First Norwegian wins downhill

Aksel Lund Svindal became the first Norwegian to win the downhill gold medal in the world championships at Are, Sweden.

Jan Hudec of Canada won the silver medal Sunday, and 37-year-old Patrik Jaerbyn of Sweden took the bronze to become the oldest skier to medal at the worlds. Defending champion Bode Miller was unable to hold an early lead and finished seventh.

Svindal, who won the downhill at Are in the World Cup finals last season, hurtled down the Olympia course in 1 minute 44.68 seconds for his first major championship title.

“It’s a good day for Aksel and for Norway,” he said. “I need a few minutes of silence to realize what I’ve done.”

It was the best downhill result by a Norwegian man at the Olympics or world championships. Helen Marken won the women’s Olympic downhill at Nagano, Japan, in 1998.

Miller was leading by 0.01 seconds at the top split but went through fog that briefly shrouded part of the course and nearly fell.

Anja Paerson won the downhill in her home country, becoming the first skier to win gold medals in all five disciplines at the world championships.

Lindsey Kildow won the silver and Nicole Hosp of Austria took the bronze.

Paerson also won the super-G and combined titles this week. The Swede won the gold in the giant slalom at the last two worlds and one in the slalom in 2001.

She raced down the WM Strecke course in 1:26.89. At the Turin Olympics, she was third in the downhill.

Kildow, who took the silver behind Paerson in the super-G, made a mistake coming off a jump on the upper part of the course and took silver in 1:27.29.

TENNIS

Petrova defeats Safarova

to win the Gaz de France

Nadia Petrova came back from a set down to beat Lucie Safarova, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, and win the Gaz de France at Paris.

Petrova won her seventh title, her first since beating Tatiana Golovin at Stuttgart, Germany, in October.

The 20-year-old Safarova beat three top-10 players to reach the final.

Sybille Bammer saved three match points to beat Gisela Dulko, 7-5 3-6 7-5, at the Pattaya Women’s Open at Bangkok, Thailand.

The sixth-seeded Dulko had a chance to win the match but committed a series of unforced errors in the deciding set, which opened the door for the unseeded Bammer to win.

The start of a WTA Tour event at Bangalore, India, was delayed a day because of a planned strike in the area aimed at shutting down public services and private businesses.

The Ericsson International, already hurt by the withdrawal of Serena Williams, will begin Tuesday.

BASEBALL

Twins sign Mauer

to a four-year deal

AL batting champion Joe Mauer and the Minnesota Twins agreed to a $33-million, four-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration and giving one of the team’s young stars the security of a long-term deal.

The 23-year-old catcher hit .347 with 84 runs batted in last year to help the Twins rally from a 12 1/2 -game deficit to win the AL Central on the final day of the regular season.

He played in his first All-Star game last summer.

Mauer became the first catcher to lead the majors in batting average and the first AL catcher to win the batting title.

Pitcher Oscar Villareal agreed to a $925,000, one-year contract with the Atlanta Braves.

Villareal, who made $552,500 last year, pitched 58 games for the Braves last season, all but four of them in relief. He went 9-1 with a 3.61 earned-run average.

MISCELLANY

Ronaldo makes his

debut with AC Milan

Inter Milan won its 15th straight game in the Italian league by stopping Chievo Verona, 2-0, in a stadium without fans, and Ronaldo made his debut in AC Milan’s victory.

The country’s top league resumed more than a week after all pro soccer in Italy was suspended because of fan violence.

Adriano put Inter ahead in the first minute with a shot from the left side of the penalty area and Hernan Crespo scored the second in the 51st.

The game was one of four in Serie A played in an empty stadium. The stadiums had failed to meet new security standards put in place after the death of a police officer in rioting at the Catania-Palermo game Feb. 2.

Ronaldo, wearing a No. 99 jersey, came on as a substitute in the 63rd minute for his first appearance for Milan since joining from Real Madrid last week. Milan beat Livorno, 2-1.

Ronaldinho scored his 14th and 15th goals of the season to help FC Barcelona beat Racing Santander, 2-0, and increase its lead to three points in the Spanish league.

Fox Sports was expected to announce today the hiring of former Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros as a game and studio analyst. Karros, who spent 12 season with the Dodgers, retired after appearing in 40 games for the Oakland Athletics in 2004. He spent the last two seasons working for ESPN. Karros was also expected to be involved in Channel 9’s Dodgers coverage.

Fox was also expected to announce the hiring of Mark Grace and Joe Girardi to serve as game and studio commentators.

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-- Larry Stewart