Shiffrin’s Rival Vlhova Withdraws from World Championships: What This Means for the Season

Petra Vlhova, the Olympic slalom champion from Slovakia, will sit out the upcoming Alpine skiing world championships. She’s facing challenges in her recovery from a knee injury, pushing her to focus on the 2026 Winter Games instead.

For the past ten years, Vlhova has been a fierce competitor against Mikaela Shiffrin in slalom events. However, Shiffrin’s own participation in the world championships in Saalbach, Austria, is uncertain due to her recovery from abdominal surgery after a crash in November.

Vlhova’s struggles began last year when she tore her ACL in her right knee during a World Cup giant slalom in Slovakia.

Her coach, Mauro Pini, explained that setbacks in December and January hindered her recovery. “We had hoped she could compete for medals, but that won’t happen this time,” he said.

At 29, Vlhova is now redirecting her efforts toward the Winter Olympics, with her rehabilitation showing promising signs of improvement each day.

This will mark the first time Vlhova misses the world championships since she started competing in 2013 at just 17 years old. Throughout her career, she has earned five medals at the world championships. Notably, she won gold in giant slalom at Are, Sweden, in 2019, while Shiffrin took home bronze.

With the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics on the horizon, Vlhova aims to make her fourth Olympic appearance. She finally earned a medal in her tenth Olympic race by winning slalom during the Beijing Olympics three years ago. Vlhova’s determination to return stronger is evident, and fans will eagerly await her comeback.

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