Struggling Usain Bolt set for toughest race in two years

By Nick ZaccardiJul 23, 2015, 11:31 AM EDT

Usain Bolt said most of his races this year “have been really poor” but insisted confidence for the World Championships next month, saying “I’m not planning to lose” and “it just takes one run to get to 9.7 [seconds shape],” according to reports from his London press conference Thursday.

Bolt spoke one day before he’s scheduled for arguably his toughest race since Sept. 6, 2013, a 100m at a Diamond League meet at the 2012 Olympic Stadium, where three years ago he swept the 100m, 200m and 4x100m Olympic titles for a second straight Games. The full schedule and start lists are here.

“When the championship comes, if anybody knows anything about me, I show up,” Bolt said. “I’m not worried about times. … Sometimes I struggle through the season. … But I’m sure when I get to the championships, I’ll always be ready.”

The last two seasons have been a struggle for Bolt, though he hasn’t tasted defeat since June 6, 2013, the longest winning streak (by days, not races) in his career.

He ran 400 meters total in competition in 2014, a season shortened by March foot surgery. He hasn’t raced this season since June 13, citing a leg injury.

And in either year, he hasn’t faced the world’s best sprinters — longtime rivals Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin, the man favored to dethrone Bolt as World 100m and 200m champion in Beijing next month.

On Friday, the 100m field includes two of the seven fastest men in the world this year, France’s Jimmy Vicaut (tied for fourth at 9.86) and American Mike Rodgers (No. 7 at 9.88). That alone makes it tougher than any field Bolt has faced since 2013.

Bolt will also have to race twice, in a preliminary heat and then the final at 4:29 p.m. ET.

"The race tomorrow will definitely determine whether I’ll race again before #Beijing2015. I have two 100s to make it right." @usainbolt

— IAAF (@iaaforg) July 23, 2015

The American Gatlin is the only man to run 9.80 or better since the start of 2014, and he’s done so six times. The 33-year-old, five years removed from a four-year doping ban, hasn’t lost an individual race since Sept. 6, 2013.

Bolt’s best time since Sept. 6, 2013, when he beat Gatlin, is 9.98, though he has only raced 100m three times in that span.

Bolt is asked would a win for Gatlin in Beijing be bad for sport? "I am not planning to lose so I can't really answer that question."

— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) July 23, 2015

Video: Bolt talks Rio 2016, retirement, celebrities with Ato Boldon

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Summer McIntosh breaks 400m individual medley world record, extends historic week

By OlympicTalkApr 1, 2023, 7:03 PM EDT

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Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh broke her second world record this week, lowering the 400m individual medley mark on Saturday.

McIntosh, a 16-year-old who trains in Sarasota, Florida, clocked 4 minutes, 25.87 seconds at the Canadian Championships in Toronto.

She took down Hungarian Katinka Hosszu‘s world record of 4:26.36 from the 2016 Rio Olympics. Before Saturday, McIntosh had the fourth-fastest time in history of 4:28.61.

“It’s always nice to set world records,” McIntosh said.

On Tuesday, McIntosh broke the 400m freestyle world record, becoming the youngest swimmer to break a world record in an individual Olympic event since Katie Ledecky in 2013.

McIntosh also this week became the fourth-fastest woman in history in the 200m individual medley and the eighth-fastest woman in history in the 200m butterfly.

In each of her four races this week, she also broke the world junior record as the fastest woman in history under the age of 19.

She is entered to swim the 200m free on the meet’s final day on Sunday. She is already the eighth-fastest woman in history in that event.

McIntosh, whose mom swam the 1984 Olympic 200m fly and whose sister competed at last week’s world figure skating championships, placed fourth in the Tokyo Olympic 400m free at age 14.

Last summer, she won the 200m fly and 400m IM at the world championships, becoming the youngest individual world champion since 2011.

This summer, she could be at the center of a showdown in the 400m free at the world championships with reigning world champion Ledecky and reigning Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus of Australia. They are the three fastest women in history in the event.

Around age 7, McIntosh transcribed Ledecky quotes and put them on her wall.

MORE: McIntosh chose swimming and became Canada’s big splash

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Hilary Knight leads new-look U.S. women’s hockey roster for world championship

By OlympicTalkApr 1, 2023, 9:02 AM EDT

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Hilary Knight headlines a U.S. women’s hockey roster for this month’s world championship that lacks some of the biggest names from last year’s Olympic silver-medal team. Changes have been made as the U.S. looks to end losing streaks to Canada, both overall and in major finals.

The full roster is here. Worlds start Wednesday in Brampton, Ontario, and run through the gold-medal game on April 16.

It was already known that the team would be without stalwart forwards Kendall Coyne Schofield, who plans to return to the national team after having her first child this summer, and Brianna Decker, who announced her retirement last month.

Notable cuts include the No. 1 goalies from the last two Olympics: Alex Cavallini, who returned from Christmas childbirth for the tryout camp this past week, and Maddie Rooney, the breakout of the 2018 Olympic champion team.

Cavallini, 31, was bidding to become the first player to make an Olympic or world team after childbirth since Jenny Potter, who played at the Olympics in 2002, 2006 and 2010 as a mom, plus at several world championships, including less than three months after childbirth in 2007.

Forward Hannah Brandt, who played on the top line at last year’s Olympics with Knight and Coyne Schofield, also didn’t make the team.

In all, 13 of the 25 players on the team are Olympians, including three-time Olympic medalists forward Amanda Kessel and defender Lee Stecklein.

The next generation includes forward Taylor Heise, 23, who led the 2022 World Championship with seven goals and was the 2022 NCAA Player of the Year at Minnesota.

The team includes two teens — 19-year-old defender Haley Winn and 18-year-old forward Tessa Janecke — who were also the only teens at last week’s 46-player tryout camp. Janecke, a Penn State freshman, is set to become the youngest U.S. forward to play at an Olympics or worlds since Brandt in 2012.

Abbey Levy, a 6-foot-1 goalie from Boston College, made her first world team, joining veterans Nicole Hensley and Aerin Frankel.

Last summer, Canada repeated as world champion by beating the U.S. in the final, six months after beating the U.S. in the Olympic final. Canada is on its longest global title streak since winning all five Olympic or world titles between 1999 and 2004.

Also at last summer’s worlds, the 33-year-old Knight broke the career world championship record for points (now up to 89). She also has the most goals in world championship history (53). Knight, already the oldest U.S. Olympic women’s hockey player in history, will become the second-oldest American to play at a worlds after Cammi Granato, who was 34 at her last worlds in 2005.

The Canadians are on a four-game win streak versus the Americans, capping a comeback in their recent seven-game rivalry series from down three games to none. Their 5-0 win in the decider in February was their largest margin of victory over the U.S. since 2005.

Last May, former AHL coach John Wroblewski was named U.S. head coach to succeed Joel Johnson, the Olympic coach.

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