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Back on her feet World Cup leader Kostelic hopes to beat downhill fear
HAUS IM ENNSTAL, Austria (Reuters) -- Overall World Cup leader Janica Kostelic has overcome her fear of downhill racing but still refuses to go flat-out in Alpine skiing's blue-riband event. The 19-year-old Croatian stood on downhill skis for the first time this week since suffering career-threatening injuries to both knees in a December 1999 crash during downhill training in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The winner of all five slaloms staged this season, Kostelic is competing in a World Cup downhill here on Saturday, the race having been postponed from Friday due to poor visibility caused by fog. Kostelic hopes to collect as many points as possible from the winter's only combined event -- which adds points from the downhill and Sunday's slalom in neighboring Flachau. She is also aiming for a medal in the combined event at the world championships starting in St Anton on January 28. She will also compete in the world championship slalom, giant slalom and super-G races. "But my main goal this season is to complete the winter without injury," Kostelic said. "I have achieved more than I hoped for by winning five times and finishing in the giant slalom top 10 three times," she said. "I'm not obsessed with the overall World Cup. I want to enjoy the next races as I have been enjoying the past weeks. I aim for a safe downhill run on race day." Kostelic was pleased with her showings in practice for the weekend's downhill, despite clocking only the 48th quickest times in both training runs. "I took no risks in the first timed trial [on Wednesday]. All I wanted was to cross the finish line safely and I felt elated when I did so. I wasn't looking for speed but for the safest line," she said. "In the second training [on Thursday], I tried a bit harder. I had no problems and I was not afraid although the snow was a bit faster. But I was cautious during the jumps." Kostelic's best downhill result is a seventh place in Lake Louise, Canada, in November 1999. She celebrated her maiden World Cup win in a 1999 combined event in St Anton. She chose to compete in Haus im Ennstal after inspecting the slope anonymously among hundreds of tourists last week. "The first training run was difficult because I lost most of my feeling for speed and fast turns. The turns in downhill are different and faster than in giant slalom or super-G and it took me a while to find my rhythm," she said. "I haven't even stood on downhill skis for over a year now and it took me a while to get used to the long length of downhill skis." The girl from Zagreb said she profited from fresh snow, which significantly slowed the Krummholz piste. "I was lucky, conditions were favorable for me. But I often felt disoriented despite the fresh snow," she said. On Sunday, Kostelic is expected to collect a sixth consecutive slalom victory to equal a mark set by Switzerland's Erika Hess in 1981. Another Swiss, Vreni Schneider, holds the record for consecutive slalom wins by winning all seven races of the 1988-89 season as well as the opening slalom of the following season. "It will be fun to try and level or better this record but I don't feel any pressure to do so," she said. "I know there are more important things in life than winning six or eight slalom races in a row."
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