Mariah Bell is oldest U.S. women’s figure skating champ in 95 years, Olympics bound

By OlympicTalkJan 7, 2022, 10:48 PM EST

Mariah Bell is the oldest U.S. women’s figure skating champion since 1927. Next month, she should become the oldest U.S. Olympic women’s singles skater since 1928.

Bell, 25, captured her first national title in her ninth appearance, winning the last competition before the three-woman Olympic team is announced Saturday.

Bell, a previous U.S. silver and bronze medalist, had the top short program and free skate, tallying 216.25 points in Nashville. She’s almost certainly going to her first Olympics, and should be joined by Karen Chen, a 2018 Olympian who finished second, 2.4 behind.

“I’m going to cry,” Bell said on NBC as her eyes watered. “It’s something I’ve been working for a really long time.”

FIGURE SKATING NATIONALS: Broadcast Schedule | Full Results

The third spot may go to two-time national champion Alysa Liu, the top American in the world rankings.

Liu tested positive for the coronavirus and withdrew earlier Friday after a third-place short program Thursday. Liu was set to petition for a spot on the team, to be decided later Friday night by a selection committee looking at a year’s worth of results.

Isabeau Levito took bronze in her senior nationals debut. At 14, she’s too young for the Olympics. Gracie Gold, a 2014 Olympian on the comeback who was a surprisingly high sixth in the short, finished 10th overall.

Whoever the selection committee chooses, they go into the Olympics looking up at a three-woman Russian team that’s currently favored to sweep the medals.

Bell persevered.

She finished second in the 2013 U.S. Junior Championships at age 16, then had a best finish of sixth in three senior nationals appearance before changing coaches and moving from Colorado to California.

Bell blossomed under coach Rafael Arutunian and with training partners including Nathan Chen, Adam Rippon and Ashley Wagner. Her breakthrough was a runner-up at 2016 Skate America, two months after the coaching change.

“I’m starting to realize my own potential,” she said that day. “I’m very excited for the future.”

Bell entered the 2018 U.S. Championships ranked third among Americans hoping for a spot on the three-woman PyeongChang Olympic team. But she finished fifth at those nationals and was second alternate for those Winter Games.

At that age, most skaters who miss an Olympics hang up their skates. Bell endured and added the retired Rippon to her coaching team (similar to Bell, Rippon made his first Olympics in his ninth senior nationals).

“I just absolutely love skating,” Bell said Friday when asked about sticking it out. “I’ve been through a lot with it. I just had so much support.”

Bell’s best finish in three world championships was ninth at her last appearance in 2019. She has since put out the best performances of her career. She earned silver at 2020 Nationals, with a stirring free skate, and gold at 2020 Skate America (normally an international event, but limited to almost all Americans due to the pandemic).

Bell ranks eighth in the world this season among skaters expected in the Olympic field.

“I hate it but I love it when people talk about age,” Bell said last season. “I would never use my age as any kind of an excuse. There’s no reason why me being 24 would make anything harder. I should be more in tune with my body and have a better understanding.”

Chen, 22, is set to become the first U.S. women’s singles skater to compete in back-to-back Olympics since Sasha Cohen in 2002 and 2006.

Chen, after finishing 11th in PyeongChang, considered retiring while taking the next season off due to injury. She returned, balancing training and competition with Cornell classes until the pandemic. Now she’s focused on skating but plans to return to school later this year.

Chen’s cap feather: a pair of fourth-place finishes at world championships (2017 and 2021).

Bell and Chen entered nationals ranked second and third among senior U.S. women this season. Liu was ranked first — and fifth in the world when excluding extra Russians who won’t be at the Olympics — a big reason why her petition could be successful.

Liu, who in 2019 became the youngest U.S. senior champion in history at age 13, has landed triple Axels and quadruple jumps, but none cleanly in the last two seasons.

Amber Glenn, the No. 4 U.S. woman this fall, withdrew after a positive coronavirus test the morning after a rough 14th-place short program. Glenn said she competed while ill.

Also Friday, Madison Chock and Evan Bates topped the rhythm dance. More on that competition here.

Nationals continue Saturday with the men’s short program, pairs’ free skate and free dance.

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Jessica Pegula upset in French Open third round

By OlympicTalkJun 2, 2023, 9:57 AM EDT

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Jessica Pegula, the highest-ranked American man or woman, was upset in the third round of the French Open.

Elise Mertens, the 28th seed from Belgium, bounced the third seed Pegula 6-1, 6-3 to reach the round of 16. Pegula, a 29-year-old at a career-high ranking, had lost in the quarterfinals of four of the previous five majors.

Down 4-3 in the second set, Pegula squandered three break points in a 14-minute game. Mertens then broke Pegula to close it out.

Pegula’s exit leaves No. 6 seed Coco Gauff, last year’s runner-up, as the last seeded hope to become the first U.S. woman to win a major title since Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major span without an American champ is the longest for U.S. women since Monica Seles won the 1996 Australian Open.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Mertens, who lost in the third or fourth round of the last six French Opens, gets 96th-ranked Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 2021 French Open runner-up, for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Earlier, ninth-seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina became the first player to reach the fourth round. She won 6-0, 6-1 over 69th-ranked American Peyton Stearns, the 2022 NCAA champion from Texas.

Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, is the lone American woman left in the bottom half of the draw. She plays Kazakh Yulia Putintseva later Friday. Gauff, Bernarda Pera and Kayla Day remain in the top half.

Friday’s featured men’s matches: Top seed Carlos Alcaraz versus 26th seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada, and No. 3 Novak Djokovic against No. 29 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain.

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Fred Kerley flies into Florence via Grenada; Diamond League broadcast schedule

By Nick ZaccardiJun 2, 2023, 9:24 AM EDT

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American Fred Kerley is about to race on a fourth different continent this year, but the seeds for this season — and all of his medal-winning seasons — were planted on the sand, grass and pavement of Grenada.

Kerley, the world 100m champion, headlines Friday’s Diamond League meet in Florence, Italy. Peacock streams it live from 2-4 p.m. ET. CNBC airs coverage Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

It was to be a showdown between Kerley and the Olympic 100m champion, Marcell Jacobs of Italy. But Jacobs withdrew on Tuesday due to the nerve pain that has pushed back the start of his outdoor season. Jacobs withdrew from six scheduled races with Kerley dating to May 2022 due to a series of health issues since winning that surprise gold in Tokyo.

Kerley, who traded social media barbs with Jacobs earlier this spring, indicated a detente in a press conference Thursday.

“I’m not upset that he’s not competing, just wish him health and that he gets back to competing at 100 percent,” he said.

When speaking of himself, Kerley kept his trademark confidence. He wore a hat with a goat on it on Thursday and repeated that his focus is on two numbers: 9.69 (Tyson Gay‘s American record in the 100m) and 9.58 (Usain Bolt‘s world record). Kerley’s personal best, in two-plus years since dropping down from the 400m, is 9.76.

He resides in South Florida, a place that allows an outdoor athlete to train year-round. Kerley eschews that. He annually flies to Grenada for up to six-week stays.

“[I] work on a lot of specific stuff in Grenada to get me to the level I need to be when Budapest comes around,” Kerley said, referring to August’s world championships in the Hungarian capital, where he will bid to become the first man to repeat as world 100m champion since Bolt in 2013 and 2015.

Why Grenada? His South Carolina-based coach, Alleyne Francique, competed at three Olympics for the Spice Island, including placing fourth in the 400m at the 2004 Athens Games. That was the best Olympic finish for any Grenada athlete until Kirani James won a 400m medal of every color at the last three Games.

Francique recruited Kerley to Texas A&M out of junior college in 2015. When Kerley turned pro in 2017, he moved to the ALTIS training facility in Arizona. After a year, he went back to Francique at College Station — “It didn’t work out for me. I won’t say anything bad about the program,” he said in 2019, according to Track and Field News. Kerley has since moved to Florida, but Francique still coaches him remotely from South Carolina and with him for meet travel.

Kerley has trained in Grenada’s national stadium in St. George’s, which in 2017 was named after James. But a more unique venue for Kerley is a paved hill near the home of one of Francique’s friends.

“There’s no traffic, so it’s a good area to train,” Francique said.

There are few distractions there, aside from chickens, ducks and cattle. Francique noted that in the three seasons that Kerley trained in Grenada, he won bronze (2019 Worlds 400m), silver (Tokyo Olympic 100m) and gold (2022 Worlds 100m).

“So next year, maybe, he breaks a world record,” Francique said.

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

12:30 p.m. — Women’s Discus
12:45 — Men’s Triple Jump
1:15 — Men’s Shot Put
1:43 — Women’s Pole Vault
2:04 — Women’s 400m Hurdles
2:15 — Men’s 200m
2:20 — Men’s High Jump
2:25 — Women’s 3000m Steeplechase
2:42 — Women’s Long Jump
2:44 — Women’s 100m
2:56 — Men’s 110m Hurdles
3:06 — Men’s 5000m
3:28 — Women’s 400m
3:39 — Men’s 100m
3:49 — Women’s 1500m

Here are five events to watch:

Women’s Pole Vault — 1:43 p.m. ET
Just like the Diamond League season opener in Doha, the field has the top five from the last year’s worlds, led by Americans Katie Moon and Sandi Morris, the gold and silver medalists. Moon is the world leader this year indoors and outdoors, though she no-heighted at last Saturday’s Los Angeles Grand Prix. Come August’s worlds, she will look to become the first woman to repeat as world champ in the pole vault in 16 years. Morris, who was third in Doha, eyes her first global outdoor title after four silvers between the Olympics and worlds.

Women’s Long Jump — 2:42 p.m. ET
A gathering of the world’s most accomplishes active jumpers — Olympic and world champion Malaika Mihambo of Germany, Olympic and world medalist Ese Brume of Nigeria — and the top Americans — Quanesha Burks and Tara Davis-Woodhall. They’re all chasing 7.08 meters, the world’s best leap this year recorded by Jamaican Ackelia Smith, a University of Texas sophomore.

Men’s 5000m — 3:06 p.m. ET
Field includes Olympic 5000m champion Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega of Ethiopia and world silver medalist Jacob Krop of Kenya as well as reigning U.S. 5000m and 10,000m champions Grant Fisher and Joe Klecker. Cheptegei, the world record holder, was ninth at last July’s worlds and since has strictly raced on the roads and in cross country.

Men’s 100m — 3:39 p.m. ET
The entire podium from last year’s worlds meets here: Kerley and countrymen Marvin Bracy-Williams and Trayvon Bromell. It’s a similar field to last Sunday, when Kerley prevailed by five hundredths over South African Akani Simbine. Simbine is back, as is Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, who is the world’s fastest man this year (9.84) but was third in Rabat.

Women’s 1500m — 3:49 p.m. ET
Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, a double Olympic and double world champion, ran the world’s fastest time of 2023 at the Diamond League opener in Doha on May 5. Then last weekend, four different Ethiopians ran faster. Kipyegon figures to be faster in Florence than she was in Doha given the addition of Brit Laura Muir, the Olympic silver medalist and world bronze medalist, in her outdoor season debut.

Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that Francique is based in Texas. He moved from Texas to South Carolina.

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