Sports, in brief

The Golden State Valkyries won the WNBA title on Saturday, beating the Atlanta Dream 68-63. [1]

The WNBA, North America's top women's basketball league, turned 30 this year. [2]

It was the first Game 7, a final winner-takes-all game, in WNBA Finals history. [1]

The Valkyries only joined the league in 2025, so this was their second season. [3]

Sportico calls the title the fastest return on investment yet for a women's team. [2]

Portland Fire, one of the league's new clubs, calls the Valkyries the standard to copy. [3]

Basketball analysts judge a defence mainly by how many points it lets the other team score. [7]

The Dream averaged 91.3 points a game in the regular season. [7]

In each of the Valkyries' four Finals wins, the Dream scored under 70. [7]

ESPN calls the Valkyries the league's best defensive team this season. [7]

Lacob's group gains most: the club it started in 2023 is now the league's most valuable. [2]

The Valkyries also share the Warriors' 18,000-seat arena, an edge few older WNBA clubs have. [6]

Dream fans paid: Game 6 moved to lunchtime because the Dream borrow the Hawks' arena. [8]

Nobody yet knows who will replace Cathy Engelbert, the WNBA's retiring commissioner. [2]

The club is looking at playing games abroad, a person close to it told Sportico. [2]

The Dream move to State Farm Arena full time from 2027. [2]

Calling the champions a team of cast-offs makes the title sound like luck, though The Athletic notes they had advantages few older clubs have. [6]

Who will run the WNBA next.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert retires this year, and the search for her successor is still going on. [2]

The Golden State Valkyries won the WNBA title in their second season. No new club in North America's four big men's leagues has won a title so fast.

USC beat Ohio State, ranked second in the country, 30-18 in Los Angeles on Saturday. [17][20]

Both are university teams in college football, ranked each week in a poll of voters. [20]

A week earlier USC lost at Wisconsin and fell out of the top 25. [20]

Ohio State played without its starting quarterback, Julian Sayin, who was hurt against Indiana. [17]

It is the first time since 2011 that Ohio State has lost twice before November. [17]

It was Lincoln Riley's first win over a top-five team as USC's coach. [20]

Riley, whose job had been questioned, said afterwards: 'I'm the right person for this job.' [11]

Ohio State is now on the edge of the College Football Playoff, CBS Sports says. [17]

Voters judge a whole season, so wins over Indiana and Iowa soften Ohio State's fall. [20]

Riley gains time: a week ago many asked whether he should keep his job. [11]

Whether Ohio State still reaches the College Football Playoff.

CBS Sports says one more loss would keep the Buckeyes out, and hard games remain. [17]

Canelo Alvarez, the Mexican boxer, won back the WBC super-middleweight title in Riyadh on Saturday. [21]

He beat Christian Mbilli on all three cards: 115-112, 116-111 and 117-110. [14]

It was Mbilli's first defeat in 31 fights. [14]

Riyadh is Saudi Arabia's capital; Saudi money pays for many of boxing's biggest fights. [21]

Alvarez, 36, had lost all four of his belts to Terence Crawford in September 2025. [21]

The WBC, one of boxing's four big title bodies, later took its belt away from Crawford. [22]

Mbilli, holder of the WBC's stand-in 'interim' title, was made full champion in January. [22]

Missiles fired at Riyadh by Yemen's Houthi rebels raised doubts about the fight for weeks. [14]

A tennis show and a car rally in Saudi Arabia were cancelled; the boxing went ahead. [14]

The other big belts at this weight are held by Jaime Munguia and Osleys Iglesias. [23]

Each body keeps its own belt, so one weight can have several world champions at once. [23]

The win makes Alvarez a world champion again, a year after losing to Crawford. [23]

Turki al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia's entertainment chief, gains: his show went ahead despite the missiles. [21]

Alvarez said his family watched from afar for the first time, because of 'certain circumstances'. [21]

Why boxing has rival champions in the same weight

Boxing has no single league: four bodies, the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO, run world titles

Each body ranks the boxers and names its own champion in every weight

A body can take its belt from a champion, or give a stand-in 'interim' title

Some add lower belts too, like the WBC's 'silver' title

So one weight can have four champions, and 'undisputed' means holding all four belts

A boxing belt belongs to the body that hands it out, not to the boxer. So the body can take it back and give it to someone else.

Alvarez won back one belt on Saturday. Before September 2025 he held all four.

The WBC took its belt from Terence Crawford, promoted its interim champion Christian Mbilli, and Alvarez won that one belt back.

The IBF took its belt from Jai Opetaia, so Usyk can fight for an empty title before chasing the two belts Benavidez holds.

He won the WBC's 'silver' belt, an extra title the body hands out below its world title.

The split has a use too: when a champion stops defending a belt, the body can hand it to boxers who will fight for it.

A fan who buys a fight sees two boxers and a belt.

In boxing, Canelo Alvarez won back one of the four world titles at his weight, a belt the WBC had taken from Terence Crawford and handed to Christian Mbilli. [22]

AC Milan beat Inter Milan 3-1 on Saturday, Inter's first defeat of the Serie A season. [12]

Serie A is Italy's top football league, and Inter are the defending champions. [12]

Nearly 78,000 people watched at the San Siro stadium. [12]

Christian Pulisic, an American forward, scored after four minutes. [12]

He had signed a new 5-year contract with Milan the day before. [12]

Adrien Rabiot and Diego Moreira scored too, all three goals coming before half-time. [24]

On goal difference, Inter dropped behind Lazio to second, with 25 points. [24]

Milan rose to fourth on 21 points. [24]

Lazio now top Serie A, and Inter no longer have an unbeaten record. [24]

Milan's second goal came from a planned corner: Moreira passed short to an unmarked Rabiot. [24][12]

Coaches call this a set piece: a move practised in training for corners and free kicks. [12]

Lewis Hamilton, 41, was fastest in qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix on Saturday. [25]

So he starts Sunday's race from the front, his first pole position for Ferrari. [25]

He beat George Russell of Mercedes by 0.009 seconds. [26]

It is his 105th pole, and his first since Hungary in 2023. [26]

Kimi Antonelli, 20, of Mercedes, starts fourth and is close to the world title. [26]

Antonelli took Hamilton's old seat at Mercedes when Hamilton left for Ferrari. [26]

Antonelli is champion unless Hamilton or Russell wins the race. [26]

Even then, he needs only 9th place if Russell wins, or 10th if Hamilton does. [26]

Antonelli would be the youngest champion in Formula One's history. [26]

Hamilton, after a very difficult first season at Ferrari, has his first pole since 2023. [25]

Haas, a Formula One team, dropped driver Esteban Ocon for the Mexico City Grand Prix. [27]

Ryo Hirakawa, 32, the team's reserve driver, takes his place for his first F1 race. [28]

On Friday Ocon told his engineer, Laura Mueller: 'No, no. I want to do soft.' [27]

The team had switched his tyres from the soft kind to the medium kind. [27]

France's L'Equipe reported that a meeting with team boss Ayao Komatsu perhaps turned physical. [27][29]

Ocon admitted a 'discussion' but rejected any claim that violence was used. [29]

Haas said only that the change was not because of illness. [30]

Ocon was already leaving Haas at the end of 2026, replaced by Rafael Camara. [27]

ESPN says Ocon already faced the possible end of his F1 career. [30]

Hirakawa's seat comes through Haas's technical partnership with Toyota, the Japanese carmaker. [30]

Haas has not said what happened after Friday's practice. [27]

What happened between Esteban Ocon and Haas.

L'Equipe reported a meeting that perhaps turned physical; Ocon denies any violence, and Haas will not explain. [27][29]

The Youth Olympic Games opened in Senegal on Saturday, the first Olympic event held in Africa. [31]

The Youth Olympics are a smaller Games for athletes aged 14 to 17. [31]

About 2,700 athletes will compete in 25 sports until 13 November. [31]

Tens of thousands watched the opening ceremony at the stadium in Diamniadio, near Dakar, the capital. [31]

Dakar was due to host in 2022, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed the Games. [31]

Russia's 13 athletes compete under their own flag, a first at an Olympic event since 2022. [31]

Russia had been suspended after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine that year. [31]

The Games mark Africa's push for a bigger role in world sport, AP reports. [31]

Russia gains a first step back: its flag is at an Olympic event again. [31]

The first refugee team at a Youth Olympics has six athletes, based in Kenya and Uganda. [31]

South Africa beat Australia in the third Test in Cape Town to win the series. [13]

A Test is cricket's longest form: one match can last five days. [13]

Needing 288 to win on the last day, Australia were bowled out for 111. [13]

They had lost 7 wickets by lunch. [13]

Off-spinner Simon Harmer took 6 wickets for 16 runs. [13]

Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada reached 350 Test wickets, the quickest ever by balls bowled. [13]

Australia lost the world number one ranking, theirs for two and a half years. [32]

A luck-adjusted measure, 'expected wickets', says captain Pat Cummins bowled better than his figures show. [32]

Cummins still faces questions: his series bowling average of 53.66 is among his worst. [32]

England tour South Africa this winter, then play Australia in the Ashes next summer. [32]

Bowled out for 111, they lost the series and the world number one ranking. [13]

Brighton beat Manchester City 1-0 at City's Etihad Stadium on Saturday. [33][34]

Yasin Ayari scored after City defender Matheus Nunes missed a cross. [33]

It is City's second league defeat in a row, after a 2-1 loss at Aston Villa. [33]

Manager Enzo Maresca replaced Pep Guardiola and won his first 7 league games. [34]

City have let in 10 goals in 9 league games, twice as many as Arsenal. [34]

On Wednesday City had knocked Brighton out of the League Cup on penalties. [33]

Brighton now have 19 points, two behind City. [33]

Arsenal go top if they avoid defeat at Liverpool on Sunday. [34]

Maresca blamed 'silly goals' from individual errors, not his team's attack. [33]

Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. [35]

Morgan Rogers, Chelsea's record £117m signing, scored first in the 50th minute. [35]

United's Lisandro Martinez was sent off for conceding a penalty, and Cole Palmer scored it. [35]

Estevao Willian, 19, made his first league start of the season and had 6 shots. [36]

United have 7 points from 9 games and are 17th of the league's 20 clubs. [37]

Manager Michael Carrick said: 'We've got to keep moving forward and winning games.' [37]

United have not been this low after nine games since 1989-90, when they were 17th too. [37]

At 7 points from 9 games, United are on course for fewer than 30 points. [37]

West Ham went down in 2003 with 42 points, the most for a relegated side. [37]

Seven points from nine games leaves them 17th, on course for fewer than 30 points. [37]

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund drew 2-2 on Saturday in the Bundesliga, Germany's top league. [38]

Harry Kane hit the crossbar with a penalty, five days after winning the Ballon d'Or. [39]

The Ballon d'Or is football's most famous award for a single player. [39]

Bayern hit the post or the bar 4 times in all. [38]

Fabio Silva equalised for Dortmund in the 89th minute. [38]

On goal difference, Bayern stay top; both clubs have 18 points. [38]

The draw keeps Dortmund level with Bayern in the title race. [39]

Analysts rate chances as 'expected goals': Bayern's were worth 4.05 goals, Dortmund's 0.63. [39]

Bayern had 23 shots to Dortmund's 12. [39]

Sovereignty won the $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic by one and three-quarter lengths on Saturday. [40]

The Classic was the richest race of the two-day Breeders' Cup meeting at Keeneland, Kentucky. [41]

A year ago the horse missed the race with a fever. [40]

Sovereignty, trained by Bill Mott, won the Kentucky Derby in 2025. [41]

Japan's Forever Young, last year's winner, finished fifth. [42]

In the $5 million Turf, Ryan Moore won the race for a record 6th time. [42]

His trainer, Aidan O'Brien, equalled his record of 28 top-level wins in one year. [42]

Godolphin, a big racing and breeding business, won its first Classic. [41]

Several fancied European-trained horses lost on Saturday; Moore's was the one that won. [41]

Oleksandr Usyk, 39, the unbeaten former heavyweight champion, plans to fight at cruiserweight in 2027. [43]

Cruiserweight is the division below heavyweight, for boxers up to 200 pounds. [44]

He won all four cruiserweight belts before moving up in 2019. [44]

He gave up his heavyweight titles after beating Rico Verhoeven in May. [43]

His adviser Sergey Lapin says he first wants to fight for a vacant cruiserweight title. [43]

Then he wants David Benavidez, 29 and unbeaten, who holds the WBO and WBA belts. [43]

The IBF's belt is empty after it was taken from Jai Opetaia in March. [43]

Lapin says Usyk wants to finish as undisputed champion, holding all four belts. [43]

Boxing has four big title bodies, so 'undisputed' means holding every one of their belts. [43]

Benavidez fights Michal Cieslak for the WBC belt on 5 December. [43]

The IBF took its belt from Jai Opetaia, so Usyk can fight for an empty title before chasing the two belts Benavidez holds.

Who Usyk fights first at cruiserweight.

His adviser named only 'a vacant world title', with no opponent or date. [43]

The Carolina Panthers, an NFL team, fired Ejiro Evero, who ran their defence, on Friday. [9]

A 27-19 loss to the Green Bay Packers left Carolina with three wins and four losses. [9]

He is the first NFL coordinator fired this season. [9]

Carolina rank last in the league at stopping running plays. [9]

Since 2024 his defences let in 200-plus rushing yards in 12 games, the league's most. [9]

The next worst, the New York Giants and Washington Commanders, had 6 each. [9]

It is head coach Dave Canales's first big staff change since he took over in 2024. [9]

Todd Wash takes over the defence for now. [45]

Evero was long the likely scapegoat, The Athletic says; now head coach Dave Canales is exposed. [45]

Owner David Tepper said in September: 'We're more of a playoff team this year.' [45]

They lost their jobs after Carolina's defence ranked last against running plays. [9]

Tadej Pogacar, a five-time Tour de France winner, says his August crash broke three vertebrae. [46]

He crashed in the Vuelta a Espana, a three-week race in Spain, on 29 August. [47]

A scan two weeks ago found two more broken vertebrae beside the one in his neck. [47]

He also broke his collarbone and had a severe concussion. [47]

Of the weeks after the crash, he says: 'I was just completely out of it.' [46]

For a time he could not shower alone because of dizziness. [46]