Tennis

Alex de Minaur has won the biggest singles title of his career on the weekend, claiming the Mexican Open in Acapulco.

To lift his first ATP 500 trophy he had to come back from losing the opening set to world no.23 Tommy Paul (USA), just as he did in the semi-finals against world no.10 Hulger Rune (DEN).

Alex pulled out the final 3-6 6-4 6-1, with the defining moment coming in the opening game of the third set. Paul generated five break point opportunities and Alex saved them all, which was the beginning of the Aussie closing the match by winning five-straight games.

The victory was all the more impressive with Alex backing up from the semi-final clash with Rune that nearly lasted three hours and finished beyond 2am local time.

A boost in ranking points sees Alex rise to world no.18 in the men’s singles, three spots away from his career-high mark.

Read more here.

Snowboard - Halfpipe

Valentino Guseli defied an injury plagued week to take out the silver medal in the halfpipe world championships final.

It’s the first world championships medal of the 17-year-old’s career, using his third and final run of the event to post his best score.

The boy from the NSW South Coast fell on his first run, improved to score 83.25 points on his second run and then a well executed cab-triple-1440 helped him to a score of 93 points, narrowly missing victory by just half a point to fellow teenager Chaeun Lee of Korea.

“I am pretty stoked, considering that a week ago I was crawling around my apartment not sure if I was going to be able to do anything here, I am really happy,” Val said.

“The cab-triple-1440 was a trick I learnt in November, and I have been struggling a little bit with it all year, I perfected it a week before coming here training in Laax, Switzerland, landing five in a row and felt really comfortable with them.

“All of my success this year has been a process … it’s been a process figuring everything out and happy to be finally trying to match it with the best in the world.

“I grew up watching Scotty James, and now to be almost at a level where kids look up to me the same is pretty amazing.

“If you want it enough you will make it happen, it’s all heart, put your heart into it and you will get it.”

Two-time Olympic medallist Scotty James just missed recording his fifth career world championship medal, finishing in fifth place with his best score of 86.50 points coming in his second run.

Snowboard - Big Air

Tess Coady finished the 2023 Snowboard and Freestyle Skiing World Championships for Australia on the podium, taking home a bronze medal in the big air snowboard event in Bakuriani, Georgia.

The 2022 Olympic slopestyle bronze medallist made a great start in the three-run final by stomping a massive backside-1080-indi grab. Tess backed it up with a clean frontside-900-tail grab jump in run two, scoring 68.50 points.

In her third and final jump the 22-year-old from Melbourne attempted a frontside-1080-tail grab jump in an attempt to win the world championships, but was unable to land it and the jump did not count towards her final score as only the two highest scoring jumps count for each athlete.

“I am super stoked, I had pretty low expectations coming into today, with bad weather in the forecast, I was just hoping the conditions would be ok, but when we got here the landing was super soft and no wind, so it was sick,” Tess said.

“I definitely wanted to do the backside 1080 today. I did it in the slopestyle and it felt really good on that jump, I just had to make sure I got the speed right.”

“It's always hard to rally for big air after competing in slopestyle earlier in the week, I feel like slopestyle is my discipline, so I kind of put my heart and soul into that, so to come out with a medal in big air is really good.”

Recording the victory was Anna Gasser from Austria with a total score of 162.50, with Japanese rider Miyabi Onitsuka in second with 161.25.

Tess now has a world championship medal in two disciplines, adding to her slopestyle bronze from Aspen in 2021. She was also amazed by the record-breaking display by the entire Aussie team at the world championships.

“The performance of the Australian team has been insane, you see your fellow Aussies doing well and it lifts you and you want to carry that momentum.”

Aussie medallists at the 2023 Snowboard and Freestyle Skiing World Champs:

Danielle Scott - Aerials – silver
Matt Graham - Moguls – silver
Matt Graham - Dual Moguls – bronze
Josie Baff - Snowboard Cross – silver
Valentino Guseli - Halfpipe – silver
Tess Coady - Big Air - bronze

Freestyle Skiing - Aerials

Danielle Scott and Laura Peel took home World Cup gold and silver medals respectively overnight in Engadin, Switzerland, the second time the pair have taken the first two spots on the podium in the same event.

In sunny conditions at what will be the venue for the 2025 world championships, the wind picked up for finals competition later in the day which meant Laura was the only female athlete that elected to bring out the spectacular triple back somersaults.

She advanced to the super-final in first place with a score of 99.42 points for her lay-tuck-full jump, with Danielle moving through in second place, scoring 88.83 for her full-full double back somersault jump.

In the super-final Danielle added an extra twist, executing a high scoring double full-full (triple twisting double back somersault), scoring 98.70 points to give her the third World Cup victory of the season and eighth of her career. It added to the silver medal she won last week at the world champs in what has been a career-best season for the 32-year-old who is based at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre in Brisbane.

“Really happy with my jumping today. I was doing some triples in training, but then when the wind picked up, so I decided to maximise my points with doubles and keep it a little bit safer,” Danielle said.

Laura finished in the silver medal position, after scoring 94.65 points on her high degree of difficulty lay-full-full, but unfortunately lost marks on her landing, giving Laura her second World Cup medal of the season.
Rounding out the podium in third place was Fanyu Kong of China with a score of 92 points.

With one event remaining, Danielle has increased her lead at the top of the World Cup standings with 382 points, 92 points clear of Canadian Marion Thenault in second. If the Aussie finishes in 22nd spot or better at the final event she will win her first ever World Cup Crystal Globe title. Laura is ranked third on 262 points.

“I will enjoy the moment now, and think about it later (Crystal Globe). But I am honestly just so happy and it’s not over till it’s over, but I am excited for the last event,” Danielle said.

Also in action for Australia was Airleigh Frigo, who finished in 17th place during the qualification round. The World Cup final will take place two weeks from now on March 19 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Artistic Gymnastics

21-year-old Breanna Scott has become a World Cup medallist with an outstanding floor routine in Doha.

She scored 12.800 to receive the bronze medal, standing on the podium with Romania’s gold medallist Sabrina Maneca-Voinea (13.600) and Japan’s silver medallist Hatakeda Chiaki (12.900).

Rugby 7s

The women’s and men’s Aussie sevens sides have gone to Vancouver, Canada and come away with silver and bronze for their efforts at the fifth stop on the World Series tour.

The women went all the way to the Vancouver final, where they met arch rivals New Zealand and fought valiantly in a 19-12 defeat to claim silver.

Trailing 19-7 is when captain Charlotte Caslick, who played her 250th world series match this weekend, kickstarted Australia’s comeback hopes with a try in the 11th minute. However scores remained unchanged the rest of the way.

The win for New Zealand gives them their fourth-straight World Sevens leg victory. Australia remain within striking distance of top spot on the overall standings, sitting in second and 14 points off the top.

While the Aussie men ended their tournament with a 20-5 win over Ireland in the bronze medal match.

A team effort reflected on the scoresheet with tries for Australia going to Henry Paterson, Darby Lacaster, Maurice Longbottom and Nathan Lawson.

It came after a matchup with France in the semi-finals saw the French advance to the final with a 26-12 win.

Hockey

The Hockeyroos and Kookaburras finished their FIH Pro League ‘mini’ tournament in Hobart on different ends of the spectrum, with the Hockeyroos clinching a last gasp win while the Kookas fell to a strong Spanish side.

A stunning late strike from Amy Lawton gave the Hockeyroos a 2-1 victory over the USA, giving the team two wins from their four matches, with a win and a loss against both the USA and Argentina.

Just when it appeared the Hockeyroos and USA would be going to another shootout after their encounter earlier in the week finished even at full-time, Amy took matters into her own hands with two minutes left to decide the contest.

Read more here.

In the men’s competition, Spain have continued their dream run in Hobart after defeating the Kookaburras 3-1.

The Kookaburras won the penalty corner count 4-0 and were not without their chances, however the Europeans were ruthless when it counted to give them maximum points from their three games so far.

The result leaves the Kookaburras with four points from their four matches, with a win against Argentina the highlight of their Tasmanian tussles.

The Kookaburras now depart for Rourkela in India for a ‘mini tournament’ against India and Germany starting on 10 March, while the Hockeyroos squad heads back to Perth to prepare for a three-match test series against China later this month.

Triathlon

The 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series kicked off in Abu Dhabi, with Tokyo Olympians Matt Hauser and Jaz Hedegeland leading the charge for Australia with top-20 finishes.

The sprint distance event (750m swim, 20km ride, 5km run) saw Matt (18th) and Brandon Copeland (22nd) as the top finishing Australians on the men’s side, which was won by Great Britain’s Alex Yee.

In the women’s event, Jaz came home in 19th spot, with Natalie van Coevorden the next placed Australian in 26th, just over a minute behind winner Beth Potter from Great Britain.

Golf

Jason Day shot a final round 2-under to finish tied for tenth (at 5-under) at the Arnold Hill Invitational in Florida, four shots behind US winner Kurt Kitayama at 9-under.

Adam Scott shot an even final round to finish tied for 31st at 1-under for the tournament.

Hannah Green was the best placed Australian at the LPGA tournament in Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore, shooting a final round 1-under par to finish tied for 20th at 7-under. Korean Ko Jin-Young won the tournament with a scintillating 17-under performance.