SANTA CATERINA, Italy, 7 February 2005 — Triple Olympic champion Janica Kostelic claimed her second crown of the world ski championships yesterday when she won the women’s downhill.
Kostelic, the winner of the women’s combined a few days ago, hit speeds of over 122 km h to dislodge early leader Elena Fanchini of Italy from the leaderboard with a winning time of 1min 39.90sec. Fanchini, with a time of 1:40.16, eventually finished in second having led the race for nearly an hour having started with bib number eight.
The 19-year-old Italian did however pick up what will be a valuable silver medal after Austria’s former world downhill champion Renate Gotschl could only finish in third.
Sweden’s reigning World Cup champion Anja Paerson, the winner of the women’s super-G title and a runner-up in the combined behind Kostelic, could only finish in seventh place after losing time on the second half of her run during which she had led her Croatian rival. Kostelic, who has been more of a slalom combined specialist, exploded with joy upon realizing that she had won the title, her fourth world title overall and first world downhill title won by a Croatian.
She has also won the slalom world title, in 2003, and two combined titles.
The 23-year-old’s victory was all the more special as she has only returned to World Cup skiing this season having spent the whole of the 2003 04 season sidelined, nursing knee injuries and having thyroid surgery.
Kostelic made history at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 when she became the first women to win three gold medals in alpine Olympic events.
Michaela Dorfmeister, one of the co-favourites for the title, crashed out shortly after landing from the main jump after her left ski pulled away from her.
The Austrian sustained no serious injuries in the crash.
American Lindsey Kildow, a bronze medal winner from the super-G, just missed out on the bronze this time, coming fourth at 0.62 adrift of Kostelic.
