Petra Majdič

Petra Majdič
Petra Majdic competing at Tour De Ski 2010
Full name	Petra Majdič
Born	(1979-12-22) December 22, 1979 (age 37) Ljubljana, Slovenia, Yugoslavia
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Ski club	ŠD Atrans Trojane
World Cup career
Seasons	1999–2011
Individual wins	24 (all wins) 16 (World Cup) 6 (Tour de Ski) 2 (World Cup finale)
Indiv. podiums	48
Medal record Women's cross-country skiing Representing  Slovenia Olympic Games 2010 Vancouver Individual sprint World Championships 2007 Sapporo Individual sprint 2011 Oslo Individual sprint
Updated on 2011-03-18.

Petra Majdič (born 22 December 1979 in Ljubljana) is a Slovenian former cross-country skier. Her best results came in classic style races. She won twenty-four World Cup races, twenty in sprint races, but she also won a marathon (30 km race) in Trondheim in 2009. She is the first Slovenian cross-country skier to win the World Cup race, the first to get a medal at the World Championships and the first to get an Olympic medal. With 20 wins, Majdič is the second-most successful sprinter in FIS Cross-Country World Cup history and with 24 wins in total she's the fourth-most successful World Cup competitor of all time.

She first appeared in World Cup on 9 January 1999 in Nové Město, where she ended 10 km classic as 69th. In 2000 she won her first point in Falun with 30th place in 10 km freestyle. She showed talent for sprint events a year later in Asiago, where she earned her first podium for a 3rd-place finish in 1.5 km freestyle sprint. But real breakthrough came late for Majdič; after achieving two more podium finishes in 2002, she struggled for four years to make a major progress. Cross-country skiing was a marginal sport in Slovenia at that time and she was often frustrated about her training conditions and especially about her skis. As a skier from outside the World Cup elite and from a low-ranked country, she was unable to get the same quality skis as her competitors. The only way forward was even more hard work, as only top results could provide her with a chance to get equal terms with others. Her first victory came at the end of successful 2006 season in 1 km classic sprint of Drammen. First win, 3rd place in 45 km classic marathon of Mora and 9th place overall put Majdič in the spotlight for the first time, after so many years of hard work and little payback. She was recognized as the best female athlete in Slovenia and in the 2007 season she was finally able to compete on top skis and with an excellent support team, including a new coach and ski service team. She won three races and grabbed three more podium finishes to end season as 4th overall, 2nd in sprint and 8th in distance. Additionally, she earned a silver in the individual sprint at the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. In the 2008 season, Majdič won her first World Cup title for sprints. In the 2009 season, she profiled herself as a serial winner, winning first four sprints of the season and eight sprints all together, but modified World Cup Finale rules prevented her from winning the World Cup overall. She won her second World Cup title for sprints, however, with a record 879 points and a record 409 points margin ahead of second-placed Arianna Follis.