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Sports Briefs

■BIATHLON

Bjoerndalen wins again

Five-time Olympic biathlon champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen got his fifth win of the World Cup season in Anterselva, Italy, on Sunday. The Norwegian won a 15km mass start race in 36 minutes, 26.99 seconds, with one missed shot. Bjoern Ferry of Sweden finished second, 20.5 seconds behind, also with one miss, and Michael Greis of Germany was third, 26.3 back with two misses. In the women's 12.5km race, Andrea Henkel of Germany recorded her second victory in two days. Henkel won in 36:07.37 with one miss. Anna Carin Olofsson of Sweden finished 16.1 seconds behind with no misses and World Cup leader Kati Wilhelm of Germany was third, 28.8 back with two misses. Olofsson also said she was pregnant, but will still compete at the world championships in Ostersund, Sweden, next month.

■ BOBSLED

Minins crowned champion

Janis Minins of Latvia clinched his first World Cup victory in Cesana Pariol, Italy, on Sunday in the four-man bobsled, a win that also gave him the title of European champion. Minins and his team of Daumants Dreiskens, Oskars Melbardis and Intars Dambis completed the two runs with a combined time of 1 minute, 50.6 seconds. Martin Galliker of Switzerland finished 0.17 seconds back after taking the lead following the first heat. Germany's Andre Lange was third, 0.31 seconds off the winning time. Lange leads the World Cup with 988 points, three more than Pierre Lueders of Canada who placed ninth on Sunday.

■ SAILING

Joyon sets world record

Francis Joyon had no heat, no companions and little sleep for nearly two months as he sailed around the globe. Now he has a stunning world record. The 51-year-old Frenchman circled the planet alone in 57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes, 6 seconds in a trimaran, shattering the record set by Ellen MacArthur by two weeks and beating his own expectations. "It's a bit of a shock" to be among so many people again, Joyon said after hitting land on France's Atlantic coast on Sunday morning. He crossed an imaginary finish line off the shore overnight, and said it was like "landing on the moon" when he reached shore. Joyon skirted the southern reaches of the globe in his 29.7m, 9-tonne trimaran IDEC, a craft he built with parts gathered from other boats. "I had a hard time beating your record. I hope that you won't be in a hurry to beat mine," Joyon said with a smile to MacArthur. He slept in short spells, dodged icebergs and mounted his swaying mast in stormy seas to repair a damaged girder. His boat had no standard electrical generator, which meant he had no heat -- but also meant the boat was lighter than usual. He used wind turbines and solar panels to allow for automatic piloting and communication equipment.

■ SNOWBOARDING

Flander, Neururer triumph

Rok Flander of Slovenia and Heidi Neururer of Austria won the final World Cup parallel slalom race of the season in La Molina, Spain, on Sunday. Flander crossed the finish line at the La Molina course ahead of Benjamin Karl of Austria, with Andreas Prommeger finishing third. Flander's first parallel slalom win of the season was enough to propel him to second in the overall World Cup standings with 3,410 points. Mathieu Bozzetto of France leads with 4,130 points. Neururer beat Nicolien Sauerbreij in the final to overtake the Dutchwoman for the top spot in the overall standings.