Briefly

American gymnasts again take top two places

Nastia Liukin and Chellsie Memmel did it again.

A day after becoming the first American women to win the gold and silver medals in the all-around competition at the world gymnastics championships at Melbourne, Australia, Liukin and Memmel took the top two places on the uneven bars during Saturday’s event finals.

But Liukin got the gold this time.

“I feel great. I’m just so excited,” said Liukin, who missed out on the all-around title by just 1-1000th of a point. “I knew I’d hit my routine and I knew I had a good chance of getting a medal. When I landed I was just so excited.”

Her graceful acrobatics in the uneven bars final earned her a 9.662 out of 10, just ahead of Memmel’s 9.587.

Fellow American Alicia Sacramone won bronze on the women’s vault with an average score of 9.412.

China won two gold medals and a bronze Saturday, while Brazil collected its first men’s title and Canada and Hungary won rare medals.

The world championships end today, with individual event finals on the women’s beam and floor exercise, and the men’s vault, high bar and parallel bars.

Figure skating

Plushenko, Slutskaya triumph

Evgeni Plushenko won the Cup of Russia Grand Prix in St. Petersburg with a free program that was off his best, but good enough to easily beat world champion Stephane Lambiel.

American skater Johnny Weir was third after missing two intended triples.

World champion Irina Slutskaya won the women’s event with a personal-best free program score.

Slutskaya’s final score of 198.06 was more than 25 points ahead of second-place Miki Ando of Japan. Yoshie Onda of Japan won the bronze.

Emily Hughes of the United States was fifth, behind Finland’s Susanna Poykio.

Pairs world champions Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin registered their personal best in the free program to win gold.

Fellow Russians Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov finished second, more than 20 points behind.

•Americans Julia Vlassov and Drew Meekins finished second in the pairs, Meryl Davis and Charlie White were second in the ice dancing, and Austin Kanallakan was the runner-up in the boys’ division at the Junior Grand Prix finals in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Russia’s Valeria Simakova and Anton Tokarev won the pairs with 136.75 points, finishing ahead of six American pairs. Japan’s Takahiko Kozuka, 16, won both the short and free programs to finish first in the boys’ competition.

Horse racing

Purge takes Cigar Mile

Trainer Todd Pletcher won two of three stakes races at Aqueduct in New York, highlighted by a surprise victory from 25-1 long shot Purge in the $350,000 Cigar Mile.

Purge, ridden by Garrett Gomez, blew past Mass Media and pacesetter Value Plus in the stretch and won by 3 3/4 lengths. Mass Media was second and Gygistar was third in the 11-horse field.

Pletcher, who set the North American record for earnings by a trainer Friday, extended his mark of more than $19.1 million by saddling his second straight winner in the Cigar Mile, the final Grade 1 of the year in New York.

Earlier, Pletcher’s Bluegrass Cat won his third straight race, beating Flashy Bull by 1 3/4 lengths in the $200,000 Remsen Stakes for 2-year-olds.

•Gary Stevens finished second in the last ride of his Hall of Fame career, pushing heavily favored Louve Royale within a length of winner Moonshine Gal in a 1 1/16 -mile race on Churchill Downs’ turf course in Louisville, Ky. Stevens announced his retirement Friday.

Miscellany

U.S. speedskaters win

Jennifer Rodriguez and Shani Dave gave the U.S. team a sweep in the 1,000 meters in a World Cup speedskating meet in West Allis, Wis.

•Marit Bjorgen of Norway won the women’s 10-kilometer classic style cross country race in Kuusamo, Finland, for her third straight World Cup victory of the season. In the men’s 15K classic, Germany’s Tobias Angerer won.

Also in Kuusamo, Jakub Janda of the Czech Republicwon the World Cup season opener with a single ski jump, and Robert Kranjec of Slovenia captured his first career win with two jumps.

•At Altenberg, Germany, Markus Kleinheinz of Austria edged Tony Benshoof of the United States by .015 seconds to win the men’s singles race at a luge World Cup event.

•Stian Eckhoff of Norway and Uschi Disl of Germany combined perfect shooting with fast cross country skiing to win the World Cup biathlon season openers in Ostersund, Sweden.