Two weeks after winning the College World Series, LSU achieved a feat never accomplished before by any baseball program.

Tigers pitcher Paul Skenes was taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the first overall pick of Sunday's 2023 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, one spot ahead of teammate Dylan Crews' selection by the Washington Nationals.

Skenes and Crews are the first set of teammates to be taken with the first two picks in the draft's history. Skenes also becomes the first college pitcher to go No. 1 overall since the Detroit Tigers took Auburn's Casey Mize in 2018.

The 21-year-old Skenes went 13-2 with a 1.69 ERA and 209 strikeouts in 122 innings this season as the ace of the LSU staff. The hard-throwing right-hander capped his tremendous junior campaign by being named the College World Series most outstanding player during the Tigers' run to the national title.

"He had an incredibly special season this year at LSU," Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said of Skenes. "I think we saw a really good pitcher at the end of the College World Series who has all the weapons to go on and succeed in pro ball but may still have more."

Crews, an outfielder, earned the Golden Spikes Award honouring the best amateur player in the United States in 2023. The Florida native hit .426 with 18 home runs and 70 RBIs in 71 games as a junior and concluded his college career having reached base safely in 75 straight games.

“He’s got a whole bag full of tools; he does everything well,” Nationals general manager and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo said. “His baseball IQ is terrific. He’s a great baserunner -- he’s a fast runner, but he’s a great baserunner also. He plays both sides of the ball, defensively and offensively. He’s got a propensity to barrel up baseballs. He’s an on-base percentage machine."

Franklin, Indiana outfielder Max Clark, the national high school player of the year, was selected third overall by the Detroit Tigers. The Texas Rangers took University of Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford at No. 4, while North Carolina high school outfielder Walker Jenkins went fifth to the Minnesota Twins.

All-Star Yandy Diaz went 3 for 4 with a home run and four RBIs to help the Tampa Bay Rays end a season-high seven-game losing streak with a 10-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

Isaac Paredes added a two-run homer as the Rays roughed up Braves All-Star Bryce Elder to prevent a sweep of the three-game series between teams with the two best records in the major leagues. The loss was just Atlanta's third in 23 games since June 14.

Elder entered the contest leading the majors with a 2.45 ERA but lasted only 3 1/3 innings in his shortest start of the season. The young right-hander allowed a career-high seven runs on six hits and walked four without striking out a batter.

Rays starter Zach Eflin issued five walks in five innings, but limited the damage by holding Atlanta to two runs to earn his 10th win of the season, one shy of teammate Shane McClanahan for the American League lead.

Former Rays catcher Travis d'Arnaud had a solo homer to extend Atlanta's streak of consecutive games with at least one home run to a franchise-record 26 games.

Red-hot Orioles blast six home runs to finish sweep of Twins

Anthony Santander had two of six Baltimore home runs as the hot-hitting Orioles rolled to a 15-2 rout of the Minnesota Twins to complete a three-game series sweep.

All-Stars Adley Rutschman and Austin Hays also went deep while knocking in two runs each in Baltimore's fifth consecutive victory. The Orioles also got a three-run homer from Aaron Hicks and a two-run shot from Ramon Urias, who finished 2 for 5 with three RBIs.

Baltimore collected 17 hits for the afternoon and has averaged 8.8 runs per game during the winning streak while batting .309 as a team.

The Orioles also received a strong pitching effort from Kyle Gibson, who tied a season high with 11 strikeouts while holding the Twins to two runs and three hits over seven innings.

Joe Ryan fanned 10 in 4 1/3 innings for Minnesota, but served up Hays and Urias' homers and was tagged for five runs.

In search of their first winning season and playoff appearance since 2016, the Orioles enter the All-Star break with the AL's second-best record at 54-35 and are two games behind Tampa Bay for first place in the AL East.

The Twins dropped to 45-46 and missed out on a chance to regain the top spot in the AL Central after Cleveland lost to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. The Guardians maintained a half-game edge on Minnesota.

Miley silences Reds' bats as Brewers gain ground in NL Central

Wade Miley allowed just four hits in six splendid innings as the Milwaukee Brewers closed the gap on the first-place Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central with a 1-0 win.

The Brewers took two of three games from their division rivals and will enter the All-Star break one game back of Cincinnati in the standings.

Milwaukee got the only run it needed in the first inning when Christian Yelich stroked a leadoff double off Ben Lively and scored on Jesse Winker's two-out single.

Miley made the lead stand by tying a season high with eight strikeouts and working around three walks. After Elvis Peguero and Joel Payamps each tossed a scoreless inning in relief, All-Star closer Devin Williams fanned two in a perfect ninth to register his 20th save.

Lively yielded four hits and two walks while striking out five over 5 2/3 innings in a hard-luck loss.

Austria’s Sepp Straka boosted his Ryder Cup chances by claiming a second PGA Tour title in the John Deere Classic, despite a double bogey on the 72nd hole.

Straka needed to birdie the 18th at TPC Deere Run to card a stunning closing 59, but pulled his approach into the water left of the green.

The resulting six meant Straka had to settle for a 62 and setting the clubhouse target at 21 under par, with six groups still to finish.

A birdie on the 14th took Brendon Todd to within a shot of the lead, only for the American to then three-putt the 16th and fail to birdie the par-five 17th.

Todd finished in a tie for second on 19 under with playing partner Alex Smalley, with Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg another stroke back in a tie for fourth with American Adam Schenk.

Straka, who had recorded an eagle and nine birdies in his first 14 holes, said: “The 59 was nowhere in my head really.

“I knew I had a chance but in that situation the only thing that matters is trying to win the golf tournament.

“It was not a good shot [on 18]. I was really just trying to go middle of the green, pulled it early and the wind dragged it over to the water. It was unfortunate but the first bad shot I hit all day so I’ll give myself a bit of slack.”

Novak Djokovic will have to cancel his day off and work overtime after falling foul of Wimbledon’s stubborn scheduling.

The defending champion and title favourite was leading by two sets, 7-6 (6) 7-6 (6), against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz when play was suspended at 10.35pm.

Wimbledon chiefs will again be under scrutiny for their insistence on starting play no earlier than 1.30pm on Centre Court despite knowing it cannot go past the council-imposed 11pm curfew.

Andrey Rublev’s five-set win over Alexander Bublik took three hours and 17 minutes, before Iga Swiatek beat Belinda Bencic in three sets, two of which were tie-breaks, which also took just over three hours.

Therefore seven-time champion Djokovic – who finished his match against Stan Wawrinka at 10.46pm on Friday night – and Hurkacz finally walked on to court at 8.41pm.

By the time the pre-match niceties, the coin toss and the warm-up were complete, Hurkacz hit the first serve of the fourth-round match at 8.49pm, giving Djokovic less than two-and-a-quarter hours to avoid having to come back on Monday.

Not that that would be beyond the 23-time grand slam champion against many players, but Hurkacz is the 17th seed, the man who ended Roger Federer’s Wimbledon career two years ago and who has not dropped serve so far this fortnight.

So, like Andy Murray on Friday, Djokovic will have to return in the afternoon and be crowbarred second into the Centre Court schedule.

Understandably, both players looked like they were in a hurry. There was scarcely a rally of more than four shots as the first set thundered towards a tie-break in just 36 minutes.

Djokovic rarely loses a tie-break. He has won all three he has faced this week, but an uncharacteristic double-fault gave Hurkacz the advantage at 4-3.

The underdog hammered down two aces to earn three set points, but two went by the wayside on the Djokovic serve before three unforced errors gifted Djokovic the set.

Djokovic fashioned three break points at 4-3 in the second but they were snuffed out by 134 and 139 mph aces and a 138 mph serve which Djokovic could only send long.

A fourth break point should have been taken with Hurkacz stranded mid-court having looped a defensive volley into the air, but Djokovic tried to be too cute and pushed it wide, almost toppling over the net as he did so.

In the inevitable tie-break, Djokovic squandered a set point after a rally broke out when he sent a forehand long, but he converted the next one to take a two-set lead before referee Gerry Armstrong came out to give everybody the predictable bad news.

Victoria Azarenka branded Wimbledon fans “drunk” and not “fair” after she was booed off court following a fourth-round loss to Elina Svitolina.

It was the first clash between a Russian or Belarusian player and a Ukrainian at Wimbledon since the lifting of last year’s ban on competitors from the aggressor nations.

The crowd, who had been overwhelmingly behind Svitolina throughout, produced a deafening roar when she clinched a 2-6 6-4 7-6 (9) victory.

The former world number three had been booed at the French Open, where she also made the last eight, for refusing to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents but here it was Azarenka, who put her hand up to acknowledge Svitolina before leaving the court, that received loud jeers.

It was unclear whether the fans thought it was she who had snubbed her opponent and Azarenka gave a long, lingering stare before banging her fists together in annoyance as she walked off.

“I can’t control the crowd,” she said. “I’m not sure that a lot of people were understanding what’s happening. It’s probably been a lot of Pimm’s throughout the day. It wasn’t fair. What can I do?

“I feel like it’s been pretty consistent for the last 18, 19 months. I haven’t done anything wrong but I keep getting different treatment sometimes.

“She doesn’t want to shake hands with Russian, Belarusian people. I respected her decision. What should I have done? Stayed and waited? There’s no thing that I could do that would have been right, so I just did what I thought was respectful towards her decision.

“But this conversation about shaking hands is not a life-changing conversation. So if you guys want to keep talking about it, bring it up, make it a big deal, headlines, whatever it is, keep going.

“I thought it was a great tennis match. If people are going to be focusing only on handshakes or a quite drunk crowd, booing in the end, that’s a shame.”

The reaction was even more vociferous than in Paris, and Svitolina believes the situation should be spelled out ahead of such contests.

“I think the tennis organisations, they have to come out with a statement that there will be no handshake between Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian players,” she said.

“I already said multiple times that, until Russian troops are out of Ukraine and we take back our territories, I’m not going to shake hands. I don’t know how more clear I can be.”

It did not look like it was going to be Svitolina’s day when she trailed by a set and 2-0 but, spurred on by the crowd, some of whom shouted Slava Ukraini – glory to Ukraine – she mounted a comeback.

It was Azarenka’s turn to fight back from 3-0 down in the deciding set and the light was fading when they entered a tense deciding tie-break.

Belarusian Azarenka, the 19th seed, led 7-4 and looked on course for victory but Svitolina recovered to create two match points, taking the second with an ace to set up a clash against top seed Iga Swiatek.

Svitolina, who had lost all her previous five matches against Azarenka, only returned to the tour in April following the birth of daughter Skai in October, and she beamed as she said in her on-court interview: “After giving birth to our daughter, this is the second happiest moment in my life.

“It was a really tough match. When I was 0-2 down in the second set I heard you guys cheering for me and I almost wanted to cry. I was really struggling and I really wanted to win today. You guys gave me so much strength today.”

Svitolina also drew strength from thinking of the plight of her stricken homeland, saying: “I was thinking back home there are lots of people that are watching and cheering for me, I know how much it means for them.

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“Any moments that they can share of happiness. I was thinking there is tough times in Ukraine and I’m here playing in front of you guys. I cannot complain, I just have to fight. And here I am, I won the match.”

She added later: “I feel responsibility, as well. So, if I’m going out to play this match against a Russian, Belarusian, I feel of course more pressure that I need to win. That’s why it means a lot to get these kinds of wins. In my own way, to bring this small victory to Ukraine.

“I heard a lot of Ukrainian people in the crowd. This was really special. And the crowd was amazing, was a really unbelievable feeling. I think one of the best atmospheres that I ever played in.”

On a lighter note, the 28-year-old revealed ahead of the match that her Wimbledon run meant she had to give away tickets to the Harry Styles concert she had planned to attend.

“I hope Harry is watching,” she said. “I’m a big fan of his.”

Styles was clearly aware of her accomplishment as he wrote to her on Instagram: “Congratulations! We have four shows to go, you’re welcome at any of them. Good luck with the rest of the tournament.”

Elina Svitolina’s memorable win over Victoria Azarenka capped a dramatic middle Sunday at Wimbledon.

Svitolina won a deciding tie-break on Court One, while Iga Swiatek saved two match points to survive against Belinda Bencic and Andrey Rublev emerged triumphant in a near three-and-a-half-hour battle with Alexander Bublik.

But the Wimbledon curfew came into play once again as Novak Djokovic was forced off when leading Hubert Hurkacz two sets to love.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at how day seven unfolded.

Azarenka boos tarnish classic match

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka left Court One to a chorus of boos after losing a dramatic fourth-round contest to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

The crowd had been overwhelmingly behind Svitolina throughout and produced a deafening roar when she clinched a 2-6 6-4 7-6 (9) victory.

The former world number three had been booed at the French Open for refusing to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents but here it was Azarenka, who put her hand up to acknowledge Svitolina before leaving the court, that received loud jeers.

It was unclear whether the fans thought it was she who had snubbed her opponent and Azarenka gave a long, lingering stare before banging her fists together as she walked off.

Tweet of the dayIga for success after narrow escape

World number one Iga Swiatek outlined her title credentials after she saved two match points to come through a marathon match with Belinda Bencic and reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

Swiatek looked down and out at 5-6 in the second set, but she produced her best tennis with two sumptuous winners to turn the tie around.

The four-time grand slam champion continued to be pushed all the way by Olympic gold-medallist Bencic in a tense third set before she eventually prevailed 6-7 (4) 7-6 (2) 6-3 after a three-hour epic on Centre Court.

It sent Swiatek through to the last-eight at SW19 for the first time and having won the junior title here previously, she will march on with renewed belief this could be her year on her least favoured surface.

Shot of the dayQuote of the dayPicture of the dayStat of the day

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka left Court One to a chorus of boos after losing a dramatic fourth-round contest to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

The crowd had been overwhelmingly behind Svitolina throughout and produced a deafening roar when she clinched a 2-6 6-4 7-6 (9) victory.

The former world number three had been booed at the French Open for refusing to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents but here it was Azarenka, who put her hand up to acknowledge Svitolina before leaving the court, that received loud jeers.

It was unclear whether the fans thought it was she who had snubbed her opponent and Azarenka gave a long, lingering stare before banging her fists together as she walked off.

Svitolina only returned to the tour in April following the birth of daughter Skai in October, and she beamed as she said in her on-court interview: “After giving birth to our daughter, this is the second fabulous moment in my life.

“It was a really tough match. When I was 0-2 down in the second set I heard you guys cheering for me and I almost wanted to cry. I was really struggling and I really wanted to win today. You guys gave me so much strength today.”

Svitolina also drew strength from thinking of the plight of her stricken homeland, saying: “I was thinking back home there are lots of people that are watching and cheering for me, I know how much it means for them.

“Any moments that they can share of happiness. I was thinking there is tough times in Ukraine and I’m here playing in front of you guys. I cannot complain, I just have to fight. And here I am, I won the match.”

These were the final two mothers left in the singles draw but there was certainly no maternal bond here.

Svitolina spoke before the contest about her “big motivation” to beat Azarenka “for my country”, and the pair did not even look at each other at the coin toss ahead of what was the first clash between Ukrainian and Russian or Belarusian players since the beginning of the war and the lifting of last year’s ban.

Svitolina has made a very impressive return to the sport, including a run to the quarter-finals of the French Open, where three times she faced Russian or Belarusian players.

A couple of small Ukraine flags being waved as the players walked out onto Court One were the only initial indication of the political tension behind this contest.

But it quickly became clear the crowd were firmly behind Svitolina and in the fourth game a loud cry of Slava Ukraini – glory to Ukraine – was heard and applauded by sections of fans.

On the court, things were not going so well for Svitolina, who in her time away from the sport took an active role in leading fundraising efforts for Ukraine, including meeting with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

She had lost all five of her previous matches against Azarenka and, although most of the games were close, it was the Belarusian largely coming out on top.

Svitolina was staring at a swift defeat when she trailed 2-0 in the second set but the former world number three has returned to the tour with a much more aggressive mindset and she levelled things up before pushing to try to force a decider.

The 28-year-old has spoken warmly about the support her country has received from the UK, with Wimbledon funding accommodation and training facilities, and she must have felt as if she was playing at home.

A huge roar greeted the arrival of a set point, then an equally big groan when she shanked a forehand, but a second chance arrived and Svitolina, a semi-finalist here back in 2019, converted.

At 3-0 up in the deciding set, the Ukrainian looked to be on her way to victory but back came Azarenka and the light was fading fast as they approached the denouement.

Svitolina then fought back from 4-7 in a tense deciding tie-break, finally clinching it 11-9 on her second match point and dropping to the turf in delight.

On a lighter note, the 28-year-old revealed ahead of the match that her Wimbledon run meant she had to give away tickets to the Harry Styles concert she had planned to attend.

“I hope Harry is watching,” she said. “I’m a big fan of his.”

World number one Iga Swiatek saved two match points to come through a marathon match with Belinda Bencic and reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time.

Swiatek looked down and out when the score read 15-40 on her serve at 5-6 in the second set, but she produced her best tennis with two sumptuous winners to turn the tie around.

The four-time grand slam champion continued to be pushed all the way by Olympic gold-medallist Bencic in a tense third set before she eventually prevailed 6-7 (4) 7-6 (2) 6-3 after a three-hour epic on Centre Court.

It sent Swiatek through to the last-eight at the All England Club for the first time and having won the junior title at SW19 previously, she will march on with renewed belief this could be her year on her least favoured surface.

Top seed Swiatek had reached the fourth-round without dropping a set but experienced trouble early on against Bencic, being forced to take a medical time-out after only three games due to a blister.

It did not seem to affect the three-time French Open winner and she remained largely in control until Bencic turned the tables in the tie-break.

Bencic saved two set points in the 10th game before she clinched the first set after 66 minutes.

Swiatek left the court and returned determined to avoid another exit before the second week in England, with a sweet forehand return earning a break after a nine-minute opening game.

There remained a steel about Tokyo 2020 champion Bencic, who broke back to make it 3-3 and then had victory within her grasp when 15-40 up at 6-5.

Faced with losing at Wimbledon in the fourth round again, Swiatek came out swinging, producing equally brilliant forehand and backhand winners before she repeated the trick to take the second tie-break.

If Swiatek thought she had chipped away at Bencic’s armour, she was initially wrong with the Swiss right-hander able to force another break point chance early in the third.

After Swiatek dug deep to hold again, the resistance was finally broken with back-to-back double faults by the 14th seed.

More drama was to follow with Swiatek going 0-30 down when serving for the match, but she responded in style with two passing forehand winners sealing her spot in the last-eight.

Swiatek, who played two tie-breaks in the same match for the first time, said in her on-court interview: “Well, it wasn’t easy obviously.

“She had match point right? So, I don’t know if that ever happen in my career, being back from match point down, but I am really happy.

“I feel I needed that win to believe in myself a little more on this surface.

“Every day my love is getting bigger so hopefully I am going to have as many days as possible to play on this court.”

Earlier, fourth seed Jessica Pegula progressed into the quarter-finals at Wimbledon for the first time with a straight-sets win over Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.

Pegula raced into a 4-0 lead inside quarter of an hour and wrapped up the first set 6-1.

Tsurenko had come through the longest tie-break in women’s grand slam history on Friday to make the fourth round, but struggled to handle this occasion.

Pegula sealed victory with a superb backhand winner – only awarded after she challenged the out call – and made the last-eight of a grand-slam for the fifth time from her last seven appearances with a 6-1 6-3 win.

“I’m glad I challenged it,” Pegula said on-court. “I was just glad I was able to keep up the momentum.”

Next up for Pegula is a quarter-final clash with Marketa Vondrousova, who dug deep to win the all-Czech encounter with Marie Bouzkova in three sets.

World number 42 Vondrousova had only made it past the fourth round at a major once before, when she won the French Open in 2019, but reached the last-eight with a gusty 2-6 6-4 6-3 victory.

Australia’s Cameron Smith enjoyed the ideal preparation for the defence of his Open Championship title at Royal Liverpool with a second victory in the LIV Golf League.

Smith carded a final round of 68 at the Centurion Club in Hemel Hempstead to finish 15 under par, a shot ahead of Ripper GC team-mate Marc Leishman and former Masters champion Patrick Reed.

“It’s good,” said Smith, who won his first major title at St Andrews last year thanks to a superb closing round of 64 on the Old Course.

“I think it’s more of a confidence thing there. Just winning again I think is nice.

“It really hasn’t been that long, I think. In Australia at the end of the year was my last win, but it feels like forever, and especially the way I’ve been playing the last couple months, I’ve been knocking on the door.

“It’s nice to get one out of the way, and hopefully it opens the floodgates a little bit.

“I wouldn’t say it really takes the pressure off. I think it’s just nice to be playing good golf. There’s nothing worse going into a big golf tournament and you’re playing crappy golf.”

Asked how he will prepare for defending the Claret Jug on a course he has never played before, Smith added: “Probably no golf for me next week.

“I’ll be heading up to Hoylake on Saturday, so I’ll have a bit of a longer prep than usual, but yeah, put the clubs down for three or four days, just hang out in London, see all the sights, and yeah, just have a good time, relax.”

Jamie Murray was forced to do press-ups as a punishment by his hardline partner Taylor Townsend after their mixed doubles win at Wimbledon.

Britain’s Murray and American Townsend needed two tie-breaks, the second a marathon ending 15-13, to beat Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Jan Zielinski.

Murray had earlier won in the men’s doubles with Australian partner Michael Venus in three sets against Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler.

But that gruelling schedule did not stop Townsend from making the Scot do a forfeit alongside her for not serving well enough.

“It was punishment for me to keep bloody serving in the net,” said Murray.

“I was like blowing it all of the time. She was like, ‘oh my God, we should do some press-ups’.

“She did outlast me. I said to her ‘keep going, I don’t want to fail in front of all of these people’. I was happy to bow out after 10. I don’t like them.”

British pair Joe Salisbury and Heather Watson are also through to the third round after beating Nathaniel Lammons and Giuliana Olmos.

But Katie Boulter and her Australian boyfriend Alex De Minaur were sunk in three sets by Joran Vliegen and Xu Yifan.

Lando Norris is ready to create his own history after going toe-to-toe with Lewis Hamilton in a gripping Battle of the Britons at Silverstone on Sunday.

As Max Verstappen raced to a sixth consecutive victory – his eighth from the opening 10 rounds so far to extend his championship lead to a distant 99 points – Norris held off Hamilton to land his first British Grand Prix podium.

A snoozy spectacle in front of a record-breaking 150,000 spectators sprung into life on lap 33 when Kevin Magnussen spluttered to a halt.

Out came the safety car and Hamilton landed an effective free pit stop – bolting on a set of the speediest soft tyres – to move up from a net seventh to third.

Norris was one place up the road in his revamped McLaren. But the 23-year-old was left exposed after his team elected to fit the more durable, but slower, hard rubber on his machine.

As the safety car peeled in at the end of the 38th lap, Norris’ mirrors were suddenly filled with Hamilton’s all-black Mercedes. Norris had 13 laps to keep the seven-time world champion, 38, behind.

The Wellington Straight presented Hamilton with his first opportunity, but Norris jinked to his left in an attempt to break the slipstream.

Hamilton eyed a peak around the outside of Norris’s papaya McLaren at Brooklands, Luffield and into Woodcote but Norris held firm.

Hamilton then moved into Norris’ tow on the run to Copse, but Norris placed his McLaren in the centre of the track to retain the place.

The next lap, Hamilton tried again, this time on Norris’ inside at Luffield and Woodcote and then wheel-to-wheel at 180mph into Copse before he was forced to yield.

That was as close as Hamilton would get with Norris landing his seventh career podium, his maiden on home soil, and first of a troubled season for the talented Glastonbury man.

“This the best podium of my career,” said Norris. “I had never been to a race in Formula One until 2017.

“Until then I had only ever watched it on TV and that started in 2007 and 2008 and seeing Lewis and Fernando (Alonso) at McLaren. Now it is my turn.

“I was seven years old then. Little did I know Lewis would still be here 15 years later, and still going strong. Fair play to him.

“It is an honour to be able to race him, and go up against these guys, who have created history, and have been some of the best that Formula One has ever seen.

“It is special, an honour, and a privilege, and I want to be someone who can join in on those battles and create some of my own history.”

As Verstappen continues to rack up the wins – indeed Sunday’s triumph was the 17th from his last 21 outings – Norris stole the show.

The Monaco-based driver led for the first four-and-a-half laps after he blasted past Verstappen ahead of the opening corner before his late tussle with Hamilton.

Verstappen’s first British Grand Prix win arrives two years after he ended up in the barriers, and then concussed in hospital, following a 180mph collision with Hamilton.

Speaking about Norris, Hamilton said: “Lando is very talented and it is great when you can have close battles like that, and rely on the driver to be hard but fair.

“There was never a moment when we thought we would come together and that is what motor racing is all about – he wanted to hold on to second and I wanted to get that position.

“We will keep our heads down, keep pushing and hopefully we will have more of this moving forwards.”

Norris’ rookie team-mate Oscar Piastri was unfortunate to lose out under the safety car, dropping from third to fourth, with George Russell taking the chequered flag in fifth. Sergio Perez finished sixth after he started a lowly 15th.

Alonso crossed the line in seventh, with Alex Albon enhancing his reputation with a fine drive to eighth for Williams.

Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard overturned a six-shot deficit before beating Nacho Elvira in a play-off to become the first home winner of the Made in HimmerLand event.

Elvira hit his second shot out of bounds on the sixth extra hole to effectively gift a fourth DP World Tour title to Hojgaard, who had holed from nine feet for par on the previous hole to keep his hopes alive.

“I’m speechless,” Hojgaard told Sky Sports after a win which moves him within 100 points of an automatic qualifying place for the Ryder Cup.

“To be fair I did not think I would end up in a play-off today. It’s quite amazing. It’s a dream come true to win our home event.

“This is better than I could ever dream of. We’ve wanted a Danish winner for so long now so to be the first one to do it is amazing.”

Hojgaard, who used to attend the event with his family – including fellow professional and twin brother Nicolai – added: “It isn’t that long ago that I was one of those kids trying to get balls and signed gloves. It’s awesome to see them out here supporting us.”

Hojgaard began the day six shots off the lead but surged through the field with a closing 64, including a birdie on the daunting 18th, to set the target on 13 under par.

Richie Ramsay had the first chance to surpass that target after a birdie on the 16th took him to 14 under, only to find the water with his approach to the last to run up a double bogey and finish a shot outside the play-off.

Overnight leader Elvira, who had bogeyed the 13th and 15th to fall two shots off the pace, birdied the next two holes to catch Ramsay as the Scot played the 18th, but bogeyed the same hole after a long wait on the tee as Ramsay determined where his ball had entered the hazard.

Elvira, who had made just five cuts in 17 previous events this year, had the consolation of securing a place in the Open Championship with his runners-up finish, with former champion Marc Warren and Kalle Samooja taking the other two spots in a tie for fourth.

Ramsay, who also double-bogeyed the 72nd hole of last year’s British Masters when needing a par to claim the clubhouse lead, tweeted: “Today will hurt for a long time but I did play very well.

“Played to win so took that shot on (on 18) just didn’t come out great. My daughter told me she was proud of me, massive cushion for today.”

Compatriot Robert MacIntyre held a two-shot lead at the turn after covering the front nine in 32 to reach 15 under, but ran up a triple-bogey seven on the 13th after failing to move his second shot from waist-high rough.

MacIntyre also bogeyed the 15th to card a closing 71 and finish alongside Warren, Samooja and Alexander Bjork on 11 under par.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admits the team will soon have no choice but to give up on the development of this season’s car and focus on next year.

Lewis Hamilton claimed a third-placed finish at the British Grand Prix, but was beaten to second by Lando Norris and was well adrift of challenging Max Verstappen – who extended his title lead to 99 points in pursuit of a hat-trick of world championships.

Hamilton was unable to pass McLaren’s Norris following the safety car restart despite being on theoretically faster tyres in the closing stages and the seven-time world champion remains fourth in the drivers’ standings – a whopping 124 points behind Verstappen.

Wolff knows they can not do anything to stop Verstappen and his dominant Red Bull and therefore says the time will soon come to switch focus to next season.

“I think pretty soon,” Wolff said when asked when that time would come. “We have no choice. P2, P3 fundamentally doesn’t impact me and the team.

“It is about coming back to being able to win a world championship.

“That’s not going to happen this year so we need to set our eyes on next year and we will see with all the races to come how we can learn and develop and make sure that we can carry that forward into next year.

“Having said that, the regulations are the same so we are not learning nothing by continuing with this car. So there is a balance to strike.”

The safety car, which was deployed on lap 33, massively benefitted Hamilton, who was able to get a free pit-stop and retain third place after a raft of drivers had already pitted.

With Hamilton, who started seventh, on soft tyres and Norris on hard tyres, it was expected the McLaren man would be a sitting duck but he was able to resist the advances of the Mercedes to clinch a brilliant second place.

It was the same story behind, where Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri comfortably held George Russell at bay to clinch fourth.

Wolff chose to view McLaren’s enormous progress in the last two races as a positive that they can achieve similar, but expected his drivers to be able to secure a double-podium finish.

“To be honest, when the safety car was deployed, I was pretty sure, if not convinced, that we would be eating up the McLarens and finish with a P2 and P3 and maybe even challenge at the front,” Wolff added.

“You see just how strong their car was. They both raced very strong. Their top speed through the corners and the straights, there was no way of passing them. That came as a surprise.

“McLaren were not competitive at the beginning of the season and it is good to see because it shows if you make the right decisions, the car can jump up by a huge amount.

“Do I believe we have upgrades which will fundamentally change the car? I don’t believe so but we have a few small steps to come and we can see if you find a tenth or two or three you can move up the grid.

“Fundamentally I don’t care whether we finish second or third. It is about finding our way back to fighting for victories and the world championship.

“To see that the car has potential fundamentally, all eyes are on the big prize. It is exciting to see that the McLaren was able to find a second in performance.”