Home Blog Page 53

VOLLEYBALL: U.S. men head to Tokyo after sweep of Olympic qualifying pool in Rotterdam

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. hitter Aaron Russell hitting over the block vs. Korea (Photo: FIVB)

The United States men’s volleyball team is going to be a contender for an Olympic medal in Tokyo, so it took care of its qualifying duties with a flourish, sweeping three matches at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam (NED) to confirm its place in Tokyo.

Winners of the bronze medal in Rio, the bronze medal at the 2018 World Championship and runner-up in the 2019 Nations League, John Speraw’s U.S. team went to Rotterdam as the favorites and disposed of all three of its opponents quickly:

● 09 August: U.S. d. Belgium, 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 17-25, 25-18)
● 10 August: U.S. d. South Korea, 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-16)
● 11 August: U.S. d. Netherlands, 3-1 (25-18, 25-20, 17-25, 25-21)

Hitter Aaron Russell led the U.S. with 19 points against Belgium and 11 vs. Korea. Matt Anderson led the scoring vs. the Dutch with 18, and Russell had 17.

Now it can concentrate on Tokyo. The U.S. was one of six teams that qualified for 2020 on Sunday, with Brazil, Italy, Poland, Russia and Argentina joining the party. Russia was the only winner to sweep all three matches, with Poland winning nine of 10 sets and Brazil, the U.S. and Italy winning nine of 11. Brazil struggled mightily in its final match vs. Bulgaria (which was 2-0 coming in) and had to come from down 0-2 – winning set three by 32-30! – to finally win in five sets, 15-11.

Along with host Japan, seven of the 12 teams are now determined; there will be regional qualifying tournaments in early 2020 to fill in the remainder of the field. Summary:

FIVB Olympic Qualification Pools
Six locations ~ 9-11 August 2019
(Full results here)

● Pool A ~ at Varna (BUL):
● 1. Brazil (3-0); 2. Bulgaria (2-1); 3. Egypt (1-2); 4. Puerto Rico (0-3)

● Pool B ~ at Rotterdam (NED):
● 1. United States (3-0); 2. Netherlands (2-1); 3. Belgium (1-2): 4. South Korea (0-3)

● Pool C ~ at Bari (ITA)
● 1. Italy (3-0); 2. Serbia (2-1); 3. Australia (1-2); 4. Cameroon (0-3)

● Pool D ~ at Gdansk/Sopot (POL):
● 1. Poland (3-0); 2. France (2-1); 3. Slovenia (1-2); 4. Tunisia (0-3).

● Pool E ~ at St. Petersburg (RUS):
● 1. Russia (3-0); 2. Iran (2-1); 3. Cuba (1-2); 4. Mexico (0-3).

● Pool F ~ at Ningbo (CHN):
● 1. Argentina (3-0); 2. Canada (1-2); 3. China (1-2); 4. Finland (0-3).

CYCLING: Van der Poel wins third Mountain Bike World Cup, Rissveds wins first in three years in Lenzerheide

By
Rich Perelman
-
Back on top: Olympic Mountain Bike champ Jenny Rissveds (SWE)

The penultimate stop on the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup tour in Lenzerheide (SUI) provided plenty of drama that will play out well into the future.

Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel won his third race – out of six held – and closed the gap with seasonal leader Nino Schurter to just 21 points with one race left … which he will not contest.

Sweden’s 2016 Olympic champ Jenny Rissveds left the sport entirely in 2018, then came back with a bronze medal in Val di Sole last week and won in Lenzerheide for her first World Cup win since 2016 … in Lenzerheide!

After winning her first World Cup medal in two years last week, Rissveds moved up to the front of the starting grid and crashed on the first lap, but got back into contention quickly. She had the lead by the second lap and was part of a front group that included Anne Terpstra (NED), Pauline Ferrand Prevot (FRA) and Swiss Jolanda Neff, the seasonal leader.

Neff was dropped with three laps to go and Rissveds rode away with the fastest final lap in the field to win by 1:21:09-1:21:34 over Terpstra. Neff faded to eighth and was passed by American Kate Courtney, vying with Neff for the seasonal title. When the dust cleared, the seasonal winner will be decided in two weeks in Snowshoe, West Virginia; the standings:

1. 1,625 Jolanda Neff (SUI)
2. 1,552 Kate Courtney (USA)
3. 1,225 Pauline Ferrand Prevot (FRA)
4. 1,210 Anne Terpstra (NED)
5. 992 Rebecca McConnell (AUS)

The men’s race was a slugfest between Van der Poel and Schurter. They rode together until van der Poel moved ahead smartly on the sixth lap and was never headed, winning by 1:17:50-1:18:15. That moved van der Poel into position to win the seasonal title in the finale:

1. 1,670 Nino Schurter (SUI)
2. 1,649 Mathieu van der Poel (NED)
3. 1,360 Henrique Avancini (BRA)
4. 1,348 Mathias Flueckiger (SUI)
5. 970 Gerhard Kirschbaumer (ITA)

However, van der Poel already decided to skip the finale in the U.S. in order to prepare for the UCI World Road Race Championships in Yorkshire (GBR) later in September. So the title will essentially be handed to Schurter, which will be his seventh World Cup win and third in a row.

In the Downhill events, France’s Amaury Pierron won his third race of the season, but teammate Loic Bruni will win the season’s title, his first, to go along with his three World Championships golds. Marine Cabirou (FRA) won the women’s race over Tracey Hannah (AUS) to close to within 150 points of the seasonal lead and they will fight it out in the final race of the season. Standings:

● Men:
1. 1,312 Loic Bruni (FRA)
2. 1,222 Amaury Pierron (FRA)
3. 1,094 Troy Brosnan (AUS)

● Women:
1. 1,460 Tracey Hannah (AUS)
2. 1,310 Marine Cabirou (FRA)
3. 819 Nina Hoffmann (GER)

The season finale in Snowshoe will be on 7-8 September. Summaries from Lenzerheide:

UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
Lenzerheide (SUI) ~ 9-11 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Cross Country Short (10.4 km): 1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED), 20:07; 2. Henrique Avancini (BRA), 20:08; 3. Nino Schurter (SUI), 20:12: 4. Maxime Marotte (FRA), 20:15; 5. Luca Braidot (ITA), 20:16.

Cross Country Olympic (29.0 km): 1. Van der Poel (NED), 1:17:50; 2. Schurter (NED), 1:18:15; 3. Mathias Flueckiger (SUI), 1:19:03; 4. Victor Koretzky (FRA), 1:1:34; 5. Gerhard Kerschbaumer (ITA), 1:19:34.

Downhill (1.847 km): 1. Amaury Pierron (FRA), 2:49.422; 2. Greg Minaar (RSA), 2:50.373; 3. Loic Bruni (FRA), 2:50.822; 4. Troy Brosnan (AUS), 2:51.582; 5. Danny Hart (GBR), 2:52.644.

Women

Cross Country Short (9.4 km): 1. Pauline Ferrand Prevot (FRA), 21:38; 2. Jolanda Neff (SUI), 21:38; 3. Jenny Rissveds (SWE), 21:39; 4. Anne Tauber (NED), 21:40; 5. Chloe Woodruff (USA), 21:47. Also in the top 10: 9. Kate Courtney (USA), 22:04; 10. Lea Davison (USA), 22:06.

Cross Country Olympic (24.8 km): 1. Rissveds (SWE), 1:21:09; 2. Anne Terpstra (NED), 1:21:34; 3. Ferrand Prevot (FRA), 1:22:28; 4. Sina Frei (SUI), 1:23:12; 5. Catharine Prendel (CAN), 1:23:21. Also in the top 10: 7. Courtney (USA), 1:23:43; … 9. Woodruff (USA), 1:24:08.

Downhill (1.847 km): 1. Marine Cabirou (FRA), 3:34.304; 2. Tracey Hannah (AUS), 3:34.568; 3. Emilie Siegenthaler (SUI), 3:41.389; 4. Kate Weatherly (NZL), 3:41.782; 5. Camille Balanche (SUI), 3:41.953.

PAN AMERICAN GAMES: U.S. overcomes Canada for Softball gold, dominates wrestling, fencing and swimming

By
Rich Perelman
-
He did it again: a sixth World Championships gold for American wrestling icon Jordan Burroughs! (Photo: Lima 2019)

Most of the competitions at the 2019 Pan American Games wrapped up on Saturday and the U.S. was in the thick of the action once again, with plenty of twists and turns, starting with softball.

The U.S. team is the best in the world and cruised through the round-robin games with a perfect 5-0 record, outscoring its opponents by 37-1.

In the playoffs, the U.S. (5-0) met Canada (4-1) in the semifinal, with the loser to face the winner of the Puerto Rico-Mexico game and qualify for the final. Only this time, the Canadians broke open a 1-1 game in the fourth inning with two runs off Cat Osterman for a 3-1 lead and Eujenna Caira and Danielle Lawrie managed to hold the U.S. to a Haylie McCleney solo home run in the seventh for a stunning 3-2 win.

That sent Canada to the final and the U.S. to face Puerto Rico in the play-in game. Monica Abbott pitched a one-hitter – a Jena Cozza home run in the second inning – and the U.S. advanced to its third game against Canada with a 3-1 win.

So in the final, would it be Abbott or Osterman? It was Abbott and she pitched a complete game, giving up four hits for her fourth win in the Games without a loss in a 3-1 U.S. victory. Lawrie took the loss, giving up two runs in the sixth inning, as right fielder Michelle Moultrie was the hero at the plate. She opened the scoring with a home run in the second and drove in a run in the sixth with a single. The U.S. won the Pan Am gold for the first time since 2011.

Three more powerful U.S. teams showed well on Saturday:

● In wrestling, American Freestylers won three of four divisions, with Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Snyder and Nick Gwiazdowski all taking gold medals.

Burroughs won his third straight Pan American Games gold medal impressively, winning his three bouts by 10-0, 15-4 and then 4-1 in the final over Franklin Gomez of Puerto Rico. Snyder won his second straight Pan American Games title at 97 kg, with a 10-0 win over Evan Ramos (PUR), a tense 3-1 win over defending champion Reineris Salas of Cuba and then 9-3 over Jose Diaz Roberti (VEN).

At 125 kg, Gwiazdowski continued his world-class wrestling with his first Pan American Games gold medal. He won all three of his bouts by technical fall, defeating Andrew Gunning (PER), Korey Jarvis (CAN) and Oscar Pino Hinds (CUB) by 10-0 scores.

The U.S. men ended their competition with four golds in six divisions plus two bronzes, to add to the women’s five medals in six events and three Greco-Roman medals in six classes: very impressive.

● In fencing, the American teams dominated the men’s Sabre and women’s Epee classes. The Sabre squad of Eli Dershwitz, Daryl Homer and Jeff Spear defeated Colombia., 45-41 in the final, while the women’s Epee trio of Katharine Holmes, Catherine Nixon and Isis Washington clubbed Cuba, 45-29, in their final.

The U.S. won all six events in the women’s competition and four of six in the men’s.

● In water polo, the U.S. won both the men’s and women’s golds, both times over Canada, with Brazil third.

The men sailed through pool play with a 3-0 record and 58-18 goal differential, and then stormed past Peru (24-2), Argentina (17-1) and Canada in the final by 18-6. Johnathan Cooper had 24 goals to lead the U.S.

The women won their group at 3-0 (66-10 in goals) and then pounded Peru (21-3), Cuba (31-7) and Canada in the final by 24-4. All together, the women scored 142 goals to 24 by its opponents. Stephanie Haralabidis and Makenzie Fischer led the U.S. – and the tournament – in scoring at 22 and 21, respectively.

Then there was the conclusion of the swimming events, with the U.S. continuing its domination, winning four of the six events. Alex Walsh and Meghan Small went 1-2 in the women’s 200 m Medley, 2:11.24-2:11.36 and then Will Licon won his second Pan Am gold in the men’s 200 Medley, drawing clear on the Freestyle leg to win in 1:59.13.

In the 4×100 m Medley relays, the U.S. got a stunning start in the women’s event from 100 m Backstroke gold medalist Phoebe Bacon. She won her individual event in 59.47, but led off in a sensational 59.02, moving her to no. 7 on the world list for 2019! With that kind of a lead to start, the rest of the American quartet of Annie Lazor, Kendyl Stewart and Margo Geer swam to an easy win in 3:57.84.

The men’s event figured to be much closer, and it was. Brazil’s Guilherme Guido out-swam Backstroke gold medalist Daniel Carr of the U.S. 53.70-53.95 to open, but Nic Fink and Tom Shields were brilliant in the middle strokes and gave Nathan Adrian a 77/100ths lead over 100 Free gold medalist Marcelo Chierighini. That was enough for Adrian, who split 47.33 and brought the U.S. in with a Pan American Games record of 3:30.25.

All together (and including the open-water events), the U.S. won 45 medals in Lima (21-15-9), to 21 for Brazil (11-9-12) and 15 for Canada (1-8-6). This amazing performance by the U.S. included 21 wins in the 36 events in the pool.

With only a few events remaining, the U.S. has 281 total medals, with 113 golds, 87 silvers and 81 bronzes. Brazil is second with 164 (54-42-68) and Canada is third (148: 33-64-51).

A review of the track & field events held earlier in the day is here. You can find the complete results of the Games here.

GYMNASTICS: Mikulak cruises to sixth national title while Moldauer and Modi only pass Wiskus in final event

By
Rich Perelman
-
Break-through star Shane Wiskus of Minnesota (Photo: GopherSports.com)

There wasn’t much doubt that unless he was injured, Sam Mikulak was going to win his sixth U.S. national All-Around title at the USA Gymnastics National Championships at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. But there was plenty of drama during the evening.

The drama had nothing to do with Mikulak, who gave solid performances on all six apparatus and compiled a second-day score of 87.400, better than his Thursday total of 86.750. His total of 174.150 gave him two consecutive championships and six total, tying him with Makoto Sakamoto, who won six All-Around titles between 1963-70 for second all-time. The all-time leader in national titles is Alfred Jochim, who won seven between 1925-33.

Now to the excitement. Shane Wiskus, who just completed his sophomore season at the University of Minnesota, tied for third on Thursday, but then compiled strong scores on Floor (14.300), Vault (14.350) and Parallel Bars (14.850) – plus an amazing, one-handed save on High Bar (13.150) – to stand in second place with 167.600 points with former national champ Yul Moldauer and veteran Akash Modi needing good scores to pass him.

Modi’s Vault was excellent, earning 14.500 to move ahead of Wiskus and into second place, with Moldauer getting ready on floor. The Oklahoma star got his best score of the night – 14.700 – to finish second for the second straight year, finishing at 168.600 to 168.250 for Modi and 167.600 for Wiskus.

Wiskus was 2.700 points better than Trevor Howard in fourth and is suddenly a candidate for the 2019 World Championships team. The team will be selected after a September training camp, but Wiskus is a welcome addition to a team that wants to contend desperately for an Olympic team medal in Tokyo.

On Saturday, Mikulak won the Horizontal Bar and Parallel Bars and tied with Moldauer for the Pommel Horse honors. Modi won the Vault and Trevor Howard had the top score on Rings.

The women will compete tomorrow to complete the Nationals; NBC will have coverage at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Summaries so far:

USA Gymnastics National Championships
Kansas City, Missouri (USA) ~ 8-11 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

All-Around I: 1. Sam Mikulak, 86.750; 2. Yul Moldauer, 84.000; 3. tie, Shane Wiskus and Akash Modi, 83.950; 5. Trevor Howard, 82.250; 6. Riley Loos, 81.150; 7. Donnell Wittenburg, 81.100; 8. Matt Wenske, 80.950.

Event leaders:
● Floor: 1. Mikulak, 14.650; 2. Loos, 14.350; 3. Moldauer, 14.300.
● Pommel Horse: 1. Stephen Nedoroscik, 14.950; 2. Mikulak, 14,750; 3. Michael Paradise, 14.550.
● Rings: 1. Alex Diab, 14.600; 2. Howard, 14,550; 3. Whittenburg, 14.500.
● Vault: 1. Wiskus, 14.500; 2. tie, Kiwan Watts and Tim Wang, 14.400.
● Parallel Bars: 1. Mikulak, 15.350; 2. Moldauer, 14.800; 3. tie, Wiskus & Modi, 14.500.
● Horizontal Bars: 1. Mikulak, 14.200; 2. Modi, 13.700; 3. Paul Juda, 13.600.

All-Around II: 1. Sam Mikulak, 87.400; 2. Moldauer, 84.600; 3. Modi 84.300; 4. Wiskus, 83.650; 5. Allan Bower, 83.000; 6. Howard, 82.650; 7. Sean Melton, 81.950; 8. Levi Anderson, 81.550.

Event leaders:
● Floor: 1. Moldauer, 14.700; 2. Mikulak, 14.650; 3. Gage Dyer, 14.500.
● Pommel Horse: 1. Mikulak and Moldauer, 14.400; 3. Bower, 14.350.
● Rings: 1. Howard, 14.700; 2. Whittenburg, 14.600; 3. Mikulak, 14.250.
● Vault: 1. Modi, 14.500; 2. Moldauer, 14.400; 3. Wiskus, 14.350.
● Parallel Bars: 1. Mikulak, 15.300; 2. Wiskus, 14.850; 3. Moldauer, 14.600.
● Horizontal Bars: 1. Mikulak, 14.500; 2. Modi and Melton, 13.650.

Final Standings: 1. Mikulak, 174.150; 2. Moldauer, 168.600; 3. Modi, 168.250; 4. Wiskus, 167.600; 5. Howard, 164.900; 6. Bower, 163.650; 7. Whittenburg, 163.100; 8. Melton, 162.750.

Women

All-Around I: 1. Simone Biles, 58.650; 2. Suni Lee, 56.900; 3. Jade Carey, 56.100; 4. Riley McCusker, 55.700; 5. tie, Leanne Wong and Trinity Thomas, 55.400; 7. Jordan Chiles, 55.350; 8. Morgan Hurd, 55.050.

Event leaders:
● Vault: 1. Biles, 15.300; 2. Jade Carey, 15.000; 3. Jordan Chiles, 14.750.
● Uneven Bars: 1. Lee, 14.750; 2. Hurd, 14.400; 3. Thomas, 14.200.
● Beam: 1. Biles, 14.950; 2. McCusker, 14.500; 3. Lee, 14.350.
● Floor: 1. Biles, 14.350; 2. Carey, 14.300; 3. Lee, 13.950.

PAN AMERICAN GAMES/Athletics: Four wins for U.S., including come-from-behind relay win for Courtney Okolo

By
Rich Perelman
-
Courtney Okolo bringing the U.S. from third to first on the anchor of the women's 4x400 m relay in Lima (Photo: Lima 2019)

The final day of action in the track & field stadium at the 2019 Pan American Games was a good one for the United States, which despite not bringing anything close to its best team, nearly doubled up the medals on the second-place Jamaicans.

Because of the timing of these Games – considered far less important than the IAAF World Championships coming at the end of September – the U.S. was never likely to field a deep, high-quality team, and USA Track & Field’s internal errors made a shambles of the selection process, ultimately decided by an arbitrator.

Will the situation get better for 2023, when the Games will go to Santiago in Chile? Nope; that event will be held in late October and early November and the U.S. teams in almost all sports will be worse. But in Lima on Saturday, the American squad won four events on the final day on the track and infield.

The U.S. started the day well, with a 1-2 sweep of the women’s hammer, with Brooke Andersen taking and holding the lead in the first round at 71.07 m (233-2). But Gwen Berry, wearing florescent blue lipstick, unloaded in the fifth round at 74.62 (244-10) and ended the issue, with her fourth-best meet of the year.

The men’s triple jump was a showdown between American veteran Omar Craddock and Cuban Jordan Diaz, 18, the World Youth and World Junior Champion over the last two years. Diaz took over the event in the fourth round, reaching 17.38 m (57-0 1/4) and pushing Craddock down to second. Under pressure, Craddock responded with 17.42 m (57-2) in the fifth round and Diaz could not match him.

The men’s vault was tricky due to a crosswind, but NCAA champ Chris Nilsen of the U.S. cleared his first four attempts, then slammed the bar at 5.76 m (18-10 3/4), but it stayed on. Augusto Dutra (BRA) managed 5.71 m (18-8 3/4) for second and American Clayton Fritsch (5.61 m/18-4 3/4) took the bronze.

The running events started with a wild final in the men’s 110 m hurdles. Crashes in the middle of the race eliminated Brazil’s Gabriel Constantin and American Jarret Eaton, but in lanes 6-7-8, Freddie Crittenden of the U.S. had a slight lead over Shane Brathwaite (BAR) and Eduardo Rodriguez (BRA), but Brathwaite was best on the run-in and won by 0.01 in 13.31 over Crittenden (13.32). Two more athletes pushed the hurdles down so the race had only four official finishers!

The men’s 800 m was a showcase for Canada’s Marco Arop, the SEC runner-up for Mississippi State, who inserted himself into the World Championships medal conversation with a brilliant stretch run and win in 1:44.25. Puerto Rico’s Wesley Sanchez made the race with a speedy 49.74 opening lap and he held on for second in 1:44.48 with Ryan Sanchez (PUR) third in 1:45.19. American Bryce Hoppel couldn’t move with the top three around the final 200 m and ended up fourth in 1:47.48.

Arop’s Mississippi State teammate Anderson Peters (GRN) unloaded a lifetime best of 87.31 m (286-5) in the first round and shocked the field, notably including 2012 Olympic champ Keshorn Walcott (TTO), who finished second at 83.55 m (274-1).

The Steeplechase races were studies in perseverance. Canada’s Genevieve Lalonde had the lead and kept it over American Marisa Howard over the last two laps, winning in a Games record of 9:41.45 to Howard’s 9:43.78. The men’s race saw Brazil’s Altobelli Santos hold the lead … and hold it … and hold it … and when the hard running started, no one could pass him. Gritting his teeth down the final straight, he won in a season’s best of 8:30.73; behind him, Carlos Sanmartin (COL) and Peru’s Mario Bazan sprinted of the last hurdle to pass American Benard Keter for the silver and bronze medals: 8:32.24-8:32.24-8:32.76.

The concluding relays were both come-from-behind affairs. The women’s 4x400m started with Lynna Irby of the U.S. well behind, but brilliant middle legs by Jade Stepter and Anna Cockrell got the U.S. into contention and then anchor Courtney Okolo took it from there. She started third, but made up the difference on Canada’s Sage Watson and Jamaica’s Roniesha McGregor coming into the home straight. Okolo had a lot more left and breezed to a half-second win with a 51.15 final leg.

The men’s 4×400 m was just as crazy, with the U.S. well behind after two legs, but a brilliant third leg by Justin Robinson brought the U.S. into the lead at the last pass. Machel Cedeno of Trinidad & Tobago took the lead over Wil London on the backstraight, but London was waiting with a burst onto the straightaway and looked like a possible winner. But Colombia’s 400 m winner Anthony Zambrano had a lot more left and whizzed by London, celebrating with 20 m left and won, 3:01.41-3:01.72.

With just the 50 km walking events left, the U.S. has grabbed 33 medals (7-14-12) in track & field to lead all countries, followed by Jamaica with 17 (6-5-6) and Brazil (16: 6-6-4). You can find the complete results here.

SWIMMING: Hosszu takes fourth win, Larkin and Campbell win thirds to close Jinan World Cup

By
Rich Perelman
-
Australian sprint ace Cate Campbell

The rich got richer on the final day of the Jinan World Cup in China, as four star emerged as contenders for the big payday coming at the end of next week’s Singapore stage.

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu won her fourth event of the meet by taking the 400 m Medley by more than eight seconds from countrywoman Szuszsanna Jakabos and won more individual events than anyone else.

However, Australia’s Cate Campbell’s brilliant sprinting became the highlight of the meet as she won the 100 m Freestyle on Sunday for her third win and at 52.34, was the best performance according to the FINA points table. Campbell has done 52.12 for the 100 Free this year, but her winning time in Jinan was bettered this season only by American Simone Manuel and Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom (and herself).

Because of this, and the bonus points awarded for having the mark with the high point total, Campbell took over the lead in the women’s standings:

1. 105 Cate Campbell (AUS)
2. 102 Katinka Hosszu (HUN)
3. 63 Emily Seebohm (AUS)

The payoff for winning the three-meet cluster ending in Singapore is $50,000 to the winner, $35,000 for second and on down to $3,000 for eighth. So the competition next week will be fierce.

In the men’s division, Russia’s Vladimir Morozov already had his third win bagged on Friday, but Australian Mitch Larkin got his third win in the 100 m Backstroke. American Andrew Wilson suddenly moved into contention for cluster prize money with his 200 m Breaststroke win in 2:08.24, the top men’s performance in the meet. Combined with his second-place finishes in the other two Breast events, he’s in second place:

1. 96 Vladimir Morozov (RUS)
2. 87 Andrew Wilson (USA)
3. 72 Mitch Larkin (AUS)

Three other men won two events each: Danas Rapsys (LTU) in the 200-400 m Frees; Zibei Yan (CHN) in the 50-100 m Breast events, and Szebasztian Szabo (HUN) in the 50-100 m Flys.

In the women’s division, American Erica Sullivan won the 400-800 m Frees and Alia Atkinson (JAM) won the 50-100 Breaststrokes.

Russia’s Vitalina Simonova completed all 14 events she entered for the second week in a row. Against much less competition in Jinan, she made four finals and was sixth in the 800 m Free on Friday, her best single-day showing yet. And she won the 200 m Breast on Thursday!

Prize money of $1,500-1,000-500-400-300-200 was available in each individual event. Summaries:

FINA Swimming World Cup II
Jinan (CHN) ~ 8-10 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Freestyle: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.50; 2. Michael Andrew (USA), 22.16; 3. Hexin Yu (CHN), 22.31. Also: 5. Blake Pieroni (USA), 22.39.

100 m Free: 1. Morozov (RUS), 47.99; 2. Pieroni (USA), 48.15; 3. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN), 48.63.

200 m Free: Danas Rapsys (LTU), 1:45.07; 2. Xinjie Ji (CHN), 1:46.68; 3. Pieroni (USA), 1:47.90.

400 m Free: 1. Rapsys (LTU), 3:43.91; 2. Ji (CHN), 3:49.87; 3. Thomas Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 3:54.20. Also: 5. Brennan Gravely (USA), 3:59.13.

1,500 m Free: 1. Ji (CHN), 15:16.15; 2. Rui Meng (CHN), 15:17.85; 3. Gravely (USA), 15:22.96.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Morozov (RUS), 24.43; 2. Andrew (USA), 24.85; 3. Jiayu Xu (CHN), 25.25.

100 m Back: 1. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 53.79; 2. Tristan Hollard (AUS), 54.39; 3. Andrew (USA), 54.44.

200 m Back: 1. Larkin (AUS), 1:56.39; 2. Hollard (AUS), 1:57.94; 3. J. Xu (CHN), 1:59.59.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Zibei Yan (CHN), 27.12; 2. Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 27.18; 3. Andrew (USA), 27.45.

100 m Breast: 1. Z. Yan (CHN), 59.08; 2. tie, Lizhuo Wang (CHN) and Andrew Wilson (USA), 59.56.

200 m Breast: 1. A. Wilson (USA), 2:08.24; 2. Ruixuan Zhang (CHN), 2:10.68; 3. Andrius Sidlauskas (LTU), 2:11.65.

50 m Fly: 1. Szabo (HUN), 22.93; 2. Andrew (USA), 23.13; 3. Yauhen Tsurkin (BLR), 23.66.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Szabo (HUN), 51.45; 2. Grant Irvine (AUS), 51.60; 3. Santo Condorelli (ITA), 52.00. Also: 4. Andrew (USA), 52.08.

200 m Fly: 1. Irvine (AUS), 1:55.94; 2. Nic Brown (AUS), 1:57.32; 3. Wilrich Coetzee (NZL), 2:00.14.

200 m Medley: 1. Larkin (AUS), 1:57.26; 2. Haiyang Qin (CHN), 1:57.34; 3. Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 2:00.29.

400 m Medley: 1. Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 4:20.50; 2. Gravley (USA), 4:34.99; 3. Chen-Kai Chu (TPE), 4:38.75.

Women

50 m Freestyle: 1. Cate Campbell (AUS), 24.16; 2. Michelle Coleman (SWE), 24.74; 3. Holly Barratt (AUS), 24.91.

100 m Free: 1. C. Campbell (AUS), 52.34; 2. Coleman (SWE), 53.73; 3. Barratt (AUS), 54.78.

200 m Free: 1. Yawen Hou (CHN), 1:58,98; 2. Coleman (SWE), 1:59.07; 3. Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN), 1:59.28.

400 m Free: 1. Erica Sullivan (USA), 4:08.70; 2. Wenxin Bi (CHN), 4:10.23; 3. Jie Dong (CHN), 4:11.32.

800 m Free: 1. Sullivan (USA), 8:26.13; 2. Yawen Hou (CHN), 8:26.79; 3. Maddy Gough (AUS), 8:29.94.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Xiang Liu (CHN), 27.35; 2. Jie Chen (CHN), 27.88; 3. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 27.99.

100 m Back: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 59.65; 2. Seebohm (AUS), 59.76; 3. Jie Chen (CHN), 1:00.74.

200 m Back: 1. Seebohm (AUS), 2:09.56; 2. Yuru Jiang (CHN), 2:15.33; 3. Sullivan (USA), 2:6.36.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Alia Atkinson (JAM), 30.92; 2. Ran Suo (CHN), 31.24; 3. Jingyao Yu (CHN), 31.61.

100 m Breast: 1. Atkinson (JAM), 1:07.06; 2. Vitalina Simonova (RUS), 1:08.03; 3. Jingyao Yu (CHN), 1:08.07.

200 m Breast: 1. Simonova (RUS), 2:24.52; 2. Jingyao Yu (CHN), 2:27.51; 3. Yun He (CHN), 2:28.13.

50 m Butterfly: 1. C. Campbell (AUS), 25.63; 2. Barratt (AUS), 25.66; 3. Jeanette Ottesen (DEN), 25.86.

100 m Fly: 1. Yufei Zhang (CHN), 57.41; 2. Ottesen (DEN), 58.34; 3. Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN), 58.39.

200 m Fly: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.26; 2. Szuszsanna Jakabos (HUN), 2:07.75; 3. Yufei Zhang (CHN), 2:08.89.

200 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:09.41; 2. Jakabos (HUN), 2:13.32; 3. Seebohm (AUS), 2:17.39.

400 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 4:36.99; 2. Jakabos (HUN), 4:45.28; 3. Xin Liu (CHN), 4:49.72. Also: 4. Sullivan (USA), 4:51.26.

Mixed

4×100 m Free: 1. Australia (Larkin, Fraser-Holmes, Seebohm, C. Campbell), 3:26.61; 2. China, 3:30.90; 3. China Club, 3:37.16.

4×100 m Medley: 1. China (Xu, Yan, Zhang, Zhu), 3:43.79; 2. Australia, 3:51.02; 3. China Club, 4:02.24.

PAN AMERICAN GAMES: Nothing miraculous about U.S. women dominating wrestling, as well as two track & field golds

By
Rich Perelman
-
Pan American Games 68 kg Freestyle gold medalist Tamyra Mensah (USA). (Photo: Lima 2019)

Among the wrestling cognoscenti, the power of the United States women’s program is well known, but after four victories and a silver medal at the Pan American Games in Lima (PER), it’s becoming an open secret.

After wins by Whitney Conder (50 kg) and Sarah Hildebrandt (53 kg) on Thursday, the U.S. women collected two more golds on Friday in emphatic style:

● 62 kg: Kayla Miracle needed no divine help to win this class, winning her three matches by pinfall, pinfall and 12-0 in the final against Jackeline Renteria of Colombia in the final.

● 68 kg: Tamyra Mensah similarly pounded her opposition and collected another tournament victory this season. She won her matches by 12-0, pinfall and another pin in the final against Olivia di Bacco of Canada.
2
While four-time World Champion Adeline Gray withdrew from the 76 kg class, the American women won four golds and one silver in the remaining five divisions, from Jenna Burkert, who lost a tight, 2-1 decision to Ecuador’s Lissette Antes Castillo.

Hildebrant is ranked no. 1 in the world in the 53 kg class by United World Wrestling and Mensah is currently ranked second. These are good signs for the U.S. ahead of the 2019 World Championships in Kazakhstan beginning on 14 September. The U.S. men got their first Freestyle gold, from Daton Fix at 57 kg.

The U.S. also had a good day on the pistes, winning the men’s Team Foil event and the women’s Team Sabre. The American men had the advantage of having individual gold medalist Gerek Meinhardt and bronze medalist Race Imboden and defeated Brazil in the final, 45-23. The women’s Sabre gold was led by individual champ Eliza Stone and the Americans edged the Dominican Republic by 45-31 in the final. With two team events left, the U.S. has won three of the five men’s events and all five women’s divisions.

In the headline sports of track & field and swimming, the U.S. had pretty good days, with two gold medals in each:

● At the track, American women’s javelin record holder Kara Winger had one of her best series ever and bombed her second throw 64.92 m (213-0), a season’s best and moving her from 19th on the world list for 2019 to seventh. It’s her best throw in four years!

Nikki Hiltz waited patiently for her chance to sprint in the women’s 1,500 m and when she entered the final straightaway, she was ready with a powerful surge and a victory in 4:07.14, clear of Jamaica’s Aisha Praught (4:08.26). It’s the fifth time this season that Hiltz has run faster than her lifetime best coming into 2019 (4:09.14).

Jamaica’s women also had a good day, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce smoking the field in the 200 m in 22.43, eclipsing the Pan American Games record of Evelyn Ashford (22.45) that had stood for 40 years! In addition, shot winner Danniel Thomas-Dodd extended her own national record to 19.55 m (64-1 3/4) and maintained her status as no. 3 on the world list for this season.

Friday’s meet also produced a world-leading mark in the women’s triple jump, as Venezuela’s reigning World Champion Yulimar Rojas won with a lifetime best and national record of 15.11 m (49-7). Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts scored the silver with a lifetime best of her own at 14.77 m (48-5 1/2).

Brazil won both the men’s and women’s 4×100 m relays in 38.27 and 43.04, with the U.S. finishing third in both.

With one day to go, the U.S. has had an ordinary – even unimpressive – meet by its standards, but still leads the medal count with 24 (3-10-11), ahead of Jamaica (16: 6-5-5) and Brazil (13: 5-5-3).

● At the pool, Brazil had the best night, winning a tight men’s 50 m Freestyle with Bruno Fratus edging Nathan Adrian of the U.S., 21.61-21.87, a season’s best for Adrian. Etiene Medeiros won the women’s 50 m Free over American Margo Geer, 24.88-25.03.

The Brazilians also won the men’s 4×200 m relay in a meet record 7:10.66, ahead of the U.S. (7:14.82).

American swimmers got two wins on the night (and eight total medals) from the women’s 4×200 m Free relay and a very impressive performance from Charlie Swanson, 21, who moved from 56th on the world list for 2019 to no. 4 (!) with a 4:11.48 lifetime best that won the men’s 400 m Medley by almost eight seconds!

In women’s field hockey, world no. 3 Argentina confirmed its class with a 5-0 win over the no. 13-ranked U.S. in the semifinals and 5-1 over no. 18 Canada in the final. The Americans won the bronze over Chile, 5-0.

In judo, the iconic winner of the women’s 57 kg division in Rio, Brazil’s Rafaela Silva completed a set of Pan American Games medals with a victory over Ana Rosa (DOM). Silva won a silver medal in this division in 2011 and a bronze in 2015 and now has a gold as well.

In the overall medal standings, the U.S. now has 240 total medals (93-76-71), ahead of Brazil (142: 46-37-59) and Canada (131: 31-54-46). So far, 30 of the 41 nations entered in the Pan Am Games have won at least one medal.

The Games is being shown on ESPN channels in the United States, primarily on ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Deportes. Complete results can be found here; a compete summary of the medalists will be published in next week’s TSX Stat Pack!

GYMNASTICS: Biles wins All-Around I, but isn’t happy about it; Lee surprises in second.

By
Rich Perelman
-
Halfway to a sixth U.S. All-Around title: Simone Biles

“Tonight was pretty rough.”

That was Simone Biles’s summary of her night on the first of two All-Arounds at the USA Gymnastics National Championships at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri on Friday evening.

For Biles, a rough night was winning the four-event program, with 58.650 points, ahead of a surprise second-placer in Suni Lee (56.900) and a noteworthy performance from Jade Carey (56.100).

Biles had a major error on her opening tumbling run on Floor, trying a new combination that ended in a bobble and then a fall onto her hands. She still won on Floor (14.350), then had the top Vault score at 15.300, but had a second step on her landing on her first try. Biles had more problems on the Uneven Bars landing and was unsteady on the Beam before landing a new, unheard-of dismount that produced her only smile of the evening.

“Tomorrow will be better,” she told NBCSN’s Andrea Joyce afterwards. “I was so mad and disappointed on how I did; … I was very mad.”

She wasn’t the only one as many of the U.S. stars suffered through major errors. Riley McCusker lost a Pan American Games gold medal last week by falling off the Uneven Bars and she did so again, falling from a likely second to fourth overall. The 2017 World Champion, Morgan Hurd, had a couple of major errors on her Floor routine at the end of the night and ended up only eighth.

The good news from the evening came from excellent performances from Lee, in her first year in the senior division, and Carey. Lee won the bronze medal in the U.S. Junior All-Around in 2018, but hit her routines and ended up winning on the Beam (14.950) and scoring thirds on Beam (14.350) and floor (13.950).

Carey, who is trying to make the U.S. Olympic Team through the FIG World Cup apparatus qualifiers, posted the second-best scores – to Biles – in her specialties of Vault (15.000) and Floor (14.300). Even with 10th-place finishes on Bars and Beam, she finished third overall.

The men will compete on Saturday with the second All-Around; NBCSN will have it at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The women will be back for their second All-Around on Sunday. Summaries so far:

USA Gymnastics National Championships
Kansas City, Missouri (USA) ~ 8-11 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

All-Around I: 1. Sam Mikulak, 86.750; 2. Yul Moldauer, 84.000; 3. tie, Shane Wiskus and Akash Modi, 83.950; 5. Trevor Howard, 82.250; 6. Riley Loos, 81.150; 7. Donnell Wittenburg, 81.100; 8. Matt Wenske, 80.950.

Event leaders:
● Floor: 1. Mikulak, 14.650; 2. Loos, 14.350; 3. Moldauer, 14.300.
● Pommel Horse: 1. Stephen Nedoroscik, 14.950; 2. Mikulak, 14,750; 3. Michael Paradise, 14.550.
● Rings: 1. Alex Diab, 14.600; 2. Howard, 14,550; 3. Whittenburg, 14.500.
● Vault: 1. Wiskus, 14.500; 2. tie, Kiwan Watts and Tim Wang, 14.400.
● Parallel Bars: 1. Mikulak, 15.350; 2. Moldauer, 14.800; 3. tie, Wiskus & Modi, 14.500.
● Horizontal Bar: 1. Mikulak, 14.200; 2. Modi, 13.700; 3. Paul Juda, 13.600.

Women

All-Around I: 1. Simone Biles, 58.650; 2. Suni Lee, 56.900; 3. Jade Carey, 56.100; 4. Riley McCusker, 55.700; 5. tie, Leanne Wong and Trinity Thomas, 55.400; 7. Jordan Chiles, 55.350; 8. Morgan Hurd, 55.050.

Event leaders:
● Vault: 1. Biles, 15.300; 2. Jade Carey, 15.000; 3. Jordan Chiles, 14.750.
● Uneven Bars: 1. Lee, 14.750; 2. Hurd, 14.400; 3. Thomas, 14.200.
● Beam: 1. Biles, 14.950; 2. McCusker, 14.500; 4. Lee, 14.350.
● Floor: 1. Biles, 14.350; 2. Carey, 14.300; 3. Lee, 13.950.

CYCLING: Russia’s Sivakov logs first World Tour victory by two seconds in Tour de Pologne

By
Rich Perelman
-
Tour de Pologne champion Pavel Sivakov (RUS)

The 2019 edition of the Tour de Pologne will unfortunately be known forever as the year in which 22-year-old Bjorg Lambrecht of Belgium crashed during the third stage and died later in a hospital nearby.

He was having his best year ever, but after his death, the fourth stage was changed into a processional along a shortened route in his memory. But the racing continued in stage five and in the end, it was fitting that another 22-year-old, Russia’s Pavel Sivakov, became the overall champion with a strong finish in the final two stages.

With the first four stages (discounting the memorial stage) ending in sprint finishes won by Germany’s Pascal Ackermann (1st and 3rd) and Luka Mezgec (SLO: 2nd and 5th), the final two days finally included some climbing and the complexion of the event changed.

Another 22-year-old rider, Denmark’s Jonas Vengegaard won the sixth stage, leading the charge into the final, sharp climb up the Gubalowka with Sivakov and Australia’s Jai Hindley and then racing away on the descent to the finish in Zakopane. That gave Vengegaard the overall lead, but just four seconds over Siakov.

That set up the final stage on Friday, an undulating 153.3 km course that finished on an uphill climb to the Bukowina Resort. Slovenia’s Matej Mohoric made a powerful attack with 56 km to go and broke away from the field.

Polish star Rafal Majka attacked with 46 km to go and Sivakov went with him, but Vengegaard was dropped and with it, his chance for victory.With 35 km left, the group with Sivakov was 54 seconds behind Mohoric and although there were repeated attempts to catch the front-runner, none were successful and he won by 55 seconds.

Behind him, the lead group sprinted for the finish, with American Neilson Powless finishing second ahead of a strung-out series of challengers through seventh. With Vengegaard dropping back, the 18-man group that included Sivakov finished 2:15 behind, but it was enough for an overall win by two seconds over Hindley, with Diego Ulissi (ITA) 12 seconds back. Vengegaard faded to 26th overall. Summaries:

UCI World Tour/Tour de Pologne
Poland ~ 3-9 August 2019
(Full results here)

Final Standings: 1. Pavel Sivakov (RUS), 26:20.58; 2. Jai Hindley (AUS), +0:02; 3. Diego Ulissi (ITA), +0:12; 4. Sergio Higuita (COL), +0:14; 5. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBR), +0:14; 6. Pierre Latour (FRA), +0:15; 7. Davide Formolo (ITA), +0:16; 8. Chris Hamilton (AUS), +0:16; 9. Rafal Majka (POL), +0:16; 10. James Knox (GBR), +0:16.

Stage winners: ● 1 (132.3 km): Pascal Ackermann (GER); ● 2 (152.7 km): Luka Mezgec (SLO); ● 3 (150.5 km): Ackermann (GER); ● 4 (133.7 km): no race; ● 5 (153.8 km): Mezgec (SLO); ● 6 (160.0 km): Jonas Vingegaard (DEN); ● 7 (153.3 km): Matej Mohoric (SLO).

SWIMMING: Morozov and Hosszu max out with two wins each; Simonova up to nine events in two days

By
Rich Perelman
-
Russia's two-time World Cup champ Vladimir Morozov (Photo: Bob Stanton)

The second day of the second leg of the FINA Swimming World Cup in Jinan (CHN) were productive ones for the series leaders Vladimir Morozov and Katinka Hosszu as both won two more events to give them three each for the meet.

The World Cup rules only count up to three events per swimmers for the points standings, so both can relax on Saturday if they wish, or can try to better their marks for the possibility of bonus points.

Morozov won the 50 m Free on Thursday, then added the 50 m Back and 100 m Free on Friday, both with impressive marks. His 50 m Back win over American Michael Andrew was decisive – 24.43 to 24.85 – and moved Morozov into a tie for fourth on the world list for 2019, with the same time that South African Zane Waddell swam to win the World Championships in Korea last month,

Morozov also improved his seasonal best in the 100 m Free to 47.99, keeping him at no. 11 on the world list this year.

Hosszu won the 100 m Back and 400 m Medley to add to the 200 m Butterfly on Thursday.

Australia had another good day, with sprinter Cate Campbell winning the 50 m Fly in 25.63 to move to no. 6 in the world for 2019, ahead of teammate Holly Barratt, whose 25.66 was a season’s best, but moved down to no. 7 on the 2019 list.

Mitch Larkin won the 200 m Medley to go along with the 200 m Back he won on Thursday and both he and Campbell scored a third win as members of the winning team in the Mixed 4×100 m Medley relay.

The continuing endurance saga of Russia’s Vitalina Simonova continued, as she completed all five individual events on Friday: 50 m Fly (13th); 100 m Breast (second); 200 m Free (10th); 400 Medley (fifth) and the 100 m Back (13th). She has now completed nine events in two days, on the way to finishing all 14 she entered … for the second meet in a row!

Competition continues through Saturday. Summaries so far:

FINA Swimming World Cup II
Jinan (CHN) ~ 8-10 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Freestyle: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.50; 2. Michael Andrew (USA), 22.16; 3. Hexin Yu (CHN), 22.31. Also: 5. Blake Pieroni (USA), 22.39.

100 m Free: 1. Morozov (RUS), 47.99; 2. Pieroni (USA), 48.15; 3. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN), 48.63.

400 m Free: 1. Danas Rapsys (LTU), 3:43.91; 2. Xinjie Ji (CHN), 3:49.87; 3. Thomas Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 3:54.20. Also: 5. Brennan Gravely (USA), 3:59.13.

1,500 m Free: 1. Xinjie Ji (CHN), 15:16.15; 2. Rui Meng (CHN), 15:17.85; 3. Gravely (USA), 15:22.96.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Morozov (RUS), 24.43; 2. Andrew (USA), 24.85; 3. Jiayu Xu (CHN), 25.25.

200 m Back: 1. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 1:56.39; 2. Tristan Hollard (AUS), 1:57.94; 3. Jiayu Xu (CHN), 1:59.59.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Zibei Yan (CHN), 27.12; 2. Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 27.18; 3. Andrew (USA), 27.45.

100 m Breast: 1. Z. Yan (CHN), 59.08; 2. tie, Lizhuo Wang (CHN) and Andrew Wilson (USA), 59.56.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Szabo (HUN), 51.45; 2. Grant Irvine (AUS), 51.60; 3. Santo Condorelli (ITA), 52.00. Also: 4. Andrew (USA), 52.08.

200 m Fly: 1. Irvine (AUS), 1:55.94; 2. Nic Brown (AUS), 1:57.32; 3. Wilrich Coetzee (NZL), 2:00.14.

200 m Medley: 1. Larkin (AUS), 1:57.26; 2. Haiyang Qin (CHN), 1:57.34; 3. Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 2:00.29.

Women

50 m Freestyle: 1. Cate Campbell (AUS), 24.16; 2. Michelle Coleman (SWE), 24.74; 3. Holly Barratt (AUS), 24.91.

200 m Free: 1. Yawen Hou (CHN), 1:58,98; 2. Coleman (SWE), 1:59.07; 3. Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN), 1:59.28.

400 m Free: 1. Erica Sullivan (USA), 4:08.70; 2. Wenxin Bi (CHN), 4:10.23; 3. Jie Dong (CHN), 4:11.32.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Xiang Liu (CHN), 27.35; 2. Jie Chen (CHN), 27.88; 3. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 27.99.

100 m Back: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 59.65; 2. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 59.76; 3. Jie Chen (CHN), 1:00.74.

100 m Breaststroke: 1. Alia Atkinson (JAM), 1:07.06; 2. Vitalina Simonova (RUS), 1:08.03; 3. Jingyao Yu (CHN), 1:08.07.

200 m Breast: 1. Simonova (RUS), 2:24.52; 2. Jingyao Yu (CHN), 2:27.51; 3. Yun He (CHN), 2:28.13.

50 m Butterfly: 1. C. Campbell (AUS), 25.63; 2. Barratt (AUS), 25.66; 3. Jeanette Ottesen (DEN), 25.86.

200 m Fly: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.26; 2. Szuszsanna Jakabos (HUN), 2:07.75; 3. Yufei Zhang (CHN), 2:08.89.

400 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 4:36.99; 2. Jakabos (HUN), 4:45.28; 3. Xin Liu (CHN), 4:49.72. Also: 4. Sullivan (USA), 4:51.26.

Mixed

4×100 m Medley: 1. Australia (Larkin, Fraser-Holmes, Seebohm, C. Campbell), China, 3:30.90; 3. China Club, 3:37.16.

TSX DAILY: As U.S. swimmers collect 11 more medals, what is the future for the Pan American Games?

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Pan American Games in Lima has been a success, but what about the future? (Photo: Lima 2019)

= TSX DAILY ~ 9 August 2019 =

| 1. |  LANE ONE: Lima has done well, but what is the future of the Pan American Games?

After some doubts about construction, the Lima organizers can be proud of the job they have done in staging the eighteenth Pan American Games – so far – as the event heads into its final weekend of competition.

The PanAm Sports organization, which owns the event, is also giddy about the event, but knows it has challenges ahead of it. The event has generated very modest interest in the U.S. despite excellent live coverage from Lima on ESPNU and ESPN Deportes and about the same reaction in Canada. Those are two key markets.

What can be done about it, and what is the future of this event, which dates back to 1951? It is held only one every four years and this year’s staging reportedly cost $1.2 billion, of which about two-thirds appears to be paid by Peruvian taxpayers.

Ivar Sisniega, the highly-regarded Secretary-General of PanAm Sports suggested in an interview that a closer tie to Olympic qualification will help in the future. But a look at the history of the Pan American Games suggests that other factors are responsible for its decline in interest not only among North American media, but among its top athletes as well.

There are other options, and the P.A.G. may be better off looking to find a better place on the international sports calendar in the second year after an Olympic Games, tightening up on the number of events and athletes involved and considering that other competitions – like the IAAF Diamond League and FINA Swimming World Cup – pay prize money where the Pan American Games does not.

Has time passed by the Pan American Games? Not necessarily, but it’s not 1951 any more either.

| 2. | PAN AMERICAN GAMES: U.S. swimmers win six more events and 11 more medals, as U.S. passes 200-medal mark

It’s simply hard to believe that USA Swimming has sent its third team to Lima for the 2019 Pan American Games. The squad in Lima has been exemplary – except for one big mistake on Thursday – and won another six events and 11 medals, taking its total to 31 of the 74 total medals awarded so far, with Brazil second at 20. On Thursday evening:

● Margo Geer won the 100 m Freestyle in 54.17, giving her an individual gold to accompany her two relays golds so far.

● Annie Lazor and Will Licon (pictured below) led 1-2 U.S. finishes in the 200 m Breaststrokes in fast times. Lazor set a Pan American Games record of 2:21.40, which would make her no. 4 in the world for 2019 if not for her 2:20.77 (no. 2) in May. She led Bethany Galat home, who finished in 2:21.84, moving her to no. 6 in the world for the year. Lazor’s win completed a sweep of the 100 and 200 m Breast events.

Licon, who was given a public warning by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for the use of an inhaler that had a prohibited ingredient – but which did not register in an out-of-competition doping test – swam and won the men’s 200 m Breast in 2:07.62, a meet record that places him no. 8 in the world for 2019. Nic Fink (USA) won the silver in 2:08.16, which ranks 12th.

● Phoebe Bacon and Daniel Carr won the 100 m Backstroke events, Bacon in 59.47 (no. 13 for 2019) and Carr completed a 100-200 m double in 53.50, a season’s best and no. 16 on the world list.

● Andrew Abruzzo won the 800 m Free to go along with his win in the 400 m Free.

Brazil’s Marcelo Chierighini held on to win the men’s 100 m Freestyle in 48.09, but American Nathan Adrian continued his comeback from testicular cancer in second with a season-best 48.17, with American Michael Chadwick third in 48.88.

The only real disappointment for the U.S. came in the Mixed 4×100 m Medley Relay, where the team of Beacon, Cody Miller, Tom Shields and Geer won by almost six seconds in 3:42.96, but was disqualified, apparently on Miller’s leg. Brazil was handed the gold medal after finishing second in 3:48.61.

USA Swimming tweeted later, “The U.S. has been disqualified for two breaststroke kicks off the turn. While we disagree with the decision, Pan Am rules do not allow for official video review.”

More highlights:

● The powerful U.S. women’s Freestyle wrestling team got into action and collected gold medals from Whitney Conder (50 kg: pictured above ~ won 10-2) and Sarah Hildebrandt (53 kg: won 10-0), and a silver medal from Jenna Burkert (57 kg: lost 2-1).

● In track & field, there were upsets galore, no doubt in part thanks to 60-degree weather and humidity readings above 80%!

Costa Rica’s Andrea Vargas set a national record and defeated a field that included Chanel Brissett of the U.S., 12.82-12.99, with Sharika Nelvis of the U.S. seventh in 13.23. Then American Johnny Gregorek looked to be in good position to win the men’s 1,500 m over Canada’s William Poulsen, but then Carlos Villareal of Mexico, who finished fourth in the Pac-12 Champs for Arizona, flew down the final straight to win in 3:39.93.

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson won the women’s 400 m as expected (50.73), but the men’s 400 m was a stunner, with Anthony Zambrano of Colombia finishing strongly to win in 44.83, surprising Jamaica’s Demish Gaye (44.94) with 17-year-old Justin Robinson of the U.S. coming through in third (45.07).

Canada’s Sage Watson, who also went to Arizona, won the 400 m hurdles with a charge down the straight in a season’s best of 55.16, then was disqualified for a trail-leg violation and running out of her lane. That gave the gold medal to American Anna Cockrell … for a few minutes. The Canadians protested and Watson was reinstated; the U.S. declined – after seeing video of the race – to counter-protest.

The men’s race was even crazier, with Dominican Juander Santos taking a big lead and looking like a sure winner, then crashing over the final hurdle and sprawling on the track. Brazil’s Alison Alves dos Santos sailed past for a 48.45 lifetime best and the gold medal, with Amere Lattin of the U.S. (48.98) flying in for second. Santos got up and finished, dazed, but with the crowd applauding, in 2:09.37.

Defending champions Lavern Spencer (LCA) and Yarisley Silva (CUB) both won their events, with Spencer clearing 1.87 m (6-1 1/2) in the cold and Silva clearing 4.75 m (15-7) to win on her last remaining jump over Katie Nageotte of the U.S. (4.70 m/15-5).

Some 276 of the 419 events have been completed in the Games, with the U.S. now leading with 206 total medals (82-69-55), with Brazil (115) and Canada (113) fighting for second. While the American medal count is impressive, there’s little likelihood of any records, as the U.S. won an astonishing 425 medals in 1995. Complete results of the 2019 Games are here.

| 3. | GYMNASTICS: Mikulak sailing at USA Gymnastics Nationals, but who is Shane Wiskus?

Five-time U.S. All-Around champ Sam Mikulak is sailing toward a sixth title, which would tie him for second all-time, after the first of two rounds of the USA Gymnastics National Championships at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

After completing the first of two All-Around programs, Mikulak has a solid 86.750-84.000 advantage over 2017 All-Around title winner Yul Moldauer. But the surprise has come from Minnesota sophomore Shane Wiskus, the two-time NCAA All-Around runner-up, who stands tied with veteran Akash Modi for third at 83.950.

Mikulak finished in the top four in five of the six events and won on Floor (14.650), Parallel Bars (14.200) and Horizontal Bar (also 14.200). The men’s competition continues on Saturday with the second All-Around. The women will take the stage tomorrow (and on Sunday); more details are here.

| 4. | SWIMMING: Simonova more than simply iron, now a winner at the Jinan World Cup!

Russia’s Vitalina Simonova has taken the role usually reserved for the “Iron Lady” – Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu – and swam 14 of 16 individual events in last week’s Tokyo opener of the FINA Swimming World Cup.

She’s at it again at this week’s stage, in Jinan (CHN), but with a major difference. As the fields are weaker than in Tokyo, she broke through and won her specialty, the 200 m Breaststroke in a season’s best of 2:24.52. She’s still on schedule to swim in 14 events again, but she will have some hardware to take home with her this time.

Hosszu was also in good form, winning the 200 m Butterfly in 2:07.26, which would rank her no. 7 in the world this year but for her existing 2:06.94 from May. The best performance on Thursday came from China’s world-record holder, Xiang Liu, who won the 50 m Backstroke in 27.35, the second-fastest mark in the world this year behind only Olivia Smoliga’s 27.33 that won the World Championships gold for the U.S.

The men’s points leader, Russia’s Vladimir Morozov, won the 50 m Free in 21.50, a season’s best that keeps him at no. 5 on the 2019 world list.

The meet continues on Friday and Saturday; our summary of Thursday’s action is here.

| 5. | EQUESTRIAN: When it comes to money, the FEI is not horsing around!

The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), international governing body for equestrian, released its annual report, including its 2018 financial statements.

Reported in Swiss francs (essentially equal to USD at current exchange), the federation showed 62.6 million in revenue, only 4% of which came from the IOC’s television revenue sharing program. Expenses were 58.9 million for operations, but there was an investment loss of 3.0 million for a total cost of 61.9 million, and a smaller surplus of 724,148 francs.

The biggest revenue contributor was sponsorship, at 27.8 million, followed by event fees (about 11.2 million). As of the end of 2018, the FEI has assets of CHF 64.6 million.

Very, very impressive.

| 6. | DOPING: When a USADA Doping Control Officer knocks on your door, you can expect …

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency tweeted Thursday: “Athletes: when a USADA Doping Control Officer knocks on your door, you can expect them to be professional, accommodating, and knowledgeable.”

Clicking further leads to a 2017 post that explains:

● Professional: “It’s no secret that the sample collection process can be discomforting, especially if it’s an athlete’s first time providing a sample. … every USADA DCO undergoes extensive hands-on training and a rigorous certification process before entering the field.”

● Accommodating: “Athletes in USADA’s registered testing pool are also required to file Whereabouts and be available for no-notice testing at any time. These rights and responsibilities are key to ensuring that USADA maintains a robust anti-doping program that protects clean sport and athletes’ rights.

“While USADA DCOs are charged with upholding testing protocols, they also have athletes’ wellbeing at the forefront of their minds and understand that athletes are people with busy lives, responsibilities, and pressing concerns that aren’t related to anti-doping.”

● Knowledgeable: “DCOs are sometimes the only representative from USADA that athletes will interact with face-to-face, so athletes are encouraged to ask questions and use their DCO to learn more about anti-doping. Most USADA DCOs can provide information on a wide range of topics, including testing protocols, the results management process, therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs), and the many tools for athletes that address prohibited substances and methods.”

Doping control is one of the most unpleasant aspects of being a world-class athletes, but as the saying goes, it’s a necessary evil. Let’s hope the USADA’s team lives up to its advertising.

LANE ONE: Lima has done well, but what is the future of the Pan American Games?

By
Rich Perelman
-
Olympic volleyball silver medalist Cecilia Tait lights the Pan American Games torch at the Lima 2019 Opening Ceremony (Photo: Lima 2019)

If you have been watching the XVIII Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, you have seen some compelling competition and some amazing stories, the type of drama that makes the Olympic Games a world-wide attraction.

But following his highly-upbeat mid-Games news conference on 3 August, PanAm Sports Secretary General Ivar Sisniega told Reuters that there is concern about the low interest from American and Canadian media about the Games:

“If you think the American continent is just USA and Canada then you’re right there is (a lack of interest). Some countries … maybe need to open up to what happens in the world and not be so involved with what just happens (at home).

“We have spoken to NBC and major television networks and it comes down to how many of the sports are Olympic qualifiers and that is something we are going to push really aggressively over the next four years.

“We have spoken to USA and Canada about these issues, it’s a perception that they have that the Games are not of a high quality.

“These are the highest quality Games in history so we are hoping to move forward on this and the U.S. and Canadian media understand how big these Games are and the level of athletes is high with over 100 Olympic medalists. It is certainly a challenge we have for the future.”

Reuters reporter Steve Keating further explained that “Sisneiga says a goal of Panam Sports and its president Neven Ilic is to have all the sports in the Olympic Games have qualifiers through the Pan American Games. In Lima, there are 21 Olympic qualifiers to Tokyo 2020, an increase from 18 in Toronto in 2015 and 12 in Guadalajara in 2011.”

Don’t underestimate either Sisniega or Ilic. Sisniega competed for Mexico in three Olympic Games in the modern pentathlon in 1980-84-88 and is a graduate of Stanford (Bachelor’s) and the University of Arizona (Masters). Ilic is from Chile and has modernized Olympic sport in that country, was elected to head PanAm Sports in 2017 and elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee in the same year.

The two are taking PanAm Sports in new directions, following the death of Mario Vasquez (MEX), the long-time leader of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) in 2015. The approach is more modern, more efficient and focused on their new mission statement: “PanAm Sports fuels the development of sport and supports the work of our 41 member nations to inspire the next generation of athletes in our continent … ensuring the success and celebration of our flagship event, the Pan American Games.”

And fearless. ESPN is televising the Games in the U.S. in 2019, but Sisniega talked about NBC in his comments. When was the last time you heard about a Games owner skipping over its U.S. rights holder?

OK, so what happens now?

As the Reuters story pointed out, it’s not just the U.S. and Canadian media who have low interest in the 2019 Pan American Games, but so do several of the key U.S. federations. USA Swimming picked its PanAm team off its 2018 Nationals, sending its top racers to the 2019 World Championships, second squad to the World University Games in Naples (ITA) and the third team to Lima. USA Track & Field didn’t have a selection meet for the Pan Am team because its 2019 Nationals were held late, to focus on the 2019 World Championships that will be in Doha (QAT) in late September. It picked its team off of the best marks list in 2019 (after an arbitrator’s decision), but many athletes declined to go and the American track team in Lima is weak.

So what now? A significant part of the problem is history.

The first (official) Pan American Games was held in Buenos Aires (ARG) in 1951 and it has been held every four years since. Back then, there were no World Championships in many sports; FINA started theirs for aquatics in 1973; the IAAF didn’t start a Worlds for track & field until 1983. There were no World Cup circuits, no Diamond League meets and so on.

From a time when a major international competition like the Pan American Games was looked at as an important destination – because there were so few opportunities otherwise – the calendar has become enormously crowded. This is important; aged observers of the Olympic Movement in the United States will remember that way back in 1979, the United States Olympic Committee created the National Sports Festival (later, U.S. Olympic Festival) to give American athletes a summer domestic competition opportunity and an Olympic-style experience. It served its purpose, but as the international calendar filled to overflowing, the event was ended after its 1995 edition in Denver, Colorado.

Sisniega indicated that he and Ilic see the future in tying the Pan American Games more closely to qualification for the Olympic Games. The increase in such ties – from 12 sports for the 2011 Games to 21 in Lima – is impressive, but it didn’t solve the problem of limited interest this year did it?

There are other options. If the desire is to have a bigger impact, perhaps consider:

● The PanAm Games have always been held in the year prior to the Olympic Games, But that’s also the years when the IAAF (track), FINA (aquatics) and FIBA (basketball) all hold their World Championships. Wouldn’t it make sense to have the Pan American Games in a bigger spotlight in the even-numbered year between Olympic Games?

The Asian Games, which is by far the biggest regional Games in the world, also started in 1951 but switched immediately to the second year after the Olympic Games and has grown in its importance in the region.

This would remove most of the Olympic qualifying ties for the Pan American Games, but if it were a bigger deal, would that matter? (Answer: it wouldn’t.)

● The Pan American Games is way too big. At 39 sports and 419 events, PanAm Sports is already asking itself if having all of these events is the right approach. In terms of reaching its goals, what do the non-Olympic sports bring to the event? What about the number of entries per event?

Moreover, what is the added costs to organizers? The 2019 Games in Lima have been reported to cost $1.2 billion U.S.: $430 million for organization, $470 million in infrastructure, $180 million for construction of the Pan American Village and $106 for other items.

Just as with the Olympic Games, less cost will open new opportunities for better Games.

● And then there is the question of what an “athlete-centric” event means in the 21st Century. In 1951, money wasn’t an issue due to the amateur code, but there are athletes today who will pass on an event like the Pan American Games because – unlike the IAAF Diamond League and FINA Swimming World Cup – it doesn’t pay any prize money.

The Olympic Games is under pressure from some elite athletes concerning prize money, but many more are happy just to be able to make it to the Games, and most (if not all) of the National Olympic Committees pay bonuses for medals. To attract the top athletes from the U.S. and Canada, prize money of even modest amounts ought to be looked at.

There is a place for the Pan American Games and as Ilic, Sisniega and others are bringing change to the PanAm Sports organization, new thinking can help the Pan American Games flourish in an environment far removed from the one that existed in 1951.

Rich Perelman
Editor

GYMNASTICS: Mikulak dominates first men’s Nationals All-Around, leads by 2.750, as Wiskus surprises

By
Rich Perelman
-
Five-time U.S. All-Around champ Sam Mikulak (Photo: USA Gymnastics)

There was little doubt that five-time U.S. All-Around champ Sam Mikulak was going to be in front at the halfway mark of the USA Gymnastics National Championships in Kansas City. But even with one major error, he ran out to a big edge on Thursday night.

Mikulak, trying to become the second men’s gymnast in U.S. history to win six national All-Around titles, posted a first-day score of 86.750, way ahead of 2017 National Champion Yul Moldauer, who scored 84.000.

Mikulak won the Floor event (14.650), the Parallel Bars (14.200) and Horizontal Bar (also 14.200), and finished in the top four in five of the six events. He had a major error on his landing in the Vault and fell back to 23rd with a score of 13.500, or he could have been a point higher.

Moldauer was expected to be the top challenger, and was second overall (84.000), but had his problems on the Rings, where he tied for 11th. The surprise of the evening was Minnesota’s Shane Wiskus, who just finished his sophomore year and was NCAA All-Around runner-up for the second straight year. He placed seventh at the 2018 Nationals in the Horizontal Bar, but is now in rarified air, in a tie for third place (with veteran Akash Modi) going into the second night of All-Around competition on Saturday.

The women will compete in their first All-Around tomorrow; NBCSN will have it at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Summaries so far:

USA Gymnastics National Championships
Kansas City, Missouri (USA) ~ 8-11 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

All-Around I: 1. Sam Mikulak, 86.750; 2. Yul Moldauer, 84.000; 3. tie, Shane Wiskus and Akash Modi, 83.950; 5. Trevor Howard, 82.250; 6. Riley Loos, 81.150; 7. Donnell Wittenburg, 81.100; 8. Matt Wenske, 80.950.

Event leaders:
● Floor: 1. Mikulak, 14.650; 2. Loos, 14.350; 3. Moldauer, 14.300.
● Pommel Horse: 1. Stephen Nedoroscik, 14.950; 2. Mikulak, 14,750; 3. Michael Paradise, 14.550.
● Rings: 1. Alex Diab, 14.600; 2. Howard, 14,550; 3. Whittenburg, 14.500.
● Vault: 1. Wiskus, 14.500; 2. tie, Kiwan Watts and Tim Wang, 14.400.
● Parallel Bars: 1. Mikulak, 15.350; 2. Moldauer, 14.800; 3. tie, Wiskus & Modi, 14.500.
● Horizontal Bars: 1. Mikulak, 14.200; 2. Modi, 13.700; 3. Paul Juda, 13.600.

CANOEING Preview: U.S. Nationals on in Georgia through Saturday

By
Rich Perelman
-
Kaitlyn McElroy, winner of four U.S. titles in 2018

The American Canoe Association will stage the U.S. National Championships at Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia through Saturday. Will the races be dominated by just a few stars as in 2018?

Last year in Oklahoma City, the racing belonged mostly to six athletes who came home with a lot of hardware:

● Men:
5 wins ~ Ken Kasperbauer: C-1 200-500 m, C-2 200 m, C-4 500-1,000 m.
4 wins ~ Stanton Collins: K-1 200-500 m, K-2/200 m, K-4 500 m
4 wins ~ Alexander Lee: K-1 10,000-5,000 m, K-2 1,000 m, K-4 1,000 m

● Women:
6 wins ~ Sammie Barlow: K-1 500-1,000 m, K-2 200-500 m, K-4 500-1,000 m
4 wins ~ Kaitlyn McElroy: K-1 200-5,000 m, K-2 200-500 m
4 wins ~ Nevin Harrison: C-1 200-500 m, C-2/5,000 m, C-4 500 m

The defending champions from the 2018 Nationals in Oklahoma City:

Men
● C-1/200 m: Ken Kasperbauer (44.096)
● C-1/500 m: Ken Kasperbauer (2:01.133)
● C-1/1,000 m: Gavin Ross (4:25.224)
● C-1/5,000 m: Gavin Ross (23:00.708)

● C-2/200 m: Field/Kasperbauer (42.921)
● C-2/1,000 m: Grady/Surles (4:09.415)

● K-1/200 m: Stanton Collins (37.873)
● K-1/500 m: Stanton Collins (1:46.543)
● K-1/1,000 m: Alexander Lee (3:53.941)
● K-1/5,000 m: Alexander Lee (19:15.869)

● K-2/200 m: Collins/Mullican (34.9018)
● K-2/1,000 m: Cross-Whiter/Lee (3:29.113)
● K-2/5,000 m: Wilding/Whitcomb (19:26.849)

Women:
● C-1/200 m: Nevin Harrison (50.671)
● C-1/500 m: Nevin Harrison (2:24.299)
● C-1/1,000 m: Lia Gaetano (5:10.721)
● C-1/5,000 m: Ann Armstrong (26:56.808)

● C-2/200 m: Neutz/Murphy (53.072)
● C-2/500 m: Gaetano/Ghizila (2:20.208)
● C-2/5,000 m: Harrison/Neutz (23:34.460)

● K-1/200 m: Kaitlyn McElroy (46.541)
● K-1/500 m: Sammie Barlow (2:01.036)
● K-1/1,000 m: Sammie Barlow(4:25.976)
● K-1/5,000 m: Kaitlyn McElroy (20:44.736)

● K-2/200 m: McElroy/Barlow (44.654)
● K-2/500 m: McElroy/Barlow (1:56.829)

Racing will continue through Sunday. The Nationals is not a direct-selection event for the U.S. entries for the World Championships, it will have an impact in some events. Look for results here.

SWIMMING: Fast times in China World Cup as Liu posts no. 2 time in 2019 in 50 m Back

By
Rich Perelman
-
Two-time World Cup champion Vladimir Morozov (RUS), ready to be crowned again this week, in Doha (QAT)

The level of competition was down at the second stage of the FINA World Cup in Jinan (CHN), but the marks continued at a high level:

● China’s world-record holder Xiang Liu won the 50 m Backstroke in a speedy 27.35 on Thursday, the second-fastest time in the world this year, just behind American Olivia Smoliga’s 27.33 that won the World Championships.

● Australia’s Cate Campbell won the 50 m Freestyle in 24.16, the fifth-fastest performance in 2019, but slower than her own mark of 24.00, which is no. 2.

● Russia’s Vladimir Morozov, the men’s points leader, won the 50 m Free in 21.50, a season’s best that strengthens his hold on the no. 5 spot on the world list.

● Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys won the 400 m Free in 3:43.91, just slower then his 3:43.36 that is no. 4 on the world list.

● Erica Sullivan got the first women’s World Cup win of the season for the U.S., taking the 400 m Freestyle in 4:08.70.

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu won the 200 m Butterfly in a very fast 2:07.26; that would be no. 7 on the 2019 list except for her own 2:06.94 mark from May. She put the World Cup in some perspective, noting “After the World Championships, we don’t have time to make adjustments, so I just carried through. The World Cup is more relaxed than the World Championships. I think it is a fun way to just enjoy swimming for what it is and not what you have to do. You choose your events and see what you can do. We have more time to spend with other swimmers, we traveled together and we had days off to walk around the city, it’s really fun.”

As was the case in the Tokyo season opener, the real “Iron Lady” was Russian Vitalina Simonova, who competed in four of the five events held. She finished 11th in the 50 m Free, ninth in the 400 m Free, 11th in the 50 m Back, but won in her specialty, the 200 Breast in 2:24.52, a season’s best. She’s trying to swim in 14 of the 16 individual events for the second straight meet.

Competition continues through Saturday. Summaries so far:

FINA Swimming World Cup II
Jinan (CHN) ~ 8-10 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Freestyle: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.50; 2. Michael Andrew (USA), 22.16; 3. Hexin Yu (CHN), 22.31. Also: 5. Blake Pieroni (USA), 22.39.

400 m Free: 1. Danas Rapsys (LTU), 3:43.91; 2. Xinjie Ji (CHN), 3:49.87; 3. Thomas Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 3:54.20. Also: 5. Brennan Gravely (USA), 3:59.13.

200 m Backstroke: 1. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 1:56.39; 2. Tristan Hollard (AUS), 1:57.94; 3. Jiayu Xu (CHN), 1:59.59.

100 m Breaststroke: 1. Zibei Yan (CHN), 59.08; 2. tie, Lizhuo Wang (CHN) and Andrew Wilson (USA), 59.56.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN), 51.45; 2. Grant Irvine (AUS), 51.60; 3. Santo Condorelli (ITA), 52.00. Also: 4. Michael Andrew (USA), 52.08.

Women

50 m Freestyle: 1. Cate Campbell (AUS), 24.16; 2. Michelle Coleman (SWE), 24.74; 3. Holly Barratt (AUS), 24.91.

400 m Free: 1. Erica Sullivan (USA), 4:08.70; 2. Wenxin Bi (CHN), 4:10.23; 3. Jie Dong (CHN), 4:11.32.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Xiang Liu (CHN), 27.35; 2. Jie Chen (CHN), 27.88; 3. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 27.99.

200 m Breaststroke: 1. Vitalina Simonova (RUS), 2:24.52; 2. Jingyao Yu (CHN), 2:27.51; 3. Yun He (CHN), 2:28.13.

200 m Butterfly: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.26; 2. Szuszsanna Jakabos (HUN), 2:07.75; 3. Yufei Zhang (CHN), 2:08.89.

TSX DAILY: U.S. swimmers win 11 medals in one night; world record for Brady Ellison, and Simone Biles ready for history

By
Rich Perelman
-
Tom Shields (USA), winner of the 100 m Fly at the 2019 Pan American Games (Photo: Lima 2019)

= TSX DAILY ~ 8 August 2019 =

| 1. |  PAN AMERICAN GAMES: U.S. swimmers win six of seven events, score 11 medals in one session!

USA Swimming sent essentially its third team to the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, but what a team it is!

During Wednesday’s evening session, the United States won six of the seven events held, had three 1-2 finishes and collected 11 total medals out of a possible total of 13! And against good competition, especially from Brazil:

● 200 m Freestyle: Claire Rasmus and Meghan Raab went 1-2 in the women’s final, with Rasmus winning by just 0.06, followed by Drew Kibler finishing third in the men’s race, behind a 1-2 finish for Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer and and Bruno Correia.

● 100 m Fly: Veteran Kendyl Stewart won the women’s race in 58.49 ahead of Canada’s Danielle Hanus (58.93) with Sarah Gibson third (59.11).

The men’s race showcased why sport outdraws theater. No matter where in the world, or in what language Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is performed, you know that neither character will make it to the end. American Tom Shields, a relay gold medalist at the 2015 Worlds and 2016 Olympics, finished dead last in the 200 m Fly final on Tuesday – almost five seconds behind everyone else – and tweeted, “No excuses. I’m ashamed. I’m sorry.”

On Wednesday, he was back in the pool for the 100 m Fly. He got off to a late start – seventh out of eight – and was fifth at the turn. But he somehow moved to a different gear, buzzed the field with the fastest second lap by almost 2/10ths of a second and won in 51.59, out-touching Pan American Games record holder Luis Martinez (GUA) by 4/100ths of a second. No need to apologize for this one; he wore the wry smile of vindication on the victory stand (pictured above; courtesy Lima 2019).

● 200 m Back: Americans Alexandra Walsh and Isabelle Stadden were stroke-for-stroke in the women’s final, but Walsh edged ahead in the final 15 m to touch first in 2:08.30, moving to no. 10 on the world list for 2019. Stadden was only 0.09 behind and now ranks 12th. The men’s final was more of the same, with Daniel Carr taking a slight lead on the third lap and then expanding his advantage over Nick Alexander on the way home for another 1-2 and a 1:58.13-1:58.30 win.

● Mixed 4×100 m Free Relay: The U.S. got a reasonable opening leg from Michael Chadwick (49.09), but Nathan Adrian closed the deficit to Brazil with a great second lap and a 47.56 split with Rasmus going third. She held close to Brazil’s Larissa de Oliveira and left U.S. anchor Margo Geer with just a 6/10ths of a second deficit. No problem for Geer, who swam 53.09 to 54.83 for Etiene Medeiros and the U.S. had its sixth gold, 3:24.84-3:25.97.

That’s 19 medals in two nights for the American swimmers and Thursday’s program includes Adrian swimming in the 100 m Free and the Mixed 4×100 m Medley Relay.

The startling success of the U.S. in the pool overshadowed a lot of other great stuff happening in Lima:

● In track & field, American Mike Rodgers won his first individual international championship in his 12-year professional career with a 10.09 victory in the men’s 100 m. He started well as usual, but moved smartly through the middle of the race to establish a clear lead over the fast-charging Paulo Camilo of Brazil and won by 0.07. The victory was all the sweeter as his gold medal was presented by organizing committee guest Carl Lewis, elegantly attired in a suit and tie!

Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson, the 100-200 m Olympic winner in Rio, had no trouble with the field in Lima, running away in the second half of the race to beat Michelle-Lee Ahye (TTO), 11.18-11.27.

The most exciting event was the men’s shot put, which go crazy in the final round. Brazil’s Darlan Romani was the clear leader at 21.54 m (70-8) and appeared safe, with Canada’s Tim Nedow second at 20.47 m (67-2). But then Mexico’s Uziel Munoz spun the ball out to 20.56 m (67-5 1/2) and Nedow was third. Then Jordan Geist of the U.S., standing fourth, got into his final throw and sent the shot to 20.67 m (67-9 3/4), zooming into second and moving Nedow out of the medals. Nedow couldn’t pass either on his final toss and finished fourth, but then Romani exploded on his final throw, reaching 22.07 m (72-5) and taking the Pan American Games record away from countryman O’Dayne Richards, who finished fifth. Whew!

Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarria won a tense duel with Jamaican Tajay Gayle in the long jump, 8.27 m (27-1 3/4) to 8.17 m (26-9 3.4), and Canada’s Damian Warner was a clear winner in the Decathlon with 8,513 points.

● American cycling star Chloe Dygert won her second gold of the Games, taking the 18.5 km Time Trial by more than a minute in 23:36.51. It was an impressive double, after she won a gold with the U.S. Team Pursuit squad in track cycling last Friday!

● In fencing, the U.S. was expected to lead the way and won five of the six individual events, with 2016 Olympic silver winner Daryl Homer winning the men’s Sabre and Katharine Holmes taking the women’s Epee. The team competitions are next.

The Pan Am Games continue through Sunday, and with four competition days left, the U.S. is up to 180 total medals (73-57-50), well ahead of Canada’s 104 (25-41-38) and 102 for Brazil (31-26-45). You can consult the complete results from Lima here.

| 2. | ARCHERY: Stunning world record in Pan Am ranking round for American Brady Ellison

Think about competing in archery, with a bow more than five feet in height and the string so tight it requires 48 pounds of draw weight to shoot each arrow.

Now consider shooting 72 arrows at a target that is 70 m or about 77 yards away. On a football field, that would be shooting from your own 20-yard line to the opponents 3-yard line.

The reigning World Champion, Brady Ellison of the U.S. shot exactly that program on Wednesday in the ranking round of the Pan American Games. He didn’t just hit the target consistently, he shot 55 of his 72 arrows in the 10-ring, plus 15 in the nine-ring and two in the eights. Add it all up and he scored 702 points to set the world record, held by Korea’s Woo-Jin Kim from the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

It didn’t win him a medal – this was only the seeding round for the eliminations – but it’s a very meaningful record among archers and places Ellison at the very top of the world as World Champion and world-record holder. Much more on his day (and a photo of the scorecard!) here.

| 3. | GYMNASTICS: Sam Mikulak and Simone Biles going for history at the U.S. Nationals in Kansas City

Both of the defending national All-Around Champions from 2018 are looking for a share of history at the 2019 USA Gymnastics Championships starting on Thursday at the Sprint Center in Kansas City:

● Sam Mikulak, now 26, will be trying for his sixth All-Around national title, which would tie him with Makoto Sakamoto, who won six between 1963-70 for second all-time. The leader in U.S. All-Around national titles in Alfred Jochim, who won seven between 1925-33.

● Simone Biles, still just 22, is also trying for her sixth A-A crown, to tie Clara Schroth, who won in 1945-46-49-50-51-52, for the most ever. During her 2018 triumph, Biles achieved the first Nationals event sweep of her career, not only taking the All-Around, but all four of the individual events as well, for a total of five golds.

Check out the leading contenders for honors and their performances over the last couple of years of the Nationals in our preview here.

| 4. | SWIMMING: Remembering double Olympic gold medalist Mike Troy

Sad news from Arizona, where Mike Troy, winner of two Olympic gold medals in 1960, passed away at the age of 78 on 3 August.

Troy won the 200 m Butterfly and swam on the 4×200 m Freestyle Relay in Rome, with both swims resulting in world-record times. He set the 200 m Fly world record six times, but he held it only until 1961.

He starred at Indiana University, swimming under the direction of Doc Counsilman. He finished his competitive career after college but kept swimming, serving in the U.S. Navy with the underwater demolition program that eventually became known as the S.E.A.L.S. He received the Silver Star for his service in Vietnam.

He moved to San Diego, California after his military service concluded and later to Arizona. He remained active in swimming as a coach of both able-bodied swimmers and Paralympic swimmers, and serves as the national director of the U.S. Paralympic Swim Team.

(Thanks to reader Pete Cava for the tip!)

| 5. | SKIING: Really, skiing? Time for the Roller Ski World Championships in Madona

Believe it or not, the Federation Internationale de Ski is quite busy these days and this week sees the FIS World Roller Ski Championships taking place in Madona, Latvia.

This is a summertime substitute for Cross Country skiing, with a Classical race for men (20 km) and women (10 km), a 200 m Freestyle Sprint, a Freestyle Mass Start race (15 km women, 20 km men) and a Freestyle Team Sprint.

The biggest names on the entry list are Russia’s 2018 triple Olympic silver medalist Alexander Bolshunov and 2019 Worlds bronze medalist Natalia Nepryaeva. Look for results here.

Oh yes, and the World Cup is coming up quickly for Freestyle and Snowboard, with opening events in Cardrona (NZL) on 24-25 August!

| 6. | BOXING: Interim AIBA chief Moustahsane to resign late this month

Multiple sources are reporting that AIBA Interim President Mohamed Moustahsane (MAR) has agreed to resign at the next AIBA Executive Committee meeting to be held later this month.

The Executive Committee will appoint another interim chief until a special Congress is held – possibly in November – where a permanent President is scheduled to be elected.

Moustahsane was appointed in March after elected President Gafur Rakhimov (UZB) resigned in view of criminal allegations against him.

What’s important about AIBA’s actions now – despite its suspension until after the 2020 Tokyo Games – is that the International Olympic Committee’s task force has been meeting with the federation and working with them on a “roadmap” for reinstatement. No doubt this is part of it, as Moustahsane was involved in prior AIBA activities which came under IOC scrutiny on the way to its suspension.

| 7. | IOC to Italy: leave CONI alone, or else …

A proposed law in Italy that would allow the government to “reorganize” the country’s National Olympic Committee (CONI) has draw the attention of the International Olympic Committee.

Agence France Presse reported that a letter from the IOC to CONI expresses deep concern about measures which would interfere with the autonomy of CONI. Sanctions could include the suspension of Italy from the 2020 Tokyo Games; the IOC did just that with Kuwait, where the government essentially took over that country’s NOC and the NOC was suspended from October 2015 until 5 July of this year.

This issue is a touchy one for the IOC and could color the work of the U.S. Congress as it considers changes to the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act. For its part, the Italian government stated the IOC misunderstands the resolution that was actually passed.

GYMNASTICS Preview: Biles and Mikulak looking to make history at U.S. Nationals in Kansas City starting Thursday

By
Rich Perelman
-

The gateway to the 2019 World Championships in gymnastics is in Kansas City, where the USA Gymnastics National Championships will take place from Thursday through Sunday.

Although the actual Worlds team won’t be selected until a final training camp in September, the Nationals will play a key role in getting invited to the training camp in Colorado Springs for the men (5-9 September) or from 25-27 September for the women. So there is a lot on the line this week:

● 08 August: Men, session I ~ 8 p.m. Eastern on NBCSN
● 09 August: Women, session I ~ 8 p.m. Eastern on NBCSN
● 10 August: Men, session II ~ 8 p.m. Eastern on NBCSN
● 11 August: Women session II ~ 8 p.m. Eastern on NBC

The U.S. National Junior Championships will take place on the same dates, but in the afternoon.

The stars expected to compete:

Men:
● Sam Mikulak ~ 2013-14-15-16-18 National All-Around Champion
● Yul Moldauer ~ 2017 National All-Around Champion, 2018 runner-up
● Akash Modi ~ 2017 Parallel Bars winner
● Allan Bower ~ 2018 All-Around bronze; 2017 All-Around silver
● Colin van Wicklen ~ 2018 Vault and High Bar bronzes
● Trevor Howard ~ 2018 Rings winner
● Donothan Bailey ~ 2018 Parallel Bars and High Bar silver
● Alec Yoder ~ 2018 Pommel Horse winner

Mikulak, 26, finally won a World Championships individual medal with a bronze last year in the High Bar, but has dominated the American scene since 2013. If he wins in Kansas City, he will tie Makoto Sakamoto, who won six All-Around titles between 1963-70 for second all-time. The all-time leader in national titles in Alfred Jochim, who won seven between 1925-33.

Women:
● Simone Biles ~ 2013-14-15-16-18 National All-Around Champion
● Morgan Hurd ~ 2018 All-Around runner-up; Uneven Bars & Floor bronzes
● Riley McCusker ~ 2018 All-Around bronze; Uneven Bars silver, Beam bronze
● Kara Eaker ~ 2018 Balance Beam silver
● Jade Carey ~ 2018 Floor silver; Vault bronze; 2017 Vault winner
● Jordan Chiles ~ 2018 Vault silver; 2017 All-Around silver
● MyKayla Skinner ~ 2016 Vault silver and Floor bronze
● Trinity Thomas ~ 2017 Balance Beam and Floor bronzes
● Leanne Wong ~ 2018 National Junior Champion

Eaker, Hurd, McCusker, Wong and Aleah Finnegan won the team gold medal at the Pan American Games in Lima last week. McCusker won the Balance Beam and Eaker won the Balance Beam.

Biles will also be looking for her sixth national All-Around title, to tie Clara Schroth, who won in 1945-46-49-50-51-52, for the most ever. Biles had a first during her victory last season; she not only won the All-Around, but won all four of the individual events as well, for a total of five golds.

Including the juniors, the fields for Kansas City include 77 men and 46 women. Look for results here.

ARCHERY: Astonishing world record 702 shot by Brady Ellison in Pan Am Games ranking round

By
Rich Perelman
-
American Brady Ellison celebrates his ranking-round world record of 702 (Photo: World Archery)

There are no medals handed out for qualifying scores. But one of the truly respected records in archery is the ranking round score, which for Olympic-style (Recurve) competitions is 72 arrows shot at 70 m (~230 feet, or almost 77 yards).

A perfect score would be 720, or 72 consecutive 10s. As of Wednesday morning in Lima, Peru, the world record was 700, shot by Korea’s Woo-Jin Kim in Rio in 2016. Then American Brady Ellison, who won the 2019 World Championship in June, stepped up to the line for the Pan American Games ranking round.

Shooting in a ranking round is in groups of three arrows, known as “ends,” for which 30 would be a perfect score. He started 30-28-30-30-30-28 and finished the first half with 30-29-30-29-29-27 for 350 points, halfway to Kim’s mark.

He was better in the second half, starting 30-28 and then scoring 16 straight 10s and then finishing with 30-29-30-28 for a 702 total.

Out of 72 arrows, the 30-year-old Ellison shot 55 10s, just 15 nines and two eights. He is now only the second ever to shoot 700 in a competition round.

“It means so much,” he told World Archery’s Chris Wells afterwards. I’ve been shooting so good this year and I’ve shot so many 700s in practice. I shot 708 yesterday in practice. And we stepped onto that field today and there wasn’t a touch of wind on it and I was like, I know it, I got it.

“I’ve been shooting good enough and I had the weather to do it and it’s nice to finally get it.”

As brilliant as Ellison was, he wasn’t alone on the field. Marcus D’Almeida (BRA) qualified second at 692 points and American Jack Williams was third with 689.

It’s important to note that Ellison, the 2011 Pan American Games champion and 2015 silver medalist, hasn’t won anything yet. He’s obviously seeded first going into the elimination rounds, but anything can happen there. But he will long remember setting a world record in Lima that promises to last for a while.

TSX DAILY: Germany draws 178,000 for 10 national champs combined in Berlin, while U.S. steamroller continues at the Pan American Games

By
Rich Perelman
-

= TSX DAILY ~ 7 August 2019 =

| 1. |  LANE ONE: Did you see where Germany drew 178,000 for ten national championships on one weekend in Berlin?

The city of Berlin, working in coordination with the national governing bodies in 10 sports and the two national over-the-air broadcasters, created Die Finals Berlin 2019 with events over six days, but primarily on last Saturday and Sunday (3-4 August).

Hoping for 70,000 attendees, the combined program drew an astonishing 178,000 spectators who paid to see athletics, boxing, track cycling, gymnastics and swimming. Hundreds of thousands more saw archery, canoeing, modern pentathlon, mountain biking and triathlon events for free.

At the Olympiastadion, the German track & field championships drew 60,550 for two days, including a record crowd of 34,350 for Sunday’s events.

Could this be done in the U.S.? The program in Berlin was promoted for a full year, was on national television (and streaming) live and had each of the 10 national federations running their own programs that were marketed under a common umbrella.

The U.S. Olympic Committee tried analogous events in the past and failed. But not multiple national championships and in fact, the USOPC would not need to be involved at all. The U.S. National Governing Bodies could do this on their own.

Will they? Will a U.S. city step up? Can the Olympic Movement in the U.S. afford to miss an opportunity like this?

| 2. | PAN AMERICAN GAMES: Swimming and track take over and U.S. now at 62 golds and 157 total medals

The first day of swimming and first full day of track & field headlined Tuesday’s events at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima (PER). In comparison to some spotty attendance at some of the first-week events, the stands were mostly full at the National Sports Village Aquatics Center and Athletics Stadium.

The U.S. stood out in the swimming, of course, despite the Pan Ams being assigned essentially the “third team” for 2019 by USA Swimming, behind the FINA World Championships in Gwangju (KOR) and the World University Games in Naples (ITA). Nevertheless, the Americans claimed three wins on Tuesday:

● Andrew Abruzzo, 19, won the 400 m Free in 3:48.41, more than a second ahead of Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer (3:49.60).

● Annie Lazor (pictured below), who stands no. 3 on the world list for 2019 (1:06.03) got to the touch first in the 100 m Breaststroke in 1:06.94, ahead of Julia Sebastian (ARG: 1:07.09). It’s the sixth straight time the U.S. women have won this event in the Pan American Games.

● The women’s 4×100 m Free relay survived a modest lead-off leg from Lia Neal (55.67), but Claire Rasmus (54.51) got close to the lead and veteran Kendyl Stewart (55.05) took the lead for good. Anchor Margo Geer sprinted to a half-body length lead at the final turn and then held on for a 54.36 leg and a win in 3:39.59, with Brazil second (3:40.39). The U.S. women have won this event now 16 of the 18 times it has been held.

Brazil’s Joao de Deus won the men’s 200 m Butterfly for the third Pan American Games in a row, building a big lead and then holding off American Sam Pomajevich, 1:55.86-1:57.35.

The Brazilians were also the heavy favorite in the men’s 4×100 m Free relay and their quartet of Breno Correia, Marcel Chierighini, Bruno Fratus and Pedro Spajari won for the sixth straight Pan Am Games in 3:12.61, well ahead of the U.S. (3:14.94). One important note for American fans was the 47.70 anchor by the amazing Nathan Adrian, who had the second-fastest split in the entire race as he continues his recovery from testicular cancer.

The first full day of track & field was held in blustery conditions on Tuesday, with a crackerjack competition in the women’s discus. World leader Yaime Perez of Cuba was the favorite, but trailed Brazil’s Andressa Oliveira de Morais all through the event. The Brazilian set a national record of 65.98 (216-6) on her second throw and led right down to the final two throws.

Perez, standing second at 64.65 m (212-1), showed almost no emotion throughout the event and looked positively grim coming into the ring in the sixth round. But she turned tightly in the circle and sailed the disc well beyond the last measuring line and it bounced at 66.58 (218-5) to give her the lead … and Perez sort of grimaced.

But when Oliveira de Morais fouled on her throw, Perez actually smiled and moved from up silver in 2015 to the top of the podium in 2019. It the fourth straight PAG gold for Cuba in the women’s discus.

The men’s disc had a lot less drama, as world no. 2 Fedrick Dacres of Jamaica won easily, throwing 67.68 m (222-0), ahead of teammate Traves Smikle (65.02 m/213-4) and Reggie Jagers of the U.S. (64.48 m/211-6). It was Dacres’s second straight Pan Am Games gold in the event.

With temperatures in the high 50s (F), times were slow in the heats of the men’s 100 m. Brazil’s Rodrigo Pereira do Nascimento led all qualifiers at 10.27, with American Mike Rodgers at 10.29. Jamaica’s Olympic Champion from 2016, Elaine Thompson, ran 11.36 for the fastest time of the day.

There was a lot more action all across the Games, including:

● Fencing: Family ties were all over the fencing competition, as American Gerek Meinhardt led a 1-3 finish (with Race Imboden) in the men’s Foil competition. Meinhardt is the fiancé of American Lee Keifer (both pictured above), who won the Foil title on Monday.

Further, two of the three fencing Limardo Gascon brothers from Venezuela faced off in the final of the men’s Epee, with 2012 Olympic Champion Ruben – now 34 – defeating younger brother Jesus (23) in 40 minutes by 15-8. It was Ruben’s third Pan American Games gold medal after titles in 2007 and 2015.

The U.S. collected a third fencing gold in the women’s Sabre, thanks to Eliza Stone.

● In Table Tennis, the top hope for the U.S. men in Tokyo is 19-year-old Kanak Jha and he started his week in Lima with a bronze medal with Yue Wu (29) in the Mixed Doubles, his first medal in a major Games. Wu came back to team with Lily Zhang to win the silver in women’s Doubles.

After 11 full competition days in Peru, the U.S. continues its march at the top of the medal table, with 157 medals (62-51-44), ahead of Canada (97: 24-40-33) and Brazil (88: 27-22-39). That’s with just 215 of the 419 events completed and a rush of finals in the coming days.

For comparison, in 2015 in Toronto (CAN), the U.S. led the medal table with a total of 265 (103-82-80), ahead of Canada (219) and Brazil (141). You can check on all of the results from Lima here.

| 3. | CYCLING: Fourth stage of the Tour de Pologne held as a procession in honor of Bjorg Lambrecht

The unimaginable tragedy of the death of 22-year-old Bjorg Lambrecht of Belgium (and the Lotto-Soudal Team) during the third stage of the Tour de Pologne on Monday was respected by the race and the riders on Tuesday as the course was covered by the riders in memoriam, with no results.

The planned route was shortened from 173.3 km to 133.7 km and the Lotto-Soudal team rode in front of the peloton to the 48 km point, which is where Lambrecht crashed on Monday. A moment of silence was held and then the teams took turns at the front of the race at a pre-set pace, ending with the Lotto-Soudal team crossing the finish line first.

Cycling World reported that “A black banner had been put up in place of a finish line, with Lambrecht’s name and his race number 143 in white letters.”

The Tour will return to racing tomorrow for Stage 5, a 153.8 km ride over a hilly course from Wieliczka to Bielsko-Biala, with Germany’s Pascal Ackermann in the lead over Fernando Gaviria (COL: +0:12). The event continues through Friday; look for results here.

| 4. | SWIMMING Preview: FINA World Cup moves to China, but Hosszu and Simonova enter 14 events again!

The second of seven legs in the FINA Swimming World Cup is in Jinan (CHN) this week, with a weaker field that attended the opener in Tokyo. But once again, the focus will be on series leaders Vladimir Morozov (RUS) and Katinka Hosszu (HUN).

Both won three events in Tokyo and will try to extend their advantages in China in the second of the three meets in the first World Cup “cluster.” Their motivation? The cluster winners each receive a bonus of $50,000!

Hosszu entered 14 events in Tokyo, but scratched down most of her schedule. However, Russian Vitalina Simonova, whose primary claim to fame is a 2013 European silver medal in the 200m Breast, entered 14 events and swam in them all. The only made the final in one event – the 200 m Breast – where she finished seventh, but it was an impressive feat. Our preview is here.

| 5. | VOLLEYBALL Preview: Men’s Olympic qualifying tournaments will award six spots this weekend

Like the women’s events last week, six tournaments of four teams each will be held around the world, with the winners each awarded a place in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Volleyball field.

Japan is already in, of course, as the host country. The favorites in this week’s events include Brazil (no. 1 in the world rankings), the U.S. (2), Italy (3), Poland (4), Russia (5) and Canada (6).

The U.S. will play in Rotterdam (NED) against Belgium, the Netherlands and South Korea. Our preview is here.

| 6. | ATHLETICS: AIU reports out-of-competition drug testing up almost 30% in 2018

The IAAF-funded, but fully independent Athletics Integrity Unit proudly posted its testing collection statistics on the home page of its Web site, but they actually have a lot more to crow about.

The numbers showed 8,489 total tests carried out in 2018, but the comparisons to 2017 make the numbers much more meaningful:

Total samples collected:
● 7,435 in 2017
● 8,489 in 2018, +14.2%

Samples collected out-of-competition:
● 4,626 in 2017
● 6,007 in 2018, +29.9%

Samples collected in-competition:
● 2,809 in 2017
● 2,482 in 2018, -11.6%

Many doping-control activists have called in-competition tests almost worthless, since athletes know they will be tested. The significant increase in the number of out-of-competition tests is a good sign for better follow-up and better intelligence from the AIU. They should promote those rises in out-of-competition tests and total tests rather than just posting the 2018 numbers alone.

LANE ONE: Did you see where Germany drew 178,000 for ten national championships on one weekend in Berlin?

By
Rich Perelman
-

Whenever it seems certain that Olympic sport is essentially dead and that most of these sports are on their way back to recreational status comes an event that shows their epitaph is not quite ready to be confirmed.

Last week, over a total of six days, a total of 178,000 spectators showed up to watch a combined program of 10 national championships in Berlin, Germany.

That’s right: 178,000! 178,000! Vas ist das? Wunderbar!

And of that total, the two-day crowd for the track & field championships in the renovated Olympiastadion was 60,550, with 26,200 on Saturday and 34,350 on Sunday! Really!

This didn’t come about by accident. The 10 events were combined into a defined program called Die Finals Berlin 2019, promoted as a group for a full year, and included:

● 30 July (1): Boxing preliminaries
● 31 July (2): Boxing ~ Track Cycling
● 1 August (3) : Boxing ~ Track Cycling ~ Swimming
● 2 August (3): Boxing ~ Track Cycling ~ Swimming
● 3 August (10): Archery ~ Athletics ~ Boxing ~ Canoe Sprint ~ Track Cycling ~ Gymnastics ~ Modern Pentathlon ~ Mountain Biking ~ Swimming ~ Triathlon
● 4 August (10): Archery ~ Athletics ~ Boxing ~ Canoe Sprint ~ Track Cycling ~ Gymnastics ~ Modern Pentathlon ~ Mountain Biking ~ Swimming ~ Triathlon

The total of 178,000 did not include the free family sports festival in the grounds around the stadium, where some of the sports could be tried, especially by youngsters, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The concept was a combined effort of the national governing bodies in Germany, the two public television stations in Germany – ARD (on Saturday) and ZDF (on Sunday) – who combined to show the event from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each weekend day, and the City of Berlin. According to the announcement of the event:

“The sports associations organize their national championships as independent organizers. The state of Berlin and the broadcasters ARD and ZDF are creating an overarching multi-sport event brand in their first, close and direct cooperation. Only the sports metropolis of Berlin has the venues, resources and competencies to set up this multi-sports event in a timely manner and, with its infrastructure, offers the ideal venue.”

The climactic weekend program featured about 3,000 athletes competing for 180 titles in 140 disciplines within 48 hours. There were nine venues operating in four clusters around the city, with five of the sports held in and around the Olympiastadion.

Attendance at the archery, canoeing, mountain biking, modern pentathlon and triathlon were free and the combined spectator total was in the hundreds of thousands. Tickets were sold for athletics, boxing, track cycling, gymnastics and swimming (and totaled 178,000 combined). For the track & field events, tickets were reportedly priced as low as € 12.50 (about $14 U.S.).

The metropolitan area also has a population of 3.6 million and a huge hotel infrastructure, with more than 55,000 available rooms.

It’s a remarkable feat and raises the question of why this can’t be replicated elsewhere. It’s certainly far beyond what happens in the U.S. with individual championships held in different cities. For example, in the past couple of weeks:

● 25-28 July: USA Track & Field National Championships at Des Moines, Iowa drew 30,367 over four days at Drake Stadium, with crowds of 5,179, 7,150, 8,218 and 9,820.

● 31 July-4 August: USA Swimming National Championships at Stanford, California drew about 2,000 people per day (over five days) at the Avery Aquatic Center, which seats 2,530.

The United States Olympic Committee has had ideas analogous to this in the past that failed. The Titan Games was held in 2003 and 2004, featuring boxing, fencing, wrestling, judo, taekwondo, karate, weightlifting and the shot put, in a “USA vs. the World” format, but had no relation to the national championships in any sport. (No relation to the 2019 NBC television show of the same name.)

There idea of putting together a half-dozen or more national championships in the same U.S. city at the same time has not, to my knowledge, been tried. It should be.

The sports do not have to be the same as were combined in Berlin, but it’s worth noting that the “big three” of athletics, gymnastics and swimming were all involved in the Berlin program.

This is not a program which could held soon. Certainly not in 2020, with the Olympic Games in Tokyo on the horizon. Not in 2021, with world championships being held in athletics and aquatics and many venues already selected.

But in 2022, there are no FINA or IAAF Worlds and the FIG World Championships are held late in the year. This might be worth a try.

Moreover, this is not a program which requires any coordination by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), which – going into 2022 – will already have its hands full preparing for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN). In Berlin, the coordination of the events was made directly with the German national governing bodies.

Perhaps the U.S. governing bodies could get together on this? After all, there is an NGB Council, with Rich Bender of USA Wrestling its representative on the USOPC Board.

NBC would a possible broadcast partner, but ESPN is showing more than 100 hours of the Pan American Games on its channels, both in English and Spanish. The other sports networks are also possibilities. Even the FIFA World Cup will not be an issue in 2022, since it will be held in November and December due to the hot weather in Qatar, leaving the summer period wide open.

Is this concept possible in the U.S.? Yes. Likely? No, as it requires enormous coordination and a host city which is willing to not just help with some of the logistics, but to help promote it as both a civic and tourism attraction.

Los Angeles already has the 2028 Olympic Games to worry about, but there are many other options, especially in university towns which have significant facilities and some pro sports. And what about Texas?

This was a new concept for Berlin and it worked beyond the expectations of the planners, who had expected about 70,000 spectators … and got 178,000. Are some of the NGB chiefs willing to try something this wild?

Can the Olympic Movement in the U.S. afford not to?

Rich Perelman
Editor

SWIMMING: Hosszu and Simonova both enter 14 events again in World Cup no. 2, this time in China

By
Rich Perelman
-
Katina Hosszu (HUN; at right) won three events in the first leg of the FINA World Cup. She's entered 14 events in Jinan!

The second leg of the FINA Swimming World Cup is assembling in Jinan (CHN) with competition from Thursday through Saturday at the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Natatorium.

The entries are not at the level of the first World Cup in Tokyo. The American contingent, as expected, shrunk considerably from the Tokyo opener. Five Americans are entered in Jinan, led by Michael Andrew, with seven events. Freestylers Blake Pieroni and Brennan Gravely are also in, plus breaststroke ace Andrew Wilson and Erica Sullivan, the only women’s entrant.

However, there are plenty of quality swimmers to look for:

● Mitchell Larkin (AUS) ~ 50-100-200 m Back; 200 m Medley
● Vladimir Morozov (RUS) ~ 50-100 m Free; 50 m Back; 50 m Fly
● Danas Rapsys (LTU) ~ 100-200-400 m Free; 50-100 m Back; 100 m Fly
● Blake Pieroni (USA) ~ 50-100-200-400 m Free; 50-100 m Fly
● Andrew Wilson (USA) ~ 50-100-200 m Breast
● Michael Andrew (USA) ~ 50 m Free; 50 m Back; 50-100 m Breast; 50-100 m Fly; 200 m Medley

● Cate Campbell (AUS) ~ 50-100 m Free; 50 m Back; 50 m Fly
● Emily Seebohm (AUS) ~ 50-100-200 m Back; 50 m Breast; 200 m Medley
● Alia Atkinson (JAM) ~ 50-100-200 m Breast; 50-100 m Fly
● Erica Sullivan (USA) ~ 200-400-800 m Free; 200 m Back; 200 m Fly; 400 m Medley
● Vitalina Simonova (RUS) ~ 50-100-200-400-800 m Free; 50-100 m Back; 50-100-200 m Breast; 50-100 m Fly; 200-400 m Medley
● Katinka Hosszu (HUN) ~ 100-200-400-800 m Free; 50-100-200 m Back; 100-200 m Breast; 50-100-200 m Fly; 200-400 m Medley

Hosszu and Russia’s Simonova both entered 14 events, and where Hosszu cut back in Tokyo, Simonova went on to compete in all 14 she entered! She only made one final, but the feat was impressive. Let’s see how many each competes in this week.

Hosszu won the 200 m Fly, and the 200-400 m Medleys, plus a silver medal in the 100 m Back. Adding in the bonus points for the second-best performance of the meet (per the FINA points table) and she’s the leader in the overall women’s standings:

● Men:
1. 48 ~ Vladimir Morozov (RUS)
2. 42 ~ Andrew Wilson (USA)
3. 42 ~ Yasuhiro Kusuke (JPN)

● Women:
1. 54 ~ Katinka Hosszu (HUN)
2. 45 ~ Cate Campbell (AUS)
3. 36 ~ Emily Seebohm (AUS)

Morozov, a two-time World Cup champ, won the 50-100 m Free and 50 m Back in Tokyo.

Prize money is available for the top six: $1,500-1,000-500-400-300-200. Look for results here.

CYCLING: Penultimate Mountain Bike World Cup in Lenzerheide with two Swiss leaders in Cross Country

By
Rich Perelman
-
Swiss Jolanda Neff, the 2017 World XCO Champion

The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season in hurtling toward the close, with only this week’s clashes in Lenzerheide (SUI) and a final set of races in Snowshoe, West Virginia in early September left to decide the seasonal titles. The men’s race has four primary challengers and the women’s title is down to two real contenders:

● Men/Cross Country:
1. 1,390 ~ Nino Schurter (SUI) ~ 6-time World Cup Champion
2. 1,274 ~ Mathieu van der Poel (NED) ~ Two wins, one silver this season
3. 1,165 ~ Henrique Avancini (BRA) ~ Two bronzes this season
4. 1,143 ~ Mathias Flueckiger (SUI) ~ One win, two silvers, one bronze this season
5. 813 ~ Jordan Sarrou (FRA)

● Women/Cross Country:
1. 1,415 ~ Jolanda Neff (SUI) ~ Four silvers in five races in 2019
2. 1,382 ~ Kate Courtney (USA) ~ Three wins this season; reigning World Champion
3. 950 ~ Anne Terpstra (NED) ~ One win in 2019
4. 940 ~ Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (FRA) ~ One win this season
5. 805 ~ tie, Anne Tauber (NED) and Sina Frei (SUI)

Scoring in Cross Country includes the Short Track race (worth up to 125 points) and the XCO race, worth up to 250.

● Men/Downhill:
1. 1,132 ~ Loic Bruni (FRA) ~ Three wins, two silvers this season
2. 1,000 ~ Amaury Pierron (FRA) ~ Defending World Cup Champion
3. 939 ~ Troy Brosnan (AUS) ~ One silvers, three bronzes this season
4. 754 ~ Loris Vergier (FRA) ~ One silver, two bronzes this season
5. 723 ~ Danny Hart (GBR)

● Women/Downhill:
1. 1,250 ~ Tracey Hannah (AUS) ~ Only one to win medals in all five XCO races
2. 1,080 ~ Marine Cabirou (FRA) ~ One win, two silvers in last three races
3. 739 ~ Nina Hoffmann (GER) ~ One silver, one bronze in 2019
4. 730 ~ Rachel Atherton (GBR) ~ Two wins, one silver this season
5. 639 ~ Veronika Widmann (ITA)

The Cross Country Short Track race will be held on Friday, the Downhills on Saturday and the Cross Country Olympic race on Sunday. Look for results here.

Lenzerheide last hosted a Mountain Bike World Cup in 2017, when Schurter won the XCO race, along with Annie Last (GBR); the Downhills were won by Greg Minaar (RSA) and Myriam Nicole (FRA).

VOLLEYBALL: Men’s Olympic qualifying tourneys will send six to Tokyo; U.S. is in Rotterdam

By
Rich Perelman
-
Second-ranked U.S. men in action in Rotterdam in Olympic qualifying (Photo: FIVB)

After a dramatic weekend of women’s qualifying, the men’s Olympic qualifying tournaments are on this week, with six tickets to be punched for Tokyo to join Japan as host in the 12-team tournament.

The six pools, with the 2018 world rankings of the teams shown:

● Pool A ~ Varna (BUL): Brazil (1), Egypt (13), Bulgaria (14), Puerto Rico (24)

● Pool B ~ Rotterdam (NED): United States (2), Belgium (12), Netherlands (15), South Korea (24)

● Pool C ~ Bari (ITA): Italy (3), Serbia (10), Australia (16), Cameroon (23)

● Pool D ~ Gdansk (POL): Poland (4), France (9), Slovenia (17), Tunisia (22)

● Pool E ~ St. Petersburg (RUS): Russia (5), Iran (8), Cuba (18), Mexico (21)

● Pool F ~ Ningbo (CHN): Canada (6), Argentina (7), Finland (19), China (20)

At the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam:

● 09 August: Netherlands vs. Korea, Belgium vs, U.S.
● 10 August: Belgium vs. Netherlands, Korea vs. U.S.
● 11 August: Netherlands vs. U.S., Korea vs. Belgium

The “current” FIVB rankings are from 2018, so they are hardly an indicator of relative strength. More informative data comes from the recently-concluded Nations League; the top six in the 16-team round robin:

1. Brazil (14-1)
2. Iran (12-3)
3. Russia (12-3)
4. France (11-4)
5. Poland (11-4)
6. United States (9-6)

In the finals – held in the U.S., in Chicago – Russia defeated Poland and the U.S. defeated Brazil in the semifinals, and Russia beat the U.S. in four sets in the final. Poland swept Brazil, 3-0, in the third-place match.

Only the winners of this weekend’s pools will advance to Tokyo in 2020. The remaining five slots will be filled in continental qualifying tournaments to be held in January 2020. Look for results here.

TSX Daily: American teen Evy Leibfarth strikes Pan Am gold in Canoe Slalom, but death marks cycling’s Tour de Pologne

By
Rich Perelman
-
Pan American Games K-1 gold medalist Evy Leibfarth (USA) (Photo: ICF)

= TSX DAILY ~ 6 August 2019 =

| 1. |  CANOE/SLALOM: American Olympic fans, remember this name for Tokyo: Evy Leibfarth 

One of the powers of sport is to propel an unknown into the public spotlight. While she hasn’t quite made it yet, all the elements are in place for a pigtailed teen from Bryson City, North Carolina to be a star.

Her name is Evy Leibfarth (pictured above) and she is the Pan American Games gold medalist in the Canoe Slalom K-1.

She has been the talk of the Canoe Slalom world since she debuted on the ICF World Cup circuit in June, paddling through the very difficult course in Bratislava (SVK) and making the finals in both the C-1 and K-1 events, placing seventh and 10th, respectively.

The shocker came a week later, in the Ljubljana (SLO) World Cup. After finishing ninth in the K-1 finals, she picked up only two penalties on the way to a third-place finish in the C-1, the first-ever World Cup medal by an American women in that discipline!

So she came to the Pan American Games as someone to watch and she did not disappoint. She won the K-1 title with ease, gliding through the gates without a penalty and clocking 93.70 seconds to win by exactly seconds ahead of Argentina’s Nadia Riquelme.

“It’s really incredible,” she said afterwards “It’s really such a great event. There are so many great athletes competing here and it’s so cool to be part of such a big team. I’m just psyched I was able to put together two good runs.

“I’m not as strong as some of the senior athletes, but for me right now racing is just a lot of fun and I feel like I don’t have a lot of expectations.”

Leibfarth then won a silver medal behind Brazil’s reigning World Champion, Ana Satila, in the Extreme K-1, an insane mix of a summer-camp race and the demolition derby in which four racers start at the same time and race together down a course which required them to roll over (into the water) at one point on the route.

Said Leibfarth, “It was definitely the most fun event of the weekend. At some point, you just forget everyone that’s there and are just focused on getting around the gates the fastest.

“Sometimes that means trying to cut other people off, but in the end it’s kind of funny because all of a sudden instead of just seeing boats, you start to see the athletes and that’s pretty cool. The photos from the event are all really funny. We all have really bad paddling faces. Just so focused and just ‘ugggh’.”

For much more on Leibfarth, check out her story on canoeicf.com.

| 2. | PAN AMERICAN GAMES: U.S. continues to roar in Lima, passes 50 golds with a week to go

The Pan Am Games in Lima (PER) has moved into its final week and the United States team – as expected – is running away in the medal race, having won 141 total medals (57-46-38) through Monday night.

Canada is second with 88 medals (23-38-27) and there is a tight race for third between Brazil (78: 23-18-37) and Mexico (76: 21-18-37).

The scope of the Pan Am Games is enormous, with 416 total events. To check out the medalists from the first eight full days of competition at the Games (27 July-4 August), you can only go to one place: the TSX Stat Pack for Monday, 5 August here.

On Monday in Lima:

● The U.S.’s Lee Kiefer (pictured below) won the first women’s fencing event of the Pan Am Games in Foil, the start of what is expected to be a strong U.S. showing in the sport.

● Americans won 11 out of the 24 medals awarded in Rhythmic Gymnastics, with Evita Griskenas winning the All-Around, Hoop, Ball and Ribbon events, while Camilla Feeley won the Clubs event and scored a silver in the All-Around and bronzes in Hoop and Ball.

The organizing committee has been complimented by PanAm Sports for the smooth running of the event so far, with the primary concerns about transportation times getting to and from events in the congested city of Lima. But there are smiles all around.

| 3. | CYCLING: Unthinkable tragedy as 22-year-old Bjorg Lambrecht dies after crash in Tour de Pologne

An almost incomprehensible tragedy struck the 76th Tour de Pologne on Monday, as Belgian rider Bjorg Lambrecht, 22, crashed and fell into a concrete channel. He was severely injured and despite the efforts of the medical staff, passed away in a nearby hospital during surgery.

Monday’s third stage of 150.5 km was held on a flat, loop course between the cities of Chorzow and Zabrze. Lambrecht crashed 48 km into the race, on a section of road that was not considered dangerous.

His team, Lotto-Soudal, was devastated of course and the stage winner, German Pascal Ackermann – who won only after a disqualification of another rider – said afterwards,  “Today, the result of the race doesn’t matter.”

The Tour will continue, but the fourth stage will be substantially shortened and flattened as a tribute. Lambrecht was a promising rider, winning the silver medal in the 2018 UCI U-23 World Championships road race. Rest in peace.

| 4. | SWIMMING: Lochte’s Medley success at Stanford best of his four events there

On the day after he turned 35 years old, 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte returned to the USA Swimming National Championships for the first time in three years and had a busy five days.

While his sensational win in the 200 m Medley that moved him to no. 11 on the world list for 2019 was widely reported, his other swims were less so:

● 200 m Free: 27th in heats (1:50.25); skipped D Final
● 100 m Back: =15th in heats (55.08); skipped B Final
● 100 m Fly: 23rd in heats (53.25); 4th in C Final (53.36)
● 200 m Medley: 1st in heats (1:58.77); won A Final (1:57.76)

It’s still a remarkable performance for Lochte, who was suspended for 10 months on 8 September 2016 for his role in the early-morning incident at a Rio gas station during the Olympic Games (more here) and then for 14 months by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on 23 July 2018 for taking a “prohibited intravenous infusion” without a pre-arranged Therapeutic Use Exemption.

Beyond the world ranking of his Medley win, the time ranks fourth among Americans for the year and was 0.98 seconds behind Chase Kalisz’s bronze-medal performance at the 2019 World Championships in Korea. He’s back in the mix.

| 5. | ATHLETICS: Olympic gold medalist Sally Pearson retires; Mihambo jumps 23-6 in Berlin in front of 34,350!

“I am here to let you all know that I have decided to retire from my sport of athletics. It has been a long 16 years, but also a fun and exciting 16 years. My body has decided it is time to let it go, and move forward onto a new direction. I hope I have made you proud Australia.”

Age and injuries – conditions often intertwined – have closed the career of Australian hurdles star Sally Pearson at age 32. She won the 100 m hurdles at the 2011 and 2017 World Championships and out-lasted defending champion Dawn Harper-Nelson of the U.S. at the finish of the  2012 Olympic Games in London (Harper-Nelson would have won if the race was 101 m).

Pearson had suffered repeated injuries of late, but had run 12.70 this year and could have been a contender for medals at the Worlds in Doha if not for the physical problems. The winner of 16 Australian titles, she leaves highly respected and with a lifetime best of 12.28, no. 6 on the all-time list, from back in 2011 at the World Championships.

American Brittney Reese, now 32, is the four-time World Champion in the women’s long jump, winning in 2009-11-13-17, to go along with her 2012 Olympic gold medal and 2016 silver. But Germany’s Malaika Mihambo, 25, sent a message on Sunday: “Catch me if you can.”

Mihambo, already the world leader in the long jump at 7.07 m (23-2 1/2), extended that lead – and her lifetime best to 7.16 m (23-6) in winning the German Nationals at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

She performed in front of a big audience, too: 34,350 on the final day of the meet (video evidence here) and 60,550 for the two-day event. Wow!

| 6. | COMING ATTRACTIONS: USA Gymnastics Nationals start Thursday in Kansas City

While the Pan Am Games continue, the selection event for the U.S. teams for the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships comes this week with the USA Gymnastics National Championships in Kansas City.

The incomparable Simone Biles will lead the women’s competition, of course, along with members of the gold medal-winning women’s team from the Pan American Games in Lima.

Also: the second FINA Swimming World Cup will be staged in Jinan (CHN) this weekend and the 2019 Sport Climbing World Championships will begin a 10-day run next Sunday in Hachioji (JPN).

| 7. | FLASHBACK: The legend of Babe Didrikson was born this week, 87 years ago

Women were only allowed to compete in Olympic track & field in 1928 and by the 1932 Games in Los Angeles, there were only six events available: 100 m, 80 m hurdles, 4×100 m relay, high jump, shot put, discus and javelin.

If she was allowed, Babe Didrikson might have tried to win them all. As it was, she became a legend in Los Angeles, 87 years ago this week.

She started off on 31 July (last week) with an Olympic Record of 43.69 m (143-4) in the javelin, then won in the 80 m hurdles on 4 August in a world record of 11.7, out-leaning Evelyne Hall at the tape.

Her third event – the limit imposed by U.S. officials – was the high jump and she and Jean Shiley of the U.S. tied with a world record of 1.65 m (5-4 3/4). As they both missed three times at 1.67 m (5-5 1/2), they had a jump-off back at 1.65 m and both cleared. But the judges said Didrikson went over head first – she said she jumped the same way she had all during the event – and declared Shiley the winner.

But the 21-year-old from Port Arthur, Texas was a star. She went on to become the greatest female athlete in the world, competing in basketball and then in golf. She took up the sport in 1935 and during her career that ended only with her death in 1956, she won 41 LPGA Tour events and 41 other events. She competed in four PGA (men’s) tournaments, missing the cut in the 1938 Los Angeles Open, but making the cut in three other events in 1945, the only female player to ever do so.

Imagine what she could do today, in an environment much more favorable to women in sports!

CYCLING: Belgium’s Bjorg Lambrecht crashes during Tour de Pologne, dies afterwards

By
Rich Perelman
-
Rest in Peace: Bjorg Lambrecht (BEL), 1997-2019

The ultimate tragedy struck the UCI World Tour on Monday during the third stage of the Tour de Pologne, when Belgian rider Bjorg Lambrecht, 22, crashed into a concrete channel and died hours after receiving medical treatment.

The crash took place during Monday’s 150.5 km flat stage, held on a loop course from Chorzow to Zabrze. Lambrecht crashed 48 km into the race, on a flat section that did not appear dangerous.

CyclingNews.com reported that “Race doctor Ryszard Wisniewski was quoted as saying, ‘We don’t know why he fell, it was on a totally flat road. We tried to give a heart massage just afterwards, then we called for a helicopter but his condition was so serious it wasn’t able to transport him.

“‘So we did more reanimation there where he was and then took him to the hospital by ambulance. More reanimation was done on the way to the hospital, but he died during the operation there in the hospital [in Rybnik].’”

Lambrecht’s team, Lotto-Soudal posted, “The biggest tragedy possible that could happen to the family, friends and teammates of Bjorg has happened. Rest in peace Bjorg.”

The race will continue with a shortened, flattened fourth stage. Originally on a hilly, 173.3 km route from Jaworzno to Kocierz, the race organizers posted a notice stating “The race organisers, the jury and the cycling teams have made a decision to neutralize the 4th stage of Tour de Pologne to pay our respects to Bjorg. The stage route is reduced to 133.7km and the final laps cut to 1. Any further decisions regarding tomorrow’s stage will be communicated in agreement with Lotto Soudal.”

The third stage was shaken again at the end, as Fabio Jakobsen (NED) won but was disqualified for pushing another rider during the final sprint, giving the victory to German Pascal Ackermann. Also the winner of Stage 1, Ackermann is the overall leader in the race, but said of the unimaginable tragedy of a rider dying from injuries during a race, “Today, the result of the race doesn’t matter.”

Lambrecht was a promising rider, having finished second in the U-23 World Championships road race in 2018. He was 13th in the Tour de Pologne second stage on Sunday. The race is scheduled to continue through Friday (9th). Results and standings are here.

STAT PACK: Results for the week of 29 July-4 August 2019

By
Rich Perelman
-

The Stat Pack: a summary of results of international Grand Prix, World Cup and World Championships events, plus U.S. domestic events and Pan American championships events of note.

In this week’s issue are reports on 12 events in 6 sports, plus the Pan American Games:

● Multi-Sport: Pan American Games in Lima
● Badminton: World Tour 500: Thailand Open in Bangkok
● Beach Vllybl: FIVB World Tour 5-star Major in Vienna
● Cycling: UCI MWT: Clasica Ciclista San Sebastien in San Sebastian
● Cycling: UCI MWT: Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic in London
● Cycling: UCI WWT: Prudential RideLondon Classique in London
● Cycling: UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill-XCO-XCC in Val di Sole
● Golf: LPGA AIG Women’s British Open in Little Brickhill
● Swimming: FINA World Cup 1 in Tokyo
● Swimming: USA Swimming National Championships in Stanford
● Swimming: FINA Marathon World Series 6 at Lac Megantic
● Volleyball: FIVB Women’s Olympic Qualification at six sites

plus our calendar of upcoming events through 25 August. Click below for the PDF:

[wpdm_package id=15811 template=”link-template-button-popup.php”]

TSX DAILY: Stunning results at U.S. swim Nationals, anti-Games activists channeling Groucho, and remembering Jesse, Mary Lou and King Carl at the Games

By
Rich Perelman
-
Groucho Marx, in cap and gown, as Prof. Quincy Adams Wagstaff in Horse Feathers (1932)

= TSX DAILY ~ 5 August 2019 =

| 1. | SWIMMING: New talent shines at the 2019 USA Swimming Nationals, as if the U.S. didn’t have enough stars already

In the aftermath of the 2019 FINA World Championships, where a U.S. team picked in 2018 won 27 medals and won 14 events while the next closest country won five, how important could the USA Swimming Nationals Championships a week later at Stanford be?

Great, as it turned out, no doubt causing the rending of garments and tearing of hair among coaches and athletes of other countries when they saw a whole new generation of stars emerge:

● Maxime Rooney (21) came into the meet with a lifetime best in the men’s 100 m Butterfly of 52.28 and left as national champ after swimming 50.68 in the heats, a time which would have won the Worlds silver medal. He now stands no. 2 in the world for 2019, behind only World Champion Caeleb Dressel.

● Regan Smith (17), already a double gold medalist and double world-record setter in the Worlds in the Backstroke, won the 200 m Butterfly in 2:07.26, no. 6 on the 2019 world list. Another event for 2020? “I love butterfly,” she said.

● Emma Weyant (17), won the women’s 400 m Medley in 4:35.37, a lifetime best by five seconds and fastest by an American this year and no. 5 on the world list. She beat both members of the U.S. Worlds team in the final.

● Shaine Casas (19) finished second in the 200 m Backstroke in a lifetime best of 1:55.79 to move to sixth on the year list, then exploded in the 100 m Back, dropping almost two seconds to win in 52.72, no. 5 on the world list and a time that would have won the Worlds bronze medal!

● Bobby Finke (19) appears ready to breathe some life into American men’s distance swimming; he won three events at Stanford, in the 800 m Free, 1,500 m Free and the 400 m Medley. His Medley time of 4:13.15 ranks no. 9 on the world list, as does his 1,500 m win (14:51.15) and his 7:47.58 for the 800 m is no. 11.

There was much more, including a 47.39 in the 100 m Free – no. 3 for 2019 – by veteran Ryan Held (with Rooney – pictured below – right behind at 47.61 (no. 5 for 2019) and the return of Ryan Lochte – at age 35 – who won the 200 m Medley in 1:57.76, placing him no. 11 in the world for 2019.

Not only is the rest of the world shaking its head, but so are some members of the U.S. World Championships team that will have to deal with these folks at the Olympic Trials in Omaha next summer.

| 2. | LANE ONE: Anti-Olympic activists appear to be getting their strategy from … Dr. Quincy Adams Wagstaff?

I don’t know what they have to say
It makes no difference anyway
Whatever it is, I’m against it!

That’s how Groucho Marx – as the new head of the fictional Huxley College – opened the 1932 comedy classic “Horse Feathers” and over 87 years later, his position has been adopted as the stance to be used by anti-Olympic activists in Japan in advance of the 2020 Olympic Games. Groucho’s lines went over a lot better – then and now – and despite the dire predictions to the contrary, and a taxpayer cost estimated at about $7 billion, the Japanese public has embraced the Games and volunteered in droves (about 154,000!) and more than 7.5 million online applicants are chasing the 7.8 million tickets available for the Games.

There are significant issues related to the Olympics in Tokyo, but decrying how the Games will impact the homeless for a few weeks instead of solving their long-term care needs demonstrates that the activists actually don’t care about the Games at all, but about trying to use the Games to get some attention for their failed political agenda by another means.

(Yes, the video of Groucho singing “I’m Against It!” is embedded.)

| 3. | PAN AMERICAN GAMES: U.S. on target, as Rhode goes 6-for-6 with Skeet gold

As expected, the United States is running away with the medal count at the Pan American Games in Lima (PER). Through the first nine full days of competition, the American squad has earned 132 medals (54-44-34) to 79 for Canada (19-36-24) and 72 for Brazil (22-16-34).

The most impressive U.S. team at the PAG has been from USA Shooting, which won an astonishing 20 medals (10-8-2) to 25 for everyone else! The American gold winners included Sandra Uptagrafft in the 25 m Pistol, Alison Weisz and Lucas Kozeniesky in the men’s and women’s 10 m Air Rifle; Tim Sherry and Sarah Beard in the 50 m Rifle/3 Positions; Brian Burrows and Ashley Carroll in men’s and women’s Trap; Christian Elliott and Kim Rhode in men’s and women’s Skeet and the Mixed Trap duo of Carroll and Derek Haldeman.

Kozeniesky had a wild week of canceled flights, lost luggage, stolen equipment and a kidney infection (more here) – and still won – but Rhode (pictured below) might be an even more amazing story. She has already won six Olympic medals in her six Olympic Games in 1996-2000-04-08-12-16, but she has also now won six Pan American Games medals in six different Games: 1999-2003 golds in Double Trap and then when that event was dumped from the Olympic program, she started fresh and won a 2007 silver in Skeet and now golds in Skeet in 2011-15-19.

At 40, she has no interest in slowing down, and is well aware of the feats of Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn, who won a gold medal in 1912 at age 64 and a silver medal at age 72 in 1920!

The U.S. also had noteworthy success in weightlifting, with victories from Wesley Kitts in the men’s 109 kg class (389 kg/~858 lbs.), and Sarah Robles, who dominated the women’s +87 kg division, lifting a combined total of 284 kg (~626 lbs.).

The U.S. boxers won a total of 10 medals (1-4-5), with Oshae Jones winning the women’s 69 kg division. The American men won five medals (0-2-3), but were 0-4 in bouts against Cuba, which won eight of the 10 men’s weight classes. The U.S. women won medals in all five weight classes.

Competition continues this week, with more than 200 events remaining, including major attractions including track & field, swimming and wrestling.

| 4. | FOOTBALL: U.S. Women’s National Team swamps Ireland, 3-0 at Rose Bowl

The first game of the five-stop “Victory Tour” for the U.S. women was an easy, 3-0 victory over outclassed Ireland in front of an impressive crowd of 37,040 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on Saturday night.

The American squad, playing without Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, got first-half goals from Tobin Heath (16th minute), Lindsey Horan (31st) and Carli Lloyd (41st), her 114th for the United States. The U.S. out-shot Ireland, 29-2 for the game, and will next face Portugal twice, on 29 August in Philadelphia and on 3 September in St. Paul.

| 5. | VOLLEYBALL: U.S. women one of six to qualify for Tokyo, but it wasn’t easy

After surviving a real scare against Bulgaria in its second game, the U.S. women’s team punched its ticket to Tokyo by defeating Argentina on Sunday in straight sets (3-0) to win its “regional” in Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana.

There were six Tokyo qualifying spots on offer in four-team competitions in six different groups worldwide. Italy, China and Serbia all swept through their qualifiers, winning all three matches fairly easily. Russia won all three of its matches to qualify and Brazil survived scares and barely made it through five-set wins against Azerbaijan and the Dominican Republic.

The U.S. women breezed past Kazakhstan in straight sets, but then almost got beat by a tenacious Bulgarian squad. The U.S. lost the first set, 25-21, won the second set by 25-19, lost the third set by 25-21 again and had to win two sets in a row. The fourth set went back and forth, but excellent blocking keyed a 25-20 win. In the final set, strong hitting from Jordan Larson and Jordan Thompson helped the U.S. survive with a 15-10 victory.

Said U.S. coach Karch Kiraly, “It was pretty rough, and we got pushed to the brink, and I loved the response that our team had down 2-1.”Now they can look ahead to Tokyo, where they will be favorites for a medal.

| 6. | BEACH VOLLEYBALL: And the gold-medal favorites for Tokyo are …

Just in case you are interested, the favorites for the gold medals in Tokyo – as of right now – are Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum and Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes. Both won impressively at the FIVB 5-star Major in Vienna (AUT) on Sunday.

Mol and Sorum have become almost invincible over the last two years and won their seventh tournament of this season, tying with four other squads for the second-most wins in one campaign. They’re two short of the record of nine held by Americans Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers from 2020, but they’re just about out of tournaments for 2019. The Norwegians beat Brazil’s Alison Cerutti and Alvarho Filho in the final and have now won 61 of their 65 matches this season!

Pavan and Humana-Paredes won the world title in 2019 and have followed up with two more wins, this time defeating Brazil’s Maria Antonelli andCarol Salgado by 21-19, 21-16 in 47 minutes. It’s the sixth World Tour win for the Canadians as a team and they will be hard to beat in Tokyo.

The World Tour season will end in early September with the World Tour Final in Rome (ITA).

| 7. | FLASHBACK: Remembering Jesse Owens, Mary Lou Retton in their Olympic moments

● Games of the XIth Olympiad/Berlin 1936: Jesse Owens won the first of his four gold medals in the infamous Berlin Olympic Games on 3 August, leading a 1-2 finish for the U.S. with Ralph Metcalfe in a wind-aided 10.3-10.4. He followed that up with the long jump gold on the following day, taking the lead in the first round (7.74 m/25-4 3/4), then extending his lead to 7.87 m (25-10) in the second round and 7.94 m (26-0 3/4) in round five. German Luz Long reached 7.87 m (25-10) in round five, so Owens felt the pressure going into his final jump, and he responded with the best jump of the day: an Olympic Record of 8.06 m (26-5 1/2) to confirm his second gold.

The final of the 200 m was on 5 August and Owens won his third gold in three days with a world-record time of 20.7, leading another 1-2 sweep ahead of Mack Robinson – older brother of Jackie Robinson – at 21.1. His fourth gold didn’t come until 9 August, when he and Metcalfe replaced Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller – both Jewish – on the 4×100 m relay, and the combo of Owens, Metcalfe, Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff equaled the world record (40.0) in the heats and then set it at 39.8 in the final. Set against the backdrop of the Nazi government in Germany, it was one of the most important moments in sports history.

● Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad/Los Angeles 1984: It seems impossible, but it was 35 years ago that the revolutionary Los Angeles Games were underway and had already made heroes out of gymnast Mary Lou Retton and sprinter Carl Lewis.

Retton, standing all of 4-9, electrified the crowd at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion with her energetic and powerful style that presaged today’s stars like Simone Biles. She finished the Team competition with 39.525 points for the All-Around, slightly ahead of Romania’s Ecaterina Szabo. Retton scored 10.0s on the Vault and Floor to one for Szabo (on Beam) and managed a 0.5-point victory, 79.175-79.125 in what was considered a noteworthy upset.

Szabo showed why later. In addition to winning the Team gold, Szabo claimed individual golds on Floor, Vault and Beam (shared with teammate Simona Puica) and left with four golds packed in her suitcase, along with the All-Around silver. Retton also won five medals, with a Team silver, Vault silver and bronzes on Floor and Uneven Bars. But the All-Around is what American fans remember.

Lewis was trying to equal Owens’s feat 48 years later and won the 100 m on 4 August impressively in 9.99, ahead of American Sam Graddy (10.19) and Canadian Ben Johnson (10.22; remember him?). On 6 August, Lewis won the long jump at 8.54 m (28-0 1/4), taking only two jumps and choosing rest with the 200 m coming up. No one was close; Gary Honey (AUS) finished second at 8.24 m (27-0 1/2).

Gold medal no. 3 came on 8 August in the 200 m, as Lewis led a U.S. sweep in an Olympic Record of 19.80, ahead of Kirk Baptiste (19.96) and Thomas Jefferson (20.26). The fourth gold, in the 4×100 m relay, was assured when Calvin Smith got the stick on the third leg and gave Lewis an insurmountable lead that finished in a world record 37.83 on 11 August.

Was it really 35 years ago?

LANE ONE: Anti-Olympic activists appear to be getting their strategy from … Prof. Quincy Adams Wagstaff?

By
Rich Perelman
-
Groucho Marx, in cap and gown, as Prof. Quincy Adams Wagstaff in Horse Feathers (1932)

In one of the most riotous comedies of all time and a world-class spoof of American college life, Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff addressed the faculty and students of Huxley College in song in “Horse Feathers” (1932). Played by Groucho Marx, Wagstaff tells the assembled:

I don’t know what they have to say
It makes no difference anyway
Whatever it is, I’m against it!
No matter what it is
Or who commenced it
I’m against it!

Fast forward 87 years later and the same concepts apply to the anti-Olympic activists who turn up now and again in news reports after holding a lightly-attended press conference or demonstration.The latest chapter was headlined in a story entitled “We’ll all be losers in 2020, anti-Olympic activists say” in the Japan Times on 23 July which started with “Activists opposed to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games say the events will hurt individuals and businesses through high costs and disruption, and will provide only fleeting gains for a small number of people in the political, economic and media elite.”

That an anti-Olympic event in Japan was held at the Foreign Correspondents Club and featured an American academic demonstrated the weakness of the anti-Games movement in Japan. Moreover, the anti-Games efforts have been sidelined by a tsunami of support for the 2020 Games which has reached a level of popularity which was unforeseen even by its boosters during the bid process. Consider:

● The domestic sponsorship and suppliership program with the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee has reached record heights. The chair of the International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission said in late June that 62 companies had signed up as Gold Partners (15), Official Partners (32) and Official Supporters (15) contributing more than $3.1 billion, nearly three times what London 2012 ($1.1 billion) was able to bring in.

That’s the business response.

● The people of Japan have signaled their support of the Games twice over, in record numbers of volunteer applications and ticket requests … neither of which were expected in such volume.

The Tokyo organizers launched a volunteer recruitment campaign last fall, hoping to have about 80,000 applications to assist with the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Between 25 September and 21 December, a startling total of 186,101 applications were received, with 63% (~117,243) from Japan itself and the remainder from other countries (which says a lot about the power of the Games elsewhere).

That does not count the 36,649 applicants who signed up to volunteer – against a hoped-for total of 20,000 – the Tokyo Metropolitan Government during the Games period.

● The response to the ticketing program was just as amazing, with 7.5 million applicants in Japan itself registering for the first round of the ticket lottery. That’s against a total tickets-available target of 7.8 million for the Games, priced from about $22 U.S. up to more than $1,183 for the most expensive tickets for the ceremonies.

There were so many people who didn’t get the tickets they wanted that a second round of lottery sales for those folks will be held against on 22 August.

This is a level of actual, individual support for the Games which is remarkable on every level.

This is not to say that Tokyo has not had its problems, notably with the cost of the Games, which exploded – especially on the governmental side – with the building of a new national stadium, a new aquatics center and an Olympic Village. There have been governmental reports that link projects with barely any relationship to the Games to the costs, but the current projections are that the 2020 events will actually cost about $12.6 billion U.S. Of that, $5.6 billion will be paid by the self-funding organizing committee.

The remainder, or $7 billion, will be paid by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government ($5.6) and the Japanese national government ($1.4). The TMG aspect of the budget has been heavily criticized – and rightly so – but as a total expenditure over the seven years of the preparation period, it’s worth noting that the annual TMG budget (as of 2016) was 7 trillion yen or about $65.8 billion.

The anti-Tokyo Games group claimed the event will “‘violate human rights’ through disruptions to public transportation and the displacement of homeless people.” That there is going to be traffic in Tokyo is hardly news and what happens to the homeless during the Games period is hardly as important as what happens to them long-term.

But this demonstrates a long-standing truth: protests against the Olympic Games usually have very little to do with the event and are almost always a stalking horse for dissent against one or more levels of government in the city or country where the Games take place. Activists who have lost at the ballot box use these events to try and gain some measure of notice by attacking their real target – government – in another way.

Tokyo’s Olympic success is far from assured, however. Staging an Olympic Games is an enormous effort that will stretch even a megalopolis like Tokyo to its limit. The current heat wave in Japan will be the cause celebre – at least for now – through to the Games next summer.

There will be problems and the organizing committee, governments, businesses and the client participants – such as the International Olympic Committee, the International Federations and the National Olympic Committees will all have to be part of the solutions.

But the stunning turnout of support for the Games in Japan, from business and individuals, show that the voices of the anti-Games crowd have been recognized for what they are: an unfunny, 21st Century version of Groucho as Prof. Wagstaff, head of the fictional Huxley College. As he put it:

Your proposition may be good
But let’s have one thing understood
Whatever it is, I’m against it!
And even when you’ve changed it
Or condensed it
I’m against it!

Personally, I preferred “Animal Crackers” or “Duck Soup“, but that’s ir-elephant to what this column was about.

Rich Perelman
Editor

 

SWIMMING: In a meet of youngsters, 35-year-old Ryan Lochte wins U.S. 200 m Medley title in 1:57.76

By
Rich Perelman
-
He's back: 35-year-old U.S. 200 m Medley national champ Ryan Lochte

“This was a lot easier 10 years ago.”

No doubt, but it was a remarkable scene at Stanford’s Avery Aquatics Center to see a 35-year-old Ryan Lochte taking the winner’s interview after his victory in the 200 m Medley, especially in a meet which had seen younger swimmers emerge as stars in advance of the Olympic year of 2020.

Lochte hadn’t done much in his other events during the USA Swimming National Championships, but he is still the world-record holder in this event and was the fastest qualifier in the morning at 1:58.77. He was only sixth off the first leg, but charged on the backstroke and took the lead, then increased it on breaststroke and free leg, winning in 1:57.76. That’s a long way from his 1:54.00 world record set back in 2011, but it ranks no. 11 in the world for 2019 and fourth among Americans.

“I’m really happy to go out there and get a win, but there is a long way to go for 2020,” he said afterwards. But at 35, he’s unquestionably a contender: his winning time at Stanford is 0.98 from the bronze-medal swim of Chase Kalisz of the U.S. at the 2019 Worlds.

Back to the youngsters, especially 19-year-old Bobby Finke, who came from behind to score his third win at Stanford, winning the men’s 800 m Free in 7:47.58, no. 11 on the world list for 2019, but the fastest among Americans this season. He beat Zane Grothe, who swam in the heats of the Worlds in Korea, but did not qualify for the final. Finke’s time would have made the Worlds final.

Ryan Held, who won the 100 m Free so impressively in 47.39, led from start to finish in the 50 m Free, touching in 21.87, no. 14 on the 2019 world list but third among Americans behind Caeleb Dressel (21.04) and Michael Andrew (21.62).

Hardly a newcomer, but Madisyn Cox made an important comeback after her doping suspension and then clearance, winning the women’s 200 m Breaststroke and then the 200 m Medley, plus two fifth-place finishes in the 100 m Breast and 400 m Medley. Her 2:10.00 winner in the 200 Medley was a seasonal best and maintained her position as no. 9 on the world list (and no. 2 American) this season.

In the absence of the big U.S. stars like Katie Ledecky or Leah Smith, Ally McHugh, 22, completed a distance triple by winning the 400, 800 and 1,500 m Freestyles.

This was a much more impressive meet than it figured at the start and showcased a rising tide of talent that will make next summer’s Olympic Trials a lot more unpredictable than expected just a week ago. Summaries:

USA Swimming Phillips 66 National Championships
Stanford, California (USA) ~ 31 July-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Freestyle: 1. Ryan Held, 21.87; 2. tie, Robert Howard and Bowe Becker 22.00; 4. Payton Sorenson, 22.18; 5. David Curtiss, 22.25; 6. Erik Risolvato, 22.32; 7. Gus Borges (BRA), 22.46; 8. Jack Thorpe (GBR), 22.56.

100 m Free: 1. Ryan Held, 47.39; 2. Maxime Rooney, 47.61; 3. Tate Jackson, 47.88; 4. Dean Farris, 48.07; 5. Daniel Krueger, 48.55; 6. Jack Conger, 48.64; 7. Robert Howard, 48.71; 8. Becker, 49.00.

200 m Free: 1. Elijah Winnington (AUS), 1:46.19; 2. Kieran Smith, 1:46.25; 3. Dean Farris, 1:46.45; 4. Rooney, 1:46.78; 5. Patrick Callan, 1:47.36; 6. Trenton Julian, 1:48.03; 7. Mitch D’Arrigo, 1:48.37; 8. Jordan Pothain (FRA), 1:48.98.

400 m Free: 1. Whittington (AUS), 3:47.39; 2. Jake Mitchell, 3:48.09; 3. Bobby Finke, 3:48.17; 4. Eric Knowles, 3:48.34; 5. Julian, 3:49.47; 6. tie, Patrick Callan and Mitch D’Arrigo, 3:50.37; 8. Zach Yeadon, 3:51.16.

800 m Free: 1. Finke, 7:47.58; 2. Zane Grothe, 7:50.47; 3. Michael Brinegar, 7:54.56; 4. Winnington (AUS), 7:55.11; 5. Dant, 7:56.03; 6. Knowles, 7:57.00; 7. Johannes Calloni (ITA), 7:58.76; 8. J. Mitchell, 7:59.15.

1,500 m Free: 1. Finke, 14:51.15; 2. Grothe, 14:56.10; 3. Brinegar, 15:00.82; 4. Arik Katz, 15:05.93; 5. J. Mitchell, 15:11.52; 6. Knowles, 15:13.52; 7. Jack Collins, 15:15.75; 8. Dant, 15:22.06.

100 m Backstroke: 1. Shaine Casas, 52.72; 2. Yohann Ndoye Brouard (FRA), 53.80; 3. Clark Beach, 53.95; 4. Craig McNally (GBR), 54.48; 5. Nicolas Albiero, 54.64; 6. Bryce Mefford, 54.79; 7. Matthew Klotz, 55.00; 8. Wyatt Davis, 55.07.

200 m Back: 1. Austin Katz, 1:55.72; 2. Casas, 1:55.79; 3. Beach, 1:57.14; 4. Mefford, 1:57.39; 5. Zachary Poti, 1:57.40; 6. Carson Foster, 1:58.26; 7. Albiero, 1:59.21; 8. Davis, 1:59.78.

100 m Breaststroke: 1. Devon Nowicki, 59.69; 2. Craig Benson (GBR), 59.79; 3. Reece Whitley, 1:00.05; 4. Theo Bussiere (FRA), 1:00.08; 5. Daniel Cave (AUS), 1:00.30; 6. Samuel Williamson (AUS), 1:00.61; 7. Caspar Corbeau (NED), 1:00.68; 8. Trent Pellini, 1:00.70.

200 m Breast: 1. Whitley, 2:09.69; 2. Daniel Roy, 2:10.01; 3. Joshua Matheny, 2:11.02; 4. Cave (AUS), 2:11.22; 5. Benson (GBR), 2:11.27; 6. Corbeau (NED), 2:11.54; 7. Nicholas Quinn (GBR), 2:11.77; 8. Brandon Fischer, 2:12.15.

100 m Butterfly: 1. M. Rooney, 51.09; 2. Conger, 51.70; 3. Jack Saunderson, 51.76; 4. Held, 52.15; 5. John Shebat, 52.19; 6. Danny Kovac, 52.22; 7. Giles Smith, 52.25; 8. Luca Urlando, 52.31.

200 m Fly: 1. Urlando, 1:54.92; 2. Miles Smachlo, 1:55.94; 3. Albiero, 1:56.05; 4. Trenton Julian, 1:45.09; 5. Bowen Gough (AUS), 1:56.65; 6. Brooks Fail, 1:57.00; 7. Corey Gambardella, 1:57.32; 8. Justin Wright, 1:58.79.

200 m Medley: 1. Ryan Lochte, 1:57.76; 2. Casas, 1:58.83; 3. J, Foster, 1:59.15; 4. John Shebat, 1:59.24; 5. tie, Grant Sanders and Kieran Smith, 2:00.14; 7. Tommy Cope, 2:00.40; 8. Matt Willenbring, 2:00.83.

400 m Medley: 1. Finke, 4:13.15; 2. C. Foster, 4:13.39 (World Junior Record; old, 4:4.00, Sean Grieshop (USA), 2016); 3. Jake Foster, 4:15.03; 4. K. Smith, 4:15.17; 5. Sean Grieshop, 4:15.50; 6. Brodie Williams (GBR), 4:16.63; 7. Grant Sanders, 4:18.28; 8. Mark Szaranek (GBR), 4:18.90.

Women

50 m Freestyle: 1. Erika Brown, 24.71; 2. Gretchen Walsh, 24/85; 3. Anna Santamans (FRA), 24.92; 4. Aly Tetzloff, 24.97; 5. Natalie Hinds, 25.02; 6. Catie DeLoof, 25.11; 7. Maxine Parker, 25.21; 8. Grace Cooper, 25.33.

100 m Free: 1. Abbey Weitzeil, 53.18; 2. tie, Walsh and E. Brown, 54.13; 4. C. DeLoof, 54.28; 5. Hinds, 54.34; 6. Allison Schmitt, 54.81; 7. Linnea Mack, 54.87; 8. Isabel Ivey, 54.97.

200 m Free: 1. Schmitt, 1:56.97; 2. Paige Madden, 1:57.84; 3. Brooke Forde. 1:57.98; 4. Cierra Runge, 1:58.82; 5. Gabby DeLoof, 1:59.03; 6. Claire Tuggle, 1:59.42; 7. Erica Laning, 1:59.67; 8. Emma Atkinson, 1:59.82.

400 m Free: 1. Ally McHugh, 4:07.08; 2. Haley Anderson, 4:07.77; 3. Sierra Schmidt, 4:07.79; 4. Tuggle, 4:07.85; 5. Cierra Runge, 4:07.90; 6. Lauren Pitzer, 4:08.68; 7. Schmitt, 4:08.81; 8. Kensey McMahon, 4:10.62.

800 m Free: 1. McHugh, 8:26.04; 2. . Schmidt, 8:27.13; 3. Ashley Twichell, 8:27.36; 4. Kensey McMahon, 8:28.68; 5. H. Anderson, 8:29.11; 6. Emma Weyant, 8:29.31; 7. Runge, 8:29.87; 8. Chase Travis, 8:32.46.

1,500 m Free: 1. McHugh, 16:05.98; 2. McMahon, 16:09.80; 3. Schmidt, 16:10.12; 4. Hannah Moore, 16:10.92; 5. Amanda Nunan, 16:20.08; 6. Paige McKenna, 16:26.49; 7. Emily Hetzer, 16:28.37; 8. Travis, 16:28.96.

100 m Backstroke: 1. Amy Bilquist, 59.64; 2. Claire Curzan, 1:00.39; 3. Caitlin Brooks, 1:00.46; 4. Erika Brown, 1:00.64; 5. Kylee Alons, 1:00.71; 6. Lucie Nordmann, 1:00.83; 7. Isabel Ivey. 1:00.85; 8. Annabel Crush, 1:00.88.

200 m Backstroke: 1. Asia Seidt, 2:08.90; 2. tie, Emma Seiberlich and Erin Voss, 2:10.86; 4. Atkinson, 2:10.96; 5. Nordmann, 2:11.43; 6. Chloe Hicks, 2:11.93; 7. Abi Wilder, 2:12.02; 8. Natalie Mannion, 2:14.63.

100 m Breaststroke: 1. Breeja Larson, 1:06.78; 2. Kaitlyn Dobler, 1:07.23; 3. Miranda Tucker, 1:07.33; 4. Zoie Hartman, 1:07.37; 5. Madisyn Cox, 1:07.51; 6. Emily Weiss, 1:07.56; 7. Ellie Andrews, 1:08.37; 8. Nikol Popov, 1:08.93.

200 m Breast: 1. M. Cox, 2:23.84; 2. Abby Arens, 2:25.80; 3. Jenna Strauch (AUS), 2:26.05; 4. Tucker, 2:26.50; 5. Gillian Davey, 2:26.80; 6. Anna Keating, 2:26.90; 7. Andrews, 2:29.02; 8. Kate Douglass, 2:29.70.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Kelsi Dahlia, 57.35; 2. Amanda Kendall, 57.51; 3. Aly Tetzloff, 57.70; 4. Torri Huske, 57.80; 5. Claire Curzan, 57.87; 6. Lillie Nordmann, 57.96; 7. Katie Drabot, 58.43; 8. Natalie Hinds, 58.78.

200 m Fly: 1. Regan Smith, 2:07.26; 2. Nordmann, 2:07.43; 3. Dakota Luther, 2:07.76; 4. Olivia Carter, 2:08.22; 5. Megan Kingsley, 2:08.26; 6. Emily Large (GBR), 2:08.39; 7. Drabot, 2:08.56; 8. Taylor Pike, 2:10.68.

200 m Medley: 1. M. Cox, 2:10.00; 2. Vanessa Pearl, 2:12.49; 3. Julia Poole 2:12.53; 4. Emma Barksdale, 2:13.06; 5. Evie Pfeifer, 2:13.17; 6. Hannah Miley (GBR), 2:14.07; 7. Calypso Sheridan, 2:14.55; 8. Justina Kozan, 2:17.25.

400 m Medley: Emma Weyant, 4:35.37; 2. Brooke Forde, 4:36.06; 3. McHugh, 4:38.65; 4. Miley (GBR), 4:39.00; 5. Cox, 4:29.26; 6. Emma Barksdale, 4:41.49; 7. Kelly Fertel, 4:41.53; 8. Kate Moore, 4:42.23.

VOLLEYBALL: U.S. squeezes by Bulgaria, qualifies for Tokyo 2020 on women’s qualification weekend

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. women's team celebrates a tough win vs. Bulgaria in 2020 Olympic qualifying play (Photo: FIVB)

There were six winners in six countries who punched their tickets for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Volleyball tourney on Sunday, but only one had a tougher path than the United States.

Playing in Bossier City, Louisiana – near Shreveport – the U.S. cruised to a 3-0 win over Kazakhstan on Friday, then faced Bulgaria on Saturday and immediately had to play from behind, losing the first set, 25-21.

The U.S. tied it with a 25-18 second-set win, then fell behind again by losing the third set, again by 25-21. Good hitting and solid blocking at the net brought the U.S. even with a 25-20 win in set four and the same qualities led to a 15-10 win in the final set.

“I got to give Bulgaria a lot of credit,” said U.S. coach Karch Kiraly. “They played a great game. Number 16 [Elitsa Vasileva] was all we could handle and more. We knew she was good, she had a very strong match. It took a while for us to get going. But Jordan Thompson came in and gave us a lift, and so did Kelsey Robinson. Eventually we started figuring things out. It was pretty rough, and we got pushed to the brink and I loved the response that our team had down 2-1.”

U.S. outside hitter Jordan Larson had a team-high 23 points on 18 kills, three blocks and two aces. Opposite Jordan Thompson had 19 points and outside hitter Kim Hill added 17. “It was amazing,” said Larson afterwards. “I am still trying to catch my breath and take it all in. It was a stressful match. There was a lot riding on the line. It was important for us to take away the win.”

Vasileva led all scorers with 24 points, on 22 kills and two blocks.

The American women, winners of the FIVB Nations League this season, had no trouble sweeping Argentina on Sunday, 3-0, to secure their 11th Olympic women’s appearance.

Only Italy had a perfect record on the weekend, recording three straight sweeps in Pool F, and Serbia (Pool A) and China (Pool B) both won nine of 10 sets. Brazil had the hardest time of all the qualifiers, forced to five sets by both Azerbaijan and the Dominican Republic.

But for Serbia, China, the U.S., Brazil, Russia and Italy, the wait is over and they are in, along with host Japan. There will be continental qualifying tournaments in 2020 to complete the 12-team field. Summaries:

FIVB Olympic Qualification Pools
Six locations ~ 2-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

● Pool A ~ Wroclaw (POL):
● 1. Serbia (3-0); 2. Poland (2-1); 3. Thailand (1-2); 4. Puerto Rico (0-3).

● Pool B ~ Ningbo (CHN):
● 1. China (3-0); 2. Turkey (2-1); 3. Germany (1-2); 4. Czech Rep. (0-3).

● Pool C ~ Shreveport (USA):
● 1. United States (3-0); 2. Bulgaria (2-1); 3. Argentina (1-2); 4. Kazakhstan (0-3).

● Pool D ~ Uberlandia (BRA):
● 1. Brazil (3-0); 2. Dom. Rep. (2-1); 3. Azerbaijan (1-2); 4. Cameroon (0-3).

● Pool E ~ Kaliningrad (RUS)
● 1. Russia (3-0); 2. South Korea (2-1); 3. Canada (1-2); 4. Mexico (0-3).

● Pool F ~ Catania (ITA):
● 1. Italy (3-0); 2. Netherlands (2-1); 3. Belgium (1-2); 4. Kenya (0-3).

CYCLING: Van de Poel wins in Val di Sole, challenges Schurter for World Cup lead; Neff takes over women’s lead

By
Rich Perelman
-
Dutch Mountain Bike and road cycling star Mathieu van der Poel (Photo: S. Yuki via Wikimedia Commons)

Switzerland’s Nino Schurter is the four-time defending World Cup champion in Cross Country and the two-time defending World Cup seasonal champion. But he is going to have to work for the 2019 title as Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel scored a double win in the Mountain Bike World Cup in Val di Sole.

Last year’s Mountain Bike Cross Country World Championships bronze medalist, van der Poel is also an outstanding road cyclist, but is concentrating on Mountain Bike for the rest of this season. In the five stops so far, he’s won the Cross Country Short Track race in all four he has entered and finished 2-1-16-1 in his four Cross Country Olympic races. So now he is one of four contenders to fight it out for the season title:

1. 1,390 ~ Nino Schurter (SUI)
2. 1,274 ~ Mathieu van der Pol (NED)
3. 1,165 ~ Henrique Avancini (BRA)
4. 1,143 ~ Mathias Flueckiger (SUI)

Van der Poel won the Short Track race by five seconds over Avancini and then had the fastest finish in the Cross Country Olympic race to expand a one-second lead over Flueckiger and Schurter with a lap to go (4.3 km) to 18 seconds at the finish over Flueckiger and 53 over Schurter.

In the women’s Cross Country Olympic race, France’s Pauline Ferrand Prevot led from wire-to-wire, building up a 41-second lead midway through, but then barely surviving a late charge from Swiss Jolanda Neff to win by just 1:21:59-1:22:00 at the finish.

With her win in the Short Track race and runner-up in the XCO, Neff took over the seasonal lead in the World Cup standings, ahead of American Kate Courtney:

1. 1,415 ~ Jolanda Neff (SUI)
2. 1,382 ~ Kate Courtney (USA)
3. 950 ~ Anne Terpstra (NED)

Courtney finished 17th in Val di Sole, her first time out of the top 10 this season. There are two stops left, in Lenzerheide (SUI) next weekend and the finale in Snowshoe, west Virginia (USA) on 7-8 September. Summaries:

UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
Val di Sole (ITA) ~ 2-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Cross Country Short (10.1 km): 1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED), 20:31; 2. Henrique Avancini (BRA), 20:36; 3. Jens Schuermans (BEL), 20:45; 4. Ondrej Cink (CZE), 20:45; 5. Nino Schurter (SUI), 20:45.

Cross Country (28.1 km): 1. Van der Poel (NED), 1:20:47; 2. Mathias Flueckiger (SUI), 1:21:05; 3. Schurter (SUI), 1:21:40; 4. Avancini (BRA), 1:22:33; 5. Luca Braidot (ITA), 1:22:48.

Downhill (2.187 km): 1. Laurie Greenland (GBR), 3:37.819; 2. Loic Bruni (FRA), 3:40.873; 3. Loris Vergier (FRA), 3:42.701; 4. Amaury Pierron (FRA), 3:42.986; 5. Danny Hart (GBR), 3:44.668.

Women

Cross Country Short (9.1 km): 1. Jolanda Neff (SUI), 20:24; 2. Sina Frei (SUI), 20:26; 3. Pauline Ferrand Prevot (FRA), 20:32; 4. Rebecca McConnell (AUS), 20:35; 5. Eva Lechner (ITA), 20:35. Also in the top 10: 7. Chloe Woodruff (USA), 20:41; … 10. Kate Courtney (USA), 20:47.

Cross Country (23.8 km): 1. Ferrand Prevot (FRA), 1:21:59; 2. Neff (SUI), 1:22:00; 3. Jenny Rissveds (SWE), 1:23:00; 4. Yana Belomoina (UKR), 1:23:28; 5. Anne Tauber (GER), 1:23:55. Also in the top 10: 6. Woodruff (USA), 1:24:43.

Downhill (2.187 km): 1. Marine Cabirou (FRA), 4:25.790; 2. Tracey Hannah (AUS), 4:37.566; 3. Camille Balanche (SUI), 4:44.114; 4. Veronika Widmann (ITA), 4:48.312; 5. Emile Siegenthaler (SUI), 4:52.383.

CYCLING: Viviani sprints fastest at the close to win RideLondon Surrey Classic

By
Rich Perelman
-
Two-time EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg winner Elia Viviani of Italy

Although the route included five climbs of Box Hill, the finish of the eighth Prudential RideLondon Surrey Classic was always going to come down to a sprint and Italy’s Elia Viviani was able to get his bike across first on Sunday.

It was his 25th World Tour victory and 75th overall, but only his fifth victory in a World Tour one-day race. “We knew it was a chaotic finish but we knew also we can move smart and use the legs. It was amazing [Deceunick-Quick Step] teamwork because Michael [Morkov] was third so thanks to the team for sure.”

The early breakaways were caught by the peloton with 14 km to go and the mass proceeded to the finish. Viviani and Morkov were careful to stay near the front and a crash that took out several rides from the chasing group with 2 km left did not impact them.

Viviani had the legs to beat Ireland’s Sam Bennett to the finish, with Morkov third. For Viviani, this was a race he wanted to win badly and moved up from second last year. Summaries:

UCI World Tour/RideLondon Surrey Classic
London (GBR) ~ 4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Final Standings (169.0 km) 1. Elia Viviani (ITA), 3:46:15; 2. Sam Bennett (IRL), 3:46:15; 3. Michael Morkov (DEN), 3:46:15; 4. Jasper Stuyven (BEL), 3:46:15; 5. Amund Jansen (NOR), 3:46:15; 6. Giacomo Nizzolo (ITA), 3:46:15; 7. Alexander Kristoff (NOR), 3:46:15; 8. Oliver Naesen (BEL), 3:46:15; 9. Jasper de Buyst (BEL), 3:46:15; 10. Ethan Hayter (GBR), 3:46:15.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Mol and Sorum win seventh title with sweep of Alison and Alvaro Filho in Vienna Major

By
Rich Perelman
-
Norway's beach superstars Anders Mol and Christian Sorum (Photo FIVB)

They’re not invincible, but pretty close. Norway’s Anders Mol (22) and Christian Sorum (23) won their seventh World Tour event this season by defending their Vienna Major title with a straight-set win over Brazil’s Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Filho, 21-11, 21-17.

True, they “only” won the bronze medal at the World Championships, but playing tournament after tournament against the world’s best, they have now won 20 straight matches in World Tour play and 61 of their 65 matches this season!

With seven wins, they are now tied for second all-time with seven wins in a season; it’s been done by three other teams a total of four times. The record for a single season is nine wins by Americans Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, back in 2010. Dalhausser, now paired with Nick Lucena, placed fourth in Vienna.

Mol and Sorum’s run actually got going in 2018, when they reunited in mid-year and then started winning, including the Vienna Major and the World Tour Final. “It’s so hard to describe because one year ago, two years ago, we were watching the stars on YouTube,” Sorum said. “I was playing some qualifications, some opens and two years later we are No. 1 in the world, and we play in tournaments in front of people like this, we beat teams like Alison, a legend in the sport.”

The victory was worth $40,000 to the Norwegians, same as received by Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes, who had to wait for the women’s final until Sunday due to a weather delay.

The world champs defeated Brazil’s Maria Antonelli and Carol Salgado by 21-19, 21-16 in 47 minutes to win their third World Tour tournament this season and sixth together.

“We got better and better as the tournament went on,” said Pavan. “That’s always been our motto all season, just one percent better every game and I think we did that. Our serving was very effective in that last set, as good as it’s ever been. We put it all together at a good time.”

The season is winding down, with some minor tournaments still to be played, plus a four-star in Moscow from 14-18 August and the World Tour Final in Rome from 4-8 September. Summaries:

FIVB World Tour/5-star Major
Vienna (AUT) ~ 31 July-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men: 1. Anders Mol/Christian Sorum (NOR); 2. Alison Cerutti/Alvaro Filho (BRA); 3. Grzegorz Fijalek/Michal Bryl (POL); 4. Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena (USA). Third: Fijalek/Bryl d. Dalhausser/Lucena, 2-1. Final: Mol/Sorum d. Alison/Alvaro Filho, 2-0 (21-11, 21-17).

Women: 1. Saran Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes (CAN); 2. Maria Antonelli/Carol Salgado (BRA); 3. Agatha Bednarczuk/Duda Lisboa (BRA); 4. Talita Da Rocha Antunes/Taiana Lima (BRA). Third: Agatha/Duda d. Talita/Taiana Lima, 2-0. Final: Pavan/Humana-Paredes d. Maria Antonelli/Carol, 2-0 (21-19, 21-16).

BADMINTON: Stunning win for India’s Rankireddy and Sheety over China’s World Champions in Bangkok

By
Rich Perelman
-
India's upset winners in Thailand Open: Doubles stars Chirag Shetty and Satwik Rankireddy (Photo: BWF)

China’s men’s Doubles pair of Junhui Li and Yuchen Liu are the reigning World Champions and were the heavy favorites in the finals of the Thailand Open in Bangkok over the 16th-ranked (and unseeded) team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty from India.

In three closely-contested sets, the Indian pair triumphed, 21-19, 18-21, 21-18. What?!?

Said Rankireddy: “I was not playing like usual but I kept telling myself that it’s just one more match, one more match. I was so calm and whenever I got a chance, I wanted to finish the shot. I could see that they didn’t want to lift the shuttle for me.”

Shetty added: “I can’t believe that we’ve just beaten the current world champs. They are really good attacking players so our plan was to keep the shuttle low.

“We varied our shots. We played a few flat shots but then they rushed to the net so we decided that Satwik would play a few hard smashes and I would play some soft shots down to the net. Their defense is usually very good too but I think at their height, it looked like they were struggling to come forward low at the net.”

Liu was as shocked as everyone else: “They were more than we expected. They were calm and in control. In stressed situations, they managed to pull through. They are a big potential threat for a long time.”

That was the shocker from the Thailand Open, where no. 3 Tien Chen Chou (TPE) and no. 4-ranked Yufei Chen won the men’s and women’s Singles titles and no. 2-ranked Yi Lyu Wang and Dong Ping Huang won the Mixed Doubles over Japan’s no. 3-ranked team of Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino. Summaries:

BWF World Tour/Thailand Open
Bangkok (THA) ~ 30 July-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men/Singles: 1. Tien Chen Chou (TPE); 2. Ka Long Angus Long (HKG); 3. Zii Jia Lee (MAS) and Kanta Tsuneyama (JPN). Final: Chou d. Long, 21-14, 11-21, 23021.

Men/Doubles: 1. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (IND); 2. Junhui Li/Yuchen Liu (CHN); 3. Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe (JPN) and Sung Hyun Ko/Baek Cheol Shin (KOR). Final: Rankireddy/Shetty d. Li/Liu, 21-19, 18-21, 21-18.

Women/Singles: 1. Yufei Chen (CHN); 2. Ratchanok Intanon (THA); 3. Sayaka Takahashi (JPN) and Pornpawee Chochuwong (THA). Final: Chen d. Intanon, 22-20, 21-18.

Women/Doubles: 1. Shiho Tanaka/Koharo Yonemoto (JPN); 2. Yue Du/Yin Hui Li (CHN); 3. So Hee Lee/Seung Chan Shin (KOR) and Ye Na Chang/Hye-Rin Kim (KOR). Final: Tanaka/Yonemoto d. Du/Li, 21-19, 14-21, 21-13.

Mixed Doubles: 1. Yi Lyu Wang/Dong Ping Huang (CHN); 2. Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino (JPN); 3. Chun Man Tang/Ying Suet Tse (HKG) and Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapirsee Taerattanachai (THA). Final: Wang/Huang d. Watanabe/Higashino, 24-22, 23-21.

SWIMMING: Hosszu, Morozov, Larkin and Seebohm all win three at Tokyo World Cup

By
Rich Perelman
-
The Iron Lady: Hungary's Katinka Hosszu

The first of seven stops on the FINA Swimming World Cup circuit for 2019 has been completed and four familiar names were the headliners in Tokyo (JPN).

Five-time World Cup seasonal winner Katinka Hosszu took the lead in the series with five medals, including wins in the 200 m Butterfly and 200 m and 400 m Medleys, plus silver medals in the 200 m Backstroke and a leg on Hungary’s 4×100 m Mixed Freestyle relay.

That earned her $6,000 for the weekend, but more importantly, 54 points toward the cluster rankings which have a much larger payout, topped by a $50,000 first prize!

She wasn’t the only one to score three individual golds – the most that are allowed for cluster scoring purposes – as three others also did it: Russia’s Vladimir Morozov in the 50-100 m Freestyles and 50 m Backstroke; Australia’s Mitch Larkin, who won the 100-200 m Backstrokes and the 200 m Medley, and Emily Seebohm (AUS), who won the Backstroke triple in the 50 m, 100 m and 200 m races.

Morozov was the only one of those three to get any performance bonus points and leads the men’s standings with 48 points.

Two of the most impressive swims on Sunday came from swimmers who claimed season’s bests and confirmed their places in the world’s top 10 for 2019. Australia’s Kiah Melverton won the 800 m Free in 8:22.24, strengthening her grip on the no. 7 spot in the world rankings. American Andrew Wilson won the 200 m Breaststroke in 2:07.77, a small improvement on his season’s best and continuing him in seventh position. Wilson’s swim was the best of the meet, according to the FINA points table!

American sprinter Michael Andrew was busy, making six finals and earning medals in three.

The award for endurance goes to Russian Vitalina Simonova, who – like Hosszu – entered 14 of the 16 individual events. Where Hosszu scratched down to concentrate on a few events, Simonova did compete in all 14! The European silver medalist in the 200 m Breaststroke back in 2013, Simonova competed in the 800 m Free, 100 m Butterfly, 50 m Breaststroke, 100 m Free and 200 m Medley and did not qualify for the finals (or finish in the top eight) in all of them. Over the three days, she made one final, finishing seventh in her specialty, the 200 m Breaststroke.

Summaries from Tokyo:

FINA Swimming World Cup I
Tokyo (JPN) ~ 2-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Freestyle: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.56; 2. Shinri Shioura (JPN), 21.92; 3. Michael Andrew (USA), 21.94. Also: 4. Blake Pieroni (USA), 22.03.

100 m Free: 1. Morozov (RUS), 48.12; 2. Pieroni (USA), 48.43; 3. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN), 48.45. Also: 6. Andrew Seliskar (USA), 48.80.

200 m Free: 1. Danas Rapsys (LTU), 1:45.74; 2. Dominik Kozma (HUN), 1:45.77; 3. Pieroni (USA), 1:46.62.

400 m Free: Rapsys (LTU), 3:45.57; 2. Zac Reid (NZL), 3:50.25; 3. Jeremy Bagshaw (CAN), 3:52.20.

1,500 m Free: 1. Syogo Takeda (JPN), 15:07.05; 2. Ayatsugu Hirai (JPN), 15:12.08; 3. Shingo Nakaya (JPN), 15:18.81.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Morozov (RUS), 24.53; 2. Andrew (USA), 24.87; 3. Mikita Tsmyh (BLR), 25.06. Also: 5. Jacob Pebley (USA), 25.28.

100 m Back: 1. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 53.76; 2. Markus Thornmeyer (CAN), 54.05; 3. Pebley (USA), 54.28. Also: 8. Andrew (USA), 56.49.

200 m Back: 1. Larkin (AUS), 1:55.97; 2. Pebley (USA), 1:56.37; 3. Hayate Matsubara (JPN), 1:57.74.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Ilya Shymanovich (BLR), 26.78; 2. Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 26.88; 3. Yasuhiro Koseki (JPN), 27.05. Also: 4. Andrew (USA), 27.23.

100 m Breast: 1. Shymanovich (BLR), 58.73; 2. Koseki (JPN), 59.01; 3. Andrew Wilson (USA), 59.02.

200 m Breast: 1. Wilson (USA), 2:07.77; 2. Koseki (JPN), 2:08.49; 3. Ryuya Mura (JPN), 2:10.05.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Andrii Govorov (UKR), 23.10; 2. Szabo (HUN), 23.11; 3. Andrew (USA), 23.24.

100 m Fly: 1. Seliskar (USA), 51.34; 2. Grant Irvine (AUS), 51.63; 3. Szabo (HUN), 51.67. Also: 5. Zach Harting (USA), 52.02; … 7. Andrew (USA), 52.14; 8. Ryan Murphy (USA), 52.51.

200 m Fly: 1. Nao Horomura (JPN), 1:55.25; 2. Harting (USA), 1:56.26; 3. Takumi Terada (JPN), 1:56.79.

200 m Indiv. Medley: 1. Larkin (AUS), 1:57.06; 2. Thomas Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 2:00.00; 3. Kosuke Hagino (JPN), 2:00.03.

400 m Medley: 1. Daiya Seto (JPN), 4:11.41; 2. Joanllu Pons (ESP), 4:15.68; 3. Takumi Uchiyama (JPN), 4:17.08.

Women

50 m Freestyle: 1. Michelle Coleman (SWE), 24.66; 2. Cate Campbell (AUS), 24.81; 3. Ting Wen Quah (SGP), 24.92.

100 m Free: 1. C. Campbell (AUS), 52.64; 2. Federica Pellegrini (ITA), 53.40; 3. Coleman (SWE), 53.83.

200 m Free: 1. Brianna Throssell (AUS), 1:56.99; 2. Madison Wilson (AUS), 1:57.44; 3. Nagisa Ikemoto (JPN), 1:58.19.

400 m Free: Kiah Melverton (AUS), 4:06.71; 2. Mireia Belmonte (ESP), 4:06.81; 3. Miyu Nambu (JPN), 4:09.39. Also: 4. Erica Sullivan (USA), 4:10.44.

800 m Free: 1. Melverton (AUS), 8:22.24; 2. Belmonte (ESP), 8:24.28; 3. Yukimi Moriyama (JPN), 8:32.40.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 28.03; 2. Caroline Pilhatsch (AUT), 28.20; 3. Emi Moronuki (JPN), 28.27.

100 m Back: 1. Seebohm (AUS), 59.44; 2. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 59.65; 3. Federica Pellegrini (ITA), 1:00.13.

200 m Back: 1. Seebohm (AUS), 2:09.03; 2. Aisa Mataki (JPN), 2:10.82; 3. Sayaka Akase (JPN), 2:11.04.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Alia Atkinson (JAM), 30.35; 2. Satomi Suzuki (JPN), 31.09; 3. Alina Zmushka (BLR), 31.12.

100 m Breast: 1. Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), 1:06.64; 2. Miho Teramura (JPN), 1:06.77; 3. Reona Aoki (JPN), 1:07.06.

200 m Breast: 1. Schoenmaker (RSA), 2:22.35; 2. Aoki (JPN), 2:24.33; 3. Jessica Vall Montero (ESP), 2:25.32.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Holly Barratt (AUS), 25.96; 2. Jeanette Ottesen (DEN), 25.97; 3. Yukina Hirayama (JPN), 25.98.

100 m Fly: 1. Louise Hansson (SWE), 57.92; 2. Ai Souma (JPN), 58.29; 3. Throssell (AUS), 58.31.

200 m Fly: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.10; 2. Brianna Throssell (AUS), 2:07.36; 3. Szuzsanna Jakobos (HUN), 2:08.86.

200 m Indiv. Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:08.63; 2. Yui Ohashi (JPN), 2:08.80; 3. Miho Teramura (JPN), 2:10.23.

400 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 4:32.30; 2. Ohashi (JPN), 4:34.27; 3. Belmonte (ESP), 4:34.47.

Mixed

4×100 m Freestyle: 1. Australia (McEvoy, Fraser-Holmes, M. Wilson, C. Campbell), 3:24.89; 2. Hungary, 3:27.56; 3. Singapore, 3:27.75.

4×100 m Medley: 1. Japan (Sakai, Koseki, Mizunuma, Omoto), 3:44.75; 2. Australia, 3:47.07; 3. Belarus, 3:49.47.

FOOTBALL: Heath and Horan score early to key 3-0 win over Ireland in Victory Tour opener

By
Rich Perelman
-
Thanks for the memories: U.S. star striker Carli Lloyd

There was plenty of celebrating and fireworks, and the U.S. women’s National Team began its five-game “Victory Tour” with a convincing 3-0 win over an outclassed Ireland at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

After playing almost the entire first 15 minutes close to the Irish goal, a Christen Press cross from the left side of goal sailed all the way across to the far post, where Tobin Heath headed the ball into the goal for a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.

Although there was no doubt of the outcome, the issue was decided in the 31st minute when Heath gathered three defenders on a dribble at the right side of the box, then popped the ball back into the middle to Sam Mewis. Her cross to the left post landed right at the foot of Lindsey Horan, who finished for a 2-0 lead.

In the 41st minute, Kelley O’Hara dribbled down the right side, then sent a ball into the far side of the box toward Carli Lloyd, who was well guarded by two defenders. But Lloyd rose above both and her header floated over everyone and landed gently in the net for a 3-0 lead at halftime. It was the 114th career goal for Lloyd, 37, for the U.S.

The second half passed without significant incident. Ireland had more impact, but the game was played mostly in their end.

The U.S. had a 29-2 edge in shots and is now 13-0 vs. Ireland all-time. Just as impressive as the U.S. control of the game was the enthusiastic crowd of 37,040 at the Rose Bowl.

The next games on the Tour are 29 August in Philadelphia and 3 September in St. Paul, Minnesota, both against Portugal.

SWIMMING: Casas stuns in 100 m Back and 2012 Olympian Larson returns for national title

By
Rich Perelman
-
U.S. 100 m Backstroke champion Shaine Casas (Photo: Texas A&M)

The breakthrough came in the final event of the penultimate day of the USA Swimming National Championships at Stanford, during a memorable week for Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas.

He just finished his freshman year at A&M, swimming mostly the 200-yard Backstroke, where he made the consolation final at the NCAA Championships.

He’s exploded at the U.S. Nationals, finishing just 0.07 back of NCAA runner-up Austin Katz for second in the 200 m Backstroke, then charging from national class to world class at Stanford in the 100 m Back.

He came into the meet with an entry time of 54.51, but lowered that to 53.28 to lead all qualifiers for the final. Then he rocketed from the start, forged a big lead at the turn and came home strongly to finish in 52.72, winning by more than a second.

How good is 52.72? It would have won a bronze medal at the recent World Championships in Korea and placed him – at age 19 – no. 5 on the world list, right between 2016 Olympic Champion Ryan Murphy and 2012 Olympic Champion Matt Grevers! And Murphy and Grevers finished 4-5 at Gwangju at this distance, at 52.78 and 52.82. Wow!

The other feel-good story from Saturday was the return of Breeja Larson to the top of the podium, in the 100 m Breaststroke. Now 27, she was sixth in the London 100 m Breast and won a gold on the 4×100 m Medley Relay. She missed making the team in 2016 and hadn’t come close to her lifetime best of 1:05.92 from 2012.

But at Stanford, she led wire-to-wire and finished with her best time – 1:06.78 – since her third at the 2014 Nationals in 1:06.73, i.e., her best in five years. It ranks her 13th on the world list for 2019 and third in the U.S. behind world-record holder Lilly King and new star Annie Lazor (1:06.03 this year). Larson is in the game once again.

Devon Nowicki won his first national title in the 100 m Breast, taking an early lead and then holding on in 59.69. That makes him the no. 5 American on the 2019 list.

Ally McHugh won her second national title of 2019 with a 4:07.08-4:07.77 win over Open Water star Haley Anderson; McHugh won the 400 m Medley earlier.

The meet continues on Sunday; NBC’s Olympic Channel has coverage at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Summaries so far:

USA Swimming Phillips 66 National Championships
Stanford, California (USA) ~ 31 July-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

100 m Freestyle: 1. Ryan Held, 47.39; 2. Maxime Rooney, 47.61; 3. Tate Jackson, 47.88; 4. Dean Farris, 48.07; 5. Daniel Krueger, 48.55; 6. Jack Conger, 48.64; 7. Robert Howard, 48.71; 8. Bowe Becker, 49.00.

200 m Free: 1. Elijah Winnington (AUS), 1:46.19; 2. Kieran Smith, 1:46.25; 3. Dean Farris, 1:46.45; 4. Rooney, 1:46.78; 5. Patrick Callan, 1:47.36; 6. Trenton Julian, 1:48.03; 7. Mitch D’Arrigo, 1:48.37; 8. Jordan Pothain (FRA), 1:48.98.

400 m Free: 1. Whittington (AUS), 3:47.39; 2. Jake Mitchell, 3:48.09; 3. Bobby Finke, 3:48.17; 4. Eric Knowles, 3:48.34; 5. Julian, 3:49.47; 6. tie, Patrick Callan and Mitch D’Arrigo, 3:50.37; 8. Zach Yeadon, 3:51.16.

1,500 m Free: 1. Finke, 14:51.15; 2. Zane Grothe, 14:56.10; 3. Michael Brinegar, 15:00.82; 4. Arik Katz, 15:05.93; 5. J. Mitchell, 15:11.52; 6. Knowles, 15:13.52; 7. Jack Collins, 15:15.75; 8. Ross Dant, 15:22.06.

100 m Backstroke: 1. Shaine Casas, 52.72; 2. Yohann Ndoye Brouard (FRA), 53.80; 3. Clark Beach, 53.95; 4. Craig McNally (GBR), 54.48; 5. Nicolas Albiero, 54.64; 6. Bryce Mefford, 54.79; 7. Matthew Klotz, 55.00; 8. Wyatt Davis, 55.07.

200 m Back: 1. Austin Katz, 1:55.72; 2. Casas, 1:55.79; 3. Beach, 1:57.14; 4. Mefford, 1:57.39; 5. Zachary Poti, 1:57.40; 6. Carson Foster, 1:58.26; 7. Albiero, 1:59.21; 8. Davis, 1:59.78.

100 m Breaststroke: 1. Devon Nowicki, 59.69; 2. Craig Benson (GBR), 59.79; 3. Reece Whitley, 1:00.05; 4. Theo Bussiere (FRA), 1:00.08; 5. Daniel Cave (AUS), 1:00.30; 6. Samuel Williamson (AUS), 1:00.61; 7. Caspar Corbeau (NED), 1:00.68; 8. Trent Pellini, 1:00.70.

200 m Breast: 1. Whitley, 2:09.69; 2. Daniel Roy, 2:10.01; 3. Joshua Matheny, 2:11.02; 4. Cave (AUS), 2:11.22; 5. Benson (GBR), 2:11.27; 6. Corbeau (NED), 2:11.54; 7. Nicholas Quinn (GBR), 2:11.77; 8. Brandon Fischer, 2:12.15.

100 m Butterfly: 1. M. Rooney, 51.09; 2. Conger, 51.70; 3. Jack Saunderson, 51.76; 4. Held, 52.15; 5. John Shebat, 52.19; 6. Danny Kovac, 52.22; 7. Giles Smith, 52.25; 8. Luca Urlando, 52.31.

200 m Fly: 1. Urlando, 1:54.92; 2. Miles Smachlo, 1:55.94; 3. Albiero, 1:56.05; 4. Trenton Julian, 1:45.09; 5. Bowen Gough (AUS), 1:56.65; 6. Brooks Fail, 1:57.00; 7. Corey Gambardella, 1:57.32; 8. Justin Wright, 1:58.79.

400 m Medley: 1. Finke, 4:13.15; 2. C. Foster, 4:13.39 (World Junior Record; old, 4:4.00, Sean Grieshop (USA), 2016); 3. Jake Foster, 4:15.03; 4. K. Smith, 4:15.17; 5. Sean Grieshop, 4:15.50; 6. Brodie Williams (GBR), 4:16.63; 7. Grant Sanders, 4:18.28; 8. Mark Szaranek (GBR), 4:18.90.

Women

100 m Freestyle: 1. Abbey Weitzeil, 53.18; 2. tie, Gretchen Walsh and Erika Brown, 54.13; 4. Catie DeLoof, 54.28; 5. Natalie Hinds, 54.34; 6. Allison Schmitt, 54.81; 7. Linnea Mack, 54.87; 8. Isabel Ivey, 54.97.

200 m Free: 1. Allison Schmitt, 1:56.97; 2. Paige Madden, 1:57.84; 3. Brooke Forde. 1:57.98; 4. Cierra Runge, 1:58.82; 5. Gabby DeLoof, 1:59.03; 6. Claire Tuggle, 1:59.42; 7. Erica Laning, 1:59.67; 8. Emma Atkinson, 1:59.82.

400 m Free: 1. Ally McHugh, 4:07.08; 2. Haley Anderson, 4:07.77; 3. Sierra Schmidt, 4:07.79; 4. Tuggle, 4:07.85; 5. Cierra Runge, 4:07.90; 6. Lauren Pitzer, 4:08.68; 7. Schmitt, 4:08.81; 8. Kensey McMahon, 4:10.62.

800 m Free: 1. McHugh, 8:26.04; 2. . Schmidt, 8:27.13; 3. Ashley Twichell, 8:27.36; 4. Kensey McMahon, 8:28.68; 5. H. Anderson, 8:29.11; 6. Emma Weyant, 8:29.31; 7. Runge, 8:29.87; 8. Chase Travis, 8:32.46.

100 m Backstroke: 1. Amy Bilquist, 59.64; 2. Claire Curzan, 1:00.39; 3. Caitlin Brooks, 1:00.46; 4. Erika Brown, 1:00.64; 5. Kylee Alons, 1:00.71; 6. Lucie Nordmann, 1:00.83; 7. Isabel Ivey. 1:00.85; 8. Annabel Crush, 1:00.88.

200 m Backstroke: 1. Asia Seidt, 2:08.90; 2. tie, Emma Seiberlich and Erin Voss, 2:10.86; 4. Atkinson, 2:10.96; 5. Nordmann, 2:11.43; 6. Chloe Hicks, 2:11.93; 7. Abi Wilder, 2:12.02; 8. Natalie Mannion, 2:14.63.

100 m Breaststroke: 1. Breeja Larson, 1:06.78; 2. Kaitlyn Dobler, 1:07.23; 3. Miranda Tucker, 1:07.33; 4. Zoie Hartman, 1:07.37; 5. Madisyn Cox, 1:07.51; 6. Emily Weiss, 1:07.56; 7. Ellie Andrews, 1:08.37; 8. Nikol Popov, 1:08.93.

200 m Breast: 1. M. Cox, 2:23.84; 2. Abby Arens, 2:25.80; 3. Jenna Strauch (AUS), 2:26.05; 4. Tucker, 2:26.50; 5. Gillian Davey, 2:26.80; 6. Anna Keating, 2:26.90; 7. Andrews, 2:29.02; 8. Kate Douglass, 2:29.70.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Kelsi Dahlia, 57.35; 2. Amanda Kendall, 57.51; 3. Aly Tetzloff, 57.70; 4. Torri Huske, 57.80; 5. Claire Curzan, 57.87; 6. Lillie Nordmann, 57.96; 7. Katie Drabot, 58.43; 8. Natalie Hinds, 58.78.

200 m Fly: 1. Regan Smith, 2:07.26; 2. Nordmann, 2:07.43; 3. Dakota Luther, 2:07.76; 4. Olivia Carter, 2:08.22; 5. Megan Kingsley, 2:08.26; 6. Emily Large (GBR), 2:08.39; 7. Drabot, 2:08.56; 8. Taylor Pike, 2:10.68.

400 m Medley: Emma Weyant, 4:35.37; 2. Brooke Forde, 4:36.06; 3. Ally McHugh, 4:38.65; 4. Hannah Miley (GBR), 4:39.00; 5. Cox, 4:29.26; 6. Emma Barksdale, 4:41.49; 7. Kelly Fertel, 4:41.53; 8. Kate Moore, 4:42.23.

SWIMMING: Rasovszky wins third straight World Series race on windy Lac Megantic

By
Rich Perelman
-
World 5 km Open Water champ Kristof Rasovszky of Hungary (Photo: FINA)

Still just 22, Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky has become one of the most-respected open-water swimmers in the world. The 2019 World Championships gold medalist at 5 km and fourth-place finisher at 10 km, he was in Quebec to try and win his third consecutive FINA Marathon World Series race at Lac Megantic.

The course was changed for 2019 to a point-to-point route instead of last year’s loop course and the wind made for a difficult race. But it was no problem for Rasovszky

“For the first 2K, I was in the back of the pack to save energy,” Rasovszky said, “but it didn’t feel good for me. I wanted to know what was happening in the lead. After the 6K feed, I found myself in the lead. I don’t know how. In the last K, I had a lot of people around me. I started to push more and really show something to the finish.”

Rasovszky finished ahead of Italy’s Dario Verani (+1.8) and Hau-Li Fan (CAN: +6.4) and won his third straight race on the circuit and fourth medal in the six races held so far. He’s the leader of the seasonal series, but there are still three races to go.

The women’s race came down to a sprint, with Italy finishing 1-2 with Arianna Bridi taking her second win of the season, ahead of Worlds 10 km bronze medalist Rachele Bruni (+2.6) and Hungary’s Anna Olasz (+4.5). It was her second win at Lac Megantic, after 2016.

Said Bridi, “I had a terrible world championship,” where she placed 13th in the 10 km race. “I didn’t qualify for the Olympics [in the top 10], so now I want to improve my experience so I have to do a lot of races, change my tactics, and learn to fight.” She will have another chance for Tokyo, but for now, she will prepare for the next stop on the World Series circuit, in Ohrid (MKD) on 28 August. Summaries:

FINA Marathon Swimming World Series
Lac Megantic (CAN) ~ 3 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men (10 km): 1. Kristof Rasovszky (HUN), 2:06:46.3; 2. Dario Verani (ITA), 2:06:48.1; 3. Hau-Li Fan (CAN), 2:06:52.7; 4. Matteo Furlan (ITA), 2:06:52.8; 5. Guillem Pujol Belmonte (ESP), 2:06:53.0.

Women (10 km): 1. Arianna Bridi (ITA), 2:24:30.0; 2. Rachele Bruni (ITA), 2:24:32.6; 3. Anna Olasz (HUN), 2:24:34.5; 4. Caroline Jouisse (FRA), 2:25:10.1; 5. Stephanie Horner (CAN), 2:25:40.9.

CYCLING: Wild wins, then loses Ride London Classique while teenager Evenepoel wins Clasica San Sebastian

By
Rich Perelman
-
Surprise win in Spain for Belgium's 19-year-old Remco Evenepoel!

The UCI World Tours for men and women got back into action on Saturday, with dramatic finishes in both London and Donostia.

At the Prudential RideLondon Classique, a 20-lap course of 3.4 km loops (68 km) in the city meant a flat race and would be decided by the sprinters at the finish.

A mass of riders prepared for the finish and Dutch star Kirsten Wild came through the maze of riders and won the race for her third victory out of the four editions of this event, escaping a mass crash behind her that took out a dozen riders.

But officials checked the video and held Wild responsible for the incident, in which she clipped another one of the favorites – Australia’s Chloe Hosking – and her fall set off the mass crash.

Wild just beat countrywoman Lorena Wiebes to the line and now Wiebes, 20, was the winner, her second World Tour win and fourth medal of the season. Italy’s Elisa Balsamo and American Coryn Rivera advanced to the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

“I didn’t have a very good position over the last five kilometres so I had to go to the front and start my sprint really early,” said Wiebes. “It was a surprise win at the end. Kirsten came over in the last 50 m but she was disqualified so it was really surprising. It’s just crazy.”

There was another long review well after the ceremonies were over and Wild’s disqualification was reversed, but she was placed at the back of the group in which she was riding, in 37th.

In Spain, the big names in the Clasica San Sebastian were Tour de France heroes Egan Bernal and Julian Alaphilippe, but both had to drop out on a hot day with lots of climbing; Alaphilippe with 80 km remaining on the 227.3 km course and Bernal with about 55 km left.

The course offered plenty of opportunities for breakaways, and a nine-rider attack early in the race had a lead of as much as five minutes on the main group. As the race thinned, and with Deceunick-Quick Step teammate Alaphilippe out of the race, Belgian Remco Evenepoel changed from servicing his team with water bottles to rejoining the front pack.

He got back into the action before the final climb up the Murgil-Tontorra and then followed the attack of Latvian Toms Skujins with about 20 km left. The two broke away by 49 seconds, but then Skujins fell back with less than 9 km left and the 19-year-old Evenepoel was free to fly to the finish for his first major victory.

“I can’t believe it,” he said afterwards. “I don’t have words to describe this day and this victory. When Alaphilippe pulled out, the team’s plans changed. He’s the strongest rider in the world and all the team bets on him. It wasn’t his day and he was really honest when he decided to stop. Enric Mas and I were designated to go for the win. I told him that I was going to attack and that he could come with me if he wanted. At the end I was able to go on my own to get to the finish line first.”

Skujins finished 13th in the mass sprint to the line, while Greg van Avermaet (BEL) got up for second and Marc Hirschi (SUI) was third.

Is Evenepoel a star of the future? He’s off to a good start in his rookie year. Summaries:

UCI World Tour/Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian
Donostia (ESP) ~ 3 August 2019
(Full results here)

Final Standings (227.3 km): 1. Remco Evenpoel (BEL), 5:44:27; 2. Greg van Avermaet (BEL), 5:45:05; 3. Marc Hirschi (SUI), 5:45:05; 4. Gorka Izagirre (ESP), 5:45:05; 5. Bauke Mollema (NED), 5:45:05; 6. Patrick Konrad (AUT), 5:45:05; 7. Jelle Vanendert (BEL), 5:45:05; 8. Enric Mas (ESP), 5:45:05; 9. Michael Woods (CAN), 5:45:05; 10. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), 5:45:05.

UCI Women’s World Tour/Prudential Ride London Classique
London (GBR) ~ 3 August 2019
(Full results here)

Final Standings (68.0 km): 1. Lorena Wiebes (NED), 1:33:55; 2. Elisa Balsamo (ITA), 1:33:55; 3. Coryn Rivera (USA), 1:33:55; 4. Lotte Kopecky (BEL), 1:33:55; 5. Letizia Paternoster (ITA), 1:33:55; 6. Marianne Vos (NED), 1:33:55; 7. Christine Majerus (LUX), 1:33:55; 8. Marta Tagliaferro (ITA), 1:33:55; 9. Maria Giulia Confalonieri (ITA), 1:33:55; 10. Eugenie Duval (FRA), 1:33:55.

SWIMMING: Morozov wins two more at Tokyo World Cup, while Simonova is up to nine events in two days

By
Rich Perelman
-
Russia's two-time World Cup champ Vladimir Morozov (Photo: Bob Stanton)

Russian sprinter Vladimir Morozov won the 2016 and 2018 FINA Swimming World Cup title by getting out to a big lead in the early meets and then maintaining it with quality performances in every competition.

He’s trying to do the same thing this season, starting in Tokyo (JPN), where he has now won three events in two days, ensuring he’ll earn close to the maximum points for the first event on the circuit.

He added wins in the 100 m Free and 50 m Backstroke on day two, so he can’t add any more events to his point total, but he will try to grab the best performance of the meet, worth an additional 24 points. His effort in the 50 m Back – 24.53 – moved him to equal-ninth on the world list for 2019.

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu entered 14 events, but has been more picky in actual competition. She’s won two events, the 200 m Butterfly and the 400 m Medley, but also picked up a second in the 100 m Backstroke. She’ll try for a third win on Sunday in the 200 m Medley.

Russia’s Vitalina Simonova also entered 14 events and it looks like she is going to swim in all of them. She hasn’t had much success, however, failing to make the final on Saturday in all five: the 400 m Medley, 200 m Free, 100 m Back, 50 m Fly, and 100 m Breast. That’s nine events in two days, with one final; there are five more to go on Sunday! Summaries so far:

FINA Swimming World Cup I
Tokyo (JPN) ~ 2-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Freestyle: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.56; 2. Shinri Shioura (JPN), 21.92; 3. Michael Andrew (USA), 21.94. Also: 4. Blake Pieroni (USA), 22.03.

100 m Free: 1. Morozov (RUS), 48.12; 2. Pieroni (USA), 48.43; 3. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN), 48.45. Also: 6. Andrew Seliskar (USA), 48.80.

400 m Free: Danas Rapsys (LTU), 3:45.57; 2. Zac Reid (NZL), 3:50.25; 3. Jeremy Bagshaw (CAN), 3:52.20.

1,500 m Free: 1. Syogo Takeda (JPN), 15:07.05; 2. Ayatsugu Hirai (JPN), 15:12.08; 3. Shingo Nakaya (JPN), 15:18.81.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Morozov (RUS), 24.53; 2. Andrew (USA), 24.87; 3. Mikita Tsmyh (BLR), 25.06. Also: 5. Jacob Pebley (USA), 25.28.

200 m Back: 1. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 1:55.97; 2. Pebley (USA), 1:56.37; 3. Hayate Matsubara (JPN), 1:57.74.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Ilya Shymanovich (BLR), 26.78; 2. Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 26.88; 3. Yasuhiro Koseki (JPN), 27.05. Also: 4. Andrew (USA), 27.23.

100 m Breast: 1. Shymanovich (BLR), 58.73; 2. Koseki (JPN), 59.01; 3. Andrew Wilson (USA), 59.02.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Seliskar (USA), 51.34; 2. Grant Irvine (AUS), 51.63; 3. Szabo (HUN), 51.67. Also: 5. Zach Harting (USA), 52.02; … 7. Andrew (USA), 52.14; 8. Ryan Murphy (USA), 52.51.

200 m Fly: 1. Nao Horomura (JPN), 1:55.25; 2. Harting (USA), 1:56.26; 3. Takumi Terada (JPN), 1:56.79.

200 m Indiv. Medley: 1. Larkin (AUS), 1:57.06; 2. Thomas Fraser-Holmes (AUS), 2:00.00; 3. Kosuke Hagino (JPN), 2:00.03.

Women

50 m Freestyle: 1. Michelle Coleman (SWE), 24.66; 2. Cate Campbell (AUS), 24.81; 3. Ting Wen Quah (SGP), 24.92.

200 m Free: 1. Brianna Throssell (AUS), 1:56.99; 2. Madison Wilson (AUS), 1:57.44; 3. Nagisa Ikemoto (JPN), 1:58.19.

400 m Free: Kiah Melverton (AUS), 4:06.71; 2. Mireia Belmonte (ESP), 4:06.81; 3. Miyu Nambu (JPN), 4:09.39. Also: 4. Erica Sullivan (USA), 4:10.44.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 28.03; 2. Caroline Pilhatsch (AUT), 28.20; 3. Emi Moronuki (JPN), 28.27.

100 m Back: 1. Seebohm (AUS), 59.44; 2. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 59.65; 3. Federica Pellegrini (ITA), 1:00.13.

100 m Breaststroke: 1. Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), 1:06.64; 2. Miho Teramura (JPN), 1:06.77; 3. Reona Aoki (JPN), 1:07.06.

200 m Breast: 1. Schoenmaker (RSA), 2:22.35; 2. Aoki (JPN), 2:24.33; 3. Jessica Vall Montero (ESP), 2:25.32.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Holly Barratt (AUS), 25.96; 2. Jeanette Ottesen (DEN), 25.97; 3. Yukina Hirayama (JPN), 25.98.

200 m Fly: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.10; 2. Brianna Throssell (AUS), 2:07.36; 3. Szuzsanna Jakobos (HUN), 2:08.86.

400 m Medley: 1. Hosszu (HUN), 4:32.30; 2. Yui Ohashi (JPN), 4:34.27; 3. Belmonte (ESP), 4:34.47.

Mixed

4×100 m Freestyle: 1. Australia (McEvoy, Fraser-Holmes, M. Wilson, C. Campbell), 3:24.89; 2. Hungary, 3:27.56; 3. Singapore, 3:27.75.

SWIMMING: Shocking 50.68 prelim 100 Fly by Maxime Rooney and 4:35.37 U.S. leader for Emma Weyant at Nationals

By
Rich Perelman
-
New U.S. Butterfly star (and national champion) Maxime Rooney

There are athletes and coaches around the world who will read the results of the USA Swimming National Championships at Stanford and begin screaming and pounding the table.

A week after the World Championships were concluded and with the cream of the American team either resting or at the FINA World Cup in Tokyo, U.S. youngsters are still re-writing the world lists in event after event.

The newest shocker came in the morning qualifying, with 21-year-old Maxime Rooney – a five-time medalist at the 2015 World Junior Championships – slashed his best in the 100 m Butterfly from 52.28 to 50.68 and moved to no. 2 on the world list for 2019. That time would have won the Worlds silver behind world-record setter Caeleb Dressel!

Rooney had company in the final, but he maintained his form and out-touched veteran Jack Conger, who made it as far as the semis in this event in Gwangju. Rooney finished in 51.09 with Conger at 51.70, faster than he swam in Korea.

With his amazing prelim time and an equally-impressive 47.61 in the 100 m Free for second to Ryan Held, Rooney is now firmly on the radar as a possible Olympian in 2020.

That was only one of the highlights of Friday’s short program:

● In the women’s 400 m Medley, 17-year-old Emma Weyant won in 4:35.37, fastest by an American this year and now no. 5 on the world list. She beat both members of the U.S. Worlds team in the final: Brooke Forde, whose 4:36.06 for second was a season’s best by three seconds (!), and Ally McHugh, who finished third on Friday, but was also sixth in the Worlds final in this event. Weyant’s time was a lifetime best by five seconds and would have been fourth in Gwangju!

● Bobby Finke, 19, collected his second win of the meet, adding the 400 m Medley to his victory in the 1,500 m Free. He trailed 17-year-old Carson Foster for most of the race and was 1.79 seconds behind going into the final leg., But his Freestyle chops were on display and he overtook Foster on the final lap to touch first in 4:13.45, moving him to no. 9 on the year list.

Foster finished second in 4:13.39, setting a World Junior Record, held by American Sean Grieshop from 2016. Now 20, Grieshop finished in firth in 4:15.50. Finke and Foster would have finished 4-6 at the Worlds with these times.

● The women’s 100 m Fly saw Worlds sixth-placer Kelsi Dahlia come back from sixth at the turn to edge Amanda Kendall in the final 15 meters and win another U.S. title, 57.35-57.51. The race also saw the final race in the glittering career of Dana Vollmer. She swam 59.94 in the qualifying to rank 32nd, but retires as the American Record holder at 55.98 from 2012 and she was the London Olympic champion in the event.

The meet continues through Sunday; NBC’s Olympic Channel has coverage on Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Summaries so far:

USA Swimming Phillips 66 National Championships
Stanford, California (USA) ~ 31 July-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

100 m Freestyle: 1. Ryan Held, 47.39; 2. Maxime Rooney, 47.61; 3. Tate Jackson, 47.88; 4. Dean Farris, 48.07; 5. Daniel Krueger, 48.55; 6. Jack Conger, 48.64; 7. Robert Howard, 48.71; 8. Bowe Becker, 49.00.

200 m Free: 1. Elijah Winnington (AUS), 1:46.19; 2. Kieran Smith, 1:46.25; 3. Dean Farris, 1:46.45; 4. Rooney, 1:46.78; 5. Patrick Callan, 1:47.36; 6. Trenton Julian, 1:48.03; 7. Mitch D’Arrigo, 1:48.37; 8. Jordan Pothain (FRA), 1:48.98.

1,500 m Free: 1. Bobby Finke, 14:51.15; 2. Zane Grothe, 14:56.10; 3. Michael Brinegar, 15:00.82; 4. Arik Katz, 15:05.93; 5. Jake Mitchell, 15:11.52; 6. Eric Knowles, 15:13.52; 7. Jack Collins, 15:15.75; 8. Ross Dant, 15:22.06.

200 m Backstroke: 1. Austin Katz, 1:55.72; 2. Shaine Casas, 1:55.79; 3. Clark Beach, 1:57.14; 4. Bryce Mefford, 1:57.39; 5. Zachary Poti, 1:57.40; 6. Carson Foster, 1:58.26; 7. Nicolas Albiero, 1:59.21; 8. Wyatt Davis, 1:59.78.

200 m Breaststroke: 1. Reece Whitley, 2:09.69; 2. Daniel Roy, 2:10.01; 3. Joshua Matheny, 2:11.02; 4. Daniel Cave (AUS), 2:11.22; 5. Craig Benson (GBR), 2:11.27; 6. Caspar Corbeau (NED), 2:11.54; 7. Nicholas Quinn (GBR), 2:11.77; 8. Brandon Fischer, 2:12.15.

100 m Butterfly: 1. M. Rooney, 51.09; 2. Conger, 51.70; 3. Jack Saunderson, 51.76; 4. Held, 52.15; 5. John Shebat, 52.19; 6. Danny Kovac, 52.22; 7. Giles Smith, 52.25; 8. Luca Urlando, 52.31.

200 m Fly: 1. Urlando, 1:54.92; 2. Miles Smachlo, 1:55.94; 3. Albiero, 1:56.05; 4. Trenton Julian, 1:45.09; 5. Bowen Gough (AUS), 1:56.65; 6. Brooks Fail, 1:57.00; 7. Corey Gambardella, 1:57.32; 8. Justin Wright, 1:58.79.

400 m Medley: 1. Finke, 4:13.15; 2. C. Foster, 4:13.39 (World Junior Record; old, 4:4.00, Sean Grieshop (USA), 2016); 3. Jake Foster, 4:15.03; 4. K. Smith, 4:15.17; 5. Sean Grieshop, 4:15.50; 6. Brodie Williams (GBR), 4:16.63; 7. Grant Sanders, 4:18.28; 8. Mark Szaranek (GBR), 4:18.90.

Women

100 m Freestyle: 1. Abbey Weitzeil, 53.18; 2. tie, Gretchen Walsh and Erika Brown, 54.13; 4. Catie DeLoof, 54.28; 5. Natalie Hinds, 54.34; 6. Allison Schmitt, 54.81; 7. Linnea Mack, 54.87; 8. Isabel Ivey, 54.97.

200 m Free: 1. Allison Schmidt, 1:56.97; 2. Paige Madden, 1:57.84; 3. Brooke Forde. 1:57.98; 4. Cierra Runge, 1:58.82; 5. Gabby DeLoof, 1:59.03; 6. Claire Tuggle, 1:59.42; 7. Erica Laning, 1:59.67; 8. Emma Atkinson, 1:59.82.

800 m Free: 1. Ally McHugh, 8:26.04; 2. Sierra Schmidt, 8:27.13; 3. Ashley Twichell, 8:27.36; 4. Kensey McMahon, 8:28.68; 5. Haley Anderson, 8:29.11; 6. Emma Weyant, 8:29.31; 7. Cierra Runge, 8:29.87; 8. Chase Travis, 8:32.46.

200 m Backstroke: 1. Asia Seidt, 2:08.90; 2. tie, Emma Seiberlich and Erin Voss, 2:10.86; 4. Atkinson, 2:10.96; 5. Lucie Nordmann, 2:11.43; 6. Chloe Hicks, 2:11.93; 7. Abi Wilder, 2:12.02; 8. Natalie Mannion, 2:14.63.

200 m Breaststroke: 1. Madisyn Cox, 2:23.84; 2. Abby Arens, 2:25.80; 3. Jenna Strauch (AUS), 2:26.05; 4. Miranda Tucker, 2:26.50; 5. Gillian Davey, 2:26.80; 6. Anna Keating, 2:26.90; 7. Ellie Andrews, 2:29.02; 8. Kate Douglass, 2:29.70.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Kelsi Dahlia, 57.35; 2. Amanda Kendall, 57.51; 3. Aly Tetzloff, 57.70; 4. Torri Huske, 57.80; 5. Claire Curzan, 57.87; 6. Lillie Nordmann, 57.96; 7. Katie Drabot, 58.43; 8. Natalie Hinds, 58.78.

200 m Fly: 1. Regan Smith, 2:07.26; 2. Nordmann, 2:07.43; 3. Dakota Luther, 2:07.76; 4. Olivia Carter, 2:08.22; 5. Megan Kingsley, 2:08.26; 6. Emily Large (GBR), 2:08.39; 7. Drabot, 2:08.56; 8. Taylor Pike, 2:10.68.

400 m Medley: Emma Weyant, 4:35.37; 2. Brooke Forde, 4:36.06; 3. Ally McHugh, 4:38.65; 4. Hannah Miley (GBR), 4:39.00; 5. Cox, 4:29.26; 6. Emma Barksdale, 4:41.49; 7. Kelly Fertel, 4:41.53; 8. Kate Moore, 4:42.23.

SWIMMING: Hosszu wins one, Seliskar claims 100 Fly and Coleman upsets Campbell in World Cup opener in Tokyo

By
Rich Perelman
-
Cal star Andrew Seliskar takes the FINA World Cup 100 m Fly in Tokyo

The FINA Swimming World Cup started up in Tokyo (JPN) and coming on the heels of the World Championships in Korea, the swimming was of high caliber.

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who had entered 14 of the 16 individual events, scratched out of most of them and then won the 200 m Butterfly in a very good 2:07.10, a time which would have finished fourth at the Worlds and missed a medal by 0.06.

A pleasant surprise was American Andrew Seliskar’s impressive win in the 100 m Butterfly in 51.34, a lifetime best; that time would have finished fifth in the Worlds final. As it is, it ranks equal-6th on the 2019 year list and gives the U.S. a second contender in the event. Seliskar was the surprise national champion in the 200 m Free in 2018, but didn’t make the final in Gwangju.

There was a big surprise in the women’s 50 m Freestyle, where Sweden’s Michelle Coleman, who made it as far as the semis in Gwangju, beat Australian star (and Worlds bronze medalist) Cate Campbell, 24.66-24.81. It was a seasonal best for Coleman, but still would not have put her in the Worlds final.

Russian Valentina Simonova also entered 14 of the 16 women’s events and she was busy on Friday. She swam but did not qualify for the finals in the 400 m Free, 50 m Back and 50 m Free, but she was seventh in the prelims and finals of the 200 m Breaststroke.

Summaries so far:

FINA Swimming World Cup I
Tokyo (JPN) ~ 2-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

50 m Freestyle: 1. Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.56; 2. Shinri Shioura (JPN), 21.92; 3. Michael Andrew (USA), 21.94. Also: 4. Blake Pieroni (USA), 22.03.

400 m Free: Danas Rapsys (LTU), 3:45.57; 2. Zac Reid (NZL), 3:50.25; 3. Jeremy Bagshaw (CAN), 3:52.20.

200 m Back: 1. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 1:55.97; 2. Jacob Pebley (USA), 1:56.37; 3. Hayate Matsubara (JPN), 1:57.74.

100 m Breaststroke: 1. Ilya Shymanovich (BLR), 58.73; 2. Yasuhiro Koseki (JPN), 59.01; 3. Andrew Wilson (USA), 59.02.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Andrew Seliskar (USA), 51.34; 2. Grant Irvine (AUS), 51.63; 3. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN), 51.67. Also: 5. Zach Harting (USA), 52.02; … 7. Andrew (USA), 52.14; 8. Ryan Murphy (USA), 52.51.

Women

50 m Freestyle: 1. Michelle Coleman (SWE), 24.66; 2. Cate Campbell (AUS), 24.81; 3. Ting Wen Quah (SGP), 24.92.

400 m Free: Kiah Melverton (AUS), 4:06.71; 2. Mireia Belmonte (ESP), 4:06.81; 3. Miyu Nambu (JPN), 4:09.39. Also: 4. Erica Sullivan (USA), 4:10.44.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 28.03; 2. Caroline Pilhatsch (AUT), 28.20; 3. Emi Moronuki (JPN), 28.27.

200 m Breaststroke: 1. Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), 2:22.35; 2. Reona Aoki (JPN), 2:24.33; 3. Jessica Vall Montero (ESP), 2:25.32.

200 m Butterfly: 1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.10; 2. Brianna Throssell (AUS), 2:07.36; 3. Szuzsanna Jakobos (HUN), 2:08.86.

TSX DAILY: U.S. men’s soccer players want their “fair share” of revenues; how much are they actually worth? And, are you as fit as the Iron Lady?

By
Rich Perelman
-

= TSX DAILY ~ 2 August 2019 =

| 1. |  LANE ONE: U.S. men’s soccer players want a “fair share” ~ how much is that?

The United States National Soccer Team Players Association sent out a statement on Tuesday ostensibly supporting the U.S. Women’s National Team and its “equal pay” campaign, but also ripping the U.S. Soccer Federation because the men’s Collective Bargaining Agreement ran out at the end of 2018.

So they’re unhappy. So are U.S. soccer fans, after the embarrassment of 2017, in which the American men’s squad failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

There’s no doubt that U.S. Soccer has money, but how much as these guys actually worth? Isn’t there actually some base value in representing the United States itself that is independent of whoever the players are?

A review of the U.S. men’s team schedule in 2018 – a year in which the team was at its low point, playing 11 friendlies and compiling a 3-5-3 record – showed that an astonishing total of 169,801 showed up to the seven games they played in the U.S.

That’s an average of 24,257 per game to see the U.S. play three teams which did not compete in the 2018 World Cup in Russia and four teams that did (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru).

That interest has very little to do with the players on the team that actually played in these games, and a lot to do with the brand built by players like Cobi Jones, Landon Donovan, Alexi Lalas, Clint Dempsey and others. Why should today’s players be paid for what they did?

It was be fascinating to see how U.S. Soccer – which had 2018 revenues of $102 million – handles this, no doubt after dealing with the women’s team that will start its “Victory Tour” matches on Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The details are here.

| 2. | SWIMMING: If you think you’re fit, you’re not … compared to the Iron Lady

FINA’s annual Swimming World Cup series begins on Friday in Tokyo (JPN), this year in long-course (50 m) pools to ensure all times will be valid for Olympic qualifying purposes.

The first-week program features 16 individual events for both men and women and with the rules now allowing swimmers to enter as many events as they want – although only three will count for seasonal point totals – Hungary’s amazing Katinka Hosszu is back to her old tricks.

The triple gold medalist from the Rio 2016 Games once entered – and swam in – every event in a single World Cup. In Tokyo, she’s entered in 14 of 16 events, which means that if she qualifies for the final in each one, she would compete in 27 swims over three days.

Starting just a week after the end of the 2019 World Championships and being in Tokyo, the World Cup has attracted a good field, but the two-time defending women’s champ, Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) is not entered this week. That’s good news for Hosszu, who won the prior five titles!

Two-time men’s champion Vladimir Morozov is the likely favorite among the men’s swimmers. The U.S. has 10 entries (nine men), including star sprinter Michael Andrew.

Hosszu will have company in Tokyo, as Russia’s Vitalina Simonova,  the European silver medalist in the 200 m Breaststroke back in 2013, has also entered 14 events! Let’s see if she goes through with it. Our World Cup preview is here.

| 3. | SWIMMING: Youngsters leading the way at U.S. Nationals at Stanford

In a show of ridiculous scheduling, the USA Swimming National Championships are being held at Stanford a week after the World Championships in Korea concluded and on the same weekend as the first leg of the FINA World Cup. But the future of U.S. swimming is performing beautifully.

On Wednesday, teenagers Luca Urlando (17) and double world-record holder Regan Smith (17) won in the 200 m Butterfly, both with times ranking them in the top 10 on the 2019 world list.

On Thursday, 20-year-old Austin Katz of Texas won the national title in the 200 m at the touch over Shaine Casas of Texas A&M and the times placed them 5-6 on the year list … and they weren’t even on the World Championships team.

In the 100 m Free finals, Olympic veterans Abbey Weitzeil and Ryan Held triumphed, again with marks moving them into the top 10, and Held’s 47.39 placed him at no. 3. Alison Schmitt, the 2012 Olympic 200 m Free champ who swam poorly in Gwangju, came back to win the event at Stanford, and Madisyn Cox, swimming in the Nationals again after her drug suspension was commuted, won a satisfying victory in the 200 m Breaststroke.

| 4. | SWIMMING: FINA Council member indicted for masterminding a 1998 murder

We asked in May why an accused murderer has been maintained as a member of the FINA Council. Now the question is why Tamas Gyarfas (HUN) continues to be a member of the FINA Council after indictment as the mastermind of a successful 1998 plot to kill a business rival.

Gyarfas responded to our May story, writing that there had been no prosecution after more than a year of investigation, but now there is. He’ll have his hands full with his defense, but will FINA do anything about his status?

In addition to his responsibilities on the FINA Council, Gyarfas was also the Technical Delegate in Gwangju for the women-dominated sport of Artistic Swimming. Why?

| 5. | ATHLETICS: Long-time IAAF Council member alarmed at possible easy-on-doping candidates

Amadeo Francis of Puerto Rico, a member of the decision-making IAAF Council from 1976-2007 and an Honorary Vice President, is sounding the alarm in advance of the 25 September Council elections in Doha (QAT), just before the World Championships begin.

The candidate field is huge, with 11 vying for four Vice President positions and 40 running for 13 Council spots, including Willie Banks from the U.S. But Francis is worried about three candidates, from India, Kenya and Ukraine: countries with less-than-stellar records on doping control.

Wrote Francis to dozens of voting members: “This is the ultimate decision making body of the IAAF and, in the absence of positive measures from the Members, could have a dominant presence of  members from countries which have shown an inability or unwillingness to comply with IAAF rules and regulations and thus could not be depended upon to guarantee a clean sport for the rest of the Athletics community.”

Game on.

| 6. | DOPING: No supplement is safe: Olympic bronze winner Galloway suspended

The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist in the women’s Taekwondo open-weight category, U.S. fighter Jackie Galloway, was suspended for six months for a doping positive. She took a supplement that contained a prohibited substance, even though it was not listed among the ingredients.

This is the same situation as hit Madisyn Cox and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency posted a video with the sad story of teenage weightlifter Abby Raymond, whose career in her chosen sport was threatened when a supplement provided by a family friend caused a doping positive. Her penalty was confined to three months since she had no idea that the supplement had a prohibited substance in it. It was the USADA’s first case of a contaminated supplement involving a minor.

It’s an issue that is only going to get more prevalent as time goes on.

| 7. | WATCH PARTY: Weekend picks for the Olympic sports fan

If you’re in the mood for more Olympic sports this weekend, some suggestions:

● Football: The U.S. Women’s National Team begins its “Victory Tour” with a match against Ireland in Pasadena, California on Saturday at 7 p.m. Pacific time on ESPN2 and Galavision.

● Swimming: The USA Swimming National Championships continue from Stanford at 5 p.m. Pacific time on Friday (NBCSN), Saturday (NBC Olympic Channel) and Sunday (NBC Olympic Channel).

● Pan American Games: The quadrennial hemispheric spectacle in Lima, Peru turns the corner for the second week on ESPN; check their program guide for the events on ESPN2 and ESPNNews.

LANE ONE: U.S. men’s soccer players want their “fair share” of revenues; how much are they actually worth?

By
Rich Perelman
-

The lowest point in the last 30 years for the U.S. men’s soccer team came on 10 October 2017, when Trinidad & Tobago defeated the American squad, 2-1, in Couva, in a stadium named for NBC track & field commentator Ato Boldon.

That loss sent the U.S. home for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, while Mexico (ranked 17th in the world), Costa Rica (15th) and Panama (63rd) went to the tournament for the 15th, fourth and first times, respectively. The U.S. finished fifth among six CONCACAF teams and didn’t even qualify for the play-in matches against Australia, lost by fourth-place Honduras on a 1-3 aggregate.

The next year, 2018, wasn’t a lot better. Playing under interim coach Dave Sarachan, the U.S. played in 11 friendlies during the year with a 3-5-3 record and scored an unimpressive total of 10 goals during the year and gave up 14.

Gregg Berhalter was announced as the USMNT coach on 2 December and through the first half of 2019, the U.S. is 8-3-1 thanks to five Gold Cup wins and has a 22-7 goals-against tally.

So the low-point in popularity for the U.S. men was essentially the lost year of 2018.

Let’s keep that in mind when reviewing the amazing statement issued by the United States National Soccer Team Players Association on Tuesday to support the U.S. women’s player association in its fight for “equal pay” with the U.S. Soccer Federation.

Far from being a “players supporting players” announcement, the posting simply made public the men’s players unhappiness about their own pay situation with the USSF. Responding to USSF President Carlos Cordeiro’s open letter noting that the federation actually paid the women’s team members more than the men’s team members, the men’s players statement just asked for more money:

“As you may know, our CBA expired at the end of 2018 and we are currently waiting on a response from US Soccer to our proposal that would pay the men a fair share of all of the revenue they generate and would provide equal pay to the USMNT and USWNT players.”

And, of course, they criticized Cordeiro’s arithmetic. In his statement, Cordeiro noted that the in-game ticket revenues vs. event expenses for the women’s matches from 2009-19 results in a loss of $27.5 million. That does not include television rights fees or sponsorships, which are federation-wide and not apportioned between the various U.S. teams (men, women, youth and so on).

The men’s player association railed against this, calling the figures “false accounting” and asking “What US sports team makes money if they don’t count television, sponsorship, and marketing revenue?”

Certainly, USSF makes money. Its financial statement for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2018 showed $195 million in assets and yearly income – even with the bad men’s performance on the field in 2017 – of $102 million.

Of that $102 million, sponsorships and national-team game revenues accounted for $77.3 million. The expense side of the ledger showed National Team costs of $71.9 million, which included youth teams and player development ($27.3 million), men’s team costs of $14.6 million, women’s team costs of $17.1 million – more than the men – and coaching, equipment and support for smaller teams of about $12.9 million.

So the men’s players see all that money and they want more!

But given the results on the field, let’s go back and see what the attendance was for the men at their lowest ebb, that empty year of 2018. The U.S. played seven home games:

● 29 Jan.: 11,161 vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina at Carson, California
● 27 Mar.: 9,825 vs. Paraguay at Cary, North Carolina
● 28 May: 11,822 vs. Bolivia at Chester, Pennsylvania
● 07 Sep.: 32,489 vs. Brazil in East Rutherford, New Jersey
● 11 Sep.: 40,914 vs. Mexico in Nashville, Tennessee
● 11 Oct.: 38,631 vs. Colombia at Tampa, Florida
● 16 Oct.: 24,959 vs. Peru at East Hartford, Connecticut

That’s a total of 169,801 or 24,257 per game to see the U.S. play three teams which did not compete in the 2018 World Cup in Russia and four teams that did (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru).

That, and the accompanying television ratings for those games represent – in my opinion – the base value of the U.S. men’s team, regardless of who the players are. These games meant nothing, were not part of any tournament and were simply a development exercise for younger players under an interim coach and helped keep the idea that the U.S. had a men’s team alive.

A very deep dive into the revenues and expenses of these games – including sponsorship and licensing impact and television ratings in both England and Spanish – will be needed for the USSF to estimate the “value of the shield,” that is, the value of an American men’s team playing a game on U.S. soil.

Certainly, there are players who are responsible for this revenue. Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas, Landon Donovan and others built up the U.S. men’s soccer team and made it competitive on the world level, but they have already been paid and are retired. Given the current standing of the U.S. team – currently 22nd in the FIFA World Rankings, just ahead of Iran and Wales – the current players should be paid by what they add to the base value of the team, a public standing which they did not create, but on which they stand.

Their training facilities, travel accommodations, medical support, coach and so on were provided by the players who made the U.S. a world player between 1990-2014, not now.

Because club soccer is so profitable worldwide, there are U.S. players who make millions and many who do well, but aren’t annual millionaires just yet. That’s why the U.S. men’s last labor agreement was based on game bonuses, since few players actually perform with the national team on a consistent basis.

But in the negotiations to come, while the USSF can be generous, it can also look the player’s reps straight in the eye and ask “what is the actual value you bring to our games?”

Cordeiro won’t do that, of course; he has taken a conciliatory tone throughout all of the whining from both the men’s and women’s teams. But it’s worth considering the value of the USSF shield and how that makes the players who wear it more valuable themselves.

Oh yes, one more thing. The U.S. men’s players statement belittled Cordeiro’s suggestion that more people watch the National Women’s Soccer League games. Has it occurred to you that increased ratings are the key to better rights agreements and more money? Maybe you’ve taken a few too many headers.

Rich Perelman
Editor

HEARD AFTER HALFTIME: Gyarfas charged in 1998 murder plot; worries about IAAF Council candidates soft on doping, and supplement safety issues

By
Rich Perelman
-

News, views and noise from the non-stop, worldwide circus of Olympic sport:

● Aquatics ● Back in May, we asked why the international federation responsible for the aquatic sports – FINA – had an accused murderer as a member of its governing council and serving as the Technical Delegate for Artistic Swimming at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju (KOR).

The person in question, Tamas Gyarfas, replied to the story quickly, stating:

“On 11 February 1998 a well-known figure was shot dead with whom I had had debates which had been finally settled one and a half years prior to the murder.

“A couple of persons, who got sentenced in the meantime, wanted to blackmail me with the story that I stood behind the murder.

“One of them recorded our conversations. The voice-recordings having surfaced recently prove that I never ordered or asked anyone to commit this killing. The investigations have been going on for more than a year. There was no prosecution and trial.

“You have to be sure that I didn’t commit any crime.”

Things have changed.

Gyarfas was charged with “ordering the murder of a business rival” on Tuesday by Hungarian authorities. The facts are that media-company owner Janos Fenyo was killed by submachine gun fire while sitting in a car at a stoplight, and that Slovakian native Jozef Rohac was convicted of the killing and sentenced to life in prison.

Police have believed since at least 2010 that the instigators of the action were Gyarfas and an associate named Tamas Portik, a businessman sentenced to 13 years in jail in 2018 for a different crime.

According to the prosecutor’s statement released Tuesday, “In 1997, the accused decided to kill the victim to put an end to the conflicts. For this reason, in September 1997, he hired a well known mobster to kill Fenyo for the amount of 12 million forints [~$61,500 at the time], which, after receiving an advance of 6 million forints, did not execute the order. For this reason, the suspect has mandated Tamas [Portik], whom he knew since 1994 to kill Janos Fenyo.” Portik is said to have convinced Rohac to kill Fenyo.

Gyarfas’s lawyer called the indictment “absurd,” but that will not deter the prosecutors. And FINA’s reaction? Not a word.

● Athletics ● The fight over doping in track & field, a major issue in the sport with Russia still on suspension since 2015, has now spilled over to politics.

The International Association of Athletics Federations – soon to change its name to World Athletics – will hold elections for its Council, its senior decision-making body, on 25 September, just ahead of the start of the 2019 World Championships in Doha (QAT).

The candidate list is long, with 11 vying for four Vice President slots and 40 candidates for 13 member seats (nine of the V.P. candidates are also standing for the Council … just in case).

There are some familiar faces on the lists of Council candidates: 1976 double Olympic champion Alberto Juantorena (CUB), who has been a long-time Council member, 1984 Olympic gold medalist Nawal El Moutawakel (MAR), also a member of the International Olympic Committee, and American Willie Banks, the former world-record holder in the triple jump and 1983 Worlds silver medalist.

But the question of doping and support for keeping the sport clean has become an issue. Former long-time Council member Amadeo Francis of Puerto Rico has raised the issue of fitness to serve of the Vice Presidential candidates from India, Kenya and Ukraine:

● Adille Sumariwalla (IND)
● Jackson Tuwei (KEN)
● Sergey Bubka (UKR) ~ 1988 Olympic pole vault winner & six-time World Champion

Francis knows the Council well. He served as the area representative for North America, Central American and the Caribbean (NACAC) from 1976-99 and then as a Vice President from 1999-2007 before retirement. He continues to be involved as a Honorary Life Vice President.

Wrote Francis to the delegates of the region he served:

“I am particularly concerned that three of the candidates for vice presidents are from countries – Ukraine, Kenya and India – which, as noted in the attached article ‘have the worst doping records beyond only Russia.’

“If these candidates were elected to the positions they seek, they would automatically become members of the all powerful Executive Board whose function, as described in the 2019 Constitution, is ‘to govern the IAAF.’ The Board is comprised of the president, the four vice presidents and three members nominated by the President. This is the ultimate decision making body of the IAAF and, in the absence of positive measures from the Members, could have a dominant presence of members from countries which have shown an inability or unwillingness to comply with IAAF rules and regulations and thus could not be depended upon to guarantee a clean sport for the rest of the Athletics community. This is a matter that I brought to the attention of the president just a few weeks ago and now that the aspirants have been revealed, concerns me even more as it should you.

“What will we do, individually and collectively to assure that our sport continues to move forward in its effort to ensure that a level playing field can be enjoyed by all athletes, including our own?

“And to assure that the work that has been done over the past four years to improve our image is not now cast in doubt by unfortunate appointments to our governing body?”

As further proof, Francis circulated a 2018 notice from the Athletics Integrity Unit – the independent doping watchdog created by the IAAF – that listed five countries “having the highest doping risk to the sport” and included Bahrain, Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ukraine (India was not listed in this category).

Francis is pushing hard, but will have a hard time unseating Bubka, also an IOC member since 2008. He may have more luck with the others.

The one person running unopposed is IAAF President Sebastian Coe, who will be re-elected to a second term.

The IAAF can hardly afford a black eye on doping, especially with the trial of its former President, Senegal’s Lamine Diack, coming up in France on allegations of bribery, doping cover-ups, extortion and money-laundering.

● Taekwondo ● More and more it is becoming clear that there is no such thing as a “safe supplement.”

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced on Monday (29th July) that Jackie Galloway, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist in the +67 kg class has been suspended for six months due to a positive doping test for ibutamoren, a growth hormone. The USADA notice continued (broken up for easier reading):

“Following notification of her positive test, Galloway provided USADA with information about dietary supplement products she was using at the time her positive sample was collected and which she declared during the sample collection session.

“Although no prohibited substances were listed on the supplement labels, subsequent analysis conducted by the WADA-accredited laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, indicated that one of the supplements the athlete provided, a multivitamin she purchased from a grocery store, contained ibutamoren.

“The laboratory conducted additional specialized analysis on multiple supplement tablets, enabling USADA to understand the distribution of the contamination and conclude that the product was more likely than not contaminated during the manufacturing process.”

Doping positives coming from medications or products which do not list a prohibited substances in its ingredients allow for a lesser suspension that the 2-4 years usually applicable. Galloway was fortunate in receiving a short sentence that will not impact her Olympic opportunities in 2020, in the same way that swimmer Madisyn Cox had her suspension commuted to six months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Cox won the U.S. national title in the 200 m Breaststroke on Thursday.

Are any supplements really safe? USADA just posted a video chronicling the experience of weightlifter Abby Raymond, who used a supplement provided by a family friend … and suffered a doing positive just weeks later. This is a problem which, for now, simply won’t go away.

SWIMMING: Backstrokers Katz and Casas both post top-10 times; national titles for Cox and Schmitt at Stanford

By
Rich Perelman
-
Back on top: U.S. 200 m Breaststroke champ Madisyn Cox (Photo: J.D. Lascia via Wikimedia Commons)

On another perfect summer’s day at the Avery Aquatics Center at Stanford University, two veterans proved they are still among America’s elite, but two tight races stole the show.

The first was in the men’s 200 m Breaststroke – with a special local flavor – where 6-9 Reece Whitley, who just finished his freshman year at Cal, came back on the final lap to out-touch Stanford’s Daniel Roy, 2:09.69-2:10.01, a lifetime best for Whitley.

The second was in the final race among the A-finals, where 20-year-old Austin Katz from Texas and Shaine Casas, from Texas A&M, were stroke for stroke over the final lap of the men’s 200 m Backstroke. Casas had the lead with 15 m left, but Katz out-touched him for the national title.

His time of 1:55.72 would have placed him fifth on the 2019 world list, but he’s already there with his season’s best of 1:55.57. However, Casas scored a lifetime best fo 1:55.79 to move to equal-sixth for the year with Japan’s 2012 Olympic silver medalist Ryosuke Irie.

Veteran stars who impressed on Thursday included Allison Schmitt in the 200 m Free and Madisyn Cox in the 200 m Breaststroke.

Three-time Olympian and eight-time Olympic medal winner Schmitt, 29, swam poorly at the World Championships, failing to qualify for the final with a 1:58.73 time in the semis. She got out in front right away in the final at Stanford and held on over the final lap to win in 1:56.97, a season’s best.

Cox, who returned to the Nationals in 2019 after a doping positive traced to a multivitamin held her out in 2018, swam away with the 200 m Breaststroke event, winning easily in 2:23.84, a season’s best by more than two seconds and well ahead of Abby Arens (2:25.80).

The meet continues through Sunday and will be shown on NBCSN at 8 p.m. Eastern on Friday and 8 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and Sunday on NBC’s Olympic Channel. Summaries so far:

USA Swimming Phillips 66 National Championships
Stanford, California (USA) ~ 31 July-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

100 m Freestyle: 1. Ryan Held, 47.39; 2. Maxime Rooney, 47.61; 3. Tate Jackson, 47.88; 4. Dean Farris, 48.07; 5. Daniel Krueger, 48.55; 6. Jack Conger, 48.64; 7. Robert Howard, 48.71; 8. Bowe Becker, 49.00.

200 m Free: 1. Elijah Winnington (AUS), 1:46.19; 2. Kieran Smith, 1:46.25; 3. Dean Farris, 1:46.45; 4. Rooney, 1:46.78; 5. Patrick Callan, 1:47.36; 6. Trenton Julian, 1:48.03; 7. Mitch D’Arrigo, 1:48.37; 8. Jordan Pothain (FRA), 1:48.98.

1,500 m Free: 1. Bobby Finke, 14:51.15; 2. Zane Grothe, 14:56.10; 3. Michael Brinegar, 15:00.82; 4. Arik Katz, 15:05.93; 5. Jake Mitchell, 15:11.52; 6. Eric Knowles, 15:13.52; 7. Jack Collins, 15:15.75; 8. Ross Dant, 15:22.06.

200 m Backstroke: 1. Austin Katz, 1:55.72; 2. Shaine Casas, 1:55.79; 3. Clark Beach, 1:57.14; 4. Bryce Mefford, 1:57.39; 5. Zachary Poti, 1:57.40; 6. Carson Foster, 1:58.26; 7. Nicolas Albiero, 1:59.21; 8. Wyatt Davis, 1:59.78.

200 m Breaststroke: 1. Reece Whitley, 2:09.69; 2. Daniel Roy, 2:10.01; 3. Joshua Matheny, 2:11.02; 4. Daniel Cave (AUS), 2:11.22; 5. Craig Benson (GBR), 2:11.27; 6. Caspar Corbeau (NED), 2:11.54; 7. Nicholas Quinn (GBR), 2:11.77; 8. Brandon Fischer, 2:12.15.

200 m Butterfly: 1. Luca Urlando, 1:54.92; 2. Miles Smachlo, 1:55.94; 3. Albiero, 1:56.05; 4. Trenton Julian, 1:45.09; 5. Bowen Gough (AUS), 1:56.65; 6. Brooks Fail, 1:57.00; 7. Corey Gambardella, 1:57.32; 8. Justin Wright, 1:58.79.

Women

100 m Freestyle: 1. Abbey Weitzeil, 53.18; 2. tie, Gretchen Walsh and Erika Brown, 54.13; 4. Catie DeLoof, 54.28; 5. Natalie Hinds, 54.34; 6. Allison Schmitt, 54.81; 7. Linnea Mack, 54.87; 8. Isabel Ivey, 54.97.

200 m Free: 1. Allison Schmidt, 1:56.97; 2. Paige Madden, 1:57.84; 3. Brooke Forde. 1:57.98; 4. Cierra Runge, 1:58.82; 5. Gabby DeLoof, 1:59.03; 6. Claire Tuggle, 1:59.42; 7. Erica Laning, 1:59.67; 8. Emma Atkinson, 1:59.82.

800 m Free: 1. Ally McHugh, 8:26.04; 2. Sierra Schmidt, 8:27.13; 3. Ashley Twichell, 8:27.36; 4. Kensey McMahon, 8:28.68; 5. Haley Anderson, 8:29.11; 6. Emma Weyant, 8:29.31; 7. Cierra Runge, 8:29.87; 8. Chase Travis, 8:32.46.

200 m Backstroke: 1. Asia Seidt, 2:08.90; 2. tie, Emma Seiberlich and Erin Voss, 2:10.86; 4. Atkinson, 2:10.96; 5. Lucie Nordmann, 2:11.43; 6. Chloe Hicks, 2:11.93; 7. Abi Wilder, 2:12.02; 8. Natalie Mannion, 2:14.63.

200 m Breaststroke: 1. Madisyn Cox, 2:23.84; 2. Abby Arens, 2:25.80; 3. Jenna Strauch (AUS), 2:26.05; 4. Miranda Tucker, 2:26.50; 5. Gillian Davey, 2:26.80; 6. Anna Keating, 2:26.90; 7. Ellie Andrews, 2:29.02; 8. Kate Douglass, 2:29.70.

200 m Butterfly: 1. Regan Smith, 2:07.26; 2. Lillie Nordmann, 2:07.43; 3. Dakota Luther, 2:07.76; 4. Olivia Carter, 2:08.22; 5. Megan Kingsley, 2:08.26; 6. Emily Large (GBR), 2:08.39; 7. Katie Drabot, 2:08.56; 8. Taylor Pike, 2:10.68.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: No. 1 Momota in Bangkok and Mountain Bike star Courtney in Val di Sole this week

By
Rich Perelman
-
Mountain Bike World Cross Country champ Kate Courtney (USA)

Previews of key events in Olympic sports coming this week:

● BADMINTON: Japan’s Momota and Matsumoto/Nagahara headline Thailand Open

The $350,000 Thailand Open is underway in Bangkok (THA), with three of the five no. 1-ranked teams entered; entries ranked in the top five of the BWF World Rankings:

Men’s Singles:
1. Kento Momota (JPN) ~ Won Japan Open last week
3. Tien Chen Chou (TPE)
4. Long Chen (CHN) ~ 2016 Olympic Champion

Men’s Doubles:
1. Marcus Fernaldi Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (INA) ~ Won Japan Open last week
2. Takeshi Kamura/Keogi Sonoda (JPN) ~ Defending Champions
3. Junhui Li/Yuchen Liu (CHN)
5. Hiroyuki Endo/Yuta Watanabe (JPN)

Women’s Singles:
4. Yufei Chen (CHN)

Women’s Doubles:
1. Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara (JPN)
2. Yuki Fukushima/Sayaka Hirota (NPN)
3. Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi (JPN)
5. Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu (INA) ~ Defending Champions

Mixed Doubles:
2. Yilyu Wang/Dongping Huang (CHN)
3. Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino (JPN)
4. Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai (THA)
5. Peng Soon Chan/Liu Ying Goh (MAS)

Finals will be on Sunday. Look for results here.

● CYCLING: Fourth Cross Country win for U.S.’s Kate Courtney in Val di Sole?

The second half of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup starts in Val di Sole (ITA), with Cross Country, Cross Country Short and Downhill races. The current standings:

Men/Cross Country:
1. 1,160 Nino Schurter (SUI) ~ Six-time World Cup Champion
2. 915 Henrique Avancini (BRA)
3. 899 Mathieu van der Poel (NED) ~ 2018 World Cup seasonal runner-up
4. 883 Mathias Fluckiger (SUI)
5. 698 Jordan Sarrou (FRA)

Women/Cross Country:
1. 1,265 Kate Courtney (USA) ~ 2018 World Champion
2. 1,090 Jolanda Neff (SUI) ~ 2014-15-18 World Cup Champion
3. 815 Anne Terpstra (NED)
4. 726 Elisabeth Brandau (GER)
5. 615 Sina Frei (SUI)

Men/Downhill:
1. 965 Loic Bruni (FRA) ~ 2015 World Cup seasonal silver
2. 855 Amaury Pierron (FRA) ~ Defending World Cup Champion
3. 855 Troy Brosnan (AUS) ~ 2017 World Cup runner-up; third in 2014-15-16-18
4. 614 Loris Vergier (FRA)
5. 602 Danny Hart (GBR) ~ World Cup runner-up in 2016-18

Women/Downhill:
1. 1,040 Tracey Hannah (AUS) ~ 2016-17-18 World Cup seasonal bronzes
2. 840 Marine Cabirou (FRA)
3. 730 Rachel Atherton (GBR) ~ Six-time World Cup Champion
4. 695 Nina Hoffmann (GER)
5. 514 Veronika Widmann (ITA)

In the Cross-Country Olympic division, Schurter is finding his way to the front again, winning the last two races in Vallnord (AND) and Les Gets (FRA). He’s medaled in three of the four races so far, as has Fluckiger.

Courtney has dominated the women’s division, winning three races, while Neff has won three silvers, accounting for half of all medals distributed on tour so far.

There will be a Cross Country Short Track race on Friday, Downhill finals on Saturday and the Cross Country on Sunday. Look for results here.

● SWIMMING: Unknown entries in the Marathon World Series 6 at Lac Megantic

The sixth of nine 10 km races in the FINA Marathon World Series is at Lac Megantic in Quebec, Canada, a town of about 152 miles (245 km) east of Montreal. It’s the ninth straight year that tre site has hosted this event.

There is prize money of U.S. $4,000-3,000-2,300-1,700-1,300-1,100-900-700 for the top eight placers in the men’s and women’s races.

Despite the entry deadline of 2 July, no entries have been posted. Defending champions from 2018 are Germany’s Christian Reichert and China;s Xin Xin, who won the 2019 World 10 km title in Gwangju (KOR).

Look for results here.

TSX DAILY: Swiss say no to Semenya; Senators tell USOPC to pay $20 million for Safe Sport and more athletes mad about money

By
Rich Perelman
-

= TSX DAILY ~ 1 August 2019 =

| 1. | Swiss Federal Tribunal: Semenya’s appeal unlikely to succeed

The battle royal between the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the two-time Olympic 800 m champion, Caster Semenya of South Africa, took a significant turn this week, as the Swiss Federal Tribunal reinstated the IAAF’s rules on female eligibility in certain events.

The Court’s explanation, released Wednesday, was even more devastating, concluding “in a first summary examination, that Caster Semenya’s appeal does not appear with high probability to be well founded.”

Semenya and several other female athletes with what the IAAF terms “differences in sex development” reportedly have testosterone levels that are close or the same as those of men. Normal female testosterone levels are from 0.06 to 1.68 nanomoles/liter, while normal male levels are from 7.7 to 29.4 nmol/L. The IAAF’s new regulations, introduced in 2018, regulate the level of such testosterone for athletes entering women’s events from 400 m to the mile, to 5.0 nmol/L, or almost three times the level ordinarily found in women. Women with too-high testosterone levels can lower them with oral contraceptives.

Semenya and Athletics South Africa lodged an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the CAS found that the regulations, while discriminatory, were necessary and carefully narrowed to ensure fair competition in the affected events. The appeal was then made to the Swiss Court, which issued an order suspending the rules on 31 May and then reinstated them on Tuesday.

The impact? Semenya and similarly-situated 800 stars like Rio silver and bronze medalists Francine Niyonsaba (BDI) and Margaret Wambui (KEN) will not be allowed to run in the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha in late September. American Ajee Wilson becomes the favorite in the event that was conceded to Semenya.

● REAX ● As the Swiss Court noted, this is an interim order and not a final decision. But lurking behind Semenya’s case is the question of transgender athletes who have retained their male testosterone levels entering women’s events. The International Olympic Committee, which is revising its own regulations on this issue, is watching this case closely.

Important: Semenya has conducted herself during the entire process with dignity, patience and class. She may lose her appeal, but she’s a winner.

| 2. | Sens. Moran and Blumental introduce costly bill to revamp USOPC oversight

In the aftermath of the Larry Nassar sex-abuse scandal, multiple Congressional hearings were held, including four by a Senate subcommittee chaired by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut). The outcome was a 235-page report and a 42-page bill called the “Empowering Olympic and Amateur Athletes Act of 2019.”

If passed, the bill would allow the Congress to remove the entire Board of Directors of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee or de-certify a National Governing Body – USA Gymnastics is first in line for the Senators – by a Joint Resolution.

It also requires law enforcement to be notified of any allegation of child abuse of which the NGBs or USOPC are aware, increased the athlete representation on Boards of Directors and committees from 20% to 33% and requires the expansion of the “Office of the Ombudsman” inside the USOPC.

The bill further requires that the USOPC (with the NGBs) fund the U.S. Center for SafeSport at the rate of $20 million per year, a lot more than the USOPC’s current rate of $3.1 million.

● REAX ● In its initial form, this bill has little chance of going anywhere. The House has its own subcommittee looking at this issue, chaired by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colorado), which is likely to formulate its own bill. But it’s a start. Note this: there are significant requests from the USOPC’s Athletes Advisory Council which were not included in the Senate bill, such as an independent Inspector General or an “Athlete Advocate” to provide free legal advice to athletes on sport and safety matters. The activists will press for these with the House.

| 3. | FOOTBALL: It’s not about equal pay now, it’s about being paid, period.

The highly-publicized crusade of the U.S. Women’s National Team – winners of the FIFA Women’s World Cup on 7 July – for “equal pay” was thrown in chaos on Monday when U.S. Soccer Federation chief Carlos Cordeiro posted an open letter and fact sheet which stated that, after a deep dive into the USSF’s accounting records for the past 10 years, the Women’s National Team players were actually paid more than the Men’s National Team by $34.1 million to $26.4 million, not including benefits.

Moreover, the note clarified that the current USWNT labor agreement, implemented in 2017, pays the players a base salary of $100,000 per year, and an additional $67,500–72,500 if they play for a club in the National Women’s Soccer League. The men have a different contract which pays only game bonuses for those matches in which they play for the U.S.

The post sent the women’s representatives into a tizzy, with a spokeswoman calling the figures “a ruse” and calling the post “a sad attempt by USSF to quell the overwhelming tide of support the USWNT has received from everyone from fans to sponsors to the United States Congress.”

The Men’s National Team protested the posting as well, but also showed its agenda in its statement that “our CBA expired at the end of 2018 and we are currently waiting on a response from US Soccer to our proposal that would pay the men a fair share of all of the revenue they generate and would provide equal pay to the USMNT and USWNT players.”

Lost among the tumult was the announcement that Jill Ellis will step down as the women’s coach after the “Victory Tour” games are finished in October. She led the women to two World Cup titles and has a glossy 102-7-18 record thus far.

● REAX ● Cordeiro got the upper hand here and the statement from the USWNT spokesperson was weak, echoing the famed legal maxim from the 1930s: “If the facts are against you, hammer the law. If the law is against you, hammer the facts. If the fact and the law are against you, hammer opposing counsel.”

The women’s team has agreed to mediation and a settlement is the most likely scenario, especially if the USSF can show that its figures will be held accurate at trial. As to the men’s collective bargaining agreement that expired at the end of 2018, given its failure – on the field – to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, and since it won’t play a truly meaningful game for another two years until qualifying for the 2022 World Cup comes around, why rush?

| 4. | FOOTBALL: FIFA agrees to expand the Women’s World Cup to 32 teams

The FIFA Council unanimously agreed to have 32 teams participate in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, up from the 24 that were in France in June and July. This is possible because the host for 2023 has not been selected yet.

There are nine expected bidders for the 2023 event and FIFA will send information to them so that completed bids can be submitted on time in October. The format of the event will include eight groups of four teams, along the same lines as the current FIFA World Cup … which is expanding to 48 teams in 2026.

| 5. | PAN AMERICAN GAMES: U.S. medal-collection campaign has 76 in five days in Lima

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the United States is already in high gear at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, winning 76 medals through the first five days of competition.

The American women’s gymnastics team has been impressive, winning the team title by almost 11 points over Canada with a team of Kara Eaker, Aleah Finnegan, Morgan Hurd, Riley McCusker and Leanne Wong. Eaker won the individual gold on Beam and silver on Floor; McCusker won on Uneven Bars, took silver in the All-Around and bronze on Beam, and Wong won silver on the Uneven Bars.

The men won three medals, with Robert Neff taking silvers on Floor and Pommel Horse and Cameron Bock on Parallel Bars.

SWIMMING: Held and Weitzeil re-writing 2019 world list on first day of U.S. Nationals

By
Rich Perelman
-
New national champion in the 200 m Butterfly: Luca Urlando

The FINA World Championships are over, but the sensational swimming went on at the Avery Aquatic Center at Stanford University on Wednesday, as U.S. swimmers continued to re-arrange the 2019 world list:

● Ryan Held, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist on the 4×100 m Relay, didn’t make the Gwangju team, but showed that he will have to be accounted for in 2020, with a lifetime best in the 100 m Freestyle prelims at 47.43 and another with 47.39 to win the final.

The prelim time moved him to no. 3 on the world list and he stayed there with his finals mark. He said afterwards that those swims had “two years of disappointment” in them; he’s clearly a contender for a second Olympic team next year.

Behind Held came Maxime Rooney with a lifetime best of 47.75 in the prelims and then 47.61 in the final, placing him fifth on the world list, and Tate Jackson at 47.88 for 10th. Right now, American swimmers hold six of the top 10 places on the 2019 world list in the event.

● The women’s 100 m Free showcased Abbey Weitzeil, the 2016 Olympic Trials winner in the event, who claimed a lifetime best of 53.18, placing her no. 9 on the 2019 world list. Her prior best was back at the 2016 Trials (53.28), so she’s making progress at the right time. The top five in the final all had lifetime bests.

● The amazing Regan Smith, who set two world records in the women’s 100-200 m Backstroke, came back to Stanford and collected the national title in the 200 m Butterfly in 2:07.26, placing her no. 6 in the world for 2019. Will we miss Smith in another stroke? She said afterwards, “I love butterfly.” Stay tuned …

● Fellow 17-year-old Luca Urlando showed that his fabulous 1:53.84 time in the 200 m Fly at the Tyr Pro Swim Series – no. 3 on the world list for 2019 – was no fluke. The early leader was Trent Julian through the first two laps, but Urlando took the lead at the 150 m mark and drove the last lap to touch ahead of Miles Smachlo, 1:54.92-1:55.94. Urlando’s time would have ranked him seventh on the world list, but for his 1:53.84 in June.

● Ally McHugh finished sixth in the final of the Worlds 400 m Medley on Sunday, and on Wednesday, she won the national title in the 800 m Freestyle in an impressive 8:26.04. Pretty good considering the long trip back. Sierra Schmidt got a lifetime best in second in 8:28.13.

● Bobby Finke, 19, ran away with the 1,500 m Freestyle, winning in 14:51.15, making him the no. 9 performer in the world for 2019. Zane Grothe finished second in 14:56.10; a nice rebound from his disastrous 15:21.43 in the heats of the 2019 Worlds, where he finished 26th. Finke’s time would have put him into the Worlds final and placed him sixth.

The conditions were excellent, held in mid-70s temperatures in front of a light crowd at the Avery Aquatics Center. Not surprisingly, several entrants dropped out, such as Caeleb Dressel, who was entered in six events The meet continues through Sunday and will be shown on NBCSN at 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday and Friday and 8 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and Sunday on NBC’s Olympic Channel. Summaries so far:

USA Swimming Phillips 66 National Championships
Stanford, California (USA) ~ 31 July-4 August 2019
(Full results here)

Men

100 m Freestyle: 1. Ryan Held, 47.39; 2. Maxime Rooney, 47.61; 3. Tate Jackson, 47.88; 4. Dean Farris, 48.07; 5. Daniel Krueger, 48.55; 6. Jack Conger, 48.64; 7. Robert Howard, 48.71; 8. Bowe Becker, 49.00.

1,500 m Free: 1. Bobby Finke, 14:51.15; 2. Zane Grothe, 14:56.10; 3. Michael Brinegar, 15:00.82; 4. Arik Katz, 15:05.93; 5. Jake Mitchell, 15:11.52; 6. Eric Knowles, 15:13.52; 7. Jack Collins, 15:15.75; 8. Ross Dant, 15:22.06.

200 m Butterfly: 1. Luca Urlando, 1:54.92; 2. Miles Smachlo, 1:55.94; 3. Nicolas Albiero, 1:56.05; 4. Trenton Julian, 1:45.09; 5. Bowen Gough (AUS), 1:56.65; 6. Brooks Fail, 1:57.00; 7. Corey Gambardella, 1:57.32; 8. Justin Wright, 1:58.79.

Women

100 m Freestyle: 1. Abbey Weitzeil, 53.18; 2. tie, Gretchen Walsh and Erika Brown, 54.13; 4. Catie DeLoof, 54.28; 5. Natalie Hinds, 54.34; 6. Allison Schmitt, 54.81; 7. Linnea Mack, 54.87; 8. Isabel Ivey, 54.97.

800 m Free: 1. Ally McHugh, 8:26.04; 2. Sierra Schmidt, 8:27.13; 3. Ashley Twichell, 8:27.36; 4. Kensey McMahon, 8:28.68; 5. Haley Anderson, 8:29.11; 6. Emma Weyant, 8:29.31; 7. Cierra Runge, 8:29.87; 8. Chase Travis, 8:32.46.

200 m Butterfly: 1. Regan Smith, 2:07.26; 2. Lillie Nordmann, 2:07.43; 3. Dakota Luther, 2:07.76; 4. Olivia Carter, 2:08.22; 5. Megan Kingsley, 2:08.26; 6. Emily Large (GBR), 2:08.39; 7. Katie Drabot, 2:08.56; 8. Taylor Pike, 2:10.68.

VOLLEYBALL: Women’s Olympic qualification weekend has U.S. vs. Argentina, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan in Shreveport

By
Rich Perelman
-
Annie Drews (11) and Tori Dixon (6) on the block for the U.S. vs. Brazil in Nations League play (Photo: FIVB)

With the Women’s Nations League completed and the U.S. confirmed as the top team in the world, the business of Olympic qualifying is on this weekend. There are 11 spots available in the 12-team Olympic tournament, with host Japan already assured of a spot.

So six teams will emerge as the winners of four-team tournaments this weekend and advance to Tokko, with the remaining five to be decided next year in continental qualifying. This week’s events (with Nations League final placing if involved)

● Pool A (in Wroclaw/POL): Serbia (13), Puerto Rico, Thailand (12), Poland (5)

● Pool B (in Ningbo/CHN): China (3), Turkey (4), Germany (10), Czech Rep.

● Pool C (in Shreveport/USA): United States (1), Argentina, Bulgaria (16), Kazakhstan

● Pool D (in Uberlandia/BRA): Brazil (2), Dominican Rep. (8), Cameroon, Azerbaijan

● Pool E (in Kaliningrad/RUS): Russia (14), Korea (15) , Canada, Mexico

● Pool F (in Catania/ITA): Italy (6), Belgium (7), Netherlands (11), Kenya

The U.S. games will be played at the CenturyLink Center, which is actually in Bossier City, Louisiana, just outside of Shreveport. Coach Karch Kiraly has 12 of the 14 players who won the Nations League final on the squad, including 2019 Most Valuable Player Annie Drews (outside hitter), 2018 Most Valuable Player Michelle Bartsch-Hackley (outside), 2019 Best Libero Megan Courtney and 2019 co-Best Middle Blocker Haleigh Washington.

The Shreveport schedule:

● 2 August: Argentina vs. Bulgaria (4 p.m. Eastern)
● 2 August: U.S. vs. Kazakhstan (7 p.m. Eastern, on NBC’s Olympic Channel)

● 3 August: U.S. vs. Bulgaria (6 p.m. Eastern, on NBC’s Olympic Channel)
● 3 August: Kazakhstan vs. Argentina (9 p.m. Eastern)

● 4 August: U.S. vs. Argentina (2 p.m. Eastern, on NBC)
● 4 August: Kazakhstan vs. Bulgaria (5 p.m. Eastern)

Look for results here.

1...525354...102Page 53 of 102
© 2017-2025 Perelman Pioneer & Company