Adam Hagara

Adam Hagara (born 26 April 2006) is a Slovak figure skater. He is the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic silver medalist, 2024 World Junior bronze medalist, 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist and 2023 JGP Austria champion, and has seven senior international medals as well as three Slovak national titles (2022–2024).

Personal life
Hagara was born on 26 April 2006 in Trnava, Slovakia. He is the younger brother of Slovak figure skater Alexandra Hagarová, who is also one of his coaches.

Early years
Hagara began learning to skate in 2010. He competed in the advanced novice ranks in the 2018–19 season and early the following season. His junior international debut was in December 2019 at the Santa Claus Cup in Hungary.

In February 2020, Hagara won the Slovak national junior men's title. In March, he competed at the 2020 World Junior Championships and placed 33rd in the short program. He made no international appearances the following season.

2021–22 season
Debuting on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, Hagara placed 13th in Košice, Slovakia, in early September 2021. Later that month, he also made his senior international debut, finishing 23rd at the 2021 Nebelhorn Trophy. Deciding to continue in the senior ranks, he placed ninth at the Budapest Trophy and then won medals at his following three events: gold at the Tirnavia Ice Cup in Slovakia, bronze at Skate Celje in Slovenia, and bronze at the Santa Claus Cup in Hungary.

In December 2021, Hagara competed as a senior at Four Nationals. He finished third in the short program and fourth overall, but finished as the top Slovak competitor. He was subsequently named to Slovakia's team to the 2022 European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. He placed 25th at the European Championships in January and 26th at the 2022 World Championships. In April, he qualified to the final segment at the 2022 World Junior Championships, finishing 16th in the short and 21st overall.

2022–23 season
Hagara began the season with two assignments on the Junior Grand Prix, finishing seventh at the 2022 JGP France and sixth at the second edition of the 2022 JGP Poland. He also won gold in the junior event at the Sofia Trophy.

Competing as a senior, Hagara had one Challenger assignment, and finished eighth at the 2022 Nepela Memorial. He had a number of other minor senior internationals, including a silver medal at the Santa Claus Cup, before winning a second Slovak national title at the 2023 Four National Championships, an event where he also finished second overall among the men.

In the latter half of the season, Hagara reached the final segment at three ISU Championships. In January, he finished 18th at the 2023 European Championships in Espoo, Finland. In March, he placed 14th at the 2023 World Junior Championships in Calgary, Canada, before traveling to Saitama, Japan, for the 2023 World Championships, where he finished 23rd.

2023–24 season
Beginning the season on the Junior Grand Prix in early September, Hagara stood on a JGP podium for the first time, taking gold at the 2023 JGP Austria. It was Slovakia's first-ever gold medal in any discipline in the JGP series. He finished fourth at his second event, the 2023 JGP Hungary, before finishing fifth at the 2023 Nepela Memorial at the senior level.

Hagara's Junior Grand Prix results qualified him to the Junior Grand Prix Final, another first for a Slovak skater, which he called "a big responsibility." He finished third in both segments, winning the bronze medal, which he celebrated as "my dream." Hagara then competed at the 2024 Four Nationals Championships, finishing first in the men's event and claiming a third Slovak national title in the process.

At the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics, Hagara finished narrowly second in the short program. Third in the free skate, he finished narrowly second overall. His silver was the first figure skating medal for Slovakia at the Youth Olympics, which he said helped his goal of "putting Slovakia on the map, trying to make figure skating in Slovakia a bigger sport than it already is. We have a long history of figure skating but it kind of went forgotten." Hagara identified acquiring a quadruple jump as the next major step for him.

At the 2024 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Hagara finished third in both segments of the competition and overall, claiming the bronze medal. This was another podium first for a Slovak man at an ISU championship. Hagara ended the season competing at the senior World Championships, where he came thirty-fifth.

Competitive highlights

 * JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
 * GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
 * CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series