Rodriguez Wins Women’s Title in Speedskating

Jennifer Rodriguez won the women’s World Sprint Speedskating Championship on Sunday at Kearns, Utah, to become the first U.S. skater in nine years to win the event, and Erben Wennemars of the Netherlands successfully defended his men’s title.

Rodriguez set a U.S. record of 37.94 seconds in the 500 meters and carried a 0.14-second lead into the 1,000, in which she beat Sayuri Yoshii of Japan in the last race with a time of 1 minute 14.18 seconds, the fastest time of the day by nearly a third of a second and more than enough to win the overall title with 150.015 points.

Rodriguez won Olympic bronze medals in the 1,000 and 1,500 three years ago but is not known for the 500.

“I’m not a 500 skater. It blew me away that I was with the top girls,” said Rodriguez, who led after Saturday’s races. “After being atop yesterday, I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself. It worked out well, and I just enjoyed it today.”

No American had won a world sprint title since Chris Witty in 1996.

Wennemars overtook four-time champion Jeremy Wotherspoon of Canada in the final turn of the last pairing of the 1,000 meters to repeat as world sprint champion.

Wennemars finished with 137.310 points, ahead of Wotherspoon’s 137.820 and American Joey Cheek’s 137.975.

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Manfred Pranger of Austria won a slalom for his first World Cup victory, and Benjamin Raich cut into Bode Miller’s lead in the chase for the overall title.

Pranger covered the two runs at Kitzbuehel, Austria, in 1:31.51. Countryman Mario Matt was 0.12 behind to finish second, and Ivica Kostelic of Croatia was 0.24 back to finish third.

Miller lost his balance and failed to join the top 30 for the second leg.

Miller’s early exit allowed Raich to narrow the gap in the overall standings. The Austrian finished eighth and earned 32 points, leaving him 166 behind Miller, who leads with 1,048.

Raich extended his lead in the slalom standings. He is 82 points ahead of Giorgio Rocca of Italy, who went out in the first run.

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Tanja Poutiainen of Finland clinched the overall World Cup slalom title by finishing third in a race won by Anja Paerson of Sweden at Maribor, Slovenia.

Paerson finished both runs in 1:32.38, 0.28 ahead of Janica Kostelic of Croatia. It was her 14th World Cup victory.

The race underlined the strength of the U.S. women’s team. Sarah Schleper was fourth to match a career best, Kristina Koznick was fifth and Lindsey Kildow was 11th.

Poutiainen was third in 1:32.73, wrapping up the slalom title with 520 points with one race left. Marlies Schild is second with 376, followed by Koznick with 355.

Poutiainen leads the overall standings with 902 points. Kostelic has 879 and Paerson has 856. Kildow is sixth with 691.

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Hannu Manninen of Finland won a World Cup Nordic combined event at Liberec, Czech Republic, and Todd Lodwick of the U.S. was third.

Manninen leads the overall standings with 846 points, followed by Ronny Ackermann of Germany with 704 and Lodwick with 520.

Boxing

London’s Sunday Mirror reported that former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis said he would end his retirement to fight Vitali Klitschko in November, but Lewis released a statement later Sunday saying he was not making a comeback.

Lewis, 39, retired Feb. 6 with a 41-1-2 record. Klitschko assumed the World Boxing Council title April 24 when he beat Corrie Sanders.

Lewis and Klitschko last fought in June 2003. Lewis trailed on points when the fight was stopped in the sixth round because Klitschko was cut.

Pro Football

The San Francisco 49ers hired Jerry Sullivan as receivers coach and A.J. Christoff as secondary coach.

Sullivan spent last season with Miami. He also coached at San Diego, Detroit and Arizona, joining the NFL in 1992 after spending 21 years with five college programs.

Christoff joins the 49ers nine days after agreeing to be Stanford’s defensive coordinator under new Coach Walt Harris. Christoff, the Cardinal’s co-defensive coordinator for the last two seasons, has coached at 11 colleges, including USC and UCLA.

Baseball

The Texas Rangers abruptly withdrew from the competition to sign Carlos Delgado, leaving the New York Mets, Baltimore and Florida as the remaining bidders for the free-agent first baseman.

Delgado’s agent, David Sloane, said the Rangers told him on Sunday afternoon that if Delgado signed with Texas, he probably would be a designated hitter most of the time -- a scenario Sloane said Delgado had no interest in.

John Franco agreed to a $700,000, one-year contract with Houston.

Franco, 44, was 2-7 with a 5.28 earned-run average with the New York Mets last season, his 14th with the team.

The New York Yankees agreed to a $600,000, one-year contract with free-agent infielder Rey Sanchez.

Miscellany

Markus Rogan of Austria was timed in 1:50.67 to break his European record and win the 200-meter backstroke in a short-course World Cup swim meet at Berlin.

In the men’s 100 breaststroke, Oleg Lisogor of Ukraine beat Ed Moses of the U.S. Lisogor won in 57.94 and Moses was second in 58.10.

Tasha Schwikert scored her first career 10.0 on floor exercise and UCLA recorded its third score of 197 points or more this season to defeat California, Cal State Sacramento and Cal State Fullerton in a women’s gymnastics meet in Pauley Pavilion.

Kristen Maloney led the Bruins by winning the all-around, vault, bars and beam.

The Bruins finished with 197.15 points and were followed by Cal with 191.175, Sacramento with 190.375 and Fullerton with 190.325.