Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin lead Santa Clara GP storylines

By Nick ZaccardiJun 19, 2014, 11:34 AM EDT

Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin share a competition pool this week for the first time since the 2012 Olympics, another meeting of the U.S.’ top male and female swimmers that appeared unlikely after the London Games closed.

Phelps retired after his fourth Olympics as the most decorated Olympian of all time. Franklin went back to high school in Colorado.

Events over the last year led to this week’s Santa Clara Grand Prix being their first competition together in nearly 23 months.

Phelps had returned to training in Baltimore by last fall and competition in April. Santa Clara marks his third meet of the season, and it’s shaping up to be his busiest.

Franklin began her freshman year at California last August, after becoming the first woman to win six gold medals at a single World Championships earlier that month (with Phelps in attendance for part of the Barcelona meet).

She focused on NCAA competition, winning the 200-yard freestyle national title. Santa Clara marks her first Grand Prix meet of 2014 now that the spring semester has ended.

Questions float about Phelps’ and Franklin’s plans for the summer’s two biggest meets, the U.S. Championships and Pan Pacific Championships in August. Perhaps they will be answered in Santa Clara, the final Grand Prix meet before Nationals.

Competition begins Thursday, Phelps and Franklin won’t swim until Friday and Universal Sports and UniversalSports.com air coverage Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. Morning preliminaries are at 12 p.m. ET and finals at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Psych sheets are here.

Here are four swimmers to watch:

Michael Phelps

Phelps is entered in four events in Santa Clara — 100m freestyle (Friday), 200m freestyle (Saturday), 100m butterfly (Friday) and 200m individual medley (Sunday). If he swims them all, Phelps will be busier this weekend than in his first two comeback meets combined.

The last time we saw him, Phelps notched his first win since London in the 100m butterfly in Charlotte on May 16. He also swam the 200m freestyle in Charlotte, but he has not contested the 100m free or 200m IM since unretiring.

How Phelps’ body reacts to, potentially, three straight days of racing should help determine his slate for Nationals, but he is expected to swim at least one more meet between now and then. He’s spent time since Charlotte training at altitude in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Missy Franklin

Franklin’s entries for Santa Clara are just as interesting. They include her normal events — 100m and 200m backstroke and 100m and 200m freestyle — as well as the 100m butterfly and 200m IM. She has never competed in a butterfly or IM at a major international meet.

Franklin tasted new waters in NCAA competition, though, racing up to 1,000 yards at a time. The 100m fly field in Santa Clara does not include the two best Americans of the last two years — Dana Vollmer and Claire Donahue. The 200m IM field is headlined by Caitlin Leverenz, who won bronze in London and took fifth at the 2013 World Championships.

Nathan Adrian

Adrian is entered in both of his sprints, the 50m and 100m free. The competition is strong in both, with two-time Olympian Anthony Ervin and Brazil’s second fastest sprinter, Bruno Fratus, also doubling up.

But it’s the 100m free that could become the highlight event of the entire weekend. Adrian is the Olympic champion. Phelps has set American and meet records in the 100m free in 4x100m free relay leadoff legs. There’s also Phelps’ training mate, France’s Yannick Agnel, who posted the fastest split in the 2012 Olympic 4x100m free relay, when he ran down Ryan Lochte on anchor for gold.

Allison Schmitt

Schmitt is entered in five events, but focus on three — 100m, 200m and 400m freestyles. She could face Franklin in the first two and Dane Lotte Friis in the 400m in another test of her mettle after surprisingly failing to make the 2013 World Championships team. Remember, Schmitt won just as many medals as Franklin at the London Olympics.

Flopping at World Cup impresses U.S. Olympic diving coach

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Ryan Crouser breaks world record in shot put at Los Angeles Grand Prix

By OlympicTalkMay 27, 2023, 5:56 PM EDT

Two-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser registered one of the greatest performances in track and field history, breaking his world record and throwing three of the six farthest shot puts of all time at the Los Angeles Grand Prix on Saturday.

Crouser unleashed throws of 23.56 meters, 23.31 and 23.23 at UCLA’s Drake Stadium. His previous world record from the Tokyo Olympic Trials was 23.37. He now owns the top four throws in history, and the 23.23 is tied for the fifth-best throw in history.

“The best thing is I’m still on high volume [training], heavy throws in the ring and heavy weights in the weight room, so we’re just starting to work in some speed,” the 6-foot-7 Crouser, who is perfecting a new technique coined the “Crouser slide,” told Lewis Johnson on NBC.

Sha’Carri Richardson won her 100m heat in 10.90 seconds into a slight headwind, then did not start the final about 90 minutes later due to cramping, Johnson said. Richardson is ranked No. 1 in the world in the 100m in 2023 (10.76) and No. 2 in the 200m (22.07).

Jamaican Ackeem Blake won the men’s 100m in a personal best 9.89 seconds. He now ranks third in the world this year behind Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala and American Fred Kerley, who meet in the Diamond League in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday (2-4 p.m. ET, CNBC, NBCSports.com/live, the NBC Sports app and Peacock).

The next major meet is the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in early July, when the top three in most individual events qualify for August’s world championships.

Richardson will bid to make her first global championships team, two years after having her Olympic Trials win stripped for testing positive for marijuana and one year after being eliminated in the first round of the 100m at USATF Outdoors.

LA GRAND PRIX: Full Results

Also Saturday, Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico won the 100m hurdles in 12.31, the fastest time ever this early in a year. Nigerian Tobi Amusan, who at last July’s worlds lowered the world record to 12.12, was eighth in the eight-woman field in 12.69.

Maggie Ewen upset world champion Chase Ealey in the shot put by throwing 20.45 meters, upping her personal best by more than three feet. Ewen went from 12th-best in American history to third behind 2016 Olympic champion Michelle Carter and Ealey.

Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic ran the fastest women’s 400m since the Tokyo Olympics, clocking 48.98 seconds. Paulino is the Olympic and world silver medalist. Olympic and world champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas is on a maternity break.

Rio Olympic bronze medalist Clayton Murphy won the 800m in 1:44.75, beating a field that included most of the top Americans in the event. Notably absent was 2019 World champion Donovan Brazier, who hasn’t raced since July 20 of last year amid foot problems.

CJ Allen won the 400m hurdles in a personal best 47.91, consolidating his argument as the second-best American in the event behind Olympic and world silver medalist Rai Benjamin, who withdrew from the meet earlier this week.

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Primoz Roglic set to win Giro d’Italia over Geraint Thomas

Associated PressMay 27, 2023, 4:13 PM EDT

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Primož Roglič all but secured the Giro d’Italia title on Saturday by overtaking leader Geraint Thomas on the penultimate stage despite having a mechanical problem on the mountain time trial.

Roglič started the stage 26 seconds behind Thomas — who was trying to become the oldest Giro champion in history — but finished the route 40 seconds quicker than the British cyclist after the demanding climb of the Monte Lussari.

That saw Roglič move into the leader’s pink jersey, 14 seconds ahead of Thomas going into the race’s mainly ceremonial final stage.

Roglič was cheered on all the way by thousands of fans from just across the border to his native Slovenia. They packed the slopes of the brutal ascent up Monte Lussari, which had an elevation of more than 3,000 feet and gradients of up to 22%.

The 33-year-old Roglič celebrated at the end with his wife and son, who was wearing a replica of the pink jersey.

“Just something amazing, eh? It’s not at the end about the win itself, but about the people, and the energy here, so incredible, really moments to live and to remember,” said Roglič, who had tears in his eyes during the post-stage television interview, which he did with his son in his arms.

It will be a fourth Grand Tour victory for Roglič, who won the Spanish Vuelta three years in a row from 2019-2021

Roglič also almost won the Tour de France in 2020, when he was leading going into another mountain time trial on the penultimate stage. But that time it was Roglič who lost time and the race to compatriot Tadej Pogačar in one of the most memorable upsets in a Grand Tour in recent years.

It appeared as if the Jumbo-Visma cyclist’s hopes were evaporating again when he rode over a pothole about halfway through the brutal climb up Monte Lussari and his chain came off, meaning he had to quickly change bicycles.

His teammates and staff had their hands over their heads in disbelief.

Despite that setback, Roglič — who had been 16 seconds ahead of Thomas at the previous intermediate time check — went on to increase his advantage.

“I dropped the chain, I mean it’s part of it,” he said. “But I got started again and I just went … I had the legs, the people gave me extra (energy).”

The 33-year-old Roglič won the stage ahead of Thomas. Joao Almeida was third, 42 seconds slower.

For Thomas, his bad luck at the Giro continued. In 2017, he was involved in a crash caused by a police motorbike, and three years later he fractured his hip after a drinks bottle became lodged under his wheel – being forced to abandon both times.

Thomas turned 37 on Thursday. The Ineos Grenadiers cyclist had seemed poised to become the oldest Giro winner in history — beating the record of Fiorenzo Magni, who was 34 when he won in 1955.

“I could feel my legs going about a kilometer and a half from the top. I just didn’t feel I had that real grunt,” Thomas said. “I guess it’s nice to lose by that much rather than a second or two, because that would be worse I think.

“At least he smashed me and to be honest Primoz deserves that. He had a mechanical as well, still put 40 seconds into me so chapeau to him. If you’d told me this back in (February), March, I would have bit your hand off but now I’m devastated.”

Thomas and Roglič exchanged fist bumps as they waited their turn to ride down the ramp at the start of the 11.6-mile time trial.

The Giro will finish in Rome on Sunday, with 10 laps of a seven-mile circuit through the streets of the capital, taking in many of its historic sites.

“One more day to go, one more focus, because I think the lap is quite hard, technical. So it’s not over til it’s finished,” Roglič said. “But looks good, voila.”

The route will pass by places such as the Altare della Patria, the Capitoline Hill, the Circus Maximus and finish at the Imperial Forums, in the shadow of the Colosseum.

The Tour de France starts July 1, airing on NBC Sports and Peacock.

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