Miller Stays on His Skis for Victory

Off to a much slower start than a year ago, Bode Miller, the defending overall World Cup Alpine skiing champion, picked up his first victory of the season Saturday, leading a 1-2-4 U.S. finish in a giant slalom at Beaver Creek, Colo.

Miller, of Franconia, N.H., was tied for the lead after the first run, but he nearly fell twice in the second. He somehow stayed up and stayed fast, finishing with a total time of 2 minutes 34.56 seconds.

Daron Rahlves of Sugar Bowl, Calif., who beat Miller in a 1-2 U.S. finish in Friday’s downhill, wound up in second place, 0.49 of a second behind.

Kalle Palander of Finland -- tied with Miller after the first run -- finished third, 1.23 seconds off the pace. Erik Schlopy of Park City, Utah, was fourth, another 0.01 behind, despite skiing with his left hand taped after smashing it into a gate during the opening run.

Overnight snow left about nine inches on the course, and more snow during the race brought it to about a foot.

“Everybody needed to fight today,” Palander said. “It was tough visibility, and the snow was so strange ... sometimes really clean turns or icy turns, sometimes really small ice balls.”

Schlopy was the fastest to the first time check during the first run, but he lost nearly a full second to Miller over the final interval, skiing with one pole for the last 20 gates.

“It blew my hand back, blew the pole right out of my hand. It was painful. I yelled out when it happened,” Schlopy said. “But then I just said, ‘I’m going to go for it the rest of the way.’ ”

Fifteen of the 70 starters failed to finish the first run, including Benjamin Raich of Austria -- the defending World Cup giant slalom champion and silver medalist at the world championships.

Miller’s second place in the downhill matched his best result so far this season before Saturday. Last season, he won four of the first five races and six of 10 on his way to becoming the first American since 1983 to win the overall World Cup title.

Lindsey Kildow of Vail, Colo., edged Sylviane Berthod of Switzerland by three-hundredths of a second at Lake Louise, Canada, for her second World Cup downhill victory. She won on the same hill where she got her first World Cup victory a year ago.

Fighting swirling winds and whiffs of blowing light snow, Kildow won in 1 minute 49.51 seconds. Berthod was second in 1:49.54. Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria, second in Friday’s downhill, was third in 1:49.63.

Andreas Kuttel of Switzerland broke the Olympic hill record with a jump of 139 meters to win a World Cup ski jumping event at Lillehammer, Norway.

Jakub Janda of the Czech Republic finished second and Norway’s Lars Bystol was third.

TENNIS

Croatia Leads Slovakia

in Davis Cup Final

Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic beat Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty and Michal Mertinak, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (5), giving Croatia a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup final at Bratislava, Slovakia.

Croatia needs to win one of today’s reverse singles -- Ljubicic plays Hrbaty and Ancic plays Karol Kucera -- to clinch its first world group title.

Martina Hingis is hoping to launch her Grand Slam comeback at the Australian Open next month.

Hingis, a three-time champion in Melbourne and a finalist three other times, announced last week that she would be returning to the WTA Tour in 2006. Her next significant tournament following the first Grand Slam of the season would probably be the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells in March.

“It’s definitely on the schedule,” Hingis said on a conference call. “But right now all I’m preparing for is the Australian.”

Hingis, 25, has been off the tour -- with the exception of one match in February -- since 2002 because of injuries. Australian Open officials said they would give her a wild card, but it is unclear which tune-up event Hingis will enter. She said her plans should be finalized in the next two weeks.

-- Lisa Dillman

MISCELLANY

USC, Stanford Play

for Water Polo Title

Thomas Hale scored four goals to lead top-seeded USC to a 14-8 victory over fourth-seeded St. Francis of New York in the semifinals of the NCAA men’s water polo tournament at Lewisburg, Pa.

The Trojans will play second-seeded Stanford -- which beat third-seeded Loyola Marymount, 7-6 -- in today’s final.

No school outside of California has reached the championship game since the event began in 1969.

James Stewart won the first supercross race of the season at the Amp’d Mobile World Supercross GP race at Toronto, and Davi Millsaps claimed the Supercross Lites main event.

Ricky Carmichael led until lap 17, when Stewart moved into the lead, and he held on for his first win. Carmichael finished second; Chad Reed was third.

Ronaldo scored in the 18th minute and David Beckham was ejected in Real Madrid’s 1-0 victory over Getafe in a Spanish first division match at Madrid. Beckham received a red card in the 57th minute for a tackle on striker Ivan “Riki” Sanchez-Rico.