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Bravo to Australian cyclist Grace Brown. The 32-year-old won the final race of her professional career, the Crono des Nations time trial, on Sunday. It’s the latest addition to her 2024 list of accolades which includes an Olympic gold medal and a World Championship.

Despite the temptation to take advantage of her world-beating form and continue cycling, Brown has remained adamant that this year would be her last as a pro cyclist.

After winning the race on Sunday, she said: "It's done. It's time for the rest of life."

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Stat of the day

2:09:56
The time it took Ruth Chepngetich to run the Chicago marathon, setting a new women’s marathon record. The Kenyan athlete, who also won the race in 2021 and 2022, beat the world record by almost two minutes. She’s the first woman to run a marathon in under 2 hours and 10 minutes. Fellow Kenyan John Korir won the men’s marathon with a time of 2:02:44.

Quote of the day

"I think I played some really good tennis, but congratulations to Jannik. He was just too good today. Too strong, too fast, well done. You're having an incredible year. You deserve this."
Novak Djokovic after losing to Jannik Sinner in the final of the Shanghai Masters. It means the  Serbian player is still one title away from becoming the third men’s player to win 100 titles, after Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103). Sinner’s victory marks his seventh title for the season, making the 23-year-old Italian the first to win more than six titles in a season since Andy Murray in 2016.

Random fact of the day

On this day in 1862, baseball player Jim Creighton hit a home run with such force that he severely injured himself, dying four days later. Creighton played for the Brooklyn Excelsiors and was considered one of the finest batsmen and pitchers of his day. Initial reports suggested he had ruptured his bladder but with the help of modern medical knowledge, experts believe his death was caused by an inguinal hernia.

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In case you missed it…

⛵ New Zealand have streaked away to a 3-0 lead over challengers Great Britain in the America’s Cup in Barcelona, Spain. The fourth race in the best-of-13- series begins tonight at 11:00pm (AEDT). Meanwhile, Italy beat Great Britain in the final of the inaugural Women’s America’s Cup on Saturday.

🏉 The Wallaroos beat Scotland 31-22 in their final WXV 2 match, winning the competition and qualifying for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. Australia raced to an early 21-0 lead and held off a Scottish comeback, with flanker Ash Marsters sealing the victory with a try in the final play. 

🏎️ Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood became the 65th and 66th winners of the Bathurst 1000 on Sunday at Mount Panorama. Kostecki and Hazelwood race for Erebus Motorsport. It was the fastest Bathurst 1000 in history and the only edition of the race to finish in under 6 hours. This morning, Kostecki told Seven News a member of the crew was assaulted last night while the team were celebrating their win. 

🚴‍♂️ Tadej Pogačar won Il Lombardia, a prestigious one-day cycling race in Italy, for the fourth consecutive time. The Slovenian world champion broke clear of the peloton with just under 50km remaining and finished three minutes and 16 seconds ahead of Olympic gold medallist Remco Evenepoel.

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Australia beat India to top Group A and secure semi-final berth at women’s T20 World Cup

Australia has advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s T20 World Cup after beating India in the fourth and final group stage match.

What happened

Australia batted first and set a total of 151. India made a spirited run chase and needed 14 runs off the final over to win. However, Annabel Sutherland took four wickets in the over to spoil India’s chances. Sophie Molineux was named the Player of the Match for her bowling performance, taking 2/32.

Tahlia McGrath captained the Aussies in place of Alyssa Healy, who injured her foot in the side’s victory over Pakistan on Friday. India, who won two of their four group-stage matches, now faces elimination if New Zealand beat Pakistan at 1:00am tomorrow (AEDT).

It’s not yet clear who Australia will play in the semi-final later this week. Potential opponents include South Africa, the West Indies, and England.

What they said

McGrath said: “We knew it was going to be a really big challenge for us today. They came really hard at us, and I am just really proud of the group. We kept our nerve at the end there.”

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Australia wins men’s and women’s PM’s XIII rugby league fixtures in Port Moresby as expansion talks continue

NRL CEO Andrew Abdo was in Port Moresby on Sunday to watch Australia play Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the men’s and women’s Prime Minister’s XIII fixtures. Negotiations are ongoing between the Australian Government, the PNG Government, and the NRL over the establishment of a team in Port Moresby.

Prime Minister’s XIII results

The Australian Prime Minister’s XIII teams are made up of players who did not play in the NRL Preliminary Finals and were not selected for the Kangaroos squad.

Wests Tigers’ Kezie Apps captained the women’s side to a 50-0 win. Afterwards, South Sydney Rabbitohs’ Damian Cook led the men’s side to a 42-20 victory.

The NRL’s next team?

Last month, it was reported that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had agreed ‘in principle’ to a deal with the Australian Rugby League Commission and PNG. The deal would see the Australian Government commit $600m over 10 years to fund a PNG-based team. It’s been described as part of a broader strategy from the Australian Government to secure PNG’s loyalty amid geopolitical tension with China in the South Pacific region.

What they said

Abdo also expanded on the possibility of a PNG-based NRL side, saying: “Hopefully [there is] an announcement soon. As you’ve heard our chairman [Peter V’landys] say, this is something that is strategically important for the Australian Rugby League Commission. Expansion and potentially having a team out of PNG is definitely exciting for the game.”

In a statement last week, PNG PM James Marape said: “There are a few more regulatory processes to complete before an official announcement can be made, but the future is looking bright for our national team. This aspiration is not just about sports — it’s about fostering national development and unity. With over 10 million passionate supporters, a PNG NRL team would further strengthen the bonds between our two nations.”

A message from our sponsor

How are major sport awards decided?

Hunter Fujak and Joshua McLeod, both lecturers in Sport Management at Deakin University, recently wrote an article that explores the various voting systems football codes in Australia use to determine their Best and Fairest players.

Fujak and McLeod point out that the AFL, NRL, Rugby Australia, and A-League all use different methods to elect the respective competition’s best player. These different methods present different biases which naturally affect the outcome of the award.

The two examples they outline in detail are the AFL’s Brownlow Medal and NRL’s Dally M Medal. The Brownlow is voted on by the AFL’s umpires and has been criticised as a midfielder’s award - the Brownlow has been awarded 27 times since 2000 and Adam Goodes is the only player that would not be considered primarily a midfielder. The Dally M is also subject to a similar positional bias with 91% of medals being won by fullbacks, halfbacks, five-eighths, and hookers. The Dally M is voted on by two independent and anonymous judges, who presumably have their own biases too.

Fujak and McLeod emphasise that often the awards that are most valued by players are the internal club awards which are voted on by their peers and coaches. This is because the people most involved with the club naturally have a more holistic understanding of who their best and fairest players are.

Ultimately, they suggest that it is likely no method will be perfect but perhaps it is the human dimension of the award that makes these awards such an engaging spectacle.

Think Beyond The Field. Study Sport at Deakin.

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