Tina Hermann wins women's skeleton at World Championships

12:53, March 01, 2020

• 

  American bobsledder Humphries wins third World Championship gold

  Photo: APBERLIN, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Two-time Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries of the United States won the 2020 IBSF World Championships in the 2-woman bobsleigh in Altenberg, Germany on Saturday.In partnership with her brake athlete Lauren Gibbs, Humphries celebrated her third worlds title following her World Championship triumph in 2012 and 2013."This is one of my top favorite tracks. I love Altenberg. Its a very challenging track and demands a lot of focus and respect. This is worth all of the risk and I am so happy it worked," said Humphries.Securing the best result for host Germany, junior world champions Kim Kalicki/Kira Lipperheide bagged a silver, 0.37 seconds behind the leaders.Kalicki became the first athlete in the 2-woman bobsleigh to win junior and senior World Championship medals in the same year."You cant compare the silver medal to the junior World Championship title, its a completely different ball game. We didnt think anything like this could happen here. We managed four decent runs and showed what we were capable of. The fourth run was actually really relaxed as we knew we only had to go down one more time," said Kalicki.Christine De Bruin/Kristen Bujnowski of Canada matched their performance from Whistler last year and finished third, 1.06 seconds behind the American pair."We knew its gonna be a big battle. All are very competitive athletes. We just tried to be very consistent and to do the exact same things in every single run. And thats what we did," said De Bruin, who was the world bronze medallist last year and finished third overall in the World Cup this season.Humphries won her first two World Championship titles while competing for Canada. Her World Championship gold in Altenberg is also the third for Team USA. The pilot Elana Meyers Taylor won the 2-woman bobsleigh title in 2015 and 2017.The Olympic champion and defending world champion Mariama Jamanka of Germany, who went int...

• 

  Zubcic storms to giant slalom World Cup win in Japan

  Marco Odermatt, Filip Zubcic and Tommy Ford after the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Mens Giant Slalom in Yuzawa Naeba, western Japan. (Photo: AFP)Croatias Filip Zubcic produced a sizzling second run to win the Japan leg of the mens World Cup giant slalom on Saturday.The 27-year-old trailed in 12th place after the first run at Yuzawa Naeba but stormed to the best combined time of two minutes, 37.25 seconds, edging out Switzerlands Marco Odermatt by seven tenths with American Tommy Ford taking third."It was a difficult race, the quality of the snow wasnt good," Zubcic told reporters."I made a big mistake on the first run, but I was able to get it back on the second without having to go for too much in the turns."Norways Henrik Kristoffersen, who took silver in the giant slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, led after the first run, clocking 1:16.63 ahead of countryman Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen.Nestvold-Haugen went on to finish fourth with Kristoffersen fifth, followed by another Norwegian, overall World Cup leader Aleksander Aamodt Kilde sixth.Kilde, who captured his first victory of the season in last weeks Super-G at Saalbach, tops the standings on 1,022 points with Kristoffersen on 948 and Frances Olympic bronze medallist Alexis Pinturault a further 50 points behind.Slovenias Zan Kranjec, currently leading the giant slalom rankings, finished ninth.The Japanese leg was held despite fears over the deadly coronavirus that forced the cancellation of the mens downhill in Yanqing, China last weekend.

• 

  Ex-world champion Magnini wins appeal against doping ban

  Italys Filippo Magnini, pictured in 2015, won two world 100m freestyle titles. (Photo: AFP)Former two-time world 100m freestyle champion Filippo Magnini of Italy had his four-year doping ban overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday.The 38-year-old had been banned in November 2018 by Italys anti-doping agency (Nado), after which he retired from the sport.But Lausanne-based CAS found that "there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Filippo Magnini had violated the world anti-doping code"."I WON. CAS acquitted me from any kind of accusation," said Magnini on Instagram."It has always been like this, I have always won races in the last few metres."They taught me never to give up. I have always been an athlete and a correct person. I tremble with joy."An investigation into Magnini and fellow swimmer Michele Santucci was opened after criminal proceedings against a rogue nutritionist, Guido Porcellini.Porcellini was banned for 30 years by the Italian authorities for trafficking doping products and counterfeit medicine.Magninis name was found among the evidence, which revealed certain products to be destined for the Italian swimmer, although investigators conceded he may not have used or even received them.NADO had initially demanded an eight-year ban for the 2005 and 2007 world champion, who also won Olympic bronze with the 4x200m Italian relay team in Athens (2004).