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 – (2001–15)
Medals	4 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	14th – (2003–16)
Wins	2 – (2 SL)
Podiums	15 – (15 SL)
Overall titles	0 – (9th in 2007)
Discipline titles	0 – (2nd in SL, 2009)
Medal record Women's alpine skiing Representing the  Czech Republic Olympic Games 2010 Vancouver Slalom World Championships 2007 Åre Slalom 2009 Val-d'Isère Slalom 2005 Bormio Slalom 2015 Beaver Creek Slalom Junior World Ski Championships 2005 Bardonecchia Slalom 2004 Maribor Slalom 2004 Maribor Combined

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

Race podiums

• 2 wins – (2 SL)
• 15 podiums – (15 SL)

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

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

• Šárka Strachová at the International Ski Federation
• FIS-ski.com – World Cup season standings – Šárka Strachová
• Ski-db.com – results – Sarka Zahrobska (Strachová)
• Šárka Záhrobská at Sports Reference – Olympic results
• Official website (Czech) (English) (German)
• Fischer Skis – teams – Šárka Strachová -->
• Milka Ski Stars – Šárka Strachová

Olympic Games
Preceded by Jaromír Jágr	Flagbearer for  Czech Republic Sochi 2014	Succeeded by Incumbent