Jana Dukátová

Jana Dukátová (born 13 June 1983) is a former Slovak slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1999 to 2021. She specialized in the K1 event for most of her career, although she was also one of the pioneers of the women's C1 discipline, becoming the first ever world champion. She stopped competing in C1 after 2010.

She won nine medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with three golds (C1: 2010; K1: 2006; K1 team: 2011), four silvers (K1: 2010, 2011, 2017; K1 team: 2009) and two bronzes (K1 team: 2014, 2021).

She won the overall World Cup title four times in the K1 class (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013). At the European Championships she won a total of 14 medals (4 golds, 5 silvers and 5 bronzes).

Dukátová qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London after defeating double Olympic Champion Elena Kaliská in the Slovak selection process, four years after having lost to Kaliská in the selection trials for the 2008 Olympics. She finished in 6th place in the K1 event in London. She finished in 4th place in the same event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Career
Dukátová's first major international competition were the 1999 European Junior Championships, where she finished 28th in the K1 event. One year later she won her first medal, a silver in the K1 team event at the 2000 World Junior Championships. She made the senior national team for the first time in 2002. She finished 39th in the K1 event in her debut at the World Championships. She also finished 10th in the overall World Cup standings.

She began to show her potential in 2004, winning the Under-23 European Championships, a feat she repeated in 2005 and 2006.

She earned her first World Cup podium in Athens in 2005, where she finished second and she backed it up with another silver in Augsburg that year. She was also part of the gold medal-winning team at the 2005 European Championships. She finished 4th in the World Cup standings in 2005.

2006 was a big breakthrough year for Jana, as she won the K1 world championship title in Prague. Once again, she finished 4th in the World Cup standings for 2006.

The following year was a disappointment for Jana as she lost the internal qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics to the defending champion Elena Kaliská. At the World Championships she won the qualification, but then missed a gate in the semifinal and only finished 36th as a result. She had two World Cup podiums in 2007 and finished 7th in the overall standings. She earned two more World Cup medals in 2008, and a 10th overall finish.

Dukátová then went on to win three overall World Cup titles in a row between 2009 and 2011, racking up 3 wins and 10 podiums during that stretch. 2009 saw the introduction of the women's C1 as an exhibition event at the World Cups and World Championships and Dukátová was one of the first women to try the new discipline, winning an exhibition World Cup race in Bratislava. She continued to compete in C1 in 2010, when the discipline was given a full medal status. The 2010 European Championships took place on her home course in Bratislava and Jana took advantage by winning the K1 event and taking silver in the inaugural edition of the C1 event. She flipped the results at the 2010 World Championships in Tacen, where she became the first ever world women's C1 champion and won a silver medal in the K1.

Despite her success in the canoe, she would drop the discipline from her program after the 2010 season to fully focus on her goal to qualify for her first Olympics. Women's C1 did not have Olympic status yet at that time. 2011 was another strong year from her as she won silver at both the European and World Championships.

Eventually she did qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, beating the two-time champion Kaliská. Coming into the competition as one of the favorites and world number 1, she finished in a disappointing 6th position. She finished the season with back-to-back World Cup wins in Prague and Bratislava.

She won her fourth and final overall World Cup title in 2013, despite only earning one podium during the season. She narrowly missed out on a medal at the World Championships in Prague, finishing 4th.

She earned one World Cup win in 2014 and one in 2015, finishing 2nd in the overall stadings on both occasions to her great rival Corinna Kuhnle. In 2015 they both amassed the same number of points, but Kuhnle won the tie-break, which was the better result in the World Cup final. Dukátová had also finished 2nd to Kuhnle at the 2010 and 2011 World Championships.

Dukátová made her second Olympic appearance in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. This time she came much closer to a medal, finishing 4th while touching one gate in the final. Earlier in the year she claimed bronze at the European Championships in Liptovský Mikuláš. Her last individual medals came in 2017, when she won silver at a World Cup race in Augsburg and another silver at the World Championships in Pau.

She missed the entire 2018 season due to motherhood and came back in 2019, but was unable to recapture her best form. Along with the entire Slovak team she also skipped the entire 2020 international season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 was her final season and she managed to claim one last medal, a bronze in the K1 team event at the 2021 World Championships on her home course in Bratislava. Dukátová retired from the sport after these World Championships.

World Cup individual podiums

 * 1 World Championship counting for World Cup points
 * 2 Oceania Championship counting for World Cup points
 * 3 Oceania Canoe Slalom Open counting for World Cup points

Personal life
Her life partner is her longtime coach Róbert Orokocký with whom she has a daughter Lívia. She took a break from the sport in 2018 due to pregnancy and motherhood.