training

After days of deliberation and faced with a forecast getting soggier by the day, Santa Anita officials have decided to postpone opening day of the 2025-26 race meeting from Friday until Sunday, Dec. 28.

It’s just the second time since 1976 that Santa Anita will not open on the day after Christmas. The other time was in 2019 for the same reason: wet weather. More than eight inches of rain are projected to fall between Tuesday night and Friday at Santa Anita.

“With the amount of rain being forecast, it’s important to make this call as early as possible to give everyone advance notice,” Santa Anita general manager Nate Newby said in a statement. “Everyone looks forward to opening day as it’s traditionally one of our biggest days of the year, so it’s not a decision we make lightly. But after speaking with our stakeholders, adjusting the racing schedule at this time provides the best opportunity to have a great opening to kick off the season.”

There is no state rule against running in the mud or on a softer turf course, but protocols put in place after the 2018-19 winter-spring meeting, when 30 horses died during racing or training at Santa Anita, often result in the track postponing or canceling race days.

Opening day usually draws the largest crowd of the year at Santa Anita. Last year’s announced on-track attendance was 41,562, the highest total on a non-weekend or holiday on opening day since 1990. Total mutuel handle was more than $21.4 million, the third-highest ever on the first day.

The 11 races scheduled for Friday now will be run two days later, with first post at 11 a.m. There are six stakes races set for opening day, three on turf, with Santa Anita officials hoping that waiting until Sunday will allow the grass course to dry enough to allow racing.

Tickets purchased for opening day will be honored Dec. 28, with full refunds available on request. The revised schedule for the opening two weeks will feature racing Dec. 28 and 29, then every day from Wednesday, Dec. 31, through Sunday, Jan. 4.

In her 125th career World Cup downhill start, 24 years after her debut and eight years since her last major win, Lindsey Vonn sped to a stunning victory in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Friday.

It was as if Vonn announced to the world that not only is she back after a six-year retirement, the 41-year-old American slopes legend is ready to rule downhill skiing again at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

And it came only six weeks after she told The Times that she “had nothing to prove.” In October she compared her comeback to that of Michael Jordan, saying that his return from retirement isn’t “part of his legacy at all.”

“I’ve already succeeded,” Vonn continued. “I’ve already won. I was on the podium. I have the record for the oldest medalist in World Cup by seven years. I feel like this journey has been incredible.”

Lindsey Vonn, center, celebrates her FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women’s Downhill win in St Moritz, Switzerland.

(Mateo Sgambato/Getty Images)

Vonn’s math is correct. She certainly is the oldest woman to win a World Cup race and has 83 victories across all World Cup disciplines. Federica Brignone of Italy set a record a year ago when she won a World Cup race — she won 10, actually — at age 34. Brignone is not racing this weekend because of an injury.

Vonn is the only American woman to win an Olympics gold medal in downhill, having done so at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She also won bronze medals in the super-G 2010 and downhill in 2018.

Oh, and she is the first World Cup winner with titanium implants in her right knee.

Vonn finished with a flourish Friday, taking the lead by 1.16 seconds ahead of Mirjam Puchner of Austria despite trailing by 0.61 after the first two time checks. Vonn’s eventual victory was by 0.98 seconds when upstart Austrian Magdalena Egger took second place.

After a ho-hum first half, Vonn posted the fastest times of anyone through the bottom half, reaching 74 mph and completing the course in 1 minute, 29.63 seconds.

“It was an amazing day, I couldn’t be happier, pretty emotional,” Vonn told Swiss broadcaster RTS. “I felt good this summer but I wasn’t sure how fast I was. I guess I know now how fast I am.”

After laying in the snow beyond the finish line, Vonn saw her time and raised her arms. She stood and yelped, then placed her hands to her left cheek in a purely American gesture, mimicking NBA star Steph Curry’s “Night, night.”

Lindsey Vonn takes 1st place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women’s Downhill.

(Alain Grosclaude/Getty Images)

“In my mind, I was thinking, ‘OK, well, I just need to ski the pitch really clean and carry my speed down,’” Vonn told reporters after the race. “I still didn’t ski the best that I could have on the compression at the bottom, but I tried to be dynamic, tried to be clean, the way I’ve been skiing and training, and it was pretty solid.”

Vonn has been working with a new coach, 36-time World Cup winner Aksel Lund Svindal. The partnership is already proving promising.

“We worked really hard, not just me but my whole team, from the equipment to the physical training, also hired Aksel,” Vonn said. “I knew I was skiing fast, but you never know until the first race. I think I was a little faster than I expected. I think I had a great run, but I also made some mistakes, so I’m excited for tomorrow.”

Vonn will take part in another downhill race Saturday and a super-G on Sunday.

When seven distance runners from Anaheim High waiting to cross a street near campus were struck by a car on Wednesday driven by a suspected drunk driver, it once again brought into focus the dangers coaches and athletes must deal with while training on the streets of Southern California.

For Hernan Herrera, the incident brought back memories to his senior year at Monroe High as a member of the cross-country team in 2009. He was struck by a car in North Hills that ran a red light. He said he was hospitalized for weeks with knee and pelvic injuries that required surgery and left him sidelined for months.

Herrera was 17. Now he’s the dean of students and wrestling coach at Monroe. He doesn’t see changing the practice routine used by most high schools running in the neighborhood to fulfill weekly requirements of 45 to 60 miles of training to prepare for competitions.

“Everyone understands accidents happen and there’s no one to blame other than the person behind the wheel,” Herrera said.

Yes, schools could transport students to quieter streets or hilly areas with running trails, but that would lead to additional costs and there are many schools far away from such areas.

Coaches have been assigning adults to supervise street workouts for years. Monroe coach Leo Hernandez said he got his position in 1999 because he could run with his athletes to keep watch over them.

Maybe there needs to be additional meetings and reminders for those running on sidewalks or crossing streets to be cautious and to reinforce following traffic rules while being on the lookout for distracted drivers.

Herrera said athletes must get in their workouts beyond running around the school track to be able to compete well in cross-country or distance races in track and field.

“I don’t think there’s anything to do to mitigate the situation,” he said.

On the timescale of Tanner’s return, Barry-Murphy added: “He’ll obviously tell you he’s available much sooner, which is great because he feels so good and he’s looking so good.

“But I just think with the amount of time he’s been out for would mean that we just have to be mindful of building him back up to a healthy level of fitness before we expose him to the games he’s going to have to play.”

Meanwhile, centre-back Gabriel Osho is around two weeks away from a return following an injury to his big toe.

The 27-year-old sustained the injury during last week’s 5-1 EFL Trophy defeat at home by AFC Wimbledon.

“Gabriel Osho is back in partial training, so really good news on his toe injury, where there’s no fracture and we can build him back up pretty quickly,” said Barry-Murphy.

“I would say if today [training on Thursday] goes reasonably well, then I’d say he could be back within maybe two weeks. But I’m not certain, just because initially we thought there might be a fracture to his toe, and then it was looking as if it was going to be slightly longer term.

“The good news means there is no fracture. So if he starts to come through day by day, then that two-week period could be realistic.”