HOCKEY

The U.S. was forced to forfeit its game at the world junior championship against Switzerland on Tuesday in Red Deer, Alberta, after two players tested positive for the coronavirus.

Those positive COVID-19 test results led to a mandated team quarantine. The U.S. as a result was unable to play Tuesday under tournament rules.

“We’re extremely disappointed, especially for our players,” U.S. national junior team General Manager John Vanbiesbrouck said in a statement. “We’re operating an ever-changing landscape, and that’s very challenging. We’ve followed the tournament protocol from the outside and will continue to do everything we can to ensure players have the opportunity to compete at the world junior championship.”

The International Ice Hockey Federation said the team’s quarantine status will be evaluated later to determine the status of the Americans’ next game scheduled for Wednesday against Sweden. Switzerland was awarded a 1-0 victory over the U.S. from the forfeit.

The U.S. is the defending champion at the tournament for the world’s best men’s hockey players under age 20. The U.S. beat Slovakia 3-0 Sunday night in its first preliminary round game.

SKIING

WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: French giant slalom specialist Tessa Worley finally returned to a women’s World Cup podium after 11 months, winning the last GS of the calendar year on Tuesday in Lienz, Austria, in the absence of Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin and world champion Lara Gut-Behrami.

Six days ago, the two-time world champion had missed her first top-three result since January by eight-hundredths of a second on home snow.

“I really wanted this one,” Worley said. “I was so close to the podium in Courchevel. It’s really cool.”

Racing in flat lights on the Schlossberg course, Worley held onto her first-run lead to beat defending overall champion Petra Vlhova by three-tenths of a second. Worley became only the third female skier with at least 15 World Cup wins in giant slalom, after Vreni Schneider (20) and Annemarie Moser-Pröll (16).

MEN’S WORLD CUP: Dominik Paris dominated again for his record-extending seventh victory in Bormio, Italy, on Tuesday and sixth in downhill – making him the first skier to win as many downhills at a single resort. The Italian broke a tie with Swiss standout Didier Cuche, who won five downhills in Kitzbühel, Austria.

Using his massive legs to absorb the Stelvio’s punishing terrain, Paris finished 0.24 seconds ahead of overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt of Switzerland and 0.80 ahead of another Swiss skier, Niels Hintermann.

TENNIS

AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Still regaining his form from a wrist injury, former finalist Dominic Thiem announced Tuesday that he is withdrawing from the Australian Open and will instead begin his 2022 season in South America.

Thiem said he had a “slight setback” in his preparation but is “now feeling well again.”

“I will start the season in South America at the Cordoba Open in Argentina, end of January, and therefore I will not play this year at the Australian Open,” Thiem said. “We believe this is the right decision in order to have a good return to competition.”

Thiem was hurt in June while playing in the Mallorca Open and also missed Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

The Australian Open begins Jan. 17. Thiem reached the final in Melbourne in 2020, losing to Novak Djokovic.