Stellar field features British record-holder plus Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, world champion Dafne Schippers and Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo

Dina Asher-Smith is getting ready to run ‘out of her skin’.

Returning to the scene of what she describes as one of her favourite ever races, which ended with her almost being sick on her agent’s shoes, the triple European champion will be giving it her all once again as she forms part of another fantastic field at the Müller Grand Prix in Birmingham.

That 200m in 2015 saw Asher-Smith race American sprint great Allyson Felix for the first time and her efforts were rewarded with a then PB of 22.30 as she finished third, just one hundredth of a second behind both Jeneba Tarmoh and Felix.

Since then the Briton has improved the national record to 21.89, while her fine recent form has seen her dip under 11 seconds for each of her 100m races and win two Diamond League 200m tests.

“One of my favourite races that I ever ran actually was in Birmingham when I first raced Allyson (Felix),” Asher-Smith says with a smile. “I ran a massive PB out of nowhere and I almost threw up on Ricky’s shoes afterwards – I was so dead!

“I remember running out of my skin here before and obviously I got rewarded with a massive PB so I’m coming to run out of my skin again tomorrow.

“I’m naturally quite a chilled and quiet person but I’m fiercely competitive so wherever I step on the track, every time I step on the line I step on there to win.”

Asher-Smith’s aim is to take on both the 100m and 200m at the IAAF World Championships in Doha and Sunday’s race in Birmingham will certainly provide a taste of what could be to come.

To her left will be multiple Olympic and world gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and to her right, Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo.

Joining them on the start line will be two-time world champion Dafne Schippers, current world No.2 Blessing Okagbare, world silver medallist Marie-Josée Ta Lou and US champion Dezerea Bryant.

“It’s going to be such a good race tomorrow. The field is packed,” adds Asher-Smith. “I’ve been fortunate to be racing around the Diamond League circuit this year with so many fantastically talented and incredible women and this race is obviously no different.

“I’m so glad to be running at home – I love running in the UK. I’m really happy that I’m getting to run in the UK later in the season, closer to the world championships. It’s not quite a final goodbye before Worlds but it’s as close as we can kind of get to that.

“I’ve had a good season so far. I don’t think I’ve had a 100m or 200m record like this before a major championships ever before. I’m just hoping that I stay healthy and fast and that the world championships will be a good one for me.”

.@dinaashersmith looks ahead to tomorrow’s stacked @BirminghamDL women’s 200m #BirminghamDL pic.twitter.com/MsqhNNX4oH

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) August 17, 2019

The fact that the Blackheath & Bromley sprinter is yet to peak brings a smile to the face of her coach, John Blackie, she says.

“Just to be in this position and to have opened up so quickly and still be in shape, still be fit, still be healthy and still be focused, I’m definitely taking that as a blessing,” she explains.

“After 2017, breaking my foot and then making the world champs, that taught me a lot about myself. I don’t take my own health and my body for granted. The fact that I’ve been able to stay under 11 seconds (for 100m) is great – I really want to stay sub-11.

“If next week (at the British Championships) there’s torrential rain and a headwind, I’ll be fuming, but I’ll still be going for it!”

Asked whether a win on Sunday is a real statement of intent ahead of the world championships, she replies: “Every race is a statement of intent but in all honesty, whoever wins tomorrow, it just means they are the best tomorrow. When it comes to the world championships, it’s a different kettle of fish.”

That sentiment was echoed by Fraser-Pryce.

“You can rack up a lot of wins on the circuit but when it all matters is at the world championships and that’s where my mind and my focus is,” the Jamaican told media at the pre-event press conference.

“Racing with talented athletes like Dina and Shaunae is definitely something that you can look forward to for the world championships, so there’s no surprises when you get there.”

.@realshellyannfp talks about her strong season so far and road to @IAAFDoha2019 pic.twitter.com/opwArG7DMc

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) August 17, 2019

ALIQUIPPA, Pa. – Tim Shaffer and his crew chief Cody Jacobs have parted ways with Demyan-Rudzik Racing, effective immediately.

Demyan-Rudzik Racing made the announcement via the team’s official Twitter account early Friday afternoon.

DR Racing and Tim Shaffer along with Cody Jacobs have mutually decided to split ways. We want to thank them for the last couple years of racing and wish them both the best in their futures.

— Demyan-Rudzik Racing (@DR_Racing) August 16, 2019

Shaffer joined Demyan-Rudzik Racing in 2016 and has scored multiple wins with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions. He also earned a $100,000 payday last year for winning the Sprint Car World Championship at Mansfield (Ohio) Motor Speedway.

The four-time All Star champion and winner of the 50th Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway has earned four wins this year aboard the No. 49x Demyan-Rudzik Racing, most recently at Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania against the World of Outlaws.

Shaffer’s last race with Demyan-Rudzik Racing was the 59th NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals, where he finished 21st in the 50-lap main event last Saturday night.

When reached by phone Friday afternoon, Shaffer said he was informed of the team’s decision to part ways Friday morning.

“It was news to me at about 10 o’clock this morning,” Shaffer said. “They put in there where both agreed to part ways. Well, they agreed to part their way. I didn’t know nothing about it 10 o’clock this morning.

“It was a great four years or whatever we had. We worked so hard to build a team to be very competitive. We could go anywhere and race with anybody and go win. I thought that was pretty special. For it to just fall apart like this, I don’t understand.”

The suddenness of his departure from Demyan-Rudzik Racing leaves Shaffer unsure of his next move. With so few quality sprint car rides available, Shaffer said finding a new ride will be easier said than done.

“There are very few out there. That’s the problem now a days,” Shaffer said. “We don’t have the owners and teams out there like we use to. The teams we do have out there, these younger guys come in with money. I’m just old school. I don’t have that. It is what it is. Not sure what I’m going to do.”

Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho has been ruled out for Friday's La Liga opener with sources confirming to ESPN FC that the club is in advanced negotiations with Bayern Munich about a loan deal for the Brazil international.

Coutinho, who Barcelona has been looking to offload this summer after a disappointing year-and-a-half at the club, was set to be part of the squad to face Athletic Bilbao but was dropped about an hour before kickoff as a deal to the German champs inches closer.

More to follow...

Lord's day two, evening, 2009. The Oval, day two, afternoon, 2009. Lord's, day two, afternoon, 2013. Durham, day four, evening, 2013. Edgbaston, day one, afternoon, 2015. Trent Bridge, day one, morning, 2015.

Just six sessions over 10 years, but together they have been enough to more or less hand England the Ashes on three consecutive tours. Each time Australia suffered a cataclysmic batting collapse of at least six wickets in a session that either set-up or sealed a match for England, generally when clouds and pitch provided assistance for the hosts.

To that catalogue it would have been so easy to add Lord's day three, morning, 2019. Clouds overhead, rain in the air preparing to fall for the rest of the day, a pitch that had sweated under its overnight covers. These were conditions made to order for England, and it was a marked departure from the aforementioned litany that saw Australia lose only three wickets in the two hours of play that were possible prior to lunch.

Far from a strong session for Tim Paine's team, but not disastrous. As their mentor Steve Waugh observed afterwards, the potential for a match-shaping session had been avoided through some doughty batting from Steven Smith and Matthew Wade in particular. "I thought we actually did pretty well," Waugh said. "We talked before the start of the series that the key to doing well over here is to not have a disastrous session.

"You're going to lose some sessions, but just lose them closely, not by big margins. That's exactly what we've talked about and that's what the guys did really well. If you lose a couple of quick wickets there, the potential is to lose five or six or seven and then really the Test matches you're going to struggle to come back from that. We hung in there really well. I thought while Wade is 0 not out he's faced 20-odd balls. Steve Smith again looked pretty self-assured. But that was a crucial partnership, if we lost a couple more wickets there, it could've been a tough session.

For Smith (13 from 40 balls) and Wade (0 from 23 balls) the instinct for survival took precedence over their natural desire to score. "It was difficult conditions," Waugh said. "I was down on ground level and that was good quality bowling - England were very disciplined. There's a bit in the pitch, it's a bit two-paced and a bit off the seam so you have to work really hard. It's the sort of pitch where you've seen everyone who's scored runs in this Test match has scored at less than a run every second ball.

"So it's not a pitch where you're going to go out and dominate, you've got to work really hard and get through the tough periods and hopefully the ball gets soft or the sun comes out and conditions change. You've got to sum up the conditions and I guess from a bowling point of view try to seize the moment. From a batting point of view you've got to stem the blood less and hold steady."

Part of the process of staunching the bleeding was not allowing any to be spilled in the first hour, Cameron Bancroft and Usman Khawaja did exceptionally well to see out the initial exchanges, rotating the strike and showing decent judgment of what to leave. Bancroft's efforts to get his head over the ball were sometimes to exaggerated as to give the impression he might trip directly over it, while Khawaja nailed a pair of back foot drives off Chris Woakes that got the Friday Lord's crowd purring.

However, Bancroft's tendency also to fall across his crease meant England's lbw search looked likely to be rewarded, as it was when Jofra Archer brought one back down the hill to hit him on the back pad. A review from Bancroft only confirmed that the ball was clipping the bails, and England had opened things up. They opened further when Khawaja, having left well earlier in his innings, dabbled at a Woakes delivery that, while well pitched, was fractionally wide enough to also shoulder arms.

Travis Head, so proactive at Edgbaston, immediately found himself cornered, beaten from over the wicket before Stuart Broad reverted to the line around the wicket that has so confounded the South Australian captain over the years. Crease bound in part due to Archer's pace, he was the plumbest of lbws, even if Aleem Dar initially declined the appeal for the hint of a double noise. Wade was given out before the showers arrived, also lbw, but ball-tracking revealed that Stokes angle from wide of the crease had the ball pitching marginally outside leg stump.

All the while Smith left the ball as much as he could, offering his post-leave flourishes with even more spark than usual - as though giving himself little post-delivery rewards for denying a natural instinct to get bat on ball. England, in keeping with Joe Root's assertion before this match that Smith's outlandishness can have a tendency to "put off" bowlers and captains from orthodoxy in their plans, stuck more rigorously to the region just outside the off stump and if they didn't dismiss Smith, made it far harder for him to score.

ALSO READ: Must ignore Smith's twitches and stick to plans - Root

England, too, were left with hope from the session that, while the dam did not burst this day, it may yet do so at Leeds, Manchester or the Oval. "Yeah it will happen," Broad said when asked whether he could see England scooping six or seven wickets in a session this series. "We know in England it's not necessarily the pitch that plays a huge part in that, it's the overhead conditions that you need a bit of luck when you're batting or bowling. Here at Lord's if the sun comes out you can quite easily go and get a wicketless session with the bat.

"But you know if it clouds over and the humidity rises you can get 10 wickets in a session. You need a bit of luck of when those conditions fall, and both bowling attacks I think have got a lot of confidence in taking wickets, and I think this series will be quite intriguing in periods in which batting unit can soak up the pressure and actually get through periods of good bowling, and which batting unit maybe tries to hit their way out and struggles.

"The weather's played a part in this Test match and there's still a chance of a result. I can't see too many draws coming in the next three, I think they'll be result Test matches."

Nevertheless, this was the sort of session in which the teams of 2009, 2013 and 2015 may well have lost six wickets or more. To only lose three meant that the Australians entered the final two days of a rain blighted match with a chance to wriggle their way to a more advantageous position. For the first time in at least four Ashes tours, they ended a potential banana skin of a day without having fallen on their faces.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic weighed in successfully Friday morning for their UFC heavyweight title fight -- both significantly lighter than they did for their first matchup last year.

Cormier weighed in at 236.5 pounds and Miocic hit the scale at 230.5 pounds. The heavyweight title fight maximum is 265 pounds. Cormier will defend his belt against Miocic in the main event of UFC 241 on Saturday night at Honda Center.

In July 2018, Cormier knocked out Miocic in the first round at UFC 226 to win the heavyweight title. Before that bout, Cormier weighed in at 246.5 pounds. In Cormier's subsequent fight against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 last November, he weighed 251.2 pounds -- nearly 15 pounds heavier than he weighed in Friday.

Miocic weighed in at 242.5 pounds at UFC 226. This is the lightest Miocic has ever weighed in for a UFC fight. The previous low was 236 in his 2011 UFC debut.

Cormier (22-1, 1 NC) is a former two-division UFC champion and one of the greatest fighters in the promotion's history. The Northern California resident's lone official loss came against Jon Jones in 2015. Cormier, 40, has said this could be his final career bout.

Miocic (18-3) has not fought since losing to Cormier in July 2018. The Ohio native defended the UFC heavyweight title a division-record three consecutive times before dropping it to Cormier. Miocic, 36, had won six straight prior to UFC 226 and he has beaten the likes of Francis Ngannou, Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem.

The co-main event for UFC 241 is also official. Nate Diaz, in his return fight after three years away, weighed in at 170 pounds for the welterweight contest. His opponent, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, weighed 169.5 pounds.

Yoel Romero, who has had issues making weight in the past, made 184.5 pounds for his middleweight fight with Paulo Costa. The middleweight limit is 186. Costa came in right at 186 pounds. All the other fighters on the UFC 241 card made weight.

A bout between Manny Bermudez and Casey Kenney was originally scheduled for bantamweight, but was moved up to a 140-pound catchweight Thursday night because both had a large weight cut, California State Athletic Commission executive officer Andy Foster told ESPN.

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey has always championed his players and he's gone to a new extreme in praising James Harden.

"It's just factual that James Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan," Morey said on the "Selfmade with Nadeshot" podcast.

Morey acknowledged that people "hate" his take, but explained how the numbers support his statement.

"Based on literally, like you give James Harden the ball and before you're giving up the ball how many points do you generate? Which is how you should measure offense, James Harden is by far No. 1 in NBA history," Morey said on the podcast that was published Thursday.

Harden, the league's MVP for the 2017-18 season and a two-time scoring champion, has seen his points per game average go up every season since 2013-14, culminating with his 36.1 last season.

Jordan, a 10-time scoring champ and five-time MVP, averaged over 30 points for eight of his 15 seasons in the NBA.

Harden gets the statistical edge in advanced metrics. His effective field goal percent, which factors in that 3-pointers are worth more than 2-pointers, stands at 52.5 for his career compared to Jordan's 50.9. Harden's true shooting percentage, which factors in free throws as well, stands at 60.9 percent, while Jordan's was at 56.9.

Harden wins out thanks to the sheer volume of three-pointers he shoots in an era of offense vastly different than Jordan's time. As a result, Morey's point faces obvious criticism that if Jordan played now and shot more than his career average of 1.7 3-point attempts per game then he'd have numbers similar to or better than Harden.

"The counter argument is reasonable," Morey conceded. "They say if you put Michael Jordan on a team now he would do more than James Harden. That's possible. But if you're just saying, 'NBA history, if you give this guy the ball how much does his team score after you give him the ball before the other team gets the ball?' It's James Harden. And I know that makes people mad, but it's literally a fact."

THOMASVILLE, N.C. – PODS Moving & Storage has joined Rick Ware Racing as a sponsor beginning this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.

PODS Moving & Storage will be the primary sponsor on the No. 54 driven by J.J. Yeley in Saturday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

In addition, PODS Moving & Storage will be an associate partner at Rick Ware Racing for the remainder for the season.

“I’m excited to have such a fantastic company join Rick Ware Racing,” said team owner Rick Ware. “I look forward to continuing to grow with PODS, both on the track and through social media and marketing platforms within NASCAR.”

“Whether it’s local or cross-country, at PODS we are passionate about helping our customers move,” said David Redmond, Senior Vice President of Marketing at PODS.  “In celebration of our one millionth long-distance move, we’re excited to sponsor J.J. Yeley and Rick Ware Racing as they move the No. 54 car around the track at the famous Bristol Motor Speedway.”

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Despite rumors about his future, Christopher Bell is remaining mum about his plans for next season and beyond.

Bell, who currently drives for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, is expected to be named the driver of the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series beginning next year.

On Thursday morning, Matt DiBenedetto, the current driver of Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95, confirmed he wouldn’t be returning to the team, further fanning the flame of speculation about Bell’s future.

However, Bell said Thursday afternoon he has no news to report regarding his speculated move to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series next season.

“I’m sure everybody is wondering about 2020, but nothing is official until it comes from me or whatever team,” Bell said. “I have no news to tell you guys right now. We’ll just have to wait for another day.

“Ultimately, like I’ve said time and time again, my future is not really in my hands, so the only thing that I can control is if I can go out there and try and win races and do as good as I can. I have to play the cards how they fall.”

Bell, the three-time and reigning winner of the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, has been on the fast track to NASCAR’s top level for the last few seasons. He made his NASCAR debut in 2015 in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series, winning his first race in his third series start at Eldora (Ohio) Speedway.

He claimed the Truck Series title for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2017 before moving up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2018 for Joe Gibbs Racing. In 62 Xfinity Series starts Bell has won 13 times, including five races this season as he chases the Xfinity Series title.

With Erik Jones expected to ink a contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing to remain in the No. 20 Toyota and Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin not going anywhere anytime soon, the recently announced opening at Leavine Family Racing seems like the only logical place for Bell to land next season.

While that may seem like the most logical choice, Bell continues to maintain that he does not know what car he’ll be driving next year. For now, his goal is to keep winning races as he continues to chase the Xfinity Series title.

“It’s still — all the way up in the air,” Bell said. “There’s a number of different cars that I could drive next year. I mean obviously I could still run the Xfinity Series, I could go to the Cup Series. It’s not in my hands right now. Just have to go out there and try and continue to win races and ultimately that’s the only way I’m going to better myself is if I can win races.”