Carlo Janka won the final downhill of the season yesterday to take the overall World Cup lead with three races remaining.
The Olympic giant slalom champion edged Mario Scheiber of Austria, meaning that the once powerful Austrian team failed to win a downhill race all season for the first time since 1991-1992.
Patrick Kueng of Switzerland and Erik Guay of Canada shared third place.
The Swiss skiier’s third downhill victory of the season gave him a 54-point leader over Benjamin Raich of Austria in the race for the overall title. Raich did not compete in the downhill and will look for his chances in the giant slalom and slalom. A victory is worth 100 points.
Janka covered the 3,300m Kandahar course in one minute, 58.45 seconds. Scheiber was .02 seconds behind and Kueng and Guay, who won a super-G race in Kvitfjell, Norway, on Sunday, were both .07 behind.
“In the first half of the race it was not perfect surely, but I made no mistakes at the bottom half,” Janka said after his seventh career victory.
One of the late starters at No. 20, Janka said he benefited from better conditions.
“I had better visibility,” he said.
Didier Cuche of Switzerland had already secured the downhill title and finished eighth yesterday skiing with a sore back.
“I almost didn’t make it to the start,” said Cuche, who needed a painkilling shot.
Janka said the overall title would be a fine end to an already good season.
“I knew that this was the event where I needed to win some points. The race was very tight and I was the lucky one, I was on the right side of the clock,” he said.
“It’s still [on] the cards, the course suits me and I think I can be fast tomorrow as well [in the super-G],” Janka said. “These are the races I needed to do well in because I will be behind Raich in the technical events” — giant slalom and the slalom that conclude the season.
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The Greek basketball league finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were suspended by the government on Monday following on-court scuffles involving rival security teams. The best-of-five series is at 1-1. The third game, scheduled for today, has been postponed. The owners of both clubs were summoned to meet with the country’s sports minister. They “will be asked to provide explicit guarantees that this situation will be brought to an end. If not, this year’s championship will be definitively canceled,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “There can be no tolerance for such pathological phenomena of violence and delinquency.” In online posts, the owners of Panathinaikos and
Defender Steph Catley says her UEFA Women’s Champions League title win with Arsenal last week will act as motivation to secure continental glory with Australia when the country hosts the Women’s Asian Cup next year. Catley and compatriots Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross were part of the Arsenal squad that defeated Barcelona in Lisbon on Sunday last week, before flying to Melbourne to feature in the Matildas’ 2-0 win over Argentina on Friday. The game was the first in a two-match series against the South Americans as the Australians continue preparations for the continental championship in March next year, when they would
RSS