ARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2021 SPORTS 14

Hamlin finishes 5th in bid for 3rd straight win McDowell beats 100-1 odds for upset Daytona 500 victory DAYTONA BEACH, Florida, Feb 15, (AP): Somebody had to make a move to win the Daytona 500, and maybe Michael McDowell would have pulled out of traffi c to take his shot Brits hope for momentum shift in AmCup challenger series at a monster upset. WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Feb While no new cases were report- the Italians. We have to turn that McDowell never had to play his hand. 15, (AP): Britain’s INEOS Team UK ed Monday, the lockdown may be around. We need to regroup and He stayed right where he was, fl at in the gas, and drove is hoping for a momentum shift in extended until further community come back stronger.” through a crash scene at Daytona International Speedway. its America’s Cup challenger se- transmission can be ruled out. That Ainslie knows better than most With a fi ery multi-car pileup in his rearview mirror, the jour- ries final against Italy’s Luna Rossa could see the challenger final, due that remarkable changes of fortune neyman pulled of a stunning upset early Monday morning. Prada Pirelli as a coronavirus lock- to end Feb 22, further disrupted. are possible in the America’s Cup. down in host city Auckland has led He was a teammate of Luna Rossa to a longer than expected break in helmsman James Spithill with Ora- CAR RACING racing. SAILING cle Team USA which in 2013 rallied Luna Rossa leads the first-to- from 8-1 down in the first-to-nine A 100-1 underdog when the race began Sunday afternoon, seven-win series 4-0 after winning The teams have no choice but to win America’s Cup match against McDowell won for the fi rst time in 358 Cup starts when the two races Saturday and Sunday use the available time to review their Team New Zealand to win 9-8. checkered fl ag fi nally fl ew about 15 minutes after midnight. on each of the first two days of the performances to date and, in Team “We know we’re up against re- The race was stopped by rain for almost six hours and ended Prada Cup final. Racing was due to UK’s case, to find a way to close an ally tough opposition, that was our nine hours after the green fl ag waved at Daytona Interna- resume with two races on Wednes- obvious gap on Luna Rossa. expectation,” Ainslee said. “But in tional Speedway. day but a small community out- “We have to break that momen- a decent breeze we’ve got a boat “So many years just grinding it out and hoping for an op- break of COVID-19 has seen the tum,” Team UK skipper Ben Ain- that can do it so it’s down to us. Michael McDowell celebrates after winning the NAS- series delayed at least by a day as slie said. “In sport momentum is We’ve just got to go out sail hard, portunity like this,” McDowell said. “Such a great way to get CAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Auckland locks down for 72 hours. pretty powerful and it has been with get stuck in and we can do it.” a fi rst victory - a Daytona 500. Are you kidding me?” Speedway, on Feb 15, in Daytona Beach, Florida. (AP) NASCAR’s season-opener was stacked with storylines. Denny Hamlin was trying for a record third-consecutive McDowell didn’t challenge Cope for that distinction be- frustrating.” Hamlin and Harvick had the two best cars but pit strategy Daytona 500 victory, and the team he started with Michael cause McDowell is considered a talented superspeedway Logano had no explanation for the ending. ended Hamlin’s shot at winning a record third-consecutive Jordan was debuting with driver Bubba Wallace. racer who just needed to be in the right place to fi nally win. ”Pandemonium, I guess. Chaos struck,” he said. Daytona 500. The Ford drivers pitted fi rst as a group, fol- Kyle Larson was back after nearly a year in exile for using He watched and waited as he trailed Team Penske team- It was indeed mayhem once McDowell cleared the crash. lowed by the Chevrolets lap later and fi nally the Toyotas. a racial slur, and reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott tried mates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, and it was Kesel- The collisions were one on top of another, fl ames erupting But the Toyota group has just fi ve cars and they couldn’t for his fi rst Daytona 500 win. owski who fi nally broke free from the parade of cars. Kesel- all over the track as McDowell drag-raced Elliott and Austin group back together to reclaim control of the race. It put Lo- And all the way at the back of the fi eld, 1990 Daytona 500 owski tried to pass Logano, but the teammates made contact, Dillon until NASCAR fi nally called a caution. gano, Keselowski and the Ford drivers out front and Logano winner Derrike Cope made what he said would be his fi nal triggering a melee all over Daytona International Speedway. A batch of solid contenders were knocked from the race led the fi nal 25 laps until Keselowski made his move. NASCAR start. At 62 he was the oldest driver in the fi eld, “I wanted to make the pass to win the Daytona 500 and just 15 laps in by a 16-car accident that began at the front of McDowell led only the fi nal lap - less than half of it really and his upset victory 31 years ago was considered the big- it ended up really bad,” Keselowski said. “I don’t feel like the fi eld. It thinned the pack and set up a showdown between - and held off Elliott and Dillon. Harvick fi nished fourth, and gest in race history. I made a mistake, but I can’t drive everybody else’s car. So Kevin Harvick and Hamlin. Hamlin was fi fth after leading a race-high 98 laps.

Liverpool head into KO stage Shiffrin sets records with 6th Confi dent Barcelona host PSG as Champions League resumes MADRID, Feb 15, (AP): Barce- in his last two Premier League lona will have Lionel Messi in his games. Leipzig’s preparations for gold and 9th overall at worlds best form this season as the team the game have been overshadowed resumes its campaign in Europe’s by the coronavirus and future of top club competition. The Argen- star defender Dayot Upamecano. tine great has scored nine goals in The latter has been cleared up with his last nine matches in all com- Bayern Munich’s confi rmation on petitions, including a brace in the Sunday that he will be joining the 5-1 rout of Alavés on Saturday. It eight-time defending champions at remains unclear if coach Ronald the end of the season. Fears of coro- Koeman will have Gerard Piqué navirus mutations have led to the or Ronald Araújo back from in- game being held in Budapest rather juries to boost the team’s defense. than Leipzig as German authorities PSG also has injury concerns. would not grant the Liverpool team Both Neymar and Angel Di Maria an exemption to travel restrictions. are out, putting pressure on Kyl- Juventus forward Cristiano ian Mbappe to carry the attack. Ronaldo returns to his homeland Mbappe scored twice in the 5-1 hoping to leave with his side win against Istanbul Basaksehir fi rmly in control ahead of the sec- back in December – when the ond leg. Ronaldo shows no sign Turkish side had nothing but pride of slowing down despite turning to play for – but more telling is 36 earlier this month. The Portu- that Mbappe had not scored in the gal international has scored three nine previous Champions League goals in his last fi ve matches and games dating back to November also netted to help Juventus win 2019. Without his two main cre- its fi rst trophy under Andrea Pirlo, ators, Mbappe will be heavily reli- when the Bianconeri beat Na- ant on Marco Verratti pushing up poli in the Italian Super Cup last as a makeshift playmaker. That month. However, Juventus lost at makes Barcelona’s task straight- the weekend against the same op- forward in shutting him down. ponent. Juventus beat Porto home That’s if Verratti even starts, be- and away – without conceding a cause he is nursing a bruised hip. goal – the last time the two sides met, at the same stage four years ago. Porto’s recent poor results SOCCER have left the club seven points behind Portuguese league leader With its Premier League title Sporting Lisbon. Porto hasn’t defense in shreds, Liverpool has played in the knockout stage of the only one opportunity to win silver- Champions League since losing to ware this season: in the Champions eventual champion Liverpool in League. Manager Jürgen Klopp the 2018-19 quarter-fi nals. will have to fi x his team’s creak- Borussia Dortmund is increas- ing defense if that is to happen. ingly looking to the Champions Liverpool heads into the knockout League after a Bundesliga season stage with its three senior center that has not being going to plan. United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during the super G portion of the women’s combined race, at the Alpine ski World Championships, backs - Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez The German team has just one in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy on Feb 15. (Inset): Shiffrin shows her gold medal for the women’s combined race. (AP) and Joel Matip – all out long term win from its last six games. Edin and one of the emergency replace- Terzić’s side was fortunate to get ments, midfi elder Fabinho, also away with a 2-2 draw with Hoffen- Schwarz pulls off stunning combined win in men’s event out. It leaves Klopp likely having heim on Saturday, and Sevilla will to rely on midfi elder Jordan Hen- present a formidable challenge derson and an inexperienced Janu- after winning its last nine games CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, ary signing from Schalke, Ozan across all competitions. Terzić has Italy, Feb 15, (AP): Mi- Lorient end Monaco’s 8-game winning run Kabak, to hold the fort in front of pointed to his team’s ongoing de- kaela Shiffrin’s latest goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who fensive lapses and appears at a loss gold medal from the ski- has made errors leading to goals on how to correct them. ing world championships Lille frustrated in Ligue 1, lead PSG by 1 point moved her past both Lind- PARIS, Feb 15, (AP): Lille stayed going through on goal in the 55th. Lorient handball. top of the French league but lost Benedetto got red-carded four min- Careless defending from Djibril sey Vonn and Ted Ligety. ground in its title fight with Paris utes later for an awful challenge on Sidibe then allowed Moffi to sprint Shiffrin won the combined on Saint-Germain after drawing 0-0 at former France defender Laurent through and finish calmly with a Monday, giving her a sixth gold home to Brest. Koscielny. low shot inside the post in the 62nd and a ninth career medal from the Lille had won its last seven Earlier, Lorient continued its re- – the 11th goal Monaco has con- worlds – one more than Vonn at games, conceding only one goal, markable turnaround and ended ceded in nine games. With Lori- the top of the all-time list of Amer- but another clean sheet will be lit- Monaco’s eight-game winning run ent clinging on, Monaco launched tle consolation to coach Christophe with a 2-2 away draw. Lorient ex- a cross into the box, the ball was ican medalists. Galtier with defending champion tended its unbeaten streak to five, headed down and Ben Yedder vol- PSG only one point behind. Gal- including a win against PSG. leyed in his 13th goal of the season. SKIING tier introduced attacking midfielder Nantes players gave new coach Yusuf Yazici and forward Timothy Antoine Kombouare the perfect Weah with an hour played. SOCCER start with Moses Simon and Imran “I can’t wrap my head around it. But frustration got to Lille’s play- Louza scoring in the first seven It’s a number, right? I don’t even ers as forward Jonathan Bamba But Lorient will regret a lapse of minutes in a 3-1 win at Angers. know what the number is. But it’s was booked in the 75th as he went concentration that allowed striker Kader Bamba rounded off a fine a number,” said Shiffrin, who took down in the penalty area. Wissam Ben Yedder to snatch an performance with a late goal to bronze in Thursday’s opening event, Nine-man Marseille held on for injury-time equalizer for fourth-place move 18th-place Nantes within one Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring his side’s second a 0-0 draw at Bordeaux in the late Monaco, which travels to play PSG point of Lorient in 17th. goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between FC Barce- the super-G. “So, in that way, sure, game. next weekend. Nigerian striker Terem Things are looking up for Saint- lona and Alaves at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain on I can say, ‘That’s cool.’ But today Ninth-place Marseille had Argen- Moffi put Lorient ahead from the pen- Etienne coach Claude Puel, whose Feb 13. (AP) I was focused on today and in the tines Leonardo Balerdi and Dario alty spot after seven minutes. Ben side won 2-0 at fifth-place Rennes super-G I was focused on the super- Benedetto sent off within minutes Yedder had a free kick saved late in for a third win in four games. Striker G,” she added. of each other in the second half. the half and then equalized from the Denis Bouanga and substitute Ar- Shiffrin also set an American Balerdi pulled back Remi Oudin spot early in the second following a naud Nordin scored the goals. Lukaku scores 300th goal as record with her sixth world cham- pionship title after sharing the portion on Monday but was fastest Olympic champion Michelle Gisin tors failed to complete their slalom mark with Ligety, who retired last in the slalom leg to beat Petra Vl- of Switzerland fi nished 0.89 behind runs. Inter top Lazio 3-1 to go top week. She has four golds in slalom hova of Slovakia by 0.86 seconds. for bronze. First-run leader Federica Brignone and one in super-G from previous Trying not to overpower her run, straddled the third gate as Italy keeps MILAN, Feb 15, (AP): Romelu Lukaku and Lukaku struck the spot kick into worlds and is among the main con- Shiffrin skied rather conservatively waiting for its fi rst medal at this scored twice and took his tally to 300 the bottom left corner. tenders in slalom and giant slalom through the fi rst couple of gates be- year’s worlds after fi ve events. Two- career goals as Inter Milan moved top of The 27-year-old Belgian doubled his later this week. fore accelerating once she found her time defending champion Wendy Serie A with a 3-1 win over Lazio. tally with another controversial moment “It takes away the pressure of rhythm. Holdener of Switzerland also skied Lukaku netted a penalty and dou- on the stroke of halftime, slotting in af- ‘winning a medal’ and all of the Shiffrin initially shrugged her out early in her run. bled his tally at the end of the fi rst half ter Marcelo Brozović’s interception was things, the records, or the talk around shoulders after fi nishing her slalom In the men’s race, Schwarz edged with the landmark goal. He also set defl ected into his path by a Lazio player. what I’m able to accomplish with run, seeming to indicate she wasn’t defending champion Alexis Pin- up Lautaro Martínez for Inter’s third, The goal was initially ruled out for off- specifi cally medal count,” she said. sure whether her time would hold up. turault by four-hundredths of a sec- shortly after Gonzalo Escalante had side but awarded on video review. Shiffrin excelled in both the super- “It’s always tough to know. I felt ond. Loic Meillard of Switzerland given Lazio hope. That was Lukaku’s 300th goal, be- G and the slalom portion to win her like I was pushing, even though some was 1.12 behind in third. Inter leapfrogged a point above AC tween club and country. second medal of this year’s worlds. turns felt slippery, but I was still Schwarz, a bronze medalist two Milan, which surprisingly lost 2-0 at Marco Schwarz won the men’s Spezia on Saturday. The two teams pushing,” Shiffrin said. “I thought years ago, was four-tenths off the meet in the Milan derby next Sunday. SOCCER combined to give Austria its third if somebody else has the timing a lead in fi fth after the super-G portion Lazio is seventh, 10 points below straight gold medal in the men’s little bit better, especially the very but showed his slalom skills as he Inter. Lazio briefl y threatened a comeback events. top part, I don’t have a guaranteed posted the fastest time in the decid- Coming into the match, Inter knew when Escalante defl ected in Sergej Shiffrin’s success has come three medal off.” ing leg. it could take a confi dence-boosting Milinković-Savić’s free kick in the 61st months after returning to ski racing However, no one came even close Canadian skier James Crawford step in the title race but Lazio was on a but Inter restored its two-goal advantage from a 300-day break from competi- aAustria’s Marco Schwarz shows to the American. Even Vlhova, the surprisingly led after the super-G run of six straight wins. just three minutes later. Lukaku burst tion following the death of her father his gold medal for the men’s overall and slalom World Cup lead- part and fi nished a career best fourth. Both sides had chances before Inter down the right, holding off a defender in February 2020, the coronavirus combined race, at the alpine ski er, lost ground on Shiffrin after she The worlds continue with parallel was awarded a penalty for a mistimed as he raced from inside his own half into pandemic and a back injury. World Championships, in Cortina placed seventh in the super-G. races for both women and men on tackle by Wesley Hoedt on Martínez. the penalty area before rolling across for She ranked third after the super-G d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Feb 15. (AP) Two of Shiffrin’s main competi- Tuesday. Lazio protested fi ercely but to no avail Martínez to tap into an empty net.