Sports
Max Verstappen Overtakes 100 Amateur Karters in Just 14 Laps at Silverstone Exhibition Race
Four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen has passed 100 amateur go-kart drivers in only 14 laps and 35 minutes during an exhibition race at Silverstone, finishing the challenge with more than half of his allotted time to spare. The Red Bull driver was given a maximum of 35 laps and 75 minutes to hunt down the entire field from the back of the grid on an adapted version of the grand prix circuit in Northamptonshire. He reached 37th place by the end of a chaotic opening lap in which several drivers crashed and spun, with racing briefly suspended, before climbing to 10th by lap six and fourth by lap 10. The field included television, sport and social media personalities but no professional racing drivers, and every karter Verstappen passed had to retire immediately.
Sports
Taylor Townsend Withdraws From Guadalajara Open After Emergency Surgery Following Career Grand Slam Triumph
American tennis player Taylor Townsend has withdrawn from the Guadalajara Open after undergoing emergency surgery, days after completing a career Grand Slam in women's doubles at the US Open. The 30-year-old won her first-round match against Tatjana Maria on Monday, recovering from a set down, before pulling out of Wednesday's Round of 16 and handing Marta Kostyuk a walkover. Townsend announced the surgery through a statement released on the tournament's channels, saying the decision breaks her heart, and confirmed on social media that she would update fans soon. The withdrawal ends a rapid Mexican swing that began immediately after her New York triumph with Katerina Siniakova.
Sports
Anneli Maley Earns Standard Liberty Contract After Seven WNBA Waivers and Snub
Australian forward Anneli Maley has earned a standard WNBA contract with the New York Liberty, converting from a developmental deal that capped her at 12 activated games this season, the team announced. The 28-year-old was left out of the Opals' 12-player World Cup squad nine months ago while leading the WNBL in rebounding, then endured a whirlwind WNBA season: a training-camp contract in May, waiver at final cuts, a one-year 270,000-dollar deal with Phoenix worth more than the league minimum, a single point in six minutes on opening night, another waiver, and a Liberty return on May 23. Across two clubs she has played nine games for six points, scoreless in seven. The upgrade removes her activation limit and comes as Liberty star Satou Sabally is out for the season with a head injury. Development players earn a 750-dollar weekly stipend plus 6,136 dollars per activated game, while the standard minimum is 270,000 dollars prorated.
Sports
Bess Frustrates Old Teammates Somerset as County Championship Title Race Tightens
Dom Bess haunted his former club with 77 runs in a seventh-wicket partnership of 166 alongside George Hill's season-best 89 on day three at Headingley, jolting Somerset's bid for a first County Championship title before the visitors held on at 73 for three chasing 287. Somerset, who have never won the Championship in their history, reached the close through captain Tom Abell and Tom Lammonby, needing a further 214 runs on the final day to complete only their second victory of the run-in. Elsewhere, champions Nottinghamshire slumped to 31 for seven's equivalent lead of just 31 runs with three wickets in hand against Sussex after Ari Karvelas and Jaydev Unadkat tore through their order, while Leicestershire — already reeling from a 27-point Cricket Regulator penalty linked to their pitch controversy — reached 156 for three chasing 334 against Hampshire in a match where a draw relegates both teams.
Sports
FA Chair Demands Infantino Release Documents on Abandoned World Cup Plan
Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt has written to Gianni Infantino demanding Fifa release all documents relating to the president's abandoned World Cup sell-off plan and the decision to lift USA striker Folarin Balogun's suspension during last summer's tournament, according to a letter sent in advance of the Fifa council meeting in Zurich on October 15. The Guardian revealed last month that Hewitt and other council members were lobbying for an independent review of the proposed Fifa Forward Enterprise sell-off and the Balogun controversy, in which the striker's red card was overturned after a phone call from Donald Trump to Infantino. Council rebels failed last month to gather the 19 votes needed to trigger an extraordinary general meeting, and Infantino — who has had no contact with the council since withdrawing the FFE plan in August — is lobbying for support before standing for re-election as president in March, making visits to the Caribbean, South America, Morocco and Qatar.
Sports
Former Mercedes Design Chief Mike Elliott Joins Alpine as Chief Technical Officer
Former Mercedes Formula 1 design boss Mike Elliott has joined Alpine as chief technical officer, taking charge of the technical and engineering functions at the team's Enstone factory as the French outfit attempts to climb back from slumping to the back of the field in 2025. The 52-year-old Briton, whose career in the sport began at McLaren in 2000, returns to the team where he served as principal aerodynamicist from 2008 to 2012 during its Renault and Lotus eras, and where he will work again alongside executive adviser Flavio Briatore and managing director Steve Nielsen. Alpine's announcement credits Elliott with contributing to eight constructors' and eight drivers' championships during more than a decade at Mercedes, where he rose from head of aerodynamics to technical director and then chief technical officer across the Lewis Hamilton dominance years. His arrival places him above executive technical director David Sanchez in the engineering structure, and the move carries history: his Mercedes tenure ended under a cloud in October 2023 after the team's zero-pod design philosophy for the ground-effect era failed, persisting with the concept despite porpoising problems and against the pleas of Hamilton to change tack.
Sports
Six-Time Grand Slam Champion Joe Salisbury Announces Retirement After Final US Open Run
Joe Salisbury, Britain's most successful men's doubles player and a six-time Grand Slam champion, has announced his retirement from professional tennis at 34, confirming the decision in an emotional Instagram post on Wednesday evening after a 12-year career on the ATP circuit. The former world number one won six major titles across men's doubles and mixed doubles, including three consecutive US Open men's doubles crowns alongside American Rajeev Ram between 2021 and 2022 within a run of four finals in six years. His final tournament was this year's US Open, where he and Ram reached the semi-finals before losing to Germany's Tim Putz and Kevin Krawietz while chasing a fourth US Open title together. Salisbury wrote that he had been thinking about the decision for a while and was now very happy with it, that tennis had been his life for as long as he could remember, and that he gave it his all and could look back with no regrets. Tributes followed from Heather Watson, Neal Skupski and Julian Cash, who credited Salisbury as a huge part of why he began his own doubles career.
Sports
Jalen Duren Feels Disrespected by Pistons as Contract Rift Casts Cloud Over Camp
Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren reportedly feels disrespected by the franchise as his restricted free agency stalemate stretches toward an October 1 deadline, with ESPN's Marc Spears reporting that the 22-year-old's grievance is no longer about money. The Pistons' latest offer is worth approximately 190 million dollars over five years while Duren is seeking at least 200 million, and the All-NBA Third Team selection is eligible for a five-year contract worth roughly 287 million under the Rose Rule, which would raise his starting salary to 30 percent of the cap. Duren has until October 1 to accept his 9.6 million dollar qualifying offer for 2026-27, a route that would make him an unrestricted free agent next summer and surrender more than 180 million in potential guaranteed money, though The Athletic reports the gap between Detroit's maximum now and another team's maximum next summer could be as little as 6 million over five years. Sacramento, where president of basketball operations Scott Perry has a longstanding relationship with Duren, is considered particularly well positioned among three serious suitors if he reaches the open market.
Sports
Leicestershire Docked 27 Points as Ganguly Biopic Defence Fails to Save Their Season
Leicestershire County Cricket Club has been left on the brink of relegation from Division One of the Rothesay County Championship after the independent Cricket Discipline Panel upheld a charge for breaching ECB Pitch Regulations, docking the club 27 points and fining it 5,000 pounds. The sanction follows the pitch at Uptonsteel Grace Road being rated poor after the August match against Glamorgan, which Leicestershire won by 42 runs. Head grounds manager Callum Lewin told the regulator that an unscheduled filming event for a Sourav Ganguly biopic four days before the match prevented him working on the pitch for roughly eight hours, alongside extreme heat of 35 degrees Celsius, but the panel rejected the film shoot as a mitigating factor and found the club's preparation unreasonable. The punishment strips the eight immediate penalty points plus the 19 points earned from the victory, pushes Leicestershire to the bottom of the table during their penultimate fixture against Hampshire, and leaves the club, promoted back to the top tier after a 23-year absence, considering an appeal within 10 working days.
Sports
Tuchel Names First Post-World Cup England Squad as Redemption Tour Opens Against Spain
England manager Thomas Tuchel will name his first squad since the World Cup on Friday as the national team opens a new cycle with four Nations League ties against Spain, Czechia and Croatia, still carrying the scars of the 2-1 semi-final defeat by Argentina two months ago. Tuchel, who told a colleague that people are killing him over the fallout, remains fully backed by the Football Association, which considers any notion that he should have resigned after reaching the semi-finals for only the fourth time in England's history absurd. The tournament nonetheless ended with recrimination after Tuchel's decision to introduce defender Ezri Konsa for winger Anthony Gordon and switch to a five-man defence with five minutes remaining failed to protect a 1-0 lead. With John Stones, Dan Burn, Djed Spence and Jordan Henderson likely injured, the new squad opens against Spain at Wembley next Saturday, England's first meeting with the side that beat them in the Euro 2024 final, and the manager's tone will be watched as closely as his selections.
Sports
Lando Norris Calls VSC Rule Unfair After Costly Timing Robs Him of Spanish Grand Prix Win
Lando Norris says he was "insanely unlucky" to lose what seemed like a certain victory at the Spanish Grand Prix after a virtual safety car was called seconds after he passed the pit lane entry, allowing rivals to pit cheaply while he could not. Norris, who had taken pole with a lap team principal Andrea Stella called "a masterpiece," led Kimi Antonelli by more than six seconds when Lance Stroll's stopped Aston Martin triggered the caution. A stop under VSC saves around 11 seconds, and Norris emerged more than 15 seconds behind eventual winner Antonelli after tyre trouble cost him five more. Race-winner Antonelli admitted: "Today we didn't deserve to win. Lando deserved to win." Stella called for the F1 Strategy Advisory Committee to review whether VSC periods should last a full lap, as drivers including Max Verstappen back a rule discussion.
Sports
WTA Finals Moving to Charlotte's Spectrum Center From 2027 as Tour Plants Flag in Women's Sports Boom
The WTA announced Wednesday that Charlotte, North Carolina, will become the new home of the WTA Finals from 2027 through 2029, ending the season-ending championship's two decades as a global nomad and relocating the Tour's global headquarters from St. Petersburg, Florida. The Finals will be staged at Spectrum Center, home of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, with additional programming at the Charlotte Convention Center. WTA Chair Valerie Camillo said the Tour aims to build "a championship experience that reflects just how far women's sport has come and where it is going next," while Charlotte Sports Foundation CEO Will Pitts called the deal "a transformational moment for Charlotte." The 2026 edition remains set for Indian Wells, bridging to the new era, with the singles champion lifting the Billie Jean King Trophy and doubles winners earning the Martina Navratilova Trophy.