Sweden's new ski-star Anja Paerson achieved an impressive hat-trick today in Maribor where she won her third consecutive slalom this season after dominating both runs.

The reigning World Champion beat by 1,19 seconds America's Kritina Koznick while France's Laure Pequegnot, the first winner from Copper Mountain, was 3rd at 1,25 seconds.

Finland's Tanja Poutiainen was 4th , missing her second podium of the season by only 19/100. Not far behind, the great winner from the previous day, Switzerland's Sonja Nef, 8th ahead of Croatia's Janica Kostelic who reached her first top-10 position this winter in slalom without taking too many risks.

The skier from Zagreb who celebrated her 20th birthday later on in the evening, was not too pleased to lose over two seconds on the winner.

"I need more races to find back a faster rhythm" she said. "A top-10 is not bad after my terrible GS race yesterday but I want more. I know that I have to be patient but I'm not a patient person".

Janica, who is eager to get back as soon as possible on the podium, was less than a second behind the 3rd finisher. It should help her to be more and more confident in the coming weeks. The essential for her this moment is to remain healthy and to train as well as possible until Salt Lake City.

She should be more aggressive on Sunday.

A strong lead for Anja Paerson

Once more out of reach for her closest rivals, Anja Paerson increased her lead in the slalom standings. Koznick's and Pequegnot, who shared 2nd place have now a delay of 68 points. She also took over first place in the Overall classification. Janica is in 19th position with 53 points.

The skier from Taernaby was delighted by her newest triumph yet she admits that it's getting more difficult for her.

"I enjoyed to compete and win the last slalom at Lienz, but here I felt more pressure on my shoulders" she said.

"There is more attention around me now but fortunately, I'm alone when I'm skiing down the slopes and this is what I like the most" she added.

"I didn't ski so well this time in the first run so I'm quite glad to have clocked the fastest time. I tried hard again in the afternoon and again things went on fine . It's exciting to take risks and move at your limits".

"I'm very pleased to have reinforced my position in the slalom standings which is now an major goal for me. I don't care so much about the Overall standings because I don't compete in downhill so I can't score any point in the combined. I'll think about it in a few years when I'll be more experience. For the moment, I prefer to focus on the technical specialties and on the coming medal events".

"Tomorrow will be another hard day - I hope to keep enough concentrated. I feel confident, but it's hard work. Now I can better imagine how Janica Kostelic felt last year. It was tough for her rivals but certainly nice for her".

The young Swede will try to repeat the winning-streak of her teammate Ylva Nowen, who won four slaloms in a row during the 1997/98 season. Last winter, Kostelic remained unbeaten in eight consecutive World Cup slalom races. The skier from Zagreb seems able to aim for a top-5 position now.

Also ready for a better result is Kristina Koznick, already on the podium in Lienz. She hasn't won a slalom since the end of the 1999/2000 season.

Nika Fleiss, who missed the cut by 5/100 today, will try to qualify for the second run for the first time in her career. The Croatian, who injured herself at a knee in November, was not too disappointed by her misfortune. "I will try hard again Sunday, so far I'm doing fine" she said.