Winter Sports -- Merle Wins On '92 Olympic Hill

MERIBEL, France - After being sidelined almost a year because of a knee injury, France's Carole Merle rebounded to win a women's super-giant-slalom ski race yesterday on the course that will be used in the 1992 Winter Olympics.

Merle was timed in 1 minute, 5.05 seconds down the hard-packed course that was supplemented with snow flown in by helicopters. Second went to Switzerland's Maria Walliser in 1:05.37. West Germany's Michaela Gerg, the first racer down the mountain, took third in 1:06.01.

Kristi Terzian of Salt Lake City finished sixth.

It was the fifth World Cup victory for Merle, 26, who is from nearby Super Sauze. She dominated the super-G last season until going down with a knee injury in the spring after taking three straight races.

``The track was very good, and I was able to attack,'' said Merle ``This victory means a lot of things to me after all that I have gone through.''

Merle had been having a hard time getting back into form after the injury. She tried coming back too early and had disastrous results.

Then, two weeks ago she finished second in a super-G. She followed that with consecutive seconds in a pair of downhills.

Knauss wins giant slalom

-- NAGANO, Japan - Austria's Bernhard Knauss beat Sweden's Jorgen Sundqvist, the U.S. Pro Tour leader, in the two-run final of the giant slalom, second event of the Pro Ski World Championships.

The victory, combined with a second-place finish in Friday's super-giant slalom, gave Knauss a 15-point lead over Sundqvist for the weekend's top prize.

Yugoslavia's Tomaz Cerkovnik beat Switzerland's Joerg Seiler for third place. Phil Mahre of Yakima was eliminated by Knauss in the second round.

Kelly finishes third

-- COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. - Mike Jacoby of Auburn, Calif., won the $1,600 first prize in the obstacle event of the National Snowboarding Invitational by .2 seconds over Kevin Delaney of Boulder, Colo. Craig Kelly of Mount Vernon earned $960 for third place.

Carla Dalpiaz of Flagstaff, Ariz., took the women's title.

East Germans 1-2-3

-- CALGARY - East Germany's Gunda Kleemann finished second to teammate Jacqueline Boerner in the 3,000-meter event to take the overall lead after the first day of the women's world all-around speed-skating championships

Boerner led an East German sweep of the 3,000 in 4:19.86. Kleemann finished in 4:20.15. Heike Schalling was third in 4:21.61.

Earlier, Kleemann tied Canadian Caroline Maheux for fifth in the 500 meters. Her combined performance gave her the overall lead with 84.808 points.

Boerner was second with 84.970. Japan's Seiko Hashimoto, winner of the 500 meters in 40.22 seconds, was third with 84.996.

Notes

-- Switzerland's Gustav Weder posted the fastest times in both heats on the opening day of the world four-man bobsled championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. He went into today's final two heats with a .28-second lead over his nearest rival, Ingo Appelt, driver of Austria II. The No. 2 East German sled, piloted by Harald Czudaj was in third place, .39 second behind. USA I, piloted by Matthew Roy of Lake Placid, N.Y, ranked 13th among the 29 sleds from 14 nations.

-- Norway's Fred Lumberg won the ski-jumping competition in the seventh leg of the Nordic Combined World Cup in Kavgolovo near Leningrad. In the 70-meter event, Lumberg jumped 86 and 84 meters and got 223 points. Austria's Markus Platzer was second, jumping 86 and 81.5 meters for 219.4 points. Allard Levandi of the Soviet Union placed third.