World champion Olimpiada Ivanova of Russia set the first track and field world record at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, when she won the 20-kilometer race walk Thursday in 1 hour 26 minutes 52.3 seconds, slashing the record by nearly three minutes. In the men’s mile, Olympic champion Noah Ngeny of Kenya held off Canada’s Kevin Sullivan to win in 3:56.10.
Auto racing: Jack Sprague held off Kevin Harvick to win the Kroger 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Richmond, Va., by 0.062 seconds, the third-closest margin in series history. Sprague retook the points lead from Joe Ruttman.
– Jeff Green turned a fast lap at 125.122 m.p.h. to win the pole for Friday night’s Autolite Fram 250 NASCAR Busch Series race in Richmond.
– CART and Mexican officials have agreed on a five-year contract for an annual race near Mexico City. CART also will add a race in Montreal.
College basketball: Kyle Wilson, a 6-foot-8-inch forward from Jesuit College Prep in Dallas, made an oral commitment to Illinois. Wilson chose Illinois over Notre Dame, Utah and Stanford.
– Yvette Harris, an assistant to coach Sue Guevara at Michigan for five years, is suing the university for up to $20 million, claiming that race and age discrimination were factors in her May 3 firing. Harris, 42, is African-American.
Baseball: Danny Almonte, whose team was banned from Little League after Dominican officials ruled he was 14 and not 12, showed up Thursday for his first day at an American school.
Soccer: Clovis de Oliveira was fired as Jamaica’s men’s coach a day after a loss to Honduras virtually eliminated the team from contention for the World Cup.
