LUGE
Olympic veterans Chris Mazdzer and Jayson Terdiman crashed out of a World Cup qualifying race on Friday, ending their hopes of being the doubles sled that represents USA Luge at next month’s Beijing Games.
That spot will now go to either Zack Di Gregorio and Sean Hollander, or Dana Kellogg and Duncan Segger. The Di Gregorio-Hollander sled has the edge going into Saturday’s World Cup race after finishing ahead of the Kellogg-Segger sled in the qualifying race in Sigulda, Latvia.
The rest of the U.S. Olympic luge team for the Beijing Games is now basically set, pending formal nomination on Monday: Summer Britcher, former Falmouth resident Emily Sweeney and Ashley Farquharson will be the team in women’s singles, while Mazdzer – the 2018 Olympic silver medalist – along with Tucker West and Jonny Gustafson are the likely selections in men’s singles.
HOCKEY
ECHL: Nick Master scored the go-ahead goal on a breakaway out of the penalty box midway through the second period, and the Maine Mainers extended their winning streak to four with a 3-2 win Friday night against the Adirondack Thunder in Glens Falls, New York.
Conner Bleackley and Mathew Santos also scored for the Mariners, and Keltie Jeri-Leon set up both the tying and go-ahead goals. Maine goalie Jeremy Brodeur finished with 33 saves.
Adirondack led 2-1 after one period on two goals by Shane Harper.
The teams play again Saturday and Sunday at Cross Insurance Arena.
FIGURE SKATING
U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS: Mariah Bell put together a mesmerizing free skate at the U.S. championships in Nashville, edging Karen Chen for her first national title and taking any drama out of whether she’s headed to her first Winter Olympics.
Bell led after a spectacular short program, but it took an equally incredible performance to k.d. lang’s rendition of the Leonard Cohen staple “Hallelujah” to reach the top step of the podium. She earned 140.70 points in her free skate and had 216.25 in total, leaving Chen nearly three points back in second place.
Two-time champion Alysa Liu, who was in third place following the short program, withdrew after testing positive for COVID-19.
Liu, 16, is at least the fourth competitor to test positive for the virus in the run-up and during nationals, and the third who was expected to make the team for the Beijing Games. The pairs tandem of Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier dropped out the day before the start of competition when he returned a positive test.
Just like Knierim and Frazier, who plan to petition for one of the two pairs spots on the Olympic team, Liu has informed U.S. Figure Skating she will petition for one of the three women’s spots based on her body of recent work.
GOLF
PGA: Cameron Smith shot a 9-under 64 to take a three-shot lead at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii.
Smith was at 17-under 129 and matched the 36-hole record at Kapalua first set by Ernie Els in 2003 when he blew away the winners-only field and won by eight shots.
Smith doesn’t figured to have it that easy on the weekend.
Blessed with another day of ideal scoring conditions – a warm sun, very little wind by Hawaii standards and preferred lies as the Plantation Course recovers from rain – all 38 players were at par or better. The average score was 67.8, nearly two shots better than Thursday.
Jon Rahm, the No. 1 player in the world, didn’t miss a fairway or a green and posted another 66, leaving him three shots behind along with Daniel Berger (66).
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Sue Bird announced that she will return to the Seattle Storm next season, putting off retirement for at least one more year.
The four-time WNBA champion and 12-time All-Star selection has spent her entire WNBA career with the Storm after being the No. 1 pick of the 2002 WNBA draft. The 2022 season will be Bird’s 21st overall with the franchise, but she missed the 2014 and 2019 seasons due to injury.
• The New York Liberty hired Sandy Brondello as their new coach, bringing her on after a successful run in Phoenix.
Brondello led the Mercury to the WNBA finals this year, then parted ways with the team in the offseason. She had a 150-108 record in eight seasons with Phoenix, making the playoffs every year.
SOCCER
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Cristiano Ronaldo was left off the three-man shortlist for FIFA’s best player award for 2021, with Mohamed Salah on it instead.
Six-time FIFA award winner Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski are also candidates to win the award on Jan. 17. Lewandowski won last year ahead of Ronaldo and Messi.
GERMANY: Bayern Munich lost at home to Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1 as the Bundesliga resumed despite coronavirus-induced absences.
The first game after the league’s winter break was in doubt because of a host of infections at both clubs, with Bayern particularly hard hit. League authorities decided the club had enough strength in depth to play.
TENNIS
ATP CUP: Roberto Bautista Agut clinched Spain’s spot in the ATP Cup final with a 7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (5) victory over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in Sydney.
In the opening singles match, Pablo Carreno Busta gave Spain the advantage with a 6-2, 6-1 win against late replacement Jan Zielinski. Kamil Majchrzak went 3-0 for Poland in the group stages, but was forced into isolation because of a positive COVID-19 test.
Russia and Canada play on Saturday for the other spot in Sunday’s final.
GOLF
U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN: Long considered the biggest event in women’s golf, the U.S. Women’s Open now has prize money and future sites to match.
The U.S. Golf Association announced the purse will nearly double this year to $10 million, by far the richest in women’s golf and challenging top prizes in women’s sports.
The purse was $5.5 million when Yuka Saso won at Olympic Club last year.
Along with a massive jump in money, the USGA is sending the women to some of the classic U.S. Open designs that for decades have hosted the men. That list includes a return to Oakmont and Pinehurst No. 2, along with Riviera, Oakland Hills, Merion, Inverness and Interlachen.
BASEBALL
TELEVISION: Former players David Cone and Eduardo Perez are joining Karl Ravech to form a new broadcast team for ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” telecasts.
Alex Rodriguez, the scandal-tainted three-time MVP who had been on the telecasts during the past four seasons, will shift to eight Sunday night alternate telecasts on ESPN2 with Michael Kay, a mainstain on New York Yankees’ broadcasts since 1992.
SPEEDSKATING
OLYMPIC TRIALS: Erin Jackson slipped in the 500 meters and stunningly finished third, failing to make the Beijing Olympics in her best event at the U.S. Olympic trials in Milwaukee.
Jackson, the first Black woman to win a World Cup event this season, bobbled in the second straightaway, with one skate appearing to clip her other foot before she recovered. Her time of 38.25 seconds put her second going into the final pairing, but Kimi Goetz, already on the U.S. team after finishing second in the 1,000, knocked Jackson out by taking second in 37.86.
Brittany Bowe won in 37.81. Bowe also had already qualified for her third Olympics with a win in the 1,000 on Thursday.
Jackson is ranked No. 1 in the world in the 500, having won four of eight World Cup races this season.
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