More Victories for Austrian Skiers

A big weekend for Austrian women skiers was capped Sunday when Elfi Eder won the slalom and teammate Anita Wachter claimed the combined, giving their team three World Cup victories in two days at St. Anton, Austria.

Eder, an Olympic silver medalist, completed the two runs with a combined time of 1 minute 40.95 seconds.

Urska Hrovat of Slovenia finished second in 1:41.80 and countrywoman Katja Koren third in 1:42.39.

Second in the overall was Ingeborg Helen Marken of Norway, at 3:24.26. Germany’s Hilde Gerg was third at 3:24.43.

American Picabo Street finished sixth among the nine combined skiers to complete the slalom. She placed fifth overall, with a total time of 3:25.05.

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Austrian Hans Knaus gained his first World Cup victory, winning at Alta Badia, Italy. Knausbeat race favorites Michael Von Gruenigen and Alberto Tomba in the giant slalom. Von Gruenigen, a Swiss giant slalom specialist who had won the three previous giant slalom races, finished second with a gap of .69 seconds.

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Bjorn Daehlie continued his dominance of World Cup cross-country skiing at Santa Caterina, Italy, capturing a 15-kilometer combined event that moved the Norwegian within one victory of tying the career record.

Daehlie completed the course in 1 hour 1 minute 25.2 seconds. Only runner-up Jari Isometsae of Finland, 53.7 seconds behind, finished within a minute of Daehlie, who has won five of six races this season.

Daehlie can equal Gunde Svan’s record of 30 career World Cup cross-country wins when the season resumes Jan. 9 in Slovakia.

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Hiroya Saitoh of Japan edged Ari-Pekka Nikkola of Finland to win a World Cup ski jumping competition at Chamonix, France. Saitoh had a total of 233 points for two jumps over the 70-meter hill. Nikkola, who won Saturday’s large hill contest, had 224.5.

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Norway’s Knut Tore Apeland used a strong cross-country performance to win the fifth World Cup Nordic combined title of his career. Apeland, who finished ninth in Saturday’s ski jump, finished fourth in cross country to win the combined title at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Japan’s Kenji Ogiwara was second, 30.2 seconds behind Apeland. Bard Joergen Elden of Norway won the cross country in 38 minutes 34.6 seconds. Germany’s Jens Deimel won the 90-meter ski jump.

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Defending champion Russia beat the Czech Republic, 6-2, in the Izvestia Cup hockey tournament at Moscow. Canada beat Finland, 3-1, in the first game, remaining unbeaten along with Russia and Sweden after the second day of the five-day round-robin event.

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Germany’s Jens Mueller, the 1988 Olympic luge champion, set a track record and stopped the winning streak of Austrian Markus Prock in a World Cup race at Winterberg, Germany.

Miscellany

Golfer Fred Couples won the first Johnnie Walker World Championship in 1991, and he may have won the last when he birdied the second extra hole to beat Loren Roberts and Vijay Singh in a three-way playoff at Montego Bay, Jamaica. Couples is the first dual winner of the event, which will not be held next year unless a new sponsor replaces departing Johnnie Walker.

University of Arizona swimmer Chad Carvin, considered one of the top middle distance freestylers in the United States, has been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy--a weakness of the heart muscle--and has left the team.