Canadian teen ends Ledecky's 13-year run in 800 free
Katie Ledecky's 13-year unbeaten streak in the 800-meter freestyle is over, setting up a potential challenge from Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh at the Paris Olympics.
McIntosh, 17, finished almost 6 seconds ahead of Ledecky at a sectional meet in Orlando, Fla., becoming the second-fastest female in the history of a grueling event that Ledecky has dominated.
The teenager finished in 8 minutes, 11.39 seconds — an improvement on her previous best time by about 9 seconds. McIntosh went faster than Ledecky's winning time of 8:12.57 at the Tokyo Olympics.
It was the 26-year-old Ledecky's first defeat in an 800 free final since 2010. She finished behind American teammate Leah Smith in the preliminaries at the 2019 world championships, but bounced back to win the race that counted.
Ledecky has won three straight Olympic gold medals in the 800 free, and she's a six-time reigning world champion at that distance. She still holds the 16 fastest times ever, including her world record of 8:04.79 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
Ledecky finished in 8:17:12 at the Orlando meet.
For McIntosh and Ledecky, the low-key sectional meet gave them a chance to race after they joined many in skipping the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar. job instead of taking the offensive coordinator position at Ohio State he accepted just last month.
The Boston native, who was the New England Patriots offensive coordinator last season, replaces Jeff Hafley, who left Chestnut Hill to be defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers. The Eagles were 22-26 in four seasons under Hafley, who had been the defensive coordinator at Ohio State.
O'Brien had been hired to be the Buckeyes' offensive coordinator on Jan. 19. His departure created an opening for UCLA's Chip Kelly to take the job.
O'Brien was last a head coach for the Houston Texans, where he went 54-52 from 2014-20. Since then, he has worked for Alabama and the Patriots as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
• Deion Sanders rounded out his Colorado coaching staff by bringing in Robert Livingston from the Cincinnati Bengals as defensive coordinator and sticking with Pat Shurmur to oversee the offense.
In addition, Sanders added Phil Loadholt to revamp a shaky offensive line and Jason Phillips to work with the receivers.
Belichick was not offered the job.
• The NFL is headed to Spain in 2025 for the first regular-season game in that country. The league announced that its international slate of games for the 2025 season will feature a game at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
The teams that will play in that game will be announced at a later date but an NFL spokesman said the host team would likely be an AFC team because teams in that conference will have an extra home game that season.
• Former New England Patriots linebacker and three-time Super Bowl champion Dont'a Hightower is joining new coach Jerod Mayo's staff as an assistant. Hightower confirmed he would be joining the Patriots to coach his old position.
• New Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith added to his staff, hiring Tom Arth as quarterbacks coach, Zach Azzanni as receivers coach and Mateo Kambui as offensive assistant.
• The Minnesota Vikings hired former Denver Broncos defensive line coach Marcus Dixon. and 2023 seasons.”
Use of the so-called “phantom injured list” is thought to be common throughout baseball, but Eppler is the first to be disciplined.
“I cooperated fully and transparently with MLB's investigation, and I accept their decision,” Eppler said in a statement.
Eppler, who was the Angels GM from 2015-20, will not lose any salary as a result of the suspension. The Mets paid the remainder of his contract, which was set to run through the 2025 season, after he resigned last fall the same day MLB's investigation became public.
• Corey Kluber, a two-time Cy Young Award winner for Cleveland who pitched a no-hitter for the New York Yankees in 2021, announced his retirement after 13 major league seasons.
The 37-year-old right-hander was 3-6 with a 7.04 ERA in nine starts and six relief appearances for Boston last year. He became a free agent after the Red Sox declined an $11 million option.
Kluber was 116-77 with a 3.44 ERA in 260 starts and 11 relief appearances over his career, striking out 1,725 and walking 368 over 1,641 2/3 innings. The threetime All-Star pitched 18 complete games, including eight shutouts. from March 18-26. Games were lined up against Nigeria in Hangzhou and Ivory Coast in Beijing. Both opponents are coincidentally meeting in the Africa Cup of Nations final this weekend.
But Messi, on tour with his Inter Miami club, outraged fans in Hong Kong when he didn't play against a local selection last Sunday and remained on the bench. Messi said he had a groin injury. But his excuse didn't wash in Hong Kong after he played for 30 minutes on Wednesday in Tokyo against Vissel Kobe.
On Friday, the sports bureau in Hangzhou canceled the Argentina-Nigeria friendly.
“Because of the reasons known to all, we've learned from supervising authorities that the conditions are immature for the match to go forward. Now it's been decided that the match will be canceled,” the Hangzhou Sports Bureau announced on its official social media account.
An Argentina Football Association official told the AP it was aware the match was suspended and was looking for another venue to play Nigeria. The official spoke on condition of anonymity saying, “It's a sensitive matter.”