Skating union to honor athletes killed

Figure skaters and others killed in the mid-air collision near Washington, D.C. this week will be honored when the world championships are staged in Boston in March. International Skating Union president Jae Youl Kim, pictured, held back tears on Friday in making the announcement during the European championships in Tallinn. Skaters, coaches and family members on their way back from a national skating camp in Wichita, Kansas, were among those who died when a passenger jet hit a helicopter on Wednesday. They included two teenage skaters, their mothers and two coaches who were part of the Skating Club of Boston. “At the moment we want to focus on mourning those who lost their lives and also provide support for the ones who lost their loved ones. We’ll take one step at a time,” said Kim, who became visibly emotional and paused to fight back tears. “We will discuss with our counterparts in Boston what should be done to honor those who left us in this tragic way. One way to honor them is to make sure that we provide the greatest event, to show the respect.”

Wade had cancerous tumor removed

Hall of Fame player Dwyane Wade said doctors performed a December 2023 surgery on his kidney to remove a tumor later determined to be cancerous. “Thank God that I did do the surgery,” Wade said on his “The Why With Dwyane Wade” podcast episode released Thursday. Wade said he had not had regular physical exams in a few years before seeing a doctor due to stomach and urinary issues. A full body scan discovered what he described as a “cyst/tumor” that led to the surgery, which Wade said removed 40% of his right kidney. “I think it was the first time my family — my dad, my kids — they saw me weak,” he said. “That moment was probably the weakest point I’ve ever felt in my life. The moments I was by myself, I was struggling, dog. Struggling. And one thing you never want to do as a man, you never want your family to see you as weak. You don’t want to be perceived weak and you don’t want to be seen in your weak moments. But I had to.” Wade retired in 2019 after 16 years in the NBA, highlighted by 15 seasons with the Heat that included winning three world championships.

Cup Series returns to Bowman Gray

NASCAR is back, old-school style, as 2025 opens with a return to the “Mecca of Madhouse” for Sunday night’s preseason Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. The Winston-Salem quarter-mile notorious for its rough-and-tumble racing style and numerous fights will host its first Cup Series event since 1971 with the non-points exhibition race. “I think it’s great that the location is changing, and I think it should change every year,” Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman said. “We have the capability of doing it.” The unofficial kickoff to the new season was held at Daytona International Speedway from 1979 to 2021 as the warm-up act to the Daytona 500. NASCAR stepped outside the box in 2022 and moved it across the country to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which was transformed from a football stadium into a temporary short track for three seasons. Last year’s rain-impacted Clash forced NASCAR into an unprecedented scramble to cram all on-track activities into one day — resulting in a financial bloodbath for the sanctioning body. The racing at the Coliseum was by no means good. So NASCAR decided to return to its simpler roots and stay closer to home in 2025. —Associated Press