SKIING
Mikaela Shiffrin marked the return of the women’s World Cup to North America by setting yet another record – and the two-time Olympic champion did it Sunday on home snow.
Shiffrin beat Petra Vlhova – her main rival – in Killington, Vermont, for her 46th career win in slalom. That matched a 32-year-old record for most World Cup wins in a single discipline, set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in men’s giant slalom.
While the 26-year-old Shiffrin hails from Vail, Colorado, she honed her skills at Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont as a teenager.
Shiffrin trailed Vlhova by .20 seconds after the first run, but an error by Vlhova during the second run enabled Shiffrin to win by .75.
Wendy Holdener of Switzerland finished third, .83 behind Shiffrin.
Shiffrin has won all five World Cup slalom races in Killington. She moved 20 points ahead of Vlhova at the top of the overall World Cup standings.
BIATHLON
WORLD CUP: Clare Egan of Cape Elizabeth placed 12th in the second race of the season – a 7.5-kilometer sprint in Oestersund, Sweden.
Egan cleared all 10 targets and finished 53.2 seconds behind winner Hanna Oeberg of Sweden.
SOCCER
MLS: Bobby Wood directed Justin Meram’s crossing pass low into the right corner in the 90th minute to give Real Salt Lake a 2-1 victory at Sporting Kansas City in the Western Conference semifinals.
Real Salt Lake advanced to face the Portland Timbers in the conference final.
• Andre Blake made two spectacular saves, Nashville missed on two penalty kicks and the Philadelphia Union won a shootout to advance to the Eastern Conference final for the first time.
Philadelphia will face the winner of Tuesday’s semifinal between New England and New York City.
ENGLAND: Jorginho made amends for an error that led to a Manchester United goal, converting an equalizing penalty for Chelsea in a 1-1 draw in London.
• Manchester City overcame heavy snow to claim a hard-fought 2-1 victory at home against West Ham, cutting Chelsea lead in the Premier League to a single point.
Ilkay Gundogan tapped home after 33 minutes and Fernandinho added a late goal for the defending champions.
FRANCE: Lionel Messi had three assists in a 3-1 win against 10-man Saint-Etienne to help Paris Saint-Germain extend its lead atop the French League standings to 12 points, but the victory was marred by an injury to star striker Neymar.
The Brazilian forward was stretchered off in the 87th minute after twisting his ankle under an awkward challenge from Yvann Macon.
TENNIS
DAVIS CUP: The United States was eliminated when it lost 2-1 to Colombia in Turin, Italy.
The Americans, who lost to Italy on Friday, left Turin with an 0-2 record when Reilly Opelka and Jack Sock retired from the decisive doubles match against Colombia while trailing 3-0 in the opening set.
Russia, led by second-ranked Daniil Medvedev, beat Spain 2-1 in a result that eliminated the defending champion and allowed Serbia, with top-ranked Novak Djokovic, to advance to the quarterfinals.
The other quarterfinals are Italy vs. Croatia, Britain vs. Germany and Serbia vs. Kazakhstan.
BASKETBALL
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING: Isaiah Thomas scored 21 points, including a sealing 3-pointer with 13.3 seconds left, and the United States erased a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Cuba 95-90 in their World Cup qualifying opener at Chihuahua, Mexico.
Brian Bowen II and B.J. Johnson each added 16 points for the U.S.
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