Marcel Hirscher clinches record 6th straight World Cup overall title

By Nick ZaccardiMar 4, 2017, 9:28 AM EST

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Marcel Hirscher reached an unprecedented run of dominance in Alpine skiing history on Saturday.

The Austrian clinched his record-breaking sixth straight World Cup overall title with his 44th career World Cup victory in a giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

He wrapped up the title, determined by accumulating results throughout the season, with five races left on the 36-race schedule. Hirscher couldn’t quite believe it when told of the news.

“You think so?” Hirscher said, still breathing heavily from his second run in the finish area. “Mathematics wasn’t my best program on school. Can you tell me why?”

Here’s why: Hirscher leads by 504 points with five races left. Winners receive 100 points per race, so second-place Kjetil Jansrud of Norway can’t catch Hirscher, even if Jansrud wins the rest of the races and Hirscher doesn’t ski again this season.

“That is not too bad, actually,” Hirscher said after it was explained to him.

Hirscher, who turned 28 on Thursday, now owns more World Cup overall titles than any man in history, breaking his tie with Luxembourg’s Marc Girardelli.

Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell owns the women’s record of six overall titles, but they were not all in a row.

This only increases the pressure on Hirscher to deliver in PyeongChang. Hirscher captured individual world titles in 2013, 2015 and 2017, in different events each year, but lacks an Olympic gold medal.

He was upset in the 2014 Olympic slalom by countryman Mario Matt, taking silver.

“It is not always easy,” said Hirscher, who has five wins and eight runners-up in 15 standard World Cup slaloms and giant slaloms this season. “On the top, it is sometimes more a mind game than a physical game.”

This season, Hirscher leads the World Cup giant slalom and slalom standings and swept the events at the world championships last month. Hirscher reportedly spent days sick in bed at worlds before racing.

Consider that Hirscher missed world super combined gold by .01, and that Austria could be favored to win the new Olympic team event in 2018, and he could go for four gold medals in PyeongChang.

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2023 French Open women’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkJun 4, 2023, 4:10 PM EDT

At the French Open, Iga Swiatek of Poland eyes a third title at Roland Garros and a fourth Grand Slam singles crown overall.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Swiatek, the No. 1 seed from Poland, can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

Having turned 22 on Wednesday, she can become the youngest woman to win three French Opens since Monica Seles in 1992 and the youngest woman to win four Slams overall since Williams in 2002.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Men’s Draw

But Swiatek is not as dominant as in 2022, when she went 16-0 in the spring clay season during an overall 37-match win streak.

She retired from her last pre-French Open match with a right thigh injury and said it wasn’t serious. Before that, she lost the final of another clay-court tournament to Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, is her top remaining challenger in Paris.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula, the highest-seeded American man or woman, was eliminated in the third round. No. 4 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who has three wins over Swiatek this year, withdrew before her third-round match due to illness.

No. 6 Coco Gauff, runner-up to Swiatek last year, is the top hope to become the first American to win a Grand Slam singles title since Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought is the longest for U.S. women since Seles won the 1996 Australian Open.

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2023 French Open Women’s Singles Draw

2023 French Open men’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkJun 4, 2023, 3:10 PM EDT

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The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Women’s Draw

But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They could meet in the semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the first round by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. It marked the first time a men’s top-two seed lost in the first round of any major since 2003 Wimbledon (Ivo Karlovic d. Lleyton Hewitt).

All of the American men lost before the fourth round. The last U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals was Andre Agassi in 2003.

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2023 French Open Women’s Singles Draw

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

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