■ 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.
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday did not disappoint in a thrilling midseason matchup in front of a fired-up sellout crowd of more than 18,500 fans. The top two teams in the NHL delivered with a combined nine goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s career to put him 18 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it out in overtime and just about everyone involved got their money’s worth out of the 5-4 game. “We knew how we were both sitting in the standings and both having real good years,” Winnipeg coach Scott
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about £2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Less than a week after splashing out a world-record fee for Naomi Girma, Chelsea has spent big again to bring England midfielder Keira Walsh back to the English Women’s Super League. Walsh left European champions Barcelona after more than two years to join Chelsea for a reported £400,000 (US$496,000) on Friday. Walsh was the world’s most expensive player for two years after moving to Barcelona from Manchester City for a reported £400,000 in 2022. That status now belongs to Girma, the US defender who cost Chelsea a reported £900,000 to sign from the San Diego Wave. Still, it means 27-year-old Walsh — a technically