Bormio,10:27 AM EST  Sunday, Feb 6, 2005, Italy — Janica Kostelic of Croatia, only a year removed from surgery to excise her thyroid gland, captured her second world championship crown in a week, taking her first ever downhill victory Sunday, flashing down the Deborah Compagnoni course in 1 minutes 39.90 seconds to beat World Cup rookie and local favorite, Elena Fanchini.

Italy's Fanchini crossed the finish line with a time of 1 :40.16, just a tenth of a second ahead of 36-year-old Austrian veteran Renate Goetschl. Goetschl.

Kostelic's return to the top has been the highlight of the world championships, being held on the courses where th Turin Olympics will be held on a year. She was the the winner of the world championship combined event held earlier this week.

The days of clear skies and enthusiastically chersing fans also saw a career best world championship result in downhill forCanadian Emily Brydon, who came down the 2.9-km course in 11th spot. Kelly Vanderbeek was 23rd.

The Canadians approached the day with optimism, hoping to follow Mйlanie Turgeon's footsteps — the 2003 downhill World Champion from St.

Moritz. Turgeon, who missed the entire 2003-2004 season due to herniated discs in her back and was unable to defend her title because of a recurrence. Turgeon hopes to return for theOlympic year.

Brydon, 24, an experienced skier from Fernie, B.C., had a time of 1:41.59.

"This 11th place is definitively disapointing," said Brydon, who had been 13th in the combined event.

"I was feeling 100% this morning and I gave it all today. But I just made too many mistakes for it to be a winning run. I want to be a winner and this is certainly not the kind of result that is satisfying to me."

Despite her disapointment, it's Brydon's best result in a world championship downhill, ahead of her 18th place finish in 2003 in St. Moritz.

"Today was a confidence race and when I look at Kostelic, you can see that she is on a roll. Once you start to win, it's easier to keep it going,"

Vanderbeek of the Kitchener, Ont.Chicopee ski club had a time of 1 :43.23, more than three second behind the leader.

"The snow was hard and I thought I could really focus on cutting my line, but I think I focussed a little too much on my line and forgot to just let it go," said Vanderbeek.

Vanderbeek is heading to Canada for a week before returning to Europe to conclude the 2004-2005 World Cup season. As for Brydon, she will be heading to Slovenia to race in two Europa Cup slaloms in preparation for the World Championship slalom race held on February 11.

The race action at the world championships resumes tomorrow with the women's giant slalom held in Santa Caterina.

Canadians Geneviиve Simard, Allison Forsyth, Gail Kelly, and Brigitte Acton could present threats to Swede Anja Paerson, 2003 defending champion. Simard and Forsyth claimed silver and bronze behind Slovenia's Tina Maze in the World Cup giant slalom race held in January on the same slope.

By James Christie
Globe and Mail Update