Lindsey Vonn has more surgery after Olympic crash

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Lindsey Vonn had another surgery on her badly broken left leg Friday and remained hospitalized nearly two weeks after her terrifying crash in the Olympic downhill.

Vonn flew home to the United States last weekend after a week of treatment for a complex tibia fracture and at least four surgeries at a hospital in Italy.

“Made it through surgery,” Vonn said in her latest post on Instagram. “It took a bit more than 6 hours to complete. As you can see, it required a lot of plates and screws to put back together.

“With the extent of the trauma, I’ve been struggling a bit post op and have not yet been able to be discharged from the hospital just yet,” Vonn added. “Almost there. Baby steps.”

Vonn added on X next to an X-ray showing metal screws and other hardware inside her leg, “I’m bionic for real now.”

Vonn was attempting to win a medal at the Milan Cortina Games at age 41 with a torn ACL in her left knee and a partial titanium replacement in her right knee. But she got hooked on a gate 13 seconds into her run — resulting in a spinning, air-born crash that sent her careening down the mountain in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Because her skis did not release during the crash, the fall has raised safety issues among the skiing circuit.

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Olympic hockey: U.S. crushes Slovakia, to play Canada for gold medal

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MILAN (AP) — Zach Werenski and his U.S. teammates tried not to look ahead at a potential gold-medal game against Canada at the Olympics. After each went unbeaten in group play, there was no way the North American rivals could meet before the final, but there was work left to do.

After routing Slovakia 6-2 in the semifinals on Friday night, the much-anticipated but never guaranteed U.S.-Canada showdown for gold is on.

“It’s the matchup everyone wanted,” Werenski said after his three-assist performance against Slovakia. “Now that it’s finally here, we can kind of shift our focus to Canada.”

The two top seeds in the tournament, who went in as the favorites, will meet Sunday. It comes a year after the U.S. and Canada played two memorable games against each other at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

“It’s the final that we wanted and the team that we wanted to play,” winger Matt Boldy said. “It’s exciting for the fans and for hockey and everything like that.’’

Jack Hughes #86 of Team United States celebrates after scoring a goal with Matt Boldy #12 and Brady Tkachuk #7 of Team United States in the second period during the Men’s Semifinals Playoff match between the United States and Slovakia on day fourteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Feb. 20, 2026, in Milan, Italy. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images/TNS)

That NHL-run event ended a drought of nearly a decade without an international tournament featuring the best hockey players in the world. Three fights in the first nine seconds in the first meeting put the 4 Nations in the spotlight, and their epic final won by Canada in overtime only built the anticipation for the Olympics.

“Now that it’s all set in stone, everything happens for a reason,” said Brady Tkachuk, who along with brother Matthew and J.T. Miller were involved in the 4 Nations fisticuffs. “We’ll be looking forward to this one. You guys have been talking about it for a while. Now you get to enjoy it.”

After Canada did its part by rallying to beat Finland earlier in the day, the U.S. had no trouble against the Slovaks, who made an improbable run and were simply overmatched. They’ll face the Finns for bronze on Saturday night, looking for just the second hockey medal in the country’s history after getting the first with a third-place finish in Beijing in 2022.

The U.S. is playing for gold after the semifinals were a much easier go than the quarterfinals against Sweden, when overtime was needed to survive a scare. Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Jack Hughes and Jack Eichel scored the four goals on 23 shots that chased Samuel Hlavaj out of Slovakia’s net past the midway point of the second period.

Thompson, one of just a handful of newcomers who did not play at the 4 Nations, exited later in the second after blocking a shot and did not return. Coach Mike Sullivan said Thompson “was held out for precautionary reasons more than anything.”

“We’ll see how he recovers, but I anticipate him being ready for game time,” Sullivan said.

Hughes got his second goal of the game just after a power play expired, and Brady Tkachuk scored on a breakaway with just over nine minutes left to provide some more breathing room.

“That was definitely one of our strongest games, for sure,” said Quinn Hughes, who along with brother Jack have been the best U.S. players in Milan. “For the most part, we played really well. A little bit looser there in the third, but it’s a 5-0 game and you want to get out safe and feel good for the next game.”

Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck did his job as his teammates outshot Slovakia by a substantial margin. Everything he has done at the Olympics has validated Sullivan’s decision to go with Hellebuyck as the U.S. starter over Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman.

The U.S. last reached the final in 2010, when it lost to Canada in overtime on Sidney Crosby’s famous golden goal. Crosby’s status is uncertain this time after getting injured in the quarterfinals Wednesday and not playing Friday against Finland.

The last U.S. men’s hockey gold came in 1980 with the “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid.

“It definitely motivates us,” Werenski said. “We’ve talked about. We’re well aware of it. I don’t think it’s pressure. It’s fun. It’s exciting.”

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Rudy Gobert picks up another flagrant foul, will be suspended for Sunday’s game against 76ers

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Rudy Gobert picked up another flagrant foul Friday against Dallas. After an official review, the referees determined Gobert delivered unnecessary contact to the head and neck area of Marvin Bagley III as the two jostled for position in the final minute of the first half.

It was a flagrant-1, meaning Gobert was able to resume play in the game. But it’s another flagrant point on Gobert’s season-long ledger, meaning the center will again be suspended by the NBA. He will miss Sunday’s game against Philadelphia.

It’s the second game Gobert has missed this season due to an excess of flagrant foul points.

Any future flagrant fouls accrued over Minnesota’s final 24 regular season contests will result in an automatic two-game suspension for the Frenchman.

The flagrant foul point system does reset at the start of the postseason.

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Justice Department swiftly fires lawyer chosen as top federal prosecutor for Virginia office

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By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — A lawyer picked by judges to serve as the top federal prosecutor for a Virginia office that pursued cases against foes of President Donald Trump was swiftly fired Friday by the Justice Department in the latest clash over the appointments of powerful U.S. attorneys.

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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the firing of James Hundley on social media shortly after he was unanimously chosen by judges to replace former Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. While the law says that the district court may choose U.S. attorneys when an initial appointment expires, the Trump administration has insisted that the power lies only in the hands of the executive branch.

“EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does. James Hundley, you’re fired!” Blanche said in a post on X.

Hundley, who has handled criminal and civil cases for more than 30 years, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday evening.

The firing of Hundley is the latest reflection of tumult in one of the Justice Department’s most elite prosecution offices, which since September has been mired in upheaval following the resignation of a veteran prosecutor amid Trump administration pressure to prosecute two of the president’s biggest political foes, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

That prosecutor, Erik Siebert, was effectively forced out and swiftly replaced by Halligan, a White House aide who secured indictments against Comey and James but was later deemed by a judge to have been unlawfully appointed. The cases were dismissed, but the Justice Department has appealed that decision.

Halligan resigned from the position last month after judges in the district signaled continued skepticism over the legitimacy of her appointment.

U.S. attorneys, the top federal prosecutors in regional Justice Department offices around the country, typically require Senate confirmation but the law does permit attorneys general to make temporary appointments for limited time periods. In several instances, though, the Justice Department has attempted to leave its temporary appointees in place in ways that have invited court challenges and drawn resistance from judges who have found the appointments unlawful.

Last week, a lawyer appointed by judges to be the U.S. attorney for northern New York was fired by the Justice Department after spending less than a day in the job. Judges in the district appointed Kinsella after declining to keep the Trump administration’s pick, John Sarcone, in place after his 120-day term elapsed.