Month: February 2022

By NOAH TRISTER AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin’s first event of the Beijing Olympics is the one she won four years ago. The American star is set to defend her title in the giant slalom, which will be part of prime-time coverage of the Winter Games on Sunday on NBC. However, anyone

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor said on NBC’s “Weekend TODAY” that she was about to leave isolation and could start preparing in earnest to compete at the Beijing Olympics. Meyers Taylor said Saturday she would be leaving that night. Meyers Taylor revealed Tuesday she had tested positive for COVID-19. She had to

RAS AL KHAIMAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Nicolai Hojgaard will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the Ras al Khaimah Championship. Hojgaard shot an 8-under 64 on Saturday, birdieing five of his last six holes. The 20-year-old Dane is seeking his second DP World Tour title. Hojgaard is at 20-under 196.

By CIARÁN FAHEY AP Sports Writer BERLIN (AP) — Robert Lewandowski has ended his scoring drought which lasted for just one game. The Poland star scored his 24th goal in 21 games to help Bayern Munich stretch its Bundesliga lead to nine points with a 3-2 win over visiting Leipzig. Lewandowski hadn’t scored in Bayern’s

By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Pro Football Writer NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has told teams the league will look to bolster policies meant to encourage hiring of minorities, particularly as head coaches. The commissioner also pledged an investigation into tanking allegations raised by Brian Flores in his discrimination lawsuit against the NFL. Goodell wrote in a

LONDON (AP) — Chelsea and West Ham had to come from behind to oust lower-league opposition in the FA Cup to reach the fifth round. Only Declan Rice’s equalizer for West Ham in stoppage time forced the game at Kidderminster into extra time. Then to avoid a penalty shootout at the 6,000-capacity central England stadium,

By JOHN WAWROW AP Hockey Writer BEIJING (AP) — Hilary Knight had a goal and an assist, Nicole Hensley stopped 12 shots and the United States women’s hockey team beat the Russians 5-0 in a preliminary-round game at the Beijing Olympics. Savannah Harmon had a goal and two assists for the defending Olympic champions. The

KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Harold Varner III birdied the par-5 18th hole to shoot a 2-under 68 and take a one-stroke lead over Adri Arnaus into the final round of the Saudi International. Defending champion Dustin Johnson was five strokes back at the Asian Tour event, which paid big appearance fees

By DAVE GOLDBERG AP Football Writer PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Phil Simms grabbed the spotlight after usually operating in the shadow of Lawrence Taylor and the New York defense and passed the New York Giants to a 39-20 victory over the Denver Broncos in their first Super Bowl. Simms was unanimously voted the game’s Most

By DENNIS WASZAK Jr. AP Pro Football Writer John Elway received all the attention leading up to the game. Phil Simms ended up with all the glory. And Bill Parcells got drenched with the first Super Bowl-winning Gatorade shower. Those were some of the lasting memories from the New York Giants’ 39-20 win over the

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — Germany’s Johannes Ludwig, Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl or Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller will more than likely be the Olympic men’s luge champion on Sunday. That’s what history says at least. Ludwig, Kindl and Fischnaller were the leaders after the first two runs at the Yanqing Sliding Center and

By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — China won its first gold of the Beijing Games in short track speedskating’s mixed team relay in the event’s Olympic debut. Wu Dajing edged Pietro Sighel of Italy by .016 seconds to claim gold. Hungary earned bronze. Qu Chunyu, Fan Kexin and Ren Ziwei joined Wu

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Walter Wallberg of Sweden upset “The King” to take home the gold medal in men’s moguls at the Beijing Olympics. Wallberg looked almost in shock when his score of 83.23 flashed on the board. It edged defending Olympic champion Mikael Kingsbury of Canada on a

By DANIELLA MATAR Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Getting a relatively unknown Olympic downhill champion is a distinct possibility on a previously unknown course. And Spanish skier Adur Etxezarreta could be the one. Etxezarreta has never finished higher than 47th in a World Cup race but he has so far excelled on the Rock course.

VIENNA (AP) — Authorities in Austria are warning of “considerable” risk of avalanches in the west of the country after nine people were killed within 24 hours. Police said eight people died in three separate incidents in the states of Vorarlberg and Tyrol on Friday. In one avalanche near the Austrian-Swiss border, four Swedish citizens

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — The U.S. men’s snowboardcross squad is thinking about a teammate who couldn’t join them at the Beijing Olympics because of an injury. Alex Deibold suffered a head injury in a crash during qualifying at a World Cup event just days before his scheduled arrival in

By LARRY LAGE AP Sports Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Slovenia’s Ursa Bogataj won Olympic gold in women’s ski jumping on a night when Japanese star Sara Takanashi surprisingly failed to earn a medal. Bogataj floated 100 meters through the air and had 121 points on the final jump. Katharina Althaus of Germany won silver

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Major South Korean presidential candidates have accused China of laying claim to their culture after a performer wore a traditional Korean dress during the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics. A woman in a white and light purple hanbok dress marched along other performers apparently

LONDON (AP) — Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has tested positive for the coronavirus, preventing him from attending Saturday’s FA Cup match against Plymouth and putting doubts on whether he can go to Abu Dhabi for the Club World Cup. Tuchel will not be on the flight to the United Arab Emirates on Saturday night. Based

By JOHN WAWROW AP Hockey Writer BEIJING (AP) — Whatever faint hope there was for the rest of the women’s hockey world closing the gap on Canada and the United States is quickly being dashed three days into the Olympics. Canada posted its second straight 11-1 win in beating Finland. And the Finns hardly fared

By JAMES ELLINGWORTH AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — Some Olympic athletes unlucky enough to test positive for the coronavirus at the Beijing Olympics feel their quarantine conditions make a bad situation much worse. Russian biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova has complained she was served inedible food and lost weight. Germany is pushing for bigger rooms and

By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — American skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle is contending for a medal in the men’s downhill at the Beijing Games on Sunday 50 years after his mom won Olympic gold. Growing up the son of an Olympic champion was pretty ordinary for him. Cochran-Siegle says “she’s still just my

By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press ZHANGJAIKOU, China (AP) — Johannes Thingnes Boe of Norway moved ahead of his French and Russian rivals in the final meters of the mixed relay to take gold in the first biathlon race of the Beijing Olympics. Boe, Quentin Fillon Maillet of France and Eduard Latypov of the Russian team

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Snowboarder Shaun White says the Beijing Games will be his last competition. The three-time gold medalist held a sometimes emotional news conference not far from the halfpipe where he’ll take his last competitive ride. The 35-year-old says it’s a decision that’s been building since a

By PAUL NEWBERRY AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — Irene Scouten gave the mighty Dutch a gold medal in the first speedskating event of the Beijing Games. She broke a 20-year-old Olympic record in the women’s 3,000 meters. Schouten skated in the last of 10 pairs and turned in a blazing final lap to post

By KELVIN CHAN Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Dry Beijing barely gets any winter precipitation, which makes this year’s Winter Games the first to rely almost entirely on artificial snow for the skiing and snowboarding events. Such a massive snowmaking operation comes with environmental concerns given the huge amounts of water and electricity it takes.

By HOWARD FENDRICH and PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writers BEIJING (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin will defend her giant slalom gold medal in the first women’s Alpine skiing event of the Beijing Olympics. The 26-year-old from Colorado already has won three Olympic medals for the U.S. and three overall World Cup titles. Everyone in the sport

By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Therese Johaug won the first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics in the women’s 15-kilometer cross-country skiathlon. The Norwegian fought wind and frigid temperatures to ski away from a chase group of four. Russian athlete Natalia Nepryaeva pulled away from the group on the last climb

By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Facing international criticism over it treatment of minorities, China’s selection of a member of the Uyghur Muslim  group to help deliver the Olympic flame was a show of defiance, a message from Communist authorities that they won’t be swayed. But some critics say the choice shows that

By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — About the only way the U.S. men’s curling team can top its entrance at the Beijing Olympics is by winning another gold medal. Skip John Shuster carried the American flag into the Bird’s Nest for the opening ceremony along with speedskater Brittany Bowe. Shuster’s teammates, including

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Jamie Anderson and the rest of the women’s snowboarders glided through the rails and jumps in blustery conditions and bone-chilling temperatures during the Olympic slopestyle qualifying round. Some riders wore hand and feet warmers to protect against the elements. Others wore a facemask or neck

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — Earplugs may be USA Luge veteran Summer Britcher’s secret weapon at the Beijing Olympics. That has nothing to do with noise. The start to a luge race is critical. Sliders wear with tiny spikes on the bottom of their fingertips. They dig into the ice as

By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NBA statistics indicate Charlotte’s Terry Rozier has made 131 3-pointers this season. In reality, he has made 130. Rozier was credited with a made 3-pointer in Friday night’s 102-101 loss to Cleveland on a shot that never went through the hoop. Officials ruled Rozier was

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer ESPN’s return to broadcasting NHL games has generated plenty of fanfare, but not a lot of games on either ESPN or ABC. That begins to change this weekend. Saturday’s All-Star Game from Las Vegas will be on ABC, and marks the beginning of ESPN ramping up its coverage for

By LARRY LAGE AP Sports Writer ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — The women and men who fearlessly fly through the air in ski jumping are not old enough to remember seeing Vinko Bogataj’s wipeout. The footage was used in conjunction with the opening montage of ABC’s Wide World of Sports 50 years ago. Former Olympian Nick