Adam Zika

Position:
Alpine
Height:
5-9
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Prague, Czech Republic
High School:
Gymnasium Litomericka/Czech National Team

Top Career Slalom Finish: Third (2016 RMISA Championships)
Top Career Giant Slalom Finish: First (Twice, last 2012 NCAA Championships)

Honors

2012 Individual National Championship (Giant Slalom)
2012 First-Team All-American (Giant Slalom)
2012 Second-Team All-American (Slalom)
2012 First-Team All-RMISA
2012 CU Male Freshman Athlete of the Year CUSPY
2012 CU Athlete of the Week (March 5-11)
2012 Dean’s List & Athletic Dean’s List – Leeds School of Business
4x (2013-16) Division I National All-Academic Ski Team (3.5 GPA, Participate In RMISA Championships or injured)
2013 Lucie Hanusova Memorial Award (Overcome Adversity and Challenges with Smiles and Enthusiasm)
2013 Dean’s List & Athletic Dean’s List – Leeds School of Business
2014 Spencer Nelson Award
2014 Dean’s List & Athletic Dean’s List – Leeds School of Business

Career at Colorado—Zika finished 48 of 51 career races and was in the top 20 a total of 43 times with 22 top 10 and 10 top five finishes with five podiums and two races wins, including the individual NCAA Championship in the GS as a freshman in 2012. He skied for the Buffs twice at NCAA Championships despite a near career-ending knee injury after his true sophomore season in 2013. Never fully recovered, he surged on to finish 24 of 26 races, all in the top 20 with 11 top 10 and a podium finish after surgery. He was presented with the Outstanding Career Award following his senior season.

2016 (Senior)–Capped his final season as a Buffalo with a podium finish at the RMISA Championships in the slalom, recording his top career finish (third) in the event. He competed in 12 races his senior year, finishing 11 to end a standout career. He placed in the top 15 six times on the season (three each in both giant slalom and the slalom). His top slalom finish on the year came in the first meet of the season when he placed 10^th at the Utah Invitational.

2015 (Junior)–Returned to the NCAA Championships his junior season, a remarkable journey back from his knee injury. He finished 13^th in the slalom at the NCAA Championships, helping the Buffalos win the National Championship at Lake Placid. Two weeks prior at the RMISA Championships hosted by Alaska, he had a fourth-place showing in the slalom and was sixth in the giant slalom, which was his top giant slalom finish of the season. In all he competed in all 14 races on the season, finishing 13 and was in the top 10 eight times (five in slalom and three in giant slalom). Captain of the men’s alpine team, Zika slowly got back into the groove during the Buffs preseason racing schedule, including a top 10 in both GS and slalom action, taking seventh in a GS at Copper Mountain and 10th in a slalom at Steamboat Springs, both in December.

2014 (Sophomore)—A third-year sophomore in 2014, he still wasn’t 100 percent at the start of the season and it showed in his results as he slowly improved throughout the campaign. He ended the season having finished all 12 races leading up to the NCAA Championships with eight top 20 performances, which included six in the top 15, two top 10 and one top five. His best race was in the giant slalom at the RMISA Championships where he took fourth. He was 10th in the GS race in an extra qualifier at CU’s meet in Winter Park. He showed he would make a full recovery right off the bat, taking 11th in the first GS race of the season at the Utah Invitational. He was for the second straight season named to the Division I National All-Academic team for maintaining a cumulative 3.5 grade point average and participating in the RMISA Championships.

2013 (Sophomore)—Sat out of competition recovering from a knee injury, ultimately taking a redshirt.

2012 (Freshman)—Completed a stellar freshman season by being crowned the NCAA Individual Champion in the giant slalom, after winning both runs of the race and finishing over a second ahead of the competition, the largest margin of victory in the NCAA GS race in 30 years. He came into CU with sufficient points in the giant slalom races to earn high starting placements from the beginning, but had to work his way up the slalom chart, and did so. In GS races, he finished in the top six in all six races in which he finished with two wins, two second places, a fifth and a sixth place. In slalom races, he slowly worked his way up, finishing the year with a fourth place finish at the RMISA Championships and 10th place at the NCAA Championships, both in Montana. He quickly worked his way up the slalom start list, in the first race of the season he started in 31st and finished 14th, then in the second race he again started in 31st and finished ninth. Similarly in giant slalom races, he started 17th and finished fifth in the first race of the season, started 14th and finished second in the second race, both at Eldora. On the strength of his win in the giant slalom race, he earned a first-team All-America honor in the GS at the NCAA Championships and with his 10th place slalom finish, he took home a second-team honor in that discipline. He was named first-team All-RMISA and earned a CUSPY (CU Sports Performer’s of the Year) as the Male Freshman Athlete of the Year at CU’s all-sports awards banquet. He was also named the CU Athlete of the Week for his performance at the NCAA Championships.

Club—Zika has skied competitively in FIS races since the 2004-05 season and comes to CU with 307 races under his belt. He has finished 213 of those races, winning 12 of them with 26 podium appearances. He has 45 top 5, 70 top 10 and 117 top 20 finishes to his credit. He has raced in four World Cup races, 13 Junior World Championship races and 37 European Cup races. He finished 36th in the giant slalom at the FIS World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, last February. He has competed in 26 National Championship races for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. In those National Championship races, he has two podium appearances, seven top 5 and 16 top 10 performances, including third place finishes in the Super G in the 2010 Czech National Championships and third in the slalom at the 2010 Polish National Championships. At the World University games last year in Erzurum, Turkey, he won a Gold Medal in the Super G race and then won the Super G race as part of the Super Combined competition, in which he took third. He also finished second in the giant slalom race and 16th in the slalom. Of his 12 race victories, seven have come in giant slalom races with four coming in Super G races and one Super Combined. His most recent win prior to coming to Colorado was in an FIS race at Fondo Grande di Folgaria, Italy, where he won the GS race last March.

High School—Zika graduated from Gymnasium Litomericka, in Prague in 2009.

In the Classroom—Zika intends to major in Economics at Colorado.

Personal—Adam Zika was born August 16, 1989, in Prague, Czech Republic, to Pavel Zika and Milka Zikova. His sister is Lucie Zikova, who skied for CU from 2005-08 and was a seven time first-team All-American and three time National Champion. She won 16 races in her CU career, four more than any other alpine skier in CU history, men or women, and was CU’s Mountain of Honor winner in 2011. His hobbies include biking, wind surfing, rock climbing and tennis. He chose Colorado because of the atmosphere around the CU ski team.