A year before athletes converge on Sochi for the Winter Olympics, the Russian seaside city remains a vast construction site, with traffic choking the streets and locals bracing for another year of nonstop work to transform their landscape.

Germany's Maria Hoefl-Riesch won the women's super-combined event at the World Ski Championships on Friday.

Olympic and world ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada edged their US archrivals Meryl Davis and Charlie White in the short dance at the Four Continents championships Friday.

Former world champions Mao Asada and Daisuke Takahashi will lead Japan's medal hunt at the Four Continents figure skating championships on home ice this week in the absence of their arch-rivals.

Carnival fever is in full swing in Rio as Brazil's Marvelous City gears up for its annual five-day extravaganza of sizzling samba dancing, glittering parades and wild merry-making.

The International Olympic Committee on Thursday said it had issued a warning over alleged political interference in Pakistan's national organisation.

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday vowed Russia would justify expectations when it hosts the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in one year, after ruthlessly firing an official blamed for delays in building infrastructure.

Tickets went on sale for the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 on Thursday, one year ahead of the opening ceremony, but they were only available to Russians and foreigners living in Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday sacked a senior Russian Olympic Committee official over delays to the completion of the ski jumping complex for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.

The inaugural European Games being hosted by Baku in 2015 will be about being different and innovative, the president of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Pat Hickey told AFP in an interview.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was set to oversee lavish ceremonies on Thursday, marking the start of the one-year countdown to Russia's first Winter Olympic Games in the palm tree-lined port city of Sochi.

Franco Dragone, known for his work with Cirque de Soleil and superstar singer Celine Dion, will direct the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioned officials against cost overruns Wednesday as he inspected venues for the Winter Olympic Games that will kick off in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in a year's time.

Ted Ligety handed the US team the boost they needed after losing starlet Lindsey Vonn to injury with a shock victory in the men's super-G at the World Ski Championships in Schladming on Wednesday.

All Black Liam Messam is considering switching to Sevens rugby as the chance to win Olympic gold threatens to lure players from the 15-a-side ranks for the 2016 Rio Games.

France's star handball player, double Olympic champion Nikola Karabatic, was suspended for six matches on Tuesday, along with six other players accused of betting on a club match suspected of being rigged.

The World Ski Championships got off to the worst possible start on Tuesday when US star Lindsey Vonn suffered a heavy crash during the opening race that put an end to her season.

The undisputed heavy-weight champion of the Rio Carnival for the past five years, Milton Rodrigues da Silva wants to keep his crown until 2016, when the city hosts the Olympics.

Double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington announced Tuesday her retirement from competitive swimming at the age of 23.

Double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington announced Tuesday her retirement from competitive swimming.