International Capsules: Vonn clinches super-combi title with race canceled
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Another day, another title for Lindsey Vonn.
Just 24 hours after clinching her fifth consecutive World Cup downhill title, the American clinched her third straight super-combined trophy Sunday after the final race in the discipline this season was canceled due to heavy snowfall on the Sochi 2014 Olympics course.
The International Ski Federation (FIS) initially said the race might be rescheduled for Are, Sweden, next month, but then scrapped that idea.
"You never want to have a (title) clinched with a canceled race," Vonn said. "I had it happen to me last year at the finals for the overall globe, and I've won a super-combined title before in this way when they canceled the last super-combined in Crans-Montana. ... I would love to have another chance to be on the podium, but today was just not meant to be."
Vonn now has 14 World Cup titles in her career, and she's on course to add two more before the end of this season with a fourth overall globe and a fourth super-G title.
After Crans-Montana was canceled two years ago, sparking a controversy, the FIS created a rule which states that a title can be awarded if two of three races are completed in a discipline.
With just two super-combi races completed this season, Vonn took the title with 180 points, 55 points ahead of Slovenia's Tina Maze and 60 points in front of Austria's Nicole Hosp.
Both completed super-combi races were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, last month. Vonn won the first and finished second behind German rival and friend Maria Hoefl-Riesch in the other.
"It's a joke with just two races," said Hoefl-Riesch, who finished fourth in the standings, 70 points behind. "They should only have super-combi at world championships and Olympics. In World Cup, it's too much for the four-event skiers."
The FIS appears to share Hoefl-Riesch's view. Super-combi has been left off the World Cup schedule in future years.
Organizers first delayed the start of Sunday's race by a half-hour, then an hour, then called it off completely, ending the Alpine test events for the Sochi Games on a sour note.
"I definitely think it was the right decision," Vonn said. "All the girls talked in the finish after the second inspection and we all felt it wasn't safe enough and we gave them some time to keep working on the course, and they definitely made progress, but unfortunately the snow was just rotten, it was just like sand — an endless pit of nothing — there's no surface.
"It's not safe enough to race and I'm really happy with the decision, because safety is the most important thing and we're all safe today," Vonn added.
Thursday's downhill training session was also canceled due to heavy snowfall and low visibility, although there was also criticism about a lack of course workers.
"The snow here is really difficult to prepare, because you have (an artificial base layer) and then comes 10-20-30 meters of natural snow and you have to mix it," said Wolfgang Mitter, an Austrian who is coordinating the races for the Russian ski federation.
There were only about 200 slippers on hand to prepare the courses here. There are often twice that many at other World Cup stops.
"There are some things to improve," Mitter said. "We will educate much more (slippers) all over Russia."
Mitter said 50 extra volunteers from Sochi came up Saturday, but they didn't help much.
"If they don't know how ski sport works you cannot work with them," Mitter said. "You need specialists. You need hundreds (of) experienced people, and we will educate them, as we did in the last year and a half. You have to have a complete men's team and women's team — maybe about 600-700 (people). You need it if there are conditions like today."
Vonn and the other top-ranked women now travel to Moscow for a special parallel event Tuesday, while the full circuit resumes in Bansko, Bulgaria, next weekend.
Hirscher wins World Cup slalom in Bulgaria
BANSKO, Bulgaria (AP) — Austria's Marcel Hirscher won his second race in two days, capturing a slalom Sunday and drawing closer to the overall lead in the World Cup standings.
Hirscher was in front after the first run on the Banderitsa course and won in a combined time of 1 minute, 52.64 seconds. Austria's Mario Matt finished with the second-best time but was disqualified for a gate infringement.
That lifted Sweden's Andre Myhrer into second, 0.57 seconds back, while Italy's Stefano Gross was third, 0.90 seconds behind. The top U.S. skiers were Nolan Kasper (sixth) and Ted Ligety (seventh).
Hirscher is now just 18 points behind leader Ivica Kostelic in the overall standings, with the Croatian sidelined with a knee injury. The two victories in Bansko helped Hirscher overtake his other leading contender, Swiss speed skier Beat Feuz, who rested this weekend after his downhill victory in Sochi.
"I try to do my best," Hirscher said. "What I'm doing is to let the skis run."
While Kostelic is out for several weeks after surgery on his right knee, Hirscher doesn't want to start eyeing the crystal globe given to the overall World Cup winner just yet.
"We will see," he said. "For me it is important to stay stable on the course and take the curves in the best possible way."
Kasper of Warren, Vt., put together a fast second run, climbing from 23rd place after the first run for his fifth top-10 finish.
"It was a good, although difficult, race," he said. "The snow was pretty soft due to the sunny weather. In the second run I managed to compensate for the disappointing first run."
After a superb second run, Japan's Naoki Yuasa climbed from 16th to fifth. Germany's Felix Neureuther was third after the first run but skied out in the afternoon. So did Jens Byggmark of Sweden, who was seventh in the morning.
-- Veselin Toshkov
Kearney's record streak ends at 16
NAEBA, Japan (AP) — American star Hannah Kearney's all-discipline record for consecutive FIS World Cup victories ended at 16 on Sunday with a semifinal loss in a dual moguls event.
Canada's Audrey Robichaud beat Kearney in the semifinals, then topped Japan's Aiko Uemura in the final. Kearney finished fourth behind Japan's Miki Ito.
Kearney, from Norwich, Vt., broke downhill great Ingemar Stenmark's record of 14 — set in the giant slalom in 1978-80 — last week in China and won again Saturday in Naeba. Kearney's streak began in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Jan. 22, 2011.
"I was really surprised and wasn't sure what happened," Robichaud said about her semifinal victory. "My coach just told me to push hard out of the gate."
American Patrick Deneen won the men's event, beating World Cup leader Mikael Kingsbury of Canada in the final. Canadian Philippe Marquis was third.
Chappuis of France wins Nordic Combined event
KLINGENTHAL, Germany (AP) — Jason Lamy Chappuis of France won a Nordic combined event on Sunday to extend his overall World Cup lead.
The ski jumping portion had to be called off because of snow and wind and the officials used the results of a training jump from Friday, where Chappuis was 11th. But the Frenchman worked his way up the field in the 10-kilometer cross-country race to finish 15 seconds ahead of Bernhard Gruber of Austria. Tomas Slavik of the Czech Republic was 16 seconds back. Chappuis leads the overall standings with 1,163 points, ahead of Akito Watabe of Japan with 925.
Slovenia wins team ski jumping event
OBERSTDORF, Germany (AP) — Slovenia won a team ski jumping World Cup event Sunday, ahead of Austria and Norway. The competition was cut short after the first series of jumps because of wind and snow.
Slovenia's Peter Prevc had the longest jump of the day at 225.5 meters, though he lost his balance on the landing. Slovenia had 732.5 points for the four jumps. Austria had 731.8 points and Norway 715.9.
Bobsled
Holcomb wins two-man gold at worlds
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Call Steven Holcomb Mr. Icebreaker.
Three years ago, Holcomb, the top driver on the U.S. bobsled team, broke a 50-year gold-medal drought for America in four-man competition at the Bobsled World Championships. Two years ago, he won the first four-man Olympic gold for his country since 1948, and on Sunday he went where no U.S. bobsledder had gone before — to the top of the podium in two-man at worlds. And he did it in a sled he had never raced.
"That's going to take a little while to sink in," said Holcomb, of Park City, Utah. "My world championship medal it had been 50 years. My (Olympic) gold medal was 62 years. And now this — never, ever. This is no years. It's going to take a little bit to sink in."
In the team event, Holcomb switched sleds and his brakeman and anchored the U.S. to another victory in 56.20 seconds, the fastest of the eight teams competing.
"This is probably the second-best day of my life," said Holcomb, brakeman Justin Olsen at his side. "Just goes to show the depth of our team. Watch out, Sochi!"
Three years ago, Holcomb won the two-man bronze and four-man gold at worlds in Lake Placid on his home track at Mount Van Hoevenberg.
This time, he surged past first-day leader Lyndon Rush of Canada with a near-flawless third run. Holcomb and brakeman Steve Langton had a four-run time over two days of 3 minutes, 42.88 seconds, putting them 0.46 seconds ahead of Rush and brakeman Jesse Lumsden.
"This is fantastic," Langton said. "This is my fifth year in the sport and I've had some good results, but to come out here and win my first big championship is pretty amazing. It's really indescribable."
Maximilian Arndt and Kevin Kuske of Germany took the bronze, 0.55 behind Holcomb. World Cup champion Beat Hefti and Thomas Lamparter of Switzerland were fifth and John Napier and Christopher Fogt sixth for the U.S., which placed all three of its sleds in the top 10. Rookie Nick Cunningham and Dallas Robinson finished ninth.
"I'm at a loss for words," said Darrin Steele, chief executive officer of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. "It's been a long time for us. Holcomb's becoming a legend in his own right, and all these teams. It's just been an amazing race."
Before Sunday, the best the U.S. had done in two-man at the worlds was four silvers — Stanley Benham (1950-51), Art Tyler (1957), and Gary Sheffield (1961). Since the discipline began at worlds in 1931, the U.S. also had collected only six bronze medals — Brian Shimer (1997), Howard Clifton (1967), Tyler (1959), Benham (1954) and Fred Fortune (1949-50).
"I guess the hard one's out of the way. We know we can do it," said Shimer, now the men's coach. "Coming in here we were confident, but you just never know. Things worked out. I can't say enough about Holcomb. He's just an unbelievably talented pilot. Anything you throw at him he seems to get it down the hill quick."
Piloting the sled Shauna Rohbock drove to the silver in the women's race at worlds last year in Konigssee, Germany, Holcomb drove USA-1 into contention for the gold on Saturday. He recovered from a shaky first run to finish the day second, just 0.12 seconds behind Rush.
Before he climbed out of the sled for the ride back to the top between runs on the first day, Holcomb already knew what had gone wrong and sent word: "Got it figured out. Time to make my move," he tweeted.
Holcomb cut Rush's lead in half with a sterling second run, the fastest of the 27 sleds that completed the run, and kept up the pressure in Sunday's first heat.
Rush slid first, getting the advantage of clean ice for being the first-day leader, but he bobbled in the tricky curve just past the midpoint of the 20-curve layout and finished the run in 55.86 seconds.
Next up was Holcomb, and after a strong start of 5.07 seconds — the best of the heat — he laid down a time of 55.54 seconds, the fastest of any team in all four heats as Shimer gave them a thumbs-up, a big smile creasing his face at the finish.
That put the American duo in command with a lead of 0.20 seconds over Rush and 0.26 ahead of Arndt.
In the span of two runs, Holcomb and Langton had gained nearly a half-second on the Canadians. But this is a sport where mistakes come swiftly.
"Need to stay focused and relaxed and do it again. The race isn't over," Holcomb tweeted before the final run.
Holcomb did just that, placing the finishing touch on the day with a final run of 55.63 seconds, beaten only by fourth-place finishers Francesco Friedrich and Marko Huebenbecker of Germany.
"Yesterday, if that was World Cup I would have won, even though I wasn't the best team," said Rush, who was fighting a stomach bug. "But at world championships, the Olympic Games, the best team wins. Hats off to them. They're the best team. We weren't really that close when you think about it. We had a lead going into the third heat and just got blasted."
Just as he did three years ago, Holcomb skipped the final two races of the World Cup season — he still finished seventh in two-man and sixth in four-man — to prepare for worlds as the coaches took a calculated gamble putting him in a different sled. Shimer said only time would tell if the gamble was worth it. It was.
"Phenomenal," Holcomb said. "I always wondered when we won the world championships (in 2009) if the second one was ever going to be as nice."
The team event is consists of one heat in four disciplines — men's and women's skeleton, women's bobsled, and men's two-man bobsled.
Team USA-1 also also included bobsledders Elana Meyers and Emily Azevedo, and skeleton sliders Katie Uhlaender and Matt Antoine. They finished in 3 minutes, 44.98 seconds. That was 0.73 seconds ahead of Germany 1, and 1.3 seconds ahead of third-place Canada 1.
-- John Kekis
Cycling
Hoy leaves crowd dreaming of Olympic cycling gold
LONDON (AP) — Chris Hoy and Britain's cycling team rounded off the Track World Cup at London's new Olympic Velodrome on Sunday, leaving the cheering home crowd more confident than ever of gold at this year's Summer Games.
Hoy, a four-time Olympic champion, followed his victory in Saturday's kierin with a 2-0 win over Maximilian Levy in the men's sprint, overpowering the German on the home straight in the first race and keeping his line under severe pressure on the back straight in the second.
Hoy's win and a silver medal for Britain's men's team pursuit outfit helped the host nation finish atop the points table at the four-day meet — which doubled as an Olympic test event at the new 6,000-seat arena.
"I've had a tough day out there and felt it in my legs," the 35-year-old Scot said. "More than the actual result, I'm more pleased about the way I rode. It's a really important step towards the Olympics.
"I've really fed off the energy of the crowd. Hopefully we can do the same at the Olympics."
Hoy's triumph also boosted his chances of winning the single team slot in the Olympic sprint event. His rival for that spot, world champion Jason Kenny, lost his quarterfinal 2-0 to Levy before rallying to beat a four-man field, including Bauge, to finish fifth.
Next month's World Championships in Melbourne will be the next platform for the pair's battle.
"Every race between now and the Olympics matters," Kenny said. "I'm chasing Chris. There's not a lot I can do except try harder and harder to close the gap.
"It's really good actually. We're really pushing each other. Obviously, we're both really competitive people."
Levy's Germany finished as overall World Cup champion, while Australia's Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Alex Edmondson and Michael Hepburn won the men's team pursuit and clinched the overall World Cup title with the second-fastest time ever.
Home favorite Victoria Pendleton reached the final of the women's kierin but got trapped after an early surge and could not get around on the outside, finishing a disappointing fifth. Lithuania's Simona Krupeckaite took gold, while China's Li Huang won the women's multidiscipline omnium event ahead of American Sarah Hammer.
Levy hauled Hoy up and down the banked bends of the Siberian pine track in the first final race before the Scot's sheer power took him the long way around and past his opponent on the line.
Hoy then led off in the second race and looked in trouble as Levy attacked coming off the penultimate bend and nosed ahead. Hoy kept his nerve and refused to give way, holding on to the inside racing line and finishing a comfortable few lengths clear.
The triumph left Hoy with two golds and a bronze from Friday's team sprint event and offered a hint that he could be hitting a peak just in time for the Olympics.
"I've put in the hard yards this winter," Hoy said.
But the matchup of the day was in the men's sprint quarterfinals between Hoy and Gregory Bauge of France, who was world champion in 2009, 2010 and 2011 before losing the latter title to Kenny when he was banned for missing a drug test.
Hoy was pushed all the way by Bauge, who beat Hoy in the first race by half a wheel before the Briton took the second to set up a decider.
Hoy led off but such was the cagey approach of both riders that they came to a complete standstill on the rail almost immediately. To the amusement of the crowd, the velodrome DJ played Henry Mancini's "Pink Panther Theme" over the loudspeaker and officials called the pair back for a restart following a roll backward from Bauge.
Hoy then committed to the lead during the second of three laps and held off a surge from Bauge down the home straight to beat the Frenchman in a photo finish, punching the air in delight.
The partisan crowd gave Hoy an ovation but, with the Scot off the track, recognized Bauge's efforts with a round of generous applause.
-- Stuart Condie
Luge
Geisenberger wins women's World Cup event
SIGULDA, Latvia (AP) — Natalie Geisenberger of Germany won a World Cup women's luge race in Latvia Sunday and closed in on overall leader Tatjana Hufner ahead of the final event of the season.
Geisenberger, who took the lead after the first run, secured the win by clocking 1 minute, 25. 884 seconds. Countrywoman Anke Wischnewski finished second, 0.143 seconds behind. Erin Hamlin of the United States was third, 0.283 seconds back.
The win narrowed the gap between Geisenberger and overall leader Hufner of Germany, who was 10th. With one event remaining in Russia, Hufner tops the standings with 676 points, while Geisenberger is second with 650 and Wischnewski is third with 535.
Later, Italy won the luge team relay in 2 minutes, 17.137 seconds, 0.346 seconds ahead of Austria. Geisenberger and the men's overall World Cup winner Felix Loch helped put Germany in third place, 0.525 seconds behind.
Speedskating
Nesbitt leads at allround worlds
MOSCOW (AP) — Overall World Cup leader Christine Nesbitt won the women's 1,500-meter race Sunday, setting a track record and reclaiming the lead after three races at the World Allround Speedskating Championships.
The Canadian was timed in 1 minute, 55.95 seconds at the Krylatskoye Ice Stadium oval. She shaved 0.01 seconds off the mark set by Claudia Pechstein in 2008.
Defending champion Ireen Wust of the Netherlands was 1.03 seconds behind for second, followed by Cindy Klassen of Canada at 1:57.61.
Nesbitt won the 500-meter opener Saturday but finished sixth in the 3,000-meter event to stay second behind Wust in the allround standings after the first day.
