VIDEO A weekend that brightened the whole of Slovakia: Vlhová conquered Levi and grabbed 200 points! – Športky.sk

LEVI – If we were looking for the most successful center in Petra Vlhová’s career, we would find it 170 kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle. The Finnish Levi is quite a gloomy place, where fog and darkness dominate most of the time. Before the weekend World Cup event, the Slovak star joked that if she had to go on holiday, she would certainly not go to the sun-poor Lapland.

But she is very happy to visit the race.

Since 2013, a nice rule applies that the winners of the slalom in Levi receive a reindeer cub. Vlhová has three four-legged beauties from the deer family at home – Igor, Louise and Peta.

She achieved her premiere triumph at the northernmost SP resort in 2017, her third winning slalom in her career after successes in Aare and Aspen.

Two years later, she had to overcome an unfortunate drop in the second round, but the following season she took home the full 200 points and laid a solid foundation for the later gain of a large crystal globe.

Let’s remember her two big wins from last season!

A sweet triumph at Shiffrin’s return

Prior to the first slalom, which took place on Saturday, November 21, 2020, the long-awaited return of Mikaela Shiffrin was a central theme in the media and among fans.

The phenomenal American appeared on the snowy hills after a long 300 days and perceived competitive skiing as a therapy rather than just an uncompromising chase for the results.

“I don’t have high expectations, but I want to do my best. I’m glad I can compete again and I know I can get a good result because I did well in training.” said the three-time overall champion before the sharp start in Levi.

“Honestly, I’m not dealing with this in terms of ambition. Whether she comes or not, my goals are always the highest,” Vlhová responded, who was encouraged by a good result from the opening huge slalom in Sölden, where she finally enjoyed the podium position after the unsuccessful first round.

VIDEO Petra Vlhová’s victory in the first slalom in Levi

Behind the Arctic Circle, she began a sharp sharpening. Liptáček led after the first round, in which she developed a lead of 15 hundredths of a second over her long-term rival.

She thus went into battle in the second round as the last. The Slovak woman wanted to take advantage of the fact that her track was built by her Italian coach Livio Magoni and she took advantage of the slight technical, but especially psychological, advantage.

Vlhová dominated in all intermediate times and crowned her fantastic start to the slalom season with the best time in the second race. Silver Shiffrin was 18 hundredths of a second behind, and the Austrian Katharina Liensberger was on the podium with a shortfall of more than half a second.

“It wasn’t easy, part of the track was already destroyed and it was snowing at the start, but I went full speed. The victory in the first slalom of the season is always great,” the star from the Tatras rejoiced at the finish line in the immediate reaction of the local announcer.

After Saturday’s victory in the most spinning discipline, the world champion in the huge slalom from Aare 2019 took the lead in the overall ranking of the World Championships.

Hetrik and slalom ten

We didn’t have to wait a few weeks for the next slalom, the only quality sleep was enough, a hearty Sunday breakfast and a shed, a shovel in front of the TV screens.

However, the girls in overalls and with a helmet on were not so easy. After a busy Saturday, they had to regenerate well, clear their heads and prepare for their second performance at the Lapland resort.

The opening round already offered a dramatic plot. Vlhová settled at the head, but she was not alone, the company was done by the Swiss Michelle Gisinová, who had a lifelong slalom result within reach after a wonderful ride.

The star from the Alps was also in third place, Wendy Holdener lost 23 hundredths. Shiffrin was only fourth, but with a slight loss of 37 hundredths.

The advantage of both Gisin and Holdener could be that the goals of the second round were set by the Swiss coach Klaus Mayrhofer. The latter, like the famous American, did not smell too good and both ladies ended up off the podium.

VIDEO Petra Vlhová’s victory in the second slalom in Levi

On the contrary, Liensberger gave a brilliant performance, excelled especially in the steep passage and reworked into the leading position, which meant the certainty of further podium.

As the penultimate, a Slovak skier set off on the track in the dark and unpleasant fog and delighted hundreds of thousands of fans thousands of kilometers away with another great performance. Vlhová entered the gates dynamically and aggressively, caught an excellent rhythm and it was no surprise when a half-second lead over the sympathetic Austrian shone on her.

At the finish, she shouted with joy: “It’s there!”

Slovakia cheered again, but it was too early to “open champagne”. The defense of Saturday’s triumph hung in the balance, but against was Michelle Gisin, who was still at the start.

The friend of the Italian skier Luca De Aliprandini did not throw a shotgun into the rye, she shone more than a solid ride, but she was not entitled to the time of a twenty-five-year-old Slovak.

Vlhová won the tenth slalom and a total of sixteenth victories in the World Cup races, thus equaling two great personalities of downhill skiing – Petra Kronberger of Austria and Deborah Compagnioni of Italy.

“It was really hard. I felt under pressure, I wanted to confirm Saturday’s victory. I succeeded. I’m happy to be able to do my best, all my energy. Winning twice in Levi is something amazing.” said Vlh’s first words in an interview with Eurosport.

Perfect weekend! Vlhová won three of the quartet of slalom rounds that left in Levi on a dry Saturday and Sunday.

The best Slovak sportswoman of the last two years started the year 2020/2021 on a unit with an asterisk and sent the ski world the first loud shout about who is the biggest aspirant to win a big globe.

With the exception of the January crisis, she proved that she did not just keep blowing in the wind.

Petra Vlhová was confident, convincing and especially the most consistent of the whole circle of favorites. In the rope edition of the World Championships, she was the only skier to race all 31 races, won six times, climbed the podium ten times and placed 21 times in the top 10.

On Sunday, March 21, 2021, exactly four months after the first victory in Levi, she was deservedly crowned the overall winner of the World Cup. As the first Slovak.

Another reindeer in the collection?

Year after year has come together and the slalom super weekend in Levi, Finland is here again.

Just like last year, this year Vlhová started third place on the Rettenbach glacier in Sölden, and she would certainly not mind if she managed to repeat the winning double in the land of thousands of lakes.

“I have high ambitions and I would like to attack the highest places. I want to do my best and if it works out, I will be very satisfied.” stated before the prestigious event in Lapland.

Mauro Pini’s protégé sacrificed last week’s parallel giant slalom and decided not to defend last year’s success in Lech.

She arrived in Levi on the last day of October and on the most successful slope in her career so far, she was working hard to start the slalom carousel. “It helped me that we’ve been here for almost three weeks, I feel very good in slalom,” the six-time medalist from the World Championships was satisfied.

He already has three reindeer, will another be added after the weekend Finnish adventure?

The race starts on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30, the second round is on the program three hours later.

• The author: © List / Patrik Seman
• VIDEO: Twitter / FIS Alpine; Facebook / Petra Vlhova
• Source: Sportswear