Sports briefly: Shaun White says he won't aim to skateboard in Olympics

If the world sees Shaun White at an Olympics again, it will be in 2022, not later this year.

The three-time snowboarding champion said he is taking skateboarding off his plate and won't try to qualify for that sport's Olympic debut later this year in Tokyo.

"The decision became less about going for skate and more about, am I willing to walk away from snow?" White said from the Burton U.S. Open in Vail, Colo. "It just was going in that direction, and I didn't feel comfortable with it and I can't wholeheartedly choose this path with what I've got going on snow."

White, who for years was every bit as successful a skateboarder as a snowboarder, had been dangling the possibility of joining the rare group of athletes to compete in both Winter and Summer Games.

He has long excelled in vert contests, which resemble a snowboard halfpipe competition but are not part of the Olympic program. He was trying to make the switch to park, which combines halfpipes and quarterpipes with stairs and rails, but he finished 13th last summer at skateboarding's world championships.

He said he feared the work he'd have to put in to compete against full-time skateboarders for an Olympic spot would compromise his chance of returning to the Winter Games in Beijing for a shot at a fourth gold medal.

"It doesn't feel too far-fetched for me," said the 33-year-old White. "I still feel great and that's where it got left for me. I'm dipping back into snow, and doing what feels right."

"They worked on him a lot," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "So, I'd say we were a little encouraged this morning."

The pain troubles Judge when he swings the bat but not when he throws.

Atlanta standout Josef Martinez will have surgery after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee Saturday night in United's season-opening victory at Nashville.

It's a huge blow to one of MLS' top teams. Martinez, the 2018 MLS Golden Boot winner and a 27-goal scorer last year, was taken off the field on a stretcher in the 68th minute. A United spokesman said the team would wait on surgery before speculating about his return.

Federica Brignone won the Alpine combined World Cup title without clicking into her skis, and she might win the overall and giant slalom globes as well without any further racing this season.

"We need to monitor the overall situation, the WHO directives, the local health authorities that will then advise and inform us if these races will be possible or not," FIS women's race director Peter Gerdol said.

Brignone, an Italian, is 153 points ahead of three-time overall champion Mikaela Shiffrin, who hasn't raced in a month, since the death of her father.

Horse racing: A horse was euthanized at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., raising the total to nine deaths since the season began Dec. 28. Santa Anita had 37 horse deaths in 2019.

Bobsledding: Germany's Francesco Friedrich piloted his four-man sled to his third consecutive world championship, winning in Altenberg, Germany. German teams took the top three spots, only the second sweep in the 80 years of world championships.