DK Metcalf, Olympic stars gather at USATF Golden Games; TV, live stream schedule

DK Metcalf, Allyson Felix, Noah Lyles
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DK Metcalf‘s entry brought buzz into Sunday’s USATF Golden Games and Distance Open, but otherwise it’s arguably the deepest track and field meet so far this year — one month before the U.S. Olympic Trials.

NBC, NBCSports.com/live and the NBC Sports app air live coverage from Mt. SAC in Walnut, California, on Sunday from 4:30-6 p.m. ET. Peacock streams live coverage from 3:15-6. USATF.TV streams coverage from 2-4:30 and resuming at 10.

Headline track stars include Allyson FelixShaunae-Miller Uibo, Noah LylesMichael Norman and Keni Harrison.

Eyes will be on Metcalf, the Seattle Seahawks wide receiver who may be trying to qualify for Trials in the 100m. A 10.05 would automatically do it, but anything under 10.20 would give him a realistic chance.

Metcalf didn’t compete in track in college and was primarily a hurdler and triple jumper in high school. He hasn’t commented publicly on how much sprint training he has undertaken since the NFL season ended.

So he is very much an unknown aside from his incredible interception return tackle last season. Given that, getting close to 10.20 — an NCAA Championships final-worthy time — would be a heck of an accomplishment.

Elsewhere, potential Olympic Trials previews are most evident in the women’s 100m and women’s triple jump.

Here are the entry lists. Here’s the schedule of events (all times Eastern):

2 p.m. — Women’s Hammer
2 — Men’s Discus
2:30 — Men’s Pole Vault
3:05 — Men’s Shot Put
3:05 — Women’s 200m (B)
3:11 — Men’s 200m (B)
3:15 — Women’s Triple Jump
3:18 — Women’s 100m (heats)
3:32 — Men’s 100m (heats)
3:48 — Women’s 100m Hurdles (heats)
4:02 — Men’s 800m (B)
4:08 — Women’s 800m (B)
4:14 — Women’s 800m (C)
4:20 — Men’s 400m (B)
4:26 — Women’s 400m Hurdles
4:33 — Men’s 400m
4:40 — Women’s Pole Vault
4:40 — Women’s 1500m
4:50 — Men’s 800m
4:55 — Men’s Triple Jump
4:57 — Women’s 100m
5:03 — Men’s 100m
5:05 — Women’s Shot Put
5:11 — Women’s 110m Hurdles
5:18 — Men’s 1500m
5:28 — Women’s 800m
5:42 — Men’s 400m Hurdles
5:49 — Women’s 200m
5:56 — Men’s 200m
10 — Men’s 1500m (B)
10:08 — Women’s 1500m (B)
10:17 — Men’s 3000m Steeplechase
10:31 — Women’s 3000m Steeplechase
10:45 — Women’s 5000m
11:05 — Men’s 5000m

Here are five races to watch:

Women’s 100m — 3:18 p.m. (heats)/4:57 p.m. (final)
Sha’Carri Richardson
, who last month ran 10.72 to become the sixth-fastest woman in history, will take on her fellow Olympic medal favorites in a Diamond League meet on May 23, but first she gets a chance to confirm she’s the Olympic Trials favorite. The top four from 2019 Nationals, where Richardson placed eighth after a long NCAA season, are in this field. But at 2019 Worlds, no Americans made the top four for the first time in history. Richardson is right now the only candidate to become the first American woman to win an Olympic 100m since Gail Devers in 1996.

Men’s 100m — 3:32 p.m. (heats)/5:03 p.m. (final)
Can Metcalf make the final? He will likely have to beat a man with a personal best under 10 flat to do so. Two weeks ago, it took 10.44 to advance out of the heats at the USATF Grand Prix at Oregon Relays from a field of similar strength. This field lacks the Olympic Trials favorites — Trayvon Bromell, Justin Gatlin and Lyles — but includes others expected to make the Trials final, led by Rio Olympian Mike Rodgers.

Men’s 800m — 4:50 p.m.
Field includes three of the four Americans from the 2019 Worlds — Olympic bronze medalist Clayton Murphy, worlds fourth-place finisher Bryce Hoppel and Brannon Kidder, plus Isaiah Harris, who was fourth at 2019 Nationals but didn’t have the worlds standard. Donovan Brazier (world champion who scratched out of the meet on Friday), Murphy and Hoppel are considered the favorites to grab the three Olympic spots come June’s Trials, but this is a chance for somebody to change the status quo.

Women’s 200m — 5:49 p.m.
Felix and the Bahamian Miller-Uibo are entered here, though their most memorable clashes have come in the 400m. In Rio, Miller-Uibo took gold by .07 over Felix, diving across the finish line. Felix has said she plans to race both the 400m and the 200m at the Olympic Trials, where the schedule makes it desirable given her primary event in recent years, the 400m, comes first. Miller-Uibo plans to race strictly the 200m in Tokyo as the 200m and 400m overlap on the Olympic schedule.

Men’s 200m — 5:56 p.m.
In 2016, a promising teenager named Noah Lyles nearly became the youngest U.S. male sprinter to make an Olympic team in 28 years. Lyles was fourth at Trials out of high school. This year, Erriyon Knighton, who was born in 2004 and turned pro in January, is reminding some of Lyles. Last Sunday, Knighton ran 9.99 for 100m, though it came with 2.7 meter/second tailwind (wind-legal times can’t have more than 2 m/s tailwind). The world champion Lyles and Knighton are both in this field, and so is Kenny Bednarek, the second-fastest American since the start of 2019 among those expected to race the event at Trials.

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Ryan Crouser breaks world record in shot put at Los Angeles Grand Prix

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Two-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser registered one of the greatest performances in track and field history, breaking his world record and throwing three of the six farthest shot puts of all time at the Los Angeles Grand Prix on Saturday.

Crouser unleashed throws of 23.56 meters, 23.31 and 23.23 at UCLA’s Drake Stadium. His previous world record from the Tokyo Olympic Trials was 23.37. He now owns the top four throws in history, and the 23.23 is tied for the fifth-best throw in history.

“The best thing is I’m still on high volume [training], heavy throws in the ring and heavy weights in the weight room, so we’re just starting to work in some speed,” the 6-foot-7 Crouser, who is perfecting a new technique coined the “Crouser slide,” told Lewis Johnson on NBC.

Sha’Carri Richardson won her 100m heat in 10.90 seconds into a slight headwind, then did not start the final about 90 minutes later due to cramping, Johnson said. Richardson is ranked No. 1 in the world in the 100m in 2023 (10.76) and No. 2 in the 200m (22.07).

Jamaican Ackeem Blake won the men’s 100m in a personal best 9.89 seconds. He now ranks third in the world this year behind Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala and American Fred Kerley, who meet in the Diamond League in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday (2-4 p.m. ET, CNBC, NBCSports.com/live, the NBC Sports app and Peacock).

The next major meet is the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in early July, when the top three in most individual events qualify for August’s world championships.

Richardson will bid to make her first global championships team, two years after having her Olympic Trials win stripped for testing positive for marijuana and one year after being eliminated in the first round of the 100m at USATF Outdoors.

LA GRAND PRIX: Full Results

Also Saturday, Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico won the 100m hurdles in 12.31, the fastest time ever this early in a year. Nigerian Tobi Amusan, who at last July’s worlds lowered the world record to 12.12, was eighth in the eight-woman field in 12.69.

Maggie Ewen upset world champion Chase Ealey in the shot put by throwing 20.45 meters, upping her personal best by more than three feet. Ewen went from 12th-best in American history to third behind 2016 Olympic champion Michelle Carter and Ealey.

Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic ran the fastest women’s 400m since the Tokyo Olympics, clocking 48.98 seconds. Paulino is the Olympic and world silver medalist. Olympic and world champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas is on a maternity break.

Rio Olympic bronze medalist Clayton Murphy won the 800m in 1:44.75, beating a field that included most of the top Americans in the event. Notably absent was 2019 World champion Donovan Brazier, who hasn’t raced since July 20 of last year amid foot problems.

CJ Allen won the 400m hurdles in a personal best 47.91, consolidating his argument as the second-best American in the event behind Olympic and world silver medalist Rai Benjamin, who withdrew from the meet earlier this week.

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Primoz Roglic set to win Giro d’Italia over Geraint Thomas

106th Giro d'Italia 2023 - Stage 20
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Primož Roglič all but secured the Giro d’Italia title on Saturday by overtaking leader Geraint Thomas on the penultimate stage despite having a mechanical problem on the mountain time trial.

Roglič started the stage 26 seconds behind Thomas — who was trying to become the oldest Giro champion in history — but finished the route 40 seconds quicker than the British cyclist after the demanding climb of the Monte Lussari.

That saw Roglič move into the leader’s pink jersey, 14 seconds ahead of Thomas going into the race’s mainly ceremonial final stage.

Roglič was cheered on all the way by thousands of fans from just across the border to his native Slovenia. They packed the slopes of the brutal ascent up Monte Lussari, which had an elevation of more than 3,000 feet and gradients of up to 22%.

The 33-year-old Roglič celebrated at the end with his wife and son, who was wearing a replica of the pink jersey.

“Just something amazing, eh? It’s not at the end about the win itself, but about the people, and the energy here, so incredible, really moments to live and to remember,” said Roglič, who had tears in his eyes during the post-stage television interview, which he did with his son in his arms.

It will be a fourth Grand Tour victory for Roglič, who won the Spanish Vuelta three years in a row from 2019-2021

Roglič also almost won the Tour de France in 2020, when he was leading going into another mountain time trial on the penultimate stage. But that time it was Roglič who lost time and the race to compatriot Tadej Pogačar in one of the most memorable upsets in a Grand Tour in recent years.

It appeared as if the Jumbo-Visma cyclist’s hopes were evaporating again when he rode over a pothole about halfway through the brutal climb up Monte Lussari and his chain came off, meaning he had to quickly change bicycles.

His teammates and staff had their hands over their heads in disbelief.

Despite that setback, Roglič — who had been 16 seconds ahead of Thomas at the previous intermediate time check — went on to increase his advantage.

“I dropped the chain, I mean it’s part of it,” he said. “But I got started again and I just went … I had the legs, the people gave me extra (energy).”

The 33-year-old Roglič won the stage ahead of Thomas. Joao Almeida was third, 42 seconds slower.

For Thomas, his bad luck at the Giro continued. In 2017, he was involved in a crash caused by a police motorbike, and three years later he fractured his hip after a drinks bottle became lodged under his wheel – being forced to abandon both times.

Thomas turned 37 on Thursday. The Ineos Grenadiers cyclist had seemed poised to become the oldest Giro winner in history — beating the record of Fiorenzo Magni, who was 34 when he won in 1955.

“I could feel my legs going about a kilometer and a half from the top. I just didn’t feel I had that real grunt,” Thomas said. “I guess it’s nice to lose by that much rather than a second or two, because that would be worse I think.

“At least he smashed me and to be honest Primoz deserves that. He had a mechanical as well, still put 40 seconds into me so chapeau to him. If you’d told me this back in (February), March, I would have bit your hand off but now I’m devastated.”

Thomas and Roglič exchanged fist bumps as they waited their turn to ride down the ramp at the start of the 11.6-mile time trial.

The Giro will finish in Rome on Sunday, with 10 laps of a seven-mile circuit through the streets of the capital, taking in many of its historic sites.

“One more day to go, one more focus, because I think the lap is quite hard, technical. So it’s not over til it’s finished,” Roglič said. “But looks good, voila.”

The route will pass by places such as the Altare della Patria, the Capitoline Hill, the Circus Maximus and finish at the Imperial Forums, in the shadow of the Colosseum.

The Tour de France starts July 1, airing on NBC Sports and Peacock.

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