Digest

WINTER OLYMPICS

Jackson makes Games despite US trials slip

American speed skater Erin Jackson is heading to the Beijing Olympics thanks to Brittany Bowe.

Bowe has given up her spot in the 500 meters, allowing Jackson－ranked No 1 in the world in the 500－to make the US team, according to a report Sunday on USA Network. Jackson slipped in her race Friday at the US trials in Milwaukee and finished third in the event she has dominated this season.

Bowe won the 500 and Kimi Goetz took second to earn the two available Olympic spots. The rules didn't allow for Jackson to have a re-skate－only a mechanical failure or a fall permit a do-over.

In November in Poland, Jackson became the first black woman to win a World Cup event. She won four of eight 500 races on the World Cup circuit, along with a second and third.

Bowe and Jackson are friends from the same hometown of Ocala, Florida.

Three-time Olympian Bowe will compete in the 1,000 and 1,500 in Beijing. Goetz will compete in the 500 and 1,000.

GOLF

Aussie Smith smashes PGA Tour score record

Cameron Smith

No one ever finished a PGA Tour event more shots under par than Cameron Smith, and he needed every one of them to outlast Jon Rahm and win the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.

In the best scoring conditions Kapalua has seen in the 24 times it has hosted the winners-only start to the new year, Smith was relentless all the way down to the 3-foot birdie putt he made on the 18th hole for an 8-under 65 and a one-shot victory Sunday.

Smith finished at 34-under 258, a tournament record by three shots. Ernie Els won at 31 under in 2003, and that was the PGA Tour record for shots under par.

Three players beat that in this surreal week on the western edge of Maui.

"Unreal round," Smith said. "Something I'll never forget."

Not only did he smash the record, the 28-year-old Australian went toe-to-toe with world No 1 Rahm and pipped the Spaniard by a single shot.

SOCCER

Mourinho slams 'too weak, too nice' players

Jose Mourinho blasted his Roma players for being "too nice and too weak" on Sunday after they threw away a two-goal lead in the space of eight devastating minutes to lose 4-3 to Juventus.

Having been the better team, and 3-1 ahead with 20 minutes remaining, Roma fell apart in barely believable fashion and found itself behind with 76 minutes on the clock.

Quick-fire goals from Manuel Locatelli, Dejan Kulusevski and Mattia De Sciglio left the Stadio Olimpico in Rome stunned and Mourinho questioning the character of a team which also missed a penalty after going behind and sits eighth in Serie A as a result.

"It was 70 minutes of complete control... We did very well for 70 minutes, but after that it was a psychological collapse," Mourinho told DAZN.

"When you're in the s***, you're supposed to get back up and show what you're made of, but there are people in the changing room here who are a bit too nice, a bit too weak.

"For 70 minutes we put in a performance that is also the result of the talent we have... (but) there is often a lack of personality in how they manage their emotions."

Gunners shot down by second-division Forest

Nottingham Forest dumped 14-time winner Arsenal out of the FA Cup on Sunday after Tottenham and Liverpool survived scares against lower-league opposition to progress.

Mikel Arteta's Gunners huffed and puffed against second-tier Forest at the City Ground in the evening kickoff and ultimately paid a heavy price for their below-par performance, losing 1-0.

The decisive moment came in the 83rd minute when Lewis Grabban converted a superb Ryan Yates cross to set up a tie against holder Leicester in the next round.

"I don't want to use excuses, I expect the team I put out to do better and when you don't in the cup you are out," said a despondent Arteta, who now only has the Premier League to focus on.

"Today showed we were not capable of winning against Forest away from home and didn't put in the level to win the game," he told ITV. "It's a collective issue and today we have not done it."

Jubilant Forest boss Steve Cooper said his side deserved the victory.

Agencies