Czech star Strachova announces retirement
32-year-old Czech slalom specialist Sarka Strachova announced her plans to retire at a news conference and a video posted to her Facebook page on Tuesday in Prague, Czech Republic.
After 15 years on the World Cup, the Czech star amassed two World Cup slalom wins (both in Aspen in 2008 and 2009), 17 podium finishes, four World Championship medals including the 2007 slalom gold in Are, Sweden, a silver at Val d’Isere in 2009, and bronze medals in Bormio in 2005 and Vail/Beaver Creek in 2015. Strachova was also the Olympic slalom bronze medalist at Vancouver 2010.
“I have an extremely inner feeling that the right moment to say goodbye has come,” she said.
After fighting back to the World Cup in 2012 after doctors discovered a benign brain tumor, the Czech skier now says that finding the motivation to return to the World Cup again is no longer there and that prioritizing training and competing over the other things in her life has gotten harder and harder over the past years.
In the 2017 season, Strachova found the podium twice with a third-place finish in Zagreb and a second in Squaw Valley en-route to finishing the season sixth in the slalom standings.