Page 15 - aruba-today-20201127

A15
SPORTS Friday 27 November 2020
Vlhova beats U.S. skier Moltzan to win 3rd race in 6 days

LECH-ZUERS, Austria (AP) — away.
Petra Vlhova won her third After qualifying in fifth, Molt-
World Cup race in six days zan beat the likes of Marta
Thursday, beating unher- Bassino, who won the sea-
alded Paula Moltzan of the son opener last month, by
United States in a floodlit 0.08 in the quarterfinals and
parallel event. Gut-Behrami by 0.28 in the
Coming off two straight semifinals.
slalom wins in Finland last Thursday's event had a
weekend, Vlhova won the knockout format and saw
first run of the final against two competitors race side-
Moltzan by 0.21 seconds. by-side on identical, short-
The American seemed to ened giant slalom courses,
have made up the deficit with run times just over 23
in the deciding run on the seconds.
faster blue course but she All rounds were contested
crashed four gates short of over two legs, with skiers
the finish. having one run on each
"Every run was like a final. course and the shortest ag-
The girls are really fast. But gregate time determining
I am here and I won. It's the winner.
something amazing for To keep the event within a
me," Vlhova said. TV friendly time frame, only
It was Moltzan's first career Slovakia's Petra Vlhova, right, and Italy's Federica Brignone speed down the course during an 16 starters were allowed.
podium on the World Cup, alpine ski women's World Cup parallel giant slalom in Lech/Zuers, Austria, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. Some of the pre-race fa-
less than six weeks after she Associated Press vorites, including Wendy
earned her first top 10 at Holdener, Alice Robinson,
the season-opening giant slalom recently. Jelinkova. so it's a good day for me." Sofia Goggia and Tessa
slalom in Austria. Former overall champion Vlhova lost the first leg In the absence of Shiffrin, Worley, were eliminated
"I was just hoping for a top Lara Gut-Behrami, who was against the Czech-born who has 66 World Cup wins, earlier in the qualification
30 today," Moltzan said. the fastest in qualification Dutch racer by 0.16 sec- Moltzan came close to her runs, necessary to reduce
Her American teammate earlier Thursday, finished onds, before winning the first. the field of 68.
Mikaela Shiffrin, who re- third after beating Sara second by 0.20. Moltzan grew up in Min- Kristina Riss-Johannessen
turned from her 10-month Hector in the small final. In the next round, Vlhova nesota and trained on the posted the fastest time in
break from racing with sec- Vlhova extended her lead also had to come from same slope, Buck Hill, as the first qualifying run but
ond and fifth-place finishes in the overall standings. The behind after losing the first retired standout Lindsey the Norwegian failed to fin-
in Finland last weekend, World Cup slalom cham- run against Federica Bri- Vonn a decade earlier. ish her second.
skipped the event. pion from Slovakia was on gnone, the overall World Moltzan earned her first Michelle Gisin, who was
The three-time overall the podium in all four races Cup champion from Italy, World Cup points in 2015 runner-up to Vlhova in the
champion preferred to so far, having finished third who finished seventh in the but was later dropped off overall standings, opted
train for upcoming super- in the season-opening gi- event. the team. not to race in order to focus
G races and giant slaloms. ant slalom in October. "I was all the time focused She went to the University on training, with two super-
Limited in her options by the However, she had to over- on each run. I didn't think of Vermont in 2017 but re- G races in St.-Moritz in her
pandemic and a back inju- come a scare in her round- too much ahead," Vlhova joined the World Cup in native Switzerland coming
ry, Shiffrin had only trained of-16 duel with Adriana said. "In the end it's victory 2018-19 after two years up next.q

100-meter world champion Coleman appeals doping ban to CAS

LAUSANNE, Switzerland Coleman is challenging a the same technicality later
(AP) — Men's 100-meter two-year ban imposed last cited to clear Naser.
world champion Christian month by an independent In Naser's case, World Ath-
Coleman has formally ap- tribunal at track and field's letics is appealing against
pealed against his two- Athletics Integrity Unit. the tribunal's decision last
year ban for missing mul- The American sprinter had month to let her off without
tiple doping tests, the Court three so-called "where- a ban.
of Arbitration for Sport said abouts failures" -- missed Though the Nigeria-born
Thursday. tests or not updating details Bahraini did have three
The court also received where sample collection whereabouts incidents
an appeal by the World officials could find him -- in within a 12-month calendar
Athletics governing body a one-year period to trig- period, they technically
against a decision to clear ger a doping violation. counted as spanning more
women's 400-meter world Coleman asked for his ban, than one year.
champion Salwa Eid Naser which currently rules him World Athletics has re-
on a technicality despite out of the Olympics, to "be quested a two-year ban for
facing similar charges as eliminated, or in the alter- Naser, CAS said, adding it is
Coleman. native, reduced," the court now appointing panels of
The verdicts in the separate said in a statement. judges to handle the cases. In this file photo dated Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019, Christian Cole-
man, of the United States, celebrates winning the gold medal in
cases will have a big impact He had previously avoid- CAS typically take several Doha, Qatar.
on two of the most antici- ed a ban before the 2019 months to prepare and Associated Press
pated sprint events at the worlds in Doha, Qatar, judge an appeal, though
Tokyo Olympics next year. when he benefited from fast-track decisions can be reached if all parties agree to cooperate.q