Styger Wins World Cup Super-G; Clark Is Fifth

Nadia Styger of Switzerland won a Super-G, the opening race of a three-day Alpine skiing World Cup event, Friday at Aspen, Colo.

Styger’s victory, two days shy of her 27th birthday, was Switzerland’s first World Cup win in two years. She edged three Austrians and Kirsten Clark of Raymond, Maine, whose fifth-place finish was her best in two years.

Styger, who earned her second World Cup victory, won in 1 minute 13.77 seconds. Michaela Dorfmeister was second at 1:13.87, her fourth top-three finish in the last four races.

Andrea Fischbacher was third in 1:14.07, and Alexandra Meissnitzer fourth at 1:14.07. Clark was timed in 1:14.38.

Styger scored her only other World Cup victory in a Super-G in Sestriere, Italy, in 2004

Clark, at 28 the oldest member of the U.S. women’s team, underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and had a cyst removed from behind her knee Sept. 1. A staph infection developed, setting her back in her training.

“I didn’t think I’d be where I am, for sure,” said Clark, who finished seventh in a Super-G last Sunday at Lake Louise, Canada.

“I mean, I’m so excited. To be getting consecutive top-10s in the super-G is awesome.”

Caroline Lalive of Steamboat Springs, Colo., clipped a ski on one of the trickier turns, crashing head over skis, then sliding down the hill.

She injured her left knee and was questionable for today’s giant slalom.

Kati Wilhelm of Germany shot perfectly and won the women’s 7.5-kilometer pursuit at a World Cup biathlon meet in Hochfilzen, Austria. She won in 22 minutes 30.3 seconds.

Jasey-Jay Anderson of Canada won a World Cup snowboard cross race at Whistler, Canada, beating France’s Pierre Vaultier and American Seth Wescott.

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL Fines Bear Linemen

for Their Off-Field Fight

Offensive linemen Olin Kreutz and Fred Miller of the Chicago Bears were fined $50,000 each for a fight that violated the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

They were involved in the fight last month at the FBI shooting range in the Chicago area, prompting an internal investigation by the bureau.

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue fined Kreutz and Miller because the league’s special-conduct policy addresses off-field matters. It specifically prohibits conduct that endangers NFL employees and casts a negative light on the league and its players.

Kreutz broke Miller’s jaw in the altercation. Miller, who needed surgery, originally claimed he was hurt in a fall.

LaDainian Tomlinson practiced for the first time this week as the San Diego Chargers continued preparation for Sunday’s home game against the Miami Dolphins.

Tomlinson, the NFL’s fifth-leading rusher, bruised his chest during last Sunday night’s victory over the Oakland Raiders.

New York Jet running back Curtis Martin, who has a sore right knee, was downgraded to questionable and will be a game-time decision for Sunday’s game against the Raiders.... Washington Redskin linebacker LaVar Arrington did not practice because of a bruised right thigh and probably will not play Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.

SWIMMING

Three Short-Course

World Records Set

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary and Laure Manaudou of France set world records at the European short-course championships at Trieste, Italy.

Cseh broke the record in the men’s 400-meter individual medley. Manaudou set her mark in the women’s 800-meter freestyle.

Cseh finished in 4 minutes 0.37 seconds, beating the 2003 mark of Canada’s Brian Johns by more than two seconds.

Manaudou collected France’s first gold medal of the meet with a time of 8:11.25. That was more than two seconds faster than the record set by Sachiko Yamada of Japan in 2004.

Another world record was set by Hinkelien Schreuder, Inge Dekker, Chantal Groot and Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands, who set the mark in the 200-meter freestyle relay. They finished in 1:36.27, breaking the mark of 1:37.27 set last year by the University of Georgia.

COLLEGE SOCCER

Garey Helps Maryland

Advance to Title Game

Jason Garey scored two goals in an NCAA tournament-record 15-second span and top-seeded Maryland beat Southern Methodist, 4-1, advancing to the championship game of the Division I College Cup at Cary, N.C.

The Terrapins (18-4-2) will play New Mexico (19-1-2), which defeated Clemson, 2-1, in Sunday’s championship game.

Mark Bedics, NCAA assistant director of media coordination and championships, said the NCAA regular-season record for two goals by a player is nine seconds.

MISCELLANY

June Mountain Opens

for Skiers, Snowboarders

June Mountain will open for skiers and snowboarders today, with a one- to two-foot base of packed powder and machine-groomed snow.

All lifts will be in operation and all runs but the Face will be open at the Eastern Sierra resort 20 miles north of Mammoth Lakes.

-- Pete Thomas

The city of Brighton, Mass., will honor one of its native sons today, when a nine-foot bronze statue of former Olympic champion Harold Connolly will be unveiled. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of Connolly’s gold medal hammer throw in the Melbourne Games.

PASSINGS

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s

Father Is Dead at 86

Ferdinand Lewis “Al” Alcindor, father of former Laker and UCLA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, died Friday at Coney Island Hospital in New York from organ failure after a long bout with senile dementia. He was 86.