The robots are coming, but you might be able to outrun them.

Over the weekend in Beijing, 21 humanoid robots (i.e. robots designed to mimic humans) ran alongside thousands of humans in the Yizhuang half-marathon.

The winner of the robot category finished the 21 kilometre race in two hours and 40 minutes. That’s an average split of 7 minutes and 35 seconds per kilometre.

The fastest human finished the race in one hour and two minutes.

2 hours, 17 minutes, and 22 seconds
The Boston Marathon women’s course record, set by Kenyan runner Sharon Lokedi on Sunday. Lokedi beat the two-time defending champion and fellow Kenyan Hellen Obiri by 19 seconds, outrunning her in the final mile. Another Kenyan, John Korir, won the men’s race in 2:04:45, the second fastest time ever run on the Boston course.

"We're interested in rugby; we're interested in developing the sport locally. So, we created the federation and so on to see what we can do to develop the sport. I don't think we're on the level of hosting yet, but the '35 World Cup is in 10 years, so maybe it grows in that direction, and we see a big interest in that, then why not?"
Saudi Arabian sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, confirming the Middle Eastern country is interested in hosting the 2035 men’s Rugby World Cup. Saudi Arabia is reportedly set to make a joint bid to host the tournament alongside Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. 

The youngest ever cricketer to appear in the Indian Premier League is Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who made his debut for the Rajasthan Royals at the age of 14 years and 23 days on Saturday. He got his professional cricket career off to a strong start, opening the batting and scoring 34 runs off 20 balls. The Royals lost the match against the Lucknow Super Giants by two runs. 

⛳ American golfer Justin Thomas won a PGA Tour title for the first time since 2022, beating Andrew Novak in a playoff at the RBC Heritage in South Carolina. Thomas sank a sensational 21-foot putt to make birdie and win the playoff. The 31-year-old has won five of the seven playoffs he has been in on the PGA Tour. He said afterwards: “Winning’s hard. It’s really, really hard.”

🏉 The Wests Tigers failed to fire against the Parramatta Eels on Easter Monday, losing 38-22 to the league’s bottom-placed team. The Eels were boosted by the return of Mitch Moses, while the Tigers have been dealing with the off-field saga surrounding star playmaker Lachlan Galvin. Galvin knocked back a contract extension offer from the Tigers last week and will not play with the club past 2026. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs remain undefeated after six matches, having beaten the Rabbitohs 32-0 on Friday night. 

🏉 The Geelong Cats and Hawthorn delivered an Easter Monday classic at the MCG, with the Cats prevailing by seven points. While the Hawks threatened to snatch the lead on several occasions, the Cats led the match from start to finish. A goal from Shaun Mannagh, when the score was 80-79 with three minutes to go, ended up being the match winner. The Cats have now won 12 of the last 15 Easter Monday clashes between the two sides. 

Australia’s oldest and richest foot race, the Stawell Gift, was run on Easter Monday. The men’s Stawell Gift saw schoolteacher John Evans win, while Olympian Bree Rizzo won the Women’s Gift from the backmarker. The Stawell Gift is a handicapped race which sees competitors start on different marks based on form and ability.

Much of the media attention in the lead-up to this year’s Stawell Gift was directed at Australia’s newest sprinting superstars, Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy. However, both athletes started at the back of their respective semi-finals and finished second, missing out on the final. That opened the door for 28-year-old John Evans to win the 143rd Stawell Gift and walk away with the $40,000 winner’s prize. After eclipsing Gout in the semi-final, Evans started on 9.75 metres in the final and finished the 120m race in 11.94 seconds, ahead of Jasper Thomas (12.07 seconds off the 6.5m mark) and Mitchell O’Neill (12.11 seconds off 4.75m).

In the Women’s Gift, Bree Rizzo became the second woman to win the race off the back-marker at zero metres. The Paris Olympics 100m semifinalist stormed through the women’s field to finish ahead of Chiara Santiglia (13.55, off the 7.75m mark) and Jemma Stapleton (13.66 off 11 metres). Rizzo’s husband Matt won the Stawell Gift in 2017, making them the first married couple to have both claimed individual victories at the prestigious event.

Rizzo said: “It’s such an honour to win this historic and prestigious event. And to win off scratch is just amazing. I’m sure Matt and I are going to put both our sashes together on the wall at home.”

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Oscar Piastri won the Saudi Arabian GP on Monday (AEST), becoming the first Australian to lead the overall Driver Standings since Mark Webber 15 years ago.

At the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen started in pole position but was forced off the road on the first corner as Piastri came through on the inside. The Dutchman quickly reclaimed the lead but was handed a five-second penalty. Verstappen served the time penalty at the first pit stop, which allowed Lando Norris to steal the lead. When Norris changed tyres, Piastri took over. The Australian hung on for the remainder of the race and finished 2.84 seconds ahead of Verstappen. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded out the podium in third.

Piastri’s win in Saudi Arabia is his third first-place finish this season and fourth in his career. He said: "Very happy to have obviously won, made the difference at the start. [I] made my case into Turn 1 and that was enough. It was really tricky to follow out there, I couldn’t really stay with Max at the end of the first stint, just chewed up my tyres and then the clean air was nice after the pit stops.”

Verstappen and Red Bull were disappointed with the decision to penalise the four-time world champion. In a press conference following the race, Verstappen hinted at his disagreement with the penalty from Turn 1. He said: “The problem is that I cannot share my opinion about it because I might get penalised also, so it's better not to speak about it.”

The last time an Australian was atop the Driver Standings was in 2010 when Mark Webber, who is now Piastri’s manager, was racing for Red Bull. Webber is Australia’s most successful driver this century; his best result in the Drivers Championship was third overall in 2010, 2011, and 2013. He won a total of nine races in F1. The last time an Australian won a world title was in 1980 when Alan Jones won his first and only overall championship.

In the Drivers' Standings, Piastri is now in the lead on 99 points. His teammate Lando Norris is second on 89 points, while Verstappen is third on 87.

McLaren continues to lead the Constructors Championship, 77 points ahead of second-placed Mercedes.

The next Grand Prix is in Miami on 4 May.