Šárka Strachová

Šárka Strachová
 Alpine skier 

Strachová in December 2008
Disciplines Giant slalom, slalom,
super-G, combined
Club Ski Team Krkonoš
Born (1985-02-11) 11 February 1985
Benecko, Czechoslovakia
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
World Cup debut 15 December 2002
(age 17)
Website sarkastrachova.com
Olympics
Teams 3 – (2006, 2010, 2014)
Medals 1 (0 gold)
World Championships
Teams 8 – (200115)
Medals 4 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons 14th – (200316)
Wins 2 – (2 SL)
Podiums 15 – (15 SL)
Overall titles 0 – (9th in 2007)
Discipline titles 0 – (2nd in SL, 2009)

Šárka Strachová (Czech pronunciation: [ˈʃaːrka ˈstraxovaː]; born Záhrobská on 11 February 1985) is a Czech World Cup alpine ski racer. Born in Benecko, she specializes in the slalom event. Strachová is the first alpine racer representing the Czech Republic to medal at the Winter Olympics and at the World Championships and just the second Czech alpine skier ever to medal in the Olympics.

Ski racing career

Strachová won the gold medal in slalom at the 2007 World Championships and narrowly missed a bronze in the super combined, finishing in 4th place by 0.20 seconds. Two years earlier, she won her first medal at the 2005 World Championships, taking the bronze in slalom while placing 5th in the combined. It was the first World Championships medal for a Czech alpine skier. In the 2006 Winter Olympics, Strachová finished 13th in slalom, 19th in the combined, and 27th in super-G; she did not finish the second run of the giant slalom.

On the World Cup circuit, Strachová made her debut in December 2002 at age 17 and finished 5th in her first race, a parallel slalom (an experimental format using a series of elimination races) in Sestriere, Italy. She ended the 2004 and 2006 seasons ranked in the top 10 in slalom, and broke into the top 30 in the overall ranking in 2006. She reached her first World Cup podium in January 2007, with a third place in the slalom on at Zagreb, Croatia, and followed it up with a 2nd place in the slalom three days later at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. This ended a 21-year-long drought for Czech alpine skiers on the World Cup podium, since Olga Charvátová took 2nd place in Bromont, Quebec, on 22 March 1986. She won her first World Cup race in November 2008 in Aspen, Colorado, and reached the podium two additional times in the 2009 season to finish as the runner-up in the season slalom standings. She won again at Aspen in November 2009.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Strachová took the bronze medal in the slalom at Whistler. This made her the first Czech to ever medal in alpine skiing for the Czech Republic and just the second Czech ever, once again joining Olga Charvátová, who won a bronze in the 1984 Winter Olympics while competing for Czechoslovakia.

Strachová has also won numerous medals at the National Alpine Skiing Championships of the Czech Republic and other nations. She has been the National Champion (i.e. gold medalist) at the Czech (2002: slalom; 2003: slalom, giant slalom and super-G; 2004: slalom, giant slalom; 2005: slalom, giant slalom; 2006: super-G), Slovenian (2006: giant slalom), and Croatian (2006: giant slalom) national championships. Her giant slalom victory at the 2006 Croatian championships was by a narrow 0.15 second margin over Janica Kostelić, who had just beaten Strachová for the super-G title the previous day and was coming off one of the most dominant seasons in World Cup skiing history.

Šárka Strachová and her brother Petr Záhrobský are the only skiers of the Ski Team Krkonoš. Their personal coach is their father Petr Záhrobský. The team has not had good relationships with the Czech Ski Association. The coach protested, especially after the association officials approved the rule that Czech skiers have to prefer their home competitions to the foreign ones, and refused to follow it, stating that Strachová needs better rivals to remain a premier international skier. Šárka Strachová also does not prepare with the rest of the Czech national team because her father believes it would disadvantage her career.[1][2]

Both Šárka Strachová and her brother Petr race on Fischer skis.

In 2013, she married her long-time boyfriend, Antonin Strach.

World Cup results

Season standings

Season Age  Overall   Slalom  Giant
 slalom 
Super-G Downhill Combined
2003 18 53 19 10
2004 19 32 10 60
2005 20 42 11 17
2006 21 30 10 42 24
2007 22 9 3 20 45 6
2008 23 16 5 21 29 31
2009 24 12 2 37 37 11
2010 25 18 5 43 27
2011 26 36 10
2012 27 70 25
2013 28 53 20
2014 29 36 13 9
2015 30 17 4
2016 31 20 5

Race podiums

Season Date Location Discipline Place
2007 4 Jan 2007 Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Slalom 3rd
7 Jan 2007 Slovenia Kranjska Gora, Slovenia Slalom 2nd
11 Mar 2007 Germany Zwiesel, Germany Slalom 2nd
2008 25 Nov 2007 Canada Panorama, Canada Slalom 2nd
14 Mar 2008 Italy Bormio, Italy Slalom 3rd
2009 30 Nov 2008 United States Aspen, USA Slalom 1st
4 Jan 2009 Croatia Zagreb, Croatia Slalom 3rd
13 Mar 2009 Sweden Åre, Sweden Slalom 3rd
2010 29 Nov 2009 United States Aspen, USA Slalom 1st
2015 29 Dec 2014 Austria Kühtai, Austria Slalom 2nd
22 Feb 2015 Slovenia Maribor, Slovenia Slalom 3rd
14 Mar 2015 Sweden Åre, Sweden Slalom 3rd
201629 Nov 2015 United States Aspen, USA Slalom 3rd
5 Jan 2016Italy Santa Caterina, Italy Slalom 2nd
12 Jan 2016Austria Flachau, Austria Slalom 2nd

World Championship results

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 
Super-G Downhill Combined
2001 16 21
2003 18 DNF2 9
2005 20 3 10 5
2007 22 1 12 4
2009 24 2 16 15 11
2011 26 12
2013 28 8 37
2015 30 3

Olympic results

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom 
Super-G Downhill Combined
2006 21 13 DNF2 27 19
2010 25 3 DNS2 27 7
2014 29 10 DNF1 9

References

  1. "Šárka Záhrobská's profile". Idnes.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2007-02-18.
  2. "Záhrobský: Our way is good". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2007-02-17.
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Jaromír Jágr
Flagbearer for  Czech Republic
Sochi 2014
Succeeded by
Incumbent
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