Ashley Wagner in the ladies free skate during the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris, France on Nov. 17, 2012.
Ashley Wagner claimed her second Grand Prix title of the season at the Trophée Eric Bompard in Paris.
Wagner was second after the short program, then produced a season-best score of 127.54 in a free skate that featured six triple jumps. She became the first U.S. woman since Sasha Cohen in 2003 to win more than one Grand Prix title in a season.
The victory assured Wagner, the reigning U.S. champion, a spot in the ISU’s Grand Prix Final, set for Dec. 6-9 in Sochi, Russia, the site of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The top-six finishers in the each discipline in the Grand Prix Series qualify for the Final.
Jeremy Abbott, three-time U.S. champion and 2010 Olympian, added a silver medal in the men’s competition, and the United States also had a pair of fourth-place finishes.
Christina Gao, the silver medalist at Skate America, placed fourth among women. Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue were fourth in ice dance.
BOBSLED AND SKELETON
Steven Holcomb scored his second consecutive World Cup two-man bobsled victory Friday while reigning world champion Katie Uhlaender claimed the women’s skeleton title at the FIBT World Cup in Park City, Utah.
One week after teaming with Steve Langton to win the two-man bobsled title at the World Cup event last week in Lake Placid, N.Y., Holcomb teamed with push athlete Curt Tomasevicz this weekend for the title. One day later, Holcomb, Langton, Tomasevicz and Justin Olsen combined to bring the “Night Train” four-man bobsled to a second-place finish.
Holcomb is the reigning world champion in both two-man bobsled (with Langton) and four-man bobsled (with Night Train).
“I’m pretty excited to win the first two races,” Holcomb said. “It’s the first time I’ve won two consecutive two-man races in a long time, if at all, so I’m pretty excited about that.”
Cory Butner and Chuck Berkeley were second in the event at Lake Placid and also repeated their effort in Park City.
Nick Cunningham and the crew of Adam Clark, Andreas Drbal and Chris Fogt followed up last week’s bronze medal in the four-man competition with a fifth-place finish this weekend.
Three U.S. women’s team finished in the top eight in two-man bobsled. Jamie Greubel-Katie Eberling were fourth, Jazmine Fenlator-Emily Azevedo were fifth and Elena Meyers-Aja Evans were eighth, with the help of a Park City record start in the first heat.
Uhlaender opened the weekend of competition with her win.
It was in Park City in 2009 that she earned a silver medal on the day her father, Ted Uhlaender, a former MLB outfielder, lost his battle with cancer. Katie, who wears her father’s 1972 National League championship ring when she races, has one of her father’s baseball cards taped to her sled.
“He was the person I turned to whenever I had doubts,” Uhlaender said. “He knew what it took. So when I got my first Olympic ring, he compared it to earning his first championship ring.
“My family found it appropriate that I race with it to keep him close to me.”
John Daly was seventh in men’s skeleton.
Read more about Katie Uhlaender and the bobsled & skeleton World Cup on TeamUSA.org
SPEEDSKATING
Heather Richardson began her international long track season with silver medals on each of the first two days before claiming a gold medal Sunday at the ISU Long Track World Cup in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
The 2010 Olympian swept all five women’s events two weeks ago at the U.S. Single Distance Long Track Championships. In Heerenveen, she won the women’s 1,000-meter race Sunday after taking silver in the 500-meter races held both Friday and Saturday.
Brittany Bowe won the Division B 500-meter race Saturday after taking third Friday.
Tucker Fredricks was second in the men’s Division B 500 Sunday.
Elsewhere, Kelly Gunther and Alex Hopp won twice each at the CanAm International in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Gunther won the women’s 1,500 meters Friday and 1,000 meters Sunday. Hopp and Paul Dyrud finished 1-2 in men’s 3,000-meter races Saturday and Sunday.
FIELD HOCKEY
The United States won two Men’s World League games to begin the process of trying to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.
Pat Harris had four goals in a 16-0 rout of Guatemala Saturday and three more in an 8-0 romp over Mexico Sunday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., advancing the United States into Round 2 of the two-year event.
Elsewhere, U.S. women’s national team members Kat Sharkey, Julia Reinprecht and Katie Reinprecht all made the all-tournament team after Princeton defeated North Carolina, 3-2, for the NCAA Div. I title in Norfolk, Va.
Sharkey had two goals Saturday in a 3-2, overtime victory against Maryland in the semifinals and another Sunday in the win over top-ranked North Carolina.
SAILING
Sarah Newberry and Kenny Pierce won all 14 races in four days, including Sunday’s only race, to win the U.S. Multihull Championships at Pensacola Beach Yacht Club in Florida.
Newberry became the first woman skipper to claim the championship for the Hobie Alter Trophy, a U.S. Sailing national championship.
“I’m so pleased and so honored,” said Newberry, who described Pierce as one of her heroes. “It was great to sail with Kenny this week.”
Newberry has started an Olympic campaign for Rio 2016, with crew John Casey, and they will begin training in December.
Sandra Tartaglino and Glenn Holmes were second while Eric Witte and Tyler Holmes were third.
Etc.
WRESTLING: Jeff Monson won his fourth FILA No-Gi world title at the Grappling World Championships Saturday in Krakow, Poland, to help the United States to a third-place finish in the team standings. Matt Betzold (62 kg/136.5 pounds), Shane Cross (77 kg/169.5 pounds) and Mike Kelly (84 kg/185 pounds) added silver medals. Dan Huber (100 kg/220 pounds) added a bronze medal while Gabriella Foster did the same in the women’s 58 kg/127.75 pounds division.
Elsewhere, Andy Bisek (74 kg/163 pounds), Nate Engel (55 kg/121 pounds) and Joe Betterman (60 kg/132 pounds) won titles at the Haparanda Cup, a Greco-Roman competition in Sweden. Ben Sanchez (66 kg/145.5 pounds) added a silver medal while Jon Anderson (74 kg/163 pounds) and Eric Nye (120 kg/264.5 pounds) earned bronze.
SQUASH: The United States defeated Mexico, 3-0, Friday and the Czech Republic 2-0 Saturday to finish 13th at the Women’s World Team Championships in Nimes, France. Sabrina Sobhy and Natalie Grainger had wins in each match.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL: The teams of Emily Day-Summer Ross and William Montgomery-Antonio Ciarelli won titles Sunday at the NORCECA Circuit event in Trinidad & Tobago. Day-Ross won an all-United States final over Traci Weamer-Tealle Hunkus, who were playing together for the first time. Day-Ross won, 21-15, 21-17. Montgomery-Ciarelli defeated Nicaragua’s Gerald Yumana-Henry Hernandez, 21-10, 21-11.
RUGBY: The United States held Italy scoreless in the first half to win the first women’s meeting between the two countries, 34-20, Sunday in Rome. Elsewhere, the United States had a first-half lead get away in a 22-13 loss to Tonga Saturday in Wales.
FENCING: Margaret Lu won the women’s foil gold medal at the Junior Foil and Epée World Cup in Bratislava, Slovakia. Anna Van Brummen earned a women’s epée silver medal.
Elsewhere, Eli Dershwitz picked up a men’s Junior Saber World Cup bronze medal Sunday in Sosnowiec, Poland, after Skyla Powers did the same in the women’s competition Saturday.
CYCLING: Cari Higgins finished 10th overall in the women’s omnium at the UCI Track World Cup in Glasgow, Scotland. Elsewhere, Tim Johnson won the UCI Jingle Cross Rock in Iowa City Sunday.
JUDO: Hannah Martin finished second in the women’s 63kg division at the IJF World Cup event in Apia, Samoa.
RACQUETBALL: Jordan Barth and Justus Benson won the Boys 14 Doubles titles at the IRF World Junior Championships in Los Angeles.
Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Tom Robinson is a freelance contributor for TeamUSA.org. Material from various news services and press releases from National Governing Bodies was used to compile this report. This story was not subject to the approval of any National Governing Bodies.