Kostelic Wins Record Gold; Olympic Valley's Mancuso Ninth

Janica Kostelic skied to an Olympic medal Saturday, and of course it was gold. A record gold.

The 24-year-old Croatian became the first woman to win four Olympic Alpine gold medals when she fought off illness and beat her main rival to defend her championship in the combined event.

She shrugged off her unprecedented haul.

"It's always nice to know that," she said, "but records are to be beaten, so someone else will win five."

Kostelic's five Olympic medals overall -- she also has one silver -- tied her for the most by a woman in Alpine skiing with Swiss great Vreni Schneider and Germany's Katja Seizinger. Kostelic is entered in three more medal races these games, though post victory she said she probably would opt out of Sunday's super-G.

Kostelic's total time between the downhill and two slalom runs Friday night was 2:51.08, beating Austrian Marlies Schild by a half-second and leaving rival Anja Paerson of Sweden in third.

This after Kostelic had said she might not be able to race because of sickness.

"I was shaking at the beginning," she said. "It felt like a long time to the finish line."

Julia Mancuso was the top U.S. finisher, but her ninth place was a disappointment as she failed to make up as much ground in the downhill as she had expected.

Mancuso moves on to the super-G in search of the first medal of these games for the U.S. Alpine women, who also were shut out in Salt Lake City four years ago.

"I think it's going to be a good race," she said, "but I want to go rest now."

Kostelic's medal was the second for her family these games. Her brother, Ivica, won silver in the men's Alpine combined -- marking the first time since 1980 in Lake Placid that a brother and sister have won medals at the same Olympics.

Paerson won her second Olympic bronze in the Italian Alps -- she took third in the downhill.

"I wanted to come here to be Olympic champion, but today I lost one of my opportunities," said Paerson, who felt Saturday's course was too easy and benefited slalom specialists.

The downhill portion was delayed into the afternoon by fog and was shortened by about a quarter mile to 1.5 miles, with the start at the beginning of the super-G course. Crews worked all day to clear from the curtailed course several inches of snow that had fallen overnight and all morning. By the time the race began, the sun was shining, but it was too late to restore the course to its intended length.

"I'm glad the downhill was at the super-G start because halfway down I didn't have any power in my legs," Kostelic said, "but my skis were really fast."

Kostelic said she was "99 percent certain" she wouldn't race in the super-G to rest for next week's giant slalom and slalom. She said her lack of enthusiasm over her gold Saturday reflected the fact she was not finished with these games.

"This medal, it happened," she said. "I put it behind my back and try to concentrate on the next races, and then after the Olympics, we can celebrate."

Paerson was the leader before Kostelic's run. As the Croatian crossed the finish line and swung her arms in joy, the Swede looked despondently at the ground.

Schild was the next skier down. When she finished, in second, Kostelic embraced her and then jumped for joy with both hands in the air before dropping to a knee in exhaustion. Paerson and Kostelic didn't acknowledge each other for several minutes.