With the US Olympic Rowing Trials about to being in Sarasota, Florida there is not a large contingent of Americans competing in the Rowing World Cup event in Varese, Italy this weekend. The US will have competitors in the men’s four (Charles Cole, Matthew Miller, Henrik Rummel, and Seth Weil) as well as the lightweight men’s four (Robin Prendes, Anthony Fahden, Edward King, and Tyler Nase) and Thomas Graves in the men’s single sculls. Heats in all three events are on Friday.
Rajeev Ram Out, Bryan Brothers Up Next at Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters
The first American to compete at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Master this week was Rajeev Ram in the doubles competition with South African Raven Klaasen. Their tournament lasted less than an hour after a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia. Ram and Klaasen never broke their opponents and won just eight of 44 points when returning serve. On Thursday Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, seeded fifth, will open play in the second round against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia. This matchup is 3-2 lifetime to the Bryans but they have lost the last two meetings.
Isabella Isaksen and Samantha Achterberg Compete in UIPM World Cup Event Thursday
The fourth stop of the UIPM World Cup is this weekend in Kecskemet, Hungary and two American women will be taking part on Thursday. Samantha Achterberg was in the final back in February in Cairo but missed out in the last two events including a disappointing 67th in qualifying in Rome last month. Isabella Isaksen reached the final in both Rome and Cairo but missed out in Rio de Janeiro in March. On Thursday both will go through qualifying with hopes of finishing among the top 36 women and qualifying for Saturday’s final.
Arena Pro Swim Series This Weekend in Mesa, Arizona
Stop four of seven on the Arena Pro Swim Series is this weekend in Mesa, Arizona. Things start on Thursday with the men’s and women’s events in the 200m freestyle, the 100m breaststroke, the 100m butterfly, and the 400m medley.
Headlining the women’s 200m freestyle is Katie Ledecky, who has the won the first three races of the series, Missy Franklin, who has two seconds and a third, and Allison Schmitt who finished third in both of the races she took part in.
In the men’s 200m freestyle Connor Dwyer has won both of the races he entered so far this season while Ryan Lochte and Townley Haas came in second in their only races. Michael Phelps has a tenth and fourth place finish to show after his first two races of the year.
Over in the women’s 100m breaststroke the top American contenders include Katie Meili, who won the event in Austin, Micah Lawrence, who came in second in Minneapolis, Andee Cottrell, who was third in Minneapolis, and Molly Hannis, who has a second and third in her two races this year.
The men’s 100m breaststroke doesn’t feature many of the top finishers so far this season but one of the top contenders will be Andrew Wilson who won this event in Austin.
Both Kelsi Worrell, first in Minneapolis, and Dana Vollmer, second in Minneapolis and Austin, are strong contenders in the women’s 100m butterfly while in the mens 100m butterfly Giles Smith has three top five finishes including a win in Minneapolis.
Finally in the women’s 400m medely Becca Mann has notched two runner-ups and a third place finish to start the year while Tyler Clary has a fourth and a second in his two events so far this year.
The preliminaries are in the morning with the final in the evening and then we’ll know the eight event winners from the first day of the Mesa stop of the Arena Pro Swim Series.
Beiwen Zhang Advances to Second Round in OUE Singapore Open
Beinwen Zhang caught a bit of a break this week when #4 seed Saina Nehwal of India withdrew from the OUE Singapore Open. Instead of facing one of the top players she got to face someone below her in the world rankings, Aya Ohori of Japan. Zhang took advantage of the matchup and in a competitive match won in straight sets 21-18, 21-17.
She will now face Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong in the second round. The two are very evenly matched and have split their two previous meetings including a Zhang sweep in the Singapore Open last year. Zhang is attempting to reach her first quarterfinal in a Super Series event since reaching back-to-back quarterfinals in October 2014.
Beiwen Zhang Will Compete This Week in OUE Singapore Open
While there were six Americans competing in Malaysia last week only one of those players is still around competing the Singapore Open. Beinwen Zhang, who had to play the #6 seed last week and lost 21-8, 21-14, will be taking part in the women’s singles competition. She has a much better chance to advance for the second time this year as her opponent, Aya Ohori of Japan, is below her in the world rankings. The two have never met.
Zhang was to meet #4 seed Saina Nehwal of India but she withdrew from the tournament to rest. Zhang has the potential now to reach the quarterfinals without facing a seeded opponent. Zhang’s match is decently late in the day in Singapore and is set for 7:40 AM ET Wednesday morning in the US.
Three Americans to Compete In Doubles Competition at Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters
While there were no American entrants into the ATP tournament over in France this weekend there were a couple in the doubles field. The big one is of course the brothers-duo of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan. The brothers are seeded fifth and have a bye to the second round. Not seeded and playing in the first round on Wednesday will be Rajeev Ram who is teaming up with South African Raven Klaasen. They are taking on Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia. The winner will take on the #1 seed in the second round so it’s going to be a challenge to advance far in this one.
The American women are gearing up for a Fed Cup World Group Playoff match at Australia at the end of the week to try and get back into the top group for next year’s competition.
USA Wins Every Event They Compete In on Individual Finals Day at Pacific Rim Championships
The US cleaned up on Sunday at the Pacific Rim Championships with the only competition for gold medals coming from their teammates. In the women’s artistic events the US didn’t have a participant in the vault but won gold in other three events. Ashton Locklear took gold in the uneven bars with a 15.625, nearly a full point ahead of second place Larissa Miller of Australia. Brenna Dowell took fifth with a 14.000. Ragan Smith was the gold medalist on the balance beam as her 15.225 held off the 15.100 of teammate Aly Raisman. Raisman would get her gold though on the floor as her score of 15.100 was tops with Dowell coming in second at 14.825.
On the men’s side five different Americans won gold with Donnell Whittenburg winning two. He won gold in the parallel bars with a small margin of 15.800 to 15.750 over Weifeng Cal of China. John Orozco was fourth with a 15.375. His other gold came on the rings where his 15.925 provided a more comfortable 0.600 margin over teammate Orozco. Orozco would win gold himself on the horizontal bars with a 15.400 with Naoki Yamane of Japan back in second at 14.650. Whittenburg would be sixth with a 13.600.
Also winning gold for the US was Eddie Penev on the vault with a slim margin of 15.100 to 15.075 over Whittenburg, Alex Naddour on pommel horse with a 15.650 as teammate Sam Mikulak scored at 14.950, and Jacob Dalton with a close win on the floor 15.625 to 15.525 over Penev.
Finally in rhythmic gymnastics the US had the top two in all four events with Aliya Protto winning three golds alone. Protto would win gold over Camilla Feeley by a score of 17.316 to 16.616 with the hoop and narrowly 17.033 to 17.016 with the ball. She also won gold over Brigita Budginas with the clubs 16.900 to 15.783. Feeley did win gold with the ribbon as she scored a 17.200 to Protto’s 17.050.
There is an Olympic test event down in Rio on April 16th but US Olympic Trials are not until June 23rd-26th for the men and July 8th-10th for the women.
Four 2015 World Championship Medalists Win Olympic Wrestling Spots on Final Day of Trials
On the final day of competition in Iowa City six more Olympic spots were awarded while another three wrestlers earned the chance to try and qualifying for the Olympics in future international qualifying tournaments this spring.
In the men’s freestyle 57 kg 2012 Olympian Sam Hazewinkel had to drop out and was unable to compete while Coleman Scott, the 60 kg bronze medalist from London, won 14-4 in his first match and then ran into Tony Ramos, the US participant at the world championships and a 3-3 winner on tiebreaker in his first match. This matchup of big names went to Ramos on another tiebreaker at 4-4 to advance Ramos to the final without a clean win. His opponent in the final would be Daniel Dennis, a matchup of two former Iowa Hawkeyes. The final saw Dennis win a tight first match 2-1 before a dominant 10-0 second match gave him a spot in the Olympics.
For the men’s freestyle 74 kg division we went in knowing Jordan Burroughs would be the final and needing to find out who his opponent would be. The answer was Andrew Howe, the same matchup as in 2012, and the result was more of the same. Burroughs dominated 9-2, 10-0 to reach the Olympics where he will be the favorite.
In the men’s freestyle 97 kg division where we were hoping for a showdown between Jake Varner, gold medalist in London, and Kyle Snyder, gold medalist at the 2015 World Championships we got just that. Snyder was already assured a spot in the final while Varner got there by winning three matches without giving up a single point, 11-0, 4-0, 6-0. Varner continued his hot run in the final by winning match one on a tiebreaker with it 4-4 but Snyder got the better of him as the series went on winning match two 4-0 and the final and decisive set 6-1 to send the 19-year-old into the Olympics.
Over on the women’s side in the freestyle 75 kg division 2015 World Championship gold medalist Adeline Gray was waiting in the final for an opponent. That opponent would end up being an emerging youngster, 2014 Junior World Championship bronze medalist Victoria Francis. Francis may play a big part in the future but Gray is still the present and won the match easily 11-0, 10-0.
Over on the greco-roman side the men’s 75 kg class final featured the bronze medalist from the 2015 World Championships, Andy Bisek. 2012 Olympian Justin Lester did not compete due to injury and the finalist to face Bisek ended up being Geordan Speiller, a top competitor who sat out last year with a knee injury. Speiller may be a contender again in the future but this spot belonged to Bisek who won 6-2, 4-0 to grab the spot in Rio.
The final Olympic bid up for grabs was in the 130 kg greco-roman weight class. With neither finalist guaranteed the favorite was Robby Smith who finished fifth at the 2015 World Championships. He won his first two matches by a fall and 8-0 to advance to the final against Adam Coon, a two-time All-American for Michigan. Experience won out here as Smith advanced to the Olympics with a 4-1, 7-2 win.
As for the weight classes yet to qualify for Rio, the men’s freestyle 86 kg division saw 2012 Olympian and #1 seed Jake Herbert knocked out in his first match by J’den Cox, the 197 pound NCAA champion from Missouri, 8-1. Cox advanced to the final after a 3-1 semifinal win and awaiting him there was Kyle Dake, a four-time NCAA champion who has shown remarkable ability to shift weight classes. Cox won the first match 8-1 but lost the second narrowly 4-3. The winner-take-all match was very tight but it was Cox who held on for a 4-3 win and will have a chance to qualify for Rio.
In the women’s freestyle 48 kg competition 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Clarissa Chun was cruising through her matches winning 12-0 and 14-4 before running into Vicoria Anthony, a 2013 world championship participant at 51 kg, and losing to her 9-2. Awaiting Anthony in the final was surprisingly not #1 seed and 2015 world championship competitor Alyssa Lampe. Lampe had lost in the semifinals as well 7-6 to Haley Augello, a former 53 kg college national champion who dropped down in weight. In the final it was the 21-year-old Augello 6-4 in match one before Anthony evened things with a 11-6 victory to force a winner-take-all third match. That one went to the youngster Augello 8-2 as she is off to qualification for Rio.
Finally the women’s freestyle 53 kg competition saw #1 seed Helen Maroulis, the 55 kg champion at the 2015 World Championships, breeze to the final 10-0, 13-2, 11-0 while her finals opponent, the 53 kg representative at those world championships, Whitney Conder, advanced easily as well 10-0, 9-0, 7-2. It was all Maroulis in the final as she won both matches by shutout, 10-0 and 11-0 to move into Olympic qualifying.
For the nine winners who already have qualified for Rio they have four months to prepare and focus on the Olympics. For the other nine it’ll be hectic for the next few week as they attempt to earn their spot. Qualifying tournaments are April 22-24 in Mongolia and May 6-8 in Turkey. In the men’s events there are three spots available in Mongolia, just two in Turkey, while the women have two available in each event. Last time the US qualified all but one wrestler so most of the nine will probably make Rio, but they won’t be able to fully enjoy this until they do.
Kayla Harrison Headlines 14 National Champions at USA Judo Senior Nationals
The headliner in Irving, Texas this weekend was obviously in the women’s -78kg division. Defending Olympic gold medalist Kayla Harrison announced she would compete at the USA National Championships last week and won her ninth national championship over Kaelin O’Sullivan in the final.
Other winners of national titles this weekend were.
Women’s -48kg: Corey Jo Tashima – A 29-year-old who won her second national title after finishing third last year
Women’s -52kg: Angelica Delgado – A 25-year-old who won her fourth national title. She did not participate last year but won the previous two.
Women’s -57kg: Amelia Fulgentes – A 22-year-old with back-to-back national titles after finishing third the previous two years.
Women’s -63kg: Alisha Galles – A 20-year-old who just won her first national title. She was second two years ago at -57kg but did not participate last year.
Women’s -70kg: Katie Sell – A 28-year-old who has medaled at the senior nationals 11 times. This is her fourth national title but first since 2013. She was second last year.
Women’s +78kg: Nina Cutro-Kelly – A 31-year-old who now has seven national titles including four in a row.
Women’s Open: Nikki Mungunshagai – A 26-year-old who was competing in her first national championship
Men’s -55kg: Devin Garrido – A 19-year-old who won his first national title after a runner-up finish last year.
Men’s -60kg: Adonis Diaz – A 19-year-old who has won back-to-back national titles.
Men’s -66kg: Cole Chandler – An 18-year-old who just won his first national title.
Men’s -73kg: Brad Bolen – A 27-year-old who his fourth national title and third straight.
Men’s -81kg: Jack Hatton – A 20-year-old who won his first national title after a third place finish last year.
Men’s -90kg: Matthew Koch – A 20-year-old who won his first national title after a third place finish last year.
Men’s -100kg: L.A. Smith – A 21-year-old who has now won four straight national titles.
Men’s +100kg: Akbar Iminov – A 21-year-old who won his first national title after a third place finish last year.
Men’s Open: Tokuzo Takahashi – He has now won seven national titles in seven appearances including the last five.
The first qualifiers for the Olympics in judo are determined by the world ranking list on May 30th and the US should have several qualifiers confirmed on that date. The next major judo event for the Americans are the Pan American Judo Championships in Havana, Cuba April 27th-30th.