America's Kristina Koznick and Switzerland's Marlies Oester shared the victory in today slalom at Berchtesgaden also marked by the comeback of Janica Kostelic 3rd at a few tenths of a second.

The favorites had a tough day - Sweden's Anja Paerson skied out in the second run after having dominated the first one, France's Laure Pequegnot was 6th and Sonja Nef 11th.

Paerson was desperate after her fall which may have cost her the victory in the slalom standings. There are only two slaloms left this winter - the next taking place in Are, Sweden in two weeks.

Pequegnot built up her lead in the slalom standings. Her teammate Christel Pascal Saioni was 4th.

A lucky day for Koznick

This victory has a special meaning for both Oester and Koznick : it's the first ever for the Swiss, who reached some promising results in past races and the first for the American since the split from the rest of her team in Summer 2000.

"It's a lucky day for me - I don't mind sharing the win with Marlies" said Kristina who has not won a race since March 2000.

"It's a great day for "team Kosznick". We have all worked very hard to reach this and we are proud to have achieved this. It has not been easy and we face some hard days but now we are all happy. This result comes in a good moment - a month before the Olympic race. Now I can't wait to go home. I have been on the road in Europe since the end of November and I need to do some laundry. I'm looking forward to sleep in my bed".

A runner-up in the slalom World Cup standings in 1998, Kristina never excelled in medal-events so far but she feels now ready for Deer Valley, where the Olympic slalom will take place on February 20th. "I feel much stronger mentally, I have learned a lot in the past two winters and I'm handling the pressure much better now".

"The second run was quite tough today because of the ruts, but fortunately I had a nice reserve from the first run".

A long drought for Marlies

Marlies Oester who was 2nd in January 1996 at Sestriere in the race won by Sonja Nef, ended a long drought today. She struggled for many years because of health problems but she had a great comeback this winter with several top-10 finishes in recent slaloms. "I was happy to keep on improving and gaining confidence after each slalom" she said. "I had a superb second run despite the bad conditions. It's wonderful to finally win a race after all these difficult moments".

Oester is the fourth Swiss to win a World Cup race this winter after Sonja Nef, Lilian Kummer and Sylviane Berthod - which put the team at the top of the team's list of winners.

Janica could smile

Finally a smile came back on the face of Janica Kostelic after this race. It's her first podium since her win at Garmisch-Partenkirchen eleven months ago.

"It's good to be on the podium again in a slalom" she said at the Press Conference.

"I knew that it will come back one day, but I'm not a patient person. I lost much time with my injuries last summer and also in December after my crash at Val d'Isere. I still feel much pain at my back, my right hip and my shoulder but I try to forget it on course".

"I was quite satisfied by my GS result on Saturday and it gave me a good moral for today. Normally I don't like to race on flat courses but apparently I became a good glider".

"I hope to keep on improving in the coming weeks but I don't know if I will be ready for the Olympics. Of course everything is possible in a medal race with some luck. I have nothing to lose at the Games".

"People at home expected a lot from me this winter but I could ski at my best level because of my injuries. I need a lot of training to reach a good level but you have to be healthy to practice. It was not the case for me and I'm still behind in my program. I may have to wait next week to recover my normal level. But I'm only 20 and I have already won a lot".

The next women's races will tale place next week-end in Italy's Cortina d'Ampezzo where a downhill, a Super-G and giant slalom are scheduled.