ST. MORITZ, Switzerland, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Croatian Janica Kostelic finally won in the World Championships by narrowly beating Nicole Hosp on Monday to earn the gold medal in the women's combined.
Kostelic, the triple Olympic champion, had a time of 2 minutes, 41.63 seconds to edge the promising Austrian with Switzerland's Marlies Oster placing third.
Hosp went into the final slalom with a slim advantage, but Kostelic overcame a right knee injury to finish the second slalom run in 41.30.
Needing painkillers after the downhill run, Kostelic leaned over to clutch her knee after her second slalom.
"It's very important because I wanted a world championships medal at some point in my career," Kostelic said. "It's not as easy as everyone thought because I still have a lot of pain in my knee and I didn't ski very well in the downhill. I had to do everything in the slalom."
Kostelic does not believe the injury is going to end her participation at the worlds.
Julia Mancuso was the top American, placing seventh with a time of 2:45.30.
