Jakub Grigar (born 27 April 1997) is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2012. He specializes in the K1 discipline and occasionally competes in kayak cross. Grigar competed at two Olympic Games. He finished 5th in the K1 event at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and won the silver medal in the K1 event at the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. He also won two silver medals in the K1 team event at the

ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships are an international event in canoeing organized by the International Canoe Federation. The World Championships have taken place every year in non- Summer Olympic years since 2002. From 1949 to 1999, they ...

, earning them in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Career

Junior

Grigar first appeared at major junior events in 2012 (at age 15) and immediately had success, winning bronze in the K1 event at the World Junior Championships in Wausau. In four World Junior Championships he never finished outside of medals in the individual K1 event, winning 2 golds and 2 bronzes. He also won the K1 title at the 2013 European Championship and a silver at the

2014 Youth Olympic Games The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports ...

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, which was raced on flatwater. Grigar credits two-time Olympic Champion

Elena Kaliská Elena Kaliská (born 19 January 1972) is a retired Slovak slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1988 to 2019. Competing in four Summer Olympics, she won two gold medals in the K1 event, earning them in 2004 and 2008. Kal ...

with helping him in his early years and showing him that canoe slalom is fun.

Under 23

Grigar moved into the U23 category in 2016 as he aged out of the juniors and immediately won gold at the 2016 World Championships in the K1 event. He was able to defend that title one year later in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

. He won another gold and silver medal in the K1 event at the European U23 Championships in 2019 and 2018 respectively.

Senior

Grigar first qualified for the senior national team at the age of 16 in 2013, while still a junior. He made his debut at a major championship at the 2013 European Championships in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

where he finished 21st in K1 and 4th in the K1 team event. He also made his first appearance at the World Senior Championships later that year. He won his first senior medal in 2015 in the K1 team event at the World Championships alongside

Martin Halčin Martin Halčin (born 22 May 1991) is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2008, specializing mostly in the K1 discipline. He occasionally competes in kayak cross as well. He won two silver medals in the K1 ...

and Andrej Málek. His first individual medal came a year later at the World Cup in La Seu d'Urgell, where he finished second only to Vít Přindiš. He qualified for the

, beating his more experienced teammates Halčin and Málek in the internal qualification. Having finished 4th in the heats and then winning the semifinal run, he was the last man to start in the final. He led at the final split in the final run, but then lost time on the last couple of gates and ultimately missed out on the gold medal by 0.90 seconds, finishing in 5th place. The Olympic season was followed by three years (2017-2019) where his results had dropped off at the senior level as he was unable to get on the podium in any of the major events (World Championships, World Cups, European Championships). He skipped the entire 2020 season along with the whole Slovak national team due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. 2021 was a return to form for Grigar. He claimed his maiden World Cup victory in Markkleeberg in June, en route to a silver medal at the delayed

. He was also part of the silver medal winning K1 team at the

2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships The 2021 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships took place from 22 to 26 September 2021 in Bratislava, Slovakia under the auspices of International Canoe Federation (ICF). It was the 41st edition. The events took place at the Čunovo Water Sports Ce ...

with Martin Halčin and

Adam Gonšenica Adam Gonšenica (born 21 October 1999) is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2014, specializing primarily in the K1 discipline with occasional starts in kayak cross. He won a silver medal in the K1 team e ...

. In the following season he won a bronze medal at the World Cup in

Tacen Tacen (; in older sources also ''Tacenj'',''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 114–115. german: Tazen) is a formerly independent settle ...

and just missed out on a medal at the 2022 World Championships, where he finished 4th in the K1 event. 2023 did not yield any medals for Grigar, but he did manage to qualify for his third Olympics, beating Martin Halčin by a single point in the internal qualification.

Career statistics

Major championships results timeline

World Cup individual podiums

References

External links

* Slovak male canoeists Living people 1997 births Canoeists at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Slovakia Medalists at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in canoeing Olympic silver medalists for Slovakia Canoeists from Liptovský Mikuláš European Games competitors for Slovakia Canoeists at the 2023 European Games {{Slovakia-canoe-bio-stub