Ireland Appoint Interim King

Republic of Ireland have named Noel King as their interim manager following the departure of Giovanni Trapattoni.

Under-21 boss King was asked to step up as the Football Association of Ireland considers its options.

Trapattoni, 74, left by mutual consent after defeats by Sweden and Austria earlier this month which effectively ended their World Cup hopes.

King is now likely to take charge of the final two qualifiers, against Germany and Kazakhstan, next month.

The 56-year-old has managed Derry City, Shamrock Rovers, Limerick, Finn Harps and the Irish women's team.

It was concluded at a board meeting that the FAI would carry out a comprehensive assessment.

A statement read: "It was agreed at the meeting that former international Ray Houghton, who was involved in the last managerial appointment process, and Ruud Dokter, the FAI's newly-appointed high performance director, should carry out this on-going assessment and report for the board.

"The board resolved that it will take the appropriate time to appoint the best person to manage Ireland for the Euro 2016 campaign, which starts in September next year."

King's assistant Harry McCue will take charge of the Under-21s for next month's double header against Romania.

Trapattoni had guided the Republic to the Euro 2012 finals, but his five-year reign came to an end after a 1-0 defeat by Austria left the Republic fourth in Group C.

Former Republic manager Mick McCarthy and ex-Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill have been linked with the job, though McCarthy has said O'Neill is favourite to succeed Trapattoni on a permanent basis.

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Vonn Back in Action

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Lindsey Vonn back in action after seven-month injury lay-off

Olympic gold medallist Lindsey Vonn is back in action seven months after rupturing her cruciate ligaments in her right knee.

The 28-year-old crashed on the opening day of the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Austria in March.

Scans revealed the rupture of the cruciate and medial ligament as well as a fracture of the tibial plateau.

"I'm on the road to Sochi and I'm not slowing down!" she announced on her official Facebook page.

The 2014 Winter Olympics gets under way in March where she will be looking to add the downhill gold she won at the Vancouver Games in 2010 and the bronze she took in the super-G.

Vonn made her World Cup debut aged just 16 in 2000 before competing at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah. In 2008, she claimed her first World Cup title to become only the second American woman to lift the trophy.

Her request to compete in a men's World Cup downhill ski race was rejected by the International Ski Federation (FIS) last year.

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Red Bull Ring to Host Austria GP

Dietrich Mateschitz

Red Bull has revealed it has struck a deal for the Austrian Grand Prix to return to the Formula 1 calendar next season.

The Austrian energy drinks company, which owns Formula 1's World Champion team, announced via a statement in its homeland that F1 would return to the Red Bull Ring - the new name for the A1 Ring - for the first time since 2003.

"Dietrich Mateschitz and Bernie Ecclestone have reached an agreement to the effect that Formula One will return to Styria next year," the statement read.

The statement added that the revised race had been penciled in for 6 July 2014, which is the same weekend the German GP was held this season and raises all sorts of questions in regards to the composition of next year's schedule.

With new races in New Jersey and Russia already scheduled to make their debuts on the calendar next season - although uncertainty remains over the former in particular - the apparent addition of Austria, pending official ratification by the FIA, makes it uncertain how long next season will stretch to given there are already 19 events on the 2013 calendar.

Bernie Ecclestone had suggested in the past that he thought 20-race seasons were a sensible limit for the sport - a mark that was first reached last year - but as things stand the 2014 calendar is poised to go beyond that number unless existing events are dropped or the proposed additions don't all make the cut.

Austria was a consistent feature on the F1 calendar in the 1970s and 1980s at the famous Osterreichring but after the original circuit held its last grand prix in 1987, it wasn't until a decade later that the country returned to the sport at the new-look A1 Ring.

The Spielberg circuit staged seven races thereafter before falling off the calendar again from 2004 for financial reasons but has since been bought and rebranded by Red Bull, who completed redevelopment work on the venue and have since held other racing categories there including DTM and World Series by Renault.

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz had attempted to bring F1 back to Austria this season following the postponement of New Jersey but Ecclestone ultimately opted to keep the calendar at 19 events.

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