Rok Petrovič Explained

Rok Petrovič
Disciplines:Giant slalom, slalom
Birth Date:1966 2, df=y
Birth Place:Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
Death Place:Vela Luka, Croatia
Wcdebut:10 December 1984
Retired:10 March 1989
Olympicmedals:0
Olympicgolds:0
Worldsmedals:0
Worldsgolds:0
Wcseasons:5
Wcwins:5
Wcpodiums:9
Wcoveralls:0
Wctitles:1

Rok Petrovič (5 February 1966 – 16 September 1993) was a Yugoslav and Slovenian alpine skier.

Petrovič was born in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, the son of Zdenka Steiner and Krešimir Petrović, a well known sports psychologist of Croatian origin. His first success in alpine ski racing was the 1983 Junior World Championship slalom title in Sestriere, Italy.

After this he rapidly advanced up the world slalom rankings. In the 1985–86 Alpine Skiing World Cup season, he was practically unbeatable in slalom, his competition left to wait for rare mistakes in his highly aggressive and innovative skiing style. That season he won 5 races, is second in St. Anton, Austria and third in Geilo, Norway, easily winning the World Cup slalom title and becoming the first Yugoslav with a crystal globe.

After his championship-winning season, Petrovič was unable to recapture his winning form, the only hint of his championship season being a second place behind his teammate Bojan Križaj at the unforgettable race in Kranjska Gora next season. He finished eighth in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games giant slalom.

Due to his lack of winning results, he quit skiing in 1988 and began studies at the College of Sports in Ljubljana. He graduated in 1991 and continued with post-graduate study. He was to defend his M.Sc. thesis in the autumn of 1993, but shortly before defending his thesis he took a short break at the Croatian island Korčula and drowned in a diving accident.

Altogether he won 5 World Cup races, all in slalom and all in his champion season in 1985-86:

World Cup results

Season standings

SeasonAgeOverallSlalomGiant
slalom
Super-GDownhillCombined
18 30 16 16
19 7 1 7
20 33 11 27
21 69 26
22 68 34 31

Race podiums

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SeasonDateLocationDisciplinePosition
1985 20 March 1985 Park City, United States Slalom2nd
19861 December 1985 Sestriere, ItalySlalom1st
21 December 1985 Kranjska Gora, YugoslaviaSlalom1st
25 January 1986 St. Anton, AustriaSlalom2nd
2 February 1986 Wengen, SwitzerlandSlalom1st
25 February 1986 Lillehammer, NorwaySlalom1st
2 March 1986 Geilo, NorwaySlalom3rd
11 March 1986 Heavenly Valley, United StatesSlalom1st
198720 December 1986 Kranjska Gora, YugoslaviaSlalom2nd