At the beginning of his career, Miroslav Zajonc took part several times in the European Junior Luge Championships, but was mostly only able to place them in the lower third. In 1977 he was 28th in Igls , 22nd in 1978 in Winterberg and 15th in Krynica-Zdrój in 1979 . In 1978, a sixth place was added to the side of Petr Štefánik , and a tenth place to the side of Marián Dudek in 1979 . After that he was still a member of the national team of Czechoslovakia, but was not used in either World or European Championships . In August 1981, after a training camp in Igls at the border crossing between the Czech Republic and Austria, he fled into the arms of Austrian customs officers. From now on, Zajonc initially started for Canada. In the 1980s he encountered a North American toboggan sport in upheaval and was able to bring in some accents with his training. However, winning the gold medal in the single seater at the Luge World Championships in Lake Placid in 1983 in front of the defending champions Sergei Danilin and Paul Hildgartner was considered sensational . It was not only the first World Cup title won by a non-European association, but also the first medal not won by a representative of a European association. In the Luge World Cup of the 1982/83 season he was second in Lake Placid behind Hildgartner in the third race of the season.
Since 1985 Zajonc started for the USA. In the 1985/86 season he was able to take third place on his favorite track in Lake Placid on the podium behind Norbert Huber and Michael Walter . In addition to the singles, Zajonc also continued to ride in the doubles. Here he was particularly successful in the 1986/87 season. At the start of the season in Sarajevo , he and his partner Tim Nardiello came second behind Stefan Ilsanker and Georg Hackl . In the overall standings, the pair Zajonc / Nardiello came fourth. However , they were also disqualified at the 1987 Luge World Championships in Igls. In singles he was 21. 1988 he came to his only use at the Winter Olympics and reached in Calgary with Nardiello in doubles in eleventh place. Five weeks before the games, which would be his career highlight and end, he broke his right foot during training and was only able to start with a special support device. In addition, the approval of the Czechoslovak Association, which was a prerequisite for nomination, was only given three days before the registration deadline. After his active career, Zajonc became a luge trainer in 1990 and looked after the USA's junior squad. His successor was Robert Fegg . He lives in Lake Placid.
Czechoslovakia Canada United States
