Fall prevents Vonn from clinching title
Lindsey Vonn clipped a gate in the slalom, missing a chance to clinch the overall title, and Sandrine Aubert of France won her first World Cup race yesterday, in Ofterschwang, Germany.
Vonn, the first-run leader, still takes a big lead into next week's World Cup finals in Are, Sweden. Vonn is seeking to become the first American woman to win the prestigious overall title twice.
"I'm really looking forward to Are," Vonn said. "In the past, it's been a good hill for me.
"Hopefully, I'll have a solid downhill performance and have enough points to get the overall title then, so it's not weighing too heavily on my mind."
Aubert won in a combined time of 1 minute 46.28 seconds. Frida Hansdotter of Sweden was second in 1:46.71 for her best career finish, and Nicole Hosp of Austria took third.
Maria Riesch of Germany won the overall slalom title by finishing fifth.
Vonn, who needed to finish ahead of Riesch to collect her second consecutive overall title, clipped a gate with her right ski at the bottom of the second run. Vonn leads Riesch overall by 369 points, with four races remaining - and 400 points at stake.
Speedskating - American Shani Davis set a world record for the second straight day when he won the 1,000 meters in the World Cup event at Kearns, Utah, solidifying his place as the fastest mid-distance skater. Davis also won the 1,500 Friday in world-record time.
Davis took yesterday's record away from American teammate Trevor Marsicano. Marsicano, a 19-year-old from Ballston Spa, N.Y., became the first skater to go faster than 1:07 with a 1:06.88 early in the 1,000 pairings yesterday.
"I didn't know what to think. I was scared," Davis said. "He didn't skate 1:07 ever. He went straight to 1:06. I knew I had a lot of work to do."
Davis let Marsicano enjoy his time at the top for about 20 minutes, then set the new record with a time of 1:06.42.
Men's downhill - In Kvitfjell, Norway, Klaus Kroell led an Austrian 1-2 finish to win his first World Cup race.
Kroell completed the Olympic course, shortened because of fog, in 1:32.12. Michael Walchhofer was .27 seconds behind to finish runner-up.
American Marco Sullivan was 19th. Teammate Erik Fisher escaped unhurt from a crash near the bottom of the course.
Nordic combined - Magnus Moan beat Anssi Koivuranta in a photo finish to win a World Cup event in Lahti, Finland.
Moan started the 10-kilometer cross-country race nearly two minutes behind Koivuranta but passed the Finnish World Cup leader with a sprint to finish in 26:34.5. Koivuranta had the same time.
Bill Demong of the United States finished 2.5 seconds back in third place. He remained third in the overall standings.
Moguls - Patrick Deneen of the US won the men's event at the World Freestyle Championships in Inawashiro, Japan. He received 23.41 points for a comfortable win over Finland's Tapio Luusua, who had 21.89.
"This is an incredible feeling," Deneen said. "This is my first win, my first world championship." 