Sturla Holm Lægreid may have had one of the most bizarre Olympics moments of all time, revealing he had an affair on his now ex-girlfriend, but his time at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games continues to go well regardless.

The Norwegian biathlete went viral for a tearful confession, saying that he cheated on his ex-girlfriend and regretted it after winning bronze during the 20-kilometer biathlon.

But Lægreid has won two medals since, including his third on Sunday when he captured silver in the men’s 12.5-kilometer biathlon pursuit.

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It’s been quite the week for Lægreid, though, as he explained through a levy of tears that he has had the “worst week of his life” due to the weight of what he did in his love life.

“Six months ago, I met the love of my life and the most beautiful and kindest person in the world,” he said after his event to NRK in Norway. “Three months ago, I made my biggest mistake and cheated on her, and I told her about a week ago.”

NORWEGIAN OLYMPIAN REGRETS REVEALING AFFAIR AFTER WINNING MEDAL: ‘NOT THINKING CLEARLY’

Sturla Holm Laegreid of Team Norway competes in the Men’s 20km Individual on day four of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Anterselva Biathlon Arena on Feb. 10, 2026 in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy.  (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

He was crying and hugging friends after the race, and followed his initial comments with more during a news conference.

“It was the choice I made,” he said about revealing the information on the broadcast. “We make different choices during our life, and that’s how we make life,” he told a room full of reporters. “So, today I made a choice to tell the world what I did, so maybe, maybe there is a chance she will see what she really means to me. Maybe not.”

Lægreid said one day later he “deeply regrets” revealing that very personal detail about his life on live television, exposing a private matter in one of the most public ways possible.

“I am not quite myself these days and not thinking clearly,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. “My apologies go to Johan-Olav (Botn), who deserved all the attention after winning gold. They also go to my ex-girlfriend, who unwillingly ended up in the media spotlight. I hope she is doing well. I cannot undo this, but I will now put it behind me and focus on the Olympics. I will not answer any further questions about this.”

Lægreid remained in headlines throughout the week, though it was due to his performance at the Milan Cortina Games, securing a bronze medal on Friday in the men’s 10km sprint.

Gold medalist Martin Ponsiluoma of Team Sweden, Silver medalist Sturla Holm Laegreid of Team Norway and Bronze medalist Emilien Jacquelin of Team France celebrate after the Men’s Biathlon 12.5km Pursuit on day nine of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Anterselva Biathlon Arena on Feb. 15, 2026 in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy. (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

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The Norwegian is a six-time world champion, and though this is something entirely different in terms of adversity, he is clearly still performing well not the biggest world stage in Italy this week.

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MACCLESFIELD, England — Sam Heathcote is out on the field, handing out training bibs on a cold January morning. He’s no stranger to this: At 28 years old, he has been a footballer all his adult life, plying his trade in English soccer’s lower leagues. His proudest moment came a few weeks ago when he helped Macclesfield, a sixth-tier semiprofessional club, defy all odds in the FA Cup to knock out Premier League side Crystal Palace.

It was one of those magical days in football — an all-time Cinderella story — and it’s really hard to overestimate how unprecedented that result was. There were 117 places between Macclesfield and Palace in the English soccer pyramid when they met on Jan. 10, and Palace were the tournament’s defending champions. Never before during 154 years of the FA Cup — a competition, just like NCAA’s March Madness, known for its “David vs. Goliath” upsets — had a result delivered such a shock. Fans had streamed onto the field at the final whistle; players were paraded on shoulders. It was a scene that everyone at Macclesfield replayed in their heads again and again.

Those memories were fresh for Heathcote on this brisk morning, although it’s not the kind of training session you would expect. It’s on a concrete pitch at a grade school just outside of Manchester, and all the players in the session are 10 years old. Most of Macclesfield’s squad have second jobs: There is a property developer, a lawyer, a podcaster and a gym owner. Their captain, Paul Dawson, supplements his wages packing boxes for a friend’s candle company.

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Heathcote, their 6-foot-2, no-nonsense center back, is a gym teacher, and on this particular morning, his day job is in session.

“Aubrey, everyone’s gone for red. You’ve gone for orange,” Heathcote says to one of the children.

“I like the color orange!” Aubrey, seemingly unaware of soccer’s strict two-color system, replies.

“Well, fair enough,” Heathcote says as Aubrey sticks resolutely to orange. Life comes at you fast as a semiprofessional footballer.

Macclesfield’s 15 minutes of fame is not over yet. The upset victory meant they won a place in the FA Cup fourth round and a date with Premier League side Brentford on Monday (Stream live on ESPN+). The question is whether they can do it all over again.

Brentford can learn a lot from Palace, whose manager, Oliver Glasner, said afterwards that his players “never showed up.” But what can they and other teams learn from Macclesfield?

LESSON 1: Find a purpose

If one person in the small town of Macclesfield were to teach a class on resilience, the football club’s 48-year-old owner, Robert Smethurst, would be a good place to start. He bought the club six years ago, just as it went out of business. English soccer’s pyramid can be a cruel system and Macclesfield had been on the losing end for years, tumbling down the league pyramid as unpaid tax bills and debts of £190,000 ($258,554 USD) piled up, causing players to go on strike.

Despite growing up 8 miles from the club’s stadium, Moss Rose, Smethurst had never been a fan of the team, nor had he ever been to see a game. He never realized the scale of the problem: Debt collectors had already taken pretty much anything of value. There was no kitchen equipment. Copper pipes were removed. There was a gap where an air-conditioning unit had been. The playing squad had left. Why did he do it?

The truth is, Smethurst doesn’t actually remember buying the club. Macclesfield was on its knees, but so was he. After selling his online car business for more than £10 million ($13.6 million) a couple of years prior, he felt he’d lost any sense of purpose.

“Being bored at 12 o’clock, what do you do? I opened a bottle of wine,” Smethurst tells ESPN. “For me, that then got worse. It went into addiction. I was drinking more and more and losing the person I was.”

It was a friend of Smethurst’s who had spotted Macclesfield, recently out of business, on a real estate website called Rightmove. Without much thought — and in a cloud of his alcoholism — he asked his solicitor to send a £500,000 ($680,267) offer.

“I can’t really remember it because I just thought it was fun for me,” Smethurst says, barely paying a second thought to it until he got a call days later to say the sale had gone through. That’s when reality hit.

“I was like, ‘What the hell have I bought?'” he says. “When I finally came round a little bit, came to have a look at it — I’d never even seen it — I realized that it had been ripped apart. The whole place was just s—.”

If the stadium was bad enough, the club’s wider predicament was even worse. After going out of business, a club has to be recreated, starting at the very foot of English soccer’s pyramid system. Forget the sixth-tier where they are now. Macclesfield Town were entered into the North West Counties Football League — the ninth and final tier — where attendances often rank in the low hundreds.

Smethurst’s drinking didn’t stop until a year later. “I put myself into recovery,” he says. He did the steps, learned more about why he drank and realized he had a purpose that he was leaving unfulfilled. Around the same time, he was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

“I went into recovery and kind of came out there with a great mindset,” he says. “I was really fighting for my life, but also wanting to make a difference … Everything that I’ve done with the club was about: ‘How can I build something special after recovery? How can I change people’s lives?’

“I started on that journey. I spent about £4 million ($5.4 million) of my own money doing it all up, new pitches, new bars, a gym for the community, all that kind of stuff.”

Macclesfield earned three promotions in four seasons, winning three league titles along the way. The trophies are proudly on display inside the club bar. They did so, primarily, by being the biggest spenders in each of those divisions. Anyone you speak to in Macclesfield will readily cite the club’s facilities and Smethurst’s financial backing as the primary reason for going from the ninth tier to beating Crystal Palace.

Smethurst is the first to admit that the club’s relative financial might got them through the first three divisions. Now that they’ve found their level in the sixth tier, it is the town’s togetherness — and outside investment — that can take them further.

“People like the fans can come and talk to me and access and come and meet me in the office,” he says. “I’ve been out for a coffee with fans before. It’s a different thing. We’re all in this together. I’m accessible to everybody. If anybody wants to come and talk to me, they can. If they want to take my number, they can. If they’re worried about anything, they can call me.”

LESSON 2: You always have each other

John Rooney should really have been worrying about the tactics board. It was an hour before the FA Cup clash with Palace, and Rooney, brother of Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney, taking his first steps into football management at Macclesfield, was worried about something else entirely.​

The team gathered in the home dressing room, but one player’s locker was left empty. It was for their 21-year-old striker Ethan McLeod, who died in a road traffic collision on Dec. 16 — just one week after Macclesfield got the dream draw to face Palace, and less than a month before the big game.

Rooney had spoken to McLeod’s parents the night before the Palace game. McLeod’s father had wished the team luck and said they would be in attendance. Now, as the team counted down the minutes to kickoff, Rooney was worried that passing on that message would add too much pressure.

“I was questioning myself, do we tell them or do we not?” Rooney tells ESPN.

Ultimately, he decided against it. The grief was still fresh. Rooney knew his players genuinely wanted to win it for Ethan, whose image looks over the pitch at Moss Rose and whose number was retired. That kind of message could wait until after the game.

The incident happened on a Tuesday night after a last-gasp 2-1 win over Bedford Town FC. McLeod, who had just started to get a run in the team, was an unused substitute.

“Something I’ll never forget that will live with me for a long, long time is the selflessness that he had,” striker Danny Elliott, Macclesfield’s top scorer, says. “He was a striker, I’m a striker. For most of the season, I think it’s fair to say that he was kind of second to me. That night against Bedford, he didn’t actually get on the pitch, but I scored a winning goal in the last minute. As a 21-year-old striker, I know that I would have probably been a bit disappointed to not get on the pitch, but he was the first person to come and celebrate with me. He was really happy for me.”

McLeod would typically have travelled back with the rest of the squad on the team bus, but on this occasion, it was easier for him to drive back to his hometown, Wolverhampton. He got in his car and drove ahead. The team bus left minutes later, but was soon held up in standstill traffic. When they passed the incident, they realized it was a major crash. They didn’t give it much more thought until Rooney, who returned home at 6 a.m. in part due to the traffic, got a call to say it was McLeod’s car in the fatal collision.

Rooney, who had now been awake for nearly 24 hours, decided his players should hear the news from him. He called them all, one by one.

“The players were breaking down on the phone, and after that, I’d pick the phone up, tell someone else and — and then someone else,” Rooney recalls.

“I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been for him,” Elliott said of his manager. “I have the utmost respect for him. That was actually his birthday as well, so I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”​

The following night, the team met at their Moss Rose stadium in the club bar and sat for hours. “We sat in the room and cried together for a few hours,” Elliott says. “But also, the beautiful thing about football is that it continues.”

Macclesfield canceled their game the following weekend to, as Elliott put it, “grieve as a group.” They lost two of their next three games. The FA Cup third-round date would be the fourth.

LESSON 3: Ignore the odds

All Crystal Palace’s players had to do was look to their left to see the warning sign. It was written on the side tunnel, the last they would have seen before they stepped out onto the field for the FA Cup tie. It read, in capital letters: “DREAM. BELIEVE. ACHIEVE. AGAINST ALL ODDS.”

Maybe Palace players never paid much notice. The pitch had been freshly thawed from a snowstorm days earlier. Macclesfield captain Dawson, on top of his job at the candle company and youth coaching, made time to help club staff shovel snow off the pitch earlier that week for a league game — much to the ire of his manager, Rooney.

“I was on the shovel until the gaffer rang me,” Dawson says. “He wasn’t very happy. I told him that I was just sat on the tractor all day, which I hadn’t. I just lied.”

Dawson’s hard work had paid off, but it still would have been below the standards that Premier League teams are used to. Before the game, Dawson walked out onto the field and met his opposing captain, England international Marc Guéhi (who would sign for Manchester City later in January). Dawson later told British radio station TalkSport: “Franny [our assistant coach Francis Jeffers] turned around to Marc and he goes, ‘Pitch all right for you?’ He replied, ‘No, not a bit of me this.’ From that moment on I thought, ‘You know what? There’s something here for us.'”

As it turned out, it was Dawson who scored the game’s opening goal. He had been bleeding from his head just eight minutes into the tie from a clash with Palace defender Jaydee Canvot, meaning he donned a bandage around his forehead for the rest of the game. When Macclesfield were awarded a free kick 30 yards from Palace’s goal, Heathcote helped him rearrange the dressing before the ball was floated into the box, which Dawson duly headed home.​

“I have to be honest, I’ve watched it several times. I don’t actually remember it happening,” Dawson says. “When a big moment like that happens, it just erases from your memory. I don’t really remember much of the game until I’ve watched it back.”

Scenes in the dressing room 🍾

Macclesfield FC players and staff sing Adele’s Someone Like You after their FA Cup victory over Crystal Palace 🎶 pic.twitter.com/by44M82ZFx

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 10, 2026

What happened next only added to the Cinderella story. Macclesfield went in at halftime with their highly unlikely 1-0 lead, and manager Rooney told his team to calm down: If they just didn’t concede in the second half, then they would pull off the upset. You can imagine the shock when forward Isaac Buckley-Ricketts made it 2-0 in the 61st minute, prodding the ball past the Palace goalkeeper.

There was still time for Palace to spoil the party. Macclesfield’s two-goal lead was cut in half after a free kick from Palace winger Yéremy Pino, whose £26 million ($35 million) transfer fee last summer is 26 times larger than Macclesfield’s entire player expenditure. When that proved too little, too late, the customary fan pitch invasion followed. Soon, Dawson was hoisted onto two fans’ shoulders.

“The next minute I was in the air. My calf had a cramp!” he says. “I was trying to stretch it, but everyone kept patting me and singing.”

Dawson reunited with his teammates in the changing room, McLeod’s spot still vacant. They linked arms and sang Adele’s “Someone Like You.” McLeod’s parents came to join the celebrations, and Rooney passed on the message he had agonized about before the game.

“I will always remember that they were part of this day with us,” Rooney says. “To have his family around to be part of that day with us meant a lot to me.”

Opta, the leading data provider in world soccer, have a live global power ranking of 13,000 teams across world football. Palace were 19th prior to that FA Cup clash; Macclesfield were 6,879th — around the same level as Mons Calpe, who are third in the Gibraltar Premier League, and similar to Ghanaian minnows WaleWale Catholic Stars FC.​

Next up in their FA Cup odyssey is Brentford, another Premier League side who, at the time of writing, are ranked 13th in Opta’s system. Macclesfield were the first team to beat a club five leagues above them. Lightning would have to strike twice for it to happen again.

But who would bet against it?

“I’m a football fan. My whole life has been football, so the Premier League for me is what I always watch,” Rooney says. “We know lots about them … Listen, we’re not going to be naïve. We’ll treat them like any other game, like we did with Crystal Palace.

“As we do with teams in our own league, we treat every team with respect, and I’m sure they’ll treat us with that respect as well.”

In an ordinary year, most of the major moves in WNBA free agency likely would be made by now, and there would be more certainty around team needs. But things have been far from ordinary this entire offseason as the WNBA and the players’ association continue negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.

Because of that, most players not under rookie contracts are free agents, plus there are two expansion teams that don’t have any players yet. So, much like our last mock draft in November, we are projecting draft selections without important context about the players they will be joining.

What we do have now that we didn’t then, though, is much of the season’s data on which to judge the current college seniors who are eligible for the draft. (We are not including any potential draft-eligible juniors in this mock).

The No. 1 pick in ESPN’s WNBA mock draft remains the same: UConn guard Azzi Fudd, who could be on her way to joining former Huskies teammate Paige Bueckers, the 2025 Rookie of the Year, with the Dallas Wings.

Champ Week and the NCAA tournament can have an impact on draft position, as we have seen players help their stock with March Madness success. So that’s something to watch between now and our next mock draft.

UConn | shooting guard | 5-foot-11 | senior

UConn is seeking the seventh perfect season in program history, and Fudd has much to do with why the 26-0 Huskies have been unbeatable so far. She is averaging 17.5 PPG and shooting 45.5% (76-of-167) from behind the arc. Fudd’s ability to stretch defenses will be of great value in the WNBA, and she is also a reliable defensive player. Plus, the UConn pedigree goes a long way in a league that has seen so many outstanding former Huskies.

Spain | center | 6-foot-4

Fam, who is averaging 9.5 points and 4.7 rebounds for Valencia in Spain, is just 19 with a ton of potential. And what better coach to work with than the most experienced one in the WNBA: Cheryl Reeve. Despite playing professionally overseas, Fam will have a learning curve in the WNBA. It’s uncertain when Lynx star forward Napheesa Collier, who had ankle surgery in January, will be back at full strength. Perhaps a young post player such as Fam might get more time right away for Minnesota.

TCU | point guard | 5-foot-10 | senior

Miles, the former Notre Dame standout playing at TCU for her senior season, leads the Horned Frogs in points (20.5), assists (6.6) and steals (1.9). She is also averaging 6.8 rebounds. She had one of her most impressive games Thursday, scoring a career-high 40 points and making 10 3-pointers as the Frogs beat Baylor. She could have gone to the WNBA in the 2025 draft but thought one more year of college would help her game and her confidence.

UCLA | center | 6-foot-7 | senior

Betts had some ups and downs in the early part of the season, but she has been consistent since then. She is averaging 16.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks for the Bruins, who are 24-1 and lead the Big Ten at 14-0. There will be a lot of discussion about how well true centers still fit in the WNBA, but there seem to be enough positives about Betts to make her one of the lottery picks.

LSU | shooting guard | 5-foot-10 | senior

Johnson’s scoring average is down from last season (13.8 PPG compared with 18.6), but a lot of that has to do with LSU having so much strong guard play and spreading around the offense. One key stat is up this season for Johnson: She is shooting a career-best 43.9% from behind the arc. Her energy and effectiveness on defense are big positives as well.

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Flau’jae Johnson discusses leadership style ahead of crunch matchup vs. South Carolina

Flau’jae Johnson discusses leadership style ahead of crunch matchup vs. LSU Flau’jae Johnson discusses her leadership and playing alongside MiLaysia Fulwiley before LSU’s showdown vs. South Carolina.

Ole Miss | small forward | 6-foot | senior

McMahon knows she will need to play more on the perimeter in the WNBA at her size and improve her 3-point shooting. That’s part of why she thought Ole Miss would be a good place to finish her college career after three seasons at Ohio State. McMahon spoke with Andscape’s Ari Chambers in January about better understanding her diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome and how it has affected her. She said that has helped her this season: She is averaging a career-high 19.9 PPG.

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Cotie McMahon drops in the smooth basket

Cotie McMahon drops in the smooth basket

France | small forward | 5-foot-11

Angloma, who plays for Basket Lattes Montpellier Agglomeration (BMLA) in France, currently is having a very good season, averaging 16.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists. She doesn’t turn 20 until June and likely can play at the small forward or shooting guard spots in the WNBA.

Spain | point guard | 5-foot-8

Martin, who just turned 20 last month, was part of the Spanish team that advanced to the EuroBasket championship game last summer. She is currently averaging 14.8 PPG and 4.6 APG for Perfumerias Avenida in Spain. In 2023, she was MVP of the FIBA Under-19 World Cup.

UCLA | shooting guard | 5-foot-11 | senior

Kneepkens is part of the UCLA guard attack that has kept the Bruins unbeatable in the Big Ten. She’s well-known for her long-range shooting, which she brought to UCLA this season from Utah. For her college career, Kneepkens has shot 43.7% from behind the arc. This season, she’s at 45.9%. Her scoring average of 13.1 PPG is down from a career-best of 19.3 last season, but she’s surrounded by a lot more talent now with the Big Ten-leading Bruins.

South Carolina | center | 6-foot-6 | senior

Okot didn’t start playing basketball until her midteens but has been a quick learner. After competing collegiately in her native Kenya, she was with Mississippi State last season, then transferred to South Carolina this season. There is a possibility the Gamecocks could petition to get her another season of college eligibility. But if she enters the draft this year, she has big potential, averaging 13.2 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 1.5 SPG and 1.5 BPG.

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Madina Okot goes coast to coast with a steal and layup

Madina Okot gets in the passing lane and scores a fast-break basket for the Gamecocks.

Duke | shooting guard | 6-foot | senior

Jackson has been a stalwart for Duke’s strong defense her entire career. And she is also a good 3-point shooter; she has made 212 treys for the Blue Devils, 50 this season. She also is averaging a career-best 4.6 assists as a senior.

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Ashlon Jackson sinks clutch triple for Duke

Ashlon Jackson is left wide open and drains a 3-pointer, extending Duke’s late lead over Louisville.

UCLA | point guard | 5-foot-11 | senior

Rice has saved her best for her final season with the Bruins. She is averaging 15.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals while shooting 50.8% from the field overall and 42.1% from 3-point range. All of those are career highs. She also is averaging 4.6 assists and knows how to make the big play when needed.

South Carolina | shooting guard | 5-foot-8 | senior

Latson wanted to play for a higher-profile program, so she left Florida State after averaging a Division I-leading 25.2 PPG last season. Her draft stock might have dropped a bit as her numbers have, plus she also has been dealing with a leg injury. Still, she is averaging 15.5 PPG and is one of those prospects who might go back up the draft board during the postseason.

TCU | small forward | 6-foot-3 | senior

A native of Oviedo, Spain, Suarez is at her third college program after playing two seasons at Tennessee and two at Cal. But the move to TCU for her last season might be what helps her draft stock the most, as she has become a better 3-point shooter (52-of-144, 36.1%) and more versatile scorer at her size. She turns 24 in May, so she is a little older than most draftees, but her college experience seems to have paid off.

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Marta Suarez sinks a 3 for TCU

Olivia Miles finds Marta Suarez, who sinks a 3-pointer for TCU.

UCLA | shooting guard | 6-foot-0 | senior

Jaquez is the fourth Bruin we have going in the first round. Plus, guard Charlisse Leger-Walker and forward Angela Dugali also are almost sure to be drafted from UCLA. Jaquez is averaging 14.3 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 2.0 APG. Like teammates Kneepkens and Rice, she is shooting better than 40% from 3-point range (43.4).