It’s official, Gout Gout has been named in the Australian team for the 2025 World Championships. The 17-year-old Australian record holder will go up against the world’s best senior athletes in the men’s 200m in Tokyo later this year.

After the announcement, he said: “That’s what we’ve been aiming for. I’m looking forward to September being part of my first Australian senior team and looking forward to seeing what I can do against the best of the best.”

4
The number of games Manly Sea Eagles prop Toafofoa Sipley will miss for a hip-drop tackle which broke the leg of St George Dragons winger Mathew Feagai. The punishment is in line with the league’s efforts to discourage the dangerous tackle,  where a defender grips onto their opponent, rotates either to the side or behind the attacker, and then drops their body weight onto their legs. 

“2028 seems so far away, and my body is aging. I felt it in Paris.”
Simone Biles in an interview with French sports publication L’Équipe. The seven-time Olympic gold-medallist, who is 28, said she is unsure whether or not she will compete in the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. The interview was held before Monday’s Laureus Awards, a prestigious awards ceremony where Biles won the Sportswoman of the Year award for a fourth time, tying with Serena Williams for the all-time record. Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis won the Sportsman of the Year award.

Six of the first seven modern Olympic Games featured marathons of different lengths (ranging between 40 and 42.75 kilometres). By the 1924 Olympics, the distance was standardised at 42 kilometres, or 26 miles and 385 yards.

🏉 Richmond Tigers star Noah Balta was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to assaulting a man in Mulwala last year. Balta was handed a $3,000 fine and an 18-month community corrections order after admitting to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He is also under a curfew until 22 July,  which means he will have to be present at his home address between 10pm and 6am. As a result of the curfew, Balta will miss matches played interstate and in the evening, including tomorrow’s ANZAC Eve clash against Melbourne. 

🏉 19-year-old rugby league prodigy Lachlan Galvin has been recalled to the Wests Tigers’ first grade side after being dropped to reserve grade last week. Galvin rejected a $5.5 million contract extension offer from the Tigers early last week, expressing his desire to play elsewhere when his current contract ends after the 2026 season. He was subsequently dropped and played for Wests Magpies on the weekend. In his absence, the Tigers lost to the Parramatta Eels on Easter Monday. 

🏄‍♂️ Moroccan surfer Ramzi Boukhiam sustained a major knee injury at the Bells Beach Ripcurl Pro on Tuesday. The 35-year-old was walking over rocks on his way to shore when he was hit by a low wave from behind. The annual event was put on hold today as organisers wait for better conditions. The draws have already been whittled down to 32 surfers on the men’s side and 16 on the women’s. All eight Aussie men competing made it to the final 32 and five Aussie women are in the final 16.

Paralympic swimmer Alexa Leary has set a new world record at the Australian Open Championships. Leary bettered her own S9 100m world record in the heats of the multi-class women's 100m freestyle. The multi-class event sees para-swimmers with varying disability classifications compete against each other. Five-time Paralympic medallist Rowan Crothers won the men’s multi-class event for the seventh time. 

After winning the final in a time marginally slower than the record she set in the morning’s heat, Leary said: "Honestly I felt so good. I was like, just so confident on this one. I know all the hard work I've been doing since the Paris Games and everything, I was like, come on! You got to bring something home!”

Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown won the women’s 100m backstroke, setting a world-leading time for the year (57.65 seconds). 

Olympic silver medallist Meg Harris won the women’s 50m freestyle. Last week, Cam McEvoy pipped Kyle Chalmers in the men’s 50m freestyle when the two Olympic gold medallists went head to head. 

Max Giuliani was the best of a competitive men’s 200m freestyle field, announcing himself as the swimmer to beat in the event.

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Former Australian test cricketer Michael Slater has been handed a suspended four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to gender-based violence charges.

Slater pleaded guilty to seven charges, including unlawful striking, assault occasioning bodily harm, stalking, and strangulation.

After Slater was refused bail in 2024, the 55-year-old spent the past year in custody.

His sentence has been suspended for five years, meaning if he commits another serious offence within the next five years, he will be returned to custody.

For now, he will reportedly return to NSW to live with his family.

The prosecution told the court that a recurring feature of Slater’s misbehaviour was the consumption of alcohol.

Maroochydore District Court Judge Glen Cash said: "It's obvious Mr Slater that you are an alcoholic. Regrettably your alcoholism has brought an end to your profession. Your rehabilitation will not be easy — alcoholism is part of your make up."

Slater’s international cricket career spanned eight years from 1993 to 2001. He played 74 Tests and 42 ODIs for Australia. In Test cricket, he scored more than 5,300 runs, including 21 centuries.

After retiring from cricket, Slater worked as a cricket commentator - most recently for Channel 7. He was let go by Channel 7 in 2021.