Briefs | Skiing: Austrian Maier earns his 54th World Cup victory

Skiing

Maier triumphs in Super-G: Hermann Maier of Austria won a super-giant slalom Sunday for his 54th career World Cup victory.

Maier, who hadn't won a World Cup event since January 2006, prevailed in 1 minute, 29.84 seconds in Lake Louise, Alberta.

"To win here is a great feeling," said the 35-year-old Maier, whose training was hampered since September because of a disk problem in his lower back. "Today, I risked. You can't win a race without risk."

John Kucera of Canada was second in 1:30.43, and Didier Cuche of Switzerland was third in 1:30.52.

Marco Sullivan of Squaw Valley, Calif., placed fifth. Scott Macartney of Kirkland and defending overall champion Bode Miller of Franconia, N.H., were among the skiers who did not finish.

Zahrobska zooms to victory: Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic posted her first World Cup victory, taking the slalom in Aspen, Colo., in a combined time of 1:39.32 to beat Austrian Nicole Hosp by .23 seconds. Tanja Poutiainen of Finland was third in 1:40.29.

Zahrobska had three second-place finishes in her 114 previous World Cup starts.

Lindsey Vonn of Vail, Colo., was the top American, taking fourth in 1:40.73.

Short track

U.S. team is as good as gold: Apolo Anton Ohno of Seattle and U.S. teammates won the 5,000-meter relay at a World Cup short-track speedskating event in Beijing.

Ohno, Jeff Simon, Charles Ryan Leveille and Anthony Lobello triumphed in 6 minutes, 47.432 seconds. Canada was second in 6:47.484 and China was third in 6:47.676.

Figure skating

Oda wins at NHK Trophy: Nobunari Oda of Japan capped a successful return to competitive skating with a victory at the NHK Trophy in Tokyo.

Oda, who was in first place after Friday's short program, overcame several mistakes in his free skate to finish with 236.18 points, ahead of American Johnny Weir with 224.42. Yannick Ponsero of France was third with 217.24.

"I made a few mistakes today, so was a bit surprised to get the win," said Oda, who was returning to the Grand Prix series after a one-year suspension because he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Soccer

Arsenal beats Chelsea: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger hailed a 2-1 victory at English Premier League leader Chelsea as "massive," while his counterpart, Luiz Felipe Scolari, demanded an apology from match officials for making what he said were errors.

Cycling

Armstrong to start training: Texan Lance Armstrong is set to start training camp this week without having subjected himself to drug tests by the anti-doping expert he teamed with and with no deal in place to post results of those tests online.

When the seven-time Tour de France winner announced his comeback earlier this year, he partnered with renowned anti-doping expert Don Catlin to set up a testing program. Catlin said he thought it was important to make those results available to the public.

Catlin told The Associated Press that while Armstrong has been placed back in the testing pools at both the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and UCI, cycling's international body, that he has yet to test him and that a plan to document Armstrong's results online is not in place.

Baseball

Tazawa reportedly agrees to three-year deal with Boston: Japanese pitcher Junichi Tazawa, 22, reportedly has agreed to terms with the Boston Red Sox on a three-year contract worth about $3 million.

Right-hander Tazawa, a standout in Japan's corporate leagues, reportedly rejected offers from the Mariners, Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves. Tazawa is expected to begin his U.S. career in the minor leagues, according to a report in The Boston Globe.

Rodriguez, Madonna in Mexico City: Third baseman Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees and pop star Madonna were together — in the same city, at least. Ex-Mariner Rodriguez was in Mexico City on the weekend Madonna was performing there.

Asked what he thought about being in the city at the same time as Madonna, Rodriguez said it was "very good," without elaborating.

Horse racing

Big day for Dominguez at Hollywood: Jockey Ramon Dominguez guided his mounts to two Grade I victories on the turf course at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif.

Court Vision, trained by Bill Mott, won the $500,000 Hollywood Derby by running 1-¼ miles in 2 minutes, 1-2/5 seconds. The colt beat Cowboy Cal by three-quarters of a length and paid $9.60 to win.

Favored Cocoa Beach, a 4-year-old filly trained by Saeed bin Suroor, beat 2-1 shot Precious Kitten by three-quarters of a length in the $500,000 Matriarch. Cocoa Beach ran a mile in 1:35-2/5 and paid $5.80 to win.

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