The tall athlete did not manage to stay within the weight limit without the results suffering.
Skeleton luger Viktoria Hansova will not be seen at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. PDO
The weight limit for belly sledding, or skeleton, was scrapped Viktoria Hansovan21, of the Olympic dream.
The 2024 junior world champion has no problems with weight or performance in himself, but problems are caused by his rare height of 178 centimeters in the sport.
It becomes a problem when the combined weight of the athlete and the sled can be no more than 102 kilograms in the women’s series.
– I have never had weight problems, but my muscles grow very quickly. And muscle means weight, Hansova says In the German newspaper Welt’s article.
Hansova prepared for the Olympic year by gaining strength. With summer training, his weight increased from 71 to 76 kilograms.
It meant that the digital scales would show four kilograms over the allowed limit, which is set for the World Cup and Olympic qualifiers.
– A week before the race, I had almost only one thought in my mind: how can I get under the limit? The day before the race, I was still two and a half kilos overweight, and it quickly turned from stress to pressure.
Excruciating weight pulling
Hansova urgently began to lose weight. He ate minimally and took hot showers diligently.
On the day of the competition, he woke up at four and went for a run on the strength of coffee alone.
– It was not professional preparation, but a pure emergency, Hansova describes her methods.
– I was shaky and my legs were weak. All kinds of absurd thoughts come into your mind because you are desperately thinking of ways to lose weight. Suddenly I thought, how much does my sports bra weigh?
– Apparently enough, because I decided to take them off before my performance. I even considered cutting my hair. It sounds like fun, but deep down it’s pretty scary.
Hansova managed to push the combined weight of herself and the sled to the required 102 kilograms, but success and with it the Olympics remained a dream.
Not on the same line
Viktoria Hansova photographed at the German championships in 2021. PDO
Hansova emphasizes that before her weightlifting, she was in great shape in training.
However, after a rough start, it was difficult to get results.
– In Skeleton, it’s the small details that ultimately decide – and to utilize them you need a clear mind.
Strength is important for balance in a sport where you plunge head first along an ice chute at up to 140 kilometers per hour.
For a tall Hansova, balancing physical training is significantly more difficult than for lighter people
to colleagues who are unlikely to have to resort to similar tricks to stay within weight limits.
He does not consider his own starting point to be equal.
– If you arrive at the track exhausted and your thoughts are only on the scales, that’s not a fair starting point.