Sports
Speed skating: Nuis says Stolz the man to beat but expects battle in 1,000m
Jordan Stolz (near) and Cooper McLeod of the United States race in the 1,000 meters in the ISU World Cup meet on January 31, 2025, at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee, Wis. MILAN — Jordan Stolz is speed skating’s hottest property heading into Wednesday’s men’s 1,000 meters at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, but a pack of seasoned challengers led by three-time Olympic champion Kjeld Nuis are ready to crash the American’s party.
The 21-year-old Stolz arrived in Milan as the sport’s most talked-about skater and the leading contender for three individual events — the 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m — while also eyeing the unpredictable mass start.
He begins his Milan Cortina campaign in the 1,000m, the event in which he already holds a world record.
Since making his Olympic debut as a 17-year-old in Beijing with modest finishes of 13th in the 500m and 14th in the 1,000m, Stolz has transformed into a world-beating sprinter, collecting six world championship titles.
But the 36-year-old Nuis, chasing a fourth gold medal after victories in the 1,000m and 1,500m at Pyeongchang 2018 and the 1,500m at Beijing 2022, is not ready to concede defeat.
“Jordan is the man to beat but behind him there are so many guys with serious chances — including myself,” Nuis said on Tuesday. “I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be a thrilling battle, and I’m totally up for that.”
For Nuis, Milan Cortina is his Olympic swansong.
“My parents will be there, and finally my son as well, which is truly remarkable,” said the Dutchman, who holds world and Olympic records in the 1,500m. “This will be my final Olympics, so I intend to thoroughly enjoy it.”
The Dutch squad enters buoyed by Jutta Leerdam’s storming 1,000m gold in the women’s event on Monday, leading a Dutch one-two with Femke Kok.
Among their medal hopes is 23-year-old Joep Wennemars, the 2025 world champion in the 1,000m and son of former world sprint champion Erben Wennemars, who knows what is required at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium.
“I think it’s fair to say a record will be needed and everyone will be skating extremely hard,” the younger Wennemars said.
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
Sports
LeBron James (foot) out; ineligible for awards, All-NBA honors
Feb 9, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) passes the ball against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) during the third quarter at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images Los Angeles Lakers standout LeBron James will miss Tuesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs due to left foot arthritis, an absence that makes him ineligible for All-NBA recognition and major awards this season.
The game is James’ 18th missed contest of the season and prevents him from playing in 65 games, the minimum number of games to be eligible for All-NBA and other honors. James has been named to an All-NBA team in a record 21 straight seasons.
James, 41, has played in 35 games this season and is averaging 21.8 points, 6.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds. He was second-team All-NBA last season. His most recent first-team All-NBA selection was the 2019-20 season.
Lakers star guard Luka Doncic (left hamstring) will sit out for the third straight game. He leads the NBA with a 32.8 scoring average.
Doncic remains hopeful of playing in Sunday’s All-Star Game.
Guards Austin Reaves (left calf) and Marcus Smart (right ankle) also were ruled out against San Antonio. Center Deandre Ayton (right knee) is questionable.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tiger Woods' son, Charlie Woods, commits to Florida State
Charlie Woods of Jupiter, Fla. tees off on the eighth hole during the second round of The Junior Players Championship golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach, Fla. finished atop the leaderboard heading into Sunday’s final round at 6 under par. Charlie Woods, the son of 15-time major champion and golf legend Tiger Woods, announced Tuesday that he has committed to play for Florida State in 2027.
It is a major recruiting win for the Seminoles, who were among several prominent programs aggressively pursuing Charlie Woods. In November, Florida State golf coach Trey Jones spent time walking the course with Tiger as Charlie Woods shot a team-best 68 and helped his team claim the Florida 1A state title.
Charlie Woods, who turned 17 on Sunday, is currently a junior at The Benjamin School, a private school in Palm Beach, Fla. He will join an FSU recruiting class that already includes Jacksonville, Fla.’s Miles Russell, the top-ranked amateur in the world. Woods, who is No. 23 in the AJGA rankings, won the AJGA Team TaylorMade Invitational last May.
BREAKING: CHARLIE WOODS -> FSU
Posting on his Instagram account, Charlie Woods, the son of @TigerWoods, has committed to @FSUGolf.
https://t.co/MP6Qa2CPG3 pic.twitter.com/RhlxbwdJMg
— Warchant.com (@Warchant) February 10, 2026
Tiger Woods said in December that his son had been hearing for a number of college coaches, and that it was far different than his recruitment in the 1990s.
“It’s been very different, the recruiting process. Now you have cell phones,” Tiger said. “We didn’t have cell phones. We would have written letters that would show up in the mailbox. ‘Oh, my God, I got a letter.’ It’s just very different how fast coaches can communicate with the family members and the player that they’re trying to recruit. It’s just a different world. Not saying it’s good or bad. It’s just different.”
Tiger Woods played at Stanford, won his first collegiate event and was an All-American from 1996-98 before turning pro. His daughter, Sam, was a member of Benjamin School’s state-title soccer team before enrolling at Stanford.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Serena Williams, 44, eligible to play pro tennis events Feb. 22
Tennis legend Serena Williams, seen here waving to the crowd after losing the final match of her career to Ajla Tomljanovic 2022 U.S. Open tennis, has suffered two pulmonary embolisms — the first in 2011 and the second in 2017 after the birth of her first child. She was able to return to competition both times but has also said that she needs to be vigilant for the rest of her life when it comes to early detection of blood clots. Whether or not tennis great Serena Williams is considering a comeback, the 23-time Grand Slam champion is now eligible to return as soon as Feb. 22.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency included Williams, 44, on the updated list of reinstated players on Tuesday. That was the last step in a process that began at least as far back as Oct. 6 when her name appeared in the International Registered Testing Pool, a requirement for a return to competition.
Being in the pool and available for random, out-of-competition drug testing for at least six months is a requirement for players who want to return to tennis. Players in the pool are required to inform testers of their location for one hour each day.
“Omg yall I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy,” Williams posted on social media in December in response to a report of a possible comeback.
As recently as last month, Williams was noncommittal either way.
“I’m just having fun and enjoying my life right now,” she said on the “Today” show in January. “I’m just going to see what happens.”
Williams last played on the WTA Tour at the U.S. Open in 2022. In August of that year, she announced in a Vogue magazine article that she was “evolving away” from tennis.
“I have never liked the word retirement,” she wrote. “It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution.”
If Williams does return, she could seek to enter the ATX Open in Austin, Texas, a WTA 250 tournament from Feb. 23 to March 1. Williams’ older sister, Venus, is still active on tour and received a wild-card entry for both singles and doubles. She had not announced a doubles partner.
Ranked No. 1 for 319 weeks, Serena Williams won 73 singles titles on the WTA Tour and earned nearly $95 million in prize money. She won Wimbledon and the Australian Open seven times each, the U.S. Open six times and the French Open three times.
Williams, who also won 14 major doubles titles with Venus, is the only player to accomplish a career Golden Slam (all four majors) in both singles and doubles.
Williams and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, are raising two daughters.
–Field Level Media
LeBron James (foot) out; ineligible for awards, All-NBA honors
Tiger Woods' son, Charlie Woods, commits to Florida State
