Sullivan earns first win in World Cup downhill

Persistence finally paid off for Marco Sullivan.

The 27-year-old from Squaw Valley, Calif., won his first World Cup race in his ninth season on the U.S. team, capitalizing on his gliding skills to win the Kandahar downhill Saturday at Chamonix, France.

Sullivan covered the 2.08-mile course in 2 minutes 0.11 seconds, edging discipline leader Didier Cuche of Switzerland by 0.40 of a second. Andrej Jerman of Slovenia was third, 0.46 behind.

“I knew I could kill ‘em with my gliding if I could carry my speed off the top,” said Sullivan, a two-time Olympian.

“It all came together. I had a couple of small scrubs [of time] on top, but I knew this was my kind of course and I knew I had a good run.”

Bode Miller of Bretton Woods, N.H., finished seventh in 2:00.91. He was faster than Sullivan over the first two stages of the course but lost time at the bottom.

Sullivan was 22nd after the first stage but recovered to reach the second 0.47 of a second ahead of Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Canada, who led at one point with a run of 2:00.73. By the third split, Sullivan had increased his lead on the flat part of the run.

“I had a lot of injuries. It’s the first time in a while I’ve been healthy,” Sullivan said.

Denise Karbon of Italy overcame a broken bone in her left thumb to win a World Cup giant slalom at Ofterschwang, Germany.

Karbon, who broke the bone during training Wednesday, was ninth after the first leg. She won her fifth giant slalom of the season with a combined time of 2:22.26.

Overall World Cup leader Nicole Hosp led Karbon by 1.09 seconds after the first leg but could not keep her advantage. She finished second, 0.08 behind. Austrian teammate Elisabeth Goergl was third in 2:22.35.

Lindsey Vonn of Vail, Colo., remained second in the overall World Cup standings by finishing sixth in 2:22.84.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Late touchdown gives South Senior Bowl win

Florida wide receiver Andre Caldwell scored on a two-yard end-around on the final play of the Senior Bowl to cap a 14-play, 86-yard final drive and lift the South to a 17-16 win over the North at Mobile, Ala. Georgia’s Brandon Coutu kicked the decisive extra point.

Michigan’s Chad Henne accounted for both North touchdowns with a 36-yard pass to wide receiver Lavelle Hawkins of California in the first half and a four-yard pass to Missouri tight end Martin Rucker with 14:32 to play.

USC defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis sacked Andre Woodson of Kentucky to record a safety for the North.

GOLF

Morgan keeps his lead at Turtle Bay

Gil Morgan shot an even-par 72 in windy conditions to maintain a two-stroke lead after the second round of the Turtle Bay Championship at Kahuku, Hawaii.

Morgan had a birdie and bogey on each side of the wind-swept Palmer Course for a 36-hole total of seven-under 137 in the Champions Tour’s first full-field event of the year. Jim Thorpe (71) and Bernhard Langer (71) were at five under.

SOCCER

Liverpool rallies to avoid upset in FA Cup

Yossi Benayoun scored three goals to help Liverpool rally to beat the amateurs of Havant and Waterlooville, 5-2, to reach the fifth round of the English FA Cup and avoid the biggest upset in the competition’s 136-year history.

Havant, which had plasterers, taxi drivers and refuse collectors on its squad at Liverpool’s Anfield, twice took the lead in the first half against pros who earn up to $200,000 a week.

Languishing six leagues and 123 places below Liverpool in English soccer’s hierarchy, the Hawks couldn’t hang on. Benayoun tied the score in the final minute of the first half and added two goals in the second half, and Peter Crouch tapped in the fifth goal in the 90th.

Two goals by Emmanuel Adebayor and a last-minute own goal by Nicky Butt gave 10-time FA Cup winner Arsenal a 3-0 victory over Newcastle.

MOTOR RACING

Johnson team in fourth place at Daytona race

The Porsche Crawford of three-time race winner Andy Wallace, Joey Hand, Patrick Long and Bill Auberlen was leading after six hours of one of the most competitive races in the history of the Rolex 24-Hour sports car endurance race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

Hand was at the wheel of the Daytona Prototype when it moved to the front, the 12th lead change in a race that has never had more than 15 lead changes in the entire 24 hours.

Two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, teamed with former CART champion Jimmy Vasser and defending Rolex Grand-Am Series champions Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney, was in fourth place after taking his first stint in the team’s Pontiac Riley prototype.

JURISPRUDENCE

Moon to be arraigned on DUI charges

Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon will enter a plea Feb. 5 on charges of driving under the influence, court officials said.

The charges stem from an arrest Dec. 28, when a Medina, Wash., police officer saw Moon’s vehicle on the Highway 520 bridge about 2 a.m. and noticed it had an expired registration tag, said Medina police Lt. Dan Yourboski.

Moon had a valid Texas driver’s license, but his driving privileges had been revoked in Washington, Yourboski told the Seattle Times.