Olympics

Steve Cherundolo, who took LAFC to two MLS Cup finals in four years as manager, was named Thursday as head coach of the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team that will compete at the 2028 L.A. Olympics.

A three-time World Cup veteran and member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Cherundolo, 47, had 30 caps with three U.S. junior teams before making his senior debut in 1999. He went on to play 87 times for the senior national team and played 15 seasons at Bundesliga club Hannover 96, making 415 appearances.

Cherundolo, who grew up in San Diego, transitioned into coaching in Germany at the youth level, then returned to the U.S. in 2021 to lead the Las Vegas Lights, then LAFC’s affiliate in the USL Championship. A season later he replaced Bob Bradley as the head coach at LAFC.

In his first season in MLS, he guided the club to an MLS Cup victory and won the Supporters’ Shield, breaking the record for most victories by a first-year manager with 21. He also had the most wins (29), most points (96) and best winning percentage through 50 games of any coach in league history, won a U.S. Open Cup and took LAFC to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final before leaving the club last November, saying he was returning to Germany with his family.

“Throughout his career, Steve Cherundolo has been a proven winner, an elite talent developer, and a great ambassador for American soccer,” Dan Helfrich, U.S. Soccer’s chief operating officer and the man who led the coaching search, said in a statement. “The 2028 Olympics present a critical platform to develop our next generation of players.”

Cherundolo’s main responsibility as the new head coach for the U.S. U-23 Men’s National Team will be to build a roster for the 2028 Summer Olympics.

“Representing the United States at the Olympic Games is one of the greatest honors in sports, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to lead this team,” Cherundolo said in a statement. “I believe we have an exciting group of players with tremendous potential, and I’m looking forward to building an environment where they can challenge themselves, grow together, and represent our country with pride.

“Our responsibility is to compete with courage, humility, and a clear identity, one that reflects the values of U.S. Soccer and gives our supporters a team they can be proud of.”

PHILADELPHIA — For years, as stars such as Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper pleaded for the chance to play in the Los Angeles Olympics, and for Major League Baseball to back up its talk of growing the game internationally by participating in the world’s greatest sporting festival, the league was reluctant: Would the owners truly benefit from shutting down the season for a week and lending their best players to an event beyond their control?

Now that MLB is on board, the league wants the players to make an extraordinary commitment to back up their talk: If you’re selected to play in the Olympics, you must play. Or else.

The “or else” is not rhetorical. If a player is not on the injured list and is selected for the Olympics but declines to participate, the player would be subject to fine and/or suspension. In addition, the players would be ineligible to play for the first 14 days when the season resumes after the Olympics, according to a proposal from the commissioner’s office to the players’ union and obtained by The Times.

Under a tentative MLB plan, the first half of the 2028 season would end on July 9, with the All-Star Game on July 11. The Olympic baseball competition would start on July 13, with the second half of the season starting on July 21.

So as to discourage placement on the injured list as a way to avoid playing in the Games, a player selected for the Olympics but on the injured list as of July 9 would be excused, but he could not be reinstated to his team’s major league roster until Aug. 4, even if he had recovered from the injury before then.

“We went down the road on LA 2028 because we saw it as a unique opportunity to market the sport with our very, very best players,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday in a meeting with the Baseball Writers Assn. of America.

“It is a disruptive undertaking for us … If we’re disrupting an entire season and we’re going to undertake that effort, we want our very best out there, so that people see how great our game really is.”

The league also does not want to undermine its All-Star Game, and it is reasonably foreseeable that some players might wish to skip the All-Star Game for a two-day summer break if they are going to play the next week at the Olympics.

In that scenario, under its proposal, the league would have the right to declare the player ineligible for the Olympics, and the player would be subject to fine and/or suspension as well as ineligibility for the first 14 days of the second half.

Bruce Meyer, the executive director of the players’ union, said the MLBPA plans a counterproposal.

“They want to make it mandatory for players who are selected to appear at the All-Star Game and the Olympics,” Meyer said Tuesday. “The proposals that they made in terms of what the discipline would be, the ramifications if a player doesn’t want to do that, in our view, are extreme.”

To use a Dodgers example, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was selected for this year’s All-Star Game, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said last week that he would not pitch.

Given that situation in 2028, if Yamamoto wished to pitch for Japan, he would have to be available for the All-Star Game. If not, Japan could lose him for the Olympics, and the Dodgers could lose him for his first two starts of the second half.

Meyer said the union is in “a very early stage of discussions” with the league. It is unclear how much time might be needed to resolve the issue, as well as what Meyer called “travel and accommodation” issues, which involve LA28.

It also is uncertain how long MLB would be willing to wait before committing to an All-Star site and date, although the league moved the 2021 game from Atlanta to Denver three months before the game date. San Francisco is expected to host the 2028 game, in large part because Los Angeles is a short flight away for an Olympic competition that would start two days later.

It is clear, however, that the league is getting tired of not always securing participation from marquee players in marquee events. The “you can’t pitch in the All-Star Game if you pitched on the previous Sunday” rule was intended to protect pitchers.

“It’s clear to me that teams are managing their pitching in a way to take advantage of the Sunday pitcher rule,” Manfred said. “I do think it’s really important that we always re-evaluate our approach to the All-Star Game in order to get the very, very best players that can participate in that game.”

The World Baseball Classic was a smashing success this year, even as the United States started a rookie pitcher in the championship game. Do we really need to mandate player participation in the Olympics, especially since so many great players already have said they want to be there?

“The WBC takes place at a point in time that the players are just beginning to ramp up for the season,” Manfred said. “There’s a whole host of reasons why, at that point in the calendar, players might not be ready to play.

“In contrast, the schedule for the Olympics is going to cover days that players otherwise would be playing in major league games — if they’re not on an injured list, they’d be out there playing. That is a huge difference.”

In another column, we could argue the merits of moving the final round of the WBC — the semifinals and championship game — to July, when players “otherwise would be playing in major league games.” That would grow the game, too.

But that is for another day. It would be absurd for MLB to miss out on the global marketing platform that is the Olympics. The issues MLB raises are legitimate; the solutions need not be so draconian.

The opening ceremonies in Los Angeles take place two years from Tuesday. The Olympics have taught us this about boycotts: No matter how worthy the cause, no one pays attention once the Games start. The Soviet Union boycotted the L.A. Games in 1984, and we had a grand time without the Russians.

No one cares if you’re not there. In MLB, a star-studded core wants to be there. Seize the moment.

The Warner Bros. Ranch in Burbank will serve as broadcast headquarters during the Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympic Games in two years.

LA28 and Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday jointly announced that the 30-acre Hollywood Way campus would play a pivotal role in the Games. Constructing an efficient TV nerve center — the operational hub where feeds from events are produced, then distributed to hundreds of millions of viewers around the world — has long been a crucial component to staging such an ambitious television extravaganza.

Over the last few months, LA28 executives and the Olympic Broadcasting Services team narrowed their search to the Ranch. The facility, which recently underwent a $300 million transformation with new soundstages, has the capacity and technical requirements to support the international broadcast center.

The International Olympics Committee approved the selection at a recent meeting.

“The facilities are near-perfect for them, both in size and in access,” Simon Robinson, Warner Bros. Discovery’s president of global experiences and studio operations, said in an interview with The Times. “As we sat down and talked it through with them, we were able to reach what we think is a great deal for both of us.”

Warner Bros. and LA28 declined to provide financial details of the arrangement, which will span nearly two years.

For Warner Bros., the decision came down to whether the studio needed the space for its own TV and film productions or if it was advantageous to turn over the facility, which boasts 16 soundstages and a five-story creative office building, to LA28.

Work to prepare the campus for the Olympics will begin in January.

LA28 plans to use nearly all of the soundstages, which are equipped with dedicated set lighting power, high-capacity silent air conditioning, high-speed wired and wireless internet, and adjoining production suites. There’s also a mill — a 40,000-square foot workshop space — a cafe, plenty of parking and quick access to area freeways.

“We look forward to welcoming the global broadcast community to Los Angeles in 2028,” Shana Ferguson, LA28’s chief of sport and games delivery officer, said in a statement.

No Warner Bros. production will be displaced, Robinson said. Three shows that currently use the complex — the HBO productions “Rooster” and “I Love LA,” and “I Suck at Girls” for Netflix, will be wrapped by the time LA28 moves in next year.

“Everything fell into place nicely,” Robinson said.

The Ranch outpost is rich in Hollywood history — a go-to site to shoot old westerns. Columbia Pictures owned the lot for years, before bringing in Warner Bros. as a partner in the 1970s.

It was later used for filming such classic TV series as “Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie” and the movie “Lethal Weapon.” Opening credits of Warner Bros.’ 1990s sitcom “Friends,” featured the then 20-something cast members frolicking in a fountain near the center of the lot. (The fountain was moved to the main Warner Bros. lot, where it has become a featured part of the studio tour.)

The LAPD is considering whether to shut down its police academy for part of 2028 in order to put hundreds of officers back to work on the streets in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to four department sources.

The sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal matters, said the proposal was floated at a senior staff meeting last week. The idea has sparked debate, the sources said, with some officials worried that a pause would set back the department’s efforts to hire more police officers and replenish its dwindling ranks.

The LAPD declined to make any official available for an interview about the proposal. In response to an inquiry from The Times, the department released a short statement that said: “The Olympic Games are two years away. The LAPD will be prepared as always to keep the citizens and visitors of Los Angeles safe. We look forward to a memorable event.”

Much could still change between now and the start of the Olympics. The size of recruit classes are dictated by the department’s annual budget, which is approved by the City Council before each fiscal year.

Recently, the council signed off on a $15-billion city budget for 2026-27, preserving Mayor Karen Bass’ plan to hire 510 officers — only enough cops to replace those who are expected to leave over the next fiscal year.

It’s not uncommon during large events for the department to mobilize officers from specialized units and others who don’t normally work in the field. But the potential cancellation of more than half of the 13 academy classes that the LAPD typically graduates in a given year came as a surprise to some.

Under the proposal, the academy could cease operations for roughly seven months after the January 2028 class, which would let the department temporarily reassign more than 300 officers from its training division. These include instructors who would normally be spending their days teaching the basics of how to handle firearms, pull over speeding motorists, collect evidence at a crime scene and interview victims and suspects.

Sources said the proposed plan calls for increasing academy class sizes before and after the Olympics and Paralympics in order to offset resignations and retirements.

The plan has still been met with deep skepticism in some quarters, with officials pointing to the department’s well-documented recruitment struggles in recent years. Any interruptions in recruiting officers could set the department back, the skeptics argue.

L.A. City Councilmember Tim McOsker said he understood the need for the department to continue its recruitment efforts, but said that putting training officers back to the field felt like a necessary “sacrifice to be able to host the Olympics.”

Late last month, L.A. officials reached a tentative deal with Olympic organizers laying out the process for reimbursing the city for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars for public services, ranging from traffic control to trash pickup. But the question of how the city will pay for police protection remains largely unsettled.

The costs could theoretically be covered by the $1 billion in funding the federal government has allocated for the Games’ costs. However, some elected officials have expressed concern that the money might not materialize once the Games are over. Another funding option is a $270-million contingency fund maintained by LA28 that can be distributed as a surplus if the Games make money or be used to cover any losses in the event of a shortfall.

For months, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has warned that public safety will suffer if the city doesn’t hire more officers to not only safeguard Olympic venues, but also continue normal operations over the 66 days between the July 14 start of the Olympic Games and the end of the Paralympic Games. At a budget hearing last year, McDonnell called on the council to fund new hires — while arguing against creating any delays in recruiting and on-boarding more officers.

Some City Council members have pushed back, saying overspending at the LAPD could force city leaders to contemplate cuts to other city jobs, which they oppose.

The Olympics will also be staffed by thousands of officers from agencies from across the state. A bill currently under consideration in the California Legislature would pave the way for the hundreds of officers from other states to help police the 2028 Games. The proposed legislation is opposed by the Peace Officers Research Association of California, the state’s largest law enforcement labor organization, which has argued that bringing in officers who don’t meet statewide training standards could spell disaster.

Jaxon lives in the small Pembrokeshire village of Solva and attends school in St Davids, hardly a skateboarding hub, and that means regular five-hour round trips to train at a skatepark near Cardiff.

But his skill on a board was cemented long before reaching west Wales. Born in Darwin, a love for the sport was already evident by the time he moved with his parents to Somerset at 18 months old.

“Shortly before his first birthday we were in a surf shop and he became fixated with a skateboard on sale there,” explained his Welsh mother Lucy.

“He would not put it down and we ended up buying it for him as a first birthday present. He was always trying to balance on it which is how this all started.”

Jaxon was barely five when the practice transitioned into a desire to improve and compete.

A reputation as a rising star soon extended way beyond the west country, and while the move to Wales has increased travel time, it has not deterred his dedication.

Trips to a skatepark in Haverfordwest often culminate in fellow users halting their own runs to marvel at the child’s ability on the ramps.

A six-month trip back to Australia in 2025 helped enhance development. While based on the Sunshine Coast, Jaxon was able to train and compete on facilities considerably more advanced than those back home.

Despite his obvious ability, the then nine-year-old Jaxon was ruled too young to compete in the Welsh Championships and only now is he eligible to mix it with professional skaters in national events.

Russian athletes could be allowed to compete at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles after the International Olympic Committee provisionally lifted their suspension.

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in 2023 in response to the war in Ukraine.

It says that ban is “no longer applicable” and athletes from Russia can compete again as long as they “meet relevant anti-doping requirements”.

No decision has yet been taken on whether Russia can display its flag, colours and anthem at the Olympic ‌Games.

Some Russian athletes competed at both the 2024 Paris Games and this year’s Winter Olympics in Milan as neutrals.

Russia welcomed the decision, saying the Games must be “free from politics”.

“The IOC is sending a clear signal: the Olympic movement must remain free from politics,” Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev said on Telegram, adding that Russia planned to participate in qualifiers for the 2028 Olympics.

More to follow.

Kibiwott Kandie initially faced an eight-year ban split evenly across two violations, but received a one-year reduction.

Former half-marathon world-record ‌holder Kibiwott Kandie has been banned for seven years by the ⁠Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) ⁠for two anti-doping violations, the body has said.

The 30-year-old Kenyan, a 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, was provisionally suspended in ⁠March 2025 for refusing to provide a sample and was later charged with an additional violation of tampering or attempted tampering with doping control.

“This ⁠case serves as a reminder that no athlete is above the rules in the sport of athletics. If an athlete refuses a test, it places the integrity of the sport at risk,” AIU head Brett Clothier said in a ‌statement on Thursday

“The AIU has a strong forensic capability and will thoroughly investigate such cases to ensure the truth comes out,” he added.

Kandie, who initially faced an eight-year ban split evenly across the two violations, received a one-year reduction after accepting the sanctions early.

His ban is backdated to March 14, 2025, the date of his provisional suspension, and ⁠will run until March 13, 2032, when he ⁠will be 36.

On March 1, 2025, Kandie delayed and ultimately refused an out-of-competition test at his home in Kenya, citing an urgent payment before leaving despite being warned of ⁠the consequences.

AIU analysis of his phone and financial records showed multiple calls and payments linked to a ⁠nurse, with 11 transfers identified in the 12 ⁠months prior to the test, after coordination with the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya.

Kandie’s initial explanations for refusing to provide a sample were later found to be false, while Kenyan authorities ‌confirmed that documents he submitted were fake.

Kandie, a three-time Valencia Half Marathon champion, set a then-world record of 57:32 in 2020 and ‌remains ‌the third-fastest man in history over the distance, with two of the six quickest performances of all time.

With the largest Olympic and Paralympic Games in history approaching, LA28 announced Monday it will open volunteer applications on July 14, the two-year mark before the Olympics officially begin.

LA28 is searching for 60,000 volunteers to work during an Olympics that will feature more than 11,000 athletes across 15 days of competition. Volunteer responsibilities range from welcoming and guiding spectators and athletes, to specialized roles, including medical care and language translation. While the majority of Games-time volunteer opportunities are in the L.A. area, volunteers are needed for every Olympic venue city: Oklahoma City will host softball and canoe slalom events, and soccer preliminaries will be held in New York, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, San José and San Diego.

Applicants can specify their preferred location, their special skills and whether they would like to volunteer for the Olympics or Paralympics.

The Olympics, which run from July 14-30, 2028, have a volunteer period from March to August. The Paralympics, which open on Aug. 15, 2028 and close on Aug. 27, needs volunteers from August to September. Games-time volunteers must be available to complete at least 10 nonconsecutive shifts of approximately eight hours each during each Games period and must be 18 years or older.

“Volunteers are the backbone of the Games,” LA28 chief executive officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement. “They are a friendly face who helps welcome the world, create memorable experiences and bring the Olympic and Paralympic spirit to life. Their passion and energy will help define LA28 for athletes, fans and communities across the region.”

LA28’s volunteer program started in 2025 with community-based opportunities. LA28 volunteers have already worked with local nonprofits on beach, street and trail cleanups, habitat restoration and fresh food packing. Volunteering in the community through the LA28 program is not required to earn a spot for the Games, but the experience can strengthen an applicant’s chance.

Updates about the LA28 volunteer program are available at la28.org/volunteer, where potential volunteers can register their interest to automatically receive more information about the Games-time application process when it opens.

LA28 reserved the first Olympic tickets for locals. To kick off the second round of ticket sales, it’s a sponsorship connection that could help fans get to the front of the line.

Before the second Olympic ticket drop officially begins Aug. 10, LA28 announced Wednesday there will be a presale for Visa cardholders that will run from July 29-31.

Visa has sponsored the Olympics for 40 years and is the only credit card accepted for payment in Olympic zones. For a chance to be selected for the presale, fans need to first confirm their status as a Visa cardholder. Fans who have already registered can log into their existing LA28 ticket account, check the “Visa presale box” and save changes. New registrants must select the Visa cardholder option during the registration process. All ticket sales during the presale must be completed with a Visa credit card.

Fans can register for the second ticket drop at tickets.la28.org until July 22. Those who already registered for Drop 1 but weren’t selected or didn’t purchase their full 12-ticket allotment do not have to sign up again and are automatically entered into the lottery for Drop 2, which will run from Aug. 10-20.

Fans who are randomly selected for the Visa presale will be notified of their time slot on July 27. Those who aren’t selected for the presale remain eligible for a time slot in Drop 2. Email notifications for Drop 2 time slots will go out from Aug. 6-7.

The second ticket drop will offer tickets across all Olympic sports at a range of price points, LA28 said in a statement, subject to inventory availability. Prices start at $28 for individual tickets, but of the total 1 million $28 Olympic tickets, half were scooped up during the Drop 1 presale that was reserved for locals living near venue cities in Southern California and Oklahoma City.

April’s ticketing debut frustrated fans who were surprised by high prices, a 24% service fee on every ticket and limited inventory for key events. Still, LA28 sold 4 million tickets across 85 countries, a historic number that had International Olympic Committee officials giddy for the potential of the 2028 Games.

“What we thought we were going to sell, and what we thought we were going to get for people who registered for interest, we exceeded those by magnitudes,” LA28 Chief Executive Officer Reynold Hoover told The Times on June 4 after IOC members visited L.A. “We were able to set Olympic records in terms of sale, but I think the broader picture about all of that is people want to be a part of something really big and be part of something here in L.A., a part of history.”

LA28, the organizing committee behind L.A.’s first Olympics in 40 years, expects to generate $2.5 billion in ticketing and hospitality to support what has been advertised as a privately funded Games. The estimated $7.1-billion operations budget is also buoyed by $2.5 billion in expected sponsorship revenue. LA28 already has $2 billion in domestic partnership money.

Snowboarding made its Winter Olympics debut in Nagano 1998 with halfpipe and giant slalom.

Riders competed against the clock before the head-to-head parallel giant slalom version on identical, side-by-side courses was introduced four years later in Salt Lake City.

Three-time Winter Olympian Alex Payer said: “PGS is one of the only formats where everything is truly equal – same course, same conditions, same start, same chance. That fairness is rare in sport.

“If you take it out of the Olympic programme, you take away one of the purest expressions of competition we have.”

Among the sports bidding to replace them in the programme for the Games, which are scheduled for 1-17 February 2030, are freeriding and ice climbing.

Freeriding allows skiers and snowboarders to choose their own off-piste course from top to bottom and also perform tricks as they descend.

They are judged on elements of their descent including the difficulty of the course, jumps and performance.

In ice climbing, competitors climb up a frozen waterfall or glaciers with a speed version favourite for inclusion.

There had been speculation that cyclo-cross would be also be aiming for inclusion but last month IOC president Kirsty Coventry said that “no summer sports and no seasonal crossover events” would be part of the programme.

Almost exactly one year ago, I speculated about how President Trump could sabotage the World Cup and the L.A. Olympics.

Since then, speculation has congealed into reality.

By almost any measure, tourism to the United States has cratered. Overall, it was down 5.5% last year from the year before. Visitors from Canada, traditionally the largest pipeline of foreign tourism, plummeted 21%.

That’s the largest drop from any country, according to statistics from the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration cited by the Congressional Research Service. The runner-up is Germany, with a decline of 11.3%.

Expectations have faded that this summer’s World Cup games, which begin in the U.S. on June 12 with USA vs. Paraguay at SoFi Stadium, would buoy the flow of foreign visitors. Hotel bookings show that hasn’t happened, as my colleague Caroline Petrow-Cohen reports. According to an April survey by the American Hotel & Lodging Assn., hotel operators in all 11 of the U.S. host cities say that bookings are below their expectations.

Those figures bode ill for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, whose organizers are also counting on a robust flow of foreign visitors.

More than 65% of the Los Angeles hotels responding to the survey reported dashed expectations, the association said. That wasn’t the worst result; the percentage was higher in five host cities, led by Kansas City, where nearly 90% of survey respondents reported booking paces below expectations.

The association identifies several reasons for the lackluster bookings, including botched planning by FIFA, the World Cup’s governing body. But much of the blame falls on issues created by one person: President Donald Trump. These include “increased gas and jet fuel prices,” which are artifacts of Trump’s Iran war and its upward pressure on oil prices.

The survey also points to concerns about visa availability and the treatment of foreign visitors once they land in the U.S. or cross the border.

The administration has disavowed any intention to interfere with the World Cup or the Olympics.

“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, the FIFA 2026 World Cup will no doubt be one of the greatest and most spectacular events in the history of mankind,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told me by email.

“International visitors who legally come to the United States for the World Cup have nothing to worry about,” the Department of Homeland Security said. “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the U.S. — full stop.”

Trump pledged in 2018, when FIFA was weighing bids to host the 2028 World Cup, that “all eligible athletes, officials and fans from all countries around the world would be able to enter the United States without discrimination.” But concerns remain that family members of participating athletes might face restrictions on entering the U.S.

Those concerns could hardly be assuaged by a comment from Vice President JD Vance, chair of a government task force overseeing preparations for the World Cup, at a 2025 meeting attended by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Vance said the U.S. wants foreign visitors “to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the games. But when the time is up, we want them to go home, otherwise they will have to talk to Secretary Noem.” (Trump subsequently ousted Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, replacing her with former Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma.)

Trump also committed himself to safeguarding the L.A. Olympics, stating, “I’m going to be supportive in every way possible and make them the greatest games.”

Yet America’s standing as a world-class tourist destination has plainly soured under Trump.

“Even with global anticipation building, the path to the U.S. for many World Cup travelers feels increasingly less like a red-carpet welcome,” the Hotel & Lodging Assn. observed.

“There is a perception that international travelers may face lengthy visa wait times, increased visa fees, and lingering uncertainty around entry processing. For those who do make the journey, concerns do not end at the border — questions about airport security screening wait times and airport congestion add another layer of hesitation.”

None of this should come as a surprise. As I projected last June, two administration initiatives in particular were poised to affect the World Cup and Olympics. The first was Trump’s crackdown on immigration.

Immigration agents, I noted, were acting as though they had carte blanche to detain people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, conducting raids that sometimes swept up American citizens. That was before the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and other communities where immigration agents were accused of targeting specific ethnic and racial groups. And it was before the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by immigration agents worsened their image as lawless thugs.

By then, however, stories had surfaced of foreign tourists being detained for weeks, even months, without explanation or apparent cause. A 65-year-old British woman named Karen Newman traveling on a valid tourist visa was arrested in September 2025 at the Montana border, shackled and held for six weeks in an ICE detention center. Other stories involved a German tourist who said she was held by ICE for 45 days, some of that time in solitary confinement; and a New Zealand woman who was detained with her 6-year-old son for three weeks.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t deny that these incidents had occurred, though in relation to the New Zealand woman, whose visa had been only partially renewed, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said, “When someone with an expired parole leaves the country and tries to re-enter the US, they will be stopped in compliance with our laws and regulations.”

The other policy that could interfere with the World Cup and Olympics are Trump’s travel bans and restrictions, which as of January covered 75 countries, including Brazil, Russia and 26 African countries.

Stringent regulations for some visa applicants — notably those coming to the U.S. to study or for work-study programs and their dependents — have further clouded America’s image as a destination. Applicants for those visas are required to open their social media accounts for the last five years for inspection by visa officers.

And Homeland Security Secretary Mullin last month raised the prospect of withdrawing customs officers from airports in so-called sanctuary cities, a move that would effectively shut down international flights at those airports.

The change couldn’t happen in time to affect the World Cup, but it could happen before the 2028 Olympics. Mullin’s idea didn’t win immediate favor with other members of Trump’s cabinet, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Last year, the Department of Justice published a list of nearly three dozen states, cities and counties it defined as “sanctuary jurisdictions” because they “obstruct or limit local law enforcement cooperation” with ICE. Most are led by Democrats. They include California, and the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley.

It’s true that immigration policies and rising travel costs are only part of the problem. The Hotel & Lodging Assn. also flayed FIFA for having block-booked hotel rooms in venue cities. These blocks “manufactured artificial demand by locking up large pools of inventory well ahead of the tournament,” the hotel group complained. The practice upended hotels’ planning by prompting them to increase staff and begin World Cup-themed renovations, preparing for crowds that may have been overestimated from the outset.

The block-booking “masked softer underlying traveler demand,” the association said, “with FIFA returning some blocks without a single reservation having been made.”

The hoteliers also groused that New Jersey and Philadelphia had proposed raising sales or lodging taxes in order to squeeze visitors. New Jersey lawmakers have proposed a short-term increase in its sales tax to 9.6% from 6.6% and in its lodging tax to 7.5% from 5%. Philadelphia is planning to raise its hotel tax to 10.5% from 8.5%.

None of this means that ticket sales for the World Cup won’t be healthy. FIFA has said that 5 million tickets have already been sold for the matches, even though the average price for even the cheapest seats at some venues tops $500. As my colleague Kevin Baxter has reported, fans are beginning to feel mulcted. That’s so especially because ticket buyers only learned the specific location of their seats after plunking down their money, at which point they discovered that they were placed in sections nowhere as desirable as they expected.

The government has commissioned UK Sport to conduct an “initial strategic assessment” into a potential bid for the north of England to host the Olympics and Paralympics in the 2040s.

It said the funding agency would examine whether the UK could host the Games for the first time since London 2012, along with potential cost, socio-economic benefit and any bid’s chance of success.

“For too long we have been told the Olympics is simply too big and too important to be hosted in the north”, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told BBC Sport.

“Not any more. It’s time the Olympics came north and we showed what we can offer to the world.

“We know that we can pull off the most incredible, not just bid, but Olympics. So we’re kick-starting that with a phase-one study about the investment, the resources, the infrastructure, the transport that we’re going to need.”

The findings of UK Sport’s study will determine whether to proceed with a more detailed “technical feasibility study”, with a final decision on any bid resting with the British Olympic Association (BOA).

SACRAMENTO — As Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Olympics, state lawmakers are raising concerns that potential clashes with President Trump could cause chaos.

State Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), speaking at a legislative hearing this week on the 2028 Games, expressed concern about Trump’s animosity toward California and questioned whether that could affect the federal financial support that is essential to the Olympics.

“I know we rely a lot on the federal funding,” Rubio said. “Can you assure me that we’re not going to be left in the middle of the planning carrying the bag?”

Rubio was addressing Joey Freeman, the vice president of state affairs for the LA28 Organizing Committee, who testified before lawmakers.

Freeman assured legislators that the organizing committee had a “wonderful working relationship” with the Trump administration. He said the committee successfully advocated for $1 billion in federal funds for state and local law enforcement, and $94 million to boost transportation planning.

LA28 leaders previously projected that the Games will cost more than $7.1 billion. They’ve said the money will come from a mix of sources, including corporate sponsors, ticket sales, merchandise, the federal government and the International Olympic Committee.

Rubio, however, said she remained worried that the federal dollars could fall through.

“As a state, our funding is also stretched thin, and at the end of the day we don’t want to have to step in to save the Olympics,” Rubio said.

Several other concerns were raised during the roughly three-hour hearing, including questions about how to best protect visitors and participants from federal immigration raids. The Trump administration’s increased enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol last year in the Los Angeles area led to clashes with protesters and widespread concerns about immigrant rights.

Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) said legislators were working on a package of bills to help rein in ICE during the event.

“Immigration is still front and center,” she said. “People are feeling even more worried that they’ll continue to be deported and kidnapped.”

Other lawmakers grilled Freeman for more information about ticket sales. LA28 previously advertised tickets as being affordable for locals, but many shoppers last month were dismayed to find prices in the thousands.

Freeman said he did not have specifics on the community ticketing program, which earned a rebuke from Sen. Laura Richardson (D-San Pedro).

“You’re in an official state hearing and I think you know there was a problem because it was well-publicized in the news,” she said. “The fact that we came to this committee and you don’t know how many tickets were issued, you don’t know how many of those were under $100 — you don’t have the information that we need.”

Paul Krekorian, executive director of the Los Angeles Office of Major Events, chalked up many of the concerns surrounding the games to political negativity. He pointed to the success of the Olympics in Los Angeles in 1932 and 1984.

“You hear the tickets are too expensive, there aren’t going to be enough opportunities, it’s going to be a big disruption, there’s going to be a lot of traffic, the city just went through these horrible fires, how are we going to pull this off?” he said. “I just want to remind all of us — L.A. knows how to do this.”

International Olympic Committee urges sporting bodies to let Belarusian athletes compete again without vetting as neutrals.

Athletes from Belarus should once again compete with their full national identity and not be vetted for neutral status, the International Olympic Committee has said.

Though the advice to sports governing bodies does not yet apply also to Russia, it seemed to point towards being closer to ending Russia’s isolation in Olympic circles during its war on Ukraine.

One barrier to Russia’s return is an ongoing World Anti-Doping Agency investigation into recent reports implicating Russian anti-doping agency official Veronika Loginova.

The IOC said its executive board noted “with concern the recent information” being looked at by WADA, without naming Loginova.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus had to be approved as neutrals who did not support the war for individual events at the 2024 Paris Olympics and February’s Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. A total of 32 athletes from the two countries competed in Paris, to win five medals combined, including one gold in trampoline by an athlete from Belarus.

“The IOC reaffirms that athletes’ participation in international competition should not be limited by the actions of their governments, including involvement in a war or conflict,” the Olympic body said on Thursday.

The IOC noted the qualification period for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics “starts this summer.”

The Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended by the IOC since October 2023 for incorporating regional sports bodies in illegally occupied eastern Ukraine.

“Whilst the ROC has held constructive exchanges with the IOC on its suspension,” the IOC said, “it remains suspended while the IOC Legal Affairs Commission continues to review the matter.”

Ticket buyer: Alec Mackie of Los Angeles

Events: Men’s baseball gold medal finals, women’s basketball gold medal finals, men’s soccer gold medal finals, swimming preliminary and tennis quarter final mixed doubles

Thoughts: ”My uncle made a spreadsheet. The tickets are for me, my uncle, friends and I’m hoping to take my nephew as well. I was 10 years old at the 1984 Olympics and got to go to gymnastics, swimming and closing ceremonies, and my nephew will be 10 in 2028. I know L.A. is going to have an amazing Olympics, we are Los Angeles! Ten million creative, beautiful people, always dreaming and we know how to wow people. I can’t wait and hopefully traffic is smooth, a glamorous sequel to ’84.”

The UK government says it is in “discussions about supporting potential bids” for the Olympics and Paralympics in the 2040s.

It added that “initial work examining whether the UK could host the Games for the first time since London 2012 will assess key factors such as potential cost, socio-economic benefit and [the] chance of success”.

Ministers say they are also considering whether to support bids to stage golf’s Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup in the 2030s.

The last time the two team competitions were staged in the UK was in 2014 and 2019 respectively, both at Gleneagles in Scotland.

In recent months there has been growing momentum behind a possible attempt to bring the Olympics back to the UK for a fourth time.

Last year London mayor Sadiq Khan said he wanted the city to bid for the 2040 Games.

With Los Angeles in the US and Brisbane, Australia hosting the 2028 and 2032 Games respectively, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is yet to choose cities to stage the events in 2036 and beyond.

In December, the chair of funding agency UK Sport told BBC Sport a bid “has to be an aspiration”, suggesting Liverpool and Manchester could be co-hosts.

In February, a group of political leaders urged the government to ensure any future bid would be based in the north of England, saying there was a “compelling” case for it to host the event.

The Ryder Cup takes place every two years with 24 of the best players from Europe and the USA going head-to-head over three days in matchplay competition. The two continents take it in turns to host the event.

In March, it was revealed that Bolton is bidding to host the Ryder Cup in 2035. If successful it would be the first time in more than 30 years that the event is staged in England.

Last year England Golf urged the government to underwrite its bid to stage the Solheim Cup – a contest between the leading female golfers of Europe and the US – in the country for the first time.

As part of a new ‘sporting events framework’, the government says it will look to make it a criminal offence to resell tickets for specific major sporting events without authorisation such as Euro 2028, claiming it “will make it easier to bid for, secure and deliver major sporting events”.

England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland are hosting Euro 2028, while the UK is the sole bidder to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup.

In November, the government announced legislation to outlaw the sale of tickets to sports events at inflated prices – but it did not apply to football.

Zanardi, who lost his legs in a racing crash, was credited with helping transform the perception of disability in Italy.

Alex Zanardi, the Italian Formula One driver who became a Paralympic cycling champion after losing both legs in an accident, has died aged 59, his family announced.

Zanardi, one of his country’s most loved and respected sportsmen, who was credited with helping transform the perception of disability in Italy, died on Friday evening.

In a statement issued on Saturday through the charity he founded, Obiettivo3, his family said he died “suddenly”, but also “peacefully, surrounded by the love of his family and friends”.

“The family would like to express ⁠their heartfelt thanks to all those who are showing their support at this time and ⁠asks that their grief and privacy be ⁠respected during this period of mourning.”

Zanardi’s death comes six years after the four-time Paralympic gold medal winner suffered a second horror crash in June 2020, when his handbike crashed into an oncoming truck during a race in Tuscany.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hailed Zanardi as “a great champion and an extraordinary man, capable of turning every trial of life into a lesson in courage, strength and dignity”.

Cordiano Dagnoni, head of the Italian Cycling Federation, said he “transformed the culture of our country, bringing joy and happiness to those fortunate enough to know him, and hope to so many in Italy and around the world”.

He said there would be a minute’s silence observed at this weekend’s races in tribute to the athlete.

Zanardi raced for Jordan, Minardi and Lotus in F1 in the early 1990s before switching to the CART championship in the United States where he was series champion in 1997 and 1998.

He returned to F1 with Williams in 1999 before heading back to CART.

Zanardi almost died in a horrific accident in 2001 at the Lausitzring track in Germany, after which he had both legs amputated.

His car had stalled in the middle of the track after a spin and was struck by another car at a speed of more than 300km/h (186mph).

Yet he went on to become one of the best-known figures in Paralympic sports, winning two gold medals at the 2012 London Games and two more in Rio de Janeiro, four years later.

In June 2020, he was involved in another terrible accident, this time in Tuscany. He suffered serious head injuries and only returned home 18 months later.

Zanardi, born in Bologna on October 23, 1966, leaves his wife Daniela and son Niccolo.

A request from Los Angeles police officials to boost staffing and purchase new vehicles in time for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games has been met with deep skepticism by City Council members who worry about committing funding amid uncertainty around the plan to secure the venues.

During an hours-long budget hearing Tuesday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell repeated a warning he has issued in recent months, suggesting that public safety will suffer if the city doesn’t hire more officers to replace the hundreds expected to leave the department in the next two years.

Despite recent recruitment gains, McDonnell said the council needs to fund the new hires now, so the department can staff up in time for the Olympics. Under the current security plan, the LAPD would supply about 2,400 officers, or just under a third of the total officers needed to police the Games.

The LAPD is requesting 520 new police recruits for the next fiscal year, which would grow the 8,600-member department by about 10 officers, with projected attrition at 510 officers.

The department is also requesting nearly $100 million from the city to purchase more than 500 new vehicles, as well as equipment such as an upgraded radio network, new computers and more than 1,600 body cameras, for the Games. LAPD officials said that after the Games, the vehicles would be used to upgrade the department’s aging fleet.

LAPD Cmdr. Mario Mota told council members at the Tuesday hearing that hundreds of the new vehicles would police the eight Olympic venues within city boundaries. The additional patrol cars and other specialized vehicles would also allow police to continue normal operations elsewhere over the 66 days between the July 14 start of the Olympic Games and the end of the Paralympic Games, he said.

LAPD officials said there was a misconception that federal authorities will take the lead on all security operations at Olympic venues. In fact, the federal priority will be safeguarding international delegations and protecting high-security areas, while the LAPD and other state and local agencies will be responsible for securing areas where most Olympic-related events are being held. The LAPD will still respond to 911 calls within city limits.

The U.S. Secret Service has not yet released details on how many federal agents will flood secure zones around venues, which include Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park and Crypto.com Arena.

Some L.A. officials have expressed growing fears that taxpayers and the city treasury could be hit with a round of crippling costs if the city doesn’t ink a rigorous deal with LA28, the nonprofit that is organizing the Games, to ensure a “zero-cost” event.

The federal government has set aside $1 billion for Olympics security spending, including for local and state law enforcement, but has given few details about when and how it will distribute those funds, amid concerns that President Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress might not follow through with its funding pledge. The exact costs to L.A. and other local governments remain unknown, as officials wait to hear from federal security agencies about what services will be needed.

Police officials previously told the department’s civilian watchdog that the city has to allocate the money to the LAPD before the federal government can say how much it will reimburse.

That uncertainty didn’t sit well with some council members.

“What is LAPD’s role inside the perimeters of the venues?” Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who heads the budget committee, asked at one point during the meeting. “The fact we haven’t nailed this down and it feels like we’re having two conversations — it’s confusing and frustrating.”

Some council members questioned whether the new vehicles in the budget proposal were necessary — and fiscally responsible.

When asked why the department can’t lease squad cars or repurpose existing vehicles, an LAPD official admitted that those options hadn’t been explored — which drew an exasperated response from Councilmember Tim McOsker.

Some of the concerns raised by the City Council echoed activists and other observers, who point to the LAPD’s increased militarization after the 1984 Summer Olympics — when it acquired new equipment that some say was disproportionately used against communities of color in the years that followed.

Security preparations for the Olympics have been ongoing for years. The LAPD has sent delegations to Italy and France to observe security measures in those host nations. But in other ways, progress has been slow. Several months ago, McDonnell quietly replaced the department’s Olympics czar, Cmdr. Hamed Mohammadi, with Deputy Chief Billy Brockway.

“We’re going in the wrong direction as far as personnel,” McDonnell said. In all, police officials estimated that 30,000 law enforcement employees from various state and local agencies will be involved in the security operations.

Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for reelection, once hoped to bring the LAPD back to 9,500 officers — its size when she took office. But amid a continuing budget crunch, she recently said she is more focused on keeping the department from getting smaller.

Overtime for Los Angeles police officers, and any other major expenses, would be acutely felt by a city government that recently closed a nearly $1-billion budget deficit, in part by slowing police hiring. The police union may try to negotiate for bonus, hazard and standby pay for officers who work the Games when their contract expires next June.

The last U.S. host city, Salt Lake City, had a much smaller police department but benefited from an infusion of federal funding and mutual aid agreements with neighboring agencies. Under California law, LAPD officials said, law enforcement agencies can enter mutual aid agreements only after a state of emergency has been declared, such as after a natural disaster.

Several council members asked whether the department has considered lobbying for changing the state law; LAPD officials admitted that they haven’t.

Some on the council also questioned whether the department should be doing more to reassign sworn officers working administrative jobs that could be handled by civilian employees.

Times staff writer James Rainey contributed to this report.

Far-right mayor opposes plan for football team to lose stadium access due to 2030 Winter Games’ ice hockey.

French organisers of the 2030 Winter Olympics are looking at alternative locations for ice hockey outside of Nice, including Paris and Lyon, because of a political deadlock involving the coastal city’s new mayor.

Like the Milan Cortina Olympics, the French Alps project has split snow sports in storied mountain resorts and skating in a snow-free city, the Mediterranean resort of Nice.

Nice was to turn the city’s football stadium, Allianz Arena, into a temporary hockey rink.

But Nice’s newly elected far-right mayor, Eric Ciotti, opposes the plan, refusing to allow the resident football club to lose access to its stadium for months because of the games. Ciotti, a former conservative allied with the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, was elected last month.

The 2030 Games organisers said on Tuesday they have worked with officials from Nice and its wider region, as well as the French government, to find solutions for placing ice hockey within the Olympic hub in Nice. A temporary ice rink, intended as a replacement for the originally planned Allianz Riviera stadium, was studied at other stadiums, mainly for men’s hockey matches.

“Technical, scheduling, and financial analyses highlighted the limitations of these options, particularly due to their very high cost and impact,” organisers added.

“With a focus on efficiency and budget optimisation, the (organising committee) has decided to broaden its investigations by examining the use of existing facilities in other major metropolitan areas such as Lyon or Paris, particularly those offering a minimum seating capacity of 10,000,” they added.

Results of their explorations will be presented to the organising committee’s executive board on May 11. The final venues are expected to be confirmed in June when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decides the list of sports and events.

“The analyses carried out are leading us to turn towards existing facilities that are better suited and more sustainable. Several options are being studied to ensure hosting conditions that fully meet our requirements,” said Edgar Grospiron, the former Olympic champion freestyle skier who leads the organising committee.

The Paris Entertainment Company, which operates Adidas Arena and Accor Arena in the French capital, said last week it submitted a bid to host ice hockey. Both venues were used during the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

French Alps Games organisers said a second competition ice rink for skating is still planned at Nice’s exhibition centre, and other ice events scheduled in Nice remain unchanged.

Allyson Felix is attempting a comeback at age 40 that could give her a chance to add to her Olympic-record medal haul two years from now in Los Angeles.

Felix, a mother of two, told Time magazine she thought about coming back some four years after calling it quits and decided: “Let’s go after the thing. Let’s be vulnerable.”

“You know, at this age, I should probably be staying home and taking care of my kids, doing all that. And just, why not? Let’s flip it on its head,” she said.

Felix has won 11 Olympic medals — the most by any woman in track — and has a record 20 medals from world championships.

She is a seven-time Olympic champion, with six in the relays and her lone individual gold coming in the 200 meters at the 2012 London Games.

Before retiring in 2022, she became an outspoken advocate for athletes who become mothers and want to keep their careers going.

Felix, who landed a spot on the IOC Athletes’ Commission in retirement, has two kids — 7-year-old Camryn and 2-year old Trey.

She said she expects to start full-time training with her coach, Bobby Kersee, in October with the goal of competing in 2027. The Olympics will be in her hometown a year later.

“I totally get the person who sticks around too long and you’re like, ‘What are they doing?’” Felix said. “I know, at 40, I am not at my peak. I have no illusions about that. I’m very clear in what it is and what I want to see. And so I hope it’s seen that way.”

Thousand-dollar tickets and hundreds of dollars in fees shocked some hopeful Olympic fans this month, but they did not keep LA28 from boasting strong sales in the committee’s first ticket drop.

LA28 announced Thursday that it sold more than 4 million Olympic tickets during the first ticket drop. The private organizing committee will have a second ticket drop in August with “refreshed inventory across all Olympic sports at a range of price points.”

But after the popularity of the first purchasing period, many of the lower-priced tickets have already been scooped up.

LA28 said roughly half of the total 1 million $28 tickets were sold during the locals presale, which was limited to people living near venue cities in Southern California and Oklahoma City.

The average price per Olympic ticket is less than $200, which includes a mandatory 24% service fee, and LA28 said about 75% of all tickets, including final events, will be under $400. The premier seats at high-demand events command more than $1,000 per ticket, but the highest priced categories make up about 5% of the total ticket inventory.

Artistic gymnastics sold out the quickest in Drop 1. Four Olympic sports — flag football, lacrosse, softball and squash — sold all their available inventory for the first drop. After five days of local presale, global ticket sales opened and drew fans from 85 countries and all 50 states and U.S. territories. The largest international sales came from the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico and Japan.

For the first female-majority Olympic Games, LA28 reported that women’s Olympic sessions outsold men’s 93% to 88% during the first drop.

“The response to our initial on-sale was nothing short of historic. Fans from near and far have spoken: the world wants to be part of the LA28 Games,” LA28 chief executive officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement. “The success of Drop 1 is about more than momentum — it reflects LA28’s commitment to delivering a fiscally responsible Games that create a lasting legacy for Los Angeles and its communities.”

Drop 2, which will begin in August, will have additional tickets across all Olympic sports, including those that may have sold out during the first purchasing windows. The registration period for Drop 2 opened Thursday at tickets.la28.org and will continue until July 22. Fans who registered for the first drop of tickets but did not receive a time slot and fans who did not buy their maximum 12 general ticket allotment will automatically be entered into the random lottery Drop 2. The new registration period is only required for anybody who did not sign up for the initial drop.

Fans are still limited to 12 Olympic tickets and up to 12 soccer tickets that don’t count toward the general maximum. There is a four ticket per ceremony limit for the opening and closing ceremony that count toward the 12-ticket maximum, which is cumulative across all LA28 presales and ticket drops.

LA28 will have multiple ticket drops with assigned purchasing time slots before ticket sales move to a first-come, first-served format closer to the Games, which open on July 14, 2028. LA28 began its ticketing process earlier than most other Olympic Games with tickets going on sale more than two years in advance of the opening ceremony. The early timeline has created excitement for the first Summer Olympics in the United States since Atlanta 1996, but also prompted concerns about scheduling. Fans clamored for tickets with little information about which teams or athletes would be competing in most sessions.

Tickets are not refundable, but fans can opt for verified resale when LA28 launches its official resale system in 2027. AXS and Eventim is the official secondary ticket marketplace of the LA28 Games and Ticketmaster and Sports Illustrated Tickets have also signed on as additional verified resale platforms.

LA28 will have 14 million tickets available for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which would eclipse the record of 12 million tickets sold for the Paris Games. Paris 2024 sold an about 9.5 million tickets for the Olympics, but used a different ticket system than LA28. For Paris, 3.5 million tickets were sold during the first phase, during which fans were required to buy tickets to at least three different sports instead of the option for single-event tickets available during LA28’s Drop 1 process.

Tickets for the 2028 Paralympics, which will be the first in L.A.’s history, will go on sale in 2027. Ticket sales and hospitality are expected to cover about $2.5 billion of LA28’s expected $7.1 billion budget for the first Games in L.A. in more than 40 years.

Barcelona’s Yamal bags Young Sportsperson of the Year accolade a year after winning the Breakthrough award in 2025.

Tennis ruled the red carpet in Madrid as Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz were crowned Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year at the Laureus Awards.

The pair were honoured on Monday after glittering 2025 campaigns that saw them finish atop the women’s and men’s tennis rankings, respectively.

Spaniard Alcaraz, 22, reclaimed the year-end world number one spot after capturing two Grand Slam titles at the French Open and US Open, underlining his supremacy across surfaces.

Belarusian Sabalenka, 27, meanwhile, stood alongside him in the winners’ circle in New York and also reached the final in Australia and France, capping a season of relentless consistency.

With her triumph, Sabalenka joins a roll call of Laureus Sportswoman of the Year recipients from her sport, including Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin and Naomi Osaka.

Barcelona and Spain athlete Lamine Yamal, 18, won the Young Sportsperson of the Year award. It is the second award for the young Barca forward after being voted Breakthrough Sportsperson of the Year in 2025, making him the youngest athlete to have won two Laureus awards.

German football great Toni Kroos won the world sporting inspiration award, and retired gymnast Nadia Comaneci got the lifetime achievement prize.

The world action sportsperson award went to American snowboarder Chloe Kim.

Brazilian Gabriel Araujo was the world sportsperson of the year with a disability.

In a first for the awards, the ceremony was hosted by two athletes – both former Laureus winners – Novak Djokovic and Eileen Gu. Last year’s top honours went to gymnast Simone Biles and pole-vaulter Mondo Duplantis.

McIlroy takes comeback prize

Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy claimed the World Comeback of the Year Award after ending an 11-year wait to complete the career Grand Slam with a playoff victory at the 2025 Masters, a title he defended in 2026.

Formula One’s Lando Norris was named World Breakthrough of the Year, while Paris St Germain took World Team of the Year after a trophy haul in 2025 that included the French league and Cup, plus their first Champions League crown.

The Laureus World Sports Awards nominees are selected by the global media, while the winners are determined by the 69 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy.

The awards have been presented annually since 2000.

Laureus winners 2026:

• World Sportsman of the Year Award: Carlos Alcaraz
• World Sportswoman of the Year Award: Aryna Sabalenka
• World Team of the Year Award: Paris Saint-Germain
• World Breakthrough of the Year Award: Lando Norris
• World Comeback of the Year Award: Rory McIlroy
• World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award: Gabriel Araujo
• World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award: Chloe Kim
• World Young Sportsperson of the Year Award: Lamine Yamal
• Laureus Sporting Inspiration Award: Toni Kroos
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Nadia Comaneci
• Laureus Sport for Good Award: Futbol Mas