Jessie Diggins breaks U.S. record for World Cup cross-country ski wins, contacts freeze

By OlympicTalkDec 18, 2022, 12:00 PM EST

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Jessie Diggins broke the U.S. record with her 14th career individual FIS cross-country skiing World Cup win and was joined on the podium by countrywoman Rosie Brennan.

Diggins, the most decorated U.S. Olympic cross-country skier with a medal of every color, broke the record she shared with 2018 Olympic champion teammate Kikkan Randall.

She prevailed in Sunday’s 20km freestyle race (interval start) by 5.5 seconds over Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in Davos, Switzerland. Diggins said her contact lenses froze in her eyes because she didn’t blink enough in the closing stretch.

“I was taking some risks on the last downhill, I almost crashed,” she said, according to the International Ski Federation (FIS). “It got a little scary in the end. … But I’m OK, I got a lot of help after the finish, but that was kind of crazy.”

Brennan was third for her first podium since last December and the first podium with two Americans since Diggins and Brennan went one-two in back-to-back Tour de Ski stages in January 2021.

Before Randall in 2007, no U.S. woman had won a FIS World Cup cross-country skiing race. (Another skier, Alison Owen-Spencer, won a race in 1978 that U.S. Ski and Snowboard counts as a World Cup, but FIS does not.) Randall ended her career by teaming with Diggins to win the first U.S. Olympic cross-country skiing title at the 2018 PyeongChang Games.

Diggins, a 31-year-old, three-time Olympian, is one of four different women with two victories this season. She ranks second in the standings for the World Cup overall title, the biggest annual prize in the sport, behind Norwegian Tiril Udnes Weng through 10 of 34 scheduled races.

Diggins won the World Cup overall title two years ago and is the top returning skier from last season after the retirement of Norwegian superstar Therese Johaug and the absence of reigning overall champ Natalya Nepryayeva, who cannot compete due to the ban on Russian athletes for the war in Ukraine.

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Incredible. @jessiediggins leaves it all out on the snow and wins FIRST in today’s 20k skate with the fastest time in Davos🥇 pic.twitter.com/RZzBGwju13

— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) December 18, 2022

2023 French Open women’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkMay 29, 2023, 8:00 PM EDT

At the French Open, Iga Swiatek of Poland eyes a third title at Roland Garros and a fourth Grand Slam singles crown overall.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Swiatek, the No. 1 seed from Poland, can join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win three or more French Opens since 2000.

Turning 22 during the tournament, she can become the youngest woman to win three French Opens since Monica Seles in 1992 and the youngest woman to win four Slams overall since Williams in 2002.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Men’s Draw

But Swiatek is not as dominant as in 2022, when she went 16-0 in the spring clay season during an overall 37-match win streak.

She retired from her most recent match with a right thigh injury last week and said it wasn’t serious. Before that, she lost the final of another clay-court tournament to Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, the No. 4 seed and Wimbledon champion, are the top challengers in Paris.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Coco Gauff, runner-up to Swiatek last year, are the best hopes to become the first American to win a Grand Slam singles title since Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought is the longest for U.S. women since Seles won the 1996 Australian Open.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Women’s Singles Draw

2023 French Open men’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkMay 29, 2023, 8:00 PM EDT

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The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Women’s Draw

But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They could meet in the semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, who lost in the French Open first round in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, is improved on clay. He won the Italian Open, the last top-level clay event before the French Open, and is the No. 2 seed ahead of Djokovic.

No. 9 Taylor Fritz, No. 12 Frances Tiafoe and No. 16 Tommy Paul are the highest-seeded Americans, all looking to become the first U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals since Andre Agassi in 2003. Since then, five different American men combined to make the fourth round on eight occasions.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Women’s Singles Draw

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

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