SAILING
Falmouth native Chris Poole recently became the first American sailor to skipper a team to victory in the 30-year history of Match Cup Sweden.
Poole’s four-person Riptide Racing team claimed the win July 8 in Marstrand, Sweden. Match Cup Sweden is part of the World Match Racing Tour.
Poole, 35, is first in the current WMRT standings. In April he won his second straight Congressional Cup in Long Beach, California.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Kayla McBride had 30 points and four 3-pointers, Natisha Hiedeman scored 16 of a season-high 18 in the fourth quarter, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the visiting Atlanta Dream, 86-79.
Minnesota outscored the Dream 30-19 in the final 10 minutes for its highest scoring fourth quarter of the season.
• The Connecticut Sun acquired Marina Mabrey from the Chicago Sky for Rachel Banham, Moriah Jefferson and the team’s 2025 first-round pick.
Mabrey was averaging 14 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists for the Sky this season, starting 24 games. She was originally drafted 19th by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2019.
JURISPRUDENCE: A federal judge has denied a request by former NBA player Jontay Porter to be allowed to resume his basketball career in Greece while he is awaiting sentencing for his role in a betting scandal that got him banned from the league.
Porter, in a letter sent by attorney Jeff Jensen on Tuesday, had asked that some conditions of his bond be modified so that he can get his U.S. passport back, be allowed to travel in Europe and to reside in Patras, Greece. Jensen told the court that Porter would play for the Greek club Promitheas BC.
But a court posting shows the request was denied by Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall. Jensen declined to comment on the decision.
FOOTBALL
NFL: The Chicago Bears locked in their top two rookies, agreeing to four-year contracts with No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams and No. 9 selection Rome Odunze and avoiding any training camp drama with their prized quarterback and wide receiver.
The Bears announced Williams’ signing on Wednesday and Odunze’s on Tuesday.
A person familiar with the deal told the The Associated Press that Williams will get a slotted $39.49 million fully guaranteed deal, with a $25.5 million signing bonus. The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the team has not announced the details of the contract.
The Bears announced Odunze’s signing on Tuesday. The club has options for 2028 on both players.
Bears rookies were due to report for training camp on Tuesday, with veterans arriving on Friday. The first practice is Saturday.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: Rick Hendrick won’t have to out this weekend’s Brickyard 400 qualifying to see who will lead the Cup cars to the green flag Sunday.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials announced that the longtime NASCAR owner will drive the pace car for the 30th Brickyard race — and the first on the historic 2.5-mile oval since 2020.
Hendrick Motorsports holds every major team record, including championships, points-paying victories, laps led and, yes, pole wins. The team has won at least one race in each of the past 39 seasons and Hendrick’s driver, Jeff Gordon, won the first Brickyard.
Hendrick will be driving a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
CYCLING
TOUR DE FRANCE: Richard Carapaz claimed his first Tour de France stage win after showcasing his climbing prowess in the final ascents in the Alps.
Two-time champion Tadej Pogacar kept the overall race lead.
The 17th stage, covering 110 miles from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Superdévoluy, started with a gradual climb through the Drôme region and presented no major challenges for the peloton. However, the last part of the race was a different story with the climbs of Col Bayard and Col du Noyer.
Carapaz and Simon Yates led an early breakaway of 50 riders. As they approached the final climb, Carapaz launched a decisive attack on Yates before reaching the summit of Col du Noyer.
Carapaz, 31, also became the first man from Ecuador to win a Tour stage. He won the men’s road race gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics but missed out on being selected for the Paris Olympics. He finished third in the Tour de France in 2021 and won the 2019 Giro d’Italia.
British rider Simon Yates was second, 37 seconds behind Carapaz.
Pogacar slightly increased his lead over Jonas Vingegaard to 3 minutes, 11 seconds.
HOCKEY
NHL: The Carolina Hurricanes put Evgeny Kuznetsov on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract, a move that brings an abrupt end to the talented but inconsistent center’s roller coaster NHL career.
Kuznetsov was still owed $6 million of his $8 million salary in the final season of his $64.2 million, seven-year deal originally signed in 2017. He walks away from that and gets to keep the $2 million bonus paid earlier this month.
Kuznetsov was the leading scorer and Conn Smythe runner-up on the Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup run but has been up and down since, the constant subject of trade rumors and speculation. He had 13 points in 30 games in a limited role with the Hurricanes as they reached the second round, and Coach Rod Brind’Amour even made Kuznetsov a healthy scratch at one point during the playoff series against the New York Rangers.
His trouble was not just on the ice. The league in September 2019 suspended Kuznetsov three games without pay for “inappropriate conduct,” less than a month after he was banned from playing for Russia for four years because of a positive test for cocaine.
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