■ BIATHLON
Bjoerndalen dominates
Five-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway blew away his rivals by claiming his 78th career success in the World Cup men's biathlon mass start event on Sunday. Despite two penalties for missed targets the 33-year-old Bjoerndalen finished 34 seconds ahead of Russian Nikolay Kruglov (1 penalty) with Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen picking up three penalties to finish at 54 seconds. Four-time World Cup winner Bjoerndalen has dominated in Oberhof, Germany, winning Friday's relay and finishing second in Saturday's sprint. He consolidates his overall World Cup lead with a 40 point advantage on Russia's Dmitri Yaroshenko, who finished fourth on Sunday.
■ SNOWBOARDING
Gimpl wins World Cup event
Stefan Gimpl won his second straight Big Air snowboarding World Cup event on Saturday to take the lead in the discipline standings. The 28-year-old Austrian, who also won last month in Sofia, earned his third career World Cup win by beating Matti Kinnunen of Finland in the final at the Messegelaende Graz, Austria. Gimpl earned 25.6 points for his two final jumps, while Kinnunen's efforts were rewarded with 16.4 points. Finland's Petja Piiroinen beat Kim-Andre Eliasen of Norway in the small final to take third.
■ BIATHLON
Neuner records first win
Germany's triple world champion Magdalena Neuner won the women's mass start World Cup biathlon race in Oberhof, Germany, on Sunday to record her first victory of what had been a disappointing start to the season. The 20-year-old warmed up the 80,000 spectators on her home turf to beat home Russian duo Olga Anasimova and Tatiana Moiseeva and hand out a warning to her rivals that she is approaching top form just a month away from the world championships in Oestersund, Sweden. Neuner's compatriot Martina Glagow retained the overall lead despite finishing a lowly 12th, while Neuner moved into third, 26 points adrift.
■ LUGE
Huefner extends win streak
Tatjana Huefner led a top-four sweep for Germany in the women's luge on Saturday and claimed a fourth straight World Cup win. Huefner finished in 1 minute, 34.662 seconds, setting a track-record 47.262 seconds in the second heat to beat 19-year-old Natalie Geisenberger by 0.134 seconds and deny her a first World Cup triumph. "I have a little time left," Geisenberger said. "Sometime I'll get that first World Cup win." Silke Kraushaar-Pielach was third in 1 minute, 34.980 seconds, while Anke Wischnewski took fourth in 1 minute, 35.405 seconds.
■ OLYMPICS
Blast furnace shut down
Beijing's biggest steel company has shut down another blast furnace in an effort to clean up the city before the Olympics, state media said on Sunday. The Beijing Shougang Group, one of the capital city's major polluters, on Saturday extinguished the fire in its No. 4 blast furnace which has been working for 35 years, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The No. 5 furnace was closed several months ago. Air quality has been a major concern and shutting down the blast furnaces is expected to help reduce the amount of sulfur dioxide, dust and soot by about half. The No. 2 furnace will be shut down by March and operations at No. 3 will be suspended during the games, Xinhua said.
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
The Daredevils yesterday took eight catches in the final as they eked out a victory in the Taiwan Cricket Triangular Tournament against PCCT at Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. PCCT’s batting lineup collapsed after they asked the Daredevils to bowl in the T20 decider of the weekend tournament that also involved the Formosa Cricket Club. PCCT were bundled out for 76 in 16.2 overs against a disciplined Daredevils attack. Shahzad Khan was the top scorer in the innings with 21, but he was among those who offered chances to the fielders. Shane Ferreira and Jason Cameron took three wickets each, with
OBJECTIVE REACHED: ’Now for us, it’s about getting healthy, making sure everybody is ready to go, and we can ramp up,’ the Atlanta Hawks’ C.J. McCollum said after the game The Atlanta Hawks on Friday secured an NBA playoff berth with a 124-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers as the Boston Celtics locked up the Eastern Conference second seed with a lopsided win of their own. C.J. McCollum scored a game-high 29 points for the Hawks, who came into the contest at sixth in the East and still in danger of falling into the play-in tournament that would see the seventh-through 10th-placed teams battle for the last two playoff berths in each conference. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson scored 18 points apiece, and Dyson Daniels added a triple-double of 13
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