Top athletes like Laura Muir and Charlie Da’Vall Grice have been training in St Moritz this month and after visiting the Swiss mountain resort it is easy to see why

High in the Swiss Alps lies the picturesque town of St Moritz. A glitzy ski resort in the winter, it transforms into a ‘Monaco of the mountains’ in summer. Situated 1850m above sea level, the thin air also means it has become a mecca for endurance athletes.

Rolling trails weave around the outskirts of the town and encircle the crystal clear lakes. Geography and meteorology combine to ensure it receives an average of 322 days of sunshine each year. At its centrepiece is a four-lane running track which is used by many of the world’s greatest endurance athletes during the summer months.

When AW visited St Moritz this month top British athletes such as Muir and Grice, Kyle Langford, Jemma Reekie, Ellie Baker and Elliot Giles were there training, but they were far from alone. Polish middle-distance men Adam Kszczot and Marcin Lewandowski were also in St Moritz, while the Ingebrigtsen brothers from Norway had visited a few days earlier to train in the clean air and to give their red blood cells a boost at the altitude.

The town has staged the Winter Olympics twice before – in 1928 and 1948 – but it is also a sanctuary for endurance athletes with Summer Games ambitions. It was first used extensively by runners in the build-up to the Mexico Olympics of 1968 and over the years athletes like Seb Coe have used it as a mid-summer training base. Training in the oxygen-thin air, of course, encourages the body to produce more oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

“This is definitely the best summer place I’ve been to,” says Grice, a veteran of altitude training camps and an athlete who is featured in the latest (Aug 8) issue of AW. “We usually go to Font Romeu but the track has been out of action recently. But when you come here to St Moritz you don’t really want to go anywhere else. It’s just amazing.

“There’s a lot more driving involved when I go to Font Romeu,” he adds. “You have to drive 20 minutes down to the lake to run. But here everything is right next to where I stay.

“I live 200 metres away from the track. There are so many athletes here that you can train with and get to meet and it’s just a really beautiful place. The only downside is that it’s expensive.”

It is also arguably a little high to do high-quality track sessions, so athletes like Grice often travel an hour or so down the mountain to a track at Chiavenna, just over the Swiss-Italian border, where the altitude is not quite as harsh and intense workouts are more achievable. Other athletes prefer to live at even higher heights. Muir, for example, is this month toying with staying just outside St Moritz at a height of nearer 2400m for maximum gains while sleeping, whereas some even take an altitude tent to their altitude training camp so they can train high and sleep even higher.

As a reporter for AW I’ve experienced altitude camps in Iten, Ethiopia and Font Romeu. They are all impressive and beautiful in their own way but St Moritz is not quite as spartan as these other venues.

Training at altitude is not a guaranteed route to athletics excellence. Talent, hard work and ability to avoid injuries are more important. But if you are already maximising the key areas then training in a place like St Moritz can definitely give you an edge.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal beat Fabio Fognini to move into the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

World number two Nadal, seeking a fifth Rogers Cup title, started slowly before dispatching the Italian 2-6 6-1 6-2.

The Spaniard faces Gael Monfils or Roberto Bautista Agut, who will return on Saturday to complete their rain delayed match - Monfils was 30-0 up in the first game when play was suspended.

Russian pair Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov meet in the other semi-final.

"It was an up-and-down match, but a positive match for me because I played better and better as it went on," Nadal said.

Eighth-seeded Medvedev breezed past Austrian second seed Dominic Thiem 6-3 6-1 while Khachanov overcame German number three seed Alexander Zverev 6-3 6-3.

RANSOMVILLE, N.Y. – Chad Brachmann took advantage of the misfortune of some of his competitors to pick up his second-straight Krown Undercoating 358 Modified win on Friday night at Ransomville Speedway.

Erick Rudolph and Mike Bowman led a stacked field of Krown Undercoating 358 Modifieds to the green flag. Rudolph quickly pulled away from the pack with Bowman settling into second and points leader Mat Williamson in third. Williamson started the event with a slim two-point advantage over Rudolph.

Rudolph was in control of the field as he caught lapped traffic by lap 9 of the 30-lap feature. It looked like he was on his way to a dominating win until lap 12 when Jesse Cotriss hit a slick area on the inside of turn one and spun out just in front of Rudolph. The leader had nowhere to go and made contact with Cotriss. Bowman, Williamson and the lapped car of Steve Lewis, Jr. also piled up to bring out the yellow flag for the first time in the event.

With the top three collected in the incident, the fourth place running Brachmann assumed the lead followed by Gary Lindberg, Greg Martin, Ryan Susice and Pete Bicknell. Rudolph and Williamson tangled again on the ensuing restart when the pair locked nerf bars in turn two. Williamson sustained further damage and had to be towed to the pits.

The race resumed with Brachmann and Susice battling for the lead. Susice made several attempts to pull off a slide job pass on Brachmann, but Brachmann carried enough speed on the outside to hang on to the top position.

The final stretch run to the finish saw some intense battles inside the top five. Lindberg, Susice and Rick Richner took turns in the runner-up position. Rudolph was working his way back to the front after his earlier incidents. He got past Susice, Bowman as he looked to try and maximize his points with Williamson in the pits.

Brachmann cruised for the final laps to pick up his second-straight win. The victory moved him to third in the Modified points standings. Lindberg finished second for his best finish of the season at Ransomville.

Rudolph rallied to finish third. He took the points lead from Williamson, and now has a 23-point lead with three points races remaining. Richner and Bowman rounded out the top five.

In support division action, Brett Senek scored his fourth win of the season in the Investor’s Service Sportsman. Pete Stefanski earned his third win in the Ki-Po Chevrolet Street Stocks. In the Ransomville/Genesee Mini Stock Series event, Chris Leone picked up the win. Sam Junkin became the latest first time winner in the Stevenson’s Hardware Novice Sportsman.

MT. PLEASANT, Mich. – Will Krup bested nearly 40 American Ethanol Modified Tour competitors to win the fourth annual Tommie Bauer Memorial Friday night at Mount Pleasant Speedway.

Krup and Kyle Moore led the field to the green flag, with Moore jumping out to the early lead. The race was quickly slowed when Joey Burch spun in turn four on the opening lap, collecting Brian Brindley and Luke Hubbell. The incident would mark the end of the race for Hubbell.

On the restart, Moore jumped back out to the lead with Joe Rokos and Krup in tow.  The three would race away from a fierce field of drivers looking for a chance to race up to the lead.  Among the cluster of cars was two time champion Jacob Poel, who slowed slightly coming off the fourth corner, making contact with Brent Banning down the main straightaway.

In turn one it was clear something was a miss on Poel’s car, and he was off the pace by the exit of turn two.  Poel slowed right in the groove, getting hit from behind by Jeffrey Erickson Jr., setting off a chain reaction accident involving Caleb Kill and Brindley.

During the ensuing restart, Krup began his clear march to the point, as he dismissed Rokos in two laps before reeling in Moore.  A multi-lap side-by-side battle ended with Krup at the front of the field, while Moore began a slide backward, being passed by Rokos, Kody Weisner and Collin Thirlby.

Despite the best efforts of the rest of the field, Krup would keep his machine at the front of the field, picking up the win by over four seconds ahead of Rokos.  Mielke raced his way to the podium, coming up just four-one-hundredths of a second short on taking second place. Weisner and Thirlby rounded out the top five.

The finish:

Will Krup, Joe Rokos, David Mielke, Kody Weisner, Collin Thirlby, Kyle Moore, Mark Beard, Chad Bauer, John McClue, Joey Burch, Dave Baker, Brent Banning, Brian Speelman, Garrett Ron, Caleb Kill, Austin Harnick, Jeffery Erickson Jr., Steve Fairbanks, Jamie Lomax, Jacob Poel, Brian Brindley, Nathon Loney, Luke Hubbell.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Kerry Madsen led all 25 laps of Friday night’s start-and-stop FVP Hard Knox feature on night three of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway.

Madsen’s payoff for the night’s work was the 21^ststarting position in Saturday night’s A-main. Logan Schuchart, Shane Stewart and Dominic Scelzi finished second through fourth and earned starting positions 22 through 24 for Saturday.

Madsen started outside the front row and survived multiple restarts in a race that was slowed by five yellow flags and one red.

“It’s like someone is throwing a bomb at you, but I felt like I was getting good restarts,” Madsen said after his 23^rdcareer victory at the historic half-mile oval. “I was actually liking the clean air. I want to thank the boys for working so hard.”

All four drivers said they were relieved when the race was over and they’d qualified for Saturday night.

“When that checkered flag comes out I can’t tell you what a relief it is because it is such a big race and everyone puts so much effort into this race,” Madsen explained. “If your Nationals doesn’t go according to planned there are a lot of sad faces back in the pit area.”

For Schuchart, who won this race last year, it was the third straight year he’s transferred through the Hard Knox program. His team went back to an old race car after struggling on Wednesday night.

“It’s stress relief,” Schuchart said. “This is the biggest week of the year and there are a lot of good cars. A lot of good cars that aren’t in the A main. I’d like to do it on my qualifying night one year, but I’m happy to do it this way for the third year in a row.”

Stewart finished third one night after setting fast time and then destroying his CJB Motorsports entry on the first lap of his heat race.

“We were completely out of fuel,” Stewart said. “We were lucky to finish that race. This is a huge relief. When you come here your goal is to sit on the front row for the A main. People like myself and a few others had a mishap on their qualifying night.”

Last year on Friday night, Scelzi won the SPEED SPORT Challenge to earn the 25^thstarting spot in the A-main. With that race no longer part of the program, the California native found a new way to make Knoxville’s main event.

“Winning the SPEED SPORT last year was the best moment of my life last year,” Scelzi said. “To make it tonight was just as hard. I’m excited to be in again. Can’t go backward. It’s two Nationals I never thought I was going to make.”

Austin McCarl finished fifth.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — Landon Atkinson scored his first USMTS victory Friday night at the I-94 Raceway during the fifth annual Casey’s General Stores Summersota Nationals presented by QA1.
“This is something right out of a dream,” said the 22-year-old from Little Falls, Minn. “Last night I was sitting at home doing tires and I was thinking to myself ‘What if… What if I just show up, put it out there and I win the bitch?’ And I did.”
Atkinson was impressive from beginning to end. He made a last-lap pass of Zack VanderBeek to win his heat race and lead all drivers in passing points, and then redrew the pole position.
Sitting alongside Atkinson on the front row for the the start of the 40-lap main event was current USMTS national points leader Rodney Sanders who was seeking his third straight victory and 93rd of his career.
Despite the pressure, Atkinson was up to task and led every lap en route to a $2,500 payday and a place in the USMTS record books.
“There is nothing like it. These guys are the best in the country and there’s a reason why they do what they do. Anytime you get a chance to run with these guys-just run with them let alone run up front-is always fun.
“I think the biggest thing is just make sure you know he’s just another guy. Although it is Rodney Sanders-and he’s probably one of the best modified drivers to ever do it-you can’t really get too psyched out and you just gotta show up and put everything out there. If you don’t win, you don’t win, but sometimes you get the right end of the stick.”
It looked like a quick caution on lap 2 would be the only slowdown of the night, but when Ryan Gustin slowed and was unable to get his Spike Hardcore Energy machine completely off the racetrack, the yellow flag waved one last time with just four laps to go.
It wiped out a six-car-length lead Atkinson enjoyed over Sanders, but it was Dereck Ramirez making a bid for the top spot on the restart. Despite his best efforts, Ramirez came up short and had to settle for the second-place ribbon for the fourth straight event.
VanderBeek also slipped past Sanders in the closing laps while Blake Jegtvig charged from 15th on the grid to finish fifth and earned the FK Rod Ends Hard Charger Award.

The finish:

Landon Atkinson, Dereck Ramirez, Zack VanderBeek, Rodney Sanders, Blake Jegtvig, Hunter Marriott, Brady Gerdes, Terry Phillips, Austin Arneson, Travis Saurer, Jason Thoennes, Adam Kates, Randy Klein, Cory Jones, McKenzie Gerdes, Blake Boelens, Ryan Gierke, Ryan Gustin, Paul Niznik, Jake Timm, Lance Mari, Mike Striegel, Tyler Peterson, Brent Dutenhoffer.

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Kerry Madsen led all 25 laps en route to the Friday night Hard Knox victory at Knoxville Raceway. The win guarantees Madsen a starting spot in Saturday’s 59th Knoxville Nationals main event.

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LOS ANGELES -- Carson Kelly hit a tying two-run homer in the ninth inning and a tiebreaking solo shot in the 11th, propelling the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 3-2 comeback victory over the major league-leading Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

Both benches cleared after the final out when Archie Bradley shouted and pointed at the Dodgers' dugout after completing his third save.

Bradley had thrown an inside pitch to A.J. Pollock that appeared to hit the slugger on the hand, but instead popped into the air and was caught for the first out of the 11th.

Video review confirmed the out, but Pollock and Bradley exchanged gestures as Pollock left the field. The hostilities resumed after the final out, with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts getting particularly upset with someone on the Diamondbacks' side, but no punches were thrown.

"Typically, I'm very political with umpiring. But they missed it," Roberts said. "I mean, that's just a fact. You have a system in place to get it right, and it was clearly wrong, and that impacted the game. And very rarely do I say that a play impacts the game. But first and second base, nobody out, versus first base with one out, changed the complexion of that inning, clearly. Anyone who knows the game understands that."

Pollock said he was surprised that the out was confirmed upon review.

"If we got replay, it's a pretty main part of the game," he said. "You should have some cameras on the guy at home. They didn't get it. I don't know how they don't get that, but they didn't."

Roberts also took exception to Bradley gesturing to Pollock both after the video review and after the final out.

"You got a pitcher shooing our guy off, where A.J. does nothing but play the game the right way," Roberts said. "If there's a player that takes more time than a pitcher thinks, A.J.'s not that guy. So our guys took offense to that. And after you get the save, you finish the game and then you look into our dugout and pop off. Unnecessary."

Andrew Chafin (2-2) pitched the 10th for the Diamondbacks, who ended the Dodgers' five-game winning streak and earned their fifth victory in six games thanks to Kelly's heroics.

After Kelly drove his tying shot to right off Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, the catcher improbably added a solo shot to left against Julio Urias (4-3) for the first multi-homer game of his career.

Kelly had 14 previous career homers over four big league seasons, but he has been a scourge at Dodger Stadium this year.

He also hit a ninth-inning, go-ahead homer off Jansen on July 3 during an extra-inning win by the Dodgers. Kelly even delivered a pinch-hit RBI double in the 13th inning back on March 29.

Los Angeles managed no hits and one baserunner after the third inning while losing for just the second time in 10 games. Joc Pederson drew a leadoff walk in the 11th, but the Dodgers failed to mount a rally for a second straight walk-off victory.

Walker Buehler pitched six scoreless innings of four-hit ball and rookie Will Smith had an early RBI double for the Dodgers, who were clinging to a 2-0 lead until Jansen blew his fifth save of the season.

Robbie Ray recorded seven strikeouts during six mostly dominant innings of two-hit ball for Arizona, but his teammates couldn't score until the ninth.

Kelly hit his 15th homer after Nick Ahmed's leadoff single off Jansen, the Dodgers' up-and-down veteran reliever. Kelly's shot also extended the Diamondbacks' streak to 16 consecutive games with a homer at Dodger Stadium, the longest by an opponent in the building's history.

Other than the third, Ray was unhittable. The Dodgers went 0 for 15, struck out six times and only put six balls in play during their other five innings against him.

3 MILLION IN BLUE

The Dodgers topped 3 million fans at the earliest point in a season in franchise history when they drew 49,538 to their 62nd home game. The Dodgers have drawn 3 million fans in eight consecutive seasons.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Diamondbacks: RHP Luke Weaver threw 10 pitches in his first bullpen session since injuring his elbow in May.

Dodgers: OF Alex Verdugo is likely to be out for two weeks with a strained oblique muscle, Roberts said. ... Newly acquired infielder Jedd Gyorko will need a week of rehab at Triple-A Oklahoma City soon, but is likely to join the Dodgers this month.

UP NEXT

Kenta Maeda (7-8, 4.37 ERA) comes off his worst start of the season to take another shot at his first victory since May for the Dodgers. Arizona sends out rookie Alex Young (4-1, 2.60 ERA) for his seventh career start.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says he was stopped in Connecticut and forced from his vehicle at gunpoint by as many as nine police officers as he was leaving a gas station Friday.

Cashman, 52, said in an interview with the New York Post that his white Jeep Wrangler had been stolen and returned to him but that the New York City police had not cleared the vehicle from its stolen-car database.

"I had a welcoming committee descend upon me as I pulled out of that gas station," Cashman said.

Cashman was complimentary of the Connecticut officers and said he wasn't completely surprised by the circumstances thanks to a call he got from the Westchester County police in New York about his stolen car.

"They're clearly very professional and trained and they asked me to turn my car off, exit the vehicle, walk backwards towards them ... they were executing their duty," Cashman told the Post.

Cashman was driving to Norwalk, Connecticut, so his car could be processed for evidence there when he was stopped in Darien, he said.

"They searched my car, asked for my ID," he said. "I explained what was going on."

DELEVAN, N.Y. – Freedom Motorsports Park returned to its regular racing program Friday night with Yorkshire Battery, Sahlen’s and Pepsi presenting the rescheduled Pete Loretto Memorial for the super late models, along with the regular racing divisions.

The Pete Loretto Memorial began with Dutch Davies grabbing the lead from Bryce Davis. Max Blair moved up to second and dodged a spinning Davies on lap 10 take the top spot with Chub Frank moving into second.

Dave Scott had been charging through the field and found himself in third at the halfway point.  On a lap 14 restart, Scott passed Frank for second and set sail after leader Blair.

Frank and Scott traded second back and forth as Blair continued to lead, holding off repeated challenges to take the win and the $2,500 payday.  Following Blair, Frank and Scott across the line were Mike Wonderling and Davis.

In the DIRTcar Sportsman Modified feature, Ray Bliss Jr. jumped into the lead at the start with Brad Rouse slotting into the second spot. The duo battled until Rouse took the top spot on lap nine.

Bliss fell into a battle with Josh Wicox in the second half of the race as Rouse pulled away.  At the checkers, Rouse scored another win, with Wicox making a pass on turn three of lap 18 to take second from Bliss.  Sam Hoxie and Dennis Cummings completed the top five.

The Street Stocks saw Ted Mascho take the early lead until a yellow for Jesse Qutermos bunched the field for a restart.  A near pileup on lap seven took Tom Kemp out of contention and put Kurt Stebbins into the lead with Bill Taylor behind him.

Stebbins held off Taylor over a number of restarts, the last coming on lap 18.  Stebbins held off Taylor’s last lap charge to take the win by a wheel. Mascho, Randy Taylor and Bill Demick rounded out the top five.

In the Mini Stock feature, a wild battle up front between Duane Powers, Brad Whiteside, and Matt Mowrey started things off, with Whiteisde able to take the lead a few laps in.

Powers and Whiteside battled hard over the final laps, with Powers getting to the inside of Whiteside coming off the final corner and taking the win by less than half a car length. Andy Shumaker, Matt Mowrey and D.J. Williams rounded out the top five.