Petra Vlhová

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Petra Vlhová
Vlhová in January 2018
Personal information
Born (1995-06-13) 13 June 1995 (age 28)
Liptovský Mikuláš,
Slovakia
OccupationAlpine skier
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Skiing career
DisciplinesSlalom, giant slalom, super-G, downhill, combined
ClubVojenské športové centrum Dukla Banská Bystrica
World Cup debut29 December 2012 (age 17)
Websitepetravlhova.sk
Olympics
Teams3 – (2014, 2018, 2022)
Medals1 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams6 – (2013–23)
Medals6 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons12 – (2013–2024)
Wins31 – (22 SL, 6 GS, 1 PSL, 1 CE, 1 PGS)
Podiums73 – (46 SL, 19 GS, 3 PSL, 2 CE, 1 PGS, 1 AC, 1 SG)
Overall titles1 – (2021)
Discipline titles3 – (SL – 2020, 2022, PS – 2020)
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing  Slovakia
World Cup race podiums
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Slalom 22 15 9
Giant slalom 6 5 8
Super-G 0 1 0
Combined 0 0 1
Parallel 3 2 1
Total 31 23 19
International competitions
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 1 0 0
World Championships 1 4 1
Total 2 4 1
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Beijing Slalom
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 Åre Giant slalom
Silver medal – second place 2017 St. Moritz Team event
Silver medal – second place 2019 Åre Combined
Silver medal – second place 2021 Cortina d'Ampezzo Combined
Silver medal – second place 2021 Cortina d'Ampezzo Slalom
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Åre Slalom
Winter Youth Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2012 Innsbruck Slalom
Junior World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2014 Jasná Slalom
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Roccaraso Slalom

Petra Vlhová (born 13 June 1995) is a Slovak World Cup alpine ski racer who specialises in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom. Vlhová won the World Cup overall title in 2021 and the gold medal in the 2022 Winter Olympics in the slalom event, becoming the first Slovak skier to achieve these feats.

Career[edit]

Born in Liptovský Mikuláš, during childhood she attended training sessions at Podbreziny ski center in her native Litpovský Mikuláš. With an altitude of 700 meters and tracks with a combined length of 550 meters, the ski center entered disusage in the later 2000s and early 2010s. In 2022, Vlhová supported the restart of the center and the local youth training groups.[1]

Vlhová won a gold medal in 2012 Winter Youth Olympics and represented Slovakia in the 2014 Winter Olympics.[2] She also won gold in the slalom at the Junior World Championships in 2014 in Jasná, Slovakia.[3]

World Cup[edit]

She made her World Cup debut at age 17 in December 2012, and her first World Cup podium came three years later, a victory in slalom in December 2015 at Åre, Sweden.[4] On 17 January 2016, she qualified for the second run in giant slalom for the first time in her career in Flachau finishing 14th.[5]

2019 season[edit]

In December 2018, Vlhová scored the first World Cup giant slalom win for Slovakia in a race in Semmering, Austria – she was in fourth place after the first run but set the second fastest time on the second run for the victory: her previous best GS result had been seventh.[6] A few days later she won a parallel slalom at the foot of the Holmenkollbakken in Oslo, the sixth win of her career, setting a new record for the most World Cup wins by a Slovak alpine skier, eclipsing Veronika Velez-Zuzulová.[7]

In January 2019, having finished as runner-up to Mikaela Shiffrin in the first five classic slaloms of the World Cup season, Vlhová won the slalom in Flachau, setting the fastest time on the second run to take the win after placing third in the first run and taking the winner's €70,000 prize, the biggest women's prize purse of the World Cup season. The race was her fifth win in classic slalom, putting her one ahead of Velez-Zuzulová in terms of wins in the discipline.[8]

At the Alpine World Ski Championships in February 2019, Vlhová took a complete set of medals. She claimed the first individual medal for a Slovak skier – a silver in the combined – after being edged out by Wendy Holdener by three-hundredths of a second.[9] She then won the first gold medal for Slovakia in the giant slalom,[10] before taking the bronze in the slalom.[11]

Petra Vlhová in Stockholm, 2019

2020 season[edit]

Vlhová started the 2020 season with a 14th-place finish in giant slalom at Sölden. She reached her first podium in the season on Killington when she finished second in Slalom. On 15 December 2019, she won a Parallel slalom race in St. Moritz. In the last race of 2019, she finished second again in Lienz behind Mikaela Shiffrin. She started the new year with three victories in 4 races. First, she won the slalom in Zagreb on 4 January; 10 days later, she triumphed in the Flachau slalom, and then she took her only Giant slalom win of the season on 18 January, when she shared the spoils with Federica Brignone in Sestriere.

Vlhová started competing in the speed events in her bid to win the big crystal globe in the later part of the season. She claimed two 6th places in Bansko, one in the downhill and one in the super-G. She claimed two other top 10 results in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Her final win of the season came in slalom in Kranjska Gora on 16 February. She recorded a new personal best downhill with a 4th place in Crans Montana on 21 February. In the season's final race, she finished 4th in a super-G in La Thuile, which was her best result in the discipline up to that point.

The season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. Vlhová finished 3rd in the overall world cup standings, winning her first small crystal globes, one for slalom and one for parallel events.

2021 season[edit]

Vlhová had a strong start to the season with 3rd place in the opening giant slalom in Sölden. She followed that up with three victories in a row, having won two slaloms in two days in Levi and a parallel giant slalom in Lech/Zürs. In December, Vlhová finished 3rd in the first of two giant slaloms in Courchevel (France) but did not finish the other one two days later. In Val d'Isère, she finished 26th and 33rd in the two downhills before getting 6th place in the super-G a day later. Vlhová recorded three more victories in the season - slalom in Zagreb, giant slalom on her home track in Jasná, and slalom in Åre. She also recorded her first podium in a speed event when she finished 2nd in the super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on February 1.

She also won two silver medals at the World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, one in the alpine combined and one in slalom.

Vlhová secured her first overall title at the world cup finals in Lenzerheide, finishing 6th in slalom. She became the first Slovak skier to achieve this title.

2022 season[edit]

Vlhová parted ways with her Italian coach Livio Magoni shortly after the end of the 2021 season after a 5-year partnership.[12] She hired swiss coach Mauro Pini as replacement.[13]

Vlhová had a strong start to the season with 3rd place in the opening giant slalom in Sölden. She followed that up with two victories in a row, having won two slaloms in two days in Levi. She won three more slaloms in Lienz, Zagreb and Kranjska Gora and clinched the slalom crystal globe with a second place finish in Schladming, with two slaloms remaining.

She became the first Slovak alpine skier to win an Olympic medal by winning gold in slalom in Beijing.[14] She was in 8th place after the first round, 0.72 seconds behind Lena Dürr, but then produced the fastest run on the second leg to win gold by 0.08 seconds ahead of reigning world champion Katharina Liensberger.

After the Olympics, Vlhová mounted a challenge to defend her overall world cup title. She won the giant slalom in Åre to record her sixth win of the season. She finally lost the chance to win the big crystal globe after the final super-G race in Courchevel/Méribel, where Mikaela Shiffrin finished in 2nd position and clinched the title. Vlhová finished off the season with two podiums in slalom and giant slalom.

2023 season[edit]

Vlhová slalom skiing in Andora

Vlhová finished the season in third place overall.[15]

2024 season[edit]

Vlhová had a strong start to the season with 3rd place in the opening giant slalom in Sölden. She reached her first win of the season in slalom in Levi. It was her 20th career slalom victory.

World Cup results[edit]

Season titles[edit]

Season
Discipline
2020 Slalom
Parallel
2021 Overall
Parallel [1]
2022 Slalom
1 Unofficial

Season standings[edit]

Season
Age Overall Slalom Giant
slalom 		Super-G Downhill Combined Parallel
2013 17 91 42 — — — — —
2014 18 — — — — — —
2015 19 81 34 — — — —
2016 20 24 6 40 — — —
2017 21 10 5 11 — — —
2018 22 5 4 13 — — 7
2019 23 2 2 2 — — —
2020 24 3 1 2 14 16 — 1
2021 25 1 3 6 8 12 — 1
2022 26 2 1 4 40 37 —
2023 27 3 3 4 — 41 —
2024 28 2 2 5
Standings through 16 January 2024
Petra Vlhová in Hammarbybacken World Cup 2018
Vlhová in Hammarbybacken World Cup 2018
Petra Vlhová in Hammarbybacken World Cup 2018
Vlhová in Hammarbybacken World Cup 2018

Race victories[edit]

Total Slalom Giant slalom Downhill Super-G Combined Parallel
Wins 31 22 6 0 0 0 3
Podiums 73 46 19 0 1 1 6
Season
Date Location Discipline
2016 13 December 2015 Sweden Åre, Sweden Slalom
2017 18 March 2017 United States Aspen, USA Slalom
2018 11 November 2017 Finland Levi, Finland Slalom
28 January 2018  Switzerland  Lenzerheide, Switzerland Slalom
2019
5 victories
(3 GS, 1 SL, 1 CE) 		28 December 2018 Austria Semmering, Austria Giant slalom
1 January 2019 Norway  Oslo, Norway City event
8 January 2019 Austria Flachau, Austria Slalom
1 February 2019 Slovenia Maribor, Slovenia Giant slalom
8 March 2019 Czech Republic Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic Giant slalom
2020
5 victories
(3 SL, 1 GS, 1 PS) 		15 December 2019  Switzerland  St. Moritz, Switzerland Parallel slalom
4 January 2020 Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Slalom
14 January 2020 Austria Flachau, Austria Slalom
18 January 2020 Italy Sestriere, Italy Giant slalom
16 February 2020 Slovenia Kranjska Gora, Slovenia Slalom
2021
6 victories
(4 SL, 1 GS, 1 PG) 		21 November 2020 Finland Levi, Finland Slalom
22 November 2020 Slalom
26 November 2020 Austria Lech/Zürs, Austria Parallel-G
3 January 2021 Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Slalom
7 March 2021 Slovakia Jasná, Slovakia Giant slalom
12 March 2021 Sweden Åre, Sweden Slalom
2022
6 victories
(5 SL, 1 GS) 		20 November 2021 Finland Levi, Finland Slalom
21 November 2021 Slalom
29 December 2021 Austria Lienz, Austria Slalom
4 January 2022 Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Slalom
9 January 2022 Slovenia Kranjska Gora, Slovenia Slalom
11 March 2022 Sweden Åre, Sweden Giant slalom
2023
2 victories
(2 SL)		 10 January 2023 Austria Flachau, Austria Slalom
18 March 2023 Andorra Soldeu, Andorra Slalom
2024
3 victories
(3 SL) 		11 November 2023 Finland Levi, Finland Slalom
21 December 2023 France Courchevel, France Slalom
7 January 2024 Slovenia Kranjska Gora, Slovenia Slalom

Podiums[edit]

Season Podiums
Super G Giant slalom Slalom Parallel[1] Combined Total
1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Σ
2016 1 2 1 2 3
2017 1 1 1 1 1 1 3
2018 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 6
2019 3 1 1 5 2 1 1 5 6 3 14
2020 1 1 3 2 1 5 3 8
2021 1 1 2 4 1 1 6 2 2 10
2022 1 2 2 5 2 1 6 4 3 13
2023 1 2 2 1 3 2 2 5 9
2024 1 1 3 2 3 3 1 7
Total 0 1 0 6 5 8 22 15 9 3 2 1 0 0 1 31 23 19 73
1 19 46 6 1 73

1 Including both parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom. Two parallel events have been classified in the ski-db.com results as classic events (the City Event slalom on 30/01/18 and the City Event slalom on 01/01/19). They are shown here as parallel events.

World Championship results[edit]

Year
Age Slalom Giant
slalom 		Super-G Downhill Combined Parallel Team Event
2013 17 DNF1 — — — — — 9
2015 19 44 30 — — — —
2017 21 4 8 — — — 2
2019 23 3 1 — — 2 —
2021 25 2 12 9 — 2 DNF —
2023 27 5 7 — — — — —

Olympic results[edit]

Year
Age Slalom Giant
slalom 		Super-G Downhill Combined Team Event
2014 18 19 24 — — — —
2018 22 13 13 32 DNF 5 9
2022 26 1 14 — — — —

Recognition[edit]

In 2024, the president of Slovakia Zuzana Čaputová awarded Vlhová the Order of Ľudovít Štúr, 1st class.[16]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Zjazdovka, kde vyrastala Vlhová, opäť ožije. Do obnovy sa zapojil aj jej tím". sportnet.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Náš tím". Petravlhova.sk. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  3. ^ "Junior Worlds: Slalom gold for Slovakia's Petra Vlhova". Fédération Internationale de Ski. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  4. ^ FIS Results
  5. ^ AUDI FIS SKI WORLD CUP 2015/16, 6th LADIES' GIANT SLALOM
  6. ^ "Petra Vlhova wins Giant Slalom, makes history for Slovenia". japantimes.co.jp. 29 December 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Coupe du monde : Petra Vlhova domine Mikaela Shiffrin et le slalom parallèle d'Oslo" [World Cup: Petra Vlhova dominates Mikaela Shiffrin and Oslo's parallel slalom]. L'Équipe (in French). 1 January 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Vlhova denies Shiffrin 8th straight victory in World Cup slalom". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  9. ^ Sharland, Pete (8 February 2019). "Ladies' Combined: Wendy Holdener beats Petra Vlhova by 0.03s to take Combined gold". Eurosport. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  10. ^ "Petra Vlhova wins first-ever World Championships gold for Slovakia". International Ski Federation. 14 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  11. ^ "Mikaela Shiffrin makes history with fourth straight slalom gold". CNN. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  12. ^ "In wake of unflattering comments, Petra Vlhova and coach Livio Magoni split". skiracing.com. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  13. ^ "Ski champ Vlhova to reduce WCup schedule, focus on Olympics". APnews.com. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Slovakia's Petra Vlhova mounts massive comeback, wins slalom gold with Mikaela Shiffrin out". NBColympics.com. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  15. ^ "CUP STANDINGS WORLD CUP Season 2023 Women Overall". fis-ski.com. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  16. ^ Vančo, Martin. "Vlhová, Bagala či Bieliková. Prezidentka naposledy udeľovala štátne vyznamenania". domov.sme.sk (in Slovak).

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Petra_Vlhová&oldid=1214894129"