■ Snowboarding
Delerue and Jacobellis win
Xavier Delerue of France and Lindsey Jacobellis of the US won gold on Sunday in the snowboardcross event at the Snowboarding World Championships. Two Americans finished behind Delerue, with Seth Wescott taking silver and Nate Holland placing third. It was sweet revenge for Jacobellis, who defeated Olympic champion Tanja Frieden in the semifinals. Jacobellis had lost the Olympic final to Frieden at the Turin Games. Sandra Frei of Switzerland took the silver medal, while Helene Olafsen of Norway won bronze.
■ Soccer
Violence mars friendly
Sixteen FC Utrecht fans were arrested on Sunday after fighting with Schalke 04 supporters in the center of Utrecht ahead of a friendly match. Police spokeswoman Ellen de Heer reported no arrests of Schalke fans, but said one FC Utrecht supporter was being treated for injuries after being bitten by a police dog. "A number of Schalke supporters, several dozen, came into confrontation with a group of Utrecht supporters," said Marc van Rossum, a local reporter who saw the fighting. The brawl started in front of a pub and moved through the city center "until the police stepped in and took the Schalke supporters under protection," he added.
■ Cricket
Selectors rest Ponting
Australian captain Ricky Ponting will be rested on Friday for the clash with England in Brisbane. Australia beat England by eight wickets in the series opener last Friday in Melbourne and then beat New Zealand by 105 runs on Sunday. Ponting, who has been playing continuously since Sept. 22, will return for the New Zealand match in Sydney on Sunday. Brad Hodge will replace Ponting in the 14-man squad for the England match and Adam Gilchrist will captain the side with Mike Hussey as vice-captain. "We feel that Ricky Ponting needs and deserves a break," said selectors chairman Andrew Hilditch.
■ Rugby League
Rogers switches codes again
Former Australian rugby union fullback Mat Rogers has agreed to contract terms with the Gold Coast Titans for this year's National Rugby League season. Rogers, 31, will join his new teammates a year earlier than initially expected after quitting rugby union last month. "I'm just rapped to have everything sorted out and very much looking forward to getting in and doing the hard yards," Rogers said yesterday. "To be back in rugby league a year earlier than I expected is just huge." Rogers' departure has left Australia in a precarious position ahead of the rugby union World Cup with regular fullback, Chris Latham, out injured for the Super 14 season with a knee injury.
■ Golf
Canete wins Joburg Open
Ariel Canete birdied three of the final four holes and won the Joburg Open by two strokes on Sunday, earning the 31-year-old Argentine his first European tour title. Canete, who finished 146th on the Order of Merit last year and 53rd in November's qualifying school, closed with a 67 for a 19-under 266 and a winner's purse of 158,500 euros (US$205,000) more than he won in the last two seasons on the European circuit combined. After being forced off the course at the turn on Saturday due to thunderstorms with a one-stroke lead, Canete and 35 others had to return early on Sunday to finish their rounds. He birdied eight of the 27 remaining holes -- with one bogey -- and held off South Africa's Andrew McLardy.
■ Hockey
Blackhawks tame the Wild
Pavol Demitra scored the only shootout goal and the Minnesota Wild rallied to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 on Sunday night. A possible shootout goal by Denis Arkhipov, Chicago's third shooter, was disallowed after a video review. Minnesota goalie Manny Fernandez stopped the shot, but it nearly trickled over the goal line. Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Marian Gaborik and Wes Walz scored in regulation for Minnesota, which won its third straight overall and on the road. The Wild hadn't posted three consecutive road wins since February. Tuomo Ruutu, Martin Havlat, Cam Barker scored in regulation for Chicago, which lost its sixth straight.
■ Running
Half marathon record set
Former Stanford University runner Ryan Hall set a North American record in the Aramco Half Marathon and USA Half Marathon championship on Sunday. The 24-year-old US runner won in 59 minutes, 43 seconds to best the 1:00:55 Mark Curp ran in Philadelphia in 1985. Feyisa Tusse won the men's title in the Chevron Houston Marathon and Dire Tune won the women's race. Tusse, a 23-year-old US runner, finished in 2:11:39. Tune set a course record in 2:26:52. Elva Dryer, 35, won the women's half-marathon in 1:11:42.
■ Field Hockey
Argies, Dutch, Aussies win
Argentina easily beat Spain 4-1 on Sunday night to join the Netherlands and Australia atop the standings at field hockey's women's Champions Trophy in Buenos Aires. Australia beat Germany 2-1 to hand the defending champion its second loss in as many games and the Netherlands dominated Japan 3-0 to give the leaders six points each. After yesterday's rest day, play resumes today as Spain meets Australia, Germany plays Japan and Argentina faces the Netherlands in the late match. The tournament runs through Jan. 21.
■ Soccer
Guadeloupe shocks Cuba
Guadeloupe shocked Cuba 2-1, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines beat Guyana 2-0 in the Caribbean Cup finals on Sunday in Marabella, Trinidad. Cuba dominated first-half possession before a cross was volleyed home by the Guadeloupe's Steve Bizacene. Cuba continued to press and equalized in the 69th minute through Osvaldo Alonso, but Guadeloupe won it in the 87th minute with a free kick. In the later game, Grenadines striker Shandel Samuel scored on a rebound and substitute Sean Glynn sealed the victory when he scored two minutes later.
■ Golf
Watson, Nicklaus win Skins
Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson earned seven skins and US$260,000 on the back nine on Sunday to win the Champions Skins Game in Wailea, Hawaii, over Gary Player and Jay Haas. Nicklaus and Watson finished with nine skins worth US$320,000, boosting the Golden Bear to a career record 96 skins. Last year's runners-up sealed the win when Player and Haas bogeyed the first playoff hole and were eliminated. Player and Haas finished with six skins worth US$290,000 in the four-team, alternate-shot event. Arnold Palmer drained a 3m birdie on the second playoff hole on No. 16 to earn a skin worth US$100,000 to avoid being shut out for the third straight year. He was teamed with Loren Roberts, who was making his first appearance in the tournament.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later