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Alpine Skiing: American Lindsey Vonn (picture) equalled Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell’s 35-year-old record of 62 wo-men’s Alpine skiing World Cup victories when she won a downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo yesterday. The four-times World Cup overall winner and 2010 Olympic champion can now break the record in today’s Super-G in the same Italian resort. Vonn, 30, also celebrated her 32nd downhill win – four fewer than Moser-Proell who set her record between 1970 and 1980. “It’s been a long way to get to where I am now. If I look back on my career, I can hardly believe I won that much,” she said.
Golf: Australian golfer Robert Allenby was recovering from facial injuries after he was kidnapped, beaten, robbed and dumped in a park in Honolulu. Allenby, 43, was in Hawaii to compete in the Sony Open at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, but missed the cut and was planning to fly home on Saturday. But on Friday night, while at the Amuse Wine Bar in Waikiki with his caddie and a friend, Allenby said he was taken from the bar and robbed of his wallet, cell phone, cash and credit cards before waking up groggy in a park about six miles (10 km) away. “I’m just glad to be alive,” Allenby said. “I’m still in a bit of shock. I’ve been checked out by a doctor, and I should be ok.”
Rugby Union: Toulon’s Steffon Armitage scored a hat-trick as the European champions crushed Ulster 60-22 to become the first team to book a place in the quarter-finals of the new European Champions Cup. Armitage again demonstrated his excellence and power as he led the French side’s eight-try rout. Toulon’s international ‘galactico’ line-up ran riot against the injury-hit former champions with try scorers from six different countries. Englishman Armitage was joined on the scoresheet by Argentina’s Nicolas Sanchez, South Africa’s Bryan Habana, Frenchman Mathieu Bastareaud, Italian Martin Castrogiovanni and Georgian Mamuka Gorgodze. Welshman Leigh Halfpenny chipped in with 20 points with the boot.
Triathlon: The International Triathlon Union (ITU) opened bidding for the 2017 ITU Multisport World Championship Festival. The inaugural championship event will see Duathlon, Aquathlon, Cross Triathlon and Long Distance Triathlon World Championship races contested over a ten-day celebration starting in 2017. “Combining all of these World Championship events into one festival will serve to further strengthen and evolve them, and will be very attractive to cities wishing to attract thousands of active visitors to its city,” ITU president Marisol Casado said.
Cricket: AB de Villiers took 31 balls to smash the fastest century in one-day internationals yesterday as South Africa posted 439 for two wickets, their highest team total in this format, in the second ODI against West Indies at the Wanderers. Described by retired Australian stumper Adam Gilchrist as the “most valuable cricketer on the planet” last week, De Villiers blasted 16 sixes and nine fours in his blistering 44-ball knock of 149, bettering New Zealander Corey Anderson’s 36-ball century against West Indies last year. The 30-year-old right-hander went down on his knees and slog-swept Jason Holder over deep mid-wicket for his 10th six to bring up his century before raising his bat and taking off his helmet with a broad smile on his face.
Basketball, NBA: Greg Monroe’s double-double and Kyle Singler’s 20-point haul helped the Detroit Pistons to an 11th win in 13 games as they routed the Philadelphia 76ers 107-89 on Saturday night. Monroe had 12 points and 13 rebounds as the Pistons were comfortable throughout and always looked like building upon their narrow 98-96 win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. Six players reached double figures for Detroit, with Andre Drummond grabbing 15 rebounds, as they improved their home record to 6-15.