Matt Richards has revealed he feels “incredible” after becoming Wales’ first swimming world champion. The 20-year-old won the 200m freestyle gold at the World Aquatics Championships in Japan on Tuesday to become one of the global superstars of the sport. Richards – already an Olympic champion with Great Britain in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay – finished ahead of fellow Briton and Olympic champion Tom Dean, who took sliver.

Anna Hursey has spoken of her pride after returning from Poland with a bronze medal at the European Youth Championships in Poland. The 17-year-old Wales Commonwealth Games star became the first Welsh player to win a medal at the championships for 25 years, since Adam Robertson in 1998.

Jonny Clayton admitted he was beaten by the better man on the night as he was denied a first World Matchplay title by a brilliant performance from Nathan Aspinall. Welsh star Clayton had wanted to win for his father, who is battling illness, but The Ferret had no answer to his English opponent once Aspinall found his groove at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on Sunday night.

Matthew Maynard admitted he was left frustrated by Glamorgan’s draw with Gloucestershire, but saw a silver lining. The county’s head coach saw his team failed to force a victory that would have aided their LV= Insurance County Championship Division promotion campaign, but they did pick up one more point from the game that Gloucestershire.

Elfyn Evans is confident of returning to the podium in Finland next month after agonisingly just missing out on the Croatia Rally.

Jonny Clayton is hopeful he can again be inspired to perform well for his unwell father as he takes on Nathan Aspinall in the final of the World Matchplay Darts on Sunday night. Welsh star Clayton has spoken of feeling extra motivation at the tournament this week in order to give a a boost to his ill father. “I’m doing this for my dad. He’s not very well at all,” revealed the 48-year-old. “It would mean everything for me to win this title.

Melissa Courtney-Bryant has smashed a second Welsh athletics record inside a week. Five days after breaking the Welsh women’s 1500m mark with a new sub-four minute run of 3:58.01, the Wales Commonwealth Games star broke the mile record at the Monaco Diamond League on Friday night. In, arguably, the greatest female mile race in history – a race in which the world record was shattered by almost five seconds – Courtney-Bryant finished seventh in a Welsh record time of 4:16.38.

Oliver Farr missed the cut at The Open as he followed up his opening round 74 with a more wayward 80 in his second round at Hoylake. That gave the only Welshman in the tournament a score of 154 at the halfway stage – 12 over par – with the cut coming at +3.

Oliver Farr – the only Welshman to qualify for The Open this year – will begin his quest at 10.42 on Thursday morning at Hoylake when he tees off alongside England’s Dan Bradbury and Australian Haydn Barron.

Tournament favourite Gerwyn Price and world number one Michael Smith both crashed out the Betfred World Matchplay on a dramatic evening in Blackpool. Price missed a match dart in a thrilling 13-11 tie-break defeat to Joe Cullen before Smith blew a 3-0 lead in an 11-7 last-16 upset against Chris Dobey.

The Welsh government may have ruled out a rescue bid, but others are happy to discuss the possibility of a multinational, multi-venue solution to the Commonwealth Games crisis. Downing Street says it hopes a “viable solution” can be found for the 2026 Games to be held in Australia, insisting the idea of the UK stepping in to host the event is “getting slightly ahead of ourselves”.

The plans of Team Wales, coaches and athletes, have been thrown into confusion by Victoria’s shock decision to pull out of hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2026. The Australian state will not stage the Games due to projected cost overruns, placing the future of the quadrennial multi-sport event in doubt.

Aled Davies has already set his sights on more world records next year after he completed a decade of dominance in the men’s F63 shot put at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris with an incredible fifth gold medal.

Gerwyn Price advanced to the second round of the World Matchplay as he recovered from a slow start to defeat Stephen Bunting 10-3 in Blackpool. After Bunting won the first two legs, Price hit back to level things up before sweeping to victory, claiming each of the last seven.

Michael Jenkins admitted it felt surreal as he won F38 shot put silver on his World Para Athletics debut after an astonishing battle in Paris. The world record was broken six times during the competition – once briefly by Jenkins – before he finished with a European record to add to his medal.

Melissa Courtney-Bryant smashed the 20-year-old Welsh 1500m record with a stunning display at the Diamond League meeting in Chorzow.

Harrison Walsh plans on using the experience of his World Para Athletics Championship bow as a stepping stone for challenging for major global honours.

Funmi Oduwaiye has set her sights on a medal winning return to Paris after finishing fourth in the F64 Shot Put at the World Para Athletics Championships.

Jeremiah Azu stormed to victory in the European Under 23 Championships in Finland.

Jeremiah Azu will bid to retain his European U23 title after smashing the Welsh 100m record for the second time in five days.