Matt Wins Slalom Gold for Austria

Mario Matt of Austria finished .25 of a second ahead of teammate Benjamin Raich to win the men’s slalom, the final race of the World Alpine Championships at St. Anton, Austria.

A near-perfect second effort down the course--combined with a critical mistake by Raich, who nearly flew off the course on his second trip down--helped Matt earn first place with a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 39.66 seconds.

The two medals gave the Austrian men a championship-high 11, including three golds, more than any other country.

“It is indescribable,” Matt said of the 50,000 screaming fans. “I haven’t raced before such a great crowd--madness. I wanted gold and risked everything.”

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Armin Zoeggeler of Italy won his second consecutive World Cup luge title with a record-setting performance on the same track that will be used for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games at Park City, Utah.

No luger since 1964 has won a test event on the track to be used for a Winter Games and gone on to win an Olympic gold medal on the same track.

Zoeggeler won the silver medal at the 1998 Nagano Games and the bronze at Lillehammer in 1994.

Tony Benshoof of the U.S came in fourth.

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Ukraine defeated Norway, 5-1, at Oslo to earn a berth in the Olympic hockey tournament at Salt Lake City. Germany also qualified with a 1-1 tie against Belarus. Winless Norway will play Belarus today for the final berth. Belarus has two points and can qualify with a tie. Norway must win to gain an Olympic spot. . . . World champions Wolfgang and Andreas Schopf of Austria won a World Cup luge double-seat race in Moscow to tie Armin and David Mair of Italy in the overall standings. . . . Thomas Alsgaard of Norway won a 10-kilometer classic-style World Cup race at Otepaa, Estonia, by 1.2 seconds. . . . Russia retained its world title by winning the gold in the 30-kilometer women’s relay at the World Biathlon championships at Pokljuka, Slovenia.

Tennis

Amelie Mauresmo of France defeated countrywoman Nathalie Tauziat, 6-2, 6-1, and will play Anke Huber of Germany in the finals of the Gaz de France tournament at Paris. Huber defeated Madgalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-4, 7-5.

This is Huber’s first tournament since retiring from the U.S. Open in August because of a sprained right wrist.

Huber has won both of her previous matches against Mauresmo.

Miscellany

Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh will be demolished by dynamite this morning at 8 EST.

Thousands of onlookers are expected to crowd atop Mount Washington, the scenic peak that towers above the city’s skyline, to watch the explosion of the stadium, which turned 30 in July.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were coming off a 1-13 season and 40 years of well-documented failure in which they had never won a postseason game when they moved into Three Rivers Stadium.

Led by the Steel Curtain defense, the Steelers won four Super Bowls in six years.

In a span of three months during the 1979 season, the Pirates won the World Series, the Steelers won the Super Bowl, and Pittsburgh was hailed nationally as the “City of Champions.”

Three Rivers will be replaced by separate baseball and football stadiums.

Atlanta Falcon defensive back Elijah Williams was shot in the leg outside a bar in downtown Atlanta in what police called a robbery attempt. He was hospitalized and released.

Williams, a sixth-round draft pick from Florida in 1998, had a career-high 32 tackles and started three games last season.

Doctors in Chicago amputated the left foot of Chad Knight, 17, a standout Indiana high school basketball player whose leg was shattered by a bullet in a drive-by shooting just hours before he was to go on a college recruiting trip.

Laban Rotich of Kenya won the mile at the Tyson Invitational at Fayetteville, Ark., in 3 minutes 53.21 seconds.

Seven runners broke the four-minute mark at the event. Seneca Lassiter finished second in 3:54.21, the best time of the year by a U.S. miler.

Jeff Hartwig cleared 19 feet 1/4 inch to win the men’s pole vault. Shawn Crawford won the men’s 200 and James Davis won the 400.

This year’s top U.S. marks were set or matched in women’s events by LaTasha Jenkins, with a 23.01 in the 200, Suziann Reid, 42.05 in the 400, Terri Tunks, 60 feet, 4 1/2 inches in the shotput and Jearl Miles-Clark, 2:01.00 in the 800.

Michel Desjoyeaux of France crossed the finish line at the Vendee Globe solo round-the-world yacht race at the western French port of Les Sables-d’Olonnafter after more than 93 days at sea, breaking the previous record of more than 105 days.

Saudi Arabia defeated Bangladesh, 3-0, and Vietnam beat Mongolia, 1-0, at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in qualifying for the 2002 World Cup.

Corrie Murphy, Kellie Brennan, Michala Kwasny and Asa Sandlund won two events apiece to lead USC to a 164-136 victory over UCLA in women’s swimming and diving.

Colombia’s Mauricio Pastrana, the former International Boxing Federation junior-flyweight champion, outpointed Puerto Rico’s Jose Lopez in a 12-round junior-bantamweight bout at Miami.