Vlhova beats Shiffrin in 1st slalom of World Cup season

Practice made perfect for Petra Vlhova, who beat Mikaela Shiffrin in the first World Cup slalom of the season in Levi, Finland.

The Slovakian overall champion had been training for three weeks in Finnish Lapland and skipped a parallel event in Austria last week to get ready for the first race in her strongest discipline.

No skier other than Vlhova or Shiffrin has won the traditional season-opening slalom since then-overall champion Tina Maze triumphed in 2014. Shiffrin and Vlhova have now each win it four times.

Figure skating: Teenage world champion Anna Shcherbakova of Russia overcame an early tumble to clinch her second Grand Prix gold medal of the season by winning the ISU GP in Grenoble, France. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, the 2021 world silver medalist, defended his strong lead from the short program to win the men’s competition.

Motor sports: Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes moved a bit closer to reclaiming control of the Formula One championship race when Hamilton beat rival Max Verstappen for the pole at the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix.

Obituary: Former Los Angeles Raiders fullback Steve Smith has died after a long battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He was 57.

Smith was drafted by the Raiders in 1987 after playing at Penn State, where he helped the Nittany Lions win their last national title in the 1986 season.

Smith was the lead blocker in his nine-year NFL career for Pro Bowlers such as Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson. He also ran for 1,627 yards and nine TDs in nine NFL seasons. Smith was diagnosed with ALS about two decades ago and was unable to walk or talk in recent years.