Australian pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall has become just the fourth Australian to clear the elusive 6-metre barrier. 

The 28-year-old achieved the milestone at an indoor meet in France, clearing 6.00m at his first attempt to finish second behind Swedish world record holder Armand Duplantis. 

Meanwhile, Duplantis, clearly bored with breaking world records (he’s done it 14 times), is starting to carve out a career as a pop star!

46 years
The number of years since the United States last won men’s Olympic ice hockey gold. In the final event of Milano Cortina 2026 this morning, the Americans beat Canada 2-1 in overtime, with forward Jack Hughes scoring the winner 101 seconds into sudden death. It’s their first title since the famous “Miracle on Ice” Games, at Lake Placid in 1980, where beating the Soviet Union set the U.S. up to defeat Finland in the gold medal game.

“I told her I was so proud of her, and also I told her that her time would come. Because I could see that she was a little bit disappointed with fifth – but I’m not at all worried. She has many, many, many medals in her future.”
China’s Eileen Gu, the most decorated freeskier of all time, speaking about 16-year-old Australian Olympian Indra Brown. Brown’s highest scoring run in the final of the women’s halfpipe was 87.00, which saw her finish fifth. Meanwhile, Gu won gold with a score of 94.75 to claim her sixth Olympic medal across two Games.

Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won six gold medals at Milano Cortina 2026, the most ever by an athlete at a single Winter Olympic Games. The previous record of five had stood since 1980, when American speed skater Eric Heiden achieved the feat at Lake Placid.

🏉 France has kept its Six Nations Grand Slam bid alive with a 33-8 win over Italy in Lille. A Six Nations Grand Slam is when a team remains undefeated for the entirety of the tournament. Italy stayed within reach at 19-8 at half-time and were just 11 points down late in the match, but French debutant Gaël Dréan sealed the bonus point as Les Bleus pulled clear. Elsewhere, Scotland produced a stunning second-half comeback to beat Wales 26-23 in Cardiff, and Ireland overran England 42-21 in London. 

🏀 The Townsville Fire are through to a second straight WNBL Championship Series after an 84-74 semi-final win over the Southside Melbourne Flyers. Backed by a career-high 26 points from Alicia Froling, Townsville overturned last week’s heavy loss to close out the do-or-die clash at home and claim a 2-1 series victory. The Fire will now face the Perth Lynx in the best-of-three decider beginning Thursday.

🏏 South Africa’s men’s cricket side has sent a warning to the rest of the T20 World Cup field, crushing defending champions India by 76 runs in their Super Eight clash. After losing three wickets for just 20 runs, South Africa recovered to post a total of 187, before bowling India out for 111. Earlier, England defended 9-146 to beat Sri Lanka by 51 runs, tightening the race for semi-final spots.

🏏 India’s women’s cricket team has won a T20 series in Australia for the first time since 2017, defeating the hosts by 17 runs in Adelaide. Smriti Mandhana’s 82 and Jemimah Rodrigues’ 59 powered India to 6-176, the highest women’s T20I total ever set at Adelaide Oval. Indian bowler Shreyanka Patil then claimed 3-22 to restrict Australia to 9-159, despite Ashleigh Gardner’s 57. The 2-1 series win gives India a 4-2 points lead in the multi-format contest with three One-Day matches and a Test remaining.

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Round two of Super Rugby Pacific delivered lots of points and a major upset, with two Aussie teams now sitting on top of the ladder after impressive starts to the 2026 season.

Here’s what to know.

The ACT Brumbies produced the statement win of the round, stunning the defending champion Crusaders 50-24 in Christchurch. It was the Brumbies' first victory over the Crusaders in New Zealand since 2000, with back rower Charlie Cale scoring twice and veteran prop James Slipper crossing in his 200th Super Rugby match.

Back in Australia, the NSW Waratahs beat the Fijian Drua 36-13 to remain undefeated after two rounds and join the Brumbies at the top of the table. Winger Max Jorgensen and debutant Ioane Moananu both scored twice. 

Meanwhile, the Western Force remain winless after they were outscored 42-32 by the Auckland Blues in Perth.

The Queensland Reds sat this week’s round out and will be back in action against the Highlanders on Friday. 

After a bye last week, the Hurricanes started their season on the right foot with a 52-10 win over Moana Pasifika while the Chiefs edged the Highlanders 26-23 in Dunedin.

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The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics are officially finished, with the Arena di Verona hosting a grand farewell titled "Beauty in Action" (think Italian opera meets Olympic spectacle) as the flame was extinguished after 16 days of competition.

Here’s what to know. 

The ceremony celebrated Italian art and opera, with tributes to classics including Verdi’s La Traviata. Australian flag-bearers and medallists Cooper Woods and Danielle Scott led the team into the arena. 

The Olympic flag was then handed to the French Alps, hosts of the 2030 Winter Games.

Milano Cortina marked Australia's most successful Winter Olympics campaign. The team returns home with three gold, two silver, and one bronze medal. The 55-athlete squad finished 14th on the medal tally, recorded more than 20 top-10 finishes and saw more than half the team place inside the top 15.

After taking 12 years to win three gold medals between 2010 and 2022, Australia won three in three days in Italy.

Norway topped the medal tally with 18 gold medals and 41 overall.

Half of Australia's medals came in moguls, underlining the strength of Australia’s coaching program.

Woods became Australia's seventh Winter Olympic champion with moguls gold, while Jakara Anthony secured her second Olympic gold in dual moguls, a new event at the Winter Games.

Matt Graham added bronze in dual moguls. His second Olympic medal came eight years after he won silver in 2018.

It wasn't just moguls where Australia excelled. Josie Baff claimed snowboard cross gold, Scotty James became the first Australian Winter Olympian to win three individual medals with halfpipe silver, and Scott earned aerials silver at her fourth Games.

Australia's breakthrough campaign has sparked a funding push, with chef de mission and former Olympic champion Alisa Camplin-Warner calling for greater investment after a record six medals.

She said athletes had been competing on a "shoe-string budget," and that future success will require better facilities, coaching and pathways.

With 32 athletes debuting and momentum building toward 2030, the question now is whether this was a peak or the beginning of a new era for Australian winter sport.

Camplin-Warner added: "It's not a flick of a switch. It's slow and steady patient work and we've put that in now. I think we're really ready to put on the accelerator."

The Paralympics begin across the same locations on 5 March (local time).