🏁 No Stopping the Italian Stallion

Back to work, it's Monday, 21 March

🔊 Sport Today Podcast

This morning, Sam Ferris and Martin Gabor are at the mic. 

Today's listen time: 9.30 minutes.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

📺  What we're watching 

⚽ 7.00am - La Liga - Real Madrid v Barcelona - Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid - Foxtel, Kayo

🎾 9.00am - Tennis - Nadal v Fritz - Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Indian Wells - Foxtel, Kayo

🏏 4.00pm - Cricket - Pakistan v Australia - Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore - Foxtel, Kayo

All times are in AEDT

🏁 Back to the future for Ferrari 

It’s going to be one of those days when people show off their flashy sports cars across town. That’s because Ferrari went 1-2 in Bahrain to start the new Formula 1 season in style. 

Golden points: Charles Leclerc finished nearly 6 seconds ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz to claim Ferrari’s first win since the 2019 Singapore GP.

• The news wasn’t so good for defending champ, Max Verstappen. He started in 2nd spot but didn’t finish the race after his Red Bull car broke down.

• So not a good start for Verstappen, whose main rival Lewis Hamilton finished in 3rd spot.

• Aussie Daniel Ricciardo’s car just didn’t have the same pace as the others. He finished back in 14th. 

Watch it: Check out the highlights from the season opener. 

What’s next: Red Bull has a week to sort out their cars because the next race is on next Monday in Saudi Arabia.

❄ Anthony goes global 

It’s a bit late to recap the Golden Globes, but there’s never been a better time to get around Jakara Anthony. She had another big weekend on the slopes and is now the proud owner of 2 crystal globes. 

Golden points: Anthony won 2 silver medals in France, and that was enough to see her become world champ in the dual moguls and the overall moguls this season.

• The 2 medals make her the most successful Aussie winter sports athlete in a season. She’s now got 12 and has gone past Alisa Camplin and Britt Cox on top. 

• Anthony is having a pretty spectacular 2022 after she won Australia’s only gold at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. 

They said it: "It wasn't easy - the women's field is so high this year and everyone is really stepping up their game - so these feel extra special." - These are the best snow globes Anthony will ever own. 

🏏 Plenty at 'steak' for the Aussies 

The Aussie women’s cricket team is hungry for success at the 50-over World Cup in New Zealand. It turns out one player is taking that hunger literally, and it’s paying off big time on and off the field. 

Golden points: Australia avenged their 2017 World Cup loss in the semis to beat India to stay on top of the table with 5 wins from 5 games.

• It was a fair effort because they had to pull off the highest run chase in World Cup history. 

• Darcie Brown had a big game with 3 wickets, and she can thank a massive meal the night before for giving her the fuel she needed.

• The Aussie quick rocked up late to the pub and found out her teammates had ordered her a massive steak. She smashed the challenge, won $50 and enjoyed a nice steak. Well done, that's pretty rare.

They said it: "I struggled towards the end...the steak was pretty easy but as soon as I got to the chips and onion rings I started to feel a bit full." - Hopefully Brown had a good mushroom sauce. 

What’s next: Maybe a chicken parmigiana is on the menu before the Aussies take on South Africa on Tuesday.

⚽ It's the finals countdown 

There’s a little bit of history repeating in the A-League Women competition after the Melbourne Victory lived up to their name in the Melbourne derby.

The score: Melbourne Victory 3 beat Melbourne City 1

Golden points: The result means Victory will play Sydney FC for the 2nd year in a row in the Grand Final.

• Let’s hope for an equally epic contest because the Victory won that one 1-0 in the 120th minute. 

• Switching codes and Fremantle is through to the AFLW preliminary final after they beat North Melbourne by 38 points.

• They’ll take on Adelaide but we don’t know when that will be because the other elimination final has been postponed because of a COVID outbreak at Collingwood. 

What’s next: The league is still trying to work out when the Magpies can play the Lions, but they have ruled out a forfeit at this stage. The winner of that game will play the Demons.

🏉 We're not going streaking

Let’s give 3 cheers to the French after their rugby union team won the Six Nations Championship. And how about Italy? They didn’t win the trophy but they did end one of rugby’s longest losing streaks.

Golden points: France beat England 25-13 to go undefeated in the Six Nations. There’s no tennis involved, but they also won the Grand Slam which means they beat the other 5 teams.

• One of those wins came against Italy, who headed into their final match on a 36-game losing streak.

• Their last win was back in 2015. That’s when Netflix started in Australia, Star Wars released a new movie and Tony Abbott decided to bite into a raw onion. 

• The win over Wales was always going to be special, but the finish made it epic after they scored a long-range try with about 90 seconds to go.

Watch it: Check out the highlights from the wild win in Wales. 

👀 Quick singles

⚽ The Socceroos have been hit hard by COVID with Craig Goodwin and Jackson Irvine both ruled out of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Coach Graham Arnold also tested positive for the virus but could be available for Thursday’s game against Japan if he clears protocols in time.

🏍 Miguel Oliveira is doing a rain dance after he survived wet and wild conditions to win the Indonesian MotoGP on Sunday. It was a good day for Aussie Jack Miller who finished 4th. 

⚽ Perth Glory are looking for a new A-League Men's coach after they sacked Richard Garcia yesterday. The club is bottom of the table and has gone 7 games without a win. 

🏉 The Roosters kept their NRLW finals hopes alive with a late field goal to beat Parramatta yesterday. But the big news is the Dragons who have gone top of the table after they posted the highest score in competition history against Newcastle.

🏀 LeBron James is now the second-highest points scorer in NBA history after another magical night against the Wizards. His team lost, but James scored 38 points to move past Karl Malone. He’s now on 36,947 and trails Kareem Abdul-Jabbar by about 1400 points. 

🏏 Cricketing legend Shane Warne was farewelled yesterday by family and friends at a private funeral in Melbourne. A huge crowd is expected for his state funeral on 30 March at the MCG.

🏉 Let your buddies know that Lance Franklin is just 4 goals away from joining AFL’s 1000 club. Franklin kicked one goal for the Swans in their win over the Giants and can now reach the milestone against the Cats in Sydney on Friday night. 

🏀 There will be no $1 billion winner in America because all March Madness brackets have been ruined after a weekend of college basketball upsets. There was none bigger than defending champs Baylor losing to North Carolina.

🙃 Left of field…

So, it turns out the Mountain is just as strong in real life as he was in Game of Thrones. He was impossible to kill on the show, and as Eddie Hall found out, he’s pretty hard to knock out in the boxing ring.

Golden points: Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, he’s the actor and strongman who played the Mountain, beat Hall in a fight in Dubai called “the heaviest boxing match in history”. 

• It’s a pretty fitting title because the guys weigh nearly 300 kilos combined.

• Björnsson and Hall do not like each other, and this goes back to their days competing against each other in the World’s Strongest Man circuit. 

• But the feud got really spicy when Björnsson broke Hall’s deadlift world record by one kilo. Hall nearly died for that record and said his rival’s lift didn’t count because it wasn’t in competition.

Watch it: Some people struggle with 3-kilo dumbbells. Here’s the Mountain lifting the equivalent of a grizzly bear. 

📽 The highlight reel

Fremantle's Heath Chapman can always become a goalkeeper if his AFL career doesn't work out. Check out this ridiculous save to win the game yesterday. 

📸 Photo finish

Aussie tennis ace Nick Kyrgios called out American actor Ben Stiller during his quarter-final loss to Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells. Kyrgios was firing back at a heckler. Maybe he should have offered him a warm glass of shut the hell up. 

🏃‍♀️ The finish line

🏆 Today's trivia answer

There are plenty of Aussies in form, but Rachael Haynes is on top with 320 runs.