Jan Němec (born March 22, 1976 in Brno ) is a Czech grass skier . He has dominated grass skiing since the beginning of the 2000s, won the overall World Cup nine times and became world champion eleven times , something that no one before him had achieved.
Jan Němec studied geography and physical education at the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University in Brno and then worked as a teacher until he made sport his profession and became one of the few grass ski professionals; today he is the only professional in the starting field. As a child, the Czech first started alpine skiing and achieved good results in children's and youth races. To this day, in addition to grass skiing, he continues to take part in alpine FIS races , in which he achieved three victories and eleven further podium places by 2011, as well as the Czech championships.
Due to a lack of funds for glacier training in the summer, Jan Němec started grass skiing in the 1990s. He achieved his first international successes at the Junior World Championships , where he won twice in slalom and once in giant slalom. At the end of the 1990s, the Czech managed to catch up with the international top. At the 1999 World Championships in Gaal , he won silver in slalom and bronze in combination, and in the same year he finished second in the overall European Cup ranking behind Austrian Christian Balek . In 2000 Němec won the last European Cup. In the newly introduced World Cup , he finished third overall in the 2000 season . In 2001 he finished second in the overall World Cup behind his compatriot Michal Mačát . In the following years Němec became the dominant grass skier.
Jan Němec in the slalom of the 2009 World Championships
At the 2001 World Championships in Forni di Sopra , Jan Němec won his first two world championship titles with victories in slalom and in combination, and came second in giant slalom. At the 2003 World Championships in Castione della Presolana, he won the giant slalom and came second in the Super-G. In the slalom, however, he was eliminated, which is why he did not achieve a result in the combination. In September 2005 he became world champion in slalom for the second time at the world championship in Dizin and with fourth place in super-G also world champion in combination for the second time. In the giant slalom, only the Italian Stefano Sartori was faster. At the 2007 World Championships in Olešnice v Orlických horách Němec drove for the first time in all four competitions in the medal ranks. Like two years ago, he became world champion in slalom and also world champion in the super combination, which replaced the previous combination classification of slalom and super-G. In the giant slalom he finished second behind Fausto Cerentin from Italy and third in the Super-G. The 2009 World Championships in Rettenbach was Němec 'most successful so far. He won three gold medals in slalom, giant slalom and super combined and was only beaten by three hundredths of a second in Super-G by Italian Riccardo Lorenzone . Němec won another gold medal in Super-G and a silver medal in giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships in Goldingen . In the slalom and super combined he was in the lead after the first run, but was eliminated in both competitions in the second run. With a total of eleven world championship titles, the Czech is the most successful participant in grass ski world championships.
After his third and second place overall in 2000 and 2001, Jan Němec has been the outstanding runner in the World Cup since the 2002 season . He has won 71 World Cup races so far and even won all World Cup races of the season in 2004 and 2010 . He won the overall World Cup nine times from 2002 to 2011 . The only exception was the year 2008, in which the Czech did not take part in any races. In 2012, Němec had to admit defeat in the overall World Cup for the first time in eleven years - he finished second behind Edoardo Frau .
↑ a b c d e http://www.grasski.biz/nemec.html phis-dead link | date = 2018-04 | archivebot = 2018-04-16 21:19:32 InternetArchiveBot | url = http: // www.grasski.biz/nemec.html}} Short biography of Jan Němec on www.grasski.biz (Czech, web link no longer available)
↑ a b World Cup victories until 2010 according to: Výsledky - Jan Němec. Website of LK Olešnice, accessed on November 5, 2011 (Czech / English). From 2004 the World Cup victories can also be found on the FIS website.
Czech Republic
Placements in the World Cup
