U.S. Figure Skating Championships women’s preview

Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner, Polina Edmunds, Mirai Nagasu
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The most anticipated competition at this week’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships is among the women, where a growing rivalry brews for gold and several skaters are in the picture to make the World Championships roster of three.

Icenetwork.com will stream the short program from Greensboro, N.C., on Thursday at 7:50 p.m. ET. NBC will air the free skate live on Saturday at 8 p.m.

Here’s the start order. Here’s the full competition schedule.

Here’s a look at women’s skaters to watch, with takes from NBC figure skating analysts Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir.

Gracie Gold
Age: 19
Hometown: Hermosa Beach, Calif.
Credentials: 2014 U.S. champion, fourth at 2014 Olympics, fifth at 2014 World Championships

Gold was the clear favorite to repeat since her maiden title last year, until Dec. 4, when she announced she had a small stress fracture in her foot and pulled out of the Grand Prix Final. She’s pronounced herself ready to go, but that injury plus Ashley Wagner‘s fantastic free skate at the Grand Prix Final raised doubt.

Lipinski’s Take: “After talking to them, Ashley seemed so hungry and so vicious. … When I talked to Gracie, she was a little more reserved. I almost could feel the fear, but she’s technically so good.”

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Ashley Wagner
Age: 23
Hometown: Los Angeles
Credentials: 2012-13 U.S. champion, seventh at 2014 Olympics, seventh at 2014 World Championships

Wagner is the oldest podium threat but has the most momentum. She won bronze in December at the Grand Prix Final, the biggest international competition of the season outside of the World Championships. She fought to earn a podium place with a strong free skate, jumping from sixth place out of six skaters after the short program. Her free skate score was six points higher than Gold’s total when she won the NHK Trophy in Japan two weeks earlier. Wagner can become the oldest U.S. champion since Michelle Kwan in 2005 and the first woman to win three titles since Kwan, who won nine.

Lipinski’s Take: “Ashley’s win of the bronze at the Grand Prix Final has elevated her back again into maybe the favorite for gold, whereas I feel before Gracie was still holding onto that position. That rivalry is going to be pretty intense, especially the short program, just because so much rides on that. I’m sure the energy in the building that night will be palpable.”

Ashley Wagner, unshaken by 2014, out to reclaim U.S. title

Polina Edmunds
Age: 16
Hometown: San Jose, Calif.
Credentials: 2014 U.S. silver medalist, ninth at 2014 Olympics, eighth at 2014 World Championships

Edmunds shocked TD Garden when she finished second to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team last year, in her first senior U.S. Championships. She struggled to adapt to increased pressure and puberty in this follow-up season. Edmunds will finish sixth this week if all skaters repeat their best scores from the Grand Prix season. Edmunds hopes to become the youngest U.S. champion since Mirai Nagasu in 2008.

Lipinski’s Take: “I could probably relate most to what Polina is going through now. I grew an inch and a half, two inches every year. When I won Worlds [in 1997] and then the Olympics [in 1998], I definitely grew. You can feel the differences. Hopefully, speaking for Polina, even after talking to her, she has such a great base and technique for her triple [jumps]. I think that will hold her over, even if she is feeling some changes.”

Polina Edmunds deals with growing pains since Olympics

Mirai Nagasu
Age: 21
Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colo.
Credentials: 2014 U.S. bronze medalist, 2008 U.S. champion, fourth at 2010 Olympics

Nagasu was left off the three-woman Sochi Olympic team despite finishing third at the 2014 U.S. Championships. That’s because fourth-place Wagner had much stronger results in the two years leading up to the Olympics, which also go into determining the Olympic team. This season, Nagasu has not skated well enough to make one believe she can win the U.S. title. However, she knows what it takes to perform well on the big stage, winning the 2008 U.S. title at age 14, the second-youngest ever behind Tara Lipinski. She hopes to return to Worlds for the first time since 2010.

Weir’s Take: “Certainly a year of renaissance for Mirai Nagasu with a new coaching team. We did see stronger performances on the Grand Prix, but not on the same level as Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold are giving.”

U.S. Figure Skating Championships men’s preview

Samantha Cesario
Age: 21
Hometown: Oceanside, N.Y.
Credentials: Fifth at 2014 U.S. Championships, fourth at 2014 Skate America

Cesario will finish third, and presumably make her first World Championships team, if all skaters repeat their best scores from the Grand Prix season. That would be a breakout for the New Yorker, who improved from eighth at the 2013 U.S. Championships to finish fifth last year, beating Wagner in the free skate.

Weir’s Take: “She has that razzle dazzle appeal of New York.”

Courtney Hicks
Age: 19
Hometown: Chino Hills, Calif.
Credentials: Sixth at 2014 U.S. Championships, fourth at 2013 U.S. Championships

Hicks, a former U.S. junior champion, put herself in the Olympic conversation with the third-best free skate at the 2013 U.S. Championships. But her very next nationals program, the short in Boston in 2014, was 16th best, ending her Sochi hopes. She was fourth at both of her Grand Prix events this season, proving the most consistent American behind Wagner and Gold.

Lipinski’s Take: “Huge jumps.”

Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir’s predictions for U.S. Championships

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

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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

106th Giro d'Italia 2023 - Stage 20
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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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