Kovárik was born in 1917 in Kopčany, a village in what was then the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, near the border with Moravia.

Kovárik joined the Czechoslovak Air Force in April 1938, and was posted to flying school at Spišská Nová Ves in eastern Slovakia.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Slovakia joined the war on the German side.

Ondřej Ďumbala, leader of the 13th Fighter Squadron, noted Kovárik's talent and recommended him for further training.

In November and December 1942 Kovárik was trained to fly the German Messerschmitt Bf 109E monoplane fighter.

[1] This article incorporates CC-BY-SA text from translation of Izidor Kovárik in Slovak Wikipedia on 8 November 2017.