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we
got two victories for our family," Ivica said. "There are a lot
of things for us to celebrate today." Ivica, leading after the
opening leg, tore down the badly-rutted Podkoren 3 course to
cross in a winning aggregate time of 1 minute, 44.71 seconds and
collect his
second straight win, having also won the knock-out slalom in
Sestrieres three weeks ago.Kostelic's illustrious sister Janica
_ who at Salt Lake City became the first Alpine skier to capture
four medals in a single Olympics _ won a women's slalom by a
massive two seconds an hour earlier in Bormio, Italy. "I didn't
watch her race because I was preparing for my race," Ivica said.
"But we had a guy on the team watching the TV and telling us the
times over the radio. When I heard Janica had won by two seconds
I was jumping up and down in joy. "She's completely crazy."
Janica, who called Ivica on his mobile phone during the
post-race press conference, said it was the best birthday
present she could ask for. "I'm happy she could have the present
she wished for," said Ivica, who leads the discipline standings
with 218 points. The two, who are coached by father Ante
Kostelic, had been in a position to set another record in Salt
Lake City, looking to become the first brother-sister team in 22
years to win Alpine skiing medals at the same Olympics. Janica
did her part, winning the slalom, giant slalom and combined
event and getting silver in the super giant slalom, but Ivica
missed a gate and a chance to make history in the men's slalom.
Austria's Rainer Schoenfelder was runnerup in 1:44.98, while
Olympic slalom champion Jean-Pierre Vidal of France crossed
third in 1:45.03. "It's my first podium this season," said
Vidal, who won the slalom here last year. "It's good. After
winning the Olympics last year, there was a lot of pressure on
my shoulders coming into this season. "I had two fifth places
earlier this season. I wanted to win but winning is not easy. So
I tried to take a lot of risks today." Canada's Thomas Grandi
was the top North American, finishing ninth in 1:46.63. Tom
Rothrock was the fastest U.S. skier, placing 12th in 1:46.81.
Rothrock was left to defend the American colors after Bode
Miller and Erik Schlopy both went out in the opening leg.
Miller, who won Saturday's giant slalom with a whopping .83
advantage to take over both the World Cup overall and discipline
standings, straddled a gate midway down, while Schlopy, who
placed a brilliant fourth in the giant slalom, just .01 away
from a podium finish, veered off course. Reigning slalom world
champion Mario Matt of Austria, making his comeback after a
yearlong injury absence, finished 15th. Matt, who last raced in
Kitzbuehel a year ago before being sidelined by a shoulder
injury that required two operations, finished runnerup here last
year. Beleaguered Briton Alain Baxter suffered another stroke of
bad luck. Baxter, who was stripped of his Olympic slalom bronze
medal last year after testing positive for a banned substance
found in an over-the-counter cold remedy, appeared to have
qualified for the second leg, crossing, 27th. However, he was
later disqualified for an error on the 28th gate. After warm
temperatures nearly caused the weekend's races to be canceled,
the Slovenian resort saw itself buried under a dump of
badly-needed, though very wet, snow Sunday. Warm weather across
Europe has wreaked havoc with the World Cup calendar, with FIS
officials desperately trying to reschedule canceled races.
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