Val d'Isère (France) (AFP)

The Slovakian Petra Vlhova, patiently become a versatile skier, passes from Friday to Sunday an important test in Val d'Isère.

At the top of the general classification, the first speed races of the 2020/2021 Alpine Skiing World Cup will set the tone for his ambitions.

Five podiums including three victories in six races, for a total of 420 points in the general classification, with 145 points ahead of the American Mikaela Shiffrin: Petra Vlhova had a great start to the season, but it was anything but a surprise.

The 25-year-old Slovak, who started out as a slalom specialist, is building her career stone by stone with constancy and application.

She took a serious leap of faith in the 2016/2017 season, and became world champion in 2019. Last winter, she set off quickly and already completed six top-10s (three times downhill, three times in super- G).

"The idea is to build an excellent basic technique and to mentally integrate the fact of skiing all disciplines", explains to AFP his renowned coach, the Italian Livio Magoni, ex-trainer of Slovenian Tina Maze, who joined him in 2016.

"The important thing in speed is to chain the kilometers. For women, having a good technique in giant and slalom makes it quite easy to succeed in downhill and super-G, where all you need to do is work on research. and speed conservation and jump management. Now I think we're ready, I hope, "he notes.

- "I appreciate being in the lead" -

If the Slovakian manages to get on the podium in Val d'Isère (two runs on Friday and Saturday, super-G on Sunday), then the competition may tremble in front of the one who has already finished 2nd then 3rd overall the two previous winters.

Especially since the skier from Liptovsky Mikulas in the Tatra Mountains (northern Slovakia) is now the world No. 1 in slalom, where she remains on five consecutive victories and the small globe of the discipline in the spring.

"This is only the start of the season. I appreciate being in the lead but everything is still possible, it is not yet time to talk about the general classification", tempers with AFP the skier in powerful style.

"I don't have particularly high expectations for this weekend, these are the first (speed) races of the season. I want to try to ski without mistakes, having fun," she continued.

- "Against the rest of the world" -

The advent of Petra Vlhova as a contender for the big globe marks the peak of a family adventure initiated by her father, manager of a metal parts company, and manager of his daughter's private team (five full-time positions ), who complains that he never received support from the Slovak federation with which he is in open conflict.

"We built ourselves in a spirit + my team against the rest of the world +, which is still the case today", explains Vlhova.

"It also pushed me to succeed for sure, but I'm not angry because of that. It would not be appropriate. I direct my anger towards my desire to win instead," insists the one who has 17 wins in the World Cup.

The champion, at the center of family expectations from an early age, has also learned to manage this pressure.

“My dad invested all his money in me, it was hard to manage when I was young. I wanted to give him good results in return. Now I'm not saying it's easy, because everyone is without stop around me, but I have learned with experience to do with. "

It is therefore not the pressure of the general that will scare him.

Program of the Val d'Isère Women's World Cup:

Friday December 18: descent at 10:30 am

Saturday 19 December: descent at 10:30 am

Sunday December 20: super-G at 11:00 a.m.

© 2020 AFP