What to watch on Day 8 of Sochi Olympics

By Nick ZaccardiFeb 14, 2014, 11:05 PM EST

Here’s a look at the compelling events, athletes and storylines of the Sochi Olympics on Saturday, Feb. 15. A complete list of every Saturday event can be found here.

WHAT TO STAY UP LATE FOR …

Women’s super-G, 2 a.m. ET — CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE

This is the final women’s speed event of the Olympics and possibly Julia Mancuso’s last really great shot at an Olympic medal.

Mancuso won bronze in the super combined and finished eighth in the downhill. A medal in the super-G would give her five total, matching Bode Miller’s record for U.S. Alpine skiers.

This has been Mancuso’s best discipline since the Vancouver Olympics yet one she has not won an Olympic medal in. Mancuso was the No. 3, 2 and 2 super-G skier the previous three years before her noted struggles on tour this season.

Her biggest competition will come from Olympic super combined champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch, downhill gold medalists Tina Maze and Dominique Gisin and bronze medalist Lara Gut and Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather, who was on crutches earlier this week.

Men’s hockey, Slovakia-Slovenia, 3 a.m. ET — CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE

These two similarly sounding yet not bordering nations will play at the Olympics for the first time, both looking to recover from opening-day defeats.

Slovenia, which features Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar, is coming off a 5-2 loss to Russia on Thursday. Slovakia, which finished fourth at the 2010 Olympics, was trounced 7-1 by the U.S.

Both teams are likely to feed into the “qualification playoff” round rather than an automatic quarterfinal berth out of group play.

WHAT TO WAKE UP EARLY FOR …

Short track speed skating, men’s 1000m final, 7:20 a.m. ET — CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE

J.R. Celski looks to improve upon his fourth-place finish in the 1500m here, should he make the A final. He finished eighth in the 1000m at the 2010 Olympics and earned a third at a World Cup event in Kolomna, Russia, in November.

The biggest threats will be similar to the 1500m — Canada’s Charles Hamelin, Russia’s Viktor Ahn and any South Koreans.

The women’s 1500m final will take place 13 minutes before the men’s 1000m, but no Americans are expected to be a part of it. US Speedskating has yet to win a medal at these Olympics.

Men’s hockey, U.S.-Russia, 7:30 a.m. ET — CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE

This is probably the biggest event of the Olympics without a medal at stake. The U.S. and Russia (or the Soviet Union/Unified Team) will play an Olympic men’s hockey game for the sixth time since the Miracle on Ice and for the first time on Russian ice.

Here are their results since 1980:
1988: Soviet Union 7, U.S. 5 (group play)
1992: Unified Team 5, U.S. 2 (semifinals)
2002: U.S. 2, Russia 2 (group play)
2002: U.S. 3, Russia 2 (semifinals)
2006: Russia 5, U.S. 4 (group play)

Jonathan Quick will start his second straight game in goal after stopping 21 of 22 Slovakian shots Thursday.

The winner of this game goes into the driver’s seat for an automatic spot in the quarterfinals. The loser still has a shot, too, but it will be tougher.

Speed skating, men’s 1500m, 8:30 a.m. ET — CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE

Shani Davis looks to rebound from a startling eighth-place finish in the 1000m Wednesday, an event in which he had won 2006 and 2010 Olympic gold.

Davis is the two-time defending silver medalist in the 1500m, the reigning world silver medalist and the 2013-14 World Cup leader.

Yet this is a fairly open race among Davis, the Netherlands’ Stefan Groothuis, Kjeld Nuis and Koen Verweij and Russians Denis Yuzkov and Ivan Skobrev.

The Dutch have won all three men’s speed skating golds so far and will be favored in the final two events, the 10,000m and team pursuit. Only the U.S. in 1932, Norway in 1936 and Eric Heiden in 1980 have swept all the men’s speed skating golds, but there were five or fewer events at all of those Winter Games.

Men’s skeleton runs 3 and 4, 9:45 a.m. ET — CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE

A U.S. man will likely win an Olympic skeleton medal for the first time since Jim Shea’s gold in 2002.

John Daly and Matthew Antoine are in third and fourth, respectively, after two of four runs Friday. Russian Aleksander Tretiakov leads Latvian Martins Dukurs by .56 of a second.

Dukurs, the World Cup champion each of the last five seasons, is staring at his second straight Olympic silver medal after he was upset by Canadian Jon Montgomery in 2010. He is .56 of a second behind Tretiakov.

Daly, who was 17th at the 2010 Olympics, is 1.03 seconds behind Dukurs and .26 better than Antoine. Daly has never won a World Cup or World Championships medal, so this could really be the race of his life.

WHAT YOU CAN’T MISS DURING THE DAY …

Men’s hockey, Sweden-Latvia, 12 p.m. ET — CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE | Switzerland-Czech Republic, 12 p.m. ET — CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE

These are the final games in Group C. Sweden has already booked a spot in the quarterfinals with 4-2 and 1-0 wins over the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Latvia is the minnow of this group and should pose no threat, even with Henrik Zetterberg out of the Olympics.

The winner of the Swiss-Czech game has a chance at an automatic quarterfinal spot. The Czechs beat Latvia 4-2 on Friday behind two goals from Jaromir Jagr, 41. The Swiss have played two 1-0 games, losing the latest to Sweden on Friday.

Ski jumping, men’s large hill, 12:30 p.m. ET — CLICK HERE TO WATCH EVENT LIVE

Poland’s Kamil Stoch, who won the normal hill Sunday, flew a field-best 136m in training Friday from a lower gate position and appears to be the favorite again here.

Swiss Simon Ammann, the four-time Olympic champion, posted a 132m jump in training after finishing 17th in the normal hill.

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Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz exit French Open, leaving no U.S. men

Associated PressJun 3, 2023, 7:35 PM EDT

Getty

Frances Tiafoe kept coming oh so close to extending his French Open match against Alexander Zverev: 12 times Saturday night, the American was two points from forcing things to a fifth set.

Yet the 12th-seeded Tiafoe never got closer than that.

Instead, the 22nd-seeded Zverev finished out his 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory after more than 3 1/2 hours in Court Philippe Chatrier to reach the fourth round. With Tiafoe’s exit, none of the 16 men from the United States who were in the bracket at the start of the tournament are still in the field.

“I mean, for the majority of the match, I felt like I was in control,” said Tiafoe, a 25-year-old from Maryland who fell to 1-7 against Zverev.

“It’s just tough,” he said about a half-hour after his loss ended, rubbing his face with his hand. “I should be playing the fifth right now.”

Two other American men lost earlier Saturday: No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz and unseeded Marcos Giron.

No. 23 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina beat Fritz 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, and Nicolas Jarry of Chile eliminated Giron 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-3.

There are three U.S women remaining: No. 6 Coco Gauff, Sloane Stephens and Bernarda Pera.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

It is the second year in a row that zero men from the United States will participate in the fourth round at Roland Garros. If nothing else, it stands as a symbolic step back for the group after what seemed to be a couple of breakthrough showings at the past two majors.

For Tiafoe, getting to the fourth round is never the goal.

“I want to win the trophy,” he said.

Remember: No American man has won any Grand Slam title since Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open. The French Open has been the least successful major in that stretch with no U.S. men reaching the quarterfinals since Andre Agassi in 2003.

But Tiafoe beat Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of the U.S. Open along the way to getting to the semifinals there last September, the first time in 16 years the host nation had a representative in the men’s final four at Flushing Meadows.

Then, at the Australian Open this January, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda and Ben Shelton became the first trio of Americans in the men’s quarterfinals in Melbourne since 2000. Paul made it a step beyond that, to the semifinals.

After that came this benchmark: 10 Americans were ranked in the ATP’s Top 50, something that last happened in June 1995.

On Saturday, after putting aside a whiffed over-the-shoulder volley — he leaned atop the net for a moment in disbelief — Tiafoe served for the fourth set at 5-3, but couldn’t seal the deal.

In that game, and the next, and later on, too, including at 5-all in the tiebreaker, he would come within two points of owning that set.

Each time, Zverev claimed the very next point. When Tiafoe sent a forehand wide to end it, Zverev let out two big yells. Then the two, who have been pals for about 15 years, met for a warm embrace at the net, and Zverev placed his hand atop Tiafoe’s head.

“He’s one of my best friends on tour,” said Zverev, a German who twice has reached the semifinals on the red clay of Paris, “but on the court, I’m trying to win.”

At the 2022 French Open, Zverev tore ligaments in his right ankle while playing Nadal in the semifinals and had to stop.

“It’s been definitely the hardest year of my life, that’s for sure,” Zverev said. “I love tennis more than anything in the world.”

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2023 French Open women’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkJun 3, 2023, 7:30 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 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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