ALPINE SKIING
Vonn wins super-combined
Lindsey Vonn dominated the first super-combined of the women’s alpine skiing season on Friday to increase her commanding lead at the top of the World Cup standings. The American, fastest in the morning’s downhill, did solidly in the afternoon’s slalom to win in a combined time of 2 minutes, 28.35 seconds. Slovenia’s Tina Maze was second, 0.41 seconds behind, while Austria’s Nicole Hosp was third, 0.58 seconds adrift. It was Vonn’s seventh victory this season and the three-time World Cup champion has now also won in four of five disciplines this winter. Vonn’s two main rivals after the downhill, Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl and Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch, both faltered out of contention in the slalom section. Downhill world champion Goergl was on a fast tempo when she missed a gate, while World Cup holder Hoefl-Riesch made a huge mistake on the icy slalom course and finished outside the top 20. With 1,070 points in the World Cup standings, Vonn leads Maze by 302, points. Austria’s Marlies Schild is third.
SOCCER
Hannover edge Nuremberg
Hannover ended their winless Bundesliga run of eight matches by beating Nuremberg 1-0 on Friday with Mohammed Abdellaoue’s first-half goal. The Norway striker struck after getting on the end of Lars Stindl’s cross from the right while in between two Nuremberg defenders to score from five meters in the 18th minute. The visitors failed to threaten before the break, but drastically improved afterward, goalkeeper Ron Robert Zieler denying halftime substitute Tomas Pekhart from equalizing in the 55th. Jens Hegeler came closest for Nuremberg in the 88th, deflecting a free-kick agonizingly wide. It was Hannover’s first win since a 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich on Oct. 23, leaving the team in seventh place ahead of the weekend’s games.
MARATHON
Abshero blazes to victory
Ethiopian Ayele Abshero ran the fourth-fastest time ever to win the Dubai marathon on Friday. Abshero, who has just turned 21, also clocked the fastest winning debut in history, taking the title in an event record time of 2 hours, 4 minutes, 23 seconds. Abshero, the 2009 junior cross-country World Champion, led an Ethiopian podium sweep with Dino Sefir in second (2:04:50) and Markos Geneti third (2:04:54). Kenyan Jonathon Maiyo finished fourth in 2:04:56, but he was the only non-Ethiopian in the top 10, most of whom set personal bests. Pre-race favorite Martin Lel dropped off the lead group before the 30km mark, but soldiered on to finish 35th in 2:34:57. Abshero’s time is only headed by Kenyans Patrick Makau — with his world record 2:03:38 — and Wilson Kipsang (2:03:42) and his illustrious colleague Haile Gebrselassie (2:03:59). There was also an Ethiopian winner in the fast women’s race, Asselefech Mergia Medessa defending her title as she led home Kenyan debutante Lucy Kabuu, with another Ethiopian, Mare Dibaba, in third. Medessa’s personal best of 2:19:31 was an Ethiopian and course record, as the other podium sitters also finished under 2:20 for the first time ever in a women’s marathon.
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