The Portuguese swimmer medalled in the 100m and 50m freestyle at the Paris European Championships, finishing 17 hundredths off his own national record.

By Vasco Almada

Photo: Chris93 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

First leg of the Europa League play-off, 20:00 in Lisbon, with the return in Denmark on 27 August. The Danish side dropped out of Champions League qualifying days ago, and the two clubs have only met twice before.

Benfica play the first of the two legs that decide whether they reach the Europa League phase on Thursday. Aarhus come to the Estádio da Luz at 20:00, with the return set for 27 August in Denmark. The club's official fixture calendar confirms the order: home first, away second. The Danish side arrived here sideways. AGF Aarhus were in Champions League qualifying and went out to Sabah of Azerbaijan, which dropped them into this Europa League play-off. They…

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Portugal left the European athletics championships with three medals — Pedro Pichardo's triple jump silver, plus bronzes for Fatoumata Diallo and Patrícia Silva — and four national records that nobody medalled for.

Pedro Pichardo opened the Birmingham triple jump final with 17.76 metres. He took two more attempts, improved on neither, and then waved away his fourth, fifth and sixth. He watched the rest of it from the side. The silver held. Italy's Andy Díaz took gold by 39 centimetres with 18.15 metres, an Italian record and the fastest mark in the world this year. Andrea Dallavalle, also Italian, completed the podium on 17.37. For Pichardo this is an exact repeat…

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The Anicolor-Campicarn rider closed out the 87th edition on Porto's Avenida dos Aliados ahead of his own team-mate, the two-time defending champion. Rui Oliveira took the final stage from Maia to Porto.

Alexis Guérin has won the 87th Volta a Portugal. The Frenchman rode onto Porto's Avenida dos Aliados on Sunday 1 minute and 2 seconds clear of Artem Nych, and the detail that gives the result its flavour is that Nych rides for the same team and had won the previous two editions. Pedro Silva of Feira dos Sofás-Boavista completed the podium at 4 minutes 30. The closing 136.9-kilometre stage from Maia to Porto went to Rui Oliveira of UAE Team Emirates-XRG.…

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The GNR spokesman set out how the mobile escort was deployed at the moment of the collision, why no officer was posted at that junction, and why no criminal charge is expected for now.

A day after Finlay Tarling died on stage eight of the Volta a Portugal, the GNR set out how its officers were deployed on the road where the British rider was hit. The first thing it did was correct the version that spread within hours of the crash. The van was not driving against the traffic, said Lieutenant-Colonel Carlos Canatário, the force's spokesman. It was in the right-hand lane, on its own side. It was travelling in the opposite direction to the…

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Stage eight was neutralised into Fafe with no podium and no winner. Stage nine runs from Paredes to the top of Senhora da Graça, a climb the race takes twice on the same day.

The Volta a Portugal went back on the road this afternoon. The race rolled out of Paredes after a moment of tribute at the start line, and stage nine of the 87th edition is running as the route always had it. For anyone picking the race up midway, the reason needs stating. On Friday, Finlay Tarling died during stage eight. The 19-year-old British rider, of NSN Development Team, was hit by a car that came onto the closed route in the opposite direction…

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The race organisers and the Portuguese Cycling Federation confirmed the death of the NSN Development Team rider. Portugal's GNR says he had dropped off the back of the peloton when a light goods vehicle travelling against the race hit him head-on on the EN306 at Arcozelo, Ponte de Lima.

Finlay Tarling was 19 and riding his first Volta a Portugal. He died on Friday during the eighth stage, between Melgaço and Fafe, and Portugal's oldest bike race turned from a day of sport into a day of mourning inside a few minutes. The Volta organisers and the Portuguese Cycling Federation put their names to a joint statement confirming the death of the British rider from NSN Development Team following a serious accident during the stage. The race was…

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We counted them edition by edition. Camila Rebelo's silver in Paris is only the seventh Portuguese medal in a century of European long-course championships, and the official split sheet shows she swam the fastest last 50 metres in the final.

Camila Rebelo left Paris with silver in the 200m backstroke and a national record of 2:07.62. Good news on its own terms. How good only becomes clear once you count the others. So we counted. We went through all 38 editions of the European long-course swimming championships, from the first in 1926, and added up the Portuguese medals one edition at a time, pool swimming only, no open water, no diving, no short course. The answer is seven. Seven medals in a…

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A goalless draw against Dinamo Minsk on Bulgarian soil, added to the 1-0 from the first leg, carried Braga into the last round before the league phase. The Austrians visit on 20 August and host the return on the 27th.

Braga did not need to score to go through. Thursday's goalless draw with Dinamo Minsk, played on Bulgarian soil, was enough to protect the 1-0 from the first leg and book the last qualifying round before the Conference League proper. Waiting for them is Austria Wien, who settled their own tie with Beitar Jerusalem. The Austrian club has already opened travel bookings for the trip to Braga, which pins the dates down: first leg at the Pedreira on 20 August,…

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The third qualifying round second leg kicks off at 7.45pm on Thursday in Edinburgh. Whoever comes through faces a two-legged play-off on 20 and 27 August for a place in the league phase.

Six-one from the first leg makes Thursday a formality, but it is a formality that still has to be played. Benfica are at Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh on Thursday, kick-off 7.45pm — the same clock time in Lisbon and in Scotland. The tie was effectively settled at the Estádio da Luz on 6 August, when Benfica put six past Hearts. Getting there was messier: they lost 2-1 away to St Gallen in the previous round before winning the return 5-0.

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Today is the race's only rest day, spent in Santa Maria da Feira. Alexis Guerin reaches it 1:12 clear of team-mate Artem Nych, with Tiago Antunes third at 1:52.

The Volta a Portugal stops today. It is the only rest day of this edition and it happens in Santa Maria da Feira, at the Europarque, where the teams will do massages, arithmetic and a short spin to keep the legs honest. Tomorrow the break ends in the least forgiving way available: 129 kilometres from Santa Maria da Feira to Peso da Régua, the race's first proper argument with the Douro. The route is set out in the stage-by-stage guide published by the…

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The UAE Emirates Dane covered 17.4 kilometres in 21 minutes 13 seconds. Tiago Antunes was second on the stage and moved up to third overall, 1m52s behind Alexis Guerin.

Julius Johansen won stage five of the Volta a Portugal on Monday, the individual time trial from Anadia to Águeda. The UAE Emirates rider covered the 17.4 kilometres in 21 minutes 13 seconds, averaging 49.1 kilometres per hour. Portugal's Tiago Antunes, riding for Efapel Cycling, took second, with Dutchman Axel van der Tuuk of Euskaltel Euskadi third. Alexis Guerin of Anicolor/Campicarn finished the stage eighth, 53 seconds down on the winner, and kept…

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The champions beat Alverca 2-0 at the Dragão with two penalties. Benfica drew 2-2 with newly promoted Académico de Viseu behind closed doors, Sporting threw away a two-goal lead at Estrela da Amadora and Braga drew at Moreirense.

The Primeira Liga's opening round finished on Sunday night with a tidy summary: of the four clubs that normally contest the title, exactly one collected three points. FC Porto began the defence of their championship by beating Alverca 2-0 at the Dragão, both goals arriving from the penalty spot inside the first half. André Silva opened the scoring on nine minutes and Gabri Veiga finished it on 44. It was not a spectacle. It was efficiency, and in August…

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Stage five is an individual time trial of roughly 17 kilometres from Anadia to Águeda, with a sharp climb at Barrô just before the first intermediate check. First rider off at 13:39, last one home around 17:16.

Seventeen kilometres sounds gentle until you look at the profile. Stage five of the Volta a Portugal runs today from Anadia to Águeda as an individual time trial, and buried in the middle of it is an 800-metre ramp at 7.7% through Barrô, arriving just before the first intermediate check at 9.5 kilometres. That ramp is what turns a power exercise into a pacing problem. Go too hard in the opening kilometres and Barrô collects the debt; hold back too much…

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The Anicolor rider wins the summit finish on the highest road in mainland Portugal and takes the yellow jersey, 1m26s clear of teammate Artem Nych on general classification.

Torre did what Torre does. After 154.6 kilometres from Figueiró dos Vinhos to the highest point in mainland Portugal, stage four of the 87th Volta a Portugal pulled the race apart and handed it a new leader. Alexis Guérin went clear with 15 kilometres left and was never seriously threatened. The Frenchman crossed the line 1 minute 44 seconds ahead of his own Anicolor teammate Artem Nych, and took the yellow jersey Rui Oliveira had claimed at Queluz.

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