Petra Vlhová
Vlhová in January 2018
Personal information
Born (1995-06-13) 13 June 1995
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)
Podiums72 – (45 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 14 9
Giant slalom 6 5 8
Super-G 0 1 0
Combined 0 0 1
Parallel 3 2 1
Total 31 22 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 place2022 BeijingSlalom
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2019 ÅreGiant slalom
Silver medal – second place2017 St. MoritzTeam event
Silver medal – second place2019 ÅreCombined
Silver medal – second place2021 Cortina d'AmpezzoCombined
Silver medal – second place2021 Cortina d'AmpezzoSlalom
Bronze medal – third place2019 ÅreSlalom
Winter Youth Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2012 Innsbruck Slalom
Junior World Championships
Gold medal – first place2014 JasnáSlalom
Bronze medal – third place2012 RoccarasoSlalom

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


2024 season

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


World Cup results

Season titles

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

Season standings

Season
Age Overall Slalom Giant
slalom		 Super-G Downhill Combined Parallel
2013179142—————
201418——————
2015198134————
20162024640———
20172110511———
2018225413——7
201923222———
2020243121416—1
202125136812—1
2022262144037—
202327334—41—
202428225
Standings through 7 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

Total Slalom Giant slalom Downhill Super-G Combined Parallel
Wins312260003
Podiums7245190116
Season
Date Location Discipline
201613 December 2015Sweden Åre, SwedenSlalom
201718 March 2017United States Aspen, USASlalom
201811 November 2017Finland Levi, FinlandSlalom
28 January 2018 Switzerland  Lenzerheide, SwitzerlandSlalom
2019
5 victories
(3 GS, 1 SL, 1 CE)		 28 December 2018Austria Semmering, AustriaGiant slalom
1 January 2019Norway  Oslo, NorwayCity event
8 January 2019Austria Flachau, AustriaSlalom
1 February 2019Slovenia Maribor, SloveniaGiant slalom
8 March 2019Czech Republic Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech RepublicGiant slalom
2020
5 victories
(3 SL, 1 GS, 1 PS)		 15 December 2019 Switzerland  St. Moritz, SwitzerlandParallel slalom
4 January 2020Croatia Zagreb, CroatiaSlalom
14 January 2020Austria Flachau, AustriaSlalom
18 January 2020Italy Sestriere, ItalyGiant slalom
16 February 2020Slovenia Kranjska Gora, SloveniaSlalom
2021
6 victories
(4 SL, 1 GS, 1 PG)		 21 November 2020Finland Levi, FinlandSlalom
22 November 2020Slalom
26 November 2020Austria Lech/Zürs, AustriaParallel-G
3 January 2021Croatia Zagreb, CroatiaSlalom
7 March 2021Slovakia Jasná, SlovakiaGiant slalom
12 March 2021Sweden Åre, SwedenSlalom
2022
6 victories
(5 SL, 1 GS)		 20 November 2021Finland Levi, FinlandSlalom
21 November 2021Slalom
29 December 2021Austria Lienz, AustriaSlalom
4 January 2022Croatia Zagreb, CroatiaSlalom
9 January 2022Slovenia Kranjska Gora, SloveniaSlalom
11 March 2022Sweden Åre, SwedenGiant slalom
2023
2 victories
(2 SL)		10 January 2023Austria Flachau, AustriaSlalom
18 March 2023Andorra Soldeu, AndorraSlalom
2024
3 victories
(3 SL)		 11 November 2023Finland Levi, FinlandSlalom
21 December 2023France Courchevel, FranceSlalom
7 January 2024Slovenia Kranjska Gora, SloveniaSlalom

Podiums

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
201612123
20171111113
2018211112226
2019311521156314
202011321538
202111241162210
202212252164313
2023122132259
202411313216
Total 0106582214932100131221972
119456172

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

Year
Age Slalom Giant
slalom		 Super-G Downhill Combined Parallel Team Event
201317DNF1—————9
2015194430————
20172148———2
20192331——2—
2021252129—2DNF—
2023275 7—————

Olympic results

Year
Age Slalom Giant
slalom		 Super-G Downhill Combined Team Event
2014181924————
201822131332DNF59
202226114————

Recognition

In 2024, the president of Slovakia Zuzana Čaputová awarded Vlhová the Order of Ľudovít Štúr, 1st class.[15]

See also

References

  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. ↑ Vančo, Martin. "Vlhová, Bagala či Bieliková. Prezidentka naposledy udeľovala štátne vyznamenania". domov.sme.sk (in Slovak).
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