{"id":41639,"date":"2026-05-06T11:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/?p=41639"},"modified":"2026-05-08T00:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T22:17:11","slug":"pregnant-at-the-world-championship-with-good-preparation-its-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/pregnant-at-the-world-championship-with-good-preparation-its-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Pregnant at the World Championship? With good preparation, it\u2019s possible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>She wanted to take a break from playing curling \u2014 she played only occasionally and focused mainly on coaching junior mixed doubles. But this year, Petra Kl\u00edmov\u00e1 returned in full force. Together with Luk\u00e1\u0161 Kl\u00edma, she defeated the Olympic duo Zelingrov\u00e1 \/ Chabi\u010dovsk\u00fd in the national championship final and achieved one of the best Czech results at the World Championship in recent years. While pregnant. On the edge of the third trimester. How did she manage it, how did she prepare for the championship, and what motivated her? An interview not only with her, but also with her physiotherapist and strength coach.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSeeing Luk\u00e1\u0161 play at the Olympics was the biggest motivation for me,\u201d<\/em> Petra said after returning from Cortina, where she had supported Team Kl\u00edma. The atmosphere captivated her so much that she decided to dive back into full training \u2014 even though she already knew that someone else would be accompanying her on her journey toward her curling dream. The fundamental question arose: is it even possible to combine elite-level curling with late-stage pregnancy?<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cPetra proves that it is possible. A lot depends on how the pregnant athlete approaches it. Today we know much more about what a woman truly needs during pregnancy, which allows us to support her properly and make sure she has everything necessary to achieve physical performance at a top level,\u201d<\/em> explains physiotherapist Magdalena Juranov\u00e1, who attended the World Championship with the Kl\u00edmov\u00e1 \/ Kl\u00edma team.<\/p>\n<p>Besides her physiotherapist, Petra also reached out to a well\u2011known curling fitness coach who has already worked with several pregnant top curlers. Stephanie Thompson began preparing her shortly after the Kl\u00edma duo won the national mixed doubles title. <em>\u201cPetra contacted me a few months ago after winning the national championship, and we got to work right away. She has extensive knowledge of strength training and curling, so my role was more about expanding her perspective and helping her maintain quality movement and physical readiness for competition. Our goal was to ensure she moved well and could adapt both on and off the ice as the pregnancy progressed. Competing at a World Championship at the end of the second and beginning of the third trimester is a big challenge. She wanted to be sure she would be able to truly compete, not just \u2018play through\u2019 the event.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>According to both experts, it was crucial that Petra was already in good physical condition before pregnancy, which provided a strong foundation for further work.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe worked together on pre\u2011tournament planning. I prepared warm\u2011ups and compensatory exercises for the gym and the ice, as well as short exercise blocks directly during the tournament to help her maintain quality movement (she also had a preparatory event before Worlds where she could test everything). We planned gym sessions and home workouts to help her maintain strength and confidence in her body,\u201d<\/em> Stephanie adds.<\/p>\n<p>What did Petra have to focus on the most?<em> \u201cIt\u2019s interesting \u2014 your center of gravity shifts, you\u2019re heavier, you slow down a bit faster, so you need to focus on the core and staying stable in the slide.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cOne thing I emphasize a lot with curlers is core work \u2014 knowing how to activate it properly while avoiding unnecessary tension in areas that need to stay relaxed, typically the hips and shoulders during delivery. We also worked through video sharing, where (together with her coach Wade Scoffin) we adjusted her delivery as her center of gravity changed with the growing belly, and discussed how to maintain proper hip alignment in the hack during the slide,\u201d<\/em> Stephanie adds.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe\u2019ve known each other for a long time; Petra used to come to me for physiotherapy even before she got pregnant. So we were able to build on that cooperation, and I had been observing all the changes from the very beginning of her pregnancy and responding to her body\u2019s needs. I think the key is that the woman works with a specialist who has experience in this field, and the work must be highly individualized. There isn\u2019t much room for general advice here,\u201d<\/em> says physiotherapist Magdalena.<\/p>\n<p>And what\u2019s next for Petra? <em>\u201cI\u2019d like to keep playing, even with a baby, if possible. I\u2019m motivated again, I enjoy it, and I want to keep working hard. I\u2019d also like to continue coaching the junior mixed doubles team Krupi\u010dkov\u00e1\/Blaha, where I see great potential.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>She wanted to take a break from playing curling \u2014 she played only occasionally and focused mainly on coaching junior mixed doubles. But this year, Petra Kl\u00edmov\u00e1 returned in full force. Together with Luk\u00e1\u0161 Kl\u00edma, she defeated the Olympic duo Zelingrov\u00e1 \/ Chabi\u010dovsk\u00fd in the national championship final and achieved one of the best Czech [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":41616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[513],"class_list":["post-41639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-petra-vinsova-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curling.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}