Michal Martikán

Michal Martikán (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmixal ˈmaɾtikaːn]; born 18 May 1979) is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has been competing at the international level since 1994.[1] In 1996 he became the first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for Slovakia since the country gained independence in 1993. In total he won 5 Olympic medals (2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze), which is the most among all slalom paddlers.[2] He has also won the World Championship title in the C1 individual category four times. He is considered by many the greatest C1 slalom paddler alive.

Michal Martikán
Martikán in 2019
Personal information
NationalitySlovak
Born (1979-05-18) 18 May 1979
Liptovský Mikuláš, Czechoslovakia
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight72 kg (159 lb)
Sport
CountrySlovakia
SportCanoe slalom
Event(s)C1
ClubKTK Dukla Liptovský Mikuláš

Career

At the age of 16, Michal Martikán became the youngest winner of a World Cup slalom canoeing event.[3] Three months later, at age 17, Martikán was in sixth place after the first run of the canoe slalom singles event at the 1996 Olympics. With nothing to lose, he went all out on the second run and just bettered the score of defending champion Lukáš Pollert of the Czech Republic. Martikán was the first Olympic champion to represent independent Slovakia. He entered the 2000 Olympics as the favourite, having consistently finished near the top in every major competition and in each World Cup series. At the Sydney Games, Martikán registered the best score in the qualifying round, but was only in fifth place after the first run of the final. In the second run, he paddled a perfect course and his time was the fastest of the round. He was able to move up to the silver medal position behind Tony Estanguet of France. Competing in his third Olympics in 2004, Martikán again led the qualifying round. He also earned the highest score in the semi-finals, which also served as the first run of the final. After the second run, it appeared that Martikán had regained the Olympic title, but the referees controversially decided to award him a two-second penalty which pushed him to second place, only 12 hundredths of a second behind Estanguet. Martikán regained the Olympic title at the 2008 games in Beijing.[4] At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London Martikán took bronze. Michal Martikán is the only slalom canoeist to win five Olympic medals, one in each of the five games from 1996 through 2012.

At the World Championships, Martikán had an uninterrupted medal run in the individual C1 event between 1995 and 2010. The 2011 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships saw him finish outside the medals for the first time in an Olympic or World Championship individual race in his career. Ironically, this failure came in front of a home crowd on the Čunovo course near Bratislava. However, he managed to win gold in the team event with his Slovak teammates to prolong his medal run. He won another six gold medals in the C1 team event between 2013 and 2019, making it 17 straight World Championships with a medal.

He won his first medals in 1995 when he was just 16. He took a bronze in the C1 event and another bronze in the C1 team event. In 1997 he won his first individual world title as well as team gold. He won the individual C1 event on three more occasions (2002, 2003 and 2007). As of 2019 he has a total of 23 World Championship medals (15 golds, 3 silvers and 5 bronzes) which is more than any other slalom paddler in any category.

He has also won the overall World Cup title five times (1998, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2014), which is a record among C1 paddlers.

At the European Championships he has won four straight individual golds between 2007 and 2010. Slovakia won the C1 team event 10 times with him in the team. He also has 6 silvers (4 individual and 2 in team event) and 2 bronzes (1 individual and 1 in the team event).

Martikán is coached by his father Jozef.[5]

World Cup individual podiums

Season Date Venue Position Event
19952 July 1995Tacen2ndC1
199621 April 1996Ocoee1stC1
16 June 1996Augsburg3rdC1
19976 July 1997Bratislava1stC1
199821 June 1998Tacen1stC1
28 June 1998Augsburg3rdC1
13 September 1998La Seu d'Urgell1stC1
199915 August 1999Bratislava3rdC1
22 August 1999Augsburg1stC1
3 October 1999Penrith2ndC1
200030 April 2000Penrith1stC1
9 July 2000La Seu d'Urgell1stC1
30 July 2000Augsburg2ndC1
200110 June 2001Tacen1stC1
29 July 2001Augsburg3rdC1
9 September 2001Wausau1stC1
200221 July 2002Augsburg3rdC1
28 July 2002Tacen1stC1
200311 May 2003Penrith3rdC1
6 July 2003La Seu d'Urgell1stC1
3 August 2003Bratislava2ndC1
200423 April 2004Athens2ndC1
11 July 2004Prague3rdC1
25 July 2004Bourg St.-Maurice3rdC1
20051 October 2005Penrith3rdC11
200628 May 2006Athens1stC1
4 June 2006Augsburg2ndC1
11 June 2006La Seu d'Urgell3rdC1
2 July 2006L'Argentière-la-Bessée2ndC12
6 August 2006Prague2ndC11
200730 June 2007Prague2ndC1
8 July 2007Tacen1stC1
200816 March 2008Penrith1stC13
20095 July 2009Bratislava1stC1
20119 July 2011Markkleeberg1stC1
201324 August 2013Bratislava1stC1
20147 June 2014Lee Valley3rdC1
14 June 2014Tacen2ndC1
21 June 2014Prague1stC1
2 August 2014La Seu d'Urgell3rdC1
20154 July 2015Liptovský Mikuláš1stC1
20172 July 2017Markkleeberg1stC1
1 World Championship counting for World Cup points
2 European Championship counting for World Cup points
3 Oceania Championship counting for World Cup points

Awards

Manslaughter conviction

In November 1997 Martikán was involved in a car accident near the village of Velké Zálužie, Slovakia.[6] The car he was driving hit a pedestrian causing him fatal injuries. The investigation concluded that Martikán was traveling substantially over the 40 km/h speed limit. It was also found that the killed man was highly intoxicated at the time of the accident, in dark outside the inhabited area.

With Martikán facing actual incarceration due to the violation of his probation terms (during his Australia's training camp he should process the license returning, a day after returning home while picking up the letter from the post office about driving license returning, the police surprisingly wait for him outside the building and he got in troubles...), then-president Rudolf Schuster, amid grave criticism, granted Martikán a presidential pardon,[7] which besides sparing him from jail time effectively meant removal of the conviction from his criminal record. Schuster argued that Martikán's positive athletic representation of the country abroad warranted the pardon, while critics pointed to the double standard and the preferential treatment Martikán was receiving as a sport celebrity.

See also

References

  1. "Michal MARTIKAN (SVK)". CanoeSlalom.net. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  2. "Michal Martikán". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  3. "Seeing is believing for Slovakia's Martikan"Reuters. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  4. "GB's Florence claims canoe silver". BBC Sport. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
  5. "Michal Martikán (SVK)". CanoeICF.com. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  6. "Olympic winner kills a pedestrian". The Slovak Spectator. 4 December 1997. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
  7. "Amnesties a relic of feudal powers". The Slovak Spectator. 29 January 2001. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Slavomír Kňazovický
Flagbearer for  Slovakia
Athens 2004
Succeeded by
Elena Kaliská
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