In brief: Americans take gold and silver again

Gymnastics: Bridget Sloan wore gold, Rebecca Bross wore silver.

The big winner? The United States.

In shades of the Beijing Olympics, Sloan edged her younger teammate for the world gymnastics championships Friday night. And it couldn’t have been closer, coming down to the very last skill of the night, with Bross falling on her final tumbling pass to drop to second place and give Sloan the title.

Sloan, the lone holdover from the U.S. team that won the silver medal in Beijing, finished with 57.825 points. Bross, competing at her first world championships after turning 16 in July, scored 57.775 points. Koko Tsurumi gave Japan a rare medal in the women’s all-around, winning the bronze.

Stafford, Johnson both questionable

Football: Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game at Green Bay.

Stafford has missed four of five practices this week, including Friday’s, with a right knee injury.

Wide receiver Calvin Johnson also did not practice Friday and is questionable for Sunday’s game. His right knee was injured in Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh.

•Mendenhall returns, expected to start: Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall is expected to start against the Browns after returning to practice following a day off with flu-like symptoms.

Steelers safety Troy Polamalu also will start Sunday. He practiced all week after missing four games with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

•Butkus Award semifinalists announced: The Butkus Award for the top linebacker in college football could go to a player who isn’t expected to make it onto the field this season.

Boston College’s Mark Herzlich is out for the season while recovering from a rare form of cancer. The other semifinalists: Obi Ezeh, Michigan; Chris Galippo, Southern Cal; Greg Jones, Michigan State; Sergio Kindle, Texas; Sean Lee, Penn State; Travis Lewis, Oklahoma; Rolando McClain, Alabama; Von Miller, Texas A&M; Brandon Spikes, Florida; Daryl Washington, Texas Christian; Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri; Eric Norwood, South Carolina; Perry Riley, Louisiana State; Quan Sturdivant, North Carolina; and Rennie Curran, Georgia.

Busch rolls to Nationwide win

NASCAR: Kyle Busch shrugged off walking pneumonia to dominate the Nationwide Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., picking up his seventh victory of the year to extend his points lead over Carl Edwards with four races remaining. Mike Bliss was second, followed by Dave Blaney and Brian Vickers. Edwards finished fifth to drop 195 points behind Busch.

Campbell shares lead after eagle

Golf: Chad Campbell closed with an eagle on the par-5 ninth for a 9-under-par 62 and a share of the second-round lead with Troy Matteson in the PGA Tour’s Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.

Matteson followed his career-best 62 with a 67 to match Campbell at 13-under 129. Kirk Triplett (WSU) shot a 3-under 69 and is five shots off the pace at 134.

•Frosman leads Champions Tour event: Dan Forsman reeled off six straight birdies en route to an 8-under 64 and a one-shot lead after the first round of the Champions Tour Administaff Small Business Classic at Woodlands, Texas.

Duo interviews for Houston job

Miscellany: Bob Melvin met with the Astros about their managerial job, the fifth of 10 candidates that the team is scheduled to interview. Former Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta met with the Astros in the afternoon.

The Astros fired Cecil Cooper on Sept. 21 and finished 74-88, their second losing record in three years

•Brazil leads world rankings: The United States remained at No. 11 while Brazil again was on top of the latest world rankings published by FIFA. European champion Spain closed the gap on Brazil, the Confederations Cup winner, but stayed at second. The Netherlands followed at No. 3 while world champion Italy broke a tie in last month’s rankings with Germany and now stands alone in the fourth spot.

•Only three cities bid for 2018 Olympics: Three cities — two from Europe and one from Asia — have applied to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, the smallest field in three decades.

The German city of Munich, the French lakeside town of Annecy and the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang submitted their preliminary bids.

•Yu-na opens big lead at Trophee Bompard: World champion Kim Yu-na of South Korea skated to a medley of James Bond themes and opened a massive lead in the women’s short program at the Trophee Bompard in Paris.

Wearing a halter dress with gold and silver sequins, she was nearly 17 points ahead of Yukari Nakano of Japan.