U.S./World Sports category, Page 341
NCAA: College athletes graduating at record-high rate
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA said Wednesday that the overall graduation rate for college athletes hit a record high of 89%. That’s up 1 percentage point from last year’s previous one-year high and almost 10 percentage points above the goal established by the late Myles Brand when the measure was first...
UEFA leader wants ‘war on racists’ after English face abuseVideo
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin urged governments to escalate the “war on the racists” to help soccer authorities eliminate them from stadiums after England players faced abuse in Bulgaria. In a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press, Ceferin blamed a rise in nationalism across Europe for fueling racism at matches and...
U.S. gymnast Simone Biles is face of 2020 Olympics after record world medal haulVideo
STUTTGART, Germany — Next stop Tokyo for Simone Biles. With Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps both retired since the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the U.S. gymnast will be the face of the games for much of the world. In gymnastics, no one else comes close. Biles won five...
Ryan Blaney nips Ryan Newman in photo finish at TalladegaVideo
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Ryan Blaney beat Ryan Newman in a door-to-door race to the finish line to win Monday at Talladega Superspeedway and advance to the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs. Blaney’s first win of the season came as he was desperately trying to remain in title contention. The playoff...
Column: Florida’s loss to LSU was devastatingly meaningless
BATON ROUGE, La. — This might go down as the most feverishly exciting and devastatingly meaningless defeat in the history of Florida Gators football. At first glance, No. 5 LSU’s wild and crazy 42-28 shootout victory over the No. 7 Gators on a surreal Saturday night on the Louisiana bayou...
Rain forces NASCAR to postpone Talladega raceVideo
TALLADEGA, Ala. — William Byron and his fellow playoff contenders are getting an extra day of suspense at Talladega Superspeedway. NASCAR postponed the final two race stages until Monday after rain forced a halt moments after Byron won the first stage Sunday. It’s the middle race of Round 2 in...
AP Top 25: LSU jumps to No. 2; Penn State up to No. 7; Georgia drops to No. 10
NEW YORK — LSU moved up to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll, giving the Southeastern Conference the top two teams in the country for the 29th time and putting the Tigers behind No. 1 Alabama less than a month before the rivals meet in Tuscaloosa. The...
Simone Biles sets all-time medal record at gymnastics worlds
STUTTGART, Germany — Everyone counts Simone Biles’ medals except Simone Biles. Winning her 24th and 25th world championship medals in beam and floor Sunday put the United States gymnast top of the all-time medal charts for the championships. Biles won five gold medals this week. If she can repeat that...
‘No human is limited’: Eliud Kipchoge runs sub-2 hour marathon
VIENNA — Roger Bannister, 1954. Neil Armstrong, 1969. Eliud Kipchoge, 2019? Like the sub-four minute mile and walking on the moon, running a marathon in less than two hours had seemed impossible — until Saturday. So when Olympic champion Kipchoge broke the barrier, the question arose as to where to...
CeeDee Lamb, No. 6 Oklahoma top No. 11 Texas in Red River rivalryVideo
DALLAS — Jalen Hurts tried the Golden Hat on for size and gave a half-hearted “horns down” sign in a group photo with the cheerleaders while celebrating the way Kyler Murray couldn’t in the Red River rivalry a year ago. Now the Oklahoma quarterback will try to get the Sooners...
South Carolina shocks No. 3 Georgia in 2OT after missed field goal
ATHENS, Ga. — Jake Fromm knew better than to blame Georgia’s first loss on Rodrigo Blankenship’s missed 42-yard field goal that ended the game. It was four turnovers — on the usually rock-solid Fromm’s three interceptions and lost fumble — that put a big dent in the Bulldogs’ championship hopes....
Manufacturers’ drivers being urged to work together at Talladega
TALLADEGA, Ala. — The first loser at Talladega Superspeedway better not have been hung out to dry in the closing laps by a teammate. And in the case of Sunday’s race, teammates will have a far wider definition. Manufacturers have taken steps to mandate their drivers work together to ensure...
Speed racer: Denny Hamlin goes nearly 205 mph at TalladegaVideo
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Denny Hamlin climbed from his car at Talladega Superspeedway and was shocked to learn he not only had topped the speed chart but reached nearly 205 mph in pacing practice. “It really caught me off guard,” Hamlin said Friday after his lap at 204.904 mph. The Daytona...
Boxer Errol Spence seriously injured in Dallas Ferrari crash
DALLAS — Welterweight boxing champion Errol Spence crashed a speeding Ferrari in Dallas early Thursday and was badly injured but is expected to survive, police said. The crash happened just before 3 a.m., when Spence’s Ferrari crossed a median into oncoming traffic and flipped over several times, ejecting Spence, who...
First for golf: Players Championship to stream every shot
The PGA Tour is expanding its live video coverage of The Players Championship as far as it can go — every shot by every player in every round. In a first for golf, and most likely the first step toward video access to every player at every tournament, The Players...
Ravens must reconfigure backfield after losing JeffersonVideo
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Baltimore Ravens’ depth in the secondary is starting to become an issue for a team that already has had its share of problems defending the pass. Safety Tony Jefferson sustained a season-ending knee injury in Sunday’s 26-23 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was...
Kyle Larson flashes superstar potential with NASCAR playoff win at Dover
DOVER, Del. — Kyle Larson was the can’t-miss future star who tore up the sprint car circuit and would lead a new generation of young stars into the next era of NASCAR. His promise yet unfulfilled, Larson’s path toward prominence has been slow burning in six-plus years in the Cup...
Georgia, Ohio State tied at No. 3 in latest AP Top 25 poll
Ohio State and Georgia are tied at No. 3 in the Associated Press college football poll, and Florida surged to No. 7 after a big victory. No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Clemson held their spots Sunday after a week off for both, but the Buckeyes caught up to the...
No. 10 Penn State looking for offensive growth as defense shines
UNIVERSITY PARK — Sean Clifford knows he and the rest of Penn State’s offense have a comfortable margin of error given the way the Nittany Lions defense has been playing. But Penn State’s quarterback doesn’t want to lean on dominant defensive efforts like the 10-sack performance that fueled Saturday’s 35-7...
Lamical Perine, defense lift No. 10 Florida past No. 7 Auburn
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Lamical Perine was too slow to play for Auburn three years ago, a hurtful evaluation that has stuck with him. He showed plenty of speed while running away from the Tigers — and a few guys he played against in high school — in the Swamp on...
Jonathan Taylor scores 5 TDs to lead No. 8 Wisconsin past Kent State
MADISON, Wis. — A team with a good running back and a stout defense is tough to beat. Just ask Kent State coach Sean Lewis. Following a 48-0 loss Saturday at No. 8 Wisconsin, the 33-year-old Lewis, who played quarterback and tight end for the Badgers from 2004-07, said Wisconsin...
No. 19 Michigan leans on defense to beat No. 14 Iowa
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Leaning on a sack-making, turnover-producing defense, No. 19 Michigan earned a desperately needed win. Zach Charbonnet ran for a 2-yard touchdown to give the Wolverines an early double-digit lead, and their defense did the rest in a 10-3 win over No. 14 Iowa, forcing four turnovers...
Splash & Go: Bubba Wallace has few regrets for splashing BowmanVideo
DOVER, Del. — Bubba Wallace has few regrets over his splash-and-go incident with Alex Bowman. Wallace met with NASCAR officials Thursday in the wake of tossing his drink at Bowman after the race ended last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Wallace said his frustration stemmed from previous run-ins with Bowman...
Bundesliga switching to ESPN+ from Fox for 2020-21 season
NEW YORK — Germany’s Bundesliga is moving its U.S. telecasts from Fox to ESPN, which will carry most of the matches on its digital streaming service in the latest switch from traditional broadcast networks. ESPN and the Bundesliga announced Monday they had reached a six-year agreement that starts with the...
California to let college athletes make money, defying NCAA
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Defying the NCAA, California’s governor signed a first-in-the-nation law Monday that will let college athletes hire agents and make money from endorsements — a move that could upend amateur sports in the U.S. and trigger a legal challenge. Under the law, which takes effect in 2023, students...
