As you settle into your weekend, Team USA athletes are getting ready to compete all around the world. Keep track of the biggest events and how to follow them on Team USA This Weekend.
U.S. Soccer Eyes History At The FIFA Women’s World Cup
Kelley O'Hara takes a throw in at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France on July 2, 2019 in Lyon, France.
A fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup title comes down to Sunday for the U.S. Women’s National Team.
Playing in its fifth World Cup final, the U.S. is already on a record streak. The Americans are the first team in Women’s World Cup history to win 11 straight matches. Sunday would make 12 as the U.S. looks to be the first team ever to be back-to-back champions.
The question is, will Megan Rapinoe play?
A hamstring injury kept the two-time Olympian out of the team’s lineup for the semifinal match against England on Tuesday. No matter. Her replacement, Christen Press, scored the first U.S. goal in the game’s early moments and two-time Olympian Alex Morgan scored the game-winner on her 30th birthday.
“I’m expecting to be fit for the final and ready to go,” Rapinoe told reporters after the 2-1 win over England.
Morgan has scored six goals in the World Cup and is in the running for the Golden Boot award, given to the highest goal-scorer of the tournament. England’s Ellen White also had six goals and Rapinoe has five, though Morgan leads the race due to having the most assists.
In the spotlight entering Sunday’s title game is U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, a 2016 Olympian who had a brilliant save on a penalty kick late in the England game. She also had several big saves in the quarterfinal-round win over France.
Sunday’s game has an 11 a.m. ET kickoff.
Follow along on social: U.S. women’s soccer team on Twitter, FIFA Women’s World Cup on Twitter and Alex Morgan on Instagram.
American Pairs Battle At Beach Volleyball World Championships
Alix Klineman and April Ross compete at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships on July 3, 2019 in Hamburg, Germany.
The battle for reaching the podium in the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships hits a dramatic conclusion this weekend in Hamburg, Germany.
The women’s medal round is Saturday, followed by the men’s medal round Sunday.
All five U.S. women’s teams reached the round of 32, including fifth-seeded April Ross and Alix Klineman, who were one of three U.S. teams to finish second in its pool group with a 2-1 record. Ross, a two-time Olympian, is looking to win a medal in the world championships for the third time.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and 2016 Olympian Brooke Sweat, who are No. 2 in the Olympic ranking standings, lost two of their three pool play matches but still made it into the round of 32.
Three of the four U.S. men’s teams won two of three matches in pool play. Rio 2016 Olympic teammates Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena lost two of three matches.
Other men’s teams are No. 7-seeded Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb, No. 13 Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb, and No. 29 Stafford Slick and William Allen.
(Note: Men’s Round of 32 will be determined by EOD Wednesday)
TV: 6:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Friday, 5:45 and 11 a.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. Sunday, Olympic Channel; 10 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, NBCSN
Webcast: 6:30 a.m. Friday, 5:45 and 11 a.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. Sunday, NBC Sports App
Follow along on social: USA Beach Volleyball on Twitter, #FIVBWorldChamps on Twitter and April Ross on Instagram.
The U.S. Women’s Volleyball Team Looks For Second Straight Nations League Title
The U.S. women's national team celebrates at the FIVB Nations League tournament on July 3, 2019 in Nanjing, China.
The U.S. Women’s National Team is seeking its second consecutive FIVB Nations League championship this week in Nanjing, China.
The U.S., which won 12 of 15 matches in the preliminary round, faces Brazil on Friday in the second of two pool-play matches, following a win against Poland on Wednesday. The top two teams in each of two pool groups make Saturday’s semifinal round. The medal round is Sunday.
The U.S. is attempting to defend the championship it won in the inaugural season of the Nations League last year.
Annie Drews, an opposite, led the U.S. in scoring in the preliminary round with 158 points, including 136 kills. Olympians on the team include Jordan Larson, a two-time Olympic medalist, and Carli Lloyd, a 2016 bronze medalist.
Six teams made the final round of the Nations League, including host China. In addition to the U.S., the other teams in the final round are Brazil, Poland, Italy and Turkey. The U.S. and China were the only teams to win 12 matches in the preliminary round. The U.S. swept China in June in Jiangmen, China.
Both U.S. teams made the final round of the Nations League. The U.S. men are one of six teams in the men’s final round, which begins July 10 in Chicago.
TV: 7:30 a.m. ET Sunday, Olympic Channel
Follow along on social: USA Volleyball on Twitter, FIVB Volleyball on Instagram and Annie Drews on Instagram.
Three-Time Olympic Champion Kim Rhode Targets World Championship Title
Kim Rhode competes in the women’s skeet final at the ISSF World Cup Shotgun on July 12, 2018 in Tucson, Ariz.
Attention in the ISSF Shotgun World Championships will clearly be focused on three-time Olympic gold medalist Kim Rhode.
Rhode, a 2010 world champion who has won a medal in all six Olympic Games she has competed in, is one of three women’s skeet shooters attempting to capture a fifth consecutive world title for Team USA. Joining her are 2017 world champion Dania Vizzi and Sam Simonton, who are among 24 U.S. shooters competing in the world championships, which began Tuesday in Lonato Del Garda, Italy.
Before the women’s skeet shooting begins next Tuesday, Christian Elliott, Phillip Jungman and Robert Kyle Johnson go after a podium finish in men’s skeet on Friday and Saturday. Competition this weekend also includes men’s and women’s double trap on Friday and mixed team skeet on Sunday.
Teammates and couple Ashley Carroll and Derek Haldeman are set up to finish the trap competition on Thursday with action in mixed team, an event that will debut in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Carroll won a world title in women’s trap on Wednesday.
Follow along on social: USA Shooting on Twitter, International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) on Instagram and Kim Rhode on Twitter.
Track & Field -- Diamond League
Noah Lyles, a 2014 Youth Olympic Games champion, is 2-for-2 in Diamond League appearances this season with a win in the men’s 100-meter in Shanghai and a second-place finish in the 200 in Rome. He goes after another top finish in the 200 in Friday’s Diamond League stop in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is among 17 Americans competing in 11 events. Others include 2016 Olympic bronze medalists Sam Kendricks in the pole vault and Clayton Murphy in the 800. Kori Carter, winner of the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the Drake Relays, is one of four Americans racing in the event in Lausanne.
TV: 2 p.m. ET Friday, Olympic Channel; 4 p.m. Sunday, NBC
Webcast: 1 p.m. Friday, NBC Sports App
Triathlon -- World Triathlon Series Hamburg
Katie Zaferes, a 2016 Olympian, has a lead of nearly 800 points in her quest to win the World Triathlon Series women’s championship. She’ll attempt to win for the fifth time in six events Saturday, when the next race is held in Hamburg, Germany. Zaferes won last week’s race in Montreal, beating out Georgia Taylor-Brown of Great Britain and leading two Americans in the top 10. Taylor Knibb finished fifth. Joining Zaferes and Knibb in the race in Hamburg are fourth-ranked Taylor Spivey, Chelsea Burns, Summer Rappaport and Kirsten Kasper.
Webcast: triathlonlive.tv
Archery -- Berlin World Cup
Three-time Olympic medalist Brady Ellison is seeking another career first this week in Berlin. After becoming the first U.S. man to win a world championship in men’s recurve archery since 1985, Ellison is going after his fourth world cup podium of the season. He has already won two world cup tournaments this year and has captured a medal in all three. Another podium finish would give Ellison a medal at all of the world cup stops for the first time in his career. He finished sixth in qualifying Monday to advance to the third round. Other U.S. archers in the hunt for podium finishes include Jack Williams in men’s recurve, Amy Jung and Crystal Gauvin in women’s recurve, Matt Sullivan and Braden Gellenthien in men’s compound, and Alexis Ruiz and Cassidy Cox in women’s compound. The compound finals are Saturday, followed by the recurve finals on Sunday.
TV: 4 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday, Olympic Channel
Cycling -- Mountain Bike World Cup
Kate Courtney has roared off to an impressive start in the mountain bike world cup season. After two consecutive wins in Olympic cross-country races, she goes after another gold medal this week in Vallnord, Andorra. Including cross-country short track world cup races this season, Courtney has won medals in three of four races, and missed a fourth medal by just one spot in a short track race in May. She won the 2018 world championship in cross-country and is ranked first in the world cup standings. Erin Huck is the next highest-ranked American at No. 14 and Chloe Woodruff, a 2016 Olympian, is 17th. Christopher Blevins is 17th in the elite men’s rankings.
Soccer -- Gold Cup
Sunday’s showdown for the Concacaf Gold Cup championship will be a battle between the U.S. Men’s National Team and Mexico. No surprise there. Since 2002, only the U.S. and Mexico have won the Gold Cup and the U.S. is attempting to defend its 2017 Gold Cup championship. The U.S. has won the Gold Cup six times since the tournament, which is held every other year, began in 1991. Mexico has won it seven times. The U.S. advanced to Sunday’s game in Chicago with a thunderstorm-delayed 3-1 win over Jamaica in the semifinal round on Wednesday night; Mexico defeated Haiti, 1-0. Christian Pulisic scored twice and Weston McKennie scored once for the U.S. in Wednesday’s semifinal. The U.S. has given up just one goal in five games, defeating Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama, Curacao and Jamaica. Sunday’s title game has a 9 p.m. ET kickoff at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Tennis -- Wimbledon
Wimbledon, one of four tennis Grand Slams, heads into the third round this weekend in England. Among the Americans in the women’s singles tournament are Sloane Stephens, a 2016 Olympian who is the No. 9 seed, and Serena Williams, a four-time Olympic gold medalist who is seeded No. 11. Three-time Olympians Mike and Bob Bryan are seeded seventh in men’s doubles.
Cycling -- Tour de France
Three-time Olympian Taylor Phinney is among the U.S. riders taking part in the 106th Tour de France, which begins Saturday in Belgium. The race starts with a 194.5-kilometer stage on the 50th anniversary of the first win by five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx of Belgium. The race features 21 stages in 23 days, finishing July 28 in Paris. Phinney and Lawson Craddock are on Team EF Education First. Other Americans include Chad Haga on Team Sunweb, Tejay van Garderen on BMC Racing Team and Ian Boswell on Team Katusha Alpecin. Van Garderen is in the race for the 13th time and he has a pair of fifth-place finishes.
TV: 2 p.m. ET Saturday, NBC
Rhythmic and Trampoline Gymnastics -- USA Gymnastics Championships
Laura Zeng, a 2016 Olympian and defending U.S. all-around rhythmic champion, is among the gymnasts competing in this week’s USA Gymnastics Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Zeng and defending U.S. ball champion Evita Griskenas are in a field of more than 240 in the rhythmic gymnastics competition, which is the selection event for the senior and junior national teams. More than 800 are competing in the trampoline and tumbling championships, including defending national champs Jeffrey Gluckstein, Olivia Simpson, Lexi Vigil, Paul Bretscher and Cody Gesuelli, along with 2016 Olympian Nicole Ahsinger and 2014 Youth Olympian Alyssa Oh. The event is also the national championship for acrobatic gymnastics.
Softball -- International Cup
The championship game of the USA Softball International Cup is set for Sunday in Columbus, Georgia. The U.S. Women’s National Team, which opened the tournament with four consecutive wins in which they gave up just one run, faces rival Japan on Friday, and Mexico and Puerto Rico on Saturday to finish up preliminary round play. Two-time Olympic medalist Cat Osterman struck out 12 in a 1-0 victory over China. The U.S. defeated Japan to win the 2017 world championship but lost a best-of-three tournament to Japan last week in the Japan All-Star Series in Tokyo.
Climbing -- World Cup
Nathaniel Coleman, John Brosler and Kyra Condie are among 11 U.S. athletes competing in this weekend’s world cup in speed and lead in Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland. The speed finals are Friday, followed by the lead finals Saturday. Brosler was the highest-finishing American in the last speed world cup held in China in May, finishing 17th. He is ranked 29th. This weekend’s competition is the first lead competition of the world cup season. U.S. climbers are seeking their first podium finish of the year.
TV: 8 p.m. ET Saturday, Olympic Channel
Table Tennis -- National Championships
The championship matches in singles and doubles are on tap Friday in the US National Table Tennis Championships at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Kanak Jha, a 2016 Olympian, is the top seed and three-time defending champion in men’s singles. No U.S. man has won four in a row. Jha is also the top seed in men’s doubles with Yijun Feng and the No. 2 seed in mixed doubles with Jennifer Wu, a 2016 Olympian. Wu is the top seed and two-time Olympian Lily Zhang is the No. 2 seed in women’s singles. They are playing together in women’s doubles and are the No. 1 seed; Amy Wang and Crystal Wang are No. 2.
Cycling -- Track National Championships
Competition goes through Monday in the USA Cycling Track National Championships in Carson, California. The races include elite men’s and women’s sprints and omnium on Friday, individual pursuit and Madison on Saturday, and time trials and points races on Sunday. Junior title races are also set for every day.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is sports editor of the Cape Cod Times and a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
