Schild Wins Again; Mancuso Falters

Associated Press
Monday, March 12, 2007

Marlies Schild of Austria won a World Cup slalom for the seventh time this season yesterday in Zwiesel, Germany, to claim first place in the overall standings. Julia Mancuso of the United States finished 24th to fall from second to third in the standings.

Schild, who already has won the slalom season title, had the best time in both runs and totaled 1 minute 36.67 seconds. Anna Ottosson of Sweden and Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic shared second, 2.23 seconds behind.

Schild moved from third to first overall with 1,302 points. Nicole Hosp of Austria finished 11th to drop to second in the standings with 1,287 points. Mancuso has 1,251 points.

The last giant slalom is at the World Cup finals, which start Thursday in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

· MEN'S ALPINE SKIING: Hans Grugger led a 1-2 Austrian finish in a World Cup Super-G race in Kvitfjell, Norway, with discipline leader Bode Miller finishing seventh.

Grugger completed the Olympiabakken course in 1:29.57 for his fourth World Cup victory. Teamate Mario Scheiber trailed by 0.72 of a second. Switzerland's Didier Cuche was third, 0.91 behind, and advanced to second in the standings.

Austria's Benjamin Raich, the defending overall champion, skied out but kept his lead with 1,055 points. Cuche has 963 points. Four races -- downhill, Super-G, giant slalom, slalom -- remain at the World Cup finals.

· BIATHLON: Ole Einar Bjoerndalen edged Raphael Poiree on the final sprint to win a 15-kilometer mass start in Oslo for his record 74th biathlon World Cup victory. Germany's Magdalena Neuner won her second straight women's 12.5-kilometer race.

· SPEEDSKATING: In Kearns, Utah, American Shani Davis closed the season by winning the men's 1,500 meters at the World Single Distances championships, barely missing his own world record.

Davis, who won gold and silver last year in the Olympics, closed 2007 by winning three of his last four races.

Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic broke the world record in the women's 5,000 meters, finishing in 6:45.61. The Netherlands clocked a world record 3:37.80 to win the team pursuit.

· SHORT-TRACK SPEEDSKATING: South Koreans won all six events on the final day of the World Championships in Milan.

Five-time Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno finished third in both the 1,000 and 3,000 and started off the United States' bronze medal performance in the 5,000-meter relay.

· CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING: Norway's Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset won a 15-kilometer classic World Cup race at the Lahti Ski Games in Finland, and Germany's Tobias Angerer finished third to extend his lead in the overall standings.

Estonia's Kristina Smigun took the women's 10-kilometer classic style race for her first World Cup victory this season.

· SKI JUMPING: Adam Malysz of Poland mastered tricky winds to win a World Cup event at the Lahti Ski Games. Malysz's 33rd World Cup victory put him into a tie with Jens Weissflog of Germany for second on the career list. Matti Nykanen, a Finn who jumped in the 1980s, has 46 victories.

· SNOWBOARD CROSS: Lindsey Jacobellis added the World Cup title to her 2007 world championships gold, leading every heat in the final at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, N.Y.

Jacobellis dominated every run to clinch the World Cup title with one event left. In the men's event, Canadian Drew Neilson stayed unbeaten after three World Cup contests.