Damian Hall talks to Euan Crumley about writing books, creating history and the problems of balancing an ultra running career with his increasing environmental concerns

Back in 2012, Damian Hall wrote a guidebook about the Pennine Way, the long-distance trail which stretches 268 miles (431km) from Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders to Edale in Derbyshire. At the time, he had only ever run just one half-marathon and noted with some incredulity that the quickest time for covering the entire distance on foot had been achieved in 1989 by a man by the name of Mike Hartley, who had taken two days, 17 hours and 20 minutes to complete his journey.

That mark would stand for 31 years, until John Kelly beat it by 34 minutes in mid-July of last year. The American got just a handful of days to bask in his achievement, however, before a rather more athletically experienced version of Hall lowered the FKT – or Fastest Known Time – for the route considerably in a time of two days, 13 hours and 34 minutes.

It was one of three FKTs the Englishman set in 2020 – adding to the 61-mile winter Paddy Buckley Round in Snowdonia and the 73-mile South Wales Traverse in the Brecon Beacons – and just the latest in what has become an ultra-distance running career of high achievement.

“It’s funny how you look back on things,” says the 45-year-old as he recalls putting that aforementioned book together. “I wouldn’t even have called myself a runner then. But I remember putting Mike Hartley’s record into the book and I’m pretty sure I wrote something like ‘it’s not likely that anyone else is going to cover the Pennine Way as quickly as Mike Hartley did in 1989’.

“At the time I just thought it was madness and impossible for most people. I suppose it sowed a little seed…”

Hall, who balances his running with coaching and journalistic work, has since represented his country and featured on numerous ultra marathon podiums. One of his most impressive feats came in 2018 when he finished fifth at the world-renowned Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc.

Racing in 2020, however, wasn’t really an option as Covid-19 hit hard and so many of the world’s finest long-distance athletes – Hall included – turned their attentions to the pursuit of an FKT or two. With great success.

FKT is a term for what is essentially a speed record on any given route. Rather than racing other runners, it’s just you against the clock over the pre-determined course of your choosing and there has been an explosion in its popularity.

No fewer than 4,409 FKTs were registered with FastestKnownTime.com in 2020, which represented a 434 per cent increase on 2019.

As of January 3, 2021, 7,589 FKTs from around the world are registered on the website.

There is hope – and some growing expectation – that races and events will start to come back to life later in the year but, even if that does happen, Hall believes his sport could well have been altered permanently as athletes opt to do their own thing on a more regular basis.

“I enjoyed last year and really got something satisfying out of them [the FKT attempts]. I’d already thought ‘I’m going to do more of these, anyway, even if racing is on like normal’,” he says, revealing he has two FKT attempts in mind for 2021.

“There are other runners who prefer to race but I think it will change things and it opens up the sport more as a vehicle to have adventures.

“You don’t have to wait for someone else to put on an event and pay money to them and I think they can be a lot more satisfying [than a race], partly because you’ve done it your own way and you’ve made more decisions.

“You’ve decided when and where and so on. Not always, but you can have more of an adventure. There is a lot of opportunity to be creative and even tell stories.”

Hall shares some of his own running tales in a book due out in May called In It For The Long Run, but he has also found that embarking on distance projects can provide a platform for getting other messages across.

He has become increasingly vocal about climate change and, as part of his Pennine Way attempt, he and his support team of pacers collected litter along the way. The whole event was also certified as being carbon negative.

“It’s quite an easy gesture and not that political, really, but that did seem to capture people’s imagination,” Hall says of his clean-up operation on the run. “That was quite pleasing and helped to raise awareness [of environmental issues].”

He adds: “I have a client of mine who is going to run the South West Coast path this year. She is going to go for the FKT but really her main reason is that she wants to talk more about coastal erosion, climate change and all the rubbish that is ending up on the beaches and in the marine areas. She is running for her values but turning it into an FKT.”

Taking a stronger stance on such issues has brought about big changes for Hall. He is someone who has travelled extensively to race in the past but is now turning opportunities down so that he can practice what he preaches.

He is signed up for another crack at the UTMB later this year but will take a far more circuitous route to the start line in Chamonix by train rather than plane in order to minimise his carbon footprint. Balancing the sport he loves and helps to support his family with against the causes he believes in can be a difficult one, though.

“It takes a lot of anguish and a lot of thought,” he admits. “I suppose there is a feeling of ‘am I being a massive hypocrite if I do any race?’ and I have a runner friend who is adamant he won’t fly ever again. Veganism is big in ultra running, too, and I have a very good friend who is a Great Britain international who won’t be sponsored because of the compromises that that brings.

“He is taking a stronger stance than me and I really applaud all that.

“What I looked at was if I could massively decrease my carbon footprint. I wanted to get independent verification so I went to a company called Our Carbon and we analysed all of my lifestyle and looked at things like switching our power supplier to a renewable energy source, while in terms of my diet I’m more or less completely plant-based.”

He continues: “If I’m honest, as an athlete, I am part of the cog of over-consumption. I’m sponsored by a brand to try and help sell more [Hall is supported by Inov-8]. But I found that hard to give up because it feels very hard-earned and there aren’t many of those opportunities. At my age, I thought ‘how many more years have I got of this?’.

“It’s also part of the way that I support my family now so it was a selfish decision but I’ve reanalysed what I’m going to promote on social media and how often do I promote new things.

“I have looked at four or five lifestyle areas and reduced them all dramatically. We were carbon negative for last year and I’ll do the same this year.

“That’s how I’m dealing with it and to some people it will be hypocritical while for others it might be satisfactory.

‘I’m not trying to tell people what to do. I just found myself in a position where I started mouthing off about stuff and then it’s only right that people would start asking ‘well what are you doing?’.

“I’ve turned away races to Mexico, Nepal… I am turning away lots of very exciting opportunities if I think my overall footprint for the year will be too big.”

It helps, too, that there are so many FKT and event opportunities closer to home which have provided a rich writing seam for Hall to mine. He laughingly describes his forthcoming book, which revolves around his ultra-distance adventures, as “disgustingly self indulgent”, though some of his research proved to be particularly enlightening.

“It starts off with a bit of historical context because what has fascinated me is that this concept of FKTs is often pitched as something new which has come out of racing and that’s it’s an American thing,” says Hall.

“However, the more I looked into it, the more it seemed to be the other way around.

“FKTs have been going on forever, basically, and racing is a more modern concept.

“You can trace FKTs back to when there were professional messenger runners in Greek, Roman and Egyptian times, while some of the oldest recorded running performances are from Egyptian pharaohs who would run at their coronation, alone in front of huge crowds.

“There was one king, Rameses II (1303-1213), who got quite old and as he aged he had to run every few years to prove he was worthy of the throne.

“The whole pedestrianism movement was just wonderful and, especially with the six-day races they used to do, often it was like ‘hey, I’m going to bet a load of people to run from Paris to Moscow and back’ and that’s how people made their living at the time, so this was a whole international FKT culture that has been going on for well over 100 years.

“In Britain we have a huge culture of these non-race – often mountain-based – challenges, too.”

It is a culture which shows no signs of weakening.

Multi-eventer moves to fifth on the UK all-time list, while Sophie McKinna improves indoor shot put best to 18.54m in Loughborough

Holly Mills scored an impressive 4557-point pentathlon PB in Manchester on Sunday (February 21) to move from 10th to fifth on the UK all-time list.

Following the cancellation of the British Indoor Championships in Glasgow because of the pandemic, athletes competed at a series of three micro-meetings to target qualifying standards for the European Indoor Championships in Toruń and Sunday’s action took place in Loughborough, as well as Manchester.

In Loughborough Sophie McKinna improved her indoor shot put best to 18.54m, while the Manchester action also included 400m qualifying standards for Joe Brier and James Williams.

Mills began her day by clocking 8.22 in the 60m hurdles for a time just 0.01 off her PB. She then cleared 1.73m in the high jump before a big shot put PB of 14.03m.

A 6.02m long jump was followed by an 800m PB of 2:12.07 as she won by almost 300 points and became just the fifth British athlete to score 4500-plus points.

“Coming into this event we were aiming to get over 4400 points, so to get over 4500 is exceeding our expectations,” said the 20-year-old, who is coached by former sprinter Laura Turner-Alleyne. “Me and my coach are so happy. Hopefully I’ll be at the Europeans in a couple of weeks to add some more points to that tally.

“Probably the highlight of my day was the shot put where I threw 14.03m which is my first time over 14 metres. Last weekend I threw 13.33m and that was my first throw over 13 metres. Coming into this year my PB was 12.99m so it’s a big improvement. There has been a lot of work behind that. It has been a long time coming.”

Jade O’Dowda finished second with her 4262-point PB.

Over in Loughborough, world finalist McKinna continued to show superb consistency as she achieved five throws beyond 18 metres, topped by her 18.54m indoor PB.

That mark strengthens her hold on third place all-time among UK indoor throwers.

Amelia Strickler was second with a throw of 17.26m.

“It was okay,” said McKinna. “It’s an indoor PB for me. I feel like there was much more there as I didn’t quite get it through so there are lots of positive to take and lots to go away and work on before the European Indoors.”

Some exciting 400m racing in Manchester included a narrow win by Jodie Williams as she pipped Jessie Knight with a 52.27 indoor PB and track record to Knight’s 52.38, with both athletes having also already achieved the European Indoors standards the previous day.

Ama Pipi was another to already have the standard and this time she clocked 53.05 to win the other 400m final ahead of Zoey Clark with 53.43.

In the men’s events 2020 British indoor champion James Williams won the first final in a PB of 46.60 ahead of Lee Thompson with 46.65 and Brier also achieved the European mark with a 46.81 PB to win the second final.

Guy Learmonth gained another European Indoors 800m standard as he won in 1:47.81, while 1500m victories were claimed by Piers Copeland with 3:52.17 and 2020 British indoor champion Holly Archer with 4:13.02. Archer’s mark was just 0.02 off the standard but she went into the race with the time already achieved thanks to her overall PB of 4:10.03 set the weekend before, while the men’s race was tactical and Copeland had already gained the qualifying time of 3:42.00 with 3:38.55.

Megan Marrs won both 60m hurdles races, clocking 8.21 and 8.26.

Despite not having registered a mark in the shot put the previous day, sole entrant Andrew Murphy returned on day two to complete the heptathlon and achieved a final score of 4559 points.

After clocking 8.45 in the 60m hurdles, he cleared 4.50m in the pole vault and then ran 2:48.36 for 1000m.

Joining McKinna in claiming shot put victory in Loughborough was Scott Lincoln with a throw of 19.93m, while Morgan Lake managed her best clearance for two years as she won the high jump with 1.93m.

In his first competition since winning the British outdoor title in September, Joel Khan was again top in the men’s contest as he cleared a PB of 2.23m for his first jump over 2.20m.

Tilly Hooper – the daughter of former UK pole vault record-holder Brian – won the women’s pole vault with a 4.15m clearance, while Charlie Myers was the sole male entrant and cleared a best of 5.52m.

Results from Manchester are here, while Loughborough results are here.

A day one report can be found here.

Munster powered past Edinburgh at Murrayfield and sit nine points clear at the top of Pro14 Conference B.

Bill Mata hauled Edinburgh back into the game, touching down early in the second half.

But Munster restored their lead when Gavin Coombes scored his seventh league try of the season, ultimately keeping Edinburgh fifth in the table.

Richard Cockerill's men spent long spells in the away 22, but could not convert their attacking phase play into more tries.

With the clock red, Edinburgh lock Andrew Davidson was carted from the field on the stretcher after suffering a brain injury.

Play raged for eight minutes beyond the 80 as both sides tried to secure a bonus point - Edinburgh's for finishing within seven points of their conquerors; Munster for scoring a fourth try. Their gallant efforts were in vain.

Connacht reduced the deficit at the conference summit with a bonus-point victory over Cardiff Blues, but Munster's lead remains commanding.

O'Donoghue spun cleverly through Dave Cherry's tackle to ground the ball in the 29th minute, after Jaco van der Walt and JJ Hanrahan had traded penalties.

The latter duly converted, and did so again when Casey dummied and sniped to the whitewash from a similarly dynamic series of ball-carries.

Mata, Edinburgh's most influential player, scored his first try in 23 matches five minutes into the second half, driving home after good pressure from the hosts.

But the prolific Coombes made it a two-score game once again when he blasted home. All four of the tries were scored from within 5m of the line.

Despite being bested in the set-piece, Edinburgh repeatedly opted to scrummage in the shadow of the Munster posts late on, milking a couple of penalties but ultimately conceding a free-kick that allowed their adversaries to escape.

In the end, although the visitors could not bag a fourth try and a bonus point of their own, they were more powerful, more streetwise, and far more ruthless when it counted, and this was a deserved triumph. It also capped a special evening for captain Billy Holland, who made his 240th Munster outing, moving joint-second with the great Ronan O'Gara on the side's all-time appearance list.

Line-ups

Edinburgh: Hoyland; Blain, Bennett, Dean, Sau; Van der Walt, Pyrgos; Schoeman, Cherry, Atalifo, Davidson, Gilchrist, Haining, Crosbie, Mata.

Replacements: Willemse, Venter, McCallum, Bradbury, Miller, Shiel, Chamberlain, Currie.

Munster: Haley; Conway, C Farrell, De Allende, Daly; Hanrahan, Casey; Cronin, N Scannell, Ryan, Kleyn, Holland, O'Donoghue, Cloete, Coombes.

Replacements: O'Byrne, Loughman, Archer, Wycherley, O'Sullivan, McCarthy, Healy, R Scannell.

Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

England coach Eddie Jones admits he was always going to struggle to convince Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit to play for his side.

"I gave him a ring," said Jones.

"I heard he was very Welsh and wanted to play for Wales but said that if he was interested, we would be."

Aged 16, Rees-Zammit left Wales for Hartpury College in Gloucestershire. He made an instant impression after making his Gloucester debut aged 18, which brought him to the attention of Jones.

"He had to do five years' qualification in terms of residency and a young guy like him is not going to sit around for five years," added Jones.

"I wished him good luck and I'm pleased he's doing well - I just hope he does not do too well against us."

Rees-Zammit's clinical finishing has been underlined by a haul of four tries in six Wales appearances, including two in the recent victory over Scotland, and Jones knew from an early stage the winger was a talent worth courting.

Now Rees-Zammit faces the prospect of a duel against Gloucester team-mate Jonny May next week at the Principality Stadium.

Jones hopes some inside knowledge from May will help England.

"Like any young player, there are areas of his game he is deficient in and we have to be good enough to find those areas," said Jones.

"I am sure Jonny will share his thoughts on him and we will talk to him.

"Louis is progressing nicely and Jonny has been at the top of his game for three or four years, he was close to being the best left wing at the World Cup.

"Jonny constantly scores tries out of nowhere. It will be a great match-up."

PAIGE, Texas — World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and Cotton Bowl Speedway officials have postponed the Feb. 26-27 Texas Two-Step due to a state of emergency in Texas as the state works to recover from its winter weather disaster.

New dates and a revised spring schedule will be announced soon.

Those who have already purchased tickets to the race at Cotton Bowl can use those tickets for the rescheduled dates. Once the new dates are announced, those unable to make it to the rescheduled dates will have the opportunity to request a refund.

As part of the forthcoming new spring schedule, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is slated to race Friday, March 12 at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss., and Saturday, March 13 at The Rev in Monroe, La.

Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro made amends for missing two free headers by finally nodding in the only goal as his side earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory away to Real Valladolid on Saturday to move within three points of La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid.

The Brazilian had missed the target in either half but seized the moment with his third headed opportunity, glancing in a Toni Kroos free kick to give his heavily depleted side the lead in the 65th minute of a cagey game.

- Ratings: Real gain ground with 8/10s from Casemiro, Courtois
- Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)

The champions were without top scorer Karim Benzema and an additional eight players due to injury but did just enough to notch a fourth consecutive victory and take full advantage of Atletico's 2-0 defeat at home by Levante earlier on Saturday.

Real remain in second but moved on to 52 points after 24 games, with Atletico leading the standings on 55 with a game in hand. Barcelona, who play at home to Cadiz on Sunday, are third on 46 points. Valladolid, meanwhile, are 19th.

"You have to always be in the right area to have a shot and I had three chances and scored with the third. But credit should go to Toni, he always delivers good crosses and he practically put them in my hand," said match winner Casemiro.

Real coach Zinedine Zidane added: "I'm delighted for the players, we came here with a lot of setbacks. Many factors combined against us in a difficult game and with all the players we were missing we had to really fight to win."

Valladolid went into the game without a league win since Jan. 2 yet they made the brighter start and had two chances in an instant to take an early lead, but neither Fabian Orellana nor Saidy Janko were able to beat Real keeper Thibaut Courtois.

The struggling hosts had a faint penalty appeal in the first half waved away for a challenge by Casemiro on Kike Perez while forward Shon Weissman took a tumble from a Nacho tackle in the second half when his side were trailing the game.

However, the referee and VAR did not give a foul.

Casemiro's wayward header from close range was Real's only attempt of note in the first half while striker Mariano Diaz had two goals ruled out for offside.

The Brazilian missed again soon after the interval but Valladolid could have taken the lead when Real defender Ferland Mendy sent the ball to the feet of Orellana, but again the Chilean was unable to get his shot past Courtois.

"The win was down to the whole team," added Casemiro.

"We know we're all important. Courtois is an outstanding keeper but it's not right to just talk about one player."

Real turn their attention to the Champions League with a last-16 first leg away to Atalanta on Wednesday before hosting Real Sociedad on March 1. They then face a potential title showdown away to Atletico on March 7.

Visitors Borussia Dortmund crushed Schalke 4-0 in the Ruhr valley derby on Saturday, with two goals from Erling Haaland, to earn their first win in three league matches and a big shot of confidence in their battle for a top-four finish.

Dortmund, who have won two of their last seven league matches and are at risk of missing out on Champions League football next season, struck twice before half-time.

- Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)
- Bundesliga on ESPN+: Stream LIVE games and replays (U.S. only)

They have now made it two wins in a row this week after also beating Sevilla in Spain 3-2 in their Champions League Round-of-16 first leg.

"We wanted to put down a marker," said Dortmund midfielder Emre Can. "Everyone knows what this game means for the fans; maybe the most important one.

"If everyone goes the extra step then we are very strong. We cannot let up now and have to show it in every game. Then hopefully we can still have a successful season."

Jadon Sancho pounced on a Benjamin Stambouli mistake to race through and score in the 42nd minute, for the 20-year-old's 35th goal in his Bundesliga career, making him the youngest player ever to reach that mark in the league.

Haaland then spectacularly took off inside the box and connected in mid air with a Sancho chip to score with a sideways bicycle kick, leaving substitute keeper Michael Langer frozen to the spot.

Schalke did not have a single shot on target in the first half but battled back after the break, hit the post with Suat Serdar in the 51st and had another good chance with Matthew Hoppe.

It was the visitors, however, who scored again and killed off the game on the hour with Marco Reus playing a quick one-two with Raphael Guerreiro and the latter drilling in their third goal. Haaland then bagged his 17th league goal with a tap-in in the 79th.

Dortmund are sixth on 36 points, six behind Eintracht Frankfurt, who are fourth. The top four teams automatically qualify for next season's Champions League's group stage.

Schalke remain anchored in last place on nine points.

MORE

Visitors Borussia Dortmund crushed Schalke 04 4-0 in their Ruhr valley derby on Saturday, with two goals from Erling Haaland, to earn their first win in three league matches and a big shot of confidence in their battle for a top-four finish.

Dortmund, who have won two of their last seven league matches and are at risk of missing out on Champions League football next season, struck twice before halftime.

They have now made it two wins in a row this week after also beating Sevilla in Spain 3-2 in their Champions League Round-of-16 first leg.

"We wanted to put down a marker," said Dortmund midfielder Emre Can. "Everyone knows what this game means for the fans; maybe the most important one.

"If everyone goes the extra step then we are very strong. We cannot let up now and have to show it in every game. Then hopefully we can still have a successful season."

Jadon Sancho pounced on a Benjamin Stambouli mistake to race through and score in the 42nd minute, for the 20-year-old's 35th goal in his Bundesliga career, making him the youngest player ever to reach that mark in the league.

Haaland then spectacularly took off inside the box and connected in mid air with a Sancho chip to score with a sideways bicycle kick, leaving substitute keeper Michael Langer frozen to the spot.

Schalke did not have a single shot on target in the first half but battled back after the break, hit the post with Suat Serdar in the 51st and had another good chance with Matthew Hoppe.

It was the visitors, however, who scored again and killed off the game on the hour with Marco Reus playing a quick one-two with Raphael Guerreiro and the latter drilling in their third goal. Haaland then bagged his 17th league goal with a tap-in in the 79th.

Dortmund are sixth on 36 points, six behind Eintracht Frankfurt, who are fourth. The top four teams automatically qualify for next season's Champions League's group stage.

Schalke remain anchored in last place on nine points.

Former Liverpool captain and manager Graeme Souness has labelled the current team an "easy touch" and a shadow of their former selves after the champions fell to a 2-0 derby defeat by Everton -- their fourth straight home defeat.

In another dismal performance, Jurgen Klopp's team looked nothing like the side which stormed to the league title last season, ending the club's 30 year wait for a domestic championship.

- Ogden: Everton send Liverpool into full-blown crisis
- Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)

The loss follows defeats at Anfield by Burnley, Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester City and was Everton's first win at Anfield since 1999.

"They're a shadow of a team. When you think what Liverpool have been for three years -- a team that no one wants to play against, a team that were always on the front foot, super aggressive, must have been horrible to play against them," said Souness, now a pundit with Sky Sports.

"And now everyone wants to play against them. They're an easy touch and that hurts me."

Souness questioned the approach taken by Liverpool's players to the clash with their Merseyside neighbours who had not beaten them in 20 league encounters.

"As a Liverpool supporter, I am deeply disappointed with my team. It didn't look like they had any energy or any fight or any real aggression about them. The best team got the points," he added.

"I think there's no Liverpool player that can come off that pitch tonight and think 'I've had a good game tonight.'"

Liverpool are in sixth place, 16 points behind leaders Manchester City and now face a battle to even make the top four and qualify for next year's Champions League.

Midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum said it was vital that Liverpool took on the challenge with the right mindset.

"You don't want to feel sorry for yourself and don't want to go into the victim role," said the midfielder. "You just want to deal with the situation and try to bring it to a better end, or a good end, even if you know that you have a lot of injuries.

"I think that's how we should look at the situation, not be the victims but just try to turn it around. We have a lot of games to turn it around - if we're going to look at the situation as victims it's going to be worse," he said.

LIVERPOOL, England -- Jurgen Klopp has grown accustomed to making history as Liverpool manager, but he and his team are now creating it for all the wrong reasons. Times have been bad in recent weeks at Anfield, but the reigning Premier League champions are now in a full-blown crisis after losing 2-0 at home to Everton for the first time this century.

That's not a misprint. Everton had not won at the home of their Merseyside neighbours since September 1999 and had not tasted victory of any kind against Liverpool, in any competition, since a 2-0 league win at Goodison Park in October 2010.

No major big-city derby anywhere in the world has been so one-sided. Espanyol have beaten Barcelona and Torino have been victorious against Juventus in the years since Everton last beat Liverpool, but that long, agonising wait is now over thanks to Richarlison's third-minute opener and an 82nd-minute Gylfi Sigurdsson penalty.

"I am very pleased for the club and the supporters," Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti said. "I hope for sure that they are going to celebrate tonight. It was a good performance. A lot of fight and spirit. I am really happy."

- Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)
- ESPN+ viewer's guide: Bundesliga, Serie A, MLS, FA Cup and more

Everton deserved their victory, which triggered the release of celebratory fireworks in nearby Stanley Park and the sounding of car horns in the streets, but the defeat merely compounded what has already been an awful 2021 so far for Liverpool. From being an outstanding team of champions, Liverpool are now locked in a battle simply to qualify for the Champions League next season. Everton, Chelsea and West Ham United all are capable of finishing above them now.

"It's tough to take," Klopp said. "I don't like to talk today about the good stuff because we lose the game and we feel that deeply. I just have to use it tomorrow, and it is our lifeline to keep going.

"We have to improve on the finishing stuff and then we will win football games."

Last season, every time Klopp's team set a new record, it was a positive one. Whether it was consecutive wins, points tally or the end of the club's 30-year wait to be crowned champions of England again, it was all good news.

But there is now no end to the bad news for Liverpool. Aside from the pain of finally losing to Everton, this defeat marked the first time since 1923 that Liverpool have lost four successive home games.

Little less than a month ago, Klopp's team were 68 games unbeaten at home in the league -- a sequence stretching back to April 2017 -- but since losing to Burnley on Jan. 21, they have lost to Brighton & Hove Albion, Manchester City and now Everton. Previously an impregnable fortress, Anfield has now witnessed four defeats and two draws in its past six league games, with only two Liverpool goals in those fixtures.

But the grim statistics don't end there. This was also Liverpool's fourth successive league defeat, home and away, having also lost at Leicester City last week, and on a personal level Klopp has lost his unbeaten record against Everton in his 13th derby.

So there is plenty for Klopp to unpack when he next sits at his desk and attempts to find a way out of this dismal run. It is hard to find a suitable adjective to describe it because it has now gone beyond a slump and a malaise. Meltdown is perhaps the most accurate.

Injuries have unquestionably been a central factor in Liverpool's woeful defence of their title, and the problems began when Virgil van Dijk suffered a cruciate ligament injury against Everton at Goodison in October. Since losing their defensive talisman, Liverpool's injuries haven't stopped. Van Dijk's defensive partner Joe Gomez is also out with a serious knee injury, with Joel Matip sidelined and midfielder Fabinho, who has filled in at the back throughout the campaign, also out.

And the situation deteriorated further in this game when captain Jordan Henderson, once against playing as a makeshift centre-half, limped off on 30 minutes after suffering a groin injury. So when substitute Nathaniel Phillips replaced Henderson to play alongside Ozan Kabak, it was the 18th central defensive pairing that Liverpool had all season. Eighteen!

Those defensive injuries, and the ripple effect they have had on the midfield, have been well documented. There is nothing new to say about the overcrowded treatment room, other than to say that Kabak, signed on loan from Schalke 04 in January, looked well short of the required quality during a torrid 90 minutes against Everton.

The uncertainty at the back and in midfield has impacted on Liverpool's goal threat, with Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane all having chances, but missing them, in this game. Two goals in six home games tells its own story, though. Liverpool possess great forwards, but when they snatch at sporadic chances, they won't score goals.

The Anfield effect is also worth noting. Due to absence of supporters because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Anfield is no longer the noisy cauldron that urged Liverpool to the title last season. Klopp has built a team that rides the wave of noise from the supporters, but that extra ingredient has been missing this season, and we are now seeing just how important it is to this team.

But for all the mitigating factors behind their terrible run of results, Liverpool are still a strong team with quality players and Everton beat them comfortably. Ancelotti's players overcame the pressure of history to finally win here and it was significant that, when Sigurdsson scored the spot kick to seal the victory, every outfield player celebrated in front of the section that would usually accommodate the Everton supporters.

This was a huge win for Everton, but the impact of defeat is arguably bigger for Liverpool because they are now in a tailspin and there is no obvious way out of it.

Chas Skelly stood in the Octagon and waited for his opponent, Jamall Emmers, to make his entrance. But Emmers never came out.

The UFC Fight Night bout between Skelly and Emmers was canceled Saturday when Emmers was unable to compete after suffering back spasms backstage, according to the UFC broadcast.

Skelly was already in the cage at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas when Octagon announcer Joe Martinez made the announcement that the fight would not be happening.

Emmers was released back to his hotel and did not need to be transported to the hospital, according to UFC officials.

"I feel like I should get my win bonus," Skelly said in an interview on the broadcast. "I weighed in, I made weight. I stepped in the cage. That's how I feel. I hope Jamall is OK. No animosity. It sucks."

Skelly (18-3, 1 NC) has not fought since September 2019 and has competed just twice since 2017 due to injuries. He said he was "disappointed" by the turn of events.

A featherweight, Skelly, 35, said he's not sure when he'd like to return to fight because he cuts a lot of weight, and a quick rescheduling might not be healthy.

"It's not easy for me to make weight," Skelly said. "I don't want to turn right around and do the weight cut all over again next week. I don't want to put my body in that yo-yo."

Emmers (18-5) was coming off a unanimous-decision win over Vince Cachero last August, his first UFC victory.