Austria’s Marcel Hirscher seized a narrow lead in the alpine skiing World Cup standings on Tuesday despite being beaten by final winner Alexis Pinturault in the quarter-finals of the parallel slalom in Moscow.
France’s Pinturault snatched his first World Cup win at the expense of Germany’s Felix Neureuther and confirmed he was one of the brightest hopes of the sport.
The 20-year-old skier from Courchevel had already finished twice second this season, in October’s giant slalom in Soelden and in a super-combined in Chamonix earlier this month.
Photo: Reuters
“I was a kid the last time I skied a parallel slalom. It was my goal of the season to end up on top of the podium, but I didn’t expect it to be in this discipline,” the Frenchman said.
Swede Andre Myhrer took third place in the spectacular event held in a training ground of the Luzhniki soccer stadium as a curtain-raiser to the Champions League soccer match between CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid.
Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic, nursing a knee injury, probably sighed in relief as he watched proceedings on television from home as his two rivals for the overall title crashed out of contention in the quarter-finals of the city event.
Hirscher was the hot favorite after winning both races in the Bulgarian resort of Bansko over the weekend, but he slid out in his heat against Pinturault and missed the 100 points awarded to the winner.
Swiss Beat Feuz, the other main World Cup contender, crashed in exactly the same spot in his quarter-final race against Myrher.
Both were awarded 30 points as joint fifth and Hirscher now leads defending champion Kostelic by 12 points in the overall standings, with Feuz third, 52 points adrift.
“This goes to show that you should never take anything for granted. Who knows? Maybe these 30 points will proved decisive an the end of the season,” Hirscher said.
In the women’s competition, Julia Mancuso of the US bagged the 100 points and a check for 40,000 Swiss francs (US$43,900) by outpacing Austria’s Michaela Kirchgasser in the final.
World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn was ousted in the semis by Mancuso, but salvaged a podium spot by beating Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch in the third-place final.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set