Austrian Mario Matt proved once more that he truly is a "race horse", a champion of big occasions, at Zagreb where he dominated the prestigious slalom held in front of a huge crowd on the Sljeme slope situated above Croatia's capital city. The reigning slalom World Champion beat by 33/100 of a second local hero Ivica Kostelic while Reinfried Herbst, the recent winner at Garmisch-Partenkirchen came in 3rd at 40/100.

Italy's Giorgio Rocca, the 2006 slalom World Cup champion, was a strong 4th, only 13/100 away from his first podium since November 2006, when he was 3rd at Levi, in Finland.

Other favorites struggled on the long and challenging Sljeme slope and failed to reach the top-10 today. Italy's Manfred Moelgg, so consistent this winter, was a far 13th at 1,51 seconds while Benjmain Raich only finished a distant 26th after making a major mistake in the lower part of the course. He missed a great opportunity to get closer to USA's Bode Miller in the Overall World Cup standings. Miller could not qualify for the second run after a series of mistakes in the last gates.

France's Jean-Baptiste Grange, 19th in the first leg, straddled a gate at the top of the second run which also cost him precious World Cup points. The winner from Wengen and Kitzbühel still leads the slalom standings after this competition yet only with a smaller advance of 57 points on Matt and 71 on Moelg with two slalom races left on the calendar, the next one at Kranjska Gora and the last one at the Finals at Bormio in a month.

It has not been a easy win for Matt who had to fight hard during the entire day to celebrate the eleventh World Cup victory in his career and get the bonus of 60,000.- EUR given out to the winners here this weekend.

"The course conditions were extremely demanding, the course was icy and long and I had to ski at my best to have a chance to beat Ivica who received a huge support from his fans today," Matt said.

"After his second run, everybody was jumping up and down at the start because he took the lead so it was not easy to remain focused yet I must say that the spectators were very fair with everybody today," Matt added. "I know from my win at the World Championships at St Anton in 2001 what it means to compete at home in front of your friends and fans, so Ivica surely did a great job today."

"I definitely like this kind of atmosphere, I'm always very motivated at big events, I'm able to fully attack and move at my top level. To win this great race after the popular night slalom at Schladming is another major achievement for me, and I'm looking forward to come back here next season. The organizers surely did a fantastic job here and we all enjoyed to come here."

Mario who still has to win a Crystal globe, is not thinking too much about it now. "First I want to enjoy this moment and next week I am travelling to Canada where I'll compete in the giant slalom- Then I'll take a break to prepare the last slalom races from Kranjska Gora and Bormio."

"Last year, I lost the globe by only five points to Benni Raich so I know how tough the battle will be now. I surely aim to win the slalom standings once as well as an Olympic medal, but I don't get too excited about it for the moment," also said the 28-year-old Tyrolian who spends much time and money raising full-blooded Arabian horse at home. "I have twenty-three of them now, it's a wonderful leisure for me."

Ivica Kostelic was certainly as moved and happy as Mario Matt after the race. "One can't understand what it meant to me to compete here today in front of all those people, I'm very proud of my performance and also the great job done by the organisers who twice prepared a perfect course," the 2003 World Champion told the press after the race. "Many racers came to me to congratulate me about this event. It makes me really happy too. In fact, the course was fantastic, it allowed skiers with high numbers to clock fast times. One could almost not see the racing track after the first run."

"A kid's dream came through for me and my family today. I remember talking about this with my parents when I was a child and when we came training here. It seemed crazy but it finally happened."

"In other countries, it's possible to compete on so many slopes but here, it's the only one in the area. The entire country was excited having about those races. It has been for sure a highlight in my career. I felt so much emotion today and the entire week. Even though I could not beat Mario today, I feel like a true winner. It's not possible to compare this event to other big moments I lived in my career, this is very special to me. There is no other place like home to race."

"I'm having a great season so far, especially since last month," also said Ivica. "I was happy to fight hard for victory today despite the pressure even if this is not the right word to describe what I felt. It's for sure an exciting feeling. But for sure I was nervous!"

"I'm also very pleased with my slalom skiing right now, it has been improving since the season start with my new skis and I know for sure that I'm able to win again soon."

"It could have happened today without those small mistakes at the bottom of course where everybody was so tired. I hit that part perfectly this morning but I could not repeat that feat in the afternoon. But it's not so important right now."

Next week, Ivica will also compete at Whistler Mountain where he will try to score his first points in giant slalom after having excelled in all other specialties in January, even in downhill. He is also in the run for a podium finish in the slalom standings - with strong chances to succeed since he won both slalom races at Kranjska Gora and Bormio a few years ago.
 
P. Lang
Snow Queen Trophy news
19:20, 17.02.2008

Official final results of the race

1. MATT, Mario (AUT) 1:51.36
2. KOSTELIC, Ivica (CRO) 1:51.69
3. HERBST, Reinfried (AUT) 1:51.76
4. ROCCA, Giorgio (ITA) 1:52.08
5. DRAGSIC, Mitja (SLO) 1:52.21
6. BERTHOD, Marc (SUI) 1:52.24
7. SASAKI, Akira (JPN) 1:52.27
8. LIZEROUX, Julien (FRA) 1:52.35
9. NEUREUTHER, Felix (GER) 1:52.39
10. BROLENIUS, Johan (SWE) 1:52.44
11. VAJDIC, Bernard (SLO) 1:52.78
12. MISSILLIER, Steve (FRA) 1:52.81
13. MOELGG, Manfred (ITA) 1:52.87
14. THALER, Patrick (ITA) 1:52.97
15. YUASA, Naoki (JPN) 1:52.98
16. DEVILLE, Cristian (ITA) 1:53.00
17. VALENCIC, Mitja (SLO) 1:53.08
18. HOERL, Wolfgang (AUT) 1:53.11
19. COCHRAN, Jimmy (USA) 1:53.17
20. ALBRECHT, Kilian (BUL) 1:53.31
21. HANSSON, Martin (SWE) 1:53.34
22. HARGIN, Mattias (SWE) 1:53.38
23. MARSHALL, Cody (USA) 1:53.40
24. VILETTA, Sandro (SUI) 1:53.62
25. GINI, Marc (SUI) 1:53.65
26. RAICH, Benjamin (AUT) 1:56.14
27. JANSRUD, Kjetil (NOR) 2:02.50