David Hearn has been described in many quarters as a "former Olympian." There is no such thing as a former Olympian. Once you are an Olympian, you are forever an Olympian. "Former Olympic canoe racer," is fine. "Former Olympian" is not. "Olympian" is a lifelong title.

It's @kentuckyderby.bsky.social week, so I wrote about a horse. But not a Derby horse. A horse that chilled me out, and then almost knocked me out. And educated me. After all, the Derby is about horses. For NBCSports www.nbcsports.com/horse-racing...

On Derby Day, Think About Horses, Not Just Hats

Ahead of the 2026 Kentucky Derby, Tim Layden on the animals at the heart of horse racing's biggest spectacle.

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The Milan-Cortina Olympics have been wildly dramatic for U.S. stars. Liu, Shiffrin, Malinin, Vonn. Jordan Stolz does not do drama, but leaves Italy as the most decorated American. Column for NBC Sports. www.nbcolympics.com/news/amid-dr...

Amid a dramatic Olympics, Jordan Stolz quietly becomes a U.S. star — and he's just getting started

Saturday in Milan, the most decorated American athlete at the 2026 Winter Olympics, 21-year-old speed skater Jordan Stolz, quietly exited the Games with a 4th-place finish in the mass start event. He ...

nbcolympics.com

Of all the forces that slowed Mikaela Shiffrin and then empowered her to win another Olympic gold medal, one stands out: Grief. On Wednesday, she freed herself. Column for NBC Sports. www.nbcolympics.com/news/slalom-...

With slalom gold, Mikaela Shiffrin rewrites her story and finds freedom

Shiffrin won another Olympic gold medal in the slalom on Wednesday afternoon. It was Shiffrin's third Olympic gold medal, although her first in eight years, and those eight years are the spine of her ...

nbcolympics.com

Olympic pressure is real and athletes face it personally. On Jordan Stolz, Ilia Malinin, Mikaela Shiffrin and the scoreboard that always gets the last word. Column for NBC Sports. www.nbcolympics.com/news/under-o...

Under Olympic pressure, Shiffrin, Stolz and Malinin remind us that the scoreboard always has the final say

In our rush to anoint, we forget the immutable truth that governs all sports: The scoreboard always has the final say, narratives be damned. Greatness be damned.

nbcolympics.com

Given one more chance, of course Lindsey Vonn pushed it. And crashed. That doesn’t negate a remarkable 2-year comeback at age 41. Story for NBC Sports. www.nbcolympics.com/news/lindsey...

Lindsey Vonn, pushing to the end, didn’t need storybook ending to inspire

"I love pushing myself to the limit," Lindsey Vonn once said. That was always going to be her athletic epitaph.

nbcolympics.com

Wrote this about Lindsey Vonn 360 days ago, as her comeback was just picking up steam. Would not change a word today, even with -- or because of? -- the ACL rupture.

Hate the tone of this, but I'll bite: USA gets 4 spots in the downhill. Vonn was leading the World Cup standings on one *jacked* knee, and the gold medal favorite. Training runs will show where she is now. There are 6 speed skiers on the team.

Walter IV@walteriv.bsky.social · 6mo ago

She’s 41 and both knees are jacked but Team USA doesn’t have anyone else on the roster who can get a better time?

Lindsey Vonn was headed for a miracle Olympics on a partial knee replacement at 41; now she's got a torn ACL in her *other* knee, broken again, swimming upstream against her body. "Where I always seem to be." Story for NBCSports. www.nbcolympics.com/news/lindsey...

Lindsey Vonn’s latest Olympic quest isn’t perfect, but it’s her own

Surprised that Lindsey Vonn would still dare race after announcing she ruptured her ACL in her left knee? Here’s why you shouldn’t be.

nbcolympics.com

U.S. speed skater Jordan Stolz, 21, will be a star at next month's Olympics in Milan-Cortina. Story for NBC Sports on his unique journey: Giant fish in his boat, tame deer in his basement, and a family lesson: "Don't Fear Anything." www.nbcsports.com/olympics/new...

'Don't fear anything’: Why speed skater Jordan Stolz could be unstoppable at Milan Olympics

Reeling in a 100-pound halibut? Aiming to outrun the world’s fastest man? Trying to become the greatest speed skater of all time? Meet Jordan Stolz, the once-in-a-lifetime athlete you need to know and...

nbcsports.com

Aaron Rodgers throwing a football is one of those things in sports.

Back to my alma mater: Honored to write in @SINow about @MichaelPhelps receiving SI's Muhammad Ali Legacy Award for his tireless and passionate mental health advocacy. A great Olympian, giving back by sharing his own pain. www.si.com/sportsperson...

Michael Phelps Honored With SI’s 2025 Muhammad Ali Legacy Award

A decade after sharing his own painful mental health journey, the Olympic hero has traveled the globe as a beacon of advocacy and support.

si.com

Bill Belichick could have been fishing off Nantucket today but no

Monster paragraph from NYT editorial writer German Lopez. Simple, obvious, powerful, haunting. I could read it 1,000 times, and just might. Perfect. Bravo, man. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/o...

Ron Turcotte was strong and dignified. He lived at the very top of his game and then was dealt a terrible blow. And he suffered. Two years he said this to me: “[Secretariat] pops up in my head sometimes. But then I really want to be going back to riding .... and that’s impossible.” Godspeed RT.

Godspeed DWL

Tim Layden@bytimlayden.bsky.social · last yr.

D. Wayne Lukas retired this week at age 89, and entered hospice care. He was unlike anything racing had ever seen: Audacious, obsessive, unparalleled... determined to find and train fast horses at the expense of nearly everything else in life. One of a kind. www.nbcsports.com/horse-racing...

D. Wayne Lukas retired this week at age 89, and entered hospice care. He was unlike anything racing had ever seen: Audacious, obsessive, unparalleled... determined to find and train fast horses at the expense of nearly everything else in life. One of a kind. www.nbcsports.com/horse-racing...

Legendary Trainer D. Wayne Lukas: Audacious, Obsessed, Unparalleled

In horse racing and beyond, there is no one like D. Wayne Lukas.

nbcsports.com

Tomorrow (May 30) is the 50th anniversary of Steve Prefontaine's death. During the 2012 Olympic T&F Trials in Eugene, I went to the site of the crash that killed him and wrote this story. The larger themes are unchanged. www.si.com/more-sports/...

Memory of Prefontaine prevalent at trials as Rupp breaks 5,000 record

She was alone there for a few minutes, just looking at the outcropping of charcoal gray rock struck by Steve Prefontaine's sports car on the night of May 30,

si.com

Sovereignty won the Kentucky Derby and put its beleaguered sport in a time machine. Winning trainer Bill Mott back in the mud, like 2019, but "This one was better." Game story from a cold, sloppy Derby 151. www.nbcsports.com/horse-racing...

Sovereignty's Kentucky Derby win helps heal the past and soothe the present

Sovereignty's victory in the 151st Kentucky Derby offered its trainer and jockey a cleansing victory, and the sport, welcomed enjoyment.

nbcsports.com

Sovereignty won the Kentucky Derby and put its beleaguered sport in a time machine. Winning trainer Bill Mott back in the mud, like 2019, but "This one was better." Game story from a cold, sloppy Derby 151. www.nbcsports.com/horse-racing...

Sovereignty's Kentucky Derby win helps heal the past and soothe the present

Sovereignty's victory in the 151st Kentucky Derby offered its trainer and jockey a cleansing victory, and the sport, welcomed enjoyment.

nbcsports.com

Derby Day repost on this one.

Tim Layden@bytimlayden.bsky.social · last yr.

Journalism is not only the Kentucky Derby favorite, he is a modern symbol of resilience, chased from his home by wildfires, only to return, undeterred and unbothered. The name ain't bad, either. My story from Southern California. www.nbcsports.com/horse-racing...

Journalism is not only the Kentucky Derby favorite, he is a modern symbol of resilience, chased from his home by wildfires, only to return, undeterred and unbothered. The name ain't bad, either. My story from Southern California. www.nbcsports.com/horse-racing...

Four months after wildfires, Kentucky Derby favorite Journalism embodies symbol of resilience

Journalism is the favorite in the 151st Kentucky Derby. Four months ago, he and his trainer were displaced by the destructive wildfires in southern California.

nbcsports.com

The best horse racing writing of his generation.

Tim Layden@bytimlayden.bsky.social · last yr.

Journalism is not only the Kentucky Derby favorite, he is a modern symbol of resilience, chased from his home by wildfires, only to return, undeterred and unbothered. The name ain't bad, either. My story from Southern California. www.nbcsports.com/horse-racing...

Journalism is not only the Kentucky Derby favorite, he is a modern symbol of resilience, chased from his home by wildfires, only to return, undeterred and unbothered. The name ain't bad, either. My story from Southern California. www.nbcsports.com/horse-racing...

Four months after wildfires, Kentucky Derby favorite Journalism embodies symbol of resilience

Journalism is the favorite in the 151st Kentucky Derby. Four months ago, he and his trainer were displaced by the destructive wildfires in southern California.

nbcsports.com

Figure skater Max Naumov lost his parents/coaches in the Jan. plane crash. Now he holds onto the memory of their last minutes together, and remembers his father’s favorite motto: “We Must Fight.” www.nbcsports.com/olympics/new...

"We Must Fight." Figure Skater Max Naumov Hears his Father's Words and Carries On

Max Naumov reflects on his final moments with his parents, and their legacy, two months after their plane crashed over Washington, D.C.

nbcsports.com

I like @washingtonpost.com . I have good friends who work there and do excellent, impassioned journalism. I don't know if I should keep subscribing or reading. And that is a bummer and a measure of Things Going On.

SNL 50 is the best of us

Some words about -- and from -- Lindsey Vonn and skiing at age 40 on a partial knee replacement. www.nbcsports.com/olympics/new...

Lindsey Vonn, in uncharted territory on rebuilt knee, racing against time for one last Olympics

"I'm a girl from Minnesota who loves to ski. I realize people might not believe that. Maybe their perception will change after this. I'm not sure. But it really is that simple."

nbcsports.com

If Eli Manning gets in, his first thank-you call should be to David Tyree.

Back to the college football beat: The sport has always been top heavy, and creating December/January Madness is a big ask. But it also thrives on outrage, so the current meltdown is on brand. All is well. Column for @NBCSports.