Sports news, viral moments, athletes, teams, and major competitions.
Fiorentina are in negotiations with Leeds United over the potential signing of Wilfried Gnonto, according to Italian transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio.
La Viola are looking to continue their spending spree during the final days of the summer transfer window and have identified Gnonto as their next major target.
France’s Cassandre Beaugrand claimed her fourth consecutive World Triathlon Championship Series victory as Britain’s Beth Potter finished runner-up in Weihai, China.
The Olympic champion pulled clear during the final kilometre of the 10km run to finish in one minute 49.20 seconds, preserving her perfect record in this season’s Championship Series.
Beaugrand’s victory followed a closely fought race that remained undecided until the final stretch. Olympic bronze medallist Potter finished six seconds behind the 29-year-old, while Germany’s Lisa Tertsch took third, a further 18 seconds back.
“This one was definitely not easy,” said Beaugrand. “I was feeling great on the swim, great on the bike. The run was quite hard with Beth pushing the pace. I just tried my best to keep up and trust my finish.”
Beaugrand exited the two-lap, 1500m swim in third place behind Britain’s Tilly Anema and Brazil’s Vittoria Lopez.
After a tightly contested cycling leg, in which a pack of more than 30 athletes came together at the front, Beaugrand, Potter and Tertsch began to separate from the field during the run.
On the final lap, Tertsch began to fade, while Potter fought valiantly but could not stay with Beaugrand’s searing pace.
The result lifted Beaugrand above Potter in the World Triathlon Championship Series standings, despite the French athlete having competed in fewer races this year.
Switzerland’s Max Studer won the men’s race in 1:41:08. Spain’s David Cantero del Campo finished 10 seconds behind, with Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk third, a further seven seconds back.
One more regular-season event remains in the Czech Republic on 13 September, followed by the Grand Final in Spain on 23 September.
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin described the team’s performance through Zandvoort’s high-speed corners as “rubbish” as Mercedes investigates its inconsistent pace during the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix.
Mercedes made a strong start to the Zandvoort weekend, with George Russell taking pole position and winning the sprint race. However, the team fell behind McLaren’s Lando Norris, who secured pole and victory in the Dutch Grand Prix.
Mercedes still finished second and third in qualifying and the race. Kimi Antonelli finished ahead of team-mate Russell to extend his championship lead to 59 points, but Mercedes was unable to explain why its early pace failed to carry through the rest of the weekend against its main rival.
“We’ve got a few things on the performance side to try and dig into,” Shovlin said on Mercedes’ Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show. “We’re going to be getting on with that this week and see what we learn.
“But there were a few corners where we were pretty rubbish, like that combination of [Turns] 7, 8, 9. You could see [it in] the faster-speed [curves]. And it also gives the tyres on the left-hand side of the car a tough time. And we don’t really understand yet fully what’s causing that.
“We’ve got some ideas, but that’s not a problem that we’ve suffered with so far this year. And there’s plenty of circuits that have got kind of continued corners in one direction.
“We were a bit off the pace in the fastest of those [turns]. And then our problems kind of grew a bit as we went through. All the other corners look solid.”
Mercedes’ confusion was compounded by the limited changes made to the cars between the sprint race and the grand prix, as well as during the race itself. Shovlin acknowledged that pace can vary depending on tyre compound and tyre life, but both drivers experienced problems at different stages of the race.
“We didn’t change the car. We obviously had different compounds at different stages. But again, we need to understand a bit,” he said.
“George’s first stint was a bit lacklustre compared to his later ones. And then with Kimi, first stint was good, and then dropped a bit on the second, dropped a bit more on the third, a bit came back on the third. It wasn’t like we were playing around with electronic settings or up and down on flap angles. And for him, the balance of the car was quite different stint on stint.
“The two drivers, normally they report similar things with a car at the end of the race. Both of them, their perception of the balance, and probably the reality is George had a more understeery car, Kimi had a more oversteery car. If we look at how they were set up, we don’t yet know quite why we got such a big difference.
“So, though, really good to have a strong point-scoring weekend when we weren’t at our best in terms of performance. It was actually good fun, sat on the pitwall and having to make decisions in a hurry. I think the whole team enjoyed that and rose to the occasion. And it was definitely a good result, given where we were.
“But yeah, a bit of head-scratching to do over the next few days.”
Despite its lack of clarity over the pace loss, Mercedes scored 46 points at Zandvoort, its second-highest team total of the season. Only its 55-point haul at the Chinese Grand Prix was higher, although both events were sprint weekends with more points available.
Bradley Barcola has emerged as a key target for Liverpool as the club looks to strengthen its attack after the departures of Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah over the past two summers.
Barcola joined Paris Saint-Germain from Lyon in 2023 for a reported £38.5m. Since moving to Paris, the France international has won three Ligue 1 titles, two Champions League trophies, two French Cups, the Uefa Super Cup and the Fifa Intercontinental Cup.
The transfer fee Liverpool have agreed to pay includes covering a solidarity payment that PSG owe Lyon from the deal that took Barcola to the French capital three years ago.
Barcola, who scored three goals for France in this summer’s World Cup, can operate on the right wing or through the middle. His versatility could also provide cover for Alexander Isak while Hugo Ekitike recovers from a serious Achilles injury.
Speaking before Saturday’s 12:30 BST game against Nottingham Forest, Reds boss Andoni Iraola was asked about Gakpo’s future. He said he “cannot guarantee anything”, although he wants to keep the 27-year-old at the club.
“[Gakpo] has been very good since he came back from the World Cup and his holiday, with a very good attitude. I hope we can keep him at that level because I think he has been very influential in our games,”
Iraola he said.
Uruguayan club Penarol are making steady progress in their efforts to complete a major move in the South American transfer market, according to sources from Tribuna.
With 11 races remaining in the 2026 Formula 1 season, we examine the winners and losers in the development battle and its impact on the betting markets.
Source: www.formula1.com
Arthur Fery reached his first ATP Tour final after James Duckworth retired with an injury during their Winston-Salem Open semi-final.
The 24-year-old Briton was leading 6-4 2-1 when Australian opponent Duckworth, who had taken a medical timeout after the opening set, was forced to forfeit the match.
Fery is the first British player to reach the final of the ATP 250 tournament. His breakthrough run in North Carolina continues an impressive rise that began with his surprise appearance in the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.
He has since climbed to a career-high world ranking of 33, overtaking Cameron Norrie to become British number one.
“I am really happy to be in the final,” said Fery.
“Not the way I wanted it to end at all. I hope James will get well soon and rest up for next week. But I am very happy to be through.”
Fery will face Ignacio Buse in Saturday’s final in North Carolina after the 22-year-old Peruvian defeated France’s Benjamin Bonzi 6-2 4-6 6-1.
Buse, ranked 36th in the world, is seeking his second title of the season after defeating Tommy Paul at the ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg in May.
Just eight weeks ago, before his remarkable run to the Wimbledon semi-finals, Fery was ranked outside the world’s top 100.
His first ATP final appearance against Buse comes ahead of next month’s US Open, where he narrowly missed out on a seeding.
Fery has been drawn to play Italian 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the opening round at Flushing Meadows in New York.
Florian Wirtz has acknowledged that he was highly critical of his performances during his first season at Liverpool, but the Germany international now feels ready to assume greater responsibility under new head coach Andoni Iraola.
The £116 million playmaker believes he has developed physically and mentally since moving to England. Wirtz is also determined to help Liverpool return to the level where they regularly challenge for major trophies.
After reflecting on his difficult first campaign, Wirtz sees his progress as a foundation for a more influential role at Anfield. His development under Iraola will be closely watched as Liverpool seek to re-establish themselves among the leading contenders for major silverware.
Source: tribuna.com
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown chose to attend IndyCar’s first Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C., rather than the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, despite McLaren ultimately securing pole position and victory with Lando Norris.
Speaking to Will Buxton in an interview with SPEED, Brown explained that his decision was based on where he could have the greatest commercial impact across McLaren’s racing operations.
“I’d like to be at both, but I’ve not been able to figure that out,” said Brown. “So, I use my double-triple top-secret laptop to dial into Holland. My role is to go where I can have the most impact on our racing teams, where’s the most commercial activity, the biggest growth for the different racing series we’re in and the teams.
“And this race is epic. I’ve not seen anything like it, so I needed to be here, and fortunately, when you have a great group of people, reality is — don’t tell anyone — but our three racing teams can survive just fine when I don’t make a race weekend.
“Witnessed the pole Lando has in Holland (interview took place before race day), so it’s a little bit more difficult for me to take credit for that. I’ve told my three guys (in IndyCar), someone needs to have a pole here so I can take credit for it here.”
The IndyCar event attracted several prominent business leaders, as well as the president of the United States. FOX later reported that the Freedom 250 Grand Prix was IndyCar’s most-watched non-Indy 500 race since 1995, averaging more than 3.2 million viewers.
“At the end of the day, that’s why I’m here,” said Brown. “We’ve got great partners in Holland, but this is new, so we have a lot of first-time partners here, a lot of prospects here, the attention that this has brought to IndyCar, the NTT IndyCar Series is awesome, and so, I had to be here. It’s kind of a no-brainer.”
While Norris went on to win the Dutch Grand Prix from pole position, Arrow McLaren narrowly missed out on victory in Washington. Christian Lundgaard finished second behind race winner Kyle Kirkwood, while McLaren teammates Nolan Siegel and Pato O’Ward placed sixth and 16th, respectively.
Brown later praised the Washington event and described it as a tremendous success.
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
Frank Lampard and Tom Grennan have discussed why Coventry will play brave football in the Premier League this season.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk