Primož Peterka

Primož Peterka
Peterka in 2004
Country	Slovenia
Born	(1979-02-28) 28 February 1979 Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Personal best	212 m (696 ft) Planica, 18 Mar 2000
World Cup career
Seasons	1996–2009
Starts	230
Podiums	32
Wins	15
Overall titles	2 (1997, 1998)
Four Hills titles	1 (1997)
Ski Flying titles	1 (1997)
JP titles	1 (1998)
Medal record Men's ski jumping Olympic Games 2002 Salt Lake City Team LH World Championships 2005 Oberstdorf Team NH
Updated on 10 February 2016.

Primož Peterka (Slovene pronunciation: [ˈpriːmɔʃ ˈpeːtərka] ; born 28 February 1979) is a Slovenian former ski jumper who competed from 1996 to 2011. He is one of the most successful athletes from Slovenia, having won fifteen Ski Jumping World Cup competitions, two consecutive Ski Jumping World Cup titles, a Ski Flying World Cup title, and the Four Hills Tournament. Peterka currently works as an assistant coach in the Slovenian women's ski jumping team.

Career

Peterka was born in Prikrnica, near Ljubljana, Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia). He started ski jumping on a small hill (with a K-point at around 20 metres) near his hometown of Moravče, a small town about 30 km north-east from Ljubljana. He later joined the Triglav ski club in Kranj.

1995–1996

Peterka made his World Cup debut on 4 January 1996. Due to the poor performance of Slovenian jumpers at the time, Peterka was brought in as a replacement for the Four Hills Tournament event in Innsbruck, where he finished eighth. This was considered a superb result, thereby making him the leading jumper for Slovenia. Peterka continued his good form, winning the events in Zakopane and Falun, and finishing the season ninth overall. He also finished second behind Michael Uhrmann at the 1996 Junior World Championships.

1996–1997

Peterka at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1997

The 1996/97 season was a great success for Peterka. He won seven individual World Cup events, and the Four Hills Tournament. Peterka dominated the overall World Cup standings as only one competitor (Dieter Thoma) finished within 200 points. Peterka finished on top the ski flying standings. On 9 February 1997, Peterka became the first Slovenian to record a jump over 200 metres, landing a 203 m jump at Kulm.

1997–98

Peterka at Holmenkollen in 1998

The 1997/98 season was also successful. Peterka won four individual events and a second consecutive World Cup title, defeating Kazuyoshi Funaki in the final event of the season. At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Peterka claimed fifth place in the individual large hill event and sixth in the individual normal hill event.

Later career

Peterka underwent a personality crisis after his success, with significant drop in results. During this time, details of his personal life were discussed in public, mostly his clashes with officials and his relationship with Renata Bohinc, a Slovenian beauty queen who won in 1996.

A turning point in Peterka's life and career came in 2001 when his son was born. In the 2001/02 World Cup season, Peterka returned to the ski jumping elite. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he won the bronze team medal. The 2002/03 season was also successful, with Peterka winning two individual events (Kuusamo and Garmisch-Partenkirchen) and finishing the season seventh overall.

From 2004 onwards, Peterka never again managed to finish in the top 10 in an individual World Cup event. However, at the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf he won another bronze team medal for Slovenia, together with Jure Bogataj, Rok Benkovič and Jernej Damjan. This made Peterka the first Slovenian ski jumper to win medals both at the Olympics and at the World Championships. After the 2010/11 season, Peterka officially retired from competitive ski jumping.

Film

Three sports documentary films were made about his life and career. The first was called Vleci, Primož ("Fly, Primož") and was directed by Beno Hvala in 1997, detailing the story of Peterka's early career. The second, Peterka: leto odločitve ("Peterka: Year of Decision"), was directed by Vlado Škafar in 2002 and focuses on the personality crisis of a young champion who struggles to find his way back to the top. The third one was made in 2011 for TV Slovenia, called Skoki so moje življenje (Ski jumping is my life), directed by Tomaž Kovšca. Screenplay by Aleš Potočnik and Polona Bertoncelj.

World Cup

Standings

Season	Overall	4H	SF	NT	JP
1995/96	10	38	—	N/A	9
1996/97				6
1997/98		22		10
1998/99	27	28	20	41	31
1999/00	67	51	—	—	66
2000/01	—	—	—	—	N/A
2001/02	25	13	N/A	13	N/A
2002/03	7	5	N/A	21	N/A
2003/04	45	28	N/A	33	N/A
2004/05	34	38	N/A	24	N/A
2005/06	32	21	N/A	33	N/A
2006/07	81	—	N/A	—	N/A
2007/08	40	71	N/A	39	N/A
2008/09	47	45	20	—	N/A

Wins

No.	Season	Date	Location	Hill	Size
1	1995/96	27 January 1996	Zakopane	Wielka Krokiew K116	LH
2		13 March 1996	Falun	Lugnet K90	NH
3	1996/97	8 December 1996	Kuusamo	Rukatunturi K120	LH
4		15 December 1996	Harrachov	Čerťák K120	LH
5		1 January 1997	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K115	LH
6		11 January 1997	Engelberg	Gross-Titlis-Schanze K120	LH
7		12 January 1997	Engelberg	Gross-Titlis-Schanze K120	LH
8		9 February 1997	Tauplitz/Bad Mitterndorf	Kulm K185	FH
9		13 March 1997	Falun	Lugnet K115 (night)	LH
10	1997/98	18 January 1998	Zakopane	Wielka Krokiew K116	LH
11		8 March 1998	Lahti	Salpausselkä K116	LH
12		11 March 1998	Falun	Lugnet K115 (night)	LH
13		15 March 1998	Oslo	Holmenkollbakken K112	LH
14	2002/03	29 November 2002	Kuusamo	Rukatunturi K120	LH
15		1 January 2003	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K115	LH

External links

• Primož Peterka at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
• Holmenkollen winners since 1892 – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file (in Norwegian)