Peter Škantár (born 20 July 1982) is a retired Slovak slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1998 to 2018, specializing in the C2 discipline, where he teamed up with his cousin

Ladislav Škantár Ladislav Škantár (born 11 February 1983) is a retired Slovak slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1998 to 2018, specializing in the C2 discipline, where he teamed up with his cousin Peter Škantár. Ladislav and Peter ...

. Peter and Ladislav won an Olympic gold medal 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 ...

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 ...

in the C2 event. They also won ten 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 a gold (C2 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 ...

), five silvers (C2: 2009,

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 ...

; C2 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

) and four bronzes (C2: 2011, 2013, 2014; C2 team:

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 ...

). 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 ...

they won a total of 13 medals (7 golds, 1 silver and 5 bronzes). The Škantárs 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 in the C2 category in

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 ...

and

Career

The Škantár cousins made their international debut at the 1998 World Junior Canoe Slalom Championships, where they finished in 10th position in the individual C2 event. They made their debut at the senior

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 ...

one year later in

La Seu d'Urgell La Seu d'Urgell (; , formerly ''Urgell'') is a town located in Alt Urgell county in Alt Pirineu, Catalonia, Spain. The town is also the head of its judicial district and the seat of the Bishop of Urgell, one of the co-princes of Andorra. It is ...

, finishing in 26th position. Peter was 17 years old at the time. They won their first medal, silver, at the

2000 World Junior Canoe Slalom Championships The 2000 ICF World Junior Canoe Slalom Championships were the 8th edition of the ICF World Junior Canoe Slalom Championships. The event took place in Bratislava, Slovakia from 13 to 16 July 2000 under the auspices of the International Canoe Federat ...

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. ...

. They won 3 European under-23 titles in 2002, 2004 and 2005. Their first success in the senior ranks came in 2003, when they took bronze in a

race in Penrith. They collected more bronze medals in the two following years, including at the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

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 ...

European Championships and three bronze medals in the 2005 World Cup season. They also finished 3rd in the overall World Cup standings that year. The following year was a disappointing one as they failed to make the national team and thus were unable to compete at international events. They came back stronger in 2007 by winning their first individual European gold. However, they were still unable to qualify 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 ...

after losing to then two-time defending champions

Pavol Pavol is a masculine Slovak given name, equivalent to Paul. Notable people with the name * Pavol Adami (1739–1795), Slovak scientist and scholar, one of the first veterinarians * Pavol Bajza (born 1991), Slovak footballer * Pavol Baláž ( ...

and Peter Hochschorner. 2009 brought their first World Cup victory in Pau and their first overall

title. They also won their first individual World Championship medal in

that year, finishing runners-up to the Hochschorner twins, missing the gold by just 0.14 seconds. They defended their World Cup title in

, winning two races and they also captured their second individual European title. Winning bronze at both European and World Championships in 2011 would once again not be enough to qualify 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 ...

. Yet again they were bested in the internal qualification by the Hochschorner twins, who won the world title in 2011 and already had 3 Olympic golds to their name. They won yet another bronze at two 2013 World Championships 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 ...

. The Škantár cousins were in dominant form in 2014. They started the year by winning their third individual European title. They also won 3 out 5 World Cup races and the overall title for the third and final time in their careers. They finished the year with a bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships at

Deep Creek Lake Deep Creek Lake is an artificial reservoir in the U.S. state of Maryland. It has an area of , a shoreline length of , and a volume of . The lake is home to a wide variety of aquatic life, such as freshwater fish and aquatic birds. Along with t ...

. 2015 was a disappointing season by their standards, without any major achievements outside a team gold at the European Championships. Ironically, they had done enough to qualify for their first Olympic Games. Coming into 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 ...

, the Škantár cousins have not shown great form. They finished 6th at the European championships and 5th in their only World Cup start prior to the games. Their first qualifying run at the games was enough win the preliminary round and advance to the 11-boat semifinal. They had two gate touches in the semifinal and only finished 6th, but did enough to advance to the final. Their final run was more than 6 seconds faster than the winning time from the semifinal and even though there were still 5 boats to come after they finished their run, they were able to hold on to the top position and win the gold. Since the C2 event was subsequently discontinued, they will likely remain as the last Olympic champions in the C2 discipline. They carried their Olympic form to the rest of the 2016 season, winning the last 2 rounds of the World Cup. They took one last World Cup win in 2017 and missed out on winning the world title by 0.07 seconds, finishing second to

Gauthier Klauss Gauthier Klauss (born 17 December 1987) is former French slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 2003 to 2018, when the C2 category was removed from major events. He won a bronze medal in the C2 event at the 2016 Summer Oly ...

and

Matthieu Péché Matthieu Patrick François Péché (born 7 October 1987, in Épinal) is a former French slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 2003 to 2018, when the C2 category was removed from major events. He won a bronze medal in the ...

. It was the closest they would ever come to winning an individual world title. Both cousins retired from canoe slalom in 2018 after the C2 event was discontinued and subsequently switched to wildwater canoeing. They announced retirement from wildwater canoeing during the 2021 World Championships in their hometown

where they didn't start due to Ladislav's injury. As a coach Peter Škantár has coached

Matej Beňuš Matej Beňuš (born 2 November 1987) is a Slovak Canoe slalom, slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2002. He won a silver medal in the Canoeing at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's slalom C-1, C1 event at the 2016 ...

Career statistics

Major championships results timeline

World Cup individual podiums

¹ European Championship counting for World Cup points :

² Oceania Canoe Slalom Open counting for World Cup points

References

12 September 2009 final results for the men's C2 team slalom event for the 2009 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.
– accessed 12 September 2009.
13 September 2009 final results of the men's C2 event at the 2009 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.
– accessed 13 September 2009.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skantar, Peter Living people Slovak male canoeists 1982 births Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Slovakia Olympic gold medalists for Slovakia Olympic medalists in canoeing Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Kežmarok Medalists at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 21st-century Slovak sportsmen