Newswire : Swiss Skiers Dominate Dowhhill Events at World Championships

Pirmin Zurbriggen and Michela Figini led Switzerland to 1-2 finishes in the men’s and women’s downhills at the World Alpine Ski Championships Sunday, while American Doug Lewis scored a surprising third in the men’s race at Bormio, Italy.

Zurbriggen, making a remarkable comeback only 20 days after a knee operation, took the men’s downhill in 2 minutes 6.68 seconds.

His teammate, veteran Peter Mueller, clocked 2:06.79 to win the silver medal, edging Lewis, who won the bronze in 2:06.82.

Figini, 18-year-old Olympic downhill champion, clocked 1:26.96. Her teammate, Ariane Ehrat, and Katrin Gutesohn of Austria shared the silver medal with times of 1:28.57.

Zurbriggen has won four World Cup events this season and is second in the overall standings, behind Marc Girardelli, an Austrian skiing for Luxembourg. Girardelli has 215 points and Zurbriggen 179.

Figini won seven World Cup events in January and is the leader with 221 points. Oertli is second with 166.

Said Lewis, 21, of Salisbury, Vt., after his best finish ever: “I skied for fun and I never expected a medal. I wasn’t aware that I was going so fast. I woke up this morning and there was sunshine, so I thought there would be soft snow on the track. But the wind had iced the course and I like hard tracks.”

Olympic champion Bill Johnson of Malibu, who clocked the second fastest time in final practice Saturday on soft snow, finished 14th in 2:09.01.

Mike Brown of Vail, Colo., was 18th in 2:09.65 and Alan Lauba of Bellevue, Wash., placed 29th in 2:12.14.

The top American finisher among the women was Holly Flanders of Deerfield, N.H., 20th in 1:30.58. Debbie Armstrong of Seattle, the Olympic champion in the giant slalom, was 23rd in 1:30.87. Cindy Nelson of Reno placed 25th in 1:31.95 and Cindy Oak of Orchard Park, N.Y., was 29th in 1:32.31.

Mark Gastineau of the New York Jets won the 1985 Superstars title and a $30,700 purse by edging Karch Kiraly, captain of the gold medal-winning U.S. men’s Olympic volleyball team, at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Willie Gault, wide receiver for the Chicago Bears, finished third. Gault broke the record of 9.57 in the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.42.

Tank’s Prospect, one of the West’s leading hopes for the 1985 Kentucky Derby, survived a claim of foul to win the $250,000 El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows.

Ridden by Jorge Velasquez, Tank’s Prospect won by a half-length over Right Con, covering the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.

Skywalker finished third, but was disqualified for bumping Dan’s Diablo in the stretch and placed fourth behind Dan’s Diablo.

Tracy Hall scored 13 points and Carla Chapman added 12 to lead Ohio State to a 56-47 victory over Iowa at Iowa City in basketball game played before an overflow crowd of 22,157 that shattered an NCAA women’s attendance record.

Fans stood three and four deep around the concourse at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which seats 15,450, and university officials said security officers turned away several hundred people at the door.

Previously, the largest crowd for an NCAA women’s basketball game was 10,622 for a game between Kentucky and Old Dominion in Kentucky’s Rupp Arena on Feb. 5, 1983.

The largest crowd for any women’s college game had been 12,336 for a Madison Square Garden doubleheader in 1977, which was before the NCAA had jurisdiction over women’s athletics. The twin bill featured Montclair State against Queens and Delta State playing Immaculata.

The attendance record Sunday was the culmination of a two-week promotional campaign to break the old mark. Hawkeye Coach C. Vivian Stringer has been appearing on radio spots telling Iowans that the state deserves the record because of its rich women’s basketball tradition.

Names in the News

George Papadakos, 7-foot sophomore center at Syracuse, quit the team over the weekend and reportedly has returned to his home in Don Mills, Canada. He had played only 36 minutes this season and scored seven points.

Harry Gamble, 54, director of football administration for the Philadelphia Eagles, was named general manager of the club.

Olympic marathon champion Carlos Lopes led Portugal to its fifth straight title in the European cross-country Champions Cup, winning the 10,000 meters in 28:52 at Aldeia Das Acoteias, Portugal.