Veronika Velez-Zuzulová

Veronika Velez-Zuzulová (née Zuzulová; born 15 July 1984) is a retired Slovak alpine ski racer. Born in Bratislava, she specialised in the slalom and was the most successful Slovak alpine skier before Petra Vlhová. She was coached by her father Timotej Zuzula and Vladimír Kovár. In April 2012, she married coach Romain Velez and added her maiden name to her married name becoming Velez-Zuzulová.[1]

Veronika Velez-Zuzulová
Zuzulová at Aspen in November 2006
Born
Veronika Zuzulová

(1984-07-15) 15 July 1984
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
OccupationAlpine skier
Height1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Skiing career
DisciplinesSlalom
ClubVojenské športové centrum Dukla Banská Bystrica
World Cup debut28 October 2000 (age 16)
Retired10 March 2018 (age 33)
Websitezuzulova.com
Olympics
Teams4 – (2002, 2006, 2010, 2018)
Medals0
World Championships
Teams8 – (2001, 2005-17)
Medals1 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons17 – (2001–2013, 2015–2018)
Wins5 – (4 SL, 1 CE)
Podiums30 – (27 SL, 3 CE)
Overall titles0 – (12th in 2013)
Discipline titles0 – (2nd in SL, 2016 & 2017)
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing  Slovakia
International alpine ski competitions
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 0 0 0
World Championships 0 1 0
Total 0 1 0
World Championships
Silver medal – second place2017 St. MoritzTeam event
Junior World Ski Championships
Gold medal – first place2002 Sella NeveaSlalom
New Zealand Winter Games
Gold medal – first place2011 QueenstownGiant Slalom
Gold medal – first place2011 QueenstownSlalom

Velez-Zuzulová started skiing at age 3; at 14 she won the Trofeo Topolino in Italy, an unofficial children's world championship.

Europa Cup

She started competing in the Europa Cup from the 2000/2001 season, and she took Europa Cup race wins on 21 December 2003, 23 February 2004 and 19 December 2006, and 3rd place on 6 and 22 February 2004.[2]

World Championships

At the 2007 World Championships in Åre, Sweden, she scored 9th place in super combined, 13th place in slalom and 21st place in giant slalom.

Velez-Zuzulová was part of the Slovakian team which took a surprise silver in the team event at the 2017 World Championships in St. Moritz, defeating Germany, Italy and Switzerland before being beaten by France in the final on time by eight hundredths of a second after a 2-2 tie.[3]

World Cup

Velez-Zuzulová made her World Cup debut in a giant slalom at Sölden, Austria, on 28 October 2000. In November 2002, she started competing in slalom. Her first major win was in 2002 when she became the World Junior Champion. Her first run in super combined was in 2006.

Across her career, Velez-Zuzulová took 30 World Cup podiums with five victories, all in slalom (or parallel slalom).[4] Her best results in the World Cup season standings came in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, when she finished second in the slalom discipline.[5] In the 2013 season, she finished third in slalom and 12th overall; she also finished third in slalom in 2008. She retired from competition in 2018, with her final World Cup start being in a slalom in Ofterschwang.[5]

Season results
Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
Slalom		 Combined
2002176823——
200318injured
2004194215——
200520379——
2006217728—44
2007221953237
20082315341—
2009246522——
2010259436——
20112619542—
20122717442—
201328123——
201429injured
201530246——
201631132——
201732112——
2018339742——
  • Standings through 4 February 2018

Race podiums
  • 5 wins – (4 SL, 1 CE)
  • 30 podiums – (27 SL, 3 CE)
Season Date Location Discipline Place
20048 Feb 2004Germany Zwiesel, GermanySlalom3rd
20077 Jan 2007Slovenia Kranjska Gora, SloveniaSlalom3rd
25 Feb 2007Spain Sierra Nevada, SpainSlalom3rd
17 Mar 2007 Switzerland  Lenzerheide, SwitzerlandSlalom3rd
20086 Jan 2008Czech Republic Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech RepublicSlalom2nd
13 Jan 2008Slovenia Maribor, SloveniaSlalom2nd
15 Feb 2008Croatia Zagreb, CroatiaSlalom3rd
14 Mar 2008Italy Bormio, ItalySlalom2nd
20114 Feb 2011Germany Zwiesel, GermanySlalom2nd
18 Mar 2011 Switzerland  Lenzerheide, SwitzerlandSlalom3rd
201222 Jan 2012Slovenia Kranjska Gora, SloveniaSlalom3rd
10 Mar 2012Sweden Åre, SwedenSlalom2nd
17 Mar 2012Austria Schladming, AustriaSlalom2nd
201329 Dec 2012Austria Semmering, AustriaSlalom1st
1 Jan 2013Germany Munich, GermanyCity event1st
29 Jan 2013Russia Moscow, RussiaCity event2nd
201522 Feb 2015Slovenia Maribor, SloveniaSlalom2nd
14 Mar 2015Sweden Åre, SwedenSlalom2nd
21 Mar 2015France Méribel, FranceSlalom3rd
201628 Nov 2015United States Aspen, USASlalom2nd
5 Jan 2016Italy Santa Caterina, ItalySlalom3rd
12 Jan 2016Austria Flachau, AustriaSlalom1st
15 Jan 2016Slalom1st
6 Mar 2016Slovakia Jasná, SlovakiaSlalom3rd
19 Mar 2016 Switzerland  St. Moritz, SwitzerlandSlalom2nd
201727 Nov 2016United States Killington, USASlalom2nd
11 Dec 2016Italy Sestriere, ItalySlalom2nd
29 Dec 2016Austria Semmering, AustriaSlalom2nd
3 Jan 2017Croatia Zagreb, CroatiaSlalom1st
31 Jan 2017Sweden Stockholm, SwedenCity event2nd

World Championship results
  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 		Super-GDownhillCombined  Team  
event
200116DNF134————
200318injured, did not compete
200520DSQ1—————
2007221321——9—
200924—DNS1————
2011261015————
2013287————9
2015304—————
201732DNF2————2

Olympic results
  Year   Age  Slalom  Giant 
 slalom 		Super-GDownhillCombined
200217DNF132———
20062122———15
20102510DNS2———
201429injured, did not compete
20183317————

References
  1. "Slovakian Alpine ski athlete Veronika Velez- Zuzulova". gettyimages.co.uk. Getty Images. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  2. "Veronika Zuzulová". Osobnosti.sk (in Slovak). Archived from the original on 27 February 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2008.
  3. Baldwin, Alan (14 February 2017). Shine, Ossian (ed.). "France opens medal account with team gold". reuters.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018. Veronika Velez Zuzulova
  4. "VELEZ ZUZULOVA Veronika". fis-ski.com. International Ski Federation. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  5. "Retiring ski stars dress to impress on final run". news.yahoo.com. 10 March 2018. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018. Veronika Velez-Zuzulova

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