Norway’s Graabak wins NC individual large hill 10km; Taylor Fletcher 20th, Bill Demong 31st

By Chris EstradaFeb 18, 2014, 7:52 AM EST

Norway’s Joergen Graabak survived a wild finish to win gold in the Nordic combined individual large hill 10km, while countryman Magnus Moan took advantage of contact between two German competitors to claim the silver.

Graabak was narrowly ahead of the lead pack as they headed into the next-to-last turn of the cross-country course, when Fabian Riessle went to the inside of fellow German Johannes Rydzek for second.

Reissle and Rydzek appeared to make contact before the latter fell down, with Moan slipping by Riessle during the incident and hanging on in the final moments for the silver. Reissle finished half a second up on another teammate, Bjoern Kircheisen, to salvage the bronze.

Graabak becomes the Olympic champion after overcoming a 42-second time difference to Germany’s Eric Frenzel after the jumping portion, in which he placed sixth.

Frenzel, battling through a virus, was unable to hold on to his lead in the skiing portion and faded back to a 10th place result. This comes after he won the gold in the individual normal hill 10km last Wednesday.

MORE: South Korea wins gold in short track 3000m relay

Taylor Fletcher was 35th after the jumping, but charged 15 spots in the skiing to finish 20th, leading Team USA.

His teammate and defending Olympic champion, Bill Demong, finished 31st after placing 38th in the jumping.

That stuck him with a 2:18 deficit going into the skiing, effectively ending his bid for a good finish.

NORDIC COMBINED – INDIVIDUAL LARGE HILL + 10KM
1. Joergen Grabaak (NOR), 22:45.5
2. Magnus Moan (NOR), +0.6 seconds
3. Fabian Reissle (GER), +1.6 seconds
—
20. Taylor Fletcher (USA), +1:17.1
22. Bryan Fletcher (USA), 1:24.8
31. Bill Demong (USA), 2:13.8
Todd Lodwick (USA), 30th in jump, DNS in ski

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French Open: Iga Swiatek rolls toward possible Coco Gauff rematch

By OlympicTalkJun 1, 2023, 11:06 AM EDT

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Iga Swiatek reached the French Open third round without dropping a set, eyeing a third Roland Garros title in four years. Not that she needed the help, but Swiatek’s immediate draw is wide open after the rest of the seeds in her section lost.

Swiatek dispatched 102nd-ranked American Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday, the same score as her first-round win. She gets 80th-ranked Wang Xinyu of China in the round of 32.

The other three seeds in Swiatek’s section all lost in the first round, so the earliest that the world No. 1 could play another seed is the quarterfinals. And that would be No. 6 Coco Gauff, who was runner-up to Swiatek last year.

Gauff plays her second-round match later Thursday against 61st-ranked Austrian Julia Grabher. Gauff also doesn’t have any seeds in her way before a possible Swiatek showdown.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Swiatek, who turned 22 on Wednesday, came into this year’s French Open without the invincibility of a year ago, when she was 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, but said it wasn’t serious. That diagnosis appears to have been spot-on through two matches this week, though her serve was broken twice in the first set of each match.

While the men’s draw has been upended by 14-time champion Rafael Nadal‘s pre-event withdrawal and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev‘s loss in the first round, the top women have taken care of business.

Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, American Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan also reached the third round without dropping a set.

Though all of them have beaten Swiatek in 2023, the Pole remains the favorite to lift the trophy a week from Saturday. She can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

She can also 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.

Swiatek doesn’t dwell on it.

“I never even played Serena or Monica Seles,” she said. “I’m kind of living my own life and having my own journey.”

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Penny Oleksiak to miss world swimming championships

By OlympicTalkJun 1, 2023, 10:11 AM EDT

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Seven-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak of Canada will miss July’s world swimming championships because she does not expect to be recovered enough from knee and shoulder injuries.

“The bar that we set was, can she be as good as she’s ever been at these world championships?” coach Ryan Mallette said in a press release. “We just don’t feel like we’re going to be ready to be 100 percent yet this summer. Our focus is to get her back to 100 percent as soon as possible to get ready for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

Oleksiak, who owns the Canadian record of seven Olympic medals (across all sports), missed Canada’s trials meet for worlds two months ago due to the injuries. She was still named to the team at the time in hope that she would be ready in time for worlds.

The 22-year-old returned to competition last month at a Mare Nostrum meet in Barcelona, after which she chose to focus on continued rehab rather than compete at worlds in Fukuoka, Japan.

“Swimming at Mare Nostrum was a checkpoint for worlds, and I gave it my best shot,” Oleksiak said in the release. “We reviewed my swims there, and it showed me the level I want to get back to. Now I need to focus on my rehab to get back to where I want to be and put myself in position to be at my best next season.”

Oleksiak had knee surgery last year to repair a meniscus. After that, she developed a left shoulder injury.

In 2016, Oleksiak tied for Olympic 100m freestyle gold with American Simone Manuel. She also earned 100m butterfly silver in Rio and 200m free bronze in Tokyo, along with four relay medals between those two Games.

At last year’s worlds, she earned four relay medals and placed fourth in the 100m free.

She anchored the Canadian 4x100m free relay to silver behind Australia at the most recent Olympics and worlds.

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