■ Athletics
Chicago marathon too far
Any marathon is a grueling test of physical and mental endurance, but Chicago's Lakeshore Marathon was extra tough this year: The course was inadvertently set a mile (1.6km) too long. More than 500 runners finished last Monday's race, running 27.2 miles (43.7km) instead of the standard 26.2 (42.1km). The long layout of the marathon, as well as problems such as missing mile markers and unstaffed aid stations, led some runners to urge the city to stop issuing permits for the Lakeshore Marathon until it's under new management. Race founder and organizer Mark Cihlar issued an apology on www.marathonguide.com on Thursday. Last-minute changes "caused us to miscalculate and we foolishly added an extra mile -- how terrible!" he wrote in a memo to race participants. Cihlar, who has had sole responsibility for 90 percent of the marathon's planning for the past four years, said he plans to relinquish control over event coordination, and is seeking qualified directors and coordinators to help on the 2006 race.
■ Hockey
Ray of hope for NHL
The NHL and players' association made some progress in nearly 34 hours of negotiations over three days and will continue to talk, league vice president Bill Daly said Friday. The sides met for almost 14 hours on Friday after 10-hour sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, trying to work out a new collective bargaining agreement. The league and union said they will meet again next week. "We continued our discussions on financial and accounting issues, and while we are making progress, we still have a lot of work to do," Daly said.
■ Rugby
Lions roar in Wellington
The British and Irish Lions made an unimpressive start to their 11-match rugby tour of New Zealand in Wellington yesterday, struggling to a 34-20 win over Bay of Plenty at Rotorua and losing veteran No. 8 Lawrence Dallaglio to an injury. After an explosive beginning in which they scored 17 points in 10 minutes, including two tries to fullback Josh Lewsey, Clive Woodward's Lions slumped to leave the match tied 17-17 at halftime. A try to Tom Shanklin at the start of the second half and two more in the last 10 minutes expanded the Lions' margin.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
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