Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Lægreid has issued an apology in the wake of admitting he cheated on his girlfriend during an interview after winning a bronze medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

‘I deeply regret bringing up this personal story on what was a day of celebration for Norwegian biathlon,’ Laegreid told NRK in a statement released on Wednesday, Feb. 11, which was translated by the BBC. ‘I am not quite myself these days, and I am not thinking clearly. My apologies go to Johan-Olav, who deserved all the attention after winning gold.

‘My apologies also go to my ex-girlfriend, who unwillingly ended up in the media spotlight. I hope she is doing well,’ he added. ‘I cannot change what has happened, but I will now put this behind me and focus on the Olympics. I will not be answering any further questions about this.’

Lægreid, 28, is also a former gold medalist in the biathlon relay at the 2022 Winter Olympics and he’s a six-time former world champion in biathlon since 2021. Lægreid has declined to name the person he was discussing during the interview, though he revealed that he told her of his infidelity last week.

‘There is someone who may not be watching today. Half a year ago, I met the love of my life, the world’s most beautiful, finest person,’ Lægreid said from the finish line on Tuesday, according to a NRK transcript, ‘and three months ago I made the biggest mistake of my life and cheated on her.’

‘I had a gold medal in my life,’ he continued. ‘There are probably many now who look at me with different eyes, but I only have eyes for her. I don’t quite know what I want to achieve by saying it here now, but sport has taken second place in recent days. I wish I could share it with her.’

Texas’ Chris Del Conte talks sense when he discusses football scheduling, playoff expansion.
Texas boss steers clear of cupcake scheduling. Amen.
Among Del Conte’s ideas: Eliminate conference championship games, and speed up playoff.

When Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte floated the idea of killing the SEC championship game, a crowd of Longhorns fans applauded his suggestion.

“Start the playoffs that week,” Del Conte said recently at a recent town hall.

And everyone said, amen.

Del Conte was just warming up. He uncorked several more ideas. Like, playing playoff semifinals on Jan. 1 and the national championship a week later. He also lobbied for playoff expansion, within a framework that protects the regular season’s value.  

Whoa, now, this man is making too much sense. Can’t have such logical ideas within college football, can we?

“I’m one vote,” Del Conte said, “but this is where we need to get to.”

More sane talk like this, and perhaps Del Conte needs nominated for College Football Commissioner. Alas, no such position exists.

Anyway, maybe Del Conte thinks he can run the sport from his pulpit in Texas.

He’s one vote, but his voice resonates from a school accustomed to calling the shots.

Talk to someone familiar with how the old Big 12 operated, and they’ll tell you how one school — the one that wears burnt orange — controlled the levers of power.

Now comfortable in its SEC digs, Texas already has achieved one of its priorities: increasing the SEC schedule to nine games.

Texas hadn’t even joined the SEC yet when Del Conte started advocating for a nine-game conference schedule, like the Longhorns had in the Big 12. For many years, the SEC debated expanding its conference schedule, but it did nothing. Then, just more than a year after Texas joined, SEC membership voted to add a ninth conference game.

Coincidence? Maybe. But, Texas is pretty good at getting its way. Ask Texas A&M. The Aggies wanted to be the SEC’s only Texas school. Too bad, the SEC said.

Capitulating to Texas comes with a word of caution. The Big 12 feting Texas like a king contributed to the distrust and unraveling within the old iteration of that conference.

Del Conte, though, is broadly respected within his industry. His sensible ideas almost sounded like a platform for a potential College Football Commissioner.

Del Conte’s vision includes:

1. Valuing marquee nonconference games

Asked why Texas wouldn’t cancel games against Ohio State (2026) and Michigan (2027) and pursue cupcakes more conducive to a better record to seduce the playoff committee, Del Conte put it like this: Fans whose dollars support the enterprise deserve to see good games, like Ohio State-Texas, instead of a feast of creampuffs.

“We scheduled great games here to bring value to you all,” Del Conte said. “… I want our fans, Longhorn Nation, to be able to watch Ohio State in this stadium. I want fans in Longhorn Nation to be able to watch Michigan, along with our SEC slate. But, I had a lot of people say, ‘We need to cancel those games.’ No, we’re going to honor our word.”

Also, let’s be honest, TV networks want these games, and television dollars subsidize College Sports Inc.

It’s redeemable — if, perhaps, not advisable — to see Texas welcome opponents like Ohio State and Michigan at a time when schools like Penn State and Indiana are stumbling over themselves to line up the easiest possible three-pack of nonconference opponents.

Del Conte’s long-term objective appears to be to pair a marquee nonconference game with a nine-game conference schedule, plus an expanded playoff big enough to accommodate teams that repeatedly challenged themselves in tough games and lost a few times.

One could envision a College Football Commissioner, if such a position existed, demanding all Power Four teams play at least 10 power opponents to be eligible for playoff selection.

2. Week 0 becomes Week 1

In Del Conte’s view, Week 0 should become Week 1, turning Labor Day weekend into Week 2.

That’s a fine start. Why not take it a step further? Start the season in what’s now Week 0, and install a 13th-regular season game, creating more revenue and another playoff data point. I wonder what a CFB Commish might say to that.

3. Dump conference championships

Del Conte didn’t elaborate on his desire to dump the SEC championship game. No need to elaborate. Consider last season. Georgia routed Alabama for the SEC title, and neither team moved even one spot in the ensuing rankings.

“Why have a conference championship game?” Del Conte mused at his town hall.

Why, indeed?

Once revolutionary, conference championship games outlived their utility.

4. Speed up the playoff’s conclusion

Without conference championships in the way, Thanksgiving weekend rivalry games could lead into playoff selection, with playoff games beginning the first weekend in December.

“Start the playoffs that (first week of December), and let’s play every single week, and the semifinals are played on New Year’s Day… and the national championship a week later,’ Del Conte suggested. ‘That’s what I’d like to see.”

Not a bad plan — much better than concluding the season on Jan. 25, one week after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. That’s what will happen next season.

5. Expand the playoff

Del Conte desires playoff expansion, although he didn’t specify the number of teams.

Is playoff expansion needed? That’s debatable. But, every power conference commissioner wants it. They just don’t agree on size and format.

Del Conte pointed out Texas’ bowl game against Michigan averaged a TV audience of 9.1 million viewers. The BYU-Georgia Tech bowl game averaged 8.7 million viewers. The way he tells it, postseason viewership numbers merit a bigger playoff.

“Viewership is there during the holidays,” Del Conte said. “No one’s doing anything. They’re sitting at home, freezing their tail off, drinking a cocktail, eating some old fruitcake. I mean, we can do this. But this is what it’s going to take: It’s going to take thoughtful leaders to look at that.”

Almost sounds like a job for a College Football Commissioner. I have one in mind. He wears a 10-gallon hat.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

LIVIGNO, Italy — Snowboarder Jiayu Liu of China took a brutal fall on the final hit of her second qualifying run that paused the competition for several minutes as medical staff attended to her at the bottom of the halfpipe.

Liu, 33, was not able to move before being put into an emergency sled.

Liu was in 13th and needed to move up one spot to qualify for finals. She caught an edge on her final jump and crashed hard on her left arm and shoulder, bending backward and somersaulting through the bottom of the pipe, the Associated Press reported.

Chinese outlet Xinhua Sports reported medical staff said Liu’s injury was unlikely to be her spine and that it may have been related to the impact her head made with the snow.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

LIVIGNO, Italy — United States women’s snowboarder Maddie Mastro comforted a competitor in the mixed zone following women’s halfpipe qualifying Wednesday at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

‘How’d you go?’ the 25-year-old California native asked Canada’s Brooke D’Hondt.

‘Eh,’ D’Hondt responded.

‘How are you feeling?’ Mastro followed.

‘I’m better,’ said D’Hondt, who did not make it into the top 12 to move into Thursday night’s finals. ‘Sad, but.’

It was important for Mastro to do this because, well, she’s been there before. At her first Olympics eight years ago, Mastro made finals but came in 12th of 12 finalists. Four years later, she finished 13th after qualifying and missed finals.

‘I think it’s hard – when you’re that person, and you’re not in the finals, it doesn’t really matter what anyone’s saying around you,’ Mastro told USA TODAY Sports. ‘So it’s harder to convey. I obviously know how they feel and I’ll express that to them and let them know they’re not alone in that space. But it’s definitely not a fun space to be in.’

The memory of watching her competitions’ scores post on the video board and her name sliding down the leaders’ list is something she’ll never forget.

‘That feeling of wanting to transport out of my body and float into another world, far, far away from where I was,’ Mastro said. ‘I’m going to cry thinking about it. And then to be here, and be so content and happy in myself and my performance, and not wanting to float away from my body, was really, really nice.’

Mastro, going third overall and the first of four Americans competing in women’s halfpipe qualifiers, threw down a tasty first run that put her fourth (81.00) entering Run 2. She improved in her second run with an 86.00 to finish third in qualifying behind USA teammate Chloe Kim and Japan’s Sara Shimizu.

Mastro broke out her signature ‘double-crippler’ trick that revolutionized the sport years ago. She also threw a backside 900 on her second run.

‘That was awesome to see,’ said USA teammate Bea Kim, who finished 10th and made finals in her Olympic debut, ‘she’s been working on that.’

The goal wasn’t to improve her score during her second run, Mastro said, but to keep building on her riding – the tricks she wanted to execute and how she wanted to feel at the end of the run.

‘I feel like I accomplished that,’ she said.

Mastro wouldn’t say that the qualifying success gave her extra confidence. The performance washed away her anxiety and qualifying demons, however.

‘I definitely was very, very nervous today. I haven’t always had the best Olympic performances,’ she said.

Those past Olympic performances were hard to digest, Mastro said during a pre-Games news conference. Over the past four years, she worked hard to change her mindset about those missed chances and refocused how she mentally wanted to show up at the Olympics.

‘Less on the finish and place I get, and more about what my snowboarding can look like,’ she explained. ‘That’s been a shift in my mindset that I’m grateful for, and it’s helped my relationship with snowboarding immensely.’

Now Mastro can finally eat. She forced liquids down for the necessary carbohydrates to compete the morning of qualifiers.

‘It was a very peckish breakfast,’ she admitted.  

The bolognese in the athlete lounge was on her mind after she was done competing Wednesday.

The 2021 halfpipe world championship silver-medalist planned on spending a good portion laying down after three consecutive days of practice, which means she’ll also have some physical-therapy sessions.

Mastro was the top followed athlete on TikTok throughout the 2022 Games, according to her Team USA bio. The main character of her content, other than her peppy personality, is her pup named Pippy, a a chihuahua-Pomeranian-pitbull mix that has been to more competitions than she can count (because dogs can’t count, Mastro said).

Pippy is with Mastro in the Livigno-cluster athletes’ village.

‘Having her around is great,’ Mastro said. ‘I rescued her with the intent of travelling with her. She makes my days a lot better. She doesn’t care what place I get. She’s still wagging her tail and happy to see me, and I love having Pippy on tour with us.’

Asked if Pippy would be proud of her, Mastro said yes. But then she paused.

‘Pippy doesn’t know,’ she said. ‘Pippy really don’t care, honest to God.’

Before Mastro dropped into the halfpipe, she did her pre-run ritual which involves deep breathing and some substantive twists and back cracks. She enjoys taking in scene and feeling gratitude. It puts her in the moment and centers her.

After her second run, though, Mastro’s instincts took over with two primal chest thumps upon stomping her final jump.

 ‘I don’t know. I can’t even explain it,’ she said. ‘It just makes you feel powerful.’

Powered all the way to the podium, perhaps.

The dog ate my homework. The printer ran out of ink. The folder was forgotten at home. The Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl parade is today.

Excuses are plentiful in schools, but most of them never work. For the students of Seattle Public Schools District, not even a Super Bowl parade will be enough to get an excused absence. The district announced on Feb. 9 that class would still be in session on Feb. 11 – the day that Seattle celebrates the second Super Bowl win in Seahawks’ franchise history.

‘As the city plans celebrations, including a victory parade planned for Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 10 a.m., we want families to know that Seattle Public Schools will remain open with the normal early-release Wednesday schedule,’ Fred Podesta, chief operations officer, said in a statement.

‘Keeping schools open is an important part of maintaining stability, safety, and continuity for our students. For many families, schools provide not only learning, but also meals, transportation, specialized services, and trusted routines. Remaining open allows us to support students’ academic progress while ensuring essential services continue for those who rely on them.’

Podesta noted in the release that absences would not be excused for the parade, but families are encouraged to do what works best for them.

The district’s early release schedule ranges from 1:10 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. local time, according to the bell schedule. Seattle Public Schools District includes elementary, K-8, middle schools and high schools.

Even with the early release, students and staff will miss all the festivities in downtown Seattle, which will begin with a trophy celebration at Lumen Field at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) before the parade gets started at 11 a.m. PT (2 p.m. ET).

Neighboring school districts, Tacoma Public Schools and Lake Washington School District, followed the Seattle’s lead, announcing that they would operate on a normal schedule, according to NBC King 5.

Seattle estimates that between 750,000 and one million people will attend the event.

The Seahawks announced on Feb. 9 that the team’s Super Bowl parade would be on Feb. 11, just three days after they defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60, 29-13.

Tottenham fans serenaded their manager Thomas Frank with an ominous chant late in a 2-1 loss to Newcastle on Tuesday, Feb. 10.

‘You’re getting sacked in the morning,’ the Spurs fans sang. The following day, they were proven right.

Tottenham dismissed Frank on Wednesday, Feb. 11, closing the book on an eight-month run that ended with an eight-game winless streak in domestic competitions.

Tottenham is currently mired in 16th place and could yet be dragged into a relegation battle, sitting just five points clear of the drop zone.

In addition to the Frank chants on Tuesday, Tottenham fans also sang for a revered figure in north London: former head coach and current U.S. men’s national team boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Pochettino was at the helm from 2014 to 2019, leading Spurs to a period of major success that saw the club finish runner-up in both the Premier League and Champions League.

The Argentine is an obvious candidate to return to north London, but he does have the small matter of the 2026 World Cup on the horizon.

Pochettino’s contract with U.S. Soccer runs through the end of the World Cup. Right now, two scenarios appear very unlikely: Pochettino leaving before the World Cup, and Pochettino staying after the World Cup.

What has Mauricio Pochettino said?

Despite his undivided attention on the upcoming World Cup, Pochettino has previously expressed his desire to return to the Premier League.

‘Yeah, I watch a lot,’ the Argentinian manager said in a December interview with the BBC. ‘The Premier League is the best in the world. Of course I miss it.

‘I am so happy in the USA, but I am always thinking about returning one day. It is the most competitive league, and of course I would love to come back again.’

In an interview on the High Performance Podcast this week, Pochettino said that even though Spurs should be happy with winning the Europa League last season, it isn’t enough.

‘To win the Europa League is good because when you celebrate a trophy, that is good, but it’s not enough,’ the 53-year-old said.

‘It’s not enough for a club like Tottenham. It’s not enough to challenge for the Carabao Cup or the FA Cup, the Europa League or the Conference (League).

‘The fans expect to be in the Champions League, fighting for the Champions League, trying to believe that you can win the Champions League.’

Will Mauricio Pochettino be the next Tottenham manager?

At present, Johnny Heitinga appears to be the favorite to take over Spurs on an interim basis.

The former Netherlands defender was sacked as Ajax head coach in November, and was appointed assistant manager just four weeks ago.

Should Tottenham decide that it needs to make a permanent hire immediately, Roberto De Zerbi has been mentioned as a possible candidate.

The Italian had major success with Brighton in the Premier League and is currently free after leaving Marseille this week.

The 2026 Winter Olympics have already delivered incredible feats of athleticism and the raw emotions that help this global sporting competition transcend sports and become part of the human condition. It’s the new camera angles showing these Olympic moments, however, that might be the biggest innovation to come out of the first week of the Milano Cortina Games.

Drone cameras have been used at the Olympics before, but new technology is allowing first-person view drones to bring viewers closer to the action than ever before, particularly in winter events like the luge, skiing and snowboarding. This new level of detail has also come with some concerns, though it appears the dynamic views produced thus far are worth the potential problems.

‘We look at this as an evolution of the sport. The expectation today is to have this kind of experience when you consume a sports event, even more so for the Olympic Games,’ IOC sports director Pierre Ducrey told Reuters earlier this week. ‘We strive to offer the best viewing experience whether in the stadium or outside.’

Here’s more on the drone cameras that are all the rage at the 2026 Winter Olympics:

2026 Winter Olympics drone cameras, explained

Drone cameras have been used at the Olympics dating back at least a decade, but the development of first-person view drones has been deemed ‘a game changer’ for the viewing experience by NBC officials, especially in speed sports.

These FPV drones can cover great distances and safely travel up to 75 mph while maintaining broadcast quality. They’ve also been used to provide aerial coverage as athletes move at high speeds. They weigh just 250 grams (or less than one pound), according to one Olympics drone operator featured in an NBC social media video.

Each drone is operated by a three-person team – a pilot, a director and a technician – that manage the camera’s flight path, according to The Washington Post. The drone can go close to an athlete, but not over them. Each drone has a broadcast camera and broadcast transmitter attached to it.

‘When a camera is chasing the athlete down the hill – right in front of them or right behind them – you truly get the sense of how fast they’re going,’ Michael Sheehan, the coordinating director for NBC’s Olympic coverage, told The Washington Post. ‘That’s virtually impossible to capture with a wide shot shooting from the side. The drone coverage takes us to a place we’ve traditionally never been.’

Why 2026 Winter Olympics drone cameras can be controversial

Though the dynamic camera angles created by FPV drones is giving fans a view of the Winter Olympics they’ve never seen before, it does comes with some potential drawbacks.

Most notably, the high-pitched whirring noise created by drones has been audible during broadcasts and it’s ever-present for spectators attending outdoor events in which a drone camera is being utilized. It has led to social media complaints akin to the vuvuzela controversy at the 2010 World Cup.

Some athletes have also expressed concerns about how close these drones get to them while competing. So far, however, this hasn’t created major problems. The BBC reported one of the drones crash-landed in the first downhill skiing training session and left debris on the course.

‘We tested drones before competitions, we have listened to the athletes’ community … so that the impact would not affect their performances, would not bother them in any way,’ Milano Cortina Olympics Sports Director Anna Riccardi told Reuters.

‘Each athlete has a different level of sensitivity, awareness and capability for tackling innovation,’ she added. ‘So far we have not received any complaints that might lead to the non-use of drones in the future.’

On Wednesday, the Miami-based 3-on-3 league announced Reese would be coming back for her second season, after initially opting not to play. She is rejoining Rose BC, the team she helped win Unrivaled’s inaugural title.

Reese was named Defensive Player of the Year and made Unrivaled history with the league’s first 20-20 game last season. Reese scored 20 points and grabbed 20 rebounds during a matchup against the Lunar Owls.

Rose guard Kahleah Copper may be the most excited about Reese rejoining the Unrivaled. Under a recent TikTok video of Reese unboxing items she bought while traveling in Australia, Copper said, ‘You unboxing [expletive], like bring your ass to Miami.’ She later added, ‘Inbox this Rose jersey.’

‘AYOOOOO, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??!!!?!?,’ Reese responded.

Reese joining Rose is made possible by a recent three-way trade, the second in league history. The trade sent Vinyl BC guard Courtney Williams to Breeze BC, Hive BC guard Saniya Rivers to Vinyl and Rose forward Azurá Stevens to Hive. The trade details did not indicate that Rose got a player in return, nor did they show what Breeze gave up for Williams.

Reese’s debut is planned for Friday, Feb. 20, following the completion of the league’s 1-on-1 tournament. Rose plays Hive at 8:45 p.m. ET on TNT and truTV. The game can also be streamed on HBO Max.

The tallest player in women’s college basketball, 7-footer Stephanie Okechukwu, won’t suit up for Texas Tech this season.

‘It’s kind of long and complicated. I would say that [Stephanie Okechukwu’s] not going to play this year because of just transcript issues, as far as making her a four-year transfer,’ Texas Tech head coach Krista Gerlich told the media this week.

‘So, if she’s a four-year transfer, she can’t be eligible that semester. So we’re doing some things to manage that and to maybe get a waiver here or there, but at this point, to me, it’s not really fair to her to try to get five games out of her or something like that, especially because of the minutes that she probably would play.’

The Red Raiders signed Okechukwu, a center from Nigeria, earlier this season. However, the signing ultimately depended on approval from the NCAA.

‘She is 7-foot-1- of pure joy and has such a great heart,’ Gerlich told USA TODAY earlier this year. ‘… I would say the thing about her is that she loves basketball, and she understands it’s an avenue for her to be able to get an education, for her to be able to pursue her dreams of being a professional player.

‘The amount of gratitude that that kid has, and her story itself ― I hope the world will learn about her story in due time because it’s truly incredible.’

Gerlich shared on Tuesday that Texas Tech expects Okechukwu to play several years with the program. The Red Raiders staff will work to get her acclimated and stronger until she can make her college basketball debut.

‘We’re still working on things, but I don’t look to play her this year,’ Gerlich said. ‘I think that needs to be said so people can quit asking or whatever, but I can say that she will play in the fall as a Lady Raider.’