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Auto Racing

Montoya holds off Alonso in Italian GP

In Monza, Italy, Juan Pablo Montoya's victory from the pole at the Italian Grand Prix went almost unnoticed.

McLaren-Mercedes teammate Kimi Raikkonen grabbed most of the attention with his audacious climb from an 11th-place start to finish fourth and remain in the running for the season title.

Fernando Alonso, Raikkonen's Renault rival, finished second and increased his lead over the Finn in the drivers' standings to 27 points with four races remaining. Wins are worth 10 points each.

Alonso could clinch the title at next week's Belgian GP if he outperforms Raikkonen by a large enough margin.

Track and Field

Russia beats U.S. in head-to-head battle

In Moscow, Yelena Isinbayeva won the pole vault to help Russia beat the United States in a dual track and field meet.

Reviving a Cold War tradition, the two countries participated in Russia's Challenge. It was the second revised edition of the competition, which was held from 1958-82 and dubbed the "Match of the Giants" or "Match of the Continents."

Russia took nine of 13 events to tally 143 points, winning for the second year in a row. The United States had 107 points. The event has yet to regain its former popularity and attract the best athletes from both nations.

Hockey

Canada slides past Americans in final

In Hameenlinna, Finland, Dana Antal scored in the third period to lift Canada past the United States, 2-1, in the final of the Four Nations Cup women's hockey tournament.

Antal's game-winner came at 11:39, sliding the puck past American goalie Shari Vogt on a goalmouth scramble.

Defenseman Carla MacLeod put Canada ahead 3:39 into the game. Kristin King tied it 5 minutes later.

Canadian goalie Sami Jo Small stopped 40 shots, while Chanda Gunn stopped 14 before being replaced by Vogt midway through the second period. Vogt turned aside 17 shots.

Earlier in the week, Canada blanked the Americans, 4-0, in round-robin play to avenge an overtime loss in last season's world championship final in Sweden.

Finland edged Sweden, 4-3, for third place in the tournament.

Rowing

U.S. picks up three medals at worlds

In Kaizu, Japan, the U.S. men's eight took an early lead and won gold at the World Rowing Championship, one of three medals for American rowers.

Led by coxswain Marcus McElhenney, the United States crew was timed in 5 minutes, 22.75 seconds at Nagaragawa Regatta Course, 1.26 seconds ahead of Italy. Germany took the bronze medal in 5:25.66.

The American crew, which won gold at the Athens Olympics, inched away from the Italians.

In the women's lightweight double sculls, the German pair of Daniela Reimer and Marie-Louise Draeger finished in 6:48.47 to beat Julie Nichols and Renee Hykel, of the United States, by only 0.30 seconds. Finland took the bronze medal in 6:49.02.

The United States also won the silver medal in the men's four with coxswain. Troy Kepper, Matthew Hughes, Patrick Sullivan, Brett Newlin and McElhenney finished a half-length behind France, which won the gold in 6:02.42.

Sailing

America's Cup prep race goes to Alinghi

In Malmo, Sweden, America's Cup defender Alinghi, of Switzerland, won the fleet-racing regatta in a tiebreak with U.S. team BMW Oracle Racing after the final race was canceled because of fog.

Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge placed third, followed by Emirates Team New Zealand.

The Swiss and American boats had 32 points each, but the tie went to Alinghi because it won the last race Saturday.

The races are part of a series of warm-up regattas leading up to the America's Cup.