Transgender athletes banned

Track and field banned transgender athletes from international competition Thursday, while adopting new regulations that could keep Caster Semenya and other athletes with differences in sex development from competing.

In two decisions expected to stoke outrage, the World Athletics Council adopted the same rules as swimming did last year in deciding to bar athletes who have transitioned from male to female and have gone through male puberty. No such athletes currently compete at the highest elite levels of track.

Another set of updates, for athletes with differences in sex development (DSD), could impact up to 13 current high-level runners, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said. They include Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion at 800 meters, who has been barred from that event since 2019.

More track and field

Track and field leaders signaled that it will be nearly impossible for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in that sport at the Paris Olympics next year if the war in Ukraine continues. The World Athletics Council kept its ban on Russian athletes in international events in place “for the foreseeable future,” a move that goes against the International Olympic Committee’s efforts to find a way for Russian athletes to compete as neutrals.

Figure skating

Defending men’s champion Shoma Uno of Japan led after the men’s short program of the world championships in Saitama, Japan. But U.S. skater Ilia Malinin was a close second by 4.25 points. Skating to “I Put A Spell On You,” Malinin received 100.38 points after a powerful routine that featured a quadruple lutz, triple toeloop combination, a quad toeloop and a triple axel.

Soccer

Already the leading scorer in men’s international soccer, Cristian Ronaldo now has more international appearances than any other male player after racking up No. 197 in Portugal’s 4-0 win vs. Liechtenstein in qualifying for the European Championship.

• Harry Kane became England’s outright leading scorer of all time by netting a first-half penalty in a 2-1 win vs. Italy in European Championship qualifying. It lifted Kane to 54 goals for his country, one more than Wayne Rooney.

Pro basketball

Tom Brady has acquired an ownership stake in the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.