STA, 8 November 2020 - Slovenia's best freediver Alenka Artnik has set another world record, diving to 114 metres in monofin after she and Italy's Alessia Zecchini won the 2019 Freediving World Championships with a record 113 metres last year.

Artnik now improved the record she held with Zecchini by one metre at the Blue Week competition in Egypt's Sharm el Sheik.

Her record-breaking dive, which she labelled the greatest success of her diving career, lasted three minutes and 41 seconds.

"I'm lost for words to describe how I feel, but I'll start with gratitude," she said on social media, thanking her co-divers for accepting her with open hearts as she arrived in Egypt a month ago for preparations for the end of what she said was a difficult season and thus facilitating her record.

STA, 7 November 2020 - Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) is set to win the Vuelta de Espana for a second time as he defended his lead over Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) in the crucial penultimate stage on Saturday from Sequeros to the Covatilla ski resort.

Wearing the leader's jersey before the 17th stage of the race around Spain and having a 45-seconds advantage ahead of Carapaz, the 31-year-old Slovenian managed to keep the lead, although giving away 21 seconds to Carapaz.

Sunday's last stage (124.2 km) in Madrid is a mere formality and Roglič is set to win his second Vuelta de Espana title, after he won the race also last year.

Roglič used the services of his strong team to deflect all attacks by Carapaz and the third-placed Hugh Carthy of the UK (EF Pro Cycling) to earn what is the third win for Slovenian riders in the three-week Grand Tour races.

Last year, he won the Vuelta de Espana and was second at this year's Tour de France, behind his compatriot Tadej Pogačar, to confirm his reputation as one of the best and most versatile riders in the world.

"It's always nice to have an exciting conclusion and this was really exciting. I had enough energy to know that it will be enough if I cycle in my own rhythm. Everything turned out well at the end," Roglič told the press after the race.

He was in a great deal of pain near the end but believed in the ultimate success. "I didn't have everything under control, but in such moments you have to remain calm and do what you can do," he said, also praising his Jumbo-Visma team.

"The team has done a good job once again, given that everybody went with full force right from the beginning of the Vuelta", said the Slovenian, who will also bring to Madrid the green jersey for the best sprinter for the second year in a row.

It was precisely his aggressive racing at the ends of stages that helped him earn the overall win. With four stage wins, exceptional sprints and overall consistency in stages earned him 48 bonus seconds, without which he would have lost to Carapaz.

"I'm very happy with winning the Vuelta. This is really a nice conclusion to the season," added Roglič.

STA, 2 November 2020 - Slovenia's Ana Belac has won the women's Carolina Classic golf tournament to achieve by far the greatest success for Slovenian golf ever and come very close to making it to the world elite in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).

The 23-year-old Portorož native finished first at the US$200,000 tournament in the Pinehurst resort near Fayetteville, North Carolina, in what is her first season among professional female golfers.

Belac led at the tournament from start to finish, leaving the closest competitor, Allison Emrey of the US, four shots behind.

With the first title for Slovenian golf at professional tournaments, she has taken the second place in the overall rankings of the Symetra Tour, which is the entry point for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).

Belac's result is seen as an exceptional achievement in the Symetra Tour, as this was only her eighth tournament among professionals since she finished her studies at Duke University in April.

After Saturday's win, Belac told the STA that making it to the LPGA Tour was only the first of her career goals, as the final one is to become the best female golfer in the world.

While virtually securing a ticket for the LPGA Tour, where an average prize money for a single tournament is US$2 million, she has also been invited to the US Open championship in Houston in December.

"I wanted to win and I knew I could win. This time I practically played on the home court, on which I have trained a lot with the university, so I was more confident and determined to show what I can do," Belac added.

One of the three Slovenian women with the status of professional golf player, along Katja Pogačar and Pia Babnik, who mostly play in Europe, was not bothered by the strong wind and rain in the last two days of the tournament.

"Other players were complaining over the conditions in which they had to play, while I enjoyed myself and played my game. The experience from Europe, meaning the bora wind around Lipica, where I started my golf career, certainly helped me."

Slovenian cycling sensation Primož Roglič is still on track to defend his Vuelta a Espana title despite giving up the leader’s red jersey following a difficult mountainous stage 12 on Sunday.

The Team Jumbo-Visma captain has been in impressive form so far in Spain, donning the iconic race leader’s jersey on seven of the days raced so far, his three stage wins cementing his favourite tag as he looks to repeat his Grand Tour victory of last year.

Sunday’s Stage 12 route was deemed the toughest of the 2020 Vuelta, and with good reason: the challenging 109.4km route from Pola de Laviana to Alto de L’angliru included five categorised climbs, the last involving a gruelling 23.5% ascent.

Roglič began the day in red, yet had the same overall time as Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz from Team Ineos Grenadiers from whom he had re-taken the red jersey two days prior.

A 20-man breakaway surged ahead in the early stages of the day’s race, yet were given a maximum three-minute lead before being reeled in by the peloton at the foot of the stage’s final climb.

Britain’s Hugh Carthy from Team Ef Pro Cycling, who started the day fourth overall, opened up a gap with 1.2km to the finish, the 26-year-old holding on to claim his first-ever Grand Tour stage victory.

Second-placed Carapaz still had energy in his legs to make a late dash towards the line, breaking away from Roglič as he crossed the finish 10 seconds ahead of his Slovenian rival.

Carapaz will take his narrow 10-second lead at the top into Monday’s rest day before heading into the last week of racing, starting with Tuesday’s 33.7km time-trial – a discipline usually favoured by former ski-jumper Roglič, who still tops the green jersey points rankings, a healthy 43 points ahead of Carapaz.

“It was too hard a climb for a sprinter,” the Slovenian star said after the day’s stage. “I didn’t have the best day but in the end it’s okay. I’m happy with this result and we go on with the time-trial on Tuesday. It will be a hard one. I will do my best and we’ll see how things are after the time-trial.”

Following Tuesday’s individual time-trial, three days of hilly racing follows, before a final mountain stage on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s final flat stage into Madrid.

Vuelta A Espana Leader Board After Stage 12 (Sunday, 1 November):

1. Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers): 48h 29' 27''
2. Primož Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma): + 00h 00' 10''             -
3. Hugh John Carthy (Ef Pro Cycling): + 00h 00' 32''
4. Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation): + 00h 00' 35''
5. Enric Mas (Movistar Team): + 00h 01' 50''
6. Wouter Poels (Bahrain-Mclaren): + 00h 05' 13''
7. Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe): + 00h 05' 30''
8. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team): + 00h 06' 22''
9. Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana Pro Team): + 00h 06' 41''
10. Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott): + 00h 06' 42''

STA, 27 October 2020 - Slovenia's star road cyclists Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar continue to top the rankings of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), but they have switched places this week, with Pogačar, the recent winner of the Tour de France, becoming no. 1 for the first time.

The 22-year-old Pogačar, who ended the season after a third place at the 4 October classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege that was won by Roglič, has 3,970 points. The 30-year-old Roglič, the Tour runner-up who is currently riding in fourth-place overall as the defending winner of the Vuelta de Espana, has 3,945 points.

Meanwhile, remaining in third place in the UCI rankings is Roglič's Jumbo Vista teammate Wout van Aert from Belgium, who has 2,700 points.

Slovenia also holds the top stop in the country rankings ahead of France and Belgium. The rankings, which add up the points of the top eight riders from each country, give Slovenia 9,479 points, 152 points more than France.

STA, 20 October 2020 - Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo-Visma) won the first stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Tuesday to establish himself as one of the favourites in the race around Spain as he is defending his overall winner title in the same race from last year.

In the 173-kilometre stage from Irun to Eibar, the 30-year-old defeated the closest followers Richard Carapaz of Ecuador and Dan Martin of Ireland to put on the overall leader's red jersey already after the first day.

"It is great to win. I'm very happy. The team has again showed that it is very strong. It has done an excellent job during the entire stage, and I returned the favour with the win. It is a nice way to start the Vuelta," Roglič said.

?❤️ @rogla, el primer líder de #LaVuelta20

?❤️ First leader of #LaVuelta20!

? Charly López | @CarrefourES pic.twitter.com/jErHYiiAdl

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) October 21, 2020

"It has been a strange season, so I will enjoy the overall leader's jersey from tomorrow on, and the fact that we are able to race here," the Slovenian added after taking over the red jersey for the 12th time in his career.

Slovenia is celebrating a double win today as Jan Tratnik won the 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia between Udine and San Daniele del Friuli to become only the fifth Slovenian ever to win a stage at the prestigious road race around Italy.

This made Slovenia the third country ever with stage wins at the Grand Tour races on the same day. The Giro and the Vuelta used to overlap, and the last time a nation managed the feat before today was in 1978 (Belgium).

This is meanwhile the third stage win ever for Roglič at the Vuelta a Espana, the race he won last year, when he also finished 3rd overall at Giro d'Italia.

Roglič's best achievement this year by far is the 2nd overall place at the Tour de France, the race won by his younger compatriot Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates.

STA, 16 October 2020 - Ljubljana Marathon, due next weekend, was cancelled on Friday, as new coronavirus restrictions took effect in parts of Slovenia with the highest incidence of new cases, including Ljubljana.

"Unfortunately, the second wave and the high rise in cases is happening just in time for the Ljubljana Marathon and has prevented us from carrying out the event safely," Ljubljana Marathon director Gojko Zalokar said in a press release.

What is usually the largest running event in the country had been significantly downsized and had received the go-ahead from the National Institute for Public Health (NIJZ) in early September.

No more than 450 participants and 50 organisers would have taken part in each of the three races: 10k, 21k and the marathon. This would have been significantly fewer than the usual 14,000 runners, running not just in the three categories but a number of other events for children and students as well.

As coronavirus cases in Slovenia continue to rise, new restrictions took effect today, among them a ban on events, while in red regions, which includes Ljubljana, there are also restrictions in place for recreational sports.

The runners who registered and paid their admission fee will get reimbursed by the end of the month, either through direct transactions or via PayPal, depending on how they carried out the payment.

However, the cancellation does not mean that runners cannot run the Ljubljana Marathon this year. Like many running events, the organisers decided to hold a virtual race next week, extending registration until 19 October.

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STA, 5 October 2020 - Slovenian cyclist Stanko Verstovšek has set a new record in the 24-hour time trial by covering a total of 914.02 kilometres in that span on a route in the north-eastern region of Prekmurje. He has beaten the previous record-holder, Christoph Strasser of Austria, by more than 15 kilometres.

During the time trial on the triangle between Dobrovnik, Genterovci and Turnišče, the Slovenian also improved world records in 100, 200, 300 and 500 kilometres and miles to obtain nine records recognised by the World Ultra Cycling Association.

"I started flirting with the record last year," Vertovšek has told the STA, noting that the idea had been born when he had won the European championship for ultra cyclists, where he had broken off from his competitors after 12 hours of cycling.

"The challenge was great, because Strasser was the first to break the records of the late Jure Robič," the native of Zidani Most (E) said about the legendary Slovenian cyclists and his predecessor.

Verstovšek, who covered 902 kilometres in 24 hours the European championship, said that another factor was the coronavirus crisis sweeping out all major international competitions, which gave him time to concentrate on breaking the record.

He had cycled more than 22,000 kilometres in preparation for the feat, or 140 kilometres a day, with him working in Koper allowing him to cover great distances every day during the period when municipal borders were locked down.

The gruelling challenge on the route selected in consultation with another ultra cyclist Marko Baloh was far from easy. "After ten hours or so I had a serious crisis, but the interim data showed that I was close," he said.

STA, 4 October 2020 - Slovenia's cycling star Primož Roglič added on Sunday the Belgian one-day classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege to his portfolio of prestigious achievements. Two more Slovenian cyclists finished the race in the top 4.

Roglič, who recently had to concede to compatriot Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France, won a hard-fought sprint finish after a 257km run through the Ardennes, inching out World Champion Julian Alaphilippe of France who had already raised his arms in celebration.

Alaphilippe was later relegated to fifth place due to a penalty, which put Pogačar on the podium behind Roglič and Swiss rider Marc Hirschi. What is more, a third Slovenian, Matej Mohorič, finished fourth.