Janica Kostelic is on a roll - the young champion from Zagreb had a excellent first run in the women's slalom and clocked the fastest time in that leg, beating France's Laure Pequegnot by 18/100 of a second while Finland's Tanja Poutiainen was 3rd at 32/100.

Sweden's Anja Paerson, who was lucky to be the firs to start on the course covered by soft snow, made it to 4th place, 43/100 behind the lead. Her teammate Ylva Nowen, 5th, already lost 94/100.

Out of the race for a medal, France's Christel Pascal-Saioni who crashed after straddling a gate and America's Kristina Koznick, who fell a few gates before the finish line.

Janica was as pleased as surprised to have skied so fast on the demanding Deer Valley run after starting in seventh position.

"The course was in bad shape and it was impossible to ski a clean line, I was really rough" she said. "It just try to make it to the finish".

It's the first time for a year that the combined Olympic Champion set a best time in a slalom run - since her last victory at Garmisch-Partenkirchem in February 2001.

He best result in a slalom this winter is her 3rd place at Berchtesgaden. She is definitely a favorite for victory - she has never lost a slalom after leading the first run.

An eventual third medal at these Olympics would make her one of the great heroes of these Winter Games - as well as a sensation. No racer since Vreni Schneider in Lillehammer could win three medals at the same alpine Olympic events. In 1994, Vreni won the slalom after finishing on the podium in combined and in giant slalom.

Laure Pequegnot, the leader in the slalom World Cup standings, should be her toughest competitor. No French skier captured a gold medal in slalom since the 1968 Olympics at Grenoble when Marielle Goitschel won her second gold medals in a winter Games competition.