A group of Wales’ most promising athletes have been given access to approved training facilities as the sport takes its latest step towards returning towards normality. Until now, access had been limited to a group of 26 athletes who had been given “elite” status by virtue of them receiving the top level of Lottery funding under Welsh Athletics’ Commonwealth Games programme.

Elfyn Evans was fifth after the opening days of the Arctic Rally Finland on Friday. The Dolgellau-born racer was around 16 seconds slower on each off the two passes of the Sarriojärvi test – the second completed in darkness – as Estonia’s former world champ Ott Tanak dominated the first day.

Wales Golf has postponed the 2021 Ladies Open Strokeplay at Newport until later in the summer when it is hoped the event will be able to go ahead without restrictions. Newport Golf Club has continued to support this Championship and it will now be played Friday 24th – Sunday 26th September at the same venue.

Lauren Price has been named GB Boxing’s Best Female Boxer for the third year in a row. The 26-year-old picked up the top gong in a belated ceremony at GB Boxing’s gym at the English Institute of Sport Sheffield under strict social distancing protocols.

Stevie Williams will begin his campaign with a weekend Classics double in Belgium this weekend. The Aberystwyth-born rider has been named in the Team Bahrain Victorious squad for the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday and Sunday’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne the following day.

Matt Edwards will return to the British Rally Championship in 2021 in a bid to secure his third title in a row – but is switching to a Volkswagen Polo R5 for his potential history-making campaign. The 36-year-old from Llandudno’s move marks his first full BRC season outside of the M-Sport Ford marque since joining the series in 2016.

Welsh football will head towards the Euros and the start of another World Cup campaign in turmoil with doubts over the futures of both FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford and Wales manager Ryan Giggs. Ford – who joined the Football Association of Wales 12 years ago – is set to lose his position at the helm after a no-confidence motion was passed in him by the FAW council. He is still technically in his job, but has been placed on gardening leave after he lost the support of the powers that be above him.

Jonny Bairstow believes he and Kieron Pollard can ignite Cardiff this summer when they team up in an exciting Welsh Fire side for The Hundred. Bairstow is set to be a key man for England for the rest of their winter, but will play for Welsh Fire at Sophia Gardens later this year alongside fellow England internationals Ollie Pope, Tom Banton and Liam Plunkett. West Indian big hitter Pollard and Australian seamer Jhye Richardson have been confirmed as the overseas players following the conclusion of the draft selection process. 

Joe Brier and Piers Copleland will be bidding for Euro glory in Poland after being named in Britain’s team for the Indoor Championships from March 4-7. The Welsh Athletics duo’s selection for Torun was confirmed following their victories in the 400m and 1500m respectively at the trails over the weekend.

Jordan Brown has confessed he never believed he would be good enough to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan after he claimed the Welsh Open title. Brown sealed one of snooker’s greatest upsets as he beat six-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in a final-frame decider at the Celtic Manor. The world number 81, who started the tournament as a 750-1 outsider, held his nerve to clinch a 9-8 win over O’Sullivan – conqueror of Wales’ Mark Williams in the semi-final – and become the lowest ranked winner of a ranking title in over a quarter of a century.

Jonny May has tipped his Gloucester team-mate – but Wales rival – Louis Rees-Zammit to become a “world-class player” after his free-scoring start to this year’s Six Nations. Wales wing Rees-Zammit is the tournament’s leading try-scorer with three tries in two games, having grabbed the decisive scores in Wales’ wins over Ireland and Scotland. May’s battle with Rees-Zammit on the left wing could be one of the highlights of Wales’ clash with England in Cardiff on Saturday as Wayne Pivac’s side go in search of what would be a stunning Triple Crown.

Joe Brier and Piers Copleland put themselves in pole position for selection at next month’s European Indoor Championships with superb wins at Sunday’s Great Britain trial event in Manchester. Swansea Harrier Brier produced a magnificent new personal best and qualification standard of 46.81 to win the 400m A final.

Gavin Gwynne insisted nobody was going to stop him claiming the vacant Commonwealth lightweight title in Bolton. The Treharris man stopped Belfast’s Sean McComb in the seventh round of a ferocious fight on Friday.

Geraint Thomas is well in the hunt after the opening stage of the Tour du Var in France. The 34-year-old finished just three seconds behind Bauke Mollema of Trek-Segafredo who won the opening stage of the three-day race at the summit finish in Gourdon.

Elfyn Evans will be looking to send a chill down his FIA World Rally Championship rivals when he resumes his title quest at the Arctic Rally Finland next week (26-28 February). The Dolgellau ace will, like many of his fellow drivers, be making his debut on the event which has replaced Rally Sweden on the calendar due to COVID-19 issues.

The return to action for some Welsh athletes continues this weekend at the European Indoor Championships selection trials. The events to be staged in Manchester, Loughborough and London have been organised following the cancellation of the British Indoor Championships, which should have been taking place this weekend in Glasgow. In order to give British athletes the opportunity to earn selection for next month’s European Indoor Championships in Poland, the smaller, elite only, Covid-compliant events have been set up at three separate venues across the weekend.

Cardiff middle distance runner Kate Seary and two other international athletes have called on the sport’s bosses to issue lifetime bans for coaches found guilty of abuse-related breaches of their licences. Welsh indoor 1500m champion Seary, Great Britain cross country international Mhairi MacLennan and pole vaulter Anna Gordon, have written an open letter to UK Athletics CEO Joanna Coates. The letter calls for zero tolerance lifetime bans for coaches who are found to have broken the conditions of their coaching licence in cases of physical or sexual misconduct, harassment and abuse.

Geraint Thomas will ramp up his season when he competes alongside one of Britain’s hottest talents in France this week. The 2018 Tour de France champ will compete for the second time this season at the three-day Tour de Var which starts on Friday.

Glenn Delaney believes Scarlets and Wales prop Wyn Jones is the best in the business at the moment. The Kiwi coach has been involved with Jones at regional level since the start of the 2019/20 season, when Delaney joined as defence coach. Since then Jones has become a Wales regular at loose-head and has been gaining rave reviews for his performances in the opening two rounds of the Six Nations.

When Deeside Gymnastics Academy were told their base would need to become a Nightingale hospital, they feared for the club’s health. But far from waning, they have come back stronger and the sport in that area now appears to be in good health, as Carl Field reports. The Covid 19 enforced lockdown has been tough for everyone, but there have been a few glimmers of light that have shone through the collective gloom. One of those has been in North Wales, where the Deeside Gymnastics Academy has met adversity head on and looks set to come out of the pandemic on top.