Miller falls and doesn’t finish

Bode Miller straddled a gate, lost a ski and took a tumble. It could get worse.

Miller, of Bretton Woods, N.H., has only two more chances to qualify for the slalom at next week’s world championships after crashing during the opening leg of a World Cup race Saturday at Kitzbuehel, Austria.

The race, won by Jens Byggmark of Sweden, was run under heavy snowfalls, and that didn’t make it any easier for Miller.

Miller is looking to become the first skier to collect world championship gold medals in all five disciplines. The missing gold is in the slalom. He hit the gate midway down the first run, then hiked back up two sets of gates to rerun it. Moments later, he lost his right ski on a left turn and crashed.

Byggmark, 21, stunned the favorites for his first World Cup victory with a combined time of 1 minute 43.74 seconds. Mario Matt was second in 1:44.61. Alois Vogl was third in 1:45.22.

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Renate Goetschl won her third consecutive downhill and moved atop the overall World Cup standings. It was her 44th World Cup victory and sixth this season.

Goetschl, who led an all-Austrian podium at San Sicario, Italy, skied the course used for last year’s Turin Olympics in 1 minute 51.65 seconds. Elisabeth Goergl was second, 1.17 seconds behind. Maria Holaus was third.

GOLF

Funk shoots 64 for Turtle Bay lead

Fred Funk shot an eight-under-par 64 to take a three-stroke lead after the second round of the Turtle Bay Championship at Kahuku, Hawaii.

Funk broke the tournament record with a 15-under 129 total. Kiyoshi Murota shot a 65 to finish at 12 under. Tom Kite (66) was another stroke behind in the Champions Tour’s first full-field event of the year.

TRACK AND FIELD

Lagat gets first victory as American citizen

Bernard Lagat led from start to finish and won the 1,500 meters at the Norwich Union indoor meet at Glasgow, Scotland, for his first win as a U.S. athlete, then took a victory lap carrying an American flag.

Lagat, who won in 3 minutes 45.55 seconds to beat former Kenyan teammate Laban Rotich by a little more than a second, switched to U.S. citizenship after winning the silver medal in the 1,500 meters at the 2004 Olympics.

BASEBALL

Red Sox, Rockies in talks about trade for Helton

The Colorado Rockies are in talks to trade first baseman Todd Helton to the Boston Red Sox in a deal that could send third baseman Mike Lowell and right-handed reliever Julian Tavarez to Colorado, according to reports.

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Jeff Weaver and the Seattle Mariners have just about finalized a one-year contract worth $8,325,000 -- the same salary he had last season with the St. Louis Cardinals.

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Loren Foxx, who has worked in the front office of the Kansas City Brigade Arena League football team and an independent league baseball team, was named general manager of the Inland Empire 66ers, a first-year Class-A affiliate of the Dodgers.

-- Steve Henson

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Smith helps North win Senior Bowl

Ohio State’s Troy Smith outplayed Florida’s Chris Leak in a rematch of quarterbacks from the Bowl Championship Series title game, leading the North to three scores and a 27-0 victory over the South in the Senior Bowl at Mobile, Ala.

Smith’s 52 passing yards included a seven-yard touchdown pass to Washington State’s Jason Hill.

MOTOR RACING

Montoya’s team leads Daytona endurance race

The Lexus Riley driven by Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett and Salvador Duran held a slim lead over two other Daytona Prototypes after the first seven hours of the Rolex 24 sports car endurance race at Daytona Beach, Fla.

PASSINGS

Worsley, 77; Hall of Fame goaltender

Gump Worsley, a Hall of Fame goalie who didn’t wear a mask until the final season of his 21-year NHL career, has died. He was 77.