The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will debut a new sport next month: Ski mountaineering, which combines uphill sprinting (on boots and on skis) and downhill skiing. Although the sport on the global stage is relatively new, it does have roots dating to the late 19th century. Backcountry winter sports have grown in popularity and there is anecdotal evidence that they saw a surge in participation during the pandemic.

Something to know about skimo: It's fast, with sprint races lasting about 3 minutes.

Curling dates to the 1700s and was among the handful of sports at the first Winter Olympics in 1924.

It didn't return until the 1998 Games with both men's and women's competition. It has grown in popularity and size: Curling will be the first sport to open competition, two days before the opening ceremony for the Milan Cortina Games in February.

Coco Gauff dropped a post on social media just before she started her United Cup singles match Monday, hoping to add context to her recent comments about American tennis fans.

The issue was clearly a distraction and the match didn't go well for the No. 4-ranked Guaff, who lost the first five games and struggled in a 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-0 loss to No. 42 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in Perth.

Ruben Amorim is out as coach of Manchester United after just 14 months in the job.

The Premier League club announced on Monday that Amorim's reign was over - with the decision coming a day after he made provocative comments about his position following a 1-1 draw with Leeds.

Erling Haaland and Manchester City were frustrated in a 0-0 draw at Sunderland on Thursday, leaving Arsenal with a four-point lead at the halfway stage of the Premier League season.

Liverpool couldn't manage a goal against a promoted team, either, laboring to a 0-0 draw against Leeds at Anfield.

The Indomitable Lions, Bafana Bafana and the Super Eagles have all been competing at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Cameroon, South Africa and Nigeria are just three of the 24 teams taking part in the four-week tournament in Morocco. All have nicknames carried proudly by their supporters, though some have been more successful than others.

The betting scandal in Turkish football deepened on Friday as 29 people, including 14 footballers, were arrested, the Istanbul public prosecutor's office announced.

Their arrests follow the incarceration of six referees and the president of top tier club Eyupspor at the beginning of November.

Mohamed Salah got Egypt off to a winning start in the Africa Cup of Nations by scoring late for 2-1 against Zimbabwe on Monday.

Salah captained the team in his first start for nearly a month and fired inside the bottom corner in stoppage time to spare Egypt embarrassment against a team ranked 129th in the world.

Beleaguered Fiorentina finally got its first Serie A win of the season after its opponent played nearly the entire match with 10 men.

Fiorentina eased to a 5-1 victory at home to Udinese, which had goalkeeper Maduka Okoye sent off with less than eight minutes on the clock.

Raphinha and Lamine Yamal celebrated each other's goals with a raised arm and hands linked as Barcelona won 2-0 at 10-man Villarreal on Sunday to stay four points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.

Raphinha won a penalty after being fouled when cutting inside. He took a slow run-up and sent goalkeeper Luiz Junior the wrong way in the 12th minute for his seventh league goal of the season and Barca's 50th.