Simone Biles has claimed a record eighth all-around US Championship less than a month after ending a two-year break from gymnastics.

The 19-time world champion, 26, claimed the record-breaking crown – 10 years after winning her first – as she posted a total of 118.40, four clear of runner-up Shilese Jones, in San Jose, California.

Biles returned to competition in Chicago earlier this month after suffering from “the twisties” – a phenomenon which affects an athlete’s spatial awareness – and withdrawing from five of her six finals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to focus on her mental health.

The seven-time Olympic medallist became the oldest female US champion since the event was first organised by USA Gymnastics in 1963.

She is expected to bid to add to her haul of 25 World Championship medals in Antwerp in September.

Biles has not confirmed whether she plans to compete at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Olympic champion Sunisa Lee, who has battled a mystery kidney issue for much of the year, performed strongly on the beam and could head to Antwerp as a specialist on the apparatus.

Norway’s Viktor Hovland held off a determined challenge from Xander Schauffele in the final round of the Tour Championship to claim the FedEx Cup title and 18million US dollar (£14.1million) first prize.

Hovland, who won the BMW Championship seven days ago, carded a bogey-free closing 63 at East Lake to finish 27 under par, five shots ahead of Schauffele, who returned a superb 62.

The 25-year-old began the day with a six-shot lead and, following a delay of almost two hours due to the threat of lightning, maintained that advantage as both he and Schauffele covered the first six holes in four under par.

Schauffele also birdied the eighth to be out in 30 and picked up further shots on the 11th and 12th to get within three of the lead, a lead which looked set to shrink even further when Hovland hit a poor chip to the 14th.

However, Hovland holed from 23 feet to save par and then made his first birdie since the sixth on the 16th to effectively seal a win which was quickly celebrated by Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald.

“I walked 3 matches with Viktor at the last Ryder Cup,” Donald wrote on Twitter.

“He was great tee to green but his short game and putting let him down. He told me he wasn’t clutch enough. Well he’s about as clutch as they come now. What a year, what a finish, what a guy! Fedex Cup Champ.”

US Open champion Wyndham Clark finished third on 16 under with Rory McIlroy, who had been hampered by a back injury all week, carding a closing 65 to finish fourth on 14 under.

“As the week went on it got looser and today it was pretty close to 100 per cent,” McIlroy told Sky Sports.

“I wish I had felt like this the rest of the week but even without a bad back I’m not sure I’d have been able to hang with the two guys in front.

“Another solid week, my game is where it needs to be and as long as I stay healthy for the next few weeks I’m excited to get back to Europe, play in Ireland and at Wentworth and ultimately get my game in shape for the Ryder Cup.”

The United States will be bidding to retain the Ryder Cup after enjoying a record 19-9 victory two years ago and McIlroy told reporters: “There’s a lot of us that were in that team at Whistling Straits and that didn’t feel very nice, didn’t feel good.

“So, yeah, I’m excited to get back over to Europe. We’re all sort of making our way over to Europe a couple weeks early. So it will be nice to all get together, get some early team dinners before the week in Rome and sort of really feel like that sort of team chemistry is starting already.

“We’re all, for the most part, playing really good. There’s still a few weeks to go, but it’s the next big thing in all of our calendars.”

Maths whizz Lily Miyazaki feels like her number has finally come up after qualifying for the US Open.

The Tokyo-born Brit had a wild card for Wimbledon last year, but has now reached the main draw of a grand slam under her own steam for the first time.

Miyazaki, who earned a masters degree in mathematical science in the United States four years ago, beat Slovakia’s Viktoria Hruncakova in the final round of qualifying at Flushing Meadows.

The 27-year-old now has to solve the puzzle of how to get past Russian Margarita Betova on Monday for a first grand slam match win.

“Playing Wimbledon last year was amazing,” said Miyazaki. “But I think that, as a wild card, I don’t know how to explain it, but I don’t know if you truly believe like you belong.

“And I played Caroline Garcia, obviously she’s a pretty good player and I was really nervous going into that match. So hopefully this time I feel like I belong here. So that experience definitely helped me.”

Miyazaki joins Katie Boulter and Jodie Burrage as the British contingent in the women’s draw.

She also shares a coach, Craig Veal, with British number two Burrage, who was in the stands supporting her compatriot.

“For her to qualify, it was killing me,” said Burrage, 24. “When she was one-set all, I had to go to practice and throughout it I was shouting at my physio asking what the score was.

“I was hardly focusing on my practice because I wanted to be there watching her, but it’s so good she has qualified, with me and ‘Boults’ being in the main draw.

“It’s nice when you are friends and you can enjoy success with them and hopefully next week we can do some damage in the main draw. We’ve all got the games to be able to.”

Burrage faces Russian Anna Blinkova on Tuesday, while British number one Boulter meets France’s Diane Parry.

Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson was forced to settle for another World Championships silver.

The 21-year-old was beaten to 800m gold by Kenya’s Mary Moraa in Budapest just 13 months after she also finished second in Eugene.

Hodgkinson clocked one minute 56.34 seconds with defending champion Athing Mu in third and GB’s Jemma Reekie fifth.

Hodgkinson had been beaten into silver by Mu at last year’s World Championships before Moraa took gold at the Commonwealth Games ahead of her.

Before the final, the Olympic silver medallist admitted she owed them both but was unable to beat Moraa despite overhauling Mu in the final 50m on Sunday night.

Lewis Hamilton said he “paid the price” for Mercedes’ strategy blunder at the start of Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.

Following a first-lap downpour in Zandvoort, Mercedes were too slow to put both Hamilton and team-mate George Russell on the intermediate tyres.

The poorly-timed stops left Hamilton and Russell – who was third on the grid – 13th and 17th when the order shuffled out.

“We should have pitted, but we didn’t, and we paid the price for that,” said Hamilton who eventually crossed the line sixth as Max Verstappen claimed his ninth win in succession.

“Today I had the pace, and I was on pace with Max, but we were just out of position.

“I was pretty happy with my drive to back into the points. I got sixth. But it could have been higher, for sure.”

Sergio Perez started seventh but assumed the lead of the race after he was called in by his quick-thinking Red Bull team on the first lap.

With the rain still falling, Verstappen, quite rightly, stopped the next time round but Russell stayed out on the slick rubber despite the worsening conditions.

Hamilton, who started 13th, was also sent round for another lap despite the seven-time world champion’s obvious concerns.

“We should have come in, man,” said Hamilton over the radio. “It is very wet.”

“Copy, Lewis,” said his race engineer Peter Bonnington. “We’re going to stay out. We’re going to have to brave this.”

But at the end of the third lap, Hamilton was in for wet tyres. He rejoined the track in last place.

Russell was still sliding around on slicks before he was changed on to the wet rubber at the end of lap four.

“I was forecast a podium,” said Russell on the radio. “F***, how did we mess this up?”

Russell was classified 17th after he collided with Norris in the closing stages and sustained a left-rear puncture.

“The race was over before it really got started,” said the 25-year-old Englishman. “The information we got about the weather was totally wrong.

“We thought the rain would last a couple of minutes but it clearly lasted for longer. It was a real shame. A podium was missed.

“As a team we need to review because we are getting the information coming into us and it was misjudging the weather. It is not anything to do with racing or engineering. It was just a weather misinterpretation and that ruined our afternoon.

“So we need to look into that, to see why the others decided to pit and what information they had that we didn’t, and make sure we don’t make the same mistake again.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “That was a difficult day for us. In the opening 15 laps, we got pretty much everything wrong that we could have done – and that cost us any chance of fighting for the podium. We will review thoroughly.”

Andy Farrell says Ireland are “devastated” to have lost veteran prop Cian Healy to injury ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France.

Healy has been left out of his country’s 33-man squad and is facing up to 10 weeks on the sidelines due to a calf issue sustained in Saturday evening’s 17-13 warm-up win over Samoa.

The 35-year-old – Ireland’s third most-capped player with 125 appearances – was helped off the pitch by medical staff in Bayonne and was later pictured on crutches.

Munster loosehead Jeremy Loughman will fill the void, with head coach Farrell holding faint hope of Healy possibly being fit to feature in the latter stages of the tournament.

“He’s just had a scan as we got off the plane and he’ll be out for a spell of time that won’t be right, unfortunately, for Cian and for us, certainly for the start of the competition,” said Farrell, speaking in Dublin.

“We’ll see how his rehab goes during it, you’d never know towards the back end if he could be a replacement or not.

“It’s devastating, isn’t it? That’s sport, that’s life, that’s rugby. Cian’s big enough and old enough and experienced enough to be through these type of things before.

“I remember in 2013 on the Lions (tour) he got injured early and had to fly home. He’s experienced something like this and understands that these things happen. He’s devastated as we are for him.

“The prognosis is something between five, six to 10 weeks. How that rehab carries on is something that we’ll keep a track of as we go.”

Healy’s absence was the headline news from Farrell’s selection, but was hardly a shock given he was still hobbling when boarding the plane to return to Dublin from Biarritz earlier on Sunday.

Captain Johnny Sexton says his Leinster team-mate will be missed.

“I only just found out literally five minutes ago,” said Sexton. “He has been through ups and downs in his career, he’s a very, very decorated player, a great player. We’re going to miss him.

“I’m gutted for him to miss this tournament. It has meant a lot to him in how he has prepared for it and how he has trained.”

Ulster pair Jacob Stockdale and Tom Stewart, Connacht back-rower Cian Prendergast, Leinster fly-half Ciaran Frawley and uncapped Munster hooker Diarmuid Barron also failed to make the cut.

But Dan Sheehan, Ronan Kelleher, Jack Conan, Dave Kilcoyne and Keith Earls have been picked, despite recent injury issues, with Farrell opting for a 18-15 split of forwards and backs.

Ireland begin their campaign on September 9 against Romania in Bordeaux and also face Tonga, world champions South Africa and Scotland in Pool B.

“It’s obviously difficult because you’re shattering somebody’s dream, but I would hope that through all campaigns you don’t let bad news become a shock,” Farrell said of cutting down his squad.

“We think we have an extremely gifted squad and I also feel the balance is right.

“We’re the lucky ones that get to chase the dream for the wider group and the nation itself.

“If we can’t get excited for that and the first game against Romania, we’re in the wrong job. I think we’re in a great place, ready to take this challenge head on.”

Christian Horner has hailed “untouchable” Max Verstappen as the best driver in the world after the Red Bull star overcame a chaotic rain-hit Dutch Grand Prix to equal Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine wins in a row.

Despite two separate downpours wreaking havoc at the beginning and conclusion of Sunday’s 72-lap race in Zandvoort, Verstappen delivered in front of 105,000 expectant fans to take the chequered flag ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, with Pierre Gasly completing the podium.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, slapped with a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit-lane, finished fourth while Lewis Hamilton – who bemoaned his Mercedes team’s poor strategy in the inclement conditions – came home in sixth place.

Verstappen, who has won 11 of the 13 rounds so far, will head to next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza 138 points clear in the drivers’ championship.

There remains an outside chance he could complete his hat-trick of titles at the Japanese Grand Prix on September 24 with half-a-dozen rounds still to run.

“Max is in a period of his career where he is just simply untouchable,” said Red Bull team principal Horner, who oversaw Vettel’s streak of nine straight wins a decade ago.

“I don’t think there is any driver on the grid that would be able to achieve what he is doing in that car.

“To win nine races in a row is insane, and it is something that none of us would have envisaged, and I never thought we would repeat it after we managed it with Sebastian. What we are witnessing is a driver that is generational.

“Max has been in incredible form for the past three years, and the most impressive thing for me is all the pressure that he is under here.

“With the expectation of 100,000 Dutch fans, a lot would have cracked under that pressure, but he kept his composure and delivered, as he has done so many times.”

Come wind, rain or shine, 25-year-old Verstappen is the man for all occasions. On pole, he found himself down in 13th place after seven drivers – including team-mate Perez – took advantage of a sudden first-lap downpour to move on to wet tyres.

But by lap 13, Verstappen – who at one stage was lapping his home track four seconds faster than Perez and two seconds quicker than anybody else – was back in the lead.

His record-equalling feat was placed in doubt when the rain returned with vengeance with a dozen laps to go, and Zhou Guanyu crashed out, and the race was stopped.

A 43-minute delay and six-lap dash to the chequered flag followed, but Verstappen denied Alonso any hope of taking his first win in a decade with an assured drive. He finished 3.7 sec clear of the Spaniard.

As Verstappen ensured Red Bull’s unbeaten run remained, Hamilton’s afternoon was scuppered by Mercedes’ dithering following the first-lap downpour.

Hamilton was not called in for wet tyres until the end of lap three with team-mate George Russell following in on the next lap. When the dust settled, Hamilton and Russell, who started third, were 16th and 18th respectively.

From there it was a damage-limitation exercise for both men, with Hamilton driving well to take sixth place.

Russell might have finished seventh but for a late duel with countryman Lando Norris leaving him with race-ending harm to his Mercedes. Norris crossed the line in seventh place.

Captain Johnny Sexton admits he instantly regretted the heated exchange with referee Jaco Peyper which caused him to miss Ireland’s Rugby World Cup warm-up matches through suspension.

Fly-half Sexton was hit with a three-match ban for misconduct for his behaviour following Leinster’s Heineken Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle on May 20 in Dublin.

The 38-year-old, who did not play in that match due to injury and is set to retire after the upcoming tournament in France, says the incident was a “mistake in the heat of the moment”.

He was on Sunday afternoon confirmed in Andy Farrell’s squad for the World Cup and is likely to make his return in his country’s Pool B opener on September 9 against Romania in Bordeaux.

Asked if he had any regrets about the on-field altercation with South African official Peyper at the Aviva Stadium, he said: “Of course, yeah. I’ve held my hands up since day one.

“I made a mistake in the heat of the moment.

“I was obviously very emotional on the day not being part of what I had mapped out from the start of the year as playing my last game for Leinster in the Aviva, winning a European cup.

“It’s what I dreamt of and then obviously to miss that, there’s a lot of emotion that goes with it and in that split second I went on to console my team-mates, I made a remark and I regretted it instantly.

“You make mistakes, you say sorry and hold your hands up and that’s what I’ve done.”

Sexton was forced off by a groin injury while helping Ireland clinch the Six Nations Grand Slam against England in March and has not played competitively since.

He watched from the stands this month as his country defeated Italy, England and Samoa.

Without the suspension, the 29-10 success over Steve Borthwick’s side on August 19 would have been Sexton’s final Dublin appearance.

“It’s been incredibly frustrating to have to sit and watch, it’s obviously my own fault,” he continued.

“But that’s been life, I’ve just had to do what I could for the team and try and learn by watching the guys and contribute where I could.

“It was particularly tough last weekend in the Aviva. You live and learn and it’s time to move on now.”

Sexton, who has 113 Ireland caps, was appointed skipper following the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

The 2018 world player of the year feels “very privileged” to have the chance to lead his country into the forthcoming competition.

“(It means) a huge amount,” he said. “If someone told me four years ago I’d be back here captain, I would have taken it 100 per cent.

“There’s been a lot put into this team by the management over the last four years and to get their vote of confidence four years ago to do it with this as the end goal, it’s been huge.

“I’m very proud for myself, my family and just for the group that we have. It’s a very privileged position to be in with such a good group.”

Steve Borthwick insists England will urgently address the defensive crisis that threatens to torpedo their Word Cup.

Fiji plundered three tries in a seismic 30-22 victory at Twickenham as England’s preparation for the tournament in France continue to unravel amid a run of five defeats in six games.

Most concerning of all is a defence overseen by Kevin Sinfield that has now been breached 30 times in Borthwick’s nine Tests in charge, each outing seeing an average of 26 points leaked.

Fiji were typically ruthless in attack but also met willing victims and with the World Cup opener against Argentina arriving in less than two weeks, England must resurrect a fundamental of their game.

Borthwick has stated that he is happy with his management team as scrutiny of Sinfield’s work grows, but the head coach is demanding an immediate improvement in the team’s work without the ball.

“I’m very clear that I was disappointed with the defence. We conceded too many tries and we missed too many tackles,” Borthwick said.

“Our focus is on ensuring we are much better than that against Argentina in two weeks’ time.

“The dropping off tackles has not been the case with what we’ve seen recently, but there were a lot against Fiji – more than 20 missed tackles. I think the total was 27.

“Now Fiji have exceptional power and speed, and that hurt us. But what we have to do is look at those tackles and what we could have done better.

“We didn’t want that result. We were clearly disappointed by the game and disappointed by aspects of that performance.

“Whilst there are areas of our performance which saw signs of growth, you can’t slip off that many tackles in a Test match.”

Novak Djokovic has had his fair share of rivalries over his career but says the latest, with Carlos Alcaraz, is bringing the very best out of him.

Djokovic begins his quest for a 24th grand slam title at the US Open on Monday having already eclipsed the totals of his illustrious peers, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

But the man likely to be standing in his way is Alcaraz, the defending champion who beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon final last month.

Djokovic got a measure of revenge when he outlasted the 20-year-old Spaniard in a near four-hour final in Cincinnati a week ago.

The duo may be at the opposite end of their careers but they have already built a rivalry which looks set to endure for as long as Djokovic, 36, continues to pick up a racket.

“He’s always pushing me to the limit,” said the Serbian. “I think I do to him pretty much the same thing. That’s why we produced a memorable final.

“It was one of the best, most exciting, and most difficult finals I was ever part of in best-of-three, no doubt, throughout my career.

“That’s why I fell on the ground after I won the match because it felt like winning a grand slam, to be honest. The amount of exchanges and rallies. It was physically so demanding and gruelling that I felt very exhausted for the next few days.

“Those are kind of the moments in matches that I still push myself on a daily basis, day in and day out, practice, sacrifice, commitment. At 36, I still have the drive.”

If Djokovic wins his first-round match, against Frenchman Alexandre Muller, he will overtake Alcaraz to become world number one again.

Alcaraz, the top seed, starts his campaign on Tuesday against Dominik Koepfer of Germany.

Iga Swiatek opens proceedings on Monday against Rebecca Peterson of Sweden as she bids to defend the title she won last year.

“On one hand you always want to kind of take experience from last year, find all these positive things that happened, take strength from that,” said the world number one from Poland.

“On the other hand you have to remember that it’s a totally different story. A lot can happen during like these 12 months.

“So I try to take everything step by step, not really go forward with my thoughts, think that I need to do something more because last year I won.”

Jack Darcy made all to uphold family honour and provide the Coles with their sixth success in the Grand Prix de Deauville.

Paul Cole first won the Group Two event with Ibn Bey in 1988 and took home the first prize five times as the sole licence holder at the family’s Whatcombe base.

But it is the first time since Oliver Cole has joined his father on the licence that they have tasted glory in the mile-and-a-half contest on the Normandy coast.

Second to Hamish in the Glorious Stakes at Goodwood two starts ago, it was a welcome return to form for Jack Darcy who raced too freely when last seen at Newbury.

And having snapped a nine-race winless run, he will enter Cole family folklore having added his name to the race’s roll of honour.

“He’s a very good horse,” said Oliver Cole.

“Arguably he was a bit too keen in the Geoffrey Freer and it didn’t really go for him. Today he was lovely and relaxed in front and got his own way and won well.

“I nearly didn’t run him because he’s had two quick runs in succession and this was a third, but he’s a very talented horse and he’s shown it today, it’s a good race to win.

“My father has won the race five times, and now we’ve won it six (in total). We love the race and I’m really proud of the horse.

“I remember all the good horses we’ve had win this, Snurge, Courteous and the others. It just means so much for us.”

Jack Darcy’s victory was the final leg of a fantastic treble for the British-trained raiders at Deauville on Sunday, and Mill Stream appears to have teed-up a shot at Group One competition having landed back-to-back course and distance sprints.

A winner of the Prix Moonlight Cloud earlier this month, Jane Chapple-Hyam’s son of Gleneagles took another step up the sprinting ladder by following up in impressive style in the Barriere Prix de Meautry.

Then fresh from a first Group One victory when winning the Prix Morny at the track last week, the father and son duo of Simon and Ed Crisford struck again when Poker Face claimed Barriere Prix Quincey honours.

England have confirmed that Jonny May has replaced Anthony Watson in their squad for the World Cup.

Watson has been ruled out of the tournament by a calf injury so May, who started Saturday’s defeat to Fiji, has filled the gap in the 33-man party to be submitted to World Rugby on Monday.

The only other name missing from the group originally named by Steve Borthwick on August 7 is Jack van Poortvliet whose ankle problem means he has been replaced by Alex Mitchell.

Elliot Daly and Kyle Sinckler are also present as they continue their recovery from respective knee and pectoral injuries.

Veteran prop Cian Healy has been left out of Ireland’s 33-man squad for the Rugby World Cup in France due to injury.

The 35-year-old suffered a calf problem in Saturday evening’s 17-13 warm-up win over Samoa.

He was helped from the field by medical staff in the first half at Stade Jean Dauger in Bayonne before being pictured on crutches.

Munster loosehead Jeremy Loughman has taken Healy’s place.

Ulster pair Jacob Stockdale and Tom Stewart and Connacht’s Cian Prendergast have been left out by Andy Farrell.

Leinster fly-half Ciaran Frawley and Munster hooker Diarmuid Barron also failed to make the cut.

Dan Sheehan, Ronan Kelleher, Jack Conan, Dave Kilcoyne and Keith Earls have been picked, despite recent injury issues.

Fly-half Johnny Sexton, who has now completed a three-match ban, will captain his country ahead of retirement.

Ireland begin their campaign on September 9 against Romania in Bordeaux and also face Tonga, world champions South Africa and Scotland in Pool B.

Aside from the sidelined Healy, wing Stockdale is the highest profile player overlooked by head coach Farrell.

The 27-year-old, Ireland’s joint-sixth highest try-scorer with 19, has become a peripheral figure since the last World Cup amid a series of fitness setbacks.

He started against Samoa due to Earls’ late withdrawal with a niggle but was taken off with a hamstring issue.

Veteran Earls and first-choice wide men James Lowe and Mack Hansen have been preferred to Stockdale.

Farrell’s decision to go with an 18/15 split of forwards and backs sees Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey picked and back-rower Prendergast, who started last weekend’s 29-10 win over England, overlooked.

McCloskey has impressed when selected but his opportunities at 12 have been limited by the presence of Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw, in addition to some untimely injuries.

The group includes 16 players who travelled to the 2019 World Cup in Japan under predecessor Joe Schmidt.

Sexton, Conor Murray and Earls are each set for their fourth World Cups.

Regular starters Hugo Keenan, Caelan Doris, Sheehan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Hansen and Lowe are among the 17 players preparing for their first.

Versatile back Jimmy O’Brien, fly-half Jack Crowley and lock Joe McCarthy have each made the grade, having only made international debuts in the autumn.

Ireland squad:

Forwards: Ryan Baird (Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Connacht), Tadhg Beirne (Munster), Jack Conan (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ulster), Rob Herring (Ulster), Ronan Kelleher (Leinster), Dave Kilcoyne (Munster), Jeremy Loughman (Munster), Joe McCarthy (Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Andrew Porter, (Leinster), James Ryan (Leinster), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster).

Backs: Bundee Aki (Connacht), Ross Byrne (Leinster), Craig Casey (Munster), Jack Crowley (Munster), Keith Earls (Munster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster), Mack Hansen (Connacht), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), Hugo Keenan (Leinster), James Lowe (Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), Conor Murray (Munster), Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Johnny Sexton (Leinster, captain).