L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Heel wins Super G in Val Gardena with Defago and Jaerbyn on the podium ... Paerson wins Super combined from Hosp and Suter ... Walchhofer retains King of the Hill in Downhill, Miller 2 and Osborne Paradis 3 ... Gut wins Super G in St Moritz from Suter and Fanchini

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

Kostelic keeps the records tumbling as she takes Women's Slalom Crown!

Janica Kostelic just keeps on going! Three events participated in and three gold medals!  Kostelic has been unbeaten in these World Championships!  Chasing the Flying Finn after the first run, Kostelic had it all to do.  Down in third behind Poutiainen and Paerson, Kostelic attacked in a form reminiscent of her 2001 season.  With a gap of 1.00 behind Poutiainen to the sixth placed racer, Nika Fleiss, at last we had a race to watch!  With three Croatians in the first seven after the first run (19 year old Ana Jelusic was 7th), a changing of power of slalom skiing may just be starting.  Add to the group, the young Czech Sarka Zahrobska (20 years old), and the established Slalom stars will have to start getting their heads down for continued results.

The first run saw a high rate of attrition with 14 racers failing to finish and a further nine disqualified after coming to grief with the last three gates.  Among those going out were Martina Ertl, Laure Pequegnot and Sonja Nef.  Kristina Koznick, Monika Bergman Schmuderer, Marlies Schild and Veronika Zuzulova all amongst those to be disqualified.  With Chemmy Alcott appearing on the Did Not Start list, this was a mistake by the organisers as she was not intended to start, not having been entered.

The second run saw further departures and many using the early starts to put in a fast time. Among those to make big steps up the results list were the three remaining Americans: Stiegler, Schleper and Mancuso who came in six, seven and eight respectively having been 15, 9 and 8 respectively after the first run.  21 year old Therese Borssen from Sweden moved up from 14 into fifth while Austria's hopes rested on young Kathrin Zettel, an eighteen year old who has only recently made the step up onto the World Cup squad.  With Niki Hosp crashing out on the second run (along with 23 others) this has been a miserable Championships for the Austrian women.  Just Goetschl in the Downhill and Schild in the Combined winning medals.

Borssen, Zettel and Zahrobska all came down on the second run to take the lead.  Kostelic took away any hopes any of them had of winning with a stunning run: "I tried to ski the top as well as I could as I knew that I would be tired by the bottom," Kostelic admitted.  Having withdrawn from the Giant Slalom, Kostelic was still suffering on the second run and although her father set the course, Kostelic thought the course was hard and long.  "We don't have courses that long on the World Cup," she admitted after discussing the 69 gate course.

Poutiainen, winner of this season's World Cup in Slalom, agreed that she had won the Silver rather than losing the gold. "I skied a good lower section," declared the Finnish star who leaves Bormio and Santa Caterina with two silver medals.

Sarka Zahrobska took the bronze having been trained by her father, who learnt to ski through reading books about skiing, rather than the traditional practical way.  Zahrobska's medal, the first for the Czech Republic, made her "very happy."

After the race Finland announced that they were not going to do the team event along with Croatia.