Rok Petrovic

Rok Petrovič (born February 5 1966 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, died September 16 1993 in Vela Luka, Croatia) was a Slovenian alpine skier.

Rok is a son of Krešimir Petrović, a well known sports psychologist of Croatian origin. His first success is a 1983 junior world champion slalom title in Sestrieres, Italy.

After this his advancing towards slalom peak is steep. In 1985/86 he seems to be simply unbeatable in slaloms, his rivals can only wait for mistakes in his highly offensive skiing style. That season he wins 5 races and is second in Sankt Anton, Austria and third in Geilo, Norway, thus clearly winning the World Cup slalom title and becoming the first Slovenian with a crystal globe.

After champion season he cannot find a champion form anymore, he only "warns" of his champion season with the second place behind his team mate Bojan Križaj at the unforgetable race in Kranjska Gora next season.

That's why he quits skiing in 1988 and starts studying at the Faculty of sports in Ljubljana. He graduates in 1991 and continues with a post graduate study. He should defend his M.Sc. thesis in the autumn of 1993 but right before the defending he takes a short break at the Croatian island Korčula and drowns during diving.

Altogether he won 5 World Cup races, all in slalom and all in his champion season 1985/86: