KITZBUEHEL – Ivica Kostelic might occasionally find himself in the crosshairs of his sport’s governing body, but he seems set for World Cup glory should his unbelievable streak of form continue. Long considered a slalom specialist, the 31-year-old Croat took Kitzbuehel by storm when he won Friday’s super-G on the circuit’s toughest course ahead of more seasoned speed kings like Didier Cuche and Aksel Lund Svindal. His second place in Sunday’s slalom, together with his 11th position in Saturday’s downhill, guaranteed him the classic combined title — a 17th on the World Cup circuit, to consolidate his place atop the overall standings.
His tally of 1,030 points is a massive 401 more than his closest rival, Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland, and he looks set to add to a trophy cabinet that already includes a world slalom gold (2003) and three Olympic silver medals (slalom 2010, combined 2006, 2010). But he also found himself in hot water here with the International Ski Federation after criticising their decision not to alter a jump on the downhill course that was the scene of Austrian Hans Grugger’s horror fall in training. Grugger had to undergo emergency surgery on serious head injuries on Thursday and remains stable but in a coma in Innsbruck hospital. FIS race director Guenter Hujara prompty threatened to take legal action against anyone who accused the body of “criminal acts”. But Kostelic confirmed on Sunday that a chat with Hujara had shown that nothing “so controversial” had been said and the issue was dropped. On the slope, Kostelic has enjoyed a quite sensational month of January, winning six of 11 events so far, and appearing on the podium on two other occasions. The Croat, elder brother of now-retired three-time women’s overall World Cup winner and four-time Olympic gold medallist Janica, admitted that his rivals have their work cut out to catch him. “There’s still plenty of races to come and races where the followers can make lots of points,” he acknowledged. “But I’m in a pretty good position right now and they’ll have to put in a really huge effort if they want to come back.
“The most important thing is that I stay healthy. If I stay healthy, I can stay on top.” Kostelic has certainly been tagged by his fellow racers as the man to watch this season. “He’s the best skier in the world, the best all-rounder,” said Zurbriggen, who was second in the combined event. Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, third in the overall standings on 585pts, added: “He is the only guy who’s scoring points in all disciplines.” American Bode Miller, a favourite for the combined until he bombed out of the first leg of the slalom, admitted that Kostelic had one of his favourite skiers for a number of years despite his more conservative approach to racing. “The way that he wins is that he skis very consistently, top to bottom, no mistakes ever,” the two-time World Cup champion said.
