Sports briefs

U.S. dance duo trails after fall France's Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder took the early lead at the World Figure Skating Championships on Tuesday in Goteborg, Sweden, when Americans Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto -- one of the favorites for the title going in -- had a rare fall.

Delobel and Schoenfelder, the reigning world silver medalists, finished first in the compulsory dance with 40.73 points -- two points ahead of Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and more than five points ahead of Belbin and Agosto, who are in fifth.

"It's just a freak accident. It's never happened in practice," Belbin said. "I'm just really bummed out right now because we were really proud of this dance."

The U.S. pair, the Olympic silver medalists, were skating strongly to the Argentine tango when Belbin stumbled and fell while performing a rotating turn on one foot, called a twizzle.

Player dies after conditioning drills A Central Florida wide receiver died after voluntary strength and conditioning drills, the day before spring practice was set to begin in Orlando.

Police said there was no foul play or obvious cause for redshirt freshman Ereck Plancher's late morning collapse. UCF athletic director Keith Tribble said the players had been lifting weights, then ran for about 10 minutes before Plancher, 19, of Naples, collapsed. UCF trainers immediately provided CPR and the player was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He was pronounced dead just before noon.

Federer, Sharapova advance Roger Federer needed only 53 minutes to end his third-round match, and Maria Sharapova extended her perfect start to the year by winning her 17th consecutive match, in the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Calif.

Other winners in the men's third round included Ivan Ljubicic and David Nalbandian. Also advancing on the women's side were defending women's champion Daniela Hantuchova and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Basketball: Former Gopher Lindsay Whalen scored 14 points, and Katie Douglas had 13 as they led the U.S. select team over Ros Casares 82-72 in an exhibition game in Valencia, Spain. The U.S. team is in Spain for a weeklong training trip to get ready for the upcoming Beijing Olympics. Seimone Augustus of the Lynx was one of three players with eight points. Ros Caseras is the top-ranked team in the Spanish League. After training in Spain, the U.S. team will reconvene in Chicago for a short training camp in April before heading to Beijing to play in a test event with other women's basketball powers -- Australia and China.

Golf: Bobby Nichols, who spent three years (1970-73) on the PGA tour, died Sunday in Cookeville, Tenn., following a bout with cancer. He was 66. He was the longtime golf coach at Tennessee Tech.

Marathon: Elite runner Ryan Shay died of natural causes after collapsing during the U.S. men's marathon Olympic trials on Nov. 3, the New York City medical examiner said. Shay died of an irregular heartbeat because of an enlarged heart.

Cycling: Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland won the Tirreno-Adriatico race, finishing 16 seconds ahead of Enrico Gasparotto of Italy in San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy.