The Guardian

Kenyan wins men’s race in 1hr 59mins 30secs Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa defends her women’s title They call Sabastian Sawe the silent assassin. But it was impossible to ignore the beautiful destruction on the streets of London as the 30-year-old Kenyan became the first athlete to shatter the two-hour barrier in an official race. As Sawe crossed the line on the Mall, the clock showed that he had run …

County Championship updates from around the grounds Sign up for the Spin | Mail Tanya or comment BTL Glamorgan’s Mason Crane on being stumped for 99 . “It was cool to be in the position [of coming close to a century]. Obviously, gutted not to get over the line but I would’ve taken that at the start. It was tough to know what to do [when nine wickets down], I was wary the game wasn’t really moving…

A century on from the first tournament in London, the table tennis world championships are back – with a fascinating history attached The way Wang Chuqin plays, ping-pong is a physical impossibility. By the time you made it to the end of the first two words of that sentence, Chuqin, the men’s world No 1, has seen the ball, calculated its speed, direction, and height, judged whether it is travelli…

⚽ News, discussion and buildup before day’s action ⚽ Things to look out for | Fixtures | Mail us here Hearts just have to win today: Such a big game for Leeds, safe from relegation, just about. Now for a chance to play in a first FA Cup semi-final since 1987 and reach a first final since 1973. Continue reading...

In this exclusive book extract, the former Italy goalkeeper describes a moment of crisis before a game against Reggina If I have to identify the most important moment of this crisis, it was just before a Juventus-Reggina match in February 2004. It was an evening game. We were six points off the top of the table. There were 13 games left in the season, so anything could still happen, but there was…

Cora dismissed despite blowout win in Baltimore Boston 10-17 after offseason roster upheaval Chad Tracy named interim manager from Triple-A Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who rode a roster with Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers and Chris Sale to the most successful season in franchise history and then struggled to win with the discount lineups that replaced them, was fired on Saturday with…

Solanke and Simons were taken off injured at Wolves Tottenham still in relegation zone because of West Ham win Robert De Zerbi is waiting on the fitness of two more players, after Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons were forced off injured at Molineux on Saturday, but he is optimistic that Tottenham’s 1-0 victory at Wolves “can change something in our mentality”. The Spurs head coach celebrated his f…

Daniel Farke would become the second manager, following the great Don Revie, to reach the final There will be a mixture of excitement and trepidation for Leeds supporters when they descend on Wembley for their FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea on Sunday, returning to a venue that evokes plenty of painful memories, but that could now provide the springboard to a brighter future. Leeds have lost on th…

A fourth consecutive FA Cup final has been reached but Guardiola’s selection against Southampton suggests priorities lie elsewhere It’s happening again. Another Manchester City treble will be a short price on the prediction markets, even if City were defeated in the last two FA Cup finals. The club’s dominance of English football asks existential questions of those attempting to compete. Yet agai…

‘It’s a red card today. It’s a red card in Manchester’ Arsenal return to top of table with win at Emirates Mikel Arteta has claimed that everything would be different for his Arsenal team in the Premier League title race if Manchester City had been reduced to ten men in last Sunday’s pivotal game at the Eithad Stadium. The Arsenal manager insisted that the City defender, Abdukodir Khusanov, shoul…

Raiders take Jermod McCoy to open fourth round Injured Tennessee cornerback eager to prove value Cade Klubnik falls to Jets after Clemson slide Jermod McCoy’s lengthy wait to hear his name called at the NFL draft came to a quick end on Saturday. The Las Vegas Raiders selected the Tennessee cornerback with the first pick of the fourth round, taking a small gamble that McCoy will return to form aft…

Northampton 41-38 Bath Fin Smith clinches win with last kick If only these two could play each other every week. Having wowed the rugby world a fortnight ago with their Champions Cup quarter-final at the Rec, scoring 11 tries between them, here they went one better and scored 12. Six each, obviously. The scores were level as the clock ticked red. The crowd were as breathless as the players. And t…

German and French clubs are showing in the Champions League they can make the most of the benefits of not having to play in a gruelling domestic competition Paris Saint-Germain have won 11 of the past 13 French league titles and, going into this weekend, stood four points clear of Lens at the top of Ligue 1. Bayern Munich have already wrapped up this season’s Bundesliga title, their 13th in 14 ye…

Daizen Maeda strikes twice as Celtic beat Falkirk 3-1 Aberdeen seal nervy home win over Kilmarnock Daizen Maeda drove Celtic to a 3-1 victory against Falkirk as the champions moved level on points with Premiership leaders Hearts. The Japan international scored twice and set up another as Martin O’Neill’s side overcame a tough test. Maeda charged down a clearance from Keelan Adams before drilling …

The men’s game thrives on big rivalries but with the world No 2 missing through injury, the prospects of another top-10 player stepping up appear bleak Jannik Sinner is not a man for great displays of emotion, but not even the world No 1 could maintain his poker face this time. In the aftermath of an arduous opening win in Madrid on Friday, Sinner learned of the most significant news of the year …