Antonín Hájek
Quick Facts
Biography
Antonín Hájek (Czech pronunciation: [ˈantoɲiːn ˈɦaːjɛk]) (born 12 February 1987 in Frýdlant) is a retired ski jumper from the Czech Republic. His specialties include both individual ski jumping and ski flying. Hájek's best result in the World Cup is a 4th place in Tauplitz and Sapporo in 2010.
He had an accident in Oberstdorf in 2005, crashing in the trial round; he did not suffer major injuries and walked from the hill by himself.
Hájek was involved in a car accident during the spring of 2008, and barely survived. Four months after the accident he could not walk, ruling out a comeback. But he began to train again in February 2009, and made great progress during the summer of 2009. He staged his comeback in Continental Cup in Rovaniemi in December 2009. His first World Cup competition after his comeback was in Tauplitz on 9 January 2010, and his fourth place score on that day was his best World Cup result to date. Hájek jumped 236 m at Planica on 20 March 2010 at the ski flying World Championships; this was the third longest jump in ski jumping history.
Hájek's results from the 2010 Winter Olympics were seventh in both the individual and team large hill events, and 21st in the individual normal hill event. His best finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was ninth in the team large hill event at Sapporo in 2007.
He retired in September 2015 because of unsatisfying results and health problems.