Strobl Wins First Downhill Race

Olympic champion Fritz Strobl of Austria won the season-opening downhill Saturday at Lake Louise, Canada, for his ninth World Cup victory.

Strobl sped down the relatively flat and shortened Olympic course in 1 minute 40.96 seconds, .09 of a second ahead of another veteran Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway. Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein was third in 1:41.11, just ahead of four-time overall champion Hermann Maier of Austria.

“Sure, I’m a little surprised,” Strobl said. “I don’t really know what I did. The day was a bit of a whirlwind. I forgot my racing suit at the hotel this morning, so then I was in a hurry and a bit of a panic. I had no time to think about the race or how I was going to run it.”

Conditions became more difficult for late starters because of warming temperatures and a light snowfall after the 21st skier came out of the hut -- in addition to the flat light and rough snow surface.

Several of the top contenders who started later, such as reigning World Cup overall champion Bode Miller, were surprisingly slow. Miller finished 21st, 1.47 seconds off the pace.

As Miller was settling into his tuck on the upper flat, his right foot washed out from under him. He lost his footing several times after that and never looked in control.

Evgeni Plushenko won the men’s figure skating competition in the Cup of Russia Grand Prix at St. Petersburg with a free program that was off his best, but good enough to easily beat world champion Stephane Lambiel.

American Johnny Weir was third after missing two intended triples.

World champion Irina Slutskaya won the women’s event with a personal-best free program score of 130.48 points. Her final score of 198.06 was more than 25 points ahead of second-place Miki Ando of Japan. Yoshie Onda of Japan won the bronze.

Jennifer Rodriguez and Shani Davis gave the U.S. team a sweep in the women’s and men’s 1,000 meters, respectively, in a World Cup speedskating meet at West Allis, Wis.

Rodriguez had a winning time of 1 minute 15.50 seconds, and Davis won in 1:08.33.

Marit Bjorgen of Norway won the women’s 10-kilometer classic-style cross-country race at Kuusamo, Finland, for her third consecutive World Cup victory this season.

Bjorgen, the World Cup champion, finished in 26:33.0.

Tobias Angerer of Germany won the men’s 15-kilometer classic in 36:32.8.

Markus Kleinheinz of Austria defeated Tony Benshoof of the U.S. by .015 of a second to win the men’s singles race in a luge World Cup event at Altenberg, Germany.

Kleinheinz used a strong first heat to finish in 1:48.826 and Benshoof finished in 1:48.841.

GOLF

Allenby Increases Lead

in Australian Open

Robert Allenby of Australia shot an even-par 72 for a nine-under 207 total to increase his lead to five strokes in the Australian Open at Fingal despite a hand injury that might force him to withdraw from the tournament.

Toru Taniguchi of Japan shot a four-under 68 to take a one-stroke lead after the third round of the Casio World Open at Kochi, Japan.

SOCCER

New Mexico Edges

Cal State Northridge

Jeff Rowland scored in overtime at Albuquerque to lead New Mexico to a 1-0 victory over Cal State Northridge and a spot in the quarterfinals of the NCAA men’s tournament.

In another game, Jeff Serafini scored with less than two minutes left in overtime to give California a 3-2 victory over Wake Forest at Berkeley to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in school history.

Hernan Crespo and Frank Lampard scored and Chelsea defeated host Portsmouth, 2-0, to increase its lead in the English Premier League to 11 points over Arsenal, which moved into second place with a 3-0 victory at home over Blackburn.

At Munich, Claudio Pizarro scored twice and Bayern Munich increased its lead in the Bundesliga to six points with a 2-1 victory over Mainz.

At Valencia, David Villa and Fabio Aurelio scored to give the hosts a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo and lift it to fourth place in the Spanish league.

At Milan, Filippo Inzaghi scored the winner in injury time and AC Milan beat Lecce, 2-1, to move within two points of Italian league leader Juventus.

MISCELLANY

Byrd Reportedly

Gets Oriole Offer

The Baltimore Sun is reporting in today’s editions that the Orioles have made a two-year contract offer for between $10 million and $13 million to Paul Byrd, increasing the competition for the free-agent right-hander.

The Baltimore offer also includes an option for a third year. The Texas Rangers have reportedly made a two-year offer to Byrd, and the 34-year-old veteran is believed to have a three-year offer from an unidentified team.

The Angels’ initial offer to Byrd, who went 12-11 with a 3.74 earned-run average in 31 starts in 2005, was for one year and a little more than $5 million, only a slight raise from Byrd’s 2005 salary.

It is not known whether the Angels have increased their offer, but the fact that Byrd remains unsigned after expressing in October a desire to return to Anaheim is an indication he is not satisfied with the Angels’ offer.

-- Mike DiGiovanna

Nastia Liukin scored 9.662 to win the uneven bars in the gymnastics world championships at Melbourne, Australia, and fellow American Chellsie Memmel scored 9.587 to finish second.

American Alicia Sacramone won the bronze in the women’s vault.

Johnny Nelson (45-12-2) of Britain retained the World Boxing Organization cruiserweight title, outpointing challenger Vincenzo Cantatore (30-4-1) of Italy in a split decision at Rome.