Sweden’s Paerson Cruises

Anja Paerson of Sweden easily won the giant slalom at the world championships Thursday in a race that produced surprising finishes for the silver and bronze medals at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Denise Karbon of Italy was the runner-up and Allison Forsyth of Canada was third. Neither has won a race on the World Cup circuit.

For the United States, Kristina Koznick was 12th and Caroline Lalive was 27th. Kirsten Clark and Sarah Schleper did not finish.

Paerson had the fastest runs in both heats and won by a whopping 1.55 seconds.

Football

University of Washington Coach Rick Neuheisel acknowledged that he was interviewed for the San Francisco 49er coaching job, saying his initial denial was based on a promise of confidentiality. Neuheisel told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Seattle Times that he decided to give the real story out of concern for his credibility.

“My knee-jerk reaction was to protect an agreement of confidentially I had with the 49ers,” Neuheisel told the Times, “but the life of the story that has followed has raised the question about who I am. It has questioned something more important, my credibility, and that isn’t worth it.”

Athletic Director Barbara Hedges said the university would not censure Neuheisel.

Ricky Manning Jr., a UCLA cornerback who completed his eligibility last fall, will face trial on one count of felony assault after testimony at a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court. Manning will be arraigned Feb. 26.

Tennis

Top-seeded Andre Agassi defeated Mark Philippoussis, 6-4, 6-1, in the second round of the Siebel Open at San Jose. Earlier, Vince Spadea defeated fourth-seeded Jan-Michael Gambill, 6-3, 6-3.

Top-seeded Roger Federer became the lone seeded player to advance to the quarterfinals of the Open 13 after beating Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen, 6-2, 6-3, at Marseille, France.... Fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia rallied past Belgium’s Els Callens, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the quarterfinals of the Diamond Games at Antwerp, Belgium.... Seventh-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain beat Lucie Ahl of Britain, 6-0, 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open at Doha.

Miscellany

Ernie Els roared to the top of another leaderboard, shooting an eight-under-par 64 to take a one-stroke lead in the Johnnie Walker Classic at Perth, Australia.

Led by world champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, China swept the pairs medals in the Four Continents Skating Championships at Beijing. Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn of the United States finished fifth.

Former NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff was hired as general manager of the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting, and assistant Trudi Lacey was promoted to coach.

Long Beach Ice Dog wing Craig Lyons is expected to sit out the rest of the season after suffering torn right knee ligaments.

Rich Perelman, the press chief at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, has been named meet director of the June 1 track and field meet at the Home Depot Center in Carson. Perelman, 46, has been involved in press operations in five Olympics since 1984, including last year’s Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Unbeaten Italian middleweight Antonio Perugino (26-0) remained in a coma after six hours of brain surgery to remove a blood clot.

Gymnasts from the U.S. service academies -- Army, Navy and Air Force -- will compete in the Fourth Annual Academy Men’s Gymnastics Championships at Soka University in Aliso Viejo on Saturday at 7 p.m. Details: (949) 455-1020.

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USOC Chief Executive Lloyd Ward said that although the inaugural Titan Games will lose about $125,000, he envisions staging similar multi-sport competitions in the future, perhaps as Olympic trials. The Titan Games, which feature combat sports, began Thursday at San Jose State’s Events Center.