Ladislav Škantár

Ladislav Škantár

Škantár at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1983-02-11) 11 February 1983 (age 41)[1] Kežmarok, Czechoslovakia
Years active	1998 - 2021
Height	189 cm (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Weight	80 kg (176 lb)
Sport
Sport	Canoe slalom
Event	C2
Club	ŠKP Bratislava
Retired	2021
Medal record Representing  Slovakia Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 0 0 World Championships 1 5 4 European Championships 7 1 5 U23 European Championships 3 0 1 Junior World Championships 0 1 0 Total 12 7 10 Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro C2 World Championships 2009 La Seu d'Urgell C2 team 2009 La Seu d'Urgell C2 2011 Bratislava C2 team 2013 Prague C2 team 2014 Deep Creek Lake C2 team 2017 Pau C2 2007 Foz do Iguaçu C2 team 2011 Bratislava C2 2013 Prague C2 2014 Deep Creek Lake C2 European Championships 2005 Tacen C2 team 2007 Liptovský Mikuláš C2 2010 Bratislava C2 2014 Vienna C2 2014 Vienna C2 team 2015 Markkleeberg C2 team 2016 Liptovský Mikuláš C2 team 2008 Kraków C2 2004 Skopje C2 2005 Tacen C2 2008 Kraków C2 team 2011 La Seu d'Urgell C2 2011 La Seu d'Urgell C2 team U23 European Championships 2002 Bratislava C2 2004 Kraków C2 2005 Kraków C2 2004 Kraków C2 team Junior World Championships 2000 Bratislava C2

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 won an Olympic gold medal in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro in the C2 event.^[2] They also won ten medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with a gold (C2 team: 2009), five silvers (C2: 2009, 2017; C2 team: 2011, 2013, 2014) and four bronzes (C2: 2011, 2013, 2014; C2 team: 2007). At the European Championships they won a total of 13 medals (7 golds, 1 silver and 5 bronzes).^[3]

The Škantárs won the overall World Cup title in the C2 category in 2009, 2010 and 2014.

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 one year later in La Seu d'Urgell, finishing in 26th position. Ladislav was 16 years old at the time.

They won their first medal, silver, at the 2000 World Junior Canoe Slalom Championships in Bratislava. 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 World Cup race in Penrith. They collected more bronze medals in the two following years, including at the 2004 and 2005 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 after losing to then two-time defending champions Pavol and Peter Hochschorner.

2009 brought their first World Cup victory in Pau and their first overall World Cup title. They also won their first individual World Championship medal in La Seu d'Urgell that year, finishing runners-up to the Hochschorner twins, missing the gold by just 0.14 seconds. They defended their World Cup title in 2010, 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. 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.

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.

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.

Ladislav Škantár (front) during the 2019 Wildwater Canoe World Championships.

Coming into the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, 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 and Matthieu Péché. 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.^[4] They announced retirement from wildwater canoeing during the 2021 World Championships in their hometown Bratislava where they didn't start due to Ladislav's injury.^[5]

Career statistics

Major championships results timeline

Event		1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Olympic Games	C2	Not held	—	Not held			—	Not held			—	Not held			—	Not held			1	Not held
World Championships	C2	26	Not held		—	—	Not held	6	—	9	Not held	2	14	3	Not held	3	3	16	Not held	2	Not held
	C2 team	—	Not held		—	—	Not held	—	—	3	Not held	1	4	2	Not held	2	2	6	Not held	3[a]	Not held
European Championships	C2	Not held	—	Not held	—	Not held	3	3	—	1	2	4	1	3	7	10	1	15	6	9	8
	C2 team	Not held	—	Not held	7	Not held	2[a]	1	—	6	3	6	5	3	6	4	1	1	1	4	4

1. Not a medal event due to low number of participating nations

World Cup individual podiums

				Total
C2	9	5	7	21

Season	Date	Venue	Position	Event
2003	11 May 2003	Penrith	3rd	C2
2005	26 June 2005	Tacen	3rd	C2^1
	10 July 2005	Athens	3rd	C2
	24 July 2005	La Seu d'Urgell	3rd	C2
2007	14 July 2007	Augsburg	3rd	C2
2008	29 June 2008	Tacen	2nd	C2
	5 July 2008	Augsburg	2nd	C2
2009	28 June 2009	Pau	1st	C2
	5 July 2009	Bratislava	2nd	C2
2010	21 February 2010	Penrith	1st	C2^2
	27 June 2010	La Seu d'Urgell	1st	C2
2011	26 June 2011	Tacen	3rd	C2
2012	17 June 2012	Pau	2nd	C2
	24 June 2012	La Seu d'Urgell	2nd	C2
2014	8 June 2014	Lee Valley	3rd	C2
	15 June 2014	Tacen	1st	C2
	22 June 2014	Prague	1st	C2
	3 August 2014	La Seu d'Urgell	1st	C2
2016	4 September 2016	Prague	1st	C2
	11 September 2016	Tacen	1st	C2
2017	2 September 2017	Ivrea	1st	C2

¹ European Championship counting for World Cup points

² Oceania Canoe Slalom Open counting for World Cup points

References

1. Ladislav Škantár Archived 10 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine. rio2016.com
2. "Ladislav Škantár". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
3. "Ladislav SKANTAR (SVK)". CanoeSlalom.net. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
4. "Hochschornerovci a Škantárovci nekončia, vodný slalom vymenia za šprint". Sportnet.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 25 September 2021.
5. "Lúčenie Škantárovcov je definitívne, no obaja pri vode zostanú". Sport.aktuality.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 26 September 2021.

• 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

• Ladislav Škantár at the International Canoe Federation
• Ladislav Škantár at Olympics.com
• Ladislav Škantár at the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee (in Slovak)
• Ladislav Škantár at Olympedia