U.S. athletes who can clinch Olympic berths this weekend

By Nick ZaccardiDec 14, 2017, 12:22 PM EST

More than a dozen Americans will qualify for the Olympic team this weekend.

Here’s a sport-by-sport rundown:

Skiing/Snowboarding
Will qualify for Pyeongchang with a win at the Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colo. (and might still qualify with a lesser result) on Friday and Saturday:

Ben Ferguson (snowboard halfpipe)
Chloe Kim (snowboard halfpipe)
Chris Corning (snowboard slopestyle)
Red Gerard (snowboard slopestyle)
Jamie Anderson (snowboard slopestyle)
Julia Marino (snowboard slopestyle)
David Wise (ski halfpipe)
Torin Yater-Wallace (ski halfpipe)
Maddie Bowman (ski halfpipe)
Devin Logan (ski halfpipe)
Maggie Voisin (ski slopestyle)

Additionally, snowboard cross world champion Lindsey Jacobellis will clinch an Olympic berth Saturday if two other U.S. women don’t go one-two in a World Cup event in Austria. If any U.S. male snowboard cross rider wins Saturday, he will qualify for the Olympic team.

The first Alpine skier could qualify for the Olympics via World Cup men’s super-G and giant slalom races in Italy on Friday, Sunday and Monday with a podium finish and some help. Watch out for Sochi GS gold medalist Ted Ligety there.

In cross-country skiing, top-eight finishes in Saturday’s World Cup races could qualify more Americans for the Olympic team. Four-time world medalist Jessie Diggins is the only cross-country skier to meet Olympic qualifying criteria so far.

MORE: Dew Tour preview/Olympic qualifying standings

Short Track Speed Skating
Five men and three women will qualify for the U.S. Olympic team, scattered across Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Olympic Trials in Kearns, Utah.

The favorites include Olympic medalists J.R. Celski and Katherine Reutter-Adamek, Sochi Olympian Jessica Kooreman and would-be Olympic rookies John-Henry Krueger and Maame Biney.

MORE: Olympic short track trials preview/TV schedule

Curling
Trials for the new Olympic event of mixed doubles curling end Sunday with two more athletes *possibly* being named to the Olympic team.

The overall U.S. Olympic team will not increase in size if curlers already qualified for the Olympics in the traditional men’s and women’s events prevail in Blaine, Minn.

The favorites are already 2018 Olympic team members– siblings Matt Hamilton and Becca Hamilton, the reigning national champions, and 2016 World bronze medalists Tabitha Peterson and Joe Polo.

MORE: Curling mixed doubles trials preview/TV schedule

Luge
The U.S. Olympic luge team of three men, three women and two doubles teams will be announced Saturday night after the Friday/Saturday World Cup races in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Sochi bronze medalist Erin Hamlin has already made the team, while Sochi Olympian Summer Britcher mathematically met criteria to join her but hasn’t been named to the team yet.

The other favorites include World Cup winner Emily Sweeney and Sochi Olympians Chris Mazdzer, Tucker West and Matt Mortensen and Jayson Terdiman.

Biathlon
At least two more biathletes will join world medalists Lowell Bailey and Susan Dunklee on the Olympic team following World Cup races in France this weekend.

The clubhouse leaders are Sochi Olympian Sean Doherty and would-be Olympic rookie Clare Egan.

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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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