Shelby Houlihan wins duel with Elle Purrier at USATF Indoor Champs

By OlympicTalkFeb 14, 2020, 10:55 PM EST

Shelby Houlihan is halfway to a fifth double at a national championships after taking the 3000m at the USATF Indoor Championships in Albuquerque on Friday night.

Houlihan, a Rio Olympic 5000m runner, extended her domestic distance dominance by clocking 8:52.03.

She led after every lap and prevailed by 1.67 seconds over Bowerman Track Club teammate Karissa Schweizer. Elle Purrier, who last Saturday ran the second-fastest indoor mile in history, was fourth in 8:56.56.

Houlihan has won a pair of titles at four separate national championships — twice indoors and twice outdoors. She can do it again if she takes Saturday’s 1500m, with Purrier also in that field.

Houlihan, after placing 11th in the Rio 5000m, lowered the U.S. records at 1500m and the 5000m. The 1500m has proven her better event internationally. She took fourth at the world championships on Oct. 5, breaking Shannon Rowbury‘s American record by 1.3 seconds.

Nationals mark the end of the indoor season, given the world indoor championships were postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak in host China.

USATF Indoors: Results | Entry Lists | Event Schedule | TV Schedule

In other events Friday, meet headliner Christian Coleman shut it down early and still clocked the world’s fastest 60m this year — 6.48 seconds to win his first-round heat. The semifinals and final are Saturday.

“This is my opener, so I just wanted to make sure I feel good,” Coleman, racing his first meet since winning the world 100m title last fall, told Lewis Johnson on NBCSN.

In 2018, Coleman ran the three fastest indoor 60m times in history. His world record of 6.34 seconds still stands. His top competition in the 100m for June’s Olympic trials and the Tokyo Games — Justin Gatlin and Noah Lyles — are not racing indoors this season.

Olympic 5000m silver medalist Paul Chelimo won the men’s 3000m in 8:00.14, distancing Anthony Rotich by 1.77 seconds.

Tori Franklin and Keturah Orji each triple jumped farther than the U.S. indoor record. Franklin prevailed with a 14.64-meter final jump, edging Orji by four centimeters.

Olympic champion Michelle Carter placed seventh in the shot put won by reigning U.S. outdoor champion Chase Ealey.

Erik Kynard, the 2012 Olympic high jump silver medalist, won the indoor title after missing all of last season with a ruptured Achilles. Kynard, who cleared 2.26 meters, could be upgraded to gold from the London Olympics given original winner Ivan Ukhov of Russia was disqualified for doping.

MORE: Full list of U.S. athletes qualified for Tokyo Olympics

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French Open: Daniil Medvedev stunned by 172nd-ranked qualifier

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 11:52 AM EDT

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No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev was eliminated by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild at the French Open, the first time a top-two men’s seed lost in the first round of a major in 20 years.

Seyboth Wild, a 23-year-old in his second-ever Grand Slam main draw match, prevailed 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in more than four hours on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“I’ve watched Daniil play for, like, my entire junior career until today, and I’ve always dreamed about playing on this court, playing these kind of players,” he said. “In my best dreams, I’ve beaten them, so it’s a dream come true.”

Seyboth Wild overcame the ranking disparity, the experience deficit (it was his first five-set match) and cramps. He began feeling them in the second set, and it affected his serve.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Seyboth Wild, who had strictly played in qualifying and lower-level Challenger events dating to February 2022, became the first man to take out a top-two seed at a Slam since Ivo Karlovic upset Lleyton Hewitt at 2003 Wimbledon, which ended up being the first major won by a member of the Big Three.

The last time it happened at the French Open was in 2000, when Mark Philippoussis ousted No. 2 Pete Sampras.

It’s the most seismic win by a Brazilian at the French Open — and perhaps any major — since the nation’s most successful man, Gustavo Kuerten, won his third Roland Garros title in 2001.

Tuesday marked the 26th anniversary of Kuerten’s first big splash in Paris, a third-round win over 1995 French Open champion Thomas Muster en route to his first Roland Garros title.

As a junior, Seyboth Wild won the 2018 U.S. Open and reached a best ranking of eighth in the world. Since, he played eight Grand Slam qualifying tournaments with a 1-8 record before advancing through qualifying last week.

The 2021 U.S. Open champion Medvedev entered the French Open having won the first clay tournament title of his career at the Italian Open, the last top-level event before Roland Garros.

Medvedev’s defeat leaves no major champions in the bottom half of the men’s draw. The top seeds left are No. 4 Casper Ruud, last year’s French Open and U.S. Open runner-up, and No. 6 Holger Rune. No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Novak Djokovic play their second-round matches in the top half on Wednesday.

Women’s seeds to advance Tuesday included No. 6 Coco Gauff, who rallied past 71st-ranked Spaniard Rebeka Masarova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, plus No. 4 Elena Rybakina and No. 7 Ons Jabeur in straight sets.

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Olympians, Paralympians star on Top Chef World All-Stars in Paris

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls get a taste of Paris in this week’s episode of Top Chef World All-Stars, premiering Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Olympic medalists Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Suni Lee and Paralympic medalists Mallory Weggemann and Hunter Woodhall team up with contestants for a cooking challenge in front of the Eiffel Tower, one year before the French capital hosts the Games.

Olympians have appeared on Top Chef before.

A 2020 episode set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Coliseum included Diana Taurasi, Rai Benjamin, Nastia Liukin, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Christian Coleman and Kerri Walsh Jennings.

A January 2018 episode featured figure skater Meryl Davis, freeskier Gus Kenworthy and skeleton slider John Daly, one month before the PyeongChang Winter Games.

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