Water slalom medals? A great Czech talent was lurking behind Jiří Prskavec in the women’s starting field. Single canoeist Gabriela Satková was a very nice surprise in Vaires-sur-Marne, even though she ended up taking seventh place. At the same time, if it were not for one, at that moment very unpleasant, circumstance, she might have competed with Barbara Seemanová and other swimmers.
Fate sometimes chooses some truly remarkable ways to direct you down the right path. Thanks to water slalom, single canoeist Gabriela Satková can experience the special feelings that only this mega event offers athletes. The paradox is that it is thanks to a very unpleasant moment when she thought at first that she had lost an eye.
She was thirteen years old when she had to decide whether to devote herself fully to swimming, which her father had brought her to, or to water slalom. That’s when the family got a dog. He wasn’t exactly a puppy anymore, but he was still very cuddly, so little Gabča liked to play with him.
“I was standing over him petting him and he jumped out of nowhere and bit me in the tear duct. Fortunately, he missed the eye as such, if only by millimeters. At that moment I couldn’t see, it was bleeding terribly, I was afraid that I had lost my eye, but luckily I didn’t. My brother immediately took me to the hospital, I had to undergo an operation and after that I could not go into the chlorinated water. So I didn’t swim for a long time and said to myself that fate decided for me and I never returned to swimming,” recalls the now 22-year-old athlete.
“Thanks to that, I stayed with water slalom and I’m very happy for that,” smiles the native of Brno.
Not to. She became a regular member of the national team and collected several international medals. In 2021, when she was only 19 years old, she won bronze at the World Championships, a year earlier she even won gold at the European Championships.
And this season is from the realm of dreams. Thanks to the silver at the European Championship in Slovenia, she won the right to start in the Olympic Paris, she reigned supreme at the home World Cup in Troja, Prague, and in the beginning of July at her last World Cup in the under-23 category. And now the biggest bomb…
“The fact that I was nominated for the Olympics means a lot to me and I consider it the biggest success so far. So this season is already the most successful in my career,” says the young coach Ondřej Cvikl’s young coach, Jiří Prskavac’s brother-in-law, enthusiastically.
Jokes and talking about nonsense
The student of International Trade at the University of Economics in Prague definitely intends to follow such advice. However, this does not mean that she avoided tension before the start. “I’m very nervous,” he admits. At the same time, he immediately reveals his recipe for shaking off unpleasant feelings.
“I try to look at it with a little perspective. I tell myself that it’s just a race, that there are more important things in life and I’m doing this for fun. That usually takes. Otherwise, exercise or some fun help. The coach tries to make jokes, or I talk to someone about nonsense, and that calms me down a lot,” she recalls one of the reasons why she chose a young coach – she needs a relaxed atmosphere during training and before competitions.
And when the trainer is not at hand, he helps himself from nervousness with songs. For example, last year at the SP in Troja, she sang Salesman by Michal Tučný before the race. “When I’m singing and concentrating on the text, I’m not able to perceive what the commentator is saying. And that helps me a lot,” he explains.
Favourite song? There is no such thing, it depends on the current mood. “Just whatever comes to mind. We were recently talking to a masseuse I’ve known since childhood, and she had a daughter there. So we were talking about what kind of fairy tales he was watching, and he said he was watching bumblebees. And then, before the race, I was playing in my head On the field in the clover. I still remembered one stanza that I had forgotten, so I was happy about that,” laughs the sympathetic brunette.
Water slalom is a family sport at Satki, older sister Martina (25) also competes. The sibling bond works reliably for them. When Gabriela managed to win a race in Troy, Martina jumped into the Troy boating canal after her and celebrated with her. With her boyfriend, she has now come directly to Paris to support her sister. But on a bike!
Gabriela Satková
- Born: December 2, 2001 (age 22)
- Discipline: water slalom – C1 (single canoe)
- Club: Victoria VSC
- Coach: Ondřej Cvikl
- Greatest achievements: 1st place at the U23 WC (2024), 3rd place at the WC (2021), 1st place at the European Championship (2020), 2nd place at the European Championship (2024), 1st place in the SP race (2022 Pau, 2024 Prague)
