Yagudin, Goebel set for showdown

NAGANO, Japan (AP) -- Russia's Alexei Yagudin and American Tim Goebel will be in the spotlight Monday when the men's qualifying begins at the World Figure Skating Championships.

Yagudin will skate in Monday's early qualifying group at the M-Wave, venue of the speed skating event at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, while Goebel will be in the second group later Monday. Current world champion and Olympic silver medalist Evgeny Plushenko is out with a knee injury.

Japanese organizers were relieved Sunday to hear that Yagudin arrived. He is the only gold medalist from Salt Lake City competing here and contemplated not coming. He pulled out of the NHK Trophy last November in Japan due to injury.

"I've got a bit of jet lag but the ice is good and I'm ready to go," said Yagudin after Sunday's practice. He is coming off one of the most memorable Olympic programs ever at which he got four perfect 6.0s. No other man had ever earned more than one perfect mark at the Games.

"It's a bit tough to come here so close to the Olympics because that was so emotionally draining but I missed the NHK Trophy and felt that I should really be here for my Japanese fans," added Yagudin.

Olympic bronze medalist Goebel, who completed three quads in Salt Lake City, also went through a light skate earlier Sunday. Yagudin said Goebel and Japan's Takeshi Honda will be his main rivals here.

"Takeshi is so good artistically and Tim is strong as well but I try not to think about the other skaters too much," said Yagudin.

Men's qualifying counts for 20 percent of the final score, with the short program on Tuesday worth 30 and the final free program worth the remaining 50 percent.

Honda, who finished fourth in the men's program at Salt Lake City, will join Yagudin in the early qualifying group. Honda, who won the gold at the NHK Trophy, will be under pressure here to get a medal before the home crowd.

Later Monday, the pairs short program gets underway minus Olympic gold medalists Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia and Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

Both pairs have bypassed this event, citing the whirlwind of activities that followed the Salt Lake City judging scandal.

The Russians were initially awarded Olympic gold last month, despite an obvious mistake by Sikharulidze and a clean skate by the Canadians. Then a French judge on the panel admitted having been pressured into voting for the Russians.

The IOC quickly decided to award Sale and Pelletier a second pairs gold, touching off a controversy that has yet to be resolved.

In their absence, Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China will be the favorites. Russians Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, this year's European champions, along with Americans Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, will contend for medals.

In pairs, short program counts for one third of the score, with the remaining free program worth two thirds on Wednesday.

Miller wins slalom title in blinding snowstorm

SODA SPRINGS, Calif. -- The snow was blinding, the course was getting choppy. All in all, the conditions were just right for Bode Miller.

Miller capped his breakthrough season by winning the men's slalom at the U.S. Alpine Championships through thick snow Sunday. He won by a remarkable 2.76 seconds over Erik Schlopy in a race usually decided by hundredths of seconds. Casey Puckett was third.

Sarah Schleper won the women's national slalom title for the second straight year. Caroline Lalive was second and Julia Mancuso was third.

Miller, who won silver medals in the giant slalom and the combined event at the Salt Lake City Olympics, said the deteriorating conditions at the Sugar Bowl ski area worked to his advantage Sunday.

"I'm better through the ruts than almost anyone in the world right now," he said. "You couldn't see well today. It was challenging because it got all chunked up, and one thing I'm good at is dealing with tough course conditions."

Unlike the Olympics, where Miller fell on the second run of the slalom when a third medal was well within his grasp, he made sure to finish the race Sunday.

"I didn't take unnecessary risks today, I wanted to finish," he said, "but I didn't back off."

The national championships, which run through Tuesday, mark the end of the season for Miller and other American skiers. Sunday's title completed a remarkable season for Miller, who had been considered an inconsistent performer whose all-or-nothing style prevented him from becoming a winner.

But he won four World Cup races this season -- three slaloms and one giant slalom -- and was the first U.S. man to make a serious run at the World Cup overall title since the early 1980s.

And at the Olympics he became the first American man with a medal in the giant slalom and in the combined event.

Now he's the veteran of a U.S. team that is regrouping after a tough Olympics -- no woman got an Alpine medal, and Miller was the only male medalist -- and the retirement of Picabo Street.

At 24, he's the oldest person to have won a title so far at the national championships. Marco Sullivan, 21, and Lalive, 22, won super giant slalom titles on Friday. Schleper turned 23 last month.

Schleper said her second straight national slalom title shows she's ready to start winning international races.

"I think I'm not considered an up-and-comer any more. Next year I'll be considered a veteran," she said. "I can't wait to start winning on the World Cup."

Schleper is off now for three weeks of surfing in Costa Rica, a plan that seemed extremely appealing during Sunday's storm.

"I woke up this morning, there was about a foot outside my door and I was thinking I should be freeskiing today instead of running a slalom," she said.

The championships move back to the Squaw Valley ski area, about 30 miles east in Olympic Valley, for giant slalom races on Monday and Tuesday.

Uytdehaage, Friesinger skate to world titles

HEERENVEEN, Netherlands -- Dutchman Jochem Uytdehaage won the 10,000 meters speedskating Sunday to capture the all-around world title and set a record points total.

Anni Friesinger of Germany retained her all-around women's title, tumbling across the finish line for a bronze medal in the final 5,000-meter event. The race was won by compatriot Claudia Pechstein.

Among the Americans, Jennifer Rodriguez finished 11th in the 5,000 and dropped to fourth in the standings. In the men's race, Derek Parra skated to the overall bronze despite seventh place in the 10,000.

Uytdehaage was timed in 13 minutes, 27.25 seconds, and finished with 152,482 points. That's the best performance for four events -- 500, 1,500, 5,000, 10,000 meters -- in a single weekend. The victory caps a season that started with the European all-around title and featured two Olympic golds and a silver at Salt Lake City.

He skated almost mechanical 32-second laps to beat his last remaining challenger, Dimitry Shepel. The Russian won the overall silver after falling back to sixth place in the 10,000.

In the women's race, Pechstein won the 5,000 in 7:1.31. She finished third overall behind Canada's Cindy Klassen, who was timed in 7:04.86 for second in the 5,000 and second overall.

Friesinger, who slid across the ice after an exhausting race, took a big lead into the finale after victories in Saturday's 1,500 and 3,000. Her time of 7:06.64 was enough to clinch the 20th world championship for a German woman in the last 21 years.

The skaters did not threaten the world records set at the Salt Lake City Olympics because of slower ice and higher air pressure.

Double Olympic champ wins ski jump

OSLO, Norway -- Double Olympic ski jump champion Simon Ammann of Switzerland recorded his first World Cup victory of the season Sunday, edging Germany's Sven Hannawald on Holmenkollen's large hill.

Ammann took the first-round lead with 128.5 meters -- the biggest jump of the day -- and then leaped 117 meters in the second round for 260.4 points.

Alan Alborn was the top American in 13th place.

A thick fog made it difficult for fans to see the jumpers, but the poor visibility caused no problem for Ammann.

"It was not a big deal for us," he said. "This was a great experience to win here at Holmenkollen."

Hannawald, winner of the World Ski Flying Championships last week, earned 259.7 points. Adam Malysz of Poland, who captured his second straight World Cup title this week at Trondheim, finished third with 255 points.

In the overall standings, Malysz has 1,475 points and Hannawald 1,259. Finland's Matti Hautamaki, winner of the previous two meets, is third with 1,048. Ammann is seventh with 628.

The season's last event is next week at Planica, Slovenia.

Forsberg closes in on biathlon title

LAHTI, Finland -- Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden neared her sixth straight overall biathlon title by finishing second Sunday in the 10-kilometer pursuit.

Germany's Katrin Apel won the World Cup event for the second victory of her career.

Among the men, Raphael Poiree of France won the 12.5-kilometer pursuit and overtook Pavel Rostovtsev of Russia for first place in the standings. Poiree leads 698 points to 679 points with three events left.

Poiree, who won the sprint Thursday, led throughout. He was followed by Frode Andresen of Norway, Sven Fischer of Germany and Egil Gjelland of Norway.

Poiree won by 15.9 seconds. Andresen had to ski six penalty rounds, three more than the Frenchman. Rostovtsev was ninth, two minutes behind, despite going only one penalty round.

Forsberg's nearest rival, Liv Grete Poiree of Norway, placed sixth. Forsberg needs a seventh in the 7.5K sprint at Holmenkollen, Norway, on Thursday for the overall title, and has two more events if she fails. Forsberg has 824 points to 705 for Poiree.

Apel, a successful relay team member, recorded her first individual victory in the sprint Thursday. Missing five times in shooting, she had to ski 750 meters extra, almost 500 more than Forsberg.

But Apel showed enormous skiing strength, and shook off the Swede in the last ascent to lead by 20 meters.

Another German, Katja Beer, placed third ahead of compatriot Uschi Disl.

Sandrine Bailly of France led after three of four shooting stations with a clean sheet, but dropped to fourth after the last station and finished fifth.

 

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