Martina Sáblíková
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Martina Sáblíková () (born 27 May 1987) is a Czech speed skater, specializing in long track speed skating. She is an Olympic gold medal winner and a multiple European and World allround champion. She became the first Czech to win two Olympic gold medals at one Winter Games in 2010. Sáblíková also competes in
inline speed skating Roller speed skating is the roller sport of racing on inline skates. The sport may also be called ''inline racing'' or ''speed skating'' by participants. Although it primarily evolved from racing on traditional roller skates, the sport is simila ...
and road cycling races as a part of her summer preparation for the skating season. In cycling, she focuses on individual time trial discipline in which Sáblíková holds multiple Czech Republic National Championships titles and belongs to the world's top 15 female time-trialists. Sáblíková is the elder sister of fellow speedskater Milan Sáblík.


Career

As a junior, Sáblíková already achieved some notable results during international tournaments. In 2005, she came seventh in the 5000 m during the World Single Distance Championships. On 18 November 2005, she skated the 3000 m junior world record 4:00.69 in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
. She was the Czech youth champion in 1999, 2001, and 2004. In the 2006 European allround championships in
Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...
, she finished fourth overall, placing third at the 3000 m and winning the 5000 m. In the 5000 m, she surprisingly beat favorite Claudia Pechstein. At the
2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...
in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, she finished fourth in the 5000 m behind
Clara Hughes Clara Hughes (born September 27, 1972) is a Canadian cycle sport, cyclist and speed skating, speed skater who has won multiple Olympic Games, Olympic medals in both sports. Hughes won two bronze in the 1996 Summer Olympics and four medals (one g ...
, Pechstein, and Cindy Klassen. During her race against Klassen, she was more than three seconds faster in the last round but eventually missed the bronze medal by a second. Because of Sáblíková's results, her position on the all-time world ranking, the Adelskalender, increased from 94th to 15th place within a year. In March 2006, she skated a
world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...
at the 10,000 m, beating Hughes's best time by more than 11 seconds.


European champion

The following year she won her first major tournament, the 2007 European Speed Skating Championships in Collalbo, with an outdoor world record samalog score of 162.954 points. She won both the 3000 m and the 5000 m in outdoor world record times. She did not perform as well at the World allround championships in
Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...
, where she finished fifth, but she managed to win the 3000 and 5000 m events at the 2006–07 Speed Skating World Cup. At the end of the season, she won two gold medals at the 2007 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
in the 3000 m and 5000 m events. At those Championships, she set a new world record of 6:45.61 in the 5000 m event, 1.3 seconds faster than the previous record of Claudia Pechstein. On 15 March 2007, Sáblíková became the first female speed skater to skate a 10,000 m below 14 minutes when she went 13:48.33 in
Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
. She improved her one-year-old world record by almost 20 seconds, which would have belonged to the top 100 men of all time. In December 2007, she took 18th place in the poll European Sportsperson of the Year of the Polish Press Agency. She also won the title of the Sportsperson of the Year of the Czech Republic twice – in 2007 and 2009. One week before the start of the 2007–08 World Cup season, Sáblíková fell during her training, and fractured her
humerus The humerus (; : humeri) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius (bone), radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extrem ...
and stretched
ligament A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have liga ...
s. Although the injury limited her training in the beginning, she had an excellent season, and finally got the title with 6 out of 7 world cup wins (including the final) at the 3000 m and 5000 m distances. She also finished 9th at the 1500 m. On 13 January, she took bronze at the 2008 European allround championships in
Kolomna Kolomna (, ) is a historic types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva River, Moskva and Oka Rivers, (by rail) southeast of Moscow. Population: History Mentioned for the fir ...
,
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. On 12 January, the first day of the event, she improved her personal best at the 500 m distance, her weakest distance, with a time of 40.58 seconds. However, it was still too slow to compete with the best skaters. She finished 3rd despite winning the 3000 m and 5000 m distances. On 10 February she finished 5th at the World Allround Championships in
Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...
, again winning the 5000 m, but with a poor 500 m result. On 9 March 2008, she won gold at the 5000 m at the World Single Distance Championships in Nagano,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. However, she was very disappointed with her 3000 m performance two days before, when she finished 4th. On 11 January 2009 she repeated her previous bronze performance at the European allround championships despite her traditionally weak performance at the 500 m and surprising 4th place at the 3000 m. However, on 8 February she took gold at the World allround championships in Hamar after setting a new Czech national record in the 500 m at 40.28 seconds and winning the 3000 m and 5000 m distances. It was the first world allround medal in her career. On 1 February 2009, Sáblíková and her fellow Czech competitors Andrea Jirků and Karolína Erbanová won the team pursuit competition at the World Cup Final in Erfurt, setting new Czech national record of 3:05.32. After the leading Dutch team did not finish the race, they also won the whole 2008/2009 World Cup.


Olympic champion

At the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010, Sáblíková won three medals, two golds (3000 and 5000 metres), and one bronze (1500 metres). She thus became the first Czech to win two gold medals in the same Winter Olympic Games. At the
2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...
in
Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from  – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...
, Sáblíková successfully defended her title in the 5000 meter, while also winning a silver medal in the 3000 meter. At the
2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...
in
Pyeongchang County Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, county in the province of Gangwon Province, South Korea, Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddh ...
, she won silver in the 5000 m behind Esmee Visser. Sáblíková also won a bronze medal in the 5000m at the
2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...
in
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
. Martina Sáblíková and Milan Sáblík are a rare example of sister and brother both holding world records in the same sport at the same time; Martina holds the (senior) world records in the 5000 m and 10,000 m events (both from March 2007) and in the 3000 m event (from March 2019), while Milan shared the junior world record for the team pursuit with fellow Czech junior skaters Pavel Kulma and Zdeněk Haselberger (from November 2007 till March 2010). Sáblíková has been successful despite there being no
speed skating rink A speed skating rink (or speed skating oval) is an ice rink in which a speed skating competition is held. The rink A standard long track speed skating track is, according to the regulations of the International Skating Union (ISU), a double-lane ...
s in the Czech Republic. Because of this, Sáblíková's coach Petr Novák had to devise several unorthodox but successful training methods.


Rio 2016 qualification controversy

As an international caliber cyclist, Sáblíková has long harboured the dream of competing in the Olympic time trial event at the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
in Rio de Janeiro. After finishing 12th in 2015 in the women's time trial at the UCI World Road Championships in Richmond, U.S. (9th in the reduced rankings), Sáblíková was thought to have secured a place at Rio 2016. However, when the UCI published the list of nations that qualified for this event at Rio 2016, the Czech Republic was not among them. The UCI used an interpretation of the qualification rules where an athlete also has to qualify for the road race. She traveled to Rio, hoping the decision might be overturned but did not compete.


2025 World Speed Skating Single Distances Championships

Sáblíková took part In the 2025 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships, in Hamar, Norway. Even though battling illness, Sáblíková finished fifth in the women's 5000m at the World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships. This marked the first time in her career that she did not secure a medal in this event. Despite a fever making her participation uncertain until two hours before the race, Sáblíková chose to compete, stating her desire to "leave with honour." She plans to retire after the next season.


Records


Personal records

*=not an official distance for women, so no official World record.
Source: SpeedskatingResults.com She is currently in 4th position in the adelskalender.


World records

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com


In-line skating and cycling

Sáblíková also competed in several
inline speed skating Roller speed skating is the roller sport of racing on inline skates. The sport may also be called ''inline racing'' or ''speed skating'' by participants. Although it primarily evolved from racing on traditional roller skates, the sport is simila ...
and
cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
races as a part of her summer preparation for the skating season. In 2004, she finished 16th at the Junior Inline Speed Skating World Championships on the 20 km distance in
Sulmona Sulmona (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of L'Aquila, in the Italy, Italian region of Abruzzo. It is located in the Valle Peligna, a plain once occupied by a lake that disappeared in prehistoric times. In the ancient era, it was ...
. In 2006, she won the marathon (42.2 km) at the Czech Inline Speed Skating Championships in
Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...
and in 2007 the half marathon (21.6 km) in
Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...
. In 2007, she also took bronze in
individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also trac ...
on the 24 km distance at the European U23-Junior Road Cycling Championships in
Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
and another bronze on the 18 km distance at the Czech Road Cycling Championships in
Žďár nad Sázavou Žďár nad Sázavou (; ) is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. The town is an industrial and tourist centre. It is known for the Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk, which is a UNESCO Wor ...
. In 2010, she took gold at the Czech Road and Time Trial National Championship.


Personal life

On 27 April 2025, Sáblíková in her post on Instagram came out as
lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
. She revealed her twelve year long relationship with another Czech speed skater Nikola Zdráhalová.


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sablikova, Martina 1987 births Living people Czech female cyclists Czech female speed skaters Olympic speed skaters for the Czech Republic Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic silver medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Sports world record holders Winter World University Games medalists in speed skating World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Nové Město na Moravě Skiers from the Vysočina Region Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) FISU World University Games gold medalists for the Czech Republic Competitors at the 2013 Winter Universiade Lesbian sportswomen Czech LGBTQ sportspeople Czech lesbians 21st-century Czech LGBTQ people 21st-century Czech sportswomen