French Skier’s Injuries Are Life-Threatening

French world champion skier Regine Cavagnoud was hospitalized at Innsbruck, Austria, in life-threatening condition with injuries to her head, liver and lungs after crashing into a German coach Monday.

“The patient suffered serious head injuries, a serious injury of the brain and several fractures in the face,” Dr. Michael Blauth, head of the accident surgery ward of Innsbruck University Clinic, told the Austria Press Agency.

“The total of all injuries amounts to an acute danger to the life,” Blauth said.

Cavagnoud, 31, had the accident while practicing on Pitztal glacier in the Austrian Alps and was flown by helicopter to the Innsbruck hospital, said Julia Cherlit, a spokeswoman with the French Skiing Federation.

Markus Anwander, the German coach, also has life-threatening head injuries, according to Blauth. Agence France-Presse reported that Anwander had been marking the course, and Cavagnoud couldn’t see him.

Cavagnoud had a brief cardiac arrest after the accident, but she was revived by her coach, said Phillipe Auer, a race manager. A French television station reported that the skier is in a coma.

Cavagnoud won the women’s super-G gold medal in January at the biannual World Ski Championships in Austria and two months later sealed her first World Cup title in the same discipline.

An alternate driver on Latvia’s Olympic bobsled team was killed during a skeleton practice run at a facility in Riga when he plowed headfirst into an empty sled that had drifted into his path.

Girts Ostenieks, 33, was on a skeleton sled traveling about 36 mph when a blade on the errant sled pierced his skull, track officials said. He died instantly.

Skeleton riders race headfirst on small sleds down the bobsled run.

Tennis

Greg Rusedski ended his last tournament of the season with a first-round exit, losing, 7-6 (3), 6-4, to Belgium’s Xavier Malisse at the Paris Masters.

In other matches, Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti saved a match point before beating French qualifier Anthony Dupuis, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5, and Sweden’s Andreas Vinciguerra defeated Spain’s Tommy Robredo, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Germany was picked to replace the United States in next week’s Fed Cup finals in Madrid.

The two-time defending champion Americans, citing security risks, withdrew last week from the top team event in women’s tennis. Argentina, Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Russia and Spain complete the eight-team field for the Nov. 7-11 competition.

Kevin Wulff, a former Nike senior manager, was appointed the new chief executive officer of the Women’s Tennis Assn. Tour. Wulff will begin work immediately, acting as president, until Bart McGuire leaves his chief executive officer post on Dec. 31.

Cycling

Tests on Lance Armstrong’s team from the 2000 Tour de France have so far revealed no evidence of doping, a French judicial official said.

“For now, we don’t have test results that prove that doping products have been taken,” said Francois Franchi, the assistant to the Paris prosecutor handling a judicial inquiry against the U.S. Postal Service team.

The team said it respects anti-doping rules and Armstrong, who this year won his third consecutive Tour title, has never failed a drug test.

Gymnastics

The U.S. women’s team took a commanding early lead in the World Gymnastics Championships at Ghent, Belgium, with national champion Tasha Schwikert leading atop the individual standings.

Tabitha Yim and Mohini Bhardwaj completed a U.S. sweep of the top three individual placings in preliminary action.

Russia and Romania, the two favorites in the competition, begin today, but the U.S. is virtually guaranteed a spot in Wednesday’s final. In the men’s competition, the United States easily qualified for the finals with once-powerful Russia barely avoiding its first elimination.

Miscellany

New cancellation insurance was secured for the 2002 World Cup soccer tournament after the previous insurer withdrew because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

FIFA, soccer’s governing body, said it reached a deal with U.S.-based National Indemnity Company, a subsidiary of the Berkshire Hathaway Insurance Group.

Minnesota 6-foot-6 junior swingman Shane Schilling is transferring from the university after being suspended indefinitely by Coach Dan Monson from the basketball team for violating unspecified team rules.

Paul Tudor Jones II, a Connecticut businessman and Virginia alumnus, donated $20 million toward the construction of a new $125-million arena for the university.

Long Beach joins Perth, Australia, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, as finalists to be host city for the 2003 World Taekwondo Championships, the Los Angeles Sports Council announced. The Long Beach Arena will be the site of the event if the city is chosen today.

Olympic champion Valentina Vezzali of Italy won her second consecutive world fencing title in the individual foil, defeating Sabine Bau of Germany, 15-6, at Nimes, France. Another Italian Olympic gold medalist, Paolo Milanoli, won the men’s individual epee title, defeating Switzerland’s Basil Hoffmann, 15-6.

Passings

Jim Verdieck, former University of Redlands men’s tennis coach and a member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Assn. Hall of Fame, died Friday after suffering a heart attack. He was 82.

From 1946-84, Verdieck’s teams went 921-281 and won 11 NAIA and three NCAA Division III national championships.