Best athletes from Slovenia in the last decade

IMAGE: Getty Images

Slovenia is a small country. Its population at the moment is just over two million. However, all of a sudden they have produced some incredible sports stars. The most popular at the moment is without a doubt Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic. Just last night he put up 20 points in a 124-97 Dallas win over the Golden State Warriors. The native of Ljubljana is putting up triple doubles at an unbelievable pace. However he is not the only sports star from Slovenia. Here are six others from the last decade.

5) Urska Zolnir/Tina Trstenjak–Slovenia’s only two Olympic gold medalists from the Summer Olympics this past decade came in judo. Urska Zolnir placed first in the women’s 63 kilogram division at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and Tina Trsetenjak won gold in the women’s 63 kilogram division at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

4) Janja Garnbret–A six-time gold medalist at the World Climbing Championships, Garnbret became the first athlete to win all bouldering World Cup events in a single season  in 2019. If you have not heard of Garnbret yet, you soon will. She will be the face of the Slovenian Olympic team when sport climbing makes its debut at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

3) Peter Prevc— At the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, ski jumper Peter Prevc won a silver medal in the normal hill and a bronze medal in the large hill. He also won three medals (one silver and two bronze) in ski jumping at the World Nordic Skiing Championships.

2) Anze Kopitar– A two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Los Angeles Kings, Anze Kopitar has played in four NHL All-Star Games, won two Selke Trophies (2016 and 2018) and the 2016 Lady Byng Trophy. The best hockey player to ever come out of Slovenia, the current Kings captain in the National Hockey League has 328 goals and 600 assists for 928 points in 1051 games since 2006.

1) Tina Maze–Even though Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States dominated women’s alpine skiing in the last decade, Tina Maze has been able to put together a strong resume herself. A four-time Olympic medalist, she won silver in women’s super giant slalom and giant slalom at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, and then won gold in the women’s downhill and giant slalom at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. She also won nine medals, including four gold medals, at the World Alpine Skiing Championships from 2009 to 2015.