Ski halfpipe, slopestyle teams include youngest U.S. Winter Olympian since 1972

By Nick ZaccardiJan 21, 2014, 2:56 PM EST

The youngest U.S. Olympians in recent history include gold medalists Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Tara Lipinski, who were all 15 years old for their Olympic debuts.

Maggie Voisin will beat them by a matter of days in Sochi.

Voisin, who turned 15 on Dec. 14, was one of six additional freestyle skiing athletes nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team on Tuesday. The three slopestyle skiers, two halfpipe skiers and one ski cross racer join the athletes who already clinched berths via objective criteria.

Here’s the full list of U.S. Olympians in ski halfpipe, ski slopestyle and ski cross:

Ski Halfpipe
Aaron Blunck
Lyman Currier
Torin Yater-Wallace — new nomination
David Wise
Maddie Bowman
Annalisa Drew — new nomination
Brita Sigourney
Angeli VanLaanen

Yater-Wallace was named after not competing in any of the five Olympic selection events. He broke two ribs in a practice crash in Breckenridge, Colo., on Dec. 14, a few weeks after suffering a collapsed lung.

Yater-Wallace likely earned his spot as the reigning world and Winter X Games silver medalist. If healthy, he’ll be a gold-medal contender with Wise, who is the reigning world and Winter X Games gold medalist.

Ski Slopestyle
Bobby Brown
Joss Christensen — new nomination
Nick Goepper
Gus Kenworthy
Keri Herman
Julia Krass — new nomination
Devin Logan
Maggie Voisin — new nomination

Christensen was named after winning the final Olympic selection event. He was chosen to the team over the last two world champions, Tom Wallisch and Alex Schlopy.

Voisin is the youngest U.S. Winter Olympian since 1972, when two 14-year-old speed skaters competed — Kay Lunda and Connie Carpenter-Phinney. She’s the youngest U.S. Winter or Summer Olympian since 1996, overtaking Phelps, who was 15 years and two months old in 2000.

Ski Cross
John Teller — new nomination

Teller, 30, will hope to win the first U.S. medal in ski cross, which joined the Olympic program in 2010. He is the reigning world bronze medalist and just missed the 2010 Olympic Team, which included fellow converted Alpine skiers Daron Rahlves and Casey Puckett, who were eliminated before the quarterfinals.

Teller has also been an auto mechanic and high school football coach. The U.S. did not send any women to the 2010 Olympics in ski cross and did not qualify any for Sochi, either.

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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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