Showing posts with label Skiing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skiing. Show all posts

Friday, April 2, 2010

Euros Teams and More

The Romanian senior team for Europeans is Ana Porgras, Amelia Racea, Diana Chelaru, Raluca Haidu, and Cerasela Patrascu. The junior team will be Diana Bulimar, Larisa Iordache, Anamaria Baicu, Maria Balea, and Madalina Neagu.

The Russian training squad consists of Ksenia Semenova, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Ekaterina Kurbatova, Anna Myzdrikova, Ramila Musina, Tatiana Nabiyeva, and Aliya Mustafina. Five of these women will compete in the senior division. Personally, I prefer Semenova, Afanasyeva, Myzdrikova, Nabiyeva, and Mustafina.

The Germans will be sending Oksana Chusovitina, Marie-Sophie Hindermann, Elisabeth Seitz, Lisa-Katharina Hill, and Dorothee Henzler. Katja Roll, Désirée Baumert, Janine Berger, Rosa-Lynn Schmitz, and Isabelle Marquardt will compete as their juniors.

Chloe Sutton won the 200 and 800 meter freestyle races at the Ohio State Grand Prix. Elizabeth Pelton won the 200 IM and Corrie Clark won the 100 breast. Minot, ND's Dagny Knutson notched two 2nd place finishes (gotta love Minot). Peter Vanderkaay won the men's 200 free while Mathias Gydesen won the 100 fly and Marcus Titus won the 100 breast.

Jim Tracy is stepping down as the head coach of the US women's ski team.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

News of the Day

In the past day, I have seen the USOC refer to ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White as Charlie Davis and Meryl White and list their hometowns as those of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. ESPN also said that the London Olympics would be held in 2010. Good job media organizations.

Speaking of the 2012 Olympics, the UK plans on sending 500 athletes. A 377-foot twisting tower will be built next to Olympic Stadium. It will feature a viewing platform and a restaurant near the top.

Bode Miller will decide this summer if he will return to competitive ski racing. He opted to skip the remaining World Cup races held after the Olympics and has been working with disabled veterans that participate in adaptive skiing.

It was confirmed that Bridget Sloan went on a recruiting trip to Georgia. It is also rumored that she went on one to Penn State. I can see her at either of those schools or Utah.

Tony Benshoof's back surgery was successful. Lindsey Vonn will appear in the Law and Order season finale. Caster Semenya's lawyers criticized the Stellenbosch for not letting her run.

An interesting profile on up and coming speedskater Jonathan Kuck can be found here.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Weekend Update

Marlies Schild won the final women's World Cup race of the season today, a slalom. Kathein Zettel was second and Maria Riesch was third. Riesch eked out a three point win over Zettel for the overall title in slalom.

Felix Neureuther won today's men's slalom. Reinfried Herbst won the overall title.

Tucker Fredricks won the 500 meters overall world cup in speedskating today by finishing four in the season's final race. Jan Smeekens won the race and finished second in the overall standings. Jenny Wolf won the women's 500 title and took the overall title while Havard Bokko won the men's 5,000. Kristina Groves won the won's 1,500 meter race today to take the overall title. Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon retired following today's races. Shani Davis won the men's 1,500 today. Martina Sablikova took the overall title in the women's 3,000 and 5,000.

At the track and field indoor World Championships, Americans LoLo Jones, Brian Clay, Christian Cantwell, and Debbie Dunn all won gold medals. Australia beat Germany to win the field hockey world cup. Norway had a solid day in Nordic events, winning the team Nordic combined world cup race. Petter Northug won today's men's 50K cross country skiing race while Marit Bjorgen won the women's 30K race.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

News Update

Lindsey Vonn crashed in today's World Cup giant slalom in Germany. Maria Riesch finished third and is now only 165 points back on Vonn with two races to go in the season. Tina Maze won the race and Kathrin Hoelzl finished second to clinch the overall giant slalom title. Vonn was officially awarded the overall super-combined title.

Erik Guay won today's men's Super G to clinch the overall title. He was third going into today's race. Ivica Kostelic was second in today's race and Aksel Lund Svindel was third. Svindal also finished third in the overall standings, just two points behind Michael Walchhofer.

Wenjing Sui and Cong Han won the pairs junior world title in figure skating. Takahashi/Tran of Japan were second and Stolbova/Klimov of Russia were third. Ilinykh/Katsalapov have an eight point lead on the rest of the field following the original dance. Paul/Islam are in second, Monko/Khaliavin are in third and the Shibutanis are in fourth.

Usain Bolt was named Laureus Sportsman of the Year. Serena Williams won the women's award. Sidney Crosby's missing equipment has been found. It was mistaking put in other equipment bags following the game. In the first doing incident from Vancouver, Polish cross-country skier Kornelia Marek tested positive for EPO.

The International Luge Federation is donating money to reubuild the house belong to Nodar Kumaritashvili's family. It was destroyed in a fire several years ago. In Haiti's return to international sporting competition following the earthquake there, the team fell 9-0 to the U-17 women's soccer team from the USA in CONCACAF qualifying.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

More News

I promise, I have an entry ready for later that is more than just news of the Olympic world. Check back tonight and see for yourself!

Johnny Weir has withdrawn from the figure skating world championships and will be replaced by Four Continents and two time Junior World champion Adam Rippon. Olympic bronze medalists Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin have also withdrawn from the competition. At junior worlds, Wenjing Sui and Cong Han let pairs after the short program. Britney Miller and Nathan Simpson are in fourth and Felicia Zhang and Taylor Toth are in sixth. The free skate is later today. Grant Hochstein and Keegan Messing are in first and second place respectively after the men's short program while Denis Ten and Armin Mahbanoozadeh are in fourth and eighth. Stephane Lambiel has officially retired (again).

In gymnastics, Jordyn Wieber is rumored to be training a second vault. Kristina Goryunova has been suspended for a year for a doping violation and will therefore not be eligible to compete at the 2012 Olympics.

Maria Riesch won the final downhill of the World Cup season in her hometown of Garmisch-Partenkirchen preventing Lindsey Vonn, who finished second, from clinching the overall title. Anja Paerson was third. Carlo Janka won the men's downhill, giving him a 54 point lead over Benjamin Raich in the overall standings.

Short Track speed skating double gold medalist Zhou Yang has caused quite a stir, neglecting to thank her country and government for its part in her medals. More on that can be found here.

Disgraced Olympic sprinter Marion Jones signed a contract to play for the WNBA's Tulsa Shock. A former collegiate national champion while playing for UNC, Jones has not played on an organized basketball team since the mid 1990s. In more fun news surrounding drugs and sprints, top American indoor sprinter Ivory Williams tested positive for marijuana and will miss this weekend's indoor track world championships.

The end of the round robin phase is nearing at the US women's curling championships. Patti Lank's team is dominating the field and currently boasts a 6-0 record. My friend Jordan Moulton (yay Kamaji!), playing on skip Amy Wright's team, currently sits in a 3-way tie for third place. In the men's competition, Matt Hames' and Matt Stevens' teams are currently tied for first at 4-1 each. American Cheyenne Lewis won a gold at the junior wrestling world championships while teammates Seth Wolfe and Giuliana Gil took home bronze medals.

An interesting interview with bobsled gold medalist Steven Mesler can be found here. USA Team Handball launched a Handball for Haiti drive. More information can be found here. Spots are still available at fantasy luge camp in April. More information is here and a Paralympic broadcast schedule can be found here.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

News and Notes

My favorite story of the day, the case of the Chinese curler. Wang Fengchun, the team's skip, was not allowed to attend the celebration for Olympians in Beijing, but was instead sent immeadiately home to Harbin. The team manager Li Dongyan said that "It'll be very helpful to heavily slap him down him with pain," but that they hope to bring him back to the team if his attitude improves. Wang wore a USA cap on the plane home and his father is rumored to have had a heart attack upon hearing that his son had been sent home. Gotta love sports under communism.

American Margaux Isaksen finished second in the first modern pentathlon event of the season. Germany's Lena Schoneborn won the event. Christie Ramapone, the captain of the US Women's National Soccer Team gave birth to her second daughter on Saturday. Seven-time Olympic medalist biathlete Kati Wilhelm of Germany has decided to retire at the end of the month to focus on her studies. It is nice to see that, even in an era of professionalism, athletes still makes this decision sometimes. Bode Miller will miss the last week of the world cup season due to an injured ankle. Indoor track world championships begin on Friday.

After the compulsory dance, Russians Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov hold a three point lead over Americans Maia and Alex Shibutani at the junior world figure skating championships. Russians Ekaterina Pushkash and Jonathan Guerreiro are in third.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Weekend Update (Part 2)

Swiss skier Dominique Grisin won today's women's Super-G, denying Lindsey Vonn her 33rd World Cup title. Vonn finished second and Julia Mancuso was third. Canadian Eric Guay won the men's Super-G. Hannes Reichelt of Austria was second and Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal and Switzerland's Tobias Gruenfelder tied for third. Michael Walchhofer of Austria still leads the Super-G overall standing, but Svindal and Guay could catch him in the final race. Carlo Janka of Switzerland is also only now only 46 points behind overall World Cup leader Benjamin Raich of Austria heading into the final weekend.

Swiss ski jumper Simon Ammann won his sixth world cup title of the season Sunday. Poland's Adam Malysz, the runner up to Ammann in both events at the Olympics, was second and Austrian Thomas Morgenstern was third. In cross country skiing, Norway 2 defeated Norway 1 in a World Cup relay in Finland. Germany beat Russia in a photo finish for third. Norway also won the women's relay followed by Germany and Italy. Maksim Burtasov of Russia won the title at the under 26 biathlon European Championships.

Aiko Uemura of Japan won a women's moguls world cup race this weekend. Canadian Jennifer Heil, the overall leader, was second and American Shannon Bahrke was third.

In the first modern pentathlon World Cup event of the season, David Svoboda of the Czech Republic won gold. Russia's Serguei Karyakin was second and Andrejus Zadneprovskis was third.

USA Cycling named its track cycling world championship team on Friday. The squad will be led by individual pursuit defending world champion Taylor Phinney. Daniel Holloway, Colby Pearce, and Giddeon Massie round out the rest of the men's squad. Sarah Hammer, Lauren Tamayo, Dotsie Bausch, and Shelley Evans were named to the women's team.

Also, feel free to comment on any of my entries. I would love to hear what readers are thinking!