Today's other sports stories in brief
Loeb sets sights on winning all legs
MOTOR SPORT: Frenchman Sebastien Loeb earned his 50th victory in the World Rally Championship (WRC) yesterday, with a comfortable win in Cyprus.
Loeb, in a Citroen, won by 27.2 seconds from Mikko Hirvonen in a Ford Focus after the Finn narrowed Saturday’s 49.8-second gap in three gravel stages through the Troodos mountains.
Norway’s Petter Solberg, in an ageing Citroen Xsara, came third.
“Im very happy with what I’ve achieved but I’m not finished yet. Next I’m going for 51,” said Loeb, who won a record fifth world title last season.
Co-driver Daniel Elena said: “It feels really nice. Now the important thing is to try and get all 12 wins this year.” Loeb and Elena won the opening two stages of this year’s 12-country circuit in Ireland and Norway and led the Cyprus Rally from Friday’s start.
Sanchez wins Paris-Nice despite Contador attack
CYCLING:Luis Leon Sanchez won the Paris-Nice race despite a bold raid from fellow Spaniard Alberto Contador on the eighth and last stage around Nice yesterday.
Another Spaniard, Antonio Colom of Katusha, was the first to cross the line at the end of the 119-km ride featuring three category-one climbs, when he outsprinted Astana’s Contador and Luxemburg’s Frank Schleck of Saxo Bank.
Caisse d’Epargne rider Sanchez, who took the overall lead with victory on Saturday, ended the stage 17 seconds behind, according to provisional results, keeping his yellow jersey with a one-minute advantage over Schleck.
Astana leader Contador attacked just before the foot of the Col de la Porte, a 7.2-km climb at an average gradient of 7.2 per cent. He jumped ahead of the small bunch along with France’s Sandy Casar, Estonian Rein Taaramae, Spaniard David Lopez Garcia and the quartet was soon joined by Aitor Hernandez of Spain.
They climbed the Col de la Porte at a high pace and opened a gap of 2.28 over Sanchez, who lost several seconds with a puncture on the ascent. Contador, though, used his climbing skills to increase his lead to 52 seconds but after sprinting solo to the top of the Col d’Eze, he was eventually caught up by Schleck and Colom 9.5 kms from the finish. Colom launched the sprint and resisted Contador’s fight-back.
Irish professional Nicolas Roche was 90th on the stage and ended the eight-day race 62nd overall.
Fagan breaks Treacy's record
ATHLETICS: Martin Fagan is fast establishing himself as one of the world's leading distance runners on the road, at least outside of Africa. On Saturday, Fagan broke one of the longest standing Irish records in the books when he improved John Treacy's 21-year-old half marathon mark of 61 minutes flat to 60:57.
Competing in the Dutch city of The Hague, Fagan found himself up against some of the best African’s in the business – including Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia and world half marathon record holder Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya.
Wanjiru took the win in 59:47, then came Gebrselassie in 59:50, with Dereje Teswfaye of Ethiopia third in 60:02. Fagan was sixth.
Back at home, Mary Cullan didn’t make her expected appearance in the St Patrick’s Festival road race in Dublin yesterday, and in her absence victory went to Deirdre Byrne from Wicklow.
Byrne won comfortably by 16 seconds from Linda Byrne of Dundrum in 16 minutes flat, with Hazel Murphy of Dundrum third.
New rules on swimsuits
SWIMMING: Swimsuits must not cover the neck nor extend past the shoulders and ankles, swimming's governing body has announced after meeting to try to end the controversy over a new generation of costumes. Michael Phelps wore Speedo's drag-reducing LZR bodysuit when he won eight golds at last year's Beijing Olympics, while a flurry of world records have fallen since swimmers started using the new suits.
Critics have said the costumes are skewing results so swimming’s governing body FINA has decided to tweak the regulations ahead of the world championships in Rome in July and August. “FINA reaffirms that it will continue monitoring the evolution of sport equipment with the main objective of keeping the integrity of the sport,” FINA said.
As well as new rules on length, regulations on the thickness and buoyancy of the material have been agreed, while suits must not be customised for individual swimmers.
Imposing Khan sees off Barrera
BOXING: Britain's Amir Khan beat Marco Antonio Barrera in Manchester on Saturday night, the ringside doctor stopping the bout in round five with the wound the Mexico received in the first round bleeding profusely.
The 22-year-old Khan had dominated the contest, beating his 35-year-old to the punch and displaying a much-improved defence since his shock defeat by Breidis Prescott six months ago.
