Rome Diamond League broadcast info, preview

By Nick ZaccardiJun 4, 2014, 4:06 PM EDT

Justin Gatlin has been unbeatable this season, a statement that must be accompanied by the fact Usain Bolt has yet to step on a competitive track this year.

Gatlin and Bolt won’t be facing off any time soon — you wonder if at all this year — but the Diamond League meet in Rome on Thursday is a reminder of their rivalry, even if the mighty Jamaican is missing.

Gatlin handed Bolt defeat at this meet last year — 9.94 to 9.95 seconds — which produced one of the memorable images of Bolt’s career outside of the Olympics or World Championships. The shrug.

It’s the only time Gatlin has beaten Bolt since the American returned from his four-year drug suspension. Bolt, after a slow start to last season, relegated Gatlin to silver at the World Championships.

But Gatlin has been the marquee men’s sprinter through three of 13 Diamond League meets this season. That’s somewhat by default, with Bolt’s partially injury-related absence, Tyson Gay‘s suspension and Yohan Blake‘s light schedule coming off a hamstring injury.

That’s not to say Gatlin hasn’t been fast. He’s been clocked legally at 9.87 and 9.92 seconds and a wind-aided 9.76 at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday. He could be even faster if pushed by competition. That’s not likely to come in Rome.

Universal Sports will have TV and online coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday. Full start lists are here.

Here are five events to watch Thursday:

Women’s 100m

The 200m at the Pre Classic on Saturday rattled the women’s sprinting picture. Unheralded American Tori Bowie beat Olympic champion Allyson Felix and World gold, silver and bronze medalists Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Murielle Ahoure and Blessing Okagbare.

Bowie must consolidate that surprising victory five days after with a strong showing at half the distance. Fraser-Pryce, set back a bit by injury this season, a reason for that mystifying last-place finish in Oregon, is entered. As is Octavious Freeman, the reigning U.S. silver medalist, in her 2014 Diamond League debut.

“In Eugene, my body did not respond. I felt a left leg problem,” Fraser-Pryce said, according to The Associated Press. “I have not had a perfect start to the season, but it’s not a championship year.”

Men’s high jump

This marked the most exciting event of the early outdoor season, before the World Relays and the Pre Classic shifted focus to track events. All the major players are here, which could inch somebody near Javier Sotomayor‘s world record 2.45m from 1993.

There’s Olympic champion Ivan Ukhov (2.41m this year), World champion Bohdan Bondarenko (2.40m), Olympic and world bronze medalist Derek Drouin (2.40m) and Olympic silver medalist Erik Kynard (2.37m).

Men’s 1500m

Among the many eye-catching results at the Pre Classic was the Bowerman Mile, where Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman clocked the fastest time since 2007. Kenyan Asbel Kiprop, the fastest 1500m man each of the last four years and two-time reigning World champion, faded to seventh.

Kiprop appears to be set to run at Stadio Olimpico despite a recall by Athletics Kenya’s president.

Souleiman and another top Kenyan, Silas Kiplagat, are also on the start list.

Women’s 100m hurdles

Olympic champion Sally Pearson, World champion Brianna Rollins, World Indoor 60m hurdles champion Nia Ali and 2008 Olympic champion Dawn Harper-Nelson are the headliners here. It’s the first 100m hurdles race of the Diamond League season and first of Rollins’ career.

Rollins and a less heralded American, Kristi Castlin, are the world leaders so far this year at 12.58 seconds, though Pearson is just behind at 12.59.

Men’s 100m

Gatlin shouldn’t sweat his unblemished 2014 record in Rome. Nobody in the field has run within a tenth of a second of Gatlin’s world-leading time for 2014 (9.87).

The men fighting for second include Jamaican World bronze medalist Nesta Carter, South African Simon Magakwe (the only man in Rome outside Gatlin to break 10 seconds this season) and the surprise World Indoor 60m champion Richard Kilty of Great Britain.

Watch Maya Angelou recite her Olympic poem

Follow @nzaccardi

2023 French Open men’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 6:46 PM EDT

Getty

The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Women’s Draw

But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They could meet in the semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the first round by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. It marked the first time a men’s top-two seed lost in the first round of any major since 2003 Wimbledon (Ivo Karlovic d. Lleyton Hewitt).

No. 9 Taylor Fritz, No. 12 Frances Tiafoe and No. 16 Tommy Paul are the highest-seeded Americans, all looking to become the first U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals since Andre Agassi in 2003. Since then, five different American men combined to make the fourth round on eight occasions.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

At the French Open, a Ukrainian mom makes her comeback

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 5:15 PM EDT

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, once the world’s third-ranked tennis player, is into the French Open third round in her first major tournament since childbirth.

Svitolina, 28, swept 2022 French Open semifinalist Martina Trevisan of Italy, then beat Australian qualifier Storm Hunter 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the last 32 at Roland Garros. She next plays 56th-ranked Russian Anna Blinkova, who took out the top French player, fifth seed Caroline Garcia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 on her ninth match point.

Svitolina’s husband, French player Gael Monfils, finished his first-round five-set win after midnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. She watched that match on a computer before going to sleep ahead of her 11 a.m. start Wednesday.

“This morning, he told me, ‘I’m coming to your match, so make it worth it,'” she joked on Tennis Channel. “I was like, OK, no pressure.

“I don’t know what he’s doing here now. He should be resting.”

Also Wednesday, 108th-ranked Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis ousted three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in four and a half hours. Wawrinka’s exit leaves Novak Djokovic as the lone man in the draw who has won the French Open and Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz as the lone men left who have won any major.

The top seed Alcaraz beat 112th-ranked Taro Daniel of Japan 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. The Spaniard gets 26th seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the third round. Djokovic, the No. 3 seed, swept 83rd-ranked Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 7-6 (2), 6-0, 6-3 to reach a third-round date with 29th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Svitolina made at least one major quarterfinal every year from 2017 through 2021, including the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019. She married Monfils one week before the Tokyo Olympics, then won a singles bronze medal.

Svitolina played her last match before maternity leave on March 24, 2022, one month after Russia invaded her country. She gave birth to daughter Skai on Oct. 15.

Svitolina returned to competition in April. Last week, she won the tournament preceding the French Open, sweeping Blinkova to improve to 17-3 in her career in finals. She’s playing on a protected ranking of 27th after her year absence and, now, on a seven-match win streak.

“It was always in my head the plan to come back, but I didn’t put any pressure on myself, because obviously with the war going on, with the pregnancy, you never know how complicated it will go,” she said. “I’m as strong as I was before, maybe even stronger, because I feel that I can handle the work that I do off the court, and match by match I’m getting better. Also mentally, because mental can influence your physicality, as well.”

Svitolina said she’s motivated by goals to attain before she retires from the sport and to help Ukraine, such as donating her prize money from last week’s title in Strasbourg.

“These moments bring joy to people of Ukraine, to the kids as well, the kids who loved to play tennis before the war, and now maybe they don’t have the opportunity,” she said. “But these moments that can motivate them to look on the bright side and see these good moments and enjoy themselves as much as they can in this horrible situation.”

Svitolina was born in Odesa and has lived in Kharkiv, two cities that have been attacked by Russia.

“I talk a lot with my friends, with my family back in Ukraine, and it’s a horrible thing, but they are used to it now,” she said. “They are used to the alarms that are on. As soon as they hear something, they go to the bomb shelters. Sleepless nights. You know, it’s a terrible thing, but they tell me that now it’s a part of their life, which is very, very sad.”

Svitolina noted that she plays with a flag next to her name — unlike the Russians and Belarusians, who are allowed to play as neutral athletes.

“When I step on the court, I just try to think about the fighting spirit that all of us Ukrainians have and how Ukrainians are fighting for their values, for their freedom in Ukraine,” she said, “and me, I’m fighting here on my own front line.”

Svitolina said that she’s noticed “a lot of rubbish” concerning how tennis is reacting to the war.

“We have to focus on what the main point of what is going on,” she said. “Ukrainian people need help and need support. We are focusing on so many things like empty words, empty things that are not helping the situation, not helping anything.

“I want to invite everyone to focus on helping Ukrainians. That’s the main point of this, to help kids, to help women who lost their husbands because they are at the war, and they are fighting for Ukraine.

“You can donate. Couple of dollars might help and save lives. Or donate your time to something to help people.”

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

More: Olympics

More: Olympics