No more double points for the Indy 500

Alex Palou took the Indycar points lead with his first win of this season May 13.

If the first Spaniard to win the Indianapolis 500 pole also collects his first career oval win Sunday, he’ll extend his lead over his two nearest challengers, Pato O’ward and Marcus Ericsson, though not by nearly as much as in recent years.

Series officials announced in February that after nine years of awarding double points in the series’ marquee race, they’d revert to the standard single points format — a welcome change around Gasoline Alley.

“What we’ve always done a good job of is working on the priority of today,” said Mike Hull, managing director at Chip Ganassi Racing, Palou’s team. “If you were a little behind when you left here, you just had to work a little harder and we won some championships some of those years.”

The extra points certainly help. Palou took advantage of his 2021 runner-up finish to become the youngest Indycar championship winner since his teammate Scott Dixon won his first crown in 2003 at age 23. At Indy, Palou had a 49-point advantage over Josef Newgarden and wound up with a 38-point margin over Newgarden to win the crown. Newgarden has never won the 500.

Recent history has not been good for 500 winners, either.

During the 2014-22 double points era, not a single Indy champ won the series title. The last driver to win both in one season was Dario Franchitti in 2010. And each of the past 17 years, the overall champion has been decided in the season finale.

Finally, the series gave those lobbying for a change.

“While double points at the Indianapolis 500 has not altered who has won the season-long championship, occasionally it has had a negative effect on the final position of the full-time teams,” Indycar president of competition and operations Jay Frye said then. “As our entry list grows, this move will provide consistency for teams competing for championship positions.”

The biggest impact might be keeping an already tight points race much tighter.

Palou’s victory on May 13 allowed him to leapfrog Ericsson, the defending Indy winner, and O’ward, the 2021 championship runner-up. Palou now holds a sixpoint edge over O’ward and has a 19-point cushion over Ericsson.

Seven drivers, including Dixon, are within 50 points of the lead — the total awarded to each race winner. in to

TENNIS French Open to provide online bullying protection

French Open organizers are giving all players access to an online tool meant to protect them from cyberbullying and harassment on social media.

The French tennis federation said Monday the technology developed by a French company will be made available to all players taking part in this year’s clay-court Grand Slam tournament. The software uses artificial intelligence to filter comments posted to social media accounts and block those that are deemed toxic or abusive.

It said the tool “aims to preserve the players, their mental health, the values of sport and tennis and to banish people who come to spread their aggression and hatred on social networks.”

“Tennis being one of the sports most affected by this scourge, athletes can thus be victims in a direct or indirect way,” the federation added.

Players and tennis officials can opt to connect their social networks to the technology, developed by the Bodyguard.ai company, before the tournament and keep it in place for at least one week after it ends. Play in the main draw begins May 28 at Roland Garros.

“This way, they won’t receive any derogatory comments,” the French federation said. “It is an AI that performs moderation in real time. The comment is analyzed in less than 200 milliseconds. A team of linguists creates word structures to update the technology in real time from what is posted on social networks to generate a contextual analysis. The goal is to ensure that nothing is missed, while making sure that nothing is censored.”

RUNNING Hoyt, popular Boston Marathon figure, dies at 61

Rick Hoyt, who with his father pushing his wheelchair became a fixture at the Boston Marathon and other races for decades, has died. He was 61.

Hoyt died of complications with his respiratory system, his family announced on Monday.

“Rick along with our father, Dick, were icons in the road race and triathlon worlds for over 40 years and inspired millions of people with disabilities to believe in themselves, set goals and accomplish extraordinary things,” the Hoyt family said in a statement.

Rick Hoyt had cerebral palsy, which left him a quadriplegic, but he and his father became as much a part of the Boston Marathon as sore feet or Heartbreak Hill. With Dick Hoyt pushing, the two completed the course 32 times.

The Boston Athletic Association presents a Rick & Dick Hoyt Award each April to someone who exhibits their spirit through advocacy and inclusion.

Dick Hoyt died in 2021.

SPEEDSKATING Olympic gold-medal winner Mcdermott dead at 82

Terry Mcdermott, who won the only gold medal for the United States at the 1964 Winter Olympics,

has died. He was 82.

U.S. Speedskating said in a statement posted on social media Monday that Mcdermott died early Saturday surrounded by his family. It did not immediately specify where the Michigan native died or give a cause.

Mcdermott was an apprentice barber and unheralded figure on the speedskating scene when he stunningly won the 500-meter event at the Innsbruck Games, upsetting two-time reigning Olympic champion Yevgeny Grishin of the Soviet Union by a half-second.

“The Cold War was going on and it carried over into the Olympics. The Russians came along in ’56 and dominated every sport. It was awful hard to beat them in anything,” Mcdermott said in a 2010 interview with Mlive Media Group. “So, going against them, you tried a little harder.”

Irvine’s Zhang first woman to repeat as NCAA champion

Stanford’s Rose Zhang, of Irvine, shot a bogey-free, 4-under 68 on Monday to become the first women’s golfer to win consecutive national titles and tie the NCAA record for wins in a season.

It’s the latest triumph for Zhang, who had already swept the most important amateur titles in women’s golf. Zhang won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2020, the U.S. Girls’ Junior in 2021 and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur this April.