Gäste-Forum » without going all the way out to

LEVI, Finland -- American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin easily won the World Cup slalom opener Saturday, beating reigning Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany by more than a second to send an immediate message to her rivals ahead of the Sochi Games. The 18-year-old slalom world champion led by half a second after the first run and raced seamlessly at the top of the hill in the second to extend her advantage, overcoming a mistake near the end to clock a combined time of 1 minute, 55.07 seconds. "Im really happy with how the day went and Im also really excited because it looks like there are some pretty fast girls in the back of the pack," Shiffrin said. "Im excited for the Olympics for sure but there are a couple of races between now and then, so hopefully I can just keep this going." Hoefl-Riesch, who was in a tie for third place after the first run, skied nearly flawlessly in the second but still finished 1.06 seconds behind in second place. Last years overall World Cup champion Tina Maze of Slovenia, who struggled in the giant slalom opener in Soelden last month, was third, 1.61 back. Shiffrin emerged as a major star in the discipline last season by winning both the World Cup slalom title and the world championship race, making her one of the major medal favourites for the Sochi Olympics. Her dominant display on Saturday did little to lower expectations on the teenager -- although Shiffrin thinks theres still plenty of room for improvement. "Every day there is something you can do better," Shiffrin said. "Im going to go back and study my skiing from today and study all the other girls to see who is doing what well and try to get better." Another 18-year-old also made a name for herself, as Christina Ager of Austria finished fourth in her first career World Cup start. Ager started with bib No. 53 but was fifth after the first run -- in part because of favourable winds -- and then missed the podium by just 0.07 seconds. Hoefl-Riesch has won three World Cup slaloms in Levi and made the podium for the seventh time here. "It was a great day for me. I had a good feeling in training already," she said. "Its always really special for me here because of my first win many years ago and because of my many good results here." Maze said she was happy to get back to skiing fast after the disappointing result in Soelden, where she struggled with the high expectations after her dominance last season. "I got a lot of pressure in Soelden race, it was the start of the season so it was not easy to handle all of this pressure so I felt really empty," Maze said. "But at the end I realized its nothing important, the only thing important is to ski fast." Marlies Schild of Austria, the slalom specialist who injured her knee in December 2012, returned for the first time since recovering fully but was already well behind Shiffrin in the first round by the time she missed a gate and skied out. Still, Schild was just happy to finally be able to ski without feeling any effects of the injury. "Of course I wanted to race a second run but yeah, its not so bad at all," Schild said. "Im in a good shape, I have no pain anymore and thats very important for me and I just have to wait, I think, to get a good feeling." Four-time former overall World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn skipped the Levi meet and will make her debut in the speed events in Beaver Creek, Colorado, after recovering from a right knee injury sustained in a crash in February. "She is back and shes strong," Shiffrin said of her teammate. "Im impressed with how strong she is. ... I dont think anybody should count her out thats for sure." For Shiffrin, the Olympic gold medal is clearly main goal for this season, although she received another memorable prize on Saturday. In a first for this year, organizers presented the winner with a live reindeer from the local Lapland region. Shiffrin named the 6-month-old reindeer Rudolf, although she wont be allowed to take him home with her. "I scared him off a bit when I jumped off the podium to meet him but I think we will be getting along," Shiffrin said. "I hope that when he gets older and trained I can go for a ride on a sledge with him." Wholesale Air Max 90 White . -- Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer, Colby Rasmus drove in two runs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 9-4 on Saturday. Cheap Air Max 90 2019 . Next week, hell try to add to the list. A Stanley Cup champion as a rookie, Seguin followed that up by becoming the youngest player to lead the Boston Bruins in scoring. http://www.outletairmax90cheap.com/outle...mens-cheap.html. A lovely summer day in England with abundant sunshine and minimal wind allowed him to attack Royal Liverpool. Air Max 90 Leather White . The top-ranked Williams carried her winning momentum from 2013 into the new season, beating No. 2-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday to defend her title at the Brisbane International and set the tone for the Australian Open. Air Max 90 Ultra Outlet . The English Football Association had charged the German right back with violent conduct after retrospectively reviewing video evidence of an incident that was missed by match officials at Craven Cottage on Saturday.BOSTON – Aaron Sanchez is the really talented kid caught in an unnecessarily strange situation. Hes in the big leagues for the first time, dominating almost every time hes used out of the bullpen and, because of that, hes consistently finding himself in high-leverage, late-game situations. Hes even saved two games, a role usually reserved for Casey Janssen. This is a story of transition. Janssen, an impending free agent, has struggled in the second half of the season and likely is on his way out of Toronto. Sanchez is the organizations priority. Hes the first-round draft pick. Hes the one who throws a fastball, free and easy, in the 97-99 miles per hour range. Hes a big part of the future. Hes a big part of the present. If all goes well, one day the outgoing 22-year-old will be a commanding presence in the clubhouse. Right now, Sanchez is a respectful, quiet rookie who will pitch when hes told and say precious little. “When that phone rings and they tell me to get hot, thats what I do,” said Sanchez. On Wednesday night, a 7-4 win in Tampa Bay, Sanchez, not Janssen, closed the game. Sanchez had thrown on Tuesday night. Hed begun warming in the seventh inning, when the score was 7-2, and so he would be used based on the strategy the club is employing to maximize his innings. Sanchez can throw in back-to-back games, but not beyond, and, if he loosens up, it counts as a work day. The save situation emerged when, with Sanchez warming for a second time in the eighth, Dustin McGowan gave up a two-run home run to Evan Longoria to cut the Toronto lead to three runs. Its the save situation that complicated matters. If Sanchez wraps up a five-run win, theres no discussion. If Sanchez, not McGowan, is used in the eighth, the issue also is avoided regardless of the eventual result. Again, Sanchez will pitch when asked. “Thats my job is to go out there; however many outs that is, if its six outs, if its nine outs,” said Sanchez. “Whatever this team needs from me, Im going to go out there and work hard to do what I need to do and get the job done.” Its no secret that while theres no strict limit on Sanchezs innings, he is being closely watched. To date, Sanchez has thrown 124 innings (23 2/3 in the big leagues, 100 1/3 at two minor league stops). This is why hes in the bullpen. Entering next year, Sanchez hopes he gets a chance at cracking the starting rotation. “Going into spring training (2015), they told me I was going to be a starter,” said Sanchez. “The only reason why I got pushed to the bullpen was for a number of things: I was on an innings limit this year and this gave me a chance to pitch throughout the year. They kind of sat me down and told me, hey, if yyou were to get called up it would probably be out of the ‘pen because the guys weve had in the rotation have been nothing but awesome this whole year.dddddddddddd” VALENCIA IMPRESSING By the time this season comes to an end, Brett Lawrie will have appeared in about 62 per cent of Blue Jays games since the start of the 2012 season, his first full year in the big leagues. Danny Valencia, acquired from the Kansas City Royals in late July, has been one of the players who has stepped in for Lawrie in that other 38 per cent of games. “If he turns out to be a good player for us, which hes doing and he can help us, it might open up a spot for him,” said manager John Gibbons. “It might answer a question.” What kind of question would Valencia answer? “If hes a regular on this team or not,” said Gibbons. Where would he play? “I dont know. Maybe hes the third baseman, Bretts the second baseman. Who knows?” said Gibbons. Gibbons made it clear no decision has been made on how next years infield will be configured, but the Blue Jays must address the middle infield in the offseason. Jose Reyes is penciled in at shortstop, despite having his share of defensive difficulties this season. Second base has remained a position of need for the ball club since it entered camp with Ryan Goins as the starter and demoted him to Triple-A Buffalo just one month into the season. Its difficult to imagine Valencia being an everyday player unless he vastly improves his splits. He has a career .625 OPS against right-handed pitching while posting a .875 OPS versus lefties. CHALLENGING THE CHALLENGE Manager John Gibbons threw up a prayer challenge on a fielders choice ground out in the 10th inning of Thursdays 1-0 win in Tampa Bay. The called was confirmed, Kevin Kiermaier was safe at first base and the Blue Jays didnt get the double play. However, after the challenge was concluded, Rays manager Joe Maddon emerged and engaged in a brief, but heated, conversation with home plate umpire Lance Barksdale. Maddon, apparently, was upset that Gibbons challenged the play without going all the way out to second base umpire Gary Cedarstrom. In a situation when he knows hes going to challenge, Gibbons doesnt see the need to trek any farther than a few steps from the dugout. “Ive done that a few times this year and theyve mentioned to me, hey, go out to the base,” said Gibbons. “I got close to the line, I think. If theyre going to complain all the time about the game taking too long, thats a way to speed it up.” Maddons pleas went ignored and the game with the next hitter later when Casey Janssen got Ben Zobrist to fly out to leftfield. ' ' '