Petra Vlhová
Petra Vlhová
Disciplines: Slalom, Giant slalom, Super-G, Downhill, Combined
Club: Vojenské športové centrum Dukla Banská Bystrica
Born/Date of Birth: 13 June 1995
Place of Birth: Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia
Nationality: Slovak
Height: 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
World Cup debut: 29 December 2012 (age 17)
Parents: Igor Vlha, Zuzana Vlhová
Siblings: Boris Vlha
Website: petravlhova.sk
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. She is the current world champion in giant slalom.
Background and early years
Born in Liptovský Mikuláš, Vlhová won a gold medal in 2012 Winter Youth Olympics and represented Slovakia in the 2014 Winter Olympics. She also won gold in the slalom at the Junior World Championships in 2014 in Jasná, Slovakia.
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. On 17 January 2016, for the first time she entered second run in giant slalom in Flachau and finished 14th.
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. 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.
In January 2019, having finished as runner-up to Mikaela Shiffrin in the first five classic slaloms of the World Cup season, Vlhová defeated Shiffrin in a 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.
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. She then won the first gold medal for Slovakia in the giant slalom, before taking the bronze in the slalom.
2020 season
Vlhová started the 2020 season with a 14th place finish in giant slalom at Sölden. She reached her first podium in season on Killington, when she finished second in Slalom. On December 15, 2019 she won a Parallel slalom race in St. Moritz. In the last race of year 2019, she finished second again in Lienz, when she lost with her big rival from USA, Mikaela Shiffrin.
