diving World Series event kicked off the first medal hope for the US was David Boudia and Steele Johnson in the men’s 10m synchronized event. After two strong dives to start the competition they trailed the Chinese divers by 4.8 points. Unfortunately Boudia and Johnson struggled on the next dive and fell from second to sixth. They recovered on the final three dives to move back into fourth but missed out on the bronze by 4.26 points.

On Saturday Amy Cozad will be competing in the women’s 10m platform competition. She’ll have to advance from the morning semifinals to compete in the finals in the evening.

Previous Diving World Series Kazan Coverage:
Preview

Covering America's Athletes