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SPORTSMonday 7 December 2015

Vonn wins super-G to complete Lake Louise sweep 

LAKE LOUISE, Alberta (AP)      according to information         like I’m in a good place for   “It was a big deal,” Vonn          Sunday and finished 15th.
— Lindsey Vonn won a           provided by the U.S. Ski         the next couple races.”        said. “I feel like there were      Vonn was certainly im-
super-G race Sunday to         Team. Another Austrian,          Vonn captured both             some people that doubt-            pressed with Shiffrin’s per-
complete a sweep of            Cornelia Huetter, was third.     downhill races over the        ed whether I could win             formance.
World Cup races at Lake        “Whenever you win, peri-         weekend for the hat trick.     today, and especially be-          “I watched her run and
Louise for the third time in   od, let alone by over a sec-     Vonn also accomplished         cause Lara (Gut) had won           I thought she did really
her career.                    ond, it definitely gives you     the feat at the Alberta re-    the last couple races here         well,” Vonn said. “In gen-
The American finished in a     that little bit extra boost of   sort in 2011 and ‘12.          in super-G.”                       eral, she’s such a techni-
time of 1 minute, 19.79 sec-   confidence,” said Vonn,          What’s more, she now           The U.S. placed four rac-          cally sound skier and she
onds, beating Tamara Tip-      who has 70 career World          has 14 downhill victories      ers in the top 20, includ-         has such a great feel for
pler of Austria by 1.32 sec-   Cup victories. “I’m feeling      and four super-G wins at a     ing Laurenne Ross at 12th.         the snow.
onds. The margin of victory    great, and I know my su-         place that’s referred to as    Olympic and world slalom           “I’m sure she’s going to be
was the largest in a wom-      per-G is good — my down-         “Lake Lindsey” because of      champion Mikaela Shiffrin          a strong competitor here in
en’s super-G since 1997,       hill is pretty good — so I feel  her dominance.                 made her speed debut               the next couple races.”q

Hirscher cruises to World Cup giant slalom victory 

Austria’s Marcel Hirscher speeds down the course during the men’s World Cup giant slalom ski   “It’s great to be on top of        hooked an edge, tumbled
                                                                                               those.”                            to the snow and crashed
race Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015, in Beaver Creek, Colo. 		            (AP Photo/Nathan Bilow)        Hirscher turned in a smooth,       through a gate before
                                                                                               clean run and pumped his           stopping.
PAT GRAHAM                     G win the day before,            ant slalom victory. With       ski poles after finishing.         His day was done.
AP Sports Writer               Hirscher made it through         that, he became Austria’s      Once again, Hirscher had           “It’s not cool in any kind
BEAVER CREEK, Colo. (AP)       the extra grippy snow            career GS victory leader,      no trouble finding the fast-       of race when you go out,”
— Austrian Marcel Hirscher     conditions in a combined         surpassing Hermann Maier       est way down the course.           said Ligety, who won the
held on to his first-run lead  time of 2 minutes, 32.58         and Benjamin Raich.            He’s attempting to win a           season-opening giant sla-
to easily win a World Cup      seconds. He beat Victor          “We are getting closer to      fifth straight overall title this  lom in Soelden, Austria,
giant slalom Sunday on a       Muffat-Jeandet of France         these records that I think     season.                            nearly two months ago.
day when American Ted          by 0.98 seconds. Norway’s        are pretty heavy,” said        “He’s in first class (com-         “But this one is especially a
Ligety and some other top      Henrik Kristoffersen was         Hirscher, who spent some       pared) to me,” Muffat-Je-          bummer, for sure.”
rivals crashed.                third.                           time fly fishing in Colorado   andet chuckled. “I need            Ligety had to wait several
Fresh off his surprise super-  It was Hirscher’s 15th gi-       when he wasn’t racing.         more podiums.”                     minutes in the start gate
                                                                                               Done early in this race was        before his run as course
                                                                                               Ligety, along with French          workers fixed the netting
                                                                                               racers Thomas Fanara and           after a crash by Fanara.
                                                                                               Alexis Pinturault. All three       Ligety insisted the delay
                                                                                               crashed out — right in a           was no big deal.
                                                                                               row, too.                          “It always happens,” said
                                                                                               It was Ligety’s first “DNF” —      Ligety, who complained of
                                                                                               did not finish — in a first run    a “dead leg” after hitting
                                                                                               of a World Cup GS since            the gate.
                                                                                               2013. He was the big favor-        Pinturault also wiped out
                                                                                               ite on this course, consider-      and was taken to the hos-
                                                                                               ing he has won five races          pital for evaluation after
                                                                                               at Birds of Prey along with a      hitting his head.
                                                                                               world title last February.         Norway’s Aksel Lund Svin-
                                                                                               But he struggled in snow           dal, who won Friday’s
                                                                                               conditions that drasti-            downhill race, didn’t com-
                                                                                               cally changed when the             pete because of an illness.
                                                                                               temperature significantly          The top American finisher
                                                                                               dropped overnight — turn-          was Tim Jitloff. He was
                                                                                               ing the course from icy to         14th, 2.28 seconds behind
                                                                                               super aggressive. Ligety           Hirscher.q

Bowe leads another American 1-2 at speedskating World Cup 

INZELL, Germany (AP) —         third, 1.11 behind, followed     sprint on Friday, extended     after winning the opening          seconds to win the wom-
Brittany Bowe beat Heath-      by Ida Njatun of Norway          her standings lead to 110      four sprints. Denis Yuskov of      en’s mass start in 8:18.41.
er Richardson-Bergsma to       and Martina Sablikova of         points over Richardson-        Russia won the men’s 1,500         Park Do-young of South Ko-
win the women’s 1,500 me-      the Czech Republic. Bowe         Bergsma. Artur Was of          meters in 1:44.21 — 0.99           rea was third, 0.20 behind.
ters for the second Ameri-     leads Richardson-Bergsma         Poland won the second          seconds ahead of Dutch             Schouten leads the stand-
can 1-2 in as many days at     by 20 points in the stand-       men’s sprint in 34.65, edg-    skater Kjeld Nuis and 1.04         ings by 50 points from Blon-
a speedskating World Cup       ings after three races. Lee      ing Alex Boisvert-Lacroix of   ahead of American Joey             din after three races.
event on Sunday.               Sang-hwa of South Korea          Canada by 0.09 and Kai         Mantia. Nuis leads the             Victory in the men’s mass
Bowe, who also won the         won the second of the            Verbij of the Netherlands      standings on 240 points, 20        start went to Alexis Contin
1,000 meters on Saturday,      weekend’s sprints in 37.36,      by 0.15. Another Cana-         ahead of Mantia and 40             of France. Contin clocked
clocked 1 minute, 54.68        beating Richardson-Bergs-        dian, Gilmore Junio, was       ahead of Yuskov.                   7:33.37 to beat Jorrit Bergs-
seconds to edge her team-      ma by 0.48 and Canada’s          fourth, 0.18 behind.           Irene Schouten of the              ma of the Netherlands by
mate by 0.26. Marrit Leen-     Heather McLean by 0.66.          Pavel Kulizhnikov of Rus-      Netherlands edged Ivanie           0.39 seconds and Fabio
stra of the Netherlands was    Lee, who also won the first      sia still leads the standings  Blondin of Canada by 0.02          Francolini of Italy by 0.69.q
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