Welsh acrobat Dylan Howells wants to use the “incredible experience” of competing at his first World Championships as a springboard for future success. The 20-year-old, who hails from Risca, was part of the Great Britain squad who returned to the competition floor over the weekend – after the best part of 18 months out – at the 2021 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships in Geneva, Switzerland.

Osian Pryce says that a day’s testing on Thursday and the recce on Friday will provide the perfect uninterrupted confidence-building preparation ahead of Saturday’s Nicky Grist Stages, as he gets in full rally mode for round two of the British Rally Championship (BRC). The 28-year old Machynlleth born driver is relishing the opportunity to drive his Melvyn Evans Motorsport-prepared Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 on the loose for the first time, and getting up to speed with his new-for-2021 Michelin gravel tyres.

Luke Rowe’s Tour de France is over after he finished outside the time cut on stage 11 which features a double climb of Mont Ventoux, the so-called ‘Beast of Provence’. The Ineos Grenadiers rider crossed the line around six minutes outside the time limit which is set by the stage winner.

By Owen Morgan Patrick Swan produced a huge shot put personal best to help launch Swansea Harriers to top spot in their National Athletics League Premier West Fixture at the weekend. The British Athletics Championships silver medallist threw 17.43m to extend his personal best by 38cms – moving him up to fifth in the United Kingdom rankings for 2021. Swan was ably backed up by his Harriers team mates as Swansea topped the table with 359.1 points at the meeting held at Yate and District AC, fellow Welsh club Cardiff Athletics finishing third out of the five competing teams with 320.7 points.

Many of the best young golfers in Wales have now reached the halfway stage of the PING Welsh Junior Tour, with only three events left to see who will reach the final at Mold in September. The third event this year was held in Builth Wells with Iosi Russell of Pyle and Kenfig coming out on top in the U14 category to cement his place at the top of the Order of Merit with three events left to go.

By Tom Prosser Welsh judo star Natalie Powell can’t wait for the Olympics to get started and has some big aspirations going into the Tokyo games. This will be Powell’s second Olympic games after she previously got to the quarter-finals in 2016. “I’m looking to be on the podium, I want a medal,” said a determined Powell.   “I feel on my best day if everything goes to plan I’m fully capable of achieving that.”

By Paul Jones Welsh star Mica Moore has re-joined the British Bobsleigh team and has here eyes firmly set on making February’s Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Moore was a key performer at the last Olympics in South Korea three years ago as she recorded the country’s best ever finish in the women’s bobsleigh alongside pilot Mica McNeill. The pair placed eighth in PyeongChang but Moore then stepped away from the sport to begin an MSc in Sport Broadcasting and Media at Cardiff Met University.

Geraint Thomas admits his head was ‘in a bucket’ after he saw his Tour de France hopes left in tatters when losing 35 minutes in the Alps on Saturday. The 2018 champ looked poised to quit the world’s greatest cycle race to switch his focus to the Tokyo Olympics and rest the shoulder he fractured five days earlier.

Natalie Powell is off to her second Olympic Games after being formally named in a six-strong GB Judo team for Tokyo. The Beulah-born judoka will be ranked fifth in Japan after several impressive displays including winning gold at the 2020 Tel Aviv Grand Prix and silver at the 2019 Brasilia Grand Slam.

Commonwealth Games athlete Caryl Edwards celebrated her return to competitive running on Sunday with a win after a two-year break due to the birth of her child. Edwards, formerly Jones, had not competed since the Cardiff Race for Victory 5K in May, 2019, but on Sunday she won the women’s race in Round Two of the Welsh Athletics 5K series at Pembrey.

Welsh middle distance stars Piers Copeland and Jake Heyward both broke their 800m personal bests at the Stockholm Wanda Diamond League meeting on Sunday afternoon. Copeland was third behind Kenya’s Jonathan Kitilit who won in1:44.68 and fellow British athlete Archie Davies, while Heyward finished fifth. Cardiff-based Copeland crossed the line in 1:45.77 to lop almost half a second off his previous best time set at the Folksam Grand Prix in Gothenburg last August.

Geraint Thomas is set to sit down with his Ineos Grenadiers team bosses on Monday’s much-needed rest day of the Tour de France to decide if he will continue. The 2018 Yellow Jersey winner started Sunday’s eighth stage 36 minutes behind race leader Tadej Pogacar after a tough first day in the Alps.

Only one athlete from Wales will wear a Great Britain vest out on the track at the Olympic Games in Tokyo – Jake Heyward. Tipped for greatness as a junior, his race to this point has been far from a straight run, though, as he tells Owen Morgan. Wales’ latest athletics Olympian was made in Cardiff but re-born in the USA. Jake Heyward is the only Welsh athlete in the Great Britain team for the Tokyo Olympics and the first Welshman to compete in the 1500m at the Games since Reg Thomas in 1932 in Los Angeles.

Injured Geraint Thomas saw any lingering hopes of challenging for the Tour de France ended as he finished 35 minutes down on stage eight. The 2018 champ’s brave effort to continue riding after dislocating his right shoulder on stage three finally took its toll as the race headed towards the Alps.

Fresh from his medal-winning exploits at last weekend’s British Championships, Patrick Swan will lead Swansea Harriers’ bid to build on their first round showing in the National Athletics League this weekend. The Harriers sit 12th in the Premiership table going into Saturday afternoon’s second round fixture, while fellow Welsh club Cardiff Athletics lie 15th in the 16-team division. A shot put silver medallist at last weekend’s British Championships in Manchester, Swan will also compete in the discus in the NAL Premier West Group fixture hosted by Yate and District AC, which also features Bristol and West AC and Yeovil Olympiads, along with Cardiff.

The Nicky Grist Stages (Saturday 10 July) won’t be easy for Matt Edwards, as it will be his first gravel rally for 17 months and his maiden forestry event in his Yuasa Rally Team Volkswagen Polo GTI R5. Yet the double British Rally champion aims for a strong finish to maintain the great start he has made to his title defence.

Geraint Thomas admits he is still feeling the effects of his Tour de France crash as he prepares to face a tough weekend in the Alps. The 2018 winner was briefly distanced on the ascent to the summit finish to stage seven – at 249km the longest stage of the race – before recovering to cross the line along with his main rivals.

By Alex Bywater Welsh Fire’s men and women’s sides for The Hundred which starts later this month have been forced into some late changes due to Covid-19 withdrawals. The men’s team has been reinforced by two players from World Test Championship winners New Zealand in Jimmy Neesham and Glenn Phillips. Wicketkeeper-batsman Phillips will play the first four games for the men until big-hitting allrounder Kieron Pollard arrives from West Indies duty.

Wales’ Commonwealth Games champion Mike Wixey looks set to be denied a chance to defend his shooting title after organisers declared they were abandoning plans to hold the shooting event in India next year. Wixey struck gold for Wales in 2018 and was looking forward to defending his title next January when the shooting and archery events were due to be held in Chandigarh, six months before the main Games in Birmingham. But the two events have now been cancelled due to the uncertainty posed by the COVID-19 pandemic – leaving Wixey and his partner Sarah, who won bronze at the Gold Coast four years ago, without a chance to compete.

There are already over 20 Welsh athletes selected for Team GB to go to Tokyo later this month, but Olympic researchers have uncovered two more Welsh gymnasts who went to the Games more than 100 years ago. Wales’ leading men’s gymnast Brinn Bevan may have just missed out on a place in the British team heading to Japan, but Welsh Gymnastics is still able to boast two more Olympians following the amazing discovery. Olympic historians have confirmed the background details to two previously unknown British competitors at the 1900 and 1908 Games and discovered they were both born in Gwent.