Perhaps the defining component of J.J. McCarthy‘s NFL career has been injury. That central facet of his pro career has contributed to a pile of issues, inconsistent play foremost among them.

Is that going to change? The Vikings certainly hope so.

Sometimes, the focus within the conversation surrounding McCarthy has been reasonably general in its assessment of the kid’s health problems. He’s just injury prone. Taking a step back to get a tiny bit more specific can be helpful. Scroll down to see a goofy visual to offer a reminder of what he hurt, where he got hurt, and the time missed.

The J.J. McCarthy Injuries Across 2024 & 2025

Get right into it. The visual made by yours truly:

Allow me to begin by talking directly to all medical doctors, those with computer skills, and none other than J.J. McCarthy: I send an apology for this visual. The point above is to function as a reminder of what his injuries have been alongside the time missed.

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In particular, that right side has been a problem. Nobody wants any other injuries to arise for the Michigan man. If they do, the first question will be if it’s along the right side of his body.

A sneaky detail to remember is that he has had the first normal offseason for the first time in a couple years.

Turning the clock back to 2024 would mean recognizing that he was preparing for the 2024 NFL Draft. The Combine isn’t totally detached from real football but it’s not the same. Worse, he had the knee injury after impressing in his debut NFL preseason game.

Last year, McCarthy was coming off that injury. He was also being tasked with fixing his wonky mechanics. And then Week 2 arrived. He missed practice time due to the birth of his child — reasonable — and then got walloped in that Falcons game. His ankle sprain led to missing five games afterwards.

His two full seasons in the NFL should have involved thirty-four games. He has played in just ten, missing time within some of those ten games.

J.J. McCarthy is 23.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

Chelsea have completed the signing of Strasbourg midfielder Valentin Barco on a seven-year deal.

The 21-year-old becomes Chelsea‘s sixth signing of the summer after the arrivals of Morgan Rogers, Danny Welbeck, Emmanuel Emegha, Maxence Lacroix and Marco Palestra.

The midfielder will join the remainder of Chelsea‘s pre-season tour, with the Blues set to face Italian side Juventus in Hong Kong on 5 August.

Chelsea did not disclose the fee.

The Argentine appeared once for his country at the 2026 World Cup, where they finished runners-up to Spain.

A product of Boca Juniors’ academy, Barco joined Brighton in 2024 for a fee of £7.9m.

But he spent just a year on the south coast, and joined Strasbourg the following summer after a successful loan spell.

He comes the second player this summer to join Chelsea from Strasbourg, with both clubs owned by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.

It is the 13th deal between the two clubs since the start of last season.

Jockey Tim Clark celebrated his birthday with a memorable performance at Rosehill, clinching a riding treble and taking an early lead in the Sydney jockeys’ premiership.

His earlier wins aboard Funshow and Steel Strike preceded a polished ride on Carbonados to secure victory in the NSW Jockeys Association Handicap (1300m).

Clark had to exercise patience, finding himself momentarily held up behind the leaders before seizing an opportunity in the straight.

“Carbonados travelled up well,” Clark said. “But then coming into the straight I had to figure out how well the horse (Gatsby’s) was going outside the leader. It looked like the leader was going better so I was happy to stay where I was. I had the horse to make a run when the slightest of gaps appeared and he was able to push his way through and won well.”

The $15 outsider then burst through to win by 1¼ lengths from the fast-finishing Althoff ($9.50), with the favourite Fire Star ($4.60) taking third.

This win marked a significant turnaround for Carbonados, who had struggled in his previous three starts, finishing poorly.

“Carbonados has been a little hit and miss and hard to catch but the switching of states, changing things up for him worked well,” Clark added.

The Ben, Will and JD Hayes-trained Carbonados, from the Flemington stable, now has seven wins from 22 starts, with career earnings nearing $400,000.

The Lindsay Park stable also had a successful raid on Rosehill, with Run Harry Run contributing to their stable’s double for the day.

These results place Team Hayes in a tie for the lead in the early Sydney trainers’ premiership, alongside Richard and Will Freedman, whose runners Attractiveness and Horizons also saluted on the opening day of the new season.

Meanwhile, defending champion trainer Chris Waller endured a rare winless Saturday at his home track as he begins his quest for a 17th consecutive Sydney trainers’ premiership.

Get the latest racing odds at these betting sites.

India’s athletics contingent delivered one of its finest-ever performances at the Commonwealth Games 2026, finishing with a record 16 medals to spearhead the country’s memorable campaign in Glasgow.

After collecting eight medals at the Birmingham 2022 Games, India doubled its athletics tally to 16 medals, marking a remarkable 100 per cent improvement. The haul included 10 medals in athletics and six medals in para athletics, highlighting the growing strength and depth of Indian track and field across both disciplines.

Gulveer Singh headlines historic campaign

The standout performer of India’s athletics team was undoubtedly Gulveer Singh.

The distance runner etched his name into the record books by becoming the first Indian man to win a Commonwealth Games medal in the men’s 10,000m, where he claimed silver.

He followed it up with bronze in the men’s 5,000m, becoming the first Indian athlete to win two track medals at the same edition of the Commonwealth Games.

Para athletics delivers breakthrough performances

India’s para athletes also enjoyed their most successful Commonwealth Games in recent memory.

Sharmila became the first Indian para athlete to win Commonwealth Games gold in the women’s F57 Shot Put, creating history with a sensational performance.

India also secured a memorable double podium in the event as Shilpa Shyla added the bronze medal.

The success continued in the men’s F57 Shot Put, where Soman Rana clinched gold while Shubham Juyal took silver, giving India another one-two finish.

The six para athletics medals underlined India’s rapid rise in disability sport on the international stage.

Triple jump duo recreate Birmingham success

India once again dominated the men’s triple jump.

Praveen Chithravel claimed the silver medal while Selva Prabhu Thirumaran secured bronze, recreating India’s double podium finish from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Their performances reaffirmed India’s growing consistency in the horizontal jumps.

Athletics becomes India’s biggest success story

The athletics team’s performances reflected years of steady progress.

While India has traditionally relied on sports such as wrestling, weightlifting and boxing at multi-sport events, Glasgow 2026 showcased the country’s emergence as a genuine athletics force.

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has sent a two-word message to teammate Mason Mount after the Reds beat Atletico Madrid in Stockholm

Bruno Fernandes has hailed Mason Mount after he impressed during Manchester United‘s pre-season win against Atletico Madrid.

Michael Carrick’s side went behind inside the first five minutes after Arnau Ortiz found the net for Atleti. But the Reds mounted a comeback in the second half and turned the game on its head with Bryan Mbeumo scoring a brace to earn a 2-1 win at Stockholm’s Strawberry Arena.

Overall, it was an encouraging performance from United with Mount among those to stand out.

The ex-Chelsea midfielder was used in a two-man midfield alongside new £52million signing Andrey Santos and he suited that position. With the ball, he roamed in the half spaces, linked midfield to attack and created a number of chances. Then out of possession, he led the press and won the ball back on several occasions.

It felt as though Santos and Mount complimented each other in the midfield and that could be a partnership Carrick and United use more often this season, though Youri Tielemans and Kobbie Mainoo are expected to disrupt that.

But Mount is still expected to have a major role for the Reds this season and Fernandes, who still hasn’t reported back for pre-season training due to Portugal’s involvement at the World Cup, was full of praise for the former Derby County loanee on Instagram. Indeed, after Mount posted four photos from the win against Atletico in Sweden, Fernandes commented: “Class bro [fire emoji].”

Fernandes wasn’t the only player to leave a comment on Mount’s post with Shea Lacey putting three clapping emojis, Harry Maguire using a fire emoji and a clap emoji. Meanwhile, 15-year-old talent JJ Gabriel, who made his first-team debut for United against Atleti, used a ‘top’ emoji.

Mount was used in the same role for United against Rosenborg last Saturday and he admitted he ‘loves’ being trusted by Carrick to be a leader in the Reds side. “You have different types of leaders,” he said.

“You have ones that are very vocal, but I see myself as one who leads by example and never stops working. I’ve been captain previously, years ago, so I love the role. Especially with a lot of younger players on the pitch, and off it as well, being able to speak to them and make them feel comfortable, it’s something I really like.”

Lorena Wiebes sprinted to victory on the second stage of the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday after a hilly 147.9km run from Aigle to Geneva in Switzerland, much of it lakeside.

The Netherlands‘ Wiebes also won the first stage on Saturday and cut an impressive figure decked out in the yellow jersey as she burst clear of the pack from 250m out to win by several bike lengths.

The previous two winners of this race, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Kasia Niewiadoma, along with race favourite Demi Vollering, finished with the main pack.

Dutch time-trial specialist Riejanne Markus led the race alone over the final kilometres and suffered the agony of being overtaken by the chasing pack less than 500m from the finish line.

Sprint specialist Wiebes, a 27-year-old two-time former European champion, extended her overall lead to 14sec on Kim Le Court and 16sec on Vollering.

Italian Elisa Balsamo was second on the day and Dutch veteran Marianne Vos, 39, was third.

The peloton will roll into France on Monday’s third stage which takes in a steep 11km climb just outside Geneva but ends with a flat 15km stretch to the finish line at Poligny.

The two crucial stages of the nine-day race come Tuesday with an individual time trial and Friday when the pretenders to the title climb Mont Ventoux.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP) 

Dunum (11/1) won the final day feature, the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Ahonoora Handicap (Premier Handicap) for a second time this afternoon at Galway.

The course specialist, a winner of the race in 2023, and third in both 2024 and 2025, the Natalia Luipini-trained eight-year-old ran 13th at the course earlier this week, but ran out an impressive victor of the seven-furlong contest for Downpatrick owner, Maurice Burns.

Dunum 🤝 @Galway_Races

Another course-and-distance win for the Natalia Lupini-trained gelding under Billy Lee in the @IrishEBF_ Ahonoora Handicap 💥 pic.twitter.com/gk0tlzXbNq

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 2, 2026

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Timurshah wins again

Despite an increase of 16 lbs for a course and distance win on Monday, Timurshah (7/2) doubled up at Galway, when taking the Adare Maor Opportunity Handicap Hurdle in fine fashion for four-pound claimer Conor Smithers and Kildare-based handler Aidan Melia.

Willie Mullins final day double

Blood Destiny and Paul Townend gave Willie Mullins a second winner today, and his 9th of the week, when claiming the Lord Hemphill Memorial Handicap Chase.

Blood Destiny 😍

A comfortable win in the Lord Hemphill Memorial Handicap Chase @Galway_Races @WillieMullinsNH | @PTownend pic.twitter.com/LV92exhGO3

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 2, 2026

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Owned by the Roaringwater Syndicate, Blood Destiny, runner-up last time to Jesse Evans at Listowel, gave weight all round this afternoon but held off the challenge of Coming Up Easy and Darragh O’Keeffe, by three-and-three-quarter lengths

Caher Roes Den (9/2), in the colours of Simon Brookhouse, won the Kenny Galway Puegeot Handicap Hurdle, the first part of his final day double. Ridden by his nephew, Danny, the gelding improved on his Downpatrrick fourth-place stable debut for Closutton, when taking Sunday’s event by three-and-three-quarter lengths from Mr Master Mc (9/1) and seven-pound claimer Thomas O’Connor.

Mullins, with nine winners this week, was named leading trainer at Balllybit for an 11th time.

Henry de Bromhead and his stable jockey, Darragh O’Keeffe, were on the mark in the Kinlay Hostel Handicap Chase, over the Tote Galway Plate distance of 2 miles 6 furlongs and 111 yards, with Jukebox Johnny (9/2). The grey gelding, by Jukebox Judy and bred by Victor Connolly of Burgage Stud, had four lengths in hand on Drop A Threat (6/1) and Danny Mullins at the finishing line.

🎵😍

Jukebox Johnny finishes best of all to win the Kinlay Hostel Handicap Chase under Darragh O’Keeffe for @HenrydeBromhead @Galway_Races pic.twitter.com/4GfGWHj1Re

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 2, 2026

Blue Blue Moon and Patrick McGettigan gave Johnny Murtagh and Moyglare Stud Farm a win in the Salthill Village Handicap, while the final race of Galway Races Summer Festival 2026 went to Galway-owned Caisleán Gear (13/2) for trainer Andy Slattery and jockey Adam Ryan, beating the Willie Mullins-trained 2/11 favourite, Linford.