Jan Hudec

Jan Hudec
— Alpine skier —
Disciplines Downhill, Super-G
Club Banff Alpine Racers
Born (1981-08-19) August 19, 1981
Šumperk, Czechoslovakia
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
World Cup debut February 2, 2002 (age 20)
Website janhudec.com
Olympics
Teams 2 – (2010, 2014)
Medals 1 (0 gold)
World Championships
Teams 5 – (2003, 2007–13)
Medals 1 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons 11th – (2004–14)
Wins 2 – (2 DH)
Podiums 5 – (3 DH, 2 SG)
Overall titles 0 – (16th in 2012)
Discipline titles 0 – (6th in SG, 2012)
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Representing  Canada
Olympic Games
2014 Sochi Super-G
World Championships
2007 Åre Downhill

Jan Hudec, Jr. (born August 19, 1981) is a Former Canadian Czech-born World Cup alpine ski racer (2002-2015), who has decided to represent the Czech Republic (2016-present) in all future FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Events, specializing in the speed events of downhill and super-G. Beset by injuries for several seasons, he returned to World Cup form in 2012 at age 30 and gained his second victory. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, Hudec won the bronze medal in the super-G at Rosa Khutor. It was the first Olympic medal for Canada in men's alpine skiing in 20 years.[1]

Life and career

Born in Šumperk, Czechoslovakia, Hudec defected in a homemade raft with his parents to West Germany while an infant.[2] The family moved to Canada in 1986 and settled in Red Deer, Alberta, where Jan Sr. was a ski coach. In 1993 the Hudecs, now a family of four with younger brother Phil, moved to Banff where both parents worked at the Banff Mountain Ski Academy.[3]

Hudec emerged as a World Cup downhiller in February 2007; he won the silver medal in downhill at the 2007 World Championships in Åre, Sweden, followed up with a fifth place at Garmisch, Germany. That November he won his first World Cup event, a downhill in Lake Louise, but suffered a season-ending knee injury while training in Switzerland two months later. In January 2009, Hudec had a comeback at the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen, Switzerland, where he finished eighth, but three weeks later an injury at the 2009 World Championships downhill in Val-d'Isère, France, ended his 2009 season.

In the following two seasons, Hudec battled injuries and had just one top-ten result, a tenth-place finish in March 2011. His results improved significantly in the 2012 season, which included his second World Cup victory in February at the Kandahar downhill in Chamonix, France.[4] Later that month he ascended his first World Cup super-G podium as the runner-up at Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

At the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Hudec competed in several events, and was twentieth in the downhill. Hudec next competed in the super-G and won bronze, tied with Bode Miller.[1] After the race he noted to local media that had buried a lucky loonie at the finish line of the race. Upon commenting he noted to CBC Sports that "Who cares if it helped. That loonie is worth more than a buck now, I can tell you that."[1] The medal was the first for Canada in alpine skiing at the Olympics in twenty years.[1]

World Cup results

Season standings

Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
slalom 		Super-G Downhill Combined
2003 21 123 — — 44 — —
2004 22 116 — — 36 — —
2005 23 91 — — 45 37 —
2006 24 injured, out for season
2007 25 69 — — 29 31 —
2008 26 37 — — 24 13 —
2009 27 101 — — — 39 —
2010 28 102 — — 38 44 —
2011 29 75 — — 45 26 —
2012 30 16 — — 6 9 —
2013 31 35 — — 15 21 —
2014 32 34 — — 11 24 —
2015 33 82 — — 30 43 —

Top ten finishes

SeasonDateLocationDisciplinePlace
2005Nov 27, 2004 Lake Louise, Canada Downhill 7th
2007Feb 24, 2007 Garmisch, Germany Downhill 5th
2008Nov 24, 2007 Lake Louise, Canada Downhill 1st
Nov 25, 2007 Super-G 8th
Dec 3, 2007 Beaver Creek, USA Super-G 9th
Dec 14, 2007 Val Gardena, Italy Super-G 9th
Dec 29, 2007 Bormio, Italy Downhill 3rd
2009Jan 17, 2009 Wengen, Switzerland Downhill 8th
2011Mar 11, 2011 Kvitfjell, Norway Downhill 10th
2012Nov 27, 2011 Lake Louise, Canada Super-G 4th
Dec 16, 2011 Val Gardena, Italy Super-G 10th
Jan 21, 2012 Kitzbühel, Austria Downhill 10th
Feb 3, 2012 Chamonix, France Downhill 6th
Feb 4, 2012 Downhill 1st
Feb 24, 2012 Crans-Montana, Switzerland Super-G 2nd
Feb 25, 2012 Super-G 5th
Mar 8, 2012 Kvitfjell, Norway Super-G 6th
Mar 14, 2012 Schladming, Austria Downhill 8th
2013Dec 1, 2012 Beaver Creek, USA Super-G 10th
Mar 2, 2013 Kvitfjell, Norway Downhill 6th
2014Dec 1, 2013 Lake Louise, Canada Super-G 10th
Dec 6, 2013 Beaver Creek, USA Downhill 7th
Dec 20, 2013 Val Gardena, Italy Super-G 2nd

Videos


World Championship results

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 slalom  		Super-G Downhill Combined
2003 21 — — 7 — —
2005 23 — — — — —
2007 25 — — 7 2 —
2009 27 — — — DNF —
2011 29 — — DNF 25 —
2013 31 — — 12 9 —

Olympic results

  Year    Age   Slalom  Giant
 slalom  		Super-G Downhill Combined
2010 28 — — 24 25 —
2014 32 — — 3 21 —

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Ng, Curtis (February 16, 2014). "Jan Hudec bronze snaps Canadian alpine medal drought". cbc.ca. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  2. ↑ FIS Alpine.com – Five things you should know about Jan Hudec – February 8, 2012.
  3. ↑ janhudec.com – bio – accessed February 24, 2012.
  4. ↑ Ski Racing.com – Hudec leads 1–3–5 Canadian showing in Chamonix – February 4, 2012.
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