Two races, two golds: Jordan Stolz smashes another Olympic record in 500m

• US speed skating star’s four-gold pursuit continues

• 500m considered toughest of Stolz’s individual events

• Entire podium finishes below previous Olympic record

The men’s 500m is speed skating distilled to its most unforgiving form: one and a quarter laps of the oval, no pacing, no recovery window, no margin for technical compromise. On Saturday afternoon in Milan’s western suburbs, Jordan Stolz mastered the sport’s fastest and most unpredictable race and pushed his Olympic campaign toward historic territory.

The 21-year-old American won the 500m in an Olympic-record 33.77 seconds, securing his second gold medal of the Milano Cortina Olympics and adding pace behind what is rapidly becoming one of the defining individual campaigns of these Winter Games.

Published: February 14, 2026, 5:35 pm

Mohamed Salah recaptures scintillating form as Liverpool see off Brighton

There was rancour and recrimination when Mohamed Salah last faced Brighton, at Anfield in December, along with doubt over whether he would be seen in a Liverpool shirt again. Fast forward two months and the Egyptian great is starting, scoring and shaping games for Arne Slot again. Appeasement between the pair is for the greater good.

Salah produced a sublime assist, his fourth since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations, and scored from the penalty spot as Liverpool moved into round five with a commanding victory over Fabian Hürzeler’s struggling team. There was no evidence of Brighton not performing for their under-pressure manager but their lack of cutting edge was glaring, as was the case when visiting here in the Premier League.

Published: February 14, 2026, 11:35 pm

‘We are Europeans’: Fans fly Greenland flag during Olympic US-Denmark ice hockey game

• Greenland flag raised in crowd after Danes’ opening goal

• Fans say gesture is sign of support amid Trump rhetoric

• Americans pull away after slow start for 6-3 win

Two fans who raised a flag of Greenland as the United States played Denmark in men’s ice hockey at the Winter Olympics on Saturday say they did so as a gesture of European support for the island and for Denmark.

Vita Kalniņa and her husband, Alexander Kalniņš, fans of the Latvian hockey team who live in Germany, held up a large Greenland flag during warmups and again when the Danish team scored the opening goal of the preliminary round game against the US at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Published: February 14, 2026, 11:49 pm

Anatomy of an upset: how Ilia Malinin lost Olympic figure skating gold

Ilia Malinin entered the Olympic free skate as the runaway favorite. Early mistakes triggered a meltdown that laid bare the brutal math of modern figure skating

What made Ilia Malinin’s Olympic defeat so shocking was not simply his years-long dominance entering Friday night. It was how completely the competition had tilted in his favor before he even stepped on the ice.

For nearly three years, Malinin had been men’s skating’s guiding light: unbeaten since late 2023, winner of back-to-back world titles, the skater who recalibrated the sport’s technical ceiling and then made winning look procedural. He arrived at the Milano Ice Skating Arena leading by more than five points after the short program and carrying the most difficult planned program in the field. Under almost any normal competitive logic, that combination should have been decisive.

Published: February 14, 2026, 4:16 pm

Six ejected after fight forces 20-minute delay in St John’s-Providence basketball game

• Police enter court amid fracas sparked by hard foul

• Coach Rick Pitino holds back players as tempers flare

Six players were ejected from Saturday’s college basketball game between No. 17 St John’s and Providence after a fracas resulting from a hard foul by Friars forward Duncan Powell on Bryce Hopkins sent the Red Storm star crashing to the ground.

St John’s coach Rick Pitino, who led Providence to the 1987 Final Four, was in the middle of it, trying to hold back his players. But several entered the fray as it drifted toward the Red Storm’s visitors’ bench.

The game was delayed by nearly 20 minutes while the referees sorted out the punishments: four St John’s players were booted and two from Providence, and by the time the Friars got the ball back they had watched a one-point lead turn into a four-point deficit.

“You’re not supposed to come off the bench, but you can’t let your players get beat up,” Pitino said after the 79-69 victory gave the Red Storm its 11th straight win. “You can’t fight. Back when I was the Kentucky coach we fought almost every SEC game, and it was not a big deal. But you can’t fight any more, so toughness has to come between the lines.”

Published: February 14, 2026, 9:34 pm

Reality TV pushed USA’s Erin Jackson out of comfort zone and into Olympic title defense

The US flag bearer and first Black woman to win Winter Olympic individual gold carries the lessons of Special Forces into Sunday’s 500m speed skating final

On the ice, Erin Jackson is the picture of control – metronomic in her balance, rhythmic in her stride, a woman whose margins for error are blade thin. But all that control melted away when the speed skater glided on to Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test reality TV series in fall 2023 for a taste of the grueling training that elite US troops endure.

She was part of a motley cast that included former Dallas Cowboys star Dez Bryant, NBA clutch shooter Robert Horry and skier Bode Miller, a fellow Winter Olympic champion. But Jackson was less concerned with outshining her athletic peers than with confronting her own fears. To test her anxiety around swimming, Jackson was strapped into a mock helicopter, submerged in icy water and told to hold her breath for at least 15 seconds before freeing herself, grabbing a lifejacket, and paddling to safety.

Published: February 14, 2026, 10:00 am

Canada’s curling war of words with Sweden escalates after warning over ‘F-bomb’

• Kennedy insists he is innocent of any wrongdoing

• World Curling says officials will clamp down on violations

The Canadian curler at the centre of a cheating row at the Winter Olympics has denied any wrongdoing, accusing the Swedish team of deliberately trying to “catch us in the act”.

On Saturday, World Curling confirmed that Canada had escaped punishment despite being accused of breaking the rules in the 8-6 victory over Sweden on Friday night. However, the sport’s governing body did warn Canada about their abusive langugage and introduced emergency spot checks on Saturday afternoon to make sure teams were not cheating when releasing the stone.

Published: February 14, 2026, 5:54 pm

Volodymyr Zelenskyy honours disqualified skeleton racer with order of freedom

• Vladyslav Heraskevych says ‘Cas has failed us’

• President Zelenskyy hails skeleton racer’s courage

The Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych has been awarded the order of freedom by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy following the controversial decision to bar him from the Winter Olympics.

Heraskevych flew to Munich after losing his appeal against his exclusion at the Milano Cortina Games for wanting to wear a “helmet of memory’ in competition. “Remembrance is not a violation,” Zelenskyy told him. “Ukraine will always have champions and Olympians.

Published: February 14, 2026, 11:46 am

Brazil’s Pinheiro Braathen wins gold – and South America’s first Winter Olympics medal

• Norwegian-born skier storms to historic slalom gold

• ‘Your difference is your superpower,’ says 25-year-old

As the snow fell in Bormio, and the fog settled in, Lucas Pinheiro Braathen made history by becoming the first South American to win a Winter Olympic medal. Then, as the realisation that he had won gold for Brazil in the men’s giant slalom, he collapsed to the floor and allowed the tears to flow.

“I just hope that Brazilians look at this and truly understand that your difference is your superpower,” he said, still sobbing away. “It may show up in your skin or in the way you dress. But I hope this inspires every kid out there who feels a bit different to trust who you are.”

Published: February 14, 2026, 3:25 pm

Milano Cortina Winter Olympics 2026 day eight – in pictures

Take a look at the best images from day eight of the Games, from cross-country skiing to ice hockey

Published: February 14, 2026, 5:30 pm

‘Anti-racing’: Verstappen hits out at F1 rule changes as opinion divides drivers

• Dutchman joins Lewis Hamilton in criticism of new cars

• Champion Lando Norris says changes are a ‘lot of fun’

Driver disquiet over the new Formula One regulations marked the second pre-season test which concluded in Bahrain this week, with the former world champions Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen delivering damning verdicts on driving the new cars, while in competitive terms leading contenders Mercedes and Red Bull were entertainingly vehement in each declaring the other as favourite.

Times in testing must be taken with a liberal amount of salt, more so this year as so much time is being put into understanding the new cars and how best to drive them, without yet really pushing toward real performance limits. Nonetheless, across the three days in Bahrain it was Mercedes who finished on top with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell setting the quickest times, from the two Ferraris of Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth for McLaren and Verstappen in seventh for Red Bull.

Published: February 14, 2026, 8:00 am

European football: Harry Kane double restores Bayern Munich’s six-point Bundesliga lead

• Inter’s late win over Juventus extends Serie A lead

• Real Madrid 4-1 Real Sociedad; Lens top of Ligue 1

Harry Kane scored twice in the first half as Bayern Munich cruised to a 3-0 win at Werder Bremen, restoring their six-point lead in the Bundesliga. Borussia Dortmund’s 4-0 win over Mainz on Friday put them within three points of the league leaders but Bayern responded.

Bayern were in control from start to finish in Bremen, with Leon Goretzka joining the England captain on the scoresheet in the 70th minute. Kane now has 26 goals in 22 Bundesliga games this season and 41 in all competitions, 13 of those from the penalty spot.

Published: February 14, 2026, 11:09 pm

Casey Wasserman to sell talent agency after links to Ghislaine Maxwell exposed in Epstein files

Clients including Chappell Roan and Abby Wambach cut ties to firm after communications came to light

Casey Wasserman, a leading Hollywood talent agent whose clients include Chappell Roan, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Kendrick Lamar, is selling his business after communications with Ghislaine Maxwell were exposed as part of the US justice department’s recent dump of investigative documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein.

Wasserman, grandson of the late famed Hollywood dealmaker Lew Wasserman, said late on Friday he was putting his eponymous talent and marketing agency on the block, citing the impact on the company from “past personal mistakes” and telling staff he felt that he had “become a distraction” to its work.

Published: February 14, 2026, 3:52 pm

Sandro Tonali fires Newcastle past 10-man Aston Villa on bad night for officials

Football’s interminable video assistant refereeing debate has its latest chapter after a bizarre evening and officiating performance at Villa Park. With the FA Cup not allowing the video protocol until the fifth round, this was an occasion to make the abolitionists think twice. Is elite football already too far gone to officiate without a bank of screens in a faraway business park? Or were Chris Kavanagh, a referee promoted to the Uefa elite list in December, and his assistants just having a nightmare day at the office?

Sandro Tonali’s two goals and Nick Woltemade’s clincher booked Newcastle’s fifth-round place, completing a comeback in the face of officiating mistakes weighing against Eddie Howe’s team. It was Aston Villa who lost their discipline. They should have been down to 10 men earlier than they eventually were.

Published: February 14, 2026, 7:49 pm

Burnley turfed out of FA Cup on perfect day for Louis Reed and Mansfield

Mansfield gave blood and sweat to reach the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in more than 50 years and reduced a desperate Burnley to tears. A stunning Louis Reed free-kick completed a hard-fought turnaround for the League One side against their labouring Premier League opponents.

There is little doubt that Burnley are getting relegated, leaving the Cup as their only hope of salvaging a desperate season, but they lacked quality from start to finish on another dispiriting day for Scott Parker. Mansfield were not necessarily the better side but Nigel Clough’s men worked harder, leaving the fans and players celebrating long after the game was over.

Published: February 14, 2026, 5:12 pm

Guéhi scores first Manchester City goal but Guardiola labels Salford win ‘boring’

Pep Guardiola spoke of the slog of the schedule and Manchester City performed as if dog-tired when knocking out Salford in a tie the manager pithily described as “boring”.

City were abject and half-paced and in danger of being forced into extra time, at least, until Marc Guéhi’s 80th-minute close-range strike doubled the lead. It was the defender’s first goal for the club he joined last month.

Published: February 14, 2026, 5:18 pm

Keith Andrews’s gravity-defying miracle has Brentford dreaming of Europe | Jonathan Wilson

Their best players and managers may move on, but this thoroughly modern club keep punching above their weight

When the news cycle spins so fast, it’s worth remembering where Brentford were in the summer. They had lost their popular manager of seven years, Thomas Frank. They had lost their two best forwards, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa. They had lost their goalkeeper Mark Flekken. And they had lost two stalwarts in Christian Nørgaard and Ben Mee (even if the latter’s involvement the previous season had been limited as he turned 35). Departure and replacement is an unavoidable part of life for a club such as Brentford, but this seemed a like a lot to deal with.

Their summer signings were hard to judge. As a rule of thumb, if Brentford are signing someone about whom you already have considered opinions, it’s likely something has gone awry. That said, Caoimhín Kelleher’s gifts are clear, and a fee of just under £13m seemed good value for a goalkeeper with Premier League experience, while Dango Ouattara had demonstrated at Bournemouth how effective he could be either through the middle or out wide. But Antoni Milambo, Michael Kayode and Kaye Furo were unknown quantities.

Published: February 14, 2026, 8:00 pm

Summerville strike earns 10-man West Ham extra-time FA Cup win at Burton

For West Ham’s second string, barring a shock defeat this could hardly have been a more uncomfortable ride. With the captain, Jarrod Bowen, among the clutch of regulars given a breather, it was Crysencio Summerville, a late substitute Nuno Espírito Santo would have rather kept fresh, who spared embarrassment at Burton Albion and helped them into the FA Cup fifth round. Four years ago at Kidderminster in this competition it was Declan Rice who came on to save their skin and it was a similar story here, Summerville’s extra-time strike ultimately preventing penalties.

West Ham squeezed through, Freddie Potts’s red card 11 minutes into extra time for crunching into Julian Larsson ensuring a nervy finale. A couple of nearly-moments may linger; in the final seconds, at which point these teams had been slogging it out for 133 minutes, the substitute Kain Adom saw an effort repelled by Alphonse Areola and Kegs Chauke, another sub, skittled the rebound into the side-netting to gasps.

Published: February 14, 2026, 3:13 pm

Championship roundup: Millwall go third, O’Neill makes winning Blackburn start

• Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Millwall; QPR 1-3 Blackburn

• Derby into top six; Blades win late at Portsmouth

Sheffield Wednesday threatened to record only their second victory of the season after taking the lead against Millwall before their promotion-chasing opponents hit back to win 2-1.

Having not scored a goal since Boxing Day, there was a mixture of relief and jubilation among the home supporters when Jamal Lowe scored in the 60th minute to put Wednesday ahead. However, the joy was short-lived as Millwall scored two goals in two minutes after Cole McGhee put into his own goal and Macaulay Langstaff’s winner earned all three points.

Published: February 14, 2026, 6:52 pm

‘It is an honour’: Tottenham confirm Igor Tudor as interim head coach until end of season

• Former Juventus head coach replaces Thomas Frank

• Croatian’s priority to ‘improve our results quickly’

Igor Tudor has been announced as Tottenham’s interim head coach on a deal until the end of the season.

Spurs dismissed Thomas Frank on Wednesday after a dismal display in a 2-1 defeat at home to Newcastle a day earlier left the club in 16th position and only five points above the Premier League relegation zone.

Published: February 14, 2026, 12:27 pm

‘Even more special’: Jakara Anthony dusts off Winter Olympics heartbreak for historic triumph

• World No 1 is Australia’s first two-time Winter Games gold medallist

• Skiing great wins first dual moguls Olympic event after singles defeat

Jakara Anthony has rediscovered her Midas touch, after the world No 1 moguls skier dusted off brutal “heartbreak” at Milano Cortina to climb back to the top dais at the Winter Games.

The Australian has known little but success since claiming an Olympic gold medal four years ago, setting a national record for World Cup skiing victories as she twisted and turned to the top of the sport. But the team’s co-flag bearer had to learn a crushing lesson in overcoming adversity after an uncharacteristic slide off course cost her a medal in the single moguls event.

Published: February 15, 2026, 1:32 am

Liverpool 3-0 Brighton: FA Cup fourth round – as it happened

Mo Salah was back on the scoresheet as Liverpool breezed past Brighton to reach the fifth round

1 min: Whigfield lied about the air. It’s a cold night on Merseyside.

After an exuberant rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, Brighton get the ball rolling. They’re kicking towards the Kop in this first half.

Published: February 14, 2026, 10:31 pm

‘Something to smile about’: Townsend salutes Scotland after shocking England

• ‘Some of the best rugby we’ve ever played,’ says head coach

• Captain Tuipulotu targets another win in Wales next week

Gregor Townsend said Scotland’s supporters now had “something to smile about for the next 12 months” after his side regained the Calcutta Cup with a stunning 30-21 victory over England. The hosts ran out comfortable winners and Townsend said Scotland produced “some of the best rugby we’ve ever played” in the opening quarter.

Given their wounding defeat to Italy on the opening weekend it will certainly rank among Scotland’s most memorable wins under Townsend, who has now been the architect of five Six Nations wins over England in six years. The head coach was full of praise for his players afterwards and says he was extremely proud of the reaction to the defeat by Italy.

Published: February 14, 2026, 8:58 pm

Aston Villa 1-3 Newcastle: FA Cup fourth round – as it happened

On a night when VAR – or the lack of it – came under serious scrutiny, Newcastle came from behind to beat their hosts with three second-half goals

• Read John Brewin’s match report from Villa Park

1 min: Tammy Abraham gets the ball rolling, playing it a few yards backwards to Amadou Onana. Within seconds it finds its way to the feet of Villa goalkeeper Marco Bizot.

Not long now: Kieran Trippier and Lucas Digne skipper the sides, which are led out on to the Villa Park pitch by referee Chris Kavanagh and his team of match officials soundtracked by Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train. Kick-off is just a couple of minutes away.

Published: February 14, 2026, 8:33 pm

Dina Asher-Smith blasts back to form with 60m UK Indoor Championships record

• Asher-Smith runs 7.05, her third-quickest time

• Keely Hodgkinson sets national indoor 800m record

Given the doldrums British female sprinting was in before her emergence, it was perhaps little surprise that Dina Asher-Smith stood largely unchallenged on the national stage for the best part of her 20s. So, it was to some raised eyebrows that the country’s sprint queen was usurped by Amy Hunt last summer – the young upstart claiming world championships 200m silver, while Asher-Smith faded to fifth.

The former world 200m champion could – but notably chose not to – point to the mitigating circumstances of a turbulent mid-season return to England after a training move to America gone wrong. But the changing of the guard felt significant: one athlete on the up and the other on the decline. Or was she?

Published: February 14, 2026, 7:45 pm

Six Nations: Storming Scotland stun England to seal Calcutta Cup glory

• Scotland 31-20 England

• Jones (2), Ritchie and White with tries; Arundell sees red

Certain wins feel bigger than others and, for Scotland, this result will reverberate for ages. Reclaiming the Calcutta Cup is always sweet but convincingly ending England’s 12-Test unbeaten record was a glorious bonus. For Gregor Townsend and his side, under pressure after their opening round defeat in Rome, this was some riposte to their critics

Ultimately, it was not even close. Two tries by Huw Jones, a hard-nosed collective effort from the Scottish pack and a typically artful display from Finn Russell were simply too much for an England team who had dared to believe this week that their previous tartan traumas were behind them. Instead, they were outplayed and tactically out-thought by Townsend and his coaching staff. England have now won just two of the past nine meetings between the nations.

Published: February 14, 2026, 7:34 pm

Scotland 31-20 England: Six Nations – as it happened

Scotland score four tries as England’s 12-match unbeaten run ends with a thumping in Edinburgh

If we could distill the feeling when the music cuts out in Flower of Scotland, and the fans take over, we’d be millionaires.

Hook that right into my vein and call me in a week!

Published: February 14, 2026, 7:01 pm

Winter Olympics 2026: skeleton, ski jumping, Norway win 10th gold, and more – as it happened

It was another day of high drama at the Milano Cortina Games as Lucas Pinheiro Braathen made history for Brazil and South America, among other plotlines

Women’s dual moguls: It’s all very civilised out on the snow, the athletes have a hug when they reach the bottom. I was thinking the snow looked a bit grubby but it turns out the authorities put out pine needles – I think to help skiers find their way.

Anyway, they’ve zipped through very quickly and have already sorted the quarter finals, with four Americans in the final eight.

Published: February 14, 2026, 10:26 pm

Fall of the Quad God: Ilia Malinin finds he is all too human under the Olympic spotlight

The brilliant American was expected to glide to a gold medal on Friday. It was tough to watch such a gifted athlete discover the ruthlessness of his sport

By the time Ilia Malinin reached the closing stretch of his Olympic free skate, the outcome was no longer really the story. The story was the expression on his face – not panic, not shock, but the dawning realization that a destiny he had controlled for nearly three years had slipped beyond his reach in the blinding span of four and a half catastrophic minutes.

For the rising generation of men’s skaters, the 21-year-old Malinin has existed less as a rival than as a moving technical horizon. The Quad God. The skater who built programs around jumps others still treated as theory, who pushed the sport into something closer to applied physics. Much like Simone Biles, who took in Friday’s contest from the Milano Ice Skating Arena’s VIP seats, his only competition was himself.

Published: February 14, 2026, 10:00 am