SESTRIERE, Italy – Anja Paerson of Sweden positioned herself for the Olympic gold medal that has long eluded her by skiing the fastest time in the first of two slalom runs Wednesday.

Paerson’s gold-laden rival, Janica Kostelic of Croatia, was a surprisingly slow fifth.

Paerson set a pace that could not be matched as the first skier down the fog-shrouded course.

&#8220I have risked everything,” said Paerson, bronze medalist in the slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. &#8220It was difficult in the lower part. Visibility is bad, not dark, but you can’t see the contours of the snow.”

The 24-year-old Swede has four Olympic medals, two at these games, but none better than silver. Her first-leg time of 42.38 seconds put her .45 ahead of Nicole Hosp of Austria. Another Austrian, Michaela Kirchgasser, was in third, .59 seconds out.

&#8220She’s very far ahead,” said fourth-place finisher Tanja Poutiainen of Finland, &#8220but anything can happen in skiing.”

Paerson, cheered by supporters whose faces were painted in Swedish yellow and blue, had been a picture of grim-faced disappointment following her bronze medals in the downhill and combined. Then Paerson finished 12th in the super-G.

Kostelic was uncharacteristically sluggish at the start and found herself .69 seconds back. She has won gold and silver at the Turin Games to give her six medals, making her the most decorated female Alpine skier in Olympic history.

Entering the second slalom run seven skiers were within a second of Paerson. Laure Pequegnot of France, silver medalist four years ago, missed a gate near the end and didn’t finish the course. One of the favorites, Austrian Kathrin Zettel, also missed a gate and was disqualified.

Sarah Schlepper was the fastest American, in 14th place, 1.23 seconds slower than Paerson.

American Kristina Koznick, who was on crutches just four days ago and was skiing with a torn ACL in her right knee, carefully negotiated the turns and was 3.34 seconds back. Koznick then said she would not race the second leg, which was to be held under lights on the slippery slope at the edge of Sestriere.

Koznick had a pair of fourth-place finishes on this season’s World Cup circuit, but hurt her knee earlier this month.

It was her third Olympics, and the third to end in disappointment. She didn’t finish the slalom in 1998 and was 17th in the giant slalom in 2002.

&#8220It’s hard not to be a little disappointed because I know I’m one of the best in the world,” she said.

When Koznick finished, Paerson gave her a big hug.

&#8220The first thing that Anja said to me when I walked out is, ‘I’m so proud of you,”’ Koznick said. &#8220I know what I did is huge and I’ve never faced anything like this in my career. I could have just gone home and didn’t.”

Koznick said she will go home Thursday and have surgery Monday in Vail, Colo.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

Women

Sprint

PRAGELATO, Italy (AP) – Chandra Crawford upstaged two of her better-known countrywomen and pulled off an upset in the women’s 1.1km sprint Wednesday, skating across the finish for Canada’s first cross-country gold medal of the Turin Games.

Crawford, with tiny pigtails peeking out of her hat and a huge smile on her face, is hardly her country’s biggest star – previously staying out of the spotlight behind Beckie Scott and Sara Renner, silver medalists in the team sprint last Tuesday.

The 22-year-old Crawford edged silver medalist Claudia Kuenzel of Germany, while Russia’s Alena Sidko took the bronze. Scott was fourth in the four-skier final.

Kuenzel took the lead on the first climb and overtook Crawford, who quickly regained control.

Scott was fastest of the 66 skiers from the qualifying round.

World Cup leader Anna Dahlberg and Lina Andersson of Sweden were favorites but Dahlberg was done after the semis and Andersson didn’t make it out of the quarterfinals. Defending Olympic champion Julija Tchepalova of Russia, who won gold in the team relay Saturday, made an early exit in the quarterfinals.

American Kikkan Randall reached the semifinals with two great races in the qualifying round and quarterfinals.

Men

Sprint

PRAGELATO, Italy (AP) – Bjoern Lind of Sweden easily skied to an Olympic gold medal in the men’s 1.3km cross-country sprint race, taking advantage of rival Tor Arne Hetland’s fall in the semifinals.

Lind finished in 2 minutes, 26.5 seconds to beat silver medalist Roddy Darragon of France, who was six-tenths of a second behind. Lind’s countryman, Thobias Fredriksson, took the bronze.

Three Italians reached the semifinals in the men’s race, with Cristian Zorzi advancing to the four-skier final and placing fourth. He was the anchor of Italy’s winning 4x10km relay team Sunday.

Hetland missed a chance at Norway’s first gold of these games in cross-country when he tried to pass Lind on the right side during the semifinals and fell onto his left, then his bottom. He placed last in the heat.

American Andy Newell placed second in the 80-man field in morning qualifying and U.S. teammate Chris Cook also advanced to the quarterfinals. Newell placed fourth in his quarterfinal heat and didn’t move on – the top two from each quarterfinal advanced to the semifinals.

SNOWBOARDING

Men

Parallel Giant Slalom

BARDONECCHIA, Italy (AP) – The first family of snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom wrapped up a second consecutive Olympic gold medal before the final head-to-head duel had even begun.

It was only a matter of which Schoch would take the title this time, and defending Olympic champion Philipp Schoch pulled it out, defeating older brother Simon.

Simon Schoch, 27, has been the stronger racer this season, but slid wide on a gate in the first run against his 26-year-old brother, leaving him with a .88-second deficit he could not make up on the second and final run.

A strong, flag-waving Swiss contingent in the grandstand cheered the whole run, knowing their country couldn’t lose either way.

The brothers gave each other a long hug afterward, and stood with their arms around each other’s shoulders and posed for a special family photo. This was the first Olympic medal for Simon, who did not make the podium in 2002. Meanwhile, Philipp became the first ever two-time gold medal winner in Olympic snowboarding, now in its third Winter Games.

Austrian Siegfried Grabner took bronze easily after Frenchman Mathieu Bozzetto fell in the first run of their head-to-head battle for the final spot on the podium.

Tyler Jewell, the only American in the event, made the finals by finishing ninth in morning qualifying, but lost to Slovenian Dejan Kosir in the first round of heat races. Kosir went on to finish eighth.