Jan Hudec

Jan Hudec

Jan Hudec, Jr. (born August 19, 1981) is a World Cup alpine ski racer from Canada, specializing in the speed events of downhill and Super G. Beset by injuries for several seasons, he returned to World Cup form in 2012 at age 30 and gained his second victory.

Born in Šumperk, Czechoslovakia, he defected in a homemade raft with his parents to West Germany while an infant. The family moved to Canada in 1986 and settled in Red Deer, Alberta, where Jan Sr. was a ski coach. In 1993 the Hudecs, now a family of four with younger brother Phil, moved to Banff where both parents worked at the Mountain Ski Academy.

Hudec emerged as a World Cup downhiller in February 2007; he won the silver medal in downhill at the 2007 World Championships in Åre, Sweden, followed up with a fifth place at Garmisch, Germany. That November he won his first World Cup event, a downhill in Lake Louise, but suffered a season-ending knee injury while training in Switzerland two months later. In January 2009, Hudec had a comeback at the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen, Switzerland, where he finished eighth, but three weeks later an injury at the 2009 World Championships downhill in Val-d'Isère, France, ended his 2009 season.

In the following two seasons, Hudec battled injuries and had just one top-ten result, a tenth place finish in March 2011. His results improved significantly in the 2012 season, which included his second World Cup victory in February at the Kandahar downhill in Chamonix, France. Later that month he ascended his first World Cup Super G podium as the runner-up at Crans-Montana, Switzerland.