“Petra decided not to start in combination due to worsening ankle tendonitis. This inflammation has affected her training in recent weeks,” said coach Mauro Pini, whose charge has been bothering her ankle since November, in a press release of the Slovak Olympic Committee.
“Petra did not want this situation to worsen at the Olympics, because we still have important goals ahead of us. She will return to Slovakia, where she is undergoing treatment. She plans to spend a few days at home to share Olympic emotions with her loved ones and to gained the energy needed for the challenging end of the World Cup, “added Swiss Pini.
Vlhova failed in the opening giant slalom in Yenching, in which she finished 14th. But she made up for everything in the slalom, where after eighth place in the first round she achieved a great second run on her dream gold.
In the season, the 26-year-old Slovak has already won a small globe for the slalom evaluation and can still fight for the defense of the large globe for the overall evaluation of last year’s World Cup.
In the standings, Vlhová is second with a loss of only 17 points behind the American rival Mikaela Shiffrin, who did not finish any of the Olympic slaloms. The third overall Italian Sofia Goggio, who hopes for an Olympic start in the downhill after a knee injury, is already 240 points behind the Slovak skier.
