Jana Dukátová (born 13 June 1983) is a former Slovak slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1999 to 2021. She specialized in the K1 event for most of her career, although she was also one of the pioneers of the women's C1 discipline, becoming the first ever world champion. She stopped competing in C1 after 2010. She won nine medals 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 ...

with three golds (C1:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

; K1:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

; K1 team:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

), four silvers (K1: 2010, 2011,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

; K1 team:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

) and two bronzes (K1 team:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

). She won the overall

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 name is ...

title four times in the K1 class (

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

). At the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

she won a total of 14 medals (4 golds, 5 silvers and 5 bronzes). Dukátová qualified for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

after defeating double 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. She specialized in the K1 event, which was the only discipline available for women during the vast majority of ...

in the Slovak selection process, four years after having lost to Kaliská in the selection trials for the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

. She finished in 6th place in the K1 event in London. She finished in 4th place in the same event at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Career

Dukátová's first major international competition were the 1999 European Junior Championships, where she finished 28th in the K1 event. One year later she won her first medal, a silver in the K1 team event at the 2000 World Junior Championships. She made the senior national team for the first time in 2002. She finished 39th in the K1 event in her debut at the World Championships. She also finished 10th in the overall

standings. She began to show her potential in 2004, winning the Under-23 European Championships, a feat she repeated in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

. She earned her first World Cup podium in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, where she finished second and she backed it up with another silver in

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

that year. She was also part of the gold medal-winning team at the 2005 European Championships. She finished 4th in the World Cup standings in

. 2006 was a big breakthrough year for Jana, as she won the K1 world championship title in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. Once again, she finished 4th in the World Cup standings for

. The following year was a disappointment for Jana as she lost the internal qualification for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

to the defending champion

. At the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

she won the qualification, but then missed a gate in the semifinal and only finished 36th as a result. She had two World Cup podiums in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and finished 7th in the overall standings. She earned two more World Cup medals in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, and a 10th overall finish. Dukátová then went on to win three overall World Cup titles in a row between 2009 and 2011, racking up 3 wins and 10 podiums during that stretch. 2009 saw the introduction of the women's C1 as an exhibition event at the World Cups and World Championships and Dukátová was one of the first women to try the new discipline, winning an exhibition World Cup race in Bratislava. She continued to compete in C1 in 2010, when the discipline was given a full medal status. The 2010 European Championships took place on her home course in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

and Jana took advantage by winning the K1 event and taking silver in the inaugural edition of the C1 event. She flipped the results at the 2010 World Championships 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. ) is a formerly independent settlement in the n ...

, where she became the first ever world women's C1 champion and won a silver medal in the K1. Despite her success in the canoe, she would drop the discipline from her program after the 2010 season to fully focus on her goal to qualify for her first Olympics. Women's C1 did not have Olympic status yet at that time. 2011 was another strong year from her as she won silver at both the

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

and

. Eventually she did qualify for the

, beating the two-time champion Kaliská. Coming into the competition as one of the favorites and world number 1, she finished in a disappointing 6th position. She finished the season with back-to-back World Cup wins in Prague and Bratislava. She won her fourth and final overall World Cup title in

, despite only earning one podium during the season. She narrowly missed out on a medal at the World Championships in Prague, finishing 4th. She earned one World Cup win in 2014 and one in 2015, finishing 2nd in the overall stadings on both occasions to her great rival Corinna Kuhnle. In 2015 they both amassed the same number of points, but Kuhnle won the tie-break, which was the better result in the World Cup final. Dukátová had also finished 2nd to Kuhnle at the 2010 and 2011 World Championships. Dukátová made her second Olympic appearance in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. This time she came much closer to a medal, finishing 4th while touching one gate in the final. Earlier in the year she claimed bronze at the

Liptovský Mikuláš Liptovský Mikuláš (; until 1952 ''Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš'', ; ) is a town in northern Slovakia, on the Váh River, about from Bratislava. It lies in the Liptov region, in Podtatranská kotlina, Liptov Basin near the Low Tatra and Tat ...

. Her last individual medals came in 2017, when she won silver at a World Cup race in Augsburg and another silver at the World Championships in Pau. She missed the entire 2018 season due to motherhood and came back in 2019, but was unable to recapture her best form. Along with the entire Slovak team she also skipped the entire 2020 international season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 2021 was her final season and she managed to claim one last medal, a bronze in the K1 team event at the 2021 World Championships on her home course in Bratislava. Dukátová retired from the sport after these World Championships.

Career statistics

Major championships results timeline

World Cup individual podiums

¹ World Championship counting for World Cup points :

² Oceania Championship counting for World Cup points :

³ Oceania Canoe Slalom Open counting for World Cup points

Personal life

Her life partner is her longtime coach Róbert Orokocký with whom she has a daughter Lívia. She took a break from the sport in 2018 due to pregnancy and motherhood.

References

*
2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 11 September 2010 K1 women's final results.
– Retrieved 11 September 2010.
12 September 2009 results of the women's K1 team finals at the 2009 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.
– Retrieved 12 September 2009. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dukatova, Jana 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Bratislava Slovak female canoeists 21st-century Slovak sportswomen Canoeists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Slovakia Medalists at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships