I hope you had a fantastic week and are in for an even better weekend.

At the time of writing, the Aussie men’s cricket team are bowling to Sri Lanka in the first innings of the second ODI. Sri Lanka has made a strong start, having scored 107 runs and only losing one wicket so far.

3 minutes and 45.14 seconds
The world record for the indoor mile set by Norwegian athlete Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in France. During the race, the 24-year-old also clocked an indoor world record through 1500m (3:29.63). Asked how he felt after the race, the Olympic champion from Tokyo said: "I'm a very happy man. You have to be focused for the whole race. It's tough, but it's worth it."

“She made a statement, she was clear in her statement, and I think that’s enough. What she was facing last week was hard enough for her, so the only thing we want to do as a club is support her.”
Chelsea Women’s coach Sonia Bompastor speaking about Sam Kerr, one of the club’s star players. Bompastor told reporters that the Matildas captain wouldn’t face disciplinary action concerning her recent court trial. Kerr was found not guilty of racially aggravated harassment by a London court earlier this week after calling a police officer “stupid and white” in January 2023.  

In 1925, baseball star Babe Ruth was so ill that the London Evening News pronounced him dead. The 30-year-old collapsed on a train platform in Asheville, North Carolina, prompting the British paper to report that he had “expired from overheating”. Ruth spent seven weeks in the hospital and returned to the baseball pitch for the Yankees in June. He retired from baseball in 1935 and died from cancer in 1948, aged 53.

🏉 The men’s and women’s NRL Indigenous All-Stars will face the Maori All-Stars at Commbank Stadium in Sydney on Saturday. The women’s match, which was won 26-4 by the Indigenous All-Stars last year, is set to kick-off at 5:50pm. At 8:10pm, the men’s team will seek a third consecutive victory over the Maori All-Stars after last year’s 22-14 win. 

🏉 The AFL’s Indigenous All-Stars will take on the Fremantle Dockers on Saturday in Perth. It will be the first time since 2015 that an AFL Indigenous All-Stars team has taken to the field. Tanya Hosch, the AFL's Executive General Manager of Inclusion & Social Policy, told AFL.com.au: "It gives us an opportunity to really celebrate the Indigenous contribution to the game". The match will start at 7:30pm (AEDT). 

🇨🇦 Sports fans in Canada have continued to boo the U.S. national anthem, in protest of Trump’s tariff threats against the country. At Thursday night’s Four Nations ice hockey match between the U.S. and Finland in Montreal, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was booed despite an announcement beforehand asking fans to respect the anthem and players. The U.S. beat Finland 6-1. The U.S. anthem has been booed at various sports events in Canada since President Donald Trump threatened to impose harsh tariffs on his country’s North American neighbour. 

Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has been named 2024’s highest-paid athlete. The 40-year-old topped Sportico’s annual list of the 100 highest earners in global sport, after reportedly earning $US260 million ($AU411 million) last year.

The next closest to Ronaldo’s whopping 2024 earnings was American basketballer Steph Curry ($US153.8 million). Retired British boxer Tyson Fury rounded out the top three on $147 million.

Overall, the list includes athletes from eight sports and 27 countries. The only Australian on the list was basketballer Ben Simmons, who came in at number 85 on $41 million.

The combined total income of the 100 athletes was $6.2 billion. Most earnings came from salaries or prize money, while brand endorsements made up around 23% of the total income figure.

The list of 100 athletes did not include any women. The highest-earning female athlete last year was American tennis player Coco Gauff, who reportedly made $US30.4 million. Gauff’s earnings fell about $7 million short of last place on the Sportico list, which went to NFL quarterback Daniel Jones.

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Australian surfer Tyler Wright will surf in this weekend’s inaugural Abu Dhabi Pro despite its strict LGBTQ+ laws. Wright is the only openly gay surfer competing on the world tour. Homosexuality is illegal across the UAE. However, Wright has confirmed she will compete there, after being “assured” that it will be safe to do so. It comes after the Aussie won her second Pipe Pro title in Hawaii last week.

The two-time world champion confirmed via social media that she’s “been working with the appropriate teams in the UAE” along with the World Surf League (WSL), who assured her that she’ll “be competing in a welcoming and safe environment.”

Wright’s decision to compete in the Abu Dhabi Pro comes after the WSL was criticised by the 30-year-old and the broader surfing community for going ahead with an event in a country that outlaws homosexuality.

When the 2025 WSL schedule was announced last October, Wright’s wife Lilli Baker responded on Instagram saying: “Unfortunately homosexuality is illegal at one of the locations [Abu Dhabi] and my wife can legally be sentenced to death or imprisonment if she tries to attend…WSL have the duty of care to their athletes to not put them in potentially life-threatening circumstances like this.”

Confirming her decision to attend the event, Wright said on Instagram: “Sport has a beautiful and powerful way of fostering connection, community and representation. If you can see it, you can be it. That’s something that has remained important to me throughout my career.”

The event is being held in a wave pool that can generate three to four-foot waves. The company that designed the wave pool is owned by 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater.

You can watch the Abu Dhabi Pro on Foxtel, Kayo, or worldsurfleague.com

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