SPORTS HEADLINES

Winter Olympics recap: Klaebo completes historic sweep in cross-country, Stolz 4th in speedskating

MILAN (AP) — Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo rewrites Winter Olympics history with a perfect sweep in men’s cross-country skiing. On Saturday, the Norwegian won the 50-kilometer mass start for his sixth gold at the Milan Cortina Games. He breaks Eric Heiden’s long-standing record of five golds at one Winter Olympics. American speedskating star Jordan Stolz finished fourth in the men’s mass start, behind 40-year-old champion Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands. Bergsma is the oldest man to win a speedskating gold. The United States has set its Winter Games record with an 11th gold. That was secured by the trio of Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran and Chris Lillis in mixed aerials.

A record-setting Winter Olympics: 6 golds and 17 medals for the US in women’s events set marks

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Women are powering Team USA’s medal surge at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, and they are setting records along the way. Through Saturday, the next to last day of these Games, they stand at six gold medals and 17 medals in women’s events. That tops past U.S. Winter Games marks. When mixed events are included, the total climbs to 21 medals. More than 40 American women are leaving Italy with at least one medal. Gold moments include women’s hockey over Canada, wins in Alpine skiing, monobob, figure skating, and freestyle moguls. Athletes say the success keeps feeding the next wave.

What to watch on final day of Milan Cortina Games: US-Canada hockey final, Gu chases 1st gold

MILAN (AP) — The United States and Canada face off in the gold medal game in men’s hockey on the final day of the Milan Cortina Olympics. Eileen Gu is chasing her first gold of the 2026 Games in the rescheduled women’s Olympic freeski halfpipe final. There are also medals to be awarded in cross-country skiing, curling and bobsled before the closing ceremony. Here is a guide of what to look out for on Sunday.

Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski, known for walk-off home run in 1960 World Series, dies at 89

Bill Mazeroski, the Hall of Fame second baseman who won eight Gold Glove awards for his steady work in the field and the hearts of countless Pittsburgh Pirates fans for his historic walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, has died at the age of 89. The Pirates announced his death on Saturday. Pirates owner Bob Nutting said Mazeroski, who died Friday, “was one of a kind, a true Pirates legend.” The Pirates retired Mazeroski’s No. 9 in 1987. The club had a statue of him erected on Bill Mazeroski Way in 2010.

Aston Villa and Chelsea drop points in the Premier League after being held to draws

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Aston Villa’s Premier League title challenge was hit after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to relegation-fighting Leeds. It took an 88th-minute equalizer from substitute Tammy Abraham to rescue a point for Villa – but the draw means Unai Emery’s team could be cut further adrift of Arsenal and Manchester City at the top of the standings. Second-place City plays Newcastle in the later kickoff on Saturday and leader Arsenal is at Tottenham on Sunday. Chelsea was also held to a 1-1 draw by Burnley, another team battling for survival.

Michigan, Duke, Arizona, Iowa State headline preliminary seeds from NCAA selection committee

Michigan is the No. 1 overall seed in the preliminary rankings by the committee that will select the 68-team men’s field for the NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines were joined by Duke, Arizona and Iowa State as the 1-seeds in Saturday’s reveal show on CBS. The Cyclones got the last No. 1 seed ahead of UConn and Houston. Saturday’s reveal is a snapshot of where things stand with less than a month left until Selection Sunday. Generally the teams listed above the cutline for a top-four regional seed stay there. Selection Sunday is March 15. The Final Four is in Indianapolis.

Thiam scores career-high 28 to lead Cincinnati to an 84-68 upset of No. 8 Kansas

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Moustapha Thiam had a career-high 28 points and led Cincinnati to an 84-68 upset of No. 8 Kansas. This was the second win of the season for Cincinnati against a ranked team, having taken down then-No. 2 Iowa State 79-70 on Jan. 17. The 7-footer Thiam made 11 of 17 shots from the field and had eight rebounds on Saturday. Baba Miller added 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Flory Bidunga led the Jayhawks with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman star Darryn Peterson had 17 points in 32 minutes after leaving Kansas’ last game against Oklahoma State early in the second half.

No. 17 St. John’s routs Creighton 81-52 for longest winning streak in 4 decades

NEW YORK (AP) — Bryce Hopkins had 15 points and 10 rebounds as No. 17 St. John’s breezed past Creighton 81-52 for its 13th straight victory — marking the school’s longest winning streak in 41 years. Dylan Darling scored 17 points off the bench and Zuby Ejiofor added 15 for the Red Storm, who led wire-to-wire and held Creighton to 32% shooting. Dillon Mitchell had 10 rebounds, seven assists and zero turnovers before a red-clad crowd of 19,328 on Johnnies Day at Madison Square Garden. St. John’s hadn’t won 13 in a row since a 19-game run in 1984-85 on the way to a Final Four berth under Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani set to play a couple of Cactus League games before joining Japan for WBC

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to play a couple of Cactus League games for the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers before he departs the desert to join Japan for the World Baseball Classic. He was in the lineup leading off as designated hitter scheduled for two or three at-bats for the club’s spring training opener against the Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium. In addition, right-hander and reigning World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto was starting on the mound to throw two innings and around 35 pitches.

Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami reloads for a run at a second straight MLS title

Less than three months removed from its first MLS Cup championship, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami shows no signs of a letdown. The Herons have assembled perhaps the strongest roster in Major League Soccer history heading into a season that begins this weekend and bookends around the biggest event of them all, the World Cup hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. Messi is coming off his second straight MVP award, the first player in MLS history to accomplish that feat. But he’s hardly going it alone in Miami, which pulled off an impressive reload.