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"I was very
unhappy with the first run. I had such a bad run, it is a surprise
I was leading," Kostelic said. "But the second one was nearly
perfect." The hundreds of Croat fans in the record crowd of 20,000
cheered in excitement as Kostelic made her way down the curvy
course. "I could not believe how many fans have turned up, but
celebrating a win with them makes it even sweeter," said Kostelic,
who also won the 2000 night slalom at Semmering. Kostelic, who
will celebrate her 21st birthday next week, called her victory "an
early present." The Croat, who finished second in Saturday's giant
slalom, is leading the discipline standings by more than 100
points. She also leads the overall standings with 955 points,
followed by Karen Putzer of Italy with 519 and Michaela
Dorfmeister of Austria with 460. Pascal confirmed her great form
with a second place, climbing to second in the slalom standings. "Janica
seemed merely invincible," Pascal said. "I simply concentrated on
my run, because I had seen that so many others dropped out." The
French World Cup veteran, who had a career high of five podium
finishes in 2000, underwent a dry spell at the Olympics, but now
seems back on winning terms. "I had a great season in 2000, but
Salt Lake was rather disappointing. However, I have trained hard
last summer and it seems to pay off," she said. Italy's Nicole
Gius was happy about her first career podium. "It's a dream come
true, something like a late Christmas present," she said. Sweden's
Anja Paerson, second in the World Cup slalom standings last
season, did not finish the first run Sunday.
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