2024 Race 4 Eight St. Louis Chapman Memorial Full Preview
St. Louis, MO, WPH Press, 1/7/24-
The first St. Louis Chapman Memorial marks the eighty-fourth event in the history of the Race 4 Eight tour, with the tour spanning eighteen states in the R48’s first twelve seasons. The 2024 Race 4 Eight Chapman Memorial will feature twenty-four R48 Men’s Pros, eight current or former WR48 pros and a strong SR48 field, making the 2024 Race 4 Eight St. Louis Memorial one of the best draws in the twelve-year history of the Race 4 Eight tour.
The St. Louis Memorial was created to honor David Chapman, known simply as “The Great One.” Chapman was a force of nature, dominating pro handball from the age of seventeen until his early thirties with a style and swagger never duplicated.
The 2024 Race 4 Eight Chapman Memorial was also created to showcase the vibrant St. Louis handball community and all of the great men’s and women’s players in St. Louis and throughout the Midwest.
On the heels of a dominant Race 4 Eight Icebreaker title in December, R48 #1 and 10-time R48 champion Lucho Cordova will enter the Chapman Memorial with a substantial ranking points lead on R48 #2 Martin Mulkerrins in his quest for his second consecutive WPH Player’s Cup for year-end #1. The top two Race stars will have to contend with the returning 22-time Race 4 Eight champion Killian Carroll and a number of the world’s best at the St. Louis Hinder Club.
The indomitable Catriona Casey will aim to extend her unbeaten WR48 streak that started in 2018 and has seen the WR48 #1 win fourteen consecutive WR48 starts. Casey will face the largest and arguably strongest WR48 draw in history, to include former WR48 finalist and current All Ireland 40×20 champion Ciana Ni Churraoin, all-code handball star Danielle Daskalakis, Tucson pros Ashley Ruiz and Mikaila Esser and top collegiate players from across the U.S. and Ireland.
Check out all of the important 2024 Race 4 Eight Chapman Memorial Tournament information below:
2024 Race 4 Eight Chapman Memorial
- Date: January 12-14, 2024
- Site: St. Louis Hinder Club, 951 West Outer Rd., St. Louis, MO 63010
- Tournament director: WPH, Eric Hillgren, Jeff Streibig
- Tournament sponsor: JR WPH
- Pro Events: R48 Men’s pro singles, WR48 singles, SR48 singles
- Number of ranked R48 pros entered: 24
- Number of ranked WR48 pros entered: 6
- Number of ranked SR48 pros entered: 3
- Current or former R48 #1’s entered: 2 (Lucho, Mulkerrins, Fink, Carroll)
- Current or former WR48 #1’s entered: 1 (Casey)
- Current or former SR48 #1’s entered: 1 (Fink)
Today’s Broadcast Schedule from St Louis:
WPH R48Pro Stop #4 Chapman Memorial
ESPN+ Broadcast Schedule – All Times Central Zone (Local Time)
St. Louis, Missouri
Saturday, January 13, 2024
09:00 Men’s Quarterfinal Singles – Luis Cordova vs Daniel Relihan
10:00 Men’s Quarterfinal Singles – Leo Canales Jr vs David Fink
11:00 Men’s Quarterfinal Singles – Daniel Cordova vs Sam Esser
12:00 Men’s Quarterfinal Singles – Martin Mulkerrins vs Killian Carroll
12:45 Women’s Semifinal Singles – Casey or Holden vs Esser or Munroe
13:30 Women’s Semifinal Singles – Ni Churraoin or Bell vs Heffernan or Ruiz
14:15 Senior 40+ Semifinal Singles – Fink or Pelech vs Kaplan or Pettus
15:00 Senior 40+ Semifinal Singles – English or Munson vs Scherzer or Mehilos
16:00 Men’s Semifinal Singles – Luis Cordova or Daniel Relihan vs Leo Canales Jr or David Fink
17:00 Men’s Semifinal Singles – Daniel Cordova or Sam Esser vs Martin Mulkerrins or Killian Carroll
Brackets: HERE
Sunday, January 14, 2024
09:00 Men’s 5th or 9th Place Final (TBD)
09:45 Men’s 40+ Senior Final (TBD)
10:30 Women’s Pro Singles Final (TBD)
11:30 Men’s Pro Singles Final (TBD)
Chapman Memorial Press Release HERE
Follow the draws and results from the 2024 Race 4 Eight Chapman Memorial HERE
Current Race 4 Eight Rankings R48 Men’s Pro Rankings HERE
Current WR48 and SR48 rankings HERE
Handball Terminology + Instruction and R48 Rules HERE
Race 4 Eight Pro Player Bios HERE
DF’s R48 Fun Facts and Trends + Race 4 Eight History of Champions HERE
2023/24 Race 4 Eight schedule HERE
WPH Coaching Center Instructional Videos HERE
2023 JR WPH Portfolio HERE
Support the sport and become a WPH Patreon HERE
WPH RACE 4 EIGHT: The World Players of Handball’s 2023/24 Race 4 Eight XIII Powered by ESPN features Race 4 Eight stops in Oregon, Arizona, Missouri, Montana and Mexico, all culminating with The Player’s Championship in Utah in May of 2024. Similar to NASCAR’s Nextel Cup and the FedEx PGA Playoffs, players earn points in the Race 4 Eight’s regular season stops to qualify for the season-ending Player’s Championship and bonus prizes.
For more information on the WPH Race 4 Eight title sponsor opportunity, please contact World Players of Handball Executive Director David Vincent at dave.vincent@wphlive.tv or World Players of Handball Development Director David Fink at david.fink@wphlive.tv. For more information on the World Players of Handball, please visit wphlive.tv
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer