Ligety wakes up on time to win World Cup event

Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety overcame strong wind to win a giant slalom for his first World Cup victory Sunday in Pyeongchang, South Korea, a day after he overslept and missed a race.

Ligety, winner of the combined at the Turin Games, had a two-run time of 2 minutes, 18.54 seconds. Sweden’s Fredrik Nyberg and Finland’s Kalle Palander shared second, 0.03 seconds behind.

“This surprised me more than the Olympics,” Ligety said. “I’ve been skiing pretty good GS lately but not like this.”

Ligety had a terrible start to the weekend when he was the only nonstarter in Saturday’s giant slalom. He said he overslept and his coach failed to wake him.

“I was pretty bummed yesterday, but today more than makes up for it because you never know,” Ligety said. “If I skied yesterday who knows what I would have done today.”

Ligety of Park City, Utah, advanced to 12th place in the overall standings with 529 points – not enough to threaten the top three, Austrians Benjamin Raich (1,160), Michael Walchhofer (831) and Hermann Maier (750). Two of Ligety’s U.S. teammates, Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves, are fourth and fifth.

•Maria Jose Rienda Contreras of Spain won a World Cup giant slalom in Nafjell, Norway, with an impressive second run, preventing Anja Paerson of Sweden from clinching the season title in the event.

Racing in excellent conditions under sunny skies, Rienda Contreras finished the two runs in 2:22.64 seconds on the Olympic hill.

•Chad Hedrick edged U.S. teammate Shani Davis to win a 1,500-meter speedskating race in Heerenveen, Netherlands, and capture the World Cup title in the event.

Hedrick, whose feud with Davis became one of the story lines of the Turin Olympics, won in 1:45.48. He was followed in the World Cup title race by Denny Morrison of Canada and Enrico Fabris of Italy. Davis, who finished second in 1:46.11, was fourth in the rankings.

Lee Kang-seok of South Korea won a World Cup title ahead of Joey Cheek of the United States after taking first place in the 500.

Hockey

Yale wins longest game

Yale won the longest NCAA men’s hockey game – a contest lasting more than six hours in which the Bulldogs beat Union 3-2 in five overtimes in Schenectady, N.Y.

The game ended early Sunday after 141 minutes, 35 seconds when David Meckler scored short-handed. The previous NCAA record was 129:30 on March 8, 1997, with Colorado College defeating Wisconsin 1-0.

Yale and Union took the ice at 7 p.m. Saturday and finished at 1:10 a.m. Sunday. Alec Richards had 57 saves for Yale and Kris Mayotte made 58 saves for Union.

Tennis

Blake defeats Hewitt

James Blake defeated Lleyton Hewitt for the first time in seven tries Sunday, breaking the former world No. 1 four times in the final set to win the Tennis Channel Open 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in Las Vegas.

“It’s not easy to play against him,” Blake said. “I’m just happy to get finally get a win against him. He’s one of the best players of all-time.”