There are extra demands that come with being canoe’s power couple after Josef Dostal and Anezka Paloudova starred at the Olympic Games.
It has been a whirlwind past few months for the Czech pair.
After getting engaged in June, Dostal and Paloudova enjoyed a dream Olympic Games in Paris.
While Paloudova made her Olympic debut, Dostal struck gold in the men’s kayak single 1000m.
Since then, the couple have been in demand, dealing with numerous media duties as their love story captures people’s attention.
“When we sat on the plane, it was the first time that we have had to sit and relax,” said Paloudova.
“It’s usually not that relaxing but after this super busy week it was like okay, now I am sitting, nobody wants anything and it’s just my time for a little bit.”
Dostal added: “When we got here, we slept a lot because we didn’t have a lot of time to sleep at home, just five to six hours a day.”
Interest in Dostal and Paloudova will increase further this week when they share a boat for the first time in an international competition.
Dostal and Paloudova are competing in the mixed kayak double 500m at the International Canoe Federation Canoe Sprint World Championships in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
A decision to participate in the event came earlier this year when Dostal chose to team up with Paloudova rather than join forces with Radek Slouf in the men’s K2 1000m.
As well as competing in the mixed K2 500m, Paloudova has entered the women’s K1 5000m and the mixed K4 500m in Samarkand while Dostal will bid for success in the men’s K1 500m.
Dostal and Paloudova have struggled to find time to train in the boat together but managed to make it through to the mixed K2 500m final after finishing second in their heat today.
“We have tried to do as many training sessions as possible,” said Dostal.
“Even for Anezka it was very hard as we have had a lot of media duties since she got a good result.
“She was always with me.”
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Paloudova added: “I was super nervous about this race.
“Before it and also at the start-line I was nervous as I really wanted to make a good race together.
“It’s super cool and it’s great to race with an Olympic champion and mostly it’s great to race with my fiancée.
“It’s exciting and I’m super happy that we maintained a good run because it was our first 500 in K2.
“We didn’t know what to expect and now we have a good start with this so we will see how powerful we can be in the final.”
Exciting times lie ahead for Dostal and Paloudova but there is still no talk about the wedding.
“We didn’t plan to talk about it before the Olympics because it (the Games) was the main goal for the season,” said Paloudova.
“We were too busy, so we didn’t have time to make some wedding plans.
“We are looking forward to doing all these plans and enjoy all that after these World Championships.”
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