Melissa Courtney-Bryant came within a whisker of setting a new 1500m personal best on her first outdoor outing of 2020 on Tuesday night. The Welsh 3,000 and 5,000m record holder was in imperious form as she overcame a high quality field at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland. Courtney-Bryant produced a masterclass in front running before breaking the tape in a new meeting and stadium record of 4:03.69.

Mark Williams has jumped to the defence of snooker’s young brigade and called Ronnie O’Sullivan “disrespectful” for his criticisms of their standards. Wales’ former world champion saw his pursuit of a third title ended by O’Sullivan on Tuesday when the five-time champion won their quarter-final 13-10 at the Crucible. It was a clash between two of the game’s ageing legends with Williams now 45 and O’Sullivan 44. But it was a contest given more spice by O’Sullivan’s comments that levels of performance among the younger generation was so low that he would, “have to lose an arm and a leg to fall out of the top 50.”

Port Talbot Ladies head coach Hayley Williams admits there was a fair degree of apprehension before her players went back to training this month.  After all, it had been a long time since the Welsh Premier Women’s League squad members had last got together for their twice weekly sessions. But thanks to a grant of just over £1,000 from the Be Active Wales Fund, the players are now back on the grass – although having to get used to new conditions and demands imposed by coronavirus restrictions. 

Dan Jervis went to swimming’s world championships last year and failed to cope with the anxiety of expectation. Now, after lockdown and time spent out of the pool, he tells Graham Thomas he will be a calmer man heading towards next year’s Olympic Games. Dan Jervis is glad to be back in the pool, but the Olympic hopeful admits lockdown has altered his outlook to training, swimming, and even life itself. The Commonwealth Games silver medal winner from 2018 is part of the small group of 11 elite Welsh swimmers currently back in the water in Newport.

The draws have been made, the maps have been checked, and now Welsh football clubs are preparing for their summer stint in the sun. Matthew Burgess says the cards – as usual – are not stacked in the Welsh clubs’ favour, but one-game shoot-outs might yet enable the likes of Connah’s Quay and Barry Town United to make their mark. Anticipating how Welsh clubs will fare in European competitions is generally a difficult summer task at the best times, yet the ongoing impact of the coronavirus on Welsh football only serves to muddy the waters further. In football’s new normal, all qualifying rounds are to be decided over one game and ties could be hosted at neutral venues – or determined without a ball even being played – should Covid restrictions dictate.

Alun Wyn Jones may be poised to become the most capped rugby player in history – but his first plan is to impress his new boss. The Wales captain is scheduled to pass Richie McCaw’s mark of 148 international caps this autumn, but his more immediate aim is to show new Ospreys coach Toby Booth the true meaning of staying power. Jones has been involved in his 18th senior pre-season routine with the Ospreys in recent days, but his first since Booth became head coach and the former London Irish chief says: “He’s at the start of his career for me.

Cymru Premier clubs Connah’s Quay and Barry Town have learnt the identity of their respective European opponents later this month. Connah’s Quay will face FK Sarajevo at home in what will be the Nomads’ first ever UEFA Champions League qualifying tie, while Barry Town have been handed an away draw to Faroe Islanders RSI Runavík in the UEFA Europa League.

Dewi Griffiths smashed his 5k personal best in a lightning-fast elite men’s race at the Podium 5K event on Saturday evening. Cambridge and Coleridge athlete Marc Scott finished first in a new British record time of 13:20 at the event in Barrowford, Lancashire, a mark which was just outside the European record. But it was Griffiths’ sixth placed time of 13:43, which caught the eye in the week that it was announced this year’s London Marathon would be an elite only race.

Aaron Ramsey has been offered a route towards more regular starts in Italy after Juventus appointed Andrea Pirlo as their manager following the sacking of Maurizio Sarri. Former Italy and Juve midfielder Pirlo is a stated admirer of Ramsey and the expectation is that the Wales international will now move from being a peripheral influence in Turin to a central performer. Since moving to Italy from Arsenal a year ago, Ramsey has been among Juve’s substitutes more often than he has begun games and has rarely been given an extended run of starts.

Geraint Thomas believes his return to the road is nicely paced as the countdown starts to the Tour de France at the end of the month. The Team Ineos rider raced for the first time competitively when he finished 24th in a bunched sprint at the end of the opening stage of the Tour de l’Ain in Ceyzériat, France on Friday. The Welsh 2018 Tour de France winner has happy with his display and will look for further progress in the remainder of the tour which continues on Saturday with a stage in the Jura mountains that includes five categorized climbs.

Welsh athletes will be looking to continue their successful return to action when they travel to Lancashire for this evening’s prestigious Podium 5K event. Leading a strong Welsh contingent in the women’s field will be Jenny Nesbitt and Clara Evans. The Cardiff Athletics clubmates will be looking to follow up their excellent wins in Lisburn last weekend.

Former Wales star turned adventurer Richard Parks knows all about survival – and he believes keeping heads above water is all anyone in rugby can do at present. As the professional end of the game in Wales prepares to return in a fortnight, the man now renowned for toughing things out in a hostile environment reckons it’s going to take a huge effort to avoid the dangerous currents within the sport he used to play. After weeks of talks over pay cuts, the united front shown by the regional players collapsed when those at the Scarlets did their own deal by signing new contracts – leaving the Welsh Rugby Players Association looking weak and ineffective.

Canadian forward Mike McNamee has committed to Cardiff Devils for the 2020-21 Elite League season. McNamee is the 10th player to re-sign for the Devils for the new campaign and the sixth import. “Mike is such a versatile player, highly skilled, great defensively and also has so much offensive talent,” said club managing director Todd Kelman. 

With rallying currently still stuck in a ditch as other sports in Wales start to resume, past glories are all that’s on offer. So, the perfect excuse to hear from Wales’ swashbuckling former British Rally champion David Llewellin, who tells Paul Evans of his infamous highs and lows chasing the Welsh International Rally title. High speed impatience to score victory on his home Welsh International Rally undoubtedly delayed David Llewellin from lifting the winners’ trophy. The most spectacular of these, beyond limits misdemeanours, came in 1986, when he crashed his Metro 6R4 not once, but twice.

The first golf Major since lockdown begins today in San Francisco when players tee off at the US PGA. It’s another sporting instance where the men’s game is further down the road to recovery than the women’s – a discrepancy that Wales’ Lydia Hall finds all too familiar, as Graham Thomas reports. Lydia Hall flies back into the UK at the start of August – as determined to be high on the leaderboard at the Ladies Scottish Open as she is to help shake up women’s golf. After six months spent in Australia – four more than intended because of lockdown amid the global pandemic – the current Welsh No.3 has had plenty of time to assess her sport and its injustices.

Jonny Williams is hoping his one-year contract extension with Charlton Athletic can trigger more glory at the delayed European Championship finals next summer. The Wales midfielder – who was Chris Coleman’s occasional joker in the pack for the national team four years ago – has opted to extend his time with his current club. The 26-year-old was unable to stop Charlton going straight back down from the Sky Bet Championship last month – a year after he helped the Addicks into the second tier with promotion via the League One play-offs.

Can newcomer Sam Moore make the same impact as Nick Williams? The son of former Wales lock Steve Moore certainly has big boots to fill. Moore has been impressing everyone in training at Cardiff Blues since joining from Sale Sharks and turning his attentions away from representing England to playing for the land of his father, uncle and the city where he was born. A knee injury helped to take him off Eddie Jones’ radar and now he will get the chance of a new beginning in a Blues shirt.

Danny Newcombe has been handed the job of leading Welsh hockey into next year’s European Championships after being named as the new head coach following Zak Jones’ move into the team GB set-up. Hockey Wales have adopted the tried and trusted football ‘boot room’ policy of promoting from within in the wake of Jones’ departure. Newcombe has worked alongside Jones as his assistant for the past two years and has been working within the Welsh hockey coaching network for almost a decade.

Scott Ruscoe will lead The New Saints side into their latest European campaign in three weeks’ time, quietly encouraged by his summer transfer activity. With last season’s disappointment and off-field wrangling behind them, Ruscoe has been able to focus entirely on preparing his team for what will be his fourth season in charge. His recruitment has seen three senior players come into the fold: in defence, midfield and attack.

Rhondda Netball are calling on supporters to back their bid for a share of £1m as they aim to develop more role models and leaders within their organisation. Having already become a regional winner, the Valleys netball charity – one of the largest female sports participation programmes in Wales – need online votes to win the top cash prizes on offer. Rhondda Netball have already made the shortlist to win a share of Persimmon Homes’ Building Futures £1million pot, supporting under-18s across the UK.