In brief

Bode race wobbly, exit sound

By wire services
Published November 27, 2005

TRIATHLON

Registration for the 23rd annual St. Anthony's Triathlon opens Thursday. Last year, registration closed in a record 24 hours. To register, visit www.satriathlon.com or call 727 825-1271 to request an entry form. The event is scheduled for April 29-30 in St. Petersburg.

In the end, Bode Miller 's best move was a nimble jump over the fencing in the finish area that allowed him to avoid explaining his tumultuous run at the season's first World Cup downhill race on Saturday.

Miller entered the race as a favorite, but never looked in contention as he wobbled down the men's Olympic course barely in control to finish a distant 22nd, 1.47 seconds off the pace set by reigning Olympic champion Fritz Strobl .

Miller, the first American to win the overall title in 22 years, appeared unruffled in the finish area, but avoided waiting television crews and journalists by leaping over a mesh fence to make an escape.

BIATHLON: Stian Eckhoff and Uschi Disl combined to win in Ostersund, Sweden. Eckhoff finished the 10-kilometer sprint event in 23 minutes, 7.6 seconds, and Disl, a 35-year-old veteran, captured the women's 7.5K event in 22:00.1 for her 30th victory.

CUP OF RUSSIA: Irina Slutskaya won in St. Petersburg, Russia, with a personal-best free program score of 198.06, more than 25 points ahead of runner up Miki Ando .

SKIING: Marit Bjorgen won the women's 10-kilometer classic style cross country race held in Kuusamo, Finland, in 26:33 for her third straight of the season.

SKI JUMP: Jakub Janda won the Kuusamo, Finland, season opener with a single ski jump, and Robert Kranjec captured his first win with two jumps.

Fans pay tribute to Best

Thousands of mourners of soccer star George Best turned Old Trafford stadium into a shrine, leaving flowers, scarves and written tributes. At games across Britain, fans observed a minute of silence before Saturday's matches. In Scotland, at Celtic's home match against Dunfermline, fans broke into a minute's applause before kickoff.

Best is expected to be buried Friday in Belfast, Northern Ireland, alongside his mother, Ann.

Ryan deals with Jays

B.J. Ryan and the Blue Jays reached a preliminary agreement on a $47-million, five-year contract, the Associated Press reported Friday.

Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi said talks with Ryan were ongoing and that he did not anticipate any announcements during the weekend.

100 GREATEST: Randy Johnson , Alex Rodriguez , Sammy Sosa and Derek Jeter were added to the revised edition of Baseball's 100 Greatest Players , which came out Tuesday.

BOXING: Undefeated Ricky Hatton stopped Carlo Maussa with a left hook in the ninth round to add the WBA junior welterweight title to his IBF crown in Sheffield, England.

GYMNASTICS: A day after becoming the first American women to win the gold and silver medals in the all-around competition at the world championships, Nastia Liukin and Chellsie Memmel took the top two places, respectively, on the uneven bars.

HORSES: Gary Stevens finished second in the last ride of his Hall of Fame career, pushing heavily favored Louve Royale within a length of winner Moonshine Gal in a 1-1/16-mile race on Churchill Downs' turf course. He will stay involved in racing, serving as an analyst for the TVG network.

[Last modified November 27, 2005, 01:19:10]