Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety overcame high winds yesterday to win a World Cup giant slalom event, after missing the first of Saturday's races at Yongpyong Ski Resort because he slept in.
"This surprised me more than the Olympics," he said immediately after clocking a combined two-run time of 2 minutes, 18.54 seconds. "I've been skiing pretty good GS lately but not like this."
Sweden's Fredrik Nyberg and Kalle Palander of Finland trailed by .03 seconds to finish joint second. This was Palander's fourth year at the Korean course. He qualified for his first slalom event here in 1998 at the age of 16.
Ligety, who won Olympic gold at Turin in the combined , had a terrible start to the weekend when he was the only nonstarter Saturday.
"I was pretty bummed yesterday, but today more than makes up for it because you never know," Ligety said. "If I skied yesterday who knows what I would have done today."
Sunday's races were delayed by more than four hours as high winds buffeted the Rainbow 1 course.
Austrian Benjamin Raich took fourth place and Italian Davide Simoncelli, Saturdays winner, was fifth.
The Americans suffered another setback when Erik Schlopy, who broke his hand at Beaver Creek at the start of the season, dropped out of Sunday's first race clutching his arm. A member of the American medical team said he had injured his thumb.
Schlopy's teammates only fared slightly better, with Daron Rahlves coming 13th. Bode Miller did not make the trip to Korea.
Olympic bronze medalist Hermann Maier was 24th, one slot worse than his performance Saturday, when he complained of feeling sick and said he had lost some of his drive following the Olympics.
Two solid jumps of 121.5m and 117m by Magnus Moan helped the Norwegian to victory at a World Cup event Saturday.
The 22-year-old Moan placed third in each jumping round and went out second on the cross-country ski track, with Finland's Anssi Koivuranta 37 seconds ahead.
Moan, an Olympic bronze medalist on the full course and a silver medalist in the sprint, controlled the 15K ski race and finished first in 42 minutes, 52.8 seconds -- 39.3 seconds ahead of Germany's Bjorn Kircheisen. Olympic sprint champion and full course silver medalist Felix Gottwald of Austria was a further 20.3 seconds behind.
Gottwald rose to the podium with the fastest ski race. He started 27th, 3:18 behind leader Koivuranta after mediocre, tentative jumping in tricky winds. Koivuranta, who had the best jump of 128.5 meters in the first round, was fourth. Switzerland's Andreas Hurschler, who was the second best skier at almost a minute behind Gottwald, went from 23rd to finish fifth.
With six events left, Manninen has already secured the World Cup Nordic combined title -- his third in a row.
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
‘HIGH STANDARD’: The Thunder are on track for a Finals-Cup double after they scored 22 three-pointers in equaling the best 25-game start to a season in NBA history The Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday bagged a 16th straight victory, thrashing the Phoenix Suns 138-89 to romp into an NBA Cup semi-final clash with the San Antonio Spurs, who stunned the Los Angeles Lakers 132-119. NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points to lead the reigning NBA champions Thunder, who improved to 24-1 to equal the best 25-game start to a season in league history. They dominated from start to finish to book their place in the final four of the in-season tournament in Las Vegas, where they are tomorrow to take on the Spurs. The New York Knicks and
TOP OF THE TABLE: Evann Guessand put the visitors ahead early in the game and Flavius Daniliuc equalized before Youri Tielemans got the winner in the second half Aston Villa on Thursday extended their winning streak to eight games in all competitions with a 2-1 victory against Basel in the UEFA Europa League to secure at least a playoff spot. Villa were tied with Olympique Lyonnais, who beat Go Ahead Eagles 2-1, and Midtjylland, 1-0 winners over Genk, atop the standings of the second-tier European competition on 15 points with five wins from six games. They have bounced back from a poor start to the season and are third in the Premier League, including a 2-1 victory over leaders Arsenal on Saturday. At St Jakob-Park in Basel, summer signing Evann Guessand
Tony Jefferson intercepted a Jalen Hurts pass in overtime to give the Los Angeles Chargers a 22-19 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday in an NFL thriller between playoff contenders. Justin Herbert, playing a week after surgery on his broken left (non-throwing) hand, withstood a career-high seven sacks to throw for 139 yards and a touchdown for the Chargers. Cameron Dicker kicked five field goals, including the 54-yard game winner in overtime. The Chargers defenders forced Hurts to throw four interceptions and surrender a fumble for a career-worst five turnovers as the Eagles fell to 8-5 with a third
RSS