Text Teemu Virtanen
The Czech Pro Team Silvini Madshus finished 14th in the Pro Team competition last season. The team is in full swing as we speak, and they just finished their training camp in Italy. One of the skiers chose a different path to prepare for Season XII. Karolína Grohová packed her bags and headed east all the way to Pakistan.
Karolína was a former member of the Czech national team, and she was the second best Czech woman in the Visma Skiclassics circuit after Katerina Smutná, who has now retired from active skiing. Karolína was the 16th best female athlete in the Champion competition, and her best result was 12th at Jizerska Padesatka. She is now aiming to take a few steps higher up in the result list.
In addition to skiing, she loves mountains and ski-mountaineering, and she even represented her country’s national team in that sport as well. This summer, she went to a non-traditional training camp location as she chose Pakistan and the Karakoram mountain range for climbing. Her goal was to climb the 13th highest peak on Earth - Gasherbrum II (8035 m).
With her climbing partner Marek Disman she had managed to do so just in nine days after arriving at the base camp on Baltoro glacier. They both climbed without supplemental oxygen and the help of high-altitude porters. She became just the 4th Czech woman to reach an eight-thousand-meter peak without supplemental oxygen, after Dina Štěrbová (Cho Oyu, Gasherbrum II), Zuzana Hofmanova (Shisha Pangma, Manaslu, Cho Oyu, Broad peak - where she died during her descent), Soňa Boštíková (Lhotse, Makalu).
That was certainly an amazing feat and a great boost for the upcoming season. The team director Marek Pazderský is extremely happy with her star skier’s endeavor, and he believes that she is going to up the ante in skiing as well.
Then, what about the rest of the Pro Team right now? Let’s find out what Marek has to say about their goals for the new season.
How has the summer training proceeded with your team?
“We just had the camp in Italy. Last month, the athletes followed their individual training plans, and next week we will have a training camp on roller-skis in Bedřichov. The same thing awaits us in September. We will also organize a National Championship race on roller-skis, on the uphill to Ještěd and then we’ll have a 50 km long race. We’ll invite all foreign competitors as well. In October, we are planning to go to Mallorca for a training camp.”
What are your goals for the upcoming season?
“Every year, we manage to improve our performance and we want to continue that trend next year, too. In the women’s category, we want to ride stably in the 15th place, in the men’s one in the 25th place. We have long had the best Czech male competitor and now we could have one in the women’s field as well.”
Who are the athletes in your team that you have the greatest hope and expectations for come the winter 2022?
“We have no real changes in our team. There are no other potential skiers in the Czech Republic who have the needed quality to do well in Visma Ski Classics. Our best skiers are Jiří Pliska and Vašek Sedláček, and Adam Matouš has just joined our ranks. They are supported by the experienced Martin Jakš. Karolína Grohová is the number one in women, followed by Helena Karásková Erbenová, Lenka Blažková and Kateřina Moravcová.”
Is there anything else you would like to share with us about your team, some news to tell us?
“The only new face is Adam Matthew. There’s one piece of information about sponsors, but it will not be announced until later in the fall. A big addition is a new service car.”
There are many Czech Pro Teams in Visma Ski Classics. How is long distance skiing in your country right now?
“Long-distance ski events have been popular for a long time, and we just have to wait for some new young competitors to emerge. Then, we can overcome the current crisis caused by the generational change, and we can see a new beginning manifesting itself in our country.”
What is your and your team's take on the new season with 15 races in 12 locations?
“Our team is fully an amateur one, and our skiers participate in Visma Ski Classics events using their vacation time from work. So, it would be hard to do all the events next winter.
Therefore, our goal is to succeed in individual races, and we will leave the overall ranking a bit aside. For me, there is one unnecessary race before Vasaloppet, and personally I think it’s a mistake that there isn’t a weekend off before the last two races of the season. Otherwise, I like the calendar. Two races on one weekend saves us time and money, but it means it’s more demanding for our service people and skiers.”
