■SWIMMING
Three world records broken
Paul Biedermann of Germany broke Ian Thorpe’s eight-year-old record in the 200m freestyle by finishing in 1 minute, 40.83 seconds, one of three world records to fall on the last day of a short-course swimming World Cup meet. Randall Bal of the US followed and broke the four-day-old record in the 50m backstroke with a time of 22.87 seconds, beating Peter Marshall by 0.03 seconds. Marshall, also from the US, set the record of 23.05 seconds on Wednesday in Stockholm. Marieke Guehrer of Australia set the third record, clocking 24.99 seconds in the women’s 50m butterfly. That was 0.32 seconds faster than the mark set by Therese Alshammar of Sweden on Wednesday. Alshammar was second in 25.35 seconds.
■NASCAR
Johnson takes the title
Jimmie Johnson finished 15th in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to clinch his third straight title, matching the record set by Cale Yarborough more than three decades ago. Carl Edwards, the only title challenger left, won the 644km race at the southern Florida track. Johnson brought owner Rick Hendrick his eighth championship and helped General Motors clinch the manufacturer’s title. The 33-year-old from El Cajon, California, won seven times this season and had 22 top 10 finishes.
■SWIMMING
Bousquet slams officials
Olympic silver medalist Frederick Bousquet on Sunday criticized French team officials who he believed deprived him of a gold medal in Beijing. France were beaten to the men’s 4x100m gold medal by the US by just 0.08 seconds and Bousquet, who set a new French short course 100m butterfly record of 51.00 seconds at St Dizier on Sunday, said a late change in the order of the four swimmers in China cost them an Olympic title. “I was deprived of Olympic gold,” said Bousquet, three months after the Games, saying he was still annoyed at certain officials whom he did not name. Bousquet said the four swimmers had decided he would do the final leg, though officials overruled that to name the 100m freestyle gold medalist in China, Alain Bernard, as the final swimmer.
■FORMULA ONE
Officials pan Ecclestone
Canadian officials blamed the “unreasonable demands” of Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone on Sunday for the failure of attempts to save the country’s grand prix. The officials had hoped to persuade the Briton to reinstate the race in Montreal after it was axed from the calendar. Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, who said last month after meeting Ecclestone that he was hopeful a deal could be done, recognized that the talks had come to nothing. “Despite our endeavors and those of the business community, the unreasonable demands of Formula One exceeded the taxpayer’s ability to pay,” he said in a statement.
■GOLF
Daly set for Aussie Open
Two-time major champion John Daly will appear in this month’s Australian Masters at Huntingdale, organizers said yesterday. Daly, the winner of the 1991 US PGA championship and 1995 British Open, will play in this week’s Hong Kong Open before traveling to Australia. Both events are co-sanctioned with the European Tour as part of the Race to Dubai Championship. Daly has had a controversial playing history in Australia. In his last appearance six years ago he was disqualified from a tournament for failing to sign his scorecard after throwing his ball and putter into a lake.
Major League Baseball (MLB) star Shohei Ohtani wants his former interpreter to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards he says were fraudulently bought using his money. The Los Angeles Dodgers star is also requesting Ippei Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly US$17 million from the unsuspecting athlete, return signed collectible baseball cards depicting Ohtani that were in Mizuhara’s “unauthorized and wrongful possession,” court documents filed on Tuesday said. The legal filing alleges Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account beginning in about November 2021, changing his security protocols so that he
US skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she sustained an abrasion on her left hip and that something “stabbed” her when she crashed during her second run of an Audi FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom race on Saturday, doing a flip and sliding into the protective fencing. Shiffrin stayed down on the edge of the course for quite some time as the ski patrol attended to her. She was taken off the hill on a sled and waved to the cheering crowd before going to a clinic for evaluation. “Not really too much cause for concern at this point, I just
CLASH OF MANAGERS: Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler and Russell Martin of Southampton accused each other of disrespect, while both were booked Southampton on Friday were denied a priceless victory by a controversial decision as they drew with hosts Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 in the Premier League. Kaoru Mitoma spectacularly headed Brighton into a first-half lead and Flynn Downes hammered home an equalizer an hour in. Minutes later teammate Cameron Archer converted a cross from Saints substitute Ryan Fraser. A video assistant referee check of more than four minutes eventually decided that Archer was onside, but then penalized Adam Armstrong, who was offside, but did not touch the ball, for interfering with goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. “I find it hard to accept,” Southampton manager Russell Martin
Mary McGee, a female racing pioneer and subject profiled in an Oscar-contending documentary, Motorcycle Mary, has died, her family said. She was 87. “McGee’s unparalleled achievements in off-road racing and motorcycle racing have inspired generations of athletes that followed in her footsteps,” her family said in a statement. The family said McGee died of complications from a stroke at her home in Gardnerville, Nevada, on Wednesday, the day before the release of the short documentary Motorcycle Mary, on ESPN’s YouTube channel. Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton was an executive producer on the film, which became available globally on Thursday. Its premiere
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