HIGHLIGHTS: Two world records in ISL semi one; Claire Curzan is the latest U.S. butterfly star; China sweeps ITTF World Cups

Headline results of noteworthy competitions around the world:

Football ● The U.S. Men’s National Team will face Panama on Monday (16th) in a friendly in the unusual venue of Wiener Neustadt, Austria. The game will start at 2:45 p.m. Eastern time and will be shown on FS1, TUDN and UniMas in the U.S.

The U.S. Women’s National Team will return to action on 27 November in a re-match of the 2019 Women’s World Cup final against The Netherlands. This time, the game will be held in Breda (NED) at the Rat Verlegh Stadion. Start time is 12:35 p.m. Eastern time, televised by ESPN2 and TUDN.

It will be the first for the U.S. women in 261 days; the Americans last played on 11 March with a 3-1 win over Japan to take the SheBelieves Cup. The U.S. is 8-0-0 in 2020 and 10-0-0 under coach Vlatko Andonovski.

Swimming ● The unique, multi-site U.S. Open produced several noteworthy performances, despite being held across nine different cities from 12-14 November:

Men/100 m Fly: Guatemala’s Luis Martinez, swimming in Huntsville, Alabama, won in 51.50, which places him no. 4 on the world list for 2020!

Men/200-400 m Medley: Chase Kalisz posted the fastest 200 Medley time of 1:59.72 in Greensboro, ahead of Carson Foster (San Antonio: 1:59.82) and Ryan Lochte (Sarasota: 2:01.05). Foster came back to post the fastest time in the 400 m Medley in 4:16.51.

Women/100-200 m Back: Current and former world-record holders were both present as former record-setter Kathleen Baker (59.82) posted the best 100 m time in Indianapolis, ahead of current record-holder Regan Smith (now 18: 59.95) and Phoebe Bacon (1:00.18) – both in Des Moines – with Claire Curzan fourth (1:00.30).

Bacon came back in the 200 m, clocking 2:09.16 – no. 6 on the world list for 2020 – over Katharine Berkoff (Greensboro: 2:10.12), Baker (2:11.38) and Smith (2:11.74).

Women/100 m Fly: Swimming in Greensboro, 16-year-old Curzan moved to no. 2 in the 2020 world rankings – and equal-12th all-time and no. 3 on the all-time U.S. list – with a win in 56.61. It’s a U.S. age 15-16 record; remember that name for next year’s Olympic Trials.

The ISL semifinals are underway, with the first semi completed on Sunday morning and the first half of the second semi also held on Sunday, all in the short-course pool at the Duna Arena in Budapest (HUN).

The first semi produced two world short-course records (!), with Dutch backstroker Kira Toussaint winning the 50 m in 25.60, clipping 0.07 off the 2014 mark of Etiene Medeiros (BRA). On Sunday, British breaststroke superstar Adam Peaty finished the 100 m in 55.49, shaving 0.12 from Cameron van der Burgh (RSA)’s mark from 2009.

Defending champion Energy Standard won the team chase, piling up 580.0 points to 517.5 for the London Roar; the Tokyo Frog Kings (380.5) and New York Breakers (239.0) were eliminated. Nine swimmers won two or more individual events:

● Chad le Clos (RSA): Men’s 50 m Free, 100-200 m Fly
● Duncan Scott (GBR): Men’s 200 m Free, 200 m Medley
● Adam Peaty (GBR): Men’s 50-100 m (world record) Breast, 50 m Breast Skins
● Florent Manaudou (FRA): Men’s 50-100 m Free
● Guilherme Guido (BRA): Men’s 50-100 m Back

● Sarah Sjostrom (SWE): Women’s 50 m Free, 100 m Fly, 50 m Fly Skins
● Kira Toussaint (NED): Women’s 50 m (world record)-100 m Back
● Siobhan Haughey (HKG): Women’s 100-200 m Free
● Yui Ohashi (JPN): Women’s 200-400 m Medley

In Sunday’s first day of semi two, sprint superstar Caeleb Dressel of the U.S. scared the 50 m Free world record, winning in 20.28, against his 2019 mark of 20.24. The team race is tight, with the Cali Condors leading L.A. Current, 282-255, with Iron (Hungary) third at 173 and the Toronto Titans at 171. Two men won two events on the first day:

● Caeleb Dressel (USA): Men’s 50 m Free, 100 m Fly
● Ryan Murphy (USA): Men’s 50-200 m Back

In the hotly-contested women’s breaststroke races, American Molly Hannis scored her second straight win over Lilly King (USA) in the 50 m Breast, but King won the 200 m Breast and the two are likely to face off in the Skins races on Monday.

The second semi will conclude tomorrow; the final is scheduled for 21-22 November.

Table Tennis ● Although the ITTF World Tour has been imploded by the coronavirus, the men’s and women’s World Cup tournaments were played, both in China, the first major tournament in eight months.

In the women’s World Cup from 8-10 November, it was an all-China final with no. 1-ranked Meng Chen defeating Yinsha Sun, 4-1. Chen edged Ying Han (GER), 4-3, in her semi, while Sun skipped past Mima Ito (JPN), 4-2.

It was Chen’s 19th ITTF tournament win.

The men’s World Cup (13-15 November) produced another all-China final with veteran star Zhendong Fan winning his fourth World Cup title with a 4-3 struggle over Rio Olympic Champion Long Ma.

Fan crushed Korea’s Woojin Jang, 4-0, in his semi while Ma survived a 4-3 final over Tomokazu Harimoto (JPN).

The no. 1-ranked Fan won his third consecutive World Cup and with four total titles, equaled the most ever in the event with countryman Lin Ma.

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For our 526-event International Sports Calendar from October 2020 to June 2021, by date and by sport, click here!