Trevor Jacob wins World Cup snowboardcross event; Wescott’s tricky Olympic hopes

By Nick ZaccardiJan 11, 2014, 11:14 AM EST

In one of the most surprising results of any Olympic sport this season, American Trevor Jacob won a World Cup snowboardcross event in Vallnord-Arcalís, Andorra, on Saturday.

Jacob, 20, had never finished higher than seventh in seven previous World Cup starts.

He clinched an Olympic berth via U.S. Snowboarding’s Olympic selection criteria, which calls for up to three snowboardcross athletes who have top-four finishes in designated events to make the team. If more than three get top-four finishes, the tiebreaker is an athlete’s best finish.

This complicates the Olympic qualifying picture for two-time Olympic champion Seth Wescott, who finished 49th in qualifying where 48 advanced to Saturday’s final.

It marked Wescott’s first competition since a complete reconstruction of his left ACL in April after falling into an Alaska crevasse while shooting part of a film for ski and snowboard director Warren Miller.

Here’s where it gets tricky for Wescott:

Three Americans now have top-four finishes — Jacob, Nate Holland (who was fourth Saturday) and Alex Deibold (who was third in a December event).

No more than four U.S. men can make the Olympic Team, which will be announced following two more races — one more in Andorra on Sunday and one next weekend in Switzerland. (Correction: Next weekend’s event in Switzerland was postponed, likely to March).

The potential fourth Olympic spot is discretionary, meaning Wescott could be selected regardless of his results.

The next best U.S. snowboarder this season, Nick Baumgartner, has sixth-place finishes in his last two World Cups.

Could Wescott be placed on the team over Baumgartner?

Also Saturday, 2006 Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis took third in the women’s race behind Canadian Dominique Maltais.

Jacobellis, who has all but clinched an Olympic berth, ranks second to Maltais in World Cup standings and is looking like a Sochi gold medal contender.

Pikus-Pace stops Yarnold in St. Moritz

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Jim Hines, Olympic 100m gold medalist and first to break 10 seconds, dies

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 6:06 AM EDT

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Jim Hines, a 1968 Olympic 100m gold medalist and the first person to break 10 seconds in the event, has died at age 76, according to USA Track and Field.

“I understand that God called him home today and we send the prayers up for him,” was posted on the Facebook page of John Carlos, a 1968 U.S. Olympic teammate, over the weekend.

Hines was born in Arkansas, raised in Oakland, California and attended Texas Southern University in Houston.

At the June 1968 AAU Championships in Sacramento, Hines became the first person to break 10 seconds in the 100m with a hand-timed 9.9. It was dubbed the “Night of Speed” because the world record of 10 seconds was beaten by three men and tied by seven others, according to World Athletics.

“There will never be another night like it,” Hines said at a 35th anniversary reunion in 2003, according to World Athletics. “That was the greatest sprinting series in the history of track and field.”

Later that summer, Hines won the Olympic Trials. Then he won the Olympic gold medal in Mexico City’s beneficial thin air in 9.95 seconds, the first electronically timed sub-10 and a world record that stood for 15 years.

Hines was part of a legendary 1968 U.S. Olympic track and field team that also included 200m gold and bronze medalists Tommie Smith and Carlos, plus gold medalists Wyomia Tyus (100m), Bob Beamon (long jump), Al Oerter (discus), Dick Fosbury (high jump), Lee Evans (400m), Madeline Manning Mims (800m), Willie Davenport (110m hurdles), Bob Seagren (pole vault), Randy Matson (shot put), Bill Toomey (decathlon) and the men’s and women’s 4x100m and men’s 4x400m relays.

After the Olympics, Hines joined the Miami Dolphins, who chose him in the sixth round of that year’s NFL Draft to be a wide receiver. He was given the number 99. Hines played in 10 games between 1969 and 1970 for the Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs.

He remains the only person to have played in an NFL regular season game out of the now more than 170 who have broken 10 seconds in the 100m over the last 55 years.

2023 French Open women’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkJun 4, 2023, 4:10 PM EDT

At the French Open, Iga Swiatek of Poland eyes a third title at Roland Garros and a fourth Grand Slam singles crown overall.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Swiatek, the No. 1 seed from Poland, can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

Having turned 22 on Wednesday, she can 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.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Men’s Draw

But Swiatek is not as dominant as in 2022, when she went 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 and said it wasn’t serious. Before that, she lost the final of another clay-court tournament to Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, is her top remaining challenger in Paris.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula, the highest-seeded American man or woman, was eliminated in the third round. No. 4 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who has three wins over Swiatek this year, withdrew before her third-round match due to illness.

No. 6 Coco Gauff, runner-up to Swiatek last year, is the top hope to become the first American to win a Grand Slam singles title since Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought is the longest for U.S. women since Seles won the 1996 Australian Open.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Women’s Singles Draw

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