Janica Kostelic on Sunday won the final World Cup slalom before the Olympics and became the second woman to win five different disciplines in a season.
It came one day after the triple Olympic champion had missed out on qualifying for the second run of a giant slalom for just the sixth time in her career.
On Sunday, the Croat won her 26th World Cup race in 1 minute, 42.22 seconds, beating Austria's Kathrin Zettel by 1.33 seconds and Marlies Schild by 1.45. Kostelic's second run was .98 quicker than her closest rival.
PHOTO: AFP
"It was the last race before the Olympics and I wanted to do good," Kostelic said. "It was a race like any other."
Austria's Petra Kronberger was the first woman to win five different disciplines in a season in 1990-1991.
Kostelic fought the flu and a high fever, which made her consider skipping the slalom.
PHOTO: AFP
"I'm better, but I'm still pretty weak," said Kostelic.
Kostelic was third after the first run but hugged the gates all the way down a fast and flat course on her second, picking up time at every split.
The 19-year-old Zettel, who reached her 10th podium this year, said she felt the pressure of matching Kostelic's second run.
PHOTO: AP
Anja Paerson, expected to be Kostelic's main rival at the Turin games which start in five days, didn't fare as well after she followed the Croat.
The first run leader skidded out about two-thirds down the fast, flat slope after being the only skier close to matching Kostelic's splits.
Kostelic leads in the overall standings over Paerson, who showed she is also ready for the Olympics during the first two days of racing at the World Cup.
Paerson shared a giant slalom win with Maria Jose Rienda and was second to the Spaniard in another.
Schild had her streak of three straight slalom wins snapped, but said she was happy with her result since there hadn't been a World Cup slalom in a month.
Americans Lindsey Kildow was 11th and Resi Stiegler 13th.
Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus earned his third victory of the season in a World Cup competition.
Dashinski received 251.77 points in the two-round race and moved to the second position in the overall standings. Xiaopeng Han finished second with 244.44, followed by Dmitri Rak of Belarus with 224.80.
Canada's Kyle Nissen leads the overall with 485 points.
Many of the World Cup leading athletes did not participate in the race, the last before the Olympics.
In the women's race, Nina Li of China claimed her third season win with 199.33 points, followed by Alla Tsuper of Belarus with 177.35 and Switzerland's Maunela Mueller with 174.31.
Li leads the overall standings with 436 points, followed by Swiss pair Evelyne Leu and Maunela Mueller.
Four Hills co-winner Janne Ahohen led Finland to victory in a World Cup team event.
Ahonen, who shared the Four Hills crown with the Czech Republic's Jakub Janda, scored a team-best combined 272.4 points for Finland.
He teamed with Matti Hautamaeki, Tami Kiuru and Janne Happonen for a total score of 973.4.
Austria finished second with 953.5 points after Thomas Morgenstern led all jumpers with 285.7 points.
Norway was third with 950.5 points as Roar Ljoekelsoey tallied 281 points.
After 18 of 25 events, Finland leads the World Cup team standings, followed by Norway with 2,353 and Austria with 2,151.
Norway's Jens Arne Svartedal won a men's World Cup 15km classic, the final race before the Winter Olympics at Turin.
Svartedal completed the course in 37 minutes, 54.9 seconds, beating Austria's Martin Tauber by 20.9 seconds. Vincent Vittoz of France was 23.6 seconds back in third.
Tauber looked poised to win after favorites overall leader Tobias Angerer and Pietro Piller Cottrer peeled off the front, but Svartedal surged forward just after 11km and was soon out of reach.
Angerer finished sixth, but retained the overall lead with 725 points. Norway's Tor Arne Hetland is second on 499, while Sweden's Bjoern Lind is third on 463.
Finland's Virpi Kuitunen easily won the women's 10km classic in 27 minutes, 58.8 seconds, 31.8 ahead of Canada's Sara Renner, the surprise runner-up. Slovenia's Petra Majdic was third, 36.1 back, while another Canadian, Beckie Scott, was 43.1 behind in fourth place.
After 17 of 24 races, Norway's Marit Bjoergen still leads the overall standings with 645 points.
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