The amazing Croatian, Janica Kostelic (pronounced Yah-nee-tza) finds it hard to do anything in Park City but win. She won the Giant Slalom race here in 1999, the Slalom in 2001 and won the Olympic gold in both events here last year (as well as the Combined). She started the day fast and ended fast keeping her atop of the podium here again today in the Chevy Truck America's Opening Women's Slalom. Christel Pascal of France kept the pace she set against the melting course and pulled out almost identical times just behind Kostelic for second. Sabine Egger of Austria managed to come back from the middle of the pack after her first run to have the fastest run of the day for third place.

Egger hadn't had been on a podium to two years but she said "I knew after the first run that I was fast even with some mistakes and I knew I could do better and make up some time." She had watched the young Croatian dominate the field for the last few years and noted, "she makes no mistakes and everyone is good without mistakes, but I almost think she could be even faster." When pressed if anyone can beat Janica, she reminded everyone that she did have the fastest run of the day.

After the first run Christel Pascal had powered her way to second place, with Swiss superstar Sonja Nef in third and America's Sarah Schleper in fourth. Only Christel could hold on to her spot after the second run with Sonja slipping to seventh and Sarah to sixth. It was Egger's blistering second run that displaced Sonja and Sarah. Laure Pequegnot of France also defied the slowing course with a faster second run moving her from fifth to fourth. Marlies Schild of Austria also had an outstanding second run, bumping her up from tenth in her first run to fifth for the day.

All of the top ten ladies today had to overcome a second run course that had softened and slowed significantly in today's simmering sunshine. Then they had to wait for the rest of the field to cut it up making it even slower. This proved their veterans skills and it showed in their results.

Janica thought the course setting for the second run was "like the 5th discipline." "Maybe I might make some people mad, but I really didn't like the way it was set," she said. Sabine and Sarah both confirmed that maybe the gates were a little wider for the second run but Sabine confirmed that as long as she had a good second run, she liked it.

"I don't look at it like this is the World Cup, this is the Olympics. If you think that it's something special in your head, then you put pressure on yourself." —Janica Kostelic

As the podium celebration began, the Croatian flags and bells began to sing Janica's praises. So now everyone's asking what it is about Park City for the young Croatian. Janica claimed that without her mother's cooking here for her she would have lost 20 kilos. "Nothing special, I eat chicken," she revealed, also noting that her mother uses a special Croatian spice called vegeta. So maybe it's the vegata. Then after more squeezing, she gave away a true secret. "I don't look at it like this is the World Cup, this is the Olympics. If you think that it's something special in your head, then you put pressure on yourself. So its easier to ski if its just a race like all the others."

Janica also talked about her own rhythm and noted she's never had a perfect race. She also said she thinks everyone should ski nice. "In the women's skiing its OK, the girls are skiing nice. But the men's skiing its like their skiing on their hands or their heads or whatever. They're just trying to go down as fastest way and it doesn't matter what happens in the gates.

So stay tuned for the men skiing any way they can to win tomorrow. The weather has changed for the worse so maybe Janica is right and we'll see some world-class skiers skiing on their heads. Stay tuned.

— Hans Prosl, MountainZone.com correspondent