WATCH LIVE: Penn Relays, Drake Relays at 12:30 p.m. ET

By Nick ZaccardiApr 26, 2014, 12:00 PM EDT

The outdoor track and field season continues to ramp up with two of the most storied U.S. meets Saturday.

The 120th Penn Relays in Philadelphia and the 105th Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, will air back to back on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The professional events at the Penn Relays are dubbed “USA vs. The World” with matchups generally coming down to the U.S. and Jamaica. The Drake Relays include individual and relay events featuring Olympic champions.

Penn Relays, 12:30 p.m. ET; Drake Relays, 3 p.m. ET — CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE

Here are highlighted Penn Relays events:

Women’s 4x100m relay (12:35 p.m.) — Olympic silver medalist Kerron Stewart, 2013 World Championships silver medalist Alexandria Anderson.
Men’s 4x100m relay (1:05 p.m.) — Olympic medalists Justin Gatlin, Walter Dix and Michael Frater.
Women’s sprint medley relay (1:15 p.m.) — 2013 World Championships silver medalist Alexandria Anderson.
Men’s distance medley relay (2:05 p.m.) — Olympic silver medalist Leo Manzano.
Women’s 4x400m relay (2:35 p.m.) — Olympic and world medalists DeeDee Trotter, Jessica Beard and Shericka Williams.
Men’s 4x400m relay (2:52 p.m.) — Bahamas’ entire Olympic gold medal team; U.S. Olympian Manteo Mitchell.

Here are highlighted Drake Relays events:

Women’s high jump (2:45 p.m.) — Olympic silver medalist Brigetta Barrett, 2012 Olympian Chaunte Lowe.
Women’s 400m hurdles (3:10 p.m.) — Olympic silver medalist Lashinda Demus, 2008 Olympian Tiffany Ross-Williams.
Men’s pole vault (3:15 p.m.) — Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie.
Women’s 100m hurdles (3:36 p.m.) — 2008 Olympic champion Dawn Harper-Nelson, 2013 world champion Brianna Rollins, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Kellie Wells.
Men’s 4x110m shuttle hurdle relay (3:52 p.m.) — Olympic champion Aries Merritt, 2013 world champion David Oliver.

Lolo Jones slow in return to track

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Coco Gauff into French Open quarterfinals, where Iga Swiatek may await

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 1:24 PM EDT

Getty

Coco Gauff swept into the French Open quarterfinals, where she could play Iga Swiatek in a rematch of last year’s final.

Gauff, the sixth seed, beat 100th-ranked Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5, 6-2 in the fourth round. She next plays Swiatek or 66th-ranked Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, who meet later Monday.

Gauff earned a 37th consecutive win over a player ranked outside the top 50, dating to February 2022. She hasn’t faced a player in the world top 60 in four matches at Roland Garros, but the degree of difficulty is likely to ratchet up in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Swiatek won all 12 sets she’s played against Gauff, who at 19 is the only teenager in the top 49 in the world.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Also Monday, No. 7 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia dispatched 36th-ranked American Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-1, breaking all eight of Pera’s service games.

Jabeur, runner-up at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year, has now reached the quarterfinals of all four majors.

Jabeur next faces 14th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia, who won 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-5 over Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, who played on a protected ranking of 68. Haddad Maia became the second Brazilian woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Open Era (since 1968) after Maria Bueno, who won seven majors from 1959-1966.

Pera, a 28 year-old born in Croatia, was the oldest U.S. singles player to make the fourth round of a major for the first time since Jill Craybas at 2005 Wimbledon. Her defeat left Gauff as the lone American singles player remaining out of the 35 entered in the main draws.

The last American to win a major singles title was Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought matches the longest in history (since 1877) for American men and women combined.

In the men’s draw, 2022 French Open runner-up Casper Ruud reached the quarterfinals by beating 35th-ranked Chilean Nicolas Jarry 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5. He’ll next play sixth seed Holger Rune of Denmark, a 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7) winner over 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.

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U.S. earns first three-peat in Para hockey world championship history

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 8:49 AM EDT

International Paralympic Committee

The U.S. trounced rival Canada 6-1 to become the first nation to three-peat in world Para hockey championship history.

Tournament MVP Declan Farmer scored twice, and Josh Misiewicz, David Eustace, Jack Wallace and Kevin McKee added goals. Jen Lee made eight saves in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, on Sunday.

Farmer, who had nine goals in five games for the tournament, also scored twice in Paralympic final wins over Canada in 2018 and 2022 and the last world championship final against Canada in 2021. Farmer, 25, already owns the career national team record of more than 250 points.

The U.S. beat Canada in a third consecutive world final dating to 2019, but this was the most lopsided gold-medal game in championship history. The U.S. also won the last four Paralympic titles dating to 2010.

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