The seventh place in the poll of the Czech Athletic Association ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 2023 belongs to the pedestrian Terez Ďurdiaková.

Walker Tereza Ďurdiaková certainly did not have an easy season. She struggled in the first part of the season, but qualified for the top of the year and finished tenth in the national record at the World Championships.

As expected, Ivo Piták's protégé dominated the March national championship on a 35-kilometer course (thus winning all three registered years). However, the performance in Slovakia's Dudiny was far from qualifying for the World Championship. However, after the May European Championship in Poděbrady, where Tereza did not finish, the season took a positive turn.

At the beginning of July, she performed on the track in Nové Paca to qualify for the world championship in Budapest, where she qualified at the last minute.  

In Budapest, however, she showed that together with coach Ivo Piták, she can prepare perfectly towards the top. In the Hungarian capital, despite the very warm weather, she improved her own national record by almost 35 minutes on the 3-kilometer course and finished in tenth place in the world competition. She was in contact with the elite ten throughout the race and in the last kilometers she fought her way to tenth place and did not let go. At the finish line, she could celebrate the national record in this young discipline. She improved her performance from October 2021 in Banská Bystrica by 2 minutes and 44 seconds to 2:49:06.

At the age of 32, Tereza Ďurdiaková is among the top ten of the Athlete of the Year poll for the first time. However, it should be noted that the queen of sports has been dedicated to the sport for a few years and has only been walking for four years. "Everything fell into place and the top 10 at the WC is a great satisfaction", she said.

TOP 10 ATHLETES OF THE YEAR 2023:

• 1. Jakub Vadlejch 1405 points
• 2. Tomáš Staněk 1033
• 3. Relay 4x400 m mix 1021
• 4. Radek Juška 1009
• 5. Amálie Švábíková 954
• 6. Lada Vondrová 512
• 7. Tereza Ďurdiaková 428
• 8. Nikoleta Jíchová 341
• 9. Matej Krsek 209
• 10. Tereza Petržilková 202

Tereza Ďurdiaková thus becomes, after Anežka Drahotová (in 2018 in 2nd place, in 2019 in 8th place) and Eliška Martínková (in 2022 in 9th place), already the third pedestrian who in the past six years ago she made it into the TOP 10 in the Athlete of the Year poll! Congratulations!