Armstrong soft-pedals prospects

The seven-times Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong, yesterday downplayed his chances of winning an eighth when he returns to the Tour next summer with the Astana team.

Eight Olympic sports face uncertain futures after UK Sport, the government's funding body for elite sport in Britain, announced across the board cuts yesterday.

Fears that Dee Caffari may have to pull out of the Vendée Globe singlehanded round the world race because of a swollen and infected knee receded yesterday after an intense course of anto-biotics onboard her Open 60, Aviva.

Assuming Paula Radcliffe is fit and well come the morning of 26 April – not something to be taken for granted, given her ill fortune on that front and the fact that there are 21 weeks still to negotiate – the woman who has taken the marathon world record beyond the grasp of her fellow mortals will get the chance to claim the scalp of the Olympic champion Constantina Dita in the 2009 London Marathon. The elite women's field for next year's big race was announced yesterday and it pits Radcliffe against the Romanian who holds the prize that has become a holy grail for the Briton.

There will be no fantasy defence of the Olympic title at the 2012 Games in London for James DeGale after he finally and officially turned professional at a swanky restaurant in London yesterday.