Auto Racing
Even on a day of rest, Vettel dominates Formula One
SINGAPORE – Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won the pole position – his fifth this season – for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday despite skipping the last section of qualifying.
Vettel already has a big lead in the Formula One drivers’ championship standings. He gambled on the last flying lap under the lights at Marina Bay to save a set of super soft tires for Sunday’s race.
Vettel is closing in on a fourth consecutive world championship. He is aiming for his third consecutive victory at Marina Bay, where pole sitters have an advantage on the tight and twisty circuit.
Basketball
Parker leads France one win from elusive European title
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Tony Parker is one win from finally guiding France to its first major basketball title.
Parker scored 32 points to lead France past two-time defending champion Spain 75-72 in overtime in Friday’s semifinals at the European championship. He needs just one more big performance when his team will play Lithuania for the gold medal Sunday.
France has two silvers and five bronze medals at the European championships.
Thibault’s turnaround leads to honors in Washington
WASHINGTON – Talk about landing on your feet. In 10 months, Washington Mystics’ Mike Thibault went from being fired to winning the WNBA’s 2013 Coach of the Year, the league officially announced Saturday.
Thibault received 12 votes from a national panel of 39 media members. Seattle’s Brian Agler and Chicago’s Pokey Chatman each were one behind.
The WNBA’s all-time leader in victories has won the award three times, including 2006 and 2008 with Connecticut.
Thibault now matches Van Chancellor for the most ever in league history and joins San Antonio’s Dan Hughes as the only coach to win the award with two different teams.
Thibault came to Washington this season after getting let go by Connecticut in November after 10 seasons with the Sun. Washington was 11-57 in the two years before his arrival and, of course, playoff-less.
NHL
Winter Classic is going to DC, south of the Mason-Dixon
WASHINGTON – Nationals Park, RFK Stadium and FedEx Field are the candidates to host the Winter Classic when the NHL’s annual New Year’s Day outdoor game comes to the nation’s capital in 2015.
NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins said the league has yet to select an opponent when the Washington Capitals will host the game for the first time.
Weather could be an issue for the first Winter Classic held south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The average high temperature Jan. 1 in Washington is 44 degrees, and the record was 69 in 2005.
Sailing
Shifting wind again postpones Race 14 of America’s Cup
SAN FRANCISCO – Race 14 of the America’s Cup was postponed Saturday because of shifting wind, further delaying Emirates Team New Zealand’s chance to claim the oldest trophy in international sports.
With the Kiwis sitting on match point against defender Oracle Team USA, regatta director Iain Murray didn’t want to send the high-performance catamarans into skewed conditions.
A front that drenched San Francisco with late-morning rain brought wind from the south. It never swung back to the west-southwest breeze the course is set up for.
Team New Zealand leads 8-3. Oracle Team USA, docked two points in a cheating scandal, has won four of the last six races.
On Friday, Race 13 was abandoned because of a 40-minute time limit with the Kiwis well ahead on the fourth leg of the five-leg course in light wind. Oracle won the resail Race 13.
Organizers will try and give away the Auld Mug on Sunday.
Associated Press
