The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 7 letter word ICE SKATING
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
I
C
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S
K
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More clues leading to the result ICE SKATING
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "sports event" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case sports event = ice skating.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does ICE SKATING mean?
ICE SKATING verb- To skate on ice, wearing ice skates