Search


Advanced Search
Nenad Bach - Editor in Chief

Sponsored Ads
 »  Home  »  Sports  »  (E) Croatia's Ivica Kostelic wins experimental slalom
(E) Croatia's Ivica Kostelic wins experimental slalom
By Nenad N. Bach | Published  12/18/2002 | Sports | Unrated
(E) Croatia's Ivica Kostelic wins experimental slalom

 

Ivica Kostelic wins experimental slalom


Ivica Kostelic of Croatia celebrates on the podium after winning a World Cup men's Knock Out slalom, in Sestriere, Italy, Monday, Dec. 16, 2002. (AP Photo/Claudio Scaccini) 


Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, center, winner of a World Cup men's KO slalom, celebrates on the podium with second placed Giorgio Rocca of Italy, left, and third placed Truls Ove Karlsen of Norway, in Sestriere, Italy, Monday, Dec. 16, 2002. (AP Photo/Claudio Scaccini) 

Croatia's Kostelic wins experimental slalom 
By Andrew Dampf, Associated Press, 12/16/2002 15:26

SESTRIERE, Italy (AP) Croatia's Ivica Kostelic won a four-run, experimental World Cup slalom Monday night, overcoming strong back pain to edge Italy's Giorgio Rocca by 0.01 seconds. 

Kostelic, the World Cup slalom champion, won in the night's final run. Norway's Truls Ove Karlsen was third, 0.25 seconds behind Kostelic in the final run. 

The new format is designed to attract more TV viewers by keeping the winner unknown until the final run. The slalom winner usually is determined by the best combined time from two runs. 

American Chip Knight finished sixth, 0.57 seconds behind Kostelic, improving on his seventh-place finish in the season's first slalom in Park City, Utah, on Nov. 24. 

Bode Miller, the United States' top skier and a slalom specialist, was eliminated during qualifying. 

Kostelic, who also had the best time in the next-to-last round, held his skis over his head in a victory salute while Rocca's wide smile quickly turned to a look of astonishment. 

''I think it's the greatest win for me so far,'' he said. ''I can say I won two times today. I won against the pain and I won the race.'' 

The 23-year-old Croatian said he felt back pain during the morning warmup runs and had to be carried to the hotel. 

''I couldn't imagine skiing or even finishing in the top 30,'' he said. 

Despite the victory, Kostelic said he was not a fan of the new format. 

''When there's only nine racers there's no interest in the final,'' he said. ''Instead of making the sport bigger, it makes it smaller.'' 

Following the afternoon qualifying session, which cut the field to 30 skiers, the first knockout phase Monday evening pitted the fastest skier in qualifying against the 30th, the second against the 29th, etc. One raced after the other, with the faster skier advancing to the next round and the slower one eliminated. 

Then the remaining 15 skiers plus the three fastest ''losers'' of the round or ties for a total of 18 faced off in the same manner in the next round. 

The nine skiers who made it to the final run started in reverse order of times. The competition reverted to a more traditional formula at this stage, with the fastest skier winning the race. Times were never carried through to the next round. 

Kostelic beat Italy's Hannes Paul Schmid by 0.09 seconds in the first knockout round and edged Austria's Reinfried Herbst by 0.86 seconds in the second phase. 

Several top contenders were eliminated in the first knockout round, including Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt and Austria's Benjamin Raich. Miller and Rainer Schoenfelder were eliminated in the afternoon qualifying. Schoenfelder won the only previous slalomthis season. 

Sestriere, the main venue for Alpine skiing for the 2006 Turin Olympics, hosted an identical women's slalom Sunday, won by Sweden's Anja Paerson. 

How would you rate the quality of this article?

Verification:
Enter the security code shown below:
imgRegenerate Image


Add comment
Comments


Article Options
Croatian Constellation



Popular Articles
  1. Dr. Andrija Puharich: parapsychologist, medical researcher, and inventor
  2. (E) Croatian Book Club-Mike Celizic
  3. Europe 2007: Zagreb the Continent's new star
  4. (E) 100 Years Old Hotel Therapia reopens in Crikvenica
  5. Nenad Bach singing without his hat in 1978 in Croatia's capital Zagreb
No popular articles found.