分类： sports

Sprinting has a new rising star to watch, after 18-year-old Australian talent Gout Gout delivered a historic performance at the Australian national athletics championships on Sunday, clocking a time that would have earned him a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Competing on home soil in Sydney, the Queensland-based teenager crossed the 200m finish line in an extraordinary 19.67 seconds, a result that not only secured him the national title but also rewrote the official world under-20 record books. This marked the first time Gout has broken the 20-second barrier with a wind-legal result, after recording a wind-assisted 19.84 seconds during the 2025 season. His new personal best is also the fastest 200m time posted by any sprinter globally in 2026 so far.

Sunday’s result pushes Gout ahead of one of the sport’s most iconic legends: Usain Bolt, the Jamaican eight-time Olympic gold medalist who held the previous best 200m time by a teenage athlete. Back in 2004, a 17-year-old Bolt ran 19.93 seconds to set a world junior record, and he never improved on that teenage mark before going on to dominate senior sprinting and set multiple senior world records that still stand today.

Prior to Sunday’s race, the official world under-20 record belonged to American sprinter Erriyon Knighton, who ran 19.69 seconds in June 2022. While Knighton notched an even faster 19.49 seconds that same year, that result was never ratified as an official under-20 world record by global athletics governing bodies, leaving Gout’s 19.67 second run as the new officially recognized top mark for athletes under 20 years old.

Gout’s rise through the sprinting ranks has been rapid: he first turned heads in 2024 as a 16-year-old, when he set a new Australian national senior record of 20.06 seconds, the fastest 200m ever run by a 16-year-old globally. Even more impressive than Gout’s historic win on Sunday was the depth of Australian sprinting on display: second-place finisher Aidan Murphy also broke the 20-second barrier, clocking 19.88 seconds to finish well clear of the old record mark.

Born in Queensland to parents who migrated from South Sudan, Gout spoke to reporters after the race about the milestone, expressing both relief and excitement for what comes next. “This is what I’ve been waiting for,” he said. “We have such incredible athletes in Australia and me being able to race these athletes, we push each other to the limits. Two Australians sub-20. I mean, this is amazing. There’s a big weight off my shoulders knowing I ran it legally, and I have the speed and my body to run times like that. So, it definitely feels great, and ready for more.”

Looking ahead, Gout has already confirmed his competitive plans for the coming months: he will skip the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which open in Glasgow on July 23, to prioritize preparation for the World Under-20 Athletics Championships, scheduled to take place in Oregon in early August.

The 2024 NRL season has quickly turned into a nightmare for the Parramatta Eels, who collapsed to a humiliating 52-10 defeat at the hands of the Gold Coast Titans on Sunday, leaving their home fans furious and their already crippled injury roster even further depleted. When the final siren blared at CommBank Stadium, thousands of blue-and-gold supporters voiced their anger by booing the team off the pitch – a reaction head coach Jason Ryles acknowledged was fully justified after one of the most underwhelming performances of his tenure.

Gold Coast’s fast-paced backline tore through Parramatta’s defense with alarming ease all afternoon, pushing the Eels’ total points conceded through the first six rounds of the season to 226 – the worst defensive record of any side in the NRL this year. The lopsided result drops Parramatta to 16th place on the competition ladder, with little to show for their first six weeks of play beyond mounting frustration and a growing list of sidelined stars.

Compounding the devastating loss were two new head knock injuries, to forwards Sam Tuivaiti and Kelma Tuilagi, that will force both players to miss the Eels’ upcoming clash against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs under the league’s concussion protocols. The club is already reeling from a rash of season-ending injuries to key rotation players J’maine Hopgood, Matt Doorey and Bailey Simonsson, while key playmaking duo Jonah Pezet and Isaiah Iongi remain sidelined for several more weeks with their own injuries. Veteran prop Junior Paulo is also currently managing a nagging knee injury that has limited his availability.

Ryles, who has led the Eels for 18 months, refused to use the extensive injury list as an excuse for the lackluster performance, saying the most disappointing part of the defeat was the absence of competitive fight he had seen just a week prior. “Last week against the Tigers I saw some fight that I’d never seen before, and then this week I didn’t see it,” Ryles told reporters post-match. “It’s certainly a challenge whenever you lose a third of your roster, that always puts pressure on performances. But at the same time, it creates opportunity. I’m not going to blame the injuries – every team goes through these rough patches over a season, but when you get your opportunity, you need to take it.”

The coach added that the team’s leadership would quickly investigate what led to the lack of intensity and poor decision-making that defined the loss, emphasizing that any new players called up to the first-grade side must understand the high standard required to compete at the NRL level. He also ruled out throwing unready young junior players into the line-up just to fill gaps, noting that doing so could risk long-term harm to their development. “I won’t throw youngsters in just for the sake of it to potentially jeopardise their future when they’re not ready for first grade,” he explained.

Titans’ 52-point haul marked the second-highest single-game score in the club’s NRL history, capping off a dominant day that left Parramatta’s captain Mitch Moses struggling to explain the collapse. “I don’t really have many answers for you, to be honest,” Moses told reporters. “We haven’t really started well pretty much the whole year, so our start is a big reason for it. We’ve been losing our start every single game probably this year, and then when you look up at the scoreboard you’re down by 18, 20 and chasing your tail. It doesn’t make it easy. I don’t think our attack was really good today either, so it didn’t really help.”

As the Eels turn their attention to next week’s match against Canterbury, the club faces urgent questions about how to reverse their early-season form slump and rebuild intensity after a defeat that has left their fanbase and playing group deeply demoralized.

In a dominant NRL round six matchup at CommBank Stadium on Sunday, the Gold Coast Titans delivered one of the most impressive performances of the young season, crushing the Parramatta Eels 52-10 to extend the home side’s losing streak and secure a rare victory on Sydney turf. The lopsided win, which marked the Titans’ second-highest single-game score in NRL history, was anchored by a career-defining 80-minute display from young fullback Keano Kini, putting to rest any lingering debate over the club’s starting role at the position.

When interim Titans coach Josh Hannay took charge of the side earlier this season, he openly anointed Kini as his first-choice fullback, turning down calls to shift incumbent Jayden Campbell into the starting 1 spot. On Sunday, the pint-sized speedster turned that vote of confidence into a stat line that would look more at home in a video game than a professional rugby league matchup. Kini played a pivotal role in the Titans’ opening four tries, setting up all three of the side’s first-half tries and breaking the game open within the opening quarter. His most memorable play came on a brilliant spin pass that sent AJ Brimson over the line for a try, before he broke away on a 70-metre run off an Eels kick to set up rookie winger Sialetili Faeamani, pushing the Titans’ lead to 18-0 after just 15 minutes of play. Early in the second half, he burst through Parramatta’s soft middle defence to set up Campbell for another try. By full time, Kini finished the match with 226 running metres, four try assists, three line breaks and nine tackle busts, a performance the official NRL social media team described as unstoppable.

Kini was far from the only Titans playmaker to produce a standout attacking display. Winger Jojo Fifita pounced on a loose Eels pass to spark a blistering 85-metre counterattack, linking up with Phil Sami to finish the long-range try that left the crowd stunned. Campbell later put the final cherry on top of the result when he intercepted an errant Parramatta pass to score another late Titans try, capping off a day where everything went right for the Gold Coast side.

For the Parramatta Eels, the result marks yet another devastating low point in a disastrous start to the 2026 season. The Eels slumped to second-last on the ladder after six rounds, after conceding nine tries and missing a staggering 43 tackles against a Titans side that had struggled for attacking momentum heading into the round. Parramatta’s defensive woes have become the worst in the entire competition this season, with the club already conceding 226 points across the opening six weeks. On Sunday, both the edge and middle defensive lines were repeatedly exposed by Gold Coast’s dynamic attack, leaving head coach Jason Ryles with major questions to answer. Ryles will particularly be frustrated by the ease with which Cooper Bai barged over from close range for a second-half try, one of many soft tries the Eels conceded on the day.

Parramatta’s attack was little better on Sunday. The side’s only first points came from a try that appeared to come off a clear forward pass, and by the time the Titans hit the 50-point mark late in the match, the home fans at CommBank Stadium voiced their anger with a raucous chorus of boos that rang out across the ground.

Making matters far worse for the Eels is a worsening injury crisis that has gutted the club’s playing squad ahead of their upcoming fixture. Powerhouse forwards Sam Tuivaiti and Kelma Tuilagi both suffered head knocks during Sunday’s match and will be forced to miss next week’s game, joining a growing list of sidelined stars. The club is already missing starting lock J’maine Hopgood, edge forward Matt Doorey and winger Bailey Simonsson for the entire 2026 season, while Isaiah Iongi and Jonah Pezet are among other key players currently sidelined with injury. Tuivaiti’s injury came just 10 minutes after he came onto the field as a reserve, when his head collided with Arama Hau’s hip while making a tackle, and he was ruled out of the rest of the match immediately after the incident.

The 2024-25 Premier League title race has been flipped on its head after Arsenal suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday, while Everton’s late equalizer grabbed a 2-2 draw against Brentford and scrambled the race for Champions League qualification. What was looking like a steady path to a first league title in 22 years for Mikel Arteta’s Gunners is now hanging in the balance, with defending champions Manchester City firmly back in contention.

Heading into Saturday’s fixture, Arsenal had the chance to stretch their lead at the top of the table to a commanding 12 points. But this defeat marks the Gunners’ third loss in four matches across all competitions, and now hands the initiative to Pep Guardiola’s City side, who hold two games in hand over the league leaders. City will look to capitalize on Arsenal’s slip first with a trip to Chelsea on Sunday, before hosting Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in a blockbuster title decider next weekend.

Just a month ago, Arsenal was targeting an historic quadruple of major trophies. But that dream has quickly unraveled: the side fell to City in the League Cup final last month, was knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship side Southampton, and now their long-awaited league crown is slipping out of grasp. A visibly disappointed Arteta acknowledged after the match that his side failed to meet their own season-long standards.

“It’s a big punch in the face because we wanted to win this game so badly,” Arteta told reporters. “We were very far from the standards that we’ve shown all season. We didn’t cope with the situations when they didn’t go our way.”

Bournemouth got off to a flying start when Junior Kroupi pounced on a deflected cross from Adrien Truffert to slot home the opening goal inside the first 20 minutes. Arsenal leveled just before halftime through a penalty converted by Viktor Gyokeres, but the Gunners’ familiar second-half lack of cutting edge in the final third proved costly once again. While Arsenal’s tight defensive record has carried them to the top of the table this season, they were carved open far too easily for Bournemouth’s winner: a well-crafted team move finished calmly by Alex Scott in the 74th minute that secured all three points for the visitors.

For Bournemouth, the upset result is far more than just a giant-killing: it extends their current unbeaten run to 11 matches and lifts them up to 10th in the table, putting them firmly in the race for a surprise spot in next season’s European competitions.

Down the table, the fight for the five direct Champions League qualification spots also tightened on Saturday, as both Brentford and Everton missed a golden opportunity to draw level on points with fifth-placed Liverpool. The Bees twice took the lead through striker Igor Thiago, who notched his 21st league goal of the season – putting him just one goal behind Erling Haaland in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot. But Everton hit back: Beto equalized midway through the first half, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall struck a late stoppage-time goal to rescue a point for the Toffees.

Brighton & Hove Albion also kept their own dream of a first-ever Champions League appearance alive with a 2-0 victory over already-relegated Burnley. Midfielder Mats Wieffer scored both goals for the Seagulls, extending their winning run to five wins from six matches under manager Fabian Hurzeler. The result lifts Brighton to ninth in the table, just three points behind Liverpool in fifth, keeping their unexpected push for European football on track.

All eyes now turn to Anfield, where Liverpool will host Fulham later on Saturday looking to end a damaging three-game losing run across all competitions. Pressure has grown on manager Arne Slot, less than a year after he led Liverpool to the 2023-24 Premier League title, following heavy back-to-back defeats to Manchester City in the FA Cup and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. In a major boost for the Reds, star forward Mohamed Salah has been named back in the starting line-up, one of five changes Slot made to the side that lost 2-0 to PSG in midweek.

As players prepared to tee off for Saturday’s third round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, all conversations still centered on one astonishing achievement: Rory McIlroy’s record-breaking 36-hole performance that gave him an unprecedented six-stroke advantage over the entire field.

The 36-year-old Northern Irish golfer put on a late-round clinic on Friday, carding birdies on six of his final seven holes – including the last four in a row – to storm into the top position, leaving fellow pros struggling to find words to describe the display of dominance. “Rory played great, made the most of pretty much everything he could out there and that’s what it takes to be beating the field by six,” said world number three Cameron Young, who competed alongside McIlroy on Friday.

As the defending Masters champion, McIlroy fired a seven-under-par 65 in his second round, pushing his cumulative score to 12-under 132 at the halfway mark of the year’s first men’s major championship. A victory this weekend would see him join an exclusive club of golf legends: only Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo have ever successfully defended their green jacket titles.

McIlroy navigated Augusta’s notoriously tricky Amen Corner with poise, notching birdies on both the challenging par-three 12th and par-five 13th holes. He closed out his round with a stunning 29-yard chip-in birdie at 17, followed by a clinical six-foot putt for birdie at 18 to etch his name into Masters record books. Even before Friday’s historic round, 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples predicted McIlroy’s momentum after he shared the first-round lead, saying, “Rory may never lose this thing again.”

Heading into Saturday’s play, Americans Patrick Reed and Sam Burns are tied for second place at six-under 138. A further stroke back at five-under 139, Ireland’s Shane Lowry, England’s Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood remain within striking distance if McIlroy slips.

McIlroy is set to tee off alongside Burns in Saturday’s coveted final pairing at 2:50 p.m. local time (1850 GMT), aiming to extend his commanding lead. Reflecting on his mindset ahead of the third round, McIlroy said he plans to stick to the strategy that has worked so far: “I have to go out there with the same free, trusting mindset I have the first two days.”

The five-time major champion has delivered a masterclass in adaptive play through the first two rounds. Notably, he has yet to hit a fairway on any of the tournament’s par-five holes, but still has played those holes seven-under par thanks to elite iron play and precision putting. Even with only 13 of 28 fairways found – ranking last among the 54 players who made the cut in driving accuracy – McIlroy ranks second in the field in scrambling percentage. His 334.2-yard average driving distance is second in the tournament, and he has needed only 51 putts through two rounds.

“I haven’t panicked when I’ve hit it off course and into the trees,” McIlroy explained. “When I was in the trees I didn’t mind. I sort of feel like I’m playing with the house’s money, which is a nice place to be.”

Last year’s Masters victory was a career-defining moment for McIlroy, ending a 10-year major championship drought and completing his career Grand Slam, and his comfort at Augusta is clear. “I’ve always loved this course and this tournament even when I felt it didn’t love me back,” he said.

Historically, only two 36-hole leads in major championship history have been larger than McIlroy’s six-stroke advantage: Henry Cotton’s nine-stroke lead at the 1934 British Open and Brooks Koepka’s seven-stroke edge at the 2019 PGA Championship. Friday’s 65 was also McIlroy’s 10th career major round of 65 or lower, matching a record previously shared only by Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson. For context, Woods holds the 54-hole Masters lead record of nine strokes set during his 12-stroke victory in 1997, while Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson share the 54-hole scoring record of 200, set in 2015 and 2020 respectively.

In a commanding display of top-tier tennis on Saturday, World No. 2 Jannik Sinner delivered a clinical performance to defeat Germany’s Alexander Zverev in straight sets 6-1, 6-4, securing his first-ever berth in the Monte Carlo Masters final and etching his name into ATP Tour history.

The 24-year-old Italian’s victory marks a historic milestone: he becomes the first men’s player to reach the final of the opening three ATP Masters 1000 events of a single season since legendary Serbian star Novak Djokovic accomplished the same feat back in 2015. Only two other all-time greats, Roger Federer in 2006 and Rafael Nadal in 2011, have managed to match this impressive run of consistent deep runs at the sport’s most prestigious non-Grand Slam tournaments.

From the opening game, Sinner came out with blistering aggressive intent that left Zverev struggling to find any rhythm. He broke the German’s serve three times across the opening set, wrapping up a dominant 34-minute first set win that put Zverev immediately on the back foot. While Zverev, currently ranked World No. 3, managed to shore up his game in the second set—recovering his first serve accuracy and putting up far stiffer resistance—he was forced to fight tooth and nail just to hold his serve in every service game.

Ultimately, Zverev could not stop Sinner’s momentum. The match ended after one hour and 22 minutes, with Zverev unable to handle another crushing forehand winner from the Italian. This victory extends Sinner’s incredible recent form at Masters 1000 events: he has dropped just one set across his last 21 matches at this level, and he has also extended his dominant head-to-head winning streak against Zverev. Zverev has not beaten Sinner since their Round of 16 clash at the 2023 US Open, continuing a cold streak for the German against the Italian.

Sinner now turns his attention to the final, where he will await the winner of the second semi-final clash between top-ranked defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and French home crowd favorite Valentin Vacherot, who is ranked 23rd in the world. If Alcaraz emerges victorious from that match, the Monte Carlo final will be the first meeting this season between the world’s top two men’s singles players. It will also carry high stakes for the ATP rankings: the winner of that potential head-to-head will claim the World No. 1 ranking when the new ATP rankings are released on Monday.