Slovak skier On Tuesday, February 10, 2026, for the first time since her fall in the giant slalom in Jasná (January 20, 2024), Petra Vlhová took to the competitive slopes – right at the Olympics. The thirty-year-old competitor completed her first start in the team combination and she especially wanted to enjoy it. He commented on her journey back to the slopes for the portal brother Boris Vlha.
The well-known sibling was part of her team when Vlhová’s greatest successes were born (gold medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing 2022 or the title of world champion). After 2022, he went his own way, devoted himself to family and business. According to him, he keeps his fingers crossed for his sister, although they are less in touch and write only occasionally. However, she informed him about an important decision. As he has been to several Olympics, he knows exactly what the atmosphere is like there and what the favorite skier is probably going through.
They preceded Vlhová’s return over two years of break, two knee operations, a lot of pain, renunciation, but also hope and expectations. She completed the return in a team combination with Katarína Šrobová. “After everything I’ve experienced in two years, it’s a victory for me to be able to be at the Olympics,” she said on the stage in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
In Tuesday’s team competition, she wanted to try the slopes of Tofan, where she will also start in the slalom. In it, four years ago, she won gold at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, but after a two-year competition break, she does not set performance goals and does not talk about defense.
Brother Boris also chose cautious words regarding her injury. “People can’t have high expectations from her. No one knows what form she is in after those two years. No one knows what to expect from her, it’s just assumptions. Since she was world number one or number two, everyone has expectations that she will now stand at the start and be on the podium. In my opinion, even she herself doesn’t know, because it’s something new for her. It was the first time she had been so seriously injured, and she had never had such a long break in her career. It is a completely new experience for her. We can only debate and guess how it will turn out, for now it’s just speculation, it’s hard to say,” he told the sports website.
At the beginning of the Olympics, a huge shock came when Lindsey Vonn fell during the race. Did it remind him of his sister’s injury? “Those babies often get injured after falls. It’s not like I automatically remember the unfortunate Jasná now. Injuries are part of skiing. However, I feel like her team or physical therapists are acting like her leg is cut off. They made her a princess in a glass ball. She is no longer the Peta she used to be,” added Vlha openly to the address of his sister’s recovery.
On her return to the competitive slopes after a two-year break, Vlhová did not complete the team combination for the 2026 Olympics. In the slalom part, she started first in the order, but dropped out about halfway down the course.
The six-time World Championship medalist (1-4-1) returned to training on the slopes last October after a long recovery caused by knee surgery. She suffered the injury in the domestic giant slalom in Jasná in January 2024, when she fell and had to undergo surgery. After subsequent rehabilitation, her condition did not improve enough to allow her to race again, so she underwent a second medical procedure.
The knee is holding up now, but it’s still not 100 percent fine. “The knee is great, but I can feel it and there is a certain limitation that I can’t handle such a load yet. If I put pressure on it one day, I feel it the next and it won’t let me do the next load. That’s why I need a lot of rest,” she revealed.
The holder of the big crystal globe from the 2020/2021 season said that if she still felt pain, she would not risk a return. “I’m not in pain. If I knew I wasn’t able to go down one slalom, it would be pointless. After those two years, I already wanted to be at the race, I wanted to come back and I didn’t want to wait anymore,” concluded Vlhová.
