Miller Skis to Second Win in Row

Bode Miller charged through the wind and falling snow to rally Saturday at Park City, Utah, for his second consecutive World Cup giant slalom victory.

It was the first victory for an American man in a World Cup ski event in the United States since 1984, when Bill Johnson won a downhill at Aspen, Colo.

Miller finished the two runs with a combined time of 2 minutes 20.84 seconds. Andreas Schifferer of Austria was next at 2:21.70 and teammate Hans Knauss third at 2:21.84.

American Erik Schlopy was leading the first run when he injured his left knee and crashed on a steep section of the 47-gate course.

Miller, a silver medalist in the giant slalom and combined at the Salt Lake City Olympics, said the poor visibility and winds gusting to 33 mph forced him to temper his normal aggressiveness.

“I could have gone a lot faster in the second run, but I wouldn’t have made it [to the bottom],” Miller said. “No one could see anything. It didn’t matter if you had X-ray vision, you couldn’t see anything.”

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Men’s world champion Evgeni Plushenko recovered from a rough start to win the Cup of Russia at Moscow, and Elena Liashenko of Ukraine won the women’s event despite a free program plagued by falls.

Michael Weiss finished fourth in the men’s event. Beatrisa Liang, a 15-year-old American in her first Grand Prix season, finished fifth.

Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia won the pairs. Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn of the U.S. finished seventh.

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Yevgeny Lalenkov of Russia won the men’s 1,500 meters in the Speedskating World Cup at Heerenveen, Netherlands, and Gretha Smit of the Netherlands won the women’s 5,000.

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Andre Lange piloted Germany 1 to a track record of 53.50 seconds and a first-place finish in the four-man bobsled at the Calgary Cup in Canada.

USA 1 and Todd Hayes, silver medalist in the 2002 Olympics, were disqualified after the first heat for being one kilogram overweight.

USA 2, piloted by Steve Holcomb, rolled over in the first heat and slid over the finish line in 16th place. The crew was uninjured and raced in the second heat, finishing in a tie for 11th.

Tennis

The U.S. trails France, 2-0, in the best-of-five Fed Cup final series at Moscow after Amelie Mauresmo defeated Lisa Raymond, 6-4, 6-3, and two-time major champion Mary Pierce defeated Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-3, 3-6, 8-6.

The losses -- on U.S. captain Billie Jean King’s 60th birthday -- put the pressure on the Americans for today’s two reversed singles matches and the doubles match between Raymond and 47-year-old Martina Navratilova and Pierce and Emilie Loit.

Miscellany

Shane Hamman finished ninth in the super-heavyweight class in the World Weightlifting Championships at Vancouver, Canada, earning 17 points and helping the U.S. men’s team secure a berth in next year’s Athens Olympics.

New York Met first baseman Mo Vaughn, who didn’t play last season after May 3, plans to join the team during spring training rather than retire, the New York Post reported.

England won the Rugby World Cup, defeating defending champion Australia, 20-17, in extra time at Sydney, Australia, and becoming the first Northern Hemisphere country to win the sport’s showcase event.

Senior Predrag Damjanov scored in the final minute of the second overtime period to give No. 1 USC a 7-6 nonconference water polo victory over No. 4 UCLA at McDonald’s Swim Stadium.

Deon Hemmings, 35, who won the 400-meter hurdles in the 1996 Atlanta Games to become the only Jamaican woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal, retired.