John Kucera

John Kucera ( born September 17, 1984 in Calgary, Alberta ) is a Canadian alpine skier.

The all-rounder Kucera is repeated as national champion one of the most successful active Canadian skiers. Although he very successfully launched in the Super-G at the World Cup and there so far was able to record his only win, he won his biggest title, the gold medal at the 2009 World Championships in the downhill. Also in the giant slalom Canadians successfully goes to the starting line as well as in the slalom, which is a good situation for the Alpine combination forms, in which he also already achieved several top ten results.

Biography

Kucera played his first ski race at the age of five years. From the end of 1999 he went regularly with the staged in Canada and the United States FIS races at the start, almost a year later in Nor- Am Cup. Here he developed in the following years, one of the strongest runners in the disciplines of downhill, super -G and giant slalom. At the Junior World Championships in 2003, he placed himself in tenth position in the super -G, in the following year, he was twelfth in the downhill. Also at the Canadian championships he improved after he had come back in 2002 in the giant slalom for the first time in the Top Ten. As a fifth in the two speed events at the championship in March 2004, he recommended strongly supported the national ski team, in which he was taken early in the season 2004/ 05. That winter he not only started to Nor- Am Cup, where he triumphed both in the standings and in the discipline ratings of Super - G and downhill, but also played his first World Cup competitions. Missed the Canadians there in the race of Lake Louise or the top 30, he collected in January 2005 in the combination of the Wengen Lauberhorn race in twelfth few points. So he traveled to the World Ski Championships in Bormio in 2005, where he was both the exit ( the 16th ) and in the combination best ( ninth ) Canadians. In the remaining World Cup race of the season Kucera placed respectively at the 30th place, so he still got more points for the World Cup, but the connection to the top riders he was not. At the end of the season he played exclusively competitions in Nor- Am Cup, there to secure the overall standings, and succeeded him. He finished the winter with two silver medals at the Canadian Championship in giant slalom and Super -G.

As in the first season remained Kucera in winter 2005/ 06 is always behind the world's top back and was able to place each in 15th place in only two combinations. Nevertheless, the association nominated him to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, where he 22 was 17 in the combination in the Super G and 27th in downhill. Although he again handed in end of the season strong competitions in the Nor- Am Cup, he did not defend the overall and classified in this ultimately eighth. The national championships, he finished with a double victory in Super -G and giant slalom and a silver medal in the downhill. Although John Kucera had never been in the World Cup in the top ten, he surprisingly managed to start the 2006/07 season in the Super -G in Lake Louise, his first World Cup victory. With the start number one Canadian had submitted a time at which also failed him following favorites. At the same time he finished so that a failure of skiers series of his country, who had not celebrated the World Cup victory in two years, and even since 1988, no longer in the super -G. This power he confirmed in Val Gardena, as he also finished third in the Super -G. With another top ten results as a fifth place in the giant slalom at the World Ski Championships in 2007, he went in Åre to the start, where his best result was the twelfth place in the giant slalom. Two more silver medals at the Canadian Championship, this time in the downhill and super -G, put the final stroke of the Canadians for the hitherto successful season, which he finished in third place in the super-G World Cup discipline.

Also in World Cup In 2007, Kucera continues his good results, but not quite able to another podium result he only just missed out in fourth place in the giant slalom on the Gran Risa in Alta Badia. With three more gold medals in super G, combined and downhill he also took those winter successfully at the Canadian championships, also it still succeeded in the last World Cup, another fifth-place finish in the giant slalom, in which he scored the best rankings this season. The winter of 2008/ 09 began with a second place in the Super -G, again in Lake Louise. However, in the following races he missed becoming the top 10, this series broke only when he was sixth in the combination of Kitzbühel in his last competition before the World Championships. The World Ski Championships 2009 in Val d'Isere, he started with a good sixth place in the Super- G, he 7 February 2009 exceeded even when he won the gold medal in the downhill and so became world champion. Like only a few other riders, including the two Swiss medalists Didier Cuche and Carlo Janka, the Canadian case managed a nearly flawless ride, which was also favored because he - unlike most of the later starting top riders - had good visibility; this deteriorated due to fog. Due to this good performance of the Canadians reached the first world title in the men's Alpine area for his country, although he never before had in this discipline in the top five in the World Cup classified. Kucera himself explained his success, which was considered by many media as a sensational victory, the fact that he was a good super-G driver and his route would therefore come to meet.

On November 29, 2009 Kucera suffered in a fall in the super -G of Lake Louise an open tibia and fibula fracture in the left lower leg. He could, therefore, for the rest of the season 2009/10 deny any races and was also missing at the Olympic Winter Games 2010 in his home country. Also in the 2010/11 season he could not participate in any competitions. He played in preparation for return to the World Cup several races as a precursor, but injured his left shin on again. As a result, he had 2011/12 pause one more season, until November 2012, he returned after a three year break from competition in the World Cup.

Achievements

Olympic games

  • Turin 2006: 17 combination, 22 Super -G, downhill 27

World Championships

  • Bormio 2005: 9 combination, exit 16, 25, Super -G
  • Åre 2007: 12 Giant Slalom, Super-G, 30, 31 downhill, 32 Super Combined
  • Val d'Isere 2009: first departure, 6 Super -G

Junior World Championships

  • Serre Chevalier 2003: 10 Super -G
  • Maribor 2004: 12 Downhill, Slalom 15, 20, Super -G

World Cup

  • Season 2006/ 07: 3 Super - G World Cup
  • 3 podiums, including one victory:

Nor- Am Cup

  • Season 2003/ 04: 8 Appreciation, 6th downhill standings, 6 Super -G standings
  • Season 2004/ 05: 1st overall, 1st exit rating, first super-G standings, 4 giant slalom rating
  • 13 podiums, including 7 victories

Other successes

  • 8 Canadian championship Super -G in 2005, 2006 and 2008
  • Giant Slalom in 2006 and 2009
  • Super Combined in 2008
  • Departure 2005 and 2008
Alpine skiing combined FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 2008 Alpine Skiing World Cup 2007 Alpine Skiing World Cup 2005 Alpine Skiing World Cup Lake Louise (Alberta) FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2005 2006 Alpine Skiing World Cup FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2007 2009 Alpine Skiing World Cup 2010 Alpine Skiing World Cup Alpine skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics Walter Prager Gustav Lantschner David Zogg Franz Zingerle Rudolf Rominger James Couttet Henri Oreiller Christian Pravda Jean Vuarnet Karl Schranz Egon Zimmermann Jean-Claude Killy David Zwilling Franz Klammer Leonhard Stock Harti Weirather Pirmin Zurbriggen Franz Heinzer Urs Lehmann Patrick Ortlieb Bruno Kernen Hermann Maier Hannes Trinkl Michael Walchhofer Bode Miller Erik Guay
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