Ajax Parts Company with Coach Steijn After Woeful Start to the Season 

Ajax's head coach Maurice Steijn instructs his players during the Europa League Group B soccer match between AEK Athens and Ajax at the OPAP Arena in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. (AP)
Ajax's head coach Maurice Steijn instructs his players during the Europa League Group B soccer match between AEK Athens and Ajax at the OPAP Arena in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. (AP)
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Ajax Parts Company with Coach Steijn After Woeful Start to the Season 

Ajax's head coach Maurice Steijn instructs his players during the Europa League Group B soccer match between AEK Athens and Ajax at the OPAP Arena in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. (AP)
Ajax's head coach Maurice Steijn instructs his players during the Europa League Group B soccer match between AEK Athens and Ajax at the OPAP Arena in Athens, Greece, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. (AP)

Ajax parted company with coach Maurice Steijn on Monday with the biggest team in the Netherlands languishing in next-to-last place in the Dutch league after just one win from its opening seven games.

Steijn only joined from Sparta Rotterdam in the offseason, signing a three-year deal.

The mutual decision for Steijn to leave was taken after a 4-3 loss at Utrecht that left Ajax, a four-time European champion, one point off last place.

“We have worked intensely and professionally together over the last few months,” Ajax chief executive Jan van Halst said. “But the sporting successes and the development of the team were lacking. That is why we decided to sit down together again today.

“This time, Maurice also expressed his concerns on whether he was the right man in the right place. Together we decided that it would be best to part ways.”

Ajax’s last win in any competition came on Aug. 24.

Hedwiges Maduro, a former Ajax player, will take temporary charge of the team starting with the trip to Brighton in the Europa League on Thursday.



Morocco’s El Idrissi Smashes Women’s Marathon World Record on Last day of Paralympic Games

Morocco's Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi wins the women's marathon T12 at the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Morocco's Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi wins the women's marathon T12 at the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
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Morocco’s El Idrissi Smashes Women’s Marathon World Record on Last day of Paralympic Games

Morocco's Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi wins the women's marathon T12 at the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Morocco's Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi wins the women's marathon T12 at the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Morocco’s Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi has smashed the world record in the women’s marathon for runners with visual impairments on the last day of the Paralympic Games, The AP reported.

The 29-year-old El Idrissi finished in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 36 seconds on Sunday, beating the previous record from Japan’s Misato Michishita in Hofu City in December 2020 by nearly 6 minutes.

Compatriot Meryem En-Nourhi was just over 9 minutes behind, followed by Elena Congost of Spain, with Michishita fourth, almost 15 minutes behind the winner.

Tunisia’s Wajdi Boukhili won the men’s T12 marathon.

The 25-year-old Boukhili finished in 2 hours, 22 minutes and 5 seconds, ahead of Spain’s Alberto Suarez Laso and Paralympic record holder El Amin Chentouf of Morocco. All three ran season-best times.

Swiss wheelchair racers Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug won the women’s and men’s marathons for the T53/54 catagories.

Debrunner, the world record holder, finished in 1:41:50, more than four minutes ahead of Australia’s Madison de Rozario and the United States’ Susannah Scaroni, who took silver and bronze, respectively.

Tatyana McFadden, the most decorated American wheelchair racer, was seventh, just over 12 minutes behind Debrunner. The 35-year-old leaves Paris with a silver medal from the 100 and bronze from the 4x100 universal relay.

Hug won the men’s race in 1:27:39, ahead of China’s Jin Hua and Tomoki Suzuki of Japan.

More medals were to be awarded later Sunday before what artistic director Thomas Jolly said would be a huge dance party at Stade de France for the closing ceremony.

The United States women’s wheelchair basketball team was to play defending champion Netherlands for gold, and there were finals in para powerlifting, as well as five races in para canoe.