Last week brought a tremendous achievement for Kristina Novosadová, a student at the Faculty of Economics of the University of South Bohemia. At the Whitewater Canoe World Championships in Bosnia and Herzegovina, she first won a bronze medal in the classic downriver race, and on the final day of the championship, added gold in the sprint, capping off an excellent result for the Czech team. Kristina Novosadová is a second-year student of the Bachelor's programme in Regional Development Management at the Faculty of Economics, USB.
"It's an incredible feeling — I absolutely didn't expect it. I wanted to get a medal in the classic, which I managed to do, and I wanted to reach the sprint final. With that, I had already achieved my goals. I really wasn't aiming for a medal, it's a huge surprise and I still can't quite believe it or take it all in," said the new world champion.
Kristina's first race took place on Wednesday, the opening day of the championship. Competing against 20 athletes, she finished third with a time of 16:57.16, beaten only by Italians Cecilia Panato and Mathilde Rosa, finishing 24.31 seconds behind the winner to claim the bronze medal. Her sprint success began as early as the qualification round, which she won with a time of 56.44 seconds — nearly seven tenths of a second ahead of the field. She then started Saturday's final as the last competitor, with one clear goal: to beat the time of 58.64 seconds set by the then-leading German athlete Luisa Puttkammer. And she did it!
The entire University of South Bohemia warmly and proudly congratulates Kristina on this outstanding achievement!
PHOTO: Vojtěch Šimáček, Kanoe.cz, , K. Novosadová's archive
