Carolina Kostner halted the Russian march at the European figure skating championships on Friday by grabbing a narrow lead in the women's competition in her bid to capture a fourth continental gold.

The British government and Olympic great Sebastian Coe are backing the national Olympic body's fight to keep a lifetime ban for drug cheats.

There's a nod to Shakespeare, a big bell and ... nurses? Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle offered a sneak peek of his vision for the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony, revealing Friday that he'll ring a massive bell to start festivities that will include thousands of performers and offer a tribute to a British institution, the National Health Service.

Holding white glow sticks above their heads, Sarah Burke's friends took a slow trip down a darkened halfpipe at the Winter X Games on Thursday - bidding a sad farewell to the skier who helped push their sports to the heights they've reached today.

World champion Erik Guay had the fastest time in Friday's training run for a World Cup downhill race on the slope where the Canadian won the gold medal last year.

London marked a mere six months to the start of its Olympic Games on Friday by focusing on the minutiae of putting on the show now that the monumental stage has been built.

With six months until Britain hosts the Olympics for the first time in 64 years, the pressure is cranking up on the athletes expected to deliver a gold rush on home soil.

The U.S. junior champ only two years ago, Agnes Zawadzki outskated not one, not two, but three former winners Thursday night to claim the short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

The 13th edition of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon was anything but unlucky, as extraordinarily fast results for both men and women broke many records for speed and depth.