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| Olympic medalist |
Michal Martikán |
| Medal record |
| Men's slalom canoeing |
| Olympic Games |
| Silver |
2004 Athens |
C1 |
| Silver |
2000 Sydney |
C1 |
| Gold |
1996 Atlanta |
C1 |
| World Championships |
| Gold |
2007 |
C-1 |
| Silver |
2006 |
C-1 |
| Bronze |
2005 |
C-1 |
| Gold |
2003 |
C-1 |
| Gold |
2003 |
3 x C-1 |
| Gold |
2002 |
C-1 |
| Bronze |
1999 |
C-1 |
| Gold |
1997 |
C-1 |
| Gold |
1997 |
3 x C-1 |
| Bronze |
1995 |
C-1 |
| Bronze |
1995 |
3 x C-1 |
Michal Martikán (born May 18, 1979 in Liptovský Mikuláš) is a Slovakian slalom canoeist. In 1996 he became the first athlete to win an Olympic Games gold medal for Slovakia after the country's independence in 1993. In the following two Olympics he won the silver medal in the same C1 event. He was awarded the silver medal after controversial verdict of referee in Athens 2004. He has also won the World Championships four times, in 1997, 2002, 2003 and 2007. He is considered by many the greatest C-1 slalom paddler alive. At the age of 16, Michal Martikan became the youngest winner of a World Cup slalom canoeing event. Three months later, now 17 years old, Martikan was in sixth place after the first run of the canoe slalom singles event at the 1996 Olympics. With nothing to lose, he went all out on the second run and just bettered the score of defending champion Lukáš Pollert of the Czech Republic. Martikan was the first Olympic champion to represent independent Slovakia. He entered the 2000 Olympics as the favourite, having consistently finished near the top in every major competition and in each World Cup series. At the Sydney Games, Martikan registered the best score in the qualifying round, but was only in fifth place after the first run of the final. In the second run, he paddled a perfect course and his time was the fastest of the round. He was able to move up to the silver medal position behind Tony Estanguet of France. Competing in his third Olympics in 2004, Martikan again led the qualifying round. He also earned the highest score in the semifinals, which also served as the first run of the final. After the second run, it appeared that Martikan had regained the Olympic title, but a video review revealed that he had touched a gate and he ended up in second place only 12 hundredths of a point behind Estanguet. Michal Martikan is the only slalom canoeist to win three Olympic medals.
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