LEVI, Finland -- American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin easily won the World Cup slalom opener Saturday, beating reigning Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany by more than a second to send an immediate message to her rivals ahead of the Sochi Games. http://www.officiallionsgear.com/Lions-Dwayne-Washington-Draft-Jersey/ . The 18-year-old slalom world champion led by half a second after the first run and raced seamlessly at the top of the hill in the second to extend her advantage, overcoming a mistake near the end to clock a combined time of 1 minute, 55.07 seconds. "Im really happy with how the day went and Im also really excited because it looks like there are some pretty fast girls in the back of the pack," Shiffrin said. "Im excited for the Olympics for sure but there are a couple of races between now and then, so hopefully I can just keep this going." Hoefl-Riesch, who was in a tie for third place after the first run, skied nearly flawlessly in the second but still finished 1.06 seconds behind in second place. Last years overall World Cup champion Tina Maze of Slovenia, who struggled in the giant slalom opener in Soelden last month, was third, 1.61 back. Shiffrin emerged as a major star in the discipline last season by winning both the World Cup slalom title and the world championship race, making her one of the major medal favourites for the Sochi Olympics. Her dominant display on Saturday did little to lower expectations on the teenager -- although Shiffrin thinks theres still plenty of room for improvement. "Every day there is something you can do better," Shiffrin said. "Im going to go back and study my skiing from today and study all the other girls to see who is doing what well and try to get better." Another 18-year-old also made a name for herself, as Christina Ager of Austria finished fourth in her first career World Cup start. Ager started with bib No. 53 but was fifth after the first run -- in part because of favourable winds -- and then missed the podium by just 0.07 seconds. Hoefl-Riesch has won three World Cup slaloms in Levi and made the podium for the seventh time here. "It was a great day for me. I had a good feeling in training already," she said. "Its always really special for me here because of my first win many years ago and because of my many good results here." Maze said she was happy to get back to skiing fast after the disappointing result in Soelden, where she struggled with the high expectations after her dominance last season. "I got a lot of pressure in Soelden race, it was the start of the season so it was not easy to handle all of this pressure so I felt really empty," Maze said. "But at the end I realized its nothing important, the only thing important is to ski fast." Marlies Schild of Austria, the slalom specialist who injured her knee in December 2012, returned for the first time since recovering fully but was already well behind Shiffrin in the first round by the time she missed a gate and skied out. Still, Schild was just happy to finally be able to ski without feeling any effects of the injury. "Of course I wanted to race a second run but yeah, its not so bad at all," Schild said. "Im in a good shape, I have no pain anymore and thats very important for me and I just have to wait, I think, to get a good feeling." Four-time former overall World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn skipped the Levi meet and will make her debut in the speed events in Beaver Creek, Colorado, after recovering from a right knee injury sustained in a crash in February. "She is back and shes strong," Shiffrin said of her teammate. "Im impressed with how strong she is. ... I dont think anybody should count her out thats for sure." For Shiffrin, the Olympic gold medal is clearly main goal for this season, although she received another memorable prize on Saturday. In a first for this year, organizers presented the winner with a live reindeer from the local Lapland region. Shiffrin named the 6-month-old reindeer Rudolf, although she wont be allowed to take him home with her. "I scared him off a bit when I jumped off the podium to meet him but I think we will be getting along," Shiffrin said. "I hope that when he gets older and trained I can go for a ride on a sledge with him." Kerry Hyder Jersey . On paper, it looks a little like Andre the Giant taking on a midget wrestler. It has all the makings of a rout with the Americans adding an eighth win in nine outings of this biennial event. The Yanks have eight players in the top 15 in the world while the Internationals have just one. http://www.officiallionsgear.com/Lions-Golden-Tate-Iii-Draft-Jersey/ .K. Subban has picked the right time of the year to go on an offensive tear. http://www.officiallionsgear.com/Lions-Ameer-Abdullah-Draft-Jersey/ .ca. Kerry, I hope you address Ron MacLeans comment during the second intermission of Game 4 in Montreal-Tampa series. Basically, he suggested that the NHL should not have used a referee from Quebec, following the Game 3 disputed non-goal, because the referee could be biased towards Montreal. ORLANDO, Fla. -- At this point in the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers are hoping to make one last run at the playoffs and the Orlando Magic are looking for luck in the NBA draft lottery. Both improved their chances of reaching those goals Wednesday night as the Cavaliers beat the Magic 119-98 behind 26 points from Dion Waiters and 20 each from Spencer Hawes and Tristan Thompson. The easy win moved the Cavaliers within two games of New York and Atlanta for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs play at Atlanta Friday night. "This was a big game for us, but every game is big because of the position weve put ourselves in," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "There is nothing tricky that we have to do. We just have to out and play hard and give ourselves a chance." Waiters shot 10 for 15 from the field, including 3 for 3 on 3-pointers. "Weve still got a chance, we just need to take full advantage of it," he said. "We came in knowing we should get a win, but every game is hard. We have no choice at this point. We control our own destiny. Everybody knows what is at stake. We just have to stay focused." It helped the Cavaliers that All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving returned with a thump in his step after missing the last eight games with a torn bicep muscle. Irving had 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds in a seemless transition from the bench to the court. "Kyrie came in and got right in step with us," Brown said. "He helped us get the ball up the floor quickly and get into our attack. He gave us another weapon with a very high skill level." The Magic had little to be satisfied with other than solidifying their lottery spot with the third-worst record in the NBA. The Magic gave up 70 points in the first half, the best half all season for Cleveland and the most points Orlando has allowed in a half this year. "There is going to be a game in the course of the year where you just dont have it and when its coupled with a team like the Cavs who had it ... it just wasnt a good mix," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. "Some days, its just not your day." The Magic placed only one starter, Maurice Harkless, in douuble figures and he had 10 points. Matt Prater Jersey. Rookie Victor Oladipo led Orlando with 16 points, Doron Lamb had 14, Tobias Harris 11 and ETwaun Moore 10, all off the bench. "Terrible, terrible game," Harris said. "Its not how we wanted to play and that shows us that there is no effort." Every Cleveland player in uniform scored as the Cavs shot 60.5 per cent in the first half and 57.7 per cent for the game in rolling over a defenceless Magic team that lost its second straight. Cleveland was 9 for 18 from beyond the 3-point line, most of them wide-open looks as Orlando struggled with defensive rotations the entire game. Cleveland had four of the five starters already in double figures by halftime. Hawes was 6 for 8 in the first two periods, including 4 for 5 on 3-pointers on his way to 18 points. Thompson had 14, Irving 13 and Waiters 10 as the Cavaliers starters combined to hit 24 of 33 shots (72.7 per cent) in the first two quarters. Deng was the only starter not in double figures, but still shot 4 for 5. The Magic, by contrast, didnt have a player score more than six points in the first half. Orlando had 11 turnovers that Cleveland turned into 16 points. The Magic trailed 49-42 after Oladipos 3-pointer with 6:11 left in the second quarter, but got only one field goal the rest of the half and were outscored 21-6 as Cleveland rolled to a 70-47 halftime lead. The closest Orlando got in the second half was 17 when Arron Afflalos 3 with 4:11 left in the third quarter made it 82-65. Afflalo, the Magics leading scorer this season, finished with seven points. Cleveland responded with a 10-0 run that started with a floater in the lane by Jack and ended with two free throws by Thompson to make it 92-65. Cleveland led by as many 28 points and cruised through the fourth quarter with little effort. NOTES: Cavs C Anderson Varajeo sat out the game with a sore shoulder. ... Magic C Nikola Vucevic, who had three straight games scoring 20-plus points for the first time all season coming into the game, scored only seven. ... Cleveland has beaten Orlando seven straight times. ... The Magic are 1-18 this season when teams shoot over 50 per cent. Cleveland shot 57.7 per cent in the game. Cheap Nuggets Jerseys Cheap Timberwolves Jerseys Cheap Thunder Jerseys Cheap Blazers Jerseys Cheap Jazz Jerseys Cheap Warriors Jerseys Cheap Clippers Jerseys Cheap Lakers Jerseys Cheap Suns Jerseys Cheap Kings Jerseys Cheap Mavericks Jerseys Cheap Rockets Jerseys Cheap Grizzlies Jerseys Cheap Pelicans Jerseys Cheap Spurs Jerseys ' ' '