Sports

By Ben Morse, CNN (CNN) — Even as a 15-year-old, Sam Kerr had the weight of a nation on her shoulders. Aged 15 and 150 days, a fresh-faced Kerr ran onto the Canberra pitch to make her international debut for Australia in 2009. She had already become the youngest scorer in the W-League, Australia’s top

By Aimee Lewis, CNN (CNN) — Morocco earned a surprise victory over South Korea on Sunday to secure the country’s first win at a Women’s World Cup in a match where Nouhaila Benzina also made history. Striker Ibtissam Jraidi scored the only goal of the match in a 1-0 victory as Morocco became the third

By Ben Church and Tara Subramaniam, CNN (CNN) — New Zealand picked up an unwanted record by becoming the first host nation knocked out at the Women’s World Cup group stages, after its 0-0 draw against Switzerland on Sunday. With Norway thrashing the Philippines 6-0 in the other Group A game, the Football Ferns needed

By Hilary Whiteman, CNN Brisbane, Australia (CNN) — Half-time and thousands of tiny cellphone lights are swaying in time to Coldplay’s “A Sky Full of Stars” on a mild winter night at Brisbane Stadium for Australia’s World Cup match against Nigeria. Sitting across two rows, not far from the pitch, are players from the exiled

By Jacob Lev, CNN (CNN) — Phoenix Mercury superstar Brittney Griner will not travel with the team on its two-game road trip to focus on her mental health, the team announced on Saturday. “The Mercury fully support Brittney and we will continue to work together on a timeline for her return,” the team said in

By Matias Grez and Ben Morse, CNN (CNN) — With some Women’s World Cup groups balanced on a knife edge, working out which team needs to get what result to still qualify can be a tricky process. CNN Sport takes a look at each group and breaks down the teams that are already through to

CNN By Wayne Sterling, CNN (CNN) — NBA star LeBron James shared a video Saturday on Instagram of his son Bronny playing piano after the young athlete’s cardiac arrest this week. LeBron James wrote in the video’s caption, “Grand rising! God Is Great! @Bronny, you are amazing! Simple as that!” It is unclear when the

By Wayne Sterling, CNN (CNN) — NBA star LeBron James shared a video Saturday on Instagram of his son Bronny playing piano after the young athlete’s cardiac arrest this week. LeBron James wrote in the video’s caption, “Grand rising! God Is Great! @Bronny, you are amazing! Simple as that!” It is unclear when the video

By Jack Bantock, CNN (CNN) — Tucked at the bottom of the Alps, Évian-les-Bains was a picture of calm on Saturday afternoon as drizzles of rain cast light ripples across nearby Lake Geneva. Yet beneath the surface, the charming spa town is crackling with excitement. If France’s Celine Boutier can achieve her dream on Sunday,

By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — Jamaica earned a historic first-ever Women’s World Cup win on Saturday, defeating Panama 1-0 following a goal from captain Allyson Swaby. It has been a groundbreaking tournament for the Reggae Girlz with a draw against France in their opening match yielding a first point at a Women’s World Cup

By Wayne Sterling, CNN (CNN) — US superstar swimmer Katie Ledecky surpassed Michael Phelps for most career individual world swimming titles on Saturday after winning her 16th gold medal. Ledecky also became the first-ever swimmer to win six consecutive world championships in the same event. The 26-year-old earned her 16th world title after winning the 800-meter freestyle in

By Matt Foster, CNN (CNN) — A day after Paris marked a year to go until the 2024 Olympics, Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan was disqualified from participating in the world championships after she refused to shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova. Kharlan’s disqualification threw into sharp relief the political and organizational jeopardy that France and

By Jack Bantock, CNN (CNN) — Spanish golf star Carlota Ciganda was disqualified from the Evian Championship on Friday after refusing to add a two-shot slow play penalty to her scorecard. Having started from the 10th tee, the 33-year-old was finishing her second round at the par-five 9th hole when she was penalized two strokes

By Jacob Lev, CNN (CNN) — Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton apologized for his critique of the team’s previous coach and staff, calling it a “mistake.” On Thursday, Payton told USA Today that his predecessors had done “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL.” But speaking to reporters during

By Ben Morse, CNN (CNN) — Diana Matheson is driving but can’t help checking her phone. She knows she shouldn’t, but the temptation is too much. She pulls over to devote her full attention to her phone. Matheson is being distracted by events in Edinburg, Texas, where a crowd of 820 people are watching history

By Svitlana Vlasova, Victoria Butenko and Tim Lister, CNN (CNN) — The Ukrainian fencing champion banned from the world championships in Italy for refusing to shake hands with a Russian opponent has been readmitted to the tournament and given an automatic place at next year’s Paris Olympics. Olga Kharlan, leader of Ukraine’s national fencing team,

By Matias Grez, CNN (CNN) — France put itself in a commanding position to reach the last 16 of the Women’s World Cup after earning a hard-fought 2-1 win over Brazil thanks to Wendie Renard’s late header. France dominated the early exchanges and veteran forward Eugenie Le Sommer deservedly opened the scoring for France on