Kostelic’s Downhill Run Is as Good as Gold

Janica Kostelic of Croatia took another large step in her recovery from illness and injury by winning the downhill in the Alpine skiing world championships at Santa Caterina Valfurva, Italy.

Kostelic, who sat out last season after thyroid surgery and several knee operations, hadn’t raced a downhill in nearly two years.

She also won Friday’s grueling combined event, which consists of a morning downhill and two afternoon slaloms. On Sunday, she cut a daring line down the course to win the gold medal in 1 minute 39.90 seconds.

“This may be my favorite victory,” she said. “It’s hard to say because all victories are special. But it’s something I never expected so soon, especially after last season. I don’t know how it happened.”

Elena Fanchini of Italy rewarded the home crowd by winning the silver medal in 1:40.16. Fanchini, a 19-year-old rookie, set the pace early, then watched as 16 racers were unable to beat her time.

Kostelic then knocked Fanchini out of the lead.

Renate Goetschl of Austria was third in 1:40.29, just ahead of Lindsey Kildow (1:40.52).

Kildow, the 20-year-old from Vail, Colo., finished fourth for the second time in three days, missing a bronze medal by only 0.23 of a second.

On Friday, she came within 0.20 of a second of the bronze in the combined.

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Jeremy Bloom defeated fellow American Travis Cabral in a dual moguls event at Inawashiro, Japan, for his fourth consecutive World Cup victory.

Bloom, who won Saturday, beat Cabral, 23-12, in the final to solidify his lead in the overall standings. Hiroki Nonogaki of Japan defeated American Nathan Roberts for third place.

Bloom, the reigning world champion in freestyle moguls and a 2002 Olympian, has 540 points in the dual moguls World Cup standings, 158 points ahead of Roberts.

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Roar Ljoekelsoey of Norway won a World Cup ski jumping event at Sapporo, Japan, with two of the day’s longest jumps for his second victory this season. Risto Jussilainen of Finland was second and Thomas Morgenstern of Austria was third.

Ljoekelsoey had jumps of 137.5 and 137 meters for 292.1 points and moved into second place in the standings behind Janne Ahonen of Finland, who did not compete.

Jussilainen combined the day’s longest jump of 139 meters with a first jump of 122 meters to finish with 262.8 points. Morgenstern had 243.1 points. Ahonen has 1,526 points, followed by Ljoekelsoey with 1,078.

Motor Racing

A Pontiac-powered Riley prototype driven by sports car specialists Max Angelelli, Wayne Taylor and Emmanuel Collard, easily won the Rolex 24 hours at Daytona endurance race at Daytona Beach, Fla.

The winners covered 710 laps -- 2,527.6 miles -- on the 3.56-mile road course that includes about three-quarters of the 2 1/2 -mile NASCAR oval. They averaged 105.204 mph.

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, who lost last year’s race when his suspension failed with less than 25 minutes remaining, had another tough time when the Pontiac Crawford he shared with former race winners Andy Wallace and Jan Lammers had a gearbox failure with 2 hours 3 minutes to go.

Tennis

Third-seeded Conchita Martinez won her first WTA Tour title in nearly five years by defeating Anna Lena Groenefeld, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, to win the Volvo Open at Pattaya, Thailand.

Martinez, 32, needed 2:06 to beat the 19-year-old Groenefeld. Her last singles championship had come at the German Open in May 2000.

Third-seeded Xavier Malisse won his first ATP Tour title with a 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory over second-seeded Jiri Novak in the Millennium Championships at Delray Beach, Fla. Malisse had been 0-6 in finals in his career, including second-place finishes at Delray Beach in 1999 and 2001.

Soccer

Malcolm Glazer, owner of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, made another bid to buy Manchester United after the world’s richest soccer team turned him down in October. The club’s board said it received the proposal and another announcement will be made “in due course.”

Glazer has a 28.1% stake in the team, and his takeover bid of $1.54 billion in the fall was rejected. United said it was based on a high level of borrowing.

Glazer repeatedly has increased his stake in the club, but he is not the biggest shareholder. Irish businessmen and racehorse owners John Magnier and JP McManus own 28.9% and so far have made no comment on Glazer’s approaches.

Boxing

World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (35-2, 34 knockouts) has agreed to defend his title against former champion Hasim Rahman (40-5-1, 33) on April 30 in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Klitschko won the title by beating Corrie Sanders and made his first title defense last December, defeating Danny Williams on an eighth-round technical knockout.

Rahman won the WBC title by knocking out Lennox Lewis, then lost by knockout to Lewis in the rematch. Both fights were in 2001. Rahman lost a bid for the World Boxing Assn. crown in a 2003 fight against John Ruiz.

Baseball

Tampa Bay acquired pitcher Casey Fossum from Arizona for outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. and cash. They also signed first baseman Travis Lee to a one-year contract.