Verstappen takes F1 US GP pole after sprint victory to turn up heat on Norris and Piastri

Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the US Grand Prix with an immense lap for Red Bull at the Circuit of the Americas. However the day was marked by yet another incident between the two world championship contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with the latter crashing into Norris on the opening lap of the sprint race taking them both out and leaving McLaren with a headache as to how they manage their drivers.Verstappen had been all but untouchable throughout qualifying, his lead over Norris in second place was a full three-tenths, an age on this track. However in what is an increasingly tense title fight Piastri’s difficult weekend continued as he managed only sixth on the grid. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took third and fifth for Ferrari, with Mercedes’ George Russell in fourth

‘Those final few hours were brutal’: British duo end epic journey in Australia after rowing across Pacific Ocean

One more day. One more day up and down the pitiless slide. One more day of blistered hands gripping unforgiving oars.But after more than 8,000 nautical miles (15,000km) at sea – an epic five-and-a-half-month journey across the Pacific that included close encounters with whales, failing beacons and chocolate shortages – the sea had one more challenge.A gusting 20-knot wind off Cairns kept pushing Jess Rowe and Miriam Payne’s tiny rowboat, the Velocity, from the terra firma that was now achingly close

Champions Day horse racing at Ascot: shock winners at 200-1 and 100-1 – as it happened

Greg Wood’s report from AscotChampions Day pain for puntersAll eyes were on the Champions Stakes ahead of Champions Day at Ascot and while Calandagan was a worthy winner and may have put up the Flat racing performance of the season it was the big-priced winners on the day who made the headlines with Powerful Glory, at 200-1, and Cicero’s Gift, at 100-1, pulling off almighty shocks on a day when the racegoers flocked to the track to supposedly crown “champions”.With the ground riding fast after a prolonged dry spell this was not what was supposed to be expected. However, those sorts of results can come at the end of a long season and is partly the reason why Champions Day doesn’t always prove to be the day when the best come to the fore. Good night for now – we’ll be back with a live blog on Boxing Day as the focus now turns to jump racing.1 Crown Of Oaks 5/1 2 Ebt’s Guard 10/1 3 Holloway Boy 16/1 4 Shout 6/14

Powerful Glory at 200-1 leads shocks to electrify Ascot on Champions Day

Calandagan became only the second horse ever to win the King George and Champion Stakes in the same season at Ascot, matching the achievement of the great Brigadier Gerard in 1972, but it was a very different moment of racing history that may stick longest in the memories of many racegoers at the track.When Qirat set a record for the longest-priced victory in a British Group One race with a 150-1 success in the Sussex Stakes in August, it seemed likely to remain unmatched for years if not decades, but instead his tenure as elite British racing’s unlikeliest winner lasted only until mid-October and Powerful Glory’s 200-1 win in the Champions Sprint.It was the most astonishing result on a day that also saw a 100-1 success for Cicero’s Gift in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and unlike Qirat’s front-running success at Goodwood, where an apparent pacemaker was ignored until it was too late, Powerful Glory came late with a perfectly timed challenge under Jamie Spencer.The noise from the crowd had been building to a climax as Lazzat, the 2-1 favourite, hit the front inside the final furlong. After Spencer had edged out Lazzat by a neck, however, there was only the rustling of racecards as punters checked the winner’s identity and searched for anything in Powerful Glory’s form that might have hinted at such an unexpected success

Billy Searle’s last-ditch penalty seals poignant Leicester win against Bath

Leicester-Bath this may have been, the great rivalry of English rugby, courtesy of their pre-eminence either side of the turn of the millennium, but there was as much for rugby connoisseurs to savour at half-time on the Welford Road turf as there was during the actual match. Martin Johnson led a phalanx of Leicester old boys in honour of Lewis Moody, who has announced his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.“Today’s game was a great advert for how we get behind our own,” said Geoff Parling, Leicester’s head coach. “Not just Lewis, but Ed Slater too. I was at Newcastle when Doddie [Weir] was there

Australia selector confident Pat Cummins will play major part in Ashes

Australia’s chair of selectors is confident that Pat Cummins will play in the Ashes series against England. The 32-year-old captain has not bowled since Australia’s 3-0 series defeat of West Indies in July because of a stress injury in his back. Cummins had admitted he was unlikely to play in the Ashes opener in Perth on 21 November.However, George Bailey said: “We know time is getting short and there’s permutations around that, not just around the back, but other factors as well. It’s positive