In brief: Miller ends good weekend in second
Georg Streitberger of Austria held off overall leader Bode Miller to win the men’s super-G for his first World Cup victory Sunday at Kvitfjell, Norway, edging the American by 0.20 seconds.
Streitberger went down the 2,574-meter Olympic course in 1 minute, 26.68 seconds.
“It was a good run for me,” said Streitberger, who was only 21st in the super-G standings going into the race. “My skis were very good. The speed was OK from the top to the finish.”
Miller’s result matched his previous best in the super-G this season.
“The super-G has been tough for me this year,” he said. “I’ve made big mistakes, I’ve been changing skis a lot.”
Miller increased his lead in the overall standings ahead of Didier Cuche of Switzerland, who finished in third place 0.32 seconds behind Streitberger.
Miller now has 1,363 points. Cuche is 185 points behind.
“At Zwiesel, Germany, Lindsey Vonn got a boost in her bid for the overall World Cup title with the cancellation of the women’s slalom due to heavy winds.
“In the end it plays out better for me, but I always want everyone to have an equal opportunity,” said Vonn, who has managed only 22 points in six slalom races this season.
The American leads Nicole Hosp of Austria by 54 points in the overall standings, 1,103 to 1,049.
Dog sled racing
Mushers begin long trek to Nome
The 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has begun with musher Cim Smyth of Big Lake leaving the restart in Willow, Alaska.
The restart got off as scheduled at 2 p.m. Sunday with teams leaving the chute every couple of minutes.
Jessie Royer of Fairbanks and Jim Lanier of Chugiak were the second and third mushers out of the chute. Defending champion Lance Mackey of Fairbanks was fifth in line.
This year’s record field of 96 mushers includes six past champions.
Miscellany
Former USC men’s tennis coach dies at 91
George Toley, the former tennis coach who led Southern California to 10 NCAA team titles and directed Mexico in the Davis Cup, has died. He was 91.
Toley died Saturday in Pasadena, Calif., the university said Sunday. A USC spokesman did not immediately return a phone message Sunday seeking details on Toley’s cause of death.
“At Memphis, Tenn., Steve Darcis of Belgium won his second ATP title, defeating Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the final at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships.
Darcis will jump from No. 81 in the rankings to a career-best No. 45. Soderling will rise to No. 39.
“At Los Angeles, Russia’s Tatiana Aryasova has won the Los Angeles Marathon after getting a head start on the male runners.
Aryasova was making her marathon debut and held off a group of Kenyan men. The battle-of-the-sexes format gave the top women runners a head start of nearly 20 minutes on the men.