Slovak skier Petra Vlhová during a press briefing Source: SITA/Milan Illík
BRATISLAVA – Nine arches, a mistake and a hard fall, which was followed by the worst injury in his career.
Nine months have passed since the moment from Jasná, and Petra Vlhová appeared in front of journalists for the first time. She came to Bratislava in a good mood, she tries not to think about the worst moment of her sports career so far.
VIDEO Petra Vlhová wants to return in December: It’s a difficult journey
She says she got over it. She has no problem watching the video of the terrifying fall on her home slope, she saw it for the first time in a helicopter above Jasna. She wanted to see what actually happened and where the “worst” happened.
It seems that he has the whole situation sorted out in his head and is not afraid to speak openly about the events of January 20. She was surprised how quickly she was able to accept reality and come to terms with what could no longer be changed.
The word she uttered perhaps the most during the nearly two-hour conversation with the journalists present was “demanding”. Returning to the slopes took a toll on her both physically and mentally.
“There are days when I have different thoughts. In short, it’s a long time. I have moments when I cry because I can’t do it. On the other hand, I still try to be positive,” she said.
Currently, he has only one goal – to return to skiing.
As she said herself, she will start the World Cup when she is really ready. And yet it is not. She lacks fitness and, most importantly, the operated knee is not yet used to a huge load.
“The only thing I need now is time. I don’t know those feelings and I’m learning myself how to react to that knee. The biggest paradox is that the problem is mainly slalom.” stated Vlhová.
In addition, he perceives the disproportion between the right and left leg as one of the main problems. Simply put, she is missing the muscles around her knee. It will try to make up the deficit in the next six weeks. He will train at home in Liptovský Mikuláš.
We could see her on the competitive slopes in December, on the popular slope in Semmering. Assuming, of course, that everything goes according to plan. This date is for the most part only indicative and it is useless to fixate on it at this time. “I don’t even look ahead a week,” Liptáčka added.
The new season starts already this weekend, the overture in Sölden will be without Vlhová after many years. Watching skiing has become a kind of tradition for Slovaks. They turned on the TV and kept their fingers crossed for “our Peta”. The same program now awaits the Olympic champion.
“I’ll be watching it from the couch with a cup of tea in my hand and I’ll be comfortable,” said Vlhová with a laugh. He is looking forward to the stress of the opening race in Austria fading away.
“Only now do I understand how people told me in the past that they look forward to the weekend all week, when they will be able to watch the races. I also look forward to Saturday, when I get up, turn on the TV and watch.” added the fan with joy.
Even the world champion is interested in how the competition was prepared, who will be fast and which of the girls will stand on the box. In addition, she admitted that if she competed in the first race, her rivals would literally destroy her.
It is quite distant from the form that adorned it before the fall in Jasná. She herself cannot estimate how many percent or even seconds she is missing from the top. It does not have any sample from the preparation phase so far. If we do not take into account her team, Vlhová has trained alone so far. According to her, female racers would be bored with her, because she only drove easy tracks.
“It’s hard to say, but if I had started in Sölden, I would have ‘failed’ for a few seconds,” she added with a smile.
Vlhová is known for the fact that she gave everything to every ride, went all out. She also confirmed this in the 2nd round of the Olympic slalom, when she came from the back positions thanks to her aggressive driving to the gold. She had not had a similar injury and did not know how her head would cope with it.
From the first day on the snow, he doesn’t think about “what if”. “I try to train without fear. It’s important that my knee limits me and not my head. And that happens sometimes. It’s perfectly okay to say that I’m not okay and the training is over,” continued Vlhová.
Such a scenario also occurred in Argentina, where she completed the training. She wanted to train both skiing and strength. She quickly found out that it wouldn’t work and because of the snow conditions she often filed the first one. Also because of this, she lost the necessary condition, muscle mass and, as she said herself, “shrunk”.
She also received advice from Shiffrin
She also met rival Mikaela Shiffrin on the slopes in South America. They lived together in the same place and often talked to each other. Vlhová said that she spent the most time with her in her entire career. She even received some advice from the American woman on how to deal with a similar injury.
The meeting with the record holder in the number of triumphs in the World Cup made her happy, during the season they don’t have so much time “for themselves” and their busy schedule does not allow them to have long conversations. Vlhová added that she and Shiffrin became close.
The other skiers who watched her on the hill also said that they were happy to see her back.
“I ask a lot, also from other girls who have overcome such injuries. One French woman told me that she came back after 10 months, her colleague even after nine. I am trying to collect information to create a picture of how I am doing.” continued Vlhová.
Photo gallery (17) Mikaela Shiffrinová and Petra Vlhová during training Source: SITA/AP/Giovanni Auletta
But at the end of the day, she remains herself and tries to learn from each case.
When asked what she misses most about the “noise” of the World Cup, she admitted that the taste of winning. She would like to get back to the top spots. He says it with the humility to which athletes are bound by a serious injury.
“The feeling when you cross the finish line, the joy and endorphins… These are the moments you want to experience every day. I hope and believe that I will experience such feelings again.” she concluded with all modesty.
Photo gallery for the article Number of photos: 17
- Author: © List/ Martin Turčin
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