Roundup: Richard Freitag of Germany wins ski jump World Cup

Richard Freitag flew 209.0 meters in the first heat and 206.5 in the second to collect 409.8 points.

Michaela Rehle/Reuters

OBERSTDORF, Germany (AP) -- Richard Freitag of Germany did just enough to win a closely contested ski jump World Cup event on Saturday, while Austria's Gregor Schlierenzauer extended his overall lead by finishing third.

Freitag flew 209.0 meters in the first heat and 206.5 in the second to collect 409.8 points - just 0.3 more than Norway's Andreas Stjernen, whose second jump of 212 meters was the longest of the day. It was Freitag's second World Cup victory.

Schlierenzauer jumped 204 and 206.5 meters for 409 points. With six meets remaining, the Austrian leads the standings with 1,320 points, more than 500 points ahead of Norwegians Anders Bardal and Anders Jacobsen in second and third, respectively.

Sara Takanashi wins women's ski jump World Cup event

LJUBNO, Slovenia -- Sara Takanashi of Japan won a women's ski jump World Cup event Saturday to extend her lead in the overall standings.

The 16-year-old Takanashi had jumps of 88.5 and 88 meters on the normal hill to earn a total of 225.1 points for her seventh victory of the season. Sarah Hendrickson of the United States was second on 214.2 points, with Coline Mattel of France another 2.1 points back in third.

Takanashi has dominated the women's World Cup this season and leads the overall standings with 1,037 points, with Hendrickson second on 787.

Torin Yater-Wallace wins halfpipe World Cup event

SOCHI, Russia -- Torin Yater-Wallace led an American 1-2 finish Saturday in the men's freestyle skiing halfpipe event, his second World Cup victory this season.

Switzerland's Virginie Faivre won the women's race ahead of two Canadians at Roza Khutor Extreme Park - the venue for halfpipe's Olympic debut at next year's Sochi Games.

Yater-Wallace fell at the end of his first run but responded in the second heat and was awarded 93.8 points. Gus Kenworthy also had a better second run to secure second place with 90.0 points. Canadian Mike Riddle had the best score in the first run but fell on his second attempt to finish third.

Faivre scored 80.8 points for her first World Cup victory this season. Rosalind Groenewoud was second with 79.0 and Keltie Hansen had 76.4 for third.

Yater-Wallace leads the halfpipe World Cup standings with 280 points after four of five events this season, with fellow American David Wise second on 205 points. Wise beat Yater-Wallace for the X-Games title but finished fifth on Saturday. Riddle has 200 points for third.

Faivre, the reigning world champion, leads the women's standings with 232 points. Maddie Bowman of the U.S. dropped to second place, eight points behind Faivre, after falling on both of her runs Saturday and finishing 11th. Japan's Ayana Onozuka is third with 216.

The final halfpipe World Cup event is scheduled for March 25 in Sierra Nevada, Spain, while the Olympic test events continue Sunday with aerials.

Alexe Poltoranin, Justyna Kowalczyk win cross-country WCup races

DAVOS, Switzerland -- Alexey Poltoranin of Kazakhstan and Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland had dominating sprint victories Saturday at a cross-country World Cup meet in Davos.

Poltoranin beat overall World Cup leader Dario Cologna of Switzerland by 5.49 seconds in the men's 1.5-kilometer classical race, with Federico Pellegrino of Italy third, 6.02 back.

With the world championships starting next week, Kowalczyk issued a statement to her main rival Marit Bjoergen by beating the Norwegian triple Olympic champion by 2.85 seconds in the women's final. Anne Kylloenen of Finland was third, 6.06 seconds back.

Cologna leads the men's overall standings with 1,093 points, 119 ahead of Alexander Legkov of Russia. Kowalczyk has all but wrapped up the women's overall title, holding a lead of more than 500 points ahead of second-place Therese Johaug of Norway.