Croatia’s Kostelic Storms to Alpine Combined Gold
Thu Feb 14, 5:38 PM ET
SNOWBASIN, Utah (Reuters) – Janica Kostelic stormed to the top of the podium
Thursday, winning the women’s combined gold for Croatia’s first ever Winter
Olympics (news – web sites) medal.
Photos
Reuters Photo
Kostelic, the 2001 overall World Cup champion who has undergone extensive
knee surgery in the past year, dominated the slalom and then held on in the
downhill to beat Austria’s Renate Goetschl by 1.49 seconds.
Germany’s Martina Ertl, the silver medallist from Nagano, put team discord
behind her to take the bronze medal 1.88 behind the winner.
Kostelic, still only 20, was fastest in both slalom runs but it was an open
question as to whether she could hold off former downhill world champion
Goetschl in the speed event.
Goetschl, bronze medallist in the individual downhill, did her best with a
time of 1:15.27 but Kostelic then followed her down the mountain in a brisk
1:16.00.
distributed by CROWN – www.croatianworld.net – CroWorldNet@aol.com
Notice: This e-mail and the attachments are confidential information.If you
are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that
any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail and the attachments
is strictly prohibited and violators will be held to the fullest possible
extent of any applicable laws governing electronic Privacy. If you have
received this e-mail in error please immediately notify the sender by
telephone or e-mail, and permanently delete this e-mail and any attachments.