Prague – Olympic silver medalist in water slalom from London 2012 Vavřinec Hradilek ended his professional career. The 37-year-old kayaker made his decision after the weekend nomination races in Veltrusy, where he lost the chance to get into the national team for this year and was not feeling well because he had problems with his left hand. He announced this to journalists today.
At the weekend, he will complete the second nomination weekend in Troja. “It’s the end of being a professional athlete. My relationship with the water is so intense, whether it’s down the river or the community of people, so I’m definitely not going to stop paddling and I’m not going to stop going to the shipyard in Troy. I’m not going to be a full-time slalomer anymore,” he said a kayaker who, in addition to Olympic silver, also holds two world championship titles. In Prague 2013, he won it in classic water slalom, in 2017 in kayak cross.
Hradilek was fully preparing for the current season and ideally wanted to say goodbye at the World Cup in Prague in June. But two weeks ago he started feeling weakness in his left hand. “It started to get worse, that hand wasn’t working well. The connection with the cervical spine, which had been my weak link since 2010, was confirmed,” he explained.
This was reflected in his performances in Veltrusy, where he received only one point for the nomination for tenth place on Saturday. It was the thirteenth on Sunday. “Mainly the feeling of riding convinced me that I decided to quit now during the week between the nominations,” he said.
On the weekend in Troja, he would like to race to the fullest. He would like to say goodbye with an exhibition race on the weekend of June 8 and 9, when the World Cup will culminate in Prague. “I don’t have concrete outlines yet. Now will be the time to organize it,” he noted.
Hradilek was in the national team for the first time in 2007. In addition to the Olympics in London, he also competed under the five rings in Beijing 2008. He last represented at the top event in the Olympic year 2021, when he finished fourth at the European Championships in both kayaking and kaykacross.
After his career, Hradilek has many plans connected with water, it is not training
Hradilek has a lot of plans for the next life. Some of them are also connected with wild water, but he is not going to be a trainer. He would like to visit Greenland, for example, where the kayak comes from. He does not resist acting opportunities either. And he wants to spend more time with his family, he told reporters.
Already as a professional athlete, Hradilek was known for a wide range of side activities. Even now he has some plans. “For a long time, I wanted to see Greenland, where the kayak was historically created. I would also like to somehow process that into a documentary. That is one of the things I would like to focus on,” he explained.
He is preparing for the world championship in extreme kayaking, but he would like to take it in a more touristic way. “It’s more about the lifestyle, I’ll go there with my family. Maybe I’ll go down another river,” he mused.
He does not reject acting either, which he got into in 2016 thanks to the main role in the film Once Upon a Time in Paradise. Now he acts as a speed kayaker in a TV series. “The series continues. I’ve been enjoying acting ever since I got the main role in a feature film by pure chance. I have shooting plans until the end of the year. There’s something for next year as well. It’s definitely not something I primarily want to do, but it’s an opportunity to keep yourself in the public space,” he said.
He is known not only among the sports public, but also thanks to his participation in the TV dance competition StarDance last year, in which he finished third. “The attention is there and will be for a while. I’m not against it,” he noted.
Last year and the year before, he did not make it to the national team in the difficult domestic qualification. The end of his career had been hovering over him for a long time, and after the races in Veltrusy he made a final decision. Also because he didn’t want to be in the center of events on the weekend in Troy. “I would like people’s attention to be on the nominations and not on me quitting.”
He imagined a different parting. “He always wanted to finish in some kind of race. It wasn’t like I wanted to finish from the couch and by not riding reps again. But in our sport, I can’t say that I want to participate in the World Cup. I have to qualify for it and that the nomination is difficult,” he lamented.
He did not bring a medal to the farewell. Not only because he couldn’t find them at home. “For me, what is behind them, the journey, is more valuable,” confided Hradilek, who was accompanied by his coach Miloslav Říha to the farewell.
In 1996, he started under a coach nicknamed Pytlák. “My relationship with Pytlák is very unique. He was the person who first gave me the boat and the paddle. He was at my first shots and we still train together,” said Hradilek.
Říha could not go with him to the first Olympics in Beijing 2008 as a coach, because he did not fit in the expedition. He won silver in London 2012. “This was also a motivation for me, that he missed the first Olympics and we could be together in the second,” Hradilek recalled.
He doesn’t want to be a full-time coach himself. “I don’t want to get involved in coaching also for the reason that I want to enjoy the sport for several more decades. But I don’t want to slander coaching, I admire it very much. I wouldn’t want to do it as a job, but if needed, I will help someone at the shipyard,” he said . He is considering offers from abroad, for example he has one from New Zealand. “It is possible that I would go there in the fall for a few months to a smaller section,” said the departing 2013 kayaking world champion.
Sport canoeing Hradilek AUDIO career slalom PHOTO FLASH
Tags: Hradilek silver medalist water slalom Olympics ended career
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