Jeremy Abbott, Jason Brown named to U.S. Olympic Team

Jeremy Abbott
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The U.S. will send something old and something new in men’s figure skating to the Sochi Olympics.

U.S. Figure Skating finalized its 15-skater roster by naming Jeremy Abbott and Jason Brown to the Olympic Team on Sunday night, a couple of hours after they went one-two at the U.S. Championships in Boston.

Abbott, 28, is the oldest male singles figure skater to make the U.S. Olympic Team since Todd Eldredge in 2002. He has never won an Olympic or World Championships medal, but Abbott now has as many U.S. titles as Olympic champions Scott Hamilton and Brian Boitano and twice as many as Evan Lysacek.

“Four-time national champion is just crazy,” Abbott told reporters Sunday. “I’m just a small-town boy. I never thought I’d be here.”

Abbott infamously imploded at the 2010 Olympics, finishing ninth after beating Lysacek at the U.S. Championships a month earlier.

Brown, 19, is the first teenage male singles skater to make the U.S. Olympic Team since 1976. The ponytailed Riverdancer is in his first season as a senior-level skater after taking bronze and silver at the last two World Junior Championships.

Together, Abbott and Brown face a steep hill toward a medal in Sochi. The gold- and silver-medal favorites, in some order, are three-time reigning world champion Canadian Patrick Chan and Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, who beat Chan at the Grand Prix Final in December.

The door for bronze has opened this season with the struggles and injuries to Spain’s Javier Fernandez and Kazakhstan’s Denis Ten. It’s also hard to gauge the ceilings of Russian three-time Olympic medalist Yevgeny Plushenko, if he’s selected, and Japan’s second- and third-best skaters, Tatsuki Machida and Daisuke Takahashi.

U.S. men’s skating has been on the decline since Lysacek’s gold in 2010. It hasn’t qualified to send more than two skaters to either of the last two World Championships nor for these Olympics.

The U.S. has placed a men’s singles skater sixth or higher at every Olympics since 1936. That streak is in jeopardy.

Here is the full U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team:

Men
Jeremy Abbott
Jason Brown

Women
Polina Edmunds
Gracie Gold
Ashley Wagner

Pairs
Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir
Felicia Zhang/Nathan Bartholomay

Ice Dance
Madison Chock/Evan Bates
Meryl Davis/Charlie White
Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani

Meet youngest U.S. Winter Olympian since 1998

2023 French Open women’s singles draw, scores

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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 best 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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2023 French Open men’s singles draw, scores

French Open Men's Draw
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The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

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

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Women’s Draw

But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They could meet in the semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the first round by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. It marked the first time a men’s top-two seed lost in the first round of any major since 2003 Wimbledon (Ivo Karlovic d. Lleyton Hewitt).

No. 12 Frances Tiafoe is the last American remaining, looking to become the first U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals since Andre Agassi in 2003. Since then, five different American men combined to make the fourth round on eight occasions.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

French Open Men's Singles Draw French Open Men's Singles Draw French Open Men's Singles Draw French Open Men's Singles Draw