Raich Takes the Slalom as Miller Falters Again

Bode Miller first lost two gold medals, then a ski in the downhill. On Saturday, he lost his status as the premier skier at the world championships in Bormio, Italy.

Austrian Benjamin Raich took the honors, becoming the most decorated male skier of the championships after putting together two brilliant slalom runs on the rapidly deteriorating Stelvio course to win his second gold medal and fourth overall.

Raich also won gold in the combined last week, took silver in the giant slalom and got a surprise bronze in the super giant slalom.

Leading after the first leg in the slalom, Raich posted a combined time of 1 minute 41.34 seconds. Teammate Rainer Schoenfelder was second, 0.24 back.

Miller began the championship in spectacular fashion, humbling the Austrians with stunning wins in the downhill and super-G. He followed that with a rollicking stunt in the combined, when he lost a ski 15 seconds into the downhill leg but showboated most of the way down on one ski before dropping onto his rear.

Miller refused to speak to reporters afterward.

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American Apolo Anton Ohno won his third short track speedskating World Cup championship after taking the 1,000 meters at a race in Spisska Nova Ves, Slovakia.

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Pierre Lueders of Canada won the final two-man World Cup bobsled race at Lake Placid, N.Y, but Martin Annen of Switzerland captured the World Cup title. Annen finished with 630 overall points to Lueders’ 620.

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The Austrian team of Andreas Widhoelzl, Wolfgang Loitzl, Thomas Morgenstern and Martin Hoellwarth won a World Cup ski jumping team event at Pragelato, Italy.

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Kati Wilhelm of Germany won a women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint at a World Cup biathlon meet at San Sicario, Italy.

Tennis

Defending champion Andy Roddick hit 14 aces in a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over Tommy Haas in the SAP Open semifinals at San Jose. Roddick will play Cyril Saulnier, who scored a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 victory over Jurgen Melzer, in today’s final.

Amelie Mauresmo defeated Nadia Petrova, 7-5, 6-3, in the Open Gaz de France in Paris, setting up a final against Dinara Safina, who rallied to defeat Tatiana Golovin, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (2).

Joachim Johansson rallied for a 6-7 (1), 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over Feliciano Lopez at the Open 13 at Marseille, France. He will meet Ivan Ljubicic, a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 winner over Mario Ancic, in today’s final.

Sania Mirza became the first Indian to win a WTA Tour title with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 victory over Alyona Bondarenko in the final of the Hyderabad Open in India.

Pro Football

Jim Kubiak threw five touchdown passes, three to Troy Bergeron, as the Georgia Force (2-1) rolled to a 61-47 victory over the Arizona Rattlers (1-2) in an Arena Football League game at Atlanta.

Andy Wasynczuk, the chief operating officer of the New England Patriots, is leaving the team to become a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School’s negotiation, organization and markets unit.

The New England Patriots promoted Eric Mangini to defensive coordinator. He replaces Romeo Crennel, who left to become coach of the Cleveland Browns.

The NFL season officially concludes today with the playing of the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

Jurisprudence

The FBI is investigating two e-mails that allegedly threatened Baltimore Raven linebacker Ray Lewis.

The e-mails were traced to Akron, Ohio, and agents executed a search warrant there on Wednesday, said Special Agent Robert Hawk, a spokesman for the FBI’s Cleveland office.

The Baltimore Sun, citing an anonymous source, reported that the person suspected of sending the e-mail is believed to be related to one of two men killed in a fight in 2000. Lewis was charged with murder along with two other men after the fight.

Charges against Lewis were subsequently dropped and he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice charges.

Prosecutors arrested their chief witness in Germany’s match-fixing scandal, saying referee Robert Hoyzer failed to identify all the games and people involved in the country’s worst soccer scandal in 30 years.

Berlin prosecutors said Hoyzer was charged with eight counts of fraud.

A fifth referee was also suspended by the soccer federation. Torsten Koop, a longtime Bundesliga referee, was removed from his duties for failing to tell authorities he was approached by Hoyzer to fix a match.

Three NHL players, in Europe during the lockout, were suspended for the rest of the season by a Swedish federation after being accused of rape. Kristian Huselius and Andreas Lilja of the Florida Panthers and Henrik Tallinder of the Buffalo Sabres were questioned by police, who later said they did not have enough evidence to press charges.

Miscellany

Ian Kennedy pitched six strong innings and Roberto Lopez had run-scoring hits in the second and fourth innings to lead USC (2-0) to a 4-3 victory over 17th-ranked Long Beach State (5-2) in front of 1,987 at Blair Field in Long Beach.

Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael raced to his fifth consecutive THQ World Supercross GP/THQ AMA Supercross Series victory, beating Yamaha’s Chad Reed in front of 52,833 in Indianapolis.

Catriona Matthew and Janice Moodie combined for a four-under-par 69 playing alternate shot to help Scotland share the lead with Japan after the second round of the Women’s World Cup at George, South Africa.

Olympian Colleen De Reuck overcame soggy conditions and a tight hamstring to win the women’s eight-kilometer race in the U.S. Cross Country Championships at Vancouver, Wash.

Ross Johnson of Alvord, Texas, won the first round of the Professional Bull Riders Tour’s Anaheim Open at the Pond. Round 2 is today.