Category Sports News

Olympic champion swimmer Daniel Wiffen has decided to leave the Singaporean championships because of the appendicitis he has been experiencing since June.

Despite having a strong start in the fight for his title, the Magheralin man struggled as the race progressed, finishing eighth in the 800-meter freestyle final on Wednesday.

After that race, Wiffen claimed that at the halfway point, his “stomach was in pieces.”

Wiffen made it to the final as the final qualifier from the heats, admitting that he felt “really weak” after his heat, while the 24-year-old placed 16th overall in the 400-meter heats on Sunday.

The 800-meter champion had planned to start defending his 1500-meter world title on Saturday, but after reflection, he decided to withdraw.

He said, “Just to let everyone know that I had appendicitis that I had in June, and I have since been medically withdrawn from the World Championships in Singapore.”

Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen has withdrawn from the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore due to the ongoing effects of appendicitis he suffered from in June.

The Magheralin man finished eighth in the 800m freestyle final on Wednesday despite making a good start in the defence of his title, but faded as the race progressed.

After that race, Wiffen said his “stomach was in pieces” after the halfway point.

Wiffen scraped into the final as the last qualifier from the heats, admitting he felt “really weak” after his heat, while on Sunday, the 24-year-old came in 16th overall in the 400m heats.

The 800m Olympic champion was due to begin the defence of his 1500m World title on Saturday, but upon reflection, has decided to withdraw.

“Just to let everyone know I have medically withdrawn from the World Championships in Singapore due to the appendicitis that I suffered from in June,” he said.

Kim le Court retained the yellow jersey, making Maeva Squiban the first French rider to win a stage at the 2025 Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift.

Squiban, 23, marched on stage six with 30 kilometers to go, and he was only one minute and nine seconds clear of compatriot Juliette Labous, who finished just ahead of the yellow jersey group.

Only the second time a French rider has won a stage of the race since Cedrine Kerbaol won stage six last year when it was relaunched four years ago.

Squiban, who crossed the line in tears, described it as “an amazing feeling” and “didn’t expect that.”

Before Squiban broke away 2.5 kilometers from the Col du Chansert, the final day’s climb, Elise Chabbey was in charge.

Mauritian Le Court, who won the Tour’s first stage on Wednesday, finished third, extending her overall lead to 26 seconds ahead of Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, who is also a rider from Africa.

Demi Vollering, the 2023 Tour winner, is now the champion, while Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney, the current champion, is in third place.

1. 3hrs 20 minutes 46 seconds for Maeva Squiban (Fra/UAE Team ADQ).

2. Julia Labous (Fra/FDJ-Suez) + 1 minute, 9 seconds

3. Kimberley le Court (Mau/AG Insurance-Soudal) + 4secs

4. Same time as Demi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez).

5. Dominika Wlodarczyk (Pol/UAE Team ADQ)

6. (Ned/Volkerwessels Cycling Team): Margo Vanpachtenbeke

7. (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) Pauline Ferrand prevote

8. (Can/EF Education-Oatly) Magdeleine Vallieres

9. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck)

1. Kim le Court (Mau/AG Insurance-Soudal) 18 hrs 29 mins 5 secs

2. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) + 26secs

3. Pol/Canyon-Sram-ZondaCrypto: Kaparzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney + 30secs

4. Demonstrating (Ned/FDJ-Suez) + 31 seconds

5. Anna van der Breggen (Ned/SD Worx-Protime) + 35 seconds

6. 53secs for Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) + 53secs

7. Sarah Gigante (Aus/AG Insurance-Soudal) + 1 minute, 3 seconds

8. Pieterse (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) + 1 min. 12 sec.

9. ECEBENETIC KERBAL (Fra/EF Education-Oatly) + 1 min 24 secs

Maeva Squiban produced a superb performance to become the first French rider to win a stage at the 2025 Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift as Kim le Court retained the yellow jersey.

Squiban, 23, attacked with 30km to go on stage six and crossed the line in Ambert one minute and nine seconds ahead of compatriot Juliette Labous, who finished just ahead of the yellow jersey group.

It is only the second time a French rider has won a stage of the race since it was relaunched under its new name four years ago, after Cedrine Kerbaol won stage six last year.

“It is an amazing feeling, I didn’t expect to do that,” said Squiban, who broke down in tears after crossing the line.

Swiss rider Elise Chabbey led before Squiban broke away 2.5km from the summit of the final climb of the day, the Col du Chansert.

Mauritian Le Court, who made history as she became the first rider from Africa to win a stage in the Tour on Wednesday, finished third to extend her overall lead to 26 seconds ahead of France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.

Defending champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney is up to third, leapfrogging 2023 Tour winner Demi Vollering.

1. Maeva Squiban (Fra/UAE Team ADQ) 3hrs 20min 46secs

2. Juliette Labous (Fra/FDJ-Suez) +1min 9secs

3. Kimberley le Court (Mau/AG Insurance-Soudal) +4secs

4. Demi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez) Same time

5. Dominika Wlodarczyk (Pol/UAE Team ADQ)

6. Margot Vanpachtenbeke (Ned/Volkerwessels Cycling Team)

7. Pauline Ferrand prevot (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike)

8. Magdeleine Vallieres (Can/EF Education-Oatly)

9. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck)

1. Kim le Court (Mau/AG Insurance-Soudal) 18hrs 29mins 5secs

2. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra/Visma-Lease a Bike) +26secs

3. Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Pol/Canyon-Sram-ZondaCrypto) +30secs

4. Demi Vollering (Ned/FDJ-Suez) +31secs

5. Anna van der Breggen (Ned/SD Worx-Protime) +35secs

6. Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) +53secs

7. Sarah Gigante (Aus/AG Insurance-Soudal) +1min 3secs

8. Puck Pieterse (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) +1min 12secs

9. Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/EF Education-Oatly) +1min 24secs

Lando Norris says the Formula 1 world title will be decided this year by which contender makes the fewest mistakes.

Norris trails McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri by 16 points heading into this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, following Piastri’s win in Belgium last weekend.

Norris said: “It’s just who qualifies first and second more often. And you kind of just hold on in Turn One and then go from there. There’s not been many races where positions have swapped through a race.

“So therefore it’s more who can make the least mistakes when they qualify first.”

Norris, who has won four races to Piastri’s six so far this season, was on pole in Spa last weekend but was overtaken by Piastri on the first lap.

The Briton acknowledged there were “certain things” he could have done better in Belgium, but insisted “nothing which means I could have won the race”.

Norris said: “I don’t feel like I did a bad job. I didn’t have the best run but at the same time we had some, not problems, some incorrect settings with the battery. Which meant he had a slight advantage of battery compared to me, which certainly didn’t help. But I also didn’t do the best (first) two corners.

Norris also pointed to a slow pit stop and a lock-up in Turn One while he was trying to chase Piastri down and which cost him a total of four seconds of race time when he lost by less than that.

Norris has acknowledged already this season that he made too many mistakes in qualifying in the early part of the season, when Piastri went on a run of four wins in five races.

And he said he had adjusted his approach from always pushing to the limit to give himself a little more margin for error.

“Sometimes this year, even 95% would have been fine,” Norris said.

“These are some of my mistakes from earlier on in the season. I mean, I tried before at 101%. Sometimes that’s amazing. Sometimes that’s, I think, as good as you can get.

“I do believe that. But also at times I should drive at 95% or even 90% and that’s not enough to be on pole or P2 sometimes.

“So yeah, I regret trying to… I mean, I do regret trying to be so good at the beginning part of the season. And I think now already I sometimes settle for a 95% lap and that’s still good enough.”

Piastri said: “I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it. Not every weekend has been perfect, but there’s not many weekends in my whole life that have been perfect.

“Just trying to put together a solid, consistent year is ultimately going to be important.

“The pace in the last few weekends, especially Spa, I’ve been very confident in and very proud of.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is 81 points behind Piastri – more than three clear wins. And Norris said that while it was “never impossible”, the Dutchman was “quite a long way back”.

He added: Max is still quite easily one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1. So as a driver, I wouldn’t rule him out.

“But we have a better car, we have a better team. So I have my confidence in them that we can stay ahead.”

Mercedes driver George Russell said: “Oscar’s been very solid. I think he gets the most out of himself every single weekend, is my takeaway, he’s very consistent, doesn’t get flustered, and just delivers reliably.

“Whereas I feel Lando’s got huge raw speed, but probably the hit rate isn’t as high as Oscar’s.

“But they’re two incredible drivers, and I think they’ll continue fighting for quite a while. But Oscar doesn’t seem very phased.”

Russell also pointed to a penalty Piastri received for braking behind the safety car at the British Grand Prix, which cost him the win to Norris.

“It swings so quickly, doesn’t it? The momentum shifts so quickly,” Russell said. “But I think Oscar was a bit unfortunate in Silverstone. He could have also won the race in Austria, it could have gone very differently.

Lando Norris says the Formula 1 world title will be decided this year by which contender makes the fewest mistakes.

Norris trails McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri by 16 points heading into this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, following Piastri’s win in Belgium last weekend.

Norris said: “It’s just who qualifies first and second more often. And you kind of just hold on in Turn One and then go from there. There’s not been many races where positions have swapped through a race.

“So therefore it’s more who can make the least mistakes when they qualify first.”

Norris, who has won four races to Piastri’s six so far this season, was on pole in Spa last weekend but was overtaken by Piastri on the first lap.

The Briton acknowledged there were “certain things” he could have done better in Belgium, but insisted “nothing which means I could have won the race”.

Norris said: “I don’t feel like I did a bad job. I didn’t have the best run but at the same time we had some, not problems, some incorrect settings with the battery. Which meant he had a slight advantage of battery compared to me, which certainly didn’t help. But I also didn’t do the best (first) two corners.

Norris also pointed to a slow pit stop and a lock-up in Turn One while he was trying to chase Piastri down and which cost him a total of four seconds of race time when he lost by less than that.

Norris has acknowledged already this season that he made too many mistakes in qualifying in the early part of the season, when Piastri went on a run of four wins in five races.

And he said he had adjusted his approach from always pushing to the limit to give himself a little more margin for error.

“Sometimes this year, even 95% would have been fine,” Norris said.

“These are some of my mistakes from earlier on in the season. I mean, I tried before at 101%. Sometimes that’s amazing. Sometimes that’s, I think, as good as you can get.

“I do believe that. But also at times I should drive at 95% or even 90% and that’s not enough to be on pole or P2 sometimes.

“So yeah, I regret trying to… I mean, I do regret trying to be so good at the beginning part of the season. And I think now already I sometimes settle for a 95% lap and that’s still good enough.”

Piastri said: “I have a lot of confidence in myself that I can do it. Not every weekend has been perfect, but there’s not many weekends in my whole life that have been perfect.

“Just trying to put together a solid, consistent year is ultimately going to be important.

“The pace in the last few weekends, especially Spa, I’ve been very confident in and very proud of.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is 81 points behind Piastri – more than three clear wins. And Norris said that while it was “never impossible”, the Dutchman was “quite a long way back”.

He added: Max is still quite easily one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1. So as a driver, I wouldn’t rule him out.

“But we have a better car, we have a better team. So I have my confidence in them that we can stay ahead.”

Mercedes driver George Russell said: “Oscar’s been very solid. I think he gets the most out of himself every single weekend, is my takeaway, he’s very consistent, doesn’t get flustered, and just delivers reliably.

“Whereas I feel Lando’s got huge raw speed, but probably the hit rate isn’t as high as Oscar’s.

“But they’re two incredible drivers, and I think they’ll continue fighting for quite a while. But Oscar doesn’t seem very phased.”

Russell also pointed to a penalty Piastri received for braking behind the safety car at the British Grand Prix, which cost him the win to Norris.

“It swings so quickly, doesn’t it? The momentum shifts so quickly,” Russell said. “But I think Oscar was a bit unfortunate in Silverstone. He could have also won the race in Austria, it could have gone very differently.