The reigning Queen of Paragliding kept the European title
after a prolific year in which she not only managed to stand
on podiums of almost every competition in which participated,
but also to set two new amazing world records: 247,7km declared
distance and 302,9km straight distance. Still, she was really
excited to add a second European gold medal to her large
collection of trophies, and could not restrain herself from
running and jumping on her way to the podium where she climbed
before being asked to and after kissing each of the 9 women
that were below her in the Europeans ranking. A happy queen
who's been competing for 12 years and now admits to be looking
forward for a new chapter in her life, in which paragliding
will be less predominant – only she doesn't know how to
start!
An
obvious question, Petra , how do you feel?
Happy!
What
was your best moment during the competition?
When
I flew over the goal line on the last task, at Samoens.
I knew I was the 1 st and I knew I had won!
Was
there a "worst moment"?
Yes,
when Martin (Orlik) broke his leg. He is always
the pilot with better results in the Czech team, he's always
scoring for the team and we didn't have him during the Europeans.
But we did well and we got the 3rd place; I'm very happy
with it.
There
are very good pilots in the Czech Republic, how do you explain
that?
I
think it's because we push each other a lot. Some of the
best pilots are from the same city so they fly together
a lot and are always pushing the others.
What
can you tell me about your new Mac Para Magus proto?
It's
faster. It has very good performance for a small glider;
it flies just like the big sizes, which is always difficult
to obtain from the size of glider I fly. But this one flies
really well and I'm really happy about it.
(*READ
the interview to Mac Para's designer Petr Razek in our article
here)
You've
won all the main titles, broke world records… What now?
It's
hard to say. I've been trying to put flying aside so I could
prepare for a new life, you know, maybe start a family life,
have children… But I can't! I just like flying too much!
I
read that you had promised your boyfriend to marry him after
you'd broken a world record... Are you getting married?
Well,
my boyfriend went to the city hall office to ask for a date
for the marriage but it was closed, and then he didn't try
again… And I did not insist...! (Laughs)
