Czech biathlete Lucie Charvátová shared intriguing insights from her racing career during a talk in Dolní Branná.

The most experienced Czech biathlete. A woman who has been training full-time since she was twelve and still feels no urge to retire, regardless of her age. Lucie Charvátová exemplifies how elite sports and a passion for life can go hand in hand, as long as everything is balanced.

From skiing to biathlon

“My grandfather was a hammer thrower, and his dream was for me to throw the hammer or row,” Lucie recalls her successful grandfather’s wishes. However, reality turned out to be quite different.

It all began in Špindlerův Mlýn, where, as a little girl, she naturally gravitated towards downhill skiing. But then they moved to Vrchlabí, and a local teacher convinced her to swap her downhill skis for cross-country ones. “Forget about downhill skiing, come join us for cross-country,” Lucie remembers his words. Only in hindsight did she realize what that meant. Cross-country skiing was hard work, and perhaps that’s why it captivated her so much.

She competed in traditional cross-country skiing until she was twenty, then biathlon came into the picture. In fifth grade, she joined the team in Vrchlabí under coach Aleš Suk, and from that moment on, everything became professional. “I feel like I’ve been training full-time since I was twelve,” she says to Bezky.net. And those years have added up. Today, Lucie Charvátová holds the title of the oldest biathlete in the Czech biathlon. However, she admits she doesn’t feel that way.

Seven-soup

During the talk, she reminisced several times about her beginnings, which were typical for the skiing group around Aleš Suk, who organized the meeting, simple conditions, camaraderie, and unforgettable moments. Lucie smiles as she recalls the training camp in Deštné in the Orlické Mountains.

A cabin with just beds, swimming in the stream, and coach Aleš Suk cooking. “On the seventh day, we had seven-soup,” she recounts. The name was simple: the number of the day corresponded to the number of the soup. Leftovers from the previous day were mixed into the next batch: “From three-soup to seven-soup, it was more like a stew.”

Studying as relaxation

One of the things that sets Lucie apart from many of her sports colleagues is her relationship with education. She has managed to combine elite sports with university studies, and it wasn’t easy. “I believe that elite sports and studying can coexist. For me, it has always been a form of relaxation,” she explains with a lightness that might surprise.

The logic was simple: after training, she came home, had no time for anything else, and thus dedicated herself intensely to her studies. The result? She successfully completed all the universities she attended.

Preparation as a ritual

At the top level, every start is preceded by a sequence of actions that must be performed precisely. Lucie describes it with her own unique perspective: before starting, you have to think not only about how you shot, whether you have the right skis and poles, but also whether it suits you and whether the rain or snow has blurred your eyes.

“The basic tasks are routine, but you have to repeat them so you don’t forget anything,” she explains.

The heart of the Krkonoše Mountains

There is a place that Lucie Charvátová has the strongest connection with sports, the area around Klínové bude in the Krkonoše Mountains. She loves to go running there and knows the trails there like the back of her hand.

“I also remember how we ran intervals around Friesovky and coach Aleš picked blueberries in the forest next door and always shouted at us from the blueberry bushes.” The reward for the demanding training was blueberry dumplings in the evening. This was a world from which Lucie draws her memories to this day.

Sporting life as a choice

According to Lucie, years in sports go by very quickly. Not long ago, she was a student of Mr. Suk. Today, younger and younger competitors are joining the team, and she still feels young with them.

And why does Lucie still enjoy biathlon and doesn’t want to give it up? “I’m still a long way from retirement. It also stresses me out to sit in an office for eight hours. I have some experience because I work part-time as an accountant,” she explains her situation and adds another reason why the sport keeps her going: “Being in the fresh air, training, the whole preparation process – as you improve, you move forward. You don’t always want to train, but the reward in the form of results is great,” Lucie concludes with honesty. And she adds: “A lifestyle that we really like.”

Lucie and her career

From the very beginning of her biathlon career, she was accused of spoiling the Czech women’s relay team. It was more of an exception when Lucie managed to avoid the penalty loops, but no one better was in the lineup and could not be nominated in her place. So the Czech biathlete, although she often did not like it, had to compete.

But this year, everything turned in Lucie’s favor, and she became the most successful Czech biathlete in the post-season relay rankings. She ranked first with the best average shooting success and running speed. In addition, no one can deny her the bronze medal in the sprint, which she won at the World Championships in Anterselva in 2020. She can also boast several top-ten results in the World Cup.

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