Sports in brief

Times staff, wires
Saturday, March 19, 2011

winter sports

race cancellation costs vonn title

LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — Maria Riesch of Germany ended American Lindsey Vonn's three-year reign as Alpine skiing's women's overall World Cup champion without putting on her skis. She clinched the title after the final race was canceled Saturday because of poor weather.

The best friends and rivals were set for a dramatic showdown in the season-ending giant slalom with Riesch holding a three-point lead. But race officials ruled the course unfit after days of rain, wet snow and warm weather.

"I'm really, really happy finally to have won," said Riesch, who was runnerup to Vonn the past two seasons.

Vonn said in a statement she was "devastated" to have been denied the chance to retain her title. She won discipline titles this season in the downhill, super-G and super-combined.

The decision to cancel the race was not taken lightly, International Ski Federation spokeswoman Riikka Rakic said. "It's not skiable. Working with these kind of snow conditions, we don't have any tools that would make it a fair race," she said.

more alpine skiing: Men's World Cup overall champion Ivica Kostelic added the slalom title, and Guiliano Razzoli won the final race in thick fog at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.



Tennis

Djokovic ousts Federer, faces Nadal in final

Novak Djokovic outlasted Roger Federer 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to reach the BNP Paribas Open final in Indian Wells, Calif., while knocking Federer from the No. 2 spot in the world. Djokovic and Federer will switch spots when the rankings are released Monday, with the No. 3 Serbian moving up and Federer falling .

Djokovic plays top-ranked Rafael Nadal in today's final. Nadal beat Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-4. Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki plays Marion Bartoli in today's women's final.

colleges

Cal takes women's swimming title

California won its second women's swimming and diving championship in three years by outscoring Georgia 392 to 3541/2 in Austin, Texas.

In Saturday's finals, Georgia won the 400-yard freestyle in an American record 3 minutes, 11.03 seconds, with a team that included Megan Romano of St. Petersburg and Melanie Margalis of Clearwater. Romano, a sophomore, was sixth in the 100 free final, and Georgia senior Chelsea Nauta of Tampa was sixth in the 1,650 freestyle final.

wrestling: Penn State, led by 184-pound champion Quentin Wright, won its first title in 58 years, outpointing Cornell 1071/2 to 931/2 in Philadelphia.

et cetera

boxing: Vitali Klitschko KO'd Odlanier Solis in the first round to retain his WBC heavyweight title in Cologne, Germany.

FISHING: Alton Jones' three-day total of 60 pounds, 10 ounces leads going into today's final round of the Bassmaster Power-Pole Citrus Slam on the St. Johns River in Palatka. He leads by 2-9 over Edwin Evers.

Horses: Todd Pletcher trainee Doubles Partner ($6.60) rallied in deep stretch under Julien Leparoux to win the Grade III $125,000 Tampa Bay Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar. Doubles Partner clocked 11/16 miles on the turf in 1 minute, 40.67 seconds. Rahystrada was second, Voodoo Swinge third.

nfl: Locked-out players wrote to commissioner Roger Goodell, rejecting his contention in a letter to all players Thursday that the league had offered a fair deal in negotiating sessions. The letter was signed by the 11 members of the executive council of the dissolved union. NFL executive VP Jeff Pash said, "We are pleased now to have received a reply to the comprehensive proposal that we made eight days ago."

soccer: Fulham's Clint Dempsey became the first American to score 10 goals in an England Premier League season in a 2-1 loss to Everton. Manchester United beat Bolton 1-0.

Don Jensen, Times correspondent; Times wires

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/sports-in-brief/1158572

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