Primož Peterka () is a Slovenian former

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fin ...

who competed from 1996 to 2011. He is one of the most successful athletes from Slovenia, having won fifteen individual

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

competitions, two consecutive overall World Cup titles, a Ski Flying World Cup title, and the Four Hills Tournament.

Career

Peterka 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 northeast from Ljubljana. He later joined the Triglav ski club in

Kranj Kranj (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fourth-largest city in Slovenia and the largest urban center of the traditional region of Upper Carniola (northwestern Slovenia) and the Slovene Alps. It is located approximately northwest o ...

1995–1996

Peterka made his

debut on 4 January 1996. Due to the poor performance of Slovenian competitors at the time, Peterka was brought in as a replacement for the Four Hills Tournament event in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, where he finished eighth. Peterka continued his good form, winning the competitions in

Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has ...

and

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabit ...

, and finished the season tenth overall. He also finished second behind Michael Uhrmann at the 1996 Junior World Championships.

1996–1997

The 1996–97 season was a great success for Peterka. He won seven individual World Cup competitions and won both the overall World Cup title and the Four Hills Tournament. He also finished first in the

ski flying Ski flying is a winter sport discipline derived from ski jumping, in which much greater distances can be achieved. It is a form of competitive individual sport, individual Nordic skiing where athletes descend at high speed along a specially de ...

standings. On 9 February 1997, Peterka became the first Slovenian to record a jump over 200 metres, landing at 203 metres in Kulm.

1997–1998

In the 1997–98 season, Peterka won four individual competitions and a second consecutive World Cup title, defeating Kazuyoshi Funaki in the final competition of the season. At the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

in Nagano, Peterka claimed fifth place in the individual large hill competition and sixth in the individual normal hill competition.

Later career

In the 2001–02 World Cup season, Peterka returned to the ski jumping elite. At the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, he won the bronze team medal. The 2002–03 season was also successful, with Peterka winning two individual events (

Kuusamo Kuusamo (; ; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is located in Koillismaa, the northeastern part of the Northern Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. The municipality h ...

and

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; ) is an Northern Limestone Alps, Alpine mountain resort, ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district), district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ...

) and finishing the season seventh overall. From 2004 onwards, Peterka never finished in the top 10 in an individual World Cup event. However, at the 2005 World Championships in

Oberstdorf Oberstdorf (Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in German ...

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.

Personal life

Peterka was born in Prikrnica, near

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, Slovenia (then part of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

). His younger brother Uroš was also a ski jumper.

World Cup

Standings

Individual wins

In popular culture

Three sports documentary films have been made about his life and career. The first is called ''Vleci, Primož'' () and was directed by Beno Hvala in 1997, detailing the story of Peterka's early career. The second, ''Peterka: leto odločitve'' (), was directed by Vlado Škafar in 2003 and focuses on Peterka's personal crisis and his struggle to find his way back to the top. The third was made in 2011 by

RTV Slovenija Radiotelevizija Slovenija () – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija, RTV SLO (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadcasting centres in Koper and Ma ...

, called ''Skoki so moje življenje'' (), directed by Tomaž Kovšca and starring Aleš Potočnik and Polona Bertoncelj.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterka, Primoz 1979 births Living people Skiers from Ljubljana Ski jumpers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Slovenian male ski jumpers Olympic ski jumpers for Slovenia Olympic bronze medalists for Slovenia Olympic medalists in ski jumping FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in ski jumping Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen