Germans Leitner, Resch win World Cup luge event
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:09:49 PST)
German doubles sliders Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch won the first World Cup luge event of the season Friday at Canada Olympic Park. Leitner and Resch had a two-run time of 1 minute, 27.855 seconds to beat countrymen Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich by three-hundredths of a second. The Italian team of Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber took the bronze, 0.18 seconds back.

Rochette leads Skate Canada after personal best
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:04:30 PST)
World silver medalist Joannie Rochette scored a personal-best 70 points in the short program at Skate Canada on Friday, putting her in front of Americans Alissa Czisny and Mirai Nagasu. "I still can improve with this, but I'm really excited. It's my first time in the 70s," Canada's Rochette said.

Germany and Canada win WC skeleton races
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:30:19 PST)
By JOHN KEKIS AP Sports Writer

Female ski jumpers hear reasons for case dismissal
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:39:29 PST)
Vancouver Olympic organizers didn't violate women ski jumpers' rights because they had no power to include their event in the coming Winters Games. The British Columbia Appeal Court provided written reasons on Friday for its decision last week to dismiss an appeal filed by female jumpers seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that allowed organizers to hold a men's ski jumping...

Germany's Rommel wins men's World Cup skeleton
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:26:27 PST)
Frank Rommel led Germany to a 1-2 finish in the men's skeleton World Cup at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Friday. Rommel finished the two runs in a combined 1 minute, 50.88 seconds to easily beat Sandro Stielicke, who finished in 1:51.36. Martins Dukurs of Latvia, who won the World Cup opener a week ago at Park City, Utah, won the bronze, just 0.01 seconds behind Stielicke.

Northug the man to beat as Olympic season starts
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:14:55 PST)
Petter Northug enters the Olympic season as the man to beat in cross country skiing, and he isn't doing much to downplay expectations. The 23-year-old Norwegian has an unrivaled sprinting ability that is matched by his confident swagger and unwavering belief that he is close to unbeatable in the final stages of a race.

IAAF still in talks over Caster Semenya's future
(Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:05:01 PST)
The governing body of track and field is working behind the scenes with Caster Semenya and the South African government to resolve issues about the 18-year-old runner's gender and career. The IAAF said Friday it cannot confirm the South African sports ministry's claims of a deal allowing Semenya to keep the 800-meter world title and prize money she won in August and maintain privacy over...

Tony Benshoof's back ailing again
(Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:33:13 PST)
Olympic luge slider Tony Benshoof's back is aching again, just as the international racing season is set to begin. Benshoof, who was fourth in the 2006 Turin Games, wrote on his Twitter feed that he will have his back examined Friday -- just one day before he is supposed to slide in luge's first men's World Cup event of the Olympic season in Calgary, Alberta.

Olympic lodging plan off because of rough economy
(Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:47:34 PST)
An Olympic accommodation plan in which thousands of visitors would have stayed on cruise ships has been called off because of the rough economy. As many as seven ships would have been used for fans and sponsors as part of the multimillion-dollar plan proposed by the DEAP Group. "Financing became a major problem with the economic downturn and unfortunately that has been an Achilles' heel to...