Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel enter last Pro Series meet before world trials; broadcast info

By OlympicTalkMar 28, 2022, 9:03 AM EDT

Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel headline the last Pro Swim Series meet before next month’s world championships trials, live on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA this week.

The Pro Series stops in San Antonio, the last top-level meet before the world trials from April 26-30 in Greensboro, N.C. At trials, the top two in most events are in line to qualify for the world championships in June in Budapest.

This week in San Antonio, swimmers have the opportunity to post times that make them contenders to make the world team. The full entry list is here.

Ledecky already ranks No. 1 in the nation this year in her primary events: 200m freestyle (by 3.01 seconds), 400m free (by 3.78 seconds), 800m free (by 14.45 seconds) and 1500m free (by 41.18 seconds). The 400m is the longest race she entered this week.

Dressel, who like Ledecky is based at the University of Florida, ranks second, third and fourth in the nation this year in his three Olympic gold-medal events: 50m free, 100m butterfly and 100m free. Dressel has a well-earned reputation for significant time drops at major meets, so as of now there’s no reason to worry if he’s not a top seed in Greensboro.

All of the men who rank ahead of Dressel this season in those events are entered in San Antonio: Michael Andrew in the 50m free and 100m butterfly, Shaine Casas in the 100m fly and Maxime Rooney and Ryan Held in the 100m free. Casas is also ranked ahead of Dressel in the 100m free but didn’t enter the event this week.

Individual Olympic gold medalists Lilly King and Chase Kalisz are also entered.

Notably absent are two other individual Olympic champions. Neither Simone Manuel nor Allison Schmitt has competed since the Tokyo Games. Whether either enters the world trials has not been announced.

Pro Series San Antonio broadcast schedule (all times Eastern)
Wednesday: USASwimming.org, 5 p.m.
Thursday: Olympic Channel, 7-8:30 p.m.
Friday: Olympic Channel, 7-8:30 p.m.
Saturday: CNBC, 1-2:30 p.m.*
Saturday: USASwimming.org, 7 p.m.
Sunday: NBC, 12:30-2 p.m.*
*Delayed broadcast
Broadcast coverage also streams on NBCSports.com/live and the NBC Sports app for subscribers.

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Coco Gauff into French Open quarterfinals, where Iga Swiatek may await

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 11:52 AM EDT

Getty

Coco Gauff swept into the French Open quarterfinals, where she could play Iga Swiatek in a rematch of last year’s final.

Gauff, the sixth seed, beat 100th-ranked Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5, 6-2 in the fourth round. She next plays Swiatek or 66th-ranked Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, who meet later Monday.

Gauff earned a 37th consecutive win over a player ranked outside the top 50, dating to February 2022. She hasn’t faced a player in the world top 60 in four matches at Roland Garros, but the degree of difficulty is likely to ratchet up in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Swiatek won all 12 sets she’s played against Gauff, who at 19 is the only teenager in the top 49 in the world.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Also Monday, No. 7 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia dispatched 36th-ranked American Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-1, breaking all eight of Pera’s service games.

Jabeur, runner-up at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year, has now reached the quarterfinals of all four majors.

Jabeur next faces 14th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia, who won 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-5 over Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, who played on a protected ranking of 68. Haddad Maia became the second Brazilian woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Open Era (since 1968) after Maria Bueno, who won seven majors from 1959-1966.

Pera, a 28 year-old born in Croatia, was the oldest U.S. singles player to make the fourth round of a major for the first time since Jill Craybas at 2005 Wimbledon. Her defeat left Gauff as the lone American singles player remaining out of the 35 entered in the main draws.

The last American to win a major singles title was Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought matches the longest in history (since 1877) for American men and women combined.

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U.S. earns first three-peat in Para hockey world championship history

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 8:49 AM EDT

International Paralympic Committee

The U.S. trounced rival Canada 6-1 to become the first nation to three-peat in world Para hockey championship history.

Tournament MVP Declan Farmer scored twice, and Josh Misiewicz, David Eustace, Jack Wallace and Kevin McKee added goals. Jen Lee made eight saves in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, on Sunday.

Farmer, who had nine goals in five games for the tournament, also scored twice in Paralympic final wins over Canada in 2018 and 2022 and the last world championship final against Canada in 2021. Farmer, 25, already owns the career national team record of more than 250 points.

The U.S. beat Canada in a third consecutive world final dating to 2019, but this was the most lopsided gold-medal game in championship history. The U.S. also won the last four Paralympic titles dating to 2010.

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