■ Skiing
Knauss gets 18-month ban
Austria's Hans Knauss was banned for 18 months by the International Ski Federation on Tuesday after testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone. Knauss had faced a possible two-year ban, but the FIS doping panel ruled he did not act intentionally. "The athlete did not exercise adequate caution by deliberately choosing to use supplements different from the ones recommended by his association," the FIS said. Knauss had been provisionally suspended after testing positive at a World Cup downhill at Lake Louise, Canada, on Nov. 27, 2004. His suspension was backdated to then and will run until May 26, 2006. Knauss' fourth-place result from the Lake Louise downhill was also nullified. The 18-month ban, which would cover the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, could end the 33-year-old skier's career.
■ Surfing
Mavericks await surfers
The world's top surfers made their way to Northern California, preparing to challenge what is billed as the "Most Dangerous Wave on the Planet," the vicious surf break at Mavericks, near Half Moon Bay, California. Each winter, top surfers from Brazil, Australia, Hawaii and the US descend on the once-secret surf spot 800m off the coast -- if the waves are big enough for the contest to be called into action. "Big enough" at Mavericks means waves that care 50m or higher. "Our surf forecaster is predicting 9m-to-10.5m faces," said contest spokesman Keir Beadling. "That's big, bordering on epic." The contestants include Carlos Burle, Brazil's most famous big-wave rider, and Australian standouts Tony Ray and Ross Clarke-Jones. The waves at Mavericks are the product of swells that are suddenly thrust upward by a rapidly rising sea floor.
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