Grant Holloway of the United States, shown on Oct. 2, 2019 at the World Athletics Championships, on Wednesday broke the world record in the 60-meter hurdles in Madrid. Petr David Josek/Associated Press

TRACK AND FIELD

Grant Holloway broke the world record for the indoor 60-meter hurdles that had stood for 27 years, clocking 7.29 seconds at an event in Madrid on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old American took 0.01 seconds off the previous mark set by Colin Jackson in 1994.

Holloway, who is the world indoor champion in the sprint hurdles, extended his winning streak in the event to 54 races – dating back to 2014 when he was 16.

According to nbscports.com, Holloway’s initial time was recorded as 7.32. About a minute later, the official time came in as 7.29 and “world record” was flashed on a stadium scoreboard. Holloway began posing with a “world record” sign.

Two weeks ago, Holloway set the American record in the 60-meter hurdles and a week ago set a meet record in Torun, Poland. His win at the Villa de Madrid event secured him overall victory in the World Athletics Indoor Tour.

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EUROPEAN INDOORS: Russian athletes won’t be able to compete at next month’s European indoor championships because they can’t yet get exemptions, the governing body of track said Wednesday.

Russia has been suspended by World Athletics since 2015 because of widespread doping, but leading athletes have been given “neutral” status after vetting and allowed to compete in international events for much of that time. That scheme was suspended when the federation, known as RusAF, was found to have used fake documents to lie about why one of its top athletes, Danil Lysenko, wasn’t available for doping tests.

World Athletics ordered RusAF to draw up a program of reforms but rejected the first draft as “deficient” in September and gave Russia until March 1 to fix it. That will then be used to create a new road map for eventually lifting Russia’s long-running ban.

RusAF said the process won’t be finished in time to compete at the European indoors in Torun, Poland, from March 5-7, so it will focus on the outdoor season heading into the postponed Tokyo Olympics.

World Athletics said in an e-mailed statement that “any discussion” on giving Russian athletes neutral status would be held at its next scheduled council meeting on March 17-18.

OLYMPICS

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WEIGHTLIFTING: The IOC warned weightlifting’s troubled governing body again on Wednesday the sport faces being dropped from the 2024 Paris Olympics if doping and leadership issues are not dealt with.

The situation at the International Weightlifting Federation “is becoming increasingly serious,” the Olympic body said, citing a failure to follow its previous advice about how to improve anti-doping efforts.

The IWF has been in turmoil since irregular finances and doping cover-ups under longtime president Tamás Aján were exposed last year by German broadcaster ARD. Aján later resigned from the IWF and gave up his honorary membership of the IOC before the allegations were confirmed by Canadian investigator Richard McLaren.

Weightlifting’s Olympic reputation was already tarnished by more than 50 positive doping tests in reanalysis of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Summer Games.

The IOC previously cut one medal event and 64 athlete entries from weightlifting’s program at the Tokyo Olympics this year. On Wednesday, the IOC said it could also cut the quota of IWF officials allowed to attend in Tokyo.

TENNIS

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ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL: Defending champion and No. 1-ranked Ash Barty lost in the second round of the Adelaide International on Wednesday, eliminated by Danielle Collins 6-3, 6-4.

“The court was exceptionally quick, probably the quickest I’ve ever played in Australia and that took some time to adjust,” said Barty, who lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

Barty has stayed at No. 1 in the rankings despite not having played much at all in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The WTA is using what it calls “frozen rankings,” which counts players’ 16 best tournament results since March 2019. That allows Barty, for example, to get credit for her 2019 title at Roland Garros, and not be penalized for sitting out that event last year.

In other results Wednesday, 16-year-old American Coco Gauff beat sixth-seeded Petra Martic 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. It was Gauff’s fourth win in a row after two in qualifying and another in the first round. Gauff faces Shelby Rogers on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

Second-seeded Belinda Bencic advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Misaki Doi, Storm Sanders upset seventh-seeded Yulia Putintseva 6-4. 5-7. 6-1, Jil Teichmann beat eighth-seeded Wang Qiang 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, and Anastasija Sevastova defeated Christina McHale 6-4, 6-1.

SOCCER

SHEBELIEVES CUP: Megan Rapinoe scored twice and the United States won the title with a 6-0 victory over Argentina at Orlando, Florida.

The United States is undefeated in 37 games in a row overall and 53 on American soil.

Carli Lloyd, Kristie Mewis, Alex Morgan and Christen Press also scored, and the U.S. women also become the first team to have three straight shutouts in the SheBelieves Cup, which is in its sixth year.


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