Lindsey Vonn says she almost had leg amputated after crash at Winter Olympics

• 41-year-old developed compartment syndrome

• Skier credits Team USA surgeon with saving leg

Lindsey Vonn says she came close to having her leg amputated in the aftermath of her crash during the Olympic downhill earlier this month.

The 41-year-old sustained a complex tibia fracture to her left leg in the crash and underwent multiple surgeries in Italy before being flown back to the US for further treatment last week. But in an Instagram post on Monday, the American said the crash also led to compartment syndrome in her leg. The condition occurs after traumatic injuries such as falls from heights and car crashes. According to the Cleveland Clinic, “compartment syndrome happens when there’s too much pressure around your muscles. The pressure restricts the flow of blood, fresh oxygen and nutrients to your muscles and nerves. Compartment syndrome is extremely painful.” The lack of blood flow can lead to permanent damage to patients.

Published: February 23, 2026, 3:51 pm

Supersub Benjamin Sesko fires Manchester United past Everton and into top four

Sir Jim Ratcliffe must be seriously conflicted, among other things. Manchester United’s advance towards the riches of the Champions League gathered momentum at Everton thanks to Slovenia’s Benjamin Sesko, Brazil’s Matheus Cunha and Belgium’s Senne Lammens. While United’s largest single shareholder creates division, the unity of Michael Carrick’s diverse team proved invaluable at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Sesko made a telling impact off the bench for the second game in succession to secure a slender but precious victory in the race for Champions League qualification. Having preserved Carrick’s unbeaten record as United manager last time out at West Ham, the expensive summer signing delivered victory with a clinical finish to take his team fourth in the table, three points clear of Chelsea and ­Liverpool. Carrick now has five wins and one draw from his six games at the helm. His audition for the permanent job could not have gone much better thus far.

Published: February 23, 2026, 10:06 pm

The US moved away from its heartland to set a Winter Olympics high in Italy

Other nations are catching up with the US in its traditional strengths such as snowboarding. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing for Americans

In 2002, on home ice and snow in Utah, the USA obliterated its records for most gold medals (10, beating the previous high of six) and most overall medals (34, more than two times the previous high of 13) by the country in a single Winter Olympics.

In 2026, the USA broke that national record for gold medals with 12, and broke the 30-medal mark for the first time outside North America (Norway broke the overall record with 18 golds).

Published: February 23, 2026, 8:28 pm

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to fight in September rematch on Netflix

• 40-something fighters will meet in Las Vegas

• Mayweather won previous encounter in 2015

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will face each other on 19 September in Las Vegas in a rematch of one of the biggest fights in boxing history.

Their first fight, in 2015, was generally seen as a tame affair with both fighters past their peaks. September’s bout, which will be streamed live on Netflix, is likely to be of an even lower quality. Mayweather and Pacquiao will be 49 and 47 respectively when they fight. Mayweather’s last professional fight, which preserved his unbeaten record, came in 2017, although that was a glorified exhibition against UFC star Conor McGregor. Pacquiao fought for the WBC welterweight championship last year, but is far from the force he was in his prime.

Published: February 23, 2026, 9:39 pm

Benfica’s Prestianni suspended by Uefa after Vinícius Júnior incident

• Benfica appeal against ban for Real Madrid second leg

• Brazilian alleged he was racially abused

Gianluca Prestianni will not be available for Benfica’s Champions League playoff at Real Madrid on Wednesday night after Uefa suspended him following allegations that he racially abused Vinícius Júnior during the first leg. The one‑game ban is a provisional mea­sure as an investigation continues.

Benfica have said they will appeal and regret being “deprived” of the winger, but the club admitted they did not expect to be able to prevent the 20-year-old Argentinian from missing the second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Published: February 23, 2026, 6:36 pm

‘Hockey’s not hockey any more’: did three-on-three overtime ruin Canada’s Olympics?

Two Olympic finals between Canada and the US were settled by sudden death. The format made the showpieces feel more like a coin toss than a climax

Two Olympic finals against the US, two strong performances, two sudden-death losses. Canada is so over overtime.

While all good things must come to an end, it’s hard to fathom why hockey’s international rule-makers think that the very best things – huge clashes that were some of the hottest tickets of the entire Olympics – should be ended using three-on-three golden-goal overtime, a concept beloved only by people with a train to catch or firm dinner reservations.

Published: February 23, 2026, 12:05 am

Mercedes magic and Ferrari’s rapid starts: what we learned from F1 testing

George Russell has been purring in a balanced car in pre-season while Aston Martin are still hunting for power

The big four – Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren – have been at pains throughout testing to claim they are not the top dog, in something of an inverse Mexican standoff, each decrying their own strengths. Undeniably, however, Mercedes emerge from the three pre-season tests looking strong.

Published: February 23, 2026, 8:00 am

Mexico erupts and World Cup security fears rise after a cartel boss’s killing

The fallout from the operation that took out ‘El Mencho’ has already led to the cancellation of football matches. Could the World Cup be affected too?

• Violence erupts after Mexican forces kill cartel boss ‘El Mencho’

• Who was ‘El Mencho’, the former police officer who co-founded an ultraviolent cartel?

There is just one road that leads to the Estadio Akron, the stadium home to Mexican club Chivas de Guadalajara, which is scheduled to host four group matches at this year’s World Cup. As the tournament approaches, traffic has been the main concern about the stadium.

On Sunday, there was a different issue. A little more than a mile away, near the go-kart track named for Mexican Formula One driver Sergio “Checo” Pérez, a burning bus blocked the road.

Published: February 23, 2026, 12:51 pm

Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Rio Ngumoha lifts Liverpool, the tussle to be Harry Kane’s England deputy and Chelsea self-destruct

Tottenham weren’t quite as dreadful as they were in losing 4-1 to Arsenal in November, but they were still extremely so, devoid of wit, energy, solidity, creativity, quality, and everything else one would hope to see in a football team. Make no mistake, they are in serious danger of going down and, assessing their fixtures, it is not easy to see where they might win enough points to stay up – all the more so given the form of West Ham and Nottingham Forest who are both playing well. Spurs, on the other hand, haven’t won a league game in 2026 and look like they’ve forgotten how – partly, it must be said, because of an awful injury list. So, where does Igor Tudor go from here? It may well be that his only option is to pick both Dominic Solanke and Randal Kolo Muani, get balls into the box, and hope they can make enough of them to save him – which might not be The Tottenham Way^TM, but is a lot better than relegation. Daniel Harris

Published: February 23, 2026, 8:00 am

Police investigate racist abuse aimed at four Premier League players

• Spate of online abuse occurred across last weekend

• Prime minister and Kick It Out call for action

Police have warned anyone directing online racist abuse at Premier League footballers that they cannot “hide behind their keyboards” after opening investigations into posts aimed at four players over the weekend.

The prime minister’s spokesperson has called for social media companies such as Meta – which owns Instagram – to help identify the culprits after the Wolves forward Tolu Arokodare and the Sunderland midfielder Romaine Mundle revealed they had been sent abusive messages after their matches on Sunday. That came after Chelsea’s Wesley Fofana and Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri had also reported racist messages that were sent to them on Saturday.

Published: February 23, 2026, 1:53 pm

Fatigue has shaped the balance and madness of today’s Premier League | Jonathan Wilson

The ever-increasing number of games, combined with financial regulation, has produced flat play on the field but a tighter table overall

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

A constant feature of this season has been the background grumble of dissatisfaction. You don’t have to spend long on social media to see moans about the quality of play, the sense that everything has somehow gone backwards since the tactical focus began to shift away from the pure possession and positional football of the peak Pep Guardiola years to something more direct and focused on set plays.

And yet, as we enter the run-in, there appears to be a proper Premier League title race. There is an extremely competitive battle to finish in the top five and qualify for next season’s Champions League and, although Wolves and Burnley are probably doomed, there are four teams scrapping to avoid that last relegation slot with another three glancing a little nervously over their shoulders.

Published: February 23, 2026, 4:00 pm

‘Most of us spoke’: crunch talks fired up Arsenal for derby win, reveals Gyökeres

• Team meeting led to ‘honest’ exchange, says striker

• Arsenal five points clear but City have game in hand

Viktor Gyökeres has revealed that Arsenal’s brutally honest team discussions after the draw at Wolves last Wednesday brought renewed purpose and helped them to secure a restorative win at Tottenham on Sunday.

Gyökeres produced arguably his best performance for Arsenal in the 4-1 derby victory, threatening from start to finish and scoring two goals. It was the perfect way for Arsenal to respond to the Wolves game, when they surrendered a 2-0 lead in a match that ended in a 2-2 stalemate.

Published: February 23, 2026, 2:00 pm

‘An apotheosis’: Osasuna rejoice at ending 15-year wait to topple Real Madrid | Sid Lowe

After relegation fears, historic late victory has goalkeeper jumping in the stands and El Sadar dreaming of Europe

There’s only one thing better than celebrating a brilliant 90th-minute winner that at last delivers victory over the team you most want to beat, 15 long years later. Celebrating it twice. So this Saturday, that was exactly what Sergio Herrera did. At the north end of El Sadar, where for one night only they thought VAR might be a good thing, Raúl García applied the brakes, sent Raúl Asencio sliding by out of shot and curled a gorgeous finish beyond Thibaut Courtois to defeat Real Madrid 2-1; at the south end, Osasuna’s keeper turned, jumped over the hoardings where the ticker tape, armbands and beach balls lay spent, and leapt into the arms of the fans going wild behind his goal, an extra notch somehow found on that volume dial, pandemonium taking Pamplona.

Which was when someone noticed that the assistant had his flag up, the referee, Alejandro Quintero, had his whistle in his mouth, and García had his hands over his face. Herrera climbed down, lamenting his lack of patience, but he didn’t have to wait long until everything turned out nice again and he got to have another go. Sixty-four seconds passed before Quintero took his finger out his ear, drew a screen and pointed at the centre circle. The offside overruled, the goal given, victory over Madrid close, Herrera set off once more. He sprinted along the line and back again screaming all the way, let loose for good this time. “Bloody hell,” he said after, the offside had been a blow – “una leche”, in his words – but this was marvellous.

Published: February 23, 2026, 5:09 pm

Milan lose more ground on Inter as Loftus-Cheek suffers World Cup blow | Nicky Bandini

Defeat by Carlos Cuesta’s Parma leaves Rossoneri 10 points off top spot as England midfielder sustains broken jaw

These were supposed to be the weeks when Milan held the upper hand over their Serie A rivals, granted six days to prepare for a home game against bottom-half opposition while the likes of Inter, Juventus and Atalanta dragged themselves back exhausted from European away trips. Demoralised, too, after losing to Bodø/Glimt, Galatasaray and Borussia Dortmund by a combined 10 goals to three.

It was a grim week for Italian football, the sort that provokes another round of sad think-pieces about whether the nation’s teams will ever again be competitive in the continent’s biggest tournament. A discourse which often seems to skim over the fact one of them has gone to the final twice in the past three seasons.

Published: February 23, 2026, 1:33 pm

Women’s FA Cup talking points: Kerr shows the way and Liverpool resurgence continues

Sam Kerr is ready for business end of season, Chatham’s goalkeeper made to work and Kim Little continues to shine

It has not been the easiest season for Sam Kerr. After missing 20 months with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, she has had her time limited to just a handful of starts across all competition – mainly the cups. She may not have scored the winner that sent Chelsea through to the Women’s FA Cup quarter-finals but her goal that gave the Blues the lead against Manchester United felt almost inevitable. Within six minutes of entering the pitch, the Australian produced an instinctive finish that will have gone some way to quieten questions about whether she could rediscover her top form. “It’s been a bit tough with many things, like not getting the minutes she wanted,” Sonia Bompastor said. “It was also a bit difficult emotionally with the decisions that have been made. [Today] will have been great for her confidence and I know she will be ready for the business end of the season.” Sophie Downey

Match report: Chelsea 2-1 Manchester United

Match report: Birmingham 8-0 Chatham Town

Published: February 23, 2026, 11:43 am

Australia v India: first women’s cricket one-day international – live

• Updates from the opening ODI at Allan Border Field

• Any thoughts? Get in touch with an email

1st over: India 0-1 (Mandhana 0, Verma 0) Schutt almost has two! Verma tries to counterattack but mistimes a straight drive that is just out of reach of the bowler’s left hand in her follow through. Outstanding opening over from the experienced South Australian, who wasn’t selected in the original ODI squad, but has come in today with immediate effect, hooping the ball into the right-handers from over the wicket.

Schutt’s second delivery swings in from wide on the crease, hits a good line and length, and jags massively off the pitch, pinning Rawal on the crease. That looks very out. The Indian opener reviews but DRS does not save her. What a start for Australia!

Published: February 24, 2026, 5:14 am

‘Landmark moment’: Emma Lawrence to become first woman to call NRL games

• Presenter joins Triple M’s play-by-play commentary team

• Move hailed as win for women working in sport broadcasting

Emma Lawrence will become the first woman in NRL broadcast history to call a game, with Triple M including “one of the sharpest broadcasters in rugby league” on its play-by-play commentary team for the new season.

Lawrence, one of the most respected voices in the game, will enter the domain previously reserved for men in a move the radio station called a “landmark moment”. Female voices are present across broader coverage of the NRL, but a woman has never been handed the prestigious play-by-play call before.

Published: February 24, 2026, 1:33 am

England expected to field second-string XV against Fiji due to travel schedule chaos

• Nations Championship involves 25,000-mile itinerary

• England to split squad in July and leave a team to face Fiji

England have been handed a gruelling 25,000-mile travel itinerary for their inaugural Nations ^­Championship fixtures in July and are expected to split their squad and field a weakened team against Fiji as a result.

As revealed exclusively by the Guardian, England’s match against Fiji – the week after they face South Africa in Johannesburg and the week before playing away in Argentina – will be staged at Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Published: February 23, 2026, 5:00 pm

Farhan has Hundred hopes despite Indian owners not signing Pakistan players

• Sahibzada Farhan ‘very hopeful’ of securing a deal

• Pakistan players make up 63 of 710-man auction longlist

Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan remains hopeful of securing a contract to play in the Hundred this year, despite reports that the tournament’s four Indian-owned teams will not consider signing players from the country, but he admitted that selection decisions are “not in our hands”.

Farhan, who is the leading run-scorer at the T20 World Cup, is one of 63 Pakistani players on the 710-name longlist put forward for the men’s auction on 12 March. Despite the rumours, more Pakistani players have made themselves available than those from any other foreign nation, with all but two of the country’s 15-man World Cup squad hoping for a deal.

Published: February 23, 2026, 3:09 pm

England T20 series in South Africa scrapped due to franchise schedule clash

• England tour to feature three Tests and three ODIs

• ODIs will be at smaller grounds due to SA20 bookings

England’s planned Twenty20 series in South Africa next January has been scrapped owing to a clash with the domestic SA20 tournament in the latest indication of the growing primacy of franchise cricket.

The Guardian revealed earlier this month that the white-ball leg of England’s tour was under threat as a result of a scheduling clash with SA20, which was due to run from 9 January until 14 February 2027.

Published: February 23, 2026, 11:39 am

Dick Advocaat resigns as Curaçao head coach before country’s first World Cup

• Dutchman steps down for personal reasons

• Caribbean island only has population of 150,000

Dick Advocaat led Curaçao to their first World Cup but will not be in charge of the team at the tournament itself after resigning from the head coach’s post for personal reasons.

“Dick Advocaat has stepped down with immediate effect as head coach of the national football team of Curaçao,” the country’s football federation confirmed on social media, the statement going onto say that the 78-year-old will “devote his full attention to his daughter, who is facing health issues”.

Published: February 23, 2026, 11:31 am

Trump invites US Olympic hockey heroes to State of the Union in locker-room call

• Trump invites Olympic champions to State of the Union

• FBI director Kash Patel joins locker-room revelry in Milan

• USA women turn down invite over previous commitments

Donald Trump made a congratulatory phone call to the United States men’s hockey team after their dramatic win over Canada in the Olympic gold medal game on Sunday afternoon, praising what he called an “unbelievable” performance and inviting the players to Washington DC this week.

The US president addressed the team by speakerphone shortly after their 2-1 overtime victory, telling them they had delivered a moment the country would remember for decades.

Published: February 23, 2026, 12:56 pm

LAFC’s dominant win over Inter Miami showed the value of comfort and continuity

Three thoughts on the opening weekend of MLS in 2026, including a new Galaxy forward to fear and a pointed celebration in DC

You know a situation is dire when it casts Luis Suárez as its level-headed participant.

Such were the scenes after Inter Miami opened their MLS Cup defense with a pitiful 3-0 defeat at Los Angeles FC. Through 90 minutes, with LAFC coming off a midweek continental match, both team’s stars stuck it out to try starting the 2026 season on the right foot. Son Heung-min made it 89 minutes, subbed out when the result was beyond doubt. Lionel Messi played every minute but was held without a goal contribution, failing to place either of his shot attempts on target and seeing all three created chances go uncashed by his teammates.

Published: February 23, 2026, 11:00 am