 Jakov Fak in Nové Město na Moravě, 2024 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1987-08-01)1 August 1987 (age 38) |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Sport | |
| Professional information | |
| Sport | Biathlon |
| Club | SD Pokljuka |
| World Cup debut | 8 December 2006 |
| Olympic Games | |
| Teams | 3 (2010,2014,2018) |
| Medals | 2 (0 gold) |
| World Championships | |
| Teams | 7 (2007,2008,2009,2012,2013,2015,2016) |
| Medals | 5 (2 gold) |
| World Cup | |
| Seasons | 11 (2006/07–) |
| Individual victories | 9 |
| All victories | 9 |
| Individual podiums | 21 |
| All podiums | 22 |
Medal record | |
| Updated on 15 February 2018 | |
Jakov Fak (born 1 August 1987) is a Slovenianbiathlete ofCroat origin competing forSlovenia since 2010. As a member of the Croatian biathlon team, Fak won bronze medals at the2009 World Championships and at the2010 Winter Olympics, where he was also the Croatian flag bearer at the opening ceremony. In 2010, Fak switched his citizenship and started competing for Slovenia. Fak won four medals at the World Championships with the Slovenian team, including two gold and a silver medal at the2018 Winter Olympics.[1] In addition, Fak has nine victories in the World Cup.
Fak began to compete in biathlon in 2001 under the trainerRobert Petrović. His first international biathlon tournament was the Junior World Championships inRidnaun in 2002, where his best result was 64th place in the Sprint event. Fak improved his performance in 2008, finishing in the top 10 at that year's Junior World Championships.
Since 2006, Fak has participated in theBiathlon World Cup. In his first race in the World Cup inHochfilzen, Fak finished 107th. For a long time, his best performance was 47th place, which he reached in an Individual race in 2007 inPokljuka. In 2007, he also participated in his firstBiathlon World Championships, finishing 78th in the Sprint race and 93rd in the Individual.
The big breakthrough in Fak's career came in the2008/09 season. In the opening race of the season, Fak came in 47th, but in the Individual, he earned his first World Cup points with a 38th position finish. In the third World Cup stage inHochfilzen, Fak achieved a 16th-place finish.
Despite several respectable performances in the World Cup, Fak's performance at theBiathlon World Championships 2009 was a huge surprise. In the opening sprint race, Fak improved his career-best performance by two more places, finishing 14th. However, he couldn't improve that performance in the pursuit, falling back to 25th place. The big surprise came in the 20 kilometres individual race, where Fak won the bronze medal. A perfect score in the final range would have brought Fak a gold medal; however, after one miss, Fak had to battle very hard for at least some medal and, in the end, beatSimon Fourcade by less than a second to win the bronze. Thus, Jakov Fak wonCroatia their first-ever World Championship medal in biathlon.
After his success in the World Championships, the expectations were high, but Fak's World Cup race performances in the2009–10 season were substandard.[2] He managed to win his first points in the World Cup only on 23 January 2010, with a 24th place inAntholz,[3] and was largely forgotten by the public by that time.[2]At the2010 Winter Olympics inVancouver, Fak once again created a sensation by winning the bronze medal in the 10 km sprint.[4]
In July 2010, it was announced in the Slovenian Press that Fak would represent Slovenia in an international competition.[5] On 19 November, the switch to the Slovenian Biatlethe team was officially announced and Fak received his Slovenian passport on 24 November, enabling him to compete for Slovenia.[6]
At the World Cup races in the US in 2011, which were held in freezing temperatures, Jakov Fak suffered 3rd-degree frostbite to his trigger finger.[7] It was feared his finger might have to be amputated which would undoubtedly have ended his career as a biathlete. Jakov and his coaches decided to pull out of theBiathlon World Championships 2011 in Russia to focus on recovering from his injury and saving his finger.
After missing the 2011 World Championship due to the injury, Fak entered the2012 World Championship as a member of the Slovenian team. He won two medals, a silver in the mixed relay (together withAndreja Mali,Teja Gregorin, andKlemen Bauer).Although Slovenia crossed the finish line as first, 8.2 seconds in front of Norway, the jury awarded bonus seconds to the Scandinavians because one target did not go down despite their last runnerOle Einar Bjørndalen hitting it and therefore had to take an additional penalty loop, which put them ahead of Slovenia into the first place.[8] A couple of days later, Fak won the gold medal at the 20 km individual, thus winning the first gold medal for Slovenia at World Championships.[9]
All results are sourced from theInternational Biathlon Union.[10]
2 medals (1 silver, 1 bronze)
| Event | Individual | Sprint | Pursuit | Mass start | Relay | Mixed relay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing Croatia | ||||||
 2010 Vancouver | 51st | Bronze | 25th | 9th | — | — |
Representing Slovenia | ||||||
 2014 Sochi | 32nd | 10th | 31st | 4th | 6th | — |
 2018 Pyeongchang | Silver | 23rd | 47th | 10th | — | 14th |
 2022 Beijing | 29th | 26th | 29th | – | 11th | 20th |
5 medals (2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)
| Event | Individual | Sprint | Pursuit | Mass start | Relay | Mixed relay | Single Mixed relay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing Croatia | |||||||
 2007 Antholz-Anterselva | 93rd | 78th | — | — | — | — | — |
 2008 Östersund | DNS | 69th | — | — | — | — | |
| 2009 Pyeongchang | Bronze | 14th | 25th | 19th | — | — | |
| Representing Slovenia | |||||||
 2012 Ruhpolding | Gold | 11th | 8th | — | — | Silver | |
 2013 Nové Město | 20th | Bronze | 6th | 19th | 13th | 5th | |
 2015 Kontiolahti | 10th | 14th | 8th | Gold | 8th | 15th | |
 2016 Holmenkollen | 6th | 39th | 5th | 7th | — | 13th | |
| 2019 Östersund | 42nd | 17th | 26th | 14th | 5th | — | — |
| 2020 Antholz-Anterselva | 4th | 45th | 21st | 15th | 5th | — | — |
| 2021 Pokljuka | 20th | 34th | 34th | 5th | 8th | 16th | 13th |
| 2023 Oberhof | — | 63rd | — | — | 9th | — | 7th |
| 2024 Nové Město na Moravě | 9th | 27th | 24th | 6th | 11th | 9th | 18th |
 2025 Lenzerheide | 6th | 11th | 6th | 24th | 13th | 11th | 6th |
9 victories (1 In, 3 Sp, 2 Pu, 2 MS, 1 SI)
| Season | Date | Location | Discipline | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 1 victory (1 In) | 6 March 2012 | Ruhpolding | 20 km individual | Biathlon World Championships |
| 2012–13 2 victories (1 Sp, 1 Pu) | 8 December 2012 |  Hochfilzen | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 13 December 2012 | Pokljuka | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup | |
| 2013–14 1 victory (1 Sp) | 20 March 2014 | Oslo Holmenkollen | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2014–15 4 victories (1 Sp, 1 Pu, 2 MS) | 7 February 2015 | Nové Město | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 8 February 2015 | Nové Město | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup | |
| 15 March 2015 | Kontiolahti | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Championships | |
| 22 March 2015 | Khanty-Mansiysk | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Cup | |
| 2024–25 1 victory (1 SI) | 13 March 2025 | Pokljuka | 15 km short individual | Biathlon World Cup |
Media related toJakov Fak at Wikimedia Commons
| Winter Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Flagbearer for Croatia Vancouver 2010 | Succeeded by |
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