CYCLING
Keukeleire claims stage 12
Belgium’s Jens Keukeleire outsprinted France’s Maxime Bouet and Italian Fabio Felline to win the 12th stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Thursday as Nairo Quintana maintained his overall lead over Chris Froome. Britain’s Tour de France champion Froome won stage 11 to move within 54 seconds of Colombia’s Quintana in the overall standings, but the pair finished with the same time in Thursday’s 193.2km ride from Los Corrales de Buelna to Bilbao. Froome is aiming to become the first man in 38 years to win the Vuelta and Tour de France in the same season. Keukeleire handed the Orica-BikeExchange team their second stage victory in this year’s Vuelta with a perfectly timed surge in the final stretch to pip his rivals.
RUGBY
Strauss to retire from Tests
Springbok captain Adriaan Strauss on Thursday announced that he would retire from Test rugby at the end of the season. The 30-year-old became the 57th South African captain in June, taking over from Jean de Villiers, who retired after the World Cup in England. Strauss said that when he was appointed he had informed coach Allister Coetzee that he might retire this year. “The plan was for me to serve and lead a team in transition ... but back then I already told him that I was thinking of retiring at the end of the season,” he said in a statement. Strauss made his Springbok Test debut in 2008 against Australia in Perth and received 57 caps. “I believe the time is right to start giving more opportunities to this new generation, and I’m happy to be used in any way the coach sees fit,” he added.
BASEBALL
Cubs keep winning
Addison Russell hit a two-run single with the bases loaded in the seventh inning to lead the surging Chicago Cubs to a 5-4 win over the sagging San Francisco Giants in their MLB match on Thursday night. The Cubs spoiled a shaky Jeff Samardzija’s return to Wrigley Field and started the month on a winning note after going 22-6 to match the 1932 team for the best August in franchise history. The MLB leaders also moved a season-high 39 games over .500 and 15.5 games ahead of St Louis in the NL Central — their largest lead in the standings since the 1907 team finished 17 games ahead of Pittsburgh, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Samardzija lasted just four innings, giving up three runs and five hits, in his first start as a visitor at the famed ballpark since being traded by the Cubs, and the Giants’ bullpen gave away the lead in the seventh.
FOOTBALL
Kaepernick protest continues
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt with his arms folded during the performance of the US national anthem before a pre-season game in San Diego on Thursday, continuing his protest against racial injustice and police brutality. Kaepernick, 28, had pledged to continue sitting during the performance of The Star-Spangled Banner before NFL games, a move that has been both criticized and cheered by commentators. He was met by heavy boos from the crowd during pre-game warmups and during his first offensive drive at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, which is home to many US Navy and Marine bases.
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