|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Familiar theme Kostelic wins eighth World Cup slalom
Updated: Sunday February 18, 2001 11:39 AM
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (Reuters) -- Croatian teenager Janica Kostelic had the overall World Cup title in her sights Sunday after storming to victory in a women's slalom. Kostelic made it a record-equaling eight wins from eight races with a combined time of one minute 19.96 seconds over the two legs, beating France's Christel Saioni in 1:20.94 and Karin Koellerer of Austria in 1:21.07. Her win put to rest fears that pressure was beginning to tell on the 19-year-old. She had won all the slalom events this season until the world championships in St. Anton, where she only managed fifth place. "This is back to normal for me. The atmosphere at the World Cup events is very different from the world championships and today I rediscovered my feelings for the race and my rhythm," Kostelic said. "It was just a normal race for me. At St. Anton I felt there was a lot of pressure on me, but today it was skiing as normal. "And it means that we have a very exciting end to the season." The result extended Kostelic's lead over Austrian all-rounder Renate Goetschl in the overall standings to 117 points. Kostelic is on 1,172 points, Goetschl on 1,055. Kostelic said she was now looking forward to competing next week at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, where she plans to compete in the super-G -- not her favorite discipline. "But I'm quite relaxed about this, I don't think I have too much of a chance in the speed event," she said. Hinted at retirement Kostelic had hinted that she might quit the sport after attacks in the media following her disappointing world championships. But Sunday the Croatian said she was never really serious about leaving the sport. "There was a lot of turmoil surrounding me afterwards. But I never intended to retire. Life would be too boring without skiing," she said. Kostelic's win equaled the record set by Swiss Vreni Schneider, who won all seven slaloms in the 1988-89 season and the opening race the following winter. Paerson skis out Anja Paerson, who won the slalom gold medal in St Anton, edged Kostelic by one hundredth of a second in the first leg, but the flu-ridden Swede crashed out in the second leg. "I was just too tired. I ran out of gas half-way down and had no more gas to finish strongly," Paerson said. Expectations of the piste were low after Saturday's super-G was cancelled. The piste was soft for the first leg, favouring the early starters. By the second leg the surface had lost a lot of moisture and the condition of the lower section in particular meant skiers often made up lost time just before the end.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
