Latest - Queenstown's Alice Robinson has finished a career best fourth place in the Giant Slalom at the Ski World Championships in Italy overnight.
Photo: Enrica Cipriana
Robinson,19, was quick out of the start gate for run one, posting a significant advantage on her first two splits but lost some speed through the middle section, finishing in 6th place in her first run, +0.51 seconds behind run one leader Mikaela Shiffrin (USA).
Robinson was excited for run two and came out of the gate, attacking the course from the first gate. She maintained her pace throughout the whole run and was sitting in the top spot with just five athletes to go.
Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) and Katharina Liensberger (AUT) all put down fantastic runs, taking the gold, silver and bronze medals respectively and bumping Robinson off the podium into fourth position, +0.73 seconds behind winner Gut-Behrami.
"Obviously it hasn't been an easy season for me and I wanted to give it my all today, and I really tried my best. Sometimes when you're pushing it, you make some mistakes, and that's kind of what I had on the second run, but I'm pretty proud of getting out there and full attacking as much as I could. I lost quite a bit of time down the bottom. I still have a lot of room to get better." Robinson explained at the Cortina Press Conference.
Fellow Kiwi Piera Hudson (Hawkes Bay) also competed in the Giant Slalom overnight. Hudson was looking strong out of the start gate with some very respectable splits but unfortunately came unstuck just gates from the finish and received a DNF.
Ton-up North cleared to beat Hooper record
Wales wing George North has been cleared to win his 100th Wales cap against England in the Six Nations Championship and set a new record as the youngest man to achieve the century feat.
The youngest player to reach 100 caps for his country previously was Wallabies captain Michael Hooper, who reached the landmark, aged 28 years and 348 days, when he played against New Zealand last October.
Yet North, who's also 28, will now beat Hooper's record by 29 days when he takes the field against England a week on Saturday.
North missed Wales' second Six Nations win against Scotland last weekend with a foot injury but the British and Irish Lions star has returned to training ahead of the visit of Eddie Jones's men to Cardiff.
Wales attack coach Stephen Jones said: "George is making good progress, every day he is improving.
"He's taken part in some sort of training already, which is great, and that's the good thing from our perspective.
"I believe it is a full green light."
North's fellow centres Johnny Williams and Jonathan Davies are also back in training to strengthen head coach Wayne Pivac's midfield options, while flanker Josh Navidi has overcome the neck injury which forced him to miss the Scotland win.
-Reuters
Skateboarding eyes brighter future with USOPC support on mental issues
The skateboarding community, rocked by several prominent deaths related to mental health issues, is hoping the benefits that go with the sport's inclusion in this year's Tokyo Olympics will help its athletes tackle the underlying problems.
Briton Ben Raemers committed suicide in 2019, skateboarding pioneer Jeff Grosso died from a drug overdose in 2020, and 22-year-old Henry Gartland took his own life last month, highlighting the urgent need to address issues like depression and addiction.
"Skateboarding is a very tight-knit community," said USA Skateboarding CEO Josh Friedberg.
"Everyone has these links to each other and that makes losses like these tougher to deal with because there's so many personal connections.
"The good news is that it's causing people to think more deeply about mental health in skateboarding - trying to figure out new ways to support the people that they love and care about."
Friedberg said one key development is that the athletes now have access to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) mental health services for the first time.
"We've been really lucky to have the support of the USOPC in this situation," he said.
"They have been proactive in providing mental health resource for our team and staff."
Tony Hawk, one of the world's most famous skateboarders, said that while there has been progress in combating the stigma associated with mental health, more work needs to be done.
-Reuters