Pettersen Takes Ski Jump Event
Sigurd Pettersen of Norway won his second consecutive Four Hills title in one of ski jumping’s most prestigious tournaments Thursday at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Martin Hoellwarth of Austria was second and Georg Spaeth of Germany third.
Pettersen made the day’s best jump of 123 meters and finished with 253.8 total points.
“I never expected this before the tournament,” said Pettersen, who won his third World Cup title of the season and fifth of his career.
The final two Four Hills events are in Austria -- Innsbruck on Sunday and Bischofshofen on Tuesday.
Hoellwarth totaled 253.1 points and Spaeth 248.7.
Pettersen easily won the opener at Oberstdorf and has 549.0 points in the two events. Hoellwarth is second at 522.2.
Many big-name jumpers had poor finishes -- Sven Hannewald of Germany (ninth), Adam Malyz of Poland (19th) and Martin Schmitt of Germany (22nd).
Miscellany
Motor racing’s Dakar rally began with a prologue in Clermont-Ferrand, France, starting a race that will span seven countries and cover more than 6,900 miles before ending Jan. 18 in Senegal.
The race features 607 vehicles -- the highest turnout since 1990 -- and includes 146 cars, 200 motorcycles and 65 trucks.
Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan was first in the prologue, which was run on a dirt track of nearly a mile in the central Auvergne region. He was timed in 1 minute 41 seconds. Giniel De Villiers of South Africa was 0.53 of a second behind.
Christian Hesch of Morro Bay and Atalelech Ketema of Ethiopia set course records in the Runners World Midnight Run in New York’s Central Park.
More than 5,000 runners took part in the four-mile race that began at midnight Wednesday with the temperature at nearly 40 degrees.
Hesch won in 18 minutes 36 seconds.
He broke the course mark set by Karl Savage last year by 31 seconds. Savage, of Blowing Rock, N.C., finished second in 18:51.
Eric Blake of Plattsburgh was third in 20:16.
Ketema won the women’s division in 21:50, bettering the course record of 22:05 by Janelle Kraus last year. Kim Thalmann of Providence, R.I., was second in 21:58, and Keira Carlstrom of Oakton, Va., was third in 22:16.
A van carrying the basketball team from Our Savior New American School in Centereach, N.Y., from a tournament in Delaware to another in Charlotte, N.C., veered off a highway in Salisbury, N.C., and hit a tree, killing one player.
Passings
Harold Henning, who won more than 50 golf tournaments during a nearly five-decade career, died Thursday at 69. He lived in Miami Beach, Fla., and died after a long illness, the PGA Tour said. It was not immediately known where he died. Story in Section B.
Todd Smith, who was treated for leukemia while general manager of Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution in 2002, died at 38. He died Wednesday at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the team said.