After two long months of grinding through hard training on camp in Livigno, Italy, Zuzana Michaličková is finally home. By the looks of things, the work is already paying off as, on her way back to Slovakia, she made her season bow at the World Winter Triathlon Championships in Cogne, adding a pair of World U23 titles to her name.
“Cogne was only for fun,” she insisted. “I was on the training camp that was only just starting the season, so it's a lot of kilometres and a lot of hours but no intensity training. Before the race I did not feel one hundred percent ready because I knew that I needed some interval or intensity training. So the race was only just part of the training.”
As it was, she prevailed in both the Winter Triathlon and Winter Duathlon U23 categories, finishing 5th and 6th in the respective senior classifications. Winter Triathlon, however, is a world unto itself. “It's very hard and I think in triathlon nobody really knows cross country skiing, but it's very hard technically.”
Her background on the skiing side helped – although she maintained that she would rather run 10km than ski it – but going up against ski specialists on the final leg made for some tough racing. If she had not touched upon the intensity in Livigno, Cogne provided the requisite shock to the system.
Michaličková thus expanded her growing collection of U23 medals. Last year she took the European U23 crown before taking the silver medal in a sprint finish at the World U23 Championships in Torremolinos. Being born in 2002, she will be eligible for a shot at completing the set of golds at this year’s edition in Wollongong.
“Australia is far away and this year will be different because it is not only about qualification. So this year, for me, it will be different because I will race in the Xterra Czech Republic in August and I want to try some different things. I want to enjoy this year. I will still race in the World Cup and hopefully the WTCS, but I also have a lot of cyclo-cross racing and mountain-biking here in Slovakia.”
“I want to start in Australia, but I don't know yet in which category. When I have very good results before Australia, maybe I’ll start in the elite race, but if I don’t have very good races or podiums, maybe I’ll start in the U23 because it’s my last year and after that every year will be in the elite category. But yeah, I just want to enjoy this year and see where it goes.”
The lifting of the pressures of Olympic qualification from her shoulders has been particularly liberating. Michaličková narrowly missed out on Paris last summer after making a storming late surge into contention. Time, however, is on her side. Los Angeles is on her radar in 2028, but there is plenty of ground to cover until then. With her rising profile, Brisbane 2032 will most likely be on the vision board too.
Her Olympic quest, both to date and ongoing, has been aided by the support of Team World Triathlon. As a growing country in triathlon with multiple talents emerging, Slovakia has been eligible for development backing. For Michaličková, such assistance has been invaluable.
“It's helped me a lot because I usually travel and race alone. For me, it's very good when I stay with a group like the development team. I really enjoy the group and it's a lot of fun and we also have coaches there. Every coach told me different things and this feedback is great. Triathlon is an individual sport, but when I stay with the development team I feel like it's not so individual, but like collective sports.”
Zooming in on the short term, before Los Angeles, a potential World U23 title tilt and her various planned side quests, Michaličková will be appearing at the Lievin Indoor Triathlon World Cup. At last year’s event, she finished 9th in a breakout performance. She had finished in the top-10 at World Cups beforehand, but the calibre of athlete she faced off against in Lievin represented a new level. This time out, with Olympic and world champion Cassandre Beaugrand plus defending gold medallist and Olympic relay champion Laura Lindemann as rivals, a similarly tough field lies in store.
Yet Michaličková remains undaunted.
“I feel I'm ready for Lievin, and I really like the race. There’s a lot of people in the crowd and it's a very different format; it's a special format. I really like swimming in the swimming pool and I think it helps me a lot.” Indeed, she was the fastest swimmer in last year’s women’s final, beating the likes of Jolien Vermeylen, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Lindemann in the first discipline.
“We will see because the day is so hard. But I'm ready for the fun and to give it full gas.”
