Antonín Hájek (; 12 February 1987 – September 2022) was a Czech ski jumper. His specialties included both individual ski jumping and ski flying. Hájek's best result in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

was a fourth place in

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and

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Life and career

Hájek had an accident in

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in 2005, crashing in the trial round; he did not suffer major injuries and walked from the hill by himself. Hájek was involved in a car accident during the spring of 2008, and barely survived. Four months after the accident he could not walk, ruling out a comeback. But he began to train again in February 2009, and made great progress during the summer of 2009. He staged his comeback in Continental Cup in

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in December 2009. His first World Cup competition after his comeback was in

on 9 January 2010, and his fourth place score on that day was his best World Cup result. Hájek jumped 236 m at

Planica Planica () is an Alpine valley in northwestern Slovenia, extending south from the border village of Rateče, not far from another well-known ski resort, Kranjska Gora. Further south, the valley extends into the Tamar Valley, a popular hiking d ...

on 20 March 2010 at the ski flying World Championships; this was the third longest jump in ski jumping history at the time. Hájek's results from the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

were seventh in both the individual and team large hill events, and 21st in the individual normal hill event. His best finish at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship e ...

was ninth in the team large hill event at

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. Hájek retired in September 2015 because of unsatisfying results and health problems. On 10 March 2023, the Czech Ski Association announced that Hájek had been found dead in Malaysia. It was subsequently confirmed that he went missing in

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, and died in September 2022, at the age of 35.

References

External links

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Photo of Hajek's crash
1987 births 2022 deaths Czech male ski jumpers Olympic ski jumpers for the Czech Republic Ski jumpers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2014 Winter Olympics People from Frýdlant Sportspeople from the Liberec Region {{CzechRepublic-skijumping-bio-stub