Femke Kok dominates 500m speed skating to end Jackson’s hopes of retaining Olympic title

Speed skater Femke Kok had admitted that anything but gold in her signature 500m race would be a disappointment after opening her Olympic account last Monday with silver in a Dutch one-two alongside Jutta Leerdam in the 1000m. On Sunday evening, she performed like an athlete insistent on leaving no room for doubt.Kok leveraged two years of total sprint dominance into the first Olympic gold medal of her career. She blew away the field in the women’s 500m in an Olympic-record time of 36.49sec with the kind of controlled, furious circuit that has made her a three-time world champion at the distance at 25 years old

Jeremiah Azu completes surprise sprint double at UK indoor championships

Amid a raft of high-profile absentees from Birmingham this weekend it was quite the surprise to see Jeremiah Azu’s name on the 200m start list for the UK Athletics Indoor Championships on Sunday.The 200m is not contested internationally during the indoor season so elite athletes almost never race it, and Azu had already won the 60m title a day earlier. In an era where world-class athletes tend to wrap themselves in cotton wool for fear of injury it was unusual to see one so accomplished run an additional three times in three hours when there was no particular need.That Azu triumphed – in a personal best of 20.77sec – came as little surprise given his accolades include world and European 60m gold medals

England’s attacking options narrow with Arundell facing ban for crunch Ireland game

Steve Borthwick is set for a major selection headache as England seek to get their Six Nations campaign back on track against Ireland on Saturday with Henry Arundell facing a suspension after his red card against Scotland.England have promised an “honest and emotional” review into their dismal Calcutta Cup defeat before Borthwick contemplates team changes to face Ireland and he is likely to be without Arundell after tournament organisers confirmed he will face a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday. Arundell’s first yellow was shown for not releasing after a covering tackle on Rory Darge, the second for taking out Kyle Steyn in the air.Borthwick’s wing options are already depleted with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso nursing a hamstring injury, and Arundell’s expected unavailability would leave the head coach without any express pace for the visit of Andy Farrell’s side. Elliot Daly is in the wider squad but has been out of form this season while Cadan Murley, who endured a torrid debut against Ireland 12 months ago, is another option

Wales 12-54 France: Six Nations 2026 rugby union – as it happened

The full match report is in, so I’ll take my leave. Thanks for your emails and company. On to round three next weekend!Dewi Lake is offering thoughts“I guess it’s a step forward, we were a lot better than last week, but there’s still lots to work on. Our kick chase needs work. It’s always a privilege to pull the jersey on and that will never change, that’s where the morale comes from

Théo Attissogbe leads imperious France to eight-try romp over sorry Wales

We are running out of ways to describe this. Another match in what used to be rugby’s most passionate cauldron, another dismantling, another humiliation.France are good, really good, but we might as well have been in Paris, so loud was the travelling support, so gaping the rows of empty seats. The official attendance was just shy of 60,000. Maybe, but it looked and felt a good deal less than that

India thrash Pakistan by 61 runs: T20 Cricket World Cup – as it happened

India beat Pakistan in an ICC tournament once again. They top Group A and have qualified for the Super 8s with three win out of three.Pakistan will need to beat Namibia in their final game on Wednesday to assure their own progress.Time for us to call it a day, thanks for tuning in, goodbye.The Captains speak:Suryakumar Yadav – India captain:This is for India