Sunday is the one-day 154.5 mile Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands. This race is full of climbs and six Americans will be in the field. Chad Haga will be competing for the Giant-Alpecin team, Kiel Reijnen will be competing for the US based Trek-Segafredo team, Larry Warbasse will be competing for the IAM Cycling team, and Nathan Brown, Alex Howes, and Benjamin King will be competing for the Cannondale team.
Previous UCI Men’s World Tour Coverage:
Paris-Roubaix Recap
The US lightweight men’s four team of Robin Prendes, Anthony Fahden, Edward King, and Tyler Nase made it to Sunday’s final but they didn’t have much time to spare. Competing in the second semifinal, and needing a top three finish to advance, the US finished with a time of 5:55.24 that would have been good enough to win semifinal A by almost a second. Instead it left them third in their semifinal and just 0.28 seconds ahead of the fourth place Italian boat. The US certainly has a shot to win or at least medal on Sunday.
Thomas Graves wrapped up his competition in the men’s single sculls competing in the Final D. Graves was much closer to his first time from Friday and finished second to the Latvian boat in the race.
Along with the lightweight men’s four team competing in the final on Sunday the men’s four team of Charles Cole, Matthew Miller, Henrik Rummel, and Seth Weil will compete as well after having reached the final directly with the top time on Friday in the heats.
Previous Coverage of Rowing World Cup:
Preview
Day 1 Update
Christina McHale had the opportunity to seize control of the Fed Cup tie against Australia on Saturday when she took on Sam Stosur. An earlier fairly straightforward 6-4, 6-2 win by Madison Keys over Daria Gavrilova put the US in front. McHale was shaky from the start getting broken in her first two service games and trailing 4-1. She lost the first set 6-3 but rebounded quickly in set two taking the first five games and eventually the set 6-1. Holding serve was the story in the third and decisive set as the two traded serve until at a 3-3 tie McHale had numerous opportunities to break. Six break points can and went and eventually Stosur pulled out the game. The two continued to trade games all the way to 5-5 before McHale finally got another chance to break Stosur and took advantage. McHale lost two of the first three points in the final game but won the next three to close out the set and give the US a huge 2-0 lead.
Now on Sunday Keys has the opportunity to lock things up for the US against Stosur and even if she falters the US will have two other opportunities to close out the tie when McHale takes on Gavrilova and when Coco Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands take on the Australian doubles team of Casey Dellacqua and Arina Rodionova. As always with these Fed Cup matchups they are subject to change at coach Mary Jo Hernandez discretion.
Previous Fed Cup Coverage:
Preview
France? The French!?! Yes… France are the ones shocking everyone on the first day of the Singapore Sevens stunning New Zealand 24-0 in their opening match of the day before narrowly outscoring the US 19-17 to win pool B and create total chaos in their wake. France had only reached the cup quarterfinals once so far this season (a third-place finish in South Africa) but that mattered little on Saturday.
The US started things off great with a blowout win of their own, 36-14 over Canada after leading 31-0. Nate Ebner made his debut and Zach Test and Madison Hughes each had two tries in the romp. With France beating New Zealand in their opener everyone knew the US desperately needed a win over the French in their second match to avoid a winner-take-all final showdown with New Zealand.
The US opened the scoring and led 5-0 after a Hughes try but fell behind 19-5 before beginning to rally. Hughes and Perry Baker added late tries to get the US back into it but the conversion on the second was no good and they held on for the two point 19-17 win.
With the loss France was through and the US and New Zealand were battling for the final spot from the pool. History favored New Zealand, they had advanced to the cup quarterfinal in every tournament held so far, and so did the play in the first half where they quickly ran out to a 19-0 lead at the break. With their backs against the wall the US played admirably in the second half and after an early Maka Unufe try had reason to think they could get back into it. The play of the game came midway through the second half when Baker broke free on a kick and went alone into the endzone. His final kick was a bit too heavy but he also didn’t seem to see just how quickly the endline approached as it was partially obscured by a patch of muddy turf. He set the ball down on the line, no try, and the US were still down 12. Test would add a try and the US had a final chance to try and tie it but fell 19-12.
The opponent in the bowl quarterfinals for the US will now be Russia with Portugal/Japan potential semifinal opponents. It’s amazing how much easier the competition looks on the final day when you aren’t in the cup quarterfinals.
Previous Rugby Sevens Coverage:
Singapore Preview
It was a clean sweep for the US on the second day of the Arena Pro Swim Series in Mesa, Arizona as Americans took first place in all ten of the races.
Cammile Adams won the 200m butterfly for the third time in three tries this year while Cassidy Bayer improved on her second place finish from Austin and Maya DiRado, who won the event in Orlando, was third. On the men’s side Michael Phelps got his first win in the event this year after a second place finish in his first try. Pace Clark and Jonathan Gomez took part for the first time and went two-three.
In the women’s 50m freestyle Madison Kennedy, won for the second straight meet while Abbey Weitzeil made it two thirds in three tries. Dana Vollmer was in between them and had her best finish of the year after a tenth in her first try in Austin. Nathan Adrian made it four-for-four with Anthony Ervin and Cullen Jones notching their first top five finishes of the year.
In the 100m backstroke Maya DiRado had her first finish in the top four this year winning the event but the Americans didn’t sweep the medals as Hungarian Katinka Hosszu and Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe rounded out the top there. On the men’s side David Plummer won for the second time this year while Ryan Lochte had his best finish so far in second. Arkady Vyatchanin of Serbia was third.
The 200m breaststroke saw some new blood at the top as Breeja Larson won after placing eighth in her previous appearance and Canadian Ashley McGregor topped her previous sixth as she was runner-up. Hilde Luthersdottir of Iceland had her second straight third place finish. BJ Johnson won the men’s event, his first top three finish of the year, while Nic Fink has now placed second in all four races but to three different swimmers. Mexico’s Miguel De Lara Ojeda finished third.
Finally in the 400m freestyle Katie Ledecky made it three wins in three tries while Cierra Runge had her first top three finish in second place. Denmark’s Lotte Friis was third, her third straight top four finish. Connor Dwyer failed to make it three-for-three in the men’s 400m freestyle as he finished second to Michael McBroom who won after a second in his first appearance. Clark Smith was third in his first competition of the year.
The swimming wraps up tomorrow as the final eight events are held. The women’s 800m freestyle will feature Katie Ledecky who is two-for-two in this event (she seems to win a lot) and Becca Mann who was runner-up to Ledecky on both of those occasions.
Maya DiRado won the women’s 200m individual medley in her first appearance in Orlando and will be looking to make it two straight. Melanie Margalis on the other hand has come in second in all three contests this year and will hope to win for the first time. Michael Phelps won the first two times he entered the men’s 200m individual medley so he will be the favorite again this weekend.
DiRado has also won the women’s 200m backstroke this year and came in second in her other appearance. The men’s 200m backstroke features no competitors who have finished in the top four so far this year but Ryan Lochte will be in the field.
The women’s 100m freestyle features an exciting field. Simone Manuel won both of the races she entered so far this year while both Abbey Weitzeil and Allison Schmitt have a second and third so far. Katie Ledecky will be trying to complete the top four cycle after taking second, third, and fourth in the first three events this season. Nathan Adrian has won the first three men’s 100m races and will be looking to continue his dominance. Jimmy Feigen is also in the field having placed third in his only appearance so far in Austin.
Finally in the men’s 1500m freestyle Michael McBroom was the winner in Minneapolis to start the year and will look to get his second win in the event.
On the first day of the FINA Diving World Series event in Windsor, Canada. David Boudia and Steele Johnson were the only Americans in action. They competed in the men’s synchronized 10m competition but didn’t have a lot of success as they finished sixth out of six teams. It was their worst finish of the year. Sam Dorman and Kristian Ipsen were supposed to be competing in the men’s synchronized 3m as well but apparently did not take part in the event.
On Saturday the women’s 10m platform competition will be held with semifinals in the morning and the finals in the evening. Amy Cozad will be competing for the US. Cozad took part in both the Beijing and Dubai stops with eighth and seventh place finishes. She will be trying to reach her first final of the year.
Previous FINA Diving World Series Coverage:
Preview
On the first day of competition at the ISSF World Cup even in Rio De Janeiro the top performer was Ashley Carroll in the women’s trap event. Carrol posted a 44, tied for 6th best, and is seventh on the tiebreaker of her last round (a 23). She has a really good chance to qualify for the finals with a strong third round on Saturday. Corey Cogdell is in great shape as well as she also posted a 44 but her final round of 20 left her in 13th. Janessa Jo Beaman, was slightly off the pace at 38. Saturday the women will wrap up their qualification with their final round in the morning before having the finals in the afternoon.
On the men’s side Brian Burrows was the top American in 32nd with a 45 but this leaves him three behind the final qualifying spots. Casey Wallace scored a 42 to place 54th while Seth Iman had a 39 and is in 60th. The third and fourth qualifying rounds for the men will be on Saturday.
Also on Saturday the men’s 10m air pistol and the women’s 10m air rifle will be held in their entirety. Will Brown, Nickolaus Mowrer, and Jay Sih will be competing in the air pistol. Brown was the best of the three in Bangkok where he finished second. In the air rifle Sarah Beard, Sarah Scherer. and Virginia Thrasher will represent the US. Beard and Scherer were in the field in Bangkok where Scherer finished eighth.
Four American men participated in qualifying on Friday but none were able to reach Sunday’s final. Brendan Anderson came the closest as he was eighth in his group in the combined event but a lower score in the swimming portion might have done him in as he finished with 1135 points and 1154 was the last qualifier. Sam Ruddock scored 1056 doing his best work in the pool while Joshua Spegman (977) and Justin Torrellas (913) were well off the mark.
Saturday will be the final day of competition for the Americans as Samantha Achterberg and Isabella Isaksen compete in the women’s final.
Some teams are heading to Rio for the Test Event that begins tomorrow with the goal to qualify for the Olympics. That’s not necessary for the US who are already in the field so instead this is just another good competition to compete in for John Orozco and Jacob Dalton. The two will compete in qualification on Saturday for Monday’s event finals as well as for all-around honors.
Not everyone is qualified for the Olympics so the US will be attempting to get a spot in both the men’s and women’s trampoline events later on in the test event.
Previous Gymnastics Coverage:
Pacific Rim Championships Recap
The USA Women’s Sevens team played Spain and New Zealand in the group stage last weekend and beat them both. They played Fiji in the plate semifinals and shut them out 38-0. Now this weekend in Langford, British Columbia the US will look to duplicate those wins in the group stage as they look to improve on last weekends fifth place finish.
The US will start things off with Spain and Fiji before closing the group stage out with the much more challenging New Zealand side. With just one more sevens weekend before the Olympics this summer the US is running out of good chances to get some warm-up in and gather valuable information for final roster decisions for Rio.
Previous HSBC Women’s Sevens Series Coverage:
Atlanta Sevens Recap