Dame Laura Kenny admitted a lack of hunger to pursue an unprecedented sixth Olympic gold medal contributed to her decision to announce her retirement from cycling at the age of 31.
Kenny, Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, faced an improbable task to reach a fourth Games in Paris this summer having not returned to training after giving birth to her second child.
Realistically, she required an extraordinary performance at next month’s Track Nations Cup in Canada to stand any chance of making the squad, and for Kenny it ultimately came down to a question of priorities.
“Going on to win another gold medal, as much as I would love to do that, it wasn’t giving me the energy I wanted anymore, it just wasn’t,” Kenny told BBC Breakfast.
“I wasn’t thinking, ‘I really want to go on and win one’. I was thinking, ‘I really want to stay at home with the children’.”
Kenny and her husband, Sir Jason Kenny – Britain’s most decorated Olympian – last year welcomed a second son to their family and she said spending time at home was proving increasingly alluring to her.
She added: “I always knew deep down I would know when was the right time. I have had an absolute blast but now is the time for me to hang that bike up.
“It’s been in my head a little while, the sacrifices of leaving the children and your family at home is really quite big and it really is a big decision to make.
“More and more, I was struggling to do that. More people asking me what races was I doing, what training camps was I going on – I didn’t want to go ultimately and that’s what it came down to.
“I knew the minute I was getting those feelings. Once I said to Jase, ‘I don’t think I want to ride a bike anymore’, I started to feel relief.”
Kenny won team pursuit and omnium gold at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and madison gold at the 2020 Olympics, where she also won a silver medal in the team pursuit.
She is a seven-time world champion and 14-time European champion, won two Commonwealth Games titles and was British National Road Race champion in 2014.
Kenny said the “absolute highlight” of her career was the 2012 Games in London, during which her relationship with Jason also became public.
“I never thought I would go to a home Games, let alone go on to win two gold medals,” she said.
“When I look back, I’m like ‘wow, those two weeks did really change my life’.”
Tributes poured in following Kenny’s announcement, with former Olympic heptathlon champion Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill writing on Instagram: “Laura what an incredible career you have had!
“You are such a legend, always will be and you will continue inspiring! Enjoy this next chapter.”
Sprint great Mark Cavendish described Kenny as an “absolute legend”, while British Olympic Association chairman Sir Hugh Robertson wrote: “Dame Laura Kenny has been our greatest ever female Olympian and a huge part of cycling and Team GB’s success at London, Rio and Tokyo.
“However, as well as being an outstanding athlete, she has also been a wonderful personality. We will all miss her enormously and wish her, and her family, all the very best for the future.”
Kenny, made a Dame in the 2021 New Year’s Honours, hopes to be at this summer’s Paris Olympics “in some capacity” and wants to stay involved with the GB cycling team.
“There’s nothing set in stone but there are things I’m so interested in doing,” she added.
“Something to help the younger generation, whether that could be some kind of academy.
“I could never be a coach because that’s just too much pressure for me, but maybe something in the background that would help the youngsters have the opportunities I had.”
Great Britain team performance director Stephen Park paid tribute to Kenny, saying: “Laura hangs up her wheels as not just one of the sport’s greatest riders, but as one of the greatest sporting talents our country has ever produced.”
Park added: “Just as impressive, however, is the impact which Laura has had on her fellow riders on the GB cycling team and the next generation of Olympic hopefuls.
“She has been a beacon of inspiration for so many, young and old, and I’m sure that the entire British cycling community will join me in wishing her the very best in the next chapter of her life.”
Fozzy Stack’s Chazzesmee justified his status as the favourite to land the Nua Healthcare Irish Lincolnshire at the Curragh.
The six-year-old was second over course and distance when last seen in July and also has heavy ground form from a previous Naas success.
He is lightly raced with only nine runs to his name due to a previous injury and came into the race off the back of a 260-day break, though that proved no hindrance to him as he made his seasonal debut.
Under Joey Sheridan he travelled in the latter half of the field and began to make progress in the final two furlongs, joining the front runners in the last half furlong and eventually prevailing by a length on the line.
The run could now lead him to the Lincoln at Doncaster on Saturday should he come out of it well, and he has been halved from 20-1 to 10-1 for the contest with Paddy Power.
Stack said: “He did it well off a lay-off. We’ll see how he is during the week and he’s in the English Lincoln on Saturday. A 5lb penalty would get him into it.
“He’s never been short of ability, and we ironed out a few kinks in him.
“We brought him over to Saratoga last year and he got a stone bruise and couldn’t run on the day.
“Then when he was coming back he got stuck in some airport in Holland or Belgium for four days as a vet was giving out about some paperwork.
“We just ran out of time to run him. He broke his pelvis in Dundalk as a three-year-old so that’s why he was off for a year.”
Aidan O’Brien has cast serious doubt on leading Classic contender Opera Singer’s participation in the Qipco 1000 Guineas.
The daughter of Justify announced herself as a major player for the first fillies’ Classic of the campaign when following up a wide-margin victory in a Curragh Group Three with a devastating display at ParisLongchamp in the Prix Marcel Boussac, storming to a five-length success.
However, speaking at the Curragh on Monday, the master of Ballydoyle explained she may debut for the season on home soil rather than Newmarket having met with a setback.
“Opera Singer is a little bit behind them (the colts) and might not make the English Guineas,” he told Racing TV.
“She had a little setback and had to have two weeks easy. When you have two weeks easy, it is just difficult enough to get to the English Guineas.
“It’s possible but more unlikely than likely and she could end up starting here in the Curragh rather than starting in England. We won’t force her, she’s a beautiful big filly and everyone’s very happy with her.
“She had a couple of easy weeks and when that happens you have to be wary of it.”
In contrast, it appears all systems go for the odds-on Qipco 2000 Guineas favourite City Of Troy who has been pleasing his handler in the early days of his three-year-old season.
O’Brien continued: “Everything has gone very well with him. He’s matured lovely, he’s moving well, he’s going through all his work very well – he’s floating through the work, that he’s doing.
“Even though our ground is bad, he’s finding it very easy, so he’s very exciting. It’s day by day at the moment but we couldn’t be happier with him at the moment.”
Although City Of Troy often left people astonished with the manner of his victories during his flawless two-year-old campaign, it was dual-Derby hero Auguste Rodin who was undoubtedly Ballydoyle’s top performer in 2023.
He signed off his Classic season with a scintillating success at the Breeders’ Cup in Santa Anita and is close to his eagerly-awaited return, where the son of Deep Impact will seek further international riches in the Dubai Sheema Classic.
“He’ll work this week and then he’ll go off to Dubai,” said O’Brien.
“He’s in a lovely place. He was in Dundalk a few weeks ago and everything went lovely, so we couldn’t be happier with him and we’re looking forward to it.
“It’s a big week for him before he travels so hopefully everything goes well.”
O’Brien has also left the door open for Seamie Heffernan after the Ballydoyle stalwart left his full-time role with the powerhouse operation.
The 51-year-old has been part of the Ballydoyle furniture for nearly 30 years and a vital member of O’Brien’s team, winning the Derby aboard Anthony Van Dyk in 2019 and partnering the winner of the Irish equivalent on four occasions for his long-time boss.
But Heffernan has revealed he has chosen to ride freelance this season, with O’Brien fully understanding of the decision.
He said: “I was reading in the papers that Seamus has been riding for us for 25 to 30 years and at the start of every year I never know when Seamus is coming back.
“Obviously himself and Rochelle had a chat and he was always with us six mornings a week and they obviously felt he would like to give the outside world a bit of a chance.
“There are a lot of other people he has ridden for and lots of other people he will now be able to ride for and we totally appreciate it and understand that and respect it in every way. I think Seamus is 51 or 52 now and if he is going to do it now is the time to do it and there will be plenty of times he can fall in for us – he’s got plenty of experience and is a great fella.
“I totally understand it 100 per cent and everyone needs to do what they think is right. There is no point riding for us every day and their heart being somewhere else or thinking he should be somewhere else.
“He has to try things and I definitely couldn’t say it will be the wrong thing. Seamus will ride a lot of good horses, for different people in good races, he has plenty of experience and hopefully there will be plenty of times he will ride for us again as well.”
Fozzy Stack’s Chazzesmee justified his status as the favourite to land the Nua Healthcare Irish Lincolnshire at the Curragh.
The six-year-old was second over course and distance when last seen in July and also has heavy ground form from a previous Naas success.
He is lightly raced with only nine runs to his name due to a previous injury and came into the race off the back of a 260-day break, though that proved no hindrance to him as he made his seasonal debut.
Under Joey Sheridan he travelled in the latter half of the field and began to make progress in the final two furlongs, joining the front runners in the last half furlong and eventually prevailing by a length on the line.
The run could now lead him to the Lincoln at Doncaster on Saturday should he come out of it well, and he has been halved from 20-1 to 10-1 for the contest with Paddy Power.
Stack said: “He did it well off a lay-off. We’ll see how he is during the week and he’s in the English Lincoln on Saturday. A 5lb penalty would get him into it.
“He’s never been short of ability, and we ironed out a few kinks in him.
“We brought him over to Saratoga last year and he got a stone bruise and couldn’t run on the day.
“Then when he was coming back he got stuck in some airport in Holland or Belgium for four days as a vet was giving out about some paperwork.
“We just ran out of time to run him. He broke his pelvis in Dundalk as a three-year-old so that’s why he was off for a year.”
Guineas hope Brilliant put her best foot forward to take the Lodge Park Stud Irish EBF Park Express Stakes on her seasonal debut at the Curragh.
Aidan O’Brien’s three-year-old was placed at both Listed and Group Three level last term though only came away from her juvenile season with one win to her name in nine starts.
Under Declan McDonogh she started at 7-2 for her first run of this year and on heavy ground she travelled well before taking up the lead at the furlong pole.
From there she had to hold off a rival on either side but did so to claim a half-length success at Group Three level and book her place in the Guineas either on home turf or at Newmarket.
O’Brien said of the run: “I’m delighted with her and he gave her a very good ride.
“I think she probably had the best form in the race and, on her first run of the year, I’m delighted with her.
“She’d been working nicely and is a hardy filly. It’s a big call for three-year-olds against older horses on that ground at this time of the year.
“She’ll step up and a mile is good for her. That will be her trial and she’ll go into one of the Guineas now after that. She might end up going to Newmarket and back here.
“She doesn’t really want that ground but she went in it. A mile is probably her trip and she’s a sister to Alcohol Free.”
Manu Tuilagi has played his final game for England after agreeing to join French club Bayonne next season in a two-year-deal.
Tuilagi will depart Sale in June with the outcome of a medical the last hurdle before the move is finalised, the PA news agency understands.
The 32-year-old centre won his 60th cap in Saturday’s 33-31 defeat by France in Lyon after coming on as a replacement for Henry Slade in the 59th minute.
Rugby Football Union regulations mean that any player leaving the Gallagher Premiership becomes ineligible for international selection.
Tuilagi has been an automatic pick in the midfield for four successive England coaches due to the power he provides on both sides of the ball.
However, his career has been heavily interrupted by a number of serious injuries including groin, chest, hamstring, knee and a broken hand.
Had he been fit for every match since his debut in 2011, he would have amassed 156 caps.
Ollie Lawrence’s rampaging performance against France, which included two tries, suggests England have finally found his successor as a hard running centre but Tuilagi’s unique physicality means he will never be truly replaced.
Bayonne are positioned ninth in the Top 14 table and the move is expected to be officially confirmed this week.
The Kenny Alexander camp has expressed their pride after star mares Kargese and Telmesomethinggirl went close to getting on the scoresheet at the Cheltenham Festival.
Spring Juvenile winner Kargese was part of a strong team of juveniles Willie Mullins saddled for the Triumph Hurdle and despite racing keenly in the hands of Danny Mullins, shaped the most likely winner jumping the final obstacle before being reeled in by the hugely talented Majborough in the closing stages.
It is the second year in a row Alexander has had to settle for a silver medal in the juvenile Grade One following Gala Marceau’s second to Lossiemouth in 2023.
However, Kargese could now continue to chart the same path her stablemate took 12 months ago, with both Punchestown’s feature juvenile attraction and Auteuil’s Prix Alain du Breil in the equation for later in the campaign.
“Kargese’s run I was watching and thought ‘we’ve got this, she’s going to run away’ and I have to admit I was gutted for the first hour or so after the race,” said the owners racing manager, Peter Molony.
“Looking back now, we have to be very proud of the run. She pulled her head off and fought for her head the whole way round and I think ultimately, that may have cost her. I know the winner looks seriously good but I think she would have given him a proper race if she settled a bit better maybe.
“We’re hugely proud of her. She is most likely to go to Punchestown and Auteuil for the French Triumph will also have to be under consideration – we were lucky to win that with Gala Marceau last year.”
Alexander has enjoyed many special moments at the Cheltenham Festival – mainly down to the exploits of dual Champion Hurdle winner Honeysuckle, who bowed out after her fourth straight victory in the Cotswolds in last year’s Mares’ Hurdle.
The owner came close to keeping his hands on the Mares’ Hurdle trophy after the fine effort of previous Festival heroine Telmesomethinggirl, as she just failed in her challenge of taking on Lossiemouth in the day one contest.
“We were so happy with Telmesomethinggirl,” continued Molony.
“We thought after her last run at Naas there was still a huge amount of improvement in her and Henry was very bullish she was going to give them something to think about, including Lossiemouth.
“The difference in her physical appearance between Naas and Cheltenham shows you how good Henry is at tuning them up for the big day and she was trained right to the minute, she looked magnificent.
“I think the ground was a little bit against her and she would have preferred good ground, although I’m not sure she would have beaten Lossiemouth on any ground – she’s a monster. But we were very proud of Telmesomethinggirl’s run.”
Now nine, the Henry de Bromhead-trained mare already has the next stage of her career mapped out for her, with a date with Blue Bresil already pencilled in.
However, she could get one more chance to showcase her talent on the racecourse having raised her game once again when visiting Prestbury Park.
Molony added: “She’s nine and is booked in to Blue Bresil and will hopefully be covered at some stage. Hopefully if she comes into season and everything is right, maybe in the next six weeks and we will try and maybe get one more run into her, maybe Aintree or Punchestown.
“However, I do think she is a 10lb better mare at Cheltenham, she just seems to love the place.”
One member of the Alexander string who slightly under performed last week was Jade De Grugy, who was sent off the 2-1 second favourite for a red-hot Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle.
A winner in France before transferring to Closutton, the Mullins-trained five-year-old impressed in her first two starts in Ireland, but was unsuited by the muddling pace in the Cheltenham Grade Two and, having had her momentum checked at a crucial moment could only finish fourth as the sprint for home unfolded.
Jade De Grugy could now be given a chance to make amends in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Honeysuckle Mares Novice Hurdle on March 31 – a race the great Honeysuckle won herself in 2019.
“Of the horses that were placed, I think she was the biggest disappointment for us,” said Molony.
“They just crawled and it turned into a sprint and she got a bit scrummaged at the wrong time as they were quickening, so we were a little bit disappointed to be honest.
“We know she is going to be a very good mare and we’re going to have a lot of fun with her if please God she stays in one piece.
“Willie will have a look and see what he thinks and how she has come out of the race. There was talk before the race that if she came out of it well enough she could go for the Honeysuckle in Fairyhouse. That is a very quick turnaround, but we will see.”
Arizona Blaze made the perfect start to his career with a taking win on debut in the Castle Star And Alkumait At Capital Stud Irish EBF Maiden at the Curragh.
The colt is trained by Adrian Murray and owned by Amo Racing, whose new retained jockey David Egan took the ride after a spell riding for the outfit in America.
Arizona Blaze is out of a mare named Liberisque and by Sergei Prokofiev, for whom he was the first progeny to take to the track.
It was therefore a perfect start for the sire also as his son ran a pleasing race to prevail by a comfortable length and a quarter as the 5-4 favourite.
Murray said of the run: “David said he’s a very nice horse with loads of improvement. Hopefully he can build on this and maybe go to Royal Ascot.
“Whether he’ll have a run in the meantime we’ll have to wait and see.
“He rolled around a bit on the ground and will improve on better ground.
“He’s a very nice horse at home and we think a good bit of him.
“The further he went the stronger he looked.
“We have about 15 to 20 juveniles to run this year, not all for Amo.”
Real Force came out on top for Gerard O’Leary and Wayne Hassett in the La Celia Wines Handicap over five furlongs.
A 5-1 chance, the grey prevailed by three lengths in a convincing victory and will now take aim at a step up in trip and grade at Cork.
“He’ll go now to Cork for a Listed race in two weeks’ time over six furlongs,” O’Leary said,
“He was in great form. We didn’t work him as such but gave him plenty on the heavy sand on the Curragh and got stamina into him as he has natural speed.
“He could stay a mile and is just an athlete.
“It’s his time of the year. We were a little worried as the lads were saying it was gluey but he got through it nicely.”
Aaron Rodgers' impact upon the New York Jets transcends his contribution on the field, says team-mate Quincy Williams, who has lauded the quarterback's "huge" influence.
The Jets are still awaiting an on-field impact from Rodgers, who was expected to lead the team into title contention after arriving from the Green Bay Packers but saw his 2023 season end in Week 1.
Rodgers, a 10-time Pro Bowler, tore his Achilles tendon on just his fourth snap in Jets colours, finishing his only game of 2023 0-for-1 passing in a 22-16 defeat to the Buffalo Bills.
Replacement QB Zach Wilson struggled through the remainder of the season as the Jets finished 7-10, but Williams says Rodgers still exerted a big influence in the dressing room.
"It's been a huge impact," Williams said of his veteran team-mate. "Let's be honest, he wanted those gold jacket guys soon, that's the most important thing.
"Anything he tells you, [you take] as constructive criticism. You write it down thinking about it because he'll come up to you in the middle of practice like: 'Hey this is what I'm looking at, what do you think about this?'
"He's one of those open people where you can also go to him and say, 'I've got a question about the game plan', even if it's offense or defense.
"The most important thing is he advises about being a pro off the field, nutrition wise, on training and things like mental health, things you want to focus on so you can be better during the season."
Though Rodgers was unable to make an impact for the Jets on the field, Williams left his own mark and was rewarded with the first All-Pro selection of his career.
That achievement capped a remarkable turnaround for the linebacker, who put his injury struggles behind him to appear in all 17 Jets games in 2023.
"I would describe it as a rollercoaster," Williams said. "The change from this year to last year was just me buying in.
"I came from a small school at Murray State and got drafted third round, then I ran into a lot of injuries in Jacksonville.
"I got cut from the Jaguars but got a great opportunity from the Jets to come and play with them, and also to play with my brother [Quinnen Williams].
"The season didn't go [to plan] but, most importantly, we faced the adversity. Everyone was on the same page.
"I wouldn't change the rollercoaster I was on because of the people I was with; those are my team-mates, my brother, and also my coaching staff."
This International Women's Day, the New York Jets and the Chicago Bears announced the expansion of the Jets and Bears NFL Girls Flag League, the first UK all-girls competition of its kind. To learn more about the initiative, please visit www.chicagobears.com and https://nyjetsinuk.com/girls-flag.
David Menuisier is keeping his fingers crossed that Migration can recapture his old sparkle when bidding for back-to-back wins in the Lincoln at Doncaster on Saturday.
The veteran gelding finished strongly up the stands’ rail to storm past well-fancied duo Awaal and Baradar 12 months ago, scoring at 18-1.
He struggled to reproduce that form thereafter, trailing in well beaten on three subsequent outings, but they were all hot contests.
Migration stepped up to Group Three company in the Brigadier Gerard at Sandown, had to carry over 10st in the Balmoral Handicap at Ascot and signed off his season in a Listed contest at Saint-Cloud.
The handicapper has thrown him a lifeline by dropping his mark to 4lb above last year’s Lincoln triumph and Menuisier is hoping the fire still burns as brightly at the age of eight.
“Obviously, it’s a hard task but he is well, we know he likes the course and he likes to run fresh and he always runs well at this time of the year, so fingers crossed that the stars can align again,” said the trainer.
“He kind of lost his form late on last season, so it’s hard to predict what’s happening with those older horses.
“He stayed in the yard all winter, I didn’t give him a holiday this time around because he had a long break last summer, so we tried to keep him up to his work a bit more.
“We’ll see if it makes a difference. The ground will probably be very similar and maybe we just need a bit of luck.”
Awaal is the ante-post favourite to go one better this term after 56 entries stood their ground for the one-mile contest.
Simon and Ed Crisford’s five-year-old is back on the same mark after also going on to be placed in the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot and Newmarket’s Bunbury Cup before faltering in the second half of the season.
September course and distance winner Liberty Lane is also prominent in the betting for Karl Burke after being gelded over the winter.
John and Thady Gosden will seek to strike for the second time in four years via Mostabshir, while Jack Channon will bid to match the exploits of his father Mick with 2022 hero Johan.
“Awaal had to settle for second place behind Migration 12 months ago but Simon and Ed Crisford’s runner is being well backed to go one place better this time in the opening major handicap of the Flat season,” said Coral’s John Hill.
Paddy Power spokesman Paul Binfield added: “Last year’s runner-up Awaal, who has been our best-backed horse ante post, remains in the reckoning at the five-day stage and sits proudly at the front of the market as favourite for the Flat turf season’s traditional pipe-opener.”
Jeremy Scott’s Golden Ace has a handful of options after providing the trainer with a first Cheltenham Festival winner last week.
The six-year-old was second to Dysart Enos in an incredibly deep renewal of the Grade Two mares’ bumper at Aintree last season and was an instant success over hurdles this term.
After winning two Taunton contests in good style she headed for the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Festival, where she was a 10-1 chance as Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead led the market.
Under Lorcan Williams the bay took little notice of those predictions, however, and prevailed over the latter horse by a length and three quarters to give Scott his first ever winner at the meeting.
“It was just the best. I never thought it would work out like that but it was just fantastic,” Scott said of the performance.
Golden Ace, who is by Golden Horn and out of a Dubawi mare, could now head to Kelso for the Herring Queen Series Final, or alternatively there are options over both two miles and two and a half miles at Aintree’s Grand National meeting.
“She’s all good, she came out of the race really well,” Scott.
“We will see what mark we’ve been given, we’ve got the Herring Queen series at Kelso as an option, otherwise I imagine it’ll be Aintree.
“We’ll probably enter both races and see what the ground is like, there’s two miles and two and a half.
“She’s bred to stay so her trip should be around about two and a half, everything being well we’d want to aim her next year at the mares’ race at Cheltenham.”
Scott also provided an update on Dashel Drasher, who finished eighth in the Stayers’ Hurdle and is unlikely to run again this term as the ground dries up into the spring.
He said: “He’s grand, I suspect he won’t run again this season. There’s nothing really for him, the ground always seems to be wrong at Aintree.
“We’ll keep an open mind but unless it keeps raining I imagine we won’t run him at Aintree, but he’s come out of the race very well.”
Danny Care will take stock before deciding on his international future after contributing to an encouraging Guinness Six Nations for England.
Care won his 101st cap as a replacement in Saturday’s agonising defeat by France in Lyon that saw a long-range penalty by Thomas Ramos seize victory for Les Bleus in the final minute.
The 37-year-old provided cover for Alex Mitchell throughout the championship and deputised in the starting XV when England’s first-choice scrum-half was injured for the defeat by Scotland in round three.
Now one of the most exciting players in English rugby is facing a crossroads moment as he nears the end of his Test career while yet to agree a new contract for next season with Harlequins.
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“It’s 101 and still not out at the moment! I’m going to go home and assess and speak to the family. I’ve not made any big decisions yet,” Care said.
“But I’ve loved being a part of this team. I genuinely have. The past year yes, but particularly the past seven weeks in this Six Nations have been some of my favourite times in an England shirt.
“The result against Ireland was an unbelievable feeling, I thought we were going to do it again and maybe surpass it against France.
“The icing on the cake would have been another win but it wasn’t to be. But I’ve never been prouder to wear an England shirt.”
Care’s international career appeared to be over following a disagreement with Eddie Jones in 2018, but his irrepressible form for Harlequins resulted in a recall under the Australian and he has remained in favour under Steve Borthwick.
“If it had all finished a couple of years ago it would have been a bit meh, a bit rubbish, so I’m delighted with how the last year has gone,” he said.
“I owe Steve and the coaching staff an awful lot for giving me another opportunity for doing what I love doing the best.
“I’ve had an amazing time and this team is going to go in one direction, I’m sure of it. Whether I’m a part of that or not, I’ll be the happiest person to be a part of it or watching it.”
England finished only third in the tournament yet will embark on their summer tour to Japan and New Zealand with a sense of excitement having toppled champions Ireland and pushed France so close – all while playing pulsating rugby.
“The aim going into this tournament was to win the whole thing. Obviously we haven’t done that but the team has taken huge strides in the right direction of where it wants to go,” Care said.
“I’ve got no doubt that this team is going to hit some massive heights. If I were an England supporter right now, I’d be really excited by what I’m seeing.
“Everyone better watch out because when this team is on fire, they’ll be very hard to stop.”
Kyrie Irving's Dallas Mavericks team-mates heaped praise upon the eight-time All-Star after his incredible buzzer-beater downed the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, with center Daniel Gafford describing him as a "magician".
With just 0.4 seconds remaining in a back-and-forth contest, Irving hit a dramatic floating shot with his left hand to stun the reigning NBA champions and end their five-game winning streak.
Taking an in-bounds pass from Maxi Kleber after Jamal Murray had misfired at the other end, Irving dribbled to just behind the free-throw line before sinking his stunning left-handed runner.
That lifted the Mavs to their fifth win in their last six games, improving them to 39-29 as they battle for a playoff spot.
Irving finished with 24 points in support of Luka Doncic, who had 37 on his return from a hamstring injury, meaning the duo accounted for over half of the Mavs' total.
Asked about Irving's buzzer-beater, Doncic said: "That shot was unbelievable, man. I couldn't believe it."
Gafford added: "He's a magician. He is a very crafty finisher, but finishing somewhere that far around the basket?
"I don't know if he works on something like that, but I know he works on his left hand. It went in and then we just got crazy."
Irving himself, meanwhile, was himself taken aback when watching replays of the shot, saying it was pure instinct.
"I thought I got a little closer in the paint, but I looked at it after the game and I was pretty far out…" he said. "The majority of it is instinctual and comes from preparation for hours that no one sees.
"I saw [Nikola] Jokic taking away my pull-up going left. I knew that he was going to come up, but I didn't know he was going to commit like that, so he was forcing me inside the 3-point line.
"As soon as I felt him kind of behind me, I was like, 'oh, I have my left hand. It's wide open, so why not go to it?'"
Harry Fry has paid tribute to the admirable mare Love Envoi after her retirement at the Cheltenham Festival.
The bay provided connections with an unforgettable day at the meeting in 2022 when landing the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, the highlight of an excellent season where she won five successive contests.
The following year, she returned to take on Honeysuckle in the Grade One Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle and though it was Henry de Bromhead’s superstar who came out on top, Love Envoi was a tough and gallant second when going down by a length and a half.
This term, she began her season with second-placed runs in both the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and the Unibet Hurdle, after which she headed back to Cheltenham for the Mares’ Hurdle as a 14-1 chance.
In a field of 11, the eight-year-old came home a respectable fifth behind the exciting Lossiemouth, and that run will be her last, as she is now set to retire to become a broodmare.
“She’s been a star. She was our second Festival winner and she’s been really consistent, running in some top races over the last couple of seasons,” Fry said.
“It wasn’t quite the swansong we were hoping for, she was still in there with every chance turning in, but younger and fresher legs told.
“Now she will go off to start her second career.
“We won’t be able to replace her, the likes of her don’t come around too often, but they are wonderful memories that she provided us with.”
National female track cyclist Dahlia Palmer and national para-cyclist Marloe Rodman are set to compete on the world stage in the coming days, for a chance of qualifying for the Olympic Games in Paris later this year.
Palmer will continue her quest to amass points towards her world ranking in her pet event, the keirin, at the Nations Cup in Hong Kong China this weekend. Dahlia performed exceptionally well at the Pan Am Games in Chile last November, earning the nation’s first ever medal in the keirin event at that level, with a bronze.
Marloe, who is the first para-cyclist to stand a very good chance of qualifying for the Olympic games will be participating in the Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on March 21, 2024.
Jamaica’s only Olympic medal outside of track and field was won by Cyclist David Weller in the individual time trial event in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Dame Laura Kenny’s retirement from cycling means she will not add to her five Olympic gold medals and ends the record-breaking run she shared with her husband Sir Jason Kenny.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the pair’s achievements on the biggest stage.
Laura Kenny
Kenny won the team pursuit and omnium double at both London 2012 and Rio 2016, under her maiden name Laura Trott, and when she and Katie Archibald won the Madison at Tokyo 2020 she became the first British woman to win gold at three separate Games.
Silver in the team pursuit also meant she won multiple medals at three successive Games, a feat matched by only Charlotte Dujardin among British women – the equestrian star has three gold, a silver and two bronze to her name.
That team pursuit was, remarkably, the first time Kenny had entered an Olympic event and not won gold. A subsequent sixth place in the omnium and the decision not to continue to Paris this summer leaves her final medal count at five golds and one silver.
She ends her career with seven World Championship, 13 European Championship and two Commonwealth Games gold medals, and 42 total medals across those events and the Olympics.
Jason Kenny
If Laura Kenny is Britain’s highest-achieving female Olympian, her husband holds the overall national record.
Jason Kenny won gold in the team sprint at three straight Olympics, from Beijing 2008 through to Rio. He doubled up with the individual sprint in London and made it a treble in Rio with the keirin.
Winning the latter event in Tokyo gave him a British-record seventh gold, taking him ahead of his long-time sprint team-mate Sir Chris Hoy.
Silver in the individual sprint in Beijing and the team event in Tokyo gives him nine Olympic medals in total – one ahead of Sir Bradley Wiggins as the leading Briton, with Hoy on seven.
Jason Kenny won 28 major medals in total, with three additional golds at the World Championships and one at the European Championships.
Ryan Baird was determined to savour Ireland’s latest Guinness Six Nations title success following inspiration from a framed Maro Itoje jersey and the motivational words of his mother.
The Leinster forward struggled to fully embrace last year’s triumph due to preoccupation with analysing his own performance in the immediate aftermath of the Grand Slam clincher against England.
Baird took home the match shirt of rival star Itoje following that memorable 29-16 St Patrick’s weekend win in Dublin.
In the wake of last weekend’s last-gasp loss at Twickenham, the souvenir provided a timely reminder of the magnitude of championship glory ahead of Saturday’s decisive 17-13 victory over Scotland.
“I struggled to enjoy it last year because I was so frustrated about some of the mistakes I made and it kind of ruined it for me,” said Baird.
“Only when we lost last week and I was back home, my mum for Christmas had framed my jersey with the Maro Itoje jersey for me and she was like, ‘just remember how special that was and how hard they are to win’.
“So when the final whistle went, I’d made a few mistakes in the game but I put that aside.
“I remember being on the ground as the ball was being kicked out and I thought ‘you know what, appreciate the last eight weeks of hard work you have put in, appreciate the time you spent with your team-mates’.
“It didn’t give me a crazy high, it just gave me a satisfaction. I worked hard, we all worked hard.”
Baird, who can operate at lock or flanker, made his Test debut during the 2021 Six Nations.
The 24-year-old has patiently awaited opportunities but could benefit from the potential retirement of captain Peter O’Mahony.
Baird idolises O’Mahony and feels “privileged to be led” by the veteran Munster flanker, who is contemplating his international future after leading his country to silverware.
“He epitomises what it is to be an Irish rugby player,” said Baird, who featured in each of Ireland’s tournament fixtures but only started the round-two win over Italy.
“I said to him before the game how much I look up to him and I said it to him after. Yeah, I idolise him.
“I’m so fortunate to play with him as well, the way he carries himself. He’s such good fun off the pitch and such a hard worker on the pitch.
“You can see it is everything to him and I’m privileged to be led by him.”
Ireland face a two-match summer tour of South Africa before autumn clashes with New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia.
Baird hopes to add to his 20 caps – 14 of which have come as a replacement – against the top southern hemisphere sides.
“I just want to fulfil my potential and I feel very fortunate to be in this group,” he said.
“I’m not representing me, I’m representing family and friends and the big thing we always say is we want to inspire the nation.
“As I get older I’m realising more that I am less selfish in my views as to why I am doing this.
“I do it first because I love playing rugby and I love representing this country and what this gives others when we do this and when we win.
“I’m starting to appreciate that more and I guess it’s why I’m more fond of this one (Six Nations title).”
Andy Murray has revealed he is still unsure exactly when this summer he will retire as a tennis player.
Murray, 36, said last month that he “did not plan on playing much past this summer” and in an interview with The Times he explained why he cannot be more specific about when he hangs up his racket.
He said: “I would love the chance to play in another Olympics, but also genuinely only if I felt like there was a chance of winning a medal.
“I’m also very conscious that because of how amazing my experiences at the Olympics have been, I would want to be there by right and not just take one of the other guys’ spots, because it is a brilliant opportunity.
“We have top doubles players (Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski are ranked inside the world’s top 10) and also Jack (Draper), Cam (Norrie) and Evo (Dan Evans) in singles as well.”
Murray, a three-time grand slam winner, who held the number one spot in the men’s singles rankings for a total of 41 weeks in the same era as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, could focus on the doubles at the Paris Olympics, which will be played on his least favourite surface, clay.
He reached the quarter-finals in partnership with Salisbury at Tokyo 2020 and added: “When I played with Joe, I had the conversation beforehand with him that my feeling was there was a greater chance of me winning a medal in doubles than singles.”
Murray said he was “bored” of being questioned about when he will retire, saying: “It’s been happening since Wimbledon last year in most weeks. It’s something that I’ve had to talk about and entertain.
“Obviously at some stage the end will come. It’s not an easy decision to know exactly when that will be or when it should be.”
The Los Angeles Clippers need to discover their identity, so said Paul George after a loss to the Atlanta Hawks made it four defeats from five games.
Los Angeles slipped to a 110-93 defeat to the Hawks on Sunday, leaving them just one game ahead of the surging New Orleans Pelicans in the tussle for the number four seed in the Western Conference.
Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 28 points while George added 26, though James Harden contributed just nine, albeit while laying on as many assists.
But the Clippers' veterans did not have enough to drag Tyronn Lue's team over the line.
When asked if the Clippers were resembling a team of stars who though they could switch their game on at ease, George replied: "I mean that's what we're appearing to look like, which is not good.
"We want to be a team that's consistent and we want to establish an identity. I've always spoken about having an identity and I think it's extremely important.
"Right now, I don't think we have an identity."
Leonard suggested the Clippers' mentality has to change.
"It's between the ears with us," he said. "We've got to go out and do it.
"Just seeing what we want to do. That's it. What type of team we want to be.
"If everybody's saying they want to be one of the last teams standing, then we got to go out and do it."
Coach Lue is searching for answers.
"When they do it, it works," he said. "When you have so much talent and you have guys that can do it so easily, they don't understand that your talent is great, but the talent's got to be for the team as well.
"Maybe it's me. Maybe I've got to do something a little different to make sure that we're doing what we're supposed to do. [But] I'll never really overreact because I know we're a good team.
"If you want to win, I know what it looks like. I've been there, I've seen it."
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