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American superstar Alysa Liu added Olympic figure skating gold to her world title as she beat a standout field in the women’s final.

Liu came into the free skate in third place following a couple of errors in the short program, but produced a performance for the ages.

Appropriately wearing a sparkly gold dress and performing to Donna Summer, she scored a staggering 150.20 in her free skate.

It pushed her to the top of the leaderboard with an overall score of 226.79, narrowly beating Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto – who Liu beat to the world title last year.

Sakamoto, in her final performance before retirement, won silver with 17-year-old compatriot Ami Nakai claiming bronze.

Liu, 20, becomes the first American Olympic champion in women’s figure skating since Sarah Hughes in 2002, and the first USA medallist since Sasha Cohen in 2006.

She was playing catch up on Nakai – leader after the short program – and Sakamoto after Tuesday night following a mistake on her triple lutz where she failed to fully rotate in the element.

But there were no mistakes here with a truly showstopping routine that drew deafening cheers from the crowd.

It was a much needed boost for the USA, as their only gold in singles figure skating following Ilia Malinin’s collapse in the men’s event.

Sakamoto meanwhile has to settle for silver as her stellar career ends without an Olympic crown.

She is retiring aged 25 having won three world titles and bronze at Beijing 2022.

Her final performance here was to Non, je ne regrette rien by Edith Piaf, and Sakamoto must have no regrets about a performance in which all 12 elements were given positive grades of execution.

But it scored five points lower than Liu in the technical elements, with the American’s routine judged to have been more challenging.

Sakamoto wept as she left the ice, but by the medal ceremony rightly looked delighted with another major honour.

That initial disappointment was in stark contrast to the joy of compatriot Nakai, who ends a phenomenal debut campaign with an Olympic medal.

The youngest skater in the competition, Nakai stormed to the top of the leaderboard following the short program and opened her free skate with a triple axel – a brutally tough element she is now making her trademark.

For a while, it looked like American champion Glenn might have produced an Olympic comeback for the ages.

She was down in 13th following a disastrous short program which left her in tears after she missed her triple loop, meaning it was scored zero as an invalid element.

Glenn – who is open about her bisexuality and criticism of USA president Donald Trump – has been a magnet for online backlash, and came out on Thursday in Milan with a point to prove.

Despite suffering a heavy fall in the warm-up she attacked her free skate, including a triple axel to start then a complex triple loop and double axel sequence.

She punched the air at the conclusion, and even as she missed out on a medal she had the body language of someone pleased to have brought her best to the Olympic stage.

The same could not be said for Petrosian, who was aiming to be the second Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) of the day to win a medal at Milan-Cortina 2026.

The teenager is under the tutelage of controversial Eteri Tutberidze – the coach of Kamila Valieva at the last Olympics – who was rinkside during Petrosian’s pre-skate.

But the 18-year-old’s medal hopes were all but dashed on her first routine as she attempted a quad toe loop but fell.

Jakub Mensik prevented Jannik Sinner from reaching another final as he knocked the world number two out of the Qatar Open quarter-finals.

The sixth seed from the Czech Republic edged the first set and, although Sinner levelled, 20-year-old Mensik took the decider to win 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 6-3.

That ended a run of 22 wins from 23 matches for Sinner, with his only defeat coming against Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals last month.

The 24-year-old Italian reached 10 finals in 2025, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles, but was upset by world number 16 Mensik in Thursday’s first meeting in Doha.

He will now face unseeded Frenchman Arthur Fils, who beat Mensik’s compatriot Jiri Lehecka 6-3 6-3, for the chance to play in a fourth ATP final and his second in 2026, having won last month’s Auckland Open for a second career title.

Top seed Alcaraz came from behind to beat Karen Khachanov 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-3 and stretch his winning start to the year to 10 matches, having won the Australian Open to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.

Next up for the 22-year-old Spaniard is Rublev, with the Russian fifth seed having beaten Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 7-6 (7-2).

British pair Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool also have a chance to retain their crown, with one of their seven doubles titles from 2025 coming at the Qatar Open.

They beat compatriots Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski to win last year’s title in Doha and there will be three Britons in the 2026 final.

Top seeds Cash and Glasspool booked their return after beating the French pair of Quentin Halys and Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-2 6-3 in the semi-finals.

After a string of withdrawals at the Dubai Tennis Championships, four of the top seven seeds have reached the semi-finals.

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina recovered from a set down to beat Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic, who reached the last eight after qualifying as a lucky loser and upsetting Britain’s Emma Raducanu.

The world number nine won 3-6 6-2 6-3 on Thursday and will face American Coco Gauff for a place in the final in the UAE.

The third seed needed just 69 minutes to get past Alexandra Eala, claiming a 6-0 6-2 victory over the unseeded Filipino.

Jessica Pegula needed three sets to overcome Denmark’s Clara Tauson, with the fourth seed coming through 6-3 2-6 6-4.

Jonny Clayton ruthlessly brushed aside Gian van Veen to become the third different nightly winner of the Premier League Darts season in Glasgow.

The Welshman, who is back in the tournament after a two-year hiatus, beat the world number three 6-2 to continue his impressive start to the year.

He started the night by ending a near three-year and 10-match losing run against compatriot Gerwyn Price, before demolishing world number one Luke Littler 6-1 in the semi-finals.

The 2021 winner averaged 99.88 and 101.33 in those two matches but it was his checkouts at 60% and 66.67% that really stood out.

While that dropped to 42.86% in the final, his average increased to 104.35 as he follows Price and Michael van Gerwen as night winners this season.

He broke Van Veen in the opening leg and in the seventh before sealing victory with a stunning 156 checkout.

The victory takes him to the top of the early standings, ahead of Van Gerwen, who missed the night through illness, and Van Veen, who has now been beaten in two finals.

“I felt good, my darts are going. Tonight was my night,” Clayton told Sky Sports.

“I’m enjoying myself and when you enjoy what you’re doing things seem to happen in you.

World champion Littler and defending Premier League winner Luke Humphries were expected to dominate this season’s proceedings again, but the early weeks have not worked out like that.

Littler received a bye to the semi-finals in Glasgow after Van Gerwen’s withdrawal so banked another two points, but he has only won one game this year.

His average was down at 97.84 but it was checkouts where he was well below his mesmerising best, taking out just one attempt from six.

Humphries looks like the best and most consistent player on the tour at the moment according to Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle, but his Premier League results are failing to back that up.

He was edged out 6-5 by Van Veen in the semi-finals, after clinically disposing of Josh Rock in the quarters.

Littler and Humphries both sit outside the top four at this early stage but it would still be a seismic shock if either failed to reach the play-offs at London’s O2 Arena on 28 May.

Rock and Stephen Bunting – who Van Veen beat in the quarter-finals – are both still winless after the opening three weeks.

It follows Bunting taking until week nine to register his first points last year.

Thursday, 19 February – OVO Hydro, Glasgow

Quarter-finals

Stephen Bunting 3-6 Gian van Veen

Luke Humphries 6-2 Josh Rock

Michael van Gerwen v Luke Littler (bye) – Van Gerwen withdraws because of medical issue

Jonny Clayton 6-3 Gerwyn Price

Semi-finals

Van Veen 6-5 Humphries

Littler 1-6 Clayton

Final

Premier League Darts is played across 16 initial weeks in the league stage with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final each night.

Each of the eight players is guaranteed to face the other seven in the quarter-finals in weeks one to seven and 9-15, with week eight and week 16 fixtures done off the table. It means we will get fourth v fifth in Sheffield on the final league-stage night, with the play-off spots potentially on the line.

Players earn two points per quarter-final win, an additional point if they win their semi-final and five for winning the night.

The top four players after the group stage progress to the play-off night at London’s O2 Arena on 23 May, with first facing fourth and second against third in a best-of-19-leg match. The final, which is the best of 21 legs, follows.

Thursday, 26 February – SSE Arena, Belfast

Quarter-finals

Luke Littler v Jonny Clayton

Stephen Bunting v Luke Humphries

Michael van Gerwen v Gerwyn Price

Vitor Pereira asked his Nottingham Forest players to “express themselves” prior to their commanding victory at Fenerbahce in the first leg of their Europa League knockout round play-off tie.

It could not have gone much better for the Portuguese in his first game in charge of the club, who recorded their biggest ever win away from home in European competition.

Goals from Murillo, Igor Jesus and captain Morgan Gibbs-White underpinned a dominant Forest performance that could arguably have delivered an even more emphatic winning margin.

Pereira told TNT Sports: “We had chance to score two more goals. It was a very good result. It is only half-time, we need to be consistent, the schedule is tight and difficult.

“Everyone must be ready to help the team. This is what I ask them.

“I realised before I came that the players have a lot of quality. They need results but they need to enjoy the game.

“If they enjoy the way they are playing they can have a high level. They need organisation and confidence. I asked them to express themselves on the pitch. They did it.”

Sitting fourth bottom in the Premier League, just three points above the relegation zone, Forest’s main aim is to stay up.

However, extending their first European campaign since 1995-96 would also boost confidence at club that twice won the European Cup under Brian Clough.

One of the biggest issues for Forest this term is Pereira is now their fourth manager, with Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche favouring different styles of play during their spells.

However, captain Morgan Gibbs-White, said the players had little trouble adapting to 57-year-old Pereira’s demands.

“I felt we had a real identity out there. We defended well and we created so many chances,” said the England midfielder.

“His message to us is that we will have a real identity how we play and defend as a team. We have all bought into what he wants straight away.

“It is about learning off each other and taking it game by game. We needed a clean sheet and we needed a win and today felt like the perfect moment.