Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch battled through the pain barrier to secure her 24th World Cup victory in the Levi slalom yesterday.
The Olympic slalom champion had been warned by German team doctors not to compete at the Finnish resort because of a hip injury, but she ignored the advice to triumph in a combined time of one minute 55.58 seconds.
Yesterday’s result would have brought back joyous memories for the 27-year-old skier from Garmisch as she had won her first slalom in Levi eight years ago.
She eclipsed first leg pace setter and local favorite Tanja Poutiainen by 0.55 seconds.
American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin, 17, was third, 0.74 adrift.
Hoefl-Riesch had considered hanging up her skis for good during the summer break, but decided to postpone her retirement plans so that she can compete at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Pre-race favorite Marlies Schild of Austria missed her chance to equal the record number of 34 slalom wins held by Swiss Vreni Schneider when she straddled a gate in the morning run.
US World Cup holder Lindsey Vonn shunned the Levi weekend to save energy for races at home in Aspen later this month.
Slovenia’s Tina Maze, winner of the opening giant slalom in Soelden two weeks ago, finished fourth to increase her lead in the overall World Cup standings to 150 points. She leads Hoefl-Riesch by 26 points, while Vonn has yet to score.
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