Croatia's Ivica Kostelic set the pace in the first leg of the men's slalom of the Alpine skiing world championships today but faced a challenge from a dangerous Austrian pair.
The slalom World Cup leader, eager to emulate younger sister Janica, the winner of two gold medals in the St Moritz festival, clocked the fastest time of 50.81 seconds with a flawless run down the Corviglia piste.
"It wasn't a perfect run," said a modest Kostelic. "The course setting was demanding and difficult. There's only one option now and that is to attack fully."
The second leg of the final race of the championships later in the day promised to be exciting with Austrians Benjamin Raich and Manfred Pranger both breathing down his neck.
Olympic bronze medallist Raich was second fastest 0.16 seconds back while Pranger was in third position, just 0.24 seconds off the pace.
"I had a good run," said Raich. "The gates were not too close one to the other and I like that. I hardly made any mistakes."
Bode Miller undermined his chances of winning his third gold medal of the championships but the American showman could not be ruled out after clocking the eighth fastest time, 0.90 seconds behind Kostelic.
Aggressive Italian skier Giorgio Rocca and seasoned Norwegian Hans-Petter Buraas, the 1998 Olympic champion, remained in contention with the fourth and fifth best times respectively, less than half a second slower.
"I'm not far behind and I still have good chances," warned Buraas. Finland's Kalle Palander, a former world champion and the winner of the last two World Cup slaloms, was two spots above Miller with the sixth fastest time and a handicap of 0.60 seconds.