First podium for Ivica Kostelic

Wengen, Jan. 16th - After weeks of struggling and doubts, Ivica Kostelic reached his first podium of the season in Wengen where he came in 2nd in the slalom won by his friend and training partner Alois Vogl.
He has to wait for a long time this result - and he was particularly happy to achieve it in Wengen where he won the slalom in 2002 and where he was 3rd in 2003 and last year. So he has now all the collection of top-3 places on this challenging mountain!

The reigning slalom World Champion was very excited by his result which is more than a relief for him. “Nobody can understand what this means to me, this is incredible, just fantastic, it's like if I would be reborn,” he shouted while numerous Croatian fans were singing and jumping up and down in the stands.
“My injury was bad and my rehab was very hard this time, I had a tough start and this 2nd place means as much as a win for me - I'm as happy as in November 2001 when I won my first race in Aspen,” he added.

“This is just a fantastic hill for me; I always ski so well here, it's wonderful. I had two solid runs, nothing special; I wanted to be smooth and relaxed and to have a great time in the course. I talked with Alois before the second run and he told me that he was aiming for a nice run so I decided to do the same.”

“I still can improve my level, and I'm looking forward for the two next slalom races in Austria. But before them, we will have a great party in Sljeme where this women's slalom takes place on Thursday. It will be huge and I will cross my fingers for Janica. It will be big for her. There will be so many fans and everybody will be there.”

After the price ceremony which took place in the centre of the village in the afternoon, Janica took a guitar and plays again his usual song - “Johnny Be Good” - for the enchanted public. “You're the greatest public on the tour, you're wonderful,” he told the thousand people attending the awards after playing his trademark song. He dedicated it to Alois Vogl singing “Alois be good” at the end!

Then he went home to rest and train some slalom to prepare his appearance in Sljeme where he is supposed to forerun the women's slalom. “It will be a highlight for all of us, then we will start to focus on the last races and the Worlds in Bormio. Yet I'm so happy for the moment, I just want to enjoy this great day.”

Patrick Lang