"Oops, I did it again..." With a large smile on her face, Janica Kostelic was imitating Brittney Spears in the finish line of the women's slalom while congratulated by all her team and her parents. Skiing's amazing wonderwoman celebrated another huge success today in winning her second Olympic gold medal here after a dramatic race marked by very difficult race and weather conditions.

After clocking the fastest time in the first run, Janica achieved another solid run in the afternoon to finally beat by only 7/100 of a second France's Laure Pequegnot, the top-favorite coming to Salt Lake City while Sweden's Anja Paerson captured bronze in finishing 3rd at 99/100.

Her teammate Ylva Nowen was 4th in front of Germany Martina Ertl.

Several other top-contenders didn't make it - America's Kristina Koznick and France's Christel Pascal-Saioni skied out in the first leg while Finland's Tanja Poutiainen, 3rd before the second run, crashed at the middle of her final run.

Amazingly enough, two other Croatian athletes finished among the top-25 : Nika Fleiss was a surprising 12th and her young teammate Ana Jelusic and impressive 23rd . It was her first major race.

Three medals for Janica

With two gold and a silver medal, Janica joined Germany's Rosi Mittermaier and Hanny Wenzel from Liechtenstein as the most successful Olympic skier in recent winters.

In 1976, Mittermaier won the downhill and the slalom and came in 2nd in the giant slalom while Wenzel clinched the Olympic titles in the technical events at Lake Placid where she also grabbed silver in the downhill.

In 1994, Switzerland's Vreni Schneider also won three medals at Lillehammer, but only one in gold - in slalom.

"It was quite a fight and I feel really tired now" said a satisfied Janica Kostelic after the race as she received hugs from her parents and her friends.

"The race conditions were terrible, the course was ruined and it was impossible to ski well today" she added. "I just tried to make it twice to the finish line without making major mistakes."

"I was happy but also quite surprised by my best time in the first run and I didn't think too much about winning the race in the afternoon. I was quite impressed when I saw the big margin that Laure built up on Anja Parson after her second run. I just wanted to get another clean run to the finish line. It's incredible to win again a slalom after my tough season start. I have reached much more than I expected here".

Marica and Ante Kostelic followed the race from the arrival while Ivica preferred to remain in their flat at Deer Valley. Marica was very moved by her daughter's latest triumph and she had a hard time to realize what was going on. "This is crazy, I can't believe it" she said. "It's so wonderful!"

Ante was also very impressed. "She is so tough" he said. "I was so impressed, I almost could watch her. I never never dreamed that she could win once three gold medals. This is far beyond our goals".

The whole group hopes now that Ivica will be inspired by Janica's achievements. The winner from Aspen and Wengen feels very confident after some strong training runs in the past days.

Laure was also pleased

It's only in the last five-six gates that Janica took a maximum of risks to pass Laure Pequegnot who was faster than her after the intermediate time.

The French was not too upset by her short defeat - she preferred to enjoy her first medal in a major event. "I did my best today and I had a strong second run but Janica is on a roll" Laure said. "I knew that she would be difficult to beat after her great races at Snowbasin. She was certainly very relaxed and very motivated too. The important here was to get any medal. I'm having a great season so far, I have nothing to complain".

The men's giant slalom is scheduled for Thursday. The course conditions at Park City are also difficult because of the snowfall from Tuesday night. The free skiing planned for today had to be cancelled.