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Swimming: Katie Ledecky (picture) delivered everything but the world record everyone had expected, storming to victory in the women’s 400 metres freestyle at the US Olympic swim trials on Monday and securing her ticket to the Rio Games. The dominant figure in women’s swimming, Ledecky is a threat to smash a record almost every time she dives into a pool and she clearly had her sight set on lowering her own mark in the 400 free. But the 19-year-old faded over the final 200, settling for the third fastest time ever in the event of 3:58.98.
Rugby Union: Ireland’s Luke Fitzgerald has been forced to retire from rugby due to injury at the age of 28, the one-time British and Irish Lions winger said yesterday, bringing a premature end to a career beset by injury. Fitzgerald, a test match starter for the Lions’ tour of South Africa aged just 21, was limited to 34 caps for his country over the space of a decade by a series of injuries, most recently one to his neck suffered in last month’s Pro12 final. His club, Leinster, said that as a result of that incident, Fitzgerald had been advised to retire on medical grounds.
Golf: Muirfield will hold a second vote to admit female members, the golf club confirmed, after last month’s initial ballot rejected the lifting of a ban on women, leading to the historic course losing hosting rights for the British Open. The course close to Edinburgh has retained a male-only membership policy since it was founded in 1744 and a vote in May to admit women members fell short of the required two-thirds majority. The decision drew criticism from several top golfers, including Rory McIlroy, and Muirfield was removed from the list of courses that host Britain’s Open championship by tournament organisers, the Royal and Ancient.
Speed Skating: Former Olympic short track speed skating champion Oh Se-jong has been killed in a motorcycle crash in Seoul, according to media reports. The 33-year-old Oh died after his motorcycle collided with a car making a U-turn, Yonhap News Agency said yesterday. Oh was a member of South Korea’s gold medal winning 5,000 metres relay team at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. He retired later that year.
Basketball: Pat Summitt, the winningest coach in US Division I college basketball history, died yesterday at the age of 64, the University of Tennessee said. Summitt, who coached the University of Tennessee’s Lady Vols women’s team, announced in August 2011 that she had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Summitt recorded 1,098 career victories, the most in Division I college basketball history for a men’s or women’s coach, before stepping down in 2012. She coached the Lady Vols to eight National Championships in her 38 seasons at the school.
Olympics: The world’s top-ranked golfer Jason Day withdrew from August’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics, citing fears over the Zika virus. “The reason for my decision is my concerns about the possible transmission of the Zika virus and the potential risks that it may present to my wife’s future pregnancies and to future members of our family,” the Australian said. Golf is returning to the Olympics for the first time since 1904, but a number of big names, including four-times major champion Rory McIlroy, Fiji’s Vijay Singh and Charl Schwartzel, of South Africa, have pulled out due to Zika concerns.