“It was like a Mexican telenovela,” Czech ski and snowboard champion Ester Ledecká said in the spring after she finally signed the long-debated representative contract with the alpine disciplines section of the Skiers’ Association of the Czech Republic. It has been quiet in recent weeks, and the 28-year-old competitor and her national team mates are standing on the threshold of the new World Cup season, which will begin on the last weekend of October in Sölden, Austria.
It was a long story with a happy ending. Due to a long-term injury to her collarbone, Ledecká was unable to participate in ski competitions last season, so she at least took a breather after it ended when she signed a national team contract. “It worked on the third attempt. We celebrated it, we can finally devote ourselves to something else,” she said at the time, adding a dig about the Mexican telenovela.
This summer was much calmer. Ledecká is training fully, after the “holiday” drill she spent a month in Chile, where she completed a full-fledged preparation. And national team coach Jan Fiedler also took a breather. “It will make the situation much easier. We have to report to the World Cup about five weeks in advance, and Ester has a large implementation team. For example, last year we didn’t know if he would sign or not, it was complicated. Everything is calm now,” he says for Nova Sport.
Adriana Jelínková and Jan Skořepa will complete the opening races in Sölden in Czech colors, in Levi, Finland (November 11 and 12), Martina Dubovská will enter the SP on her favorite track. “On the same weekend, the men will also take part in the first speed races in Zermatt, where Honza Zabystřan will represent us,” explains the coach of the Czech skiers.
In the second half of November (18th and 19th), the Czech amphibian Ester Ledecká will compete in the Italian resort of Zermatt-Cervinia. “I promise myself great results from her return. I hope that she will be able to do something similar to last year’s Ilca Štuhecová, who switched to Kästle skis and then skied in the top three in the World Cup,” Fiedler mentions the Slovenian skier, who shone last season with two victories and also an overall second place in the speed disciplines.
From the new material, the coach promises a significant improvement on the track not only for Ledecká. “The owner of this company is Tomáš Němec and they behave completely differently towards Czech competitors. With Ester, there won’t be that much of a difference in terms of the approach, because she was already a world star among athletes and with his former brand. But for Honza Zabystřan, for example, this is a huge change, because he will no longer be one of the many. He handles the production settings of those skis directly with him. So he will test them, he has knowledge about it, and maybe within two weeks he will make custom-made skis for him. It’s a big shift for him,” says coach Fiedler.
Every year his wards have to contend with very limited conditions for training. “In the summer, we rode only on two tracks, whereas in South America you have a full-fledged winter and you can easily ride a two-minute downhill. Unfortunately, it is a financially expensive matter, so apart from Ester, only Jan Zabystřan was there this year. Runners can train on roller skis, but we it’s very difficult to ski,” admits Fiedler, who is also the sports manager of the alpine disciplines section of the Skiers’ Association of the Czech Republic.
Although it is still a long way off, Czech fans can look forward to a repeat of the World Cup races in Špindlerův Mlýn. “We got to the draft for the Women’s World Cup, which will take place a week before the Olympics for the 2025/2026 winter season, so the last weekend in January. Again, it will be slalom and giant slalom. We were also helped by the very successfully managed races from this January, ” announced the chairman of the AD SLČR section Ladislav Forejtek.
See what Ester Ledecka is like as a student:
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