Sports
Elliott: Teenager Josephine Lee announces her presence on figure skating's big stage
Josephine Lee’s figure skating talent is obvious to even the most casual observer.
The sureness of her jumps, her ability to captivate an audience and the exquisite quality of her edges — the technique that puts the “figure” in figure skating — make her an entrancing athlete. Lee, who turned 16 on Feb. 3, confirmed her 2026 Olympic ambitions by performing the highest-scored long program at the recent U.S. championships, a stunning routine that lifted her to an unexpected but deserved second-place finish behind Amber Glenn and ahead of defending champion Isabeau Levito.
Yet Lee, who lives in Irvine and trains at Lakewood Ice, has another talent that isn’t as obvious: She can solve a Rubik’s cube with her feet.
She played a video of her feet feat for The Times but was too modest to share it. Suffice to say that if finishing a Rubik’s cube with your feet ever becomes an Olympic sport, she’d contend for a gold medal.
She had solved it with her hands, but she didn’t stop there. “One time I was on a long car ride and I got really bored, so I decided to put the Rubik’s cube on the floor. It took about an hour,” she said. “It’s a really good ankle exercise.”
It’s not a conventional training method, but it’s working for her.
Lee is too young to compete in this year’s world championships at the senior level but will go to the world junior competition later this month in Taiwan in hopes of improving on her 19th-place finish a year ago. She’s trying to stay in the moment while positioning herself to earn a berth on the U.S. team at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games, a tough balance to maintain.
She has the talent and the temperament. She was 4 when her father, Jeff, a computer programmer, took her to a rink near his office. She was, she joked, the only person ever to fail a Tot 1 learn-to-skate class. But even then, she recognized the challenges and sense of accomplishment the sport offered. That determination carried her through a stress fracture in her back when she was 11, and it fuels her efforts to conquer those jumps and spins on the way to living her Olympic dreams.
“I think she’s got a good shot. I think her work ethic and her desire to get there is more than anyone I see out there,” said her coach, Amy Evidente of Los Feliz.
“The good thing about her is you tell her to work on something or you work on something with her and it’s better the next day. She’s really taking everything in and trying to take the instruction or correction or whatever it is that she’s told. She will make sure that it’s done. And so I think she’s got as good of a chance as Amber and Isabeau and Lindsay Thorngren, whoever else is one of the top athletes.”
Josephine Lee competes during the women’s free skate at the U.S. figure skating championships on Jan. 26.
(Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)
Lee didn’t expect much from herself at the U.S. championships because she felt she hadn’t lived up to her potential this season. She was first after the short program at the Cranberry Cup junior event but dropped to third overall, and she finished eighth at a Grand Prix junior event in Linz, Austria. She did win the Pacific Coast sectional title.
Part of the problem was she had grown to about 5-foot-4 over the last year and wasn’t comfortable in her developing body. “It’s been a little struggle adjusting to that,” she said, “but I think my skating matured.”
Evidente was nervous for Lee before the U.S. competition.
“Only because she worked so hard and I just wanted her to put out two programs that she could walk away with that she could say, ‘I’m very proud that I did that,’” Evidente said. “My expectation was just for her to go and enjoy herself and kind of learn about herself through this process.”
Lee stood fifth after the short program. That was a moral victory because a costly mistake on an element in the short program a year ago had left her in 11th place, giving her a steep climb to her eventual fifth-place finish. This time, she pulled off a triple flip-triple toe loop jump combination and sailed through.
She was within reach of a medal. Suddenly, her expectations rose. “Then I was, ‘Shoot, I’ve never been in this position before,’” she said.
She handled the pressure beautifully, enjoying her performance instead of ticking off each technical element in her mind like a shopping list. She completed seven triple jumps without a single negative grade of execution from any of the nine judges; though she did a triple flip-double axel-double axel sequence instead of a triple-triple combination, she racked up 138.85 points, a personal best and three points better than Glenn’s free skate routine. Her final total score was 204.13 points.
Josephine Lee, right, hugs her coach, Amy Evidente, after learning her free skate score at the U.S. figure skating championships.
(Josie Lepe / Associated Press)
Her only misstep occurred when, overwhelmed by the occasion, she tried to exit the ice through the Zamboni door instead of the skaters’ door.
“You go through a program and you watch a girl like that and you just go, ‘OK girl, you can do this,’” Evidente said. “‘Just six more jumps. OK, you can continue doing this. You can stay up. Just keep going.’”
They were both happily shocked by her score, but four skaters remained. Lee and Evidente didn’t know if her total would hold up as No. 1 for the long program and they didn’t know where she’d finish.
Lee didn’t see the final skaters or track the standings. “My eyelashes fell off and I was reapplying those. They fell off when I was crying in the kiss-and-cry. So I didn’t really watch Amber’s entire skate,” Lee said.
“But my friends were texting me, like, ‘Oh my God, you’re going to place.’ I think I was getting interviewed in the mixed zone during Isabeau’s skate so I didn’t get to watch her. But I had no idea that I had won the free skate until afterward. Way after.”
Glenn and Levito are headed to the world championships, but Lee said she’s not disappointed to return to junior worlds. Her mother, attorney Caroline Tseng, is from Taiwan, so Lee welcomes the chance to visit. Since she didn’t expect to do well enough at the U.S. championships to be chosen for the junior world team, the chance to gain additional high-level international experience is a bonus. “I’m definitely really grateful for the opportunity,” she said.
She will face high expectations. Evidente, who began coaching her late in 2020, believes she’s better prepared than she was a year ago.
“I think with experience you just know so much more. And she knows how to handle herself so much more. So I think she will be able to thrive in that environment this year,” Evidente said. “The only expectation for me for her, as I told her [recently], is to stay loyal to her hard work. And to stay really present, because I think everything else comes from that.”
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LAS VEGAS – Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio were once brothers in arms in the Judgment Day. The two helped the faction run “Monday Night Raw” for several years.
As championships and opportunities came and went, the rift between Balor and Mysterio grew. It came to a head when Balor caused Mysterio to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Penta. Balor leaving the Judgment Day left Mysterio and Liv Morgan as the leaders with JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez sticking around.
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The latter four chose to ride with Mysterio and attacked Balor on one episode of Raw.
The bitter war led to a match Sunday night at WrestleMania 42. To make matters more interesting, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the match a street fight hours before the show was set to begin.
Balor had vowed to bring the “Demon” out and he certainly did.
JACOB FATU PUTS DREW MCINTYRE IN THE ‘REAR VIEW’ IN UNSANCTIONED MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 42
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Balor made his way to the ring in his “Demon” gear, dripping with red and black paint. Mysterio was in a mask with other Mysterio supporters.
The two then proceeded to beat the crud out of each other.
Mysterio wrapped Balor’s head in between a chair and hit a 619 on him. He tried to pin Balor, but to no avail. At another point, Mysterio tossed Balor through a table set up in the corner.
As many have learned, it’s hard to keep your demons down. Mysterio learned the hard way.
Balor would not give up. Balor clotheslined Mysterio, hit him with a chair multiple times before wrapping his head in between the chair and drop-kicking him into the corner. Balor put Mysterio onto a table and hit the Coup de Grâce for the win.
Dominik Mysterio is introduced before his match against Finn Balor during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Balor excised his own demons, while Mysterio is still haunted.
DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.
With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.
Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.
Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.
“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.
“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?
It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.
“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.
Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.
The Dodgers fell behind 6-5 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.
The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.
“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.
“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’
“I used it as fire to keep working.”
That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
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