Fast Break

Hockey

Hasek expected to retire

Dominik Hasek is expected to announce his retirement, a person in the NHL told The Associated Press on Sunday night.

The Detroit Red Wings scheduled a news conference for this morning without revealing details.

Hasek won six Vezina Trophies as the NHL’s top goaltender and two Hart Trophies as the league’s MVP.

The star from the Czech Republic lost his job during Detroit’s run to the Stanley Cup, being replaced by Chris Osgood in the first round.

Horse racing

Belmont Stakes ratings up

Overnight television ratings for the Belmont Stakes were up 169 percent from last year.

The final leg of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown gave ABC a 10.5 overnight rating compared to a 3.9 rating in 2007, the network said Sunday.

Saturday’s Belmont coverage also topped the rating of this year’s Kentucky Derby (9.5) by 11 percent and Preakness Stakes (6.4) by 64 percent. Big Brown failed to become the first horse in 30 years to complete the Triple Crown (see related story on Page C2).

In 2004, the last time a horse went into the Belmont after winning the first two legs, NBC had a 15.6 rating for the race in which Birdstone denied Smarty Jones’ bid.

Swimming

Kitajima sets world record

Double Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima of Japan set a world record in the men’s 200 meter breaststroke on Sunday at Tokyo.

Kitajima finished in 2 minutes, 07.51 seconds at the Japan Open, taking almost a second off the previous mark set by American Brendan Hansen in 2006.

“This gives me a lot of confidence,” said Kitajima. “The only thing I have in mind right now is to win the gold in Beijing.”