Team USA in 2026

[clemsonbeav 230]

Follow along with me as our summer athletes compete throughout the year.  Check out my calendar here.

 

Weeks 0-1 (Jan 1-11)

 

These first few days saw USA athletes compete across several sports, and we ended up on the podium a fair amount.

 

Tennis - Taylor Fritz, Christian Harrison, and Coco Gauff helped lead Team USA to a place in the Semifinals of the United Cup in Australia.  (Poland, who beat us, went on to win.)  For the Women in Brisbane, Amanda Anasimova got knocked out in R16, Madison Keys got knocked out in the QF (by Sabalenka), and Jessica Pegula made it to the SF (beaten by Kostyuk).

 

Squash - We only had one competitor in the Men's tournament in Karachi Open--Shahjahan Khan, ranked #66, who didn't make it past the first round.

 

Badminton - Beiwen Zhang made it to R16 in WS in Malaysia.  And a XD team of Presley Smith and Jennie Gai made it to the QF (beaten by a Chinese duo that made it to F).

 

Table Tennis - No luck for Kanak Jha and Lily Zhang in Doha.

 

Fencing - Lots of luck in Fencing.  Hadley Husisian took hold a Bronze in W Épée, and USA took Gold in the team bout.  Elijah Imrek finished in 7th for the men.  In M Sabre, Colin Heathcock got sent home in the QF by eventual runner-up Krisztian Rabb.  In Foil, Alexander Massialas took home individual Gold, and helped lead the men to a Team Silver.  On the Women's side, Lee Kiefer also took home Gold and helped her compatriots walk away with a Bronze.

 

 

Coming up in Week 2

 

Tennis - Madison Keys is trying to be a repeat champ in Adelaide.  And Australian Open starts in a week!

 

Squash - Two tournaments in the USA with Timothy Brownell being the #7 seed in Detroit, and Olivia Weaver as the #1 seed in Cleveland.

 

Badminton - In India, can we improve on last week?

 

Swimming - We have a meet in Austin (USA Swimming Pro Series) with a lot of the top dogs.

Edited 2 hours ago by clemsonbeav