Winter Sports Roundup : Zurbriggen Wins World Cup Race

Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland won a World Cup downhill ski race Sunday at Kitzbuehel, Austria, that gave him a combined title and established him as the favorite to win this week’s Alpine World Championships.

Zurbriggen mastered the dreaded Streif course in 1:58.06, which was 0:73 faster than Erwin Resch of Austria.

Peter Mueller of Switzerland was third in 1:58.83.

The downhill had been scheduled for Saturday, but thick fog and snowfall postponed it.

For Zurbriggen, it was his fourth downhill victory this season, his third victory at Kitzbuehel and his 26th World Cup victory overall.

“He is the absolute favorite for Crans Montana (site of the World Championships),” said Resch.

Zurbriggen’s downhill victory and his combined victory gives him 261 World Cup points. Markus Wasmeier of West Germany is second with 166.

In a slalom race, Bojan Krizaj of Yugoslavia beat Mathias Berthold of Austria by only 0:08.

The top American in the downhill was Doug Lewis of Salisbury, Vt., who tied for 20th in 2:00.72.

At the Descente World Cup speedskating competition at Lake Placid, N.Y., Bonnie Blair of the United States defeated Sieko Hashimoto of Japan in the 1,000 meters in 1:24.90. Tatiana Kubutova of the Soviet Union was third in 1:27.12

Blair, 22, extended her lead in the World Cup standings in 1,000 meters, 119-78, over Ingrid Haringa of The Netherlands.

Akira Kuroiwa of Japan edged Nick Thometz of the United States to take the gold medal in the men’s 1,000 meters in 1:16.98.

Thometz, of Minnetonka, Minn., won the silver medal in 1:17.22. Igor Zhelezovski of the Soviet Union was third in 1:17.78.

Thometz, who set a track and American record Saturday with a time of 38.01 in the 500 meters, leads the World Cup standings over Kuroiwa, 145-140.

At Innsbruck, Austria, East Germany swept the women’s singles in the World Luge Championships.

European champion Cerstin Schmidt, 23, won her first world title in 2:05.876, ahead of teammates Gabriele Kohlisch, whose aggregate time for the three runs was 2:06.235. Ute Oberhoffner was third at 2:06.248.

Schmidt won first place overall on the strength of the two best heat times and a second-best run.

Primoz Ulaga’s jump of 121.0 meters gave him his second 90-meter World Cup ski jumping victory of the season at Sapporo, Japan.

Ulaga, of Yugoslavia, soared 113.5 meters on his second jump and was awarded 231.8 points to 215.8 for Miran Tepes of Yugoslavia, who had jumps of 113.5 and 109.0 meters.