World Cup Semmering, women's slalom

17th victory for Janica Kostelic

Croatia's Janica Kostelic in on a roll – in Austria’s Semmering, the 20-year-old superstar dominated once more her rivals in the fifth World Cup slalom of the season raced Sunday night under floodlight in front of a huge crowd. She beat by 1,11 seconds France's Christel Pascal and by 1,78 seconds Italy's Nicole Gius who reached her first podium in a World Cup race.
Janica clocked the fastest times in both runs while many other favorites struggled – experts as Tanja Poutiainen, Anja Paerson, Spela Pretnar, Martina Ertl, Nicole Hosp, Sonja Nef or Claudia Riegler didn’t come through both runs. In fact only twenty athletes ended that race which was demanding because of the difficult course conditions. It was quite warm in this part of Austria in the past days but this didn't seem to put any pressure on the triple Olympic champion who enjoys demanding courses.

Almost thousand points

It's Janica's fourth victory this season and her seventeenth in total since January 1999. She reinforces her lead in the Overall and the Slalom World Cup standings - and looks more and more invincible this season.
The skier from Zagreb approached the barrier of 1000 points - quite an impressive figure after less than two months of racing. In March 2001, she clinched her first Overall title with a total of 1256 points. If she keeps this pace in the coming weeks, she should score more than 2000 points at the end of season. So far, only Hermann Maier reached this impressive total in March 2000! Sweden’s Pernilla Wiberg won the Cup in 1997 with a total of 1980 points after excelling in all events.

Janica was very happy by her newest success which may help her to take some rest in two weeks. If she scores more "big" points next week in Bormio where the competitions planned in Germany's Berchtesgaden will take place, she may decide to skip the speed events still scheduled in Innsbruck where there is actually no snow. She dominated her rivals in both runs proving her determination to make the best of the situation.

"I didn't ski so well in the first run so I wanted to achieve a better second run that's why I also pushed hard this evening" she said after the prize giving. "I'm having a great end of the year. I'm looking forward for the short break before the next races. We will train in Innerkrems where I will again meet Ivica which is great. Our family will spent New Year together there then I'll travel to Bormio. I have never raced in this resort so it's OK to go there even if I was happy when I heard that the races in Berchtesgaden were cancelled".
"It's fun to be so close to the 1000 points but as I always say, the season is still long and I'm not unbeatable. Some skiers were unlucky today but they can return and have a better day next weekend".

A good night for Pascal

It was a good night too for Christel Pascal who was looking for another podium since finishing 2nd behind Janica in Park City, Utah, in November. The silver medallist from St Anton 2001 clocked the third best time in the first run behind Janica and Austrian young talent Marlies Schild, who finished 6th at the end. Only the Croat was faster than her in the second leg.
Her teammate Laure Pequegnot, the 2002 slalom World Cup champion, was 4th again as in Park City ahead of America’s Sarah Schleper.
The Italian team achieved another strong performance with the 3rd place of Nicole Gius and the 9th of Manuela Moelgg, a promising talent who started in 46th position. The 19-year-old champion from Brunico is the reigning Italian champion in giant slalom. She became the “winStar of the Race” for her result in Semmering.
With a total of three wins and three podiums finishes so far, the “Squadra Azzurra” is one of the best in this early part of the season. Only Janica Kostelic did better – four wins and four top-3 places!

The next women's races will take place next week-end in Bormio where
a giant slalom and a slalom will be raced on the lower part of the
"Stelvio" downhill. Karen Putzer and Janica Kostelic should fight more victories in that occasion.