Elena Kaliská (born 19 January 1972)[1] is a retired Slovak slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1988 to 2019. She specialized in the K1 event, which was the only discipline available for women during the vast majority of her career.

Elena Kaliská
Kaliská in 2011
Personal information
NationalitySlovak
Born (1972-01-19) 19 January 1972 (age 52)
Zvolen, Czechoslovakia
Height1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight66 kg (146 lb)
Websitewww.elenakaliska.com
Sport
CountrySlovakia
SportCanoe slalom
EventK1
ClubKanoe Tatra Klub [KTK]: Liptovský Mikuláš
Retired2021
Medal record
Women's canoe slalom
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 2 0 0
World Championships 2 2 1
European Championships 8 4 4
Junior World Championships 0 1 0
Total 12 7 5
Representing  Czechoslovakia
Junior World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1990 Tavanasa K1 team
Representing  Slovakia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens K1
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing K1
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2005 Penrith K1
Gold medal – first place 2011 Bratislava K1 team
Silver medal – second place 2007 Foz do Iguaçu K1
Silver medal – second place 2009 La Seu d'Urgell K1 team
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Deep Creek Lake K1 team
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1998 Roudnice nad Labem K1
Gold medal – first place 2000 Mezzana K1 team
Gold medal – first place 2002 Bratislava K1
Gold medal – first place 2004 Skopje K1
Gold medal – first place 2005 Tacen K1 team
Gold medal – first place 2006 L'Argentière-la-Bessée K1
Gold medal – first place 2006 L'Argentière-la-Bessée K1 team
Gold medal – first place 2009 Nottingham K1
Silver medal – second place 2002 Bratislava K1 team
Silver medal – second place 2007 Liptovský Mikuláš K1 team
Silver medal – second place 2008 Kraków K1 team
Silver medal – second place 2009 Nottingham K1 team
Bronze medal – third place 1996 Augsburg K1
Bronze medal – third place 2011 La Seu d'Urgell K1 team
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Augsburg K1 team
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Liptovský Mikuláš K1 team

Competing in four Summer Olympics, she won two gold medals in the K1 event, earning them in 2004 and 2008.

Kaliská also won five medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with two golds (K1: 2005, K1 team: 2011), two silvers (K1: 2007, K1 team: 2009) and a bronze (K1 team: 2014).[2]

She has won the overall World Cup title 6 times (2000-2001, 2003–2006), which is a record the K1 discipline.[2]

At the European Championships she won a total of 16 medals (8 golds, 4 silvers and 4 bronzes).[2]

In 2021, she won a gold medal in K1 at inaugural ICF Masters Canoe Slalom World Championship in Kraków.[3][4]

She announced her retirement from the sport during the 2021 World Championships in Bratislava, where she performed demo runs. Kaliská began competing in canoe slalom as soon as 1979.[5][6]

Career

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Kaliská represented Czechoslovakia at two World Junior Championships, winning a silver medal in the K1 team event in 1990 and finishing 4th in the K1 event.

She made her World Championship debut in 1993 in Mezzana where she finished 9th in the K1 event. Her first medal came at the World Cup in Prague in 1996, where she took bronze. She followed it up with another bronze one week later at the inaugural European Championships in Augsburg.

She recorded her first World Cup win in 1998 on her home course in Liptovský Mikuláš and followed it up by winning her first European title in Roudnice nad Labem.

In 2000 she won the overall World Cup title in K1 for the first time in her career. She defended the title in 2001 and then went on to win four consecutive titles from 2003 to 2006. Her dominance was most pronounced in 2004, when she won 4 out of 6 World Cup races (having only started in 5 races).

Despite her success in the World Cup, she had to wait until 2004 to claim her first major global medal. She finally broke through by winning the Olympic gold at the Athens games. One year later she claimed her only individual world title in Penrith.

In order to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics, she had to defeat the 2006 World Champion Jana Dukátová in the internal qualification. She managed to secure her spot by taking silver medal at the 2007 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. She won the 2008 Olympic gold in a dominant fashion, winning the heats, semifinal run and the final run. In a race where many of the big favorites struggled she was able to stay clean and win by a margin of 14.30 seconds.

Kaliská had a long career spanning several decades, similar to her great rival Štěpánka Hilgertová in longevity and success. She had her final international race in 2019 and officially retired in 2021.

She won all the major accolades that the sport of canoe slalom has to offer - Olympic gold, World Championship gold, World Cup and European Championships.

Career statistics

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Major championships results timeline

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Event 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Olympic Games K1 Not held 19 Not held 4 Not held 1 Not held
World Championships K1 9 Not held 19 Not held 7 Not held 6 Not held 10 11 Not held 1 4
K1 team 7 Not held 8 Not held 5 Not held 4 Not held 4 6 Not held DNF 4
European Championships K1 Not held 3 Not held 1 Not held 4 Not held 1 Not held 1 6 1
K1 team Not held 7 Not held 4 Not held 1 Not held 2 Not held 2[a] 1 1
Event 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Olympic Games K1 Not held 1 Not held Not held Not held
World Championships K1 2 Not held 9 7 Not held 9 33 39 Not held 28 15 37
K1 team 4 Not held 2 1 Not held 6 3 5 Not held 7 11 6
European Championships K1 8 4 1 17 18 26 8 4 24 23 31
K1 team 2 2 2 3 3 4 7 3 10 12 6
  1. ^ Not a medal event due to low number of participating nations

World Cup individual podiums

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      Total
K1 14 9 9 32
Season Date Venue Position Event
1996 25 August 1996 Prague 3rd K1
29 September 1996 Três Coroas 3rd K1
1998 14 June 1998 Liptovský Mikuláš 1st K1
21 June 1998 Tacen 3rd K1
13 September 1998 La Seu d'Urgell 3rd K1
1999 20 June 1999 Tacen 2nd K1
15 August 1999 Bratislava 3rd K1
2000 30 April 2000 Penrith 2nd K1
9 July 2000 La Seu d'Urgell 2nd K1
30 July 2000 Augsburg 1st K1
2001 3 June 2001 Merano 1st K1
5 August 2001 Prague 3rd K1
9 September 2001 Wausau 1st K1
2002 21 July 2002 Augsburg 2nd K1
14 September 2002 Tibagi 3rd K1
2003 13 July 2003 Tacen 3rd K1
31 July 2003 Bratislava 2nd K1
3 August 2003 Bratislava 2nd K1
2004 23 April 2004 Athens 1st K1
30 May 2004 Merano 1st K1
11 July 2004 Prague 1st K1
25 July 2004 Bourg St.-Maurice 1st K1
2005 24 July 2005 La Seu d'Urgell 2nd K1
1 October 2005 Penrith 1st K11
2006 4 June 2006 Augsburg 1st K1
11 June 2006 La Seu d'Urgell 3rd K1
2 July 2006 L'Argentière-la-Bessée 1st K12
2008 16 March 2008 Penrith 1st K13
2009 5 July 2009 Bratislava 1st K1
2010 27 June 2010 La Seu d'Urgell 2nd K1
2011 14 August 2011 Prague 1st K1
2013 23 June 2013 Cardiff 2nd K1
1 World Championship counting for World Cup points
2 European Championship counting for World Cup points
3 Oceania Championship counting for World Cup points

References

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  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Elena Kaliská". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "Elena KALISKA". CanoeSlalom.net. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  3. ^ "Kaliská prišla, videla a zvíťazila, šampióni Daník aj Simon". Canoe.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  4. ^ "Live results 2021 ICF MASTERS CANOE SLALOM - KRAKOW (POLAND)".
  5. ^ "Čas rozlúčiť sa. Elena Kaliská končí kariéru". Canoe.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  6. ^ prekop (25 September 2021). "Čas rozlúčiť sa. Elena Kaliská končí kariéru". Majstrovstvá sveta v kanoistike na divokej vode 2021 (in Slovak). Retrieved 24 July 2022.
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Awards
Preceded by Sportsperson of Slovakia
2004
Succeeded by
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for   Slovakia
Beijing 2008
Succeeded by