Winter Roundup: Svendsen wins men's biathlon sprint at worlds

NOVE MESTO, Czech Republic (AP) -- Emil Hegle Svendsen won gold in the 10-kilometer sprint on Saturday for his second title at the biathlon world championships, while Olena Pidhrushna of Ukraine won the 7.5K race.

Svendsen overcame one penalty lap to cover the distance in 23 minutes, 25.1 seconds. On Thursday, Svendsen anchored Norway to victory in the mixed relay in the opening discipline of the championships.

Defending champion and overall World Cup leader Martin Fourcade of France finished 8.1 seconds behind for the silver after also missing one target.

Jakov Fak of Slovenia shot clean to finish 11.2 seconds behind Svendsen in third, while six-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway was fourth, 19.9 seconds back.

Pidhrushna shot flawlessly to win in 21 minutes, 2.1 seconds, edging World Cup leader Tora Berger of Norway by 6.4 seconds. Pidhrushna's teammate Vita Semerenko got the bronze.

Zoggeler leads Italian luge sweep at Lake Placid

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) -- Olympic and world champion Armin Zoggeler earned his 55th title and led an Italian sweep of the men's luge World Cup Saturday at Mount Van Hoevenberg.

The 39-year-old Zoggeler had a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 44.655 seconds to beat 19-year-old Dominik Fischnaller by 0.21 seconds. David Mair was third in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The three American sliders had career-best performances in the World Cup event. Chris Mazdzer of Saranac Lake, N.Y. was fifth, Taylor Morris of South Jordan, Utah, was seventh and Joe Mortensen of Huntington Station, N.Y. was 11th.

Germany clinched the overall title in the World Cup Team Relay, followed by the United States and Italy.

Natalie Geisenberger, Ralf Palik and the doubles sled of Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt had a combined time of 2 minutes, 34.894 seconds to edge the U.S. team by 0.10 seconds.

The American team, which had its best finish of the season, consisted of Julia Clukey of Augusta, Me., Chris Mazder of Saranac Lake, N.Y, Matthew Mortensen of Huntington Station, N.Y. and Preston Griffall of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The team relay, which will be an Olympic medal sport at the Soch Olympics, combines women's, men's and doubles into a timed event.

Ireen Wust wins 1,500-meter World Cup race

INZELL, Germany (AP) -- Olympic champion Ireen Wust of the Netherlands won the 1,500-meter race at a speedskating World Cup event on Saturday.

Wust clocked 1 minute, 55.95 seconds, while teammate Diane Valkenburg was 0.47 seconds behind. Yekaterina Shikhova of Russia was third.

Marrit Leenstra of the Netherlands finished sixth to take over the lead in World Cup standings in the discipline.

Slovenia wins team ski jumping World Cup

WILLINGEN, Germany (AP) -- Peter Prevc soared 143 and 142 meters to lead Slovenia to victory at a ski jumping World Cup on Saturday.

Jurij Tepes and Jaka Hvala each went 140 meters as Slovenia collected a winning total of 990.4 points.

Norway's foursome, led by Anders Bardal's 142.5, took second with 972.5 points.

Germany took third.

Previous leader Christine Nesbitt of Canada skipped the event.

Women's ski jump WCup event in Japan called off

YAMAGATA, Japan (AP) -- Strong winds forced organizers to call off a women's ski jump World Cup event at the Zao ski resort in Japan and move it to Sunday.

Saturday's competition was called off after 27 of the 33 jumpers made it through the first round, which was delayed three times by the wind conditions.

The normal hill competition will now be held Sunday morning as part of a doubleheader with a previously scheduled World Cup event later in the day.

Overall World Cup leader Sara Takanashi of Japan will be seeking her fifth victory of the season after being denied a chance to win on home soil in last weekend's event in Sapporo.