Eva Adamczykova Wins Silver in Livigno Snowboard Cross

Livigno, Italy – Czech snowboardcross coach Marek Jelínek needed a moment to collect himself after watching his athlete secure a silver medal, completing her collection of Olympic medals. He expressed hope that the achievement will encourage Adamczyková to continue her career. “I really hope so, because relatively speaking, she isn’t that old,” he said of the 32-year-old snowboarder.

It was intense. The nerves were huge, because Evka has won around seventy qualifications in World Cups, but hasn’t had as much success in the last four events. And, importantly, she’s had three comebacks in the last four years. Those four years were incredibly tough. Broken ankles, a miraculous return, dancing, another return, pregnancy, a year and a half off and then another return. She’s incredible! It was fantastic.

It was a pressure cooker. The nervousness was immense, because Evka has won about seventy qualifications in World Cups, but hasn’t had as many strong results in the last four. And, she’s battled back from three injuries in the last four years. It’s been an incredibly challenging four years – broken ankles, a stunning comeback, dancing, another return, pregnancy, a year and a half away from the sport, and then another comeback. She’s a warrior! It was great.

Six hundredths of a second separated her from 17th place. Evka mentioned she glanced over and felt comfortable. I told her, ‘Evka, please be careful,’ I warned her. ‘There were only two-tenths of a second difference,’ she replied. When she found out it was six hundredths, she was stunned: ‘Wow! I’ll be careful.’ It’s incredibly tight. In the men’s final, we saw the first Frenchman finish fourth on the finish line.

Yes, we don’t have qualification and a race on the same day at any World Cup event. The women had to ride more heats, plus on a longer course and at this altitude. Even Evka said before the final that she’d had enough, but she pulled it off.

We were certainly watching her during qualification. As soon as Josie fell, we said, ‘Oh no, they might meet.’ And that’s exactly what happened. We figured they could both craft it to the final and battle for gold, because they’re both very skilled. And it played out as we expected.

Before Sochi, she was performing so well that I bet our former technician she would win qualification by three seconds. But she didn’t even complete a run in training and was in tears. Then she won qualification by only two and a half seconds because she braked three times. And in the race, it was relatively effortless. She was technically far ahead of the competition.

We thought Evka would win again, but her run wasn’t quite right. It was very difficult, but she moved from sixth place to third on the final stretch. And here in Livigno? She faced the toughest competition in terms of performance. But she rode well throughout. She’s matured, and the tactics and technique worked. She’s been steadily improving.

That’s a sizeable change. Now there are young girls who are doing a lot of things better than she is. But Evka combined things well. We have slightly different boards, and maybe we know something else that helps us. And it just happened that she won… Sorry, she was second, but for us, she won.

A lot. They were all here, and it was a perfect fit. It was amazing. But I wasn’t surprised. Evka is good at not getting stressed, and motherhood has only helped her. When we traveled to training camps or China, it was clear that being away from her family was tough. I kept thinking why it felt so different. Then I realized it was because she was a mom who was a year away from her child, which is incredibly difficult.

That’s true, I used to feel that way. But then I realized that pregnancy isn’t an illness and motherhood isn’t an injury. I changed my mind, too because the courses have really changed. They’re smoother, more fluid, and not nearly as dangerous or technical. How many falls did we see now? Just some slips, really. It’s really different now, and I convinced myself that I would coach her. When Evka told me the great news that she was pregnant, I immediately said that when she returned, I would be here for her.

It’s easier for me to work with her now that she’s a mom. Maybe she’s a little more mature again, which motherhood and actually fatherhood does. It’s good. Now it’s up to Evka, she’s far from the end of her possibilities.

It’s up to her. She definitely wasn’t performing at the level she could have if she had been training consistently. Now she wants to ride the World Cups to the end of the season. Then it will depend on whether she wants to continue or not. I really hope so, because, relatively speaking, she isn’t that old. The Olympic champion before her, Jacobellis, was 36 years old. How old is Evka now?

Exactly! Exactly! It’s up to her. She didn’t look like she was at the end of her career today. I know it’s not easy for her, we don’t have a big team, we don’t have the conditions. But we’re making do. I hope it starts to work out for the guys too.

That’s right, they’ll be riding together. And hopefully, we can also receive Radek Houser and Kája Hrůšová into the sixteen. If we had two Czech teams, that would be amazing.