Ilka Stuhec beats Lindsey Vonn in World Cup Finals downhill

By Nick ZaccardiMar 15, 2017, 1:40 PM EDT

Slovenian Ilka Stuhec spoiled the day for Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin by dominating the World Cup Finals downhill in Aspen, Colo., on Wednesday.

Stuhec won by a comfortable .66 over Vonn, adding the World Cup downhill season title to her world championships gold medal last month. Italian Sofia Goggia was third, 1.03 behind.

Stuhec won half of the eight World Cup downhills this season after needing 113 World Cup starts before notching her first podium in December. She was 25th in the downhill standings last season.

Vonn finished runner-up at her third straight World Cup race on Wednesday. She actually fell crossing the finish and slid into a soft barrier, but Vonn walked off smiling.

Vonn, who came back in January from crash-caused knee and arm fractures last year, raced Wednesday with a chest cold and her right glove taped to her ski pole. She has dealt with a lack of feeling in her hand resulting from breaking her right upper arm in a November training crash.

“I think it cost me a couple of tenths, but I should have been a lot faster than a couple of tenths today to beat Ilka, so probably didn’t really matter,” Vonn said on NBCSN.

She remains stuck on 77 career World Cup wins, nine shy of the record held by retired Swede Ingemar Stenmark.

Vonn, 32, has averaged about 10 wins per season when fully healthy, but six-time Olympic medalist Bode Miller says she is now facing the toughest two rivals of her career in Stuhec and Goggia.

“Lindsey hasn’t seen that type of competition in the last several years,” Miller said on the NBCSN broadcast. “She’s definitely going to have to buckle down in the offseason and get things figured out. For me, Lindsey at her best and over the course of a season is going to have several wins in the downhill and super-G. She just is that strong.”

Stuhec’s win also kept Shiffrin from clinching her first World Cup overall title. Shiffrin, who didn’t race Wednesday, will clinch Thursday if Stuhec finishes third or lower in the super-G.

If not, Shiffrin will clinch Saturday or Sunday if she finishes in the top 12 of the slalom or giant slalom, or gets help from Stuhec, who is not strong in those disciplines.

Full Results | Broadcast Replay

Earlier, Italian Peter Fill repeated as men’s downhill season champion despite not winning any of the eight races this season.

Fill placed second, .08 behind countryman Dominik Paris, in the race on Wednesday. That was enough to make up a 33-point standings deficit on Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud, who finished 11th in Aspen. Full results are here.

The World Cup Finals continue with men’s and women’s super-Gs on Thursday, expected to be Vonn’s last race of the season. NBCSN, NBCSports.com/live and the NBC Sports app will air coverage from 12-2 p.m. ET.

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Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz set French Open semifinal showdown

By OlympicTalkJun 6, 2023, 6:59 PM EDT

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will play in the French Open semifinals on Friday in the most anticipated match of the tournament.

Each man advanced with a quarterfinal win on Tuesday.

Djokovic, eyeing a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam men’s singles title, rallied past 11th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4. The Serb reached his 45th career major semifinal, one shy of Roger Federer‘s men’s record.

Later Tuesday, top seed Alcaraz crushed fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (5) to consolidate his status as the favorite in Friday’s showdown.

“This match, everyone wants to watch,” Alcaraz said. “I really wanted to play this match as well. I always say that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Alcaraz, who at last year’s U.S. Open became the first male teen to win a major since Rafael Nadal in 2005, is at this event the youngest man to be the top seed at a major since Boris Becker at 1987 Wimbledon.

The Djokovic-Alcaraz semifinal will produce the clear favorite for Sunday’s final given left-handed 14-time French Open champion Nadal is out this year with a hip injury and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev lost in the first round. Djokovic and Nadal share the record 22 men’s major titles.

Djokovic and Alcaraz met once, with Alcaraz winning last year on clay in Madrid 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5).

“[Alcaraz] brings a lot of intensity on the court,” Djokovic said, before breaking into a smile. “Reminds me of someone from his country that plays with a left hand.”

Alcaraz and Djokovic were set to be on opposite halves of the draw — and thus not able to meet until the final — until Medvedev won the last top-level clay event before the French Open to move ahead of Djokovic in the rankings. That meant Djokovic had a 50 percent chance to wind up in Alcaraz’s half, and that’s what the random draw spit out two weeks ago.

Earlier Tuesday in the first two women’s quarterfinals, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and 43rd-ranked Czech Karolina Muchova advanced to face off in Thursday’s semifinals.

Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion, swept Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4 to complete her set of semifinals in all four Grand Slams. Sabalenka will take the No. 1 ranking from Iga Swiatek if Swiatek loses before the final, or if Sabalenka makes the final and Swiatek does not win the title.

Svitolina, a former world No. 3, returned to competition in April from childbirth.

Muchova took out 2021 French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 7-5, 6-2, to make her second major semifinal after the 2021 Australian Open.

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2023 French Open men’s singles draw

By OlympicTalkJun 6, 2023, 5:16 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 meet in Friday’s 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.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

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