Briton Richards makes cross-country history
Great Britain's Evie Richards has become the most successful female short track cross-country rider ever with victory in Brazil.The 28-year-old won the second round of the UCI Cross-country Short Track (XCC) World Cup in Araxa, a week after she finished first in the opening round.The victory was the reigning world champion's seventh in the format, overtaking Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot as the most successful elite woman in XCC history.Richards was pushed until the end by Switzerland's Nicole Koller and Sweden's Jenny Rissveds, but kept them at bay during a sprint for the line."I think when you're world champion and you're leading the series, there's a lot of pressure, so I was really nervous before," she said.
"We had a bit of a rough plan, but nothing changes too much. You've just got to [think] on your feet and depending on how the race goes, you can't really have a plan."American Christopher Blevins took the men's elite race, having also won the first round a week ago.Nove Mesto na Morave in the Czech Republic will host the next round from 23-25 May.
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South Wales Guardian
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'We've been fantastic with set-plays but if you look at the goals we conceded on Friday they didn't do what we've been doing over the last four or five years — since Austin MacPhee came in and set us a way of defending set plays. 'The first one comes from a clearance on Cieran's weaker foot that doesn't quite clear the boy in midfield. 'When the ball comes back, we allow the striker to turn and shoot, and nobody was saving that shot because it was a great finish. That's just the way it is. 'The second goal was a ball into the box that we simply didn't deal with inside the six-yard box. 'If you say that Scotland will touch the ball four or five times without any Iceland players touching the ball and it ends up in the back of the net, that has to be a disappointment. 'And at the third goal, the line didn't drop properly and it didn't drop cohesively. 'Those are things that we've always worked on and normally we're very good at, so that was disappointing. 'We've been fantastic at defending set plays for a number of years. They're just 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 per cent down on their concentration, on their application of what we ask them to do. 'And when that happens it shows you can be punished. Scott McTominay's career Born in Lancaster on December 8, 1996 Joined the Manchester United youth system aged five and signed his first professional contract in 2013 Made his Premier League debut against Arsenal in May 2017 McTominay went on to win Carabao Cup and FA Cup with Man Utd Made 255 appearances and scored 29 goals for the Red Devils McTominay joined Napoli in August for £25.7million Born in England, he qualified for Scotland through his dad who's from Helensburgh McTominay was called-up by Scotland in March 2018 and has gone on to become a huge Hampden favourite He was part of the squad at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 He won his 50th cap while playing against Germany at Euro 2024 McTominay has scored some huge goals for Scotland, including an injury-time winner against Israel and his famous double in the 2-0 win over Spain in Glasgow 'It's very difficult for me to tell because I can't get inside their heads. 'Obviously we've touched on what happened with Cieran. 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