U.S. men stunned in Worlds relay as streaks snapped

By Nick ZaccardiAug 7, 2015, 1:17 PM EDT

The U.S. won three silver medals at the World Swimming Championships on Friday but saw its two longest gold-medal streaks in major international meets snapped in Kazan, Russia.

Great Britain’s James Guy overcame a 1.63-second deficit on Michael Weiss on the 4x200m freestyle relay anchor leg to win by .42. The U.S. had won the event at 11 straight major international meets dating to Ryan Lochte‘s first Olympic medal in the Athens 2004 relay.

Lochte led off the relay Friday and gave the U.S. a .54 lead. Conor Dwyer extended it to .85 and Reed Malone to 1.38 over Russia, but Weiss couldn’t hold off Guy, the individual 200m freestyle World champion. Had the U.S. had Michael Phelps, it might have been a different result.

“I know that we were missing some guys; I think everyone from each team is missing some guys,” Lochte told media in Kazan. “We came up short, but we’re going to definitely remember this and hopefully train our butts off all next year and hopefully not let that happen again.”

Australian Mitch Larkin ended a 20-year American run atop the men’s 200m backstroke, sweeping the 100m and 200m back golds in Kazan. Larkin clocked 1:53.58, followed by Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki (1:54.55) and Russia’s Yevgeny Rylov (1:54.60).

Americans Ryan Murphy and Olympic champion Tyler Clary were fifth and seventh, respectively. The U.S. had won the 200m back at 20 straight major international meets (Olympics/Worlds/Pan Pacific Championships), the last loss coming at the 1994 World Championships.

The U.S. owns 14 medals through six of eight days at the World Championships, leading the medal standings over Australia and China, which both have 11. The U.S.’ fewest medals won at a Worlds or Olympics in the last 50 years was 21 at the 1994 World Championships.

World Swimming Championships: Friday results | Broadcast schedule

In the 100m freestyle, Australian sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell took gold and bronze, respectively, to become the first siblings to share a Worlds individual podium.

Bronte, 21, clocked 52.52 for the victory. Swede Sarah Sjostrom took silver at 52.70. Cate, 23 and the 2013 World champion, touched in 52.82.

Americans Simone Manuel and Missy Franklin finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Franklin finished fifth in the 100m free at the 2012 Olympics and fourth at the 2013 Worlds, both in faster times than Friday. A U.S. woman has not won a Worlds 100m free medal since 2005 (Natalie Coughlin) and a gold medal since 1998 (Jenny Thompson).

Franklin came back 16 minutes later to win her 200m backstroke semifinal, qualifying third overall into Saturday’s final behind Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu and Australian 100m backstroke champion Emily Seebohm.

American Kevin Cordes earned silver in the 200m breaststroke, .29 behind German Marco Koch. Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta took bronze in a bid to become the third swimmer to earn four straight World titles in one event. Cordes, 21, won bronze in the non-Olympic 50m breast earlier at Worlds.

Cordes has rebounded well from a disastrous Worlds debut in 2013, when he disqualified the U.S. men’s medley relay team by taking off .01 too early in the final. Cordes also was disqualified from the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships 100m breast final after trying to take off his goggles during the race because they filled with water.

In the women’s 200m breast, Japan’s Kanako Watanabe overtook Danish world-record holder Rikke Moller Pedersen in the final 50 meters, winning in 2:21.15. American Micah Lawrence earned silver, 1.29 seconds behind. Lawrence was the bronze medalist in 2013.

Pedersen, China’s Shi Jinglin and Spain’s Jessica Vall tied for bronze Friday. It’s the first time five swimmers won medals in an individual swimming event at an Olympics or World Championships.

In semifinals Friday, Nathan Adrian broke Cullen Jones‘ American 50m freestyle record to lead all qualifiers into Saturday’s eight-man final. Adrian, the Olympic 100m free champion, finished a disappointing seventh in the 100m free Thursday.

Tom Shields was the No. 2 qualifier into Saturday’s 100m butterfly final, behind Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh and in front of defending World champion Chad le Clos of South Africa.

Earlier Friday, Katie Ledecky clocked the fastest qualifying time into Saturday’s 800m freestyle final. If she wins gold, she will become the first swimmer to sweep the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m frees at a Worlds. She will also become the third swimmer to win four individual golds at a single Worlds, joining Lochte and Phelps.

10-year-old girl swims at World Championships

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Women’s 100m Freestyle
Gold: Bronte Campbell (AUS) — 52.52
Silver: Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) — 52.70
Bronze: Cate Campbell (AUS) — 52.82
4. Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) — 53.17
5. Femke Heemskerk (NED) — 53.58
6. Simone Manuel (USA) — 53.93
7. Missy Franklin (USA) — 54.00
8. Shen Duo (CHN) — 54.76

Men’s 200m Backstroke
Gold: Mitch Larkin (AUS) — 1:53.58
Silver: Radoslaw Kawecki (POL) — 1:54.55
Bronze: Yevgeny Rylov (RUS) — 1:54.60
4. Ryosuke Irie (JPN) — 1:54.81
5. Ryan Murphy (USA) — 1:55.00
6. Xu Jiayu (CHN) — 1:55.20
7. Tyler Clary (USA) — 1:56.26
8. Li Guangyuan (CHN) — 1:56.79

Women’s 200m Breaststroke
Gold: Kanako Watanabe (JPN) — 2:21.15
Silver: Micah Lawrence (USA) — 2:22.44
Bronze: Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN) — 2:22.76
Bronze: Shi Jinglin (CHN) — 2:22.76
Bronze: Jessica Vall (ESP) — 2:22.76
6. Rie Kaneto (JPN) — 2:23.19
7. Vitalina Simonova (RUS) — 2:23.59
8. Kierra Smith (CAN) — 2:23.61

Men’s 200m Breaststroke
Gold: Marco Koch (GER) — 2:07.76
Silver: Kevin Cordes (USA) — 2:08.05
Bronze: Daniel Gyurta (HUN) — 2:08.10
4. Andrew Stephen Willis (GBR) — 2:08.52
5. Yasuhiro Koseki (JPN) — 2:09.12
6. Dmitriy Balandin (KAZ) — 2:09.58
7. Anton Chupkov (RUS) — 2:09.96
8. Mao Feilian (CHN) — 2:10.02

Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay
Gold: Great Britain — 7:04.33
Silver: U.S. — 7:04.75
Bronze: Australia — 7:05.34
4. Russia — 7:06.89
5. Germany — 7:09.01
6. Belgium — 7:09.64
7. Netherlands — 7:09.75
8. Poland — 7:10.34

U.S. women’s rugby team qualifies for 2024 Paris Olympics as medal contender

By OlympicTalkMar 31, 2023, 1:31 PM EDT

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The U.S. women’s rugby team qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics by clinching a top-four finish in this season’s World Series.

Since rugby was re-added to the Olympics in 2016, the U.S. men’s and women’s teams finished fifth, sixth, sixth and ninth at the Games.

The U.S. women are having their best season since 2018-19, finishing second or third in all five World Series stops so far and ranking behind only New Zealand and Australia, the winners of the first two Olympic women’s rugby sevens tournaments.

The U.S. also finished fourth at last September’s World Cup.

Three months after the Tokyo Games, Emilie Bydwell was announced as the new U.S. head coach, succeeding Olympic coach Chris Brown.

Soon after, Tokyo Olympic co-captain Abby Gustaitis was cut from the team.

Jaz Gray, who led the team in scoring last season and at the World Cup, missed the last three World Series stops after an injury.

The U.S. men are ranked ninth in this season’s World Series and will likely need to win either a North American Olympic qualifier this summer or a last-chance global qualifier in June 2024 to make it to Paris.

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Oscar Pistorius denied parole, hasn’t served enough time

Associated PressMar 31, 2023, 1:05 PM EDT

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Olympic and Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius was denied parole Friday and will have to stay in prison for at least another year and four months after it was decided that he had not served the “minimum detention period” required to be released following his murder conviction for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp 10 years ago.

The parole board ruled that Pistorius would only be able to apply again in August 2024, South Africa’s Department of Corrections said in a short, two-paragraph statement. It was released soon after a parole hearing at the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre prison where Pistorius is being held.

The board cited a new clarification on Pistorius’ sentence that was issued by South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal just three days before the hearing, according to the statement. Still, legal experts criticized authorities’ decision to go ahead with the hearing when Pistorius was not eligible.

Reeva Steenkamp’s parents, Barry and June, are “relieved” with the decision to keep Pistorius in prison but are not celebrating it, their lawyer told The Associated Press.

“They can’t celebrate because there are no winners in this situation. They lost a daughter and South Africa lost a hero,” lawyer Tania Koen said, referring to the dramatic fall from grace of Pistorius, once a world-famous and highly-admired athlete.

The decision and reasoning to deny parole was a surprise but there has been legal wrangling over when Pistorius should be eligible for parole because of the series of appeals in his case. He was initially convicted of culpable homicide, a charge comparable to manslaughter, in 2014 but the case went through a number of appeals before Pistorius was finally sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison for murder in 2017.

Serious offenders must serve at least half their sentence to be eligible for parole in South Africa. Pistorius’ lawyers had previously gone to court to argue that he was eligible because he had served the required portion if they also counted periods served in jail from late 2014 following his culpable homicide conviction.

The lawyer handling Pistorius’ parole application did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

June Steenkamp attended Pistorius’ hearing inside the prison complex to oppose his parole. The parents have said they still do not believe Pistorius’ account of their daughter’s killing and wanted him to stay in jail.

Pistorius, who is now 36, has always claimed he killed Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law student, in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine’s Day 2013 after mistaking her for a dangerous intruder in his home. He shot four times with his licensed 9 mm pistol through a closed toilet cubicle door in his bathroom, where Steenkamp was, hitting her multiple times. Pistorius claimed he didn’t realize his girlfriend had got out of bed and gone to the bathroom.

The Steenkamps say they still think he is lying and killed her intentionally after a late-night argument.

Lawyer Koen had struck a more critical tone when addressing reporters outside the prison before the hearing, saying the Steenkamps believed Pistorius could not be considered to be rehabilitated “unless he comes clean” over the killing.

“He’s the killer of their daughter. For them, it’s a life sentence,” Koen said before the hearing.

June Steenkamp had sat grim-faced in the back seat of a car nearby while Koen spoke to reporters outside the prison gates ahead of the hearing. June Steenkamp and Koen were then driven into the prison in a Department of Corrections vehicle. June Steenkamp made her submission to the parole board in a separate room to Pistorius and did not come face-to-face with her daughter’s killer, Koen said.

Barry Steenkamp did not travel for the hearing because of poor health but a family friend read out a statement to the parole board on his behalf, the parents’ lawyer said.

Pistorius was once hailed as an inspirational figure for overcoming the adversity of his disability, before his murder trial and sensational downfall captivated the world.

Pistorius’s lower legs were amputated when he was a baby because of a congenital condition and he walks with prosthetics. He went on to become a double-amputee runner and multiple Paralympic champion who made history by competing against able-bodied athletes at the 2012 London Olympics, running on specially designed carbon-fiber blades.

Pistorius’ conviction eventually led to him being sent to the Kgosi Mampuru II maximum security prison, one of South Africa’s most notorious. He was moved to the Atteridgeville prison in 2016 because that facility is better suited to disabled prisoners.

There have only been glimpses of his life in prison, with reports claiming he had at one point grown a beard, gained weight and taken up smoking and was unrecognizable from the elite athlete he once was.

He has spent much of his time working in an area of the prison grounds where vegetables are grown, sometimes driving a tractor, and has reportedly been running bible classes for other inmates.

Pistorius’ father, Henke Pistorius, told the Pretoria News newspaper before the hearing that his family hoped he would be home soon.

“Deep down, we believe he will be home soon,” Henke Pistorius said, “but until the parole board has spoken the word, I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

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