Russia’s Butyrskaya Wins Short Program

Maria Butyrskaya won the short program in the European Figure Skating Championships at Lausanne, Switzerland, skating with ease Friday while the other top Russian and Olympic gold hopeful made another surprising fall.

Butyrskaya’s clean routine gives her the edge in confidence going into the Feb. 8-24 Salt Lake City Games, where she and teammate Irina Slutskaya are U.S. champion Michelle Kwan’s main rivals for the gold.

Slutskaya turned in another subpar performance, falling on a triple flip in the short program, after a nasty sprawl on a double axel in the qualifying round Wednesday. Though she had the best marks for artistry, with five 5.9s, the fall dropped her to third place overall.

To retain her title, Slutskaya must win the free program today, worth 50% of the final score, and someone has to defeat Butyrskaya, a former European champion who defeated Kwan at the 1999 world championships.

That someone could be the third Russian skater, Victoria Volchkova, who finished second with huge jumps, including a big triple lutz-double toe loop combination to a pop version of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.”

Though Volchkova and Butyrskaya split the technical marks, Butyrskaya was scored higher than Volchkova by every judge on artistry, with one 5.9 and the rest 5.8s.

“I was nervous, as always,” Butyrskaya said. “I’m happy with this program, it was well done.”

Slutskaya’s falls have been on jumps that are normally routine for her. She was landing both triple jumps smoothly in the last run-through of her short program eight hours before the competition.

“Nothing really happened. I just fell,” Slutskaya said. “Tomorrow, I’ll come back strong and win.”

France’s Martina Anissina and Gwendel Peizerat won the ice dance title, edging Italy’s Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio.

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College Football

Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer became the highest-paid coach in the Southeastern Conference, agreeing to a contract extension at $1.65 million a year.

“The contract is a reflection of the success Coach Fulmer has brought to our football program,” Athletic Director Doug Dickey said. “It also is a sign of the confidence we have in his continued performance.”

Fulmer, 50, gets a $350,000 raise and a one-year extension to 2008 under a compensation package that puts him just ahead of the $1.6 million Louisiana State will pay Coach Nick Saban.

Kansas running back Reggie Duncan failed to show up for a court hearing concerning a shoplifting charge, and an arrest warrant was issued for the player.

But Duncan may avoid arrest if he appears in court Tuesday, Municipal Court Supervising Prosecutor Jerry Little said. Little said there may have been a miscommunication between Duncan and his lawyer about the Thursday hearing.

The warrant was issued after Duncan didn’t show for a hearing to consider revoking his diversion agreement on a shoplifting charge.

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Winter Sports

World Cup overall leader Stephan Eberharter won a super-G, finally mastering one of skiing’s most harrowing courses at Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Super-G world champion Daron Rahlves of the United States finished fourth.

Eberharter won in 1 minute 18.91 seconds for his second victory in two World Cup super-G races this season. This was the first time in 12 years the Austrian won on the demanding Streif course.

Rahlves was timed in 1:19.85, narrowly missing a top-three finish. He was fourth in last year’s super-G and third in the downhill.

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Ronny Ackerman of Germany won a Nordic Combined World Cup event at Liberec, Czech Republic, for his fifth victory of the season.

Another German, Georg Hettich, placed a second, the best of his career; Daito Takahashi of Japan was third; and Bill Demong of the United States fourth.

Ackermann, seventh after the ski jumping portion, closed in on ski jumping winner Hettich after several kilometers of the 7.5-kilometer cross-country sprint. Ackermann wound up 9.5 seconds ahead of his teammate.

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Miscellany

Dick Pound is getting a new high-profile role with the IOC a month after being replaced as the Olympics’ powerful marketing chief.

Pound will head a new commission charged with coming up with ways to reduce the spiraling size and cost of the Olympics.

The Canadian lawyer said he received a fax from International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge confirming his appointment as chairman of the panel, formally called the Olympic Games Study Commission.

“I’m happy to be appointed to the position and will do my best to make it an effective commission,” Pound said in a telephone interview from Montreal. “We will look at ways the scope, the expense and the size of the Games can perhaps be reduced.”

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Ed Moses of the United States broke his own short-course world record in the 200-meter breaststroke, finishing in 2 minutes 4.37 seconds at a World Cup swim meet in Paris.

Moses clipped more than two seconds off his mark of 2:06.40, set March 25, 2000. He defeated Australia’s Jim Piper and Canada’s Morgan Knabe.

Said Moses: “To be honest, I didn’t expect this kind of impressive time.”

The U.S. soccer team, which opens Gold Cup play today at the Rose Bowl, will play an exhibition game against Ecuador on March 10 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala.

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Chris Kenady scored three goals to help the Ice Dogs beat Anchorage, 4-2, at Long Beach.