Vonn wins race, overall World Cup crown
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, March 12 (UPI) -- American Lindsey Vonn wrapped up her third consecutive overall World Cup championship by winning Friday's super-giant slalom in Germany.
Vonn won the super-G at Garmisch-Partenkirchen's Kandahar course in 1 minute, 19.3 seconds, 0.16 seconds faster than Austrian Elizabeth Goergl while Swiss skier Nadia Styger was third at 1:19.87
More important to the overall standings, German Maria Riesch was fourth, a result that gave Vonn an insurmountable 215-point lead with one race -- Saturday's slalom -- remaining.
It is the third consecutive overall title for Vonn, who is the first woman to accomplish that since Austria's Petra Kronberger in 1990-92. It was also the 33rd race win for Vonn, who eclipsed the U.S. record of 32 owned by Bode Miller.
Vonn had already won the super-G season and downhill titles. A ruling Thursday by international skiing officials determined she was the super combined champion after the discipline's final event was canceled because of high winds.
Riesch has a 23-point lead over Austrian Kathrin Zettel going into Saturday's slalom finale. Vonn, 13th in the slalom standings, said she would skip the race.
The other women's World Cup discipline is giant slalom, which has won by German Kathrin Hoelzl.
Janka skis to World Cup overall title
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, March 12 (UPI) -- Swiss skier Carlo Janka won a giant slalom in Germany Friday, clinching the season's overall World Cup title.
Janka finished in a combined time of 2 minutes, 20.87 seconds. Italian Davide Simoncelli was second in 2:21.18 and American Ted Ligety and Austrian Philipp Schoerghofer tied for third in 2:21.44.
Ligety's finish gave him the season's giant slalom World Cup title. It is the second time he's won the discipline's season-long championship. He also won it in 2008.
Janka's win boosted his overall World Cup point total to 1,197, enough to seal the championship. German skier Benjamin Raich is in second, 106 points back.
It was a solid season for Janka across all disciplines. He is second in the downhill, giant slalom and combined standings and sixth in super-giant. Janka also won the Olympic gold medal this year in the giant slalom.
The World Cup season ends Saturday with the slalom. Event specialist Reinfried Herbst, from Austria, leads in the slalom standings with 505 points, 43 more than French skier Julien Lizeroux.
U.S. still tops women's soccer rankings
NYON, Switzerland, March 12 (UPI) -- The United States, coming off a win at the Algarve Cup, remained atop the FIFA world women's soccer rankings released Friday.
The U.S. team defeated world No. 2 Germany 3-2 in the cup final this month, solidifying its hold on the FIFA top spot. The United States has topped the rankings, released about every three months, since December 2007.
The U.S. women gained 17 ratings points since the previous rankings release and totaled 2,227 points. Germany has 2,158 points and Brazil (2,124) and Sweden (2,064) are third and fourth, respectively.
The only changes in the Top 10 involved two teams moving up one spot each into ties with other teams. Japan gained five points and is tied with North Korea for fifth at 2,015 points. Norway (1,991) remained in seventh.
France picked up one point, enough to tie England, which lost eight points, for eighth at 1,969. Canada (1,947) jumped from 12th to 10th but Denmark (1,941), China (1,937) and Italy (1,933) are all right behind.
FIFA rating points are determined over three years of matches, with later matches and games against higher-ranked opponents more heavily weighted. The next FIFA world women's ranking is to be released May 28.
Heat's Wright suspended for two games
MIAMI, March 12 (UPI) -- Miami Heat forward Dorell Wright was suspended for two games following a drunken driving charge, the NBA team said Friday.
Wright was stopped about 3:30 a.m. Thursday when he was allegedly driving 52 in a 35 mph zone, The Miami Herald said. Wright refused a field sobriety test but was subsequently charged with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license.
He was released after posting $2,000 bond.
"This is out of character for Dorell; we feel he's a good person and that he will learn from this mistake," Heat President Pat Riley said.
However, Riley also said the conduct was "detrimental to the team" and ordered Wright withheld from games against Chicago Friday and Philadelphia Sunday.
Wright is averaging 6.3 points and 3.1 assists in 57 games this season.
