Neues » The loudest roars were for

LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland - About four weeks after winning Olympic gold in the super-G, Anna Fenninger completed her run to the overall World Cup title Thursday by taking second in the same event. Billy Williams Cubs Jersey . The 24-year-old Austrian finished behind Lara Gut at the World Cup Finals but built an unassailable 215-point lead over her Swiss friend with two races remaining this weekend. "Its just, Wow," said Fenninger, the first Austrian woman to win the overall title since Nicole Hosp in 2007. "It means that you are the best skier in the world over the whole season." Fenningers path to Alpine skiings most prestigious honour was made easier when her closest challenger, Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany, sustained season-ending injuries after crashing in the downhill on Wednesday. Still, her consistency over a tiring five-month season earned her the honour of becoming the 27th different womens champion since the World Cup launched in 1967. "You cant win the overall because you are lucky," Gut said. "You win the overall because you are the best." Fenninger carried the momentum of her Olympic exploits, including silver in giant slalom, into a surge of points in recent weeks. Her only slip since Sochi was a sixth-place finish in the final downhill on Wednesday, racing minutes before Hoefl-Riesch crashed. "I was so nervous yesterday it was not normal," Fenninger said. "But I learned from yesterday for today and Im stoked that I can show my good skiing again." Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein, who was second in the overall standings heading to Sochi, also was lost for the season when she crashed in training on the Olympic downhill course. Starting just before Gut on Thursday, Fenninger punched the air with her right fist after crossing the line, then blew a kiss to the television camera while waiting for her rival in the finish area. Gut then finished in 1 minute, 17.14 seconds on the sunbathed course, 0.61 seconds faster than Fenninger. Tina Maze of Slovenia, the defending overall champion, trailed Gut by 0.95 in third. Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., did not finish. Guts victory, her second straight after her downhill success, clinched the season-long super-G title, a first career World Cup trophy for the 22-year-old Swiss racer. Gut looked up at the giant screens, pumped both fists and basked in a loud ovation from a 5,000-strong home crowd. "Its cool," the 22-year-old Gut said. "Winning it at home and finally bringing a (crystal) globe back to Switzerland, its amazing." Guts seventh World Cup race win this season is the most on the womens circuit, and leaves her third overall. Fenninger, however, won three giant slaloms — including back-to-back races last week in Are, Sweden — and racked up podium finishes. She finished second in the downhill standings, behind Hoefl-Riesch, and in super-G. She also stands second in the giant slalom race behind Jessica Lindell-Vikarby of Sweden. The final GS race closes the season on Sunday. By then, Austria hopes Marcel Hirscher will have clinched the mens overall title to give the Alpine nation its first double success since 2002. Carlos Zambrano Cubs Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings and guard Jimmer Fredette have completed a buyout of his contract, clearing the way for the former BYU sensation to become a free agent. Jon Lester Cubs Jersey . The Raptors had an early deadline Sunday, a dreaded afternoon game, and they left the bulk of their work until the last minute, as theyve done so many times before. http://www.thecubsteamshop.com/Cubs-Daniel-Descalso-Kids-Jersey/ . Specifically, thumbs up to the Canadian-based teams in the NHL, or at least most of them.MINNEAPOLIS -- Yoenis Cespedes knew how to pace himself in this rain-delayed home run derby, drawn out further by a new format. The Oakland Athletics outfielder simply trusted his own strength. Cespedes became the first repeat winner of the All-Star skills contest in 15 years, powering his way past Cincinnatis Todd Frazier 9-1 in the final round Monday night. Ken Griffey Jr. took the title in 1998 and 1999. With a serious, determined look on his face the whole time, Cespedes finished with 28 homers. That was four fewer than last year, when he beat Washingtons Bryce Harper 9-8 in the final round. The 28-year-old Cuban even told Athletics teammate Josh Donaldson he was doing this wrong. "I knew he wasnt going to win because his mentality was to take the ball out of the stadium, and I told him that is not the way you win this competition," Cespedes said through an interpreter. He added: "Im somebody whos very conscious of the power that I have. So I dont need to put more of a swing or more of an effort in order to hit a home run. I just have to look for a good pitch and put a good swing on it, and it usually takes care of it." Cespedes saved his best for last, a 452-foot blast to the third deck above left field that officially measured as the longest of the night. As third base coach Mike Gallego again pitched to Cespedes, who went deep 32 times in last years derby at Citi Field in New York. Gallegos arm looked nearly out of gas by the final round, which started after 10:30 p.m. local time. "Maybe next year Ill put up a better showing at the end," Frazier said. "Now that I understand, maybe Ill do a couple of more push-ups." Cespedes topped Torontos Jose Bautista, and Frazier surprisingly beat Miamis Giancarlo Stanton in the semifinals. Bautista and Stanton each earned a bye to the semifinals under the new bracketed format, which gave each player seven outs and pitted the survivors from each side in the final round. Bautista went deep 10 times in the first round, keeping the fans in the second deck above left field on their toes, and Stanton hit six. That was all for him, though. After a long wait for his next turn, Stanton put up a zero in the semifinals and let Frazier advance with only one. Oh, but Stantons six were beauties. One landed in the thirrd deck above left field, about a half-dozen rows shy of the very top of the ballpark. Brandon Morrow Jersey. Another reached the second deck above the centre field batters eye, a place never touched by a ball during an actual game here. Bautista, the AL captain, has 11 home runs in 14 regular-season games here, the most by any visiting player. Thats only one less than Twins cornerstone Joe Mauer, who has played 284 career games at Target Field. Cespedes, who beat Donaldson in a tiebreaker after each finished with three in the first round, breezed by Baltimores Adam Jones in the second round. Frazier topped NL captain Troy Tulowitzki on the other side. Colorados Justin Morneau, the fan favourite after 10-plus years and four All-Star games for the host Twins, was eliminated in the first round. Morneau returned to his roots, and so did the event itself, considering the inaugural contest was held at the Metrodome before the 1985 All-Star game. Admission then was a mere $2, slightly less than the $200-and-up price tags on the derby these days. The original form was actually a 1960s-era television show, featuring sluggers like Harmon Killebrew of the Twins. Morneau is from New Westminster, B.C. Delayed 54 minutes by light rain on an unseasonably cool night -- even for Minnesota -- with a start-time temperature of 59 degrees, the contest began with a rainbow protruding from the clouds beyond left-centre field that framed this limestone-encased ballpark that opened in 2010. Frazier went first, and while he went deep twice, he didnt quite reach the rainbow. Neither did Twins second baseman Brian Dozier, the smallest of the participants who had the backing of the crowd with chants of his last name during his two-homer round. "Even my brother he said he got chills," said Dozier, one of seven first-time participants. His brother, Clay, was his pitcher. The loudest roars were for Morneau, the only left-hander in the event his year. His third derby appearance brought the fans to their feet with AC/DCs "Thunderstruck" blaring in the background, and he hit two in the first round before Frazier beat him in the three-swing tiebreaker. The only player shut out? Dodgers sparkplug Yasiel Puig. He was the first homerless participant since Robinson Cano two years ago in Kansas City. ' ' '