Good enough to beat the rest of the world, twice, Wales’ former world champion triathlete Helen Jenkins has never allowed her path to be blocked by obstacles. So, why should two kids and surgery on her spine get in the way of her comeback, as she tells Graham Thomas. Helen Jenkins plans to race again in April – having proved that anything is possible if you’re determined stay active and impress the kids. For most of us that might mean keeping in reasonable shape as the years pass in order to enjoy life to the full with the family.

A teenage race-walker is organising his own para athletics meeting in Cardiff to give fellow disability athletes the opportunity to compete against each other. Daniel McKerlich, who competes in the T20 category for people with learning difficulties, has spotted a need for a competition in Wales exclusively for disabled athletes. The 19-year-old hopes his Para Athletics Event 2020 will attract some of Britain’s top para athletes as they prepare for the Tokyo Paralympics and go in search of qualifying standards.

Newly crowned champions Mountain Ash Comprehensive School plan to defend their RCT Schools Netball title next year – kitted out in new gear. The year 11 girls won the tournament for the first time to carry off the trophy and £250 prize money – sponsored by Netball Universe – which they intend to put to good use by buying new team dresses. After watching her side beat runners-up Treorchy Comprehensive School 11-8 after extra-time in a thrilling final, Mountain Ash coach Lynsey Morgan said: “We’ll be using the prize money to buy netball dresses, which the girls are excited about.

Joel Bagan, the 18-year-old left-back who made his Cardiff City first team debut against Reading in the FA Cup, has joined Notts County on loan. Former Bluebirds player and Academy manager Neal Ardley is Vanarama National League County’s manager and he said: “We looked at loads of possibilities for this position. “The players we identified with […]

Cardiff Devils return to Elite League ice hockey action this weekend intent on firing up their title chase. Coventry Blaze visit the Viola Arena on Saturday, the first match since the mid-season break because of Great Britain’s Olympic qualifying fixtures. Devils have a ‘HellOut’ for the Blaze match with a capacity 3,100 attendance guaranteed. Cardiff […]

Ronnie O’Sullivan scored the 1,042nd century break of his career on the way to a convincing victory against Iran’s Soheil Vahedi in the ManBetX Welsh Open Snooker Championships. He scored 131 in the third frame, completing the break in just over seven minutes. This was O’Sullivan’s 100th match in the Welsh Open and he won […]

Four Welsh international athletes will be hoping to celebrate St David’s Day with standout performances on the streets of London next month. Dewi Griffiths, Josh Griffiths, Charlie Hulson and Clara Evans feature in the star-studded elite field at the Vitality London Big Half on March 1. The men’s line-up includes the likes of Kenyan distance superstars Lawrence Cherono and Kenenisa Bekele.

Jay Harris has revealed his dream is to win a world title this month and then defend it at the home of his beloved Swansea City. The Welsh boxer will bid to cause a huge upset in Dallas on February 29 when he takes on Mexican Cesar Martinez, the current WBC flyweight champion. Should Harris pull off his long odds mission, then his plan is to show off his belt in a first defence much closer to home – at the Liberty Stadium, where the extended Harris family are regular attenders.

As the Six Nations pauses, Peter Jackson looks ahead to next season – a Lions year – and the prospects, and pitfalls, of a warm-up game in Wales for the tourists which would follow the 2021 Six Nations. The Lions are considering whether to transfer their next fixture from Twickenham to Cardiff rather than Edinburgh or Dublin ahead of the 2021 Lions Tour. As a profitable warm-up for their truncated tour of South Africa, the touring team had planned to book HQ for June 26 next year only to discover that Premiership Rugby had already nabbed it for their annual finale to the domestic season.

Welshman Mark Williams crashed out of the ManBetX Welsh Open snooker championships in Cardiff – and tore the buttons off his shirt. Williams, the former World champion from Cam, lost 4-1 against Scotland’s Anthony McGill and then insisted the damage to his shirt was not down to frustration. “I just couldn’t wait to get the […]

Celtic Dragons hosted Vitality Superleague rivals London Pulse and Team Bath in a tri-tournament at Ebbw Vale Sports Centre.  The home team lost both of their matches, but Dragons wing-attack Sophia Morgan, from Brynford in Flintshire, said: “It was great to play against Bath and Pulse in pre-season fixtures.  “We ran through lots of combinations […]

The Six Nations is on a break week – something that would disappear if reported suggestions of South Africa’s inclusion ever came about. Robin Davey says the damaging knock-on effects outweigh any financial benefits. The plan to bring South Africa into the current Six Nations tournament should be kicked into touch very firmly – or simply buried altogether. The Six Nations is the world’s most popular rugby tournament and one of the finest in any sport, for that matter.

Elfyn Evans faces one of the most difficult challenges the FIA World Rally Championship can throw at him this weekend – a shortened Rally Sweden without snow! You’d think that would make the event easier, but far from it. With high snow banks to bounce off and thick ice for the studded tyres to grip into, Sweden is one of the fastest and most spectacular rounds of the series.

Neil Harris insists there is a Lee Tomlin-inspired feel-good factor at Cardiff City that can lift them all the way into the promotion chase. The Bluebirds managers saw his side earn an emphatic 3-0 victory at Huddersfield Town on Wednesday night which lifted them into eighth place in the Championship table. Back-to-back wins and a 10-match unbeaten run in all competitions means Cardiff are now just four points from the play-off places and only seven points adrift of second-place Leeds United with 14 games left to play.

Newport County manager Michael Flynn is hunting down free agents – and he needs to move fast. He needs a right-back before this Saturday’s SkyBet League Two trip to Mansfield Town because he has Dan Leadbitter and Ashley Baker out injured. “We think Dan has a bad hamstring tear so he could be out for […]

Former Wales under-21 international Eliot Richards struck gold for Merthyr Town in their betVictor Southern League home match against promotion-chasing Taunton Town. Former Bristol Rovers, Cheltenham Town and Tampa Bay Rowdies player Richards struck a hat-trick in Merthyr’s 4-2 win in front of more than 300 spectators at the MetCoaches Stadium. The 28-year-old, from New […]

Tom Llewellin will move up to the British Historic Rally Championship this season – and the 18-year old driver will be a force to be reckoned with if his warm up outing on last weekend’s Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally is anything to go by. Using the opening round of the Pirelli Welsh Forest Rally Championship as a shakedown, Llewellin took his Group 4 historic-spec Escort Mk2 to ninth overall on the Interclub section of the event. He was 17th after the opening two tests, before setting an incredible seventh fastest time, against a host of more powerful four-wheel drive opposition, in Penmachno – for which he received the John Bont Penmachno Challenge Award. Co-driven by Peredur Davies, not only was Llewellin the first two-wheel drive competitor home at the finish, he won the H3 class by an amazing 4mins 39.9secs.

Jimmy Watkins was a runner, then a rocker, and now he’s back on the track. The former Wales middle distance king tells Owen Morgan of his amazing comeback plans for 2020 after a decade spent rockin’ all over the world. World Indoor Athletics Championship 800m finalist Jimmy Watkins is reaping the physical and mental rewards of returning to running more than a decade after turning his back on the sport. Just two years after taking on the world’s best in Moscow back in 2006, the former Welsh 800m champion hung up his spikes and picked up his guitar to pursue his other passion – rock music.

Neil Harris is at the forefront of a Cardiff City Academy revolution. The Bluebirds manager is delighted the Championship club are looking into upgrading the Academy to category one status – and have appointed a former Wales international to take charge of the under-23 development team. Steve Morison, an English-born striker who qualified for Wales […]

Dai Young has found an ally in Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan following Young’s removal from front line duties at Wasps. Ryan – a former captain of Wasps before he went into coaching – was surprised to learn that his old club had made the switch, with backs coach Lee Blackett stepping into Young’s shoes on an interim basis. Former Wales skipper Young has been in charge at Wasps since 2011 and has overseen both their controversial move to Coventry as well as a cost-cutting era that has resulted in an exodus of key players.