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.
Third Straight Gold On The Line For Team USA
Maggie Steffens competes at the 2019 FINA World Championships on July 22, 2019 in Gwangju, South Korea.
Three-peat title day has arrived for the U.S. women’s water polo team.
The U.S. faces Spain for the world title on Friday in Gwangju, South Korea, which is hosting the FINA World Championships. Stephania Haralabidis, Alys Williams and Makenzie Fischer each scored twice in a 7-2 victory over Australia in the semifinals on Wednesday.
The water polo medal rounds highlight the final weekend of competition at the FINA World Championships. The final three days of swimming are also set for Friday through Sunday.
The U.S. women’s water polo team has won all five matches at the world championships so far, outscoring opponents by a combined 82-20 score. The squad has won the last two world titles and also the last two Olympic Games, and currently holds every major championship in the sport. Among the team’s veterans are two-time Olympic gold medalists Maggie Steffens and Melissa Seidemann.
The final events in swimming include the women’s 800-meter freestyle final on Saturday, which could feature five-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky in an event she won her first Olympic gold medal in at age 15 in London in 2012. Ledecky withdrew from two events earlier this week due to illness but returned Thursday to help the 4x200 freestyle team win a silver medal.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Lilly King, who defended her 100-meter breaststroke world title Tuesday, is expected to swim in the 50 breast Sunday. She was disqualified during the heats for the 200 breast, which has its final on Friday. Other finals include the men’s 200 breast and women’s 100 freestyle on Friday, men’s 100 butterfly and 50 freestyle on Saturday, and women’s 50 free, and men’s and women’s 400 individual medley on Sunday.
Water Polo TV: 5:30 a.m. ET Friday, Olympic Channel
Swimming TV: 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET Friday; 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday, 7 a.m. Sunday, Olympic Channel; noon Friday, NBCSN; 2 p.m. Saturday, NBC
Follow along on social: FINA on Twitter, USA Water Polo on Twitter and Makenzie Fischer on Instagram
The Pan American Games Commence In Lima, Peru
Outside one of the venues at the Pan American Games Lima 2019 on July 23, 2019 in Lima, Peru.
Kim Rhode, a six-time Olympic medalist in shooting, and Nathan Adrian, an eight-time Olympic medalist in swimming, are among 91 U.S. Olympians competing at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
The competition, which kicked off Wednesday in beach volleyball and team handball and officially begins with the Opening Ceremony Friday, continues through Aug. 11 and will determine Olympic quota spots in multiple sports.
The first medals will be awarded Saturday in bowling, canoe/kayak, gymnastics, marathon, modern pentathlon, roller sports, shooting, squash, taekwondo, triathlon, weightlifting.
The U.S. Pan American Team consists of 643 athletes who are competing in 36 sports, including popular Olympic sports as well as some non-Olympic sports such as bowling, racquetball, roller sports and water skiing. Nineteen of the U.S. athletes, including Rhode and Adrian, are Olympic gold medalists. The roster ranges from Casey Kaufhold, a 15-year-old archer, to Ian Jones, a 57-year-old sailor.
Sports to watch closely include women’s water polo, in which the U.S. is seeking a seventh consecutive Pan Am gold; wrestling, in which 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs goes after his third consecutive gold medal; and softball, in which the U.S. is trying to return to the top of the podium after taking silver in 2016. Among those on the team are Monica Abbott and Cat Osterman, both 2008 Olympic silver medalists.
Follow along on social: Lima 2019 on Twitter, Team USA on Instagram and #Lima2019 on Twitter
USATF Outdoors To Determine World-Team Spots
(Starting second from left) Michael Rodgers, Christian Coleman, Justin Gatlin and Cravon Gillespie compete at the Prefontaine Classic on June 30, 2019 in Stanford, Calif.
Olympic sprinters Christian Coleman, Justin Gatlin and Michael Rodgers could do battle in the men’s 100-meter final as the USATF Outdoor Championships heat up Friday night in Des Moines, Iowa. The meet is the fourth event of the Team USA Champions Series, presented by Xfinity.
The 37-year-old Gatlin is the defending world champion in the 100-meter and has won three Olympic medals in the event, but he’ll share the spotlight as rising stars Coleman and Noah Lyles have emerged as two of the top sprinters in the world this year.
Lyles, 22, who is planning a 100- and 200-meter double next year at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, is concentrating this weekend on the 200, likely setting up a battle with Coleman, 23, in the 200-meter final on Sunday.
The meet, which is being held at Drake University in Des Moines, began Thursday with finals in the 10,000-meter, women's triple jump and men's discus, and also events in the decathlon and 100-meter preliminary heats.
Finals in 11 events are scheduled for Saturday, including the women’s 400-meter in which nine-time Olympic medalist Allyson Felix is competing for the first time since giving birth to her daughter in November. Michael Norman, who led an American sweep in a Diamond League stop in Stockholm in May, is among those entered in the men’s 400.
Sunday’s last day of competition includes finals in 17 events. Among them is the women’s 400-meter hurdles, which will include 19-year-old Sydney McLaughlin, a 2016 Olympian who had the world’s season-best time of 53.32 seconds in a Diamond League victory, and Dalilah Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic champion.
TV: 7 p.m. ET Friday, 7 p.m. Sunday, NBCSN; 4 p.m. Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, NBC
Webcast: 1:30 p.m. ET Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday, NBC Sports App
Follow along on social: USA Track & Field on Twitter, Allyson Felix on Twitter and Rai Benjamin on Instagram
Beach Volleyball Stars Contend At Olympic Test Event
Alix Klineman and April Ross celebrate at the AVP Huntington Beach Open on May 5, 2019 in Huntington Beach, Calif.
Alix Klineman and April Ross, who have moved into a tie for the No. 1 spot in the FIVB beach volleyball Olympic rankings, are among eight U.S. teams getting a preview look of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 venue this week at Shiokaze Park in Tokyo.
Klineman and Ross, a two-time Olympic medalist, have won twice this year on the FIVB World Tour and captured a silver medal in the world championships. They are one of five U.S. teams among the top 17 in the Olympic rankings. A maximum of two U.S. women’s teams can qualify for Tokyo.
The second U.S. team in the Olympic women’s rankings, five-time Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings and 2016 Olympian Brooke Sweat, are No. 4 in the rankings and also playing this week in Tokyo.
U.S. teams in the men’s tournament include Trevor Crabb and Tri Bourne, who are in 10th place in the Olympic rankings, and three-time Olympian Phil Dalhausser and 2016 Olympian Nick Lucena.
The medal rounds are Sunday.
TV: 5 and 7 p.m. ET Saturday, 5 and 7 p.m. Sunday, Olympic Channel
Follow along on social: USA Beach Volleyball on Twitter, FIVB Volleyball on Twitter and Alix Klineman on Instagram
Golf -- Evian Championship
Lexi Thompson, a 2016 Olympian who is third in the Olympic Golf Rankings, is among the title contenders at this week’s Evian Championship, the fourth women’s major golf tournament of the year. Thompson won the ShopRite LPGA Classic in June, tied for second place in the U.S. Women’s Open and Meijer LPGA Classic, and finished second in the Marathon Classic two weeks ago. Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller, both 2016 Olympians, are also in the tournament. The Evian Championship consists of four individual-stroke rounds, concluding Sunday at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France.
TV: 5 and 9:30 a.m. ET Friday, 6 a.m. Saturday, 6 a.m. Sunday, Golf Channel; 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, CNBC
Cycling -- BMX World Championships
Two-time Olympian Alise Willoughby and 2016 Olympian Corben Sharrah are seeking their second BMX world titles in three years on Saturday in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. They are among 12 U.S. cyclists competing in the elite world championships. Another five U.S. riders are in the junior worlds. Willoughby, a silver medalist at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, has been on the fast track in the world cup races. She has won medals in her last four world cup races, and is ranked second in the world behind 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Laura Smulders of Netherlands. Willoughby and Sharrah won world championships in 2017 in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Other contenders this week include 2016 Olympic champion Connor Fields in the men’s race and Felicia Stancil, who has third- and fourth-place finishes in world cup women’s races this year.
TV: 11 a.m. ET Saturday, Olympic Channel
Cycling -- Tour de France
Tour de France heads into its final three stages this weekend, including the highly anticipated ride into Paris on Sunday. Friday’s Stage 19 takes the riders on a 126.5-kilometer course through the Alps, reaching the Tour’s highest point at 2,770 meters. Saturday’s stage finishes up in Val Thorens, which is the highest-elevated ski resort in Europe at 2,300 meters. Through 17 stages, Ben King was the highest-ranked American in 17th place, moving up more than 100 places since the early stages of the race. He is riding for Team Dimension Data.
Webcast: 7:30 a.m. ET Friday, 8 a.m. Saturday, noon Sunday, NBC Sports App
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.