April Ross, Alix Klineman win in first international beach volleyball event since 2019

By OlympicTalkMar 12, 2021, 11:15 AM EST

Getty Images

April Ross and Alix Klineman took the title in their first international beach volleyball tournament since 2019, furthering the argument that they are the Olympic favorites.

In Friday’s final in Doha, the Americans swept world champions Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan of Canada 22-20, 21-18, running their win streak to 18 matches since returning to competition during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We still feel like there’s a lot of room for improvement,” Ross said.

Ross, a two-time Olympic medalist, and Klineman, her new partner for this Olympic cycle, dropped one set in six matches this week.

They have beaten Humana-Paredes and Pavan, the only team ranked ahead of them when sports halted last March, in all three head-to-heads since tournaments resumed last summer with domestic AVP events.

Internationally, Ross and Klineman won four of their five meetings with the Canadians since the start of 2019 — the only defeat coming in the biggest event, the 2019 World Championships final — according to BVBInfo.com.

Ross and Klineman have all but wrapped up one of the two U.S. Olympic women’s beach volleyball spots.

Triple Olympic champion Kerri Walsh Jennings and Brooke Sweat lead the standings for the second and final spot, which could be up for grabs into June before the Olympic qualifying deadline.

Walsh Jennings, a 42-year-old who took bronze with Ross in Rio, and Sweat were the only team to take a set off Ross and Klineman this week. But they were upset by countrywomen Kelley Kolinske and Emily Stockman in the round of 16.

Kolinske and Stockman finished fourth in Doha, their best result in an international event of this caliber. The third U.S. team in contention for the last Olympic spot is Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil, who lost in the quarterfinals.

U.S. Olympic men’s qualifying remains a three-team fight for two spots among 2008 Olympic champion Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena, Taylor Crabb and Jake Gibb and Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb.

Taylor Crabb and Gibb beat Dalhausser and Lucena in the third-place match in Doha. Those placements helped both teams in Olympic qualifying. Trevor Crabb and Bourne, now third in U.S. Olympic qualifying, didn’t get into the Doha main draw after losing in a domestic qualifier.

There are five more international tournaments with significant Olympic qualifying points — back-to-back-to-back events in Cancun, Mexico, from April 16-May 2, in Sochi, Russia, from May 26-30 and Ostrava, Czech Republic, from June 2-6.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

At the French Open, a Ukrainian mom makes her comeback

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 10:42 AM EDT

Getty

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, once the world’s third-ranked tennis player, is into the French Open third round in her first major tournament since childbirth.

Svitolina, 28, swept 2022 French Open semifinalist Martina Trevisan of Italy, then beat Australian qualifier Storm Hunter 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the last 32 at Roland Garros. She next plays 56th-ranked Russian Anna Blinkova, who took out the top French player, fifth seed Caroline Garcia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 on her ninth match point.

Svitolina’s husband, French player Gael Monfils, finished his first-round five-set win after midnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. She watched that match on a computer before going to sleep ahead of her 11 a.m. start Wednesday.

“This morning, he told me, ‘I’m coming to your match, so make it worth it,'” she joked on Tennis Channel. “I was like, OK, no pressure.

“I don’t know what he’s doing here now. He should be resting.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Svitolina made at least one major quarterfinal every year from 2017 through 2021, including the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019. She married Monfils one week before the Tokyo Olympics, then won a singles bronze medal.

Svitolina played her last match before maternity leave on March 24, 2022, one month after Russia invaded her country. She gave birth to daughter Skai on Oct. 15.

Svitolina returned to competition in April. Last week, she won the tournament preceding the French Open, sweeping Blinkova to improve to 17-3 in her career in finals. She’s playing on a protected ranking of 27th after her year absence and, now, on a seven-match win streak.

“It was always in my head the plan to come back, but I didn’t put any pressure on myself, because obviously with the war going on, with the pregnancy, you never know how complicated it will go,” she said. “I’m as strong as I was before, maybe even stronger, because I feel that I can handle the work that I do off the court, and match by match I’m getting better. Also mentally, because mental can influence your physicality, as well.”

Svitolina said she’s motivated by goals to attain before she retires from the sport and to help Ukraine, such as donating her prize money from last week’s title in Strasbourg.

“These moments bring joy to people of Ukraine, to the kids as well, the kids who loved to play tennis before the war, and now maybe they don’t have the opportunity,” she said. “But these moments that can motivate them to look on the bright side and see these good moments and enjoy themselves as much as they can in this horrible situation.”

Svitolina was born in Odesa and has lived in Kharkiv, two cities that have been attacked by Russia.

“I talk a lot with my friends, with my family back in Ukraine, and it’s a horrible thing, but they are used to it now,” she said. “They are used to the alarms that are on. As soon as they hear something, they go to the bomb shelters. Sleepless nights. You know, it’s a terrible thing, but they tell me that now it’s a part of their life, which is very, very sad.”

Svitolina noted that she plays with a flag next to her name — unlike the Russians and Belarusians, who are allowed to play as neutral athletes.

“When I step on the court, I just try to think about the fighting spirit that all of us Ukrainians have and how Ukrainians are fighting for their values, for their freedom in Ukraine,” she said, “and me, I’m fighting here on my own front line.”

Svitolina said that she’s noticed “a lot of rubbish” concerning how tennis is reacting to the war.

“We have to focus on what the main point of what is going on,” she said. “Ukrainian people need help and need support. We are focusing on so many things like empty words, empty things that are not helping the situation, not helping anything.

“I want to invite everyone to focus on helping Ukrainians. That’s the main point of this, to help kids, to help women who lost their husbands because they are at the war, and they are fighting for Ukraine.

“You can donate. Couple of dollars might help and save lives. Or donate your time to something to help people.”

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

Marcell Jacobs still sidelined, misses another race with Fred Kerley

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 7:07 AM EDT

Getty

Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy will miss another scheduled clash with world 100m champion Fred Kerley, withdrawing from Friday’s Diamond League meet in Florence.

Jacobs, 28, has not recovered from the nerve pain that forced him out of last Sunday’s Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, according to Italy’s track and field federation.

In his absence, Kerley’s top competition will be fellow American Trayvon Bromell, the world bronze medalist, and Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, the world’s fastest man this year at 9.84 seconds. Kerley beat both of them in Rabat.

The Florence Diamond League airs live on Peacock on Friday from 2-4 p.m. ET.

Jacobs has withdrawn from six scheduled head-to-heads with Kerley dating to May 2022 due to a series of health issues since that surprise gold in Tokyo.

Kerley, primarily a 400m sprinter until the Tokyo Olympic year, became the world’s fastest man in Jacobs’ absence. He ran a personal best 9.76 seconds, the world’s best time of 2022, at last June’s USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. Then he led a U.S. sweep of the medals at July’s worlds.

Jacobs’ next scheduled race is a 100m at the Paris Diamond League on June 9. Kerley is not in that field, but world 200m champion Noah Lyles is.

The last time the reigning Olympic and world men’s 100m champions met in a 100m was the 2012 London Olympic final between Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. From 2013 to 2017, Bolt held both titles, then retired in 2017 while remaining reigning Olympic champion until Jacobs’ win in Tokyo, where Kerley took silver.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

More: Olympics

More: Olympics

More: Olympics