07-18-2019, 12:46 AM
BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM, Austria - A womens World Cup super-G on Sunday was delayed for 45 minutes and then called off after 11 starters because of strong winds, a day after the cancellation of a downhill on the same course.We always want to race but safety comes first, FIS womens race director Atle Skaardal said.Organizers initially postponed the start of Sundays race as course workers needed more time to harden the snow surface using salt and chemicals following a night of mild temperatures.After the first skiers completed their run, fierce winds started blowing over the course, prompting an interruption of the race as conditions got too dangerous for speed racing.When the weather failed to improve over the following 45 minutes, organizers decided to call off the race.By then, Daniela Merighetti had posted the fastest time, leading Italian teammate Nadia Fanchini by 0.15. Merighetti was the third starter and said her run was still unaffected by the wind.Julia Mancuso, who started eighth, said it was definitely windy when she came down but judged conditions not too dangerous at that time.Everyone has their own comfort zone, said the American, who trailed Merighetti by 0.64 in fourth. Its always tough when you have a windy race but it also something we understand doing an outdoor sport ... I felt I was in good conditions racing but the storm is definitely moving in.A downhill on the same course was cancelled Saturday after a storm destroyed parts of the finish area and the safety fencing along the course.Volunteers worked through the night to rebuild the infrastructure, and the storm still wasnt an issue in the hours leading up to the super-G.The 33 gates were set Saturday though organizers had to move several gates as the snow around them had become too weak.According to Skaardal, the course doesnt look bad but it didnt freeze overnight and under the top layer its soft.Several racers, including Lindsey Vonn and Lara Gut, had said they didnt want to race if the course conditions didnt improve.The course set is good, unfortunately the snow isnt good, Vonn said. Can it be dangerous? I think so. I think we should not race.And Gut added, If its like it is now, I dont want to race.Vonn referred to her crash at the 2013 world championships, when the American standout landed in a spot of soft snow and badly damaged her right knee.Its like Schladming here, and I lost two years because of that, Vonn said. I think its too dangerous. If it was a training today, I wouldnt be skiing at all.With a win Sunday, Vonn would have matched the all-time mark of 62 womens World Cup wins by Annemarie Moser-Proell, but the feat wasnt on her mind.No, the record can wait until after Cortina, she said, referring to a downhill and a super-G in Italy next weekend.The womens World Cup travels to Flachau, Austria, for a night race on Tuesday, the final slalom before next months world championships in Vail and Beaver Creek. Steven Souza Jersey . -- Conor Casey scored two goals, his first of the season, as the Philadelphia Union beat Chivas USA 3-0 on Saturday night. 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Dwyane Wade added 24 points and Chris Bosh had 22 for the Heat, idle since a 90-84 loss Tuesday at Indiana.MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Its NCAA chances all but gone, West Virginia showed it still has some fight left in a lacklustre season. West Virginia built a 25-point lead and had to withstand 41 points by freshman Andrew Wiggins and a furious comeback by No. 8 Kansas to upset the Jayhawks 92-86 in their Big 12 regular-season finale Saturday. "We just had to stay composed, not get too down, dont say, dang, theyre going to come back," said Eron Harris, who led West Virginia with 28 points. "Youve got to always have confidence in your team that youre going to win." The Mountaineers (17-14, 9-9 Big 12) could have finished with a thud like they had in losing four of their five previous games that reduced them to playing for a spot in the NIT. The young Mountaineers, who have no seniors, watched Kansas tear into the deficit behind Wiggins, who set a season high for scoring and a freshman record for the Jayhawks before fouling out in the final seconds. He also eight rebounds, four blocks and five steals, to go along with 12-of-18 shooting from the field. Ben McLemore has the Kansas single-game freshman scoring record with 36 last season. West Virginia made some clutch free throws in the final minute to thwart the comeback and keep coach Bob Huggins sanity intact. "When we get a little more experience, well handle those things a little better," said Huggins, who earned $25,000 for beating Kansas in the regular season, one of the bonus clauses in a 2012 contract extension. Juwan Staten added 24 points and Devin Williams, WVUs star freshman, had a season-high 22 points along with 13 rebounds. It marked the first time this season that Kansas had allowed three opposing players to score 20 points. "I thought Staten controlled the game," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Harris was terrific and Williams was by far the best big in the game. "They were terrific and then we didnt guard at all. Weve gone through stretches this year where we havent guarded well, but thats probably as poor as weve been. But give them credit, they were a lot better than us offensively than we were defensively." West Virginia shot 53 per cent from the floor and outrebounded Kansas 37-31. Perry Ellis added 14 points for Kansas (23-8, 14-4), whicch clinched its 10th straight regular-season title a week ago and had little riding on this game.ddddddddddddThe Jayhawks will have a first-round bye in the conference tournament that begins Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo. Kansas was without 7-foot freshman Joel Embiid, who sat out his second straight game to rest a lower back strain. Tarik Black, starting in Embiids place, went to the bench with his second foul four minutes into the game. The Mountaineers led nearly the entire game but fell apart down the stretch. Still, West Virginia managed to beat a ranked team for the third time in seven tries over the past month. Kansas went more than seven minutes without a field goal spanning the halves and found itself with its biggest deficit of the season, 64-39, with 16:43 left in the game after a Harris 3-pointer. But the Mountaineers have had trouble holding double-digit leads this season, and Kansas -- especially Wiggins -- was hardly done. West Virginia struggled against Kansas full-court press, and Wiggins followed Landen Lucas three-point play with four free throws and a 3-pointer over a 47-second span to pull Kansas within 78-68 with 6:13 remaining. Wiggins scored 14 straight points at one point for the Jayhawks. Frank Masons 3-pointer trimmed the deficit to 85-80 with 1:24 left. But West Virginia made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to hang on. Backups Lucas and Jamari Traylor couldnt keep up with Williams, who scored 10 straight points for the Mountaineers at one point. He had 18 in the first half to give the Mountaineers a 50-38 halftime lead -- the most points given up by the Jayhawks in the first half this season. "I thought Devin played really well," Huggins said. "(He) scored it through contact and made open shots, which he does in practice. And then he rebounds the ball for us. Hes the one guy who can really go rebound it in a crowd." West Virginia had its second sellout of the season, thanks to hundreds of Kansas fans who made the 900-mile trek east and those especially coming to see Wiggins, who played his high school ball on the other side of the state at Huntington Prep. "Ive never seen him play like that," Huggins said. "When he makes shots hes really difficult to defend." ' ' '