Sochi Olympic Daily Recap & Medal Count: Day 10

By Chris EstradaFeb 17, 2014, 6:00 PM EST

It’s mission accomplished for Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

Today, the two Americans brought home their country’s first-ever gold medal in Olympic ice dancing with a captivating free skate that landed them the world records in both free and total scores. Canadian rivals Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir – the pair that beat Davis and White for gold four years ago in Vancouver – finished with the silver this time around in Sochi.

After the victory, they made a classy gesture and hailed Virtue and Moir, with whom they train and also share a coach with.

“We wanted to fight for the best performance we could give and we did that,” White said to the Associated Press. “You dream of this for so long, work so hard, and [Virtue and Moir] worked hard, too. They always have been with us, pushing us, and we couldn’t have done it without them.” …

The other medal for the U.S. on Day 10 of the Sochi Olympics came from somewhere a medal had not come from for 62 long years.

In Vancouver, Steven Holcomb helped give the U.S. its first gold in four-man bobsled since 1948 (also, a span of 62 years). So, naturally, he (along with brakeman Steven Langton) was the one to bring the Americans their first Olympic medal of any kind in two-man bobsled since 1952.

Holcomb and Langton were in third place going into the last two runs and they stayed there to win the bronze despite the driver dealing with a strained calf muscle that required treatment leading up to race time. The gold went to the Russian combo of Aleksandr Zubkov and Alexey Voyevoda…

Belarus pulled off two golds today in the biathlon and in men’s aerials. Darya Domracheva became the first female to win three biathlon golds in a single Winter Olympics by taking the mass start event, while Anton Kushnir completed an aerials sweep for the country after Alla Tsuper won the women’s event…

And in the team ski jumping event, Germany won the gold and gave Austria its first team loss in either the Olympics or world championships since 2005…

Heavy fog this afternoon in Sochi forced the postponement of two medal events to tomorrow – the men’s snowboard cross final and the men’s biathlon mass start…

In women’s hockey, the U.S. and Canada won their respective semifinals and will face off for the gold medal on Thursday. The Americans dominated Sweden, 6-1, while the Canadians got three goals in the first period and held on for a 3-1 win over Switzerland…

On the men’s side, the playoff times were revealed and things are going to get very busy around lunchtime on Wednesday. The U.S. and Canada will both play their respective quarterfinal games at Noon ET; the U.S. taking on the Czech Republic-Slovakia winner, Canada facing either Switzerland or Latvia…

Out of competition, Norwegian Alpine skiing star Aksel Lund Svindal has exited the Sochi Olympics due to allergies and fatigue according to his coach…

U.S. ski jumper Sarah Hendrickson took over our @NBCOlympics Twitter account…

Silver medalist freeskier Gus Kenworthy was all “Holla at me, Miley Cyrus” – and the “Wrecking Ball” singer obliged…

Pop crooner Michael Buble gave a thumbs-up to U.S. ice dancers Maia and Alex Shibutani for using his music in yesterday’s short dance…

“Game of Thrones” has handed out a second sigil to a U.S. Olympian during these Games…

The Jamaican bobsled phenomenon has spawned a new tune for the ‘Olympics’ playlist on your iPod…

That pesky snowflake from the Opening Ceremony will be fixed for Sunday’s Closing Ceremony send-off at Fisht Olympic Stadium…

And we took a look back on Sochi: The Story So Far. You can bet we’ll have more memorable moments during this final week.

MEDAL COUNT – Feb. 17
(Country – Gold/Silver/Bronze – Total Medals)
1. Germany – 8/3/2 – 13
2. Russia – 5/7/6 – 18
3. Netherlands – 5/5/7 – 17
4. United States – 5/4/9 – 18
5. Norway – 5/3/7 – 15
6. Switzerland – 5/2/1 – 8
7. Belarus – 5/0/1 – 6
8. Canada – 4/7/4 – 15
9. Poland – 4/0/0 – 4
10. China – 3/2/1 – 6
11. Sweden – 2/5/2 – 9
12. Austria – 2/5/1 – 8
13. France – 2/0/4 – 6
14. Japan – 1/3/2 – 6
15. Czech Republic – 1/3/1 – 5
16. Slovenia – 1/1/3 – 5
17. Korea – 1/1/1 – 3
18. Great Britain – 1/0/1 – 2
19. Slovakia – 1/0/0 – 1
20. Italy – 0/2/3 – 5
21. Australia – 0/2/1 – 3
22. Finland – 0/2/0 – 2
23. Latvia – 0/1/2 – 3
24. Croatia – 0/1/0 – 1
T-25. Kazakhstan – 0/0/1 – 1
T-25. Ukraine – 0/0/1 – 1

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Iga Swiatek sweeps into French Open final, where she faces a surprise

By OlympicTalkJun 8, 2023, 5:30 PM EDT

Iga Swiatek marched into the French Open final without dropping a set in six matches. All that stands between her and a third Roland Garros title is an unseeded foe.

Swiatek, the top-ranked Pole, swept 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-2, 7-6 (7) in Thursday’s semifinal in her toughest test all tournament. Haddad Maia squandered three break points at 4-all in the second set.

Swiatek dropped just 23 games thus far, matching her total en route to her first French Open final in 2020 (which she won for her first WTA Tour title of any kind). After her semifinal, she signed a courtside camera with the hashtag #stepbystep.

“For sure I feel like I’m a better player,” than in 2020, she said. “Mentally, tactically, physically, just having the experience, everything. So, yeah, my whole life basically.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

In Saturday’s final, Swiatek gets 43rd-ranked Czech Karolina Muchova, who upset No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus to reach her first major final.

Muchova, a 26-year-old into the second week of the French Open for the first time, became the first player to take a set off the powerful Belarusian this tournament, then rallied from down 5-2 in the third set to prevail 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5.

Sabalenka, who overcame previous erratic serving to win the Australian Open in January, had back-to-back double faults in her last service game.

“Lost my rhythm,” she said. “I wasn’t there.”

Muchova broke up what many expected would be a Sabalenka-Swiatek final, which would have been the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 match at the French Open since Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova in the 2013 final.

Muchova is unseeded, but was considered dangerous going into the tournament.

In 2021, she beat then-No. 1 Ash Barty to make the Australian Open semifinals, then reached a career-high ranking of 19. She dropped out of the top 200 last year while struggling through injuries.

“Some doctors told me maybe you’ll not do sport anymore,” Muchova said. “It’s up and downs in life all the time. Now I’m enjoying that I’m on the upper part now.”

Muchova has won all five of her matches against players ranked in the top three. She also beat Swiatek in their lone head-to-head, but that was back in 2019 when both players were unaccomplished young pros. They have since practiced together many times.

“I really like her game, honestly,” Swiatek said. “I really respect her, and she’s I feel like a player who can do anything. She has great touch. She can also speed up the game. She plays with that kind of freedom in her movements. And she has a great technique. So I watched her matches, and I feel like I know her game pretty well.”

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Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s defining race; Paris Diamond League TV, live stream info

By OlympicTalkJun 8, 2023, 4:01 PM EDT

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

For Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, what happens in her first outdoor race of 2023 on Friday could dictate the rest of her season. It may impact her 2024 Olympic plans, too.

McLaughlin-Levrone strays from the 400m hurdles — where she is the reigning Olympic and world champion and four times broke the world record — to race her first flat 400m in two years at a Diamond League meet in Paris.

Peacock streams it live from 3-5 p.m. ET. CNBC airs coverage Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

What we know is this: On Friday, McLaughlin-Levrone will race against the Olympic and world silver medalist in the 400m (Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic) and the 2019 World champion (Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain).

Next month, McLaughlin-Levrone will race the flat 400m at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships, the qualifying meet for August’s world championships. She is racing that flat 400m at USATF Outdoors at least in part because she already has a bye into the 400m hurdles at worlds as defending champion.

What we don’t know: which race McLaughlin-Levrone will enter at worlds. Her coach, Bobby Kersee, said last month that she will choose between the 400m and 400m hurdles for worlds, should she finish top three in the 400m at USATF Outdoors to qualify in that second event. She will not try a 400m-400m hurdles double at worlds.

McLaughlin-Levrone was asked Thursday which event she would pick if given the choice.

“Is it bad to say I don’t know?” she said in a press conference. “Honestly, ask me after tomorrow. I don’t know. I’ve got to run this one first and see how it feels.”

McLaughlin-Levrone also doesn’t know what she will try to race at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Next year, the 400m-400m hurdles double is more feasible given one could do both events without ever racing more than once per day.

“We’re still focused on 2023,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “One step at a time, literally. Obviously that’s something as the season comes to an end we’ll kind of start to look and figure out what our plan is for next year.”

Here are the Paris entry lists. Here’s the schedule of events (all times Eastern):

12:57 p.m. ET — Women’s Shot Put
1:35 — Women’s High Jump
2:15 — Women’s Discus
2:20 — Women’s Pole Vault
3:04 — Men’s 400m Hurdles
3:15 — Women’s 800m
3:19 — Men’s Long Jump
3:24 — Women’s 5000m
3:42 — Women’s Javelin
3:52 — Men’s 110m Hurdles
4:02 — Women’s 400m
4:12 — Men’s 100m
4:22 — Women’s 200m
4:32 — Men’s 3000m Steeplechase
4:51 — Men’s 800m

Here are six events to watch:

Women’s Pole Vault — 2:20 p.m. ET
Olympic and world champion Katie Moon won the first two Diamond League meets and again faces some of her biggest domestic and international challengers in Paris. That includes fellow American Sandi Morris, who won the first three Diamond League meets last year, then took silver behind Moon at worlds on count back. Plus 34-year-old Slovenian Tina Sutej, who ranks second in the world this season.

Women’s 5000m — 3:24 p.m. ET
Includes the world record holders at 1500m (Kenyan Faith Kipyegon in her first 5000m since 2015), 3000m steeplechase (Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech) and the 5000m and 10,000m (Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey). Plus new American 10,000m record holder Alicia Monson, who is third on the U.S. all-time 5000m list at 14:31.11. Shelby Houlihan has the American record of 14:23.92.

Men’s 110m Hurdles — 3:52 p.m. ET
The three members of the U.S. Olympic team in Tokyo — Grant Holloway, Devon Allen and Daniel Roberts — could face off for the first time in nearly a year. Holloway, who has a bye into worlds as defending champion, overcame a rare defeat in the Diamond League opener in Rabat to win his last two races. He is the fastest man in the world this year at 13.01 seconds. Allen isn’t far behind at 13.12, while Roberts has yet to race the hurdles this outdoor season.

Women’s 400m — 4:02 p.m. ET
Could very well determine the favorite for worlds. Reigning Olympic and world champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas is on maternity leave. Paulino is the only other woman to break 49 seconds since the start of the pandemic, and she’s done it each of the last two years. Naser is the only other active woman to have broken 49 seconds, doing so in winning the 2019 World title (before she was banned for two years, through the Tokyo Olympics, for missing drug tests). McLaughlin-Levrone’s personal best from 2018 is 50.07 seconds, but she was just 18 years old then and focusing on the hurdles. Still, that time would have won the 2022 U.S. title. Last month, University of Arkansas junior Britton Wilson ran the fastest time by an American since 2009 — 49.13 — but she might bypass the flat 400m to focus on the hurdles this summer.

Men’s 100m — 4:12 p.m. ET
Could be a meeting between the reigning Olympic men’s 100m champion (Marcell Jacobs of Italy) and world men’s 200m champion (American Noah Lyles), which hasn’t happened since the 2009 World Championships 100m final, where Usain Bolt lowered the world record to 9.58 seconds and American Tyson Gay was second in a then-American record 9.71. Later in that meet, Bolt won his first world 200m title, a crown he held concurrently with his Olympic 100m titles through his 2017 retirement. But Jacobs, citing nerve pain, scratched out of the last two Diamond League meets, which were to be showdowns with world 100m champion Fred Kerley. Jacobs did show up for Thursday’s press conference. Lyles has a bye onto the world team in the 200m, but also wants to make the four-man U.S. team in the 100m. He ranks fifth among Americans by best time this season — 9.95.

Men’s 800m — 4:51 p.m. ET
The top five from the world championships are entered, led by Olympic and world champion Emmanuel Korir of Kenya. This event was in an international doldrums for much of the time since Kenyan David Rudisha repeated as Olympic champion in 2016, then faded away from competition. But the emergence of 18-year-old Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi has injected excitement this season. Wanyonyi is the world’s fastest man this year. The second-fastest, Kenyan Wycliffe Kinyamal, is also in this field.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported the TV window for the meet broadcast. The CNBC broadcast begins at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, not 3.

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