Maier Nears Ski Record After 12th World Cup Win

One more victory and Hermann Maier is tied with the legend from Sweden.

Maier won the last men’s World Cup downhill of the season Thursday at Are, Sweden, to retain his title in the specialty and close in on Ingemar Stenmark’s record 13 wins in a season.

He turned in a near-flawless run, posting the fastest split times all the way en route to his 12th victory of the season. Maier still has two races left in the World Cup finals, a super-G and a giant slalom.

“It’s not easy,” Maier said. “The problem is that some races were canceled. If they had taken place, I could perhaps have had the record already. But now, with only two races left, it’s not easy. I have to be satisfied with 12.”

Stenmark, a guest of honor at the event, won all 10 giant slalom races and three slaloms in 1979.

Maier defeated fellow Austrian Stephan Eberharter by .35 of a second.

Hilde Gerg of Germany won the last women’s downhill of the season ahead of Isolde Kostner of Italy, who clinched the downhill title for the first time with a second-place finish.

Names in the News

World shotput champion C.J. Hunter has been suspended for two years for a positive doping test for the banned steroid nandrolone and has officially retired from the sport, USA Track & Field said. The U.S. governing body said it suspended Hunter, the husband of Olympic star Marion Jones, after he chose not to contest doping charges brought against him by the IAAF and USATF.

Orlando Woolridge, the former Laker who coached the Sparks, will be arraigned March 29 on a misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of cocaine. Woolridge was arrested Feb. 26 at the Seven Star Suite Hotel in Chatsworth. He will appear in Van Nuys Superior Court. Maximum penalty if he is convicted would be a year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

Horse trainer John Tammaro hasn’t been seen for nearly two weeks, and police divers are checking to see if his car may have ended up at the bottom of a rock quarry lake in Florida.

Tammaro, 75, was last seen Feb. 25, when he drove off from the stables at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., about 10 miles north of Miami. Tammaro has a horse running in today’s $200,000 Grade II Gulfstream Park Breeders Cup Sprint Championship.

Tammaro had undergone liver surgery three weeks before his disappearance. He had told family members he had not been feeling particularly well.

A day after third-seeded Carlos Moya and sixth-seeded Alex Calatrava lost to qualifiers, second-seeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador lost to Belgium’s Xavier Malisse, 6-3, 6-4, at the Citrix Tennis Championships in Delray Beach, Fla. Greg Rusedski of Britain pulled out of the tournament because of back spasms. . . . Marcelo Rios of Chile defeated Rainer Schuettler of Germany, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals of the Franklin Templeton Classic at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Linwood Fiedler took an unprecedented gamble in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, regaining the lead when he left Iditarod, Alaska, roughly the halfway point, without yet taking his mandatory 24-hour break. . . . Mike Dunbar resigned as football coach at Northern Iowa to become quarterbacks coach at Northwestern.

Soccer

U.S. national team forward Brian McBride, on loan to English Division One club Preston North End from the Columbus Crew, is expected back for the start of the Major League Soccer season in April. . . . Midfielder Ian Bishop, 35, of Manchester City in England’s Premier League, was acquired by MLS and assigned to the Miami Fusion. To comply with league rules that allow only three senior international players per roster, the Fusion waived Brazilian striker Welton. . . . The Galaxy will play an exhibition against Cal State Dominguez Hills today in Carson.

Miscellany

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson told members of the International Olympic Committee Coordination Commission that a place will be set aside for demonstrators during the 2002 Winter Games. . . . Greece’s largest labor union pledged to cooperate with organizers of the 2004 Summer Games, signing a document that could prevent crippling strikes as Athens struggles to prepare for the Olympics.

Nebraska will play Texas Christian in the Pigskin Classic Aug. 25 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

Three Navy football players accused of raping a female classmate will resign from the school in exchange for the chance to have the charges dropped, a newspaper reported.

NASCAR fined five teams for rules violations uncovered last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The most serious penalty was levied on Todd Berrier, crew chief for Kevin Harvick’s Grand National car. Berrier was fined $5,000 and suspended for two races for an oversized fuel cell container found on Harvick’s car.