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Jan Hudec

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Jan Hudec
Personal information
Born (1981-08-19) August 19, 1981 (age 43)
Šumperk, Czechoslovakia
OccupationAlpine skier
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Skiing career
DisciplinesDownhill, Super-G
ClubBanff Alpine Racers
World Cup debutFebruary 2, 2002 (age 20)
Olympics
Teams3 – (2010, 2014, 2018)
Medals1 (0 gold)
World Championships
Teams5 – (2003, 200713, 2017)
Medals1 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons12 – (200415)
Wins2 – (2 DH)
Podiums5 – (3 DH, 2 SG)
Overall titles0 – (16th in 2012)
Discipline titles0 – (6th in SG, 2012)
Medal record
Men's alpine skiing
Representing  Canada
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Sochi Super-G
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2007 Åre Downhill

Jan Hudec Jr. (born August 19, 1981) is a Czech-Canadian alpine ski racer who previously represented Canada until 2016 and specializes 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]

Early life

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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]

Career

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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]

Left off Canada's team for the 2016–17 season, Hudec competed for the Czech Republic at the 2017 World Championships and 2018 Winter Olympics.[5]

In 2019, the native Welsh band 'Papur Wal' released a song commemorating Hudec's childhood and career. Called 'Yn Y Weriniaeth Tsiec' the song translates from Welsh to 'In The Czech Republic'. An upbeat indie classic, the song proved to be a hit in Wales especially among the indie music scene in the country which is spearheaded by the nations young people. Hudec was shown the song recently he described it as 'the best song I've ever heard' following on by thanking Papur Wal and expressing his love and gratitude to the Welsh people and Wales as a country.

World Cup results

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Season standings

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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

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  • 2 wins – (2 DH)
  • 5 podiums – (3 DH, 2 SG)
Season Date Location Discipline Place
2005 Nov 27, 2004 Lake Louise, Canada Downhill 7th
2007 Feb 24, 2007 Garmisch, Germany Downhill 5th
2008 Nov 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
2009 Jan 17, 2009 Wengen, Switzerland Downhill 8th
2011 Mar 11, 2011 Kvitfjell, Norway Downhill 10th
2012 Nov 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
2013 Dec 1, 2012 Beaver Creek, USA Super-G 10th
Mar 2, 2013 Kvitfjell, Norway Downhill 6th
2014 Dec 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

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  • FIS Alpine.com – Jan Hudec speaks Czech (with Ondřej Bank) and talks about his roots – 2011-03-12
  • YouTube.com – Hudec's winning DH run at Lake Louise – 2007-11-24
  • YouTube.com – Jan Hudec wins at Chamonix – from Universal Sports – 2012-02-03

World Championship results

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  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
2015 33
2017 35 32 39

Olympic results

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  Year    Age   Slalom  Giant
 slalom 
Super-G Downhill Combined
2010 28 24 25
2014 32 3 21
2018 36 DNF 45

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Ng, Curtis (February 16, 2014). "Jan Hudec bronze snaps Canadian alpine medal drought". cbc.ca. Archived from the original on February 16, 2014. 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.
  5. ^ Spencer, Donna (November 26, 2017). "Canadian-turned-Czech skier Jan Hudec not giving up on Olympic dream". The Canadian Press. CBC News.
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