Janica Kostelic won her third gold medal at these World Champioships this evening in a dramatic slalom, beating by 18/100 of a second the great favorite Tanja Poutiainen after another extraordinary second run.

The skier from Zagreb, 3rd in the first run 42/100 behind the Finnish slalom World Cup Champion, took all risks in the early evening to successfully defend her title clinched two years ago in St Moritz. Including her Olympic triumph in Deer Valley in February 2002, Janica has won three slalom titles in a row, another unique record in alpine ski racing. She is of course also the first women to have dominated three events at the same World Championships, achieved an improbable and historical double win in downhill/slalom after Erika Hess in Schladming 1982.

In total, Janica has now amassed a total of eight gold medals, equaling the record of Norway’s veteran Kjetill Aamodt, a winner of 19 medals since 1991.
Sara Zahrobska from the Czech Republic got an historical bronze medal in coming in 3rd at 67/100 while Sweden’s Anja Paerson, 2nd after the first run, skied out at the middle of her second run.

Janica who suffers a bad flue for several days, was totally exhausted after her two runs and had a hard time to breathe. “I can believe it, it’s incredible, I didn’t expect this earlier today, I felt so weak,” she told the TV stations at the finish line. “I had a problem at the beginning of the second run and I tried to improve my rhythm at the end, but it was really tough.” Ironically, the second run was set by her father, Ante, known for its technically demanding runs.

Most of the other favorites failed to finish the competition – among them Austria’s Marlies Schild and Nicole Hosp, Germany’s Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer and Martina Ertl, USA’s Kristina Koznick. The young Kathrin Zettel, a Europacup Champion, was a promising 4th, only 17/100 away from the bronze medal.

Patrick Lang