Ted Ligety of U.S. wins super-combined
SCHLADMING, Austria, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Ted Ligety of the United States won his second gold medal at the Alpine World Championships in Austria by winning the men's super-combined Monday.
The American veteran jumped from sixth place after the downhill leg into first with a blistering slalom that gave him a total time of 2 minutes, 56.96 seconds, a comfortable 1.15 seconds faster than second-place Ivica Kostelic of Croatia.
Ligety won the gold in the super-G last week at the worlds, but had not won a super-combined since the 2006 Olympics. "I just tried to ski as smart as I could. I tried to have a solid run the whole way down and not make too many mistakes," he said. "Seeing the green light at the bottom was a really sweet feeling."
Austrian Romed Bauman took third place with a 2:58.13. Marcel Hirscher, the leader in the overall World Cup points race, did not compete. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, second in the overall standings, did not finish the slalom run.
Duke back at No. 1 for third time
MCLEAN, Va., Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Duke, for a third time this season, returned Monday to the No. 1 spot in the USA Today Coaches' basketball poll.
This marks the fifth consecutive week the No. 1 team in the poll changed. Duke started the string by losing the week of Jan. 7. The Blue Devils were followed by Louisville, Duke (again), Kansas and Indiana.
Indiana was one of the seven highest ranked teams to lose last week. Another was Kansas, which lost twice and plunges eight spots to 13th. Creighton also lost twice and falls 10 places to 23rd. Five ranked teams suffered two losses last week, although one was Ohio State, which was beaten by the previous No. 1 and 3-ranked teams.
The murkiness at the top is shown by the first-place vote split. Five teams receive at least one No. 1 mention. Duke (21-2) gets 18 in returning to No. 1 but Indiana (21-3) pulls in six and is second. Gonzaga (23-2) is first on one ballot and comes in at No. 3 while Miami (Fla.), No. 11 a week ago, has five first-place votes and is now fourth. The other went to No. 5 Michigan (21-3).
Florida (19-3) slips four places to No. 6 and Syracuse (20-3) is up two to seventh, followed by No. 8 Michigan State (20-4) and Arizona (20-3) in ninth. Butler (20-4) is voted 10th.
Kansas State (19-4) is up four to 11th, with Louisville (19-5) steady at No. 12 and Kansas (19-4), two weeks removed from No. 1, in 13th. Ohio State (17-6) is 14th and Georgetown (17-4) takes the 15th place.
Oklahoma State (17-5) and Pittsburgh (20-5) are 16th and 17th, respectively, after their steep climbs but New Mexico (20-4) falls six to 18th. Wisconsin (17-7) and Marquette (17-5) are new entries this week at Nos. 19 and 20.
Vick in new deal with Eagles
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Michael Vick agreed to restructure his contract with the Philadelphia Eagles and be in "open competition" for the starting quarterback job, his new coach said.
Vick, 32, had been playing under a 10-year, $100 million agreement he signed in 2011. About $40 million of that deal was guaranteed. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the new contract could pay Vick $10 million if performance goals are met.
Vick has been with the Eagles for four seasons, starting 35 games but often injured. That was under Coach Andy Reid, who was fired after last season and replaced by Oregon Coach Chip Kelly.
Vick and Nick Foles, who started six games as a rookie last year, will be competing for the starting position.
"There's an open competition," Kelly said.
"Michael knows that, Nick knows that. Both have outstanding qualities and both have started in this league. I know you have to have two quarterbacks in this league. "Who the starting quarterback is to start the season is going to be won on the practice field."
Vick played his first six NFL seasons with Atlanta but was sentenced to 19 months in prison for his role in a dogfighting ring. He missed two NFL seasons while in prison.
Snedeker up to fourth in golf rankings
VIRGINIA WATER, England, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Brandt Snedeker continues his climb up the men's world golf rankings, using his latest PGA Tour win to reach No. 4.
Snedeker started 2012 ranked 38th in the world but has been moving up since there, using a January 2012 title to reach the Top 20 and the Tour Championship last September to get to 10th.
That was his ranking going into 2013 and he'd reached No. 6 before Sunday's win at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am boosts his to fourth in the rankings.
Rory McIlroy is No. 1 for a 34th week overall, with as ranking point average of 12.0327. The record holder for weeks atop the ranking (623) is No. 2 Tiger Woods, whose current average is 9.0318. Luke Donald remains third at 7.5834.
Snedeker's average improves to 6.9116, which pushes Justin Rose (6.4407) to fifth and Louis Oosthuizen (6.4403) to No. 6.
Adam Scott has the seventh-best average (5.8542) followed by, in order, Lee Westwood (5.4997), Bubba Watson (5.2847) and Phil Mickelson (5.1565).
