In brief

Bode's bounty finally includes overall world title

By Times staff writer, Times wires
Published March 13, 2005

LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland - Bode Miller became the first American in 22 years to win skiing's overall World Cup title.

The skier who grew up in a cabin without running water or electricity in New Hampshire clinched on Saturday by finishing ahead of Benjamin Raich in the season's final giant slalom. The last Americans to win overall titles were Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney in 1983.

"I've gone from being a kid everyone made fun of, to a World Cup racer who could never finish, to the guy who could have won the overall but crumbled at the end of the season. Then this," Miller said.

Miller finished the season fourth in 2002, runner-up in 2003 and fourth again last year.

He was not the only American enjoying a big day. Sarah Schleper earned her first career victory in the season's final slalom. Janica Kostelic was second and closed within 35 points of overall leader Anja Paerson going into today's season-ending giant slalom.

SPEED SKATING: Chinese women took all three medals at 500 meters and Francois-Louis Tremblay won the men's 500, edging fellow Canadian Charles Hamelin, at the Short Track World Championships in Beijing.

Fredrik Ljungberg scored for Arsenal as it won 1-0 at Bolton to reach the semifinals of the FA Cup and defending champion Manchester United beat Southampton 4-0 behind American goalkeeper Tim Howard. Paul Scholes scored twice for Manchester United.

TOO MANY THREATS: Swedish referee Anders Frisk, 42, is retiring after receiving death threats following a Champions League match last month.

Ireland won the $50,000 Nations Cup late Friday at the Palm Beach Equestrian Club in Wellington. Kevin Babington and his mount, It's Morado, had the only double-clear performance on the two-round course of 15 jumping efforts with a double and triple combination and an open water jump. Other members of the winning team were Darragh Kerins on Galaad Du Murier, Jennifer Crooks on S.F. Cassandra and Conor Swail on Lavaro. "Now we've put ourselves at the top," said Ireland's chef d'equipe, Eddie Macken. The Irish team had 12 jumping faults and received $16,000. The British team (26 faults) was second followed by Argentina (30), Canada (33) and the United States (35).

- CHRIS COSDON, Times staff writer

Andy Roddick survived a scare in his opening match, winning a third-set tiebreaker to beat Fernando Verdasco at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Calif. Roddick dominated the tiebreaker to win 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2). For the women, No. 1 Lindsay Davenport beat Sesil Karatantcheva 6-3, 6-2.

Robert Sorlie was in the lead at the checkpoint at Eagle Island, about two-thirds of the way through the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Friday's front-runner, Paul Gebhardt, took his mandatory 24-hour layover and dropped to 14th. One of his dogs died about half an hour outside of Anvik.

The Swedish Elite League suspended Peter Nordstrom two games for cross-checking superstar Peter Forsberg in a playoff game. Forsberg sat out Saturday's Game 5 of a best-of-seven series with a concussion.

HURRICANES: Jeff O'Neill was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in Raleigh, N.C, near his home. He was released after his driver's license was revoked for 30 days.

CYCLING: American Bobby Julich retained the overall lead of the Paris-Nice race. Joost Posthuma won the sixth stage, a 114-mile ride from La Crau to Cannes.

BOXING: Markus Beyer retained his WBC super middleweight title with a majority decision over Danny Green in Zwickau, Germany, Beyer's home country.

[Last modified March 13, 2005, 00:23:15]