This is how the collaboration between two Czech record holders and former rivals began. Holuša didn’t nod right away, after all it was the end of April, the preparation for the season was finishing. And he didn’t have much of a ride…
“It kept going through my head. But when I arrived, I immediately wrote to Filip: Let’s do it. The timing of the arrival was not ideal, but such a competitor is not said no,” he describes.
Sasínek is an example of a faithful ward. From the age of twelve, he trained under the guidance of Antonín Slezák from Hodonín, where he himself comes from. But he already lives with his partner Kristiina Mäki and son Kaap in Prague, and distance training is not ideal…
“I’ve been aware for a year that something wasn’t right, and I could see that it was no longer working,” recounts Sasínek, who under Slezák’s leadership was particularly successful indoors, but also robbed his current coach of the national record for the 15-year-old under his roof. But he often ran alone.
He definitively ended his hesitation after this year’s European Indoor Championships in Istanbul, when his paths with coach Slezák parted ways. “For those fifteen years, there was an emotional connection, so it took me a long time to cut myself off, but I couldn’t wait any longer,” he was clear.
Photo: Aleš Gräf/graf.cz
Excited Czech quartet, from left Jakub Holuša, Filip Sasínek, Kristiina Mäki, Simona Vrzalová after winning the relay medal at the European Cross Country Championships in 2017..
Where now? Getting ready alongside your life partner at Pavel Tunka? “Many people recommended it to me, but we are together a large percentage of the time at home, on vacation or during regeneration, even being together at training sessions could bring moments of crisis,” he explains. Only one option crystallized in his head: Pigeon Squadron, as the group is titled according to Holus’s nickname.
“In the Czech Republic, it only made sense for me to prepare with Cuba. He has incredible racing experience and a different approach. If I ever want to run his Czech record, he is the right one to help me. I can already feel a huge enthusiasm from him, he devotes all his time to our group,” Sasínek appreciates.
Holuš’s national record of 3:32.49 is two and a half seconds short of the third place in the historical Czech tables. “That kind of time is no longer fun, but I ran it without today’s carbon sneakers. Filip is supposed to run around 3:33, and I will only be happy if he succeeds,” Holuša assures, saying that he would not be angry if his client overwrote his performance.
He will have a chance already on June 5th at this year’s Memorial of Josef Odložil, where the 15-stroke is traditionally the main discipline, but the attack will be more realistic in the following years. “I saw enough shortcomings in Filip, now he can use the impulse from the change, he needs well-being and from October he will be integrated into a longer-term system,” Holuša plans.
In addition to midfielder Filip Šnejdr and strikers Damián Vích and David Foller, Holuš’s group won the biggest gem at the moment. “I realize that during the year and a half I have formed a strong group, I appreciate that. My coaching dream started to come true,” values Holuša, knowing that his coaching philosophy sometimes clashes.
“In the Czech Republic, we are on fire for not transferring people to the centers, everyone is on their own sand. But the only way is a strong group that goes to training camps and trains with even better ones,” says Holuša, who in the last years of his career trained in the international group of the successful Polish coach Tomasz Lewandowski.
