Courtesy: United States Olympic Committee
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Standout performances during May earned ice hockey forward Patrick Kane (Buffalo, New York), swimmer Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Maryland) and the U.S. men’s foil fencing team Best of May honors for the Team USA Awards presented by Dow, the United States Olympic Committee announced today.
Team captain Kane became the first-ever American ice hockey player to earn tournament MVP honors at the 2018 IIHF Men’s World Championship in Denmark. The two-time Olympian set U.S. single tournament records in points (20) and assists (12), and was the leading point scorer in the tournament. He also tied for the tournament lead in assists and ranked second in goals (8), while aiding Team USA to the bronze medal.
In her first race as a professional, Ledecky bested her own world record in the 1,500-meter freestyle by five seconds with a time of 15:20.48 at the Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis. The six-time Olympic medalist continued to make history throughout the competition, posting the second-fastest swim of all time in the 400 freestyle (3:57.94) and the third-fastest swim ever in the 800 freestyle (8:07.27). Her time in the 400 freestyle was also the fastest ever on U.S. soil.
The U.S. men’s foil fencing team closed an undefeated world cup season with its fifth straight world cup victory in St. Petersburg, Russia. The team became the first U.S. squad to sweep world cup competitions in a single season, retaining its No. 1 world ranking. In the gold-medal final, Team USA defeated Italy, the 2017 senior world champions, 45-25. The team consists of Miles Chamley-Watson (New York, New York), Race Imboden (Brooklyn, New York), Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, California) and Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, California).
In addition to Dow, the presenting sponsor, the Team USA Awards are supported by DICK’S Sporting Goods and USG.
About the Team USA Awards
Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per discipline. An internal nominating committee selects five nominees from both the male and female categories, and three from the team category to advance to the voting round. Votes received from NGB representatives and select members of the media account for 50 percent of the final tally, with the other half determined by online fan voting via TeamUSA.org/Awards.
