AP Sports

The Super Bowl is set: Mahomes and the Chiefs will face Purdy and the 49ers

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are heading to Las Vegas with a chance for a rare repeat while facing the San Francisco 49ers in a Super Bowl rematch from four years ago. The Chiefs beat Lamar Jackson and the No. 1-seeded Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC championship game Sunday to advance to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years. Brock Purdy later rallied the No. 1-seeded 49ers to a 34-31 victory over Detroit in the NFC title game. The Chiefs will try to become the first back-to-back champions since New England during the 2003-04 seasons. The 49ers seek a record-tying sixth Super Bowl title in their eighth appearance.

Figure skater Valieva disqualified in Olympic doping case. Russians set to lose team gold to US

GENEVA (AP) — Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva has been disqualified from the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport comes almost two years after Valieva’s doping case caused turmoil at the Beijing Games. The CAS ruling means the Russians are set to be stripped of the gold medal in figure skating’s team event. The United States finished second and is set to be named Olympic champion instead. The IOC did not present any medals for the team event in Beijing. The 15-year-old Valieva was the star performer hours before her positive test for a banned heart medicine was revealed.

Analysis: Hard to blame Dan Campbell for staying true to his aggressive self

Dan Campbell’s aggressiveness bit his team. The Detroit Lions blew a 17-point halftime lead and missed an opportunity to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history because their head coach stuck to the same philosophy that helped him turn a perennial loser into a championship contender. Hard to blame Campbell for staying true to himself. On a Sunday filled with superlative performances by Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce in the AFC championship game and a stellar comeback by Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers against the Lions in the NFC title game, Campbell’s questionable fourth-down decisions stole the spotlight. Even another playoff failure by Lamar Jackson won’t compare to the second-guessing Campbell will surely face throughout the offseason.

UConn, Purdue stay atop AP Top 25 while chaos ensues as Duke, Wisconsin, Iowa State make big jumps

UConn remained No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll as the top five stayed the same from last week. The Huskies did pick up four more first-place votes and had 48 of the 63 from the national media panel. Purdue stayed at No. 2. North Carolina is No. 3, Houston is fourth and Tennessee is fifth. Wisconsin moved up seven spots to sixth and Duke climbed five to No. 7, while Iowa State made the biggest jump from No. 23 to No. 12. Alabama and TCU are back in the poll. Memphis and Colorado State dropped out.

South Carolina keeps grip on No. 1 in AP women’s poll as top teams stumble; Kansas State up to 2

South Carolina remains the clear No. 1 team in the country and No. Kansas State matched its best ranking ever after a chaotic week that saw nearly half of the AP Top 25 lose at least one game. Five of last week’s top 10 teams lost. Overall, a dozen ranked teams had at least one defeat. Kansas State has its highest ranking since 2002. Iowa is back up to third as Caitlin Clark nears the all-time scoring record in women’s basketball. Stanford and North Carolina State round out the top five.

Taylor Swift greets Super Bowl-bound Travis Kelce with a kiss after Chiefs win the AFC title game

BALTIMORE (AP) — Taylor Swift may be Super Bowl-bound. The pop star could be on hand in Las Vegas to cheer on boyfriend Travis Kelce after he and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC championship game on Sunday. After the game, Swift greeted Kelce on the field with a short kiss, a long embrace and another smooch. Swift and others could be seen cheering from a suite in a corner of the stadium as Kelce caught a touchdown pass among his 11 receptions for 116 yards. Swift has concerts scheduled for Tokyo on the Friday and Saturday before the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 11.

Brock Purdy, 49ers rally from 17 points down, beat Lions 34-31 to advance to Super Bowl

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Brock Purdy threw for 267 yards and a touchdown, and the San Francisco 49ers rallied from 17 points down at halftime to beat the Detroit Lions 34-31 and reach the Super Bowl. The 49ers scored 17 points in an eight-minute span of the third quarter to tie the game and then pulled away in the fourth quarter to earn a rematch against Kansas City after losing to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl four years ago. Detroit became the fourth team to lose a conference title game after leading by at least 17 points and was unable to make the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce are headed back to the Super Bowl after Chiefs shut down Ravens 17-10

BALTIMORE (AP) — Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were at their magnificent best in the first half, and Kansas City’s defense delivered another masterpiece against Lamar Jackson and Baltimore, helping the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years with a 17-10 victory in the AFC championship game. Kelce caught 11 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown with girlfriend Taylor Swift again in attendance. Kansas City will face San Francisco in Detroit on Feb. 11, seeking to become the first team since New England 19 years ago to win it all in back-to-back seasons.

Pope Francis congratulates Italy after tennis player Jannik Sinner wins the Australian Open

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has congratulated Italy after tennis player Jannik Sinner became the country’s first man to win a Grand Slam singles title in nearly a half century. Sinner won the Australian Open title on Sunday and Francis made the acknowledgement during an audience with the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. The pope says “today we have to congratulate the Italians because yesterday they won in Australia so we congratulate them, too.” The last Italian man to win a Grand Slam singles title was Adriano Panatta in 1976. Francis adds that tennis is “an enriching challenge if it is played in an educated manner according to the rules.”

Ilia Malinin lands quad axel while winning second straight US figure skating title

Ilia Malinin landed the quad axel, a jump only he has ever landed in competition, while winning his second consecutive U.S. figure skating championship in Columbus, Ohio. Malinin finished with 294.35 points, well below the world-leading score of 314.66 points he had at the Grand Prix Final in December. But it was well ahead of Jason Brown in second with 264.50 points, while Camden Pulkinen soared from fifth after his short program into the bronze-medal position with 262.33 points.