Street Streaks to Another Downhill Win

Picabo Street moved into elite company while proving Sunday that her domination of the women’s World Cup downhill competition last season was no aberration.

The defending champion in that specialty and a winner of six races last winter, Street won the first downhill event of this season. The victory was her sixth in a row, beating the 1980-81 run of five by of Marie Therese Nadig of Switzerland.

Only the 11-race streak of Annemarie Moeser-Proell in the 1972-73 and 73-74 seasons is longer

Street was 13th when Saturday’s race was canceled because of snow storms and put that poor showing to good use Sunday in Lake Louise, Canada.

“I wanted to find that rage in me again,” she said after flashing down the Olympic course to win easily, in 1 minute, 26.61 seconds. “I skied with my little tiger out that had been hiding inside of me somewhere.”

Germany’s Katja Seizinger, a former downhill champion, was second in 1:27.04. Russia’s Warwara Zelenskaja was third in 1:27.30.

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Germany’s Gunda Niemann won her second speedskating race of the World Cup weekend in Heerenveen, Netherlands, taking the women’s 1,500 meters in a time of 2 minutes 4.92 seconds.

Other winners were Svetlana Zhurova of Russia in the women’s 500; Manabu Horii of Japan in the men’s 500; Adne Soendral of Norway in the men’s 1,000; and Keiji Shirahata of Japan in the men’s 5,000.

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Germany’s luge team swept the opening doubles and women’s World Cup competitions in Igls, Austria, while Americans Chris Thorpe and Gordy Sheer missed a medal by one thousandth of a second.

Soccer

Notre Dame defeated previously undefeated Portland, 1-0, on Cindy Daws’ free kick in sudden death to win the NCAA championship at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Daws caught Portland goalkeeper Erin Fahey off guard, sending a 25-yard kick into the right corner of the net while Fahey was at the left post still trying to set up a wall of defenders.

A crowd of 6,926 attended, the largest for a women’s soccer final and the first women’s championship game to go to overtime.

Notre Dame (21-2-2) reached the title game for a second consecutive time in only its sixth year as a Division I program. Portland finished 20-1-2.

Edmundo Alves de Souza, a star forward for Brazil’s national team, admitted he was driving a jeep involved in a deadly crash in Rio de Janeiro. The death toll from Saturday night’s accident increased to three. Alexandra Cristina Peroti, 20, who had been in the player’s car, died Sunday morning. Edmundo denied reports he had been drinking before the accident.

Golf

Playing flawlessly, U.S. Open winner Corey Pavin scored a five-stroke victory over Zimbabwe’s Nick Price in the Million Dollar Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

Pavin earned the richest prize in golf--$1 million--by firing a six-under 66 for a total of 12-under 276. Price, who won in 1993 and was tied with Pavin going into the final round, finished at 281 after a 71.

Davis Love III and Beth Daniel became the first two-time winners in the history of the JCPenney Mixed Team Classic in Tarpon Springs, Fla., defeating Robert Gamez and Helen Alfredsson.

Love-Daniel shot a final-round seven-under 63 in the modified alternate stroke format to finish with a tournament-record 27-under 257, defeating Gamez-Alfredsson by two strokes to win $162,500.

Miscellany

Ellie Overton, Mathew Dunn and Daniel Kowalski won gold medals in individual events and Samantha Riley led the Australian women to first place in the women’s 400-meter medley relay at the final day of the World Short-Course Swimming Championship in Rio de Janeiro. . . . Tone Jones rushed for three touchdowns and David Thompson rushed for 234 yards Saturday night in Honolulu to lead Oklahoma State (4-8) to a 24-20 victory over Hawaii (4-8) and spoil the final game of outgoing Rainbow Coach Bob Wagner. . . . Katrina McClain scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds as the U.S. women’s national team posted a 78-50 victory over fourth-ranked Vanderbilt in Nashville. . . . Walker Evans of Riverside drove his Dodge Ram truck to victory in Round 3 and 4 to win the overall championship at the Chevrolet Off-Road Winter Series at Glen Helen Speedway in San Bernardino.