Germany's Hilde Gerg became today the twelfth women to win double downhills as she dominated again the rest of the field in the second speed race in a row. The Bavarian from Lenggries finished ahead of three Austrian including Renate Goetschl, 2nd at 5/100 of a second and Michaela Dorfmeister, 3rd at 40/100.

Dorfmeister moved up in 2nd place in the Overall World Cup standings with a delay of 61 points on Sweden's Anja Paerson, the slalom dominator this winter. Gerg is now 3rd, 23 points behind the Austrian

Janica who reached an excellent 21st place, is one of the top-favorites for the combined in tomorrow's slalom along America's Caroline Lalive, 17th today, and Renate Goetschl.

So far, she has been successful in the last two World Cup combined she entered at St Anton in January 1999 and last winter at Flachau.

The Croatian was pretty pleased by her results since she was not able to give her best because of strong pains at her knees at the end of the run. She was also quite tense before the race because of the low visibility.

"Maybe I should start to focus on downhill now, I'm getting always better" she said with a smile.

"This result is fine for me, I have not competed in downhill for almost a year and I didn't train it at all this fall".

"I didn't feel comfortable at the start because of the bad light, but I had a solid run until the last pitch. At the end, I run out of energy and I was suffering a lot at my knees. I couldn't ski as aggressively as I wanted in the final part".

"I'm motivated for the slalom, I will go for the combined, it would be great to win again a World Cup event after all my problems".

"The slope here is quite steep at the end so that the slalom should be pretty demanding. I aim for another top-10 in the race. Regarding the combined, my main rivals are Renate Goetschl and Caroline Lalive. It will be interesting. It will be a busy day for me because I also want to watch how Ivica is skiing at Wengen. He is skiing really well for the moment".

Hard fight for Gerg

Gerg needed to fight hard to win her thirteenth World Cup race since 1994 - at the last intermediate time, she was 27/100 behind Goetschl but she skied better than the Austrian in the last steep section.

She was quite elated by her newest success: "This is a crazy season, I never thought to be so successful this winter" she said after the race.

"I'm very proud to become one of the few skiers who could win two downhill races in two consecutive days, it's quite an achievement for me.

I was relaxed at the start after my first victory and I didn't feel any pressure" she added.

"Since my accident two years ago, I have another look on ski racing than before. I'm enjoying it much more now. A year ago, I had quite a hard time to find back a good form and I was speculating about giving up. Fortunately people around me convinced me to keep on fighting. I listen to them - and it was a good choice".

"I don't expect too much from myself in tomorrow's slalom. I only trained it a few days in the past year and I don't plan to defend my Olympic slalom title at Salt Lake City".

"I feel more comfortable in the speed events. If things turn out fine in the slalom, I may also enter the combined at Snowbasin".

In Sunday's slalom, Anja Paerson will try to increase her winning streak. She is unbeaten since her victory at Sestriere, one month ago.

Among the other favorites, Kristina Koznick from USA, Sonja Nef from Switzerland, Laure Pequegnot and Christel Pascal-Saioni, both from France.