Mitja Dragšič

Mitja Dragšič ( born July 21, 1979 in Miklavž na Dravskem Polju ) is a former Slovenian skier. He started in the World Cup, first in the slalom and giant slalom and was throughout his career to a pure slalom specialists. Dragšič 1997 World Junior Champion and achieved eight top - 10 finishes in the World Cup. At the World Championships was his best result of eighth place in the slalom in 2005, with his two Olympic appearances four times Slovenian champion remained without result.

Career

First international successes achieved Dragšič 1994 by winning the giant slalom and super -G at Whistler Cup. After he had participated in FIS races from January 1995, he was in Schladming 1997 Junior World Champion in slalom. As such, he was in the final of the 1996/1997 season in Vail made ​​his debut in the World Cup, but resigned in the first slalom passage out. During the next four years, he came only to two other World Cup inserts.

From the 1997/1998 season started Dragšič regularly in the European Cup. The first podium and the first of four European Cup victories get him in February 2001. In the 2000/2001 season, he reached the third and the following winter the second place in the Europa Cup slalom standings. From the 2001/2002 season took Dragšič also regularly participate in slalom and giant slalom at the World Cup. After he initially had no effect, he won on January 6, 2002 with the twelfth place in the slalom in Adelboden his first World Cup points. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he started unlike the World Cup in the combination, but was disqualified in the downhill. In the 2003 World Cup in St. Moritz, he launched addition to the combination, which he finished in 13th place, also in the slalom and giant slalom, where he finished in 19th and 28th place.

In the next few years Dragšič concentrated increasingly on the slalom and denied in December 2003, his last World Cup giant slalom. In this discipline he had never qualified for the second round of the top 30. In World Cup slalom Dragšič reached from November 2002 to December 2004 a total of five top-10 results, with a fourth place in the slalom in Flachau was his best result. At the 2005 World Championships in Bormio, he also achieved a good ranking eighth. However, he also fell out again and again, which meant that he remained in the 2005/2006 season entirely without World Cup points and therefore was not in the Slovenian squad at the Olympic Winter Games in 2006.

In the season 2006/2007 Dragšič could score again in three World Cup slalom races, and finally he succeeded at the end of the 2007/2008 season with sixth place in Garmisch -Partenkirchen, ranked fifth in Zagreb and the fourth in Bormio return to the top. As 16 of the Slalom World Cup he achieved his best overall result in this winter. But subsequently he could not repeat these results. In the 2008/2009 season he drove four times into the top 20, but in the winter of 2009/ 2010, he scored only once and in his last season 2010/2011 he reached in no more World Cup races of the second round. For major events Dragšič had remained without result since 2007. Both at the World Championships in 2007 and 2009 as well as at the Olympic Winter Games 2010, he dropped out in the first slalom run. At the 2011 World Championships he no longer participated. In March 2011 Dragšič announced his retirement from alpine ski racing.

Achievements

World Championships

• St. Moritz 2003 13 combination, 19 Slalom, Giant Slalom 28
• Bormio 2005: 8 Slalom

Junior World Championships

• Schladming 1997: 1 slalom, downhill 8, 8 Super -G
• Megève 1998: 4 Giant Slalom, Super-G, 8, 30, exit
• Pra Loup 1999: 3 Giant Slalom, Super-G, 8th, 10th slalom, 11th departure

World Cup

• 8 placings in the top ten

European Cup

• Season 2000/ 01: 3rd slalom rating
• Season 2001/ 02: 2nd slalom rating
• 14 podium finishes, including 4 victories

Other successes

• 4 Slovenian league titles ( 2002 and 2006 slalom, combined in 1999, Super Combined 2009)
• 2 podiums in Nor- Am Cup
• 12 wins in FIS races