Tomba Feels Pressure but Keeps Winning

Alberto Tomba continues to be almost invincible, skiing to his 10th victory in 12 tries this season and winning a giant slalom Saturday in Adelboden, Switzerland, to move closer to his first World Cup overall title.

There was suspense this time, though, as Tomba won by only seven-hundredths of a second.

“I’ve had three months on the top of my form and lots of wins,” he said. “Even if the victories boost my morale, it gets tiring.

“I’m not sure I can keep it up. A lot is expected of me.”

The 28-year-old--perfect in seven slaloms and three for five in the giant slalom--was clocked in a composite 2 minutes 21.96 seconds. He used a dramatic late surge to finish just ahead of Jure Kosir of Slovenia (2:22.03).

Norway’s Harald Strand-Nilsen was third in 2:22.10.

Tomba has 1,150 points in the overall standings, 480 more than slalom specialist Kosir. Five-time world champion Marc Girardelli is third with 563 points.

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France’s Surya Bonaly produced a smooth and exciting performance that includes several 5.9s to beat Russia’s Olga Markova for her fifth consecutive European women’s figure skating title in Dortmund, Germany.

Bonaly moved within one of the all-time European best of six titles, shared by Katarina Witt and Sonja Henie.

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Chris Thorpe and Gordy Sheer finished second in luge doubles to record the highest finish for an American team in World Championship history at Lillehammer, Norway.

Thorpe, of Marquette, Mich., and Sheer, of Croton, N.Y., were timed in 1 minute 36.866 seconds in winning only the second medal for an American team in any discipline in a World Championship competition. They were edged out by the German team of Stefan Krausse and Jan Behrendt (1:36.492).

In women’s competition, Cammy Myler of Lake Placid, N.Y., had the best finish for an American woman in a World Championship, finishing fourth in 1:36.522.

Norway’s Bjorn Daehlie won the 30-kilometer cross-country race in Falun, Sweden. Daehlie finished 32.3 seconds ahead of Italy’s Silvio Fauner, with Vladimir Smirnov of Kazakhstan third.

Former men’s overall freestyle ski champion Trace Worthington of Park City, Utah, collected his 30th victory Saturday as he won the three-event combined points tally after finishing second in aerials at Oberjoch, Germany.

Franz Plangger of Austria (1:59.41) won the Lake Placid (N.Y). World Cup skeleton competition by less than a second over American Jim Shea Jr. (2:00.53).

Pro Football

Former Ram offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese, who has turned down numerous NFL head coaching jobs over the years, said in Honolulu that he is definitely interested in the Rams’ job and will interview Monday.

In other news, the city of St. Louis said it would provide a maximum of $5 million toward a proposed practice facility in north St. Louis County that could cost as much as $16 million.

Miscellany

Bob Spaulding earned his first Professional Bowlers Assn. victory with strikes on five of his last six shots to beat Kelly Coffman, 231-183, to win the Quaker State 250 at Grand Prairie, Tex. . . . Fifth-seeded Kimiko Date of Japan made short work of third-seeded Lindsay Davenport, 6-1, 6-2, in the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. . . . Ron Hornaday Jr., a surprise choice to drive for Dale Earnhardt’s new team, out-qualified the field by nearly one mile per hour with a 123.665-m.p.h. run in his Chevrolet in winning the pole position for today’s inaugural NASCAR SuperTruck Series by Craftsman pickup truck race at Phoenix International Raceway. . . . Ferraris were dominating the Rolex 24-Hour endurance race in Daytona Beach, Fla., after nine hours. . . . Andujar Cedeno and Jerry Brooks had three hits and three RBIs each to lead the Dominican Republic to a 10-1 victory over Venezuela in the opening game of the Caribbean World Series in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Roberto Alomar hit a three-run homer as Puerto Rico beat Mexico, 6-5, in the second game. . . . About 2,500 entrants will vie in the Compete 95 Karate Championships next Friday through Sunday at the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles.