Ivica KOSTELIC |
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Coached in the early days by his father, Ante, who still hands out advice although has passed on coaching duties to Slovenian Vincenij Jovan, the 28-year-old completed his first World Cup race in Sestriere in December of 2000, despite a series of nasty ski accidents and several knee surgeries which prevented him from finishing a season in good health from 1997 to that year.
Less than 11 months following his 27th place in Italy he astounded journalists and pundits alike when two days following his 22nd birthday he claimed his first World Cup victory, in Aspen, Colorado in the first slalom race of the season. Wearing bib #64, the young Croat started off down the pecking order when the slope had already been well cut-up by the skis of those who had completed the run, but the conditions of the course did not affect the fearless youngster from completing a memorable feat.
That win in the USA set the standard for the 2001/2002 season, which saw him storm to two other successes in the same discipline: in January on the slopes during the "Classical" Lauberhorn at Wengen in Switzerland and in March at the Flachau resort in Austria. An unforgettable season culminated in his clinching the slalom World Cup in a breath-taking tussle with Bode Miller of the United Sates.
The following season, Kostelic almost repeated his feat in the most technical of the Alpine disciplines but had to settle for second place behind the Finn, Kalle Palander. However, Ivica did not finish the season empty handed. The World Championships of St. Moritz was the venue where he raced to gold medal success in the slalom, finishing 33/100s of a second ahead of home favourite Silvan Zurbiggen, to reinforce the title of King of the Rapid Gates.
After the joy experienced in 2002 and 2003, Ivica succumbed once again to injury in 2004, having to undergo knee surgery the following day after crashing out in the race at Schladming in Austria on January 27th.
Showing grit and determination he overcame further knee ligament damage the following season, which once again required surgery, to claim two podium finishes, at Kitzbuhel and Wengen.
His recovery was complete on Valentine's Day in 2006 when at the Italian resort of Sestriere, Kostelic raced to a silver medal in the combined at the Turin Winter Olympics, denied a gold only by an incredible second run by America's Ted Ligety.
With 22 podium finishes, the athlete who became only the seventeenth man in World Cup history to win points in all of the sport's five disciplines has now managed a total of nine World Cup wins, eight in slalom and the last success in Reiteralm in December 2006 in combined. After sitting out 2007 through injury, the renowned guitarist on the tour stormed back to form in the 2008 season with six podium finishes, and the lack of race victory was made up for by an eighth place overall finish.
The 2009 season started in very positive fashion for the Croatian. By now a regular all rounder, Kostelic was even leading the Overall standings at one stage but back problems towards the end of the winter forced him to take his foot off the pedal and although he did continue to race he had to abandon his dream. The highlight of the season came at Alta Badia where he managed a second place in the illustrious Giant Slalom and then took victory in the slalom on the following day.