ALPINE SKIING
Hirscher silences critics
Marcel Hirscher silenced his critics in style when he won the most coveted slalom of the season in Schladming, Austria, on Tuesday, days after being embroiled in a bitter controversy over a previous victory. The Austrian won the floodlit race on the Planai piste, lined by 50,000 fans, in a combined time of 1 minute, 43.01 seconds for his sixth victory of the World Cup season. The 22-year-old Hirscher beat Italy’s Stefano Gross by 0.22 seconds, while fellow Austrian Mario Matt was third, a further 0.07 seconds behind. World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic of Croatia missed the podium by 0.01 seconds, but he retained top spot in the race for the overall title with an 80-point lead over Hirscher. The Austrian had never previously made it on to the podium on home snow and the result was a relief after the weekend’s row over his victory in Zagreb earlier this month. Hirscher’s performance on Jan. 5 was questioned after slow-motion videotapes showed he had straddled a gate — a mistake that should lead to disqualification — before being awarded victory.
BASKETBALL
Wizards fire Saunders
The Washington Wizards fired coach Flip Saunders on Tuesday after opening the season with a NBA-worst 2-15 record. The Wizards, who started the season with eight consecutive losses, were trounced by the Philadelphia 76ers 103-83 on Monday, their seventh road loss in as many tries this year. Assistant Randy Wittman will take over on an interim basis for the remainder of the season, beginning with the Wizards hosting the Charlotte Bobcats. “We felt the team had become unresponsive, and we will look to Randy to provide a different voice and a change in philosophy moving forward,” Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said in a statement. “We were disappointed in the lack of development of our players at this point in our rebuilding plan.”
ICE HOCKEY
Alex Ovechkin pulls out
Suspended Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has withdrawn from the NHL’s annual All-Star Game, saying he did not deserve to be there. The game, on Sunday in Ottawa, comes during the winger’s three-game suspension for a hit to the head and the Russian said he should not be allowed to play. “My heart is not there. I am suspended, so why I have to go there?” Ovechkin told reporters. “I don’t want to be a target. I feel like I’m not deserving to be there right now. If I’m suspended, I have to be suspended.” Ovechkin, a two-time winner of the NHL Most Valuable Player award, was suspended by the NHL on Monday for a hit on Pittsburgh’s Zbynek Michalek on Sunday. Capitals general manager George McPhee said the team supported Ovechkin’s decision. “It is a great event and he doesn’t want that distraction, and we don’t want it either,” McPhee said.
SOCCER
Taiwo joins QPR on loan
Nigeria international Taye Taiwo has joined English Premier League club Queens Park Rangers on loan from Italian giants AC Milan, it was confirmed on Tuesday. The 26-year-old will remain at Loftus Road until the end of the season after struggling to win a regular place in the starting lineup at Milan since joining from French side Olympique de Marseille last summer. The defender, who can also play in midfield, was reportedly the subject of interest from Arsenal, but he has joined QPR after receiving a work permit. Recently appointed QPR boss Mark Hughes was delighted to have secured Taiwo’s signature. “I have known of him for a long time and admired him from afar,” Hughes said.
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