Alphand Skis To Victory

Frenchman Luc Alphand won a grueling World Cup downhill on the icy and treacherous Stelvio course in Bormio, Italy, to capture his second victory of the season’s four speed races.

The 31-year-old skier from Sierre Chevalier, the defending World Cup downhill champion, edged William Besse of Switzerland by 0.21 seconds and Italy’s Kristian Ghedina by 0.67 seconds.

Italy’s Deborah Compagnoni scored her first slalom victory in a women’s World Cup race at Semmering, Austria, where a number of top skiers missed gates on the icy slope.

With a first-run best time of 52.13 seconds, Compagnoni had a combined time of 1:42.94, 1.05 seconds ahead of Patricia Chauvet of France.

Dieter Thoma, who helped Germany to a gold medal in the Olympic team jumping competition in 1994, won the World Cup ski jumping event in Obertsdorf, Germany, opener of the fabled Four Hills holiday tournament.

Austria’s Mario Stecher won a World Cup Nordic combined 1-man sprint relay in Oberwiesenthal, Germany, pulling even with Samppa Lajunen in the overall standings behind another Finn, frontrunner Jari Mantila.

Stecher, who earned 126.5 points in the ski jumping phase of the competition, finished the 7.5 kilometer cross-country race in 14 minutes, 4 seconds. Todd Lodwick of Steamboat Springs, Colo., finished third.