European Report: Dorfmeister crashes; Poirees clean up at biathlon worlds

European Report: Dorfmeister crashes; Poirees clean up at biathlon worlds{mosimage}World super G champion Michaela Dorfmeister sustained a concussion from a crash while training Monday and was briefly hospitalized.

The Austrian also pulled ligaments in her right thumb in the fall while preparing for this weekend’s super G in Are, Sweden. Dorfmeister’s status for Saturday’s race was unknown, the AP reported.

Dorfmeister has had a consistent but not spectacular season, earning podiums in giant slalom, super G and downhill but has not won a race. She sits fifth overall in the World Cup standings.

>> Schoenfelder injures elbow

World Cup slalom leader Rainer Schoenfelder injured his left elbow en route to finishing fourth in St. Anton, Austria, over the weekend and will have to use extra protection in the coming races.

Schoenfelder said he hurt some ligaments while driving through the gates.

“I’m happy my elbow isn’t broken or cracked,” he told Austrian national public radio. “It happened on the last steep face. A bar snapped me full force directly onto my left elbow. There was a burning pain.”

MRI exams taken Monday in Innsbruck revealed no serious injuries and he’s expected to be able to start the next men’s slalom, set for February 29 in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

Schoenfelder leads the slalom standings with 505 points, with Finn skier Kalle Palander second at 455 points and compatriot Benjamin Raich in third at 442.

>> Men take break this weekend

The men’s circuit takes its final break of the 2003-04 season with the next races — a giant slalom and slalom — set for Feb. 28-29 in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

Bode Miller, third overall in the World Cup, said he’s looking forward to return to the Slovenian resort, where he won a giant slalom last year.

“Kranjska Gora has been good to me,” Miller told Reuters. “I like the hill there and the crowd supports me well.”

After Slovenia, the Norwegian resort of Kvitfjell hosts a downhill and super-G before the World Cup finals in Sestriere, Italy, as the season enters the homestretch.

>> Poirees clean up at biathlon worlds

The golden couple of biathlon — France’s Raphael Poiree and his Norwegian wife, Liv Grete — cleaned up last week’s world championships in Oberhof, Germany.

The Poirees won seven of 10 possible gold medals during the week-long event and Liv Grete became first woman to win four golds at a world championships.

The couple plans to spend this week in peace and quiet at home in Norway with their young daughter, Emma. Liv Grete took time off the circuit during her pregnancy but returned this season better than ever.

“With a wife like Liv, you just have to be good,” Raphael Poiree told newspaper Aftenposten “She’s the one who shows me the way.”

She took four gold medals in five events. He won his third gold medal on Sunday, after securing a silver and bronze in earlier events last week. That left the couple with seven gold medals, one silver and one bronze after a week of competition in Oberhof, Germany.

“I don’t think this could ever happen again,” Liv Grete said. “We have a hard time understanding it ourselves.”