28 DEC 2000 > Women's Night Slalom
Kostelic: From Disaster to Triumph
Race Results

When it comes to winning, Janica Kostelic is neither tired nor afraid: Thursday evening, the Croatian teenager celebrated her fifth success of the season in a night slalom held in Semmering, a small day-skiing resort situated less than an hour's drive from the Austrian capital of Vienna.

In front of a noisy crowd of over 10,000, the skier from Zagreb remained cool and focused, and dominated once again in both runs. At the end of the race, she beat by 64/100 of a second Switzerland's Sonja Nef, one of the best GS skiers on the tour, while Norway's Trine Bakke reached her third consecutive podium in slalom after coming in 3rd, ahead of two French skiers.

America's Sarah Schleper was 6th, much less than she expected after her excellent first run in which she clocked the promising 3rd best time. She was aiming to win her first race of the season, but she made several mistakes on her way down the final run. This was also the case for her compatriot Kristina Koznick, 5th in the first leg. Unfortunately, Kristina lost her right ski after she hit a gate at mid-course, having been quite fast before this incident.

Japan's Noriyo Hiroi was a remarkable 10th, her best result ever on the World Cup Tour. She finished ahead of Germany's Martina Ertl, who retained her lead in the Overall World Cup standings thanks to her 11th place. But Kostelic is getting closer and closer to her.

There is, in principle, nothing really extraordinary about a ski racer accumulating victories in an event — in the 1980s, several top specialists, such as Switzerland's Erika Hess and Vreni Schneider, also dominated the technical disciplines. Hess won six slaloms in a row during a season, and Schneider seven out of seven during the '88-'89 winter. That year, the Swiss set a record of 14 victories during the same season, only winning in slalom and giant slalom. Yet, what the soon to be 19-year-old Kostelic is achieving is quite amazing considering her age and her recent misfortune.

A year ago, she was laying in her bed at the Bruderholz Hospital of Basle, Switzerland, after undergoing a six-hour surgery on her right knee, severely injured in a downhill crash at St Moritz.

"She had time to find out how important ski racing is in her life and she realizes how close triumph can be to disaster...."

All the ligaments in her knee were damaged and the future of her career seemed in danger. But Janica and her family didn't throw in the towel. Step by step, she moved herself up again, working hard with all kinds of specialists. She visited the best training centers in Croatia, Austria, Switzerland and France and did whatever possible to regain her form.

She also changed her attitude and became more humble. She learned to enjoy whatever a day could bring her — and this winter, she was first of all aiming to remain in good health in order to prepare the 2002 Olympics. Even her father Ante, usually so tough with her, mellowed somehow last summer and let her slowly regain her momentum and her dedication.

Nobody in the Kostelic's clan was expecting her to win the first slalom at Park City. Then she won again at Aspen. Her relaxed attitude of "I have nothing to lose now" could partly explain her smooth and precise skiing through the slalom gates. But then she won again and again, at Sestriere and now again at Semmering, where she did not even qualify two years ago. Including the two slaloms she clinched prior to her dramatic crash, Janica has won seven slaloms in a row. And always she says the same things after the race: "Well, it was not such a difficult course, I have skied normally, I didn't feel any pressure..."

It's true that she was laughing at the start before her second run, just a few minutes before steaming down the treacherous course as if nothing special was going on. It's obvious that Janica has the same capacity as the great Alberto Tomba to remain cool in the moments before the start and to totally focus on the races for a moment afterward. She has by far the best slalom technique on the women's tour — nobody glides as smoothly and precisely as she does with these short carving skis.

Now she is on her way to become the youngest winner of a Crystal globe ever — she has already twice as many points in the slalom standings as her nearest rival, Trine Bakke. And there are still five slaloms left on the schedule before the finals at Are, Sweden, in early March.

Janica has the nerves and the class to remain out of reach at St. Anton; she may face greater pressure and attention next week in Slovenia's Maribor, where the next slalom will be held two days after her 19th birthday. Her hometown is only an hour's drive away from Maribor and thousands of Croatian fans should be there to support her.

Just elected sportswomen of the year by the Croatian Media, Janica is the most popular individual athlete in her country. The spontaneous joy she expressed after her run confirms the great pleasure she feels in being able to compete again. She is at her best for the moment because she is happy to be healthy and back on the white circus. She had time to find out how important ski racing is in her life and she realizes how close triumph can be to disaster.

— Patrick Lang, World Cup Correspondent

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