Sports

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer The College Football Playoff is set to remain a four-team format through the 2025 season. The administrators who manage the postseason failed to agree on a plan to expand before the current contracts run out. The CFP management committee met by video conference earlier this week. Executive

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s 4×100-meter relay team has been stripped of its silver medal from the Tokyo Olympics after C.J. Ujah’s doping violation was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Ujah’s sample taken in Japan in August contained the prohibited substances ostarine and S-23, which are selective androgen receptor modulators (SARM) and help

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer BEIJING (AP) — Arseni Gritsyuk scored the shootout winner to put the Russians into the men’s hockey final by beating Sweden 2-1. The team known as Russian Olympic Committee will face Finland on Sunday looking for back-to-back gold medals. Goaltender Ivan Fedotov stopped six of the eight shots he

By JEROME PUGMIRE AP Auto Racing Writer Lewis Hamilton has called on social media companies to do more to stop the spread of online abuse after fellow Formula One driver Nicholas Latifi received death threats following the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Latifi crashed his Williams car with a few laps left and with Hamilton

LONDON (AP) — Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare has received a 10-year ban for being part of what’s been described as an “organized doping regimen” ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. The former world championships silver medalist was initially suspended in July just before she was due to run in the semifinals of the 100 meters at

By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — Eve Muirhead scored four points in the second-to-last end of regulation and Britain beat defending Olympic champion Sweden 12-11 in an extra end to advance to the gold medal match in women’s curling. Britain will play in the final Sunday against Japan, which beat top-seeded Switzerland

By JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur has denied wrongdoing after being linked to a Spanish police investigation of people suspected of paying for false COVID-19 vaccination certificates. De Minaur says he has “a completely valid, accurate and true vaccination record.” Spanish media reported that De Minaur

By SALLY HO Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — U.S. pairs skater Timothy LeDuc became the country’s first openly nonbinary Winter Olympian when they took the ice Friday night. The 31-year-old LeDuc and pairs partner Ashley Gain-Gribble placed seventh in their Olympic debut. LeDuc wore a white shirt with sparkles and Cain-Gribble an ice blue dress

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — The Germans remain right at home on China’s Olympic sliding track. Winners of gold medals in seven of the eight sliding events so far at the Beijing Games, Germany has put itself in prime position to add more hardware to its record-setting total. It holds down

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The Danish women’s national soccer team has pulled out of the Algarve Cup in Portugal because of an outbreak of COVID-19 in its squad. The team’s game against Sweden scheduled for Friday was canceled. The Danish soccer federation says three members of its team including coach Lars Søndergaard tested positive for

BEIJING (AP) — The doping case of 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has dominated the conversation at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Doping and other controversies involving Russian athletes have played a significant role at recent Olympics.

By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — Sui Wenjing and Han Cong are in a most familiar place atop the pairs competition at the Olympics. They plan to hold onto the spot this time. Four years after a shaky free skate dropped the two-time world champions to the silver medal in Pyeongchang, Sui

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer Lewis Hamilton took nearly two months to emotionally recover from the controversial Formula One finale that cost him a record an eighth championship. The Mercedes driver insists he never considered quitting F1 in protest. Once he accepted the results Hamilton put the debacle behind him and began preparation

By JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur has denied wrongdoing after being linked to a Spanish police investigation of people suspected of paying for false COVID-19 vaccination certificates. De Minaur says he has “a completely valid, accurate and true vaccination record.” Spanish media reported that De Minaur

By JIM VERTUNO AP Sports Writer AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Formula One has announced a new five-year contract with the Circuit of the Americas to keep the United States Grand Prix at the Texas track through 2026. The 2022 U.S. Grand Prix is scheduled for Oct. 23 and has been on F1’s official calendar without

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — A worldwide wave of sympathy has flowed to Kamila Valieva for the ordeal she endured at the Beijing Olympics.  IOC President Thomas Bach joined on Friday, giving a rare rebuke to the Russian coaches. It was a change in tone for Bach, who has defended Russian

By JOHN WAWROW AP Hockey Writer BEIJING (AP) — Another Olympic women’s hockey tournament is over and very little appears to have changed. Canada and the United States met in the final for the sixth time in seven Olympics and there remain concerns about how to grow the sport globally. U.S. captain Kendall Coyne Schofield