Off Topic » winning the prestigious Cortina downhill Saturday

CORTINA DAMPEZZO, Italy -- Defending overall World Cup champion Tina Maze finally got her first victory of the season, winning the prestigious Cortina downhill Saturday to signal a return to form just in time for the Sochi Olympics. The Slovenian clocked 1 minute, 37.79 seconds down the Olympia delle Tofane course, which was bathed in sunshine, then performed her trademark handstand celebration during the podium proceedings. "There were a lot of emotions," Maze said. "It was a really long time. ... When I find the right feeling like I found it today I can ski fast." Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden of Switzerland finished second, 0.27 seconds behind, and Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein was third, 0.38 back. Maze had a record-breaking season a year ago with 11 wins. This season, she had only three podium results -- until this race. "When you win a lot you dont learn much," Maze said. "With my ups and downs its a lot of learning." Two weeks ago, Maze made a staff change in her personal team, which is run by her boyfriend and coach Andrea Massi. They replaced Walter Ronconi with former Switzerland coach Mauro Pini. The switch seems to have paid off and the timing couldnt have been better -- in the final downhill before the Sochi Games, where the womens downhill is scheduled for Feb. 12. Pini urged Maze to put more emotion into her skiing. "That was really good because Andrea was always saying to ski without feelings," Maze said. "But sometimes thats not possible. "(Pini) brought a lot of peace to our team because compared to Andrea and I hes one step in front of us," Maze added. "And thats what we were expecting from someone in that position. He came really motivated and that makes us easygoing and we have more energy for ourselves." Pini was formerly Lara Guts personal coach and he led the Swiss mens squad at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when Didier Defago won gold in downhill. He then coached the Swiss womens team and more recently was a TV commentator. "I could sense a good feeling from the first words we shared with each other," Pini said. "Tina never forgot how to ski. She was always capable, she just needed to focus her energy better and get rid of those negative vibes." "At this level a couple different words here or there can create all the difference," Pini added. "Its not like we had to start over from scratch." With the skies perfectly clear to show off the jagged peaks that provide some of the most spectacular scenery in the Dolomite Range, Maria Hoefl-Riesch finished fourth to follow up her victory in Fridays downhill. The German said she felt some pain in her left knee after landing a jump awkwardly a day earlier. Still, Hoefl-Riesch maintained her lead in the overall and downhill standings. In another strong showing from the U.S. Ski Team without injured Lindsey Vonn, Stacey Cook matched her fifth-place finish from Friday and teammate Julia Mancuso placed seventh to match her best result of the season from a super-G two days earlier. "It always stings when you are so close to the podium, but I know this is a positive move heading toward Sochi," Cook said. This was the third of four races in four days. Elisabeth Goergl won a super-G on Thursday and another super-G is scheduled for Sunday. Weirather finished fourth and second in the opening two races this week. "Its hard to have four good races in a row but I will try," she said. Two of the races were originally scheduled for last weekend in Cortina but were wiped out by heavy snowfall. The other two were moved from Garmisch-Partenkirchen due to a lack of snow in the German resort. The womens circuit then moves to Kranjska Gora for a giant slalom and slalom next weekend -- the final races before Sochi and Mazes home event. "Im really excited to ski that slope," Maze said Gary Roberts Jersey . So true. It is one thing to create a winning football team, and another to keep it winning. Each and every week it changes. The NFL creates a unique interest of not who is "the best", but much more who is "the best this week". Johnny Gaudreau Jersey . Today, well look at five frontcourt players today, here from the Bay Area. 1. AMIR JOHNSON (Raptors): I cant figure out what the issue or problem is, but based upon what Im seeing, hes not right. http://www.jerseyofficialhockeyflames.com/james-neal-hockey-jersey/ . -- Falcons running back Steven Jackson, who has missed the last four games with a hamstring injury, is expected to practice on Wednesday. Miikka Kiprusoff Jersey .com) - Novak Djokovic easily took care of Andy Murray to reach the final at the $2. Jarome Iginla Jersey . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July.PRETORIA, South Africa - The chief prosecutor in the Oscar Pistorius trial urged the judge on Friday to send the Olympic athlete to prison for at least 10 years, calling it the minimum acceptable term and noting the horrific nature of the shooting death of Reeva Steenkamp.Judge Thokozile Masipa is expected to announce Pistorius sentence on Tuesday. She adjourned court Friday after chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel and chief defence lawyer Barry Roux presented their final arguments for sentencing, summing up the testimony in the weeklong hearing.Masipa found Pistorius guilty last month of culpable homicide for negligently killing Steenkamp, but acquitted him of murder. Culpable homicide is comparable to manslaughter and Masipa has a wide range of options on Pistorius sentence. She could issue a suspended jail sentence and a fine, order the 27-year-old Paralympic champion to go under house arrest, or send him to prison for up to 15 years.Nel said to Judge Masipa: The minimum term that society will be happy with is 10 years in prison.It was the first time prosecutors have said what sentence they are seeking for the double-amputee runner for shooting his girlfriend.The deceased died in a small cubicle behind a closed door, Nel said. Three bullets ripped through her body.Later, Nel said this is a serious matter. The negligence borders on intent.Pistorius chief defence lawyer Roux said the world-famous athlete did not act with any deviousness when he killed Steenkamp, and acted while feeling extremely vulnerable and anxious. Pistorius testified he mistook Steenkamp for a dangerous intruder in his home and claimed the shooting was a tragic accident.The accusedss actions were to some extent dominated by vulnerability and anxiety, Roux said to the red-robed judge who will decide Pistorius fate.dddddddddddd When you come to sentence ... you have to look at the actions with his frame of mind.Roux said there was also no conscious unlawfulness from Pistorius. He described Pistorius suffering, both emotional and financial, since the Feb. 14, 2013 shooting.Hes lost everything, Roux said of Pistorius, once an inspirational figure who became the first amputee to run at the Olympics in 2012. He was an icon in the eyes of South Africans.Pistorius at one point cried as he sat, his head bowed, on a wooden bench behind his lawyer.Hes not only broke, but hes broken. There is nothing left of this man, Roux said. He said that Pistorius hasnt even the money to pay for legal expenses. He has nothing left.Pistorius lawyers have argued for a three-year sentence of occasional house arrest and community service and no jail time, saying Pistorius has suffered emotionally and financially already, and would be under duress in prison because of his disability as a double amputee.Nel called a house arrest sentence shockingly disproportionate to what Pistorius did in the pre-dawn hours of Valentines Day last year when he shot four times with his 9 mm pistol through a toilet cubicle door in his home, hitting Steenkamp in the head, arm and hip.Nel said Pistorius should never be allowed to own a firearm again after he was also convicted on another charge of unlawfully firing a gun in a public place in a restaurant incident in early 2013, weeks before Steenkamps killing.___Imray reported from Stellenbosch, South Africa. ' ' '