John Kucera

John Kucera (born September 17, 1984) is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from Canada.

John Kucera

Kucera in December 2006
Personal information
Born	(1984-09-17) September 17, 1984 (age 40) 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 Men's alpine skiing Representing  Canada World Championships 2009 Val-d'Isère Downhill

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

Season standings

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

• 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

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

Year	Age	Slalom	Giant  slalom	Super-G	Downhill	Combined
2006	21	—	—	22	27	17

References

1. "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.
2. "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.
3. Rebuilding World Cup skier John Kucera Toronto Sun January 4, 2011.
4. "John Kucera retires and will pursue coaching career - FIS-SKI". www.fis-ski.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014.

External links

• 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