Another Medal for Janica Kostelic

Manuèle Lang 09.01.2006 08:30 Uhr

Janica Kostelic won her fourth consecutive slalom medal this season in Maribor. Thanks to another impressive run, she took second place. She clocked only the eighth best time in the first run, but she fought her way back up in the ranks that afternoon. At the end of the second run in Slovenia, only Austria’s Marlies Schild was able to beat her time.

Kostelic increased her lead ahead of Anja Paerson in the overall World Cup standings. Paerson was eliminated in the first run. Schild, however, celebrated her third consecutive win this season and joined her in first place in the slalom standings.

"I’m not really happy with the way things are going for me at the moment," said the skier from Zagreb after her race. "I don’t feel that great on my skis this season. Something isn’t going the way I want it to, but I am able to correct it sometimes."

"I’m not happy with any of the disciplines," Kostelic added. "It’s not just happening in the technical events. I see that I can still have good results, though. That’s the only positive thing at the moment. Let’s just hope that things will improve over the next few weeks and that I get back to feeling good on my skis in time for the Olympic Games.”

"My two runs today were terrible. I feel like I’m stupid with the way I’ve been skiing the race. I also had some problems with the gates that were set really far out in the second run. I couldn’t go for it the way I truly wanted to."

"My hand is getting better. It’s not broken, but it’s sore and bruised. I don’t think that it’s going to be a big problem for me. I just feel it when I hit a gate, like I did today. At least one problem is solved."

The next women’s races are scheduled to take place in Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria. Two downhill events and a Super-G are planned for the coming weekend.