MUNICH — Ivica Kostelic of Croatia and Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden won the first parallel slaloms in the World Cup on Sunday.
Kostelic, a slalom specialist, beat Julien Lizeroux of France in the two heats in the final by a total of 1.61 seconds. That gave Kostelic 100 points in the World Cup overall standings.
In the women’s final, Pietilae- Holmner trailed Tina Maze of Slovenia by 0.12 seconds after the first heat but came back to win by 0.47 seconds.
Skiers raced side by side down a 200-meter course that contained 20 gates. More than 25,000 fans attended Olympiapark in downtown Munich, which used the event to promote its bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
“I genuinely hope it’s not the future of ski racing,” American Bode Miller said. “It’s not the tradition of ski racing. This is for show.”
Orioles pitcher is murder suspect
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Baltimore Orioles reliever Alfredo Simon is the main suspect in a fatal shooting New Year’s Eve in the Dominican Republic, police said.
The pitcher is suspected of killing Michel Castillo Almonte, 25, and wounding his 17-year-old brother during a celebration in the northeast coastal town of Luperon, police said. No motive was disclosed. Simon is from the Dominican Republic, and police said he fled after the violence.
Canadians reach semifinals
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Canada reached the semifinals of the World Junior Championships with a 4-1 win over Switzerland.
Ryan Johansen, Casey Cizikas, Louis Leblanc and Zack Kassian scored, and Mark Visentin made 21 saves to earn Canada a game against the U.S. The winner will advance to the gold-medal game.
Serbs open with sweep
PERTH, Australia — Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic combined to give Serbia a 3-0 sweep over Kazakhstan in their opening match at the Hopman Cup.
Ivanovic defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6 (6), 6-1 in the first match before Djokovic clinched the victory by rallying to beat Andrey Golubev 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. The duo completed the sweep with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win in the mixed doubles of the annual mixed-teams event.
Defending Dakar champ first
CORDOBA, Argentina — Defending champion Carlos Sainz won the first stage of the Dakar Rally, covering the 138-mile course in 2 hours, 18 minutes, 32 seconds.
Sainz’s Volkswagen was 1:31 ahead of second-place Stephane Peterhansel in a BMW and 2:16 in front of Volkswagen teammate Nasser Al Attiyah. American driver Mark Miller was fourth, 4:17 behind in another Volkswagen.
Kansas names its new AD
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas hired Sheahon Zenger as its athletic director.
The former Illinois State athletic director replaces Lew Perkins, who retired in September after a ticket scandal and accusations of personal misconduct.
The Associated Press
