BEIJING (AP) 鈥� Slalom gold medalist Petra Vlhova is leaving the Beijing Olympics early due to an inflamed left ankle tendon and will miss the Alpine combined event in which she would have been a challenger to Mikaela Shiffrin, the favorite in the race.
鈥淗aving reached her goal of gold in the slalom and considering this small physical problem, we are putting the priority on her next goals and we don鈥檛 want to risk making things worse by aiming for a medal in the combined,鈥� , Vlhova鈥檚 coach, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
By winning the slalom four days ago, Vlhova became .
Pini added that Vlhova also wants to make sure she has time 鈥渢o go home and share this medal with those closest to her.鈥�
Vlhova had already sat out the super-G and the opening downhill training session.
The Alpine combined is scheduled for Thursday. Vlhova finished second behind Shiffrin in the combined at last season's world championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Last season, Vlhova became the first Slovakian to win the overall World Cup title. She trails Shiffrin by just 17 points in the overall standings this season, with a few more weeks of racing remaining after the Olympics.
___
More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press
