Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch won the women’s alpine skiing World Cup slalom race on Saturday, with a knife-edge lead of 0.01 seconds over Slovakia’s Veronika Zuzulova.
Canada’s Marie-Michele Gagnon was third, 00.11 seconds back, in her first-ever podium finish.
The taste of victory was sweet for Olympic champion Hoefl-Riesch — who also topped last season’s overall World Cup standings — as she had not won in the slalom since January last year and crashed out last week in Ofterschwang, Germany.
“I was looking for a podium today and I had nothing to lose, no globe to win, just points to score for next season,” Hoefl-Riesch said.
She had placed third in the first leg, behind Zuzulova and world champion Marlies Schild of Austria.
Schild, who has already secured the slalom title after dominating throughout the season, came in sixth in Saturday’s second leg, 00.29 seconds back.
Lindsey Vonn of the US failed to complete the second leg after falling.
Gagnon’s third place was her team’s second success in a row after teammate Erin Mielzynski last week won in Ofterschwang, becoming the first Canadian in 40 years to do so in the discipline.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB