France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange crowned his return to the ski slopes with victory in the opening slalom race of the World Cup series yesterday.
Grange, who only recently returned to competition following a knee operation that ended his Vancouver Olympic hopes, dominated the first leg and kept his nerve in the decider to take his first win of the season and the seventh of his career.
He clocked a time of 1 minute, 46.64 seconds for both runs, relegating Sweden’s Andre Myhrer to second place by 0.33 seconds, with Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic third at 0.97 seconds back.
Photo: AFP
Grange, who injured his right knee in December last year and last raced a slalom at Levi last year, topped the times in the first run to signal his ambitions — in all of his previous six wins he had won the opening leg.
A day after Marlies Schild won the women’s slalom, Levi’s Black Run was not a happy hunting ground for her compatriots on Austria’s Wunderteam, including her fiance Benjamin Raich.
Raich, Reinfried Herbst, who won in Levi last year, and World Cup slalom champion Marcel Hirscher all crashed out in the first run, as did Olympic champion Giuliano Razzoli of Italy.
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning
The 40-year-old LeBron James on Thursday became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors. James passed the record held by Michael Jordan, his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday. “I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.” Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003. James is 38