USA Water Polo is staying with coaches Adam Krikorian and Dejan Udovicic through the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The California-based governing body announced the contract extensions for Krikorian and Udovicic on Friday. It's the first major move for Jamie Davis since he took over as CEO of USA Water Polo on Oct. 1.
Los Angeles is the epicenter of American water polo, and the U.S. teams are expected to contend for gold on their home turf.
While Udovicic's return seemed like a formality after he guided the U.S. men to bronze at the 2024 Olympics, there was some question about Krikorian's situation following a heartbreaking finish for the women's team in Paris.
“Adam’s accomplishments are unparalleled, and under Dejan’s leadership in Paris last summer our men won the program’s first Olympic medal since 2008," Davis said in a release. "We have big goals on the journey to LA28 and I’m confident that Adam and Dejan will position us well for victory.”
Since Krikorian, 50, took over in 2009, the U.S. women's team has won three Olympic gold medals and six world championships. The program was considered the sport's dominant power before it went 4-3 at the Paris Games and finished fourth.
The U.S. had been the only team to medal in each women’s water polo tournament at the Olympics since it started in 2000. Speaking right after a last-second loss to the Netherlands in the bronze-medal game in August, Krikorian openly wondered if it might be time for a coaching change.
In the end, Krikorian and USA Water Polo decided to give it another go.
“I am thrilled to continue to be a part of a program that has given so much to me personally and that has had such an enormous positive influence on the sport throughout our country and the world,” Krikorian said in a release.
It has been a steady rise for the U.S. men since Udovicic, 54, took over in 2013. Led by Ben Hallock, one of the best centers in the world, the Americans are expected to be one of the top teams going into the LA Games.
“We have an excellent core group of athletes that are entering their prime (and) putting us in a position to achieve what has been my goal since the day I joined USA Water Polo: reaching the top of the podium and winning a gold medal,” Udovicic said. "We know this won’t be easy but I believe in our team and our staff and am confident the best is yet to come.”
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
FILE - United States' head coach Dejan Udovicic directs his players during the men's water polo bronze medal match between United States and Hungary, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
FILE - United States head coach Adam Krikorian directs players during a quarterfinal round win over Canada in a women's water polo match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will again call on allies to boost his country's air defenses at a meeting this week in Germany, as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes over later this month with a vow to end the almost three-year war quickly.
Zelenskyy said that dozens of partner countries will participate in the meeting of the Ramstein group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday, “including those who can help boost our capabilities not only to defend against missiles but also against guided bombs and Russian aviation.”
“We will discuss this with them and continue to persuade them,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Saturday. “The task remains unchanged: strengthening our air defense.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin will attend the meeting, which had originally been due to take place in October and to be attended by U.S. President Joe Biden. It was postponed because of response to Hurricane Milton that battered the U.S.
In its last few weeks in office, the Biden administration has been pressing to send as much military aid as possible to Ukraine before Trump is sworn in Jan. 20.
Trump claimed during his election campaign that he could end the war in one day and his comments have put a question mark over whether the United States will continue to be Ukraine’s biggest — and most important — military backer.
Zelenskyy said last week that Trump is "strong and unpredictable,” and those qualities can be a decisive factor in his policy approach to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia controls about one-fifth of Ukraine, and capitalized last year on weaknesses in Ukraine’s defenses to slowly advance in eastern areas despite high losses of troops and equipment. The war’s trajectory isn’t in Ukraine’s favor. The country is shorthanded on the front line and needs continued support from its Western partners.
Zelenskyy said Saturday that Russian and North Korean troops had suffered heavy losses in the fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.
“In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka, in the Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroopers,” Zelenskyy said. “This is significant.”
Zelenskyy said last month that 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed and wounded in Kursk, where Ukrainian forces launched an incursion in August, dealing a blow to Russia’s prestige and forcing it to deploy some of its troops from a slow-moving offensive in eastern Ukraine.
The incursion didn’t significantly change the dynamic of the war, and military analysts say Ukraine has lost around 40% of the land it initially captured.
In other developments, local officials said one person was killed and another wounded in Russian shelling of the city of Nikopol in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region on Sunday. Downstream along the Dnieper River, at least six people were wounded when Russian troops also fired shells into the city of Kherson, capital of the region of the same name. Settlements such as these on the west bank of the river are subject to regular shelling attacks from Russian-controlled territory on the opposite bank.
Nine people were wounded in a Russian guided bomb attack on the border town of Semenivka in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region on Saturday evening, local officials said.
Moscow sent 103 drones into Ukraine overnight into Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. According to Ukraine’s air force, 61 drones were destroyed and 42 were lost likely due to electronic jamming.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 61 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight into Sunday in five regions of western Russia. No casualties were reported but Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said residential buildings and cars had been damaged by falling drone debris.
Morton reported from London.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, Russian servicemen attend a combat training for assault units in an undisclosed location. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, Russian servicemen attend a combat training for assault units in an undisclosed location. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, Russian servicemen attend a combat training for assault units in an undisclosed location. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
