SKIING
Lindsey Vonn has decided to skip the weekend’s World Cup races to give her ailing knees a chance to recover.
“Unfortunately racing this weekend in Garmisch isn’t in the cards,” Vonn said in an Instagram post on Thursday. “My knee is still not ready to race. I am working as hard as I can to be back as soon as possible.”
Vonn skipped the first downhill training run on Thursday before deciding against competing in Saturday’s downhill race and Sunday’s super-G.
It gives her more time to heal what she described Wednesday as “an impact injury to my peroneal nerve” that had caused her so much pain in both knees as she failed to finish a super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy three days earlier.
BIATHLON
WORLD CUP: Clare Egan of Cape Elizabeth finished 22nd in a 7.5-kilometer sprint in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy, securing a place in Saturday’s 10K pursuit.
Egan posted the seventh fastest time through the first shooting stage after clearing all five targets, but she missed 2 of 5 targets from standing position and wound up 56.7 seconds behind winner Marketa Davidova of the Czech Republic, who was 10 for 10 shooting.
“I’m satisfied with my performance even though standing shooting continues to challenge me,” Egan said on the U.S. Biathlon website. “My prone shooting and skiing are both exactly where they need to be and I’m confident that I can put all the pieces together soon. I’ll have another shot already on Saturday.”
FIGURE SKATING
U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS: Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea are leading the pairs competition after the short program at Detroit.
Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc are second, followed by Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier. Alexa and Christopher Knierim, who beat Kayne and O’Shea for the title at this event last year, are in seventh.
Kayne and O’Shea, the U.S. pairs champions in 2016, received a score of 71.83. They lead Cain and LeDuc by 1.36 points heading into Saturday’s free skate.
SOCCER
ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP: Chelsea responded to the recent criticism from Manager Maurizio Sarri by beating Tottenham on penalty kicks at London to advance to the final meeting with Manchester City.
David Luiz scored the decisive penalty to give Chelsea at 4-2 shootout win after the team’s 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge left the teams level 2-2 on aggregate.
U.S. MEN: The U.S. soccer team will play Chile in an exhibition on March 26 at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.
The game is likely to follow a home friendly on March 22. The two matches would be the first time new U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter has his full player pool available.
Berhalter’s first two games will involve only players from Major League Soccer. The Americans play Panama on Sunday at Glendale, Arizona, and Costa Rica on Feb. 2 at San Jose, California.
HORSE RACING
AWARDS: Justify finished unbeaten, on and off the track.
The Triple Crown winner for 2018 added Horse of the Year to his resume, getting the nod over Accelerate for the biggest prize handed out at the Eclipse Awards. Justify didn’t race as a 2-year-old, won all six of his starts last year and then was retired about a month after winning the Belmont Stakes because of an ankle injury.
Chad Brown won his third consecutive Eclipse Award as the top trainer, making him only the sixth person to win that many in a row and putting him alongside Baffert, Todd Pletcher, D. Wayne Lukas, Robert Frankel, Laz Barrera. Baffert was a finalist this year, after guiding Justify to the Triple Crown – Baffert’s second.
Irad Ortiz Jr. won his first Eclipse as the top jockey, keeping the award in the family – his younger brother, Jose Ortiz, won last year.
Other Eclipse winners included Weston Hamilton (apprentice jockey), Jaywalk (2-year-old filly), Game Winner (2-year-old male), Unique Bella (older dirt female), Roy H (male sprinter), Shamrock Rose (female sprinter), Stormy Liberal (male turf horse), Sistercharlie (female turf horse), Zenjabeel (steeplechase horse) and John D. Gunther (top breeder).
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