Skiing: Kostelic family secures double

Siblings Janica and Ivica Kostelic put Croatia right on par with ski powerhouse Austria as the most successful nation at the world championship.

The Croat brother and sister won three gold medals for their country, which has little snow and few slopes. Austria led the championship with nine medals, but like Croatia had three golds.

Ivica, 23, completed Croatia's haul with victory in the men's slalom Sunday, the closing race of the two–week event.

It was his first major title and the first time a brother and sister had won gold in the same event at a world championship. Janica won the women's combined last week and the slalom on Saturday.

"It's pretty cool to be on top with Austria. We are a country without much snow, but I guess we're pretty good," Kostelic said.

Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland won the silver medal while Giorgio Rocca of Italy took the bronze.

Kostelic dawdled at the finish line with a stunned look on his face, before briefly falling to his knees and into a long and emotional embrace with his sister.

"Before the race, the television screen showed footage of my family and scenes from my injuries," Kostelic said. "I just remembered the rehabs I had to go through and the days I was just fighting to get back onto skis."

"I couldn't help shedding a tear at the finish because it was a great day for me."

Janica said the race was "really exciting to watch. I was terribly nervous, I could no longer stand on my feet so I just knelt down," she said.

Kostelic covered the relatively flat Corviglia course in a winning aggregate time of one minute, 40.66 seconds. Zurbriggen, who rallied from seventh place, finished 0.33 seconds behind. Rocca was 0.36 adrift.

Bode Miller of the United States, who was seeking his third gold of the championship, finished sixth. Benjamin Raich of Austria, who was second after the first run, fell to fourth. Fellow Austrian Manfred Pranger, third after the first heat, slipped to fifth.

Kostelic's victory in the final event of the championship completed a Croatian dominated weekend and allowed him to emerge from the considerable shadow of his younger sister.

Janica, 21, easily won two golds before Ivica's race and has broken countless records, including three golds and a silver at last year's Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"Janica is a very big inspiration for me and her medals motivated me," Ivica said. "She has always given me advice. Only it's easy for a champion to give advice."

Kostelic, who has won three slalom races before the championship and is leading the discipline in World Cup standings, downplayed his triumph, saying he was "a good skier, but not a champion."

"Champions are something else. Champions are those who can win in all four disciplines, in very hard conditions and when everybody expects something from them."

Maybe one day, he added, when he too starts racing all the disciplines.

"Some people ski straight down, others turn their way down. Skiing is not just about going down or turning, it's both," he said.

Zurbriggen, who trailed Kostelic 0.72 seconds after the first heat, is a 21–year–old newcomer in his first season on the circuit who had completed only four races before the championship.

"It's incredible," said Zurbriggen, who is not related to the former Swiss great Pirmin. "I wanted to ski two good runs. I know anything is possible but I never dreamed of a medal."

Kostelic said he had to take risks during the race.

"I was on the edges a lot, I saw that Zurbriggen had had a super run. You had to fight on this course until the end," he said.

Rocca, 27, won his first race last month in Wengen, Switzerland. After several finishes close to the podium in the past, the Italian said he was moved by emotions. "It's fantastic after such a difficult race."

Miller had a troubled first run, losing his left ski pole midway down the course and leaving himself a substantial 0.90 to make up in the second leg.

His second heat was also rocky, but the winner of the giant slalom, the combined and a silver medalist in the super–G still climbed two places to sixth. Miller was seeking to become the first American to clinch four medals at a world championship.

"I lost a lot of time in the first run," Miller said.

Miller still was the best American. Chip Knight was 12th; Tom Rothrock, who had the fastest second run, shared 13th place and Erik Schlopy was in a tie for 16th.

ROLL OF HONOUR

MEN

Super-G: 1 S Eberharter (Aut); 2= H Maier (Aut), B Miller (US)

Combined: 1 Miller; 2 L Kjus (Nor); 3 K A Aamodt (Nor)

Downhill: 1 M Walchhofer (Aut); 2 Aamodt; 3 B Kernen (Swit)

Giant slalom: 1 Miller; 2 H Knauss (Aut); 3 E Schlopy (US)

Slalom: 1 I Kostelic (Croa); 2 S Zurbriggen (Swit); 3 G Rocca (It)

WOMEN

Super-G: 1 M Dorfmeister (Aut); 2 K Clark (US); 3 J Mendes (US)

Downhill: 1 M Turgeon (Can); 2= A Meissnitzer (Aut); C Rey Bellet (Swit)

Combined: 1 J Kostelic (Croa); 2 N Hosp (Aut); 3 M Oester (Swit)

Giant slalom: 1 A Paerson (Swe); 2 D Karbon (It); 3 A Forsyth (Can)

Slalom: 1 Kostelic; 2 M Schild (Aut); 3 Hosp.