The Norwegian ski team celebrated one of its best days in a World Cup race today in Cortina d'Ampezzo where Stina Hofgard Nilsen won her first competition in front of her teammate Andrine Flemmen. Italy's Karen Putzer was 3rd ahead of the last winner in Berchtesgaden, Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister.

Alexandra Meissnitzer, 3rd in Super-G on Saturday, confirmed her improving form is taking 5th place which should help her to qualify for the Olympics in that event.

Switzerland's Sonja Nef was a far 11th after two mediocre runs. It's her worst result for a long time, yet she kept the lead in the GS standings with an advance of 60 points on Dorfmeister and 79 points on Dorfmeister.

She didn't understand why she lost so much time on her rivals today.

Janica Kostelic, a strong 4th in the Super-G on Friday, struggled today to take the 13th place at 2,11 seconds from Hofgard-Nilsen.

The Croatian champion suffered from strong pains in her stomach and she is afraid to have caught a flue last week.

"I felt very weak this morning at the start and I was not sure that I could compete today" she said after the race.

"I had no energy and my legs were shaky. I couldn't attack the course at all and I must be pleased with this 13th place".

"We have decided that I'll take a break now to rest and recover my momentum. If my health improves, I'll go to ski a couple of days at Innerkrems then I'll joint Ivica at Celce for a while. It makes no sense for me to compete at Are and then to fly over to Salt Lake where the downhill training starts pretty soon. I feel pretty relaxed about my chances for a podium because ma season was slow. But I also know that on a given day, almost everybody can get a medal including myself. It's a matter of enjoying what you're doing and find a good rhythm. I had a great time at the Olympics at Nagano in 1998 but these one should be even better because the entire family will be together. Ivica was not with us in Japan but he will join us in February before the technical events".

"I plan to compete in the combined, the Super-G and the technical races. On Friday, I may have lost the race because I opened the gate with my knees before kicking out of the start-house".

"I'll be ready for everything. If I don't win this time, I have another chance in four years at Torino!"

A good prediction

The giant slalom at Cortina d'Ampezzo is considered as one of the toughest on the women's tour - in fact it was particularly difficult this time because of the soft snow and the ruts in the second run.

This partly explains the domination of the Norwegian couple who didn't compete in the previous speed events. In fact, Dorfmeister, 2nd in the first run behind Flemmen, was the only one who could challenge them in the morning. But in the afternoon, the downhill World Champion was too tired to achieve another strong run.

Nilsen and Flemmen were quite amused by her excellent performance which they predicted after the bib draw. "I received # 1 and Andrine # 2 so we said us that we will finish in that order today" explained Stine Hofgard, 3rd at Maribor and 2nd last week at Berchtesgaden.

"I felt that my form was improving in the last weeks and I was quite relaxed this morning" she added.

"I had good course conditions in the first run and I could make the best of it. I achieved my dream today in winning this race here - it's a strong boost for my moral looking ahead for the Olympics. I'm also very happy that my parents were here the share her joy. "They have done a lot for me when I was young before attending the ski gymnasium at Geilo" she added. "This is a great moment for all of us".

On the road to Are

The women's World Cup tour resumes next week at Are in Sweden, where a two-run downhill, a night giant slalom, a slalom and a combined are scheduled from Thursday to Sunday. Some skiers such as Street or Kostelic don't plan to compete there in order to rest before the Olympics.

Sonja Nef will try to find back her momentum after two disappointing races at Berchtesgaden and here. In slalom, Anja Paerson has to take great risks again to pass France's Laure Pequegnot in slalom.