John Kucera (born September 17, 1984) is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from Canada.
 Kucera in December 2006 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | September 17, 1984 Calgary, Alberta, Canada | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Alpine skier | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Skiing career | |||||||||||||||
| Disciplines | Downhill, super-G, giant slalom, combined | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Calgary Alpine Racing | ||||||||||||||
| World Cup debut | November 27, 2004 (age 20) | ||||||||||||||
| Olympics | |||||||||||||||
| Teams | 1 – (2006) | ||||||||||||||
| Medals | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| World Championships | |||||||||||||||
| Teams | 3 – (2005, 2007, 2009) | ||||||||||||||
| Medals | 1 (1 gold) | ||||||||||||||
| World Cup | |||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 6 – (2005–10) | ||||||||||||||
| Wins | 1 – (1 SG) | ||||||||||||||
| Podiums | 3 – (3 SG) | ||||||||||||||
| Overall titles | 0 – (13th – 2008) | ||||||||||||||
| Discipline titles | 0 – (3rd in SG, 2007) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
Born in Calgary, Alberta, he raced in all five alpine disciplines, focusing on the speed events of downhill and super-G. Kucera is a former world champion in the downhill. His parents immigrated to Canada from Czechoslovakia in 1980.
Kucera made his World Cup debut at age 20 in November 2004, on home snow in Lake Louise, Alberta. Two years later, Lake Louise was the site of his first World Cup victory, a super-G race in November 2006. Three weeks later he made another World Cup podium with a third-place finish in the super-G at Val Gardena, Italy. His next podium came two years later, a second place in the super-G at Lake Louise.
He won the gold medal in the downhill at the 2009 World Championships at Val-d'Isère, France, to become the first Canadian man to win the event at the World Championships.[1]
On November 28, 2009, Kucera finished sixth in the first downhill of the 2010 season at Lake Louise, but fractured his left leg in the super-G the following day. A compound fracture through his left calf, causing him to miss the rest of the 2010 World Cup season and the 2010 Winter Olympics at Whistler.[2]
Kucera returned to the snow a year later in late 2010. As part of his recovery, he was a forerunner for a number of races in North America and Europe.[3] He retired from competition at the end of the 2013-14 World Cup season.[4] As the son of Czech immigrants, Kucera is fluent in Czech. His surname is pronounced kuw-cze-rah.
World Cup results
editSeason standings
edit| Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 20 | 100 | — | — | 51 | 52 | 12 |
| 2006 | 21 | 81 | — | — | 37 | 49 | 24 |
| 2007 | 22 | 23 | — | 15 | 3 | 38 | 22 |
| 2008 | 23 | 13 | — | 10 | 12 | 17 | 31 |
| 2009 | 24 | 24 | — | 50 | 9 | 19 | 13 |
| 2010 | 25 | 99 | — | — | — | 34 | — |
| 2011 | 26 | ||||||
| 2012 | 27 | ||||||
| 2013 | 28 | 113 | — | — | 36 | — | — |
Race podiums
edit- 1 win – (1 SG)
- 3 podiums – (3 SG)
| Season | Date | Location | Discipline | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Nov 26, 2006 |  Lake Louise, Canada |
Super-G | 1st |
| Dec 15, 2006 |  Val Gardena, Italy |
Super-G | 3rd | |
| 2009 | Nov 30, 2008 | Lake Louise, Canada |
Super-G | 2nd |
World Championship results
edit| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 20 | — | — | 25 | 16 | 9 |
| 2007 | 22 | — | 12 | 30 | 31 | 32 |
| 2009 | 24 | — | 44 | 6 | 1 | DNS2 |
Olympic results 
edit
| Year | Age | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 21 | — | — | 22 | 27 | 17 |
References
edit- ^ "Kucera wins gold in men's downhill at World Championships". TSN. February 7, 2009. Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
- ^ "John Kucera to begin rehab process following left leg injury". Alpine Canada Alpin. November 30, 2009. Archived from the original on December 3, 2009. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
- ^ Rebuilding World Cup skier John Kucera Toronto Sun January 4, 2011.
- ^ "John Kucera retires and will pursue coaching career - FIS-SKI". www.fis-ski.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014.
External links
edit- John Kucera at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
- John Kucera World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation
- John Kucera at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
- John Kucera at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- Alpine Canada.org – national ski team – athletes – John Kucera
- Atomic Skis – athletes – John Kucera
