Keni Harrison, one of 11 siblings, headlines Stockholm Diamond League; events to watch

By Nick ZaccardiJun 14, 2016, 12:56 PM EDT

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Many top U.S. athletes are skipping the final Diamond League meet before the Olympic Trials in Stockholm on Thursday, except for the most impressive American this year.

That’s Keni Harrison, who matched the second-fastest 100m hurdles time in history, an American record 12.24 seconds, at the Prefontaine Classic on May 28.

Harrison headlines the Stockholm 100m hurdles field, along with countrywomen Queen Harrison and Nia Ali.

All will have their hands full at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., on July 7-8 in arguably the deepest event. The top three finishers make the Olympic team.

Not in Stockholm, but expected in Eugene, are 2008 Olympic champion Dawn Harper-Nelson, 2013 World champion Brianna Rollins and Sharika Nelvis and Jasmin Stowers, the two fastest women in the world last year.

Harrison, the middle of 11 children, nine adopted, shuttled in a Marriott bus, is a prodigious hurdles talent who ran her first track race in 10th grade.

She ranked No. 4 and No. 5 in the world in the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles last year, respectively. She won the 100m hurdles and placed second in the 400m hurdles at the 2015 NCAA Championships, her final meet for the University of Kentucky.

She hasn’t raced a 400m hurdles since the 2015 NCAAs. In this span focusing on the 100m hurdles, she dropped her personal best from 12.50 to 12.24 seconds. Her international breakout could have come last year, had she not false started out of the World Championships semifinals in Beijing on Aug. 28.

Stockholm will mark her final top-level international meet before the Olympic Trials. Full start lists are here.

Five events to watch in Stockholm:

Women’s Long Jump — 1:15 p.m. ET

Arguably the deepest field in Stockholm includes reigning Olympic champion Brittney Reese and all three 2015 World Championships medalists — American Tianna Bartoletta, Great Britain’s Shara Proctor and Serbian Ivana Španović.

Reese is the top-ranked American this year, but Bartoletta could use a strong mark in Stockholm. She is ranked No. 6 in the U.S. combining indoor and outdoor marks in 2016.

Men’s 400m Hurdles — 2:03 p.m. ET

The start list features three Americans who own a combined eight Olympic and World 400m hurdles medals — 2012 Olympic silver medalist Michael Tinsley and 2008 Olympic silver and bronze medalists Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson.

Tinsley is the fastest of the trio this year, clocking 48.74 seconds at the Pre Classic. But an Olympic team of Tinsley, Clement and Jackson is unlikely, because the fastest American this year is Johnny Dutch. Dutch, who is not in Stockholm, doubles as the fastest in the world this year at 48.10. Nobody else has bettered 48.67.

Women’s 100m Hurdles — 2:37 p.m. ET

Keni Harrison is undefeated in five 100m hurdles races this spring, running between 12.24 and 12.56 every time. The 2015 World Championship was won in 12.57, after Harrison false started out of the semifinals.

Nobody else in the Stockholm field has bettered 12.63 this year. The other Americans, two-time World Indoor 60m champion Nia Ali and 2008 400m hurdles Olympian Queen Harrison, rank tied for seventh in the U.S. this year. They need strong times to be considered among the favorites to make the Olympic team.

Men’s Triple Jump — 2:45 p.m. ET

Olympic and World champion Christian Taylor is among four Americans in this field. He has little to prove. In addition to scaring the world record at 2015 Worlds, he easily ranks No. 1 in the world this year.

The Americans behind Taylor and Olympic silver medalist Will Claye (not in Stockholm) are more bunched as trials near. In Stockholm, Chris Benard (No. 3 in the U.S. this year), Omar Craddock (No. 4) and Chris Carter (No. 5) jostle for confidence ahead of Eugene, where they need to be top three.

Men’s 800m — 3:50 p.m. ET

David Rudisha caps the final event of the meet. The Olympic and World champion and world-record holder races the 800m for the first time since finishing fifth in Shanghai on May 14, when an ill-timed starter’s gun marred the competition.

In Stockholm, Rudisha faces 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Timothy Kitum of Kenya, 2013 World champion Mohamed Aman of Ethiopia and 2015 World silver medalist Adam Kszczot of Poland, all men who could make the Olympic final. There are no Americans lining up.

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Football takes significant step in Olympic push

By OlympicTalkMar 29, 2023, 2:18 PM EDT

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Football took another step toward possible Olympic inclusion with the IOC executive board proposing that the sport’s international federation — the IFAF — be granted full IOC recognition at a meeting in October.

IOC recognition does not equate to eventual Olympic inclusion, but it is a necessary early marker if a sport is to join the Olympics down the line. The IOC gave the IFAF provisional recognition in 2013.

Specific measures are required for IOC recognition, including having an anti-doping policy compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency and having 50 affiliated national federations from at least three continents. The IFAF has 74 national federations over five continents with almost 4.8 million registered athletes, according to the IOC.

The NFL has helped lead the push for flag football to be added for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Flag football had medal events for men and women at last year’s World Games, a multi-sport competition including Olympic and non-Olympic sports, in Birmingham, Alabama.

Football is one of nine sports that have been reported to be in the running to be proposed by LA 2028 to the IOC to be added for the 2028 Games only. LA 2028 has not announced which, if any sports, it plans to propose.

Under rules instituted before the Tokyo Games, Olympic hosts have successfully proposed to the IOC adding sports solely for their edition of the Games.

For Tokyo, baseball-softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were added. For Paris, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were approved again, and breaking will make its Olympic debut. Those sports were added four years out from the Games.

For 2028, the other sports reportedly in the running for proposal are baseball and softball, breaking, cricket, karate, kickboxing, lacrosse, motorsports and squash.

All of the other eight sports reportedly in the running for 2028 proposal already have a federation with full IOC recognition (if one counts the international motorcycle racing federation for motorsports).

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Helen Maroulis stars in wrestling documentary, with help from Chris Pratt

By Nick ZaccardiMar 29, 2023, 10:05 AM EDT

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One of the remarkable recent Olympic comeback stories is the subject of a film that will be shown nationwide in theaters for one day only on Thursday.

“Helen | Believe” is a documentary about Helen Maroulis, the first U.S. Olympic women’s wrestling champion. It is produced by Religion of Sports, the venture founded by Gotham Chopra, Michael Strahan and Tom Brady. Showing details are here.

After taking gold at the 2016 Rio Games, Maroulis briefly retired in 2019 during a two-year stretch in which she dealt with concussions and post-traumatic stress disorder. The film focuses on that period and her successful bid to return and qualify for the Tokyo Games, where she took bronze.

In a poignant moment in the film, Maroulis described her “rock bottom” — being hospitalized for suicidal ideations.

In an interview, Maroulis said she was first approached about the project in 2018, the same year she had her first life-changing concussion that January. A wrestling partner’s mother was connected to director Dylan Mulick.

Maroulis agreed to the film in part to help spread mental health awareness in sports. Later, she cried while watching the 2020 HBO film, “The Weight of Gold,” on the mental health challenges that other Olympians faced, because it resonated with her so much.

“When you’re going through something, it sometimes gives you an anchor of hope to know that someone’s been through it before, and they’ve overcome it,” she said.

Maroulis’ comeback story hit a crossroads at the Olympic trials in April 2021, where the winner of a best-of-three finals series in each weight class made Team USA.

Maroulis won the opening match against Jenna Burkert, but then lost the second match. Statistically, a wrestler who loses the second match in a best-of-three series usually loses the third. But Maroulis pinned Burkert just 22 seconds into the rubber match to clinch the Olympic spot.

Shen then revealed that she tore an MCL two weeks earlier.

“They told me I would have to be in a brace for six weeks,” she said then. “I said, ‘I don’t have that. I have two and a half.’”

Maroulis said she later asked the director what would have happened if she didn’t make the team for Tokyo. She was told the film still have been done.

“He had mentioned this isn’t about a sports story or sports comeback story,” Maroulis said. “This is about a human story. And we’re using wrestling as the vehicle to tell this story of overcoming and healing and rediscovering oneself.”

Maroulis said she was told that, during filming, the project was pitched to the production company of actor Chris Pratt, who wrestled in high school in Washington. Pratt signed on as a producer.

“Wrestling has made an impact on his life, and so he wants to support these kinds of stories,” said Maroulis, who appeared at last month’s Santa Barbara Film Festival with Pratt.

Pratt said he knew about Maroulis before learning about the film, which he said “needed a little help to get it over the finish line,” according to a public relations company promoting the film.

The film also highlights the rest of the six-woman U.S. Olympic wrestling team in Tokyo. Four of the six won a medal, including Tamyra Mensah-Stock‘s gold.

“I was excited to be part of, not just (Maroulis’) incredible story, but also helping to further advance wrestling and, in particular, female wrestling,” Pratt said, according to responses provided by the PR company from submitted questions. “To me, the most compelling part of Helen’s story is the example of what life looks like after a person wins a gold medal. The inevitable comedown, the trauma around her injuries, the PTSD, the drive to continue that is what makes her who she is.”

Maroulis, who now trains in Arizona, hopes to qualify for this year’s world championships and next year’s Olympics.

“I try to treat every Games as my last,” she said. “Now I’m leaning toward being done [after 2024], but never say never.”

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