WORLD OF SPORTS
Formula 1.
French Grand Prix: Max Verstappen wins from Lewis Hamilton after Charles Leclerc crashes out.
Charles Leclerc gifted Max Verstappen victory and a huge advantage in the World Championship by crashing out of the lead of the French Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver, in need of a good result to keep his title hopes alive, lost control at the Beausset right-hander two laps after the Red Bull had made its first pit stop. Verstappen's seventh win in 12 races gives him a 63-point lead with 10 races to go. Lewis Hamilton, on his 300th Formula 1 start, took a strong second, and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell third and the final podium place after a frantic and bad-tempered fight with Red Bull's Sergio Perez in the closing laps. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was fifth, questioning his team's decision to make a second pit stop just after he had taken third place from Perez with 11 laps to go. "The car was quick today - of course, unlucky for Charles, I hope he is OK - but I just did my race and looked after the tyres," said Verstappen. "We still have a bit of work to do, over a single lap especially, so we just have to keep on working."
Athletics.
World Athletics Championships: Armand Duplantis breaks pole vault world record.
Sweden's Armand Duplantis added a new world record to his pole vault world title, clearing 6.21m in a virtuoso performance in Oregon. The 22-year-old Olympic champion had gold secured with a first-time clearance of 6m. None of his rivals managed higher than 5.94m. Duplantist his own world record of 6.20m - set in Belgrade in March - at the second attempt. It is the fifth time he has broken the world record. His success marked the first time the record has been set outdoors since the legendary Sergey Bubka cleared 6.14m for the first time in Sestriere, Italy, in 1994. Duplantis, who grew up in Louisiana, celebrated with a front flip in front of a packed crowd, kissed girlfriend Desire Inglander, before being embraced by his father Greg, a former top-class pole vaulter himself. "It was something that I really wanted and needed," Duplantis said to BBC World Service of the one major medal missing from his collection. "I was so caught up in trying to win and capture the gold that honestly the world record thing was just an afterthought. "It didn't cross my mind during the competition because I just wanted to win so badly. "To be able to do it in the fashion I did is very special. It is something I am very grateful for." Asked how high he could potentially push the record, Duplantis added "there is definitely more". "It doesn't feel like I have maxed out what I can do yet. As long as I feel I can keep pushing boundaries, the motivation is still going to be there. Plus I am having fun doing it," he said.
