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Put aside, just for a moment, the LIV Golf-PGA Tour’s subtext of perpetual scuffling. Try not to think about the posturing and skepticism that accompanies virtually every LIV story. Focus, just for a second, on the simple facts:

Anthony Kim won a golf tournament. Against Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. In 2026.

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Kim, one of sports’ true prodigal sons, claimed LIV’s Adelaide event in Australia on Sunday, riding a final-round, nine-birdie 63, turning a five-shot deficit into a three-shot victory. If nothing else — if Kim’s story goes no further than this right here — it’s a pretty incredible comeback for a guy who briefly ruled the golf world, then literally disappeared for more than a decade.

Every so often, golf produces one of these back-to-the-mountaintop stories, when a name from the past has a late-career week of their lives. Think Jack Nicklaus at the Masters in 1986, Tom Watson (almost) at the Open Championship in 2009, Tiger Woods at the Masters in 2019, Phil Mickelson at the PGA Championship in 2021. Everything comes together for one weekend, past meeting present, and it’s remarkable to see.

Obviously, Kim’s victory doesn’t have anywhere near that historical resonance; about the only thing Adelaide and Augusta National have in common is a starting letter. But Kim’s first professional win in nearly 16 years is an impressive story of facing down the demons of addiction and injury.

It’s tough to remember now, but for a brief moment, Kim’s popularity in golf was second only to Woods — and Woods’ personal scandals erupted right as Kim was playing his best golf. Before Scottie Scheffler, before Brooks Koepka, before Jordan Spieth, before Rahm and DeChambeau, before Rory McIlroy had won a single tournament, there was Kim. He went toe-to-toe with Tiger, he hung with Michael Jordan, he was a SportsCenter darling back when SportsCenter was, well, the center of the sports universe.

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Scanning leaderboards from Kim’s prime 2009-10 era feels like looking at faded family pictures in a scrapbook. There’s only one player from Kim’s most recent win, the 2010 Shell Houston Open, still in the top 20: ageless wonder Justin Rose. The tee sheet at Kim’s most recent Masters, 2011, included Ernie Els, Mark O’Meara, Craig Stadler and Watson.

But after suffering an Achilles injury in 2012, Kim stepped away from the game. And not in the “showing-up-on-NBA-sidelines-and-ESPN-red-carpets” kind of way. No, he flat-out vanished for more than a decade. Rumors of Kim surfaced here and there — he was playing golf with buddies in Oklahoma, he was keeping in shape in California, he hadn’t touched a club in five years — but no one managed to get even a picture of Kim, much less his story.

“I was around some bad people,” Kim said in 2024. “People that took advantage of me. Scam artists. When you’re 24, 25, even 30 years old, you don’t realize the snakes that are living under your roof.”

That’s why Greg Norman’s dramatic 2024 reveal of Kim as a new LIV addition caused such a ripple in certain segments of golf fandom. Kim was once the coolest dude possible, the heir to Woods, the herald of a new era of golf. What would he have left after so many years away from the game?

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Not much, to start. He failed to earn even a single point in his first two seasons on the tour, and was relegated. That could have been the end of his story, but he managed to place third in LIV’s Promotions Event, posted a T22 in the first tournament of the season … and now this. A win is a win, especially when two of the world’s best are in your final grouping.

It’ll be interesting to see how the golf establishment views this victory. LIV players, as expected, have rallied around Kim. European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald was one of the first non-LIV players to praise Kim’s achievement, unsurprising given that it occurred in the middle of the night for America:

For LIV, this is undoubtedly the most significant victory in the tour’s history. This story will break wide in a way that, say, Rippers GC’s latest team victory at Adelaide won’t. The presence of Rahm and DeChambeau legitimizes the win, and LIV’s challenge now is transforming this burst of fans’ attention into longer-term connections.

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For Kim, the takeaway is much more simple. Yes, he’ll rise up to around 200th in the world rankings, but that’s not the real story here. Kim picked himself up from life’s floor, got his life back together, and returned to the top of the leaderboard. Right now, that’s more than enough.

In August 2021, Rakan Alireza quit his corporate job to pursue a goal so audacious that no one else from his desert nation had ever attempted it.

The 24-year-old began training to represent Saudi Arabia on a global stage as a cross-country skier.

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Alireza was among the first athletes selected by the Saudi government after it proclaimed that the country’s lack of ski slopes and snowy peaks shouldn’t inhibit its winter sports ambitions. The Saudis conducted a nationwide search for athletes with any shred of skiing or snowboarding experience. They sought to unearth a handful of promising novices and invest heavily in grooming them for international competition.

While Alireza had only skied recreationally during boarding school or while traveling abroad with his family, the Saudi Winter Sports Federation believed in his potential as a cross-country skier. Alireza participated in the CrossFit Games and achieved one of Saudi Arabia’s highest rankings. The fitness fanatic’s strength and endurance would serve him well traversing rugged terrain on skis, Saudi officials projected.

Alireza vividly recalls the skeptical response when he told his parents that he aimed to qualify for the Winter Olympics.

“You’re actually going to leave a career to do this?” Alireza’s father asked incredulously. “You’re going to be competing against people born with skis on their feet!”

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Alireza’s mother was initially more supportive … until she learned he was stepping down from his consulting job with Price Waterhouse Coopers in Riyadh.

“She told me it didn’t make sense,” Alireza said. “She thought it was a hopeless case.”

Nearly five years later, even Alireza’s parents might admit he was correct to ignore their advice. The pioneering Alireza has opened doors for future generations of Saudis and helped redefine what’s possible for a winter sports athlete from a desert nation with virtually no snow.

Alireza made history Friday when he became the second Saudi athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics and the first to represent the Kingdom in cross-country skiing. The only other Saudi to reach the Winter Olympics is Alpine skier Fayik Abdi, who qualified for Beijing in 2022 and for this year’s Games.

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Whereas making it to the starting line at the Olympics is the culmination of years of dogged effort and sacrifice for Alireza, the achievement is merely a starting point for his country. Saudi Arabia envisions itself becoming a future winter sports giant, the type that doesn’t just send athletes to participate in the Olympics but to return home with medals around their necks.

“I think the whole world is going to know about us soon,” said Leon Svetlin, the former Bosnian skier who since October 2022 has served as the Saudi Winter Sports Federation’s head coach and Alpine sports director. “There is a vision for the future and strong institutional support from the country. When you have that, you can get results in a shorter period of time.”

‘Bambi on ice’

The biggest reason Saudi Arabia cannot be taken lightly as a potential winter sports power is its financial might. Since the oil-rich country is still at least a couple years away from providing access to ski slopes within its borders, the Saudi government has spared no expense housing winter sports athletes in Europe for months at a time.

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Alireza’s transformation from cross-country skiing novice to future Olympian began in August 2021 when the Saudi government sent him to Sweden to train inside a famous underground ski tunnel with hilly terrain and year-round snow. It was there that he began working with the top-tier European coaches hired by the Saudis to teach him the proper technique.

Only minutes into Alireza’s first training session, the young Saudi realized he’d underestimated the challenge he faced. It took him five minutes to even step into his cross-country ski bindings. Then once he did, he resembled Bambi on ice.

“I kept falling down, Alireza said. “There were all these young kids whizzing past me. Seeing where they were compared to where I was, it was kind of terrifying.”

Eagerness to learn and willingness to suffer has helped Alireza improve. He trains up to five hours per day, alternating between skiing and high-intensity endurance work. When in Europe, he takes advantage of the opportunity to ski on snow. When back home in the desert city of Jeddah, he rollerskis, sometimes with a tire strapped to his back to mimic the resistance of snow conditions.

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Those efforts were enough to help Alireza secure his place at these Olympics, but the gap remains wide between the 29-year-old Saudi and European or North American competitors who grew up on skis. Alireza arrived in Italy ranked outside the top 2000 globally in both the men’s sprint and distance cross-country disciplines. He estimates that he still has been on skis fewer than 200 times in his life.

“I still consider myself a beginner,” Alireza said. “You can see it in my fundamentals. Mid-race I’ll see someone doing something and I’ll try to copy it. If it works, good. If not, I learn.”

It’s no mystery to the Saudis that they’re unlikely to challenge for podium positions on a global stage unless their winter sports athletes hit the slopes earlier in life. They have to find ways to introduce Saudi boys and girls to skiing and snowboarding during childhood and create developmental pathways for those who display promise.

“That’s one of the biggest challenges for us,” Svetlin admitted. “Normally to reach your peak as a skier, you need 10-15 years of continuous training. In Saudi Arabia, we still don’t have a ski slope and it’s not realistic to ask kids to travel all the way to Europe to start training from a very young age.”

A desert ski resort?

The potential solution to Saudi Arabia’s snow problem is a project that is both wildly ambitious and lavishly expensive. In 2022, as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to boost tourism, attract major events and diversify the country’s oil-dependent economy, Saudi Arabia unveiled plans to build a sprawling, futuristic outdoor ski resort known as Trojena.

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While the mountains where the ski resort will be situated do occasionally get a dusting of snow during the winter, it’s nowhere near enough to create a winter sports destination. As a result, Saudi Arabia intends to rely on state-of-the-art snowmaking technologies to manufacture more than 30 kilometers of ski slopes.

Will the project be complete in time for Saudi Arabia to fulfill its duties as the designated host for the 2029 Asian Winter Games? That’s not yet clear. Satellite imagery taken last year shows that construction of the ski resort is underway, but delays have reportedly led the Olympic Council of Asia to begin making contingency plans elsewhere in the region.

Whenever the ski resort opens, it has the potential to be a game changer for the development of winter sports athletes from Saudi Arabia, Svetlin says. So do planned indoor ski resorts in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and elsewhere.

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“Hopefully in the next couple years we’ll get a chance to train there and compete there,” Svetlin said. “I think that will make it possible for us to find even younger athletes and create an even better platform for the future.”

Svetlin is also intrigued with the idea that rollerskiing could become a training option for Saudi kids who are interested in cross-country skiing but don’t have access to snow. He believes that could help Saudi Arabia produce high-level results in cross-country skiing faster than other skiing and snowboarding disciplines.

It will also help having a trailblazer like Alireza who has kicked open doors that were once shut. When Alireza and his fellow Saudi skiers first began training, he remembers coaches from other national teams openly laughing at their ineptitude.

“Now those same coaches have become our fans,” Alireza said. “They would cheer for us and support us when they saw the improvement.”

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Alireza takes immense pride in making the Olympics, but he’s hopeful this is just the beginning for his desert country in winter sports.

There’s already another younger Saudi cross-country skier pushing Alireza. His goal is to be better than Alireza and Alireza is rooting for him. He often says to the newcomer, “I want you to retire me, but I’m never going to make it easy on you.

“I tell him going to the Olympics is no longer special if I did it,” Alireza said. “You’re going to be the second one to do it? No one really cares. Go do something better.”

Norway cross-country skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo set a Winter Olympics record on Sunday by winning his ninth career gold medal — most in Winter Olympic history.

The gold was his fourth of the 2026 Winter Olympics, joining his victories in the 10 km freestyle, 20 km skiathlon and the men’s individual sprint.

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Klæbo, 29, earned his record as part of the men’s 4 X 7.5 km relay team, which beat out France and home country Italy in the competition. He was the final leg of the relay, following Emil Iversen, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget and Einar Hedegart.

Norway finished with a time of 1:04:24.5, 22 seconds ahead of France (1:04:46.7) and 47.9 seconds better than Italy (1:05:12.4). It’s possible the team could have posted an even faster time, but Klæbo slowed down a bit toward the finish to wave to spectators.

The United States placed sixth (1:06:11.8) in the event, finishing behind Finland and Canada.

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Nicknamed “Rocket Man” by Norwegian media, Klæbo previously won three gold medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, finishing first in the individual sprint, 4 x 10 km relay and team sprint events. In 2022, he earned gold in the individual and team sprint events at Beijing.

With his ninth gold medal, Klæbo surpassed fellow Norwegian cross-country skiers Bjørn Dæhlie and Marit Bjørgen, along with countrymen and biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen.

Klæbo is still set to compete in two more events at the Milan Cortina Games, the men’s team sprint and 50 km mass start. A fifth gold medal at the 2026 Games would tie him with U.S. speed skater Eric Heiden for the most won during a single Winter Olympics.

The 68th Daytona 500 will officially kick off the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season on Sunday. The iconic race at the 2.5-mile oval in Daytona Beach, Florida, begins at 1:30 p.m. ET (moved up an hour due to weather in the forecast) and will be televised on Fox.

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Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the race, as NASCAR has made significant changes to its championship format ahead of the season.

Can William Byron win 3 in a row?

William Byron is attempting to be the first driver to win three consecutive Daytona 500s.

Just six drivers have won at least three Daytona 500s and none of them ever won them in back-to-back-to-back seasons. And of those six, only three — Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Denny Hamlin — won Daytona 500s in back-to-back seasons.

Byron is one of seven drivers with two Daytona 500 wins and he’s scored those victories by avoiding late crashes and being in the right place at the right time on late restarts.

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In 2024, Byron was able to escape a 23-car crash at the front of the field with less than 10 laps to go. That crash set up a restart with four laps to go as Byron led all four of the remaining circuits on his way to the win. Those were the only four laps Byron led all race.

A season ago, a crash with five laps to go on the backstretch set up a green-white-checkered restart. Byron was in seventh as the field exited Turn 2 on the final but was somehow able to get past the race leaders as they crashed down the backstretch to steal the win.

Can Byron somehow continue his luck for an unprecedented three wins in a row?

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Daytona 500 winner no longer a virtual lock for playoffs

NASCAR’s cumulative 10-race playoff format has returned.

The sanctioning body announced in January that it was returning to a version of its original playoff format that it launched in 2004. After the first 26 races of the season, the top 16 drivers in the points standings will qualify for the playoffs and will be seeded based on their position in the standings. The driver who has the most points in the final 10 races of the season will be crowned the champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

NASCAR had a cumulative 10-race playoff from 2004 through 2013 before it launched a multi-round version of the playoffs in 2014. In that playoff format, a driver who won a race in the regular season could virtually guarantee himself a spot in the playoffs.

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For the past 12 seasons, the 10-race playoffs included four rounds and three drivers were eliminated in each of the first three rounds before four drivers raced straight-up for the championship in the season finale. In 2025, Hamlin dominated the final race of the season at Phoenix, but a late caution for Byron’s tire failure shook up the field on pit strategy, and Kyle Larson exited pit road ahead of Hamlin and beat him to the finish line for his second Cup Series title.

Can Denny Hamlin win a fourth Daytona 500?

Hamlin, 45, would tie Cale Yarborough for the second-most Daytona 500 wins if he gets a fourth victory. Hamlin is one of four drivers who have three Daytona 500 wins and, along with Byron, is one of just two active full-time drivers who have scored multiple Daytona 500 wins.

It’s been a tumultuous last four months for Hamlin. After losing the championship in heartbreaking fashion in November, Hamlin and his 23XI Racing team that he co-owns with Michael Jordan went to trial against NASCAR over the Cup Series’ franchising agreement. The trial ended with a settlement that granted permanent charters to teams — a main sticking point in the lawsuit that 23XI and Front Row Motorsports filed against NASCAR.

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Later in December, Hamlin’s father, Dennis, was killed and his mother, Mary Lou, was significantly injured in a fire that destroyed their home in North Carolina. Just two weeks ago, Hamlin revealed that he re-injured his right shoulder while climbing through the rubble at the site of the fire and will wait to have surgery until after the 2026 Cup Series season.

Hamlin has won 60 career Cup Series races across 721 starts and is the most successful driver to have never won a Cup Series title. Can 2026 finally be the year after he came so close in 2025?

Big names still looking for their first Daytona 500 win

Along with Byron and Hamlin, there are only five other full-time drivers who have Daytona 500 wins to their name; Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Austijn Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

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You’ll notice that a lot of star power is absent from that list. Drivers like Larson, 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott, and 2015 and 2019 Cup Series champ Kyle Busch are still searching for their first wins in the Daytona 500.

Busch has the longest drought of anyone in that group. The 2026 Daytona 500 will be Busch’s 21st start and his luck in February at Daytona just simply hasn’t been good. Busch has just one win over 41 total starts at Daytona and only five of his 13 top-10 finishes in those races have come in the Daytona 500.

If he wins for Richard Childress Racing on Sunday, he’ll break a streak that was longer than Dale Earnhardt’s. The seven-time Cup Series champ finally won his first Daytona 500 in his 20th start in 1998.

Busch is also starting the race from the pole. He won his first Daytona 500 pole position on Wednesday night and would be the first driver since Dale Jarrett in 2000 to win after starting first.

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Connor Zilisch is the only Cup Series rookie

The 19-year-old doesn’t have to do much to win Rookie of the Year in 2026 as he’s the only driver running for the award. Zilisch is moving up full-time to the Cup Series this season for Trackhouse Racing after 36 starts in what’s now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

After winning once over four starts in 2024, Zilisch was dominant in 2025 with 10 victories and 23 top-10 finishes across 32 races for JR Motorsports in 2025. However, he didn’t win the series championship after he finished third behind champion Jesse Love in the final race of the season.

Zilisch is already an accomplished road racer and could quickly be the main foil for his Trackhouse teammate Shane van Gisbergen on road courses. Van Gisbergen won five of six Cup Series road course races in 2025.

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Jimmie Johnson returns

The seven-time Cup Series champion is continuing his part-time run in NASCAR with another Daytona 500. After taking the 2021 and 2022 seasons off from the Cup Series and trying his hand in IndyCar, Johnson has raced in the last three Daytona 500s for Legacy Motor Club and even finished third a season ago.

This season, Johnson doesn’t have to worry about qualifying for the race, either. Under a rule NASCAR implemented in 2025 that granted Helio Castroneves a guaranteed spot in the race, Johnson is locked into the field via the Open Exemption Provisional granted at NASCAR’s discretion to accomplished drivers running a part-time schedule.

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Johnson’s inclusion into the field means 41 cars will start the Daytona 500 instead of 40. With 45 cars attempting to make the race, four drivers will fail to qualify for the race.

Who made it into the Daytona 500?

Casey Mears and BJ McLeod raced their way into the Daytona 500 during Thursday night’s Duel qualifying races. And they accomplished their feats quite differently.

Mears spun entering pit road midway through the first Duel and was at the back of the main pack on the final lap. But Corey LaJoie — one of two drivers he was racing for a transfer spot into the 500 — was involved in a crash while running at the front of the field. Mears floored it as the crash occurred, and even ran into Daniel Suarez as Suarez hit the wall. But he crossed the finish line ahead of Chandler Smith as LaJoie’s car was damaged in the infield grass.

In the second Duel, McLeod exited his car certain that he didn’t make the 500. McLeod finished ahead of JJ Yeley but behind Anthony Alfredo in that race’s transfer spot. However, Alfredo’s car failed post-race inspection, and his disqualification put McLeod into the race.

Betting the Daytona 500 is far from straightforward.

NASCAR’s biggest race has evolved into what can kindly be called a crapshoot over the last five seasons. As William Byron goes for his third straight Daytona 500 win, he’s hardly been at the front in any of his previous two victories.

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In 2024, Byron took the lead for the first time on a late restart and led the final four laps. Those were the only laps he led all day.

A season ago, Byron led 10 laps. But he wasn’t anywhere near the lead halfway through the final lap. Byron went from seventh to first on the last lap thanks to a crash at the front of the field that he somehow escaped.

Since Denny Hamlin led 79 laps on the way to his third Daytona 500 win in 2020 — a race he won from third just football fields from the finish line as leader Ryan Newman went head-on into the wall — none of the past five race winners have led more than 21 laps. And outside of the 21 laps that Austin Cindric led in 2022, no winner has led more than 10 laps in any of the last four Daytona 500s.

It’s imperative to be in the right place at the right time. And there’s no consensus on where the right place actually is given the nature of Cup Series racing at Daytona and Talladega. You can lead 190 laps and get sent into the wall while leading just as easily as you can get caught up in a crash ahead of you while running 35th.

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You need far more luck than skill and a dominant car these days.

That’s why we recommend spreading out your bets if you’re looking to cash in on the Feb. 15 race. Instead of a large bet on one or two drivers, smaller bets on a handful of drivers — including a couple of long shots — is a much smarter play. Here’s a look at the field ahead of the first Cup Series race of the season. All odds are from BetMGM.

The favorites

Ryan Blaney (+1200)
Blaney is still looking for his first Daytona 500 win, but may currently be the best driver at Daytona and Talladega. He’s won two summer races at Daytona and has nine top-10 finishes in 21 starts at the track. He also has nine DNFs. That’s why it’s so hard to predict Daytona races.

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Joey Logano (+1200)
Logano is going to be at the front of the field at some point. Book it. He’s led a lap in each of the last 14 Daytona races. However, he hasn’t won since he took the checkered flag in the 2015 Daytona 500.

William Byron (+1400)
Can Byron continue to be in the right place at the right time? Since he led 24 laps on the way to a win in the 2020 summer race, Byron has led 35 laps over the last 10 Daytona races yet has two victories in that span.

Denny Hamlin (+1400)
Hamlin’s odds are so long despite being a three-time Daytona 500 champion because his recent stats stink. Hamlin hasn’t finished higher than 17th over the last eight Daytona races. But we think that’s far more likely to be Daytona noise than a skill regression.

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Great mid-tier value

Austin Cindric (+1600)
Yes, oddsmakers like Team Penske. Its three drivers are among the favorites and Cindric has the best Daytona average finish of the trio at 18.4. He has a top five and another top 10 in addition to his 2022 win.

Brad Keselowski (+1800)
Bet Keselowski with caution. He’s still recovering from a broken leg suffered in a fall during the offseason. He didn’t race in Wednesday’s Clash, but plans to be medically cleared for the Daytona 500. He has one win and eight top-10 finishes in 33 Daytona starts.

Bubba Wallace (+2200)
Wallace has the best average finish of any active driver at Daytona at 14.4 despite crashing out in three of the last six Daytona races. He has five top-five finishes at Daytona and two second-place finishes in the Daytona 500.

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Long shots to look at

Josh Berry (+4000)
Berry drives for Wood Brothers Racing, a team that has a technical alliance with Team Penske. If you’re bullish on the Penske favorites, you need to also take a flier on the other driver in Penske equipment. Berry has one top-10 finish in five Daytona starts.

Erik Jones (+4000)
Jones has finished in the top 20 in each of the past five Daytona races and won way back in 2018 when he was driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.

The University of North Carolina picked up former Western Carolina quarterback Taron Dickens out of the transfer portal, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

Dickens spent three seasons at Western Carolina, where he threw for 3,508 yards, 38 touchdowns and 2 interceptions last season, with a 74.2% completion percentage. He also had 321 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Dickens threw for a total of 5,063 yards, 51 touchdowns, 5 interceptions and a 74% completion percentage in his three seasons at WVU.

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Dickens is the third quarterback that the Tar Heels have added, following the signings of Billy Edwards Jr. from Wisconsin and Miles O’Neill from Texas A&M.

Edwards played 34 snaps in two games at the University of Wisconsin after injuring his knee in the season opener. He spent his first three years at the University of Maryland, where he threw for 2,881 yards, 15 touchdowns and 9 interceptions in 2024. Edwards signed with Wake Forest and redshirted out of high school.

O’Neill saw limited action during his first two years behind Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed. The Tar Heels also signed freshman quarterback Travis Burgess.

In Bill Belichick’s first year in Chapel Hill, the team went 4-8 overall and 2-6 in the ACC. North Carolina ranked second-to-last in the ACC in passing and receiving yards and ranked last in total yards and first downs converted.

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Gio Lopez started most of the year at quarterback. Lopez threw for 1,747 yards, 10 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. After the season, Lopez transferred to Wake Forest. Former North Carolina quarterbacks Max Johnson (Georgia Southern) and Bryce Baker (Virginia Tech) also transferred to other schools.

MILAN — Mikaela Shiffrin’s Olympic woes continue. Dominant everywhere else on earth and on the calendar, Shiffrin can’t seem to figure out how to get on the podium during the two weeks of the Olympics. Her latest result: 11th place in the giant slalom, 0.92 seconds behind gold-medal winner Federica Brignone of Italy and 0.25 seconds off the podium.

On her first run of the day, Shiffrin skied exactly the run she needed on her initial attempt. Skiing with speed but a touch of caution, Shiffrin posted a time of 1:04.25, 0.28 seconds behind the two leaders before her. Once all of the 76 skiers in the first run had their opportunity on the slopes, Shiffrin stood in seventh overall, 1.02 seconds behind Brignone.

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Shiffrin’s second run of the day started well enough, but she floated around the early turns and simply could not create enough speed in the second half of the course. She finished 0.25 seconds behind the in-race leader, good for seventh place at the time of her finish. And not even that would hold as the first-run leaders were still to come.

It’s the second gold for Brignone at these Games, after she won the super-G, capping a remarkable comeback. Just last April, Brignone suffered a catastrophic wreck in the giant slalom event of the Italian Championships. She broke her left tibia and fibula and ruptured her left ACL, but fought her way back into the Olympics and a role as Italy’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony.

Sweden’s Sara Hector and Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund tied for the silver.

But it’s another podium without Shiffrin, another opportunity for the same uncomfortable questions to gain volume, even if giant slalom isn’t her best event.

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“When I think about it, I’m three tenths off of the podium in 10th or something,” Shiffrin said after. “It’s such a high level of competition. It is really, really cool that we as athletes were able to showcase that on this day.”

Shiffrin came into the Milan Olympics with something to prove, an odd but true statement about a skier who’s won more World Cup events than anyone, male or female, in history. But her 10 World Cup victories, including one in the Czech Republic just days before the start of these Olympics, mean absolutely nothing when she’s standing atop the mountain at Cortina d’Ampezzo.

For whatever reason, the Olympics have bedeviled Shiffrin the past four-plus years. After she claimed two golds and a silver in her first two Games, Sochi in 2014 and Pyeongchang in 2018, Shiffrin skied into Beijing in 2022 looking to establish absolute dominance over her sport. But she didn’t even finish three of the events she entered, and left Beijing without a medal.

She later conceded that the ghosts of Beijing hung over her, and a devastating wreck in Killington in 2024 further dented her confidence. And despite all her victories since then, a struggle in the women’s team combined event earlier in these Games gave those ghosts new life.

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In that event, teammate Breezy Johnson posted the fastest time in the downhill half of the competition, meaning Shiffrin only needed to perform at her level in her signature event, the slalom, to shake off her recent past and bring home another medal. But Shiffrin skied a tentative run, and she and Johnson finished 0.06 seconds off the podium. (Shiffrin’s misfire meant teammates Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan won bronze, a small comfort in an otherwise depressing day.)

Shortly after the team event, Shiffrin took to social media for a pair of posts that seemed to point toward her mindset. On Friday, she posted “Olympic Reflections” that almost seemed like a preemptive strike at criticism of her performance. “May we all champion one another, tread lightly on what we don’t fully comprehend, and have the fortitude to keep showing up,” she wrote.

Then, hours before the giant slalom competition, Shiffrin posted a video expressing “an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I simply get to be here, after everything” — specifically referencing her devastating Killington wreck.

Shiffrin has one event remaining at the Olympics, the slalom on Wednesday.

Controversy now hangs over Canada’s women’s curling team, following cheating allegations against the men’s squad.

Both Canadian curling teams have been accused of the same infraction, double-touching the stone — or touching it again after release. As a result, both countries and their respective Olympic committees have asked that the

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The women’s team were called for the rules violation during Saturday’s match versus Switzerland, which Canada lost 8-7. Officials stopped play, ruling that Rachel Homan touched her stone again after releasing it. The stone was removed from the sheet, stunning Canada’s skip.

Teammate Emma Miskew could be seen asking officials why the call couldn’t be reviewed by video. She was told that the umpire needed to be trusted on such a judgment. Additionally, video is not typically used to review plays during a match under World Curling rules.

After the match, Homan denied that she committed any kind of infraction.

“I don’t understand the call. I’ll never understand it,” Homan added. “We’ve never done that. It has nothing to do with us.”

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Canada’s men’s curling team also accused of double-touching

The double-touching allegation follows the men’s Canadian curling team being accused of the same violation during Friday’s 8-6 victory over defending gold medalist Sweden. Swedish third Oskar Eriksson alleged that Canada’s Marc Kennedy touched the stone as it passed the hog line, after which the player can’t make contact again.

Kennedy profanely disputed the accusation, as seen on camera.

“I haven’t done it once,” Kennedy said. “You can f*** off.”

However, Eriksson didn’t back down.

Eriksson then asked, “You haven’t done it once?”

An impassioned Kennedy reiterated while pointing toward himself, “I haven’t done it once.”

Eriksson said back, “I’ll show you a video after the game.”

That exchange briefly dispelled the notion that curling may be the nicest sport of all. Of course, the stakes of competition are higher in the Winter Olympics.

Canada skip Brad Jacobs responded with his own allegations, asserting that Eriksson’s accusation was “desperate,” the team felt “targeted” and this may be a deliberate tactic by the Swedish team.

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“It felt like that was premeditated,” Jacobs said. “We also heard that they did the same thing against the Italian team. So I don’t know what they’re doing and what they’re trying to pull.”

World Curling clarifies double-touching rules

The dual controversies compelled World Curling to release a statement reminding players, teams and fans of the rules regarding double-touching.

That included a clarification that re-touching the handle before the stone crosses the hog line is allowed, but touching the granite as it moves forward is not allowed. In light of the accusations against Canada, officials will be “observing the delivery” more closely.

In a press release, World Curling also said the Canadian team was issued a verbal warning for Kennedy’s use of profane language. Citing Rule R.19, the organization added that “further inappropriate behaviour” would result in additional sanctions.

“Improper conduct, foul or offensive language, equipment abuse, or wilful damage on the part of any team member is prohibited. Any violation may result in suspension of the offending person(s) by the curling organisation having jurisdiction.”

Bryce Harper is still not over the comments Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made in October when he questioned the outfielder’s ability to reach another level of stardom.

“He didn’t have an elite season like he has had in the past,” Dombrowski said at the time. “And I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or if he continues to be good. … Can he rise to the next level again? I don’t really know that answer. He’s the one who will dictate that more than anything else.”

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Harper addressed the comments before the start of the season with reporters at spring training.

“For Dave to say those things, it is still wild to me,” Harper said.

Harper also said he did not have the season or the numbers he wanted. He finished last season with 27 home runs, 75 RBIs and a .261 batting average with an .844 OPS. His numbers were down from his first few seasons with the Phillies, and he was limited to 132 games after dealing with a wrist injury.

Despite his performance, the 33-year-old was still surprised by Dombrowski’s comments because of the organization’s policy of keeping everything in-house.

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This is not the first time Harper has addressed Dombrowski’s comments. In November, he said he felt uncomfortable and hurt about the possibility of trade speculation. In December, he posted a TikTok of himself taking swings while wearing a shirt that said “Not Elite.”

Harper wore the shirt after Dombrowski attempted to walk back his comments on the “Foul Territory” podcast and said the two had a nice conversation.

With Opening Day around the corner and six years remaining on Harper’s contract, it appears Harper and Dombrowski still have fences to mend.

MILAN — Madison Chock and Evan Bates will remain silver medalist ice dancers at the Milan Olympics. U.S. Figure Skating did not appeal the controversial judging that awarded their French competitors the gold medal in last week’s ice dance event.

Last Wednesday, Chock and Bates, who are the reigning world and national champions in ice dance, performed an outstanding free skate routine that put them at the top of the medal leaderboard … right up until France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron topped them and skated away with the gold medal.

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The American duo were visibly devastated after the medal ceremony, with Chock calling it “bittersweet” to come so far and fall short of gold. The next day, Chock called for “transparent judging” on CBS News. “I think it’s also important for the skaters, that the judges be vetted and reviewed to make sure that they are also putting out their best performance,” she added, “because there’s a lot on the line for the skaters when they’re out there giving it their all, and we deserve to have the judges also giving us their all and for it to be a fair and even playing field.”

A deeper examination of the skating scores indicated that while bias existed all up and down the judges’ panel, the French judge favored Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron by a greater degree than any other judge’s bias in other directions.

However, the International Skating Union contended there was no malfeasance at work. “It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations,” the governing body said in a statement. “The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.”

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U.S. Figure Skating had 24 hours to appeal the result, but opted not to do so. “There has been a lot of thoughtful, and at times emotional, discussion about the ice dance competition in Milan,” USFS CEO Matt Farrell told USA Today Sports in a statement. “Working together with Madi and Evan after the Games, we will have thoughtful and intentional discussions about the best way to support them and the future of the sport. For now, we plan to join them in supporting the success of U.S. Figure Skating in Milan.”

The pairs and women’s events remain to be skated in Milan. Team USA already has a team gold medal, won in part by Chock and Bates.