Ivona and Paulína Fialková were the best Slovak biathletes for many years. In the World Cup, another Slovak competitor won points (i.e. finished in the top 40) for the last time in 2019. It was the Olympic winner Anastasia Kuzminová.
Both sisters have now announced that they will not race in the 2023/2024 season. 30-year-old Paulína is pregnant and does not yet know whether she will continue competing. 28-year-old Ivona announced that she is ending her career.
“My journey as a professional athlete is coming to an end. I made the decision based on personal, but also health reasons,” she wrote on Instagram.
It is likely that the absence of the two best competitors will significantly worsen the overall position of Slovakia in the ranking of countries.
When Ivona Fialková came to an interview for Denník N, when asked if people now ask her what will happen to Slovak biathlon, she immediately said: “Yes, very often, but it can’t only be about the Fialk sisters. The Biathlon Union has known the situation for several years.”
The absence of the Fialk sisters (although Paulína has not yet decided to quit) will possibly mean that Slovakia will not be able to field a women’s relay for the 2026 Olympics in Milan and Cortina, and the number of participants who will get there will drop.
You told Šport that you didn’t want to announce the end of your career right after the season and you took time to think about it. What did your decision-making look like? What did you consider during it?
I needed a longer time to make such a serious decision. I also had health problems and needed to go to the doctors and find out more about my health. I also needed time to find out better how the biathlon team is composed and what the coaches will be like. However, I trained maybe half as much as usual before the season. Two or three months passed and I realized that I had no motivation to continue.
In 2026, the Olympics will be held in Italy, in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the biathlon race will be held in the center of Anterselva, where you achieved two top 10 positions at the 2020 World Championships. At the same time, it will be close to Slovakia. Wasn’t the Olympics a motivation for you?
No, this was no longer a vision for me, it would be another three years, that’s a long way off. But on the other hand, I’m very sad that I won’t be racing there, since it’s in Italy, the resort in Anterselva is my favorite, I achieved my best results in my career there. I will definitely go there to watch as a spectator. However, the overall motivation would have to be very high in order for me to stay with the elite sport for so long.
How do you see the future of the Slovak relay and biathlon in general? There were young competitors such as sisters Zuzana and Mária Remeňová, Júlia Machyniaková, Henrieta Horvátová and Ema Kapustová, who, however, do not yet have experience in the World Cup. What results can they have in this lineup?
They are mainly young female racers, relatively inexperienced. It is true that sometimes unexpected teams have finished high in the relays, but they will have a hard time, we cannot expect to finish in tenth place like in the past when we had a stronger relay.
They are gradually reaching the age to compete in the World Cup. So it is up to them where they will move and whether they will replace our places and be leaders. Relays are important for Slovak biathlon, as there are many points for them in the ranking of nations.
You ended your career, your sister Paulína became pregnant, so the next season will be without two of the best Slovak biathletes by a long distance. You often encounter questions such as: What will happen to Slovak biathlon now?
Very often, especially from fans. However, my sister and I are not responsible for the state of Slovak biathlon, i.e. for the fact that there has been a big performance gap between us and others. Slovak biathlon has known for a long time that this would happen. They have to deal with it, they have to invest in the youth, but I don’t mean only financially, I mean
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