Hockey
OLYMPIC SPOTS SECURED: Belarus and France earned the last two spots Sunday for next year's Olympic hockey tournament at Salt Lake City.
Belarus beat winless Norway 7-3 in the qualifying tournament at Oslo to gain the last Olympic berth from this group.
Germany beat Ukraine 3-1 in the other game at Oslo to top the final standings. Both teams had already qualified.
France clinched the third spot in the other qualifying tournament at Klagenfurt, Austria, beating Denmark 2-1.
Latvia, returning to Olympic hockey for the first time in 66 years, defeated Austria 4-3 to win the Klagenfurt tournament. Austria finished third behind France.
Speedskating
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Jennifer Rodriguez of Miami finished as the top American skater at this weekend's World Allround Speedskating Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Rodriguez finished the two-day event in eighth-place in the ladies' final overall standings with 173.482 points. Germany's Anni Friesinger won the event with a final tally of 169.690 points.
In Sunday's competition, Rodriguez registered her third top-10 finish of the weekend as she skated to a ninth-place finish in the ladies' 1500 meters with a time of 2:06.85. Friesinger won the event with a time of 2:03.38.
In the ladies' 5000 meters, Rodriguez placed 12th overall with a time of 7:41.81. Germany's Claudia Pechstein won the race with a time of 7:21.68.
The top American male skater was Derek Parra of San Bernardino, Calif., who recorded a 13th-place overall finish. KC Boutiette (Tacoma, Wash) placed 15th.
In the men's 1,500 meters, Parra and Boutiette both recorded top-10 finishes. Parra finished seventh (1:56.10) while Boutiette was ninth (1:56.26). No American male skated the 10,000 meters, which was won by Belgium's Bart Veldkamp (13:44.19 seconds).
Freestyle Skiing
WORLD CUP: In the last FIS Freestyle World Cup prior to the season finals, Hannah Hardaway of Moultonborough, N.H., took second and Toby Dawson of Vail, Colo., placed third in a moguls contest on the '98 Olympic hill at Iizuna Kogen, Japan.
Finn Mikko Ronkainen and Norwegian Kari Traa were the victors.
Ronkainen won with a score of 27.07 and was followed by Canadian Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau (26.84) and Dawson (26.66). Ryan Riley of Steamboat Springs, Colo., was fifth (26.05), Chris Hernandez of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., was seventh (25.84) and Evan Dybvig of Tunbridge, Vt., was 12th (4.56).
Traa, the World Cup points leader, won with a score of 25.25. Hardaway followed with a 25.20 and Japan's Aiko Uemura was third, posting a 24.69. Ann Battelle of Steamboat Springs, Colo., finished just off the podium in fourth with a 24.15. Jillian Vogtli of Park City was 11th (22.65).
Out of the six World Cup events this season, Traa has won all but one. At Deer Valley last month, she placed second behind Hardaway as the New Hampshire native won her first career World Cup.
Snowboarding
WORLD CUP: The FIS Snowboard World Cup at Berchtesgaden, Germany, wrapped up Sunday with a parallel giant slalom. Sweden's
Richard Richardsson and Italy's Carmen Ranigler won the races.
Ricardsson, who won the PGS gold at the '99 FIS World Championships, took out Austrian Alexander Maier in the finals.
In the women's race, Ranigler defeated Sweden's Sarah Fischer in the finals.