The European under-20 800m bronze medallist was among a trio of young British record-breakers who made February 1 a day to remember

Like a ‘Super Saturday’ but for the juniors is how Keely Hodgkinson describes the first day of this month as she, together with Tom Keen and Lewis Byng, rewrote the under-20 record books.

Hodgkinson may be aged just 17 but last year’s European under-20 800m bronze medallist speaks and races with a maturity well beyond her years. Her time of 2:01.16 clocked when winning at the Vienna Indoor Classic is clearly still sinking in but it wasn’t unexpected and, after seeing Keen blast to a big British under-20 record in the 1500m, Hodgkinson was inspired to follow suit.

“I was a bit shocked. I knew I was in good shape but I didn’t know whether it would come out or not!” says Hodgkinson, who broke Kirsty Wade’s British indoor under-20 record of 2:02.88 set in 1981 and also improved Aníta Hinriksdóttir’s European indoor mark for the age group by four tenths of a second.

“It took me so long to knock a second off my time last year and then, in my second race of the season, I go and knock two-and-a-half off.

“I had no idea what the records were, I didn’t know what the British record was or the European. I was just going to see where I was at and run as quick as I could.”

The fact that Hodgkinson was feeling under the weather in the lead-up to the race also makes her performance even more impressive.

“I had woken up on the Friday and Saturday with a bit of a cold and I didn’t feel great,” recalls Hodgkinson, who won the European under-18 title in 2018. “The pacemaker went off really quickly, so I stuck back and when I saw the clock at 600m, I was like ‘I’m on for a really good time here!’ So I kicked my hardest to see what came out.

“It was like a ‘Super Saturday’ but for the juniors,” adds the Leigh Harriers athlete, with Byng also having broken a British indoor under-20 record on that day with a 19.18m shot put throw in Loughborough.

“Tom ran before I did and it motivated me because I wasn’t feeling too great and I was like ‘I’ve just watched Tom run this really quick time and he looked so strong’. I thought I may as well go for it and try and do my best.”

After her run she was further inspired by the performances of her fellow Britons back home.

“Jemma Reekie, that was insane!” she says, referring to Reekie’s British indoor 800m record of 1:57.91 run in Glasgow that same day. “I saw it online and I was like ‘oh my god, what on earth has just happened – what is going on today?!’

“I saw it all over Twitter – her, Laura Muir and Adelle Tracey just knock out these insane times first race, it’s so good.”

Hodgkinson’s aim now is to carry her form through to this weekend’s British Indoor Championships in Glasgow and then on to the summer, with her eye on a place at the World U20 Championships in Kenya and also possibly the senior European Championships in Paris.

“I’m not far off the qualifying time so I’m going to try and get that and see what happens,” she says.

In between seasons she will be heading out on a training camp to Potchefstroom with her coach Trevor Painter, who she teamed up with last year.

With Painter being the husband and coach of Jenny Meadows, Hodgkinson also has the benefit of advice from a world 800m medallist.

“They are so helpful because they have been there and done it before,” she says. “They know what they are doing, everything is organised and it is a bit more of a professional environment.

“They knew I could run the time,” she adds of her record in Vienna. “I think it was just a case of me believing it, so they weren’t really that surprised!”

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Candace Muzny, who competed in asphalt late models and made two starts in ARCA Menards Series East competition, has died at the age of 43.

Muzny was found dead in her home in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Monday evening. According to a story KOCO News 5, police indicated that there were no obvious signs that a homicide had taken place. The death is being investigated as suspicious.

Muzny raced late models and competed in what was then the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2011 and 2012, making two starts with a best finish of 32nd.

According to multiple news reports, Muzny was arrested last month after allegedly punching a staff member at a local nail salon. She also was accused of using a knife to cut a responding police officer.

She raced across the United States during her time in a race car, including competing at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway in a late model in 2007 before competing in weekly competition at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway in 2010, earning a fifth-place finish in the weekly late model rankings.

She also made eight starts in the defunct UARA-STARS Late Model Series in 2011, earning two top-10 finishes.

The Washington Capitals addressed a position of need ahead of the Feb. 24 trade deadline by acquiring defenseman Brenden Dillon from the San Jose Sharks Tuesday.

The Sharks get a 2020 second-round draft pick (originally from Colorado) and a conditional 2021 third-round pick. San Jose retains half of Dillon's $3.27 million cap hit.

dilly dillyhttps://t.co/rXJ0OBH7T3 pic.twitter.com/L7GxZcj2Ik

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 18, 2020

"Brenden is an experienced defenseman who plays a solid defensive game with a high compete level and physicality," Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said in a statement. "We felt it was important for us to add a player of his caliber to our defensive group."

Dillon is set to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason after completing a five-year contract. That deal came after he joined the Sharks in an in-season trade from the Dallas Stars.

Dillon, 29, has one goal and 13 assists in 59 games. He ranks fifth in the NHL this season with 83 penalty minutes and has 62 games of postseason experience, with 60 of those coming with the Sharks, including their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016.

The Sharks, at 26-29-4, are likely to see a four-year playoff streak end this season. San Jose is expected to continue to sell ahead of the NHL's Feb. 24 trade deadline.

"Brenden Dillon has been a leader on and off the ice for our team for the past four-plus seasons," Sharks GM Doug Wilson said. "Few players in Sharks history have displayed the class and character that Brenden exudes. ... However, because of where we find ourselves in the standings this season, it's imperative that we look towards acquiring assets for the future."

The Capitals have had the best record in the league for chunks of this season, but they are 4-6 in their past 10 games. Pittsburgh is only one point behind in the tough Metro Division with two games in hand.

Defense has been an issue for Washington recently. Experimenting with rookie Martin Fehervary in the top four didn't work, and Dillon could play on the Capitals' second pairing with Dmitry Orlov.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The St. Louis Blues acquired defenseman Marco Scandella from the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday for a pair of draft picks, it was announced.

The Canadiens will get a 2020 second-round pick and a 2021 conditional fourth-round selection for Scandella, 29. It's a good haul for the Habs, who acquired Scandella from the Sabres last month for a fourth-round pick.

Heading up to Monday's trade deadline, it has been thought that St. Louis would look for forward depth considering that Vladimir Tarasenko has missed much of the season with an injury. But veteran blueliner Jay Bouwmeester suffered a cardiac event last week in Anaheim, and the team said Tuesday that he has been placed on long-term injured reserve -- leaving a void on defense.

The defending champs have gone 2-6-2 in their past 10 games as their lead in the Central Division has evaporated.

Scandella is in the final year of a five-year deal that has a $4 million cap hit. Montreal reportedly tried to extend his deal, but he wanted to test free agency.

Scandella had three points in 20 games with Montreal. In 51 games this season, he has 12 points.

Montreal has performed solidly according to advanced stats and was flirting with a playoff spot for much of the season, but injuries have caused the team to fall off the pace. The Canadiens are currently nine points out of the second wild card.

MEXICO CITY – In 2018, Adam Scott pared his World Golf Championship schedule and skipped the year’s first two WGC starts: Mexico and the Match Play. 

He repeated that schedule last year, figuring, “I'll just play the [tournaments] I like.”

But his WGC hiatus is over, at least for this year.

Scott, who won last week’s Genesis Invitational, is playing this week’s WGC-Mexico Championship for the first time since 2017. He said on Tuesday he also plans to play next month’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

“For the last couple years, I've put World Golf Championships in and out of the schedule a little bit, trying to find what's working for me,” he said. “But as I've started playing better and better last year, to be the best player out here, you've got to play against the best, and that means coming to these events.”

The Australian’s schedule changes go beyond the WGCs. Last year at this time, Scott had played six events, including four on the West Coast. Last week’s tournament in Los Angeles was his first start in 2020 and just his fifth this season.

Scott hopes that mixing up his schedule, with scheduled starts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players and Match Play, will give him the best chance to be ready for the Masters.

“You're really right into Masters preparation off the back of The Players,” he said. “I thought the Match Play has never been the first one on my schedule, but it's another opportunity for me to see at least three competitive rounds of golf – where I'm at, what I need to work on, keep me competitively fresh with a week off before the Masters.”

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu met with the club's leading players on Tuesday in an attempt to cool rising tensions after it was alleged a third-party company was paid to discredit players, club legends and presidential candidates, among others.

Sources explained to ESPN that Bartomeu met with the four captains -- Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto -- in a tense meeting which lasted for 35 minutes. First-team coach Quique Setien was also present.

In the meeting, Bartomeu insisted that the club had nothing to do with a series of social media posts made by the company I3 Ventures, which administers a number of Facebook and Twitter accounts, attacking people related to the club, including Messi and Pique.

The players appreciated the president's attempt at an explanation, but sources said they remain uneasy about the whole situation.

The same sources add that Bartomeu's future is now more dependent on those same players than ever. His mandate runs until 2021 and poor results in upcoming matches away at Napoli and Real Madrid would add to the growing calls for him to call elections this summer. As this is his second term, he will not be able to run in the next election.

Bartomeu had earlier announced that the club rescinded their contract with I3 Ventures following the revelation of the social media posts. Speaking in an event at Camp Nou, he said the company had been hired to monitor social media activity involving the club and stressed he had no knowledge of any smear campaigns against people related to Barca.

"It is completely false," he stressed. "We will defend ourselves by whatever means necessary and will go after anyone that falsely accuses us."

SER Catalunya had first reported on Monday that I3 Ventures had been contracted by the club with the initial idea of helping to clean up Bartomeu's image.

Sources subsequently told ESPN that the club had been working with I3 Ventures since 2017. The Argentine company, which has bases in Madrid and Barcelona, received just under €1 million from its relationship with the Catalan club.

Among the posts revealed by SER Catalunya, Pique was criticised for his involvement in organising the Davis Cup, while Messi and his wife, Antonella Roccuzzo, were also targeted. However, on many other occasions, campaigns were run in defence of Messi, praising the club's record goal scorer.

Club legends Xavi Hernandez, Carles Puyol and Pep Guardiola were also discredited by accounts run by I3, as were presidential candidates Agusti Benedito and Victor Font.

Benedito responded on Monday when he said he would file a lawsuit against Bartomeu and his board of directors if the allegations were proven.

Font, meanwhile, has described the board of director's actions as "morally bankrupt" and called for immediate elections.

It's the second time in two weeks Bartomeu has had to deal with an off-the-pitch problem. Earlier in February, he held clear-the-air talks with Messi and sporting director Eric Abidal after the two engaged in a war of words regarding who was responsible for ex-coach Ernesto Valverde's sacking.

The news also comes on the heels of Barcelona's Twitter account being hacked on Saturday by a group called OurMine that declared Neymar would be returning to the club.

Erling Haaland continued his stellar start with Borussia Dortmund scoring twice to lead them to a 2-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League round of 16 first leg on Tuesday.

The Norwegian scored twice after half-time to take his Champions League tally to 10 goals to become the second youngest player to reach that mark after Kylian Mbappe. Haaland is also the only player to score for two teams in a single UCL season after netting eight for FC Salzburg before moving to Dortmund.

TAMPA Fla. -- Aaron Judge did not mince words when addressing the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal, saying the team should vacate the title and that players should have been punished.

"I just don't think it holds any value with me. You cheated and you didn't earn it," Judge said of the 2017 World Series championship won by the Astros. "It wasn't earned the way of playing the game right and fighting to the end. The biggest thing about competition is laying it all out on the line, and whoever's the better player, better person, comes out on top. And to know that another team had an advantage -- nothing that you can really guard against -- I just don't feel like that's earned."

Speaking after the Yankees finished their first full-squad workout Tuesday afternoon, Judge also addressed the comments made last Friday by the reigning National League MVP Cody Bellinger, who accused Astros All-Star second baseman José Altuve of stealing the American League MVP Award from Judge in 2017.

Judge confirmed that he deleted a social media post congratulating Altuve not long after learning about the result of the MLB investigation, which backed up claims made by Mike Fiers to The Athletic back in November. The investigation led by MLB confirmed the Astros had cheated by using a camera-based, sign-stealing system during their 2017 World Series-winning regular season and playoffs, and during part of the 2018 regular season.

"I think I took it down right when, I think, the story broke out -- right when, I think, Mike Fiers came out and stated that this is what was going on in '17. Once I heard that, I [was] just -- just sick to my stomach to find out," Judge said. "I had a lot of respect for those guys and what they did, especially what they did for the city of Houston and that whole organization. And then to find out that it wasn't earned, they cheated -- that didn't sit well with me, and I just didn't feel like the post that I did really meant the same anymore."

Judge also said he believed the Astros' sign-stealing had a direct impact on the 2017 American League Championship Series, which the Yankees lost to Houston in seven games. And even though the investigation detailed that the sign-stealing did not take place in 2019, the 27-year-old outfielder believes it continued.

"From what the report stated, they cheated in '17 and '18. That affected a lot of games. No matter what anybody says, that impacts the game -- knowing what's coming. That's more people on base, you're getting more walks, you're getting more hits; comes to the plate with more opportunities with guys on base. So it definitely impacted the results of that series. And they can say that we didn't score runs, we didn't do this and that, but it affected the game big-time," Judge said.

"It's tough to think that it didn't continue," he added. "I don't know all the facts; nobody knows all the facts. So to think that they cheated and won it all in '17, to think that they just clear-cut stopped the next -- '19 or '18 -- it's tough for me to say that. But we'll never really know, to be honest. I don't think so."

Judge also specified that he disagreed with the fact that the players themselves did not receive any punishment from Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred because they were granted immunity during the investigation.

"I really wasn't a fan of the punishment; I thought that was a little weak for a player-driven scheme, that no players involved got any punishments," Judge said. "When it comes down to a player-driven scheme, I feel like the players involved need to be punished. If I go out there and cheat the game -- I think [Yu] Darvish was the one that said, 'If you're playing in the Olympics, you win a gold medal and you find out you cheated, you don't get to keep that medal.'"

The Yankees slugger is currently nursing what manager Aaron Boone called "crankiness" and a "little soreness" in his right shoulder. Judge, who is expected to miss at least the first Yankees spring training game on Feb. 22, did not take batting practice for the first full day workouts but did participate in most fielding drills.

Boone specified that even though the Yankees shut down Judge from hitting and throwing this week, an MRI and a series of tests did not reveal any injury. Judge, who missed 50 games last year due to an oblique injury and had a sliding catch back in September that jammed his right shoulder and kept him out of the lineup, dismissed it as a minor issue.

"It probably started a couple weeks ago, when I first got down here," Judge said. "I've been hitting since early November, and working out since early November. Once I got down here, hit on the field, hitting outside -- I just felt a little soreness up in the shoulder. Nothing alarming. So I said, hey, we got plenty of time going into spring training; let's take it slow these next couple days, make sure everything's right, and then kinda go from there."

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR driver Ryan Newman is awake and speaking with family and doctors a day after his horrific crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

Roush Fenway Racing released an update on its driver Tuesday, about 20 hours after Newman's car slammed into the wall at nearly 200 mph, flipped, got T-boned by another car, flipped several more times and skidded to a halt in flames.

Everyone watching feared the worst Monday night and had to wait nearly two hours to learn that Newman's injuries were not considered life-threatening. The latest update was more good news for the 2008 Daytona 500 champion.

Newman, 42, turned hard into the wall after getting bumped from behind by Ryan Blaney a few hundred feet from the finish line. Newman's No. 6 Ford then flipped onto its roof, where he was helpless as he was walloped in the driver's side by another car at 190 mph.

Newman's car continued to skid upside down along the speedway and crossed the finish line in flames as safety crews hurried to snuff out the fire and cut Newman loose. It took about eight minutes for workers to roll his car rightside-up, and medical personnel used black screens to block spectator views as Newman was placed in a waiting ambulance and taken to Halifax Medical Center.

There has not been a fatality in NASCAR's elite Cup Series since Dale Earnhardt died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Nineteen years later, it's clear that Earnhardt's death probably saved Newman's life. NASCAR spent the past two decades working to improve safety regulations by installing energy-absorbing walls around tracks, mandating the use of head-and-neck restraints attached to helmets and continuing to make improvements to the cars.

After agreeing to a contract buyout with the Detroit Pistons, guard Reggie Jackson plans to sign with the LA Clippers upon clearing waivers, league sources told ESPN.

Jackson had become the highest-impact player available in the buyout marketplace and had been a target of the Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers.

Jackson, 29, will play a significant role on the Clippers' second unit, where coach Doc Rivers is anxious to implement his playmaking and scoring abilities into a roster that could be the NBA's deepest.

Jackson was completing the final season of a five-year, $80 million contract with the Pistons. The Pistons and Jackson's agent, Aaron Mintz of CAA Sports, completed the buyout terms earlier Tuesday before reaching an agreement with the Clippers on Tuesday afternoon.

Jackson has been a longtime friend with Clippers star Paul George and had long hoped to play with him, sources said.

Jackson has averaged 15 points and five assists in 14 games this season. He missed several weeks to start the season with a back injury that's now recovered.

In nine NBA seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Pistons, he's averaged 12.9 points, 4.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds a game. Jackson was an outstanding performer in a backup role to Russell Westbrook and James Harden in Oklahoma City earlier in his career.

Jackson is expected to be one of the top free agent guards available in summer free agency.