Amiez Rallies to Win Slalom Race, Closes on Tomba

France’s Sebastien Amiez, one of the season’s most consistent slalom skiers, rallied for his first World Cup victory Sunday, in 1 minute 38.79 seconds at Voysennaz, Switzerland.

Unheralded Rene Mlekuz of Slovenia, who raced 64th, was second at 1:39.16. Thomas Sykora of Austria, co-leader after the first heat, finished third at 1:39.48.

Amiez closed the gap in the World Cup slalom standings on leader Alberto Tomba of Italy. Tomba crashed through a flag and was eliminated in the first heat.

Tomba has 440 points and Amiez 434.

The combined competition was won by Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg.

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Austrian Anita Wachter overcame Katja Seizinger’s big first-run lead and won the giant slalom race in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, to vault to the top of the World Cup overall standings.

Wachter rallied from third to first with a time of 2 minutes 37.74 seconds for the two runs.

Sweden’s Erika Hansson produced her best World Cup finish, placing second, .39 seconds back.

Seizinger fell to third place.

Picabo Street dropped out during the first run, as did her teammate Shannon Nobis.

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Germany’s No. 1 bobsled, driven by veteran Wolfgang Hoppe, beat Germany’s No. 2 and the United States’ No. 1 in a World Cup four-man event in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.

Hoppe, teaming with Carsten Embach, Ulf Hielscher and Sven Peter, clocked the fastest time in both heats and had a total of 1 minute, 47.01 seconds.

The U.S. team of Brian Shimer, Robert Olesen, Jason Dorsey and Randy Jones placed third in 1:47.66.

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Stefan Krausse and Jan Behrendt of Germany used a record-setting opening run in Koenigssee, Germany, to win third consecutive World Cup doubles luge event of the season. Gerda Weissensteiner of Italy gave her country a sweep of the weekends individual events by winning the women’s race.

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Rintje Ritsma of the Netherlands won the men’s all-around title in the European Speedskating Championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands. Germany’s Gunda Niemann won the women’s title. . . . Austria’s Andreas Goldberger and Finland’s Ari-Pekka Nikkola tied for first place in the ski jumping World Cup in Sapporo, Japan. . . . Randy Weber of Steamboat Springs, Colo., had the longest first jump and held on to win his second national ski jumping title in 24 hours in Lake Placid, N.Y. . . . Ethiopian Haile Gebreselassie raced to an easy victory in the 10,000-meter race of the Cross Italica International in Seville, Spain.

Hockey

The Vancouver Canucks agreed to contract terms with right wing Glenn Anderson, who spent the last four months playing in Europe. The 16-year veteran was a member of six Stanley Cup championship teams, five with the Edmonton Oilers and one with the New York Rangers.