Austria's Benjamin Raich won a men's slalom Sunday for the third triumph of his rookie season on the World Cup circuit.
Raich began his surprising streak 10 days ago, winning a night slalom, then defeated teammate and double Olympic champion Hermann Maier in Austria. Before that, Raich had only an eighth place from the opening giant slalom in October to show for his early-season efforts. The victory at Wengen, Switzerland, virtually guaranteed Raich a berth on the Austrian team in one of the technical events at the world championships beginning Jan. 30 in Vail, Colo.
- Trine Bakke of Norway earned her first World Cup victory in a women's slalom at St. Anton, Austria. Bakke, whose previous best was second in last year's slalom at Salbach, negotiated the 46 gates in a two-run combined time of 1 minute 22.84 seconds. Anja Paerson of Sweden was second.
- Belarussian Dmitri Dashinski overcame tricky winds at Steamboat Springs, Colo., to win the first World Cup aerials contest of his career. Austrailia's Jacqui Cooper, the current world champion, won her second in a row for the women.
Baseball: The San Francisco Giants signed former Cubs catcher Scott Servais to a one-year contract.
Hockey: Cincinnati Cyclones left wing Gilbert Dionne, playing on his home ice, scored three goals and added two assists to lead the Eastern Conference to a 10-7 victory over the Western Conference in the 25th IHL All-Star Game.
Running: Tatiana Pozdnyakova of Ukraine, who won the 1996 Houston Marathon but was disqualified for using a banned substance, overcame slippery streets and humidity to win the women's event for the third time. Stephen Ndungu defended the men's title with a time of 2:14:56, leading a 1-2-3 Kenyan finish--an identical finish to the 1998 race. Pozdnyakova was timed at 2:33:23.
Soccer: Former German captain Juergen Klinsmann announced he won't resume his career in Major League Soccer after all and is retiring instead.