USA Basketball is betting on the future, naming WNBA Rookie of the Year winners Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers to its 2026 FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournament 12-player roster on Wednesday.
Making their competitive senior team debuts alongside Clark and Bueckers will be Angel Reese, Sonia Citron, and Kiki Iriafen, with 2024 Olympic gold medalists Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young backing the fresh faces, among other international veterans.
Duke University head coach Kara Lawson will lead the team, with support from a trio of WNBA managers serving as assistants: Natalie Nakase (Golden State Valkyries), Nate Tibbetts (Phoenix Mercury), and Stephanie White (Indiana Fever).
"We have a great generation of young, very talented players coming up," Lawson said in Wednesday's USA Basketball announcement. "It will be good to have them in a position to play with Team USA this time and see how they gel with everyone."
While the US already booked a spot in Berlin's 2026 World Cup by winning the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup in July, next month's qualifiers will serve as a testing ground for September's main event.
Senegal, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, and Puerto Rico join USA Basketball managing director Sue Bird's hand-picked roster in San Juan from March 11th to March 17th, while simultaneous qualifying tournaments tip off in France and China.
Texas faces its final Top 5 test of the 2025/26 NCAA basketball regular-season on Thursday night, when the No. 4 Longhorns visit No. 5 Vanderbilt in a blockbuster showdown atop the SEC standings.
Both squads enter the clash with 23-2 overall records and just two conference play losses, with Thursday's winner taking major strides in the regular-season title race.
Fresh off dropping 34 points in Monday's 102-86 win over No. 10 Oklahoma, star Commodores guard Mikayla Blakes enters the matchup on a hot streak, averaging 27 points over her last 10 games.
That said, Texas is riding a streak of its own, racking up five straight SEC wins including a dominant 77-64 bounce-back victory over No. 6 LSU last week.
Notably, Vanderbilt remains unbeaten at home this season, with the Commodores averaging 85.4 points per game while shooting 47.7% from the field at Nashville's Memorial Gymnasium.
To upend the home team, Texas will look to lean on guard Rori Harmon, with the fifth-year playmaker currently averaging 6.6 assists per game while breaking the program's 45-year-old all-time steals record last week.
"I think the SEC is a tough league, and I think it's kind of where I thrive," Harmon said. "I like the physicality."
How to watch Texas vs. Vanderbilt NCAA women's basketball game
The No. 5 Commodores will host the No. 4 Longhorns at 7:30 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on SEC Network+.
The NWSL upped the midfield ante on Wednesday, reshuffling the league's 2026 landscape with a pair of high-profile — and history-making — trades involving USWNT midfielders Claire Hutton and Croix Bethune.
Bethune — the 2024 NWSL Rookie and Midfielder of the Year — is departing the Washington Spirit for the Kansas City Current in a $1 million deal, while Hutton heads to Bay FC for $1.1 million after leading the Current to the 2025 Shield.
Both rank among the top three intra-league transfers in NWSL history, trailing only USWNT striker Jaedyn Shaw's $1.25 million move to reigning champion Gotham FC last fall.
The current CBA requires player consent for all transactions, with 24-year-old Bethune reportedly requesting the trade while 20-year-old Hutton's involvement remains unknown.
"Croix is an exceptional playmaker with limitless potential," Kansas City GM Ryan Dell said in the club's Wednesday announcement. "Her elite creativity and passing ability combined with her tactical versatility — plus her resilience and passion — make her a great fit for our club, on and off the pitch."
"Claire is an important signing for us," said Bay FC head coach Emma Coates in a statement. "Despite her age, she brings experience and a strong mentality, and we believe she has the potential to become one of the best midfielders in the world."
Wednesday's trade news follows January's landmark Trinity Rodman re-signing, when the Spirit used the new salary cap-exceeding High Impact Player rule to make Rodman the world's highest-paid women's footballer.
While neither Kansas City nor Bay FC disclosed salary information, both Bethune and Hutton did qualify for HIP status.
Maria Sakkari upset Iga Świątek 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 on Thursday, advancing to her third Qatar Open quarterfinals. Over two hours and 29 minutes, Sakkari ended a nearly five-year winless streak against the world No. 2.
Świątek, a three-time Qatar Open champion at the event, entered on an 18-2 tournament record. However, she went on to commit 16 backhand errors while struggling at the net throughout the match.
The 30-year-old Greek tennis star took the second set, breaking early for a 2-0 lead. Świątek later leveled, earning two break points while serving in the ninth game. But Sakkari held for 5-4, closing the set on Świątek's 16th backhand error.
In the third set, Sakkari opened a 5-2 lead before Świątek broke back twice to level at 5-5, saving a match point with an ace. A disputed double-bounce call disrupted Sakkari's momentum briefly. She held for 6-5, then earned two more match points. On the third, Świątek put a forehand volley into the net.
"I'm speechless because it's been a while since I had a big win like today," Sakkari said postmatch. "When you drop in the rankings and you're not playing the semis, you start doubting yourself and think you’re never beating those players again."
The Qatar Open win marks the first time Sakkari has recorded two Top 10 wins at the same tournament since the 2022 WTA Finals.
"It's amazing," Sakkari added. "This is one of the best tournaments of the season so it's a huge honor."
How to watch Maria Sakkari in the 2026 Qatar Open semifinals
Sakkari will next face either Karolina Muchova or Anna Kalinskaya in Saturday's Doha semifinals, live on The Tennis Channel.
Chloe Kim is looking to extend her already historic Olympic run by aiming for a gold-medal three-peat this week, with the USA snowboarding legend topping Wednesday's halfpipe qualifiers en route to the podium event on Thursday.
Kim, who became the youngest Olympic women's snowboarding champion when she won the halfpipe at 17 years old at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, made even more history as the event's first-ever two-time gold medalist with her 2022 win in Beijing.
Now, the eight-time X Games champ is well on her way to a third straight gold following her field-leading qualification round score of 90.25 points on Wednesday — blowing past second-place Japanese frontrunner Sara Shimizu's 87.50 total and fellow US star Maddie Mastro's 86-point third-place finish.
Even more impressive, Kim's elite performance comes just over one month after the star suffered a dislocated shoulder in training, an injury that initially raised questions about her ability to top the 2026 Olympic podium.
"Going into these Games, I felt really at ease and calm. I know what I'm here to do," Kim said after her Wednesday run. "That was a six out of 10, and we're going for a 10 tomorrow."
Should she win gold, the 25-year-old will become the first snowboarder, woman or man, to win three straight Winter Olympic titles — and just the 11th across all sports to pull off a three-peat in the same event.
How to watch snowboarder Chloe Kim in the Olympic halfpipe final
The women's halfpipe final starts at 1:30 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on NBC.
The 2026 NCAA softball season is officially in full swing, as the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational brings 16 top programs — including 10 ranked teams — to Florida for four days of championship-level matchups this week.
A full seven of the nation's Top 10 teams will feature in this edition of the annual competition, with No. 6 Florida State, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 8 Texas A&M, and No. 10 LSU joining three of last season's Women's College World Series contenders — No. 7 UCLA, No. 3 Tennessee, and 2025 runners-up, No. 1 Texas Tech — in Clearwater.
With so many elite rosters, the invitational's 40-game slate includes 17 ranked matchups — and eight Top 10 showdowns.
Three of those eight games will feature Tennessee, who drew arguably the toughest Clearwater weekend with clashes against the No. 6 Seminoles, No. 7 Bruins, and No. 8 Cornhuskers — a team that stunned defending champion No. 2 Texas with an 8-5 opening-weekend upset loss on Saturday.
Friday's clash between the Huskers and Vols — a rematch of the pair's 2025 Super Regional — will also serve as an early-season litmus test of two of college softball's best pitchers, with a duel in the circle expected between Tennessee standout Karlyn Pickens and Nebraska ace Jordy Frahm (née Bahl).
But first, the top-ranked Red Raiders — led by two-time All-American pitcher and the sport's only multimillion-dollar NIL athlete NiJaree Canady — will headline Thursday's docket in their own Super Regional rematch against the No. 6 Seminoles.
How to watch NCAA softball at the 2026 Clearwater Invitational
The stacked Clearwater Invitational began on Thursday morning, with the day's spotlight clash between No. 1 Texas Tech and No. 6 Florida State taking the field at 1 PM ET, airing live on ESPN2.
All 40 games will air live across ESPN platforms.
Connor Watkins had been planning the moment for a year. And on Thursday, at the base of the Winter Olympics Super-G course in Cortina d'Ampezzo, he made it happen.
Watkins dropped to one knee in the finish line, proposing to his girlfriend, downhill gold medalist Breezy Johnson. Wearing a Team USA jacket, Watkins raised a silver ring with a blue gem at its center as competitors and coaches from multiple countries gathered nearby. Johnson said yes as her US teammates and skiing officials cheered.
Apparently, Johnson gave Watkins the idea. "I may have told him that I just always kind of had the dream of getting engaged at the Olympics," she said.
The Connor Watkins proposal capped a rollercoaster morning for the 30-year-old downhill champion. Johnson crashed out of the Super-G final and did not finish, joining more than a dozen skiers who failed to complete the course.
Just the day before, Johnson and teammate Mikaela Shiffrin finished fourth in the women's team combined after Johnson led the downhill portion.
However, none of it dimmed the occasion. "There's nothing better than doing well and having somebody to share it with," Johnson said after Watkins proposed.
The new engagement ring now joins Johnson's women's downhill gold medal, after she became just the second U.S. woman to claim the top Olympic title after Lindsey Vonn in 2010.
Milano-Cortina marks Johnson's second Winter Olympics. She also competed at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, finishing seventh in the downhill and 14th in the Super-G, before sitting out Beijing 2022 with injury.
As soon as Team USA cross-country skier Jessie Diggins crossed the finish line on Thursday, she collapsed onto the snow and screamed — then climbed the podium with her bronze medal.
The 34-year-old earned her fourth career Olympic medal in the women's 10km interval start freestyle at the Milan Cortina Games, finishing in 22 minutes, 49.2 seconds behind Sweden's Frida Karlsson. Karlsson won her second gold of the Games, with teammate Ebba Andersson taking silver 46.6 seconds back. Diggins finished 49.7 seconds behind Karlsson.
Diggins raced the entire event with bruised ribs, an injury she sustained in a crash during the opening skiathlon. The injury knocked her out of contention in the individual sprint, where she fell in the heats.
"I need a new body," Diggins joked. "It's been one heck of a painful week. Two days ago, I was like, 'I don't know how I'm going to do this.'"
She wasn't even sure how she was stacking up during the race.
"I had no idea what place I was in," she said afterwards. "It's been disconcerting and really, really painful."
The bronze adds to a career haul that already included a 2018 Olympic team sprint gold, along with a silver and bronze at the 2022 Beijing Games. Diggins announced last November that 2026 will her final season competing.
"I just felt like I was skiing out of my body the whole time," Diggins said. "Just getting to the finish line felt like a gold medal."
Canada hockey rebounded from Tuesday's 5-0 loss to Team USA with a 5-0 shutout win over Finland on Thursday, capping the women's preliminary round at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
PWHL star Emily Clark scored twice while Jenn Gardiner, Daryl Watts, and Kristin O'Neill all added singles to Canada's tally, while Julia Gosling and Laura Stacey each recorded two assists. Meanwhile, goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens posted 17 saves in her third start in four days.
Gardiner opened scoring in the first period, finishing off a no-look pass from Gosling. Watts later doubled the lead in the second period on a Sarah Fillier backhand feed, before O'Neill made it 3-0 when her shot deflected off a Finnish skate and into the goal. Clark subsequently secured the win with two third-period goals, including a wraparound finish.
Canada hockey takes the ice without captain Marie-Philip Poulin
Canada played without captain Marie-Philip Poulin for the second straight game on Thursday, after the forward exited Monday's 5-1 win over Czechia with a lower-body injury.
Poulin — who sits one goal shy of Hayley Wickenheiser's all-time Olympic women's hockey scoring record — also sat out Tuesday's Team USA routing. Coach Troy Ryan told reporters he remains optimistic she'll return for the knockout round.
“She skated today with our medical staff and one of our coaches,” Ryan said ahead of today's win.
“She felt well, obviously not good enough right now to put her in the game. An extra couple days will do her justice. But everything was positive from the skate that she had today, so we’re still optimistic that she’ll return at some point.”
How to watch Team Canada in the women's hockey quarterfinals
Canada finishes Group A on a 3-0-0-1 record. This latest win sets up a quarterfinal clash with Group B runner-up Germany on Saturday at 10:40 AM ET, live on Peacock.
Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett was in Italy to watch snowboarder girlfriend Chloe Kim dominate the 2026 Winter Olympics halfpipe qualifiers on Wednesday, posting her winning run to Instagram as she advanced to Thursday's final.
Garrett shared footage of Kim's 90.25-point performance, with Kim subsequently topping the field by nearly three points over Japan's Sara Shimizu. The two-time defending Olympic gold medalist showed no signs of the torn labrum she suffered last month, successfully landing a risky inverted backside 720, massive switch straight air method, cab 1080 stalefish, frontside 900, and inverted indy 540.
"I got her whole run," Garrett said after the judges posted Kim's halfpipe score. "She's amazing."
Garrett and Kim confirmed their relationship last year when she attended a Browns game in November. The 2025 Defensive Player of the Year seems to be enjoying his offseason after breaking the league's single-season sack record last season.
Chloe Kim enters as US Olympic favorite — with Garrett by her side
The 25-year-old is shooting to become the first snowboarder to win Olympic gold at three consecutive Winter Games. She previously topped the halfpipe at PyeongChang 2018 at age 17, later defending her title at Beijing 2022 with a score of 94.00. No athlete has achieved a three-peat — not even legendary halfpipe star Shaun White, who won three non-consecutive golds in 2006, 2010, and 2018.
The Team USA superstar played the qualifying run conservatively, revealing only a few of the tricks expected to feature in her final routine.
"I've landed all the components of my finals run. I just haven't put them together," she said after Wednesday's first-place finish. "So I'll get to do it on the big day."
Myles Garrett will surely be watching on Thursday, as Kim chases history at the 2026 Winter Olympics women's halfpipe final.