Yanqing (China) (AFP) - Slovakia's newly crowned Olympic slalom champion Petra Vlhova will skip the downhill and alpine combined at the Beijing Games after picking up an ankle injury, it was confirmed Sunday.
Vlhova's brother Boris Vlha told AFP that the 26-year-old had opted to rest her left ankle and "prepare for the remainder of the season".
Vlhova is current world silver medallist in the combined and would have been one of the favourites for Thursday's race.
Vlhova is also the reigning World Cup overall champion, standing second in this season's rankings 17 points behind American Mikaela Shiffrin.
Female racing on the World Cup circuit resumes with a super-G and giant slalom on March 5-6 at the Swiss resort of Lenzerheide.
