Czech biathlete Tereza Voborníková faces a vibrant few months filled with both sporting and personal challenges. Here, she discusses how she balances training with university, where her bronze Olympic medal currently rests, and her upcoming master’s exam and future aspirations.

Tereza Voborníková is experiencing a demanding summer. Alongside her intensive preparation for the upcoming season, she has an exhibition race in Dresden this Sunday, and a significant life milestone is fast approaching, the completion of her master’s studies. How does she manage to balance the rigorous training regimen with university, and what are her plans for when she hangs up her skis?

Summer competition calendar

Tereza Voborníková’s sporting schedule for the upcoming weeks is packed with diverse events. This Sunday marks her first senior exhibition in her career in Dresden, which she is eagerly anticipating, and she also has the national championship in roller skiing in Letohrad firmly on her calendar.

Conversely, her participation in the October One Loop festival remains uncertain, after last year’s experience, which she found less than satisfactory, she is hesitant to return, although this year’s format is expected to be somewhat different.

She did not participate in the renowned Blink Festival in Norway this year due to its distance, opting instead for quality training at home, with summer trips abroad primarily focused on altitude training. She expressed disappointment over the cancellation of the traditional Summer World Championships in biathlon, which was replaced only by an exhibition in Munich, which she views as merely a race in the Olympic park around a pond and nothing more.

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No plans for extreme training

In her training preparation, Tereza firmly distances herself from the modern trend of extreme challenges.

“Today, there is a huge trend where athletes do extreme things. For some young girls to ski a hundred kilometers on roller skis every week seems… let them do it, but I won’t; it’s not necessary for our sport,” she says to Bezky.net.

She did plan one challenge with her boyfriend and fellow biathlete Mikuláš Karlík, but it ultimately fell through due to conditions.

“We wanted to ski a hundred kilometers in Norway in April during our private time. However, it was incredibly warm, the snow was so slow and wet that we skied for six hours and still had twenty kilometers to go, so we gave up.”

Regarding her regular training, she dislikes long bike rides the most. Instead, she enjoys running in nature, for example, hiking up Sněžka, and working out in the gym.

She remains calm about the recent news of flooding in Anterselva, Italy.

“We don’t have any training camp there this year; we were there last year. It was sad to see, but I heard they cleared it up within two days and nothing terrible happened.”

Looking forward to a professional approach

For Tereza Voborníková, the upcoming state master’s exam, which she will take in less than a month, marks the absolute end of her academic life, and she certainly does not regret finishing her studies. However, the exam schedule coincides with a training camp in France.

“It’s the furthest destination that could possibly come up in the calendar, but there’s nothing to be done. I have to make a quick trip back,” the biathlete describes. After her bachelor’s studies in Brno, she moved to Prague to be closer to home, and she highly appreciates that decision, the two years have flown by.

Balancing elite sports with studies has become increasingly complicated.

“As I try to do enough things related to training, such as stretching and breathing, I feel like I’m neglecting sports in favor of needing to study. I don’t have enough time to focus on recovery as I would like, and I regret that. So I’m glad that my studies are coming to an end,” admits the currently most successful Czech biathlete.

Combining studies and practice

The field she studies, focused on the human body and sports, is heavily utilized in practice, although she sometimes struggles to remember what comes from practice and what from theory.

“It seems to me that everything intertwines. For me, things about the human body are completely obvious. For example, unlike Lucka Charvátová, who studied economics. She sometimes asks me about something. For me, it’s clear, while for her, accounting matters are clear, which are completely foreign to me. I definitely think that having been an athlete my whole life and having practical experience, it would be a shame to do something completely unrelated,” she explains.

Her demanding program is also driven by her inherent diligence and upbringing.

“By nature, I’m a bit of a perfectionist; in childhood, we were taught to have good grades and to be punctual and polite. I carry that into school as well; I want to perform well there too. I would be embarrassed to submit a paper to professors that I hadn’t put effort into or to come unprepared for an exam and waste their time when they offered me an extra term,” she adds, noting that throughout her career, she has encountered only two or three educators who were unwilling to accommodate athletes.

Diverse future plans

Although she wants to continue competing actively for several more years, she has relatively clear and diverse ideas about her future after her sports career. She definitely wants to stay in sports and dedicate herself to coaching youth after afternoon training sessions. Following her studies, she is also attracted to the field of sports nutrition, and helping in the family business, where she would primarily handle office work, is also a possibility. Additionally, she has enjoyed trying her hand at television commentary for biathlon in the past.

With a hint of humor, she adds: “When I see my mom working in the company from six in the morning until practically ten at night, I hope that such a fate does not await me and that I can train kids after my afternoon sessions.”

Bronze in the museum and further ambitions

The valuable bronze medal from a significant event is currently not being enjoyed by the Czech biathlete at home.

“Right now, it’s in a museum in Hostinné for an exhibition that will run from June to November. I have a display of both Olympic and non-Olympic artifacts there, including my Olympic suit. I don’t actually know what I’ll do with the medal afterward. I would certainly like it to be with my family, but at the same time, I still feel that I want to keep it close,” she reflects on the precious metal from this year’s Olympics.

She does not set specific goals or medal plans for the upcoming winter with humility.

“Honestly, I haven’t thought about it at all, and since I’ve never thought about it, I think it’s better that way. Every athlete’s goal is to collect medals, but not everyone can achieve that. However, I already know that it is possible, so there’s no reason to only aspire to twentieth places,” she concludes with a smile.

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