Titmus breaks Ledecky's world mark in 400 freestyle
Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus broke the women’s 400-meter freestyle world record at the Australian swimming championships in Adelaide.
Titmus finished in 3 minutes, 56.40 seconds in Sunday night’s final to improve on Katie Ledecky’s previous mark of 3:56.46 that the American set at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“It’s kind of nice now that I am not going to be asked when I am going to break the world record,” Titmus said. “I am the happiest I have ever been outside of swimming, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life in swimming. It’s definitely showing in the pool.”
Titmus, 21, beat Ledecky for Olympic gold in the 400 and 200 and finished behind the American star in the 800-meter freestyle final at Tokyo last year.
“I am definitely not putting the pressure on myself that I used to but it’s still a healthy amount,” Titmus, 21, said.
“That has been the trick to me swimming well. Just going out there completely fearless, swimming what I used to feel like when I was 16 and first cracked on to the national team and just going there and surprising myself.”
Titmus added she believed that Ledecky, 25, “is the greatest swimmer of all time.”
Thiem makes quick exit in French Open
It all used to come so easily for Dominic Thiem on a tennis court — his powerful forehand, his elegant backhand, his hit-which-shotwhen calculations, all finetuned to the point of a title at the U.S. Open and three other Grand Slam final appearances, including two at Roland Garros.
Nowadays, even though the pain from last year’s torn tendon in his right wrist is no longer there, the strokes and, most disconcertingly, the wherewithal, are not what they once were, to the extent that his first-round exit at the French Open was his 10th consecutive loss.
The situation has become dire enough that Thiem, a 28-year-old Austrian once ranked No. 3 but now No. 194, acknowledged after being beaten 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 by Hugo Dellien that perhaps it’s time for him to head to the lower-level Challenger Tour to get a win and gain some confidence.
Carlos Alcaraz, the 19-year-old from Spain who is seeded No. 6 and a popular pick to win his first Grand Slam trophy, advanced just as cleanly and quickly as expected against “lucky loser” Juan Ignacio Londero 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 in the day’s last match at Court Philippe Chatrier. Another teen, American Coco Gauff, 18, also moved on, beating Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino 7-5, 6-0.
Given Thiem’s troubles — sure, he was the runner-up to Rafael Nadal in Paris in 2018 and 2019, and to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in 2020, but his last victory came in May 2021 — there were other results that probably were more surprising.
Chiefly in that category would be No. 6 seed Ons Jabeur’s 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 loss to 56th-ranked Magda Linette of Poland.
Jabeur, a Tunisian who is the first Arab woman to win a WTA title and first to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal, acknowledged: “I was expecting myself to go far in this tournament.”
As were others. That’s because Jabeur began the day with a tour-leading 17 wins on clay this season, including taking the title at the Madrid Open and reaching the final of the Italian Open.
Another top-10 women’s seed — and the 2016 champion at the place — was sent home when Garbiñe Muguruza was defeated 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 by 46th-ranked Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.
Avoiding that sort of result was the men’s No. 9 seed, Felix Auger-Aliassime, who took care of two missing items on his resume in one afternoon: He picked up a French Open victory for the first time in three tries and he won a match after dropping the opening two sets.
The 20-year-old Canadian came back to eliminate Juan Pablo Varillas, a qualifier from Peru making his Grand Slam debut, 2-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
Other winners included 2017 U.S. Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up Sloane Stephens, No.23 Jil Teichmann and No. 26 Sorana Cirstea among the women; No. 3 Alexander Zverev, No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 23 John Isner and No. 26 Botic Van de Zandschulp among the men.
Report: Clowney returning to Browns
Free agent defensive end Jadeveon Clowney agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Browns, The AP reported. Clowney, who revived his career last season with Cleveland, will sign a one-year, contract worth up to $11 million, according to the AP.
Manchester City wins Premier League title
Manchester City clinched a sixth Premier League title in 11 seasons by scoring three times in five minutes to come from behind to beat visiting Aston Villa 3-2 in the finale and hold off Liverpool’s challenge.
City was trailing 2-0 to Villa until Ilkay Gündogan began the comeback in the 76th. Rodri equalized two minutes later and Gündogan put City in front in the 81st.
• AC Milan won its first Serie A title in 11 years after beating Sassuolo 3-0 in Milan, Italy.
Swedes, Swiss remain hot at worlds
Sweden picked up its fifth win in six games at the hockey world championship by beating Norway 7-1 in group play as Switzerland stayed unbeaten and Germany extended its winning run.
Dallas Stars forward Jacob Peterson led the way for Sweden with two goals and one assist, while Rasmus Asplund of the Buffalo Sabres also scored two goals. Detroit Red Wings goaltender Magnus Hellberg stopped 19 of 20 shots as Sweden returned to winning ways a day after a 3-2 overtime loss to the United States.
Germany is on a fivegame win streak after beating Kazakhstan 5-4 but it was the fourth one-goal game in that run.
Switzerland has won all of its six games, the only unbeaten team left, and avoiding defeat in regulation Tuesday against Germany will ensure the Swiss qualify as the top seed in Group A.
Latvia kept alive faint chances of reaching the quarterfinals with a 4-3 win over Britain.