Kerri Walsh Jennings, April Ross meet Olympic qualification

By Nick ZaccardiMay 18, 2016, 5:24 PM EDT

Getty Images

Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross mathematically qualified for the Rio Olympics with their first serve Wednesday, capping an obstacle-filled year that at one point included doubts about Walsh Jennings’ availability for a fifth Olympic run.

All six U.S. beach volleyball pairs still in Olympic qualifying contention (for four total spots) are entered in the Cincinnati Open this week (results here). The finals will air on NBC and NBC Sports Live Extra on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.

Walsh Jennings and Ross met the minimum number of tournaments played for Olympic qualifying by competing in Cincinnati.

That also gave them a qualifying point total that only one other U.S. team — Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat — could possibly pass by the June 13 deadline.

And with the U.S. set to send two pairs per gender to the Olympics, that means Walsh Jennings and Ross will go to Rio. The U.S. Olympic beach volleyball teams are expected to be officially named after the June 13 deadline.

Walsh Jennings and Ross’ Olympic qualification was clouded last spring and summer.

Walsh Jennings, a 37-year-old mother of three, dislocated her right shoulder during matches May 27 and July 10 and required a fifth career right shoulder surgery.

Not knowing immediately when she would have surgery — and the uncertainty of how it would impact their Olympic qualifying — Walsh Jennings told Ross to pick a substitute partner “you picture yourself winning a gold medal with” while the three-time Olympic champion was sidelined.

But Walsh Jennings endured through the injury to play three tournaments with Ross in August and September, with minimal right arm use, before surgery. Those results ensured they would meet the minimum number of tournaments after Walsh Jennings returned this season.

Walsh Jennings and Ross have two titles in four FIVB tournaments this year, including semifinal appearances in every event. They are Olympic medal favorites along with Brazilian pairs Larissa and Talita and Agatha and Barbara.

Ross said their coach, Brazil native Marcio Sicoli, has a three-block plan. The second block concluded with qualification Wednesday.

“We don’t know what that consists of, but he’s got a plan,” Ross said, according to USA Volleyball. “The first block was preseason, the second block was qualifying through the tournaments and block three will be after qualification, preparing for and through the Olympics.”

Fendrick and Sweat are likely to qualify for their first Olympic team, unless 2012 Olympic silver medalist Jennifer Kessy and Emily Day perform extremely well in the final three qualifying tournaments.

The picture is similar on the U.S. men’s side. Beijing Olympic champion Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena will likely clinch an Olympic berth once they achieve the minimum tournaments played.

They are two events short with three events remaining, including Cincinnati, where they are entered.

Two-time Olympian Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson hold a comfortable edge over John Hyden and Tri Bourne for the likely No. 2 spot.

MORE: ‘Mammoth,’ ‘Magician’ lead Brazil’s climb back to top of beach volleyball

Follow @nzaccardi

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

By OlympicTalkApr 1, 2023, 7:03 PM EDT

Getty

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

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

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

By OlympicTalkApr 1, 2023, 9:02 AM EDT

Getty

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.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

More: Olympics

More: Olympics