Sykora Stays Hot

Austria’s Thomas Sykora won his fourth slalom of the season and sixth of his career with a performance at Chamonix, France, that left the rest of the field more than a 1-1/2 seconds behind.

Alberto Tomba, a three-time Olympic and two-time world champion, was second after the first run, more than a second behind Sykora. But Tomba passed up the second run because he had the flu.

At Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria, six years after her first World Cup victory, an extremely fit Pernilla Wiberg won a Super G race at the same venue to extend her lead in the overall standings.

Wiberg won with a time of 1 minute and 39.98 seconds. Second was Isolde Kostner of Italy, whose time was 1:40.26.

At Engelberg, Switzerland, Slovenia’s Primoz Peterka won his second straight World Cup ski jumping event, strengthening his lead in the overall standings.

The 17-year-old Peterka had the two best jumps, 125 meters, for 252.9 points. Janne Ahonen of Finland was second and his countryman, Jani Soininen, third.