Richardson wins 3rd title at U.S. long track meet

Heather Richardson, shown here at a Dec. 9 event in Nagano, Japan, set a U.S. record in winning the 1,500 meters Sunday.

Ken Ishii/Getty Images

KEARNS, Utah (AP) -- Heather Richardson won her third title in three days at the U.S. Long Track Championships, setting a national record in winning the 1,500 meters Sunday. Brian Hansen won the men's race.

Richardson's time of 1 minute, 53.84 seconds at the Utah Olympic Oval lowered the old mark of 1:54.19 set by former Olympian Jennifer Rodriguez in 2009. She won the 500 on Friday with the fastest time in the world this year and claimed the 1,000 on Saturday, setting national records in both races.

"It's just a confidence wave," Richardson said. "My first one carried into the 1,000 and after the 1,000 I said to myself, `I only have one more race to go,' so today I was just really working on my technique. When you don't worry about that stuff, it just happens."

Hansen won his first 1,500 national title in 1:44.96. Olympian Shani Davis was second at 1:46.55, and Joey Mantia took third in 1:47.13.

The results were a flip-flop of Saturday's 1,000, when Davis won and Hansen finished second.

The meet ends Monday.

Vylegzhanin, Kowalczyk win 2nd leg of Tour de Ski

OBERHOF, Germany (AP) -- Russia's Maxim Vylegzhanin won the second stage of the Tour de Ski on Sunday and took the overall lead in the seven-leg World Cup event.

He edged teammate Alexander Legkov in a 15-kilometer classical pursuit. Vylegzhanin finished 0.1 seconds ahead of Legkov, with prologue winner Petter Northug of Norway 6.5 seconds behind in third.

Vylegzhanin leads Legkov by 5.1 seconds entering Tuesday's sprint stage in Val Muestair, Switzerland, before the tour moves to Italy.

Defending champion Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland won the women's 9K pursuit by 41.4 seconds over Therese Johaug of Norway. Johaug trails Kowalczyk by 46.4 seconds in the standings.

Anne Kylloenen of Finland was third. Prologue winner Kikkan Randall of the U.S. dropped to 14th.

Norway's Jacobsen takes Four Hills Tour opener

OBERSTDORF, Germany (AP) -- Former champion Anders Jacobsen of Norway mastered tricky wind conditions to win the opening stage of the prestigious Four Hills ski jumping competition Sunday.

Jacobsen had the top points total in both jumps to win comfortably ahead of defending champion and World Cup leader Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria. Severin Freund of Germany was third.

Jacobsen put together jumps of 138 meters and 139 meters and benefited from good tactical decisions from his coaches, who lowered his starting gate in the second heat, giving him a bigger points bonus.

The Norwegian won the Four Hills Tour in 2007. Jacobsen sat out last season.

The 2010 tour winner, Thomas Morgenstern of Austria, failed to qualify for the second heat after getting hit by unfavorable wind.