Sports
Ilia Malinin rises to pressure of Team USA's golden hopes
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin of the United States celebrates after winning the team figure skating event at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics MILAN, Italy — Ilia Malinin stepped onto the ice knowing figure skating’s Olympic team event hinged on him – and then delivered just enough to haul the United States past Japan and onto the top step of the podium at the Milano Cortina Games.
Italy, feeding off a roaring home crowd, claimed a hard-earned bronze.
The U.S. and Japan were deadlocked heading into the men’s free skate on Sunday night, leaving the 21-year-old double world champion shouldering the Americans’ golden hopes.
A day earlier, he had stumbled to a surprise second place in the short program.
“Being a tie, I was like, okay, I’m the deciding factor,” Malinin said. “I need to just do what I need to do, go out there, but also test the ice again, just to see how it feels, to really prepare myself for my individual event,” he said.
“But it really came down to the energy, the support, the passion for my whole team. Without them, I don’t think we would have gotten this medal.”
As the first skater ever to land seven quadruple jumps in a program, many at the Milano Ice Skating Arena anticipated a repeat performance on Sunday.
Instead, the self-named “Quad God” looked unusually mortal.
He landed four of his seven planned quad jumps cleanly. He turned two — including the quadruple Axel, a jump only he has ever landed in competition — into triples, and bobbled the landing on another in a program that looked, for a moment, as though it might unravel.
His 200.03 points were nearly 40 off his best, yet still untouchable for Japan’s Shun Sato, who scored 194.86.
His unique free program had the crowd roaring. Entitled “A Voice,” it features his own voice playing over the soundtrack, with philosophical lines such as “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing” and “Embrace the storm.”
Fitting, considering Malinin, who has appeared so carefree throughout his meteoric career, said he underestimated the enormity of the Olympic stage.
“I didn’t really understand the impact of the Olympic environment,” he said. “I was kind of more in shock of really just being at the Olympics for the first time.
“So I really just told myself, okay, now you’ve experienced it for the very first time. So, now the long program, you can come in with a different mindset, a different energy.”
Malinin was also thrilled by the presence of tennis great Novak Djokovic, who leapt to his feet when the American unleashed his trademark backflip, an element that receives no marks but delights the fans.
“I did see Djokovic there, and it was, honestly, just so unreal,” Malinin said, with a wide grin. “I’ve heard from everyone that after I landed my back flip, he (was) standing there with his hands on his head.
“Like oh, my God. That’s incredible. That’s like a once-in-a-lifetime moment just seeing a famous tennis player watching my performance.”
The young skater has little time to rest, with the short program of the individual event on Tuesday, followed by the free skate on Friday.
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
Sports
Bryan Woo handcuffs Braves as Mariners take series
May 6, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo (22) delivers in the second inning against the Atlanta Braves at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images Bryan Woo allowed just one hit over six scoreless innings as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Atlanta Braves 3-1 Wednesday afternoon.
Julio Rodriguez hit a solo home run for the Mariners.
The Braves, who have an MLB-leading 26-12 record, suffered their first series loss of the season by dropping two of three games at T-Mobile Park.
The only hit Woo (2-2) gave up was a two-out single to right by Mauricio Dubon in the fourth inning. The right-hander walked two and matched his season-high with nine strikeouts set in his opening start March 28 against Cleveland.
With Mariners closer Andres Munoz having worked the previous two nights, offseason acquisition Jose A. Ferrer was called on to convert the save. The lefty worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save of the season.
The Mariners took the lead in the bottom of the third. Jhonny Pereda lined a leadoff single to left and Leo Rivas, the No. 9 batter in the order, doubled to left off Braves starter Martin Perez (2-2). J.P. Crawford drew a walk to load the bases with no outs before Cal Raleigh grounded into a 6-4-3 double play that scored Pereda.
Rodriguez made it 2-0 with one out in the sixth, hammering a 3-1 changeup from Perez 436 feet to left-center field.
The Braves finally got on the scoreboard in the eighth against reliever Eduard Bazardo. Mike Yastrzemski and Sean Murphy opened the inning with line-drive singles to center to put runners on the corners. Yastrzemski scored on pinch-hitter Dominic Smith’s sacrifice fly to center. Bazardo picked off pinch-runner Jorge Mateo — a call reversed thanks to a successful video challenge by the Mariners — and struck out Ozzie Albies to end the frame.
The Mariners tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Josh Naylor lined a single to center and stole second. Cole Young’s two-out double to right made it 3-1.
Perez went 5 2/3 innings and gave up two runs on five hits. The lefty walked one and fanned five.
Braves shortstop Jim Jarvis made his major league debut, going 0 for 2 with a strikeout.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Angels rout White Sox for rare consecutive wins
May 6, 2026; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels catcher Travis D’Arnaud (25) hits a three-run home run during the second inning against the Chicago White Sox at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images Travis d’Arnaud hit a three-run home run to highlight a five-run second inning and Walbert Urena allowed one run on two hits over six innings to pick up his first major league win as the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Chicago White Sox 8-2 in the rubber game of their three-game series on Wednesday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.
It marked the first time since April 16-17 that Los Angeles has won back-to-back games. It also was just the third series win of the season and the first at home since April 3-5 against the Seattle Mariners.
Zach Neto tripled, scored two runs and had two RBIs, Bryce Teodosio doubled and had two hits, two stolen bases and two runs scored, and Jorge Soler reached base four times with a single, two walks and hit by a pitch and had an RBI for Los Angeles. Urena (1-3) struck out five and walked three.
Colson Montgomery doubled and scored a run and Chase Meidroth had two hits and a walk and scored a run for Chicago. Noah Schultz (2-2) suffered the loss in his fifth major league start, allowing seven runs on seven hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out three.
Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Montgomery led off with a double that one-hopped the wall in left-center and scored on a bloop single by Meidroth.
Los Angeles answered with five runs in the bottom half of the inning. Soler and Oswald Peraza both singled and d’Arnaud delivered his first home run of the season, a 396-foot drive to left. Teodosio followed with a bloop double to right and scored when Neto tripled into the right field corner. Neto then scored when Meidroth lost Mike Trout’s high popup in the sun.
The Angels extended the lead to 7-1 in the fourth when Soler and Jo Adell were hit on back-to-back pitches with the bases loaded by reliever Osvaldo Bido.
The White Sox cut it to 7-2 in the seventh when Sam Antonacci also was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded by reliever Drew Pomeranz.
Los Angeles added an insurance run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Neto, driving in Nolan Schanuel, who had singled.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Alexandra Eala fights for victory during rain-soaked day in Rome
Mar 21, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Alexandra Eala (PHI) celebrates after match point against Magda Linette (POL) (not pictured) on day five of the 2026 Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images Alexandra Eala saved six of nine break points on Wednesday and rallied in the final set to register a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Magdalena Frech of Poland to win an Internazionali BNL d’Italia first-round match on a soggy day in Rome.
After rolling through the opening set, the Philippines native encountered trouble throughout the next two sets before dispatching Frech. Eala overcame a 3-1 deficit in the third set to land the victory.
“It was very tough, but I am very proud of myself because there were many moments, especially in the third set, where she could have pulled away, and perhaps the match would have slipped away,” Eala said. “But I am happy with how I resisted and fought.”
Eala faces Xinyu Wang of China in the second round. The No. 31 seed had a first-round bye.
Wednesday’s play included heavy rain that interrupted play. Two matches were suspended and will be completed Thursday.
The tournament also was jarred by withdrawals from Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk and Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu (illness).
Kostyuk won consecutive clay-court titles over the last three weeks at Rouen and Madrid — the latter marking her first 1000-level crown — but pulled out in Rome due to hip and ankle injuries.
“After the best stretch of my career, I was looking forward to Rome,” said Kostyuk, ranked a career-high No. 15. “But sometimes your body has other plans, and over the past few days I’ve been dealing with a hip issue. With my ankle still not fully at 100%, it’s just not smart to keep pushing right now, so I won’t be competing (in Rome) this year.”
Americans Caty McNally, Peyton Stearns and Taylor Townsend won their first-round matches.
McNally was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Daria Kasatkina of Australia, Stearns defeated Indonesia’s Janice Tjen 6-4, 6-4 and Townsend knocked off Italy’s Nuria Brancaccio 6-3, 6-2.
In other first-round play, Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko sailed to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy. Ostapenko converted all six of her break points to advance to a second-round match against sixth-seeded Amanda Anisimova.
Tatjana Maria cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win over Poland’s Magda Linette and fellow German Laura Siegemund defeated Sara Bejlek of Czechia 6-4, 6-4. Katerina Siniakova, another Czech, sailed to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Lois Boisson of France.
Other first-round winners included Argentina’s Solana Sierra, Austria’s Anastasia Potapova, Czechs Karolina Pliskova and Tereza Valentova, France’s Leolia Jeanjean, Germany’s Eva Lys, Greece’s Maria Sakkari, Hungary’s Panna Udvardy, Italy’s Tyra Caterina Grant and Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic and Rebeka Masarova.
In the suspended matches, Switzerland’s Simona Waltert leads Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva 7-5, 4-6, 4-1 and Italy’s Noemi Basiletti holds a 5-3 lead over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in the first set.
–Field Level Media
Bryan Woo handcuffs Braves as Mariners take series
Angels rout White Sox for rare consecutive wins
