Maier Sparks Austrian Sweep

With Bode Miller taking the weekend off, Steven Nyman of Orem, Utah, recorded a career-best in the downhill Saturday.

Hermann Maier led an Austrian sweep in the World Cup event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, marking his third victory of the season and first in a downhill.

Miller, of Franconia, N.H., the reigning overall World Cup champion, decided to rest before the Turin Olympics, which start in less than two weeks.

Nyman took advantage of an early start to finish fourth, just .44 of a second behind Maier and .16 from a third-place medal.

Daron Rahlves, of Sugar Bowl, Calif., winner of three downhills this season, finished 14th in 1:58.84 after almost being thrown off the bumpy course.

“My legs are shaking. It’s so exciting,” the 23-year-old Nyman said. “Every turn I kept saying ‘You can do it!’ and then I’d be like ‘Yeah, I did it!’ ”

Nyman, who started third and benefited from a clean course, finished with a personal-best 1:58.00. His previous best was sixth in a combined in Austria. He tied for 14th in the World Cup downhill in November at Lake Louise, Canada.

Maier was exhausted at the finish after covering the 2.15-mile course in 1:57.56 for his 53rd career win. Klaus Kroell finished second in 1:57.83, improving his chances of being selected to the Austrian Olympic team. Andreas Buder was third in 1:57.84.

“At the second interval I was already so tired, I was wondering what was going on,” Maier said.

“This race is one of the hardest I can remember. It was so fast and so bumpy, especially with a late start number the course was chopped up.”

Rahlves was the favorite after two excellent training runs. But starting 27th, he struggled with the ruts and grooves.

“I hit this one bump and got high-sided, and I kind of went in there with way too much aggression today,” he said.

Benjamin Raich of Austria, who abandoned the course when he missed a gate, is still the overall leader with 952 points.

Reigning World Cup downhill champion Michael Walchhofer of Austria is second with 730, followed by Rahlves with 707. Miller is fourth at 688, and Maier trails him by three points.

*

Renate Goetschl of Austria won her first downhill race of the season, Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Calif., finished second and Michaela Dorfmeister clinched the season title by finishing fourth.

Goetschl won for a record ninth time at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, covering a shortened course in 1 minute 9.64 seconds. Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark won eight times in Madonna di Campiglio.

Mancuso, who finished .05 of a second behind, duplicated her runner-up result in Friday’s super-G. Austrian Elisabeth Goergl was third with a time of 1:09.94.

Janica Kostelic of Croatia finished 13th and retained her lead in the overall World Cup standings.

*

Competing in her first international figure skating event as a senior, 16-year-old Katy Taylor of Houston won the Four Continents title at Colorado Springs. She finished with 164.05 points. Yukari Nakano of Japan was second at 161.49.

Beatrisa Liang of Granada Hills, who led after the short program, finished third after falling once and appearing to two-foot another jump. She had 159.91 points.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

North Beats South in Senior Bowl

Charlie Whitehurst’s passing and Daniel Bullocks’ special teams plays led the North to a 31-14 victory over the South in the Senior Bowl at Mobile, Ala.

Whitehurst, of Clemson, completed seven of nine passes for 90 yards, including a 15-yard scoring pass to Colorado tight end Joe Klopfenstein.

Nebraska’s Bullocks recovered two fumbled punts, including one in the end zone for a score and setting up the final touchdown with the other in the fourth quarter. USC tight end Dominique Byrd was the game’s top receiver. He had four catches for 67 yards.

BOXING

Gatti Stops Damgaard and Wins IBA Title

Arturo Gatti beat previously undefeated Thomas Damgaard at Atlantic City, N.J., stopping him in the 11th round to win the International Boxing Assn. welterweight title.

Fighting at 147 pounds for the first time in five years, Gatti (40-7) effectively switched to a left-handed stance and connected on left-hand leads and right uppercuts to neutralize Damgaard’s power.

The end came when Damgaard (37-1) took a hard right to the face that left him wobbly. Referee Lindsey Page Jr. stepped in and stopped it at 2:54 of the 11th.

*

Markus Beyer of Germany knocked out Alberto Colajanni of Italy with 48 seconds left in the 12th round at Berlin to retain the World Boxing Council super-middleweight title. Beyer improved to 33-2 with 13 knockouts.

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL Network Package to Start Thanksgiving

As expected, the NFL Network will broadcast eight prime-time games on Thursdays and Saturdays beginning next season. The eight-game package, announced by Commissioner Paul Tagliabue on Saturday, will begin with a game on Thanksgiving night.

All of the games also will be shown on local stations in the teams’ home markets. The package was created by taking Saturday and Sunday games that originally would have been shown by the league’s broadcast partners.

*

Nate Coggins and Nick Ward each returned an interception for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, leading the Georgia Force to a 48-31 victory over the visiting Orlando Predators in an Arena League game.... Clint Stoerner threw for 254 yards and four touchdowns and the Nashville Kats beat the host New York Dragons, 57-28.... The visiting Utah Blaze defeated the San Jose SabreCats, 48-35.

MOTOR RACING

Ganassi Team Leads Endurance Race

Chip Ganassi Racing was in control as the 44th Rolex 24-hour endurance race hit the halfway mark a few minutes after midnight at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Both Lexus Riley Daytona Prototypes were battling it out for the top spot on Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile, 14-turn road circuit.

The car driven by Indy Racing League champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon, former IRL champion Scott Dixon and NASCAR’s Casey Mears was out front, trailed just over a lap back by teammates Scott Pruett, Max Papis and Luis Diaz.

*

Kawasaki’s James Stewart beat Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael in the Amp’d Mobile World Supercross GP/AMA Supercross race at San Francisco.

MISCELLANY

Arsenal Eliminated From English FA Cup

Arsenal was eliminated from the English FA Cup with a 1-0 loss to Bolton. Stelios Giannakopoulos scored the goal with a diving header in the 84th minute to help knock the defending champions out of the competition. Arsenal won the FA Cup three of the previous four seasons.

*

The Oakland Athletics signed Mark Ellis to a two-year, $6-million contract, rewarding their second baseman for his strong comeback season last year from a major shoulder injury.

Ellis batted a career-high .316 with 13 home runs and 52 runs batted in.

*

The Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles approved grants totaling $2.3 million to organizations that provide sports opportunities to youngsters in California, bringing to $155 million the amount it has invested in youth sports programs and other sports-related programs since its inception in 1984.

The AAF is endowed with Southern California’s share of the surplus from the 1984 Olympics.

Among the notable grants was $590,000 to Kids In Sports, which serves more than 9,000 area youngsters from 7 to 17.

The Southern California Speedskating Assn., which nurtured Olympians Rusty Smith and Maria Garcia, got $97,750, and the Southern California Tennis Assn. will get $175,000.

-- Helene Elliott