clemsonbeav

It's World Cup Finals time for Equestrian in Fort Worth, Texas.
 
Last night was the Dressage Freestyle finals.  Becky Moody of  dazzled the audience and the judges, earning over 80% in the technical marks and 96% in artistry (including a 99% from one judge ).
 
Check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EAjPjKwP-Q
 
 
And shoutout to Christian Simonson  who took home the silver, and congratulations also to Sandra Sysojeva  for nabbing bronze.   
 
Jumping tonight!

Beiwen Zhang wasn't at this week's PanAm Championships.  
 
Our best man Mark Shelley Alcala went out in the QF to champ Victor Lai of .
Chen/Smith won MD.
Lam/Lee beat Corbett/Gai in WD.
Smith/Gai won XD.  
 
So, all this is good for rankings for us.

Two Americans in the top 3 of the Masters at the end of Round 3.
 
Cam Young -11 is tied for the lead with Rory McIlroy
 
Sam Burns -10 is in third.

Rin Keys again with a great result in Tashkent ...4th in All-Around!  Tomorrow is apparatus finals, and she's in all of those.  Hope she can get a podium next time!

2-1   (Women - 1st of 3 friendlies)
 
This is the first time the US Women have conceded a goal in 866 minutes...nearly 10 full games.  

Our women unfortunately got upset vs.  in the Billie Jean Cup Qualifiers 3-1.  Belgium moves on to the knockout round, and  will play in the Playoffs later this year to ensure we're one of the Qualified teams in 2027.

Ended up with Barron Mamiya (representing Hawaii in Surfing) making it to SF for the Men, and Gabriela Bryan (also for Hawaii) won the Women, with Alyssa Spencer (USA) also making it to SF.  Nice job!

We got Handball on Day 6 (the afternoon session), and we got Lacrosse on Day 12 (Men's is the earlier session).  I was hoping for Day 10 Lacrosse, but it didn't have tickets like I thought.  I was gonna buy for Day 11, but that would overlap with the Climbing session we hope to attend, so we just went one more day.
 
I've found a great AirBnB Condo in DTLA where we can stay (just gotta wait until it becomes able to book...has a shared rooftop pool/hot tub, and a foosball table in our living room)...at least we know when we'll definitely need to be there and stay until.  Perhaps if we win the lottery between now and then we can stay the whole time.   But hey, a great week+ in LA, where we've never been, with Olympic vibes to boot...I'll take it.

I had found a nice Reddit post that had a comprehensive view of what was left and at what price.  Using that, I knew what I wanted to get.  Fortunately, things were smooth in the process overall.  One session was sold out of the tickets I wanted and I had to change dates, but ultimately, I'm pleased.  (Hey...we're going to the Olympics! )
 
We're going to see Women's Handball Prelims (we get to see two matches), and we will see Men's Lacrosse Prelims (where we get to see three matches...which means that we'll be guaranteed to see Team USA  ).
 
We were slightly constrained in availability (obviously) and also with the thought that we'll have our (then) 9 and 13 year old daughters with us, so it needed to be family-friendly and fun...and I think both of these tick that box.  I also wanted to see a sport we don't normally see here, so Handball definitely ticks that.
 
We ultimately would love to snag Climbing tickets (Women's Boulder specifically) and perhaps Women's Volleyball or Basketball (Team USA preferably), and our schedule does allow us some flexibility (we have several days between these events).  But, who knows if any will become available at any point (either in a future Drop or in Resale).
 
Best of luck to anyone else still wanting tickets!
 
Also wanted to share this Google Doc that some other kind soul on Reddit put together for anyone else planning.

That all looks great, glad to see you made it through.  There are going to be many other ways to get tickets over the next two years.  I think the big problem with getting Climbing tickets (which I would also like to see) is that it is going to be one of the smaller venues.  They are going to cram that and the water polo pool into the LB Arena parking lot, which yes, is pretty big but still.  

Peter Fiori finished 6th in 10m Air Rifle today.  (He was in the lead above the reigning Olympic champ from , but he unfortunately had several bad shots in a row.)

At the first major Surf competition this year down in  , we have 2 M and 5 W in the QF...hoping for good results in the days to come!

And we somehow manage to pull it out vs. #4  14-12.  

Finished 4th in Mixed Team Air Pistol in Granada (Nathalia Tobar Prado and Nickolaus Mowrer).

Bummer.  Sorry for you!  But hopefully you'll get an early slot next time.

Doh. Completely missed the date on that one.

Jaelyn Liu was Foil Cadet+Junior Champ in 2025 and did the same 2-peat here in  this year.  (Was also Cadet champ in 2024.)  She also has a senior Gold in Team in the 2025 WCh, and even snagged her own Gold in one of the Senior World Cups in 2025.  A rising   star to keep your eye on.

Lost our first match vs.  16-7.   
 
We've got games vs.  and  coming up the next two days, both of whom are also ranked higher than us.  (We're #7, Spain is 1, Croatia 5, and Italy 6.)  

Jaelyn Liu - Yet another Women's Foil athlete to pay attention to.
 
She's 17, and thus is still eligible to compete in the Cadet (U17) category, as well as Junior (U20) categories.
 
They just had the Cadet + Junior WCh in , where she won both.
 
For the second year in a row.
 
She also won Cadet in 2024, and has a Junior Team Gold in 2025.
 
At the Senior level, she has a Gold in Team and Bronze in Individual from the 2025 PanAms, and she was part of the Team at the 2025 World Championships, where we also won Gold.
 
She has been going to the Senior World Cups, but hasn't medalled this year.  She did snag a gold during the previous season.
 
A rising star with many years ahead!
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaelyn_Liu

Gold for  in Charleston!  Jessica Pegula for Singles and Krawczyk/McNally for Doubles.  Iva Jovic and Madison Keys also made it to SF.  
 
(Goal next year: Attend this event.)

Jagger Eaton (who won Silver in Street) got the Silver in the SLS DTLA event yesterday.  Paige Heyn (who finished 6th in Paris) snagged the Bronze for the ladies.   

And those four that I mentioned went 1-2 (Puskovitch and Denigan won).  They should show up at upcoming international competitions.  Great job!

We finished up with a Silver in M Skiff and M Windsurf.
 
Runciman finished 4th in Kite, and Moroz finished 6th in Kite.
 
Charlotte Rose ended up in 4th in W Dinghy (ILCA 6).
 
Great job, team!

Week 13 - More new sports opening up...Team USA is busy!
 
Surfing is underway down in . 
 
Artistic Gymnastics is finishing up an apparatus World Cup in Cairo (we're not there, I don't think), but we are sending a couple to this coming weekend. 
 
Olivia Weaver is still in the Squash tourney currently happening in .  (Timothy Brownell and Marina Stefanoni are out.)
 
The men are on the clay at the Monte Carlo  Tennis tourney this week.  We have a few women in .  Additionally, our Women will take on  in the qualifiers of the Billie Jean King Cup.
 
There is an Artistic Swimming PanAm event down in Santiago  this week...unsure if we're there (edit: We are).  We also have National Championships later this week, too.  Again, unsure how all of this affects who competes internationally.
 
Pistol/Rifle Shooting World Cup is in my favorite city... Granada  .  Will our Rifle/Pistol shooters have similar success?  (I think our Shotgun scene is much better.)
 
Our Men's Water Polo team will play in the Division 1 tourney in  this week.
 
We have a few guys Cycling around the Basque Country.  I'm sure others will be in  for Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.
 
We'll have the PanAm Individual Badminton Cup in  happening.
 
Outdoor Archery kicks off in  as well.
 
Equestrian World Cup Finals happen in Fort Worth.
 
Another of my new favorite sports, Modern Pentathlon, opens up with its first World Cup stop in .
 
Beach Volleyball has an Elite event in Saquarema .
 
There is a Diving competition in , but unsure if we're there. (Edit: We are.)
 
We see our first major Golf tourney of the year, and it's just over an hour away from me: The Masters in Augusta, GA.  (Some of my students manage to get tickets and skip school to go.)
 
Rhythmic Gymnastics has their second stop in Tashkent .  
 
Our USWNT Soccer team has their first of three Friendlies vs.  in San José, CA on Saturday.
 
Finally, we have some Track athletes headed to  for the Race Walking Team Championships next Sunday.

I was able to log in and see that I do have a slot...but it's not until next Wednesday the 15th...  Based on how things went this week, I'm not too hopeful for getting cheap tickets.  I need to see if wifey has an earlier slot.
 
Edit: Hers starts this coming Friday the 10th, and miraculously it's exactly when I have free time at work.  Much better odds!