Update on the latest sports
APOLYMPICS
Track records fall fast in Tokyo
TOKYO (AP) — The world records keep falling on the track at the Tokyo Olympics.
A day after the men’s 400-meter hurdles staged possibly one of the greatest races ever run, the women put on their own show. Sydney McLaughlin smashed the world record and Dalilah Muhammad broke it as well in a sensational American 1-2 finish in the women’s 400 hurdles.
McLaughlin set the previous world record of 51.90 seconds in June.
Also in Tokyo:
— Andre de Grasse of Canada won gold in the men’s 200-meter race, five years after finishing second to Usain Bolt. De Grasse powered past a pair of Americans — Kenny Bednarek and the favorite, Noah Lyles — to finish in 19.62 seconds and take one of the titles that Bolt had owned for the last three Olympics. Erriyon Knighton, the youngest member of the U.S. men’s track team at 17, placed fourth in 19.93.
— Breanna Stewart scored 20 of her 23 points in the first half to help the U.S. women’s basketball team beat Australia, 79-55 in the quarterfinals. Trailing 5-2, Stewart scored seven consecutive points to start a 19-1 run. The Americans will face Serbia on Friday in the semifinals looking to advance to their seventh consecutive gold medal game.
— The U.S. women’s volleyball team has made it to the semifinals for the sixth time in the past eight Olympics by beating the Dominican Republic in straight sets. The Americans advanced despite playing without injured starters Jordyn Poulter and Jordan Thompson.
— Triston Casas hit his third home run of the Olympics and the United States beat the Dominican Republic 3-1 to stay in gold medal contention. Tyler Austin added a solo home run in the fifth and Scott Kazmir got the win. Casas’ homer came off Boston Red Sox Double-A teammate Denyi Reyes. The U.S. plays next on Thursday night against defending South Korea for a berth in the gold medal game against Japan. The Dominicans will play Thursday night’s loser for the bronze medal.
— Tetsuto Yamada hit a tiebreaking, three-run double off the top of the 16-foot wall in left-center in the eighth inning, and Japan beat South Korea 5-2 to earn a spot in the gold medal baseball game.
— The world champions of the decathlon and heptathlon are out of Olympic medal contention after breaking down during their last races of the day. Heptathlon world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson injured her right calf muscle as she rounded the bend in the 200 meters, the fourth event of the competition. About an hour later, decathlon world champion Niklas Kaul of Germany appeared to injure an ankle during the 400-meter race, the fifth of 10 disciplines, and did not finish.
— American shotput silver medalist Raven Saunders says her mother has died. Media reports say that Clarissa Saunders died in Orlando, Florida, where she had been attending Olympic watch parties.
— NBA veteran Pau Gasol (pow gah-SOHL’) has been voted by his fellow Tokyo Games athletes to represent them as a member of the International Olympic Committee. Gasol will be an IOC member for seven years through the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where he won two NBA titles with the Lakers. The results were announced the day after Gasol and Spain lost in the quarterfinals to the United States.
— Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden got off to a hot start in women’s golf at the Olympics. She played a bogey-free round for a 66. That gives her a one-shot lead over top-ranked Nelly Korda of the United States and Aditi Ashok of India.
— Italy broke its own world record to win the gold medal in men’s team pursuit cycling at the Tokyo Olympics, edging world champion Denmark in a dramatic final. The Italians led through the first half of the 4,000-meter race, then watched as the Danish team pulled ahead. Over the last five laps, the Italians wiped out a deficit of nearly a half-second to win the gold medal. Australia, the silver medalist in Rio, took bronze.
— Emmanuel Korir won gold and led a Kenyan one-two finish in the 800 meters at the Olympics. Korir pushed his way past Australia’s Peter Bol on the last turn and surged home to win in 1 minute, 45.06 seconds. It was Kenya’s fourth straight victory in the 800 at the Olympics. Teammate Ferguson Rotich took silver with a late kick to overtake Poland’s Patryk Dobek, who held on for bronze ahead of Bol. Clayton Murphy of the United States, the bronze medalist in 2016, finished last.
— World champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson injured her leg running in the 200-meter race of the heptathlon and was disqualified from the event. The 28-year-old British athlete waved away people who went to help her, got up and limped to the finish line, but was not credited with a time. She was in fifth place after the 100-meter hurdles, the high jump and the shot put but is now out of contention.
— Russia’s Svetlana Romashina claimed her record sixth Olympic gold medal in artistic swimming, teaming with Svetlana Kolesnichenko to win the duet. Romashina had been tied with fellow Russians Anastasia Davydova and Natalia Ishchenko with five gold medals apiece.
— Georgian weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze set three world records to retain his title in the heaviest men’s weightlifting category, while Syria earned its first medal since the country’s civil war began. Talakhadze lifted a world-record 223 kilograms in the snatch and 265 in the clean and jerk for a total 488. All three figures broke his own world records in the over-109kg category. That put Iran’s Ali Davoudi into second place by the vast margin of 47kg. Man Asaad of Syria took the bronze with a total 424kg. Syria’s last Olympic medal in any sport was a boxing bronze in 2004.
— Peruth Chemutai of Uganda won the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final. American Courtney Frerichs took silver. Emma Coburn of the United States was disqualified for what was listed as a lane infringement after finishing behind the field.
— A pair of teenagers gave China a 1-2 finish in the preliminaries of women’s 10-meter platform diving. Chen Yuxi, a 15-year-old who is the current world champion, and her 14-year-old teammate, Quan Hongchan, led 18 women into the semifinals. American Delaney Schnell was third at 360.75. Her teammate, Katrina Young, squeaked into the semifinals in 17th place.
— Harrie Lavreysen and Dutch teammate Jeffrey Hoogland tied for the Olympic record in qualifying for the men’s sprint at the Izu Velodrome, clocking the same time of 9.215 down to the thousandth of a second.
— Serbia overpowered Italy 10-6 in men’s water polo, joining Hungary, Greece and Spain in the semifinals. Hungary had a 15-11 win against Croatia, Greece advanced with a 10-4 victory over Montenegro, and Spain held off the United States for a 12-8 win.
— A Russian athlete competing in karate has been ruled out of the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for the coronavirus. Anna Chernysheva was the Russian Olympic Committee team’s only karate athlete at the Olympics. The 19-year-old was due to compete Thursday in the women’s 55-kilogram kumite event.
— Japan’s government is introducing a contentious new policy in which coronavirus patients with moderate symptoms will isolate at home instead of in hospitals, as new cases surge in Tokyo to record levels during the Olympic Games. The plan aims to save hospital beds almost exclusively for those with serious symptoms or at risk of developing them. It’s a major policy shift as new cases in the capital have more than tripled since the Olympics began on July 23.
— A plane carrying Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who is seeking refuge from authorities in her home country, has landed in Austria. She is expected to travel on to Poland, which has issued her a humanitarian visa. Her Olympic team officials had ordered her to return to Belarus after she criticized her coaches’ decisions on social media and a standoff ensured over the weekend at Tokyo’s airport.
MLB-SCHEDULE
Scherzer debuts for Dodgers, Ohtani pitches
UNDATED (AP) — Max Scherzer makes his Los Angeles debut Wednesday night when he takes the mound at Dodger Stadium against the Houston Astros.
The World Series champions got the 37-year-old ace from Washington in a mega-trade last Friday. Scherzer was 8-4 with a 2.76 ERA for the Nationals and is fifth in the NL with 147 strikeouts. The three-time Cy Young Award winner said he would prefer to remain in the National League when he becomes a free agent after the World Series but will wait to see how things play out.
The Dodgers are chasing San Francisco in the NL West. Scherzer will face the Astros on Wednesday for the first time since he started Game 7 of the 2019 World Series in Houston, where he had a no-decision in Washington’s 6-2 victory.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Angels aren’t going to wait any longer to get two-way standout Shohei Ohtani (SHOH’-hay oh-TAH’-nee) back on the mound. The major league home run leader will make his first pitching start since July 26 on Wednesday in the third game of a four-game series at Texas.
The Angels had initially considered holding him out a couple of more days. Had they waited until the series opener at the crosstown Dodgers on Friday night, Ohtani could have hit and pitched without a designated hitter in the National League park.
Ohtani is 3-0 with a 1.35 ERA in his last three starts. He has 17 strikeouts and one walk over that 20-inning stretch and has had four consecutive winning decisions in his last eight starts since the start of June.
NBA-KNICKS-WALKER
AP source: Kemba Walker headed home to play for Knicks
UNDATED (AP) — A person with knowledge of the situation says Kemba Walker and the Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to a buyout of the final two years of his contract. Once that’s completed, the four-time All-Star guard will sign with the New York Knicks. The person spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal is not finalized.
Walker and the Thunder have been working on the buyout parameters in recent days. Walker is owed nearly $74 million for the next two seasons, including a $37.6 million option that he held for 2022-23. He never played for the Thunder. Walker was born in the Bronx.
NASCAR-MASKS
NASCAR to require masks in enclosed areas going forward
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) — Beginning this weekend at Watkins Glen International, NASCAR will require all personnel to wear a face mask in enclosed areas at all times, regardless of vaccination status. Enclosed areas include haulers and buildings, including media centers, restrooms, the infield care center, race control and suites.
NASCAR says the update to its COVID-19 protocols is being implemented on the advice of its consulting physicians and recently issued medical guidance. Masks are not required when outdoors at NASCAR events, provided individuals refrain from sustained close contact.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo lifted COVID-19 restrictions in mid-June and Watkins Glen announced three days later that its grandstands would be fully open to spectators for its NASCAR tripleheader weekend, which also includes the ARCA Menards Series on Friday.
Last year’s Cup race at Watkins Glen was switched to the road course at Daytona International Speedway because of COVID-19.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL-CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT
AAC’s Aresco: Did not plot with ESPN to poach other leagues
UNDATED (AP) — American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco says his league has never “plotted” with ESPN to undermine another conference by poaching its schools.
Aresco addressed conference realignment Wednesday during the AAC’s football media day, saying the league is not actively looking to add schools.
Last week, the Big 12 accused ESPN of encouraging at least one other conference to raid that conference as it tries find a way forward with Texas and Oklahoma on their way to the Southeastern Conference. The AAC was reported to be the conference ESPN was incentivizing to woo Big 12 teams. Aresco denied that.
