Lando Norris wins sprint race at F1 Miami Grand Prix as McLaren roar back

Lando Norris won the sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix with a dominant drive for McLaren, beating his teammate, Oscar Piastri, to secure a one-two for the team and deny Mercedes a win for the first time this season.Charles Leclerc took a strong third for Ferrari, but Mercedes, dominant for the opening three meetings, could manage only fourth and sixth for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli respectively. Antonelli had finished fourth, but was given a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, a costly error for the championship leader. Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton seventh for Ferrari.Norris, the defending world champion, put in a calm, controlled drive to seal his first win this year in the 19-lap dash, something of a staid affair around the Hard Rock Stadium, but has potentially kickstarted McLaren’s championship ambitions

Leinster hold off late charge from Toulon to edge into Champions Cup final

They made a bit of a meal of it, but Leinster will march on Bilbao in a few weeks for their ninth Champions Cup final. Given that was where they last won this thing, in 2018, for the fourth time, they might consider the omen positive, but this semi-final, their 17th, was not a classic.Which is not to say it was boring. Leinster are not convincing this season, and one telltale sign of a team with a confidence issue is the offering up of hope to a seemingly defeated opponent. The hosts, enjoying a knockout tie at the Aviva for the umpteenth time, went 18 points clear when Caelan Doris scored their fourth with a little more than 10 minutes to play

Bow Echo’s 2,000 Guineas win a landmark for Loughnane and Boughey – as it happened

Youth was triumphant in the 2,000 Guineas as the 34-year-old George Boughey saddled Bow Echo to win the first Classic of the season with Billy “the Kid” Loughnane, who turned 20 in March, in the saddle.It was a landmark win for trainer and jockey. Boughey was adding the 2,000 Guineas to his win in the 1,000 Guineas in 2022, while Loughnane, who has been seen as a future champion ever since his emergence as a precocious 16-year-old talent in the autumn of 2022, registered his first Classic success with a supremely confident ride, bringing Bow Echo, a 9-2 chance, with a decisive run towards the stands’ side to win by two-and-three-quarter lengths. Gstaad and Distant Storm, the 3-1 joint-favourites, were second and third.“I’ve wanted to be a jockey ever since I could talk, and I’ve put so much work into being where I am today and I’m very fortunate to ride a horse like Bow Echo

Naoya Inoue retains undisputed super-bantamweight title v Junto Nakatani – as it happened

That’ll do it for our live coverage. Thanks for sticking with us through internet difficulties in Tokyo! Full fight report coming soon.Here’s the official scorecard from tonight’s main event:Inoue was able to turn back a hardy Nakatani rally in the middle rounds to come away with the close but uncontroversial decision.“Thank you, everyone!” Inoue said through an interpreter after the fight.“I would like to show some appreciation for Junto Nakatani for fighting me tonight

At 41, LeBron James is turning back the clock and taking the Lakers on a storybook playoff run

The veteran star’s days as the No 1 option once appeared behind him. Against the favored Rockets, he put Father Time on the ropes and his team on his backThe date is 12 March, and the Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of a run that’s garnering a lot of well-deserved attention, in a month that sees them lose just two contests and win 15. The spirit of the locker room is at an all-time high, and it’s clear in talking to LeBron James, the 41-year-old storied veteran and greatest-of-all-time candidate who recently put his ego aside to accept a role as the team’s third option, that he believes what many around the NBA are starting to as well: his Lakers have a real shot at contention.“As you get older, you appreciate the moment more than anything. When you’re younger, you think about what you’ve done in the past, or what’s to come in the future,” he tells me when I ask how he’s been able to be so present of late, in light of the ups and downs of a topsy-turvy Lakers season

Women’s Elite Rugby enters season two with lessons learned, a pop star investor and ambition for US game

The semi-pro league gets under way with aims of elevating the sport ahead of the 2033 World Cup on American soilDr Jessica Hammond-Graf is president and chief sporting officer of Women’s Elite Rugby, the US semi-professional rugby union competition that kicks off its second season on Saturday in Massachusetts and Illinois. Like most Americans, she did not grow up with the game.An Army kid, she spent a lot of time playing soccer. In the early 90s, at the University of Connecticut, she tried out for the round ball and then played Ultimate Frisbee. Then, one fateful day, a woman on her floor said, “Hey, you should come try rugby, OK?” Hammond-Graf agreed, then found herself starting her very first game at fly-half, responsible for directing a team