Blair Loses First at 500 Meters This Season

Bonnie Blair, the five-time Olympic gold medalist, was beaten in the 500 meters for the first time this season Saturday, finishing third in a World Cup speedskating race at Innsbruck, Austria.

Blair was timed in 41 seconds, behind Canada’s Susan Auch, who won in 40.33, and Svetlana Schurova of Russia, who was second in 40.40.

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Trace Worthington of Park City, Utah, who hadn’t trained in three days because of his new strategy to not jump every day, won his second consecutive World Cup aerials meet. Teammate Kris Feddersen of Steamboat Springs, Colo., who hadn’t practiced all week because of a sprained ankle, was third in single-digit cold at Lake Placid, N.Y. The victory was Worthington’s 28th in his career.

Pro Football

Fired Minnesota Viking executive Dan Endy III said the team paid a former employee to settle a sexual harassment claim against assistant coach Richard Solomon, according to newspaper and radio reports in Minneapolis.

Endy also claimed that he notified the Vikings about inappropriate sexual behavior by Coach Dennis Green involving a second woman, according to one of the reports. The reports say all sides signed a confidentiality agreement about the alleged $150,000 settlement, which occurred more than a year ago.

Neither Green nor Solomon could be reached for comment.

Funeral services for former USC and Raider standout Bob Chandler will be held at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier. For additional information, call (310) 322-3451 on Monday.

Baseball

Baltimore Oriole owner Peter Angelos, once again expressing his opposition to replacement players, released a poll to support his stance.

The poll said that 94% of Orioles season-ticket holders felt positive about the team, but if replacement players were used the rating would drop to 17%.

The poll, conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc., also said 80% of ticket holders said they were opposed to hiring replacement players and 16% favored it. The poll also said 82% of ticket holders favored the forfeiture of games rather than using replacement players.

After three days of intense negotiations, cable TV entrepreneur John J. Rigas neared a deal to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates by increasing his initial $80-million offer to a reported $90 million. The Pirates owners want $94 million--$34 million for their stock and $60 million in debt assumption.

Track and Field

Colin Jackson won the 60-meter hurdles in 7.43 seconds and the 60-meter dash in 6.58 to lead Britain to a 72-64 victory over Russia at an indoor meet at Birmingham, England.

Olapade Adeniken of Nigeria broke the 100-meter dash indoor record with a time of 10.13 seconds at the 1995 USAir Track and Field Invitational at Johnson City, Tenn.

Adeniken broke the record of 10.16 by Jurgen Ray of the former East Germany.

Sun Caiyun of China, who served a three-month ban for doping last year, set a women’s world indoor pole-vault record of 13 feet 5 1/4 inches at Zweibruecken, Germany, bettering the previous mark of 13-4 1/2 held by Nicole Rieger of Germany.

Miscellany

After suffering a partial tear of a left knee ligament, former heavyweight champion Michael Moorer canceled his first fight since losing to George Foreman, a March 11 date against Jimmy Thunder in Las Vegas. Moorer is expected to resume training in six weeks.

Tom Johnson retained his International Boxing Federation featherweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Manuel Medina at Atlantic City, N.J.

Dave Husted won his fourth title in just over 14 months as he defeated tournament leader Ricky Ward, 254-196, for the championship in the Professional Bowlers Assn.’s $200,000 Showboat Invitational at Las Vegas.

Ivan Stewart of Alpine, Calif., overcame the “handicap” of a V6 engine in a race field with bigger motors to win the season-opening 197.29-mile race of the 1995 SCORE Tecate Trophy-Truck Series at Parker, Ariz.