STA, 26 February - Women's downhill world champion Ilka Štuhec, who is out for the season with injury to both of her knees, has announced on Instagram that she does not need surgery, as initially believed. It is not yet known when she will return to skiing, but it will definitely be earlier than in the case of surgery.

The injuries happened last Saturday as Štuhec competed in the downhill World Cup race in Crans Montana. She crashed into the protective fences on the course, but managed to get up herself and get to the finish line.

See the accident here

Her team decided to have her checked at the local hospital, with the initial tests showing she suffered a posterior cruciate ligament tear in the left knee and a bruised right knee.

The injuries ruled her out for the remainder of the season and it was initially believed that she would require a surgery.

But the 28-year-old from Maribor announced on Instagram today that the "outcome is not that bad as first thought. Torn PCL, but I can make it without surgery."

The announcement comes after Štuhec was examined in Basel by Niklaus Friedrich, the doctor who already performed surgery on a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee in the past.

Her team later explained that it was actually a partial tear of the PCL in her left knee, while the ACL, which she tore in September 2017 to miss out the entire 2017/18, was undamaged.

Surgery is not planned for the time being, but it will be required if the knee does not respond to the more conservative approach, the team added.

"A new examination is scheduled in Basel in 14 days, and it will be known in a month whether the rehabilitation is progressing as planned."

The team quoted Štuhec saying that she needed to accept the situation. "I have proven to myself many times that I can return after an injury and the plan is the same also this time."

No surgery means that she will return to skiing much earlier than if she needed one, when rehabilitation would take at least nine months.

The injury came as Štuhec made a comeback after missing the Olympic season, winning the World Cup downhill and super-G in Val Gardena in mid-December and defending her gold in the downhill at the recent world championships in Sweden's Aare.

STA, 23 February 2019 - Slovenian alpine skier Ilka Štuhec, who is the reigning downhill World Champion, injured both of her knees in a crash during Saturday's downhill World Cup race in Crans Montana, which rules her out for the remainder of the season, her team said.

The injury is a crushing blow to the 28-year-old, who had made a phenomenal comeback this season after missing the Olympic season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee.

While Štuhec was able to get up after crashing into the protective fences on the course, she felt pain her knees. Her team decided to have her checked at the hospital in Crans Montana, with the tests showing she suffered a posterior cruciate ligament tear in the left knee and a bruised right knee.

The two-time downhill World Champion, who was third in the downhill rankings for the season ahead of today's race, will already be transported to Basel today. Additional tests will be conducted there by Niklaus Friedrich, who already performed surgery on Štuhec in the past.

STA, 10 February 2019 - Slovenian ski star Ilka Štuhec won the downhill at the Skiing World Championships on Sunday, defending her title and achieving the highlight of her career.

The 22nd World Championship medal for Slovenia marks a dream comeback for the 28-year-old, who returned to competition this season after sitting out the entire previous season due to a knee injury.

Štuhec finished the shortened course - it was cut by almost a quarter due to bad weather - in 1 minute, 1.74 seconds, 0.23 seconds ahead of Corinne Sutter of Switzerland.

Lindsey Vonn bid farewell to professional skiing with a surprise third place, half a second adrift.

Due to the shortened course, the downhill was widely expected to be just the latest in a series of very tight races this year, making Štuhec's 0.23-second gap all the more impressive.

Štuhec has also become first woman to defend the downhill World Championship title in downhill thirty years.

The Maribor native said she knew she was able to ski fast, she just "needed the confidence to ski and enjoy".

"I felt super determined at the start to just throw myself into it," she said.

"I am yet to realize what I have done again. I just stood on the start, ready to ski and enjoy, and I did it."

Having already won three downhill podiums this season, Štuhec entered the event as one of the favourites despite a dismal 8th place in the super-G and tenth place in the combined.

Vonn had set a great time before her with an excellent second half of the race, but Štuhec excelled throughout the course to carve out the decisive advantage.

Despite initially wanting to appear in the giant slalom, Štuhec will leave Aare to focus on the rest of the season and the remaining three downhill World Cup races.

She is currently third in the overall downhill rankings behind the Austrians Ramona Siebenhofer and Nicole Schmidhofer.

STA, 1 February 2019 - The annual Golden Fox meet will start in Maribor on Friday as part of the Alpine Ski World Cup caravan, with the US superstar Mikaela Shiffrin being the main favourite in the giant slalom and slalom events. The best Slovenian skier, the downhill specialist Ilka Štuhec, will make her appearance in the giant slalom.

Shiffrin, who is in a comfortable lead in the overall World Cup standing for ladies, will be by far the biggest star, having already won eleven races in the current season after winning a total of twelve in the entire last season.

The American will be going for her fourth overall victory at the Golden Fox, which consists of giant slalom and slalom events, after she managed the feat in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

The 55th Golden Fox is back to its traditional venue, the Pohorje Hill above Maribor, after being hosted last year by the Kranjska Gora resort due to the shortage of snow in Maribor. It was there that Shiffrin earned one of her double wins.

The American, who is not even 24 yet, has won a total of 54 World Cup events to currently stand fourth all time, only one win behind the third-placed Vreni Schneider of Switzerland.

Schneider won a record 14 events in a single season (1988-89), the feat Shiffrin could beat this year considering her almost unbeatable form.

Meanwhile, Slovenians will be looking for their first winner after the legendary Tina Maze took the overall win in 2013 as the last Slovenian to do so. Their chances are slim as the main contender, Ana Drev, is out for season due to knee injury.

This is one of the reasons why Štuhec, who is known as specialist for fast disciplines, has decided to appear in Friday's giant slalom, the discipline in which she very rarely competes. The giant slalom will be followed by the slalom on Saturday.

A total of 116 competitors have been registered for the two events, which will be covered by around 250 accredited journalists. The organisers expect at least 20,000 visitors to the two-day skiing festival.

Some high-profile guests are also expected in Maribor, including President Borut Pahor and some government ministers, as well as Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini.

Schedule

Friday

10.00: 1st run Giant slalom, between runs concert,

13.00: 2nd run Giant slalom

Saturday

10.00: 1st run Slalom, between runs performance,

13.00: 2nd run Slalom

FIS Alpine has a good YouTube channel, and may be showing the event live. If not, there’ll certainly be highlights soon after it ends.

STA, 18 January 2019 - Slovenian skier Ilka Štuhec finished second in Friday's downhill in Cortina d'Ampezzo, her third podium in three World Cup appearances this season.

Štuhec was 0.40 seconds behind the Austrian Ramona Siebenhofer, with another Austrian, Stephanie Venier rounding off the podium 0.46 seconds adrift.

The reigning downhill world champion, Štuhec made a stunning return to the World Cup after a long injury by winning the downhill and super-G in mid-December.

The 28-year-old now ranks second in the World Cup downhill standings, 68 points behind Siebenhofer. The next World Cup downhill will be held on Saturday, followed by a super-G on Sunday.

Ilka Štuhec spet na stopničkah

Ilka Štuhec returns to the podium

Written by Sonja Merljak Zdovc, translated by JL Flanner

Smučarski navdušenci so si lahko oddahnili.

Ski fans can relax.

Priljubljena alpska smučarka Ilka Štuhec se je po letu dni in pol znova povzpela na stopničke.

The beloved Alpine skier, Ilka Štuhec, is back on the podium after a year and a half.

Na smuku v Val Gardeni je prepričljivo zmagala.

She won a convincing victory at Val Gardena.

»Od srca se mi je odvalila velika skala,« je dejala smučarka po nastopu.

"A great weight has been lifted from my shoulders (literally: “a great rock has rolled out of my heart") ,” said the skier after her performance.

Dodala je, da si je zastavila visoke cilje. Zdelo se ji je, da so celo previsoki, saj jih ni mogla doseči. Ilka namreč dolgo ni smučala zaradi poškodbe kolena.

She added that she set high goals. It seemed that they were even too high, because they could not be reached. Ilka did not ski for a long time because of a knee injury.

Sedaj ji je zato lažje pri srcu. Ko je stala na zmagovalnem odru, je razmišljala: »Da je čudovito spet super smučati in stati na najvišji stopnički.«

Now it's easier for her. When she stood on the winning podium, she thought: "It's wonderful to ski again and stand on top of the slope."

Ilka Štuhec je v svetovnem pokalu sedaj zmagala osmic, petkrat je na najvišji stopnički stala prav v smuku.

Ilka Štuhec has now won her eighth World Cup, and five of these are for downhill skiing.

Po številu zmag v svetovnem pokalu je zdaj prehitela Matejo Svet in se izenačila z Bojanom Križajem. S petimi smukaškimi zmagami pa je tudi najboljša slovenska smukačica. Tina Maze je zlato medaljo v smuku osvojila le štirikrat.

In terms of the number of World Cup victories, she now has more than Mateja Svet and is equal to Bojan Kriza. With five ski wins, she is also the best Slovenian skier. Tina Maze won the gold medal only four times.

 Read more stories and improve your Slovene at Časoris, while all our dual texts can be found here.

STA, 19 December 2018 - After clinching her first Alpine Ski World Cup win this season in yesterday's downhill in Italy's Val Gardena, Ilka Štuhec followed it up on Wednesday with a win in the women's super-G at the same venue to complete her comeback to the elite after a serious knee injury.