Olympic slalom champion to retire after season

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Olympic slalom champion Frida Hansdotter will retire from Alpine skiing’s World Cup next week, ending a years-long rivalry with Mikaela Shiffrin.

“It’s time for me to say goodbye to the world cup circuit and start a new chapter in life,” the 33-year-old Swede said Wednesday on Instagram.

Hansdotter has been one of Shiffrin’s biggest rivals since the American star started dominating slalom in the 2012-13 season.

She finished on the podium behind Shiffrin in three world championship races, then took the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic title when defending champion Shiffrin was fourth.

Hansdotter won the season-long World Cup slalom title and crystal trophy in 2016, when Shiffrin missed some races through injury.

Though she has won just four World Cup races, she also counts 35 podium finishes.

Her last race is March 16 in the World Cup finals meeting at Soldeu, Andorra.

Veteran musher Aliy Zirkle takes lead in Iditarod

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Veteran musher Aliy Zirkle is leading in Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

She is seeking to become the first woman to win since the late Susan Butcher claimed victory in 1990.

Zirkle was first to leave the Ophir checkpoint Wednesday, 432 miles into the race.

Earlier Wednesday, Frenchman Nicolas Petit retook the lead after arriving first at Ophir when defending champion and front-runner Joar Ulsom stopped for a 24-hour mandatory rest at Takotna. Participants also must take two eight-hour rests.

The race began Sunday north of Anchorage. The winner of the 1,000-mile (695-kilometer) race is expected in Nome on Alaska’s western coast next week.

Musher Shaynee Traska of Gladwin, Michigan, scratched in Nikolai out of the best interest of her team, leaving 51 mushers in the race.

Solskjaer leads United to another late CL win

PARIS (AP) — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer showed he’s still a specialist in delivering last-minute victories for Manchester United in the Champions League. Paris Saint-Germain, though, remains a specialist in failure on Europe’s biggest stage.

Marcus Rashford’s injury-time penalty sent Solskjaer’s revitalized side through to the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday, securing a 3-1 win at PSG to overturn a two-goal deficit from the first leg.

Solskjaer, who scored an injury-time winner in the final to cap a late comeback for United in 1999, oversaw more late drama 20 years later. It was the first time in Champions League history that a team lost the first leg at home by a two-goal margin and still went through.

Konta, Anisimova win opening matches at BNP Paribas Open

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Johanna Konta and Americans Amanda Anisimova and Lauren Davis won first-round matches as women’s play began at the BNP Paribas Open.

Konta beat Pauline Parmentier 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday. Anisimova topped Aleksandra Krunic 6-0, 6-4, and Davis outlasted Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Anisimova moves on to play No. 16 seed Elise Mertens. Davis will face 20th-seeded Garbine Muguruza.

Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu, a semifinalist last week in the Mexico Open, got by Irina-Camelia Begu 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3. Also advancing was Stefanie Voegele, who beat American Sachia Vickery 7-5, 6-2. Voegele next plays No. 4 Sloane Stephens.

In women’s doubles, second-seeded Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic were knocked out in the opening round by Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka, 6-1, 6-7 (4), 10-8. Fourth-seeded Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke also lost.

The men begin play in the Southern California desert on Thursday.

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