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.
“Having 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’t want to risk making things worse by aiming for a medal in the combined,” Mauro Pini, Vlhova’s coach, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
