World Championships Over For Kostelic

Kostelic missed the first three men`s races and left this French Alps resort last Saturday to return to Croatia for treatment.

Overall World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic will not return to the alpine skiing world championships and will miss the two remaining races because of a sore back, a Croatian Federation sposkesman said on Thursday.

Kostelic missed the first three men's races and left this French Alps resort last Saturday to return to Croatia for treatment. He had been hoping to come back for the last two events, the giant slalom on Friday and the slalom on Sunday.

The 29-year-old, a world slalom champion in 2003, had been planning to enter all five events in Val d'Isere but injured his back in a slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in the last World Cup event before the championships.

"Ivica prefers to concentrate on the World Cup, which is his main goal this season, and plans to be back for the races in Sestriere (Italy, on Feb. 21-22), the spokesman, Nenad Eror, said.