Slovene Rankings in Alpine Skiing

March 1999

Short historical review

If we take a look back at the history of the World Championships and Olympic games, in which Slovenian skiers achieved some remarkable results, we have to start with the World championship in Innsbruck, 1933.

That year was manifested by the addition of Slovenian skiers to the list of the worlds skiing elite: Praček, Čarman and Kotnik. Only three years later, the first Slovene ranking in the top 15, at the Olympic games in Ga - Pa (Praček, combination, 15^th place). Many of his good results over the next few years in the World Championships made Praček the most successful Slovene skier before World War Two. His greatest achievement was when he came in 7^th in the slalom, in the world championship in Zakopani, 1939.

The Second World War brought to an end the first era of Slovene skiing, and alpine skiing in the rest of the world. Male skiers were at the forefront of Slovene skiing before the outbreak of the Second World War, whereas female representatives were no where in sight. Yet it was not long before the women started to emerge and take their rightful place at the peak of world skiing. A new era started 9 years later, when the Olympic Games were held in St. Moritz (1948). This several-year break did not lessen the number of successes that were attained, Slovene skiers continually moved up in the rankings and had great success in the World Championships and Olympic Games. At the Olympic Games in Cortina, 1956, the first Slovene female skier managed to enter the worlds skiing elite. That year Zupaneie competed in all disciplines, and managed to finish between 18^th and 32^nd in all of them. Zupaneie, therefore, was the first female Slovene alpine skier to make her mark in the world of this male dominated sport.

The golden period of Slovene alpine skiing started in the 80's: 4th place for Bojan Križaj and 8^th place for Boris Strel in the giant slalom at the Olympic games in Lake Placid (1980), 2^nd place for Bojan Križaj in the slalom, 3^rd for Strel in the giant slalom at the World Championships in Schladming (1982), Jure Franko was runner-up in the giant slalom at the Olympic Games in Sarajevo (1984) - these are just some of our achievements in the world of skiing. We must not forget Rok Petrovie winning the Crystal Globe in 1986, and Bojan Križaj being named the best slalomist in 1987. The best female achievement to date was by Mateja Svet, who won the world championship in Vail (1989), and was also world champion in the joint slalom rankings a year earlier.

Text by: Ljubica Rodošek, Flaneur, 1994

Some outstanding results in the last years

1993/94

Slovenian skiers had never sparkled so brightly as in the 1993/94 season, when they captured five medals (three bronze at the Olympics and two in the World Championships), and gained four victories in the prestigious World Cup. The great slalomist Jure Košir won in the World Cup in December at Madona di Campiglio and rounded off a brilliant season with a bronze medal in the slalom event in Vail. Urška Hrovat also brought home a medal and gained her first World Cup victory on home snow at the Zlata lisica event in Maribor. Sensational results of that season were the giant slalom victories of Katja Koren in Flachau and Alenka Dovžan in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

1994/95

Four Medals for Slovene Alpine Skiers In mid-March the Alpine skiing World Cup finals for the 1994/95 season were held in the Italian resort of Bormio. In women's giant slalom Slovenia's Špela Pretnar finally scored her first World Cup victory, with team-mate Urška Hrovat joining her on the podium in third place. Pretnar also finished third in special giant slalom standing. Slovenia's top male skier Jure Košir despite the bad luck on the second leg of final slalom event hung on to third place in both the slalom standing and the overall World Cup competition.

1995/96

Urška Horvat , bronze medal in slalom at World-Championship competition in Alpine Skiing
World Cup competition: slalom: 2. Urška Hrovat
World Cup competition: slalom: 5. Jure Košir, 6. Andrej Miklavc

1998/99

Of all the recent winter sports seasons, the one just past (1998/99) has been the most successful for Slovenian Alpine skiing. After a single victory in the World Cup in the early part of the season (Urška Hrovat in the slalom at Crans Montana, while Jure Košir came fifth in the giant slalom at the Nagano Olympics), four victories were to follow, with Jure Košir also finishing second in the overall World Cup slalom standings. Košir had two wins (in the slaloms at Kranjska Gora and Kitzbühl), and the women also won twice in this discipline (Urška Hrovat in Park City and Špela Pretnar in Are).

Slovenian Alpine skiers now have a tally of 37 individual World Cup wins (19 for the men and 18 for the women). Bojan Križaj still heads the pack with 8 individual victories.