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.
Para Track And Field World Championships Roll On In Dubai
Paralympic gold medalists Deja Young, Roderick Townsend and David Brown (with guide Jerome Avery) are among 63 U.S. athletes competing in the World Para Athletics Championships.
The competition began Thursday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and goes through Nov. 15. A full weekend of competition includes several field events, and races ranging from 100 to 1,500 meters.
Young, a four-time world medalist and two-time Paralympic gold medalist, is a medal contender at 100 and 200 meters in the T47 category. Townsend, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist, is scheduled to compete in the T46 high jump, long jump and 100-meter. Brown and Avery are in the T11 men’s 100-meter.
They are among 43 Paralympians and 14 defending world champions on the U.S. roster. The U.S. emerged from the 2017 world championships with a record 59 medals.
Friday’s competition includes the women’s T54 100-meter, featuring Parapan American Games gold medalist Hannah Dederick, eight-time Paralympic medalist Cheri Madsen and two-time Paralympian Hannah McFadden.
David Prince, a two-time Paralympian, competes in the T64 men’s 100 on Friday and Saturday.
Sunday’s men’s long jump finals in the T63 category could feature three-time junior world medalist Ezra Frech and 2016 Paralympian Desmond Jackson. Jaleen Roberts, a three-time medalist at the 2017 world championships, is a podium contender in the T37 women’s long jump.
TV: 9 a.m. ET Friday, 9 a.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. Sunday, Olympic Channel
Follow along on social: U.S. Paralympics on Twitter, World Para Athletics on Twitter and Deja Young on Instagram.
Chock And Bates Aim For 12th Straight Grand Prix Podium
Ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates will go after their 12th consecutive podium finish in an ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series event this week in Chongqing, China.
They paired up to win a silver medal last week at the Internationaux de France and can lock down a spot in the Grand Prix Final with a podium finish in the Cup of China, which is the fourth stop in the Grand Prix Series.
Chock and Bates are among eight U.S. skaters competing in China. The short programs are Friday, followed by the free programs Saturday.
Joining Chock and Bates in ice dance are Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, who finished fourth at Skate Canada two weeks ago.
Camden Pulkinen, who finished fourth in his grand prix debut at Skate Canada, is in the men’s competition. Amber Glenn, who is also making her second grand prix appearance of the season after finishing seventh in Skate America, is the only U.S. skater in the women’s competition.
Pairs skaters Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea are making their 2019 grand prix debut.
TV: Noon ET Sunday, NBC
Webcast: 2:30 a.m., 4 a.m., 6 a.m., 8 a.m. Friday, 1:30 a.m., 3:30 a.m., 5:45 a.m., 8 a.m. Saturday, NBC Sports App
Follow along on social: U.S. Figure Skating on Twitter, ISU Figure Skating on Twitter and Madison Chock on Instagram.
Swimmers Begin Their Olympic Year In Greensboro
The Olympic year for elite U.S. swimmers begins this week in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Five-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky, four-time Olympic gold medalist Allison Schmitt and two-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel are among those competing in the TYR Pro Swim Series 2019-20 season-opening meet in Greensboro. The competition, which opened Wednesday with wins by Ashley Twichell and Zane Grothe in the 1,500-meter races, goes through Saturday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Ledecky, a two-time Olympian, is the top seed in the 200- and 800-meter freestyle events. She also was the top seed for the 400-meter free on Thursday.
Manuel, who hopes to race in three individual freestyle events at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 plus relays, is coming off a big year in 2019. She won seven medals in the world championships and became the first American woman to win world titles in both the 50- and 100-meter distances. She is the top seed in both races this week, and the No. 3 seed in the 200-meter free behind Ledecky and Schmitt.
Other top women include Ally McHugh, the No. 1 seed in the 400-meter individual medley, and Kathleen Baker, the top seed in the 200-meter backstroke.
On the men’s side, 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte is the No. 2 seed in the 200-meter IM, and 2016 Olympian Jacob Pebley is the No. 1 seed in the 200 backstroke and No. 2 seed in the 100 backstroke.
The four-day Greensboro event is the first of five stops in the Pro Swim Series, which finishes up in Indianapolis in May. One month later, the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Swimming take place in Omaha, Nebraska.
TV: 6 p.m. ET Friday, Olympic Channel; 10:30 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday, NBCSN
Webcast: 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, usaswimming.orgThe Americans finished fifth at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, their best Olympic result since winning a bronze medal in 1984 in Los Angeles.
Follow along on social: USA Swimming on Twitter, Katie Ledecky on Instagram and Simone Manuel on Instagram.
Table Tennis Takes To Tokyo For Team World Cup
The U.S. men’s and women’s teams posted wins within hours of each other Thursday to reach the quarterfinal round of the ITTF World Team Cup in Tokyo.
Amy Wang and Yue “Jennifer” Wu had wins against Austria in Thursday’s final match in group play to reach the knockout stage. The women’s team also features two-time Olympian Lily Zhang.
Kanak Jha, a 2016 Olympian, and Kai Zhang helped secure the men’s spot in the quarterfinals with wins against Sweden on Thursday. Also on the men’s team is Yijun Feng.
The event, which goes through Sunday, is the Olympic test event for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The U.S. secured men’s and women’s team quota spots for the Olympics by defeating Canada in a qualifier in October.
The women’s quarterfinals are Friday, followed by the men’s and women’s semifinals on Saturday and finals on Sunday.
Follow along on social: USA Table Tennis on Twitter, International Table Tennis Federation on Twitter and Kanak Jha on Instagram.
BMX Freestyle – Urban Cycling World Championships
Since placing third in the 2018 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships in BMX freestyle park, Hannah Roberts has been unbeatable. She won all three world cup competitions this year, and won gold medals in the Pan American Games and Pan-American Continental Championships. Saturday and Sunday, she’ll go after a world title in Chengdu, China. Roberts and 2018 world champion Perris Benegas lead the American women in the competition. Benegas led an American sweep in the 2018 world championship and has reached the podium in all three 2019 world cup stops. Leading the American men are Justin Dowell, 2018 world champion and Pan Am Games bronze medalist; Daniel Sandoval, 2019 national and continental champion; and Nick Bruce, who placed third in last week’s world cup season finale in Chengdu. Men’s qualifying in BMX park is Friday, followed by women’s qualifying Saturday. The finals are Sunday.
TV: 5:30 and 7 p.m. ET Sunday, Olympic Channel
Short Track Speedskating – Montreal World Cup
Kristen Santos, who broke a U.S. record in the women’s 1,000-meter in last week’s world cup opener in Salt Lake City, is back in action this week in Montreal. Santos had the best U.S. individual finish last week, placing eighth in the 1,000. Others racers for the U.S. include Olympians Ryan Pivirotto, Thomas Hong, Aaron Tran and Maame Biney, along with Corinne Stoddard, who had an 11th-place finish in the women’s 1,500 last week. Three days of competition begin Friday.
TV: 11 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday, Olympic Channel
Webcast: 2 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, NBC Sports App
Women’s Basketball – NCAA Tour
The U.S. Women’s National Team finishes its four-game NCAA Tour on Saturday at Oregon, which is the No. 1 team in the preseason NCAA DI women’s basketball rankings. Team USA, which has won six consecutive Olympic gold medals and is already qualified for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, began the NCAA Tour with wins of 95-80 over Stanford and 81-58 over Oregon State. A’ja Wilson, a 2018 FIBA World Cup gold medalist, and Nneka Ogwumike, a two-time World Cup gold medalist, each scored 40 points in Team USA’s first two games. On Saturday, they’ll go against Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu, the 2019 Wooden Award winner and a gold medalist for the U.S. in multiple youth international tournaments. Following Saturday’s game, Team USA heads to Argentina for the FIBA Americas Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which begins Nov. 14.
Women’s Soccer — USA vs. Sweden
The U.S. Women’s National Team faces Costa Rica in an international friendly Sunday night at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. After winning the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup championship and returning to the U.S. for its five-game Victory Tour, the U.S. opened a new era with new head coach Vlatko Andonovski in Thursday night’s friendly against Sweden. Entering that game, the U.S. was riding a 21-game unbeaten streak, dating back to a loss to France in the first game of the year. Sunday’s game is the last match of 2019 as the U.S. prepares for the Concacaf Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which begins Jan. 28. Seventeen players from the World Cup team are on the U.S. roster. World Cup Golden Boot winner Megan Rapinoe and Kelley O’Hara, both two-time Olympians, are out with injuries.
Track Cycling – Glasgow World Cup
Kim Geist and Christina Birch will race in the women’s madison in this week’s UCI track cycling world cup stop in Glasgow, Scotland. Ashton Lambie, John Croom, Greg Daniel and Gavin Hoover are set to race in the men’s team pursuit, and after winning last week’s women’s team pursuit in a track record time the U.S. women’s pursuit team will not race this week. Daniel Holloway and Adrian Hegyvary will compete in the men’s madison.
TV: 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Olympic Channel
Webcast: 9:30 a.m. Sunday, NBC Sports App
Fencing – Men’s Foil World Cup
Two-time Olympic medalist Alex Massialas is among four U.S. men’s foil fencers ranked among the top 10 in this weekend’s world cup season opener in Bonn, Germany. Among the 12 U.S. fencers competing in the individual competition on Friday and Saturday are second-ranked Race Imboden, No. 5 Gerek Meinhardt, No. 8 Massialas and No. 9 Nick Itkin, a 2018 junior world champion who has won back-to-back NCAA titles at Notre Dame. Itkin is also joining Imboden, Meinhardt and Massialas on the top-ranked U.S. team in Sunday’s team tournament. The U.S. won its first world team title in men’s foil this past July.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.