Slovakia participated at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, held between 7 and 22 February 1998. The country's participation in the Games marked its second appearance at the Winter Olympics since its debut in the 1994 Games.

The Slovak team consisted of 37 athletes who competed across seven sports. Ivan Bátory served as the country's flag-bearer during the opening ceremony. Slovakia did not win any medals in the Games, and has not won a Winter Olympics medal as of these Games.

Background A Slovak National Olympic Committee was formed on 18 June 1939 and gained recognition shortly thereafter. However, in June 1947, it was integrated into the Czechoslovak Olympic Committee. The nation split from Czechoslovakia on 1 January 1993, and the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee was officially formed on 19 December 1992, just before the split. It received recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 24 September 1993. The 1994 Winter Olympics marked Slovakia's first participation in the Winter Olympics. After the nation made its debut in the Winter Olympics at the 1994 Games, this edition of the Games in 1998 marked the nation's second appearance at the Winter Games.

The 1998 Winter Olympics was held in Nagano, Japan, held between 7 and 22 February 1998. The Slovak team consisted of 37 athletes who competed across seven sports. Ivan Bátory served as the country's flag-bearer during the opening ceremony. Slovakia did not win any medals in the Games, and has not won a Winter Olympics medal as of these Games.

Competitors The Slovak delegation consisted of 37 members including eight women who competed in seven sports. SportMenWomenTotalBiathlon 1 4 5Cross-country skiing 5 2 7Figure skating 1 0 1Ice hockey 21 0 21Luge 0 1 1Ski jumping 1 – 1Snowboarding 0 1 1 Total 29 8 37

Biathlon

Biathlon competitions were held at Nozawa Onsen Resort, Nozawa Onsen. Five Slovak athletes participated across the five events in biathlon. The biathlon events consisted of a skiing a specific course multiple times depending on the length of the competition, with intermediate shooting at various positions. For every shot missed, a penalty of one minute is applied in individual events, and the participant is required to ski through a penalty loop in sprint events. Ľubomír Machyniak was the lone male participant for Slovakia. Amongst the women, the three participants in the sprint recorded top ten finishes, and the relay team narrowly missed out on a medal.

AthleteEventTimeMisses 1Adjusted Time 2RankĽubomír MachyniakMen's 10 km sprint30:30.3141Men's 20 km individual57:43.741'01:43.738Anna MurínováWomen's 7.5 km sprintrowspan="3" 23:56.709Martina Halinárová23:54.517Soňa Mihoková23:42.314Anna MurínováWomen's 15 km individual1'00:06.721'02:06.748Martina Halinárová56:56.551'01:56.546Soňa Mihoková56:20.8359:20.826Martina HalinárováAnna MurínováTatiana KutlíkováSoňa MihokováWomen's relay1'41:20.624

1 A penalty loop of 150 metres had to be skied per missed target. 2 One minute added per missed target.

Cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing competitions were held at Snow Harp, Hakuba. Seven athletes including two women participated across nine events. None of the men registered a top ten finish, while only Jaroslava Bukvajová finished in tenth in the women's classical event.

Men AthleteEventTimeRankIvan BátoryMen's 10 km classical31:07.660Ivan Hudač33:41.985Martin Bajčičák31:29.067Stanislav Ježík31:11.264Ivan BátoryMen's 15 km pursuit44:18.233Ivan Hudač50:14.764Martin Bajčičák44:54.638Stanislav Ježík48:30.357Ivan BátoryMen's 30 km classical1'40:47.826Ivan Hudač1'50:11.659Martin Bajčičák1'40:52.528Stanislav Ježík1'44:01.046Ivan BátoryMen's 50 km freestyle2'13:54.519Ivan Hudač–Martin Bajčičák–Andrej PátrickaIvan BátoryMartin BajčičákStanislav JežíkMen's relay1'44:31.611

Women EventAthleteRaceTimeRankAlžbeta HavrančíkováWomen's 5 km classical19:48.558Jaroslava Bukvajová18:39.716Alžbeta HavrančíkováWomen's 10 km pursuit32:21.340Jaroslava Bukvajová30:34.518Jaroslava BukvajováWomen's 15 km classical49:02.010Alžbeta HavrančíkováWomen's 30 km freestyle1'30:38.625Jaroslava Bukvajová1'28:21.015

Figure skating

Figure skating competitions were held at Aqua Wing Arena, Nagano / Big Hat, Nagano. The participants were ranked in ordinal order by individual judges, and the final placements were determined by a majority placement rule. Róbert Kažimír was the lone participant for Slovakia and he did not finish the event.

AthleteEventShort ProgramFree SkatingTotalRank Róbert KažimírMen's individual26–

Ice hockey

Ice hockey competitions were held at Aqua Wing Arena, Nagano / Big Hat, Nagano. Eight of the 14 teams competed in a two group round robin tournament, with the winners advancing to the preliminary stage. The Slovak team finished second in the group stage, and failed to advance to the next round. It lost the classification match for ninth place, and finished in tenth place in the competition.

Preliminary round Top team (shaded) advanced to the first round. Team 32011411+35 31119903 3120111102 3012912-32

Consolation round - 9th place match

Team roster Peter Bondra Zdeno Cíger Jozef Daňo Ivan Droppa Oto Haščák Branislav Jánoš Stanislav Jasečko Ľubomír Kolník Roman Kontšek Miroslav Mosnár Igor Murín Ján Pardavý Róbert Petrovický Vlastimil Plavucha Peter Pucher Karol Rusznyák Ľubomír Sekeráš Roman Stantien Róbert Švehla Ján Varholík Ľubomír Višňovský Head coach: Ján Štěrbák

Luge

Luge competitions were held at The Spiral, Asakawa, Nagano. A lone woman athlete Mária Jasenčáková participated across the two events in luge. Jasenčáková was ranked 12th after her first run across the course. However, she steadily dropped down the order after poor second and third runs. She finished 15th in the overall classification.

Women AthleteRun 1Run 2Run 3Run 4TotalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankMária JasenčákováWomen's singles52.0061252.3362051.7211751.302143:27.36515

Ski jumping

Ski jumping competitions were held at Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium, Hakuba. A lone athlete Martin Mesík participated across the two events in Ski jumping.

AthleteEventJump 1Jump 2TotalDistancePointsRankDistancePointsPointsRankMartin MesíkNormal hill65.061.060colspan="4" Large hill112.0101.626 Q110.596.4198.026

Snowboarding

Snowboarding competitions were held at Mt. Yakebitai, Shiga Kogen. A lone athlete Jana Šedová represented the nation in snowboarding. She did not complete the course in the women's giant slalom event.

AthleteRace 1Race 2TotalRankJana ŠedováWomen's giant slalom––

References

External links Official Olympic Reports Olympic Winter Games 1998, full results by sports-reference.com