'Teenage sensation' and high schooler Alyssa Thompson makes a mark as the number one pick in the recent National Women's Soccer League draft.

Ng Wing Lam is one of Team Hong Kong's 'most promising (table tennis) players after a strong World Championships qualifier run.

Shayna Jack is in the Valentine's Day spirit.

(A very airbrushed) Shaunae Miller-Uibo glows.

Marcus Kleveland booked a talk show.

Nicholas Paul gets pensive.

Dora Varella maximized her Middle East stay.

A special team of select youth players from Ukraine make an emotional mark in peewee ice hockey.

United World Wrestling mourns the passing of nine wrestlers in the unprecedented earthquake hitting Turkey.

Retired biathlon great Erik Lesser assesses the early start of the current world championships.

"Quite shy" Ellia Smeding had once feared the spotlight, but with her rise in speed skating, also has her confidence risen.

Landmark weightlifter Nooh Dastgir Butt finds himself at unfortunate odds with Team Pakistan officials, jeopardizing Paris 2024 hopes.

A true sisterhood bond has powered the success of Team Canada freestyle skiers Justine, Chloe, and Maxime Dufour-Lapointe.

Is "playful" Arnaud de Lie a future Peter Sagan-esque star of road cycling?

Count triathlon stars Vincent Luis and Kristian Blummenfelt as curious but positive to the Ironman Championship move from Kona to Nice.

Strike: Christine Sinclair and her Team Canada soccer colleagues stand firm against pay inequality...for a short time at least.

A longtime Middlesbrough F.C. fan gets on a video call with Tokyo 2020 Olympian Riley McGree to talk World Cup soccer, 'Boro', and more.

Israeli Tokyo 2020 Olympian Nicol Zelikman opens up on mental trauma she experienced in her rhythmic gymnastics career.

Shot putter Sophie McKinna "gutted" with the untimely theft of her kit.

Track & Field News looks at the rise of 'late bloomer' hammer thrower Janee' Kassanovoid.
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Heptathlete Anna Hall's move to the professional ranks has been easier watching her boyfriend, tennis player Ben Shelton do the same.

Citius: What were Yared Nuguse's immediate thoughts on breaking the American indoor mile record?

Tennis player Alexander Bublik makes headlines on the court...for his mid-match temper tantrum.

Speaking of tennis...are there any significant career retirements to watch for this year?

Peruvian Eduardo Romay is up for the challenge of Indian club volleyball's 15-point system.

Will Luxembourg gymnast Quentin Bradenburger have as successful a senior experience as in juniors?

Never mind: Short track speed skating star Arianna Fontana looks set to remain with Team Italy.

She may not be at USA Basketball's current training camp, but star Brittney Griner is staying connected.

Basketball superstar and Olympic champion LeBron James makes a young fan's night.

Can swimmer Hwang Sun-woo lead Team Korea to a landmark relay gold at the Asian Games this year?

"I'm a completely different person than I was at the start of 2022." Swimmer Daniel Jervis is the 'leader of Attitude's 'Attitude 101' sport category.

A sober Olympic champion diver Matthew Mitcham makes an adult career pivot.

Snowboarders Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Mark McMorris are Slush Magazine's 2022 'Riders of the Year'.

More snowboarding as FIS​ looks at the success of social media for Team Austria's athletes.

BMX star Logan Martin pens a new children's book, Logan's Big Move.

Speaking of books...what does figure skater Nathan Chen's One Jump At A Time and Wei Skates On say about his perspective on his own journey?

And speaking of Team USA figure skaters...Isabeau Levito chats with Olympics.com on her rise in the sport: "It doesn't feel like real life".

Two weekends of world championship skateboarding concluded today in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, a rescheduled event that 
was originally planned for the fall of 2022 in Rio de Janeiro - hence the maintained moniker of '2022' in the branding.

More than 450 skaters had been expected from across the globe, including from nations such as Zambia and Mozambique, at the new Aljada Skate Park - the largest skate park in the Middle East, and one designed in part by Olympian Keegan Palmer.

Competition in men's and women's street disciplines was held the first week (January 29 through February 5), with park disciplines for men and women the following week through February 12.

These 2022 World Championships also served as a key qualifier for the Paris 2024 Games, with competitors earning the opportunity to secure vital ranking points toward the next Summer Olympics.

Congrats to the four 2022 world champions from Sharjah! Olympics.com has coverage of the street and park events. And, results and coverage can also be found at World Skate Skateboarding's Facebook page and Instagram page.

Bill Russell: Legend
A Quick TV Review

"But the contribution I'd like to make as a person, to my kids and to little Black kids all over the world is to make life better so their ambitions aren't stilted when they face the world."
-Bill Russell, in memoirs reflecting on the platform basketball provided him

Netflix's latest documentary shines a deserved light on one of the National Basketball Association's icons, Bill Russell. As his quote above indicates, Russell certainly viewed himself as more than a player, and as a man positioned to make a visible mark beyond the basketball court. Bill Russell: Legend, the title, neatly sums up his legacy. And, Bill Russell, the documentary, neatly sums up his career and landmark impact.

Young NBA fans today may not appreciate the difficulties Black players had faced in the league's early days, often mirroring the state of society at the time. Bill Russell takes us through his start in Jim Crow-life in Louisiana to the University of San Francisco, to his career as a Boston Celtic. Throughout, Russell maintained a deep sense of integrity and presence despite multiple and consistent instances of race-based disrespect. Reinforcing that personal stature is the point of Bill Russell, as well as the reason the man is a legend beyond his 11 championship rings.

And that personal stature is why a cavalcade of fellow NBA stars appear in testimony, including fellow Olympians Oscar Robertson and Jerry West (Rome 1960), Bill Bradley (Tokyo 1964), Larry Bird and "Magic" Johnson (Barcelona 1992), Shaquille O'Neal (Atlanta 1996), Steve Smith (Sydney 2000), Chris Paul (Beijing 2008, London 2012), and Jayson Tatum (Tokyo 2020).

Russell's vision of proactive defense and of basketball as art powered his game. And his vision of how to impact a wider public through the game - inspired by life around him - powered that stature. Bill Russell gives him due credit.

A quibble, though...this one Olympic fan would have appreciated more attention to Russell's experience with Team USA at Melbourne 1956 than a too-brief mention...especially considering the gold medal was perhaps his "most prized profession".