Machida, Bobrova/Soloviyev win in Moscow; Grand Prix Final picture

By Nick ZaccardiNov 23, 2013, 11:48 AM EST

Russian Maksim Kovtun imploded in the Rostelecom Cup free skate, handing victory to Japan’s Tatsuki Machida in Moscow on Saturday.

Kovtun, 18, squandered an eight-point short-program lead by falling on his opening quadruple jump, doubling another planned quad, singling a triple Lutz and stepping out of the first jump in a planned combination.

He missed a chance to create more tension for the single Russian men’s spot at the Sochi Olympics, which is expected to go to three-time Olympic medalist Yevgeny Plushenko.

Machida didn’t perform as well as he did at Skate America, but he certainly didn’t have to and he was grimacing due to right thigh pain after his skate. He totaled 257.00 points, nearly 17 better than Kovtun. Spain’s Javier Fernandez was third (full results at bottom).

Russians Yekaterina Bobrova and Dimitry Soloviyev won the ice dance to wrap up the last of six Grand Prix events before the Grand Prix Final in two weeks.

NBC and NBC Live Extra will air coverage Sunday from 2-4 p.m. ET.

Machida and Kovtun are among the six men’s automatic qualifiers into the Grand Prix Final. Fernandez, the reigning world bronze medalist, did not earn a spot in the Fukuoka, Japan, event from Dec. 5-6. Here are the qualifiers:

1. Patrick Chan (CAN)
2. Tatsuki Machida (JPN)
3. Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)
4. Maksim Kovtun (RUS)
5. Daisuke Takahashi (JPN)
6. Yan Han (CHN)

The lone American at the Grand Prix of Russia, Richard Dornbush, finished fifth.

No U.S. man automatically qualified into the Grand Prix Final for the second straight year, the longest drought in the history of the event (since 1995-96).

The two-man U.S. Olympic Team will be named after the U.S. Championships in Boston from Jan. 10-12. Here are the top U.S. men’s scores from the Grand Prix season:

1. Jason Brown — 243.09 (Trophee Bompard)
2. Adam Rippon — 241.24 (Skate America)
3. Max Aaron — 238.36 (Skate America)
4. Jeremy Abbott — 237.41 (NHK Trophy)
5. Adam Rippon — 233.71 (NHK Trophy)
6. Jason Brown — 231.23 (Skate America)

Reigning Olympic champion Evan Lysacek has yet to enter an event this season, which he must do to be eligible to make the U.S. Olympic Team. The deadline for every event he could enter has passed, but some events have said they would let him enter after their deadlines.

In ice dance, the reigning world bronze medalists Bobrova and Soloviyev scored 168.32 to beat Canada’s Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje by 5.18, following up their silver at the Cup of China. Both couples qualified for the Grand Prix Final.

The lone U.S. couple in Moscow, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, finished third at 153.37. They would have qualified for the Grand Prix Final had they won.

Here are the ice dance qualifiers for the Grand Prix Final:

1. Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA)
2. Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN)
3. Yekaterina Bobrova/Dmitry Soloviev (RUS)
4. Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA)
5. Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje (CAN)
6. Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA)

Davis and White, the reigning world champions and Olympic silver medalists, haven’t lost since February 2012. They are now slated to go head to head at the Grand Prix Final with Olympic champions Virtue and Moir, also their training partners, for the first time since the World Championships in March.

Three ice dance couples will make the U.S. Olympic Team. Here are the top American ice dance scores from the Grand Prix season:

1. Davis/White — 188.23 (Skate America)
2. Davis/White — 186.65 (NHK Trophy)
3. Shibutani/Shibutani — 157.58 (NHK Trophy)
4. Shibutani/Shibutani — 154.47 (Skate America)
5. Chock/Bates — 153.37 (Rostelecom Cup)
6. Hubbell/Donohue — 153.20 (Skate Canada)
7. Hubbell/Donohue — 152.98 (Skate America)
8. Chock/Bates — 150.53 (Cup of China)

Grand Prix of Russia Results

Men
1. Tatsuki Machida (JPN) 257.00
2. Maksim Kovtun (RUS) 240.34
3. Javier Fernandez (ESP) 226.99
4. Konstantin Menshov (RUS) 223.03
5. Richard Dornbush (USA) 215.45
6. Artur Gachinski (RUS) 211.49
7. Peter Liebers (GER) 197.65
8. Misha Ge (UZB) 190.28

Ice Dance
1. Bobrova/Soloviyev (RUS) 168.32
2. Weaver/Poje (CAN) 163.14
3. Chock/Bates (USA) 153.37
4. Riazanova/Tkachenko (RUS) 152.36
5. Monko/Khaliavin (RUS) 145.92
6. Gilles/Poirier (CAN) 133.66
7. Papadakis/Cizeron (FRA) 124.27
8. Heekin-Canedy/Dun (UKR) 123.57

Lipnitskaya, Savchenko/Szolkowy also win in Moscow

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French Open: Iga Swiatek rolls toward possible Coco Gauff rematch

By OlympicTalkJun 1, 2023, 11:06 AM EDT

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Iga Swiatek reached the French Open third round without dropping a set, eyeing a third Roland Garros title in four years. Not that she needed the help, but Swiatek’s immediate draw is wide open after the rest of the seeds in her section lost.

Swiatek dispatched 102nd-ranked American Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday, the same score as her first-round win. She gets 80th-ranked Wang Xinyu of China in the round of 32.

The other three seeds in Swiatek’s section all lost in the first round, so the earliest that the world No. 1 could play another seed is the quarterfinals. And that would be No. 6 Coco Gauff, who was runner-up to Swiatek last year.

Gauff plays her second-round match later Thursday against 61st-ranked Austrian Julia Grabher. Gauff also doesn’t have any seeds in her way before a possible Swiatek showdown.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Swiatek, who turned 22 on Wednesday, came into this year’s French Open without the invincibility of a year ago, when she was 16-0 in the spring clay season during an overall 37-match win streak.

She retired from her last pre-French Open match with a right thigh injury, but said it wasn’t serious. That diagnosis appears to have been spot-on through two matches this week, though her serve was broken twice in the first set of each match.

While the men’s draw has been upended by 14-time champion Rafael Nadal‘s pre-event withdrawal and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev‘s loss in the first round, the top women have taken care of business.

Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, American Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan also reached the third round without dropping a set.

Though all of them have beaten Swiatek in 2023, the Pole remains the favorite to lift the trophy a week from Saturday. She can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

She can also become the youngest woman to win three French Opens since Monica Seles in 1992 and the youngest woman to win four Slams overall since Williams in 2002.

Swiatek doesn’t dwell on it.

“I never even played Serena or Monica Seles,” she said. “I’m kind of living my own life and having my own journey.”

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Penny Oleksiak to miss world swimming championships

By OlympicTalkJun 1, 2023, 10:11 AM EDT

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Seven-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak of Canada will miss July’s world swimming championships because she does not expect to be recovered enough from knee and shoulder injuries.

“The bar that we set was, can she be as good as she’s ever been at these world championships?” coach Ryan Mallette said in a press release. “We just don’t feel like we’re going to be ready to be 100 percent yet this summer. Our focus is to get her back to 100 percent as soon as possible to get ready for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

Oleksiak, who owns the Canadian record of seven Olympic medals (across all sports), missed Canada’s trials meet for worlds two months ago due to the injuries. She was still named to the team at the time in hope that she would be ready in time for worlds.

The 22-year-old returned to competition last month at a Mare Nostrum meet in Barcelona, after which she chose to focus on continued rehab rather than compete at worlds in Fukuoka, Japan.

“Swimming at Mare Nostrum was a checkpoint for worlds, and I gave it my best shot,” Oleksiak said in the release. “We reviewed my swims there, and it showed me the level I want to get back to. Now I need to focus on my rehab to get back to where I want to be and put myself in position to be at my best next season.”

Oleksiak had knee surgery last year to repair a meniscus. After that, she developed a left shoulder injury.

In 2016, Oleksiak tied for Olympic 100m freestyle gold with American Simone Manuel. She also earned 100m butterfly silver in Rio and 200m free bronze in Tokyo, along with four relay medals between those two Games.

At last year’s worlds, she earned four relay medals and placed fourth in the 100m free.

She anchored the Canadian 4x100m free relay to silver behind Australia at the most recent Olympics and worlds.

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