SNOWBOARDING
Three-time halfpipe gold medalist Shaun White told Olympics.com that he tested positive for COVID-19 last month after competing in an event in Colorado as he tries to qualify for another U.S. Olympic Team.
The 35-year-old was symptomatic but has been cleared to compete in a qualifying event this weekend at Mammoth Mountain, the last qualifying event before the U.S. team is selected.
White is returning to the sport after a three-year break and is hoping to make the four-man U.S. team. At least one of the spots will be awarded through a coach’s selection.
BASKETBALL
NBA: Wizards announcer Glenn Consor apologized Thursday for a reference to Houston player Kevin Porter Jr.’s father on Wednesday night’s broadcast.
Porter made a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left to beat the Wizards 114-111. Consor said: “You’ve got to give credit. Kevin Porter Jr., like his dad, pulled that trigger right at the right time.”
Porter’s father reportedly pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of a teenager in 1993. Consor said he mistakenly thought Porter was the son of former Washington player Kevin Porter.
“Please allow me to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize to Kevin Porter Jr., his family and the Rockets organization for the comments I made during last night’s game,” Consor said on social media.
• The first time that Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, the NBA didn’t even have health and safety protocols. It shut down the league instead.
This time, the Utah Jazz center might just miss a few days.
Gobert has tested positive for COVID-19 and was placed Thursday on the virus-related protocols list — something that didn’t even exist when he tested positive for the virus on March 11, 2020, the night that the NBA shut down for more than four months and ultimately decided to finish its season inside a bubble at Walt Disney World in Florida.
FIGURE SKATING
U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS: Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc upstaged a brilliant performance by Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson on Thursday to take the lead after the pairs short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Nashville.
Cain-Gribble and LeDuc, skating last among the eight teams at Bridgestone Arena, were near-flawless in a program set to music from the 2018 biographical drama film “The White Crow.” It was highlighted by a soaring triple loop and piled up 79.39 points, a score that would have been third best in the world this season.
More importantly, it put the 2019 national champions ahead of Calalang and Johnson heading into the free skate at what amounts to the U.S. trials for the Beijing Olympics next month.
TENNIS
ATP CUP: Felix Auger-Aliassime sent Canada into the semifinals by beating third-ranked Alexander Zverev 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in Sydney.
Denis Shapovalov set up Auger-Aliassime’s clincher over Germany by downing Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3 in the first singles match.
Canada will play defending champion Russia on Saturday. The other semifinalists, Poland and Spain, play on Friday.
SOCCER
U.S. MEN: Midfielder Sebastian Lletget, defender Miles Robinson, forward Paul Arriola and goalkeeper Sean Johnson are rejoining the U.S. national team for a 19-man training camp ahead of the next World Cup qualifiers.
The four were given time off after the Major League Soccer season and missed last month’s exhibition against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
New England Revolution left back DeJuan Jones will train with the national team for the first time.
Players will train in Phoenix from Friday until Jan. 21, and some will join Europe-based players for a Jan. 27 qualifier against El Salvador in Columbus, Ohio.
COVID: A coronavirus outbreak at Manchester City put Manager Pep Guardiola and seven players in isolation, while four Serie A teams in Italy were ordered into quarantine and were unable to play matches on Thursday.
City indicated it still plans to play its FA Cup match on Friday against Swindon, with assistant coach Rodolfo Borrell stepping in after Guardiola tested positive.
SKIING
WORLD CUP: A men’s slalom race in Zagreb, Croatia, was stopped after 19 skiers started on a course that was muddy rather than white with snow and ruled too dangerous to continue.
The French team said Victor Muffat-Jeandet – an Olympic bronze medalist in the combined event four years ago – broke his right ankle when he skied out. There was no assessment if he will miss the Beijing Olympics that open in four weeks.
Race organizers were criticized by skiers, including overall World Cup champion Alexis Pinturauly, for allowing the race to start on a soft surface that quickly degraded.
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