Briefs | Short track: Celski places 3rd, Ohno is 4th in race at worlds

Short-track speedskating

Celski is 3rd, one place ahead of Ohno, in 1,500-meter final at world championships: J.R. Celski of Federal Way placed third in the 1,500-meter final Friday at the world short-track speedskating championships in Vienna, Austria.

Five-time Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno, 26, of Seattle was fourth in the final, won by Lee Ho-suk of South Korea in 2 minutes, 20.967 seconds.

Kwak Yoon-gy of South Korea was second in 2:21.078 and the 18-year-old Celski's time was 2:21.133.

Long-track speedskating

American Davis sets world record: Shani Davis of Chicago won a 1,500-meter World Cup race in a world-record 1:41.80 in Kearns, Utah. It was the fifth world record of his career.

Davis surpassed the previous mark of 1:42.01 set by Denny Morrison of Canada last March.

Skiing

Deneen triumphs in Japan: Pat Deneen of Cle Elum won the gold medal in moguls at the freestyle world championships in Inawashiro, Japan.

Deneen struggled earlier in the season. "I had about four events where I crashed in every one of them," he recalled.

Vonn moves closer to another World Cup overall title: Defending overall champion Lindsey Vonn of Vail, Colo., helped her bid for a second World Cup overall title by finishing eighth in a giant slalom in Ofterschwang, Germany.

Kathrin Zettel of Austria won the event with a two-run time of 2 minutes, 36.48 seconds. Vonn's nearest pursuer in the overall standings, Maria Riesch of Germany, placed 22nd and is 414 points behind the leader with five races left.

Vonn can clinch the overall title if her lead is 401 or more points after today's slalom. She would become the first U.S. woman with multiple overall titles.

Osborne-Paradis wins men's World Cup downhill: Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Canada earned his first victory in a World Cup downhill, edging Michael Walchhofer of Austria by 0.31 seconds in Kvitfjell, Norway. Paradis prevailed in 1:47.09.

Demong takes nordic-combined event: World champion Bill Demong of Vermontville, N.Y., rallied to win a World Cup nordic-combined event in Lahti, Finland.

Demong finished the individual Gundersen event, which began with a ski jump and ended with a 10-kilometer cross-country race, in 26 minutes, 10.8 seconds.

Five women ski jumpers want to be added to lawsuit: Five female ski jumpers from Canada want to be added to a lawsuit that contends their sport should be part of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The five women are looking to join 10 others who say their rights have been violated because only male jumpers are allowed to compete in the Olympics.

Tennis

United States, Switzerland are tied 1-1 after first day of Davis Cup: Andy Roddick beat Marco Chiudinelli in straight sets to move the United States into a 1-1 tie in its opening-round Davis Cup match with Switzerland in Birmingham, Ala., before 14,723 fans.

James Blake lost to Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in the first match of the best-of-five competition that ends Sunday.

Roddick won his match 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Among U.S. players, Roddick and Andre Agassi are tied for second with 30 victories in Davis Cup play. John McEnroe won 41 Davis Cup matches.

Auto racing

Martin, 50, earns pole for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race: Mark Martin, 50, claimed the top spot in qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., making him the second-oldest NASCAR Sprint Cup driver to win a pole.

Martin turned a lap of 187.045 mph to win the pole for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500. Harry Gant, who was 54 when he led qualifiers in 1994 in Bristol, Tenn., is the oldest Cup driver to earn a pole. Martin, who has 42 poles in his career, hadn't won one since 2001.

Greg Biffle of Vancouver, Wash., will start in fifth. Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw will start in 13th.

Soccer

U.S. women defeat Iceland: Substitute Natasha Kai scored in the final minute of regulation time to give the United States a 1-0 victory over Iceland in Ferreiras, Portugal, that clinched a berth in Wednesday's Algarve Cup final. U.S. goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart made two saves.

Iditarod

Ceremonial start is today: Two-time defending champion Lance Mackey is among more than 60 mushers expected to line up today in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, for the ceremonial start of the 1,131-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome.

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