OLYMPICS

USA Hockey will not name new GM before Games

USA Hockey won’t name a new GM to replace Jim Johannson for the upcoming Olympics. Johannson died at age 53 on Jan. 21, less than three weeks after the men’s hockey roster was announced.

Instead, director of player personnel Ben Smith will take over any managerial duties Johannson would have been responsible for. Executive director Pat Kelleher said he hopes the team “is a true reflection on Jimmy’s work.”

Johannson selected the coaching staff and 25-man roster for the first U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team that will play without NHL participants since 1994.

SECURITY: The United States said it is not aware of any specific threat to the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea and is confident that American athletes, coaches and spectators will be safe, despite nuclear tensions with North Korea.

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SKIING: Two-time world champion ski racer Erik Guay of Canada says he will not be able to compete at the Olympics because of a back injury.

RUSSIA: The International Olympic Committee has mistakenly invited a banned Russian athlete to the Olympics as a coach.

The IOC said it has canceled the invitation for Sergei Chudinov, who was banned from the Olympics for life in November when the IOC’s disciplinary commission ruled he was part of a Russian doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Games.

SOCCER

PREMIER LEAGUE: Christian Eriksen scored after 10.5 seconds for Tottenham against Manchester United for the Premier League’s third fastest goal.

The fastest goal in the Premier League was scored after 9.9 seconds by Tottenham’s Ledley King against Bradford in 2000.

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Alan Shearer scored the next fastest goal after 10.4 seconds for Newcastle against Manchester City.

ITALY: Azeglio Vicini, who coached Italy to a third-place finish as host of the 1990 World Cup, has died. He was 84.

AUTO RACING

NASCAR: Darlington Raceway is spending nearly $7 million to upgrade and improve seating in three of its main grandstands, a project that will impact nearly 60 percent of the 58,000 seats at NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway.

The project will begin Thursday and be completed well before the Southern 500 is run Sept. 2, on Labor Day weekend.

FORMULA ONE: Formula One says it is ending the practice of using “grid girls” and “podium girls” at races.

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F1 managing director of commercial operations Sean Bratches says the use of the women on the grid is clearly “at odds with modern day societal norms.”

TENNIS

ST. PETERSBURG OPEN: Petra Kvitova advanced to the second round in Russia, and Caroline Garcia was eliminated.

Kvitova, playing as a wild-card entry, beat Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-0.

Garcia, ranked seventh in the world, lost to Russian qualifier Elena Rybakina 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5).

HOCKEY

CZECH: NHL great Jaromir Jagr signed a deal with a team he owns in the Czech Republic.

The move comes a couple days after the Flames placed Jagr on unconditional waivers.

The club confirmed the contract between Jagr and the Kladno Knights in the second-tier Czech league has been signed but no details have been immediately available. Jagr planned a news conference Thursday.


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