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Zrinka Ljutic is a Croatian Alpine skier who is a star for the future. The world has already seen a few glimpses of her talent during the 2022 World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships in Canada.
Ljutic also competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The 18-year-old Alpine skier competes in the Women's Slalom and Women's giant Slalom. At the 2022 World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships in Canada, she claimed one gold and one bronze medal in the Women's Slalom and Women's Giant Slalom.
The world junior champion also finished fifth in the slalom at the World Cup Finals in Meribel, France. She has also finished in the top ten three times this season, according to the Olympics official website. Zrinka will be looking forward to competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
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Zrinka Ljutic opens up about her families support, favorite music, working hard, and many more
The Croatian Alpine Skier was interviewed by Olympics.com ahead of the 2022/2023 season. During the interview, Zrinka Ljutic claimed that being an Alpine skier from Croatia is 'definitely hard'.
The alpine skier said:
"We come from a country where you have only two mountains where you can ski. Both of them are pretty small and they have just a bit of snow in winter, so we have to travel a lot and, of course, you have to spend a lot more money. It's been really hard. That's why the whole family had to be involved."
Zrinka Ljutic funded herself until she was able to enter her first FIS (Federation of International Skiing) event. She made her entry into the Croatian national team two years ago. Ljutic stated that her love for alpine skiing came at a pretty young age. She continued:
"My father put me on skis when I was two or three years old, and from there we've been just skiing every winter. We've been a whole winter in one Austrian small village called Innerkrems. So we would ski there like every day.”
Zrinka's nickname is Zizi and she is the second of four siblings. Her father Amir was a coach for the Croatian ski club, according to the Olympics website. Ljutic said that she followed her father and started skiing for the club.
She would keep on developing herself every year from that moment. The Alpine skier claimed that skiing came pretty naturally to her.
Speaking about her family, who is a constant support for her, Zrinka said
"I think that's something that you don't see so often in other countries that have everything: they have resources, the snow, the money, like Austrians or Swiss. Having your family around you can also present its advantages. It's like you almost have a home with you all the time."
The young Alpine skiing star continued:
"Wherever you go, you kind of have that person who's really close to you and whom you can open up to and share the moments, you know, good or bad, and they know you the best. So that helps also in the training process and everything, but it just helps you calm down and enjoy more."
Zrinka Ljutic then opened up about talent and hard work. She said,
"They say I was really talented since when I was little. So I knew that I had something maybe a bit more special than the others"
The Croatian skier claimed that everyone told her that she was talented when she was a kid. She further stated that her older brother, Tvrtko, was not very talented but he had a hunger for the sport which helped him make his entry into the national team. Zrinka Ljutic also added that her younger brother Hrvoje and younger sister Dora are also skiing.
The junior world champion said seeing her siblings, ski motivates her. According to the Olympics' official website, Zrinka Ljutic sharing her journey with her family has helped her to find more confidence. Speaking about her journey so far, the Alpine skier said:
"I am from Croatia, I am like the girl who got there almost done. It feels like I have been working harder than probably most of the Austrian, Swiss or Italian girls, who had almost everything. "
Zrinka Ljutic claimed that she talks a lot sometimes and is an open person. She also likes a wide range of sports. The junior world champion enjoys windsurfing, kite surfing, snowboarding, and surfing. In addition to that, she also loves music and enjoys playing the guitar.
The Croatian Alpine skier stated that she is a huge fan of Foo Fighters singer and musician Dave Grohl. Speaking about her interest in music, Zrinka Ljutic said:
"We play the same kind of stuff like rock punk. But I like also pop and some of the modern stuff, mostly rock, My ideal playlist is Led Zeppelin for sure, and Rage Against the Machine also. They just have such good beats, like the drums and the bass, it gets me moving all the time. So I play that often before training or before the start (of a race)."
She then spoke about her idols Ivica Kostelic and Janica Kostelic. But Zrinka Ljutic admitted that she doesn't remember watching either of the former Croatian Alpine skiers on TV. The junior world champion said that she was too young when Janica retired from the sport. She only remembers Ivica during his last few years.
But the young Alpine skier claimed that she had heard stories and watched footage of Ivica and Janica which were inspiring to her. Other athletes admired by Zrinka Ljutic are Marcel Hirscher (Austrian Alpine Skier), Mikaela Shiffrin (American Alpine Skier), and Petra Vlhova (Slovak Alpine Skier).
According to Ljutic, Marcel Hischer is her biggest idol in skiing. In the summer, Zrinka was in Ushuaia, Argentina, for her training. She trained alongside giant Slalom champion Sara Hector, Anna Swenn-Larsson, and a few more Swedish athletes. Speaking about her experience training with some senior Alpine skiers, Zrinka Ljutic said:
"They welcomed me and my team as one of them and they were cheering me up on my bad days. What all of them were advising is that you just have to enjoy the journey and just have fun. They are a lot older than me and you can really see that they lasted so long just because they really enjoyed the journey so much."
One of her idols, Janica Kostelic, had shared some words of advice with her. Janica had told Zrinka Ljutic that she should not grow up too fast. Towards the end of her interview with the official website of the Olympics, the junior world champion said:
"I want to show my good skiing and I want to show that I'm hungry and that I'm confident. And I think, when I do that, the results will come eventually."
Zrinka Ljutic has an enormous amount of confidence in her skills and the hard work she puts in to succeed. We can definitely expect to perform excellently at the 2026 Winter Olympics and maybe she can even win an Olympic medal for her country.
