Croatia's Janica Kostelic Wins in Sestrière
Clocking the best time in both runs, Janica Kostelic won her second consecutive World Cup slalom this season in the demanding ski stadium in Sestrière, Italy. The teenager, ignoring the the pain in her right hip from a crash on Friday in Val d'Isère, beat Austria's Anja Paerson, another young star, by an impressive margin of 1.12 seconds. France's Christel Saioni, who won in Copper Mountain, reached a strong 3rd place, and Norway's Trine Bakke finished fourth.

	Janica Kostelic

Janica's Surprise
"It's quite incredible for me to win this slalom after having felt so much pain in the past days after my crash in Val d'Isère during training," Kostelic said after the race. "I couldn't walk and I cried on Saturday as I tried to ski a little bit. I only decided this morning to take part in this race, and I had a hard time during warm-up. I could only ski four or five runs before the race, and I was not so confident before my start."

"I wanted to save some energy for the long lower part... you have to be very light on your skis there..." — Janica Kostelic (CRO)

Most of Kostelic's rivals lost precious tenths of a second in the last gates where Janica was incredibly fast. For instance, Austria's Renate Goetschl, who skied out in the second run, lost 83/100 of a second in the final flat part after having clocked the fastest intermediate time.

"On the steep upper part of the course, I didn't take too many risks," she added. "I wanted to save some energy for the long lower part which is quite flat. You have to be very light on your skis there."

In the second longer and more demanding run, Kostelic skied within her limits and remained out of reach of her closest competitors. "I felt more confident before the second run since it was more difficult, which favors me. I forgot my pain for a while and skied down with great control."

"It's a wonderful victory for me after this accident. I wanted to defend my position in the slalom World Cup standings, but I didn't believe I could built up my lead. I will try to defend it as long as I can, but I don't want to be under too much pressure. Regarding the Overall World Cup standings, I think I'm still too young to have a chance to win it this year. Maybe in future. I still need to gain some experience to handle this great goal. This season is quite long and pretty demanding when you compete in all events. I'm looking forward for the Christmas break," Kostelic said.

Anja's Back in Shape

	Anja Paerson

Anja Paerson was pleased to get back on the podium after a slow season start. "I couldn't train so much last summer because of injuries at my knees so I was not very consistent until now," explained the 18-year-old Swede.

"Here I pushed myself very hard to get back on the top and I hope now to get back in shape in the technical events," Paerson continued. "Nobody is skiing as smoothly as Janica on this new slalom skis. She is very light and graceful. I'm still too tough in my turns, I need more training to get used to this new technique."

USA's Kristina Koznick finished 8th after setting the 6th best time in the first run, Koznick is not so pleased by her season-start for the moment. The best US skier in the last winter lost almost two seconds on Kostelic in the second run. The fact that she was able to ultimately finish in the top-10 was not enough to please her. "I don't ski the way I should," Koznick said after the race. "I know I can improve and I will train a lot during the next Christmas break." Her teammate Sarah Schleper was 20th.

The next women's World Cup races take place in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Two downhills and a super G are planned at the prestigious Swiss resort. It will be an important race for the Austrian World Cup favorites, Renate Goetschl and Michaela Dorfmeister, as well as Italy's Isolde Kostner, who needs to score many points to have a chance to fight for the Overall World Cup lead.

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent