2012/2013 Winter Sports Thread

[Smallville22]

Nordic Combined - Pittin out again after breaking wrist

Italy's injury-prone Alessandro Pittin faces another spell on the sidelines after sustaining a broken wrist in a training crash in Austria.
The 22-year-old, who had only just recovered from a broken shoulder suffered last year, fell in the outrun after landing on the hill in Ramsau.
After being taken to hospital, scans showed Pittin had broken his ulna and radius close to the wrist and he now faces a four-week absence from the slopes.
Pittin will now target his home World Championship event in Val di Fiemme to make a return to action.
"It really hurts to drive back to the hospital with an athlete who had barely recovered from an injury," head coach Fabian Ebenhoch said.
"But what can we do, we will also get through this now and try to achieve the best possible result for the World Championships. We will see what's still possible there."


Alpine Skiing - Grange returns to slopes in Italy

World Cup champion Jean-Baptiste Grange will return to the slopes at this week's European Cup slalom meeting in Oberregen, Italy.
The Frenchman, who underwent surgery for a second time on his right knee at the end of March, had targeted last weekend's World Cup event in Val d'Isere to make his long-awaited comeback.
But he skipped the race in his home country, saying he did not feel 100 per cent ready.
Instead, he will feature at Pozzo di Fassa in the Dolomites.
His expected return to World Cup action is now scheduled for December 18 at Madonna di Campiglio.
In Grange's continued absence, his team-mate Alexis Pinturault won the slalom in Val d'Isere on Saturday.

 

[Smallville22]

Alpine Skiing - Zrncic-Dim to go under knife

Natko Zrncic-Dim, who suffered a dislocated shoulder in a crash at Beaver Creek, will have surgery to rectify the problem.
The Croatian will go under the knife at a hospital in Croatia after MRI and CT scans revealed the extent of the damage sustained at the World Cup event earlier this month.
The Croatian Ski Federation's medical team consulted with Zrncic-Dim and decided the best option was surgery.
There is no date yet set for the super-combined specialist to return to the slopes.


Cross-Country Skiing - Northug to race Italy's La Sgambeda

Cross-country World Cup leader Petter Northug will race La Sgambeda in Italy this weekend.
The Norwegian three-times Olympic champion will compete at the vent in the north of the country on Sunday.
Over 2,000 participants from 28 nations are expected at the 42-kilometre course which starts in Livigno.
The race is the first of nine which form the FIS Marathon Cup.


Alpine Skiing - Hoefl-Riesch has broken thumb

Maria Hoefl-Riesch has revealed she sustained a broken thumb during the first World Cup slalom race of the season in Levi.
The Olympic gold medallist hit a pole at the North American leg of the World Cup last month but thought nothing of it.
However, the pain and swelling persisted and the German ace decided to undergo scans, which subsequently confirmed a broken left thumb.
Hoefl-Riesch, who lies second in the overall standings behind Tina Maze, announced the news on her Facebook page, adding that the blow is unlikely to keep her out of action at this weekend's event in Val d'Isere.

 

[Smallville22]

Curling European Championships

Mixed bag for Scotland's men in Halstad
Scotland's male team won one and lost one on the fourth day of action at the European Curling Championship in Sweden.
Scotland were easily beaten 7-2 by Switzerland in Halstad before hitting back with a 9-7 victory over France in their second match of the day.
The win was a case of too little too late for the Scots, however, and they stay seventh in the 10-team A group with a record of three wins and four losses.
Scotland's remaining two matches are against hosts and table-toppers Sweden and last-placed Hungary.
In the early match, the team once again started with David Murdoch playing at fourth and skip Tom Brewster at third because of illness.
But it got even worse as Murdoch had to leave the ice at the end of the fifth end after feeling unwell, with Scotland trailing 3-1.
Brewster and co eventually fell to a 7-2 defeat in the ninth end - and Brewster said their trip was going from bad to worse.
"It doesn’t half feel like the curling gods are against us," said Bewster.
"We’ve got one guy being sick and another looking like he's coming down with flu, so it’s a war of attrition. It's horrible. We felt great last night and we felt good this morning.
"We just didn’t take out chances, and we had plenty. David had a tough shot in four but it was there, and that was it.
"The game hinged on that. We stayed on for a few ends because the ice was getting really flat and we just thought we'd see if we could get something."
Sweden continued their imperious form with a sixth straight win in their early match, 8-2 over Russia.
But the hosts lost their perfect record later in the day following a 9-5 defeat to Denmark. Norway took advantage to draw level at the top of the group, both nations now boasting 6-1 records.
The Czech Republic and Denmark are tied for third with 5-2 records, while Russia and Switzerland follow after winning four and losing three of their matches.
Hungary prop up the table as the only team yet to post a victory, with France and Germany just ahead with one win each to their names.

In women's action, there was better luck for Eve Muirhead's team as they put a late defeat to Sweden on Monday night behind them to down both Germany and Denmark.
Defending champion Muirhead lost 9-2 to Sweden but came bouncing back with a 7-3 victory over Germany on Tuesday.
That was followed by a 9-2 success against Denmark, leaving Scotland's women in contention to defend their title.
With two matches remaining - against Russia and Hungary - Scotland sit third in the table with a 5-2 record - the same as Denmark and Switzerland. Russia are on top, along with Sweden, having lost just once each.

England's women won one and lost one in Group B to leave then in sixth place with a 3-5 record at the end of the day.

 

[Smallville22]

Curling European Championships

Scotland's men end with narrow defeat to hosts Sweden
Scotland's men ended their disappointing European Curling Championship campaign with a narrow defeat to hosts Sweden who finish top of the A group.
Scotland, led by skip Tom Brewster, went down 7-6 to end with a 3-5 record in Halstad, seventh in the 10-team table.
The Swedes end with a 7-1 record ahead of Czech Republic, who beat Russia 7-6 on Wednesday, Norway, who lost 6-5 to France, and Denmark, who won 8-6 over Hungary.
All have a 6-2 record.
Switzerland finish in fifth after a 7-5 win over Germany, who are second-bottom.
Russia are sixth and France eighth with Hungary topping up the table.

 

[Smallville22]

Figure Skating - Figure skaters feel love at first sight for Sochi

After getting their first taste of the Olympic figure skating arena in Sochi, American ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White cannot wait to return for the main event in 2014.
The 2011 world champions said they have only positive memories from their trip to the Russian Black Sea resort, situated at the foot of the majestic Caucasus mountains, after winning the Grand Prix Final at the 12,000-seat Iceberg Palace.
"Looking out of my room I have the mountains on the left and the ocean on my right," White told reporters during the test event for the 2014 Winter Games, which concluded here on Sunday.
"It just gives you a sense of grandeur and you want to take that feeling to the ice."
The arena, which will stage the figure skating and short track events in February 2014, was the first to be completed at Sochi's Olympic Park.
"It's a beautiful arena and the atmosphere here is just fantastic," said Davis. "We've been several times in Moscow but this is our first visit to Sochi. Everything feels great."
The Americans beat Olympic champions and long-time training partners Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada in the short and the free dance to establish themselves as early favourites for the gold when the elite skaters take to the ice again at the same arena in less than 14 months from now.

The Canadians were also impressed with the facilities.
"The arena looks great, the ice is fantastic," said Virtue. "And the weather is great too, unlike Moscow or St Petersburg, especially this time of the year."
Moir added: "For us it's a great privilege to be here so early. The venue definitely has an Olympic feeling to it. It reminds me a lot of the arena in Vancouver."
While some were fascinated by the setting of palm trees against the backdrop of snow-covered peaks, two-time world men's champion Patrick Chan was enjoying a morning walk by the sea.
"It has become almost a daily ritual for me. I come early before practice just to get some fresh air," the Canadian figure skater said.
"At this time the place is virtually deserted. It's so quiet there you could almost here your heartbeat."

Problems remain, however, mainly in getting around the venues, with the city and the surrounding area still resembling a huge construction site.
Traffic on Sochi's limited motorways is bad at the best of times but it comes to a virtual standstill when Russian President Vladimir Putin, a frequent visitor to the resort, is in town.
Putin acknowledged the problem when he met the International Olympic Committee members during his visit to the Iceberg arena on Saturday.
"It's true the number of vehicles on our roads is increasing each year because more families can afford to buy more than one car," Putin said.
"We don't want to have less cars, we want to have better motorways. We're working on this problem, and I think, we will solve it in time for the Olympics or even before that."
Traffic jams and huge delays were blamed for thousands of empty seats during the first two days of the competition despite the assurances from the Olympic hosts that the arena was sold out a long time ago.
President of the International Skating Union (ISU) Ottavio Cinquanta was concerned with the lack of spectators.
"The first question I put to the president of the Sochi 2014 organising committee (Dmitry Chernyshenko) when I arrived here was about the spectators," the Italian told reporters.
"Are we having a full arena? And I was told the arena is sold out. Obviously, this is a problem but that's why we have these test events to find out what we need to do beforehand. I'm sure all the venues will be full for the Olympic Games."

Despite some shortcomings, Davis and White remained upbeat.
"We're seasoned competitors and we've been around many places, so if we're stuck in traffic or the food is not that great - these things don't bother us," White told Reuters.
"It doesn't take our focus away from our main goal, which is to skate well. The rest is academic."

 

[Smallville22]

Curling European Championships

Scotland's women guarantee tie-breaker
Eve Muirhead insists she will battle until the very end after squeezing past Hungary at the European Curling Championships in Sweden.
After Hungary had opened up with the hammer and put a point on the board Scotland's women came roaring straight back and took a 3-1 lead in the second end.
However the Hungarians weren't about to lie down and levelled the match before Muirhead gave Scotland a 5-3 lead at half-time.
The Hungarians levelled again but Muirhead didn't panic, leading Scotland to an 8-5 victory in the tenth end.
Victory guarantees Scotland's women at least a tie-breaker but if they beat Russia on Thursday then they will automatically go into the Page 1-2 game, and that is all Muirhead is focussing on right now.
"Give them their dues, we didn't play badly but they played great out there," she said.
"Yes the scoreline was close, but we were in control for the whole game and there wasn’t much to worry about.
"We didn’t break away but we didn't need to – we were in control throughout.
"We've got a big game tomorrow, that's going to determine a lot. In these Championships you’ve just got to keep it going."

Meanwhile, in Group B, England's women ended their Swedish adventure with a 9-4 loss to Norway to finish the competition second from bottom.

 

[Smallville22]

Alpine Skiing - Svindal paces opening training run in Val Gardena

World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal paced the opening training run ahead of this week's races in Val Gardena.
The Norwegian, who already has two wins this season under his belt - both in Lake Louise - clocked 1:58.73 down the slopes at the Italian resort.
Svindal tweeted after the race: “Looking promising! Never been this fast in downhill training in Val Gardena ITA before. I like it!!”
Svindal was just quick enough to top the timesheets ahead of his nearest rivals on the day Erik Guay of Canada and Klaus Kroell of Austria.
“It’s fun to ski this year, the snow is quite aggressive and in the Ciaslat it’s intense," Guay said. "I landed a jump on the flat and that was never fun but altogether I had a good run and am looking forward to seeing how much faster we can go in the race.”
Werner Heel took advantage of the bitter cold which made the course quicker as the day went on, and the Italian ended in fourth place, having been fastest after two-thirds of the course skied.
Snow has been forecast to arrive on Friday night and into Saturday at Val Gardena, meaning the order of events may be reversed, with the downhill coming forward to Friday and the super-G postponed until Saturday.

Top 10 results:

1 SVINDAL Aksel Lund NOR 1:58.73

2 GUAY Erik CAN 1:58.77

3 KROELL Klaus AUT 1:58.83

4 HEEL Werner ITA 1:58.95

5 NYMAN Steven USA 1:59.28

6 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan SUI 1:59.37

7 BOUILLOT Alexandre FRA 1:59.48

8 STRIEDINGER Otmar AUT 1:59.51

9 REICHELT Hannes AUT 1:59.57

10 VARETTONI Silvano ITA 1:59.69


Fenninger quickest in Val d'Isere practice

Austria's Anna Fenninger went fastest in the first training run ahead of the women's World Cup race weekend at Val d'Isere.
Fenninger clocked a time of 1:49.54 to edge out Julia Mancuso at the top of the timesheets. The American posted a time of 1:49.57.
Spain's Carolina Ruiz Castillo was third after a 1:49.96, ahead of Slovenia's Tina Maze, who won the giant slalom at Saint Moritz in Switzerland to take the overall lead of the World Cup standings.
American Lindsey Vonn, who already has four race wins to her name this season - a treble at Lake Louise and the super-G at Saint Moritz - finished more than a second off the pace.

Top 10 times:

1 FENNINGER Anna AUT 1:49.54

2 MANCUSO Julia USA 1:49.57

3 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina SPA 1:49.96

4 MAZE Tina SLO 1:50.08

5 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria GER 1:50.17

6 COOK Stacey USA 1:50.29

7 STUHEC Ilka SLO 1:50.45

8 SMITH Leanne USA 1:50.49

9 STERZ Regina AUT 1:50.67

10 MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie FRA 1:50.69

 

[Smallville22]

Curling European Championships

Muirhead leads Scotland into top European play-off
Scottish skip Eve Muirhead is timing the defence of her European Curling Championship crown to perfection after booking her rink a place in the page one-two play-off in Sweden.
Muirhead, alongside Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Claire Hamilton, narrowly defeated Russian skip Anna Sidorova 6-5 in their last round robin game to leapfrog them into second overall.
Leading 2-0 after the first end, Muirhead found herself 4-2 down by the third as Russia scored three then one in the next two ends before the Scot responded with two of her own in the fourth.
They added another in the sixth to take a 5-4 lead and, with Russia pulling level in the eighth, Muirhead’s rink scored the decisive winning point in the tenth and final end in Karlstad.
That represented Muirhead's fourth successive win at the championships and, third going into the final round of fixtures, helped her rink finish second overall behind hosts Sweden.
Muirhead will have the momentum going into the page one-two play-off with Swedish skip Margaretha Sigfridsson as her rink lost their final round robin game 7-5 to Linda Klimova's Czech Republic.
And Muirhead, who led the exact same Scottish rink of Sloan, Adams and Hamilton to the European title in Moscow last year, agrees that they are hitting form at the just the right time in Sweden.
"We came out sharp. We got the hammer and we took our two in the first end. Their three came out of nowhere, she played two perfect shots and got three on the measure," said Muirhead.
"But we did not let that faze us, it was not the end of the game so we got our two back and forced when we had to force, and got the ideal situation at the end.
"We controlled that. I think even just our body language showed that we wanted it more. All in all, it was a solid performance by all of us.
"Our goal was to get into the one-two game, which we've done. The girls are playing great and leaving me simple shots, which I like."
Meanwhile Russian skip Sidorova will face the winner of a tie-breaker between Denmark's Lene Nielsen and Switzerland's Mirjam Ott in the page three-four play-off.
Ranked joint-fourth ahead of the final fixtures, Ott's 10-5 victory over German Andrea Schoepp and Nielsen's 9-1 win over Finland's Anne Malmi forced a decider between the two in Karlstad.
And in the final round robin fixture Italian Diana Gaspari claimed her fourth win of the championships with a 10-5 victory over Ildiko Szekeres of Hungary.

In the men's competition, Tom Brewster guaranteed Scotland a place at next year's World Curling Championships with victory in their last game at the Europeans, but there was no hiding his overall disappointment.
Out of contention for the page play-offs before their final fixture against Hungary having lost five and won only three, skip Brewster ensured Scotland beat Hungary 6-5 in Karlstad.
Brewster put Scotland into a 3-1 lead when he hit for two points in the fourth end and, despite single steals for Hungary in both the ninth and tenth, the contest was to finish 6-5.
With the top eight at the Europeans qualifying for the worlds in Canada in the spring, the win ensured Scotland seventh but Brewster admitted he expected far more in Sweden than that.
"Qualification? That's great, but ultimately we did not come here just to do that, we came here to win medals and we're disappointed we're not in the play-offs," said Brewster.
Meanwhile as the round robin of the men's competition came to a close Sweden's Niklas Edin defeated defending champions Norway and Thomas Ulsrud 7-6 in a tight contest to top the rankings.
Edin's rink will now face Jiri Snitil in the page one-two play-off, the Czech Republic skip seeing off Denmark's Rasmus Stjerne 7-6 to guarantee second in the table in Karlstad.
Stjerne will play Norway's Ulsrud in the page three-four play-off while elsewhere in what was a relegation decider to Division B between France and Germany, the former succeeded 12-9.
And in the remaining fixture Switzerland, who were still in the medal hunt when they entered the ice in Sweden, lost 8-6 to Russia and skip Andrey Drozdov.

 

[Smallville22]

Alpine Skiing - Jansrud leads Svindal in second Val Gardena practice

World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal was second to fellow Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud in second training for this week's races in Val Gardena.
Svindal was 0.07 seconds slower than Jansrud, whose time of 1:58.45 was also almost three-tenths of a second quicker than Svindal's leading effort in first training.
Austrian Klaus Kroell was third fastest, four-tenths back from Svindal.
"A good day for the two racers from team Norway @Val di Gardena," Svinal, who already has two wins this season under his belt - both in Lake Louise - tweeted.
Snow has been forecast to arrive on Friday night and into Saturday at Val Gardena, meaning the order of events may be reversed, with the downhill coming forward to Friday and the super-G postponed until Saturday.

Results:

1 JANSRUD Kjetil NOR 1:58.45

2 SVINDAL Aksel Lund NOR 1:58.52

3 KROELL Klaus AUT 1:58.90

4 GUAY Erik CAN 1:58.91

5 PARIS Dominik ITA 1:59.29

6 THEAUX Adrien FRA 1:59.30

7 HEEL Werner ITA 1:59.32

8 KLOTZ Siegmar ITA 1:59.37

9 SULLIVAN Marco USA 1:59.39

10 CLAREY Johan FRA 1:59.62


Alpine Skiing - Marchand-Arvier fastest in second Val d'Isere training run

Marie Marchand-Arvier topped the second training run for the women's World Cup race weekend at Val d'Isere by just 0.01s from Tina Weirather.
Frenchwoman Marchand-Arvier, who was 10th in the first run on Wednesday, clocked a time of 1:51.45 to lead the way from Liechtensteiner Weirather.
German Maria Hofl-Riesch was third ahead of Slovenia's Ilka Stuhec.
American Lindsey Vonn, who already has four race wins to her name this season - a treble at Lake Louise and the super-G at Saint Moritz - was dead last in 48th, seven seconds off the pace, after an uncharacteristic error at Meadows.

Results

1 MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie FRA 1:51.45

2 WEIRATHER Tina LIE 1:51.46

3 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria GER 1:51.62

4 STUHEC Ilka SLO 1:51.78

4 STERZ Regina AUT 1:51.78

6 FANCHINI Elena ITA 1:51.86

7 MAZE Tina SLO 1:51.88

8 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina SPA 1:51.91

9 MERIGHETTI Daniela ITA 1:51.97

10 FENNINGER Anna AUT 1:52.26

 

[Smallville22]

Ski Cross World Cup

Perfect Smith wins in Telluride
Switzerland's Fanny Smith maintained her unbeaten start to the ladies' ski cross World Cup season after winning every race on the way to victory at round two in Telluride.
Qualifying in third the day before, Smith won her quarter-final and semi-final in America and was then not to be denied by Ophelie David, Anna Holmlund or Kelsey Serwa in the final.
Smith brushed all three to one side to make it two from two this season having won the opening round ahead of France's former world champion David in Nakiska in Canada earlier this month.
David again had to make do with second while Sweden's Holmlund edged out Serwa of Canada for third while Brits Emily Sarsfield and Pamela Thorburn did not even make it to the knockout stages.
With the top three the same in both races this season, Smith leads the ladies' ski cross World Cup standings with 200 points, 40 ahead of David who is in turn 40 ahead of Holmlund.

However the men's race did provide a different winner from the opening round as Slovenia's Filip Flisar edged out Brady Leman, Armin Niederer and Jean Frederic Chapuis for victory.
Switzerland's Niederer, who won the opening round in Nakiska, had to make do with third behind Brady but does lead the overall ski-cross World Cup standings with 160 points.
Teammate Alex Fiva, second in the opening round but sixth this time around, lies joint second with Leman on 120 with Flisar going straight in at fourth with 100 courtesy of his win.

 

[Smallville22]

Biathlon World Cup

Fak makes it two World Cup wins from two
Jakov Fak delighted a partisan Slovenian home crowd to win the first race of the third biathlon World Cup in Pokljuka and just the second of his career in a row.

After a barren opening World Cup round in Ostersund, Fak first finished third in the sprint at round two in Hochfilzen before taking his first ever victory in the pursuit.
And Fak made it two wins in two races on home snow in Pokljuka, taking victory in the 10km sprint by less than a second.
Fak, who won Olympic bronze in the 10km sprint in Vancouver in 2010, shot clear in the range to clock what was to be a winning time of 24 minutes 41.7 seconds.
Double Olympic champion Emil Hegle Svendsen missed one target in the range and it perhaps proved costly as he finished just behind Fak in second in 24:42.5.
World Cup champion Martin Fourcade appeared at one stage to be denying Fak victory after also hitting all ten targets and leading after the second shoot.
However he did not have the sprint in him to overthrow Svendsen in second let alone leader Fak as he finished third well behind both in 24:47.8.

 

[Smallville22]

Cross-Country Skiing World Cup

Kowalczyk ends drought, Tscharnke's birthday honours

Justyna Kowalczyk finally got her cross-country skiing World Cup season up and running by taking victory for the first time this campaign at the opening event of three in Canmore.
The 29-year-old three-time World Cup champion powered around the Alberta course and was effectively guaranteed the win in the 10km classic mass start with over 1500m to go.
With World Cup leader Marit Bjoergen absent in order to concentrate on the upcoming Tour de Ski, Kowalczyk stretched the field in the second of three laps, giving herself a sizeable lead going into the final loop.
Kowalczyk, who finished second in the Ruka Triple, recorded a time of 28:58.4minutes to claim her first World Cup win since her 10km classic victory on home soil in Szklarska Poreba back in February.
Anne Kylloenen could not match the Polish skier's pace but did do enough to take second 14.4 seconds behind while Maiken Caspersen Falla took third ahead of four fast-finishing others.
Norwegian Falla had the quickest sprint at the death to deny Vibeke Skofterud, Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg, Kikkan Randall and Kristin Stoermer Steira in that order ending 28.2 behind Kowalczyk.
The win was the 22nd of Kowalczyk's World Cup career and, with the sprint and skiathlon still to come in Canmore, she could yet be topping the podium once again.
"It was a great race. My skis were working perfectly and I like this track," she said. "I don't know what is going to happen in the next races but I will be trying my hardest."


In the men's race Tim Tscharnke timed his break to perfection to claim his first-ever cross-country skiing World Cup victory in the men's 15km classic mass start on his 23rd birthday in Canada.
There was little to separate the front-runners for much of the race in Canmore before birthday boy Tscharnke made his move with 1000m to go for a historic victory.
Tscharnke, who claimed Olympic team sprint silver at Vancouver 2010, had never claimed an individual podium finish let alone a win but that all ended following the final climb.
The German quickly built up a healthy lead that was not to be beaten as he recorded a winning time of 41:14.8minutes in the first of three events for both the men and women Canmore.
Tscharnke was one of three Germans in the top six with Norway's Sjur Roethe finishing second 4.8 seconds behind for second with Tobias Angerer was a further second back for third.
Russian Evgeniy Belov was fourth and Italian Giorgio Di Centa fifth before the third German, Hannes Dotzler, rounded off the top six, 9.3 overall behind Tscharnke.

 

[Smallville22]

Alpine Skiing - Vonn admits to battle with depression

Four-times World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn has admitted she has struggled with depression for many years.
The most successful female American skier in history told People magazine she is currently taking anti-depression pills to combat the illness.
"Everything about my life seemed so perfect to people. But I struggle like everyone else," Vonn said.
She added that at one point in 2008, she struggled to even get out of bed in the mornings.
"I felt hopeless, empty, like a zombie," she said.
Vonn filed for divorce from her husband Thomas Vonn - also her manager and coach - late last year and the 28-year-old claims the split has helped her outlook on life.
"I feel like I just needed to get everything off my chest," she said."All the parts of my life are finally in sync. I accept who I am, and I'm moving forward."
Vonn, who is currently third in the overall World Cup standings, has missed action this season after being hospitalised with a stomach complaint, although her agent said that problem was unrelated to her depression.
Vonn has won her last four speed races this season and will seek to extend that record at Val d'Isere this weekend.

 

[Smallville22]

Skeleton - Yarnold wants World Cup leader's jersey

Lizzy Yarnold has revealed her growing desire to lead the skeleton World Cup this season as she heads to round five, and the halfway stage, in La Plagne ranked second overall.
Yarnold, who is making her full debut on the World Cup circuit this season, has been a picture of consistency so far with a three top-four finishes from her last three races.
After a ninth at the season opener in Lake Placid, Yarnold has finished second in Park City, third in Whistler and fourth in Winterberg last time out to jump up to second overall.
With La Plagne marking the halfway stage of the nine-round season, the 24-year-old is well placed for a tilt at the overall title sitting just seven points behind leader Marion Thees.
And, while determined not to look too far ahead, Yarnold is letting her mind wander to what it would feel like to lead the World Cup standings despite the length of the stay.
"People keep telling me [the overall positions]," said Yarnold. "They are more aware than I am. We're only halfway through the season and you see lots of people drop down.
"So it's not worth getting carried away at the moment but obviously it's great to be second in the world. It's really, really great.
"But I can't think about it for too long. What I would say is it would be exciting to be first in the world at some point.
"You get to wear a yellow vest and you can keep it. To be the world leader would be amazing."
Yarnold watched on as last year's overall World Cup winner and British teammate Shelley Rudman claimed victory by almost a second last time out in Winterberg.
In a sport where hundredths of a second constantly separate the podium positions, Rudman's winning margin of 0.99seconds was an anomaly to say the least.
And, despite finishing on the podium twice this season but not yet claiming a win, Yarnold insists producing two gold-medal runs is not about to become an obsession.
"You always want to win races and sometimes it's frustrating when you don't. But it's not the be all and end all," she added.
"You can't win every single round. Every track is different and they can be different from the start to the end of the season.
"You only have six runs to learn the track and I'm still such a rookie. I'm really chuffed with how it's going."

 

[Smallville22]

Snowboard Cross World Cup

Wescott claims victory in Telluride
Two-times Olympic snowboardcross champion Seth Wescott claimed a dramatic third career World Cup victory in Telluride to become the second oldest winner in the history of the competition.
Wescott, who won the Olympic title at Turin 2006 before retaining it at Vancouver 2010, won the second World Cup of the season after a photo finish with Australian Alex Pullin.
That marked former world champion from 2005 Wescott’s first World Cup victory since Arosa in March 2011 and came almost four years after his maiden win at the same venue.
At 36 years and five months, the American became the second oldest winner of a World Cup snowboardcross race behind Austrian Olympic bronze medallist from 2006 Siegfried Grabner.
And making Wescott’s performance in Telluride all the more impressive is that he was 35th at the World Cup opener in Montafon at the start of the month while he was 40th in his last race before that.
Meanwhile Canadian Christopher Robanske took third ahead of Norwegian Stian Sivertzen and eighth for Omar Visintin, who won the World Cup opener, was enough for him to maintain his overall lead.
Visintin has 1320points to his name while Pullin sits narrowly behind in second with 1300 with Markus Schairer, sixth in Telluride, third with 1200 and then Wescott fourth with 1020.

Meanwhile in the women’s race Winter X Games champion Dominique Maltais made it two World Cup wins from two in Telluride for the ninth victory of her career.
Reigning snowboardcross World Cup champion Maltais led home a Canadian one-two with Maelle Ricker taking second place ahead of Bulgaria’s Alexandra Jekova while Switzerland’s Simona Meiler was fourth.
Maltais extended her lead in the overall rankings to 1000points courtesy of the win while Ricker, the runner-up in last year’s World Cup and 13th at the season opener in Montafon, is now second.

 

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Biathlon World Cup

Soukalova secures maiden win in Poklijuka
Czech Republic's Gabriela Soukalova was left toasting a first-ever biathlon World Cup win as she stormed to victory in Poklijuka, Slovenia.
It was Soukalova's dead-eye with the rifle that propelled her to a maiden victory, perfect at the range to pip German Miriam Gossner to the women’s 7.5km sprint win.
And the good times will continue to roll for Soukalova as courtesy of her victory she has the honour of leading out Saturday's 10km pursuit for the first time in her career, with the start list based on the sprint result.
In truth it always looked like a being a two-horse race between Soukalova and Gossner, with third-place Nadezhda Skardino of Belarus more than half a minute behind.
And it was Soukalova who took the win, crossing in 22:09.8 minutes, with Gossner just 2.1 seconds further back.

 

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Ski Jumping World Cup

Takanashi back to winning ways in Ramsau
Japanese ski jumper Sara Takanashi improved from fourth to first in Ramsau to claim her first World Cup victory since the season opener and maintain her overall lead.

Takanashi got the new season off to the perfect start in Lillehammer last month denying defending and inaugural World Cup champion Sarah Hendrickson to win the opening event.
Hendrickson exacted revenge next time out in Sochi pushing Takanashi into second before Daniela Iraschko and Coline Mattel shared victory in the third event of the year.
Takanashi was third on that occasion, both events acting as the Olympic test event in Russia, and, with the circuit moving to Austria, she roared back to deny Mattel the win.
Mattel led after round one with a leap of 86.5m producing a total of 116.2 ahead of Maja Vtic and Jessica Jerome with Takanashi in fourth on 114 despite also recording a distance of 86.5m.
However Mattel's margin was not enough to guarantee her victory in round two as Takanashi produced an excellent jump of 91.5m to move into first with an overall total of 241 points.
Takanashi stayed in the lead ahead of Mattel going last courtesy of her first-round effort but her jump of 93m was marked down by the judges and she ended with a total of 238.6.
Equally as impressive as Takanashi was Austrian Iraschko, who ninth after the first round, produced the biggest leap of the second round, 94m, to take third with 235.5 overall.
The win sees Takanashi's overall points total in the World Cup rankings increase to 340 with Mattel second with 266, defending champion Hendrickson third with 252 and Iraschko fourth with 250.

 

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Bobsleigh World Cup

Humphries takes seventh win in a row in La Plagne
Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries was in seventh heaven at the bobsleigh World Cup in La Plagne, maintaining her unbeaten start to the season and picking up her seventh successive win.

The 27-year-old began the new World Cup season having won the last two rounds of the previous campaign to place fifth overall as Cathleen Martini took the title for the first time ever.
That ensured yet another German winner, Martini keeping alive a run spanning 11 seasons, however Humphries is well on her way to ending that dominance after five rounds of this campaign.
Humphries, who won Olympic gold at Vancouver 2010, took her fifth successive victory as the World Cup circuit moved to La Plagne, predictably leading after the first run and then holding on to it.
That also meant Humphries' sled became the first to win seven in a row on the World Cup circuit since the American No.1 sled won nine straight between 1999 and 2001.
The Canadian posted 1:01.55minutes from her first run for a lead of 0.20seconds over America's No.2 sled driven by Jamie Greubel while teammate Elana Meyers was 0.04 further back in third.
However instead of chipping away at Humphries' lead it was extended to 0.27, despite the 27-year-old and her brakewoman Chelsea Valois recording a slower time of 1:01.75.
Greubel posted 1:01.82 to remain second and beat Meyers by 0.24 although her fellow American comfortably wrapped up third ahead of eight-time overall World Cup winner Sandra Kiriasis.

 

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Skeleton World Cup

Dukurs wins second straight World Cup race
Martins Dukurs claimed his second successive skeleton World Cup victory and fourth from five races this season as the series reached the halfway stage at La Plagne.

Winner of the opening two races in Lake Placid and Park City, Dukurs was edged out by Frank Rommel in Whistler but that proved to be just a blip as he bounced back with victory in Winterberg.
And it was the same story again at the fifth World Cup round of nine in France with Dukurs leading by 0.28seconds after the first run and almost doubling his margin after the second to win by 0.54.
Dukurs' winning time was 2:02.00minutes dead although Russia's Alexander Tretiakov is doing his best to try and deny the Latvian a fourth successive overall World Cup title this year.
Second in the overall rankings prior to racing, Tretiakov, the last person to win the World Cup title before Dukurs in 2009, took second for the second successive time.
He was 0.38 ahead of Dukurs' older brother Tomass who beat off competition from Tretiakov's Russian teammate Sergei Chudinov by half a second to finish third.
Germany's Alexander Kroeckel was fifth 0.14 behind Chudinov while, once again, Kristan Bromley, the overall World Cup winner in 2008, was the best Brit in the field as he placed sixth.
That marked the third time this season that Bromley, 0.19 further back, has finished sixth with British teammates Ed Smith 14th and Dominic Parsons 17th in La Plagne.

 

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Curling European Championships

Muirhead storms into European final in Karlstad
Eve Muirhead has vowed not to settle for anything less than gold at the European Curling Championships after comprehensively downing the hosts Sweden to reach the final in Karlstad.
The 22-year-old skip marched Scotland into the page one-two play-off with four wins from their last four round-robin games and that good form continued against Sweden's Margaretha Sigfridsson.
Comfortably beaten by Sigfridsson 9-2 in the round-robin stage, Muirhead gave the Swede's a taste of their own medicine as they ran out 9-3 victors to advance straight to the final, where they will meet Russia.
Sigfriddson's rink took the lead in the second end before Muirhead, alongside Vicki Adams, Anna Sloan and Claire Hamilton, finally made the breakthrough in the fifth to lead 3-2.
Sweden responded with a single in the sixth however there was to be no denying Muirhead who made a hit for four in the eighth and then took a steal of two in the ninth for victory.
And Muirhead, who beat Sigfridsson 8-2 in last year's European final in Moscow, is now gunning for a second successive title.
"I love these big games, we've trained so hard all season and this shows all our hard work is beginning to pay off. I don't really mind who we play in the final," said Muirhead.
"Our first goal was to get to the page one-two, and the next was to get to the final.
"Now I don't want anything else except that gold medal. We knew we were going to have to come out sharper than in the round-robin game.
"So I think that coming out and winning like that will play on their minds. Hopefully we will bring the same game to the final."
Sweden and Sigfridsson were upset by Anna Sidorova, the Russian and her team claiming an 8-6 win to reach the championship match.
Earlier Russia posted a 7-6 victory over Denmark and Lene Nielsen in the page three-four play-off.
Nielsen put Denmark 3-1 ahead in the third end only for Russia to fight back and make it 5-5 in the sixth courtesy of a nice draw by skip Sidorova.
Russia scored two to Denmark's one over the final four ends to win 7-6 with Nielsen set to battle for bronze with Sigfridsson.



The men's semi-final also took place at the same time as the women's matches in Karlstad with Norway's Thomas Ulsrud keeping the defence of his title alive.
Ulsrud's rink beat the Czech Republic 6-4 to book an all-Scandinavian final with home favourites Sweden and Niklas Edin while Jiri Snitil will play Rasmus Stjerne and Denmark for bronze.
Czech Republic win European bronze
Czech Republic skip Jiri Snitil tried to hold back the tears after leading his rink to bronze at the expense of Denmark at the European Curling Championships in Karlstad.
Snitil was placed second after the round-robin stage but saw his bid for a medal dented twice in quick succession as he lost the page one-two play-off to Sweden and then the semi-final to Norway.
That saw Snitil go from potential gold medallist to one last-gasp match for bronze against Denmark's Rasmus Stjerne, who lost the page three-four play-off to Norwegian Thomas Ulsrud.
However the Czech Republic skip was nOt daunted by the situation and kept his cool to give his rink a 6-2 lead at the half-time break with a hit for three points in the fifth.
Stjerne responded with a hit for two in the next end only for Snitil to stretch the lead again after drawing for three in the seventh before Denmark conceded in the eighth with the score at 12-4.
Bronze marked the Czech Republic's first medal at a major international curling event and an emotional Snitil struggled to hide his emotion at what he achieved in Karlstad.
"Unbelievable, I'm almost crying, I'm so happy. It was a tight game. I think we figured out the sheet of ice better than the Danish, which I think decided the game," said Snitil.
"This is the first medal for Czech Republic men or women, the first big one. It is very satisfying for Czech curling. We have been working hard; we have a good junior programme.
"We have a newish club, so everyone has been working hard to achieve results. This is a good day for the association, a big day."