Briefly: Caster Semenya says she'll run 200 instead of 800, avoid ban

Caster Semenya, banned from defending her Olympic title in the 800 meters, said she will try to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in the 200.

Semenya announced her decision on her Instagram account Friday.

Under the world track and field body's highly criticized testosterone regulations, Semenya and other female athletes with high natural testosterone are barred from races from 400 meters to 1 mile at top-level meets unless they undergo treatment to reduce their hormone levels for six months before running.

Semenya, 29-year-old South African, has refused to do so, calling the rules and the medical intervention required unfair and unethical. Athletes are given three choices to lower their testosterone: birth control pills, hormone-blocking injections or surgery.

But the regulations don't apply to the 200 meters, and that gives Semenya a chance to run at her third Olympics, even if it's not in the race she wants to run.

"This decision has not been an easy one but, as always, I look forward to the challenge and will work hard, doing all I can to qualify for Tokyo and compete to the best of my ability for South Africa," she said.

Semenya has rarely run the 200, and only at lower-level events. She didn't compete in it between 2016 and early 2019, and she is well off the pace of the world's best.

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Royer was followed into Ruby, the race's first checkpoint on the Yukon River, by three others: Thomas Waerner of Norway, Aaron Burmeister of Nome and Brent Sass of Eureka.

Tim Cluess, who led Iona to six NCAA tournament appearances, resigned to focus on making a full recovery from a recent health concern.

Cluess led the Gaels to a 199-106 record in his nine seasons and won five Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championships, including the last four, and four regular-season titles.

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Ted Cox, the first major league player with hits in his first six at-bats, died in Midwest City, Okla., after dealing with multiple myeloma since November. He was 65.

Cox made his major league debut for the Red Sox on Sept. 18, 1977, at Baltimore and singled twice and walked off Mike Flanagan, then singled and doubled against Scott McGregor. The next day at Fenway Park, he singled twice off the Yankees' Ed Figueroa.

The Denver Broncos placed the franchise tag on safety Justin Simmons.

The tag on Simmons is worth $11.545 million, although chances are good the fifth-year safety will sign a long-term deal averaging more than $14 million a season before the July 15 deadline. All four times General Manager John Elway has used the franchise tag the sides reached a deal on a long-term extension.