Griner, Taurasi rejoin forces with Mercury
Brittney Griner is headed back to the Phoenix Mercury.
Griner, who was a free agent, re-signed with the Mercury on a one-year contract according to multiple sources. No announcement has been made.
Griner, 32, had said she would return to Phoenix in a social media post in December, after she returned home from her 10-month ordeal in Russia that included time in a Russian jail. Griner had been arrested at an airport outside of Moscow on drug possession charges a year ago and was brought home in a dramatic high-level prisoner exchange in December.
The 6-foot-9 center last played for the Mercury in 2021 and helped the team reach the WNBA Finals. She averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds that season.
Also on a celebratory day for the team, Diana Taurasi resigned with the Mercury, agreeing to a multiyear contract.
The WNBA’s all-time leading scorer and Don Lugo High alum has played only with the Mercury since being drafted No. 1 by the team in 2004.
By signing a multiyear contract it keeps the door open for Taurasi to play in the 2024 Olympics. Taurasi said earlier this month while participating in a USA Basketball training camp that she had her eyes on the Paris Games, at which she’d be 42 years old.
“I’m still competitive, still driven, still want to play, I still love being a part of USA Basketball,” she said. “If the opportunity comes to play and be a part of it, it’s something I’ve always taken a lot of pride in. When you get to my age at this point in my career, you just try to win every day. Right now this is a good opportunity to be part of this team moving forward we’ll see what happens.”
If she were to play in those Olympics she could potentially win a sixth gold medal, breaking a tie with former U.S. teammate Sue Bird for most all-time in the sport.
Taurasi, 40, has won three WNBA titles in Phoenix and been honored as the league’s MVP in 2009. She’s averaged 16.2 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds in her career. Last season she was averaging 23.2 points after the All-Star break before having her season cut short by a quad injury.
SKIING Shiffrin wraps stressful worlds with silver in slalom
One gold. Two silvers. And three gates away from another gold medal that slipped from her grasp in a patch of soft snow.
And that just was what Mikaela Shiffrin accomplished on the slopes at the world championships in Meribel, France.
Off the slopes, the American skier dealt with a protest from environmentalists who mistakenly thought she was using a helicopter for training — resulting in security being brought in to protect her.
The helicopter flap was followed by an even bigger distraction when Shiffrin’s longtime personal coach, Mike Day, left her abruptly in the middle of the worlds after being told that Shiffrin planned to take a new direction with her staff after the season.
All of that during a recordbreaking season on the World Cup circuit where her every move has drawn enormous scrutiny.
“It’s been a complete world championships — every emotion I could feel,” Shiffrin said after earning the silver medal in slalom Saturday to conclude the women’s events. “I’m really proud when I look back at the last two weeks. And I also have things to learn as well. ... How I handle situations in life and how I can improve on that.”
Shiffrin’s performance was a vast improvement on how she fared at last year’s Beijing Olympics, where she didn’t win a medal amid enormous expectations and didn’t finish three of her five races.
“We all know that I’ve experienced the situation where I have no medals,” Shiffrin said. “So I’m very, very appreciative to be on the silver side of things. Even if it’s not gold, it’s still been such a spectacular world championships and a spectacular season.”
The slalom — traditionally Shiffrin’s best event — was a tale of two vastly different runs.
Starting first in the opening leg, Shiffrin darted down between the blue and red gates with her usual world-beating precision, rapidly changing the direction of her fluorescent orange skis on the bright snow almost to perfection.
Then she took up her accustomed spot in the leader’s fur-lined hot seat and watched as only one skier, Wendy Holdener of Switzerland, finished anywhere close to her at a gap of 0.19 seconds.
Unheralded Canadian racer Laurence St-Germain stood third after the first run at a distant 0.61 behind Shiffrin.
The last contender down in the second run, Shiffrin heard the crowd roar when St-Germain took the lead and then also heard the reaction when Holdener looked ready to establish a huge lead over St-Germain before the Swiss skier lost control in a rut and went off course midway down.
Shiffrin then lost almost her entire advantage over St-Germain by the first checkpoint but held on to a slim lead in the middle section before eventually falling behind in the deep ruts at the bottom of the course, which went back and forth between shade and sun.
At the finish, Shiffrin didn’t seem to know what her result was at first, then seemed unperturbed when she realized that StGermain beat her.
“It’s, for sure, fatigue,” Shiffrin said. “It’s been difficult just to keep the focus going. The second run the course set was also completely different and more speed in it and when the agility is a little missing because the energy is a little bit missing, then I’m not willing to take on this speed and to risk everything.”
Shiffrin did risk more in the slalom portion of the combined that opened the worlds — and ended up disqualified for straddling three gates from the finish while on track for gold.
“And if you look at Wendy today, putting her whole heart on the slope and going for gold ... and then it’s just such a disappointing moment,” Shiffrin said. “In the blink of an eye, it’s all gone. I know what that feels like.”
Shiffrin won the slalom world title four times from 2013-19 and took the bronze medal two years ago. She became the first skier, male or female, to win six medals in one discipline at the worlds. She also won the slalom at the 2014 Sochi Games for the first of her three career Olympic medals.
In her career at the worlds, Shiffrin improved her remarkable record to 14 medals in 17 races.
TENNIS Swiatek wins Qatar Open
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek successfully defended her Qatar Open title after beating No. 4-ranked Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-0 in the final in Doha.
• Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz reached his first final since his milestone U.S. Open triumph at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.
Alcaraz beat Spanish countryman Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals.
In the final today, the world No. 2 will face No. 12 Cameron Norrie, who reached his second final of the year when he beat Juan Pablo Varillas 7-6 (5), 6-4.
DEATHS Ghana’s Atsu, 31, killed in earthquake in Turkey
Christian Atsu, the Ghana international forward who played for Premier League clubs Chelsea and Newcastle, has died in the earthquake in Turkey. He was 31.
Search teams recovered Atsu’s body in the ruins of a luxury 12-story building where he had been living in the city of Antakya, Hatay province, his manager said.
Atsu played more than 60 times for Ghana and scored on his debut as a 20-year-old in 2012. He was part of the Ghana squad at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and starred at the 2015 African Cup of Nations, scoring two goals to help Ghana to the final, where it lost in a penalty shootout to Ivory Coast.
He was named the player of the tournament at that African Cup.
Atsu was signed by Chelsea in 2013 but his time there was limited to appearances in exhibition games and he was sent out on loan to various clubs over the next four years. The winger joined Newcastle on loan in 2016 and was part of the team that won promotion back to the Premier League in the 2016-17 season.
He signed a permanent deal with Newcastle in 2017 and spent four years there. The club said it was “profoundly saddened” by Atsu’s death.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Irish promote Parker to offensive coordinator
Notre Dame promoted tight ends coach Gerard Parker to offensive coordinator as head coach Marcus Freeman rebuilds his staff. Parker replaces Tommy Rees, the former Notre Dame quarterback who left this month to become offensive coordinator at Alabama.
RUNNING Kiplimo, Chebet win world cross-country titles
Lightning cracked as Jacob Kiplimo was finishing off his win in the cross-country world championships, waving his arms to celebrate as he strode the last steps of a downhill run to the line that had claimed a major casualty in the women’s race earlier in Bathurst, Australia.
Letesenbet Gidey was leading the women’s race on the same stretch of grass when she turned her head slightly to get a glimpse at fast-finishing Beatrice Chebet, tripped on a mound and stumbled to the ground as the 22-year-old Kenyan ran past her for a memorable win.
Chebet won in the 10-kilometer race in 33 minutes and 48 seconds and, making matters worse for Gidey as she sat on the ground, her back to the finish, Tsigie Gebreselama took second place in 33:56 and Agnes Jebet Ngetich finished third in 34:00.