■NASCAR
Fans injured in Talladega
Seven fans were injured by debris when Carl Edwards’ car went airborne into the safety fence on the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Sunday. Track medical director Bobby Lewis said none of the injuries was life-threatening but two women were airlifted to Birmingham hospitals. He said one likely had a broken jaw and the other was not injured but was taken because of a medical condition. Lewis said they were airlifted because of traffic, not the severity of the injuries. The other six were treated and released. Edwards was trying to block a move from winner Brad Keselowski, and contact sent his spinning car over Ryan Newman’s hood and into the fence. The fence held and Edwards’ car landed on the track.
■ATHLETICS
Wanjiru and Mikitenko win
Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru lived up to his favorite billing as the Kenyan won the men’s London Marathon on Sunday, while Irina Mikitenko of Germany claimed a second successive women’s crown. Wanjiru secured victory in a course record and personal best time of two hours, five minutes and 10 seconds, finishing 10 seconds ahead of Beijing bronze-medalist Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia. Two-time world champion Jaouad Gharib of Morocco was third, 17 seconds adrift of the winner. Mikitenko secured victory in the women’s race with a time of 2:22.11, finishing one minute, one second ahead of Great Britain’s Mara Yamauchi. Russian Liliya Shobukhova finished in third place.
■SOCCER
Wembley manager sacked
The row over the state of Wembley’s pitch has claimed a high-profile victim in the shape of the national stadium’s ground manager Steve Welch, who was sacked on Saturday. The Sunday Times said Welch has been made to pay with his job for the pitch that Arsene Wenger labeled “a disaster” after Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea last weekend. Manchester United boss sir Alex Ferguson was equally dismissive 24 hours later when he said his team selection in the penalty shootout defeat to Everton had been influenced by fears the likes of Wayne Rooney could be injured on the “spongy and dead” turf. As Welch was being shown the door the pitch was being dug up at a cost of £80,000 (US$116,700) for the sixth time since the stadium opened in time for the FA Vase on May 9, the paper reported.
■SWIMMING
Bousquet sets 50m record
French swimmer Frederick Bousquet has set a world record in the 50m freestyle, becoming the first person to break the 21-second barrier. Bousquet set the record on Sunday at the French championships in Montpellier by finishing in 20.94 seconds.
■SOCCER
Fans banned in ethnic rivalry
Fear of ethnic fan violence prompted officials to hold a match between two teams in a near-empty stadium, with most spectators locked out and trying to watch from the street. The New South Wales Premier League ordered that the match between Bonnyrigg White Eagles and Sydney United be an invitation-only event on Sunday in a bid to prevent fan violence between Serbs and Croatians — the heated club rivalry goes back 45 years. Police and a heavy security presence ensured only accredited Bonnyrigg club members and private box holders at the Bonnyrigg Sports Centre were allowed to attend. Parents, partners and relatives of the players were barred. The match ended 1-1.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later