SCHLADMING, Austria -- Hannes Reichelt has been ruled out of the Olympics because of a back injury, leaving the Austrian Alpine speed team without its main medal hope in Sochi. The Austrian ski federation said Monday that Reichelt had to undergo surgery in a sanatorium in Innsbruck for a herniated disk, only two days after winning a World Cup downhill in Kitzbuehel, and therefore has to end his season prematurely. "I am glad I had my back checked today because the consequences (of skiing on) could have been bad for me," said Reichelt, who became the first Austrian in eight years to win the classic Kitzbuehel race. "The X-ray speaks for itself and surgery is unavoidable," Reichelt said. "Health comes in first place and I want to keep doing sports after my career. Unfortunately my Olympic dream is in shatters." Reichelt had been complaining about persistent back problems for weeks. They almost prevented him from starting in Saturdays race but he took medicines to ease the pain. Austria mens head coach Mathias Berthold called Reichelts absence in Sochi "a massive blow to all of us." The Austrian mens ski team failed to win any medal at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. For the technical races in Sochi, overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher is a strong favourite, but Austrias hopes for the downhill and the super-G were mainly with Reichelt. He is the only Austrian skier to win a downhill in the past two seasons. "I feel extremely sorry for Hannes. He misses out on the most important race of the season," said Berthold, who was expected to announce a replacement later Monday. "We knew before the downhill in Kitzbuehel that Hannes wasnt doing well," the coach said. "That he still won the race is almost incredible." Berthold said it wasnt an option for Reichelt to rely on painkillers to take part in the Olympic downhill on Feb. 9, the first Alpine event of the Games. "His condition is that bad, it would have been medically irresponsible to ski even once more," Berthold said. Besides his triumph in Kitzbuehel, Reichelt had four more podiums in World Cup speed events this season. He has seven career wins. His only Olympic race was the super-G in Turin in 2006, where he finished 10th. The federations sport director, Hans Pum, said Reichelt "was in the form of his life." "This is obviously really bitter," Pum said. "But health is the most important. We wish him all the best and a speedy recovery and hope he returns soon." Blake Wheeler Jersey . Team officials did not indicate the extent of the injury Saturday, simply listing Rose with "left knee soreness." Rose has played two preseason games without any sign of problems. The first NBA game in South America now will be missing its biggest star. Keith Tkachuk Jersey . 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Just like Denver and New England earlier in the weekend, Cincinnati let a chance to take firm control of its playoff fate disappear against a scuffling rival. Pittsburghs Antonio Brown caught a touchdown pass and returned a punt for a score in a 64-second span in the first quarter and the Steelers jumped on the Bengals early in a 30-20 victory Sunday night. Given a chance to all but clinch the AFC North and move into the No. 2 spot behind Denver in the AFC, the Bengals (9-5) let Pittsburgh race to a 21-0 lead and never recovered. "Its tough, for sure, because we had everything in front of us," Cincinnati wide receiver A.J. Green said. "We could have had ourselves set up in a great position if we could have come out here and won today." Green finished with nine receptions for 93 yards, but the Bengals didnt make much happen downfield. Cincinnatis longest play was 19 yards, preventing the Bengals from making speedy inroads on the Steelers (6-8) after falling behind so quickly. Andy Dalton completed 25 of 44 passes for 230 yards and two second-half touchdowns, but Cincinnatis only chance to draw within one score ended when Daltons 2-point conversion was batted down with 5:51 remaining. "Theres no panic," Dalton said. "Theres no worry about anything. Were not frantic. We still have two games at home and have everything to accomplish, so weve got to take care of our business." Shaun Suisham added three field goals for Pittsburgh, which built a 24-point lead and hardly looked like a team playing out the string. Ben Roethlisberger completed 20 of 25 passes for 191 yards with a touchdown and an interception. LeVeon Bell added 117 yards of total offence and a touchdown. "I have said for a bunch of weeks now that there is going to be no quit from me or from anybody," Roethlisberger said. "I thought tonight was a good example of that." Looking to move closer to a third straight playoff berth, the Bengals were undone by a series of miscues on special teams. Bell scored two plays after Cincinnati punter Kevin Huber dropped a snap while standing near the goal line after the Bengals first possession. Pittsburghs Will Allen dropped Huber at the 1 and Bell bulled into the end zone on second down for his sixth touchdown of the season.dddddddddddd Cincinnatis issues continued on the ensuing kickoff. Officials ruled Cedric Peerman called for a fair catch at the Cincinnati 9, wiping out a lengthy return. The Bengals eventually punted, setting up the Steelers with a short field. Pittsburgh went 47 yards in eight plays, with Roethlisberger buying enough time for Brown to get open for a 12-yard touchdown strike to make it 14-0. Browns early work wasnt done. Cincinnati punted yet again and Brown took it 67 yards right up the middle, breaking a tackle at midfield on his way to the second punt return for a score in his four-year career for Pittsburghs third touchdown of the quarter. Huber took a hard hit from Pittsburghs Terence Garvin during the return. Huber was down on the field for several minutes before walking straight to the Cincinnati locker room with a fractured jaw. Cincinnati kicker Mike Nugent took over Hubers punting duties. Pittsburgh extended its lead to 24-0 before the Bengals steadied themselves with a 47-yard touchdown drive capped by Giovani Bernards 1-yard run. The Steelers responded late in the half with Suishams 45-yard field goal by to give them their biggest halftime lead of the season. Suishams third field goal pushed Pittsburghs advantage to 30-7 before the Bengals responded with Daltons 1-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Eifert. Dalton later found Marvin Jones for a 13-yard score on fourth-and-5 with 5:51 to play, but Pittsburgh rookie linebacker Jarvis Jones got his hands on Daltons conversion attempt to keep it a two-score game. The Bengals got the ball back one more time, and Daltons long heave to Green on fourth down fell incomplete. "It was a snowball effect," Cincinnati centre Kyle Cook said. "Its tough when youre all bundled up like that to start the game, and then the next thing you know youre down 21-0. So, that makes it tough to get going and come back from that deficit." NOTES: The crowd of 45,873 was the smallest in the 13-year history of Heinz Field. ... Brown caught five passes for 66 yards and a score and now has 95 receptions on the season, tied for second-most in team history. ... Bengals linebacker James Harrison, making his first appearance in Pittsburgh since leaving the Steelers to sign with Cincinnati in the off-season, left in theeys China