Category: Sport

Source: Radio New Zealand

McLaren’s Lando Norris sobbed tears of joy and relief as he won the Formula One championship for the first time and ended Max Verstappen’s four-year reign with a nervy third place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Verstappen, who ended the campaign with the most wins (eight), triumphed in the season-ender with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri second and 12.5 seconds behind at the chequered flag.

Norris, Britain’s 11th Formula One world champion at the age of 26, took his points tally to 423 with Verstappen on 421 and Piastri third with 410.

McLaren, who secured the constructors’ championship in October for the second year in a row, won both titles in the same season for the first time since 1998.

New Zealand Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson finished 18th, his worst result of the season when finishing a race and the worst result of his F1 career.

After starting 13th on the grid, the New Zealand driver made up a couple of places but was handed a 5 second penalty for erratic driving which dropped him to the back of the field.

He finished just behind his Racing Bulls team-mate Isack Hadjar who is moving up to Red Bull next season.

Lawson finished 14th in the Drivers’ Championship and Racing Bulls sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Speaking to media after his victory, Norris said “I’ve not cried in a while. I didn’t think I would cry but I did,” said an emotional Norris in a post-race interview, after also shedding tears inside his helmet on the slowing down lap around the floodlit Yas Marina circuit.”

“It feels amazing. I now know what Max feels like a little bit.

“I want to congratulate Max and Oscar, my two biggest competitors the whole season. It’s been a pleasure to race against both of them. It’s been an honour, I’ve learned a lot from both,” he added.

No five titles in a row for Verstappen

Norris’s mother Cisca gave Piastri a consoling hug while both Verstappen and the Australian congratulated the new champion in a show of sportsmanship.

The victory denied Verstappen the achievement of five titles in a row, something only Ferrari great Michael Schumacher has managed so far.

“The way we fought back in the second half of the season, we can be really, really proud of that,” said the Dutch driver, who was 104 points behind then-leader Piastri at the end of August, over the radio to his team.

“So, don’t be too disappointed. I’m definitely not disappointed. I’m really proud of everyone for not giving up.”

Charles Leclerc finished fourth in Sunday’s race for Ferrari with George Russell fifth for Mercedes and Fernando Alonso sixth for Aston Martin.

Esteban Ocon was seventh for Haas, ahead of Ferrari’s seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton — who failed to stand on the podium all year in a career low for the 40-year-old who joined the Italian team this year from Mercedes.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was ninth in the German’s 250th race and Lance Stroll 10th for Aston Martin.

Verstappen, who needed to win with Norris off the podium, led away from the start with Norris fending off Piastri to retain second while Russell dropped from fourth to sixth.

Piastri, the only driver apart from Tsunoda in the top 10 to start on the hard tyres with the rest on mediums, overtook Norris on lap one to drop the Briton into jeopardy with Leclerc close behind.

Norris appeared to be managing his tyres, and pulled out of DRS range, before pitting on lap 19 at the same time as the Ferrari driver.

The championship leader rejoined in ninth with Tsunoda leading a train of traffic and posing a threat to Norris, with Leclerc again closing in, but the McLaren driver overtook four cars in quick succession.

Esteban Ocon’s Haas then peeled into the pits, leaving the Japanese next.

“(Do) all you can when he catches,” Red Bull told Tsunoda, who replied “I know what to do, leave it to me.”

Norris ran wide, Tsunoda handed a penalty

Norris scythed past, running wide onto the dirt as Tsunoda moved twice in defence — a move that earned the Japanese a five second penalty with the Briton cleared of gaining an advantage by leaving the track.

Verstappen pitted on lap 24, immediately after Norris passed his teammate, to hand the lead to Piastri.

Leclerc pitted for a second time on lap 40, followed in by Norris for a second set of hards, with Piastri ending his mighty opening stint to switch for mediums on lap 42.

The Australian rejoined in second, 24.5 seconds behind Verstappen who passed him just before the stop, with Norris third.

“It’s not just this year or the last seven or eight years I’ve been with McLaren, but the last 16 or 17 years of my life trying to chase this dream,” said Norris afterwards.

“Today we all did it, so I’m pretty happy.”

– Reuters with additional reporting from RNZ

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Australia beat England by eight wickets in the second Ashes test in Brisbane on day four on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Australia, who won the series-opener in Perth by eight wickets, need only draw the next test in Adelaide to retain the urn.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Danish golfer Rasmus Neergaard-Peterson has claimed the Australian Open, winning by just one shot over home favourite Cam Smith.

Kiwi Daniel Hillier shared sixth place with rising Spanish golfer Jose Luis Ballester.

Neergaard-Peterson, 26, carded a final-round 70 to prevail in a tight finish at Royal Melbourne.

Smith was denied a maiden title with a bogey on the last hole, while Neergaard-Peterson sank an impressive up-and-down putt to secure victory.

Hillier came within touching distance of the leaders during his final found, sitting just two shots back on the 16th.

The Kiwi unleashed four birdies in his Sunday round and looked poised for a strong payday, but a double-bogey on the 18th proved costly.

He had started the day in sixth, four shots off the lead, and finished five back on 71.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox was further down the leaderboard in 14th.

– RNZ

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Source: Radio New Zealand

England face an uphill battle to avoid defeat, entering the fourth day of the second Ashes test against Australia at Brisbane’s Gabba.

Chasing the Aussies’ first-innings lead of 177 runs, the tourists are staggering at 134/6, needing another 43 runs to make their opponents bat again, with just four wickets in hand.

Captain Ben Stokes is at the crease, unbeaten on four runs, with allrounder Will Jacks also on four. Opener Zak Crawley compiled 44, before gifting bowler Michael Neser a return catch.

First-innings centurion Joe Root could manage only 15 in his second dig, while England lost three wickets for just seven runs in their middle-order collapse.

Australia lead the five-test series 1-0 and have not lost to England at the Gabba since 1986.

First ball on day four is scheduled for 5pm NZT.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand’s Alice Robinson claimed her second straight giant slalom win and sixth World Cup victory of her career in the discipline by mastering rain and wind-battered conditions in Tremblant, Canada.

Robinson, who also won the season opener a week ago before she turned 24, delivered two confident runs to take the day despite tricky conditions in shifting snow and variable visibility, beating Croatian Zrinka Ljutic by nearly a second.

“That was such a testing race,” said Robinson, who moved top of the 2026 giant slalom standings, bolstering her credentials for February’s Milano-Cortina Olympics.

“I remember last time I was here I didn’t have a very good weekend so I was a bit worried coming into this week. I really didn’t know what I was doing on this hill, but today it seemed so seamless.”

The 21-year-old Ljutic delivered one of her strongest giant slalom performances to finish second, the reigning slalom crystal globe holder producing a composed run to secure just her second podium in the discipline.

Home favourite Valerie Grenier completed the podium, while American star Mikaela Shiffrin scraped into sixth, posting a solid first run but unable to find the rhythm in the second.

“I felt very aggressive on the second run,” Shiffrin said.

“The visibility was so dark it felt like skiing at night without any lights, I cleaned up the top pitch, but I mistimed a few things on the flats and you lose speed so fast when it’s that flat. All in all the day was super positive.”

A second women’s giant slalom race is scheduled in Tremblant tomorrow.

And on a good day for New Zealand, Luca Harrington was second in the halfpipe at the inaugural Freeski Big Air World Cup in Beijing, behind winner Brendan Mackay of Canada.

– Reuters, with additional reporting from RNZ

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Uncapped fast bowler Michael Rae has been added to the Black Caps squad for the second test against the West Indies.

The towering 30-year-old Cantabrian joins the New Zealand side as it confronts a stern test of its bowling depth.

In the unfolding injury crisis, Matt Henry and Nathan Smith were sidelined during the opening test in Christchurch.

Both Henry and Smith remain doubtful for the second test in Wellington on Wednesday, particularly due to the short turnaround between matches.

While Rae is unknown to most Black Caps’ followers, he’s been a regular on the domestic scene for Canterbury.

He’s chalked up 69 first-class matches including three five-wicket hauls. He’s also played a handful of times for English county Warwickshire.

Rae flew to Wellington today to join the squad for their preparations.

Rae and Blair Tickner, who was the reserve fast bowler in Christchurch, could be in contention for the test XI.

And with Black Caps wicketkeeper Tom Blundell ruled out of the upcoming test with a hamstring tear, Canterbury’s Mitch Hay joins the squad.

The 25-year-old keeper and right hand batsmen is poised to make his test debut in Wellington.

Black Caps coach Rob Walter will also be keeping a close watch on pacers Jacob Duffy and Zak Foulkes.

They carried an extremely heavy workload as New Zealand’s attacked was depleted to just two frontline seamers at Hagley Oval.

The West Indies head to Wellington with plenty of confidence after their defiant draw in Christchurch in the opening test.

The second test starts on Wednesday at the Basin Reserve.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The All Whites will play their FIFA World Cup pool games in Los Angeles and Vancouver.

The group draw was made on Saturday with New Zealand drawn with Belgium, Iran and Egypt.

New Zealand will open their tournament against Iran in Los Angeles on 15 June.

The game will be played at SoFi stadium, the home of the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams NFL teams. It will kick-off at 6pm local time (1pm, 16 June New Zealand time.)

The All Whites then head to Vancouver to play their next two games at BC Place, the home of the Vancouver Whitecaps MLS team.

The All Whites will face Egypt there at 6pm on 21 June – (1pm on 22 June NZT).

They then finish pool play against the highest-ranked team in their group, Belgium, at 8pm on 26 June (3pm, 27 June NZT)

The All Whites have never won a game at a World Cup finals.

The World Cup opener is between hosts Mexico and South Africa at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City at 1pm on 11 June (7am, 12 June NZT).

The semi-finals will be played in Dallas and Atlanta on 14 July and 15 (7am on 15 and 16 June NZT).

The final will be in New Jersey on 20 July (7am NZT).

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The NZ Breakers have continued their mid-season surge to overcome the Tasmania JackJumpers 99-86 at Auckland’s Spark Arena, moving the home team into ANBL playoff contention for the first time.

Their fourth win in five games sees the Breakers leapfrog Tasmania into the top six.

Picking up where they left off against Sydney Kings on Wednesday, they powered out of the blocks, scoring the first nine points of the contest and quickly opening up a double-figure advantage.

The margin reached 17 points in the dying seconds of the opening quarter, and although Tasmania made inroads, closing within two, the home side were 52-41 up at half-time.

Both NBA prospect Karim Lopez and Tall Blacks star Sam Mennenga brought up three personal fouls before the break, and had to start the third period on the bench.

Americans Rob Baker (13 points) and Izaiah Brockington (16 points) led all scorers, while the return of Tai Webster – an injury replacement for Izayah Le’afa – added some spark.

The Breakers have made an art form of blowing big leads this season, so no advantage was safe.

Lopez came off the bench and dropped a three-pointer with his first touch, while Mennenga threw down a massive dunk on counterpart Will Magnay, completing the three-point play from the free-throw line.

Still trailing by 10 entering the final quarter, the JackJumpers remained in contention, but could not quite bridge the gap.

When Breakers guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright picked the pocket of American Tyger Campbell for a steal and easy lay-up, the margin was back out to 12 points with five minutes remaining.

The formula became 13, with three minutes left, but still time for nerves among home fans.

Tasmania closed within single figures, but a dagger three from Jackson-Cartwright with 1m 40s on the clock finally gave his team some comfort, before he found Lopez for the cherry on top beyond the arc.

Jackson-Cartwright amassed 16 points and 12 assists, while Brockington finished with a game-high 22 points. American forward Bryce Hamilton led Tasmania with 21 points.

The Breakers travel to South East Melbourne Phoenix next Saturday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland FC take on Wellington Phoenix for their second derby of the 2025/26 season at Auckland’s home ground Go Media Stadium.

The Black Knights will look for their fifth straight victory in the A-League derby, after holding on with just nine men to secure a 2-1 win at their last meeting in November.

Kickoff is at 5pm.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Running prodigy Sam Ruthe has chalked up another milestone, after shattering the New Zealand secondary schools 1500m record on Saturday.

Taking full advantage of ideal conditions at Hastings, the Tauranga Boys’ College student ran his heat in a time of 3m 38.62s at the New Zealand secondary schools track and field championship in Hastings.

Ruthe was 200 metres ahead when he crossed the finish line and almost 30 seconds faster than second place.

His time broke the previous record, held by former Commonwealth Games runner Richard Potts since 1989, by eight seconds.

Aged 15, Ruthe became the youngest person to run a sub-four minute mile back in March.

The 1500m final is scheduled for 2pm Sunday.

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