Croatia's Janica Kostelic achieved an historical performance today in Park City in the women's giant slalom in winning her third Olympic gold medal within two weeks after two impressive runs down the "CB's run".

The 2001 Overall World Cup champion beat by 1,32 seconds Sweden's Anja Paerson and by 1,66 seconds the reigning World Champion Sonja Nef.

These three racers are followed by two of the best GS specialists of past years, Austria's Alexandra Meissnitzer, the 1999 World Champion and World Cup winner and Michaela Dorfmeister, the 2000 GS World Cup winner.

First GS win for Janica

In November 1998, Kostelic finished 4th here in her third World Cup giant slalom despite a high start number. It was her best result going into this last women's alpine race of these 19th Winter Olympic Games.

Yet she definitely belonged to the group of favorites for this competition after winning two gold and a silver medal in her previous races.

In fact, Janica who started in 19th position, crushed her rivals in both runs to win her first major GS race with over a second advance on her closest rival.

Skiing without any pressure, the Croatian skied with great precision and smoothness down the demanding "CB's run", clocking twice the best time.

In the morning, she beat Meissnitzer by half a second while Paerson lost 45/100 on her in the afternoon.

Janica was herself amazed by this result which enchanted the huge crowd which gathered around the finish area.

"I don't understand what's happening with me here, I can't explain it myself" she repeated afterwards while answering hundredths on questions.

"I felt relaxed and I mostly wanted to have a great time here. At the start of the second run, I saw that Paerson and Nef were very fast and I was looking to collect any medal. I was not thinking about the gold and the record, just to have another smooth run".

"These past weeks go beyond all what we imagined so far. I really enjoyed these Games after my tough season start. I recovered a lot of energy the week before the start of the Olympics after skipping the Are competitions. I was sick and I needed to rest. I had a great time at the Adriatic sea shore at Selce where people took great care of me".

"I was very happy to win gold in the combined last week, it gave me great momentum. Afterwards, everything was very easy. My silver medal in Super-G boosted my confidence and I had nothing to lose in the last two events. I skied without any pressure during these days. It was amazing and I'm having a tough time to realize what's happening. It's like if I'm moving in the clouds".

First triple winner at the same Games

Janica was not to impressed by the new record she set in wining three gold medals at the same Olympic, a performance than no woman could achieve before her in the past. From 1948 to 1984, when three Olympic titles were awarded in alpine skiing, only a few skiers such as America's Mead Lawrence in 1952, Rosi Mittermaier in 1976 and Hanny Wenzel in 1980 also won two gold medals. Since the Calgary Olympics in 1988, a total of five alpine events became part of the Games.

"I don't really care about such kind of statistics, because records are here to be beaten" she said. "I hope to compete in downhill in 2006 at Turin because I like this specialty too. Here I didn't feel confident enough and I didn't want to take any risk before the combined. It was a good choice because I could rest some extra days. I felt mentally tired now, these days were tough on me. But I'll go powder skiing tomorrow somewhere during the men's slalom. I don't want to go at Deer Valley because it will be quite crowded and I need to find back some energy. I hope that Ivica will have a great day too - I guess it may be harder for him now after my series of successes. I wish him all the best. He is in great shape and he can also do well on that hill".

Since the 1980 Olympics no siblings could win Olympic medals in alpine skiing - in Lake Placid, Hanny and Andreas Wenzel won a total of four medals.

Janica is flying back home on Sunday and will land at Zagreb on Monday morning. "It will be much tougher than what happened here" she said. "I can't wait to go back to skiing at Lenzerheide, where I'll compete in the Super-G".

Only one alpine race is left on the Olympic schedule - the men's slalom. America's Bode Miller, a double silver medallist is going for the gold as well as Ivica Kostelic, Austria's Rainer Schoenfelder and Benjamin Raich, Slovenia's Mitja Kunc and Jure Kosir and France's Jean Pierre Vidal.

The next women's World Cup race will take place in Switzerland at the end of next week at Lenzerheide, near Chur.