Athlete profile: Urska Hrovat

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

Turning 24 years-old on February 18th, Hrovat could give herself the best birthday present ever by winning a medal in the women's slalom Events the following day...that is easier said than done, however...in Lillehammer, Hrovat was pegged as a medal favorite for the slalom after winning two slalom races leading up to the Games, but was upstaged by teammate Katja Koren who won bronze...tiny Slovenia garnered three medals in Lillehammer and will be hard pressed to match its performance of 1994...based on this winter's results, Hrovat is the only real threat for the former Yugoslav state, which has a rich skiing tradition and plays host to an annual World Cup Events in Kranjska Gora...Hrovat has set high goals for herself...she lists her goals for the season as "winning the World Cup in her discipline and a gold medal in the Olympic Games"...and why not?...in 1996, Hrovat won a bronze at the World Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain - a race she considers her proudest moment...an injury two weeks before last year's World Championships kept her from competing...Hrovat has remained consistent if unspectacular in the last few World Cup seasons, but has shown some spark again this winter...Urska says she is more focused and harder working than she has sometimes been in the past..."If you are a good athlete who works hard, you'll get results," she insists and one Slovenian sports writer calls Hrovat, "the most serious on the team"...Hrovat's hard work ethic might have been influenced by an encounter with Olympic gold-medalist and World Cup all-around champion Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden a few years back...while visiting Swedish skier-boyfriend Tobias Hellmann, Hrovat dropped in on the champ..."I thought I worked hard, but after seeing Pernilla I had to change my mind. She is so directed. Every minute of her day is so concentrated on what will help her skiing. There is no off-season with her"...Hrovat also has the advantage of receiving constant advice about her skiing...her father, Saso, has been her coach and longtime confidant, though she now trains with Slovenian national team coaches Marko Jurjec and Samo Furlan...Hrovat's father first taught her to ski when she was two years old and drove her nearly everyday the two-hour round trip to the ski resort nearest Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital city...Urska's father and mother had Urska at a young age and are only 42 and 41 years of age, respectively...Saso works at an electric company in Ljubljana and is also a skier and tennis trainer...Urska enjoys playing tennis with her father and says she looks up to German star Steffi Graf...she also is a fan of Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman...Hrovat has one sister, Hana...Urska speaks good English...