MILAN — For a team that comfortably won all three of its group-stage games to secure a bye to the Olympic men’s hockey quarterfinals, the U.S. will head to the knockout round with plenty of questions to answer.
The Americans started slowly in each game and weren’t as convincing as expected against a feeble group with no other credible medal threats.
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A 5-1 victory over Germany on Sunday night served as a small step in the right direction. Auston Matthews scored two goals, Connor Hellebuyck further entrenched himself as the starting goalie and the U.S. finally seized control of the game in the latter two periods after being held scoreless for nearly the entire opening session.
Zach Werenski got the Americans on the board with 8.7 seconds left in the first period when he found space near the right face-off circle and fired the puck past German goalie Maximilian Franzreb. The goal salvaged a lackluster period for the Americans during which the Germans threatened to score first.
The U.S. found its footing in the second period thanks to goals from Matthews and Brock Faber. Matthews forced home the rebound of a Quinn Hughes shot from the point. Then Faber lofted a soft shot that appeared to be heading straight for Franzreb’s glove, but the German goalie whiffed on the catch and allowed the puck to find the net.
Tage Thompson and Matthews added goals early in the third period to extend the U.S. lead to 5-0. Only then did Germany finally get on the board as Tim Stützle found space near the left face-off circle and beat Hellebuyck gloveside.
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The U.S.’s reward for winning its group is potentially a tougher-than-expected quarterfinal. The second-seeded Americans will likely face Sweden on Wednesday assuming the seventh-seeded Swedes survive a knockout-round matchup with Latvia.
Sweden arrived in Milan as a medal favorite with a roster loaded with NHL talent. The Swedes won two of their three group-stage games, but finished in a three-way tie atop their group with Finland and Slovakia and lost that tiebreaker due to goal differential.
The last time the U.S. men’s hockey team captured Olympic gold, a group of college standouts and minor-league nobodies engineered the Miracle on Ice. Forty-six years later, the Americans are hoping that it is at last their time again.
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That goal is still attainable, but the U.S. will have to raise its level of play.
Gold-medal favorite Canada outscored its three group-stage opponents by a score of 20-3. The U.S. hasn’t quite met that standard.
1. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota 2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Chevrolet 3. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford 4. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet 5. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford 6. Zane Smith, No. 38 Ford 7. Chris Buescher, No. 17 Ford 8. Riley Herbst, No. 35 Toyota 9. Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford 10. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota 11. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ford 12. William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet 13. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet 14. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Chevrolet 15. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet 16. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet 17. Cody Ware, No. 51 Chevrolet 18. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chevrolet 19. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet 20. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet 21. Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota 22. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Chevrolet 23. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota 24. Cole Custer, No. 41 Chevrolet 25. Ryan Preece, No. 60 Ford 26. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota 27. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford 28. Corey Heim, No. 67 Toyota 29. Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Toyota 30. Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 97 Chevrolet 31. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota 32. Casey Mears, No. 66 Ford 33. Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Chevrolet 34. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford 35. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota 36. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Toyota 37. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet 38. Justin Allgaier, No. 40 Chevrolet 39. Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Ford 40. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet 41. BJ McLeod, No. 78 Chevrolet
Daytona 500 TV/streaming schedule
All times Eastern
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Sunday, Feb. 15 1:30 p.m.: Daytona 500 (Fox)
Daytona 500 starting lineup
1. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 2. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 3. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford 4. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 5. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford 6. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 7. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 8. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 9. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford 10. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 11. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota 12. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13. Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 14. Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford 15. Daniel Suárez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet* 16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 HYAK Motorsports Chevrolet 17. Casey Mears, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford 18. Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford 19. Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford 20. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 23. Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet 24. Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota 25. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford 26. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota 27. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota 28. Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota 29. Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota 30. Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford 31. Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota 32. Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 33. Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 34. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 35. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 36. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford 37. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet* 38. BJ McLeod, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet 39. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet* 40. Justin Allgaier, No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet 41. Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford*
*-Moved to the rear of the field for switching to a back-up car.
For William Byron to win and unprecedented third straight Daytona 500, he’ll have to come from the back of the field after being collected in a crash during one of Thursday’s qualifying duels. (Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The long 15-week wait is almost over as the NASCAR Cup Series regular season returns with its biggest annual event, the Daytona 500. This year will mark the 66th running of “The Great American Race” on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway.
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In all, 41 drivers compete on Sunday, led to the green flag by Kyle Busch, who won the pole and is looking for his first Daytona 500 win in 21 starts. The field includes former seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, who is being granted an Open Exemption Provisional, meaning the two-time event winner is locked into the field, but cannot earn championship points or prize money.
William Byron is looking to become the only driver ever to win three straight Daytona 500s after joining select company with his second straight win in the 2025 edition. That list includes Richard Petty (1973-74), Cale Yarborough (1983-84), Sterling Marlin (1994-95) and Denny Hamlin (2019-20). If he does it, Byron will have won from the lowest position on the grid — 39th — in the history of the event.
This year’s Daytona 500 will feature eight previous winners, with Hamlin entering with the most Harley J. Earl trophies at three.
Daytona 500 race details
Track: Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile high-banked tri-oval) in Daytona Beach, Florida Banking: Turns – 31 degrees | Tri-oval – 18 degrees | Backstretch – 3 degrees Race length: 200 laps for 500 miles Stage lengths: Stage 1 – 65 laps | Stage 2 – 65 laps | Stage 3 – 70 laps
Top drivers and best bets for the Daytona 500
Owing to the unpredictable nature of the Daytona 500, two-time defending champion William Byron has the second-best odds at +1400. Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano hold the best odds at 12-to-1. All odds courtesy of BetMGM.
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Best odds to win the Daytona 500
Yahoo Sports’ Nick Bromberg recommends spreading smaller bets around a handful of drivers rather than big wagers on one or two top names. He suggests good mid-tier value can be found in 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace (+2200) as Wallace has the highest average Daytona finish of anyone in the field at 14.4, including two second-place runs. If you’re looking for a longshot, Bromberg points out that Josh Berry’s (+3500) Wood Brothers team has an alliance with the aforementioned favored Penskes while Erik Jones (+4000) has five straight top-20 finishes at Daytona and won this event back in 2018.
Daytona 500 entry list
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Daniel Suárez, No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota Chandler Smith, No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford* Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Justin Allgaier, No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet* Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota J.J. Yeley, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet* Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Anthony Alfredo, No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet* Casey Mears, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford* Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota* Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet B.J. McLeod, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet* Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Corey LaJoie, No. 99 RFK Racing Ford*
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*-Open entry, not guaranteed to make the 41-car field.
Daytona 500 race week weather
According to Yahoo Weather, the forecast is ideal all week with daytime highs ranging from 67-76 degrees. There is only a single-digit percentage chance of rain all week … except for race day. That chance climbs to a 25% chance of rain right around the scheduled green flag (2:30 p.m. ET) on Sunday.
MILAN — There will be other pairs in Milan who score higher than the Netherlands’ Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba, other pairs who pull off more complex routines, other pairs who will take home medals. But it’s pretty safe to say there is no other pair having quite as much fun in Milan as the Dutch-by-way-of-Russia duo.
That’s what happens when you make it to the Olympics even after your own country says you can’t go.
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Danilova and Tsiba were among the first pairs to skate in the short-form program on Sunday night. By the end of the evening, the German duo of Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin posted the short program’s highest score. Two American duos finished the night in the top 10: Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea in 7th, and Emily Chan and Spencer Howe in 9th. But no one had a better time on the ice than the Dutch duo, the only figure skaters from the Netherlands at the Olympics, and the first pair from their home country ever to reach the Games.
Danilova, who is Russian, began skating with Tsiba, who is Dutch, in 2018. They found immediate success, medaling in four straight Dutch championships from 2020 to 2023 — two gold, two silver. They enjoyed a series of strong worldwide finishes leading up to the 2025 World Championships in Boston, where they finished 15th, good enough to qualify, in the eyes of the International Skating Union, for the Milan Olympics.
Netherlands’ Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba react after competing in the pair skating short program at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. (JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP via Getty Images)
(JULIEN DE ROSA via Getty Images)
And then everything went sideways for the pair.
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In the eyes of the Dutch Olympic committee, just “good enough” to make the Olympics isn’t good enough. If you’re going to go to the Olympics wearing Dutch orange, you’d better be good enough to win, not just show up. That’s the directive of the Nederlands Olympisch Comité*Nederlandse Sport Federatie, abbreviated NOC*NSF, and it’s codified in their performance requirements for athletes seeking to attend the Olympics as members of the Netherlands.
“The ambition of NOC*NSF and the sports federations is to be among the top ten elite sports nations in the world,” the federation says. This is achieved by winning as many medals as possible in as many different sports as possible at the Olympic Games.”
In order to hit those lofty marks, NOC*NSF says, “an elite athlete must have demonstrated the potential to finish in the top eight at the Olympic Games.” In practice, that means even if an athlete qualifies for the Olympics based on an international governing body’s standards, NOC*NSF can block the athlete from attending if the athlete hasn’t met Dutch standards.
They’re serious. In 2024, NOC*NSF forbade three Dutch golfers — Joost Luiten, Darius Van Driel and Dewi Weber — from participating in the Paris Olympics, the second straight Olympics that the Netherlands had blocked certain golfers from playing. The International Golf Federation attempted to intervene on the players’ behalf, to no avail.
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In Danilova and Tsiba’s case, NOC*NSF determined that a 14th-place finish in the worlds would satisfy their expectations — one place higher than they’d finished. The federation gave the pair two more opportunities over the course of 2025 to reach the designated Dutch points benchmark, but they couldn’t do so.
The Royal Dutch Skating Federation (KNSB) appealed to NOC*NSF, arguing that the pair’s 14th-place world ranking, combined with their long string of demonstrated excellence, was enough to warrant an Olympic berth. A Change.org petition organized by fans sought the same reconsideration.
Netherlands’ Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba compete in the pair skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. (JULIEN DE ROSA/Getty Images)
(JULIEN DE ROSA via Getty Images)
Tsiba and Danilova, meanwhile, rode the “emotional rollercoaster,” in Tsiba’s words, between exultation and heartbreak.
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“I remember when I was just driving, and I’m happy trying to train, and I think all of a sudden, ‘Olympic Games,’ and I just start crying out of the blue,” Tsiba said. “I’m cooking, I’m with my music on, listening to, I don’t know, Eminem or something. And then I think about the Olympic Games, and I’m starting to cry because it’s like a knife in your heart, you know?”
“It’s rare that a request to use discretionary powers is approved,” André Cats, director of elite sports at NOC*NSF, said in December. “There have to be truly exceptional reasons. After thoroughly examining the situation, we’re convinced this is the case, and that’s why we’ve made this exceptional decision.”
With their Olympic future assured, and their pairs skate short program date set for more than a week after the Opening Ceremony, Danilova and Tsiba enjoyed every bit of their Olympic experience. They attended the Opening Ceremony and stayed so long that they were the last Dutch athletes still in the stadium. They visited the pin-trading hub in Milan. They reveled in the glory of the Olympic village.
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“One of the best skaters in the Netherlands, she guided us a little bit and she was like, ‘OK, we’re making a plan for you guys,’” Tsiba said. “Because you skate quite late at an event, you come here, first two days you’re a tourist … She said that when she went to the Games [for the first time], she was so much in her bubble that afterwards she was like, ‘I didn’t enjoy anything.’”
And once they finally reached the ice, how did Danilova and Tsiba perform, given the chance? Well … they had fun, at least. They cycled through a graceful routine set to Raury’s “Take Back the Power,” and when it was done, they embraced and kissed at center ice. They finished 17th out of 19 pairs, missing out on qualifying for the free skate by 0.58 points. But they smiled throughout, and they spent a good long time after their skate laughing with several assembled media members.
“All the things that happened within the season are behind us,” Tsiba said, “and we got to have a fresh new start. So that’s amazing, yeah.”
They may have lost at the Olympics, but they made sure they didn’t lose the party.
Morikawa survived a packed leaderboard, and a late push from Scottie Scheffler, to claim the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Sunday afternoon. It marked his first win since the 2023 season.
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Morikawa posted a 5-under 67 in the final round to get to 22-under on the week. That gave him a one-shot win over the field in the first signature event of the PGA Tour season. As a result, Morikawa is taking home a $3.6 million check.
Morikawa had to birdie the final hole to pick up his win, thanks to late charges from Min Woo Lee and Scottie Scheffler, who rallied from eight shots back to get into contention. Scheffler, the top-ranked golfer in the world, made three eagles on the day to get to T4.
Morikawa has now won seven times in his career, though it was his first since the Zozo Championship nearly 850 days ago. He was incredibly emotional after the win, too, and revealed on CBS that he and his wife, Katherine, are now expecting their first child.
Here’s how much Morikawa and the rest of the field this week at Pebble Beach.
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2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Payouts
1. Collin Morikawa — $3.6 million T2. Min Woo Lee, Sepp Straka — $1.76 million T4. Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood — $877,500 T6. Sam Burns, Akshay Bhatia — $715,000 T8. Ryo Hisatsune, Shane Lowry, Nico Echavarria, Jake Knapp, Jacob Bridgeman, Hideki Matsuyama — $515,000 T14. Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tom Hoge — $342,750 18. Tony Finau —$292,000 T19. Rickie Fowler, Brian Harman, Xander Schauffele, Alex Smalley, Russell Henley — $235,000 T24. Jason Day, Nick Taylor, Ryan Fox, Harris English — $162,000 T29. Keegan Bradley, Max McGreevy, Alex Noren, Jordan Spieth, Maverick McNealy — $125,200 T34. Sami Valimaki, Mackenzie Hughes, Taylor Pendrith — $104,000 T37. Justin Rose, Bud Cauley, J.T. Poston, Chris Gotterup, Ludvig Åberg, Max Greyserman, Robert MacIntyre, Ben Griffin — $78,375 T45. Ryan Gerard, J.J. Spaun, Si Woo Kim — $57,000 T48. Pierceson Coody, Kurt Kitayama, Billy Horschel, Andrew Novak $49,250 T52. Patrick Rodgers, Chris Kirk, Keith Mitchell — $45,000 T55. Cameron Young, Sam Stevens, Denny McCarthy — $42,000 T58. Viktor Hovland, Wyndham Clark — $39,750 T60. Sahith Theegala, Aldrich Potgieter, Garrick Higgo, Steven Fisk — $38,250 T64. Emiliano Grillo, Marco Penge, Lucas Glover — $36,500 T67. Rico Hoey, Stephan Jaeger, Matt McCarty — $35,083 T70. Kevin Yu, Corey Conners — $34,375 72. Michael Kim — $34,000 T73. Aaron Rai, Matti Schmid — $33,625 T75. Joe Highsmith, Daniel Berger — $33,125 77. Adam Schenk — $32,750 T78. Brian Campbell, Michael Thorbjornsen, Jhonattan Vegas — $32,250
Scottie Scheffler’s run came just a bit too early on Sunday afternoon at Pebble Beach.
With Scheffler watching from the clubhouse, it was instead Collin Morikawa who made it out to claim the first signature event of the PGA Tour season and end his years-long dry spell.
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Morikawa fended off a huge group late on Sunday afternoon at Pebble Beach Golf Links to claim the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He posted a 5-under 67 in his final round to get to 22-under on the week, which gave him a one-shot win over the field. The win is Morikawa’s seventh of his Tour career, and his first since 2023.
Though he had a two-shot lead late, Morikawa had to birdie the 18th to claim his win. After a short drive on the par-5, Morikawa landed his second shot just short on the rough after a nearly 20-minute delay in the fairway while Jacob Bridgeman struggled ahead of him to close out his round.
Morikawa then easily secured a two-putt birdie, despite his ball sitting right on the edge of the thick rough, to finish out his win.
That left Morikawa understandably emotional on the green as his wife, Katherine Zhu, came out to celebrate with him.
“We’re actually expecting later this year, in a few months, and we just started telling people this week,” Morikawa revealed on CBS, wiping away tears. “We said, ‘What a better way, the best way to announce it to the world if I was able to come out and win?’
“There’s so much to life, there’s so much to enjoy. I’m hard on myself … I’m just so thankful for the people around me.”
Morikawa survives late at Pebble Beach
Morikawa only got into contention thanks to a wild moving day, where he put up 11 birdies to jump into a three-way tie for second. He still entered the final round two shots back of Akshay Bhatia.
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Morikawa hung around early on a windy, rainy Sunday, too. He made the turn at 2-under on the day, and then joined the pack at 20-under after a birdie at the 11th. But it was a 30-footer at the par-4 15th that finally sent Morikawa into the solo lead for the first time.
Morikawa followed that up with an 8-foot birdie putt at the 16th, which suddenly gave him a two-shot lead over the field. But that immediately disappeared, after Min Woo Lee birdied above him and then Morikawa bogeyed the 17th when his tee shot on the par 3 landed in the thick rough well left of the green.
But that set up Morikawa’s two-putt birdie and his eventual win on the final hole.
“[A win here] was never in the dreams, honestly. Pebble Beach was a course that you just wanted to come and play, and you wanted to come and play against the pros and play against the best in the world,” he said on CBS. “62 yesterday, a great field, a great leaderboard looking at the entire day. Just to be able to pull off those last two shots … it feels great.
“I’m slowly trying to smile now, because the tears I think are going away.”
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Even though it was too early, Scheffler was once again in contention. The top-ranked golfer in the world made a massive run earlier in the day after he started eight shots back.
Scheffler posted a 9-under 63, which gave him his 19th straight top-10 finish on Tour, and his 18th round of 63 or better on Tour over the past five seasons — which is five more than anyone else has produced over that timespan. Scheffler joined the leaders at 20-under when he hit the clubhouse, too, thanks to an absolutely ridiculous approach into the par-5 18th as the wind was picking up. That gave him his third eagle of the day. He is now the first golfer in the past four decades to make that many in a single round in this event.
Had it not been for a trio of bogeys, two of which came on the back side, Scheffler may have run away with the event completely. But his bogeys and early start left plenty of time for the rest of the field to overtake him. Lee birdied the 18th, too, to get to 21-under — which eliminated Scheffler from contention and made things more complicated for Morikawa briefly. That gave Lee his second-place finish, his best outing on Tour since his inaugural win last season.
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Scheffler finished in a tie for fourth with Tommy Fleetwood, a shot back from Lee. Sepp Straka joined Lee in second after he eagled the final hole.
Morikawa’s win was the first of his career since he claimed the Zozo Championship in 2023. That came after his British Open win in 2021, which was his second major title. Morikawa missed only three cuts last season and had a pair of runner-up finishes, and the 29-year-old entered this week at No. 19 in the Official World Golf Rankings, but that seventh win continued to elude him.
But now, after nearly 850 days, Morikawa has finally won again.
“Shoot, we’re at Pebble Beach,” Morikawa said, looking out at the Pacific Ocean briefly. “So I’m going to enjoy this one.”
Reddick passed Chase Elliott exiting Turn 4 on the final lap at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday to win his first Daytona 500. Reddick drives for 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Michael Jordan. It’s the first Daytona win for both Reddick and 23XI Racing.
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Reddick passed Elliott, who then crashed into the outside wall before the finish line after Riley Herbst got turned into the wall.
Carson Hocevar was leading when the final lap began, but he too ended up crashed and into the outside wall.
Take a look at how all the chaos unfolded.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever win this race, it’s surreal, honestly,” Reddick said.
Reddick was fourth when the final lap began but somehow avoided the wreck that took out Hocevar. He then ended up behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Elliott on the backstretch as Zane Smith pushed Elliott to the lead.
But Elliott was hung out to dry in the final two corners. Reddick got a push from his teammate Herbst after zooming around Zane Smith and went around Elliott before the crash happened behind him as he took the checkered flag.
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The final lap was the only lap Reddick led all day.
William Byron entered the race looking to become the first driver to win three Daytona 500s in a row. He was caught up in an early wreck when BJ McLeod had a parts failure on his right rear wheel, but was in position to steal another victory late in the race.
However, Byron was slowed by the wreck that included Hocevar and ended up out of contention for the win.
Though Byron’s streak is over, Reddick’s win continues a streak of Daytona 500 winners who haven’t led many laps in their wins.
Over the last six 500s, Austin Cindric’s 21 laps led in 2022 are the most of any winner. Byron led just 14 total laps in his two wins, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led 10 laps in 2023, and Michael McDowell only led the final lap in 2021.
Michael Jordan, NBA Hall of Famer and co-owner of 23XI Racing, reacts in victory lane after Tyler Reddick, driver of the No. 45 Chumba Casino Toyota, wins the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 15, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
(Chris Graythen via Getty Images)
Another NASCAR victory for Michael Jordan
Reddick’s win comes two days before Jordan’s 63rd birthday.
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“I’m ecstatic, I don’t even know what to say. It feels like I won a championship but until I get a ring I won’t even know,” Jordan told Fox after the race.
Jordan became a NASCAR team owner in 2021 when he went in with Denny Hamlin to form 23XI Racing. The team hired Bubba Wallace to drive the No. 23 car and has expanded to three cars with Reddick and Herbst while also fielding a fourth entry on Sunday for Corey Heim.
Just two months earlier, Jordan and Hamlin scored a massive legal victory over NASCAR. The team, along with Front Row Motorsports, sued NASCAR over the sanctioning body’s franchising system. The lawsuit made it all the way to trial, where the two parties finally settled after the trial began.
The settlement was a clear win for the plaintiffs — 23XI and Front Row wanted permanent charters, which are essentially NASCAR’s version of franchises. NASCAR was relenting. But NASCAR gave permanent charters as part of the settlement and the parties also agreed to financial compensation before a jury was needed to reach a verdict.
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After the settlement was announced, NASCAR chairman Jim France and Jordan presented a united front about how the settlement would push NASCAR forward. On Sunday, France was there in victory lane with a hearty handshake to congratulate Jordan and the team after the win.
The green-flag run to the finish was 4 laps
The third stage was caution-free until a late crash with less than 10 laps to go after nearly the entire field had made a pit stop.
Christopher Bell hit the wall after contact from Corey Heim to bring out the yellow flag. Before that crash, only one driver — Michael McDowell — hadn’t pitted.
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McDowell was trying to get to the end of the 200-lap race after last pitting on lap 134 on the 2.5-mile track. It was a Herculean task. But he inherited the lead after the caution and was in position to fight for the win until he was collected in Hocevar’s crash.
It was clear that NASCAR wanted a green-flag finish to the race when it didn’t throw a caution for the first wreck on the final lap. Per NASCAR rules, the field is frozen at the time of caution on the final lap; whoever would have been in first when the caution was triggered would have been the winner.
Would that have led to an unsatisfying ending for a lot of fans? Probably. But was the racing that ensued after the crash any more satisfying? Since 2018, the Daytona 500 has either ended with a caution or a crash on the final lap or a two-lap green-white-checkered finish because of another late caution every season.
Two big crashes in the second stage
Before the final lap, most of the crashing took place in the second stage, when a 20-car pileup at the front of the field, thanks to a bad block by Justin Allgaier triggered mayhem in the tri-oval.
Laps before that, another crash was triggered in the tri-oval after contact among Allgaier, Connor Zilisch and Cody Ware led to a wreck.
Justin Allgaier’s poorly timed block near the end of the second stage of the Daytona 500 took out a host of cars at the front of the field.
Allgaier was leading with less than 10 laps to go before the stage concluded when Denny Hamlin got a push from Ryan Blaney at the front of the outside line entering the tri-oval. As Hamlin went to Allgaier’s outside, Allgaier moved up. Slowly.
The late block collected Hamlin, Blaney, defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen and many others. At least 20 cars were involved. Forty-one cars started the race and 40 were on track at the time of the crash.
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Allgaier races full-time in NASCAR’s second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for JR Motorsports. It was his second straight Daytona 500 racing for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team, as it has attempted each of the past two 500s.
This year’s 500 was just Allgaier’s fifth Cup Series start in the past four seasons. Though he’s an O’Reilly Series champion and has finished in the top five in the standings in each of the past six seasons, it’s fair to wonder if his lack of experience in Cup Series cars helped lead to the crash. There was little reason for his block to happen so lackadaisically. He either needed to let Hamlin drive past or move up in front of him sooner.
It was the second big crash of the race in the tri-oval already. A wreck earlier in the second stage ruined the chances of contending for Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Connor Zilisch and others. Allgaier was also slightly a part of that one as he and Zilisch made contact as the wreck began.
KSU fired Tang on Sunday following the Wildcats’ latest loss. KSU fell to 1-11 in the Big 12 with a 78-64 loss to Houston. It was the sixth straight defeat for Kansas State and came a game after Tang said he was “embarrassed for the university” when criticizing his team following a 91-62 home loss to Cincinnati.
Kansas State is trying to fire Jerome Tang “for cause.” (Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images)
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters)
Kansas State went 71-57 in Tang’s time with the school. His buyout for a firing without cause is over $18 million, but Kansas State is attempting to fire Tang for cause, according to The Manhattan Mercury and other reports.
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The cause? Those comments after the loss to the Bearcats for allegedly disparaging the university. By firing Tang for cause, Kansas State can say it isn’t obligated to pay him his buyout. Tang would have the ability to challenge Kansas State’s basis in court if he so chooses.
And it appears he will do so. He told ESPN that he plans to contest Kansas State’s reasoning.
“I am deeply disappointed with the university’s decision and strongly disagree with the characterization of my termination,” Tang told ESPN. “I have always acted with integrity and faithfully fulfilled my responsibilities as head coach.”
Tang’s best season at Kansas State came in his first year with the school. The Wildcats went 26-10 in 2022-23 and made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament before losing to Florida Atlantic. It was the only time KSU would make the tournament in Tang’s tenure; KSU went 19-15 the next season and then fell to 16-17 in 2024-25.
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This season, the Wildcats are just 10-15 despite signing PJ Haggerty from Memphis out of the transfer portal. Haggerty is averaging 23.3 points per game and shooting 48% from the field. But Kansas State’s defense has been abysmal.
K-State is averaging 80.2 points per game but giving up 80.7 points per game. Just 28 teams are allowing more points per game than the Wildcats this season.
That Cincinnati game appeared to be the tipping point for many Kansas State fans as students wore paper bags over their heads during the game. In his postgame news conference, Tang said the game was “embarrassing” and that “these dudes did not deserve to wear this uniform. There will be very few in it next year.”
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Tang will also not be wearing Kansas State colors next season. He then went on to say the team had practice at 6 a.m. the next day and he had “no answers and no words.”
Tang came to Kansas State from Baylor. He was the Bears’ associate head coach under Scott Drew from 2017-22 and was on the staff when the Bears won the 2021 national title. Before he was the team’s associate head coach, Tang was an assistant with the team since 2003 after coaching high school basketball in Texas.
Day 9 of the 2026 Winter Olympics didn’t bring any new medals for the United States, but there were several major team wins of note to keep the Americans in position to add to that count in the coming days. A few U.S. stars failed to reach the podium on Sunday.
The four-person team of Tabitha Peterson, Cory Thiesse, Tara Peterson and Taylor Anderson-Heide rallied out of a 4-1 hole after the fifth end to somehow beat the Chinese team, 6-5. Two of the points came in the last two ends.
Rui Wang missed her attempt to get a U.S. stone out of position in the ninth, which tied the matchup heading into the final end. While China built a total wall around the button, Tabitha somehow got her stone through traffic to box Wang out. Wang then left her last stone at the back of the house, unable to get enough of a push on it, to allow the U.S. to get a stone closest to the center to steal the final point, and the match.
The U.S. now sits at 4-1, which has them second in the standings behind only Sweden. The Americans will take on Italy on Monday.
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While this didn’t impact the Americans directly, the curling cheating scandal continued on Sunday. World Curling made changes to its umpiring setup for the rest of the event after both Canada’s women’s team and Great Britain’s men’s team had stones pulled from the sheet.
More disappointment for Mikaela Shiffrin
Mikaela Shiffrin’s Olympic struggles continue. After failing to medal in six events in Beijing (2022), Shiffrin started her Milan Cortina games with a disappointing slalom run in the team combined event last week. Her effort there knocked her and teammate Breezy Johnson off the podium after Johnson put them in gold-medal position with a first-place finish in the downhill section.
On Sunday, Shiffrin finished off the podium again with an 11th-place finish in the giant slalom. She stood in seventh place after the first of two runs and fell four spots after the second.
Italy’s Federica Brignone won her second gold medal of the Games (super-G) in the event.
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Shiffrin, meanwhile, maintained a positive attitude on social media after the competition.
Giant slalom is not Shiffrin’s strength. But her finish off the podium puts her one race away from finishing a second consecutive Olympics without a medal.
Shiffrin is widely considered the greatest women’s Alpine skier in the history of the sport with an unrivaled World Cup record. Her Olympic legacy already features two gold medals and one silver from Sochi in 2014 and Pyeongchang in 2018.
But she’s now competed in eight consecutive Olympics events without a podium. She has one more chance in these Games. She’ll compete in her speciality on Wednesday as a favorite to take home gold in the slalom.
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Beijing gold medalist Erin Jackson finishes off podium
Four years ago, Erin Jackson was crowned the world’s fastest woman on skates with a gold medal in 500-meter speed skating at the Beijing Olympics.
She’s since relinquished that title to Dutch skater Femke Kok, who set a new world record in the event in November. And on Sunday, Kok secured Olympic gold with an Olympic-record time of 36.49, a full 0.66 seconds ahead of her Dutch teammate and silver medalist, Jutta Leerdam.
Jackson, meanwhile, finished off the podium. Japan’s Miho Takagi won bronze with a time of 37.27, .05 seconds ahead of Jackson’s fifth-place time of 37.32. Italy’s Serena Pergher finished fourth (37.30).
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Kok squared off against Jackson in a head-to-head race of the world-record holder and the reigning Olympic champion.
Jackson appeared to get off to a better start off the gun. But Kok had secured the lead by the first turn that she expanded on the back stretch. When Kok took the inside lane for the final turn, she was in control.
It was a disappointing finish off the podium for Jackson, but her remarkable Olympic legacy is secure. With her gold in Beijing, Jackson became the first Black woman to win an individual Winter Olympics medal in any sport. She did so having transitioned to the sport relatively late from her career as an inline roller skater.
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Men’s hockey beats Germany
The U.S. men’s hockey team handled business with Germany on Sunday night. The Americans rolled to an easy 5-1 win after a first period in which they were held scoreless up until the final seconds. It was Zach Werenski who got the U.S. on the board with just 8.7 seconds left in the period.
While the Americans haven’t lost yet, they haven’t really impressed, either. They could face much tougher competition in the quarterfinals, where they’ll get the winner of a knockout-round matchup between Sweden and Latvia.
Canada, meanwhile, has outscored its three group-stage opponents 20-3 — more than living up to the gold-medal favorite title it’s held so far in these Games.
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Two American teams in top 10 in figure skating
It may not have been the best start, but two American duos are in position after Day 1 of pairs figure skating in Milan.
Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam posted a season-best 71.87 in their short program outing on Sunday to open the competition. That got the pair, which already won gold in the team competition, in seventh in the standings. Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan weren’t far behind with an opening score of 71.06, which has them in ninth.
The German pair of Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin took a commanding lead with an 80.01 in their short program, nearly five full points ahead of the next closest team.
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It will likely take a significant push for either American team to make the podium after Monday’s free skate. The Americans haven’t won a medal in pairs since 1988, either. While it could have been better, the United States isn’t out of it on the ice just yet.
Team USA medals remain at 17
Highlight of the day
Dual moguls are chaos.
Japan’s Ikuma Horishima botched the landing on his last jump in the men’s round of 16 Sunday, then bounced back up to ski backward over the finish line. And he still won.
Horishima, skiing on the right in the video below, started to lose control of his run after the first of two jumps. But he didn’t miss a gate and recovered in time to hit the ramp for his second.
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He crash landed on the jump, but maintained his downhill momentum and popped back up skiing backward before the finish line, where he crossed just ahead of USA’s Nick Page.
It turned out that he didn’t need to cross first as Page missed a gate during his own rocky run and was disqualified. As long as Horishima completed a legal run, he would be declared the winner.
It all added up to a wild finish. Horishima rode the win all the way to the gold-medal race, where he lost to Canada’s Mikaël Kingsbury to finish in silver-medal position.
One More Thing: A silver-medal tie
Thea Louise Stjernesund (Norway) and Sara Hector (Sweden) each won a silver medal on Sunday in a rare tie. (Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)
(picture alliance via Getty Images)
Thea Louise Stjernesund and Sara Hector pulled off a rare feat on Sunday in the women’s giant slalom. They posted the exact same time, and left the mountain sharing a silver medal.
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Stjernesund, of Norway, and Hector, of Sweden, finished with the exact same time in both runs of the giant slalom on Sunday in wild fashion. The two were in total lockstep. That gave them each the silver medal behind Italy’s Federica Brignone.
While sharing an Olympic medal may not always be received well, the two seemed totally thrilled by their finish.
“We win together, for sure,” Hector said, via Reuters. “It’s like they say, feelings are better when they are shared.”
Powell, the Big East said on Sunday, “engaged in additional combative actions” during the fight. As a result, the conference hit him with a two-game suspension in addition to the automatic one-game suspension for fighting mandated by the NCAA.
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Powell was the only player involved in the incident to be assessed additional penalties. He will now miss games against DePaul, Xavier and Creighton, and will be eligible to return March 4 against Marquette.
Powell was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul after he drilled Bryce Hopkins from behind as Hopkins was going up for a layup early in the second half at Amica Mutual Pavilion on Saturday. That sparked a massive fight that resulted in six of the game’s seven ejections. At one point, Powell even tried to swing on St. John’s forward Dillion Mitchell, though Mitchell ducked just in time.
The seventh ejection came later in the second half after Providence’s Jamier Jones was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul. In total, Jones, Powell and Jaylin Sellers were ejected for Providence. Mitchell, Kelvin Odih, Ruben Prey and Sadiku Ibine Ayo were ejected for St. John’s.
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The win for St. John’s pushed the Red Storm to 20-5 on the season. It has now won 11 straight entering Wednesday’s contest at Marquette. Powell has averaged 4.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game this season at Providence. The Friars fell to 11-15 after the loss, which has them ninth in the Big East standings.
