Austria’s Reinfried Herbst claimed his second win of the season in the men’s World Cup slalom on Monday ahead of Switzerland’s Silvan Zurbriggen and Austria’s Manfred Pranger.
Herbst, the Olympic runner-up in 2006, finished 0.08 seconds ahead of Zurbriggen with Pranger at 0.17, to secure the seventh success of his career. The 31-year-old won the season opener on Nov. 15 at Levi, Finland.
“I was surprised by my victory at Levi, here I came to win,” Herbst said. “Of course, I trained well this summer but these two victories are beyond my expectations. It’s really a fantastic start to the season.”
PHOTO: EPA
Austria’s Benjamin Raich holds the overall World Cup lead despite failing to finish the second run. He finished third in the first run behind Pranger and Herbst respectively.
Zurbriggen achieved his first podium since the slalom at Sestriere, Italy, in December 2004.
“It’s a surprise, but I knew I was skiing very fast. I’m really happy to have achieved the best time of the second run,” said Zurbriggen, who skipped the downhill at Val Gardena to concentrate on his best discipline. “I won’t race in the downhill in Bormio [next week] to prepare for the six slaloms in January as well as the super-combined at Wengen and combined at Kitzbuhel.”
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
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
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two