COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. (AP) — For a pair of lower-level downhill events, this sure had plenty of Olympic medal-capturing and World Cup-winning ski racers. The stage belonged to Lindsey Vonn , the 40-year-old who took another step on her comeback trail Saturday with her first races in nearly six years. Vonn wasn't particularly speedy and finished in the middle of the pack on a cold but sunny day at Copper Mountain. Times and places weren't the mission, though, as much as getting used to the speed again and gaining the necessary points to compete on the World Cup circuit this season. Vonn accomplished both, finishing 24th in the first downhill race of the day and 27th in the second. She posted on social media after the FIS races that she had enough points to enter World Cup events. The timing couldn't be more perfect — the next stop on the women's circuit is Beaver Creek, Colorado, in a week. Vonn, who used to own a home in nearby Vail, hasn't committed to any sort of timetable for a World Cup return. “Today was a solid start and I had a blast being in start with my teammates again!” Vonn wrote on X . “While I’m sure people will speculate and say I’m not in top form because of the results, I disagree. This was training for me. I’m still testing equipment and getting back in the groove.” Her competition — a veritable who's who of high-profile ski racers — applauded her efforts. “I don't expect her to come back and win — just that she comes back and she has fun,” said Federica Brignone of Italy, a former overall World Cup champion and three-time Olympic medalist. “She's having fun, and she’s doing what she loves. That’s the best thing that she could do.” In the first race on a frigid morning, Vonn wound up 1.44 seconds behind the winning time of 1 minute, 5.79 seconds posted by Mirjam Puchner of Austria. In her second race through the course later in the morning, Vonn was 1.53 seconds behind Cornelia Huetter of Austria, who finished in 1:05.99. Huetter is the reigning season-long World Cup downhill champion. “It’s really nice to compare with her again, and nice to have her (racing) again,” Huetter said. “For sure, for the skiing World Cup, we have a lot of more attention. It's generally good for all racers because everyone is looking.” Also in the field were Nadia Delago of Italy, who won a bronze medal in downhill at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and Puchner, the Olympic silver winner in super-G in Beijing. In addition, there was Marta Bassino of Italy, a winner of the super-G at the 2023 world championships, and two-time Olympic champion Michelle Gisin of Switzerland. “For me, it was really a training, but it was fun to have a World Cup race level right here,” Gisin said. “It was a crazy race.” Vonn remains a popular figure and took the time after each run to sign autographs for young fans along with posing for photos. When she left the sport, Vonn had 82 World Cup race victories, which stood as the record for a woman and within reach of the all-time Alpine record of 86 held by Swedish standout Ingemar Stenmark. The women’s mark held by Vonn was surpassed in January 2023 by Mikaela Shiffrin, who now has 99 wins — more than any Alpine ski racer in the history of the sport. Shiffrin is currently sidelined after a crash in a giant slalom event in Killington, Vermont , last weekend. Vonn’s last major race was in February 2019, when she finished third in a downhill during the world championships in Sweden. The three-time Olympic medalist left the circuit still near the top of her game. But all the broken arms and legs, concussions and torn knee ligaments took too big a toll and sent her into retirement. She had a partial knee replacement last April and felt good enough to give racing another shot. “It's very impressive to see all the passion that Lindsey still has,” Gisin said. Also racing Saturday was 45-year-old Sarah Schleper, who once competed for the United States but now represents Mexico. Schleper was the next racer behind Vonn and they got a chance to share a moment between a pair of 40-somethings still racing. “I was like, ‘Give me some tips, Lindsey,’” Schleper said. “She’s like, ‘Oh, it’s a highway tuck, the whole thing.’ Then she’s like, ‘It’s just like the good old days.’" AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiingColorado Avalanche (12-9, in the Central Division) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (10-7-2, in the Atlantic Division) Tampa, Florida; Monday, 7 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: The Colorado Avalanche are looking to extend a three-game win streak with a victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay has a 10-7-2 record overall and a 6-2-1 record in home games. The Lightning have scored 68 total goals (3.6 per game) to rank 10th in NHL play. Colorado is 12-9 overall and 6-3-0 on the road. The Avalanche have an 8-5-0 record in games they have fewer penalties than their opponent. The teams play Monday for the second time this season. The Lightning won 5-2 in the previous matchup. Anthony Cirelli led the Lightning with two goals. TOP PERFORMERS: Nikita Kucherov has 11 goals and 17 assists for the Lightning. Emil Martinsen Lilleberg has scored goals over the past 10 games. Nathan MacKinnon has scored seven goals with 28 assists for the Avalanche. Sam Malinski has over the last 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: Lightning: 4-4-2, averaging 3.4 goals, six assists, 3.4 penalties and 9.3 penalty minutes while giving up 2.8 goals per game. Avalanche: 7-3-0, averaging 3.5 goals, 6.2 assists, 2.9 penalties and 5.8 penalty minutes while giving up 2.6 goals per game. INJURIES: Lightning: None listed. Avalanche: None listed. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .The Miami Hurricanes are taking on the Syracuse Hurricanes in their final contest of the regular season, and so far, things have gone Miami's way, as they raced out to a 21-7 lead midway through the second quarter. However, something happened earlier in the game that left ESPN announcer Kirk Morrison stunned. As has been the case all season long, Cam Ward has been starring under center for the Hurricanes, as he completed 10 of his first 14 pass attempts for 159 yards and two touchdowns. There was one play along the way, though, that provided a bit of a scare for Ward and the rest of the Hurricanes offense. On Miami's second drive, Ward threw a pass to Jacolby George in the back of the end zone that he was ultimately unable to haul in. Along the way, George's foot somehow got caught up in the field goal netting behind the end zone, and it led to a stunned reaction from Morrison in the announcer's booth. "Look at this, I've never seen that before," Morrison said of George's worrisome incident. Miami's Jacolby George finds himself in an unusual situation, getting his foot caught in the field goal netting after nearly hauling in a touchdown catch. "Look at this, I've never seen that before." - ESPN's Kirk Morrison on the call of the Miami-Syracuse game pic.twitter.com/pL1tWvmRJN Anytime you see a player go down in a strange way like this, the immediate fear is that they suffered an injury. Thankfully, George got untangled with the help of a referee, and jogged off the field under his own power. Considering how he already has four catches for 103 yards, losing him would have been a huge blow for Miami. © Rich Barnes-Imagn Images Ward would respond to missing George by leading the Hurricanes to a touchdown just three plays later when he found Xavier Restrepo for a score. Miami would score again on their ensuing offensive possession, as they started the game off with touchdowns on their first three drives before punting on their fourth. George and Ward have been on fire early on against Syracuse, but the Orange aren't going to go down easily, as they scored their second touchdown of the day on a long 16-play drive to make the score 21-14 late in the second quarter. Thankfully, Miami will have George available, despite his involvement in this play that left Morrison stunned. Related: Giants Make Cam Ward Move After Releasing Daniel Jones: Report
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By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump promised on Tuesday to “vigorously pursue” capital punishment after President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row partly to stop Trump from pushing forward their executions. Related Articles National Politics | Elon Musk’s preschool is the next step in his anti-woke education dreams National Politics | Trump’s picks for top health jobs not just team of rivals but ‘team of opponents’ National Politics | Biden will decide on US Steel acquisition after influential panel fails to reach consensus National Politics | Biden vetoes once-bipartisan effort to add 66 federal judgeships, citing ‘hurried’ House action National Politics | A history of the Panama Canal — and why Trump can’t take it back on his own Trump criticized Biden’s decision on Monday to change the sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned people to life in prison without parole, arguing that it was senseless and insulted the families of their victims. Biden said converting their punishments to life imprisonment was consistent with the moratorium imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder. “Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” he wrote on his social media site. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!” Presidents historically have no involvement in dictating or recommending the punishments that federal prosecutors seek for defendants in criminal cases, though Trump has long sought more direct control over the Justice Department’s operations. The president-elect wrote that he would direct the department to pursue the death penalty “as soon as I am inaugurated,” but was vague on what specific actions he may take and said they would be in cases of “violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.” He highlighted the cases of two men who were on federal death row for slaying a woman and a girl, had admitted to killing more and had their sentences commuted by Biden. On the campaign trail, Trump often called for expanding the federal death penalty — including for those who kill police officers, those convicted of drug and human trafficking, and migrants who kill U.S. citizens. “Trump has been fairly consistent in wanting to sort of say that he thinks the death penalty is an important tool and he wants to use it,” said Douglas Berman, an expert on sentencing at Ohio State University’s law school. “But whether practically any of that can happen, either under existing law or other laws, is a heavy lift.” Berman said Trump’s statement at this point seems to be just a response to Biden’s commutation. “I’m inclined to think it’s still in sort of more the rhetoric phase. Just, ‘don’t worry. The new sheriff is coming. I like the death penalty,’” he said. Most Americans have historically supported the death penalty for people convicted of murder, according to decades of annual polling by Gallup, but support has declined over the past few decades. About half of Americans were in favor in an October poll, while roughly 7 in 10 Americans backed capital punishment for murderers in 2007. Before Biden’s commutation, there were 40 federal death row inmates compared with more than 2,000 who have been sentenced to death by states. “The reality is all of these crimes are typically handled by the states,” Berman said. A question is whether the Trump administration would try to take over some state murder cases, such as those related to drug trafficking or smuggling. He could also attempt to take cases from states that have abolished the death penalty. Berman said Trump’s statement, along with some recent actions by states, may present an effort to get the Supreme Court to reconsider a precedent that considers the death penalty disproportionate punishment for rape. “That would literally take decades to unfold. It’s not something that is going to happen overnight,” Berman said. Before one of Trump’s rallies on Aug. 20, his prepared remarks released to the media said he would announce he would ask for the death penalty for child rapists and child traffickers. But Trump never delivered the line. One of the men Trump highlighted on Tuesday was ex-Marine Jorge Avila Torrez, who was sentenced to death for killing a sailor in Virginia and later pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbing of an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old girl in a suburban Chicago park several years before. The other man, Thomas Steven Sanders, was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and slaying of a 12-year-old girl in Louisiana, days after shooting the girl’s mother in a wildlife park in Arizona. Court records show he admitted to both killings. Some families of victims expressed anger with Biden’s decision, but the president had faced pressure from advocacy groups urging him to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates. The ACLU and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were some of the groups that applauded the decision. Biden left three federal inmates to face execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018 , the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Michelle L. Price and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.Amazon To Meta: These Companies Are Donating Huge Amounts To Trump's 2025 Inaugural Fund
Magic's Franz Wagner sidelined by torn obliqueWHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. (AP) — Jordan Sears scored 25 points, Jalen Reed had 21 points and 13 rebounds, and LSU defeated UCF 109-102 in triple overtime on Sunday to take third place at the Greenbrier Tip-Off. LSU trailed by 18 points early in the second half, then failed to hold a lead at the end of regulation and each of the first two overtime periods. The Tigers went up by five with a minute to go in the third overtime. UCF cut it to three, then Vyctorius Miller made a driving layup, Jordan Sears followed with a dunk and the Tigers were able to hold on when leading by seven. Cam Carter scored 20 points, Miller had 16 and Dji Bailey 14 for LSU (5-1). Darius Johnson had 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds for UCF (4-2). Keyshawn Hall had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Jordan Ivy-Curry scored 20. South Florida led by 15 points at halftime and maintained a double-digit lead for all but a few possessions in the first 11 1/2 minutes of the second half. UCF led 62-48 with 8 1/2 minutes remaining but Sears hit three 3-pointers and LSU drew to within 64-59 with 6 minutes to go. The Tigers scored the last six points of regulation to force overtime. In the first half, LSU led 15-13 about eight minutes into the game but the Tigers missed 15 of 16 shots while being outscored 25-3 over the next 10 minutes. South Florida led 40-25 at halftime after shooting 46% to 25% for LSU. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball