SKIING
Shiffrin scores second win
Mikaela Shiffrin picked up her second victory of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup season with a dominant performance in the women’s slalom in Killington, Vermont, on Sunday. The 28-year-old American, five-time winner of the overall World Cup rankings, beat off her Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova and Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener to claim her record-extending 90th win. Shiffrin led after the first run. She was quickest again on the second, holding off Vlhova by 0.33 seconds. “This track is incredible. The crowd helps me here, they’re so noisy, I can even hear them shouting at every split time,” Shiffrin, who has now won six of the seven World Cup slaloms at Killington since 2016, told NBC. “Every time I pass one, I hear them get louder, and I’m like: ‘Oh man, I don’t know if I’m ahead or behind, but either way, I’ve got to push. It’s amazing to ski with that kind of energy.”
Photo: AP
SKIING
Contestant’s privates freeze
The sub-zero temperatures in Ruka in northern Finland on Sunday took their toll on Swedish cross-country skier Calle Halfvarsson during a 20km mass start event as he lost all feeling in his private parts. As the race began the mercury plummeted to minus-15°C. The 34-year-old eventually crossed the line in 18th place before rushing to the tents where the athletes were warming themselves back up. “I had frozen my penis for real — I had to lie in there for 10 minutes to warm it up,” Halfvarsson told Swedish newspaper Expressen. The temperatures in Ruka have proven hazardous for male athletes before, with their thin suits and under-layers providing minimal protection against the cold. “It’s lucky my second child is on the way, because it’s going to be difficult in the future if I continue like this,” Halfvarsson said, laughing.
FORMULA ONE
Verstappen ups record
Max Verstappen on Sunday extended his record for wins in a Formula One season, capturing his 19th victory at this year’s finale in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Verstappen wound up earning a record 575 points this season. Perez finished second in the standings, 290 points behind, as Verstappen also set the record for the largest gap between first and second place. “An incredible season. It was a bit emotional on the in lap,” Verstappen said. “The last time I was sitting in the car that has of course given me a lot. Of course, very proud to win here, also at the last race.”
SOCCER
Terry Venables dies at 80
Former England and Tottenham Hotspur manager Terry Venables, whose death at the age of 80 was announced on Sunday, was yesterday remembered fondly in Australia, where he served as head coach of the Socceroos for two years. Despite the most notable aspect of Venables’s reign being the failure to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in a playoff against Iran, warm tributes were paid to the man who became known to one and all as “El Tel” after his stint at Barcelona. With Crystal Palace, the Queens Park Rangers, Spurs and the Catalan giants on his resume, it was a huge surprise when Venables was lured down under after England’s semi-final exit from UEFA Euro 1996. “We had to pinch ourselves to think we had Terry Venables as coach,” former Australia midfielder Robbie Slater told Fox Sports News. “He was a wonderful man, larger than life, almost like a rock star.”
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
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