Norway’s Solbakken Skis Past Maier

Bjarne Solbakken of Norway on Sunday earned his first World Cup victory, holding off Hermann Maier of Austria in a super-giant slalom at Beaver Creek, Colo.

Solbakken covered the demanding Birds of Prey course in 1 minute 13.05 seconds, beating Maier by 0.39 of a second. Another Austrian, Hans Knauss, was third in 1:13.50.

Bode Miller of Bretton Woods, N.H., runner-up in last season’s World Cup overall standings, made a mistake for the third consecutive day.

Miller crashed Friday and missed a gate Saturday. This time, he skied wide on a turn and missed a gate near the top.

Daron Rahlves of Sugar Bowl, Calif., who won Friday’s downhill, finished 12th in 1:14.17. Jakub Fiala of Frisco, Colo., was a career-best 13th in 1:14.23.

Solbakken’s best previous finish in four seasons on the World Cup circuit was a third place in Friday’s downhill.

Maier won the season’s opening super-G on Nov. 30 at Lake Louise, Canada, and Saturday’s downhill at Beaver Creek.

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Renate Goetschl of Austria won a women’s World Cup super-G at Lake Louise, spoiling a bid by Carole Montillet of France for a third victory in three days.

Goetschl won in 1:14.98 and was followed by teammate Michaela Dorfmeister in 1:15.49. Hilde Gerg of Germany was third in 1:15.66.

Montillet, who finished eighth, won downhill races Friday and Saturday and was trying to become the first woman to win three races in three days since Katja Seizinger of Germany in 1997.

Golf

Tom Watson capped an emotional season when he was voted Champions Tour player of the year, giving him a sweep of the major awards for the 50-and-older circuit.

Watson won two of the five major championships on the Champions Tour, but his year is remembered as much for the support he gave his caddie, Bruce Edwards, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease.

It was the first time Watson, 54, won the Champions Tour player-of-the-year award, which is decided by a vote of his peers.

Watson won the points-based Charles Schwab Cup and donated the $1-million annuity to research and patient care for Lou Gehrig’s disease.

He also topped the money list with $1.8 million, and his scoring average of 68.31 was tops on the Champions Tour.

Danny Ellis shot a six-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the six-round PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament at Orlando, Fla. He is at 17-under 343. Dan Olsen (67) and Mathias Gronberg (70) are tied for second.

The top 30 players after today’s final round will receive 2004 PGA Tour cards, and the remaining players will get exempt or conditional status on the Nationwide Tour.

Miscellany

Heather O’Reilly and Lindsay Tarpley each scored two goals to lead North Carolina to a 6-0 victory over Connecticut in the NCAA Division I women’s soccer championship game at Cary, N.C.

The Tar Heels (27-0) outscored their six tournament opponents, 32-0. Connecticut (15-6-3) had no shots on goal and was outshot, 26-4.

The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team will play Minnesota Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the NCAA Division I West Regional semifinals at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

The Waves (27-2) have won a school-record 23 consecutive matches. Minnesota (24-10) advanced by defeating Northern Iowa in the second round. Stanford (25-6) plays Washington (22-8) at 5:30 p.m. in other semifinal.

Defending national champion USC (31-0) plays Texas A&M; (23-9), and UCLA (23-8) plays Nebraska (28-4) at Lincoln, Neb.

The NCAA honors committee has selected Alan Page as recipient of the 2004 Theodore Roosevelt Award, the highest honor the NCAA bestows on an individual.

Page, an All-American defensive lineman at Notre Dame in 1966, was the first African American on the Minnesota Supreme Court.