This downhill win special for Vonn

Lindsey Vonn had one of the biggest victories of her career Saturday, easily winning the most prestigious downhill of the women’s World Cup circuit.

Vonn, of Vail. Colo., covered the 1.75-mile Olympia delle Tofane course at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in 1 minute 36.70 seconds, 0.83 of a second ahead of Swedish star Anja Paerson.

“I’ve won by more, but I’ve never won in Cortina before,” said Vonn, who registered her fourth victory of the season and 11th in her career.

“This is one of the great classics of the World Cup tour. It’s just one of those races that’s important to win in your career.”

Emily Brydon finished third, 1.20 seconds behind Vonn, and Brydon’s Canadian teammate Kelly Vanderbeek was fourth.

The victory solidified Vonn’s lead in the downhill standings. She has won three of the five downhills this season and has 430 points. Britt Janyk of Canada, who finished sixth, is second with 264 points.

Didier Cuche of Sweden won a World Cup downhill race at Kitzbuehel, Austria, and became the new overall points leader. He won in 1 minute 52.75 seconds for his fourth downhill win and eighth overall.

Bode Miller of Bretton Woods, N.H., who had a strong finish after losing time in the upper part of the course, tied for second with Mario Scheiber of Austria. They trailed Cuche by 0.27 of a second.

The race was stopped for half an hour after Scott Macartney of Crystal Mountain, Wash., the second skier, lost his balance at the final jump and smashed his head on the snow while going 88 mph.

Macartney briefly lost consciousness and organizers said he had a brain contusion, though no surgery would be needed.

SOCCER

United, Arsenal share

Premier League lead

Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo scored late goals for Manchester United, which stayed at the top of the English Premier League standings with a 2-0 victory over Reading.

Arsenal kept pace with the Red Devils with a 3-0 win at London rival Fulham behind two goals from Emmanuel Adebayor. Both teams have 54 points, with United ahead on goal difference. Chelsea stayed three points behind the leaders with a 1-0 win at Birmingham.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Robinson helps West

defeat East, 31-13

Kevin Robinson of Utah State returned a punt for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass to help the West defeat the East, 31-13, in the 83rd East-West Shrine Game at Houston.

Robinson gave the West a 7-3 lead when he returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter. He extended the lead to 24-6 when he scored on a five-yard pass from Josh Johnson of San Diego in the fourth quarter.

GOLF

Doyle leads Funk

by one in Hawaii

Allen Doyle birdied the final two holes for a six-under-par 66 and a one-stroke lead over Fred Funk after two rounds of the MasterCard Championship at Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii.

Doyle holed a 26-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole and is at 15-under 129. Funk had a 63.

First-round leader Tom Purtzer (69) and Jim Thorpe (68) were third at 13 under.

Ji-Yai Shin and Eun-Hee Ji of South Korea dropped to a share of the lead with the Philippines after a triple bogey on the 17th hole at the Women’s World Cup in Sun City, South Africa. Jennifer Rosales and Dorothy Delasin shot a four-under 68 and the teams were tied at 11-under 133.

Lorie Kane and Alena Sharp of Canada (73) are fourth and the U.S. team of Juli Inkster and Pat Hurst (76) fell into a 10th-place tie with Brazil and Scotland.

SWIMMING

Phelps wins twice

at Long Beach meet

Michael Phelps opened the Olympic year with two victories in the Southern California Grand Prix, swimming his best times in the 100- and 500-yard freestyles.

The six-time Olympic gold medalist won the 100 in 41.93, lowering his own meet record set last year at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Later, Phelps won the 500 in 4:10.43, again faster than he swam a year ago at this meet.

MISCELLANY

Penn wins UFC

lightweight title

B.J. Penn claimed his second Ultimate Fighting Championship title, badly cutting Joe Stevenson in the first round and winning with a chokehold in the second at Newcastle, England.

Former welterweight champion Penn (13-4-1) was handed the UFC’s interim lightweight belt after forcing Victorville’s Stevenson (33-8) to tap out 4:02 into the second round.

-- Lance Pugmire

Jarmila Machacova of the Czech Republic won the 80-lap (20 kilometers) women’s points race at the Track Cycling World Cup at the Home Depot Center. She finished with 27 points.