Janica Kostelić
Janica Kostelić | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Janica Kostelić in Maribor 2001 |
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nation | Croatia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
birthday | 5th January 1982 (age 38) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
place of birth | Zagreb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
size | 175 cm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 76 kg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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discipline |
Downhill , Super-G , giant slalom , slalom , combination |
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society | SK Zagreb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
status | resigned | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
End of career | April 19, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal table | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Placements in the Alpine Ski World Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Janica Kostelić [ ˈjanitsa ˈkɔstɛlitɕ ] (born January 5, 1982 in Zagreb ) is a former Croatian ski racer . She won the overall World Cup three times , five world championship titles and, with four gold and two silver medals, is the most successful female alpine skier in Olympic history . In addition, she was one of only seven runners to achieve World Cup victories in all disciplines . Her brother Ivica Kostelić is also a former successful ski racer. Both were trained by their father, Ante .
biography
Kostelić is the first Croatian female athlete to ever win medals at the Winter Olympics. At the same time, she is the only female ski racer to date to have won four gold medals at the Olympic Games. She achieved her first victory in an important international race in 1997 at the Trofeo Topolino . Physical setbacks followed. In the 2000/01 season she had a bad crash in downhill training in St. Moritz , so that a continuation of her career had to be doubted. After being incapacitated for much of 2001 with a knee injury, she made her comeback in the 2001/02 season . At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Kostelić won three gold medals in giant slalom , slalom and combined as well as a silver medal in super-G , with that combined on February 21 in chronological order being the first ever winter medal for Croatia . At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , she was able to continue her successful career with a gold medal in the combination and another silver medal in the Super-G; in the downhill as well as in the giant slalom she did not start.
At the 2003 World Championships in St. Moritz , she won the combined world championship for the first time, and a gold medal in slalom followed a few days later. At the beginning of 2004 Kostelić had to withdraw temporarily from the sport due to another knee injury, but got back into the World Cup the following winter. At the 2005 World Championships in Bormio she was again world champion in combination and slalom and also won the World Cup downhill for the first time. She had to skip the giant slalom and Super-G because of a bad cold, which made her world champion in Bormio in every discipline in which she started.
Janica Kostelić was able to win 30 world cup races, including 20 slaloms, two giant slaloms, one downhill, one super G, two super combinations and four combination scores. Along with Petra Kronberger , Pernilla Wiberg , Anja Pärson , Lindsey Vonn , Tina Maze and Mikaela Shiffrin, she is one of the seven ski racers who were able to win in all disciplines of the Ski World Cup. In 2001, 2003 and 2006 she won the overall World Cup , as well as the discipline World Cups in slalom and in combination. In 2005, after a dramatic final, she was only three points behind Anja Pärson, second in the overall World Cup.
Kostelić was able to win all disciplines within one season in the 2005/06 season. Before that, only Petra Kronberger had succeeded in the 1990/91 season. In addition, she won the overall World Cup and the Slalom World Cup for the third time. In total, she reached World Cup points in 1970, which has only been exceeded in the women's category by Lindsey Vonn in the 2011/12 season , Tina Maze 2012/13 and Mikaela Shiffrin 2018/19.
Janica Kostelić and Maria Höfl-Riesch are so far the only skiers who have been able to defend their Olympic gold medal in the alpine combination. Since the Turin Winter Games in 2006, Kostelić has also been the most successful alpine ski racer at the Olympic Games.
Janica Kostelić is very popular in her homeland. Her successes are unique for Croatian skiing. The TV broadcaster Eurosport named her World Sportswoman of the Year 2005. She also received the Laureus World Sports Award for the best female athlete of 2006. She was voted Croatia's Sportswoman of the Year eight times, in 2001 she was awarded the Skieur d'Or by the International Association of Ski Journalists (AIJS) and in 2002 she was elected Europe's Sportswoman of the Year by the Association of European Sports Journalists .
Due to the success of Janica and Ivica Kostelić , skiing in Croatia gained more attention. The Slalom World Cup in Zagreb , the so-called Snow Queen Trophy , was also included in the FIS World Cup calendar .
Her father Ante Kostelić , who was also her trainer, used to be a well-known handball player . Her older brother Ivica is also a ski racer and was slalom world champion in 2003 and the first Croatian overall World Cup winner in the 2010/11 season .
On April 19, 2007, Janica Kostelić announced her retirement from alpine skiing at the age of only 25. After that she was often to be found in the men's World Cup to support her brother in the finish area. As a trademark she always wears ski goggles and colorful hats in the audience .
successes
Olympic games
- Nagano 1998 : 8th combination, 24th giant slalom, 25th downhill, 26th super-G
- Salt Lake City 2002 : 1st slalom, 1st giant slalom, 1st combination, 2nd Super-G
- Turin 2006 : 1st combination, 2nd Super-G, 4th slalom
World championships
- Vail 1999 : 7th combination, 22nd Super-G, 23rd slalom, 29th downhill
- St. Anton am Arlberg 2001 : 5th slalom, 13th Super-G
- St. Moritz 2003 : 1st slalom, 1st combination, 13th giant slalom, 19th Super-G
- Bormio 2005 : 1st descent, 1st slalom, 1st combination
World Cup ratings
Kostelić has won the overall World Cup three times (2001, 2003, 2006). There are also seven victories in discipline ratings (slalom: 2001, 2003, 2006, combination: 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006).
season | total | Departure | Super G | Giant slalom | slalom | combination | ||||||||
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space | Points | space | Points | space | Points | space | Points | space | Points | space | Points | |||
1998/99 | 11. | 667 | 49. | 3 | 26th | 65 | 10. | 243 | 11. | 206 | 2. | 150 | ||
1999/00 | 22nd | 420 | 39. | 36 | 28. | 56 | 28. | 78 | 10. | 250 | - | - | ||
2000/01 | 1. | 1256 | 50. | 4th | 18th | 124 | 9. | 204 | 1. | 824 | 1. | 100 | ||
2001/02 | 14th | 506 | 41. | 15th | 19th | 72 | 25th | 87 | 11. | 252 | 4th | 80 | ||
2002/03 | 1. | 1570 | 11. | 136 | 7th | 281 | 3. | 343 | 1. | 710 | 1. | 100 | ||
2003/04 | No results due to injury | |||||||||||||
2004/05 | 2. | 1356 | 4th | 387 | 7th | 257 | 11. | 212 | 2. | 400 | 1. | 100 | ||
2005/06 | 1. | 1970 | 4th | 300 | 5. | 266 | 3. | 464 | 1. | 740 | 1. | 200 | ||
2006/07 | paused |
World Cup victories
Kostelić has won a total of 30 world cup races (1 × downhill, 1 × super-G, 2 × giant slalom, 20 × slalom, 4 × combination, 2 × super-combination) and a total of 55 podium places (30 × first, 16 × second, 9 × Third) achieved. She achieved eight slalom race victories in a row - and she has placed 89 times in the top ten and 126 times in the points (top 30).
Departure
Super G
Giant slalom
combination
Super combination
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slalom
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Junior World Championships
- Megève 1998 : 2nd combination, 3rd Super-G, 6th downhill, 7th giant slalom, 12th slalom
More Achievements
- 9 victories in FIS races (4 × slalom, 2 × giant slalom, 2 × Super-G, 1 × downhill)
- 1 win in the Nor-Am Cup (Slalom in Winter Park 2002)
Awards
- Croatia's Sportswoman of the Year 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006
- Skieur d'Or 2001
- Europe's sportswoman of the year 2002
- World Sportswoman of the Year ( Eurosport ) 2005
- Laureus World Sports Awards - World Sportswoman of the Year 2006
Web links
- Janica Kostelić's website (English, Croatian)
- Janica Kostelić in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
- Janica Kostelić in the database of Ski-DB (English)
- Janica Kostelić in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Kostelić, Janica |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Croatian ski racer |
DATE OF BIRTH | 5th January 1982 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Zagreb |