Nick Baumgartner and Lindsey Jacobellis Headline First Snowboard World Cup Event For Americans Since Sochi

March 10, 2014 Jon Green Leave a comment

It’s been a long few weeks since Sochi as we awaited the first FIS Snowboard World Cup event to feature some Americans. Last week a slopestyle event was held but no Americans were in the field due to other events in the States. Monday and Tuesday though will feature six Americans in the field of a snowboard cross event in Veysonnaz, Switzerland.

The women’s field only contains Lindsey Jacobellis for the US with all 32 of the women locked into the round of 32 and just battling for seeding The men’s field features five Americans including Nick Baumgartner in the 57 man field so this will be a battle to see who can make it into the round of 32 on Tuesday.

WeSupportTheUS.com will have coverage of the results of the snowboard cross qualification round later on Monday.

March 10th
- 4:45 AM ET – Men’s Snowboard Cross Qualification
  - Nick Baumgartner
  - Jonathan Cheever
  - Hagen Kearney
  - Mick Dierdorff
  - Ross Andrews
- 7:45 AM ET – Women’s Snowboard Cross Qualification
  - Lindsey Jacobellis

ISU World Cup, Speed Skating

Brian Hansen and Heather Richardson Both Get Wins on Final Day of Speed Skating World Cup Event in Inzell

March 9, 2014 Jon Green Leave a comment

Previous Inzell – ISU Speed Skating World Cup Coverage

The US finished off a really strong weekend with two more event wins and a silver medal. Whatever went wrong in Sochi it certainly didn’t affect them this weekend.

Women’s 1000m

Womens 1000m Division A

In the women’s 1000m Kelly Gunther took second in the B Division while Heather Richardson and Brittany Bowe went 1-2 in the A Division. Richardson won three races this weekend and is likely to win the overall title in the women’s Speed Skating World Cup.

Men’s 500m

Mens 500m Division A Race 2

In the B Division of the men’s 500m race Jonathan Garcia took third with a time of 35.96 with Joey Mantia a second behind in 11th. In the A Division Tucker Fredricks was the top American in 10th but was within three tenths of a second. Mitchell Whitmore had a better race than Saturday and finished 15th.

Men’s 1500m

Mens 1500m Division B Mens 1500m Division A

The US took the top spot in the men’s 1500m with Brian Hansen winning the event by seven tenths of a second. Shani Davis tried to get on the medal stand as well but his time was four hundredths short of a bronze so the US had to settle for just the one medal. In the B Division race Jonathan Garcia finished 13th and was almost 4.5 seconds behind the winner.

Women’s Mass Start

The US had one strong finisher in the women’s mass start after Maria Lamb finished seventh and was just over a second behind the bronze. Anna Ringsred also competed for the US but she only completed ten laps finishing 15th.

Upcoming:

Next weekend (Friday-Sunday) the Speed Skating World Cup heads for Heerenveen, Netherlands where a very similar program to this weekend will be held. There will be team pursuit events held as well that the US could do well in.

Paralympics, Sochi 2014

Two More Medals for the US on Sunday at the Winter Paralympics

March 9, 2014 Jon Green Leave a comment

Previous 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympics Coverage

The US got a couple more medals on Sunday with silvers in the men’s Super-G and the women’s 12km sitting cross-country race. They also got wins in both curling and ice hockey to complete a good day for Team USA.

Wheelchair Curling

The US wheelchair curling team got their first win in the Paralympics to move to 1-2.The US consistently scored two or more with the hammer early and played strong defense limiting Norway to more than one just once. The 8-5 win moved the US into a tie for fifth. They take on Canada (3-0) and Russia (2-1) on Monday.

Round Robin Standings - 3-9-14

Alpine Skiing – Men’s Super-G

Seven US men competed in the Super-G race on Sunday. Mark Bathum was the only one in the visually impaired division and won the silver medal in a tight race missing out on gold by 0.13 seconds. In the standing division the only one to finish the race was James Stanton who placed sixth, 3.74 seconds behind the winner. Heath Calhoun came in 4th in the sitting division but was 2.6 seconds behind the bronze and over five seconds behind the winner.

Cross-Country – Women’s 12km

Oksana Masters went from the biathlon on Saturday to cross-country skiing on Sunday. Things worked out well with a second place finish in the women’s 12km sitting event. Tatyana McFadden and Monica Bascio also finished in the top ten with McFadden in fifth and Bascio finishing seventh.

Cross-Country – Men’s 15km

The men’s cross-country 15km sitting event had only one American within four minutes of the winner, Andrew Soule in fifth place. Three more followed in the thirty seconds after the four minute mark with Sean Halsted in ninth, Aaron Pike in 12th, and Daniel Cnossen in 13th.

Ice Sledge Hockey

The US picked up their second win of the ice sledge hockey tournament with a 3-0 defeat of Korea. Adam Page had two goals for the US who became the first team in the group to two wins. The US will take on Russia on Tuesday and will win the group unless Russia wins in regulation. If Russia were to win the US would finish second in the group so either way they will be in the semifinals.

Group B Standings - 3-9

Upcoming:

The wheelchair curling team will be playing twice on Monday and 11 other individuals will be competing in five events between the Super-G and cross-country skiing.

Broadcast Information:

TeamUSA.org will have live streaming of likely all of the events Monday while NBCSN will cover the Super-G live from 2-5 AM ET and show a daily coverage show from 12-3 PM ET.

Schedule:

March 10th
- 1:30 AM ET – Wheelchair Curling – Round Robin – USA vs. Canada
- 2 AM ET – Women’s Alpine Skiing – Super-G – Visually Impaired
  - Danelle Umstead
- 2 AM ET – Men’s Cross-Country Skiing – 20km Classic – Standing
  - John Oman
- 2:20 AM ET – Women’s Alpine Skiing – Super-G – Standing
  - Allison Jones
  - Melanie Schwartz
  - Stephanie Jallen
- 2:55 AM ET – Women’s Alpine Skiing – Super-G – Sitting
  - Alana Nichols
  - Stephani Victor
  - Laurie Stephens
- 3 AM ET – Men’s Cross-Country Skiing – 20km Classic – Visually Impaired
  - Kevin Burton
  - Jacob Adicoff
- 7:30 AM ET – Wheelchair Curling – Round Robin – USA vs. Russia

Alpine Skiing, FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup

Ted Ligety Is Top American in Slalom at Kranjska Gora, 16th Overall

March 9, 2014 Jon Green Leave a comment

Previous Kranjska Gora – Alpine Skiing World Cup Coverage

The US doesn’t really have a top slalom racer right now but Ted Ligety did his best to fill those shoes on Sunday. Ligety led way for the Americans with a 16th place finish about two seconds behind the winner. He was followed by Will Brandenburg in 23rd and Nolan Kasper in 26th. The best slalom skier this year for the US has been David Chodounsky but he didn’t even make it to the second run after he was disqualified on run one.

Attention is now turned to the final Alpine Skiing World Cup event of the year in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The men’s slalom will be one of the last events as it will be held on Sunday the 16th. Things kick off on Wednesday with the downhill races.

Biathlon, Biathlon World Cup

Strong Day for Tim Burke With 7th Place Finish in Men’s Mass Start at Biathlon World Cup in Pokljuka

March 9, 2014 Jon Green Leave a comment

Previous Pokljuka – Biathlon World Cup Coverage

The biathlon just keeps getting better and better for the Americans lately. Tim Burke upped the ante again with a fantastic seventh place finish in the men’s 15km mass start. Burke might have been a medal winner but two misses on the final round of shooting left him with too much time to make up though he still finished within a minute of the winner. Lowell Bailey had a strong round as well but three misses on the third round, part of four overall, left him 20th overall with 2:10.9 separating him and the winner.

The really good news for the Americans is that this is just the first of three straight weekends with Biathlon World Cup action. Next weekend the action moves to Kontiolahti with sprint events on Thursday and Saturday and a pursuit event on Sunday.

Cross-Country Skiing, FIS Cross-Country World Cup

Kikkan Randall and Sadie Bjornsen Make It Two Americans in the Top 15 of the Women’s 30km Cross-Country World Cup Race in Oslo

March 9, 2014 Jon Green Leave a comment

Previous Oslo – FIS Cross-Country Skiing World Cup Coverage

The cross-country women took their turn at the longest distance they’ll cover all year on Sunday. The mass start women’s 30km classic had seven US women in the field and they had a strong showing. Kikkan Randall led the way in 12th 4:17.7 behind the winner while Sadie Bjornsen was 14th, 4:27.8 behind. There were two more Americans in 32nd and 35th (Elizabeth Stephen and Sophie Caldwell) while Caitlin Gregg made if five of the top 40 from the US with a 39th place finish.

Only one weekend is left in the 2013-14 Cross-Country World Cup season. The World Cup Finals will be held next week in Falun, Sweden starting on Friday the 14th and continuing through Sunday. Friday will have sprint events, Saturday will have skiathlons, and Sunday will have pursuit events.

ATP Tour, Tennis, WTA Tour

Sloane Stephens Bright Spot in Rough Day for Americans at BNP Paribas Open

March 9, 2014 Jon Green Leave a comment

Previous BNP Paribas Open Coverage

Things did not go great for the US at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday. US players went 1-6 in singles and 1-3 in doubles (though one of those was a matchup of two American teams). The only singles player to advance was Sloane Stephens while Bob and Mike Bryan moved on in men’s doubles play. Of course it is worth noting that every player or team that lost was the lower ranked of the two sides in their matchup.

Women’s Singles

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#17 Sloane Stephens got her tournament off to a great start by winning set one 6-4 and then dominating set two to beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-4, 6-0. Stephens will have a tough matchup in the next round as she takes on #11 Ana Ivanovic. Beyond that looks like a winnable round of 16 matchup so it’s likely that the winner of the Stephens–Ivanovic matchup will be a quarterfinalist.

The other American who looked good on Saturday was 17-year-old Taylor Townsend. Townsend couldn’t get the exciting upset over #20 Flavia Pennetta but did take the second set 7-6 (4) in between losing sets one and three 3-6, certainly a good performance.

Sunday sees the all-American third round matchup between Lauren Davis and Varvara Lepchenko. Davis is riding high off her upset of #3 Victoria Azarenka and a round of 16 here would be great for her.

Women’s Doubles

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The US women’s doubles teams are done after the last Americans left, Raquel Kops-Jones/Abigail Spears, lost 3-6, 4-6 to #5 Cara Black/Sania Mirza on Saturday.

Men’s Singles

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The US didn’t get a men’s singles winner on Saturday but Sam Querrey did get to a third set against #29 Andreas Seppi but lost 6-4, 6-7 (3), 3-6. He had a chance in the second set but just couldn’t get over the hump. Ryan Harrison also had a chance on Saturday after winning set one 7-5 against #13 Fabio Fognini but he fell in three sets 7-5, 1-6, 4-6.

#12 John Isner is the final American left in the men’s singles draw. He takes on Nikolay Davydenko in the second round on Sunday. Isner who would be the higher ranked player in the next round no matter who he plays so anything less than the round of 16 will be a disappointment here.

Men’s Doubles

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Two American teams were eliminated on Saturday but both against strong competition. Eric Butorac/Raven Klaasen (South Africa) lost 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-10 to #2 Alexander Peya/Bruno Soares while Scott Lipsky/Florian Mayer (Germany) lost 1-6, 3-6 to #1 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan. The only other American team left is John Isner/Sam Querrey and they will face Jeremy Chardy/Gilles Simon in the first round on Sunday.

Broadcasting Information:

Tennis Channel will be broadcasting the tournament from 2 PM – 2 AM ET while ESPN3.com has streams of the play at three stadiums that will include the Isner matches.

Schedule:

Men’s Second Round
- Approx. 4 PM ET – #12 John Isner vs. Nikolay Davydenko – Stadium 2 – ESPN3.com – Davydenko leads 3-2 all-time
Women’s Third Round
- Approx. 6 PM ET – Lauren Davis vs. Varvara Lepchenko – Lepchenko leads 1-0 all-time
Men’s Doubles First Round
- Approx. 12 AM ET – John Isner/Sam Querrey vs. Jeremy Chardy/Gilles Simon – Stadium 2 – ESPN3.com – First Ever Meeting

Track and Field, World Championships

Francena McCorory, Ashton Eaton, and Nia Ali Win Golds on Second Day of 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships

March 9, 2014 Jon Green Leave a comment

Previous 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships Coverage

The US won five medals on Saturday and three of them were gold. Two of them came on the track with Francena McCorory in the women’s 400m and Nia Ali in the women’s 60m hurdles while the other was from Ashton Eaton’s dominating win in the heptathlon. Eaton couldn’t set the world record settling for the second best all time behind the last time he competed in the heptathlon.

Men’s High Jump

The qualification round for the men’s high jump was held on Saturday. Dusty Jonas was looking good until he hit 2.25m and couldn’t clear it in three attempts. Erik Kynard got over the 2.25 and 2.28m. 2.28m was the top distance cleared by all the top six and since they’d all qualified already the qualifying round stopped there. The final on Sunday should be interesting to see who at the top can keep going the farthest.

Women’s 400m

The US was strong on Saturday in the women’s 400m as Francena McCorory took home the gold for the US winning by 0.42 seconds. Her teammate Joanna Atkins finished 6th, a half second out of the medals.

Women’s Shot Put

The US qualified both of their athletes into the final of the women’s shot put. Michelle Carter moved into the final by clearing the automatic qualifying distance of 18.70m on her first throw, an 18.79m throw. Jeneva McCall needed to qualify on spot and finished eighth with an 18.20m throw to reach the final. Carter did improve her score in the final with a 19.10m on her second throw but would up fifth, 0.14m behind the third place finisher. McCall wasn’t able to throw as long and finished eighth with an 18.05m throw.

Womens Shot Put - Final

Continue reading Francena McCorory, Ashton Eaton, and Nia Ali Win Golds on Second Day of 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships →

Soccer

USA U-18 Women’s Soccer Starts Off With 3-3 Draw Against Sweden in Ten Nations Tournament

March 8, 2014 Jon Green Leave a comment

We don’t have a ton of details on the first match from the Ten Nations Tournament for the US but we can report that it was a wild one. According to Women’s Soccer United the Swedes got out to a 3-0 lead after scoring two goals in the first 15+ minutes of the second half. The US then mounted a furious rally scoring five minutes after Sweden’s third and then 11 minutes later to make it 3-2. They tied things up with a goal four minutes from the end and things wound up 3-3. Rebecca Rasmussen, Kayla Cappuzzo, & Imani Dorsey score the goals (though I can’t guarantee they were in that order).

The US was one of six teams to draw their opening match so the standings are pretty clogged with teams at 1 point. Only two teams won on the first day and they just happen to be the two remaining US opponents, Denmark and France. So if the US wins their next two there is no way they won’t finish in a tie for first on points. It’d just be a question of if anyone else can win their final two games and what the goal differentials might end up being.

The USA takes on Norway on Monday morning at 10 AM ET. WeSupportTheUS.com will have a report on that one sometime after it’s ended and I’ve got enough data on what happened.

Schedule:

March 8th
- USA 3-3 Sweden
- Netherlands 2-2 Scotland
- England 1-1 Ireland
- Italy 0-2 Norway
- Denmark 0-2 France
March 10th
- 6 AM ET – France vs. England
- 7 AM ET – Italy vs. Netherlands
- 9 AM ET – Scotland vs. Sweden
- 10 AM ET – USA vs. Norway
- 12 PM ET – Ireland vs. Denmark
March 12th
- 6 AM ET – USA vs. France
- 7 AM ET – Denmark vs. Scotland
- 9 AM ET – Netherlands vs. Norway
- 10 AM ET – Italy vs. England
- 12 PM ET – Ireland vs. Sweden

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, Ski Jumping

Jessica Jerome With Another Top 10 In Oslo Ski Jumping World Cup Event

March 8, 2014 Jon Green Leave a comment

Previous Oslo – FIS Ski Jumping World Cup Coverage

Oslo - Womens First Round

Jessica Jerome wasn’t able to replicate the top three finish from earlier this week in Rasnov but she didn’t fall too far down the standings either. Her first and second jumps were very similar with a slight increase of four points from the first to second jump. Jerome was 11th after her first jump but was ninth best on her second to finish 10th for the event. She was 13 points behind third in the final standings.

On the men’s side it was a better day for Anders Johnson though he still didn’t advance from the qualification round. Johnson came close in 43rd but was still about five points behind the score he needed with a 97.4. Alexander finished 52nd about 20 points behind the qualification score of the 40th place jumper.

The women will be back in action next week at Falun with two events (Saturday and Sunday). The men are off on the World Cup schedule until Thursday the 20th when they’ll have qualifying at the final stop of the year. In the meantime the FIS Ski Flying World Championships will be held starting Thursday the 13th and running until the 16th. No Americans competed at the last FIS Ski Flying World Championships in 2012 but that doesn’t mean they won’t this year, we’ll know later in the week.

Women’s 1000m

Men’s 500m

Men’s 1500m

Women’s Mass Start

Upcoming:

Wheelchair Curling

Alpine Skiing – Men’s Super-G

Cross-Country – Women’s 12km

Cross-Country – Men’s 15km

Ice Sledge Hockey

Upcoming:

Broadcast Information:

Schedule:

Women’s Singles

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Women’s Doubles

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Men’s Singles

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Men’s Doubles

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Broadcasting Information:

Schedule:

Men’s High Jump

Women’s 400m

Women’s Shot Put

Schedule:

Covering America's Athletes