The best world champions

Photo: STA

The Slovenian Sportspersons of the Year were the Alpine skier, Tina Maze, the white water slalom kayaker, Peter Kauzer, and the award for best team went to the ski jump team, who won bronze at the World Championships in Oslo.

This year, the Slovenian Sports Reporters Association (Društvo slovenskih športnih novinarjev (DŠNS)) selected the Slovenian Sportspersons of the Year for the 44th time. It was a difficult decision as Slovenian sports men and women had achieved numerous excellent results at the World and European Championships, and had also been victorious in the World Cup.

In the non-Olympic year of 2011, all the victories were accomplished at World Championship events.

Alpine skier Tina Maze

Tina Maze became the world champion in giant slalom and earned silver in the Super G at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen World Championships.  Following in the footsteps of Mateja Svet (in 1989), she therefore became the second Slovenian woman to earn the title of world champion. In the World Cup, she stepped on to the podium seven times, taking the gold medal twice (Trbiž/Tarvisio – Super G, Lenzerheide – slalom).

Tina Maze was overjoyed and provided the following comment on her third title as best Slovenian sportswoman (she previously held the title in 2005 and 2010): "This year I achieved one of my sporting ambitions. To become a world champion is not that simple, as it is achieved by only very few people. I put everything, truly everything, into this project. Many have not had faith in the independent path I have taken, but today every sports fan in Slovenia is convinced I made the right choice. If I remain in good health, my next goal is to win gold at the Olympic Games in Sochi 2014. But there are still two years until then and boldness and prudence will be necessary in order to achieve this new goal. I like to win, but I am aware that victories are not an everyday occurrence. There are few serial winners; however I strive to come out on top as often as possible. The advice I receive from my support team, which includes a psychologist, helps me enormously in my success."

White water slalom kayaker, Peter Kauzer

Photo: STA

Peter Kauzer, the World and European white water slalom competitor showed, through his victory at the World Championships in Bratislava, that he is currently the best sportsman in this Olympic discipline in the world. 

The 28-year old from Hrastnik has been competing since 1990. He won his first two medals in major competition in 2005, when his team came third at the World Championships in Penrith in the 3 x K1 class and then came second in the same team discipline at the European Championships in Tacen. Two years later, Kauzer repeated his team success at Liptovsky Mikulas in Slovakia. However, the Olympic Games in Beijing were a big disappointment for Kauzer. Despite arriving to China's capital as one of the favourites, he failed to make it through to the final, having got stuck in qualification rounds.

However, as early as in the following year, he was the world's best on two occasions. At the Olympic course in Seu D'Urgell, Spain, he was first crowned slalom world champion, and then also tasted victory in the World Cup at the end of the season. The way up was pretty much finished, but Kauzer continued in an exceptional champion style. In 2010, he first became the European slalom champion in Cunovo and,  at this year's World Championships in Bratislava, won his third "great" gold medal.

After being proclaimed the best sportsman of 2011, he confided to those present that, "London is my great sports goal and I will dedicate the next year of my life to participating at the Olympic Games. It is nice to win European and World Championships, it is nice to be the best at the World Cup, but an Olympic title surpasses everything. I am ready to build upon the success of Andraž Vehovar (who took silver in the white water slalom at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996) and become Olympic champion. In January I will start preparing for London, and I will go to Australia where training conditions are excellent. The World Cup starts this year in February and I will have to maintain my fitness until August, which is when London will determine the new Olympic winner."

Photo: STA

National ski jumping team won our praise at the World Championships in Oslo where the team, which comprised Robert Kranjec, Peter Prevc, Jurij Tepeš and Jernej Damjan, won bronze in the team competition at the famous Holmenkollbakken ski jump.

The competition for team medals was decided relatively early on, as far as gold and silver medals were concerned, and Slovenia expected to rank high. In his last jump, Robert Kranjec flew an exceptional 136 metres and, at the end, Slovenia triumphed over the German team by 0.7 points. This is an incredibly small difference after eight jumps by each team. This time Slovenia benefited from the unwritten saying that "Good luck accompanies the great!"

Jernej Damjan had the widest smile at the award ceremony, "There was chaos in the landing arena; when I came to our container I heard screaming and singing inside. We were all as happy as children, like boys given a new toy. And we jumped to win a World Championship medal, something that nobody had even dared mention earlier."

"I jumped in Salt Lake City, where we also came third by a fraction of a point over the Germans. Jumps cannot be predicted, especially in team competitions where somebody always makes a mistake. I am satisfied with the season as, among other things, I improved the Slovenian record in jumps – to 232 metres and, in the last competition in Planica, my jump was good enough to take second place. The year of 2012 will offer a new opportunity, mainly ski flying in Vikersund where I will try to increase Slovenia's trove of medals," was added by Robert Kranjec, our best ski jumper of the last few years.

2012 is the year of the London Olympic Games. All sportsmen and women performing in Olympic disciplines will focus their training and energy on the capital of the United Kingdom.  Before London, some will undergo demanding tests at World and European championships, but with the sporting spirit and importance the Slovenian nation attributes to sports, it is likely that the medal harvest in 2012 will again be very, very good for Slovenia.

Text by Andrej Stare
Photo: STA