Water Slalom World Cup – Kayakcross: Final, Women, June 11, 2023, Prague. Tereza Fišerová from the Czech Republic is happy to finish in second place.
Prague – Silver Tereza Fišerová got her taste in kayakcross after the classic slalom races did not go as expected at the World Cup in Troy. She took eighth place in the kayak, but this time she did not even make it to the finals in the usually stronger canoe.
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Her strength was waning, she had been racing non-stop since Thursday. “It was challenging, after I didn't do as well as I would have imagined in the slalom. However, maybe it gave me more combativeness, almost anger, and I used that to my advantage,” she told reporters.
In the first round, she impressed with a maneuver in the final backwater, where she pushed herself into an advanced position by throwing off the inflatable goal with her paddle and gaining more space. She didn't plan ahead. “I'm afraid that nothing is planned in cross country. You can have a thousand variations and still fall 1001. It's more about an immediate reaction and I keep saying that the race is the best training,” she described.
She dominated the quarter-finals and semi-finals with great superiority, mainly thanks to successful starts from the approximately three-meter ramp. “You have to have good vision. Here the ramp is flat, so you have to lean forward, when you jump off the ramp, lean back and then lean forward again into the shot. That's how it was explained to me. I tried to do it exactly as the coach said and I had pretty good starts. I'm happy for that,” she appreciated.
The ramp is lent by the international federation ICF and is the same at all races, and will be the same at the Olympic Games in Paris. “So it's great that we can train on it. However, it was a little different in Augsburg, because here we mounted and were flat, in Augsburg we had the tip a little lower and the starts are a little different,” explained Fišerová.
< p>Even in the final, she started well and this time ran together with Kimberley Woods, who beat her in the end. “I'm a little sorry that I didn't win gold in the end, but silver is golden for me,” remarked the versatile Czech water slalom athlete.
While some struggle with the new discipline, she likes kayakcross. “I've been a fighting person since I was a child, and I think this discipline is almost made for me,” she boasted.
Last year in Troy, she triumphed despite a bloody facial injury. “Certainly the memories came back. I thought that if there was blood, at least I would be more interesting to the media again. Unfortunately, there is no blood today,” she laughed. But she wouldn't change. “Silver without stitches on the face is better,” remarked Fišerová, who was second in the overall ranking of the World Cup last year in kayak cross. She holds the same rank continuously even after two races this season.
At the Olympics in Paris, she could theoretically compete in all three disciplines that the water slalom skiers will have in the program. “This idea would be very beautiful, I can certainly imagine it, but I fear that the reality will be much tougher. It will all be mentally tense. I will be happy if I can compete there in at least one of the three disciplines,” added the participant of last year's Olympic Games in Tokyo, where she finished sixth.
