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Miller Retains Lead

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From Wire Reports

Defending World Cup slalom champion Kalle Palander of Finland won the season-opening race Sunday at Park City, Utah, and American Bode Miller retained his overall lead despite being disqualified after falling on his first run.

The race’s official finish was delayed by a protest over Austria’s Rainer Schoenfelder, who was allowed to repeat his first run after skiing off course near a race worker who had fallen next to a gate.

Schoenfelder argued the course worker was a distraction and was awarded a provisional run. That time was later thrown out after the protest. Schoenfelder’s combined time had been two-hundredths of a second behind Palander’s and appeared to be good for second place, but his repeated run was thrown out after a lengthy review.

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Fellow Austrian Manfred Pranger, who was .69 of a second back of Palander’s combined time of 1:35.91, moved up to second, and Georgia Rocca of Italy finished third (1:36.60).

Miller, coming off a victory in the giant slalom Saturday, fell at the end of the first run. He still leads the World Cup overall standings with wins in both giant slalom events this season.

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Anni Friesinger of Germany won the 1,500-meter World Cup speedskating race at Heerenveen, Netherlands, the first time this year she beat Jennifer Rodriguez of the United States.

Rodriguez finished third and remains first in the overall standings after three of five races.

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Armin Zoeggeler of Italy rallied to win a World Cup luge race at Altenberg, Germany. Tony Benshoof of the United States finished third.

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German men won a cross-country ski relay, finishing two seconds ahead of Norway in a World Cup opener at Beitostolen, Norway. Norway beat Germany in the women’s relay.

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Miscellany

The U.S. men’s volleyball team beat Tunisia in straight games in the World Cup at Tokyo, a qualifying event for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Clayton Stanley scored 21 points for the Americans (5-1) in the 25-13, 25-17, 25-22 victory.

Seana Carmean won the Philadelphia Marathon, leading a 1-2 finish for American women.

Kenyans Joseph Nderitu and Charles Kamindo were first and second among the men. Nderitu set a course record, completing the 26.2 miles in 2 hours 16 minutes 47 seconds. The old mark was 2:18:03.

Carmean of Amherst, Mass., passed Deirdre Brill of Downingtown, Pa., with less than a quarter-mile to go and won in 2:45:05.

Moscow will stage track and field’s indoor world championships in 2006 and Fukuoka, Japan, will play host to the cross-country world championships.

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