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Today's sports news: What you need to know

08:54 am on 6 June 2021

Latest - Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took pole position for the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday in a qualifying session littered with crashes and red flags.

Charles Leclerc will be on on pole position in Baku Photo: Photosport

The three phase session was stopped four times due to accidents, with Leclerc taking a second pole in a row after Monaco - where he took the top slot after crashing.

Mercedes' seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton qualified alongside the Monegasque on the front row, with Red Bull's championship leader Max Verstappen starting third. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London Editing by Mark Potter)

-Reuters

Hareb misses out on Tokyo Olympics

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Taranaki surfer Paige Hareb's hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics have ended.

Hareb was eliminated from the World Surfing Games in El Salvador after coming third in her fifth round heat and then having to go into a sudden-death repechage.

She was down to the final 12 surfers but still needed to get through another heat to secure her place at the Tokyo Games where seven places were up for grabs in the final qualifying event.

-RNZ

Fraser-Pryce second quickest woman of all time

Jamaica's double Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became the second-fastest woman of all time behind 100 metres world record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner when she clocked 10.63 seconds at a meet in Kingston.

Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce. Photo: Photosport

American Griffith-Joyner still holds the women's 100 metres world record of 10.49 seconds, set in Indianapolis in 1988, as well as the three fastest times ever with 10.61 and 10.62, also in 1988.

Fraser-Pryce shaved 0.01 seconds off Carmelita Jeter's 10.64 in 2009 to climb behind Griffith-Joyner on the all-time list.

Fraser-Pryce, 34, is the reigning world champion after winning gold in Doha in 2019.

She said she did not expect to set such a quick time during her preparations for next month's Tokyo Olympics.

-Reuters

Springboks recall veteran

South Africa have included veteran first five Morne Steyn in their 46-strong squad to play the British & Irish Lions next month, a return to the side for the player who kicked the Springboks to a series win when the teams last met in 2009.

Morne Steyn Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Steyn, 36, who won the last of his 66 caps in 2016, is the third first five in the squad along with Handre Pollard and Elton Jantjies, as the Boks retained 30 of the 33 players from their 2019 Rugby World Cup triumph in Japan, the last time they played an international.

Prop Tendai Mtawarira, hooker Schalk Brits and loose-forward Francois Louw have retired, but there are a number of uncapped players in hooker Joseph Dweba, lock Nico Janse van Rensburg, scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba, and the uncapped back quartet of Wandisile Simelane, Aphelele Fassi, Yaw Penxe and Rosko Specman.

-Reuters

Solid start in Italy for NZ in SailGP

Sail GP competition in Italy Photo: Sail GP

The New Zealand SailGP Team has made a solid if unspectacular start to the latest event in Italy.

The team after fifth overall after finishing third, fifth and eighth in the days three races.

The United States and Japan are in pole position to qualify for the final with both teams on 21 points. Jimmy Spithill's US Team won two of the three fleet races, while Nathan Outteridge's Japan claimed a single victory.

Another day of light wind conditions in southern Italy meant each F50 featured onlyl three crew rather than the usual five to allow for a lower take-off speed.

"We managed to do some really good things and obviously there's a lot of room to improve, especially on the manoeuvres with three onboard and all of us taking on new jobs...we're trying to iron those out and if we can do that I think we'll be competitive," said Team NZ's Andy Maloney.

Nadal cruises in Paris

Rafa Nadal barely broke sweat as he continued his quest for a 21st Grand Slam with a brutal 6-3 6-3 6-3 dismantling of Briton Cameron Norrie in the third round of the French Open on Saturday.

Nadal, who won a record-extending 13th title at Roland Garros last year, extended his run at the claycourt Grand Slam to an unbelievable 30 sets won in a row.

Photo: Photosport

He last dropped a set against Dominic Thiem in the 2019 final.

In the women's draw teenager Coco Gauff reached the last 16 of the French Open for the first time after fellow American and Australia Open runner-up Jennifer Brady quit having lost the first set 6-1 on Saturday.

-Reuters