U.S./World Sports category, Page 170

When he was coach at Texas, Augie Garrido often would say the minimum expectation for the Longhorns was to reach the College World Series every year. And he was only half-joking. Those expectations extend well beyond the program’s passionate fan base this year. With almost all the pieces back from...

BEIJING — Kamila Valieva skated off the Olympic ice with the lead in the women’s short program and tears in her eyes. They were not tears of joy. The enormous pressure and scrutiny on the 15-year-old Russian dynamo, who is at the center of the latest Olympic doping scandal, appeared...

LONDON — If forced to choose, Novak Djokovic said he would skip the French Open and Wimbledon, foregoing the chance to overtake Rafael Nadal’s record haul of 21 Grand Slams titles, rather than get vaccinated against covid-19. And the No. 1-ranked tennis player is also still smarting about being deported...

BEIJING — American assistant captain Hilary Knight calls it “a beautiful rivalry.” Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin sums it up as “very fun.” Don’t be fooled by the pleasantries. One of international sports’ fiercest and longest-running grudge matches will play out for the second time at the Beijing Olympics, with the...

BEIJING — Red Gerard, the happy-go-lucky American snowboarder who famously overslept the morning he won gold in Pyeongchang, never thought he’d be the one slamming the scoring at an Olympic competition. “I never cared about any of this, and all of a sudden, I find myself caring,” the 21-year-old said....

There were a lot of hockey fans who lamented the National Hockey League’s last minute decision to keep its players home instead of allowing them to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics. The league had given its blessing to a plan to have NHL stars return to the Olympics after...

Gonzaga keeps finding its way back to the top of the The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll. The Zags reclaimed the No. 1 ranking Monday for a third stint this season atop the AP Top 25, moving up one spot to swap places with Auburn after the Tigers fell...

Iowa State has reached its best ranking in 20 years in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll while South Carolina remained the unanimous choice at No. 1. Iowa State (21-3) moved up three spots to sixth on Monday — its highest mark since the 2002 season — and has a...

BEIJING — U.S.-born athletes have taken center stage at the Winter Olympics in Beijing — for the host country, that is, generating scrutiny of nationality-switching. Eileen Gu, the prodigious — and, depending on who you ask, prodigal — freestyle skier who chose to compete for her mother’s native China over...

BEIJING — Kaillie Humphries stood up straight in her moving bobsled, stretching her arms wide in a pose reminiscent of a favorite internet meme. Are you not entertained? Humphries and fellow American Elana Meyers Taylor solidified their status as the top pilots in the world by finishing first and second,...

BEIJING — The U.S. speedskating team had been waiting for someone, anyone, to win an Olympic medal. The sport that has delivered more medals than any other for the U.S. in the history of the Winter Games has been in a deep freeze. Erin Jackson provided a welcome thaw with...

BEIJING — Erin Jackson has become the first Black woman to win a speedskating medal at the Winter Olympics. A gold one, at that. Jackson won the 500 meters Sunday with a time of 37.04 seconds, giving the American speedskating program its first medal of the Beijing Games and first...

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — The running joke was American snowboardcross racer Nick Baumgartner always referring to them as a pair of 40-somethings. “I’m 36,” Lindsey Jacobellis playfully corrected time after time in interview after interview. For these two, and all their vast experience, age proved to be one thing — golden....

BEIJING — It’s no secret the young United States men’s hockey team is fast and skilled. Turns out the kids can hit, too. Answering all the questions raised about their youth and inexperience, the U.S. went toe to toe with Canada in a bruising matchup between the longtime rivals. Using...

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — In one way, these Olympics have been just like any of the last six. It was impossible to miss the name “Burton” flying over the halfpipe. Only at this one, the man who built the board, then stamped his name on the bottom of it, was not...